Please Remember Me

Brittany and I were at the gym working out together while our boys were at practice. We had just gotten off the tread mill and were heading to the showers. I was utterly exhausted and I hadn’t really run just jogged.

“This pregnancy is killing me.” I said taking a breather as I sat down in the changing room we were using.

“It’ll all be worth it when you hold your baby.” Brittany said, “The moment I held Valentina I knew why I suffered the long nine months.”

I smiled at her knowing that in five months I wouldn’t just be holding one but two babies. “How’s the little princess doing?” I asked as we walked out of the changing room to the daycare to pick her up.

“Great she just spits up on everything.” Brittany said laughing as she picked her baby up from the carrier.

“But she’s so cute.” I said cooing gently at Valentina.

“Say thank you to Auntie.” Britt said like a baby as we walked out to her car.

I got in as I waited for Brittany to get the baby all set and get in herself. I sat in the passenger side rubbing my baby bump as I thought what it was gonna be like having twins. I knew the work load would be much more than we bargained, but there was something about my baby having a friend from day one that warmed my heart. I was taking out of my day dream by a soft fluttering in my stomach. Excitedly I moved my hand over to the spot and felt it again harder this time. A smile grew widely on my face.

“What’s with the smile?” Brittany asked as she turned into the practice arena parking lot.

“Give me your hand.” I said taking it and placing it on the spot.

“Oh my god it’s kicking!” Brittany said excitedly.

“This is the first time I’ve felt it.” I said holding the spot hoping they would give me something more. I was disappointed that it had stopped but was entranced by the connection I had just made. My two babies were strong enough to kick already; they definitely got that from their daddy. I walked in to the arena with Brittany and watched the boys stretch at the end of practice. I fixed my blouse making sure you couldn’t see my bump.

Brittany just laughed, “So read any articles lately about Bergeron’s girlfriend eating too many bon bons?”

“No.” I said shoving her gently, “Leave my tummy alone.” I said kidding.

“That’s what happened to me when I tried to hide I was pregnant. Now it’s stuff about not losing the baby weight. It’s only been a month people!” She said obviously bothered by what people were saying about her.

“Britt you need to stay off the internet.” I said giving her an understanding pat on the shoulder, “Who cares what they think, you’re the lucky bitch who tied Milan down.” I said giving her a smirk.

“Says the girl who’s hiding the best thing on earth.” She said teasingly.

“It’s more for Pat than me; I don’t want other teams harassing him. He’s told me horror stories about what they say about the pregnant wives.” I said frowning a little.

“Trust me I know. Milan ended up being suspended 6 games because he reacted to what they said about me. I get what you’re doing, but Hun it’s not gonna last much longer, these next months you grow much faster.” Brittany said waving at Milan and Pat as they came over.

“I know that’s why I haven’t stopped working out. I’m trying to buy us as much time as we can possibly have. I’ll put up with fat comments if I have to.” I said just as Patrice came up and kissed me.

“If you have to what?” Pat asked looking at me confused.

“Just talking baby stuff Love.” I said hugging him.

“Well we have to go its Vally’s nap time.” Britt said following Milan out of the arena.

“Bye guys.” I said waving to them.

“Let’s get out of here.” Patrice said wrapping an arm around me as fans swarmed us the minute we hit the parking lot.

“Why don’t you go start the car hon.” Pat said ushering me away while he took care of the fans.

I walked over and got in the car and started her up being sure to turn the heat on along with the seat warmers. Soon I was enveloped within a blanket of warmth. I relaxed into the seat feeling my muscles release one by one. Eventually Pat got in the car beside me.

“Sorry that took so long.” He said putting the car in drive.

“Don’t be sorry for taking care of your fans babe.” I said rubbing his arm.

“They asked if you were pregnant.” He said looking over at me carefully.

“I think we’re kind of past hiding it Love.” I said giving him an understanding nod.

“I know, we can stop hiding it if you want.” Pat said smiling over at me.

“Only if you want to.” I said encouragingly.

“Alright it’s final then we’re gonna share the news.” Patrice said smiling as he pulled into our garage.

We both got out and walked inside the house as I thought of how we were going to do the big reveal to the rest of his team and the media.

“You hungry love?” I asked as I made my way to the kitchen to whip up some lunch.

“Yea sure baby.” Patrice said coming in the kitchen and stealing a water bottle from the fridge and a kiss from me.

“Give me twenty minutes and it’ll all be ready.”

“Alright I’ll set the table beautiful.” He said stepping into the dining room.

~~~~

“It’s all set Love.” I said walking into find candles lit and the lights dimmed low.

“Alright.” Patrice said his voice husky as he grabbed the dish from my hands and set it on the table.

He kissed me softly and helped me into my seat as he spoke into my ear, “I thought it had been a while since we did this.”

I smiled widely as he sat down in his seat next across from me and started to fill my plate with the food I had prepared and helped Pat fix his plate as well.

“So how should we tell everyone?” I asked after we were well into our meal. Patrice was being extremely romantic, and as much as I didn’t want to kill the mood I was more than just curious.

“Tell everyone what?” Pat asked taking a sip from his cup.

“About the babies.”

“Oh,” he said letting out a laugh, “Well there’s the benefit, we could make an announcement there while everyone’s together.”

“I was just thinking about sending out a tweet.” I said laughing at how formal Patrice could be.

“Oh no, our babies will not be announced through the internet, to many weirdoes.” Patrice said being dead serious.

“So you really want to tell everyone at the benefit?” I asked not too thrilled about all of the attention I was sure to receive.

“I think that’s what makes the best sense.” Patrice said giving my hand a reassuring squeeze.

“I guess I have to go now don’t I.” I said laughing.

“Yea that would be nice if you didn’t leave me hanging to sit with all the single rookies.” Patrice said laughing along.

“You owe me big time.” I said getting up and taking the dishes to the sink.

“I do, don’t I?” Patrice said wrapping his arms around my waist as I did the dishes.

Softly he brushed my hair to the side exposing my neck to his tempting kisses. I turned my head to the side so that I could give him a real kiss. Tenderly his hands rubbed my stomach as he kissed me. I turned so that I was facing him now as I wrapped my arms around his strong body. I leaned my head on his chest as he swayed us both back and forth.

“You do owe me, but not in the way you’re thinking.” I said smirking up at him.

“What do you mean?” He asked laughing lightly.

“I need to go maternity shopping.” I said giving him my sweetest smile.

“Today?” He whined.

“Yes today, I’m tired of wearing your clothes.” I said pouting.

“Alright, Honey let’s get you some Prego clothes.” He said giving me a kiss.

~~~~~

“What about this one?” I asked coming out of the dressing room for the tenth time. I twirled in the mirror taking in the outfit.

“You look great in everything.” Patrice said sitting in a chair looking bored out of his mind.

“I would like some help deciding.” I said trying to get him to choose one.

“Why don’t we just buy them all you’re going to need clothes.” Patrice said standing up and taking my hands in his. “Go get changed and grab everything, okay?”

I looked up at him shaking my head, “Babe I don’t need that many.”

“Honey, don’t argue just let me do this.” He said giving me a kiss on the lips.

“Now hurry, we still have to find you a dress for the benefit tomorrow.”

“Alright.” I said smiling as I walked back into the fitting room.

~~~~~

“Baby doll, you read-“ Patrice said stunned as he walked into the bedroom and found me all dressed up for the night, “Wow, you look stunning.”

I blushed badly as I walked over to him, “I feel like a whale.” I said putting a hand over my stomach, “I feel like my stomachs doubled in size from yesterday.”

Patrice laughed, “I doubt that, and besides I like you belly.” He said instantly reaching out to touch my stomach. He let his hands rest there for a moment, when suddenly the babies both kicked, “Oh my god was that-“He said looking at me stunned.

I simply nodded as I smiled widely, “They like it when their Daddy’s close.”

Pat looked at me with a smile, “You think they know it’s me?” As he spoke the babies kicked again.

“I think that means yes babe.” I said placing a kiss on his lips.

“We’d better get going, don’t want to be late to the benefit.” Patrice said with his smile still bigger than ever.

~~~~

We walked the carpet into the hotel the foundation was hosting the benefit at. Stopping for pictures and for Patrice to answer a few choice questions, it took us a little while to get inside, but once inside we met up with some of his teammates.

“Oh my god look at you!” Rebecca Seidenberg said as she and her husband walked over to us, “I didn’t know you were pregnant!”

“We’re telling everyone tonight.” I said giving her a hug.

“Congratulations.” Dennis said giving each of us a hug, “You look beautiful.”

“Oh thank you.” I said placing my hand to my stomach. We walked with them into the giant ballroom they rented. It was decorated so elegantly with a huge chandelier in the center of the room. I looked around at all the familiar people dressed up talking to each other. Finally we found our table with Brad, Loui, his wife Micaela, Torey, and his wife Melanie all sitting around joking. I was almost able to take a seat without everyone raving about my bump.

“You sneaky bastards.” Torey Krug said laughing.

His wife Melanie slapped him, “Torey!” She said horrified, “You look stunning Gabby.” She said no more composed.

Everyone laughed lightly at Krug being reprimanded, and congratulated us both, but little did they know we were going to be sharing more news than just being pregnant. All the talking, well mostly chirping at our table, died down as Jeremy Jacobs took the podium to address what tonight was all about. He spoke a short while about what being a bruin truly means, and then continued on to speak about the money this event was raising for the children’s hospital. By the end of his speech our meals had all been served. Patrice looked at me and nodded his head towards the stage. Knowingly I took my glass of water and he his champagne as we walked to the front of this large room.

Patrice took the microphone and tapped it to make sure it was on. Nervously I clung to him as he wrapped a protective arm around me. “Hey everyone, I know what you’re all thinking, yes my girlfriend has lost a lot of weight.” He paused while everyone laughed and I playfully hit his chest. “But no seriously, we’re stopping you from eating to announce very proudly that Gabriella is having twins.” He said before placing a soft kiss to my cheek as everyone cheered and clapped. “So I’d like to make a toast to the two newest members of our Bruin’s family.” We all raised a glass and cheersed before taking a sip. Patrice and I made our way back to our table receiving many congratulations along the way.

“Great speech Bergy, very inspirational.” Brad joked when we sat down.

“Remember that one when you go and knock someone up.” I joked causing the boys to laugh.

“Well we all know that’s too late.” Loui said completely out of character. All of the times I had seen him he was always so quiet and definitely not one to chirp.

“I’ll be thinking about that while you’re sitting up in the box next game.” Brad said pointing his fork at Loui.

Loui just shook his head and laughed, “Well I’ll probably still have more goals than you.”

Before Brad could throw something hurtful out there I asked Loui, “How is your concussion healing so far?”

“It’s a battle, but I mean I’m getting there I guess.” Loui said shrugging his wife gently rubbed his back as she nodded reassuringly. They were really sweet. It was weird sitting with two married couples both younger than us, I mean Patrice and I were engaged, but it was obvious we were doing this all a little backwards.

Sometimes I wondered how things would be now if, like the other two couples at our table, Pat and I met in in high school. I liked to picture us as that prom king and queen couple, but I knew deep down we would probably have been that annoying couple everyone hates because their relationships perfect. I thought of being able to support Patrice from the start of his career, putting aside my life so he could live his. I saw how the other WAGs who met young lived; mostly their lives surrounded their men and they had nothing of their own. I liked having my business life, my life before all of this hockey popularity, and having my life with Patrice. Knowing I made something for myself and that I didn’t have to rely on Pat made relying on him that much easier for me. The fact that I wasn’t a ‘burden’ on him, that I could support myself is what made our relationship work. I was much too proud a person to live like they did. I couldn’t have been so selfless in high school as to give up any dream I had so my boyfriend could pursue his. And that’s when it hit me, those girls didn’t give up their dreams, their dreams were the other person. When I realized Patrice and I could have had that tears welled up in my eyes.

“Hey, you okay?” Patrice whispered in my ears. For the first time I noticed that the lights had all been dimmed and a film of the boys was playing at the front. I looked around the table to see everyone engrossed in the tape.

“Yea I think my eyes are just tired.” I said blinking away my tears.

Patrice pulled me into his side as I snuggled into his chest, “Alright beautiful.”

~~~~

Patrice pulled into their garage around 1 in the morning. Turning the car off he peeked over at her to find her out cold. He couldn’t help but smile at her, Gabriella’s face looked so peaceful. Quietly he got out and carried her into the house. Once upstairs he laid her limp body down on the bed before taking off her high heels and helping her out of her dress. He quickly undressed and then slipped under the covers with her. Instantly Patrice’s hand found her stomach where he caressed the globe her stomach had become. Softly he could feel the babies kicking, trying to reach out to him.

Lowering his head so that he was eye level with her stomach he whispered, “Hey guys, Daddies so excited to finally meet you.” As if on cue He felt the babies react to his voice. “I know you both are excited to but you’ve got to be gentle to Mumma.” He placed a kiss to her stomach, “Good night, I love you more than you’ll ever imagine.”

Patrice rested his head back into his pillow and pulled Gabriella into his warm embrace, “You too Love, I love you more than I’ll ever be able to express.”