Finding Home

Packing up his stall in the Kings locker room, Alexander Frolov felt saddened to know that this might be the last time he stepped into this locker room where he might not be a part of the team when October rolled around. He loved living in Los Angeles and he loved playing with the Kings. When he first came to Los Angeles, not once did he think he would find himself giving his heart to a woman that he had met because of fellow teammate Jonathan Quick. She was his neighbor growing up and they were close. Once he moved up from the Monarch's and to the Kings, he asked her to come out and visit him and watch him play.

The night he had met her was when some of the guys from the team had gone to dinner with Jonathan Quick and his friend. His girlfriend was at home, not feeling well. At first he had no plans to go out with them, he was going to go home and eat and then go to bed, one look from her sparkling blue eyes and a smile on her face had sent him changing his mind. It only took him a week and a half to fall in love with her and he had realized it when they were walking hand in hand on the Santa Monica Pier.

Sitting down, he heard a woman squeal from just outside the entrance. He couldn't hear what was being said, but he knew she was out there. He was surprised that she was here, he hadn't exactly been nice to her the past week. In the whole time they had been together, he had never been as mean as he had been to her lately. He had been the one to convince her to move out to Los Angeles and into his home with him. She had given up her job for him and he treated her horribly. When he had asked her to stay in Los Angeles with him he thought that his contract with the Kings would be renewed and wouldn't enter the free agency market with uncertainty. All he could think was how bad he felt because of everything she gave up and now it might not have been worth having her give everything that she worked so hard for up.

He felt her hand on his thigh and her head on his shoulder before he turned his head and looked into the sparkling blue eyes that he showed exactly what was going through her head. “Hey,” she spoke for the first time. “How about you take the stuff to your car and take me to the pier and we go eat at Surf View Cafe.”

“Karisma,” he sighed as he moved his head to kiss her forehead. “What are you doing here?”

“Jon had to clear out his stuff and I wanted to see my boyfriend. I missed you.”

“Even when I'm a jerk?” he asked.

“I wasn't exactly the nicest person either. I was just worried. You made it sound that coming to live out here was a mistake, but I honestly do think it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.”

“You know what could happen in the next few weeks.”

“I know that there is a possibility that you could get a contract from the Kings or another team in the NHL. But when we first talked about me moving out here to be with you, we talked about what would happen if that were the case.”

“I don't remember.”

“I told you that I knew what I was doing by moving to be with you. I was doing something that I knew in my heart was right. I think that I knew then that I was in love with you. No matter what team you go to, I'm with you.”

“What if the only offer I get is from Russia?”

“We never talked about Russia and that's a very big change, but we don't need to talk about this now. How about you get your bag and we'll go to the pier and have a nice lunch and we can go back home and just be together.”

“I have been meaning to give this to you. I never knew the right time.”

“What are you-”

His lips silenced hers with a simple kiss as he handed her a fortune cookie.

“Is this from the other night? When we had take out and I wasn't feeling good?”

He nodded his head. “Open it.”

“You said they were silly and hardly ever come true.”

“Please.”

Cracking open the fortune cookie, Karisma pulled out the small piece of paper as Alexander took the cookie pieces from her. “Read it.”

She could feel the tears forming in her eyes. “My life won't be the same without you in it. Will you marry me?”

Getting off the bench he knelt in front of her and showed her the diamond ring in his hand. Her hands covered her mouth in shock. “Will you marry me?”

Nodding her head, she had a hard time forming words. She couldn't believe this was really happening to her. “Yes.”

With a smile on his face he brought her hands down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “I love you. I loved you since that first night on the pier when Quicker was trying to tell embarrassing stories about you and you were topping his stories.”

Laughing, Karisma stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck as he hugged her. His head was in the crook of her neck as he spoke in Russian. She could honestly admit that this was the best day of her life. She knew where she belonged, it had been in front of her for a long time. The only problem she had was that she hadn't realized it until recently. She was happy to know that he felt the same way.

“Hey Frolov, coach and some of the execs wanna talk with you.”

Looking up she saw her best friend growing up with a smile on his face. Sometimes things happened for a reason and she knew that things were going good for them. Letting him go, he kissed her before walking out of the locker room and hoping that what they wanted to talk about was a contract extension. He loved playing for the Kings and he wanted for him and Karisma to stay right where they were at. With luck, it was exactly where they would be staying.

She was home and that was the one thing that made all the fighting lately worth it all. They fought because they cared and he did love her as much as she loved him. Karisma hadn't felt like she had a true home since her parents split and now she knew she had one again.