Family Matters

*Flashback*

The roadtrip, was a mom’s trip. I was glad that Kris’ mom was there. I had gone up to Pittsburgh to spend time with the team and Kris of course before the Olympic break. It was any ordinary day, Kris got up and was normal. I took a quick shower, while he was packing for the trip. I walked into the closet and that’s when I saw him. I started freaking out.

“OMG! Kris! What happened?!” I said frantically.

“I..I don’t know. All I remember is falling, and now I can’t feel anything.”

“Alright, I have an idea.” I called Flower, since I wasn’t fluent in French yet. I explained to him what happened and put him on speaker.

Kris thought he was out of the clear, and honestly I did too. Considering they all played while they were sick. I had gotten a notification via twitter that Kris had a maintenance day in L.A. I thought nothing of it, until I saw that Kris wasn’t in the Defensive pairs.

“Are you alright babe?” I texted him because I knew the game was starting soon and he was with his mom.

“Yeah I’m fine. Don’t worry.” He replied, but I could feel in my gut that it wasn’t.

I let it go, and watched the game. We ended up winning 4-1, and yes I was falling asleep, as it was 10:00PM start for those of us who stayed in Pittsburgh. The next morning, they had practice in Phoenix. Again, I got word that Kris was ill and most likely out of the next night’s game. I called him right away. I knew there was something he wasn’t telling me, and I needed to know.

“What is up with you? You’re ill, and don’t tell me? I know there is something going on. So you better fucking tell me Kristopher!” I didn’t mean for it to come out as yelling but I was beyond the whole keeping secrets because it’s for my own good.

“I..we don’t know babe. If we knew, you’d be the first to know. I have to get more tests done when we get back to Pittsburgh. But I can assure you that I am fine now. It’s a precaution.”

As soon as they got back home, Kris went to the doctors. They did all sorts of tests. In the end, I was scared to death. The results came back, and he had a stroke. He would have to miss six weeks at least, and be on blood thinners. Honestly, I’d be alright if he NEVER played hockey again. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about him every damn road trip.

*End of Flashback*

It was now the Olympic break, and boy was I glad for it. Kris needed a break, and I needed a break from my brother. Now, I loved my brother dearly, but a girl needs to be on her own without a ‘parental figure’ around. Kris and I left for Key West after their last game, for two weeks. We flew to Fort Lauderdale, and made the hour drive to Hawk’s Cay. We were able to get a house, which had three bedrooms, an upstairs and downstairs, and an ocean view. It was beautiful.

We got in at 4am and boy were we tired. Kris and I went straight to bed, not even bothering to unpack. Afterall, we had two whole weeks, I think we could sacrifice most of the day to sleep. Plus, Kris needed to catch up on sleep and not worry about hockey for once. Once we got to the house that we were renting, we went in our room, got in our bed, Kris started kissing my neck.

“No, not tonight babe. Sleep!” I groaned, rubbing my eyes.

“We have two weeks to rest..”

“You know I need my sleep! And if I don’t get sleep you know I can be a bitch, so I suggest we go to bed Kristopher.” He sighed and agreed, so we fell asleep.

Waking up around noon, I realized we didn’t have any food in the house. Kris looked so exhausted so I wrote a note.

“Kris, I went to the store. Be back soon. Love, Brie.”

I grabbed various snacks, lunchmeat, bread, and chicken. I knew if we needed anything I could come back to the store. But I also knew Kris, he would want to go out to dinner almost every night. When I got home, Kris was already in his bathing suit.

“Lunch first. Then we can go on the beach.” I shook my head. That man will be the death of me, walking around the house shirtless..

I was scared to let Kris do anything strenuous, but he is a guy after all, and he did what he wanted. I carried the towels, umbrella, and cooler down to the beach. I was scared to let him do anything, even carry towels. He hated being treated like he couldn’t do anything for himself, and I couldn’t blame him. We were laying on the beach, when he picked me up, carried me in the water, and started dunking me.

“Kris stop!”

“You love it when I dunk you..”

“Yes but babe you just had a fucking stroke. So, I’m sorry if I care about you and don’t want you to die! And don’t even fucking think about running Kristopher!” I glared at him, knowing what he was thinking, what he always did when he was frustrated.

“I’m sorry.. I love you and it scares me.”

“I love you too but I can do some things babe.”

We stayed on the beach for a while, talking about everything from our future and whatnot. I was lucky to have a loving family behind me, and to have found the one I wanted to be with, to raise a family with for the rest of our lives. I guess you could say that fate had brought us together again and that the hockey Gods wanted us together.