Dempeo: The Whole Truth

Chapter 37: The Other Woman

*Ellen*
They were standing by the door of her trailer, she could tell by the look on his face that he needed her. He bought his face down to hers and kissed her desperately, he pushed her up against the door and as much as she didn't want to stop she knew they had to. She put her hands on his chest and pushed him away, 'Paddy you really need to go, Jill is going to get home to find an empty house, you promised her that you'd be there' she said. She watched his face soften, 'I love you' he said softly pulling her into his chest. He was acting like the world was coming to an end, 'Patrick stop being so dramatic, I'll be waiting here tomorrow morning for you' she said laughing, she watched as he turned to leave, she couldn't let him leave like that. She caught his sleeve and he turned around, she kissed him quickly, 'I love you too Paddy', he smiled, the feeling of his fingers against her face made her heart melt. She watched as he left, shutting the door behind him, she couldn't believe that their two weeks of bliss had come to an end. It was fine, they'd have everyday of the rest of their lives together, it was only a few days apart, not even apart really since they'd be seeing each other at work.
The house was empty, cold and quiet, she already missed the sound of Patrick's voice and the way he made her laugh. She had only been home for a couple of hours, what had happened to her, she'd never felt like this about a man. There was a loud knock on the door, she wasn't expecting anyone, Chris wasn't going to be home for a few days. She opened it to find Patrick standing there, she could see the tears in his eyes, 'Patrick, what happened?' she asked. 'I'm so sorry' he said, she racked her brains thinking of all of the things he could have done, 'What? Patrick? You're scaring me' she said with her eyebrows furrowed. 'She's pregnant, Jill... she's pregnant' he said leaning against the door frame. She tried to take in the five words that ruined their future together, 'I haven't slept with her since before we decided we would try to be together, it's been six weeks' he said. She tried not to care, she was still with Chris, this wasn't his fault but still she felt angry and hurt, she felt a wave of calmness flow over her. One of them had to be strong, one of them had to do what was right, she took his hand and led him inside, sitting him down on the sofa, she went to get him tissues. She cupped his face as she leant down and dried his tears, 'What are you doing?' he whispered, 'I'm cleaning you up, then you are going to go home to your wife and put a smile on your face until the smile becomes real. You love Tal, now you're going to have another baby Patrick' she said. They had the past two weeks, they'd always remember it, and besides this might not be the end of their love story, it was only the start of Meredith and Derek's, they had years to figure this out. She leant down and kissed his cheek softly, 'I love you Paddy' she watched as he opened his mouth, she couldn't let him talk, to make this harder than it already was, she cut him off 'I know that you love me too but you love your kids more, I get it, one day we will get our happily ever after but not today, not for a while'. He smiled a sad smile and put a hand to her cheek and kissed the top of her head. 'I'll see you tomorrow?' he said getting up, 'You're not getting rid of me that easily' she said smiling at him. She watched as he left, the sound of her front door closing caused a tidal wave of emotions to come crashing over her. She sat there in silence, trying to put together everything that had just happened, what was she going to do? Was she going to stay with Chris?

*Jill*
She had suspected that she was pregnant since she left, she was a week late and she hadn't been late since Talula. It was a good thing, they used to talk about having more kids all of the time, they wanted Tal to have siblings, but around a year ago that talk stopped. She couldn't remember exactly when they stopped talking about the future, when they started arguing about tiny things that never used to bother them. Deep down she knew the reason, it wasn't just that he was tired from the long hours of filming, it was the way he looked at his co-star. She didn't have any reason to think that there was anything happening between them but she knew that at some point he had fallen in love with Ellen. Ellen seemed nice enough, she was loud and bubbly and even had a boyfriend, she would even consider them friends but her husband was in love with her. But her pregnancy might keep them together, it might give them a chance, a way for him to fall in love with her again. He was a great dad, he loved Tal, maybe getting to do it all over again would be exactly what he needed to come back to his family.
She sat on the couch waiting for him to come down, the house felt cold, like the heating hadn't been on for days, she told herself that Patrick barely spent anytime at home anyway. Usually he only really came home properly once a week, otherwise he'd just come home to sleep, that was why the house felt cold right? 'So what did you want to talk to me about?' he said sitting next to her. Well here goes nothing, 'Patrick I'm pregnant' she said smiling at him. She watched his face, he showed no emotion, he just sat there staring into space, nothing like when she told him she was pregnant with Tal. 'Patrick' she said, she needed something, anything to know that he was happy, that he wasn't going to leave her, 'That's great honey, it really is' he said smiling. She smiled, she'd never been so thankful to see his smile, she needed him to be happy about this, she needed him not to leave her. 'I just need a little air, I'll be back in a few minutes' he said getting up and walking to the door, she couldn't blame him it was a surprise, but she couldn't help but wonder whether he was going to go tell Ellen.
At one point in their lives they'd been all each other needed, he used to think that she was the best thing to ever walk the Earth. She thought they were soulmates, how had he fallen in love with another woman, like their great love story never happened...