I can't lose you (zapatterson)

chapter One

"See you soon, patty-cakes," Rich spoke as he kissed my cheek while Bostan rushed him to board the private plane.

He slipped a piece of paper and a bank card into my hand before boarding the plane and waving.

"take care peppermint patty" he waved as the door closed leaving Patterson standing alone on a rooftop.

Patterson watched the plane take off Rich looking out the window waving at Patterson. They've been travelling together since they left the FBI searching for historical artefacts and so far they've found a few and returned some to museums and others were sold on the dark web through Patterson claims to not take part in those deal.

She looked at the paper in her hand and couldn't help but smile. It had numbers of the best fast food places (which has become Patterson comfort food) and the numbers of a few friends, one name, in particular, stood out Tasha Zapata. She fidgeted with the paper between her finger. She felt her face burn up at the thought of reuniting with Tasha. Their last goodbye didn't go according to plan and well it is been 2years since she's spoken to anyone in the team other than Rich and Boston.

Patterson spotted a little bench and decided it best to take a seat. Her mind was racing with a possible reason as to why it was a good idea to call Zapta but nothing seemed like a good idea.

She finally decided it best to get her apartment.

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She arrived at the address Rich had given her. She stood on a huge lawn with a large grey family house. she'd assumed they'd get an apartment like usual, but she guessed not.

She checked under the mat as Rich told her to and just as he said, there was a key. She turned the key in the door and the door went open. She felt a smile crept up onto her face. The house was sweet and homely, pictures of the trio were framed along the cream walls and some pictures were of all 6 friends before they slipt. The house looked like someone lived in it, but Patterson knew they've never been to California.

She walked up the stairs allowing her hand to trace the wooden stairwell. She reached the top floor and noticed the doors were closed and two doors had letter above it. She entered the door with a P above it assuming it stood for patty-cakes, the nickname she acquired for herself.

The room was barely even decorated with little bits-and-bobs which seem to have been collected from all over the world. she ran her hand across a picture on the bedside table a picture of Bethany and Edgar, the two girls are playing in a sandpit with Kurt, Jane and Tasha watching over them. She held the photo close to her, disappointed at the life she'd chosen over them.
They all begged her to stay with them and settle in California even Allie and conner and had moved, but she had to travel the world to see. She put the picture back down and lifted a picture of her and Zapata after her incident in the lab with the explosives.

She remembered Reade took the photo without them noticing. They were laughing on a hospital bed, she couldn't remember at what but she remembers the warmth she felt when Zapata touched her hand and assured her that she was there and she was always going to be there. her heart ached in her chest. She wanted so badly to reach out but it's been so long since she'd had contacted people who were not hackers or something, she wasn't quite sure she remembered how to communicate.

She continued to explore the room with little souvenirs. She noticed a computer on her desk, and let her curiosity get the best of her.

She opened it and as she expected it had a password. Of course, this was Rich or Boston's doing, but she of course if they'd made it for her so she'd easily be able to hack it. It didn't take much time before she was in.

The laptop was practically empty other than a video.

"Hey, Patterson.if you're watching this Bostan and I tied the knot. Yaay!" Rich spoke throwing his hand up in celebration. "We couldn't tell you this in person so we made a video, this is our way of telling you we're settling down, for our own good. I know you're going to protest this but you deserve this William."  She cringed at the use of her name. "For the last two year, you've dropped everything and sacrificed so much just to travel the world with us. you've left it all behind everyone you love and we've been selfishly flaunting our love, so this is our proposal to settle down and meet people, form connections. We gotta go past Pattersons got something." She cringed at the video. Such a typical Rich and Bostan thing, but they were right she deserved more.

She decided to have a long hot shower, the first in a long time then she'd order her favourite fast food and lastly, she'd message Kurt, Jane and Tasha and maybe she'd have a glass of champagne and toast to herself and to her new future and chances she'd never thought she'd have.

Maybe she'd finally be able to accomplish her dream of having a family.

_______

Happy pride month babies.
Well start thr mont with a new Zapaterrson fic.

AN: Yes Zapata named her daughter after Edgar.