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Who Knew Then? (What We Know Now?)

Another Day

Kassidy

“Mowning Aunty Kassy,” I woke up to a kiss on my forehead, and as I opened my eyes saw a grinning Jared over top of me and a grinning Parker curled up on Jared’s pillow.

“Morning,” I answered, pulling Jared in for another quick kiss before turning and wrapping an arm around the giggling blonde four year old.

“So Park, how did you sleep?” I asked as he snuggled into me and Jared flopped down beside me with his arms around us.

“Good! You and Unca Jared are comfy,” he giggled, looking up at me with those gorgeous big blue eyes. Jared just chuckled and kissed my cheek, making me wonder why he was so cuddly this morning.

“Is that so? I bet mom and dad are even comfier,” Jared teased him, making his nephew shake his head in argument.

“No!”

“Yup!” he continued to tease Parker and tickle him, making the little boy laugh.

“You better go say hi to mom and dad though; dad was worried when he went to wake you up and you were missing,” Jared finally told him, and with a sigh beyond his years Parker sat up and stretched his little arms. After a long pause he got out of our bed, waved goodbye, and then continued up the stairs to go and find his parents. Jared wrapped his arms around me then and kissed me once more as he supported himself up on one elbow over top of me.

“So that’s why you wanted Parker upstairs,” I teased and he chuckled as he nodded.

“Yeah, there’s only fifteen minutes before we have to leave for practice,” he explained between kisses, making me smile yet again. How he was so adorable I would never know.

When our fifteen minutes of cuddling was up we heard footsteps on the stairs, and soon Eric was standing in the doorway of our room.

“Okay lovebirds; time for Jarhead to get to work,” he chuckled as Jared groaned and hauled himself out of bed, but leaned over for one more short goodbye kiss before standing up and leaving with his brother. I decided to get up and out of bed then, taking a quick shower and getting dressed before heading upstairs to see what Tanya needed help with.

“Nothing really, I just want to bake some cupcakes for Parker’s class and try to keep the boys out of the batter and the icing,” she chuckled as I picked up Levi, surprising him and getting a squeal out of the almost two-year-old.

“Hey boys, want to play road hockey on the driveway?” I asked, and both of them let out a holler of excitement and headed for the garage to get their hockey equipment. I raised an eyebrow at Tanya who just laughed at me before bringing out her mixing bowls.

“What would I do without you Kassy?” she asked, ruffling my hair as I made my way over to the door leading to the two car garage.

“Have two kids eating your cupcake batter out of the bowl while you’re trying to mix it?” I suggested, and she nodded.

“Yeah, among other things,” she agreed, and with that I walked into the garage, finding the boys standing with their hockey sticks, the net set up and everything.

I managed to keep the boys entertained until Jared and Eric came home, granted Levi was basically asleep by that time but Parker was only starting to tire out.

“Hey hon,” I met Jared with a smile, but it faded when I saw the dark expression on his face. He managed a fleeting hint of a smile before kissing my cheek and continuing into the house. Eric sighed and shrugged, Levi in his arms, when I turned to look to him for explanation.

“Coach singled him out,” Eric explained, and I swallowed hard. I knew what that meant; the coach had made a point of criticizing something in front of the whole team, and I knew that would tear Jared up.

“Did he take it well at practice?” I asked, and Eric nodded.

“Fairly well; I mean, nobody knew that it had bothered him, and he did a good job of hiding it in the locker room too. But when we were in the car it was like someone flipped a switch and that’s what we’ve got,” he explained, his hazel-brown eyes filled with worry for his baby brother. I’d hoped that things would turn around for Jared this year – I had no idea how hard it was to have your dreams pushed down every single year, and especially not with parts of the 2011-12 season split between two different AHL teams. That had really sucked, and he’d been really hurt by that. Last year had been better, he’d earned a second-line spot on the Checkers, but it wasn’t what he wanted, not when he’d watched guys like Dalpe and Sutter get the call up and play with the Hurricanes.

“We done?” Parker asked, and I nodded. He walked over to me and I ruffled his hair as we walked side by side into the house after Eric. Tanya shot me a concerned look, to which I nodded; Jared would be difficult to deal with later. I knew to give him some time by himself before trying to talk to him. So instead of doing what I wanted to – hugging Jared to make him feel better – I nabbed a freshly iced cupcake from the counter and bit into it.

“These are amazing,” I complimented Tanya, who just laughed.

“I spend all my time telling the boys not to have sweets like this before dinner and what do you do?” she playfully reprimanded me. I gave her a sheepish grin before popping the rest of the cupcake into my mouth and eating it.

“I’m just doing quality control Tanya – making sure they’re acceptable for Parker’s class,” I teasingly answered, managing to dance away from a swat as she laughed at me.

“Anyhow, I’m gonna lay Levi down in his bed – he can sleep until lunch,” Eric told us with a smile, and Parker rubbed his eyes before yawning.

“Wanna watch some TV?” I asked, and he nodded, taking my hand and tugging me to the living room, where he turned on the cartoon channel and settled into the pillows. I sat and watched for about ten minutes, before figuring I needed to go and talk to Jared.

“I’m gonna go talk to Uncle Jared, okay?” I asked, and Parker nodded before curling into the spot I’d just vacated, his eyes still glued to the TV. I passed Tanya in the kitchen, before heading downstairs. I paused and took a deep breath before feeling slightly nauseous. Instead of going into our room I bolted back upstairs and to the bathroom, getting violently sick rather quickly.

“Oh my God – Kassy are you all right?” Tanya asked, bursting into the bathroom and pulling my hair back and off of my face.

“Yeah, I think so, I mean,” I had to stop as I heaved again.

“Do you think it was the cupcakes?” she asked, almost making me laugh.

“No, if it was the cupcakes I’d be sick a few hours from now, this just hit me out of nowhere,” I explained, and after a few shaky breaths took a mouthful of water to swish my mouth clean before taking a hesitant sip. My stomach seemed all right, and so I stood up and washed my face.

“Maybe you should go lie down,” Tanya fussed, and I nodded.

“I will, I just want to talk to Jared first,” I replied, and headed back downstairs. I went and brushed my teeth, before knocking softly and then entering our room. Jared was curled up on his side, facing the far wall, his breathing slightly uneven. His hair was a mess, and I knew he’d probably paced and tugged on it a bit before curling up.

I sat down beside him and ran my fingers through his hair, he turned into my hand, letting a sigh escape.

“Rough day?” I asked, and he nodded.

“Yeah, the coach basically said in front of the whole team that my puck-handling is right up there with a ten year olds,” he mumbled, and I felt my heart break for him.

“Baby that can’t be right – I’ve watched you play,” I started, but he cut me off, and I heard the tears that he was hiding.

“But he’s right! I’ve tried and tried to get better, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference! They’ll never take me on the Hurricanes with puck handling like mine – my skating’s a bit better than last year but nowhere near as good as it has to be,” he told me, his voice catching a little bit. I laid down beside him and wrapped my arms around him, one hand combing through his hair as I kissed his cheek.

“It’s okay baby, you can’t keep being so hard on yourself, you’re better than you give yourself credit for,”

“No I’m not,” he whispered, and rolled so he could face me, before burying his face against my neck.

“It’s okay, everything will be okay,” I murmured in his ear, rubbing his back softly until his breathing evened out and I knew he’d fallen asleep.
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