A Second Chance (Peterick AU)

Chapter 6

Patrick had eventually calmed down and had taken us to his apartment. It wasn't the same as the one I left behind. It was a different building and a slightly smaller room.

"I didn't use to live here. Only after..." Patrick didn't finish.

The Doctor was looking at him curiously. "Was there an accident?" He asked.

Patrick nodded and looked down. "About a year ago now..."

I looked at Patrick in surprise. A whole year? I had been running with the doctor for a whole year after what happened in my reality...

"What was the day like?" The Doctor asked, "I'm terribly sorry, I know it's probably extremely difficult to talk about."

Patrick nodded again and kept looking down. "It was cloudy. It was a day we would stay inside and maybe watch movies or write some stuff..." Patrick took a deep breath and paused for a moment. "I...I left the apartment to go get the mail and..." He shook his head vigorously. He couldn't go on. He looked over at me, looking me up and down. "There was no life left in you."

His lip quivered as he said it. His eyes were already red from earlier; he had to wipe his eyes on his sweater sleeve that was too long for his arms.

"Now Patrick..." The Doctor thought for a minute on how to explain what happened in my alternate universe. "You need to realize, this Pete isn't your Pete. I mean, he's not from this reality. We're not supposed to even be here."

"Then why are you here?" Patrick sniffled.

"It's all, wibbly wobbly timey wimey accidental dimension drop." Patrick's confused expression made the Doctor attempt to explain more, "Time and dimensional rip in the universe of sorts. Gets very technical, would take too much time to really explain..."

"So my Pete's still..."

"Just like my Patrick..." I looked down at my hands. Patrick looked up at me.

"Your Patrick didn't..?" He trailed off, looking at my face. He could tell the answer just from that. "So while here, I survived, there I..."

"Your dimension here is extremely similar to Pete's, but there was an anomaly. I think that's it." The Doctor spoke up again. "Your world lost him, while his world lost you."

Patrick bit his lip.

"...There were so many days that I wished it had been me..." I said quietly. Patrick snapped his head in my direction. "So many days I just wanted..."

"No." Patrick shook his head. "No, don't say that Pete. I wished for so long that it was all a dream. I had to carry on knowing you, him, my Pete was gone!... Now you're here and..." He didn't know how to finish. He just looked at me with those eyes I saw every night in my dreams. I smiled weakly at him.

He reminded me of my Patrick. (I mean, he almost was, minus the alternate universe part.)

He walked over and hugged me. He buried his face in my chest and just held onto me. I felt a twinge of sadness for some reason. He had to live through everyday life while I had run away with a madman with a bowtie in a time machine.

I hugged him back, feeling his soft hair against my cheek. I didn't have words, just guilt and sadness...