Big Girl Panties

“doctor says your liver’s getting bad?”

Annoyed by the fact the knock at her door was interrupting her overdue alone time, Trixie set her bag of popcorn on the black suede sofa cushion beside her as she removed her feet from her cherry wood coffee table. She kept the blanket wrapped around her shoulders as she trekked to the door, keeping an open ear on the game. It was disastrous. In the second period alone, the Avs had scored four goals leaving the guys trailing 5-1. She couldn’t believe the team she was watching on television was the same team she had been watching live for the last 24 games. As intermission lead into the third period, Trixie vowed to never miss another game. She could only imagine what was running through all their heads in Denver.

Peering into the peephole, Trixie’s face had immediately lightened up and her smile grew larger than it had in days. Tossing her blanket to the side, Trixie unlatched the chain and unlocked the deadbolt before throwing the heavy metal door open. She didn’t even let her father enter before she wrapped her arms around his neck for a tight, comforting hug which he returned. It had been far too long since the father and daughter had seen each other.

“I’ve missed you; it’s so good to see you.” Trixie admitted, moving to the side so Jack could enter. He was carrying a paper bag filled to the brim with the pair’s favorite dishes from their favorite Chinese takeout restaurant.

“It wouldn’t hurt you to come up and say hello to me when you know I’m at the United Center.”

Jack quickly made himself feel at home, turning on the lights in Trixie’s kitchen after dropped the food on the island. He began rummaging through cabinets looking for a set of wine glasses.

“Yeah, because hanging around you will make me look super cool in front of the guys.” Trixie had always been quick and sarcastic. Her mouth had earned her many trips to the penalty box during her days on her high school’s girls’ team.

Since her time as a freshman, Trixie earned a spot on the varsity roster which had caused man y parents and other teammates to wonder if her father had an influence on her coaches. It was actually quite the opposite. She had to work hard and develop a name for herself, rather than be known simply as the other O’Callahan kid. She worked harder than the rest of the girls and earned her spot on that roster.

Jack noticed all the food lying around her condo and watched her intently as Trixie pulled open a white container full of pork fried rice, wasting no time in digging in. “You’re not looking too sick to me. Chips, popcorn, empty pints of ice cream in the sink. Stan told me you were puking during the game the other night.”

Trixie swallowed the mouthful of rice she had and quickly thought up an excuse, missing her father pour wine into both glasses he had found in the dishwasher. “It was one of those twenty-four hour things.”

The reason her condo was overflowing with food was the fact her cravings were beginning to run rampant and she couldn’t exactly figure out what she wanted. One minute it was sour cream and onion Lay’s and the next all she wanted to do was shove her face into the center of a vanilla buttercream frosted sheet cake. The pork fried rice and shrimp egg roll satisfied all cravings at the moment. She thanked her dad a million and a dozen times.

“Damn, Trix,” Jack laughed. “I’ve never seen you eat like this.”

“It’s been a while since you’ve seen me.”

Jack pushed the tall glass of wine in front of Trixie, and she simply looked at it. Knowing she couldn’t have it. She absently looked down at her rice as she started fluffing it with her fork.

“I can’t drink that.” She stated.

“Doctor says your liver’s getting bad?”

Jack’s response did make her smile and she knew it was time to come clean to him. If he knew she had just found out herself, he wouldn’t too upset by the fact she had kept the news from him. “Not exactly. I’m pregnant.”

Trixie looked up at Jack, it seemed to her as though he had aged about five years before her eyes as the news sunk in. As Jack looked at Trixie, he didn’t see his twenty-six year old daughter sitting there, toying with the fork in her carton of rice, but rather a six year old Trixie twirling around in her school jumper so the skirt flared out. Something she had always thought was fun to do.

“You’re having a baby?” It sounded like his voice was thick with amazement. Jack needed to hear the words from Trixie one more time before it could set in.

She smiled wide, feeling the joy she had been missing for the last week. Tears collected in her eyes and slid down her cheeks as she blinked. “I’m having a baby; with Carcillo. Dan and I are having a baby.”

Trixie began wiping the tears off her cheek as Jack came around to the side of the island she occupied. Pulling her in for tight hug, Jack kissed the top of his daughters head and couldn’t keep his smiled contained as he soaked up the delight at the prospect of being a grandfather.



It was close to four in the morning before their plane had landed at O’Hare International Airport. The entire flight had been silent. Not very words could be exchanged as they all just wanted the time to let the fact their streak hadn’t survived to see another game. They all knew it wasn’t going to last forever and the only thing they could do was pick their heads up and prepare both mentally and physically for their game against Edmonton in forty-eight hours.

Dan decided against going to Trixie’s condo as he slid into the driver’s seat of his Hummer. He figured she was dead asleep and the last thing he wanted to do was disturb her. When he arrived at his own condo, he didn’t both turning the lights on as he simply tossed his duffle to the side to deal with the morning. All he wanted to way crawl into bed and sleep until the afternoon when he was supposed to meet Kane at the gym for a light workout.

Nothing seemed out of the usual as Dan toed off his shoes in the hall just outside his bedroom. He did expect Chief to greet him at the front door like he always did every time he left the house. But, Chief was nowhere to found and Dan guessed he was snoozing and drooling all over his pillow. The one thing Dan desperately wanted to do was call Trixie and hear about her day as the two hadn’t communicated much since he left for Denver. He was also pretty surprised by the fact she had left the United Center without even a heads up.

Crossing the threshold to his bedroom, Dan flipped the light on only to turn it off less than a second later when he realized who was sleeping in his bed. Both Trixie and Chief had claimed the queen sized mattress. She was sleeping in her black five dollar Target cotton sweatpants and an old plum tank. The space heater was running and warmed the room to perfection.

After watching the disaster of a game, Trixie had gone to Dan’s knowing he wasn’t going to show up at her place. She didn’t want him to be alone and she just wanted to feel his arms around her when she woke up. Quickly stripping from his clothes, Dan got into a pair of his own sweats he was sure were clean before moving Chief to the side so he had room to get next to Trixie. Finding her in his bed was a surprise he surely appreciated and undoubtedly could get used to.
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Just a filler. I'll try my very best to have a better update posted by either later tonight or tomorrow afternoon. Comments are always appreciated!!