Morning Sun

I looked down at my wife, the morning light streaming across her face. I couldn't help but smile at her. It was obvious that she was in discomfort, and she was staring at the wall straight in front of her. "Why can't this thing just come out already?" Kristina asked in an annoyed voice, pointing down at her pregnant stomach.

"That thing is our child," I said with a slight chuckle and then realized immediately that I shouldn't have said those words.

"That thing needs to come out already," she said through gritted teeth, shutting her eyes tightly as she felt another contraction. She had been in the hospital for less than a half an hour, and her contractions seemed to be getting worse and worse, and yet, the doctors kept say she was far from having the baby yet. "Goddamn it, Valtteri," she growled at me, and I knew she was angry when she used my full name instead of simply calling me Val like she normally did. "Why did you have to do this to me?" she questioned, finally opening her eyes as the contraction passed.

"Kristina," I began, but then I stopped, not really knowing what to say.

She laid her head back against the pillow, looking up at the ceiling. "I think men should have to carry the children, make them go through all the pain," she said, quickly glancing at me before returning her gaze up to the ceiling. "Seriously, men get everything easy in life. No periods, no giving birth. Tell me, exactly what hardships do you go through in life?" she asked, turning her head to stare at me.

I didn't know what exactly to say to that, and I was grateful when the doctor walked in the room, saving me from having to say anything. "Hi," Dr. Granton smiled cheerily, and I waited for Kristina to fly off the handle. "How are mother and child doing?" she asked.

"How much longer?" Kristina asked, the question coming out as something similar to a whimper. I could tell she was sick of labor already, and I braced myself for Dr. Granton's answer, knowing it wasn't going to be what Kristina wanted.

"I'm sorry Kristina," she began, and my shoulders slumped in defeat. "You're not going to be having this baby anytime soon. I suggest you just sit back and relax as best you can. Maybe try to get your mind off of things for a while?" she suggested, giving Kristina a sympathetic smile and a pat on the shoulder before she left the room.

"Get my mind off of things for a while?" Kristina questioned. "How am I supposed to do that when I keep having contractions every five minutes?"

We heard a knock on the door, and both of us turned out heads to see a few of my teammates standing outside. "Come on in," Kristina told them, smiling at them, leaving me to wonder why she was being nice to them when she was practically yelling at me. But, then I remembered that none of them had impregnated her and put her in the position she was currently in.

"How are you doing?" Jimmy Howard asked her.

"Like I want to kill Val," she said with a straight face. Fortunately, everyone knew Kristina well enough that they knew that pretty much ninety-nine percent of the things she said were sarcastic and not meant to be taken seriously.

"I'll do it for you if you want," Jonathan Ericsson told her with a smile.

"Nah," she shook her head. "Then who'd be the one that changes the diapers?" she asked with a smile, as I simply shook my head at her. "Damn it!" she cried out as another contraction came on.

"Aren't they giving you any medicine or anything?" Justin Abdelkader asked her, as Kristina bit her bottom lip, trying to prevent herself from screaming from the pain. Why she decided it was unacceptable to scream in front of the guys, but it was fine to yell at me, I have no idea, but I was kind of grateful that I was being spared for the moment.

"No," Kristina sighed. "Apparently, it's too early to give me any medicine. They're waiting until I'm more dilated," she said, and I saw a couple of the guys flinch and grimace at the last word, causing me to laugh a little bit at them. "They just keep telling me to try to keep my mind off of it. How the hell am I supposed to do that?" She looked at the guys, seemingly wanting an answer, and they all shrugged at her.

"No idea," Jonathan shook his head.

"Guys, get my mind off of it," Kristina practically begged. "Do a dance, sing a song, do something!"

"We don't dance," Jimmy said seriously.

"Or sing," Justin added.

"What good are you guys?" she asked jokingly.

"You know, I remember when you were nice to us," Jonathan smiled at her. "Back before we all knew that you and Fil were going to be together," he said, nodding his head towards me. "I liked that Kristina better than this one."

"Oh shit," Jimmy mumbled under his breath, hitting Jonathan in the arm. "Don't piss off a pregnant lady! Especially one who's in labor!"

"I was just saying," Jonathan tried to defend himself, attempting to backpedal and redeem himself. "It's not that I don’t like you now, Kristina," he tried.

"Just stop," Kristina said with a laugh. "You're digging yourself a bigger hole the more you talk," she told him.

"He's right, though," Justin agreed, and I looked at him, wondering if he was being serious right now. He couldn't possibly be agreeing with Jonathan when Kristina was likely to smack both men. "You have changed a lot. Not in a bad way," he quickly added. "It's just, I remember when you two first met," he said. "You were a lot different back then than you are now."

"I remember our first time meeting," Kristina smiled, recalling the event, while I covered my face remembering just how embarrassed I felt after that first encounter. "You came into the hospital," she began telling the story.

"Do we really have to relive that day?" I asked, looking at her. "It was awful."

"You just think it was awful because you were being a big baby that night," she laughed at me.

"I wasn't being a baby," I argued.

Kristina laughed at me. "Yeah, babe, you were."

"No, I wasn't!"

"It's probably best not to argue with her when she's about to give birth to your child," Jonathan pointed out, and I had to agree with him, but I wasn't going to let her win the battle just yet.

"I wasn't a baby that night," I added one last time, needing to get the last word in.

Kristina looked over at Justin, who was standing there with a bemused expression on his face, watching us bicker back and forth. "What do you think, Abs?" she asked him. "You were there that day. Who's side are you on?"

"I'm not choosing sides," he said, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head emphatically.

"Oh come on!" Kristina whined. "Just end this argument already. Was Val being a baby that night or not?"

"Well, that all depends on how you look at it," Justin said, still not answering her, and I could tell that Kristina was getting more and more frustrated that he wasn't just agreeing with her.

"Why don't you just tell us what happened, and then Jimmy and I will decide," Jonathan suggested.

"Okay," Kristina said, liking that idea, as she took a big breath.

"Oh no you don't," I said before she could even begin the story. "I know what you're going to try to do," I told her. "You're going to twist the story all around so that you get your point across."

"I was not going to do that!" Kristina exclaimed, wide-eyed at me, as if she was shocked that I would suggest such a thing.

"Let me tell the story," I told her.

"No!" Kristina practically yelled out. "You're going to make it seem like you came in all manly and shit, and that's not what happened."

"You said Abs was there, right?" Jimmy asked.

"Yeah, I was with Val that day," Justin nodded his head.

"Well, then why don't you just tell the story?" Jimmy suggested as if it were the most obvious thing in the entire world.

Justin looked at both Kristina and I, apparently waiting on our permission, and both of us nodded our heads. "Go ahead, Abs," I told him, knowing he knew better than to try to twist the story one way or another.