It hardly seemed like any time had passed before Pete found himself preparing. He fastened the jet-black tie carefully in front of the full-length mirror on the inside of his wardrobe door. He sighed, biting his lip to prevent tears from streaming down his face, and swallowed in an attempt to get rid of the lump in his throat. He looked over at the various cards and gifts, from friends and fans alike, and felt his bottom lip tremble dangerously. Pete grabbed his eyeliner pencil from the maple desk next to him, and took a long time staring at the wood. It was the same as the casket he had chosen for Patrick….He swallowed hard once more, and drew two thick dark lines around his brown eyes. He replaced the lid, and sniffed as he felt a small stream of tears flowing down both cheeks. He looked back at himself in the mirror, and noticed the four watery black lines that the tears had made. He dabbed his eyes gently with the back of his sleeve, trying not to smudge any of his eye make up. Pete straightened his suit up as he heard a car horn beep three times outside, and prepared to leave. He wiped his hair so that it glided smoothly over his right eye, and began making his way out of the room. He paused, taking a neatly folded sheet of paper from off of the opposite side of the cabinet. As he looked up, Pete caught sight of the calendar. The date was February 14th- Patrick’s funeral, was on Valentines Day…..

A brief nod from Andy was acknowledgement of Pete’s arrival as he got into the black car. Pete gave Joe an overly obvious fake smile as the car slowly started off on a journey Pete thought he would never have to take….Not without Patrick by his side. He reached into the right breast-pocket of his suit, pulling out the piece of paper. He bottom lip trembled again as he carefully unfolded it, a gentle metallic ‘chink’ indicating the ring Pete also had hitting the seatbelt buckle. He lifted the ring slowly to his face in shaking hands, feeling a hot tear trickle down his right cheek. ‘Why…Why Patrick?’ he thought, placing the crumpled sheet of paper onto the seat next to him so that he could examine the ring more closely. “I was going to propose the day he….he got killed…” Pete found himself saying quietly, so that Joe sat just in front of him could hear. He waited, but after receiving only a sympathetic look, resumed staring at the ring he held delicately in his hands. The dull illumination of the morning sun sparkled beautifully off of the three baguette diamonds, causing Pete’s heart to skip a beat as he temporarily saw Patrick’s hand wearing the ring. “Not that it matters now….” He whispered to himself. He could hear Joe talking to him, but nothing was really getting through to him. He was too enveloped in what could- SHOULD- have been. Patrick’s gentle, loving brown eyes twinkling as Pete got down onto one knee…. His soft voice answering, in a tender and loving whisper, the one word Pete needed to hear…..The pair of them sharing golden bands around their fingers as the kissed, now together forever…..Forever…..A tear dribbled over Pete’s trembling lips, and he bowed his head sorrowfully. He cast a glance at the speech he had prepared, and placed the ring back into his breast-pocket. Pete carefully unfolded the paper, a fresh wave of tears streaming down his face as he read those heartfelt words that Patrick would never hear….