For All I Know

Since our first dinner, Pat and I had gone on a few dates and started talking almost every day. It was like we were teenagers just starting to date. It was nice, and I was finally beginning to feel happy.

Pat was coming home from a road trip and I had planned to pick him up from the airport. I was going to surprise him by making dinner at my house. In the 3 weeks we had been “dating” of sorts, I had yet to show Pat where I lived. I had told Nat what I was planning during our lunch break at work and she was shocked that I hadn’t done it sooner.

“We’ve always gone out, or just back to Pat’s place after a practice or a game.” I told her.

“Oh, well he’s at least been to your place, right? To drop you off?” She asked.

I shook my head. “No, I normally do the driving or if we go out after a game, I get a cab.”

She lightly chuckled. “Are you trying to hide where you live or something?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “No, I mean, I don’t think so. There is just a lot of things that would remind him of Ryan. As much as I don’t want him to forget Ryan, every time we talk about him, we fight or cry, and I don’t know if I can handle that after things have been going so well.”

“I understand that.” She nodded. “Well, I hope this dinner works out. What time do you have to pick him up?” I looked down at my watch.

“Well, I’m leaving just after we finish up here. I have Olivia covering the second half of my shift today.”

“Oh, I see he’s got you cutting work now, my my.” She smirked.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”

“Well, I’m just about done. Why don’t you head on out? Get a head start. Maybe go home and change before you go pick him up. Or would you like to pick him up smelling like a hospital cafeteria?”

I flipped her off as I stood up from the table. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

She nodded. “You will, but you’ll also call me as soon as lover boy leaves to tell me how it went.”

I smiled as I left the cafeteria, gathered my things from the employee’s room and made my way home.

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Pat’s POV

"So, you gonna hang out with Claire tonight?" Jon asked as we stepped off the plane. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know. I'm not sure what she's doing. I hope so."

I looked over and saw that Jon had a cheeky smile on his face.

"I'm happy you're happy, Kaner. It's been a long time."

I smiled. "Well, I got the one thing I need. As long as I don't lose her again, I'll be happy for a long time."

I was grabbing my luggage when Jon nudged my shoulder. I looked up at him and he was pointing towards the gate. I looked in that direction and a smile broke out of my face. Claire was standing at the gate, waiting for me. She smiled at me, and I waved her over towards me. She shook her head and stood her ground. Jon chuckled behind me.

"You better haul ass, bud. She won't be waiting forever."

I smirked at him and slung my duffle bag over my shoudler. I waved to Jon, telling him I'd see him later and walked towards Claire. When I reached her, I dropped my luggage and wrapped my arms around her.

"I missed you." I whispered into her hair. She pulled away and placed a soft kiss on my lips.

"Same here, slugger." I chuckled at the nickname.

"So, I take it you watched the games?"

She nodded. "I did, but let's not talk about them. I got a surprise for you."

I smiled as she laced her fingers through mine and walked through the airport. I looked around and my eyes me Sharpy's on the way out. He smirked at me and I couldn't help but smile. We reached Claire's car and left the airport parking lot. While driving, I looked around, not knowing where we were going. I did, however, know that we were not going back to my place.

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Claire’s POV

On the way to my apartment, I was feeling more and more anxious. I tried to hide it, but I could feel my cheeks start to burn. I felt Pat's hand reach over and grab mine.

"You okay?" He asked.

I quickly nodded and smiled at him. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking, that's all."

"What you thinking about?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Just things. You know, Ryan would be so happy that we are here right now, you know?"

I heard him sigh softly. "Yeah, I just wish we could go and get back all the time we lost."

"Patrick Kane, are you turning sappy on me?" I smirked.

He lightly chuckled. "No, I'm just saying. We both went months being miserable, when we could've been happy. If I didn't blow it, that is."

"Okay, two rules for tonight. No talk of the road trip, or bad memories. Deal?"

He gave me hand a light squeeze. "Deal."

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Pat’s POV

When we pulled into an apartment building, I couldn't help but notice how familiar the place was. It was the building I saw Claire walk out of with Staal. Claire found a parking spot in the lower garage and turned off the car. She turned to me.

"Home sweet home." My eyes widened.

"You live here? I mean, you're finally going to let me see where you live?" I didn't want to ruin the evening, so I kept my thought about Staal to myself and quickly covered up my initial reaction.

"Yeah. I know it's nothing like your place, but it's home." She smiled.

We got out of the car and walked into the building. When we reached her apartment, I could see her tense up a little bit. I walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She silently nodded and opened the door. We walked in and I smiled. It seemed like the perfect place for Claire. It was small, but big enough for her. She smiled at me as she slipped her shoes off.

"Makes yourself comfortable. I still have a few finishing touches to make, then dinner will be ready. You want something to drink?"

I nodded. "A beer, if you got one."

She nodded and walked into the kitchen. I looked around the living room and all of the pictures Claire had put up. There were a lot of Ryan, but there was one that stuck out to me. It was a picture that Claire had snapped from the first time I met Ryan. I was handing him a Christmas gift and he had a huge smile on his face. I wondered what made Claire put it out for display.

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Claire’s POV

I walked out of the kitchen and saw Pat looking at some pictures on the mantel. I couldn’t see which picture he was looking at. I didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable, so I walked a little closer.

“Dinner will be ready in about 10 minutes.”

He turned towards me, and in shock, he jumped and dropped the picture frame. I heard the glass shatter and Pat looked up at me with a sad smile.

“Oh, Claire, I’m sorry. You scared me. I didn’t mean to.”

I shook my head and walked over to him. “It’s fine, Pat. You didn’t mean to, and I shouldn’t have startled them. I have plenty of pictures and I have some more frames in my closet.”

I knelt down to help big up the glass. I grabbed the frame and flipped it in my hands. When I saw what picture it was, I felt my heart break a little bit. I craved to see that smile again. My eyes began to well up with tears and I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Pat staring at me. I gave him a small smile.

“I had never seen him so happy. You made him that happy. I’ll never forget that.”

He smiled, looking down at the picture in my hands. I could see his eyes began to cloud with tears.

“Why don’t we clean up this glass then get a new frame, huh?”

I smiled, happy that Pat didn’t want to indulge into a full-fledged conversation about the picture. We picked up the bigger pieces of glass and put them in a pile. Pat stood up and looked down at me.

“Where’s your broom?”

I shook my head. “I’ll go get it.”

I stood up , and he put his hand on my arm. “I believe you have a dinner to check on. I’ll get the broom and clean the rest of this up. Please, let me do this.”

I smiled and nodded. “The broom is in the closet by the door.” I pointed to the closet as I walked into the kitchen.

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Pat’s POV

I got the broom out of the closet and cleaned up the rest of the glass. I could hear Claire banging around in the kitchen. I was curious as to what she was making, but I had never asked. Looking around her apartment, I could only picture her and Staal in here. I tried to shrug the images out of my head and focused on cleaning up. I gathered up the small pieces of galls on the dustpan, but couldn’t find what trash can to put them in. I walked towards the kitchen. Claire must have heard my footsteps because before I got to the doorway, she yelled.

“Don’t come in here!”

I smirked. “Why not?”

“Because I don’t want you to see what I’m making!”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, I just want to know what trash can you want me to put the glass in.”

“The one by the couch is fine. I’ll empty it tomorrow morning.”

I smiled. “Okay, is dinner almost ready? I’m getting a little hungry.”

“It’s almost ready, I promise. Now go sit on the couch and shut up!”

I smirked, knowing she was joking. I walked back into the living room, dumped the glass and sat on the couch. Hearing Claire curse to herself in the kitchen was more entertainment than the tv could ever offer.

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Claire’s POV

I finally finished dinner, after hearing many complaints of hunger from Pat. I brought dinner out to the table and called Pat from the living room. He stood up from the couch and turned to see the dining room table. It wasn’t so much a dining room, as it was a table in the back on the living room with two chairs. Pat walked over to me and wrapped an arm around my waist. He smiled down at me.

“You made chicken parm? You’re the best!” He placed a soft kiss on my temple.

I chuckled. “Well, don’t thank me too much just yet, you haven’t tasted it.”

He smiled. “I’m sure it’s delicious.”

I smiled as we both sat down and began to eat. I could tell that something was on Pat’s mind, but I didn’t want to press it until he was ready to talk. I was happy enjoying our evening without an argument or tears.

We finished eating and I cleared the table. I brought the plates into the kitchen, and heard Pat follow me.

“That dinner was delicious.” He smiled at me.

“I’m glad you liked it.” I beamed at him as I put the dishes in the dishwasher.

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Pat’s POV

“Uh, Claire?” I looked down at her. Stood up, closed the dishwasher and stared at me.

“Yeah?”

I didn’t really want to bring this up, but I couldn’t help it. It kept boggling my mind.

“Please, don’t get mad. I saw you and Jordan leave this building together, and I just have to ask…”

“No.” She cut me off, shaking her head. “Nothing happened between Jordan and I.”

I slowly nodded my head. I was satisfied with her answer, but I let it go. I walked up to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into me. She wrapped an arm around my waist and placed her head against my chest. We stood there for a couple minutes, until she looked up at me.

“You want to stay and watch a movie? Or do you have to go home?”

I smiled down at her, giving her shoulder a light squeeze. “I don’t have to go anywhere.”

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Claire’s POV

Pat and I were sitting on the couch, watching Due Date, when I couldn’t help but feel I had a weight sitting on my shoulders. I didn’t want to hide anything from Pat. This time, I wanted to do things right and not have secrets and lies hiding at every corner. I paused the movie and turned to Pat.

“Claire? What’s wrong?”

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. I leaned back into my couch before turning my head to look at him.

“When I left your place, I came home and saw Jordan sleeping against the wall in the hallway outside my door. I woke him up and brought him in here. I made him a cup of coffee. He asked me where I was, and I told him. I let him have a shower while I phoned Nat, since she had phoned me 4 times and left me some texts while I was at your place. After his shower, I drove him to his hotel. That must’ve been when you saw us outside the building. I haven’t seen him since then.”

Pat just looked at me then nodded. “Claire, you didn’t have to tell me that.”

I sighed. “I know. I just don’t want any secrets between us, and I don’t want us to have a fight then have this pop up and you think differently about it.”

Pat smiled. “Well, I’m happy you feel that way. I have a secret of my own to share.”

My eyes went wide. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

He leaned in, his lips so close to mine. “I’m going to kiss you in about 3 seconds.”

I smirked as he silently counted with his fingers before capturing my lips with his.