Where You Belong

The Boston Bruins were Stanley Cup Champions. Tyler Seguin was nineteen years old, had been playing in the NHL for mere months and now, as a teenager had held the Stanley Cup in his own hands.

But at the moment, he was preparing himself for holding something even more precious than he could ever imagine. Anna was only just under nine months pregnant but she had woken up at three in the morning to quick bursts of pain, contractions that were telling her body that she was almost ready to finally bring their son into the world.

“Shit, Ty.” Anna whimpered in the maternity suite, turned on her side as she curled around her giant belly. Tyler was panic-stricken. His parents and family wouldn’t be there for hours and he wasn’t sure what to do. He missed a few of the Lamaze classes and at the moment, he was really wishing he hadn’t.

“I know baby, I know.” He brushed her hair back from her face, noticing how pink her cheeks and forehead were.

“No Tyler, you don’t know, as soon as you belt up your boys and let someone give them a firm tug, then no, you don’t know.” She hissed, but didn’t push his hand away as he rested it comfortingly on her belly.

“You’re right baby, I have no idea.” He agreed, nodding and rubbing her belly as a nurse entered the suite. Turning on her back Tyler’s cheeks reddened as he looked down at Anna’s face while the nurse checked between her legs.

“You’re only half an hour out, I would say.” The nurse smiled comfortingly. “How is the pain on a scale from one to ten?” She asked, jotting a few things down on her chart.

“A seven.” She whimpered out. Tyler looked up at the nurse, expecting her to do something – anything, but she simply tinkered with the IV in Anna’s arm for a moment before writing something else on her little chart and leaving the room. “Ty?” She squeaked.

“I’m right here, babe.” He took her hands in his. “I’m right here.” He reassured. “Just try not think about it.” His eyes dodged all around her face. “Think of when this is all over and we can bring Aidan home and you can hold him in your rocking chair. You know I said I’d do all the midnight diapers for the first month, remember? So you can recover and sleep. Then my parents will come and when I get my day with the cup, we’ll give him a little bath in it. Then we can take him out in the stroller and dress him in all those funny t-shirts that Marchie bought.” He tried to relieve her stress, feeling like a million bucks when he finally got her to crack a smile.

A few weeks earlier, when Marchand finally came out of his alcohol-induced haze, he arrived at the door of the Seguin home loaded down with t-shirts he had found online for Aidan. They were covered in phrases like “I Party Naked,” “I Only Date Models,” “Older Chicks Dig Me,” and “Follow Me on Twitter”. Anna got a big kick out of them and couldn’t wait to dress little Aidan up.

“And tell me about Canada.” She insisted. They planned on taking Aidan up to Brampton and on a small tour of Toronto then up to Montreal. Anna had never been to Canada and Tyler also had ulterior motives to bringing her to Brampton as well.

“We’ll see my hometown and I can show you around, we’ll eat good food, head out to the lake and spend a day in Toronto. You’re going to love Montreal, baby, it’s so pretty, but we probably should go incognito.” He added, making her giggle as he pressed a kiss to her temple.

Regaling her with more stories of the things they could do once Aidan was born, they time passed quickly, especially when they thought of all the foods she could start eating again – as well as drinking coffee.

“Okay, time to get the baby out.” Their doctor grinned, a nurse assisting him with his sterilized gloves as he entered the room, winged by two other nurses as well. “Daddy, are you going to stay in the room?” He asked.

“Yes, he is.” Anna squeezed his hand as Tyler nervously armed himself with the Flipcam that his parents sent him in case they wouldn’t be able to make it for the birth.

“I’ll be staying.” He gritted out through a smile as one of the nurses helped him into the sterilized scrubs before they could move down to the delivery room.

The stirrups, the breathing, the panting and the noises as well as the sights were almost too much for Tyler to handle. He had no doubt that his video was going to come out shaky, but when he heard the doctor announce that he could “see a head”, he could feel his stomach drop to his feet in pure joy. A nurse with clean gloves took Tyler’s camera as the doctor asked him if he’d like to cut the chord.

Moments later, Aidan was shuffled around, cleaned off, and bundled up in a blue blanket with a little blue beanie on his bald head before being pressed into an exhausted Anna’s arms.

“He’s perfect, you were amazing.” Tyler covered Anna’s glistening forehead in kisses as she cried softly, holding their son and wondering if there was anything else quite as amazing in the world. “Thank you so much.” He whispered against her cheek, eyes closed as he looked down at Aidan whose little pink face was scrunched up in distaste. “No crying baby, no crying.” Tyler ghosted his lips over Aidan’s translucent cheek. “Thank you so much.” He kissed Anna again. “I love you so much, thank you, he’s perfect.”

“I love you, too.”

•••

“Peek a boo! Ah - peek a boo!” Tyler grinned, sitting on the couch in his childhood home. Aidan laid out on his back along Tyler’s strong thighs as he tightly gripped one of Tyler’s fingers in each of his hands. “God you’re cute.” He laughed as Aidan looked up at him with deep brown eyes identical to his father’s. It was one of the rare four hours a day that Aidan was not asleep.

“Give me that baby.” Tyler’s Mother, Jackie opened her hands up for Aidan as his little sister scooted all around the room, snapping photos of friends and family that had come to see Aidan.

“Jackie, you have to share!” Brianna soon-to-be-Lucic grinned, taking a sip of her lemonade as she rest her free hand on Milan’s knee. She had accepted his proposal a few months ago and they were planning a wedding for the following summer in hopes to go away for a real honeymoon.

“I’m gonna go check on Anna, see if she wants to eat or not.” Tyler kissed his mother’s cheek, heading upstairs to the bedroom in the home that he had bought his parents after signing his rookie contract. Knocking softly on the door, Tyler poked his head in, grinning upon seeing the portable crib beside his bed and Anna curled up under the sheets. Her hair was tossed all around his pillows with her cupid’s bow lips parted in a soft exhale.

Tip-toeing over to the bed, Tyler kneeled on the bed, he could use a nap but one of them should be up working the room even if there were so many people willing and ready to watch Aidan.

“Hey beautiful.” He smiled, kissing her cheek gently. “Are you hungry? Ma has a lot of food out there. I can make you a plate and bring it up to you.” He offered as she flipped to her other side and curled up into him. Bringing him down onto the bed beside her, she snuggled up to his chest, appreciating his all-encompassing body heat.

“Just stay here with me.” She insisted. Tyler couldn’t deny her simple request, kicking off his shoes and letting them drop to the floor as he pulled the comforter up to their shoulders while she tucked her head under his chin. “I like it here.” She whispered. “It’s so pretty and scenic.”

“Yeah it is pretty nice, huh?” He asked. “But I promise, you’re going to love Toronto and Montreal, they’re great cities.” He reassured. “We’ll stay here for another day then head down to Toronto before up to Montreal.

After a short nap, the two of them were up and out of bed as the photographer arrived. Anna disappeared back into the bathroom, touching up her hair and makeup as the keeper of the cup returned to the Seguin family home after a community outing.

Tyler grinned as he situated a fussy Aidan into the deep bowl of the cup. Tyler’s mother had knit a warm, black and yellow beanie for her first grandchild and Tyler fixed up his son’s tiny Seguin jersey before the photographer started to snap photos.

The photographer had been around all day, taking pictures of the family with the cup and some of the things they had done out in the surrounding community so that Tyler could cherish his day forever. There was also a writer from NHL.com present to take a few notes on the day happenings, a little more special that Tyler had just had his son.

“It’s unreal, really - to have my first kid and win the cup in one summer? I mean, how is next summer supposed to top this?” He laughed as the reporter asked a few low-key questions.

“Any other big plans for the summer?” The writer, Rick, asked.

“Pretty relaxed.” Tyler shrugged, though there was a pull of a smile at his pink lips. “I hear that newborn babies are a little time consuming, so we’ll be settling into trying to make a schedule and all that. Probably take in some fishing and spend some time out on the boat.” He added. “I want to be doing a lot of the baby work this summer since I’ll be gone a fair amount in the fall.”

Satisfied with his answers, Rick bid the new parents best of luck before taking some food to go.

“So, Mr. Mom, how are you settling?” Anna asked as they stole a moment to themselves in the kitchen. The photographer sneaked a photo of them together before making more rounds throughout the house.

“It’s going good, don’t you think?” He asked. “I know we’ve only been here a day but I’m already kind of anxious to get back home and settle Aidan into the nursery and showing him around Boston, too.” He shrugged. “I want to wake up, know where he is and spend some time with him in our own house.”

“That’s because you’re nesting.” Anna giggled, her cheeks pink as she fiddled with the ends of her fawn hair. “But I’m excited to travel a little before going home – the more I think about it, the more I realize how much I’m going to be home from now on.” She crinkled her nose.

“Anytime you need to get out you know you can.” Tyler frowned. “It’s not like we don’t know that Brianna would give her left arm to baby sit – same with Tammy.” He reminded. “I don’t want you to ever think you’re stuck at home.”

“I know, I know, just a little something I was thinking of.” She shrugged.

“I’d do anything to make you happy.” He whispered, fingering her hair back from her bangs and kissing her lips gently.

“You do make me happy.” She smiled. “You do.”