Hello! *waves* Many apologies for the long wait! Expect a shorter wait time from here on out.

8dr Whovian: Aw thank you for saying that! I was obsessing over their bits for ages so that means a lot. You'll definitely be seeing more of Elena trying to expand her circle, stay tuned for her forthcoming trip to the AV Club! :) Yeah the whole darkness stuff was certainly... a choice to put it kindly. Yeah I agree. As someone who loves Chuck in the comics I was really grossed out with what they did with him in the show. Oh no worries haha I love reading them. Cheryl has unfortunately been hit with the worst of my introduction phase, but with Patrick now properly introduced and everything set up you'll be seeing way more of her I promise. I do see what you mean with her scenes with Elena and I'll try and make them longer. No need to apologise I really appreciate hearing your thoughts! :) This chapter is the last of my "setting up the players" stage and from chapter 13 onwards, they'll all begin venturing out and interacting with other characters as well as stirring up some drama!

BloodforInk: Yep! Sometimes you've gotta let people sort it out amongst themselves. Glad to hear it! :)

Once she was finished with school, Elena biked her way over to Pop's to ready herself for her shift. The post school rush was forthcoming, so all hands needed to be on deck.

Once she made it over to the diner, she quickly made her way over to the ladies bathroom to change into her yellow uniform. Elena had perfected a routine to it over time. She would head to the stall on the far left where no one was bound to come knocking, she'd switch to her diner uniform and stuff her other clothes inside her bag (sometimes rather messily if she was in a hurry), and then she would pull out her makeup kit.

Elena had just done so in fact, when she heard the bathroom door open.

"Elena?"

The teenager froze, recognising her mom's voice at once. She suddenly found her breath drawing short, her heaving with the effort of continuing to try to breathe. "Are you in here?"

Elena cringed in realisation, panic setting in as she realised what today was. It was her Mom's first day working at Pop's! They'd exchanged numbers after meeting up again at Nell's, and she'd texted to let her know her application had been a success and she was starting right away. It seemed in the midst of everything that had been going on, it had completely slipped her mind. "I-" She hesitated, wondering what excuse she could give. "Yeah, I am."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just ah-" Elena felt her soul leave her body as the perfect excuse popped into her head, but she knew it had to be done. "Womanly problems."

"Ah." She heard her mom laugh awkwardly, an endearing little sound that made Elena smile in spite of what she was doing.

She glanced down at her bare arms, her eyes trailing over each and every scar that was littered there. White angry slashes, some short, some long and some deeper than others, all spread out across her forearms and all the way down to her wrists. All self-inflicted and all undeniable in what they were, which was why she never wore anything without long sleeves. And when she couldn't avoid it like with her Pop's uniform, she would use a bit of makeup to make sure no one saw a thing. All she needed was about ten minutes, a few bracelets to hide the ones on her wrists, and then she was set to go.

But no amount of carefully applied makeup could erase the evidence of those last few years in New York, that much she knew. Dr Summers was the only person in her life who even knew about them. She hadn't self-harmed since New York, and the therapist had carefully and kindly guided her towards more healthy ways to cope when things got to be too much. And she would be forever grateful. No one else could know though, as this wasn't just a bit of a personal struggle. This was grief, depression, anxiety and each and every one of her whirlwind emotions that had threatened to sink their claws into her and drag her into their depths to never surface again. All summed up in the scars she'd given to herself in her darkest moments. This would be too much, even for the most caring of people. She'd trauma dumped on Nell and Cheryl enough to last a lifetime and she knew Veronica would blame herself for not noticing. And her mom... She didn't want to even speculate on how she'd react. They'd only just began to stitch their relationship back together, and Elena wasn't going to go and ruin it and tear it up again with this.

This was for her to deal with and her alone.

"Do you need anything?" She asked.

"No I'm ok." Elena called back. "Give me a minute and I'll be right as rain."

"Good, because I'm in desperate need of help!" Hermione joked. Elena didn't hear a sound for a moment, guessing that she was lingering by the door. "Mija, are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. Totally. I'll see you outside."

"Ok."

Elena heard the bathroom door go, finally letting out a sigh of relief. The tension between her shoulder blades loosened, and she finally allowed herself to breathe. She set to work on covering up her scars, starting with her wrists and finishing at where the sleeves of her uniform ended. Once she was satisfied she pocketed the little makeup kit in her apron along with her phone in case she needed to re-apply it anywhere, checked over everything and then flushed the toilet to cover her tracks.

Once Elena was washing her hands to remove any dried bits left over, she looked at herself in the mirror. She steeled herself, taking in some deep breaths. She was fine. Better than fine. She was going to have good shift at work, show her Mom everything she needed to know and she would have a great and wonderful time doing it. She relaxed considerably from the mental pep talk, a confident smile affixing itself to her face.

She fixed her hair up into a ponytail, braced herself, and then she was out the door.

Her mom was waiting just outside, leaning against a booth as she hummed quietly to herself. Elena came up from behind and tapped her on the shoulder, making the older woman turn around and smile. "Hey."

"Hey." Elena smiled, hardly able to believe it as she took in the sight of her mother in her Pop's uniform. It was a little unbelievable to say the least.

Hermione gestured to her uniform, arching a brow in question. "What do you think?"

"You pull it off very well." Elena complimented, making Hermione beam. Elena felt a burst of joy at the sight, taking a moment to revel in the fact that she'd made her mom happy.

"Thank you. So..." Hermione nodded towards the counter, "Care to show me around?"

"Gladly."

Elena went on to introduce Hermione to everything she needed to know in order to work at Pop's. Everything from where the spare utensils were kept down to what the procedure was when closing up for the night was covered, where in which Elena spared no detail. It was as Elena had finished explaining everything to her and was searching for a spare notepad and pen for her in the kitchen, that Elena caught her mother staring at her oddly. "What?" She chuckled, finding the odd look on her face funny.

"You seem to fit in here well." Hermione commented, a proud glint in her eye. "You seem at home."

Elena shrugged as she handed over the notepad and pen she'd found. "It's all muscle memory after a while. It'll all be automatic before you know it." Elena assured her, hoping her small collection of tips and tricks had eased her anxiety a little. She'd been a nervous wreck on her first day, so she could imagine her mom was feeling pretty similar.

Hermione smiled, wearing an odd look on her face that made Elena smile as well. "What?"

Her mom seemed to shake herself out of whatever thought had taken hold of her for a brief moment, dismissing her question with a shake of her head. "Nothing."

The bell to the diner's door dinged, indicating that a steady stream of customers had entered. Elena wiggled her eyebrows in anticipation, nodding towards the front. "Care to make your first foray into being a working woman?"

Hermione gave her a firm nod, squaring her shoulders in anticipation. Elena sent her on her way with what she hoped was an assuring thumbs up, watching with bated breath as her mom approached her first table. She smiled as she watched her mom begin scribbling the order down, a burst of warm pride blooming in her chest.She's gonna be fine.Elena thought, slightly amazed at the ease in which her mom could adapt.

A part of her had wondered if she would struggle a little; but she'd been thrown into the deep end and was swimming like it was nothing. How did she go up to people and just... talk? All the right things to say flew out of her like water out of a cup. Elena had to mentally rehearse what she was going to say to the customers each and every time she went up to one of them, or otherwise she'd be crippled by her own awareness of how awkward she could be around other people. Her father had once quipped that she spoke to strangers like she was in pain, which wasn't that far off.

Elena blew out a breath, imagining what had felt like slowly tightening strings around her waist begin to loosen.He's not here. He's locked up somewhere in a prison in New York with no way of being able to talk to me. I'm safe. I'm free.

The next ding of the diner's door made Elena break away from her line of thought. She lit up as she spied Cheryl coming to the counter, dressed to the nines in her Vixens uniform and looking as though she was ready to punch someone. While most people tended to flee at the sight of her angry face, Elena struggled to take it seriously. She was like a grumpy teddy bear, something that upon being made aware of only made Cheryl scowl at her even more.

"I need something ridiculously sugary and fattening, stat." She grumbled as Elena came to meet her, dropping into the stool like a sulky child. "I've earned a treat after the day I've had."

Elena smiled fondly at the sight, booping her on the nose as she came to rest her head in her hands. "As nice as a surprise as this is, how come you're here? I thought you had practice?" She queried, as she began to make up Cheryl's favourite milkshake flavour red velvet.

"Sarah -idiot that she be- fell and somehow missed the mat on the way down. The nurse insisted she had to go to the emergency room." Cheryl rolled her eyes, her grumpy expression softening somewhat as she saw what Elena was making for her.

"You make them the best." Cheryl beamed, her red lips stretching into a Cheshire Cat like grin as she took note of Elena's happiness at being complimented.

"Aw shucks!" Elena giggled, making Cheryl giggle too. The swoon inducing sound made Elena take a step outside of herself for a second, allowing for her to reflect on all that she had in front of her. Someone who picked herself back up no matter what unthinkable thing life threw at her, dusted herself off and kept trudging forth. And throughout it all, be it her parents, her brothers, or the vipers that made up her extended family, Cheryl had kept her heart. She'd locked it up tight and it had taken some considerable effort on Elena's part to prise that box open, but she was so glad that she had.

Elena was broken out of her spell by Cheryl, who leaned over the counter to boop her on the nose.

"You were staring." She explained, pleased as punch.

"I was gazing in admiration." Elena corrected sheepishly, returning to the milkshake prep in an effort to hide her embarrassed smile. "By the way my mom's here."

"Oh?" Cheryl turned around to observe Hermione, who'd moved on to jotting down the orders for her next table. "Well, well, well. The resemblance is uncanny. Who would have pegged this reverse Cinderella story as being married to a Mafia Don? Nay- A Mafia Don who got caught."

Cheryl's eyes flitted to hers, alight with a knowing glow as Elena grinned back at her. "And that my dear is why I adore you so."

Elena longed to reach over and kiss her. Instead she settled for tucking a stray piece of her hair behind her ear, her hand coming to rest on Cheryl's cheek for just a few seconds. "I feel like I should break into song while I'm doing this," she quipped, drawing her hand away before anyone took notice. She sucked in a breath, a little flustered at staring into her girlfriend's eyes for so long.

Elena shifted herself into her best singer on a poster pose, pulling out her pencil to use as a microphone.

"Dork." She scoffed, rolling her eyes affectionately at the action.

Elena smiled, but found herself struck by something. She looked over at her Mom once more, recalling her parents marriage and everything that terrified her about it. How they could lie to each other so casually, like letting a plant die and then insisting to you it was alive and well. There were some things Elena just wasn't ready to talk about with Cheryl yet. But when it came to everything else, didn't she owe it to her to be open? Dr Summers had once told her that a healthy relationship was a well oiled machine, and that it required tending to from both sides. She couldn't just hover on the side lines and watch this play out, not with something so important.

You'd want to know if it was Dad storming back into your life with no warning.

"Cher I have to tell you something," Elena squirmed uncomfortably, finishing up with the preparation of her milkshake. She closed her eyes momentarily as Cheryl paid for it, formulating what it was she was going to say. "I should have told you as soon as I found out, you deserve the heads up. Especially if you ever want to come by the apartment again."

"Heads up on what?" Cheryl frowned, finishing her first sip of her milkshake.

"Nell's still in touch with Patrick."

"Oh! Well I figured that-"

"And she's convinced him to come back to town. He's gonna be staying with us."

The years seemed to slip away from Cheryl in seconds. One minute she was sixteen year old Cheryl, and the next she was eight years old again, wide-eyed and terrified as she had watched her big brother storm out of Thornhill in the middle of the night and out of her life.

It wasn't a rare occurrence for Cheryl to find herself awake in the middle of a thunderstorm, but she'd never heard the angry cacophony taking place outside accompanied by yelling before. Yelling that sounded a lot like Patrick. By the sound of things he was arguing with their parents, and though the words were muffled by her bedroom door, Cheryl could tell by the tone that they were angry too.

Cheryl threw off her bed covers and climbed out of bed at once. Once she had made it to her bedroom door, she slowly eased it open in order to listen. Patrick hadn't gotten along with their mom and dad in a long time, but they'd never yelled before. It made her chest feel tight and funny, like she someone had dropped one of Patrick's cars on top of her chest.

"-and to him of all people! You're a disgrace!"

"No the disgrace here is your tech protection! Or lack there of." Cheryl heard Patrick snicker. "Seriously Cliff, all that money and you couldn't get more than a basic firewall?"

Cheryl heard a cry of alarm from the maid that made her rush out of the door and into the hall.

"Don't rise to it Clifford!"

"The little bastard would deserve it!"

As Cheryl came to a halt at the top of the grand staircase, she took in the scene below her with great alarm. Her mother was holding back her father, who looked as though he was ready to push Penelope aside and punch a smug looking Patrick, smirking as he observed the scene like it was an entertaining TV programme. Her heart thudding in alarm, she took quick note of the fact that he had his coat on and that he was holding a large suitcase. He was leaving!

"Patrick!" Cheryl cried in alarm, racing down the stairs in a rush. "Where are you going?"

The smirk immediately fell from his face as Cheryl came to a halt in front of him, eyes wide with confusion. She pointed to the suitcase. "Are you moving out?" She lowered her voice the best she could. "Can me and Jay-Jay come with you? I'll go get him right now!"

"Cheryl go back upstairs!"

"Patrick?"

Eyes wide with emotion, Patrick stared at Cheryl like something had been ripped from him, before forcing himself to look away from her. He ignored his sister's pleas for him to say something and grabbed his suitcase, beginning to make his way to the front door. "So long, farewell and all that." He quipped, though even Cheryl could sense that his heart wasn't in it.

"Patrick!" Cheryl attempted to run to the door as Patrick opened it and went outside, forced to lug his suitcase out by himself. But her mother roughly grabbed her by the arm before she could, her firm grip unrelenting no matter how much she squirmed.

"PATRICK!"

"Cheryl?"

Cheryl blinked, bringing herself back into awareness. Elena was staring at her in concern, her Bambi brown eyes all wide and anxious. Without thinking, Cheryl brought a hand to Elena's cheek, hoping to sooth her worry away. "I'm fine. He'll be here for the funeral I imagine." Cheryl snatched her hand away, lest someone see the gesture and an unintentional seed was planted. Cheryl sipped at her milkshake, forcing herself not to acknowledge the mish-mash of emotions all warring to be let loose and brought to the surface. She couldn't allow for that. Not in public at least, and with Elena's mother only mere steps away from them.

"Apparently he wants to do more than that," Elena elaborated, that careful look on her face that told Cheryl she was worried about how she'd react. She was always so careful with how she placed and used words, in a way that reminded her of herself. She supposed they'd both had plenty of experience putting the practice into use. "He wants to make amends with you."

Cheryl couldn't help the startled laugh that escaped her at that. "Then I'd advise mydearbig brother not to hold his breath in regards to that particular hope." She retorted, sickly sweet venom pouring into her words.

"Cheryl-" Elena tried.

"Now?!"

Elena, as well as half of the diner, jumped at Cheryl's sudden rise in tone. Cheryl clenched her fists in frustration. "Now the Dick Dastardly wannabe deems to show his face to me! No phone call, no emails, nothing! Jason has to die just for him to pay us a glimmer of attention!"

Cheryl closed her eyes, willing herself to quiet down. At the back of her mind she was aware of Elena coming out from around the counter to envelop her in an embrace, which she eventually returned after willing the sob forming in her throat to a mere cry. "Did I push him away? Was that it? He was all JJ and I had, and he just left! Was he sick of us? That was it! It was, wasn't it?"

"No! No that's not it!" Elena denied, gentle and soft spoken in the way Cheryl always loved. Even when upset, her voice always sounded like a soft caress. "You were kids! All of you! Maybe he could have done more, but- God Cheryl the stuff Nell told me about him."

Cheryl stilled at her words, drawing herself away from Elena in shock. "What did Nell say?"

"Some... Things."

Cheryl rolled her eyes. "Those being?"

"She said he needed to get out. That- That he was going through some similar things to you."

A look of consideration passed over Cheryl's face. "You or Nell haven't moved the spare key have you?"

"No why?" Elena's eyes widened in realisation. "You want to- Oh! Well isn't that the mother of all homecomings."

Cheryl rose from her seat, squaring her shoulders as a determined attitude took root in her. She swiped her milkshake, patting Elena on the shoulder. "You and Mama Lodge have fun! And tell me all the gory details about your dinner, kay?"

"Cheryl you can't actually take those-"

Both Cheryl and the milkshake were out the door before Elena could even rise from her seat to protest.

Elena plonked herself back down on to the stool with a sigh, shaking her head to herself as she pulled out her phone. The poor fucker.

He was laughing at her. The bastard was laughing at her.

After taking the elevator up to the apartment following some serious whining on Patrick's part, Nell had leaped out of the cursed thing the second the doors had opened to her floor.

"It's not funny!" Nell seethed through gritted teeth, flipping Patrick off as he brought his luggage out of the elevator.

"It's a little funny," he smirked, earning himself a hard shove. "Come on! It's just a little noisy."

The elevator chose the moment just as Patrick crossed its threshold to let out an alarmingly loud groan of pain, causing his eyes to widen. Nell merely smirked in satisfaction, patting him on the shoulder. "You're gonna stay in really good shape here bud."

Patrick merely answered with a pained whine, his shoulders sinking.

Nell's giggle was cut short by the sound of her phone beeping multiple times, indicating someone was trying to get a hold of her. As she read through her messages her face went white, her face meeting Patrick's with a look that could only be described as anxiety in its purest form.

"What?" Patrick stared. His friend had never been one for sudden mood changes before, Nell's default state had always been excited golden retriever around him.

Nell signalled for him to wait for a moment, fishing her keys out of her jacket pocket. She proceeded to unlock her apartment door, opening it and peering her head quickly inside before closing the door once more. She span back around, offering Patrick a smile of consolation. Patrick's heart lurched at the sight. He knew that smile. That smile was practically engraved into his mind. It was the one Nell always wore when she had something tricky to tell someone, but didn't want to freak them out.

"Yeah so ah-" Nell scratched frantically at the back of her head, trying all too hard to keep her tone casual. "-Cheryl's in there."

"WHAT?"

"SHHH!"

"Nell there's only a door between us I think she can hear." Patrick rolled his eyes, his heart racing a mile a minute as he registered her words. "What is she- Why-" He stammered, trying to think. "Why is she here?"

"Elena let it slip you were coming." Nell explained, "And she's over here all the time and knows where the spare key is."

"And she's just sat in there waiting for me?"

"Judging by the scowl on her face I'd say so."

Patrick sucked in a deep breath, taking a moment to prepare.

Patrick had thought a long time about what he would say if he ever got to see the twins again. They had been mad of course, angry words would have been exchanged, but in the end he knew despite all his pride and shame he would have crumbled the minute he saw them and simply apologised. He was sorry for not saying goodbye, for not going back and pulling them both out of Thornhill and disappearing with them both somewhere. For being so god damn afraid.

Jason had always been in all these wild dreams of his. But now he was gone. His baby brother, who he'd read stories to at night, who he'd helped learn everything you were supposed to learn from your father was dead and gone -murdered- and now the only person his little sister had left in the world was him.

Patrick squared his shoulders, shifting his whole body towards the door. Responsibility had never really been his forte, but even he knew this wasn't something he could afford to mess up.

Nell gave him a look and an arched brow, asking whether he was ready to go in. He gave his best friend a brief nod, giving her confirmation for them to head inside.

With a sharp intake of breath, Nell re-opened the apartment door and cautiously made her way inside. Cheryl's displeased glare met her by the door, her arms folded and one leg thrown over the other as she gave her her best haughty look from the couch. "Heeeey Cheryl! Good day today?"

"I have a small suspicion that it's going to be an eventful one." she retorted, her proud look faltering for half a second as Patrick came through the door. He took a few seconds longer than necessary to close it behind him, before spinning around and finally meeting his sister head on.

Patrick tapped out a nervous beat again the handle of his suitcase, blowing out a breath. "Cheryl."

She was so grown up. He'd seen pictures of her of course via some social media stalking, but seeing her in person was far different than he ever imagined. The weight of their missed years together him like a freight train. She wasn't one of the kids his parents had foisted upon him to look after anymore. She was had transformed into someone wholly new and yet entirely the same. Patrick could barely stop himself from racing over to her and embracing her. It was so good to see her. She had inherited their mother's withering glare and their father's proud composure, but she still had the same soft brown eyes that always betrayed her artificial confidence to him. Even as a little girl he could remember her insisting repeatedly that she didn't need his help, that she was a big girl, who didn't need him or anyone else to hold her hand. Independent to the point she'd wear herself down to her breaking point.

"Patrick." She acknowledged, seeming utterly vulnerable in that moment in a way Nell had never seen in her before. Her voice caught as she finished saying her name, forcing her to look away. "You're back."

"I am."

Neither sibling made a move towards the other. Nell suddenly felt as though she was inside of a water filled balloon that was readying itself to pop. Nell jabbed Patrick in the arm, nodding her head towards where Cheryl was sitting.Talk to her!She mouthed, desperate for him to alleviate the tension between them.

Thankfully Patrick didn't put up a fuss, sitting himself down next to a still glaring Cheryl. "Do either of you want coffee? Or something to eat? Cheryl have you had anything?"

Cheryl's head swivelled around as Nell made her way around to counter, watching as she began to dig out her coffee cups from the cupboards above her. "Just a coffee please." She requested, smiling despite herself at the sight of Nell's frantic dash to make something for her. "She still turns into a waitress when she's in uncomfortable situations." Cheryl's attempted to joke, eyes trained on her nails as she tried not to look as though she cared if her brother answered her.

"She does." Patrick smiled, barely able to believe she wasn't readying to smack him in that moment.

A few seconds of silence passed between them that only broken up by the sounds of Nell tinkering behind them, before Patrick finally spoke once more. "I'm sorry." He ran a hand through his hair, his own eyes trailing downward. "For- Well give me a month and I'll procure a list for you."

"Nell told you about Jay-Jay."

Patrick nodded as Cheryl met his eyes once more, eyes shining with barely restrained tears. "Why didn't you come? After- After-"

"I didn't think you'd wanna see me."

Cheryl's throat bobbed, her hands forming into fists at her sides. She felt a hot flash of uncontrollable anger at that, enough to make her respond with a resentful shot at him.

"Coward."

Cheryl saw her blow land on Patrick, detecting a barely veiled wince for a few short milliseconds. Good. She thought, satisfied at the sight. So she could hurt him them. It was miniscule levels of hurt compared to what he'd done to her, but she supposed it was a start.

Despite the barely concealed hurt he wore in his body, Cheryl could see no trace of surprise on his face. "Yeah I suppose I was." A small, regretful smile formed on his lips, half sadness and pride all mixed into one. "I see you've grown into quite the force to be reckoned with." He complimented, no trace of sarcasm in his words, merely admiration, much to Cheryl's surprise. "I bet you run that school of yours with an iron fist."

"And then some."

Patrick laughed at that, deep and booming and so undeniably full of warmth that it made Cheryl's heart falter. She'd forgotten how nice of a laugh Patrick had. She'd never heard it much in those handful of years with him, but when she'd gotten one from him it had felt like being handed the world's most rarest red jewel. "I'm shocked. Truly." He offered a friendly smile, pushing hesitantly ahead. "Cheryl I know I left you in the lurch."

"Understatement of the century."

"I left you in the lurch and everything went to shit. I- I wanna be here for you." Patrick admitted, his heart sinking into his stomach at Cheryl's answering scoff.

"Here for me?"

"Yes."

No.Cheryl thought, rooting herself firmly within her initial appraisal of this new and improved Patrick.This is all just too easy.Cheryl scoffed once more, rising to her feet. "How convenient for you, especially given the power vacuum within our family with Jason's death."

Patrick's eyes widened as he realised what she was getting at, his hands flying wildly as he tried to dismiss the notion. "No! No I'm not here for the company or anything to do with money!" But despite his denial, Patrick could see how deep Cheryl's distrust of him went. Oh he'd fucked it with her. He'd fucked it big time. The idea was in her head now and he could see the ugly filter it was placing of him over her eyes. The convenient family death, the news of Blossom Maple Farms and its troubles recently hitting the news, plus his general lack of contact all added up to make him look like the world's biggest grifter.

"I don't believe you." She snapped, her withering glare making Patrick's heart crack into a million pieces. It'd just been her and Jason and against the poison of their family. Of course she'd see him this way. Everyone had an agenda. Everyone wanted to use her. Patrick's throat bobbed, as he swallowed the lump in his throat. And he'd gone and left them both with the wolves. "I don't know why I even came here." She muttered under her breath, striding towards the door. "A momentary lapse in judgement if there ever was one."

Patrick grabbed her arm in an attempt to stop her. Though the action halted her by the now open door, she yanked her arm away like he'd scalded her. "Keep your two-faced hands off of me!" Patrick was hyperaware of Nell's presence behind him, readying to step in in case things got ugly.

"You have every right to be mad at me-" He began.

"Oh how big of you!"

"But I need you to know how sorry I am. That I know how abandoned I must have made you feel, and that if I could go back and change it-"

Cheryl shook her head, dismissing his words with a firm glare. "But you can't Patrick. JJ is dead and quite frankly..." Her eyes swelled with tears, unable to stop herself. "I don't trust you."

"Okay- Okay but-" Patrick wracked his brain for something to say, anything to hook her back into their conversation. "If you hate me so much then why did you come?"

"I-" Cheryl hesitated before shaking her head to herself, taking a giant step away from him. "Leave me alone if you know what's good for you, serial abandoner."

Patrick didn't react as she all but flung herself out the door and down the stairs, his focus on his shaky breathing the only thing keeping him afloat.I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry.He inhaled deeply, bringing a hand to his chest in a bid to rid the tightness that had formed there.

Patrick felt Nell's hand settle on his shoulder. She placed a cup of coffee into his hand, squeezing it briefly once she was sure he wasn't going to drop it.

"Give her time." She murmured, gently guiding him away from the door.