Sequel: Run the Show

Somebody Needs You

Chapter 42

Quietly making her way across the house where Luke had grown up and where his family still lived, Katie smiled widely as she snuck up behind him and surprised him with wrapping her arms around him, placing a quick kiss on his cheek. “I love you,” she stated as he placed his hand on top of hers and looked back at her, placing a soft kiss on the tip of her nose.

“So you are happy about the surprise then I take it,” he smiled knowingly.

“Very,” she nodded against his shoulder.

It was June 7th, meaning it was a Monday but more importantly it was Katie’s 23rd birthday. And while she had accepted the fact that she would have to celebrate with her family about a week late when they headed back to Toronto and could made a stopover in London, Luke had had something else in mind.

He wanted her to celebrate it properly, and with her family around, so he’d arranged for her parents and younger siblings to fly out. They’d arrived roughly an hour or so earlier.

Sadly her older sister Kirsten and Eli couldn’t come out as their four months old daughter Lucy had a persistent ear infection and they didn’t want to risk anything by taking her on a plane.

Which Katie could totally understand, and those who did come out were more than enough. And the smile across her face told Luke just how much she appreciated his efforts and how much she enjoyed having her family around.

“Thank you,” she whispered against his smooth cheek. “You have no idea how much this really means to me.”

“I have an idea,” he smiled, turning around and wrapping his arms around her, quickly kissing her.

“How long did it take you to plan this?” she wondered as he pressed his forehead against hers. “How did you even think of this?”

“I thought of it simply cause I love you,” he shrugged, there hadn't been a particular time when he thought about it. “And I only talked to my mother once before I called your mother,” he told her. “They were all most than happy to come out here,” he smiled softly. “Besides, it gave them all a chance to meet,” he pointed out.

“True,” she nodded slightly. Their families hadn't met before and the two of them had talked a bit about it as of late. They both kind of figured that it was a probably a good idea that the grandparents-to-be, including sisters and brothers of them both, met before the baby was actually born. This did cover that base pretty well…

“And the birthday girl should probably head out to entertain her guests,” he smiled at her, quickly brushing his lips against hers as she rolled her eyes at him, but did, nonetheless, leave the room to walk out in the backyard where the two merging families were getting to know each other.

At least the adults. As far as Katie could see and hear, Brayden and Josh were out in the driveway shooting pucks or something – she had a pretty good feeling that Luke was heading that way too – and Jules and Madison had clicked the moment they met, much like Rita had guessed, and Macy sort of just tagged along with what the two older girls were doing. Which mostly consisted of them playing soccer in the large backyard or playing with dolls when they felt like really including her.

The birthday had been celebrated with a barbeque in the Schenn-backyard and Katie was happy to see that her family got along great with Luke’s, their mothers was even plotting their baby’s first birthday… They’d had dinner and a large cake out on the back porch and currently most of them – except Macy who was in bed and Madi and Jules who were inside, watching a movie – were now sitting out on the lawn around a small bonfire Brayden and Jeff had set up after dinner.

Despite the hour it was still pretty warm outside, but the fire made it much more enjoyable to be out there.

Previously having been wrapped in Luke’s arms, till he had to go answer a call from his coach anyway, Katie smiled slightly as Josh literally plunked down next to her. “You having fun?” she asked softly, sipping her very un-alcoholic drink slowly.

“Yeah,” he nodded once, a slight smile across his features. Features that he and her were the only ones of their sibling to inherit. The two of them looked like their dad whilst Kirsten and Julia got most of theirs from their mother. “Still getting over the fact that you are engaged to a Leaf and this…” he trailed off, but she knew what he meant.

He might never have said it out loud, but the two of them were close, she knew what he thought before even he did. She knew that he dreamt of being good enough to be drafted and play for a junior team, and then also for the NHL. It was pretty much every boys dream in Canada, but she had a feeling it was a bit more serious than that for him.

“Saw you and Brayden talking before,” she nodded slightly, urging him to tell her about it.

“He told me about his time in Brandon,” he revealed. “What had been hardest to deal with, what he learned about being so far away from home…” he trailed off, he wasn't eligible for the draft to the junior till the following year and he didn’t want to get his hopes up in case he just wasn't good enough.

“Just work hard and have some faith,” she told him, smiling slightly at the look that past over his face.

“You’re my sister, you have to say that,” he pointed out. “You have to think I'm good.”

“And you know me too well to even think that I would be lying to you,” she smiled widely. “I, if anyone, will tell you when you suck and should just make way for someone else,” she joked, glad to see a smile that reached his eyes as they were talking about the future. More specifically his future in the game of hockey. It was his big dream and even thinking about a possible failure was heartbreaking.

“That’s true,” he nodded knowingly. She had once told him that he played like crap and should just quit or put his mind into it when everyone else around him kept telling him that he was just experiencing some nerves and it would get better, eventually. He was eight at the time…

Though now he was happy she’d said it, it hadn't done any good that season, it actually made him play worse than before, but come the following season he’d developed into one of the better players on the team. Of course it wasn't just thanks to her, he’d done most of the work after all, but she’d been the one to teach him that it wasn't enough with talent alone, you needed to put hard work into it too.

“I don’t think I ever thanked you for that by the way,” he noted.

“Don’t remind me,” she groaned slightly, dropping her head onto his shoulder. “Mom had me grounded for a month afterwards,” she frowned at the memory; that was one of the most boring months in her entire childhood…

“And now you're going to be the mom,” he pointed out softly, glancing down at his sister’s growing stomach. He still wasn't quite used to that. He was too young to remember when his first niece had been born and Kristen had been pregnant with her, he’d been three at the time… and seeing her pregnant with Lucy during Christmas, it hadn't been as weird as it was seeing Katie. Kristen had always been the grown up to both him and Jules, she was so much older than them and Katie had kind of been the cool older sister who took them places growing up.

Of course, then she moved away and they barely saw her baring the summers’ but she still maintained a close relationship with them both, especially with him. And seeing her engaged, pregnant, about to have a baby was weird. To him she’d always been the older, cooler sister, and suddenly she was someone’s girlfriend, a future wife and mother, that was just weird. She’d had boyfriends before, but none as serious as Luke and the four previous years, before she met Luke, her boyfriends hadn't made it north across the border so they hadn’t really met any of them.

“I am,” she smiled softly, running her hand over her growing bump. “You're not too weirded out by that, right?”

“By weirded out, you mean…?” he stalled, trying to buy himself some time to find a way to answer that question besides being too honest or flat out lying.

“That it’s unbelievably strange to see your older sister turning into a mother when you just see them as cool and slightly older,” she smiled knowingly. “That’s what I felt when Kris had Anna,” she admitted.

“It’s very weird,” he nodded slightly. “I mean, I'm really happy for you too, but for me it’s just…”

“Weird,” she laughed softly.

“Yeah, weird,” he joined in her laughter. “I can’t wait to meet him or her, but you're changing too,” he pointed out. “You're not going to be able to just hop on a plane and come see us or take us on spontaneous trips.”

“True,” she nodded once. “I'm going to be a mum to this little guy or girl,” she agreed, placing her hands on her bump, “but to you and Julia, I'm still going to be Kit-Kat, the crazy girl you sometimes acknowledge as your sister,” she told him seriously.

“It’s going to change,” he insisted.

“Only if you allow it,” she disagreed. “And I'm going to have a lot more responsibility, I won’t have any do over with this, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t love spending time with you, or that I won’t go out on the ice and play hockey with you again, nor does it mean that when I'm around you I'm going to be overly responsible.”

“Thanks,” he smiled, blushing slightly as she wrapped her arms tightly around him and gave him a squeeze. “I love you and all, but I think I'm going to go with Luke on the hockey thing,” he added cheekily.

“You're so sassy,” she mock-glared at him. “But I love you too,” she kissed the top of his head just as she caught Luke’s gaze from across the terrace, sending him a soft smile, silently thanking him for bringing her family out for her birthday.