Does Love Still Exist?

Flying had never been a problem for her, but then again, she had never flown for over twenty four hours with two restless kids and her husband. She had flown with Hank before, but when you added their two restless sons, it just wasn't as easy as other people made it seem. But when they touched down in Stockholm, Katrina had never been happier to get out of the plane. It was a small stop that they had decided on before they would head to see Hank's side of the family.

Holding a sleeping Kristopher in her arms, Katrina watched as Hank gathered the bags from the overhead compartment. “Noah, the seats are for sitting, not for jumping.”

Looking at his mother, he stopped jumping and sat down. “Can we go home now?”

“I thought you wanted to go to Sweden?”

“I wanna play with Uncle Marc.” Noah said.

“How about you spend some time with Mommy and me and then we'll go visit my brother and you can play with him.”

“Uncle Joel?” Noah asked.

“Are you ready?” Katrina asked, looking at Hank. “I need to get off the plane and into a bed and sleep for the next few hours.”

Leaning over to where his wife was standing, obviously exhausted, he kissed her softly as he adjusted the bags before nodding to her to head off the plane. Taking his son Noah's hand, they followed her to the baggage claim. After getting their checked bags along with Noah's booster seat and Kristopher's carseat, the family made it to the rental car place. With some help they were thankful when they had some assistance in getting to the car. Allowing the worker to put the luggage in the trunk of the car, Hank went to one side of the car and started putting in the carseat while Katrina put Noah's booster seat in and allowed him to buckle himself.

Walking around the other side of the car, Katrina saw Hank tip the worker. She smiled as she placed Kristopher into his seat. Buckling him in and adjusting the straps, she stood up and closed the door. Feeling Hank's hands on her hips, she turned and smiled at him. “That was the longest flight of my life.”

Letting out a small laugh, he turned his wife around and kissed her. “It wasn't so bad. Noah did pretty well. Kristopher is still young.”

“I was talking about you,” Katrina said with a grin. “You were so antsy the whole trip. If I didn't know any better I would think that you didn't tell your family that we are coming.”

“Then it's a good thing that you know better.”

“Henrik Lundqvist,” she said. “Did you or did you not tell your family that we are going to be visiting?”

“I know they have nothing planned,” Hank smiled at her. “I thought that this would be a nice surprise for them.”

Shaking her head tiredly, she leaned up and kissed him. “I hope you're right. If you aren't, it'll be your head that your family takes off.”

“Ready to get checked into the hotel?”

“You are driving. This your time to be tour guide.”

Nodding his head, he kissed her one more time before she walked to the other side of the car. As she buckled her seat, she saw Hank messing with the GPS before turning around and saw that both the boys were fast asleep in their seats.

“Everyday Noah gets older it reminds me that I'm lucky that you were stubborn enough to chase after me.”

“Especially when you were carrying him?”

“Yeah,” Katrina said. “I love them both so much Hank. I can't imagine my life without them.”

“I know what you mean.”

“My contract is coming up Hank,” Katrina said. “I've been out with a concussion for this whole season. The team has the right not to sign me.”

“What do you think about that?”

“I could end up anywhere. Shannon wants me to come back to California with the boys, but if I really think about it, California hasn't been home for me in awhile.”

“Where is home?” Hank asked, stopping at a light.

“New York,” she smiled. “With you.”

“You could retire and spend time with the boys.”

“Like I have been doing lately?”

“Would it be so bad?” Hank asked. “It would mean that no matter what the boys would have someone at home with them.”

“I feel restless at times,” Katrina admitted. “I don't like staying home all day.”

“So we'll have to talk about that after your head has more time to heal.”

“We should enjoy our time here and just relax.”

“As a family.”

“Yes, which means I'm going to sleep in and you can take care of the boys.”

Laughing, Hank navigated the way to the hotel. Once they were there, Hank checked them in and while Katrina got the little ones ready for bed, Hank brought in the luggage. After getting Noah into the shower and dressed into his pajamas, she left him with his father to deal with. Kristopher had woken up when they got to the hotel, so Hank had carried him up. Katrina gave him a quick bath before getting his pajamas on. Emerging from the bathroom, she saw that there was no pack and play for Kristopher to sleep in.

The week in Stockholm went by relatively fast and before they knew it, they were checking out of the hotel and heading off to see Hank's family. Back when Noah was a newborn, she and Hank had planned to come and see his family and introduce Noah to them, but she had gotten sick and Hank wasn't about to take Noah away from her and fly to another country. And by the time she was up for travel, the Rangers were beginning training camp.

So not only was this the first time that her kids were meeting Hank's parents, but it was the first time she was meeting them as well. Thankfully, Hank's twin brother Joel would be there. Joel had always been so nice and kind to her when he had come to visit them before Noah was born and then they had just put it off until recently when Hank brought up the idea of going to Sweden.

“Are you ready to meet my parents?” Hank asked pulling up in front of the house his parents were living in.

“I guess this is a visit that is long overdue, isn't it?”

“I suppose that it is.”

Getting out of the rental car, Katrina opened the back door and grabbed her purse and the tote bag that had extra clothes and stuff for the kids before getting Kristopher out of his carseat. Setting him on her hip she closed the door and went around to open the other door and helped Noah out of the car. Looking up at the front door, she saw Hank wrap his arms around an older woman who she assumed was his mother, Eva. The sheer look of surprise to see him made Katrina smile.

With Noah's hand in hers and Kristopher on her hip, she closed the door of the car and walked over to where Hank was hugging his mother. Letting go of Noah's hand, he hid behind her leg as he watched his father hug a woman he didn't know. When he released his mother, Katrina motioned for him to lock the car before he took the tote from her.

“Kitty, this is my mother Eva. Mom, this is Katrina, my wife.”

With a small smile on her face, Katrina looked at the woman who couldn't stop smiling until she looked at her. “It's nice to meet you Eva.”

Eva pulled Kitty into a hug. In her ear she whispered. "So you're the one that's been keeping my boy from me all this time."

Stunned into silence, Kitty said nothing.

"She's beautiful," Hank's mother replied with a chilly tone. "I see what you see in her."

The rest of the words she spoke were Swedish, nothing Kitty could understand, but the tone gave away her clear displeasure.

"Mother!" Hank snapped. "Let's keep it in English. Kitty is my wife and I don't want to exclude her."

Eva bent down and picked up Noah, who was standing next to his mother. She rubbed his little pink cheeks. "She did give me these beautiful grandchildren."

Noah struggled against the hold the woman he didn't know had on him and reached for his dad. Reaching for his son, he looked at the look on his mother's face. “He doesn't like to be held by people that he doesn't know.”

“He should have known me since he was born.”

“Let's not get into this,” Hank said. “Please.”

“How about we go inside? I'm sure Joel will be happy to see you.”

Most of the afternoon was spent with Hank's twin brother, Joel and his wife Amanda along with Hank's parents. It had been awhile since Katrina had actually seen Joel, but she was glad to have him there and his wife Amanda was a total sweetheart.

“Isn't your season still going on Katrina?” Joel asked he and Noah were putting together a puzzle on the floor.

“It is,” she said nodding her head. “I haven't been cleared to play.”

“What do you mean?” Amanda asked as she held Kristopher as he slept in her arms.

“Kitty has a concussion.”

Katrina looked away before Hank could see the tears in her eyes. Each and everyday that she wasn't playing was getting harder and harder on her. All she wanted right now was to be able to play soccer again, but in reality she didn't know when that would be.

“So if you were still playing,” Hank's mother said. “Neither of you would be here?”

Katrina didn't know exactly what to say to something like that. It was true, if she weren't hurt they probably wouldn't be in Sweden and she didn't know if they would have worked things out for the sake of their marriage.

“Well Kitty's season starts and finishes at a different time than the Rangers do,” Hank said. “And I wouldn't take the boys away from her while she was in season.”

“Would it be that bad?” his mother asked. “A few weeks or a month without the kids there wouldn't be the end of the world.”

"You're right, we've kept the boys from you for too long."

Hank looked at his wife knowing that she didn't want to cause an argument, so he didn't say anything about the matter. “At least we are here now and you are getting to know them.”

“And we could also maybe look into visits in the summer,” Katrina suggested. “That way the boys will get to know you better.”

“So I was thinking,” Joel said looking up from the puzzle that he and Noah were still putting together. “Tomorrow we should go out on the boat. Have the boys ever been out to sea before?”

“No,” Katrina said shaking her head. “They haven't.”

“Good,” Joel said smiling. “It'll be a great adventure.”

“I'm going to have to decline the offer,” Eva said. “I think your father and I have plans tomorrow.”

“That's too bad,” Amanda, Joel's wife said. “I guess we should have mentioned it sooner.”

“Yes,” Eva said. “That would have been better.”

After spending the rest of the evening with Hank's family and then having dinner with them, Katrina just wanted to get out of there and get some sleep at their hotel. So after agreeing on a time to go out on the boat, Hank and Katrina packed the boys up into the rental car and headed back to the hotel. Noah and Kristopher were asleep by the time they pulled up.

Getting out of the car, Katrina grabbed her purse and shut her door before opening the back door and taking Noah out of his booster seat. Holding onto him, she closed the door with her hip as she watched Hank grab the bag of their things as well as a sleeping Kristopher. Together, they made their way to the elevator and then to the room.

Once inside the room, they got the boys ready for bed as quietly and as quickly as they could. Once the boys were sleeping in the beds, Katrina went about to get herself ready for bed as well.

“Hey Kitty?”

“Yeah?” she asked, not looking up from her suitcase that she was looking through.

“Did you have a good day?”

“It was nice seeing Joel again and talking to Amanda face to face instead of just emails.”

“What about my mother?”

“I can tell she loves you,” Katrina said as she stood up with a pair of pajama pants and a shirt in her hands. “She loves you very much.”

“But what did you think of her?”

“Hank, I love you and nothing will change that,” Katrina said. “But your mother doesn't like me.”

"It's not you she doesn't like Kitty. She doesn't like that I stayed away so long, that she hasn't met the boys. Those things are my fault, but she's taking them out on you. God, I'm sorry for that, but she'll come around. I promise she will. She'll see that we belong together."

Walking over to where he was sitting on the edge of the bed he would be sharing with Noah, she sat down next to him."And if she doesn't? What then? Am I supposed to just send my sons off to her each summer just to make her happy?"

"Hey," he said softly and ran a hand down her arm. "It's gonna get better with my mom. I promise. Trust me Kitty."

"I do trust you Hank, I do," Katrina said. "You should get ready for bed. Joel is going to be here early and it'll be a long day for everyone."