A Lifelong Promise

It'd been a month since that night in the club-- since that night James sat in the car and apologized to Clare for how he'd been and vowed to change his ways. As far as Clare could tell, he was holding to his promise. He was sweet and affectionate-- he was getting back to being the man he was when she had married him, which made it a lot easier to begin to trust him again. They did lunch, spent nights together watching movies, cooking dinner, having sex.

After games James opted to go with Clare. At first it was out of obligation but after a while he realized that he wanted it that way, he wanted to leave with her. He was simply happier when he did. He'd kept himself in check, for the most part. They didn't travel as much and he was so preoccupied that he didn't put forth the effort into cheating. He didn't know how much he trusted himself, especially in certain cities, and he really wanted to try to do the right thing like he used to do.

There was a night they were in Detroit when James was invited out with the other guys. He was about to say yes, but before he could open his mouth he realized his phone was ringing. When he looked down and saw his wife's name flashing across the screen he pursed his lips and shook his head before looking back up at them. "Nah," he said quickly as he walked into the hotel. Not even five seconds later he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Good job man," Crosby said quietly as he walked by and headed to his room by himself. James gave the slightest of smiles as he answered the phone.

That same night, Paul got hammered.

The one thing James probably should have realized a little bit more than he did, was that Paul wasn't as friendly with him the last few weeks. There was a coldness there; a slight wall up between them, but James didn't see that. He didn't see the results of the web that he'd unintentionally spun.

James had turned down the opportunity to go out after their home game and Clare was all smiles at his decision. She kissed him and as she pulled away she felt someone bump into her. "Hey!" she said enthusiastically as she turned to see who bumped her and saw that it was Paul. She smiled as she threw her arms around him in a hug and gave him a polite kiss on the cheek. "You did great tonight but you don't need me to tell you that."

Paul smiled at her and gave a little nod. "Thanks Clare. Glad to see you here."

Clare couldn't help laughing, "Yeah I know it's been like two days right?"

"Oh is that all?" he teased. "I could have sworn it was a lot longer."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure."

He enjoyed their banter when they went back and forth. He couldn't help noticing James slip his arm around Clare's waist despite the fact that his attention wasn't on her and it sort of made him cringe. "So that's all going good?" he asked quietly motioning to James and Clare tossed her head back to look at him before looking at Paul and giving a nod. "Yeah, surprisingly. It's been great, he's..." she trailed off with a smile of pure happiness on her face. "Yeah."

Paul swallowed and gave a nod. "Good, I'm glad to hear that."

Clare slipped out of his grasp and leaned into Paul indicating whatever she was about to tell him she didn't want her husband to hear. "In fact," she whispered. "Our wedding anniversary is in a three days. And you guys are going on the road tomorrow and won't be home til late on our anniversary which is Thursday. So I decided that I'm gonna surprise him Wednesday night when you guys are in Florida. We can spend the night together and then I'll go to the game on Thursday and spend the day at least kind of with him. We can do lunch and be together and then come home and get a late dinner or something, play it by ear."

"Wow," Paul said with a head bob. "That sounds really romantic, sounds like you got it all planned out." As much as it killed him, he was happy she was happy.

"Well I want to be with him and it's been a while since I've surprised him like that, you know? I figured it'd be my gift to him. Is it lame?" she asked slightly afraid he'd say it was.

"No," he insisted. "Not at all. If I were him I'd be thrilled off my ass. I think that's very sweet and you should do it. I know he'll love to open the door and see you there."

"You think? Definitely?"

"Absolutely," Paul nodded again. "You're a good wife. He's a lucky guy."

"Thanks," she said simply and flashed an innocent smile.

"Ready baby?" James stepped in and once again slid his arm around her as he leaned down and gave her a kiss to the side of her head.

"Mmmhmm," she answered with a nod.

James began to lead her away from Paul and towards the door and as he did he looked at him and gave a little nod. "Night man, good game."

"Yeah you too," Paul answered as he watched them for a brief moment walk out together.

James had his arm still securely wrapped around Clare as they walked outside and to his car. She leaned up into him and pressed the bridge of her nose to his cheek and let out a little moan. "You really have been different lately, keeping your promise. I just want you to know I appreciate it."

James leaned down and quickly kissed the top of her head. "Well, I love you. It was like a ton of bricks hit me and, thankfully, knocked some sense into me."

"And you never cheated?" she asked still cuddled into him as they were almost to his car.

James swallowed. "No," he said quietly not looking at her.

Clare let out a seemingly sigh of relief. "That makes it a lot easier to fix things."

"Yeah," he said as he swallowed again. "Do you want to get dinner?" he asked as he opened the passenger door for her.

"Doesn't matter to me, are you hungry?"

James paused for a second. "No," he shook his head. "We'll just eat at home. I'd rather just be alone with you in our pajamas anyway."

"Same here- I like that plan," Clare responded with a wink and a smirk.

"You know," James started as he left the arena and got on the way. "Something special is coming up in a few days."

Clare turned to him and raised her eyebrows. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah," he flirted. "Too bad we'll be gone most of the time and I'll miss the whole friggin day," he said and she could tell he was genuinely irritated by that fact.

"I know," Clare pouted. "That really stinks."

"I was thinking though, maybe we can celebrate the next day-- go for dinner. I'll give you your anniversary present, we can get breakfast and spend the day together. We'll get home after midnight but we can still celebrate that night," he said deviously and she knew exactly what he meant.

"That sounds perfect. It really is no fun that you'll be gone but it's okay, I know you'll make it up to me."

"I don't like it anymore than you do. I'd rather be with you on our wedding anniversary-- not a locker room full of sweaty dudes."

"I know that," she said sweetly as she caressed his face. "I know it isn't exactly your choosing to be gone."

"It isn't. Plus you know I'll still make it special for you," he said as he rested his hand on her thigh.

"I know. I'm not stressing about it, it'll be great no matter what."

"You know," he started again as he cleared his throat and took in a deep breath. "I was thinking, I mean, I've been thinking lately and I know we talked a long time ago about this-- and it's my fault we kinda got off track but...what do you think about starting to maybe think about having a baby soon?"

Clare's eyes lit up and widened as she looked at him stunned. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," he gave a small nod. "It's been a long time coming."

"Well, yeah. I mean I've wanted to be a mother since I was a little girl. Everything has just been such a whirlwind-- I need to get back there. I don't want to have this go sour again and do it on my own."

"It won't be that way. I won't pull away again."

Clare swallowed and felt her heart swell. "Yeah, I think we're almost ready to get to that place." She couldn't stop the smile that shined through and the butterflies in her stomach-- she'd been wanting it since the day they said 'I do'.

"Good. Because I think I'm ready now."

"Think, or know?"

"Know," he said quickly. "And regardless, I knew from the day we met you'd be the mother to my kids. What are we waiting for anymore? We love each other."

"Yeah, well I've asked myself that many times," she said under her breath.

She leaned her head on his shoulder and stayed close to him the rest of the way home. When they got home he surprised her by leaving his bags in front of the door, taking her in his arms and kissing down her neck as he led her to the stairs, undressing her the whole way up, leaving a trail of clothes from the stairs to their room.

***

Clare could barely sit still on the plane as she was on her way to surprise her husband. She never was any good at keeping secrets; surprises she had planned for the person it was intended for. It was pretty late on this Wednesday night and she knew that the boys had arrived to the hotel for their game the next day-- their wedding anniversary. She held her carry-on bag on her lap and flung it over her shoulder when her plane landed. She had stars in her eyes, all she could think about was getting to James and the look on his face when he saw her there. She hopped in a cab and smiled the entire way to the hotel, each second feeling like an eternity. When she got there she gave the front desk her license, told them she was his wife and after sufficiently proving her identity they gave her a key to his room.

Clare felt butterflies as she got on the elevator and rode up to his floor. She walked down the carpeted hallway that muted the sound of her heels and took a deep breath when she stopped in front of his door. She slid the keycard into the slot and turned the handle when she heard the door unlock. She opened it slowly and quietly, wanting to get a peak at him as she snuck in, but when she looked in his room she immediately heard the shower blasting from behind the closed bathroom door, and saw a girl in nothing but her bra and panties reaching down to get something off the floor by the bed- completely, and thankfully, oblivious to Clare's presence.

Clare backed away out of his room and quickly closed the door as she stood there in the hallway unable to breathe.