Once Cora left I broke into tears. What did I do wrong? Maybe I wasn't giving her enough attention . . .  I punched the wall with the side of my fist and put my head in my hands. I hate her. I hate her. She doesn't know what she's talking about. Our marriage was perfect. I shook my head trying to get those lies out of my head. I did not hate her. She has a reason to say what she says. Nothing is perfect.

After crying for an hour or so I thought is this what she wanted? To see me cry? Then it hit me. She doesn't want to hurt me with this. She doesn't want to make me cry. Why am I crying? No need to cry.

I picked myself off the floor trying to stop crying. I couldn't stop but I wasn't feeling so bad. I went to the fridge and got myself a bucket of ice cream . I sat on the couch and cried  little more before I finally stopped and ate the ice cream. I watched a movie but really didn't pay attention to it. For one I was too busy stuffing my face with ice cream and I was still thinking of Elisa. When I was finished eating ice cream I had finished crying. No more tears.

I fell asleep on the couch and dreamed of Elisa. Elisa. Elisa. Elisa. When I woke up I thought Patrick you have to forget Elisa. At least for right now. You have a daughter to take care of. I looked at the clock. It was 5 : 30 pm. Woah I took a long nap. Almost 4 hours. I stood up and walked to my phone where Pete had texted me.

Pete: Hey Patrick when do you want me to drop her off?

Patrick : Around 7 or 8

Pete : Ok are you doing well?

Patrick : Yeah I think im better now

I walked around the house trying to clear my head. Forget everything about Elisa. Everything. After a while I went back into the room Elisa and I shared and sat on her side of the bed. I remembered when we first moved in and she decided that the right side of the bed was hers. She would get mad if I fell asleep on her side . That was like the only rule she had. Don't sleep on her side of the bed. I laughed thinking of how serious she looked when she told me that.

I walked into Cora's room where most things were untouched. I remembered when the room was supposed to be for a child Elisa and I were supposed to have. A couple of months ago Elisa and I had decided it was time for us to have a kid. We had chosen this room but after a month of trying Elisa could not get pregnant. I didn't blame that on her or me. It would happen when it would happen. But then last month Elisa and I had talked about adoption as a possibility.

When I told the guys about maybe adopting a child they got so excited. "I've always wanted to have a kid go on tour with us and have them as our band nephew or niece," said Joe. "What do you mean band nephew?" I asked laughing at the silly name. "You know. Technically we're not related but if one of us has a child everyone in Fall Out Boy will be that kid's band uncle." "Hey what about Bronx?" asked Pete. "Of course we have Bronx. Don't you remember how we all wanted to spend time with him and never let that kid out of our sight? Well that's us being band Uncles. But don't you want another kid so you can finally be a band uncle and not the dad of the band nephew?" I was a little confused but soon understood what he said. "We can be like the other Dads of the kid you adopt , Patrick," Andy said. "Yes you guys will be the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Dad of my child," I said. Them being so supportive made me want to adopt a child even more. But then I stupidly chose not to tell Elisa and . . .

  I sighed and went into the kitchen and sat down trying to think what a kid likes to eat. A good 20 minutes was spent there. I decided alphabet soup. I cooked it and got two plates ready for when Cora came home. Pete texted me saying he'll be here any minute with her.  7:15 pm. She should be home any minute and to tell the truth I kind of missed her. That little girl could steal your heart fast.

*Cora Pov*

Pete drove me out of Patrick's place and asked ," Have you had breakfast?" "No," I said as my stomach growled. He laughed. "Do you want some pancakes? Dennys?" I almost jumped out of my seat. "Yes, yes, yes , yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes." "You must really like pancakes." "I live for pancakes,  Pete. Pancakes. Pancakes.  Pancakes. Pancakes. Pancakes. " He laughed. We drove in silence for a few minutes.

"Pete," I said. "Yeah?" "I was wondering . . . " He raised his eyebrow. " How do malls look like? " "What? You've never seen a mall?" "I have," I said looking out the window. "But the last time I went I was 5. I've forgotten. " "Wow okay um . . .  It's a big building and it's very nice and it has lots of stores. And what am I doing? Once we finish the pancakes we're going to the mall?" "Really?" I asked. I did not see that coming. I just wanted to start conversation.

When we got to Dennys I almost ran inside. Pete and I entered and the diner was almost empty. One of the tables in the back had three girls and two parents. Other than them the place was empty. Pete ordered Pancakes, eggs, and bacon. I ordered the same thing except eggs. I didn't like eggs. Pete and I sat and I asked, "Pete do you think it's cold?" He shook his head. "It's the middle of August it should probably be getting cold but it's not." I nodded. "Why the question?" I bite my lip. "Bbbbbeeecccaaaauuussseeeee I was thinking about ice cream." I was actually thinking about going swimming but I really felt akward asking him to take me swimming. "Cora I need to tell you something." "That you're not actually human but a mermaid?" I asked. He laughed. "Where do you get these things from Cora? Do I look like a mermaid to you?" "A little. You remind me of Ariel. " "Do I look like Ariel?" I nodded. "You guys both have the same eyes. And nose. And lips. And ears. Practicly just dye your hair red and your Ariel." He laughed. "Okay so besides from Ariel I have something to tell you." I nodded.

"Patrick and Elisa have been having trouble in there marriage. You know that right?" I nodded. Should I tell him about last night? "Yeah they were fighting last night." He raised his eyebrow. "What were they fighting about?" I really didn't want to remember the screams from last night but I had to. "Um about how Patrick didn't spend time with Elisa anymore and how Elisa didn't appreciate what Patrick did for her." I didn't tell him how they talked about me. I didn't want him to start talking to me about how it wasn't my fault and stuff like that. I hated when adults started telling you that stuff. I just wanted to forget what happened and never remember.

He nodded. "Okay." "Ppppppeeeeeeeeetttttttteeeeeeee." I said as I slouched. "Yes Coooooorrrrraaaaaa." "Are you guys going on tour anytime soon? " I asked trying to act as if it wasn't a big deal but I really wanted to know. He said, "Yeah we're starting tour next week." I nodded smiling. "Oh wait Pete what were you going to tell me? You said you had something to tell me?" He just shook his head, "Nevermind. " I just shrugged. When we got our food we ate in silence. Mostly because Pete and I were eating way to fast to actually realize that we should be talking.

After we paid and left Pete said, "Well the mall won't open until 12 so we have 2 hours to do stuff. Whatcha want to do?" I looked out the window trying to think. We past a park and Pete said, "You want to go to the park?" I sat up and looked at him and said, "No." "Why not?" "I don't like parks." "WHAT?" "I don't like parks." "Why? Kids are supposed to love parks." "I know but there are always the toddlers that are spoiled brats that act like the playground is theirs and you feel like pushing them off because they don't let you use anything. And then what the point of playing on a playground? You use the same equipment over and over and it stops being fun. It's like you use the slide and the monkey bars over and over and then there's nothing left to do." "Cora come on. Park. Please?" I sighed. As you can tell I did not like parks. Or better yet I did not playgrounds. "Fine let's go to the park. But not the playground okay?" "Okay," he said smiling like he won. We he did. He convinced me to go to the park. We parked in the parking lot and Pete took out a soccer ball from the trunk.

"OHH ARE WE GOING TO PLAY SOCCER!?!?" Pete nodded. "YESS!" I said throwing my hands up.  Pete laughed and ran into the grass field and I followed. We got into this little field that's supposed to be public and since it was 10 am on a Monday no one was there. "Okay how about I be goalie and you try to make a goal?" I nodded mostly because I knew Pete was good and I would probably have a soccer ball to the face if I was goalie.

I put the ball in front of my feet thinking of in which direction to kick it. I chose left and I guess Pete saw that coming since he easily blocked it.  "Try not to show that you're going to kick in a certain direction. And do it fast. Kick with lots of force too." I nodded and he kicked the soccer ball back at me. I stopped it with my foot and re adjusted it. I made sure to aim it like I was going to shoot it to his right and he leaned towards the right. I put my foot back and just before I hit it I turned it the other way and Pete dove to the ground almost catching it. But it went in either way. "WWOOAAHHH!! THAT'S HOW IT'S DONE!" I said trowing my hands up again. Pete laughed. "But not for long." He said.

~2 hour later~

"PETE!" I yelled. I ducked just in time so the ball went over my head. "PETE WHAT DID I TELL YOU!! TRY TO KICK IT TO MY SIDES NOT MY FACE!!!" Pete laughed. "Sorry Cora! It's just that you're so small and I'm used it kicking it to someone's face!" I wiped the sweat off my face. We were taking turns. Each person got 5 turns trying to make a goal and then they switched. It was 14 to 16. I was winning him by 2 points. But that could change any sceond. 

"Okay it's 14 to 16! I'm winning you! HA!" He kicked the ball and I caught it. "Not for long Stump!" He said. "WHAT DID YOU SAY WENTZ?" We switched and he tossed me the ball. I kicked it and he caught it too. "I SAID YOU'RE GOING DOWN STUMP!" I laughed and he laughed. While he had the distraction of laughing I kicked the ball hard.

I made it in. "HAHAHAHA TAKE THAT WENTZ!! I WON YOU!! " He playfully glared at me. He picked up the ball and walked towards me. "You won this round but next time I will have no mercy on you." I laughed. "I can't wait." And that was the start of a really intense staring contest. Just when my eyes were bruning like the pits of hell he laughed and blinked. "Oh you're good at this. Ahh my eyes. Okay my eyes are good." Pete laughed at what I said.

"Oh so you wanna go to the mall?" "Uhh not now. We're all sweaty and stuff. I'll just ask Patrick if he could take me some other time. " He nodded and put his arm around me. "So then what do you want to do?" I shrugged. "Whatever you want. I don't want to be a bother." "You're no bother Cora." "Oh okay. Soo . . . just sayin. Um yeah so I-I uh" I jumped out of his grip and pointed at him. "I WON YOU!! WOOO!! I WON PETE WENTZ!!!" I jumped around for a few moments until I calmed down. "So then can we watch a movie or something?" I asked. Pete stared at me mildly confused. I put my best ridiculous face. He laughed. "Fine what movie do you wanna watch?" He said as we walked to the car. I got in the backseat and put on my seat belt.

"You know I was thinking like a Disney movie or maybe a funny movie." He smiled. "Can we watch White Chicks?" He looked at me excited but I was confused. "I've never heard of that movie." "WELL WE'RE WATCHING IT!!" He said smiling. I shrugged. "Okay, what's it about?" "It's a pretty nasty movie so I'm going tohave to fast foward some parts." I nodded rested my head on the seat. "PETE!" I said. "CORA. " He said. "PUT SOME MUSIC ON!" "WHAT STATION?" "KIIS FM." "OKAY." He turned up the radio and put Kiis FM. Little Talks by monsters and men came on. "MAH SONG!" I said. "I DONT LIKE WALKING AROUND THIS OLD AND EMPTY HOUSE SO HOLD MY HAND I'LL WALK WITH YOU MY DEAR! THE STAIRS CREAK AS I SLEEP IT'S KEEPING ME AWAKE IT'S THE HOUSE TELLING YOU TO CLOSE YOU'RE EYES!"

I slapped Pete's arm. "SING WITH ME!" "I DONT KNOW THE LYRICS!""WELL THEN LEARN FAST!" "CORA!""PETE!DON'T LISTEN TO A WORD I SAY! HEY! THE SCREAMS ALL SOUND THE SAME!! HEY! AND THOUGH THE TRUTH MAY VARY THIS SHIP WILL CARRY OUR BODIES SAFE TO SHORE!" I continued to sing alone until the next chorus. Pete had learned it and we sang together talking turns singing a part.

"HEY! DON'T LISTEN TO A WORD I SAY!" "HEY! THE SCREAMS ALL SOUND THE SAME!" "HEY AND THOUGH THE TRUTH MAY VARY THIS SHIP WILL CARRY OUR BODIES SAFE TO SHORE!"  I stopped singing because my throat started hurting and I could no longer sing with the last decant voice of mine. I suck at singing but sometimes I could make my voice decant enough as long as the song didn't have many high notes. I couldn't never hit high notes.

"Well I'm sorry I dramatized you with my terrible voice." He laughed. "You're voice isn't that bad." "Why thank you. So is my voice fabulous or what?" I said as I tossed my hair behind my shoulder playfully.  "Completly fabulous. "

We got to his house and it was huge too. It had a nice big yard and the house looked so fancy from the outside. He parked his car in the garage and we entered the house. Now the house didn't look fancy. It looked more . . . for family and friends than anything else. The couches looked cozy and there was pictures of Pete and his son Bronx all over the walls.

"So nice house. I've never seen houses this big before I left the orphanage. " He smiled. We sat on the couch. I slouched in exhaustion and sighed. "Pete. . . if we're going to watch a movie we need tohave popcorn. Do you have popcorn?" I asked. "Yeah let me go make it." "I'll help you!" We got off the couch and ran into the kitchen. "I'll grab the bowl you grab the popcorn!" He said. "What cabinet is it in?" "The top one. The one above to the right of the sink." I stood on my on my toes and opened the cabinet and used my hands to feel around looking for the popcorn. When I finally found it I grabbed it and landed on my heels.

"I FOUND IT!" I handed it to him and he put it in the microwave. "You know I was thinking maybe we shouldn't watch White Chicks. We should watch something more appropriate for kids." "Awww . . . okay. Can we watch Lady and The Tramp?" He laughed. "Yes we can watch Lady and The Tramp." "YES!" I raised my hands up and said, "SUCCESS!" He stared at me. "Did Patrick give you any sugar? " I shook my head. "Did we have any sugar?" "Did the syrup on the pancakes count?" "Yes." "Then yeah we had lots of sugar." "Well I probably shouldn't let you have anymore." "AWW BUT'S FUN!! LOOK!! LOOK HOW HAPPY I AM!" I jumped up and down and did a happy dance while smiling.

He laughed. "Okay maybe just a little bit of sugar but only before I give you back to Patrick so he has to deal with hyper you." "YES! GOOD PLAN!" The aroma of popcorn filled the kitchen. "Ohh that smells beautiful." I said. Pete nodded slapping my back lightly. "It's like we're in heaven." I nodded agreeing with what he said.

When they finished popping Pete grabbed and opened them. He spilled them into a nice blue bowl and handed it to me. I ran back to the couch and he put Netflix on. I yawned. " It's 12 pm and I'm tired already." The hyperness had left and I was tired. I sat on the couch as he looked for the moive. When he finally found it he put it on and we both relaxed. I layed my head on his shoulder. The movie began and we both watched it. I always loved that movie.

When the movie finished I yawned. "Well I loved that movie." I turned to see he had fallen asleep. "Well fuck." I said. I usually never cussed but this was one exception. I sighed. I walked over to the TV and put on Disney Channel. I sat back down thinking about last night. What happened with Elisa and Patrick? Did they get to talk? I totally caused this. Why couldn't Patrick just leave me in the orphanage and then maybe he wouldn't be fighting with Elisa, or at least as much. Last night's fight was pretty big. Did they always fight like this? Or did I cause that giant fight? Cause if they had already been fighting like that then that had nothing to do with me and maybe it wasn't all my fault. Let's just hope everything ends up well.  I watched Good Luck Charlie for 2 hours before Pete finally woke up.

He looked at me for a second confused but then he remembered. "Oh did I fall asleep? I'm sorry. " I looked at him and smiled, "It's okay. I watched TV while you were out. Never had cable before so it was pretty cool watching this show called Good Luck Charlie. Soo how was your nap?" He stretched and stood up. I stood up too. "It was all right. So wait you've never had cable before?" I shook my head. "The orphanage couldn't afford it and my Mom, " I shivered the memory of our last day together fresh in my mind, "couldn't afford it either. So yeah I've only watched it a couple of times." He stared at me for a few moments and then hugged me. "You poor child. You have missed out on so much, " he said joking. I laughed. "What do we do now?" "Let me see how much time we have left." He took out his phone and texted my Dad.

"What do we do while we wait for my Dad to reply?" He smiled while he looked at his phone. "What?" "Nothing. But how about a round of Guitar Hero?" I smiled. "Okay, but I don't know how to play." "It's okay. I'll show you. You'll learn from a pro." He set up the game and played a song and then handed it to me and showed me what do to. After an hour of playing and me failing miserably we finally decided to stop. "Yeah I can't play that ever again." Pete was still shocked. "How could you do that bad?" He whispered to himself. "I learned from the pro." I said smiling. That cheered him up and he started laughing. "How about we just play some monopoly?" I nodded and sat down next to a table and Pete went upstairs to get it. When he came back down we set up the game and I said, "I'll be the banker and you keep track of the cards." He nodded and we started playing I was first so that helped.

Just 10 minutes into the game I owned red, yellow, and green section while Pete owned all the railroads, blue, purple, and industries. "Cora I passed Go, give me $200." "But you landed on that tax thingy which says to give up 200." "FUUCCKK!" He said. I smiled and pointed at him and said, "OHH YOU SAID A BAD WORD!" He put his hand to his face and said with a smile on his face," Cora you're acting like you're five . Just don't tell Patrick I cussed in front of you, he doesn't like when I cuss in front of children. Please don't tell him." I smiled, "Okay."

~40 minutes later~

"GIVE ME THE STUPID DICE CORA!" "NO YOU CHEATED! YOU MOVED THE DICE! I SAW YOU! I HAD A 5 AND YOU MOVED IT TO A 3!" "NO I DID NOT NOW GIVE ME THE DAMN DICE!" "NEVAH!" We fought for a while, he was trying to get the dice and I was trying to keep it from him. By the end I was laying on the floor and he had had his legs on top of mine which surprisingly we heavy and didn't allow me to lift mine up.One hand was cupped up holding the dice and the other was fighting Pete's hand which was trying to get hold my right hand to open it and get the dice. "Cora you're going to have to give it to me one way or another!" "Nooo!" "Fine then I'm going to have to tickle you." "NO NO WAIT! NO!" He tickled me and I was laughing so hard that he got hold of my hand and opened it. He grabbed the dice and ran back to the living room. We ended up in the kitchen after he chased me around the house for 10 minutes. I took a deep breath and stood up running.

He was about to roll but I yelled, "WAIT!" He rolled and moved 5 spaces to get to Tennessee Avenue , the last one I needed to complete that color group. "I'M BUYING IT!" "AHHH!" He handed me the money and I glared at him all the time. "Now it's your turn," he said handing me the dice.

~another 30 minutes~

"Hey Cora Patrick said to drop you off around 7 or 8 so I'll take you home in like 1 hours okay?"I nodded too concentrated in the game. We had only 200 dollars each and we had both just passed the Go.  We now owned everything that could be owned on the board. Eveything had a hotel so you had to get ready to pay if you landed on your opponent's property. I rolled the dice carefully and I landed on my property. I sighed and looked at Pete who carefully rolled the dice saying, "Anything but 3. Anyting but 3." He got 4 and sighed in relief as he landed on reading railroad. He passed it to me and I pouted silently and rolled it. I got 3 and landed on Pete's property. "NNNOO!" "YEESS! PAY ME LOSER!" "YOU LITTLE AHHH!" I gave him all my money and I lost. We decided that we wouldn't mortage any of the property so I had lost. "You little- I can't even look at you." I turned my body and crossed my arms. I was only kidding and Pete had rubbed his money against his face. "HAHAHA I WON YOU! I WON CORA STUMP!" I put my fake angry frown as best as I could without laughing.

"Is this payback for me winning you in soccer?"I asked breaking down and laughing. "Yes, yes it is."I laughed and walked to the couch and sat. We had been sitting on the floor so my back was hurting.

"What time is it?"I asked. "6:59 pm." I yawned. "Wow it's bearly that early and I'm already tired." I laid my head on the side of the couch and almost dozed off if it wasn't for Pete who said, "Well I just texted Patrick saying that I was taking you home. You look way too tired. Time for you to sleep." I nodded and stood up. I followed Pete outside and sat in the backseat. "Pete talk to me so I don't fall asleep." Which was true. That was the most exercise I had done in a while since the orphanage so I was tired. "Okay Cora how about I tell you a story about one of the first time Fall Out Boy went on tour." "That would be nice, " I said yawning.

"So when we first started touring we got lost on our way to a small club that we were going to play at. We were really lost and we stopped to ask for directions. We stopped at a gasoline station and the man there gave us directions and we weren't far so we hit the road. While we asked the man we saw two girls who kept looking at us so we thought they were fans. But they didn't approach us and we didn't have time to talk to them so we left. We got to the club just in time and took out all the stuff , this was when we were using a van, and played. When we finished we loaded the van again and left. So we stopped at our hotel and when we were about to get out we heard someone say, 'Hi.' So we turned around and saw the two girls from the gasoline station. Of course we asked them what they were doing there and they said that they followed us to the club and while we performed they snuck into the van."

"What did you guys do?" I asked a little more awake now. "Well we were kind of flattered so we took pictures with them and signed some stuff. And that is the beautiful story of how I meet my girlfriend Jenny." I laughed. "You dated on of the girls?" "Yep. Didn't end well but yeah I did." "Oh Pete . . . " I said shaking my head. "Oh and from now on I'm your band uncle. " He said. "What?" I asked. Band Uncle? What's that?

"Well technically no one in the band is related but if someone in the band has a kid the other members are band uncles. Not technically Uncles. Just Band Uncles." "So what do Band Uncles do that's different from normal Uncles?" I asked. "Well we're more like dad's than uncles are. And babysitters. Which practicly means if Patrick can't take care of you he can drop you off with one of us as he did today." I nodded. "So did you like spending time with me today? " I asked. "Or was I annoying? Cause I was a little bit of both."  He laughed. "I loved today. You were fun. And next time we're having a water fight. It's final." I smiled. "Okay," I said as we parked in Patrick's drive way. I got out of the car with Pete and walked the little path to the door. He knocked on the door and Patrick opened the door. "DAD!" I said and hugged him. He hugged me back and I smiled remembering how safe I felt when he hugged me. My birth Dad never even got to see me much less hug me so Patrick's hugs were like a Dad's hug.

"Cora! I missed you!" He said kissing the top of my head. "I missed you too," I said softly. "Thanks for taking care of her Pete." "No problem. Just don't play Guitar Hero with her. Ever." "I learned from the best," I said sticking my tongue out at him. He sticked his tongue back out him. Patrick laughed. "Okay stop with the tongues. Bye Pete. Goodnight. " "GOODNIGHT PETE!" I said and hugged him. He hugged back and waved. We closed the door and it was just my Dad and I.

AUTHORS NOTE:

WELL I FINALLY FINISHED THIS CHAPTER!! HOPE YOU GUYS LIKED IT!! I'VE HAD A PRETTY CRAZY WEEK SO THAT'S WHY I DIDNT UPDATE SOONER! ON MONDAY I VISITED MY GREAT GRANDPA IN THE HOSPITAL AND CAME BACK AROUND 11:30 PM. ON TUESDAY I HAD TO TAKE CARE OF MY BABY COUSIN AND STAYED UP LATE TALKING TO A DUDE AND FELL ASLEEP AGAIN AROUND MIDNIGHT. THEN ON WEDNESDAY I WENT TO MY GRANDMA'S HOUSE AND CAME BACK AROUND MIDNIGHT TOO !! ON THURSDAY I TOOK A NAP TO TRY TO CATCH UP ON MY SLEEP AND HAD TO FINISH MY HOMEWORK LATER THAN USUAL SO YEAH I WORKED ON IT ALOT TODAY SO HOPE YOU GUYS LIKED IT!! VOTE COMMENT SHARE!! LOVE ALL OF YOU AND YEAH!! BYYEE!! ~(-_-)~