Friendship is Another Word for Love

****Patrick’s POV*****

As Alyssa continued to sleep, I sat in the chair in her hospital room and watched her. Tonight was supposed to be a fun night together, but instead she was unconscious and I was beating myself up about letting her get hurt. How could I have not seen that guy in front of us? How did I let him get to her? These were all the questions running through my mind. Along with, will she be okay? How long will she be out?

I had sent a text to the guys telling them what happened to her and that I was worried about her. Tazer had offered to come over here and sit with me, but I just wanted to be alone with her. The doctors wouldn’t tell me what was going on since I wasn’t family. I had tried telling them that I was her boyfriend and that she had no family here, or really anywhere for that matter. But no, they still wouldn’t tell me anything and it was pissing me off. Since there was nothing else I could do, I relaxed the best I could in the uncomfortable chair and fell sleep.

The next morning I woke up and decided to go to Alyssa’s apartment. I knew she was going to freak out when she finally did wake up because she was losing time on getting Jazmynn’s room together. Before heading to her place, I stopped at mine to change and grab something that I wanted to put in Jazmynn’s room. On the way over to Alyssa’s house I called Jonathan, Patrick and Duncan to come and help me with everything. I knew Alyssa had a color picked out for the room and furniture for it as well.

Jonathan and I were painting the room while Patrick and Duncan put together the furniture, when some more guys showed up with little toys and things for the room. They stuck around and helped us with everything and three hours later we were finished and I was heading back to the hospital.

When I got there I noticed that nothing had changed. She was still unconscious and they still wouldn’t tell me anything. I sat back down in the same chair I sat in last night and did the same thing I did then too, I watched her. Nurses would come in and check her vitals and things like that and every time they would give me a sympathetic look. As the night wore on, I began to wonder if Alyssa was ever going to wake up. I couldn’t bare to think about her not ever coming back. Not seeing her smile, or being at the games cheering me on. What about Jazmynn? What would happen to her? There were so many things that would change if Alyssa never woke up. Nothing would be the same without my best friend.

STOP THAT PATRICK! I scolded myself. You cannot be thinking like that right now. You need to be strong. I put my head in my hands and did the one thing I never wanted anyone see me do, I cried. For the first time in a long time I cried for a girl that I really cared about.

****Alyssa’s POV*****

I woke up in a room with bright lights that hurt my already pounding head. I looked around the unfamiliar room and saw someone sitting in the dark corner sleeping. I groaned loudly because I couldn’t take the pain the lights were causing anymore. The sleeping figure in the corner stirred and sat up, and I tried to figure out who it was. As soon as they spoke I realized who it was.

“Alyssa.” He breathed, making his way over to me.

“Patrick, where am I? What happened?” I asked

He placed a light kiss on my lips and butterflies fluttered in my stomach and as cliché as this sounds, I’m pretty sure the heart monitor just registered the way my heart rate sped up just from that little kiss.

“You hit your head really hard the other night. You’ve been out for two days now.” He kissed me again. “I’ve been so worried.” he whispered, placing his forehead on mine.

“Pat, what happened? How did I hit my head?”

“The other night we went out for dinner and after we decided to go for a walk in the park. As we were leaving a guy tried to steal your purse and I tried to get him away from you, but as soon as I got close to you he pushed you. You hit your head on the bench and was unconscious. You have been for the past two days.”

I laid there and thought back to that night. I remember going to dinner and then the park. We sat on the bench and just talked. Patrick had asked me to be his girlfriend that night and I had said yes. He was right, as we were leaving some guy come up to us and tried to take my purse, he pushed me into the bench and that was the last thing I remember from that night.

I sighed and looked at Patrick. “Well I remember everything up until I hit my head so that must be a good thing right?” I asked.

Patrick smiled and nodded his head and kissed me again. God I could really get use to this.

“It is, I’m going to go get the doctor. Maybe we can get you out of here today.” He said walking to the door.

“I’d like that. I still have stuff to do at the house.” Patrick just nodded and walked out of the room..

Since I fell two days behind on getting everything ready by Wednesday, I was going to have to work twice as hard getting her room ready. Minutes later Patrick walked back into the room followed by the doctor.

“Ah, Miss Dawson. I’m glad to see you are awake. Mr. Kane here told me that you seem to remember everything that had happened that night. Is this correct?” He asked

I nodded before answering. “Yes. Well up until I hit my head.” I chuckled slightly.

“Well that is to be expected.” He walked around Patrick and stood on the other side of my bed. “I‘m just going to feel for bruising.” He said as he ran his hands through my hair. “So do you have any dizziness or nausea?”

“No, just a really bad headache.” I said.

He chuckled. “Well that is also to be expected.” He stepped away from my bed and smiled at me. “Well you are free to go home, but I don’t want you staying by yourself for a week or so, just to be safe. Is there a place you can stay? A friend maybe?”

Before I could even open my mouth, Patrick was answering him. “She will be staying with me.” he smiled. I went to say other wise, but Patrick sent a stern look in my direction. I sighed and continued to listen to the doctor talk.

“Well that’s wonderful.” The doctor started making his way to the door. “I will go file your discharge papers and we should have you out of here in the next couple of hours.” He smiled before shutting the door behind him.

“Patrick,” I said as soon as I was sure the doctor was gone. “I can’t stay at your place. I have so much to do at my place before Wednesday. Plus if he wants me to stay somewhere for a week, that’s when I have to get Jazmynn.” I was starting to freak out, that’s what I did when my schedule got messed with.

“Alyssa, you and Jazmynn can stay at my place for a few days, it is defiantly big enough. As for your place, there is no need to worry. The guys and I have been working on it for the past two days, because I know how you get when you fall behind.”

I smiled at mybest friend boyfriend. “Patrick you are amazing, you know that?” I asked

“I’ve been told that once or twice.” He smiled and stepped closer to my bed. When he was standing over me, still smiling, he leaned in close to me. “So.” He whispered, moving my messy hair out of my eyes. “We haven’t had our official first kiss.”

I felt my breath catch in my throat as I nodded. I cleared my throat lightly before finally being able to say something. “What do you call those other things you gave me earlier?” I asked.

“Emotions running wild.” He leaned in even closer until our lips were inches apart. I could feel his warm breath on my lips. “Alyssa, I really want to kiss you.” He whispered closing the space even more.

My breathing began to speed up and I closed my eyes waiting until our lips touched. I could sense that he was getting closer and I could feel his lips brush mine lightly, causing a shiver to pass through my body. Just as our lips were about to connect, the door flung open with a crash and we both jumped apart from each other. Patrick hissed a curse as I blushed and looked over to see who had interrupted us. Standing there with smirks on their faces were Jonathan, Adam, and Patrick.

“Finally!” Adam shouted as he walked into the room.

“You guys suck you know that?” I told them as I crossed my arms.

“We are hurt you think that Lys.” Jon said sitting in the chair. He looked between me and Patrick and smiled. “So.” He said, drawing out the ‘oh’. “What’s going on here?”

“I’m being released sometime today and I have to stay with Patrick for a week.” I said, avoiding the obvious answer.

“That’s great, but that’s not what I was talking about.” He smirked. “What I meant was, what’s going on between you two?”

Patrick looked at me and I nodded. “Alyssa is my girlfriend.” Patrick smiled.

“Finally.” Adam said again

“Yeah, what he said.” Patrick smiled

“It was only a matter of time.” Jon said.

“So I’m guessing you guys approve?” I laughed.

They all laughed and nodded their heads. We sat around my room and talked as we waited for the doctor to release me. They boys were keeping me very occupied while we waited so it didn’t seem so long. Finally a nurse came in with papers in her hand and a smile on her face.

“Miss Dawson, I have you discharge papers here. You are free to go, If you have any dizziness go to your primary doctor immediately, if you can’t get there come here.” She turned to Patrick. “Dr. Martin said that she was staying with you for a week?” She asked Patrick. When he nodded she continued her instructions. “Don’t let her sleep alone.” She said and the guys chuckled. “If you have trouble waking her up in the morning, bring her in immediately.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Patrick said.

She smiled at all of us. “Alrightly then, you guys have a good afternoon.”

As soon as she was out of the room, Adam began making fun of Patrick and I. “Yeah Patrick, don’t let Alyssa sleep alone for the week. Like that will be a problem for you.” He laughed.

“Um, Bur you do realize that I am still in the room right?’ I asked, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed.

Patrick ignored Adam’s remark as he walked over and helped me down. “I brought back something for you to change into and other things that you might need.” He said, kissing my cheek. “I put it in the bathroom for you.”

“Thank you, Patrick.” I said making my way to the bathroom.

I quickly changed out of the hospital gown and into the jeans and sweater Patrick packed for me. Also inside the bag was make-up, a hair brush, my tooth brush and toothpaste, and my sneakers. I brushed my hair and put it up in a ponytail since it was greasy from laying in bed for two days. Once that was done I brushed my teeth and put my make-up on. I stepped out of the bathroom and was ready to go. I noticed that Jonathan, Adam, and Patrick had left so it was just me and Patrick in the room.

“You ready to go?” He asked, holding out his hand.

“So ready. I just want to take a shower.” I laughed.

“Well we will stop at your place so you can grab more clothes and things for Jazmynn.”

“And I can see what you guys did? Because I’m really kinda worried.”

“Don’t be, we did everything the way you told me you were planning on doing it. We might have added some things to it, but they are all good things don’t worry.”

I nodded my head and stood in line for insurance. Once I was done that we made our way to Patrick’s car. We were on our way to my place when I remembered something.

“Hey Patrick?” I said

“What’s up Lys?” He asked, not taking his eyes off the road.

“Did the guy get my purse?”

“Oh, no he didn’t. When you fell he kind of freaked out and ran. It’s at my place.”

“Oh, thank God. I didn’t want to have to go through all the trouble with my cards and ID.” I sighed.

The rest of the ride was quiet. I was a bit nervous about what Jazmynn’s room looked like since I wasn’t there to dictate everything. I was picky when it came to things like the way a room looked, Patrick knew this, so he knew he was messing with fire if they messed anything up. We pulled up to my apartment and I noticed that there were more cars than normal in the parking lot. Patrick and I made our way to my door and I quickly unlocked it, anxious to see the room. When I open the door, I was greeted with almost the entire Blackhawks team. How they all fit in my tiny apartment was a mystery.

“What are you all doing here?” I asked them.

“We heard about what happened and we all wanted to make sure you were okay. We were going to stop by the hospital, but Kaner told us to just come here.” Dustin said

“You guys are so sweet.”

Jonathan came out from somewhere in the group of guys and walked over to me. “So.” He said draping his arm over my shoulders and leading me to Jazmynn’s room. “You need to close your eyes because we want this to be a surprise.”

I laughed and closed my eyes as Jonathan lead the way. I felt someone else come up next to me and grab my hand. I realized it was Patrick when he kissed my cheek. I knew when we reached the door, because Jon let go of me and I heard shuffling behind us as the rest of the guys joined us.

“Okay, Lys. Open your eyes.” Jon said.

Slowly I opened my eyes and I gasped. It was just what I had pictured and then some. The walls were light purple, the white dressers were together and in the correct spots, the bed was together with the guard rail and everything. The Princess and the Frog sheet set already on it. The butterfly curtains Kiara picked out were on the windows. Patrick and the other guys stayed by the door as I walked into the room and looked around some more, trying to see the added things. There were dolls and stuffed animals on the bed and there was a purple lamp sitting on the one dresser. I smiled as tears filled my eyes, they finished it for me. I turned to everyone and smiled at them.

“I hope those are happy tears.” Sharpy said a bit uneasy.

I laughed and nodded. “Yes they are. You guys are amazing. Thank you so much. You seriously saved me many hours of stressing out.”

Patrick walked over to me and kissed me. “I didn’t want you to worry. Did you see the extra things?” He asked spinning me around again.

I nodded and looked around again. I turned to thank the guys, but they were all gone. It was just Patrick and I in the room. I smiled at him and kissed him. He kissed me back as I wrapped my arms around his neck and he wrapped his around my waist. This is what our first kiss should have been. Not those little pecks here and there. This is something that I really could get use to. Kissing Patrick just felt so right, so perfect. It was almost like we were meant to be together.

When we pulled apart, we both had huge smiles on our faces.

“That.” Patrick smiled. “Was a wonderful first kiss.”

I nodded in agreement and looked around Jazmynn’s room again. “She’s going to love it.” I whispered. “Thank you again.”

“It was nothing. We actually had fun doing this. So, do you want to know who brought what?”

“Sure.” I was curious to know.

“Well the purple bear laying on the bed is from Jonathan. The purple lamp is from Sharpy and Abby. Burish picked the creepy princess doll also laying on the bed.” Patrick laughed pointing it out. “The other dolls and things are from the other guys.”

“Your team is so sweet. I now know that Jazmynn will have a ton of people looking out for her.” I smiled. I couldn’t help but realize that Patrick didn’t point out the thing he added. Of anyone would have added something to this room, it would have been him.

“Do you want to see what I brought for her?” He asked, almost like he could read my thoughts.

I nodded and bit my lip as he went into the closet I caught a glimpse of something red before he stuffed it behind his back where I couldn’t see it. He turned to face me and had that adorable smirk on his face. He slowly brought what he was hiding into my view. I smiled when I noticed the familiar red fabric and Indian head. He got her a tiny Blackhawks jersey.

“Patrick, its adorable. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a tiny jersey.” I smiled.

“I know, but I thought she needed one.” He turned it around and I saw that it was indeed a Kane jersey. “I thought we could all match at games.” He laughed,

“You are too cute sometimes, you know that?” I shook my head and took the jersey from him to hang it back up.

I looked around the room one last time before heading out to the living room with the other guys.

“So what do you think of the room?” Duncan asked, taking a sip from his beer,

“It’s beautiful, thank you guys so much. And thank you for all the dolls and things. Jazmynn’s going to love them.” I smiled

“When do we get to meet her?” Sharpy asked

“Um, I’m not sure. I want her to get comfortable with everything before I thrust her into large groups of people. She’s shy and she’s only two. Hopefully soon though.”

“You won’t be able to go out with us anymore.” Adam pouted.

“No Adam, I won’t. I’m going to be a mother now.” I smiled. “God, I love saying that.”

Everybody laughed and we continued to talk about Jazmynn and how excited I was. The guys stayed for about another two hours and then Patrick and I went to his house. The two of us had finally showered and changed into some comfy clothes when Patrick was practically bouncing off the walls.

“Patrick, what the hell is your problem?” I laughed as I brushed my freshly washed hair.

He came up behind me and hugged me. “I have a surprise for you.” He said.

“What kind of surprise? I don’t like surprises.”

“You’ll like this one, trust me.”

And so I did. I followed Patrick down the hallway and practically ran into him when he stopped at the guest room door. He gestured for me to open it, so I did slowly. I flipped the light on and gasped. The normally white room with a full size bed was gone. In it’s place was a room with light pink walls and a toddler bed. There was also a dresser in the corner and a purple ‘J’ on the wall above the bed.

“Patrick, this is too much. You didn’t have to change your guest room into a room for Jazmynn.” I said facing him.

“Yes I did. That way if you have to work at night or you spend the night, she’ll have somewhere to sleep.” He said wrapping his arms around my waist. “Alyssa, I don’t know if I had told you this, but I’m quiet excited about Jazmynn’s arrival in a few days. Seeing you happy makes me happy and I like the girl already.”

“You know, most guys would be running in the opposite direction as soon as the word kid is mentioned. You, you are running right into it with your head held high.” I smiled at him. “You are truly an amazing boyfriend. Thank you for not making me go through this completely alone because I think I would eventually go crazy.”

He caressed my cheek and looked me in the eyes. “Lys, I told you before. You weren’t going to go through this alone. That I was going to be here with you every step of the way.” He placed a sweet kiss on my lips and I melted.

How was I so lucky to have a best friend that cared deeply for me and was with me one hundred percent when I was becoming a mother? How lucky was I to be dating that said best friend?

“Let’s go to bed.” Patrick said, grabbing my hand and pulling me to his bedroom.

Patrick climbed into bed as I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. When I got out, Patrick was laying on his back already asleep. I shut the light off and climbed in next to him. Almost instantly his arms were around my waist and he was pulling me into his chest.

“Good night, Alyssa.” He said sleepily.

“Good night Patrick.” I whispered.

Not even five minutes later there were quiet snores coming from behind me. As Patrick slept, I laid there and thought about what was happening in a couple of days and how everything was going right now. I was shocked to say the least that Patrick was so ready for Jazmynn, it was almost like he wanted us to be a family. Not that I was complaining or anything, but I think it’s too early for anything like that. We have only been dating for three days now and two of those I was unconscious for. We were still in the early stages of our relationship, things could go wrong. But I didn’t want to think about that right now. Right now I just wanted to cuddle with my boyfriend and go to sleep. And so I did.