Trust in Me

Sitting in the parking lot at the Toyota Sports Center, Michelle let out a loud sigh as she waited for Jack to leave practice. When she had been leaving her cousin's house, she found out the hard way that her battery wouldn't work. Calling Jack, she let him know what happened so that he wouldn't worry about her not coming home. It just seemed easier if she stayed the night at Dustin's place, that way Jack didn't have to come all the way to get her. She just asked him to pick her up after practice, but she should have known better because not too much longer after leaving the message for Jack he had shown up in his SUV.

“I sleep better when you are next to me,” Jack said as he wrapped his arms around his wife. “Are you mad?”

“Never.”

Hearing her phone ring, Michelle picked up the phone out of the cup holder where she had placed Jack's water bottles on his seat so she had some place to put it. Looking at the caller ID, she saw it was her office. With a sigh she accepted the call although she didn't want to.

“This is Michelle.”

“Michelle, it's Sarah,” the person on the other line said which made Michelle roll her eyes as she saw Brad Richardson come out and some of the fans flock to him. “Tiffany has been calling for over an hour and is demanding to know where you are. Are you coming in at all today?”

“Hi, Sarah,” Michelle said as she watched Brad come up to her window so she rolled the window down. “I called in and let everyone know the situation. So pass along the message to someone who is working this week. I'm off for the next two weeks.”

“Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize....”

“Thanks.”

Hanging up her phone she placed it back into the cup holders before looking at Brad.

“Hey, beautiful.”

Reaching into the car, he gave her a hug.

“Hitting on married women, what would Kenzie think?” Michelle laughed as she hugged him back.

“Knowing the two of you and all you two talk about, she'd kill me and find comfort from you.”

Michelle laughed at that. “How is she dealing with the pregnancy? Everything going good?”

“She hates how tired she's been lately,” Brad told her. “We have a doctors appointment on Friday. We heard about your car. Did Jack do something to keep you home for a bit?”

“If he did, he'll be spending time alone on the couch,” Michelle laughed. “No I just took some time off and I had to go in for a check-up the other day. I was actually babysitting at Dustin's so he and Nicole could have a date. They came home and all of us were sleeping on the couch.”

“Sounds like they wore you out as much as you wore them out,” Brad smiled as he saw Jack come out. “So next week, you two wanna do a dinner and movie or something if Kenzie isn't too tired?”

“That would be nice,” Michelle said as Jack tried to open the door only to find it locked. “Have Kenzie give me a call later in the week and we'll figure it out.”

“Great,” Brad said. “See you then.”

“Now that you are done chit chatting with Brad can you open my door?”

Grinning, Michelle hit the unlock button, but before Jack could open the door, she locked it again. “Maybe you should get a ride with Brad?”

“C'mon Chelle....”

With the roll of her eyes, she unlocked it and let him inside his SUV. Moving the water bottles onto the floor, he leaned over and kissed her. “So there is something I need to tell you, that I found out yesterday but didn't have a chance to tell you.”

“Something good I hope?” Jack asked as he noticed she wasn't heading to their house. “Where are you going?”

“I took a pregnancy test,” Michelle smiled as she stopped at the red light. “It came back positive.”

“You mean, we're gonna be parents?” Jack asked, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice. “Who else knows?”

“Dustin and Nicole,” Michelle laughed. “Go ahead and text Sidney and everyone else. I know that you've been waiting awhile to do so.”

Smirking, Jack pulled out his phone and started texting. The first one was to his best friend in Pittsburgh, he knew it was an off day for him so it wasn't like Jack was going to wake him up or anything. Then he sent the text to his teammates. Michelle didn't realize just how happy Jack would be when he found out the news that they both knew would be a life changing event. As Michelle pulled up into the parking lot, what she didn't see was the person behind her trying to get around her, until they plowed into the back of the car.

“Are you okay?” Michelle asked Jack as she held her stomach, worried before she started to feel dizzy and then she passed out.

Waking up in a hospital bed, Michelle saw Jack sitting in a chair next to her bed. When she started moving, he lifted his head and that was when she saw the look in his eyes. All she saw was sorrow and that could only mean one thing. She had lost the baby. There was no bonding with the baby as it grew inside her, it was gone. Nothing was inside her besides emptiness. After getting so excited about the fact that they were going to extend their family, Michelle only felt an emptiness inside her. Jack had texted friends and possibly family about the fact that they were going to have a baby and now they'd have to tell everyone that she had lost it.

“How are you feeling?” Jack asked softly.

“How long was I out?” Michelle asked, running a hand over her face.

“Couple of hours,” Jack told her as he took her hand into his. “Dustin has been calling every hour to check on you.”

“I lost the baby.”

“Chelle...”

“Don't sugarcoat it Jack, please. I should have just stayed at home today while you went to practice and now everyone will know that I lost the baby.”

“This isn't your fault,” Jack said as he ran his hand over her hair. Moving his hand to her eyes, he wiped the tears that managed to escape from her eyes. “The guy behind us, he's the one that is to blame.”

“Stop it Jack,” Michelle told him. “Don't put the blame on someone else when it was my fault. I should have told you last night and I should have stayed home. That's it. End of story.”

“C'mon, Chelle....”

“You have a game to play, you should go.”

“I'm not going,” Jack told her. “I'm not leaving you.”

“Please, just go.”

Nodding his head, Jack got out of his seat. “I'm gonna go get something to eat. I'll be back soon.”

Leaning down, he placed a kiss on the corner of her mouth before walking out of the private hospital room. Heading out of the hospital room, Jack took out his cell phone and called the one person that might actually be able to get through to his wife. He knew she was hurting because he was too. They had been trying and trying for his and to find out that they were finally expecting for only it to be taken away was painful. While his wife had slept, Jack had cried over the child that was taken from them, the child he would never get to see grow up. Letting out a sigh, he put the phone to his ear as he waited for the person on the other line pick up.

“Hello?”

“Michelle woke up a little bit ago.”

“How is she?”

“She's blaming everything on herself and won't listen to anything else,” Jack said. “She wants me to play tonight.”

“She's trying to give you the opportunity to leave her.”

“You know I don't want that...”

“This is how she is. Do you want me to come and see her before the game?”

“Do you have time?”

“Yeah, I do. Are you playing tonight?”

“No,” Jack said without a second thought. “I'm not leaving her.”

“Alright, I'll leave soon.”

“Thanks, man.”

“And Jack?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for taking care of her.”

Hanging up the phone and the thought of food forgotten, Jack walked back into Michelle's room. Seeing her awake, he walked over to her and took off his shoes before laying on the bed. Wrapping his arms around his wife, he didn't know what he could say or do to make her realize that this wasn't her fault, not in the least. The only thing he could do was wait until the one person who could talk sense into her.