Secret

Hockey is a fast paced sport, both on and off the ice. It's so fast paced, I managed to pack up everything and move to Chicago within three and a half weeks of getting traded. It was nonstop work, but with the help of my now former teammates, I was finally done, and out of Philadelphia. Sitting alone in my new apartment, I took in my surroundings. There were unopened boxes everywhere, and it was a total mess. Tori promised to come over and help me get settled in today, but I figured I'd call her and go to her apartment for a bit. Picking up my phone, I dialed her number and waited for her to answer. After four rings, she picked up.

"Hey, Dan." She answered.

"Hey, Tori, what's up?" I casually asked her.

"Not too much, just cleaning up my place a bit, it's starting to look messy." She told me. It was no surprise; she always liked having things neat. Just like Natalie.

"Oh, cool. Hey, do you mind if I stop by for a bit? These cardboard boxes can only keep me company for so long." I asked her, hoping it wouldn't be an issue.

"Um...hold on a second." She quickly told me. She sounded caught off guard a bit. I heard a voice in the background, but I couldn't make out who it was.

"Yeah, that's fine. Why don't you come over in a half hour?" She suggested to me.

"Sounds great, see you soon." I replied, before hanging up.

I decided to take Chief out for a walk before going to see Tori. Normally Natalie would walk with me; she and I would talk about anything and everything. A frequent topic of ours would be about what we thought we would be like when we got old. We would always decide what our grand-kids would be like, and we created theories as to what Chief did when neither of us were home. I missed her so much, and there's nothing I could say or do to get her back.



"You have to leave now." I told Natalie in a slightly panicked voice.

"Why would you let him come over here?! He's going to see my shit everywhere and he's going to know!" Natalie panicked.

"I don't know, Nat! I didn't know what else to say!" I tried to reason with her but she looked as if she just saw Satan himself.

"What am I going to do?!" Natalie asked me, still panicked.

"Just get out, I'll take care of everything here. Don't panic, it'll be fine! I'll make sure he doesn't know you're here." I reassured her.

"Don't panic? funny" She rolled her eyes at me before grabbing her purse and leaving.
Taking a minute to assess the apartment, I began to clean at hyper speed. I took anything of Natalie’s and threw it in her room. Closing the door of her room, I sat down on the couch and waited for Dan to arrive.



Walking up to Tori's apartment, I knocked on the door and patiently waited for her to answer. When Tori opened the door, a smile was instantly brought to my face. She was the only woman I would love as much as Natalie.

"Hey, Dan." She smiled to me before pulling me into a hug.

"Hi, Tor." I smiled back.

Tori led me into her apartment and she and I sat down on her couch.

"Can I get you anything to eat or drink?" Tori offered to me.

"No, thank you." I politely declined. I wasn't hungry.

"Alright then." She smiled to me.

"Well, Tori, how are you? I've been so absorbed in my own life, I haven't even found time to ask you how you've been." I asked her.

"I'm not sure, to be honest. It's been stressful. Having to worry about Natalie, having to worry about you, and on top of that I have feelings for two guys, and I can't figure out who I want to be with." Tori confessed to me.

"Two guys? Who are they?" I curiously asked her. Tori hasn't been serious with a guy since Kris, and so this news came as a surprise to me.

"Well...they're your new teammates." She said to me, almost afraid to admit who they were.

"My new teammates, huh? Well, who are they?" I asked again.

"Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane." She sheepishly replied.

"The two pretty boys? The bromance? You do know that is not going to end well." I warned her, knowing that she was getting herself into some trouble.

"That's just the thing, Daniel! I can't decide who I like more, and I know someone is going to get hurt. Patrick has been there for me through everything, but Jonathan shows me this side in a relationship I've never seen before. He cares about me so much." Tori tried to reason with me, but it doesn't make a difference.

"How long has this been going on?" I asked her.

"Well, I've been casual with Pat for a long time now, but I haven't started to grow real feelings for Jon until about a month ago." She confessed to me.

"Casual?" I asked, incredulous. I didn't like the sound of that.

"...Yeah..."She nervously answered.

"Being casual never ends well, Tori. And I don't want to know my new teammates are messing around with my sister. I don't want to have to beat anyone up." I slightly threatened to her.

"I'm sorry Dan, but you asked. Can we drop the subject now?" She asked me.

"Fine. Hold on a minute Tori, I need to use the bathroom." I stood up and walked over to a closed door that I assumed was the bathroom.

"No!" Tori shouted, and sprung up and jumped in front of the door.

"Jesus! What's the matter?!" I asked Tori, still in shock from her outburst.

"Uh. It's nothing really, this is just a really messy room and I don't like people going in there." Tori sounded like she was hiding something.

"I don't believe you. I know you well enough to know that you don't have areas designated for messes." I suspiciously said to her.

"Yeah well, I do now." Tori continued bluffing.

"What are you hiding from me?" I interrogated her.

"Nothing, just forget it." She sternly said, her feet still planted in front of the door.

"Fine." I said, not in the mood to argue.



Walking up to Brent’s apartment, I knocked on the door, hoping he would be home. Waiting for only a few moments, Brent answered. Looking like he just woke up from a nap, he groggily greeted me.

“Hey, Natalie, what are you doing here?” He asked me.

“What? You don’t want me here?” I teased him, pretending that his question hurt my feelings.

“Oh no, of course not babe, you’re always welcome here. If I knew I was expecting you I would have dressed up a bit more.” He glanced down to his sweatpants and shirtless upper half.

“I don’t mind this look.” I winked to him before walking inside his apartment. Once I was safe and sound inside, Brent wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a kiss.

“So, what do you feel like doing?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

“Let’s watch a movie.” I suggested.

“Sounds fantastic.” He said before taking me by the hand to his bedroom. I immediately curled under the covers and got comfy.

“What are we going to watch this time?” Brent asked me.

“Let’s watch...Iron Man.” I commanded more than suggested. Whenever we watch movies it always takes forever to decide.

“Sounds like a plan.” He smiled to me.

“Oh my, Brent! Did just we agree to a movie on the first suggestion?!” I asked, astonished that could agree so quickly.

“Why, yes, Natalie! I think we just did!” He exclaimed, just as excited as I was.

“That’s a milestone in our relationship!” I joked to him.

“I think we need to celebrate!” Brent joked right back to me.

“Well, come over here then.” I winked at him, and within that instant Brent came over, expecting me to place a kiss on his pursed lips. Just as we were about to kiss, I let out a quick giggle and broke out of the embrace and ran to the other side of his apartment.

"Come back here!" Brent exclaimed, chasing after me.

"Never!" I began to pick up my pace, jumping over furniture, laughing so hard I could barely take note of where I was going.

This continued on for about 5 minutes, until Brent playfully tackled me to the ground and tickled me until I could hardly breathe.

"Stop!" I exclaimed.

"Not until you give me that kiss you owe me." He threatened.

"What...makes...you...so...sure...I'm...going...to...do...that?" I asked, gasping for air between each word as a result from the laughter.

"Well then it looks like you and I are going to be here forever, eh?" He laughed cynically.

"Alright! Alright! I surrender!" I exclaimed.

Right at that moment, Brent gracefully rolled from the straddling position he was in, to lying by my side on the hardwood of his bedroom floor, our faces only inches apart. Brent raised his left hand up, and brushed the spare stands of wavy, brown hair away from my face and behind my ear. With a gentle touch, he cupped my face in his hand, allowing his thumb to trace the outline of my jaw.

"You're so beautiful." Brent whispered to me, before embracing me in one of the most heartfelt kisses I have ever received from him.



After finding a pair of Brent’s sweatpants, I allowed myself to lie down and close my eyes for a moment, completely content with myself. Brent had gone to get us some food so I had some time to myself. I was in a happy state of mind until my phone rang. Too lazy to check caller I.D., I answered my phone.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Hey, Natalie, how’s life?” I recognized the voice immediately. It was my brother, Kris.

“It’s…wonderful.” I smiled into the phone.

“I’m glad to hear that, Natty-Boo. What’s causing you to be so happy all of a sudden?” He curiously asked me.

“Well…I met someone.” I confessed to my brother. There was silence on the other end until finally, he let out a sigh.

“Don’t you think it’s soon?” He asked me.

“Well, yeah, I guess, but if it makes me happy, why shouldn’t I?” I asked him, hoping I would make sense.

“Well, maybe because you are still legally married to another man who has no clue where you are. You just picked up and left, and he’s now left sitting alone scratching his chin.” Kris said to me in an irritated voice.

“Kris, did you not forget what he did to me?” I asked him, just as irritated.

“No, I didn’t forget, and trust me, if I could do something to stop what he did, I would. But you need to end things with him before starting things with someone else. It’s like getting seconds at dinner, before you’ve finished with what you had first.” Kris sounded like he was getting angrier within seconds.

“I’ll break things off when I’m ready.” I harshly replied.

“When you’re ready? If you need time to be ready, then you are not ready to date another guy! How long have you even known this guy?” He asked me.

“A month.” I said, very flatly.

“And when did you become an item?” He asked me.

“Three and a half weeks ago.” I was a little nervous to tell him that.

“Jesus Natalie! Are you trying to tell me that you just met this guy, and started dating right off the bat?! This isn’t middle school, where you just walk up to the prettiest girl and ask her to be your girlfriend! You have to get to know someone first!” Kris was nearly shouting at me.

“Will you fucking stop with these dumb analogies, Kris? They’re not helping! I have gotten to know him! I can tell him anything, and he understands me!” I raised my voice to meet his tone.

“Natalie, this isn’t the time to criticize my fucking analogies! Are you missing the big picture?! You’re hurting everyone in this situation, even yourself! Dan is in Chicago, Natalie, you can’t hide forever! He’s going to find you sooner or later!” Kris was yelling now.

“It’s my life, Kris, I’ll do what I want! You don’t need to try to control it!” I yelled back.

“Natalie, I’m trying to keep you from getting hurt.” Kris replied, his voice in a soft tone now, trying to keep the fight from escalating any worse.

“Kris, I’m going to be fine.” I tried reassuring him.

“Who is this guy anyways?” He asked me.

”Brent Seabrook.” I flat out said.

“My old team mate? Your husband's new team mate? You do know that isn’t going to end well.” He warned me.

“I know, Kris.” I sighed back to him.

“Nat, you have to end things with one of the guys soon. I love you and I don’t want you being in a position that’s even worse.” Kris continued to warn me.

“I love you too, Kris.” I replied, happy the storm of anger had passed quickly.

“But really, Natalie, why won’t you end things with Daniel?” He asked me.

“I don’t know, Kris, I just, I can’t. It probably won’t make sense to you, but it does to me. I’m ready to move on, but there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to let go. The good memories we share over-power the bad ones. I feel like if I divorce him, he’s gone forever. I know I could just go back to him, but I can’t let myself be that…weak.” I admitted to Kris, he was the first person I truly spilled my feelings to about this.

“If you still can't let go, I don't think you're ready to date someone else. Natalie, I know Daniel hurt you, but maybe you're just using Brent to cover up the pain from Daniel. I know he is making you feel special, but this might not be real love. Do what your heart tells you to. I know you don’t want to be considered weak, but if he makes you happy, then you need to go back. Just remember that no matter what happens, I’m always here for you. And as for Brent, he’s a great guy, and I know he’s going to treat you like a princess. Just please, make up your mind soon, because the longer you wait, the harder it is going to get.” Kris advised me.

“Thanks Kris, you always know what to say. I’m glad I could tell you about this.” I sighed.

“What can I say? I’m fabulous.” He replied, a little too full of himself.

“I know you just flipped your hair, Kris. While I’m confessing things, I have another one for you. Get a haircut. This long look is awful on you.” I somewhat joked, somewhat scolded him.

“Never, my dear. The locks get the ladies.” He joked back to me.

“I swear, sometimes I wish we weren’t siblings.” I thought out loud.

“Please, if it wasn’t for me, you’d be the most lame person on this Earth.”