My Safe Place to Land

Chapter 32

Ellen's POV:

On the car ride to the city hall, I started to breathe very heavily, and before I knew it, I was hyperventilating. Patrick pulled over to help me calm down. 

"Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. You're going to be okay. In a little less than a few hours, you'll no longer be married to him, and then it's just us two. I love you. We got this. You got this.", he said rubbing my back comforting me.

I looked at him in the eyes and my breathing started to calm down. "Okay, let's do this," I said smiling at him and grabbing his hand. He put the car in drive and we were back on the road again.

5 minutes later and we pulled into the parking lot. He pulled into a parking spot and put the car in park. 

We unbuckled our seatbelts and he squeezed my hand, tighter than the entire car ride. He wrapped his free hand around our hands that were interlinked. I wrapped my free hand around so that all of our hands were touching. He turned his body and I did the same. Our eyes locked and he took a deep breath and asked, "You ready?".

I wasn't ready at all. But I knew that if I wanted to be happy with Patrick, and him and I's child to be happy, I need to put a big girl face on, walk into the building, and face Chris and divorce him.

I took one last breath, rubbed my thumb against Patrick's hand, and said, "Yes.".

He smiled his big, dorky smile that I loved. Our hands unlinked and Patrick got out of the car very fast so he could open my door like a gentleman he, his. The door opened and I stepped out of the car. He closed the door and locked the car. We linked our hands together and walked into the building.

As we approached the door to enter the building, I saw Chris's lawyer standing there. I nodded my head at her but before Patrick could open the door for us to open she said, "And you must be Ellen Pompeo?".

I took a big gulp before answering her question, "Yes I am. And your name is?"

She reached into her little navy wallet, grabbed a business card, and handed it to me. I read the name on the card, Lauren Perez. I nodded at her again as Patrick opened the door to let us in. "Well, that was awkward and different.", I said while walking into the building. 

"Yeah you think.", I replied.

We walked to the doors of the court and my lawyer was standing there waiting for me. As I approached her, Patrick grabbed my hands. I turned around and he said, "I sadly think this is where I drop you off.".

I looked into his eyes, sighed, and replied, "Yup.".

"But don't forget, I'll be right behind you the entire time.", he said comforting me.

I took one last sigh with him and hugged him. I tried my hardest to not let go but the more time I wasted hugging him, I was spending more time married to Chris.

I closed my eyes, trying not to cry. I opened my eyes up and Chris was standing right behind me with his lawyer, Lauren. I took a big breath and I guess it scared Patrick. He quickly pulled away from the hug and asked, "Is everything okay?".

I loved how just by my breath, he could tell something was wrong.

I shook my head no and I put my pointer finger on his head and pushed it towards the right so he could see Chris walk by us. He took a breath in, looked back at me, put his hands on my shoulders, slid them down my arms, and held my hands. "It's going to be okay. You just have to show the judge the proof of him abusing you and you'll be free. And you'll win the case. Then it will be just us two, and baby.", he said smiling at the end.

I smiled back at him and replied, "I love you.".

"I love you too.", he replied kissing my cheek. 

I let go of his hands and walked in with my lawyer. We walked into the front of the courtroom, which was just an old recreation center gym. We got settled down. I looked back at Patrick and I saw him sitting with Justin, Eric, and Sara. I smiled and waved at them. Patrick gave me two thumbs up and I then turned back around. I made myself comfortable in the chair and the judge said, "Today, we will be addressing the divorce case between Ellen Pompeo and Chris Ivery."

We both stood up and walked in front to shake hands with the judge. Chris gave me a nasty stare as if I was the one causing this divorce. We both parted our ways to go sit back down.

"Okay, first you two, please state your names, address, and telephone number..."