Fly With You

Following a loss against the Canucks in game one, the team’s spirit was shaken, but not destroyed. Penelope sat wide awake in her bed in her and Eric’s room. Her mind not on the team, but on her parents, her still brokenhearted father and the mother she couldn’t remember, relying on pictures of the woman she looked so much like to form memories in her head, unsure of whether they were real or not. She guessed it didn’t matter. They were all she had of the woman, anyway, unaware that she really did have so much more, at least, according to her father.

At half past eleven, the entire floor—full of just Blackhawks related people—was quiet and deserted, everyone thinking over the unfortunate loss they had just suffered, no doubt. Penelope sighed as her blue eyes scanned the empty hall, looking for something to do in her opposite of tired state, and something to keep her mind from wandering to her parents' relationship and how little she really knew about it.

Her phone beeped on the nightstand between the two hotel beds, and she quickly moved to pick up the flashing device into her hands, a grin spreading across her face as she read the text message from Jamie. He couldn’t sleep and his mind was wandering just as much as hers; she assumed but about the game of course. Pulling on a red, silk robe that matched her nightgown and her slippers, she grabbed her room key and quietly slipped into the hallway.

She could see Jamie’s tall, muscular figure down the hall as she walked quickly toward him. He stood, hands in the pockets of his sweatpants, wearing a wrinkled white tee shirt and his shaggy, brown hair messy from an attempt at sleep. She smiled shyly as she approached him, biting her lip when he pulled her into a tight hug.

“Are you hungry?” he asked her as they separated.

“A little,” she answered, blushing as she looked at Jamie’s hand still wrapped firmly around hers. “Isn’t the hotel restaurant closed, though?”

“Yeah,” he told her, grinning. “But you can order room service any time,” he explained, tugging her into his room, where she saw a cart of food placed in front of the one, still made bed.

“What if I had said no?” she laughed, watching the hockey player uncover the plates and trays, revealing it seemed, a little of everything.

“I would have eaten it, I’m sure.” He winked a green eye at her, patting his stomach. Penelope laughed, sitting on the unused bed, knowing he was roommate-less for the first two games of the series, due to a minor—but serious enough—injury to keep the player grounded in Chicago until the series came back home. “I can’t believe you even answered my text,” he told her. “I thought I was the only one awake.”

“That’s what I thought, too,” she laughed. “I can never sleep when I have a lot on my mind.”

Jamie frowned as he looked over the food, his gaze glancing up to meet hers. “What’s on your mind?”

Penelope shook her head, smiling lightly as she grabbed the plate full of chicken fingers and French fries. “You have your own worries,” she told him.

“I’d like a distraction from them, actually,” he explained.

She sighed, nodding her head as she stared into Jamie’s eyes, seeing sincerity in his gaze. “I’m worried about my dad,” she said. “I mean, I have been for my whole life, but now even more. I never should have asked him to tell me about him and my mom; it’s stirring up too many memories for him.”

“Do you remember her?” Jamie asked, folding his legs underneath him as he turned to face her.

“Not really,” she whispered, mimicking his actions. She smiled lightly. “I was about a year old…” She saw Jamie nod, and she knew he understood. “No one really remembers things from when they’re that little, but I have these memories; they could be made up for all I know, but they’re what I always think about.”

“That’s good, though,” he added, his eyes hopeful, “to have something, as long as they’re happy, and they make you smile.”

“They do,” she said, smiling as she agreed with him. “I used to get so mad at her, though.” Jamie pulled together his brows in confusion as he looked at her. “For leaving us,” she finished, taking a deep breath as she felt her eyes well up with tears.

Jamie took the plate from her hands as he set down his own, reaching forward and pulling Penelope toward him and into his lap as he hugged her again. She felt stupid, crying into the shoulder of a hockey player she barely knew and had met only a week before, but she couldn’t deny his touch was comforting as her own painful memories and worries about her father came to a head and forced the release of the tears she’d been holding in.

When Jamie could tell her tears were calming down and stopping, he grinned and said, “It’s time to switch positions. You hold me while I cry about the game one loss.” Penelope pulled her head away from his shoulder as she laughed, wiping at the tears tracked down her cheeks. Jamie smiled, bringing a large hand up, his thumb gliding over the smooth skin of her face, wiping away tears she missed.

She bit her bottom lip, whispering out a thank you as she looked up into his eyes, despite being propped up on his lap still. His arm held her around the waist as they looked silently at each other, his thumb stopping mid-cheek as he continued to wipe away the moisture of her tears. His eyes darted down to her lips, only to quickly jump back up to her eyes.

She smiled at him, slightly lifting her head as he pressed his lips against hers softly, his hand cupping the side of her face as she grabbed him at his sides. His lips were soft and gentle against her own as she leaned against him, lost in the kiss and his hold on her.

When he pulled away, he kept his hold on her as he looked at her. Pressing a quick kiss against her lips again, he shifted their bodies back toward the trays of food, surprising Penelope when he kept her in his lap, his arm wrapped around her waist. Happy with her new position, she tugged the plate of food back to her as Jamie flipped on the television, a comfortable silence falling over them as they ate their late night meal, a silent agreement of their mutual feelings for each other hanging in the room.

-

Jonathan ran a hand through his hair as he looked down at Eric Burish’s worried face. “You’re sure she didn’t say she was going anywhere?” he asked again, even though he knew his daughter wouldn’t plan ahead on a midnight trip out of the hotel room. Adam sighed from next to him as he glanced between his worried son and worried friend.

“I’m sure she’ll turn up. She probably couldn’t sleep and went roaming the hotel.”

“I know,” Jonathan agreed. “But why isn’t she answering her phone?” he asked, almost desperately as a few members of the coaching staff came walking down the hall, shaking their heads and silently telling the man they hadn’t seen his daughter.

“I woke up and she was gone,” Eric said again, almost as if repeating it would help in some way. Adam clapped a hand on his teenage son’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze as he told him his friend’s disappearance was not his fault.

Looking at his watch, Jonathan groaned as the time hit two AM. He stood in the hallway, still, his eyes darting left and right every few seconds, willing his daughter to show up, a bag of chips in her hands and confused as to what everyone was so worried about. When she didn’t show up, Jonathan would stare at the open door of her and Eric’s hotel room, glaring at the darkness and the absence of his baby girl.

“Oh shit,” Adam said from beside him, letting out a low whistle a second later. Jonathan’s head snapped up, his brown eyes narrowing as he watched Penelope walking down the hallway, Jamie Barnett at her side, their fingers intertwined.

“Dad?” she started. “What’s going on?”

“This is your search party,” Adam laughed, shrugging his shoulders, making the young girl’s eyes widen. “Eric kind of freaked out when he woke up to find you missing.”

“I wasn’t missing,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I couldn’t sleep, and,” she glanced at Jamie. “I ran into him when I was walking around,” she told them, bending the truth just slightly, sure her dad wouldn’t like that she purposely left her room to meet the young hockey player.

Jonathan’s eyes stayed narrowed. “And your phone?”

She smiled sheepishly, pulling the flashing device from her pocket. “I guess I put it on silent,” she explained. Everyone laughed, voicing their happiness for her safe return, everyone heading back to their own rooms with a call of a good night’s sleep. Penelope glanced at Jamie again, who winced and scratched the back of his neck as her dad glared at him.

“I’m sorry, sir. I should have brought her back way earlier.”

Before Jonathan could say anything, Adam smiled, “No harm done, Barnett. She was safe and sound the whole time, so there’s really nothing to worry about, right Jonny?” He smiled at his former teammate, nudging him when he said or did nothing. Jonathan sighed, nodding his head slightly as he walked back into their bedroom, Eric following their lead and went into the one he shared with Penelope. Adam grinned. “I’d come talk to him when you’re done saying goodnight to Jamie,” he warned, shooting her a wink before he followed Jonathan into their room.

“He hates me,” Jamie laughed, watching as Penelope leaned her back against the wall of the hallway, just outside her dad’s room. She laughed and nodded a bit as he closed the gap between them, his hands resting on the wall beside her head, bracing his muscular arms on the sides of her. “I had fun with you, though.”

“Me, too,” she agreed.

“Who knows when we’ll be able to again; your dad’s going to keep you locked up like Rapunzel.”

“Good thing I have long, blond hair, then?” she asked with a laugh. Jamie smiled and kissed her quickly, grabbing her hand in his and giving it a light squeeze before he whispered goodnight and headed back to his room.

Penelope sighed and smiled before she glanced at the open door of her father’s room. Hanging her head, she slowly walked in, smiling lightly at her dad who sat on his bed, a hard look on his face. “Dad,” she started. “I’m sorry I didn’t leave a note for Eric, or something, but he was passed out, and I had no idea he’d go waking everyone up.”

“I know,” Jonathan sighed, wrapping his arms around his daughter as she sat next to him. “We were just worried when you didn’t pick up your phone.”

“I’m sorry,” she laughed. “I was pigging out on room service.”

“Room service?” Jonathan asked, raising an eyebrow, watching his daughter’s eyes widen. “You were in Jamie’s room with him?”

“Ah shit,” Penelope winced, watching her father’s jaw clench. “We were just eating and watching TV, dad!” she defended.

A warning look from Adam made Jonathan check his emotions before he responded to his daughter. He took a deep breath, his brown eyes softening as he looked at her worried face. “I trust you, Nel, and I trust your judgment, too. Just, remember what I said when you met him. Be careful, and Nelly, take things slow. You just met him a week ago.”

“Wasn’t mom living at your place a week after you met her?” she laughed, wanting to push her father’s buttons.

“Your mother was as good as homeless,” he laughed. “And besides, I was afraid if I didn’t keep an eye on her, I’d never see her again. I don’t think Jamie has that problem.”

“I definitely want to see him again,” she agreed. “And besides, you’re stuck with me, so I’m pretty easy to find, anyway. Wherever you, I am too.”

Jonathan smiled again, wrapping his arms around his daughter, glad she seemed, at least in one aspect, completely different from her mother.