Brave the Storm

“You scared away our best player! How in your job description of captain does this work out for us? She will probably demand a trade! We will have to do it because she won’t play to par with us anymore. Why are you smirking?” Coach Kirk yelled at a smug Eric.

Eric sat contently in his seat and let the coach get all his anger out. Kailyn wasn’t leaving their team. If that kiss was as good for her as it was for him, she wouldn’t get too far before she had to come back to him. If the kiss had been that good, he wondered how great certain… other things… would be. He knew that Kailyn wouldn’t go far. All that he had to do was find her. Once he came into contact with her again, it would be all over. He knew it in his heart. She was already his; he just had to claim what was his. She was testing him for the last time and he was more than willing to oblige. “So does this mean I have permission to miss practice to go get her?”

“You have permission to do whatever you have to do, just get her back!”

“The plan is already in motion, thanks to one Patrick Kane.”

*****

Mike watched her pack the last of her things into boxes. She closed the box and taped the top of it. “This is really it, you’re really leaving me?” he asked her softly.

“I already left you a long time ago; I just wouldn’t admit it to myself. I was trying to hold on to what could have been. I’m ready to face the future now and it doesn’t involve you anymore.”

Mike leaned against the counter in the kitchen with his arms crossed as Kailyn turned to face him. “I kept thinking that you would come back to me. That you wanted a family as much as I did, you only care about yourself and your career. You won’t ever make a man happy, especially not one who wants to pass his hockey legacy on. Not someone like a Staal brother who is expected to reproduce as soon as possible and have as many boys as humanly possible. That is a requirement of being a part of his family, you know that.”

“The best part of him and the difference between you and him is that he is willing to wait until I am ready to have kids. We have already talked about it.” She smirked, “Because he and I actually communicate among other things.”

“You’re making a mistake.”

She smiled and walked up to him. She cupped the side of his face, “Maybe I am, but one thing I know for sure is that I am done making mistakes with you. This is goodbye Mike and me looking forward to kicking the shit out of you next season.”

*****

Eric arrived in Buffalo, the site of their last game of the season. He walked right into the door of the American Kane’s household. It was silent in the house, just like Patrick had promised. Kailyn was all alone and it was time for them to have the long awaited talk after their kiss.

He walked up the stairs and into Kailyn’s room. She looked up surprised, but not all together unprepared for his arrival. She looked back down to finish ironing her dress shirt that would go with her skirt for the game the next day. “You know I got the last of my stuff out of Arlington the other day.”

“Oh really?” he smirked, “Did you get any good stuff?”

“Pictures of my family and Sidney, stuff like that.”

“Fuck talking,” he said. The suddenness of which their lips were brought crashing together caught Kailyn off guard. She stumbled backwards and had to hold on to Eric’s broad shoulders to keep from literally falling because she had figuratively fallen quite a while ago. Eric wrapped an arm all the way around her narrow waist and lifted her with ease to cling her even tighter to him. The message was not lost on Kailyn, he was never letting her out of his arms again.

She had always known that Carolina would be trouble for her, but she hadn’t expected that it would come in the form of one able bodied Eric Staal. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he deepened the kiss. She was ready to commit to any trouble Eric wanted to get into.
She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck. She never wanted to be parted from him ever again. The last couple days had been hard taking care of the last of her unfinished business without him. She would dread the next time they had to part with her whole being, she severely hoped that day would never come.

Once they broke apart, both equally gasping for the breath they had lost in the searing embrace, Eric spoke in a ragged and husky tone, “You’re coming back to Carolina with me now before coach kicks my ass.” He set her on the ground and looked straight into her eyes, “You’re mine now Kailyn Kane and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”

Kailyn merely nodded. Eric had put the fight back in her and he had the sole right to stake claim on her heart. He had mended every piece with careful consideration and she would be forever grateful to him for making her feel like herself again. Being with him was just a bonus. “I guess I should leave a note or something…oh fuck it, they know where I went.”

He threw his head back and let out a hearty laugh. “Damn right they do.” He took her hand and led her outside the house. While she locked the door behind them he informed her, “Just so you know, if Mike even so much as looks at you the wrong way, he’s a dead man.”
She laughed and stood on her tip toes. She placed a chaste kiss on his lips, “I don’t think he will bother us again.”

He smiled in return, “Good, now let’s go kick some ass on the ice.”