Why Should You Care Now?

Hearing the radio call for her on the ice, Jordan grabbed a towel and made her way to the entrance where the home team had come onto the ice. She had changed into a pair of sweats and a simple red shirt with the Blackhawks logo on the front. Wishing that she had a different pair of shoes on, since the ones she had on didn’t have much of a grip and her balance wasn’t great on ice without being able not to fall on her face. As she got there, the door was open and Sharp was standing there with a sad smile on his face. Grabbing his arm when he was within reach, she grabbed his arm and they slowly made their way out to where Jonathan Toews was laying on the ice with Brent Seabrook standing around along with a few members of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It was weird that Sharp hadn’t said a word at all, but she figured that was because he was still in game mode. With a sigh, she knelt down next to the ailing hockey player. “Jon, where is the pain?”

“My thigh,” he gritted out. “Is there anyone else that can do this?”

“Unless you want it to hurt more than it does I’d shut your mouth right now or I swear I’ll puke on you,” Jordan told him. “Left thigh or right?”

“Left,” Jon told her, as he looked at her. Jordan didn’t meet his eyes once as she set to work on his left thigh. But she pushed into the mussel a little hard and he bit back a yelp. “Would you be careful?”

“Maybe, I’d be more careful if you would stop squirming,” Jordan said glaring at him. “I don’t want you to hit my stomach.”

“Just because you think I got you pregnant?” he questioned her.

“I know it was you,” Jordan said digging her hand into his thigh harder than necessary. “You are the only one that I’ve slept with since moving out here. So yeah, I know who got me pregnant.”

“That’s real assuring.”

“How’s the thigh?” she asked, her tone dark and low as her eyes glared into his.

“Fine, now.”

Jordan got to her feet and looked into his drown eyes with disgust. “For someone who is held with so much regard you are a complete ass. You have not once said something nice to me; you spilled a secret when I wasn’t ready for anyone to know. It’s always about what you want. Well let me tell you something, I’m done walking on egg shells so I won’t piss you off. But I’m done.”

“You and I both know nothing will change,” he told her getting to his feet. “At least until you prove that its mine.”

Before Jordan could say anything Patrick Sharp went flying at his captain. Jumping in shock, Jordan’s face connected with Brent Seabrook’s fist as he also went after him. Holding her face, Jordan stayed down on the ice and just hoped that she wouldn’t get hit by someone’s skate. This was definitely not worth fighting over. Feeling a gloved hand on her arm, she looked to see one of the Pittsburgh Penguins looking at her. It took her a moment to realize where she recognized him from, he was Pascal Dupuis. Helping her to her feet he helped her over to the bench area where, she had him stop and she turned to see Ben Eager pulling Sharp away from Jonathan.

“Are you okay?”

Pascal’s voice broke Jordan out of her thoughts.

Looking up at him, she gave him a small smile and nodded her head. “Yeah, I think I’ll be okay. Sorry for delaying your game.”

“I think that was coming even if you didn’t come out on the ice,” he told her as he skated towards the area she had come out of. “Have a nice night.”

“Good luck with the rest of your game, Mr. Dupuis and thank you for the assistance.”

“It wasn’t a problem,” he told her as her feet came off the ice and onto the carpet. “I hope everything works out for you.”

With a nod of her head she walked away from the rink and back to the office she had left to attend to Jonathan Toews who was the root of everything that went wrong lately it seemed. Shutting the door behind her, she sat down at her desk and saw that her cell phone was lit up. Picking it up, she saw there was a text message. Going into the inbox she saw it was from Emmy. Joey wants to say good-night to you so call when you can. A small smile crept onto her face. Her family always seemed to have a way of making her forget about had happened on the ice just a short time ago. Looking at the clock on the wall, she knew he was already in bed, so she just dropped the phone into the drawer so she could continue to fill out more forms.

The nausea seemed to come and go rather quickly, although it wasn’t the first time it had. She hadn’t been needed during the rest of the game and so she stayed in her office. Time had gotten away from her. It was late and she was only now packing her bag to head home. As she left her office, she pulled her hair into a high ponytail so that it was out of her face. Remembering that she parked on the opposite side of where she normally did, Jordan made her way to the visiting side of the arena. She passed by some of the players who were walking towards the awaiting bus. They seemed to be in a good mood, so maybe they had won. Her thoughts went back to the fight Patrick and Jonathan had on the ice. Did they get thrown out or were they separated by their teammates and continue playing the game that they were getting paid to play.

Getting to her car, she unlocked it and got inside. Closing the door, she started the car and just sat there for a moment. Using her hands to rub her head, the horrible day that she had was slowly going away. The only thing that would make it all okay would be a nice long shower and a day and a half without seeing or talking about Jonathan Toews. That would make her day, but the odds of that happening were very slim. Buckling her seatbelt, she saw someone running towards her car. Knowing she should stay and see who and what it was that seemed to be ever so important. Part of her wanted to just back out and go home and fall asleep, but when she saw it was one of the new interns, she decided just to wait. Once he was close, she rolled down her window.

“Ms. Taylor,” he panted out of breath. “Someone in the Penguins organization left this for you. They insisted that you read it.”

Taking the large white envelope out of the young man’s hand she gave him a small smile. “Thanks. I appreciate it. Did they say that wanted something back tonight?”

“No, just that you should know your options, I think, I wasn’t there so I’m not sure.”

“Thanks.”

Tossing it on the passenger’s seat, she heard her phone ring. Letting out a small groan she couldn’t help, but want to pull her hair out of her head at the moment. It was like things were just happening so fast and there were no breaks. Reaching her bag she pulled out the phone from the side pocket and looked at the caller, but before she could answer the call ended. With a heavy sigh she looked back at her window and saw the guy was gone, so she rolled up her window before backing out of the parking space and heading home.

Falling asleep on the couch had not been a part of her plan for when she got home, but that’s what happened. She took a nice long and hot shower and sat on the couch and before she knew it she was fast asleep. She felt small hands and feet climbing on top of her. Cracking her eyes open she saw Joey grinning like he was just named king of the world.

“Mommy says not to wakes you,” Joey whispered loudly. “I not wake you.”

“Not at all, buddy,” Jordan said tiredly. “Is Mommy making you breakfast?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Pancakes!”

“Go tell Mommy to make some for me too, okay?”

Helping him to the floor, Jordan watched as he ran to the kitchen as fast as his feet would carry him. Taking the hair band that was on her wrist, she pulled her hair up so that it was no longer in her face. “Morning.”

Emmy looked up from the pan to see Jordan sticking her head in the fridge and pulling out the container of orange juice. Every morning when she got up in time to have breakfast with them that was what she looked for first. “You made headlines in the sports section of the paper.”

Jordan’s head snapped up and turned to look at her sister in law. Giving her a look that was pleading with her to say it was a joke. “It basically says that Jonathan Toews and massage therapist for the Blackhawks are expecting a baby. It goes on to say that you haven’t broken your short term contract with the organization, but someone mentioned that you might be getting an extension on that contract before someone swoops in and takes you away.”

“Would that be so bad?” Jordan asked.

“For your career?” Emmy asked. “Not all. For Joey, CT and me? Yeah, it would. We like having you around here.”

“I like being around here, but how can I go to work knowing that he’s there and I’m going to get treated like crap?”

“Maybe you should take a look at that stuff from the Penguins that you left on the counter last night,” Emmy suggested. “It might be something to think about.”

“Did you look at it?”

“I’ve been up for a few hours drawing up papers for a child support case,” Emmy informed her. “And it was there and I couldn’t help myself.”

“I’m taking the day off,” Jordan told her. “I’ll take CT and you can drop Joey off at day care and I’ll pick him up in the afternoon.”

“Are you sure you want to take the day off?”

“I really need to Emmy,” Jordan sighed as she sat down at the kitchen table before she saw Joey running from his room to the living room. “Slow down buddy. What’s the hurry?”

“Da phone was ringin again.”

“What phone?” Jordan asked as she watched Joey get onto a chair and sit down to wait for breakfast. Jordan could remember when it took the both adults to get him to sit down and eat; now he was doing it willingly. “I didn’t hear a phone ring.”

“It was da blue phone.”

Getting out of her seat, Jordan made her way to her bedroom and took her phone out of her bag and called up the call log on the screen. Seven missed calls, all from various Chicago Blackhawks. The one that surprised her most was the one from the one she had no interest in talking to. With a sigh, she sat on her bed and called the main office to let them know she was going to be out so everything should go straight to Mitchell. Knowing that things were in capable hands eased her mind slightly, but only just slightly.

“AUNT JORDAN! PANCAKES!”

Hearing the loud voice of her nephew scream that breakfast was ready made Jordan smile. It reminded her of things when she was growing up. She never wanted to leave the table when there was food around so she used her lungs to let people know that whatever meal it was, was ready. Small things like that made her wish that Corbin was around to give her the advice she needed oh so much. As soon as she stood up Jordan sat back down. The sick feeling was back, but now it was not going away. Rushing to the bathroom, she slammed the door shut so that no one would hear what she was doing.

Twenty minutes in the bathroom, made Jordan feel more tired than she had been. She lay down on her bed and just took deep breaths. This just sucked for her. She couldn’t believe this was truly happening to her. Not once in her life did she ever think that she would become a mother. Even after Matthew proposed, they never talked about it and now that it was here with someone that she didn’t even get along with, she realized that she had a very big decision on her hands. Being a mother wasn’t something she could take lightly.

Looking at the nightstand by her bed, she noticed it was the envelope that she was given last night. Grabbing it she slowly sat up before opening it and taking out all the contents. Taking the note out, she read it and then re-read it. It left her slightly confused. Going over to the next thing, she saw it was a contract. Jordan was taken aback by that. It would seem that the Penguins organization liked how quickly she tended to someone that needed her abilities even when they weren’t being that nice to her. The money was slightly more than what she was making. The only problem was the job was in Pittsburgh and her family lived in Chicago. It wasn’t a far flight, but she had more to think about now.

So that was why Emmy wanted her to look at it and consider it. She wanted what was best for her. But was leaving Chicago the right move? Leaving the friends that she had made in the time since working with the Blackhawks and the family she finally realized she needed. Knowing that things were set in motion and now they couldn’t be taken back. Hearing her phone go off, she picked it up and saw it was another player from the Blackhawks, Patrick Sharp to be exact, so she rejected the call. Sliding her hair tie out of her hair, she ran a hand through her hair wishing that this could be an easy decision, there were enough hard ones going around in her opinion.

Staring at the contract she heard a light tap on her bedroom door, she let out a sigh. “Just put them in the fridge, I’ll eat when I feel I can keep something down.” Jordan called out thinking it was Emmy.

The light tap came again.

With a sigh she broke her staring contest with the contract and walked up to the door. Once it was open she was a little surprised to see the person behind the door. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“We need to talk.”

“About what?”

“You, me and this whole situation.”

“Are you here to call me a liar about the fact of what you told your team?”

“I was an ass and I’m sorry,” he told her. Jordan looked into his eyes and was surprised to see the sincerity in them. “So can we talk?”

Opening the door wider so he could come in, Jordan had a feeling this was not going to be an easy conversation to have with the father of her baby, especially now that she had the option of leaving Chicago to go to Pittsburgh and work with them. There could always be a possibility of meeting someone out there, but she wasn’t concentrating on that, she had to concentrate on what was in front of her at the moment. Jonathan Toews and the contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“What’s that?” he asked, looking at the contract on her bed.

“The Pittsburgh Penguins are offering to buy out my contract with the Blackhawks and offering me a job.”

“Are you going to take it?”

“Why should you care now?”