Pete's POV

It was a pretty normal day. I woke up and made some pancakes for the kiddos and Meagan was particularly fascinated with me and not mad for once - just kidding she loves me.

That is, it was a normal day until I got a call from an unwelcome number. I had caller ID, but wasn't expecting it to be her when I picked it up.

"Hello?" I asked slowly.

"Hey Pete," she said causally, like she didn't just ruin someone's life.

"Hi Elisa," I tried to sound like I wasn't about to cuss her out.

"Umm... I was wondering if you knew what Patrick was doing today?" she asked.

"I don't know," I walked into the bedroom and sat on the bed, away from the kids, "Why don't you call him and ask?"

She sighed, "I was going to, but we kinda left things on the wrong foot. It was really awkward the last time we talked."

"I guess I can ask him if he's busy. Do you have something in mind?" I questioned, hoping I could deter her from hanging out with him. I'm on bodyguard duty and high alert.

"Yeah, I was wondering if we could catch up. I'd be willing if he wanted to go see Leah," she said.

It immediately rubbed me the wrong way and the chain keeping my sanity broke. Furiously, I shouted at her over the phone, "No, don't even start this f****** nonsense. You cannot just crawl back into his life like that. That doesn't work for me and it sure as hell won't work for him. You were the one who left him. He's happy with Leah. Don't take him away from that. Don't play with him just because he's weak and not expecting it. F*** you, Elisa."

Stammering, she tried to defend herself. I felt kind of bad that I just completely cussed out a girl, but she did deserve it. No one just waltzes into Patrick's life without my approval anymore.

"... Umm... Okay. I get it. I'm going to the hospital anyways. I want to see her. If I see Patrick then I see him," she said and paused before starting up again, "God Pete, I thought you were different. I'm not trying to reel Patrick back in. I wanted to help him through this. I know you're trying to defend your friend, but you don't need to freak out on me like that. I hope I won't see you later," and then she hung up on me.

I rushed back into my phone and dialed Patrick's number. Biting my lip and rushing to get dressed, I stressed through the rings of the phone.

"Hello?" Patrick answered groggily. I must've woke him up.

"Hey bud, you with Leah?" I asked, pulling on a hoodie.

"Yeah, why?" he yawned and asked back.

"Shit..." I muttered. Now I have to get him out - which is not going to be easy.

"Could you tear away from her and head over to the studio with me? We could start recording that song you started!" I tempted him.

"Umm... okay?" Poor Patrick sounded so confused, but he agreed.

"Alright, cool," I played it off and hung up. As soon as he was gone, I fist pumped at my successful attempt. It was oddly easier than I thought.

The guy has been at Leah's side for over a full day. I'm really happy for him, that he finally found out how isolated he was from her and found his way back, but he needs more time on his own. He needs more Patrick time, doing things that Patrick likes to do. He needs time to study his little languages and demolish levels of Candy Crush™. So, I'm glad that I got him away from Elisa, but I'm also glad that I get to spend time with him.

I rushed around the house, grabbing things that I needed. My hair was a mess, so I found a hat and pulled it over my head.

Meagan was holding Saint in the hallway, watching me run from room to room. They both laughed away. I'd run past Saint and poke his cheeks. He loved it. It was a little game we played and bonded with.

On my way to the door, I snuck a kiss at Meagan telling her goodbye.

"Wait. Hold on Pete," she stopped me at the doorknob. I walked back up to her and smiled down at her.

"Where are you running off to boo?" she asks.

I laugh a little. Boo is a new one, "I'm off to the studio with Patrick. I'll be home for dinner. I promise."

"Okay," she said. I chuckle again and kiss her more fully on her lips. I pull away and she waved with Saint's hand as I walked out.

Patrick beat me to the studio. He was already working with writing in the music. I swear, when you catch this little man in the right mood, he is so productive.

We talked a lot about lyrics and perfected them in about an hour. I helped him through it, but let him explain what he wanted to say. We're calling it Centuries and I really think it's going to be a hit. I'm really excited for people to hear it.

"Do you want to make it a single?" I asked him.

He blushed insecurely, "I don't know, do you think it's good enough? I'm always wrong when picking which song should be the single. Don't listen to me."

"Are you kidding me?" I asked literally, "This song is amazing! This is so the Light 'Em Up of AB/AP."

Patrick smiled like he was generally happy, "Thanks. I'm definitely proud of it, it's just a surprise."

"We need to do more sampling in this album. It's a really good idea. Let's do this," I said and stand up. We called the boys in and recorded it individually.

We even got Lolo to sing the Suzanne Vega part in the studio, the Tom's Diner melody. It was awesome and she was so supportive of the song. It was a real confidence boost for Patrick. He was really thrilled to have her there.

We listened to the song on repeat, fixing little things as we went. It was a slow, but promising experience, completely organized by Patrick.

Andy looked at me, whispering, "When are we making this public?"

I smiled, "Do you think we're ready to do it today?"

Joe heard what we were talking about and leaned into the conversation, making sure that Patrick couldn't hear us behind the sound bar, "We are totally ready. He literally did all of the work. Leah's giving him some serious mojo."

I agreed. We approached Patrick and asked to put it up, "Hey little man?"

He removed his headphones wrapped around the bottom of his chin, "What's up?"

Andy jumped in, "Let's release it today!"

Patrick flinched like someone just swung a punch at him, "Really?"

Joe nodded, "Really. You did a lot of work today and it sounds really great. Let's put it up."

"O-Okay!" he replied. We gathered around the laptop and uploaded the song to the computer.

For another ten minutes, we watched the "loading" bar on YouTube. Putting my hand on his shoulder, I felt Patrick's little heartbeat thumping rapidly. He was so nervous and excited for this. Andy, Joe, and I were really confident that this would work. We just held the coffee that they gave us when we came in and sucked it down.

When it was at 99% done, Patrick stood up, holding his hands out, like he might ask to stop it. The rest of us stood up with him, mostly because we were confused. I looked down at it like I looked at the briefcase in the Youngblood Chronicles.

It was done. It was a done deal. We cheered and hi-fived each other. Patrick turned bright red and laughed a lot. Joe ran out of the room and came back with a bottle of champagne.

"To Fall Out Boy!" he toasted once we all had glasses, "We will last for Centuries!"

"Aye aye," I agreed.

"Amen," Patrick said and raised his glass before drinking it.

We sent the final copy of it to our manager and he promised to get it on the radio. It premiered a little later that day and we were all there to hear it. It was all over the world.

When the rest of the guys had already left, I stayed with Patrick for a little bit. We both promised not to do anymore song work without Andy or Joe. We just talked about random stuff and it was really awesome.

Eventually, he got really tired and stopped making sense. His eyes would slowly close as he was sitting.

I laughed and snapped my fingers, "You in there, bud?"

He snapped up and shook his head, "Sorry, what were we talking about?"

Chuckling, I took his hat and put it on, "You're really exhausted. We worked the crap out of you."

He smiled, "Yeah, we did."

I checked the stats while continuing to talk to him. We already hit 5,000 view in the last fifteen minutes. People left really great comments and really seemed to like it.

When I looked up to show Patrick, he was sleeping again. He was laying this time, against the arm of the couch that we were sitting on. He was all snuggled up, sleeping on his hand.

I smiled and covered him with a blanket, putting his hat on the table. I guess it's only fair that I leave him alone. It's been a crazy day, and it's almost dinner time. I promised Meagan I would be home.