What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

5 months earlier...

"Adam, there was an accident. And Avery...Avery was hurt badly." The crying sound of his mother said over the phone.

"How bad?" He asked, thinking back to all the good times that he had had with the girl that he had currently forgotten about.

"They had to amputate her arm." Was the reply.

Back to present...

I kept having that dream a lot lately. I don't know why, I mean it's not like I think about the girl that practicaly shared every moment of my childhood with me lately. But, for some odd reason, every night I wake up panting after seeing the accident vividly in my head and then the day that I found out what happened to a girl who gradually became a younger sister to me-a very close younger sister.

"Adam! Breakfast is ready!" my girlfriend, Leah Collins, called out to me. Leah-God bless her-is the best thing to ever happen to me. She cooks, she cleans, she gets me, and most importantly, she understands my long, grueling hockey schedule. I throw the covers off the bottom half of my body and run towards the kitchen part of our shared condo that overlooks the North End in Boston. The closerI got, the smell of bacon and pancakes cooking filled my noise and that just made me move faster, for Leah's cooking is to die for.

"Good morning baby." I mutter as I wound my arms around Leah's small waist and bent down to kiss the top of her head. Leah was already dressed in pink scrubs with a light pink loose shirt decorated with the breast cancer symbol that was loosely worn over a long sleeve white shirt. Her shoulder length blond hair that had pink and purple highlights in it was pulled up into a loose ponytail on the top of her head, loose strands falling around her face, missing her sharp blue eyes by inches. She was dressed in her work clothes for her job at the Children's Hospital in Boston. That was another thing that I loved about her; she didn't love me for the money that I made. She loved me for me. And she proved it by working her ass off everyday from eight o'clock in the norning until eleven o'clock at night.

"Hey Adam." She says as she flips on of the pancakes over. I pull away from her and take a plate from the counter and I start filling it up with some of the already cooked pancakes, bacon, and to my surprise, sausage. Leah must be in a good mood today. Or...she could have news for me. Since the last time that she did something like this, she had some big news to tell me.

"So," I start while shoveling a huge bite of pancake into my mouth. "What's the reason for all of this?" I gesture towards my full plate of food. Leah's eyes start darting all over the room as she twidled her thumbs-something that she did when she was nervous.

"Leah, baby, what's wrong?" I asked, worried that this may be worse that I thought that it would be...just like the last time she sat me down to talk.

"Promise that you won't over react and that you'll still love me?" She mutters, tears starting to fill up in her eyes. My mind freezxes over as I think back to last time she had said those words...the day that she told me that she would be unable to have kids.

"Baby, nothing in this world could stop me from loving you. You know that. Now, please tell me what's going on." I inform her as I take her small hand into mine from across the table. She gives me a small smile and says,
"Well...I'm pregnant!" Her smile widens at that last part. I stare at her dumbstruck.

"But-but-but I thought that you couldn't have kids." I manage to stutter out.

"Well, not anymore. I am about two weeks along. I got checked out yesterday during my break." She says while shrugging. I don't say anything for a moment.

"I-I need to think about this for a moment. I-I need a walk. Um...I'll seyou tonight after my game." And with that, I get up and leave. The last thing that I hear before I shut the door is Leah running to the bathroom and then her emptying her stomach. A part of me wants to turn back and help her, but I don't. I just keep walking, knowing that from this moment on, my life is going to change forever.