If We Ever Meet Again

“Wait,” he looked at her, trying to read her. “Is the baby mine?” he asked softly, his gaze flickering down to the obvious baby bump as he suppressed the sudden urge to reach out and place his hand on it.

“I…” she pressed her lips together as she focused on the small spot on his neck; this was a meeting she’d never expected would take place. It was a question she’d thought would never arise…

Her gaze never wavering from the tiny spot she clearly remembered kissing those months ago, her reply was honest, “Yes.”


“I'm…” Jack looked at her, a range of different emotions bubbling up inside of him. “I'm going to be a dad?” he asked, traces of a smile across his lips.

“That’s...” she trailed off, not really sure what to say. “It’s irrelevant because…”

“What?” his previously happy expression morphed into a cold, sort of menacing one and she immediately regretted ever caving to her coworkers pleas of dropping off the packs instead of them coming into the city to get them…

“Because you live in LA and I live here,” she stated simply. “It’s irrelevant because I don’t want anything from you,” she said honestly as she looked up at him, watching the different emotions flash across his eyes.

“If the baby is mine, I want everything to do with it,” he replied stubbornly, causing stray tears to gather in her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“All I knew was your first name,” she reminded him pointedly. “Do you even know how many Jack’s there are on Facebook?” she arched her eyebrow at him. “I mean, that’s not even…you don’t tell someone you're pregnant over Facebook but…”

Ignoring the sensible part of his brain, he moved closer to her, took her face in his hands and pressed his lips against hers, interrupting her ramblings.

“I’ve been thinking about you,” he whispered against her soft lips, ignoring the slight blush that spread across his cheeks. “A lot.”

“It was supposed to be a simple one-night-stand,” she kept her eyes closed as she braced her hands flat against his hard chest but made no move to push him away.

“You got pregnant,” he pointed out with a soft smile.

“I got pregnant,” she nodded as she opened her eyes and looked up at him. “And I really do have to leave.”

“Meet me later,” he asked, but it sounded more like a statement.

“Give me your number and I’ll call you,” she fished up her iPhone from her bag, handing it over to him. “I promise,” she added with a soft smile as she saw the skeptical look across his features.

“Alright,” he simply entered his name and number into the familiar phone before he gave it back to her. “I liked you not knowing,” he admitted softly as he watched her.

“What?” she frowned confused.

“I didn’t tell you who I was, or that I played for Team USA cause I liked that you weren't giving me the time of day because of what I do,” he elaborated. “I liked that you enjoyed spending time with me cause…cause of me and not…”

“I get it,” she said, a tiny smile across her lips. “It hurts that you didn’t tell me, but I get it, I really do,” she told him honestly.

“How far along are you?” he asked suddenly, glancing down and catching sight of her bump once again.

“24 weeks,” she revealed. “I can…I can tell you more about it later if you want,” she said, a vulnerable look across her face.

“I’d like that,” he said seriously, a wide smile across his lips.

“Okay,” she nodded, reaching up and kissing his cheek before heading back down the hall, for real this time.

Lingering in the catacombs of the Ericson Globe Arena, he jumped as Drew called his name, all but ordering him to join them in the locker room for a pre-practice meeting.

Shaking his head slightly, he jogged down the hallway and joined his teammates in the locker room, taking his seat like all the others. The coach talking about how important the practice would be, the last one before the season kicked off the following eve, he realized that he could barely concentrate. His mind was off somewhere else…

He was going to be a dad…




As promised, Ellie did call him. And she did so around an hour after she’d left him in the catacombs of the large arena, before their on-ice practice had ended and looking at the missed-call log on his phone, Jack had a very strong suspicion that it had been the intention. But she did leave him with a message, and her number.

Calling her back as soon as he was out of the shower and had gotten at least half of his clothes on, he dodged the curious looks his teammates were sending him. They had several hours of free time before team-dinner that evening and a couple of them were planning on continuing the tour they’d gotten the previous afternoon on their own, he was supposed to go with them, but now he just really wanted to see her again before they had to leave…

When she picked up on the second ring she surprised him by being the one who suggested they should meet up as soon as he had some free time.

With a less than limited knowledge of the city she called home, he gave her the name of the hotel they were staying at and she’d promised that she would be waiting for him in the lobby around an hour later.

Yet when he walked across the swanky hotel lobby a short while after they’d arrived back at the hotel, he almost missed her where she sat in one of the uncomfortable looking couches, reading something on her phone seemingly unbothered by the curious looks she was getting from a few of his teammates who were still lingering around before heading out to do whatever.

She was wearing the same clothes as earlier in the day and approaching her, he couldn’t help but smile as her blue eyes lit up when she looked over at him and she put away her phone before standing up without much trouble. Though glancing down at her baby bump, he could tell that it wouldn’t be too long till that was going to change…

Greeting her with a quick hug before they walked out through the front doors together, he watched her from the corner of his eyes as she led him down the streets that were completely foreign to him.

Walking along the docks, she took him to a small, hole-in-the-wall café with comfy chairs and tiny tables, all with an amazing view of the harbor. Sitting down across from each other after getting their drinks and some biscuits, they got comfortable and Jack took a sip from his coffee – or at least what they called coffee – and tried ignoring the slight smirk across Ellie’s pink lips as she watched him closely.

“Do you actually drink this?” he frowned as he took another sip of the dark liquid that tasted a lot more bitter than it did back home and did his best to keep from choking on it.

“Usually,” she confirmed with a nod and an amused smile. She’d been across the pond; what they called beer wasn’t really beer, and what they called coffee, well to her country men and her it was mostly just sweetened drinks with caffeine in it…

“It’s disgusting,” he made a face as he placed the mug back down on the small table.

“No it isn't,” she argued him. “You guys just aren't used to the strong stuff.”

“That’s not strong,” he shook his head as he practically glared at the black mug with white dots on it that stood on the table. “That’s….that’s…” he trailed off, making another face as he tried to come up with a way to describe the pitch black liquid.

Oi, don’t mock the coffee,” she glared right back at him, though a soft smile was playing across her lips. “I for one like it, and I can’t even drink it for the next couple of months because of you,” she reminded him with an arched eyebrow, a cheeky spark in her eyes.

“About that…” he trailed off as she glanced down at the mug standing on the table before looking back up at her. “How are you…feeling?” he finished, dropping his gaze back to his hands that were fidgeting with one of the napkins. It was a weak attempt, but he just didn’t know how to start the conversation that had been floating around between them like a pink elephant since he walked over to her at the hotel.

“I'm good,” she told him with a soft smile. “The baby’s doing good too,” she added, looking at him through her lashes, having a pretty good idea what he was actually asking about.

“That’s…that’s good,” he swallowed. “I mean…” suppressing the sudden urge to bang his head against the table he opted to press his lips together and keep his mouth shut; that way he couldn’t say anything else stupid.

“Yeah, it is,” she nodded slightly, taking a sip of her cooling tea as she shifted slightly in the comfortable armchair. “This doesn’t have to be awkward,” she said softly as she looked up at him, for the moment pushing away all the insecurities that surrounded the conversation, a conversation she’d been so sure she would never have to have.

She’d never had the sort of connection they seemed to have with someone else, as they walked out from the hotel they’d fallen into an easy conversation like they’d known each other for years…just like they had the only other two times they’d actually met… She only ever did that with her closest friends whom she’ known for over ten years…

“I need you to know that I don’t want anything from you, I’ve been perfectly content doing this on my own, but if you…if you want to be a part of this, I won’t stop you and it doesn’t have to be awkward,” she tried to put her thoughts into actual words. “Just…just ask me whatever you want to know, anything you want to know about this, about the baby.”

“Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?” he asked slowly, realizing that he didn’t know all that much about pregnancies…he didn’t even know if you could know if it was a boy or a girl yet…

“No, I don’t,” she shook her head slightly. “I had a sonogram just over a week ago,” she told him with a smile he recognized from several of his teammates’ wives when they had been pregnant. “I had actually planned on finding out what I was having, but in the end I chickened out,” she admitted as he was unable to keep his gaze from flickering down to her bump.

She’d removed her trench coat when they entered the warm café and with only a small cardigan he had a clear view of the bump that stretched the soft-looking fabric of the t-shirt she was wearing.

“Why?” he asked curiously.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged honestly as she reached for her purse and pulled out her wallet. “I had lunch with a friend of mine beforehand, she had her first baby a couple of years ago and I mentioned I was thinking about finding out and she reminded me that it’s one of those things,” she trailed off slightly. “It’s not something you can ‘un-know’ you know,” she pointed out with a smile. “Once you know, you know. So when I got to the doctor’s office that afternoon, I chickened out and figured I might as well wait.”

“Biggest surprise there is,” he looked at her, startling her with the intensity in his blue eyes.

“Yeah,” she nodded with a soft smile as she undid the zipper on her wallet and flicked through a couple of the notes that were in there before she pulled out a small picture, reaching across the small table and holding it out to him. “Here,” she said as he reluctantly took the grainy picture from between her manicured fingers.

“Is this…?” he asked hesitantly as he looked at the picture.

“That’s the baby,” she confirmed, leaning forwards slightly. “Head, feet and one of their hands,” she told him easily, having looked at the picture numerous times in the past couple of days.

“Wow,” he mumbled under his breath as he looked at the picture. In all honestly, the grainy black and white picture didn’t make all that much sense to him, but he could sort of make out what she’d pointed out and continuing to look at it, he was slowly starting to realize that there was a person, a very tiny person, growing inside her belly in that very moment…

“You can keep that if you want,” she told him, startling him slightly as he’d been immersed in his thoughts and what the picture truly represented.

“You sure?” he checked, hesitating for a moment as he looked over at her.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “I have a few more back at my place,” she added as she reached for her mug, taking a sip.

“Thank you,” he gave her a smile that only grew as she blushed slightly. A part of him found it amusing, they’d clearly seen each other naked and she blushed when he simply smiled at her… “When are you due?” he asked suddenly as he was looking at the picture once more before putting it into his own wallet, realizing that it was probably something he should know.

“Late January,” she revealed. “The 22nd,” she specified. “But it’s my first baby so I may be a few days late or even early, there’s really no way to tell,” she repeated what the midwife had told her just a couple of weeks earlier.

“Our,” he corrected her.

“What?” she frowned slightly as she looked at him.

“You keep saying ‘my’,” he stated simply. “It’s our first baby,” he reminded her.

“Right,” she nodded slowly, watching him intently for a moment. She’d honestly expected him to turn around and run for the hills the second he learned that she was pregnant. It had nothing to do with what she thought of him as a person, it was just what she would except any guy to do if you got pregnant with his baby outside of a relationship. Especially if it was after a one-night-stand with someone you really didn’t know.

And here he was…being…she couldn’t even begin to wrap her head around it…

“Our first baby,” she said softly, trying desperately to ignore the spark of hope that the words sparked somewhere deep inside of her.

Watching the small smile playing across her pink lips, he silently went over his schedule as he tried to remember where he was going to be, what games he would be playing at the end of January. He knew that they had a bunch of home games after New Years’… but then they had a lengthy road trip at the beginning of February…

Not that it really mattered, with him in LA, or the States really, and her in Stockholm…

“You should come back to LA with me,” he blurted out suddenly, clearly surprising her judging by the way she choked on her tea.

“What?” she managed to get out mid-cough. “That’s’ ludicrous,” she laughed slightly once she got the cough under control.

“No, it’s the…” he tried to argue her.

“The right thing to do,” she interrupted him as a serious look spread across her face. “I know,” she rolled her eyes. “I don’t want the right thing,” she told him honestly. “I told you, I was perfectly content doing this, having this baby and raising it on my own, and…” she trailed off, the look in her blue eyes keeping him from saying something. “It’s…you even wanting to be a part of this, be a part of the baby’s life is amazing, and it’s also enough,” she told him frankly.

“But…” he attempted to butt in.

“I have a life here, I have a great job and I love it here,” she smiled sadly. “I can’t up my life and move clear across the world because I got pregnant after a one-night-stand,” she said honestly. “It would be crazy, and absurd, and…and just so not like me,” she trailed off softly, ignoring the small voice in the back of her head that kept telling her that having a one-night-stand was also very unlike her and well, she’d gone down that road, hadn't she…

“I just…” he trailed off, reaching up and running his fingers through his slightly disheveled blonde tresses.

“You want to do the right thing,” she smiled at him. “You want to feel like you're actually doing something, taking responsibility…” she licked her lips. “It’s really sweet, but I don’t need that.”

“What if I want to do it?” he asked, looking straight at her.

Digesting his question for a moment, she sighed softly and shifted in the armchair. “I’ve seen firsthand how families that are only based on the conception of a child don’t work, they don’t tend to last and I don’t want that for my baby,” she said slowly. “I don’t want to move across the world just cause I happened to get pregnant the one time the condom didn’t work, I don’t want my baby to grow up in a family where the parents don’t love each other, where they are the only reason the parents are even together,” she elaborated softly. “It’s better that they have two parents who love them unconditionally, even if they live across the world from each other.

“Maybe I don’t want you to move out there just because of the baby?” he reasoned, knowing that he was teetering dangerously close to what he should probably keep to himself.

“You barely know me,” she smiled at him.

“In the few hours I’ve spent together with you, now and back in the beginning of the summer, I know more about you than I did my last girlfriend after dating her for a month,” he admitted as he glanced down to his hands that had moved on to fidget with the mug standing on the table, most of the coffee still left in it.

“Okay, maybe that’s true,” she couldn’t really argue him, she as well aware that she knew more about him than she did a lot of her acquaintances. “But you still don’t know what makes me tick, if I make the bed in the morning or if I'm completely incapable of keeping my apartment clean,” she ticked off.

“Things like that never matter,” he stated simply.

“I'm not moving to LA,” she stated frankly. “First of all, LA is not a place where I want my baby to grow up, I’ve been there and there are plenty of places a lot more suitable for a child growing up, secondly…secondly, I have responsibilities that I can’t just abandon at the drop of a hat.”

“So if you weren't pregnant, and didn’t have a job, you could imagine yourself moving out there?” he smiled cheekily, a spark appearing in his blue eyes.

“I didn’t…” she tried to protest, only to realize that she hadn’t actually said that she wouldn’t… “Maybe I’d given it a little more thought,” she admitted, refusing to acknowledge the soft blush that crept up the sides of her neck. This was crazy….

Reaching across the table and picking up her mug as she tried to swat his hands away, he grabbed her hands in his available one and held them as he took a sip from her cooling tea and smiled at her. “That’s good enough for me.”