Pride

TJ held up the piece of paper and raised an eyebrow, “You want to tell me something?”

Emma nodded, “Yeah, I dropped off the paperwork with Michael last night. He said we should be all squared away by Tuesday. Jon and Q offered me a place to stay so that’s where I’m headed.”

“You don’t have to leave... stay if you want. I mean, you probably should stay. It’s my kid too.” TJ ran a hand through his hair, “You can’t just up and leave with my kid.” He shifted his weight uncomfortably. His eyes darted from her face to her stomach, back to her face.

Narrowing her eyes, Emma sneered, “Take it to court along with our marriage if you care so much.” The brunette stormed upstairs and furiously began packing an old beaten up suitcase from her college days. She filled it to the brim with only belongings purchased with her own money. It wasn’t much, the occasional freelance articles for local publications never really paid much, but it was enough to fill one suitcase. Emma was pulling the luggage downstairs when she heard her soon to be ex-husband on the phone.

“Listen, Kayla, I’ll call you in a little. Yeah, she’s leaving soon, babe... Yes, then you can come over. Alright, babe. Oh, when you see Chay and Trupper, tell them to keep their traps shut. Alright, Love you too.”

Emma blinked away a few stray tears and felt her anger start to melt away, “The girl who got away... my day is just one big cluster fuck of cliche isn’t it.” She let out a callous laugh as TJ’s face contorted into some sort of a mix between confusion and guilt, “I’m not stupid TJ, I’ve known all about Kayla since day one.”

TJ slowly slid his phone into his pocket, “How...?”

“Who doesn’t know about Kayla?” The brunette let out a cold laugh, “She needed more time and you’re impatient. The pretty blonde who left you the night you came to Jon’s and kissed me. Don’t worry, I knew about her all along. I just thought I mattered just as much. I blissfully ignored all the warnings. Maybe I just let my pride get in the way.” Her voice cracked slightly, “TJ Oshie... the boy I had hopelessly crushed on for two years was finally interested in me. I was a fool then, just a stupid little girl. I gave up everything you and this is what I get in return.”

TJ opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the sound of a car horn. Emma gave him one more smile before pulling out a small velour pouch with a drawstring. Inside where two gold bands, one with a beautifully cut diamond and the other with a date engraved on the inside. She stepped forward and placed the pouch on the granite countertop before him, “Don’t forget to take your ring off.” She stated.

The hockey player just stood in his place. His mouth was dry. All his words were stuck in his throat. He watched as she pulled her suitcase and opened the front door. As she stepped through the entryway, Emma turned to face TJ one last time. The clock seemed to stop moving, time slowed down. TJ took in her appearance. Her skin seemed to glow despite the lack of sun in the sky and her hair looked so soft, the hockey player found himself desperately trying not to run his fingers through it. It were the eyes that did him in. Once bright and shining, full of life, those brown eyes were dead inside.

“Seven years and I still love you.” Her voice was nothing more than a whisper.

The door slammed shut. The woman he had been with for the past seven years of his life was gone. TJ stared at the door as if at any minute she was going to waltz right in and say “April Fools!” or maybe Ashton Kutcher was hiding somewhere with his monitors and he would run out. Just like that, Emma left him and he put up no argument. Then again, TJ knew deep down inside, he didn’t deserve to fight for her or ask her to stay. He was the one that essentially pushed her away; he was the one who asked for the divorce. Minutes later, the sound of the taxi pulling away rang through his ears. He pulled out his phone once again.

“She’s gone.”

Five hours north, Quinn and Jonathan sat on their new living room couch, warming their toes by the fireplace. “Do you think she’ll be okay?” The blonde asked resting her head on her husband’s lap.

Jonathan sighed and ran a few fingers through Quinn’s hair. On the screen hanging above their fireplace was the Toews wedding film. The camera had panned over to Emma and TJ, slow dancing. “Yeah,” he mused, “I think they’ll be just fine.”

“Can you believe it though, babies and divorce... I would have never expected that for them.” Quinn frowned reaching up and linking her fingers with Jonathan’s paw sized hand, “Well, I mean, I always expected them to have babies first but I would have never seen the divorce coming.”

“TJ can be a pretty shady character sometimes..” Jonathan replied thinking back to all the history from the past, before Quinn joined in on their little trio, “We all tried to warn her about him, but she just wouldn’t listen.” The hockey player let out a soft groan of frustration and pressed a kiss to the back of Quinn’s hand, “The worst part is, she knows about Kayla but still married the guy anyway!”

Quinn cringed at Kayla’s name. They had a slight run in at a game once when Emma was unable to attend- to say it ended badly would be an understatement of the year. “People do crazy things when they’re in love... On the bright side, Jon, at least we’ll have Emma around more. If she’s here long enough, maybe you’ll be able to get some practice in with playing with babies.”

Jonathan raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean practice playing with babies? You better not be pregnant... that’s like, the last thing we need right now.”

“Of course not! I’m just saying, you seem like one of those guys who gets all stiff and awkward around babies.” Quinn laughed and sat up, maneuvering onto his lap, “Trust me, no babies any time soon.”

“Thank god.” He let out a sigh of relief, “but hey, we might as well start practicing right?”

Quinn smirked, “And they call you Captain Serious...”