Make It Back to Me

For the first time since she had started working at the paper, Phoebe took a week long paid vacation. It was the last week before the preseason started, and she wanted to spend as much time with Niklas as she could, before he’d be back on the road with his team and away from home for weeks at a time. She couldn’t believe it had been almost eight months since they’d been together, having met after he had been called up in late January before being sent down to the AHL again.

It was in March that he had been called up, officially, and had moved into Phoebe’s apartment, an arrangement that was supposed to have been temporary. But as the weeks and months went by, and the young couple fell into their routine and got so used to having the other around, neither brought up the fact Niklas was supposed to find a place of his own, and now, it wasn’t even a thought that was in either of their minds.

It was Monday and the official start to her week without work, even though she hadn’t been to work since Friday and had spent her weekend lounging around the apartment with Nik. Lounging around their apartment was exactly what they were doing again, too. It was nice for the young couple, twenty one and twenty two years old respectively, to just spend time by themselves and enjoy each other’s company.

It was only nine in the morning, and Phoebe and Niklas were still lying in bed. Their bedroom window’s curtains were wide open, letting the early morning sun light up the room as they stared outside at the skyscrapers that surrounded their tall apartment building. Phoebe ran a hand through her long, dark brown hair as she let out a small yawn before her head fell back onto Niklas’ bare chest. He pulled his girlfriend in tighter against himself and pressed a kiss to her hair before he said, simply, “I love this.”

She smiled up at him, looked into his blue eyes, and nodded her agreement before kissing him lightly. Niklas smiled into the kiss, his arms wrapping around his girlfriend’s waist as she pressed herself further into him. Before things could get too hot and heavy, Phoebe’s cell phone rang from the bedside table, causing both of them to groan as she reached for it. Seeing it was her boss, she hung her head and connected the call.

Niklas watched, feeling the disappointment creep up as Phoebe listened to her boss. He knew that when she got off the phone, she’d tell him she needed to head to the office, and even though he couldn’t be mad, he would still be bummed. She was supposed to be on vacation, after all. He watched as Phoebe sighed and let her head fall onto his stomach, her lips leaving a short kiss on his abs before she said, “I’m sorry.”

Niklas shook his head, “It’s fine. I know you have to.”

Phoebe nodded before silently climbing off the bed and heading toward her closet. After she had picked out an outfit, put it on and moved toward her vanity, she said, “It’ll only be for a few hours and I’ll be getting overtime pay for it.”

But Niklas again shook his head, moving to stand behind her as she did her makeup, “I understand completely, Pheebs. You don’t have to explain.” She smiled, mumbling a small thank you to him as he moved into the master bathroom. “Oh and babe?”

“What?”

“You don’t need any of that makeup; you know I think you’re beautiful without it.”

Niklas grinned to himself as he splashed cool water over his face, and he heard the sound of her makeup brush dropping to the surface of the vanity. He heard her heels click against the tile floor of the bathroom, and he felt her arms wrap their way around his waist.

“I love you,” She whispered into his back. Niklas turned and smiled down at her, telling her the same before she moved back into their bedroom, grabbed her purse, and called a goodbye to him as she left.

Nik spent most of his morning being lazy. He watched some TV, ate some cereal, and played around on the internet before he finally took a shower and got dressed. Walking back into the living room, he realized he had nothing to do for the day. He knew that even though Phoebe had said she’d be gone a few hours, it was more like she’d be gone the entire day and wouldn’t be back until late in the evening. Needing a distraction, he was so grateful for the text message he received from Ben, asking the young Swede if he wanted to come over and watch the White Sox game with a few of the other guys.

Shooting a quick ‘yes’ in response, he grabbed his wallet and keys before leaving the apartment. He decided to walk to Ben and Evelyn’s place, wanting to enjoy the last of the warm weather Chicago would be having. He knew that as soon as October hit, so did the chill, and Niklas wanted to savor the summer-like weather while he could.

After ten minutes and a few autographs later, he was walking into Ben and Evelyn’s place. He saw a few of the other guys (Burish, Toews, Sharp, and Bolland) already there and gathered around the TV with Ben, beers in all of their hands. Grabbing an empty seat and a beer for himself, he fell into conversation with the guys about the game that had just started, the upcoming season, and everyone’s girlfriends.

“Where’s your girl, anyway?” Burish asked Ben, noticing the lack of Evelyn in the apartment.

“She said she was laying down for a nap a few hours ago,” Ben shrugged. “She’s always tired, the poor girl.”

Everyone nodded, and as if speaking her name had summoned her, Evelyn stepped out of the master bedroom and walked toward the living room, “Ben?” She asked, stepping in front of the TV. “Do these jeans look okay? I just got them at the maternity store…”

Ben laughed, “Babe, you look great.” Looking at her outfit of the new dark wash, straight leg jeans, black gladiator sandals, and black tee shirt, he had to wonder why she looked like she was ready to go out. “Are you going somewhere?” He asked.

“Yeah, out to lunch,” She said, heading back toward the bedroom.

“Oh,” Ben said, knowing Evelyn didn’t hear him. His teammates laughed as Ben stood up and followed his wife to their bedroom, just as the door to the apartment opened again. Ben paused and looked to see Patrick Kane greeting his teammates. “I thought you said you had plans, Kaner?” Ben asked, wondering why the young forward was there to watch the game when he said he couldn’t.

“Oh, I do,” He started, smirking a bit.

“He’s picking me up for our lunch date,” Evelyn laughed, slinging her purse over her shoulder as she kissed Ben on the cheek and moved toward Patrick. She wrapped her arms around him in a quick hug, before linking their arms together. “I’m ready when you are.”

Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews let out an identical, “What the hell?” Niklas and Dave Bolland just laughed, and Adam Burish smirked and said, “Kaner… Stealing Ben’s pregnant wife; taught him well.” Ben glared at Adam before turning back to Evelyn and Patrick with raised eyebrows.

“See you, Eags,” Patrick laughed, leading Evelyn from the apartment as Ben stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face. Evelyn laughed, too, smiling up at her lunch date as they made their way to the lobby of the apartment building and then outside to his brand new Chevy Tahoe.

Evelyn shook her head as Patrick helped her climb into the passenger seat. “You need a car that’s lower to the ground. Ben, too. That Navigator has got to go.”

“Make him buy a minivan,” He laughed as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “Since he’ll be all… fatherly soon.”

Evelyn stared at Patrick with wide eyes and an amused smile on her face, “I so should!”

It was nice, for Evelyn to get to spend time with Patrick. Of all of Ben’s teammates she had gotten close with, Patrick Kane and Adam Burish were tied for the closest. Though, a lot of the closeness she shared with Adam was due to him practically kidnapping her from New York and bringing her back to Chicago. She owed him her life for that one.

Patrick, Evelyn had simply hit it off with him from the instant she had met him when Ben first introduced her to the team. Maybe it was because, as mature as she was, Evelyn was still only twenty two years old, almost twenty three, and she found her time with Patrick allowed her to be her age. Even though Evelyn wouldn’t dare change anything about her life and how she was already a wife and soon-to-be mother, it was still just nice to spend time with the twenty year old hockey superstar and be able to joke around with him.

“You know,” Patrick started once they had sat down at the café. “I was almost as broken up about you leaving as Ben was.”

Evelyn looked up from her menu to see Patrick only staring down at his, acting like he hadn’t said anything at all. Evelyn knew he didn’t want to delve into the topic further, being that he was a twenty year old guy. She only smiled and lightly pressed her foot against his leg to acknowledge his statement, just as their waitress came to the table.

To Evelyn’s amusement, the seventeen year old girl was a huge Blackhawks fan and an even bigger Patrick Kane fan. Once she had managed to actually speak, she took their drink and lunch orders before scurrying off to the back, no doubt tell all of her coworkers just who was in their restaurant.

“How do you deal with that?” Evelyn laughed, taking a sip of her water.

Patrick only shrugged, “It’s not so bad, I guess. The constant rumors are a pain, and this summer didn’t really help anything.” Evelyn nodded, mumbling a ‘you can say that again’ as Patrick glared at her. After their meal and chit-chat was done, their waitress brought the bill, her name and phone number scrawled neatly on the back. Evelyn laughed and shook her head at Patrick, who didn’t even seem phased.

“You can call me anytime,” The girl said, smiling sweetly at Patrick.

“Thanks, but my girlfriend here wouldn’t enjoy that one,” He said in response, offering his hand to Evelyn, who took it with a laugh and let him help her up. She saw the waitress’s eyes stare down at her obviously pregnant belly before swallowing hard and not even acknowledging the pair as they left.

“You can’t do that when we go out anymore, Patrick! People are going to think you’ve finally gone and knocked some poor girl up.” But Patrick only grinned and shrugged as he again helped Evelyn into his truck before running around to his side.

“I guess I should get you home before Ben has a heart attack, right?”

“Nah,” Evelyn laughed. “Take me to your apartment. I’ll do some loads of laundry for you.”

Patrick stared at Evelyn, determined she was one hundred percent serious, and broke out into a grin, “I love you.”

“Yeah, yeah, let’s go before I change my mind.”