Northern Lights

As Ava packed her bags, Patrick Kane sat on her bed watching her walk back and forth between the suitcase that was placed next to him and her closet.

"So he has cancer?" Patrick asked her carefully. He, as well as the rest of the Blackhawks team noticed a serious downfall in Ava's mood. The usually happy and cheerful girl was replaced by one who seemed to be void of all emotions, and that was scary to see. Especially in someone who had just been told their Father was dying.

"Yeah," she sighed, folding up one of her many sweaters and placing it neatly into her suitcase. "I dunno what kind though. My Mom didn't say," she said shortly as to not have her friend ask any more questions about her dying Dad.

"Oh," Patrick nodded. "Do you need any help bringing your suitcase downstairs?" He asked as Ava zipped up said suitcase and hoisted it onto the ground.

"That'd be really nice of you," she smiled, brushing her long bangs out of her eyes. Patrick smiled sadly and picked up the bag easily. Ava grabbed her coat, turned off all of her lights and followed Patrick out and into the hallway of her apartment building. The elevator ride was silent and awkward and all Patrick wanted to do was hug Ava until she was smiling like she used to smile. It pained not only him, but the rest of the team to see someone who most considered to be their little sister in such a state of depression.

"Should only be a few minutes," Ava commented as they walked out of the apartment complex and onto the cold streets of Chicago. Patrick kept the suitcase clutched in his hand as Ava stood on the other side of him, pressing up against his warm body. He wrapped his free arm around her waist and she put her head on his shoulder as they waited for her ride to pick her up to begin her trip back home.

They only waited for about five minutes before a car approached them, pulling over to the side of the road in front of them and parking. Ava watched carefully as the fading blonde haired boy got out of the truck. TJ smiled upon seeing Ava despite the circumstances.

"How was the ride?" Ava asked quietly as Patrick helped TJ put her things in the back of his truck.

"It was fine," TJ answered. "Hardly any traffic, which was nice."

Ava nodded and waited for the boys to be done so she could say good-bye to Patrick. When he had finished, the curly headed blonde walked over to his friend and wrapped her in one of the tightest hugs he could muster without hurting her. He buried his face into her strawberry hair and let his body heat transfer over to her.

"Have a good trip Av," he murmured as he pulled away. She smiled and he kissed her forehead lovingly. "I'll be a phone call away."

"Thank you," she said softly. Patrick smiled slightly and hugged her once more before she climbed into the passenger side of TJ's car. Both boys said a short good-bye to each other before TJ got into his car as well and began to leave the big city of Chicago. The drive to Grand Forks would take them about 14 and a half hours and they were going to stop and spend the night somewhere in Minnesota before starting their journey again the next morning.

They chose to drive not because either of them feared planes, but because Ava really needed time to think things out. And she couldn't think of any place better to do just that than the passenger seat of TJ's car. There was something about long car rides that Ava always found to be oddly therapeutic.

"How are you feeling?" TJ asked Ava softly, briefly glancing over at her before placing his eyes back on the road. Ava shrugged lamely, not really knowing exactly how to answer him.

"I dunno," she answered finally. "I really would rather not do this, to be honest. But what kind of person would I be if I didn't go to see my own Dad one last time before he died?"

TJ wondered whether or not Ava expected him to answer such a question. He already knew from their previous conversation she worried that she was a horrible person for not wanting to make the trip back to North Dakota, and he wasn't sure if she was still wrestling with that idea in her head. He knew she shouldn't be though, Ava was the single most caring person he had ever met, and he knew how horribly her father treated her. As far as he was concerned her feelings were normal, but he also knew she didn't feel that way as well. Deciding to keep his mouth shut for once in his life, TJ stayed silent.

And that's how most of the car ride to the hotel was. Besides some random chatter about other drivers (mostly about how they didn't know how to drive and TJ proclaiming himself to be "the only person on Earth who knows how to drive correctly"), the car was pretty much void of all sound. They arrived to their hotel at around midnight and TJ grabbed their bags and went to check in as Ava went to use the restroom. Once he got their keys Ava walked back out into the lobby and they walked off to find their room.

"This is nice," Ava nodded in approval as she walked around the small hotel room. TJ placed their bags next to the dresser and watched as Ava fell back onto her bed, eyes closed and body flat. After watching her chest rise and fall for a few moments, TJ opted to get changed for bed; he had been driving for far too long. He quickly changed and climbed into the bed next to the one Ava was lying on, fluffing his pillows and getting comfortable. He shut the light off that was over his bed and closed his eyes.

"Timmy?" Ava whispered a few seconds later. He opened his eyes once again only to see Ava curled up in the fetal position on the bed across from him. "Can I sleep with you?" She asked in a voice so pitiful and desperate he would have had to have a very cold heart to say no.

"Of course," he mumbled, sleeping begging to overtake him. Ava smiled faintly and quickly got changed in the bathroom before crawling into bed next to her best friend from college. She snuggled up close to his large body, fitting perfectly in his arms just like he remembered.

"Timmy?" She whispered again.

"Hmm?" He hummed, eyes still closed.

"Thank you," she said, her breath hitting his chest. His eyes fluttered open and he looked down at the small red head lying in his arms. She was staring straight ahead, lightly tracing the outline of the tattoo on his chest with her pointer finger. Squeezing her a little bit tighter just to let her know he cared, he smiled and kissed the top of her head lovingly.

"There's no place I'd rather be," he told her softly.

And although he wished the circumstances of them being together were different, TJ Oshie was telling the whole truth as he spoke the words to Ava.