A Handful Of Moments You Wish You Could Change (Patrick Stump Imagine Story)

What Could've Been

A Few Weeks Later...

You're sitting on a towel at Santa Monica State Beach. Shading you from the sun that's shining brightly in the bright blue, cloud-free sky is a large umbrella, stuck in the sand behind you. Not too far from you are Ethan and Bronx, trying to build the biggest and best sand castle on the whole beach. In the ocean are Saint and Gabby, seeing who can stay underneath for longer. Pete walks up to your side and sits down, handing you an ice cream that he bought for you and him.

"Thanks," You say appreciatively, taking the dessert into your possession and smiling.

"No problem," He replies, looking over at you and the corner of his lip curling up into a smirk, "Anything for a friend."

The two of you sit there in silence for a little before you think aloud, "Have you ever thought about what could've been?"

"What do you mean?" He retorts, taking a lick of his chocolate/vanilla swirl.

"It's just..." You frown, "...I should've known that this is what it's come down to, you know?" You meet his gaze. "Nothing about Patrick and me was real. It was all fake, and sometimes I wonder what things would be like if we didn't get married. If we ended it before that."

"I thought you wanted to come out here to get your mind off of him," Pete reminds you.

You heave a sigh, "How can I when every day's a constant reminder that he's gone? That he left us? That I was the reason he left us?" Tears start to form in your eyes as you stare at the melting ice cream cone in your hand.

"You did what was right, (Y/N)," He assures you, putting his free hand on your back and rubbing it in a comforting kind of way, "I mean, why keep him around when he blatantly told you he didn't want to be with you anymore? I wouldn't have."

"But you're not me, Pete. You haven't gone through what I've gone through with Patrick," You argue, your appetite slowly but surely disappearing, "You don't know him like I do."

Pete rolls his eyes and averts his gaze away, looking over at the sand castle your son and his are working on.

"Do you remember all those times we would get together to watch movies?" You blurt out randomly.

"Of course, though I don't remember much about the movies," He confesses, proceeded by a slight, awkward chuckle as his cheeks redden.

You tilt your head down and murmur, "What if Patrick never walked in on us?"

"(Y/N), stop," Pete warns you. You look over at him. "If we weren't to have gotten walked in on, then you would've never married him. You would've never had your two beautiful children."

"I also would've never had to go through all this pain," You tack on dismally.

"You wouldn't have had to go through a lot of things."

You look back over your shoulder and see Patrick standing behind you, dressed in a tuxedo with a bouquet of roses in one hand and a small, velvet box in the other. Your eyes grow wide in shock. Pete looks to see what you're looking at, as well as Ethan and Bronx, and the three of them all match your expression.

"(Y/N), I know you probably want nothing more than to drown me in the ocean, but hear me out," Your husband continues, taking a step towards you, the sand crunching underneath his black dress shoes, "I fucked up. Big time. I know that. And I know sorry's not going to cut it anymore, and telling you that I didn't mean anything I said that night is pointless because you won't believe me. So I won't even bother. But I...I miss you," He sighs and hangs his head, "I miss you and I want to come back home. I promise things will get better, I'll make sure of it. Because I don't want to lose you guys, you mean too much to me."

You swallow hard, taking in what he was saying.

"You miss her? You want to come back home? You promise things will get better?" Pete shouts at him, catching both you and him by surprise, "What a bunch of bullshit that is!"

He smashes his ice cream cone into the sand by your towel and rises to his feet, "Don't make promises you can't keep, Patrick, Because you don't love her, you couldn't care less about her! The only reason you came back home was because of your kids. And even then it was only your daughter. You didn't want to break her little heart, I remember you telling me that. But what about (Y/N)? What about Ethan?

"You know, you didn't deserve (Y/N). Not once. She's the most amazing person out there and you treated her like shit. You took her for granted. And personally? I would never even consider doing anything like what you did to her to anyone. Never. Especially not (Y/N).

"So tell me, do you honestly thing you can come here, dressed all nice and shit, and expect her to take you back, telling her your fucking sob story about how these past few weeks have been miserable without her and you made a mistake? Because you can't, Patrick, you just can't."

Patrick's struck speechless. Everyone is. You, the boys, even other beachgoers.

"Besides, everyone's lives have been just fine without you. Better, even. So unless you really realize what you've done, unless you really feel remorseful about what you've done - and not just because you're lonely - go back to whatever hole you came from and never come back, okay? We don't need you here. We don't want you here. So just go."

Tears waver in your husband's eyes.

"Well what are you waiting for!" Pete snaps, "Go!"

He stands there for a little before throwing down the bouquet and ring box and storming away.

"Patrick, wait!" You cry, scrambling to your feet and running after him.

Author's Note: Guys, I'm sorry this is so bad. I had no idea what to do. I literally wrote this chapter five different ways and none of them were as complete as this one, so I kind of just went with it (because something that works out, you know?). Hopefully you didn't hate it, I can't stand letting you guys down. Thanks for reading and fingers crossed that the next chapter is better! -Rachael