Well Enough Alone

Eric Staal looked in the rearview mirror at the small boy sitting in the back sea. Most of his features came from his father, but his bright blue eyes were identical to his mother's. Those eyes seemed to bore into Eric's, bringing back all kinds of memories of Isabella Saunders. "Hey Dad," the small boy called out, and Eric glanced in the rearview mirror, locking eyes with his son.

"Yeah, David?" he asked him.

"Why don’t you and Mom live together?" David asked. "Everyone else's moms and dads live together. Why not mine?" he wondered aloud. Eric had always known this moment was going to come. David was now five years old, and while before he had always thought that his life was normal, now that he was entering kindergarten and making new friends, he was quickly learning that his home life wasn't the norm.

Eric had met Isabella when he was just starting to play for the Carolina Hurricanes. They were both young, and they made a lot of mistakes together. But, one thing he'd never regret doing with Isabella was making David.

Isabella and Eric were never officially a couple, nor had they ever even dated. They hung out a lot, and they had become pretty good friends. One night, near the end of his first season as a Hurricane, the two of them had gone to a party, and both of them had drank way more than either of them should have. One thing led to another, and the following morning, they woke up in a random room, both completely naked, only a few memories of the previous night between the two of them.

Neither Eric or Isabella wanted a relationship out of it, and both of them went off in their separate directions. When the NHL lockout hit, Eric had gone to Lowell, Massachusetts to play in the AHL for a year, while Isabella had stayed in North Carolina.

The following year, after the lockout was resolved, Eric came back to Raleigh, not expecting the big surprise he was in for. He had been shopping at a grocery store one random September day when he ran right into Isabella. He started to ask her how she was doing when he suddenly heard a baby crying. He looked at the grocery cart that Isabella had been pushing, and there staring up at him was a little baby boy. Eric looked back and forth between the baby and Isabella, not able to form actual words.

"Eric, this is David," Isabella said. "My son." She hadn't mentioned anything about him being Eric's son as well, and Eric hadn't asked at that moment. Deep down inside, he had always known that David was his. He could tell that the baby was less than a year old, and he knew that Isabella hadn't been with anyone at the same time she had been with him that drunken night. But, he also knew that a baby would change his entire life, something that he didn't need right now that hockey season was starting up again. So, he just smiled at Isabella when she introduced David as her son and let them go on their way.

Eric had run into Isabella once again at the end of that season, just a few days after the Hurricanes had won the Stanley Cup. She was walking along the sidewalk with David in her arms, and Eric had stopped to talk to her. He stared at the boy, who was seemingly growing up extremely fast in Eric's eyes, and he couldn't deny that the boy had a lot of the same features as himself.

Eric looked up into Isabella's eyes, and he could tell by the look on her face that the boy was indeed his son. But, he needed verbal confirmation for it to set in. "Is he…am I…is he…" Eric tried, not really sure how to verbalize what he was thinking.

"He's yours," Isabella nodded, answering Eric's unformed question. "He's your son," she said, tears forming in her eyes.

Eric wasn't sure exactly what he should do at the moment. This was his son, but he'd been absent from his life for well over a year. Did the boy know that? Did he already resent Eric because he hadn't been in his life? Had Isabella even told him anything? Or did the boy not understand anything about parents this early in his life?

"Eric, I'm not asking for anything from you," Isabella said, pulling Eric out of his thoughts. "I don't want your money. And, as far as David's concerned, you don't have to be a part of his life if you don’t want to. It's my fault for not telling you sooner. But, if you'd like, you're more than welcome to be a part of his life, too," she added, not sure how Eric was feeling right now.

"I want to be a part of his life," Eric said matter-of-factly.

"Good, I'm glad," Isabella smiled up at him.

Eric hadn't realized just how difficult it would be to be a father, though. It had been fairly easy during the summer. He had found a place near Isabella's, and she and Eric had worked out a routine where both of them spent time with David. Eric had never known he could love someone as much as he loved David, and he couldn't have been prouder to call him his son.

But, there were drawbacks to having David, as well. He and Isabella had thought it would be for the best if they didn't announce that Eric had a child, as they wanted to keep David out of the spotlight for the most part. When Eric had decided he wanted to start dating, he had found it difficult to explain to a girl why he was occupied some of the time without telling them he had a son he had to care for.

More and more often, he had stopped spending time with David, asking Isabella to watch him instead, while he went out on dates. This only got worse when the season came back around. Being a Stanley Cup Champion, Eric was starting to get hounded by all sorts of girls, and being a man, he didn’t want to turn them all down.

He wasn't in North Carolina as often as he had been in the summer, being on the road traveling to different NHL cities, so he didn't get to see David as much as before. And, now he started seeing him even less because of the ladies.

Isabella and him argued on countless occasions about him ditching David for the girls, but Eric didn't see the problem, as he still saw David from time to time. But, he hadn't been there when David had asked Isabella where his father was and why he wasn't there with him, and Isabella had had to make up some excuse, not wanting to tell David the truth.

When Eric began getting serious with one girl in particular, he started ignoring David altogether, having never revealed to his new girlfriend that he had a son. Isabella had gotten so sick of it that she threatened to move away. It hadn't been an empty threat either, as she had gotten so far as to pack up most of her and David's things.

Eric had stopped her right before she had moved to Washington, telling her that he promised to spend more time with David from now on. And, he had kept his word, but that also included telling his new girlfriend about David. She hadn't reacted well to it, and within a few weeks, the two of them had broken up, resulting in her telling anyone that would listen that Carolina Hurricanes captain Eric Staal had a secret son.

Soon enough, everyone knew, and Eric was having to explain in every interview why he had kept it a secret for so long. It was at this point in David's life that he was starting to become aware of what was going on around him, and he and Isabella were starting to get stalked by photographers, something that neither Isabella nor Eric was too happy about.

Not knowing what else to do, the two of them decided it would be best if Isabella moved away, taking David with her, and a few weeks later, she and David had decided to call Missouri home.

Since then, Eric had only gotten to see David on a few occasions, not being able to really spend time with him during the season, but trying to spend as much time as possible with him during the summer.

But, now the summer was ending, and Eric was driving David back to Isabella's, having just had him at his place for the past month. And, now David was asking all kinds of questions about Isabella and Eric's relationship. "Huh, Dad?" Eric asked, pulling him out of his trip down memory lane. "Why don't you and Mom live together? Don't you love each other?"

Eric sighed as he passed the 'Welcome to Missouri' sign, meaning they were only about ten minutes away from Isabella's house. "David, your mom and I love each other very much," Eric told him, leaving out the part about how it was more of a friendship love.

"So, are you two ever going to live together?" David asked.

"Sorry, buddy," Eric shook his head. "I don’t think that's ever going to happen, though. But, just remember that no matter what happens, your mom and I will always love you. Nothing's ever going to change that," he assured his son as he continued driving.

Ten minutes later, he was pulling into Isabella's driveway, and David quickly jumped out of the car, running to his mother who stood on the porch. "How was he?" Isabella asked Eric over David's head, as she wrapped her arms around her son.

"Great," Eric smiled, as David told them he was going to go inside and watch television. "Apparently that ride was too long and boring for him," Eric added with a laugh. As soon as David had gone inside, Eric turned to Isabella. "He asked why you and I don't live together," he told her. "Wondered if we didn't love each other."

"What'd you tell him?"

"That we did love each other, but we're never going to live together. And, that we're always going to love him no matter what," Eric answered.

"Good answer," Isabella smiled. "You're turning out to be a good father after all," she added jokingly.

"I'm trying," Eric told her.

"You're doing a good job, Eric," Isabella assured him. "It's hard. It's hard for all of us, but you're doing good. We've got a nice thing going right now, and David knows he's got two parents that love him."

"Thanks, Isabella," Eric told her as they heard David yelling for the two of them. He motioned for her to go ahead, while Eric followed her into her house, heading towards their son.