Does Love Still Exist?

Standing in front of the mirror in just her black cocktail dress that tied at one shoulder. She was putting the finishing touches up on her make-up and she was taking her time. As she finished, she walked into her bedroom and heard Noah crying outside the door. Letting out a long sigh, she made sure that her baby was still sleeping in the bassinet next to her bed. Walking over to the door, she opened it and saw the tears in his eyes as he reached his arms up for his mother to pick him up. Leaning down, she picked Noah up before walking back into the bedroom after closing the door behind her.

“Alright, calm down,” Katrina told her three year old, almost four year old son. “You need to tell me what is wrong before I can help you.”

“Don't leaves us.” Noah continued to cry.

“Noah Alexander Lundqvist, you are being silly. Daddy and I are going to be just out for the night and when you wake up in the morning we will be here, okay?”

“But Kris wants you heres.”

“But then who will go with Daddy?”

“Unca Marc! I go tells him!”

Noah shot off before, Katrina could say anything. More than anything, Katrina would have loved to stay home with her kids, but if she wanted to keep up the appearance that she and Hank were as happy as could be, then she had to go to the movie premiere that he had agreed to go to. Pretending to be a happy family while in the public eye. Being alone with her husband in the dark theater was not appealing to her in the least. Although she no longer could trust Hank with her heart, she did hope that it wouldn't show on her face tonight. The last thing she needed was the media prying into her marriage and her personal life, well more than they already were.

Walking over to her dresser she picked up the star shaped ear rings and placed them into her second hole in her ear. Then she picked up the diamond dangle ear rings. With a long sigh, she slipped into her white peep-toe pumps. Making sure she looked okay, Katrina walked over to where her youngest son wasn't sleeping, but just laying in the bassinet, content, she smiled at him and picked him up. “Well Kristopher, do you wanna go and see if Uncle Marc is here to see you?” she asked as she placed him on her hip. Walking over to the other side of the bed, she grabbed her clutch before heading downstairs.

“Katrina...wow....you look beautiful!”

Smiling at the man in front of her, Katrina smiled. “Thank you Marc. Are you sure that you don't mind watching the boys for the night?”

“Not at all. Noah and I are gonna camp out in his room and I'll have Kris in his bassinet and don't worry about anything, I'll check in on him.”

“Kitty you look beautiful,” hearing the voice of Henrik Lundqvist, Katrina tried not to run out of the room. “Are you ready to go?”

“Almost, where is Noah at?” Katrina asked. “I want to see him before I leave.”

“He's getting ready for the bath,” Marc said. “Don't worry, I have two younger brothers.”

“Alright, there are bottles in the fridge if Kristopher gets hungry. Noah can have a snack, there is applesauce or fruit snacks in the cupboard. Nothing chocolate or he won't go to bed. And-”

“And if anything else I need help on, I''ll text or call you. Now get going.”

With a smile on her face, Katrina kissed her son's head before handing him over to Marc Staal who was doing them a huge favor by watching them so she and Hank could go out. With one last glance at Kristopher who was in Marc's arms Katrina let her husband lead her to his SUV. The ride there was silent and awkward. This was the first time that Katrina was alone with Hank since she found out about the secret he kept from her and started to ruin their marriage.

“Will you be able to pretend to be happy during the interviews?” Hank asked.

“I shouldn't have to pretend,” Katrina said. “And if you ever ambush me into doing this again without asking I swear you will regret it.”

“I love you Kitty.”

“You love the idea of me or of who I was,” Katrina said. “But no, you are in love with Caitlin. The woman you swore to me that would never come between us again. Especially after the Olympics and after us having Noah and getting married. I guess I'm to blame. I believed you way too easily.”

“Kitty...”

Turning her head, she looked at him. “If you want to act like everything is perfect than fine, but you and I both know that is a load of shit. But for tonight, I'll play along.”

“I don't want to play this game Kitty,” Hank told her as he stopped the car. “I want us to be okay. How we used to be before-”

“Before what?” Katrina asked as she tried to hold back her tears. “Before you tore my heart out by sleeping with her?”

“It was a mistake.”

“The biggest one and the last one you'll make with my heart,” Katrina said. “I don't wanna talk about this now.”

“We need to talk about this Kitty.”

“Maybe we do,” Katrina said, “But we are about to attend a social event and now isn't the time to do this.”

Nodding his head, Hank knew his wife was right. They both got out of the car before Hank made his way over to where she was waiting to walk down the carpet with him. Taking her hand in his own, Hank noticed as she stiffened just slightly, but then she relaxed. Together they walked hand in hand down the carpet with smiles on their faces. About halfway down the carpet, the two of them were stopped by one of the reporters that were covering the premiere.

“Standing next to me is New York City's couple of the year,” the female reporter said. “How long has it been since the two of you have been able to go out?”

“A few months,” Katrina smiled. “We had to wait until we were comfortable leaving the baby with someone else.”

“And what is the newest edition to your family?”

“He's a healthy baby boy,” Hank smiled. “Kristopher Lukas is his name. His brother loves to help out unless he isn't getting enough attention from his mom and then he gets into a some trouble.”

“How do you two make it work with such active careers?”

“You have to be able to trust one another,” Katrina said putting a smile on her face, hoping it looked real. “But it takes a lot of work. But nothing that was worth fighting for ever came easy.”

“I count myself lucky,” Hank said as he wrapped his arm around Katrina as if he did it all the time. “I have a wife that I love and two healthy sons. We feel like we are truly blessed.”

“So the rumors of the two of you splitting are false?”

“There are rumors of us?” Katrina laughed. “I don't pay attention to gossip. It just ends up destroying everything and so many times it just so happens that it is false.”

“So the rumors that you two are living in separate homes is false?”

“We both live under the same roof while raising our sons.”

After the event was done and over, Katrina and Hank went home. Walking in the front door, Katrina opened up the baby gate and walked up the stairs and opened the other baby gate before looking looking into Noah's room. Seeing Noah and Marc in the middle of the floor as if they were camping was too cute for words. Taking out her phone she snapped a picture of Noah with his head on Marc's chest. Picking up a blanket,she placed it over the sleeping duo before picking up the baby monitor and walking to the door. Looking at them one more time, she turned the light off and shut the door, but leaving it open just a crack. Heading down the hall, she walked into her bedroom and saw Kristopher sound asleep in his bassinet. Pulling the fleece blanket up around his torso, Katrina ran her hand through her son's thick hair.

Turing off the baby monitors, Katrina placed the one she got out of Noah's room on her dresser as she unzipped her dress and let it fall to the floor. Sitting on the bed she slipped off her shoes before walking over to the closet and placing the shoes on the shelf. Turing around she found Hank peering down at his youngest son. “What are you doing in here?”

“I was just checking on the boys.”

“Noah is asleep with Marc in his room and Kristopher is asleep in his bed. You can go to your own room now.”

“Kitty...”

“Hank, I went out tonight with you when I would rather stay home with the kids, so please just get out of my room.”

“You never let me tell you what happened. I need to explain it.”

Walking over to her closet, she pulled on a pair of running shorts and slipped them on before putting on a New York Rangers tee on before looking over at him. “I know what happened and I don't want to hear any more of it. You promised those days were over and done with, but obviously they aren't.”

“There was history...”

“Which seems to be more important than the family you helped create. How do you sleep at night knowing what you did is making this family fall apart?”

“I know we can work this out, Kitty,” Hank told her. “Please just give me the chance to make it up to you.”

“I think that it's too late for that. I'm going to bed.”

“Kitty....”

“Do not make me start yelling and wake everyone in the house up, please.”

Nodding his head, Hank gave one last look at Kristopher before leaving the bedroom that they used to share before everything got messed up. Sliding into bed, Katrina pulled the covers up before turning to face the middle of the bed. Thinking about the last few months brought tears to her eyes and as quietly as she could, she cried herself to sleep. When she thought about how happy she had been when they got married to when Noah was born to when she found out she was pregnant again and then to the birth of Kristopher she couldn't help but feel so sad that things were no longer that way. She wanted them to be that happy again more than anything, but it just wasn't how it worked. Eventually Katrina fell asleep after crying herself to sleep. It wasn't the first time she had cried herself to sleep and it probably wouldn't be the last.

Four years ago, she was the happiest she had ever been, but now it was anything but happy. How could she be happy when she had found out that the man that she loved had slept with someone else? And when she first asked him about it Hank had denied it and she believed him. That was her mistake, she didn't push the issue any further and when she least expected it she found out he lied to her. And that was when Kristopher had only been a few weeks old. From that point on things between them were not what they once were.