Can't You Save Me?

•13•

Pete wakes to find that Patrick's body is no longer beside him. In fact, he's not sure where he's gone but it's seven thirty a.m. and Pete's running late for work. It takes about twenty minutes to get to the station but if he skips showering he'll have enough time to get dressed and get to work on time.

He scrambles up from the couch and throws on a white button-up and black slacks. Then he wraps a tie around his neck and shrugs on a jacket. He's in too much of a rush to figure out where Patrick went but calls out, "Running late, see ya when I get back." and then Pete's out the door.

***

"All of the evidence matches up to none other than Patrick Stump. There was also some of his DNA hidden beneath the victim's fingernails, might have been a struggle." Andy explains briefly to Pete. Brendon crosses his arms then rolls his eyes, huffing loudly.

"Something wrong, Brendon?" Pete asks, sipping his morning coffee.

"This is stupid." He complains. "The Patrick guy, we already know he's a homicidal maniac so is it really necessary to keep piling up evidence? I mean, can't we get a different case and let the other guys just hunt him down and arrest him or something?" Brendon rants.

"Nope." Andy sighs. "We work with what they give us. This month's trending topic being Stump shit." Andy doesn't like the fact anymore than Brendon does but they have to deal until Patrick's arrest is made. If it's made.

"Oh!" Brendon is suddenly hit with realization. "By the way, Jon said they need you down in interrogation."

"Oh right, yeah, Jon told us to tell you the minute you came in." Andy says.

"Man," Pete whines turning on his heel and heading out. "Fucking hate interrogation." He mutters.

Interrogation sucks. Pete always hated having to go down into the dimly lit room and get answers from victims, witnesses, and suspects, then figure out if their alibis check out. He finds it to be a waste of time, well a waste of his time anyway. He'd rather be on the other side of the two-way mirror with the cameras and other equipment. He got lucky today.

Pete barely has his foot in the door when Jon pops up. "Good, you're here." He says, pointing to an empty seat with headphones lying on the counter. "Help Ryan out with the recorder. I gotta get in there." Then he leaves quickly and heads into the other room.

Pete takes a seat beside Ryan and places the bulky headphones over his head, listening carefully and taking note of what each person says. He looks up through the two-way and watches as Jon speaks to whoever is sitting in front of him. Though, something catches his eye; their clothing. It looked familiar, the guy was wearing sweatpants and a Bow- oh fuck it's a Bowie t-shirt.

"Patrick?!"

Patrick turned toward the mirror as if he'd heard him and could see the man on the other side. He appeared to be looking right into Pete's eyes but Pete knew that it was impossible. There's no way Patrick could actually see or hear him from where he was. Right? But something told him that Patrick wouldn't be so stupid as to leave Pete's apartment unsupervised, he only went outside if Pete went with him. Vaughn must be in control right now.

Pete looked away and shook his head in disbelief.

"Um, everything alright, Pete?" Ryan asked worriedly, looking up from a notepad he'd been scribbling on.

"Yeah," Pete lies. "It was, uh, just a shock is all." How on earth did this happen?

"Yup," Ryan's voice sounded again, a hint of a smirk as he spoke. "Finally got him."

Once the interrogation was over, Jon had motioned for Pete to come into the room and take Vaughn down to holding. He does as he's told and yanks him along by his elbow, Vaughn's cuffs jingling slightly as he does so.

"Nice to see you again, Peter." Vaughn said darkly as they walked down the hall. Pete ignored him. "Now, I know what you're thinking. You think I got Patrick arrested on purpose, but I didn't. Complete accident. I swear on Patrick's grave." He laughed. Pete tightened the grip on Vaughn's elbow and he winces.

"Oh, loosen up Peter. And I mean that both literally and figuratively. Patrick knows he's been arrested, he's well aware of that, but I'll tell you one thing," Then Vaughn leans closer to Pete, his lips barely grazing the shell of Pete's ear. "Patrick is mine." He whispers.

They reach the cell and Pete all but throws him inside, locking him in and removing his cuffs through the bars. Once the cuffs were away, Pete grabs Vaughn by the shirt and pulls him toward the bars, causing them to clank loudly. Vaughn didn't even flinch.

Pete got up in his face and growled, "You fuck with Patrick, you fuck with me. You are the rotten scum of the earth that I hear crack beneath my feet, I cross my heart that I will stomp you down again and again until you are no more."

Vaughn's teeth are gritted behind his lips, making his jaw tight. He doesn't speak but Pete can tell that he's taking the threat very seriously. Pete isn't going to take anymore shit from him and he will free Patrick from this monster if it's the last thing he does. He pushes Vaughn back and the maniac stumbles slightly. Then Pete storms off away from the holding cells and heads to his desk.

Pete is lucky that whoever caught Patrick didn't find him in Pete's apartment because then he would've been arrested along with him for harboring a criminal. But for some reason, he wasn't as concerned about that as much as he should've been. He wouldn't care though because he would have gone down protecting someone he believed to be innocent. Pete is going to fight for him.

He finishes his work for the day and heads home to his blood stained, Patrick-less apartment. Pete's always lived alone but never really felt that way before Patrick came to stay with him, but now, he felt more alone than ever. His home felt empty without Patrick there. Hell, he felt empty, like someone had sucked the life out of him.

He doesn't sleep that night.