Forever Connected

Sitting on the porch, she let out a sigh. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, it was her son's third birthday. It only felt like last week she had taken him home from the hospital. The time had seemed to fly by so quick. Throughout her entire pregnancy she had an up and down relationship with Jonny. It wasn't that she didn't care for him, because she did. In one sense she loved him and she would always love him, but just not in the way that she thought it would be when having a baby. Remembering that her son wasn't exactly conceived under the best circumstances, but he was still loved unconditionally and had many honorary uncles within the Chicago Blackhawks. But although she was now married and happy, she could see Jonny was only happy when on the ice or when their son was around and that brought her to be a bit sad. She wanted him to be happy, but there was nothing she could about it.

“So what time should I go and pick up the cake?”

“Mid-morning or early afternoon. I hope the boys sleep well tonight because Damon won't want to take a nap since he knows people are coming over.”

“Are you sure that you don't want to wait until Emmy comes back to have the party?” he asked taking a drink of his beer before setting it down on the ground next to where he was sitting with Jordan next to him.

“I asked her if she wanted me to postpone it and she told me no. So the party will go on. Turns out that guy she was seeing is no longer in the picture.”

“Did the boys ever meet him?” Jonathan asked, curiously.

“No,” Jordan shook her head as she took a small sip of her lemonade. “She doesn't want them to meet someone that won't be sticking around. She also mentioned that she doesn't think she wants to get married again.”

“She loved your brother a lot.”

“Since day one, you could tell they were meant to be. They were happy. I miss him a lot.” Jordan said wiping the tear away from her eye.

Talking about her brother always made her feel emotional. But lately when the emotions came on they seemed twice as bad as they normally were. Sometimes there were times when she would look at her son and see something in the way he smiled or the way he would laugh and it reminded her of the one man she was able to count on since she was a little girl. But now that she was older, she had her son who she loved more than anything and she had her husband. She loved him and at times she didn't know how she got to be so lucky to find someone that really loved her and her son.

“When will Damon be home?”

“When Travis' mom can't take all four boys any longer.”

“I don't know how you do it Jordan,” he told her running his hand through his slightly longer hair. “You know who is trust worthy and who wants the spotlight. How do you know that some parent doesn't want to be friends with Damon for the little man he is and not because of who his dad is or who you happen to be married to? I almost made such a big mistake when he was a year and a half old and ever since, I don't know if I want people around him.”

“You can't keep him bottled up forever. He can't stay our baby forever. As much as I want him to be. Sometimes its harder to figure out who is trust worthy of knowing our son and being in our lives. When he learns that some people are going to try and be friends with him because of his daddy, that's going to be hard for him.”

“He's got such a big heart and I don't want it to be broken.”

“We can't stop stop him from getting hurt by life, but when he needs someone to turn to he'll have two great guys to turn to.”

“You think he actually wants to hear it from me?”

“Jonathan Toews,” Jordan said in a shocked tone. “Where is all this self doubt coming from? Damon is your son and there will be times where he hates your guts and wants nothing to do with you.”

“You really know how to make someone feel better Jordan.”

“Let me finish,” she smiled. “But you are his father. His birth father and he knows you'll love him unconditionally and he might not want to be best friends with you, but we are going to raise him with knowing how to respect others and knowing he can always come to one of us if there is something wrong.”

“This is why you make a great mother,” Jon told her. “I wanted to ask you something. About the party.”

“Are the guys not coming?”

“No,” Jon laughed. “I think they are really looking forward to the party. Especially Burish. What I wanted to say is I think I might want to bring this girl I've been seeing.”

“Yeah?” Jordan asked, a bit surprised.

“I've been seeing her for the past couple of weeks. She knows about Damon, but hasn't met him.”

“You should bring her,” Jordan said. “You won't know if anything can work until you see how Damon interacts and feels about her.”

“I know, I just don't want her to run off,” Jon told her. “I mean I have a son and sometimes I spend nights here instead of my own place at that can be at a moment's notice. I don't want her to take that the wrong way.”

“Jon, that hasn't happened in over a year. He thought you were going to leave him because of something one of those puck bunnies said. Damon knows that you and Patrick both love him and he knows that nothing will change that.”

“Damon knows that there is one constant in his life though. You. You've been there for everything and I'm jealous of that. I missed so much over the seasons road trips. I messed up my chance with you when I found out that you were pregnant.”

“Jon, just stop. He talks to you about everything over the webcam in the computer room. You are bound to miss things, but don't worry so much. Bring this girl to the party, I'm sure Damon and I would both love to meet her,” Jordan said. “Don't go blaming yourself for our relationship not working out. It just wasn't meant to be. Although we got something great out of it."

Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, Jon hugged her to him and placed a kiss on the cheek.

Since both of their backs were to the door into the house, neither Jordan nor Jonathan saw Patrick staring at them from the kitchen. Finishing off the beer, he continued to watch them. Even after he married Jordan, he had times where he had been jealous of the relationship Jonathan had with his wife. Sure Jordan loved him, but at the time they were going through a bit of a rough patch. They had been trying to conceive a baby for a while and since she miscarried four months ago it seemed to be taking a toll on the both of them. One thing he knew was that Jordan loved him, he wondered if it was the same love she felt for Jonathan. Setting the can of beer on the counter, he tore his gaze away from his wife and the father of his step-son.

About ten minutes later, Jonathan left and Jordan took her empty can of lemonade and his empty beer can into the house. Seeing the beer can on the counter, she smiled knowing that Patrick was home. Setting the other cans by the single one on and headed up the stairs to their bedroom where he was probably taking a shower. Walking into the room, she saw he had just left his sweaty clothes on the floor. Picking them up, she tossed them into the hamper since she would have to do laundry later anyways.

“Hey, baby,” Jordan said seeing Patrick walk out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel. “Can we talk?”

“About what?” he asked walking back into the bathroom.

He had seen the smile on her face, a smile that she had all day. But he didn't know if he wanted to know what she wanted to talk about. He figured it had something to do with his team captain and he just didn't care at that moment. Making sure he didn't leave any puddles on the floor he walked back out to see Jordan separating laundry, the smile still on her face. Looking at her, he just wanted to take her into his arms and kiss her, but he didn't. “So tell me what we have to talk about.”

“How about you put your attitude in check.”

“I saw him kiss you Jordan.”

The smile on her face grew as she started laughing.

“You think this is funny? I don't go kissing other women.”

Leaving the laundry on the floor, she walked over to him and wrapped her arm around his neck before kissing him. At first it was just a peck, but when Patrick grabbed her hips, he brought her closer to him and deepened the kiss. Tightening her arms around his neck, Jordan felt his tongue seeking an entrance. And she gave it to him, oh so willingly. Sighing into the kiss, Patrick broke it when air became essential for the two of them. With her body so close to his, she could feel how turned on he was.

“What was it that you wanted to tell me?” he asked, slightly out of breath, moving one of his hands from her hips to her face and moved some hair from her eyes.

“I'm having your baby.”

The words came out of her mouth so softly, he almost thought she hadn't said anything. Looking into her eyes, he knew he heard it. They were finally pregnant. He couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face. “Your pregnant?”

Jordan nodded her head as Patrick moved her closer to him. There was only one thing that he could think of how to celebrate the best news he had heard in a long time. They hadn't been actively trying since she lost the baby before they could tell everyone that she was pregnant. Feeling the smile grow even larger as the Patrick, the love of her life, the father of the baby inside her, placed her on their bed and crawled on top of her. She let out a content sigh as she felt his lips on her neck.

Not even remembering falling asleep, Jordan rubbed her eyes as she rolled over and reached for Patrick, only to find an empty space. Sitting up, she heard screaming from downstairs. Changing into a pair of bikini styled underwear before slipping on a pair of pajama pants. Grabbing a sports bra she put it on before slipping on a Blackhawks shirt. Running a hand through her hair, she grabbed a elastic hair band and gathered her hair up into a high ponytail before gathering the dark clothes into the empty laundry basket before walking downstairs.

Instead of heading to the kitchen, she went straight to the laundry room. She started the load before she heard the cries of her nephew and the yelling of her son. With a sigh, she walked to the kitchen. “I can hear the screaming all the way upstairs. What is going on out here?”

“Dad won't let us have ice cream!” Damon cried, the tears running down his face.

“Calm down,” Jordan told her son as she walked over to him with a tissue and wiped his eyes. After a minute, she looked at her son. “Alright what did he say? Besides no ice cream?”

“I don't know.” Damon said.

“He said we had to eat all of our dinner to get any.”

Giving her older nephew a smile, Jordan looked into the brown eyes of her son. He had his father's eyes and sometimes even his serious nature. It was concerning at first, but it just showed how much he was like his father. “Is that what Dad said?”

Damon nodded his head looking down at his plate. “I don't want dis. I just wants ice cream.”

“Bud, you know that it doesn't work that way. If Dad says you have to eat all of your dinner, you eat all of it or no ice cream. Look at Joey and CT's plates. They ate their dinner and now they are waiting for you to eat yours so that you can all have ice cream together.”

“When you eat it, pretend its somethin' you likes. That's what Duncan taught us when you were out with your Daddy.” CT told him.

Picking up his green fork, Damon scooped up his peas on his spoon and closed his eyes before putting the spoon in his mouth and started to eat his food.

“Did you get a good nap?” Patrick asked kissing her softly before moving away so he could go and feed Shooter.

“Yeah, I don't know why I was so tired today,” she grinned. “I only worked with Adam.”

“Is Uncle Adam coming to my party?”

“I think Uncle Adam is more excited about your party than you are.” Patrick told him.

“That's not true!” Damon said pushing his Mickey Mouse plate away from him. “I'm done Mommy. Can we has ice cream now?”

“Ask Dad when he's done feeding Shooter. For now I need you and CT to get ready for your baths,” Jordan said noticing the time on the coffee maker. “And Joey, do you have all your homework done for the weekend?”

“No,” he admitted watching his brother and cousin run off to the bathroom. “I can do it tomorrow.”

“The party is tomorrow and your mom will be home. What do you have left?”

“Math.”

“Do you want me or Uncle Patrick to help you?” she asked.

“Can you help me Aunt Jordan?”

“Always,” Jordan said as she came around and gave him a hug. “So how about we go and set up in my office and I'll have Uncle Patrick give the two monsters a bath. Does that sound like a plan?”

“Yeah, I'll go get my school backpack.”

With a small smile, she watched her nephew head upstairs to his bedroom where he had been staying alone. He had gotten his own room while Damon and CT had wanted to share a room, so Patrick had set up sleeping bags in there so that they could pretend that they were camping. She remembered that Jonathan wanted to take Damon to his parents for a visit in the summer and she had been fine with it, but when they asked if he'd like that, he started to have a tantrum, so to solve the problem, she had suggested going camping in the backyard to try it out. It would be a few weeks before going to Canada and hopefully it would work out. Jordan had been nervous about the idea of Damon being gone without her for an extended period of time. Part of her knew that Jonathan wouldn't let anything happen to him, but part of her just didn't want him to go. Only time would tell what the summer plans would entail.

“They don't want any ice cream?” Patrick asked as he opened the back door to let Shooter go and do his business.

“They do,” Jordan said. “I'm gonna get Joey's and you can go give the little boys a bath while I help Joey with his math.”

“What kind do I give the monsters?”

“I'd prefer strawberry. They seem to like that kind. At least Damon did when Jon had some at the arena last week.”

“Where are the boys?”

“Dad! C'mon! We are naked babies and cold!”

Smiling Patrick leaned over and placed his hand over her stomach and gave her a kiss. After pulling back she smiled at him.

“I think we should tell everyone at the party,” Patrick said. When Jordan went to say something he just silenced her with another kiss. “Just think about it, okay?”

Jordan nodded her head and watched him walk towards the bathroom. “No peeing in the tub!”

She couldn't help but laugh. She knew that the culprits were her son and nephew by the giggles that followed her husband's voice. After getting some ice cream for Joey, she grabbed a spoon and put it the bowl before taking down two smaller bowls from the cabinet along with some sprinkles for the younger boys' ice cream. Grabbing Joey's bowl and a napkin, she headed upstairs.