Cinematic Confessions

Autumn got off the elevator on her floor, and she immediately sighed as she saw Cade and Katherine standing outside her apartment. She was surprised they hadn't just let themselves inside, they had a key after all. "Where were you?" Katherine asked as she saw Autumn walking towards them.

"Don't you guys have jobs or something?" Autumn joked as she unlocked her door. Cade was a resident at Rush Hospital, and had awkward work schedules. Katherine was a book publisher, which allowed her to work from home much of the time, which also meant she could stop by Autumn's no matter the time of day, whenever she felt like it, much to Autumn's dismay.

"You're drinking coffee?" Katherine questioned, ignoring Autumn's question, noticing the Starbucks cup in her hand. "Autumn! Caffeine is bad for the baby, you know that!" she lectured.

Autumn rolled her eyes before turning around to face the couple. "Yes, I do know that," she stated. "Which is why it's decaf," she said, shaking the cup a little bit in front of Katherine's face to make her point, and Katherine reached out, trying to grab it from her but failing. "Chill, baby mama," she told her. "You guys seriously need to lighten up. You know I'm taking care of myself, you don't need to check up on me all the time. I'd love for you guys just to come over as my friend, not just checking up on me," she told them the truth.

Cade looked at Katherine, putting his hand on her lower back. "She's right," he told his wife before looking up at Autumn. "We have been a little…overzealous," he said, trying to think of the right word to describe himself and Katherine.

Katherine walked over to Autumn. "I'm sorry. Do you forgive us?" she asked, pushing out her bottom lip.

Autumn laughed. "Of course I do. And, I have something to tell you," she sang, while biting her lip, and Katherine's eyes went wide, knowing that it was about a guy. They had used the same tone of voice whenever they had a story about a guy for the past ten years. There was no doubt in Katherine's mind that Autumn must have met someone. "But first, what do you say I take that pregnancy test?" she suggested with a big smile, knowing that today marked two weeks since she was inseminated.

Katherine inhaled sharply, grabbing Cade's hand. She nodded her head, but didn't say anything. Autumn smiled at them as she walked to her bathroom. She had already bought several pregnancy tests and had set them on the shelf in the bathroom, waiting to be used. The doctor had said that it might not show up as a positive test at first, even if she was pregnant, and that she should try several more times over the next couple of weeks if that were the case.

She grabbed one of them, doing what needed to be done, and sat it down on the bathroom sink, being careful to not let it touch anything on there. She washed her hands and walked back out to where Cade and Katherine were. "Two minutes," she told them. They all sat there nervously as the seconds ticked by. "So, who wants to look?" Autumn asked.

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing who should be the one to look. "You do it," Katherine finally said, pointing at Autumn.

"Are you sure?" Autumn asked. She may be carrying the child, but it was Cade and Katherine's. They both nodded their heads, and Autumn made her way back to the bathroom. She grabbed the test, looking at it, before slowly walking back out to the two of them with it in her hand. Katherine had a death grip on Cade's hand, and Autumn knew if she didn't tell them soon, Cade wouldn't have function of his hand for much longer.

"So…?" Katherine asked.

Autumn couldn't help the grin that formed on her face. "Start buying stuff for your nusery!" she practically screamed, running over to them and hugging them both.

"Are you serious?" Katherine asked, tears filling her eyes.

"You can see for yourself," Autumn smiled, pushing the pregnancy test into her hands. She looked over at Cade. "Congratulations," she told him. She watched as Katherine hugged Cade, and Autumn felt as if she was interrupting their special moment.

She backed away, giving them some space to celebrate on their own. A few minutes later, Katherine walked over to her, giving her a big hug. "Thank you so much! We owe you!"

"You don't owe me anything," Autumn told them sincerely.

"So tell me about this guy," Katherine changed subjects with a big grin on her face.

Cade groaned. "And that's my cue to leave," he said, giving his wife a kiss and Autumn a hug before heading to the door. "Thank you," he said to Autumn, giving her a smile before walking out.

"So, this guy," Katherine prompted.

Autumn bit her lip. "Well I met a guy today at Starbucks," she began. She was trying to figure out what exactly to say about him. She didn't know much about him other than his name was Corey and he somehow liked his coffee black, something Autumn still couldn't understand. Who liked the taste of black coffee?

Katherine quickly interrupted her. "What guy? Tell me about him! What did he look like? Was he all sexy? Well, I mean, I'm sure he was sexy if you're telling me about him!" She sounded like they were back in college dishing about guys, and Autumn couldn't really blame her, she was just as excited as Katherine was.

"He looked damn good," Autumn grinned, thinking about him. He had been wearing a Blackhawks t-shirt with a pair of jeans that suited him extremely well. He was at least a foot taller than her and very handsome. Autumn had seen tons of hot guys in New York City, but none of them really had an effect on her like this Corey guy was. "Really tall, dark hair, dark eyes."

"Sounds sexy," Katherine smiled at her. "So are you going out with him?"

"I'm meeting him tomorrow at Starbucks again," she began before the smile on her face dropped as she remembered something.

"What? What's wrong?" Katherine asked, seeing Autumn's mood drastically change in an instant.

Autumn sighed. "I can't meet him."

"What? Why not?" she asked, wondering if Autumn had to work early or something. She had pretty regular hours at the pharmacy, but sometimes she was scheduled to work in the mornings to fill in for someone.

"Kat, what guy is going to want to date someone who's pregnant?" Autumn asked, putting her hands on her still flat stomach. Even though she was carrying the child for Katherine and Cade, that wouldn't mean anything to another guy, who would hear that she's pregnant and run from her.

"I think you should still meet him," Katherine encouraged her. "See where it goes. If it gets serious, then you can explain the whole situation to him. If not, then no harm done. Don't let my baby get in the way of you dating some hot guy."

Autumn looked at Katherine, debating in her head what she should do about Corey. She really wanted to go and meet him, but she was nervous now. "You're right," she finally said.

Katherine grinned. "I always am," she told her best friend.



Corey got to the arena just in time to get his pads on to step out onto the ice. "Cutting it close, Crow," Brent Seabrook said, slapping him on the back as they skated around the rink. "Sleep in?" he asked him.

Corey shook his head, holding his mask at his side. "No, got held up at Starbucks," he told him.

"Get your order wrong again?" Brent chuckled. Corey was obsessed with his coffee, and Brent had tried to convince Corey to just make his coffee at home, but Corey refused, and as a result, Brent always made fun of him whenever Starbucks messed up his extremely easy order of a plain cup of coffee.

"No, I met a girl there," he said as he heard the goaltending coach yelling his name. He put his mask on, skating away from Brent, not giving him anymore details, knowing he needed to get to the net as soon as possible before he got his ass chewed out.

Corey found himself thinking about Autumn throughout practice, something that wasn't good as he had pucks flying at his head. But there was something different about her. He'd played for the Blackhawks for several years, and he'd say the majority of girls he met had an idea who he was and that changed the way they acted towards him. But, Autumn didn't seem to know who he was, even though he was wearing his team-issued t-shirt that morning. He knew he'd have to tell her, probably sooner rather than later, but he enjoyed that she wasn't talking to him simply because he was the starting goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks.

He'd managed to make it through practice without a critical injury and skated off to the locker room. "What's occupying your mind that's got you so distracted?" Patrick Kane asked, sitting down next to him on the bench in front of his locker. He hadn't realized he'd been so obvious about being distracted by the thought of Autumn. But, if Kaner had noticed, then he was sure the entire team knew.

Corey didn't have time to answer before Brent came swooping in with a response. "He met a giiiiiirl," he sang, and Corey did his best to not let him get to him. Brent was looking for a reaction, and Corey refused to give that to him.

"What's her name, Crow?" Duncan Keith asked, joining in the conversation. It didn't take long for the majority of the rest of the team to gather around, wanting to know all about her as well. He didn't know why the hell all the guys were so interested in some girl he had met at Starbucks. Maybe it was because Corey didn't normally let a girl get him so distracted during practice, but Autumn definitely was having that effect on him.

Corey kept his mouth shut, refusing to answer them. He knew anything he told them would only be used against him in the near future, and he didn't want to give them any ammunition. He had learned that from their captain, Jonathan Toews, who the guys had teased relentlessly about his last girlfriend, Tawny, commenting on how he was going to make her Tawny Toews and asked if their kids' names would be Tori and Tony. The joking had only stopped when Jon had broken up with her a few weeks ago. The last thing Corey wanted was the guys to get on him about Autumn when he didn't even know anything about her, much less whether anything would happen between them.

"When you taking her out?" Kane asked.

"Or at least taking her back to your place?" Brent said, elbowing him. Corey looked down, trying to focus on untying his skates, anything to keep him from looking directly at any of them. It was always best to just let it die down than to buy into their joking. "C'mon man, you can tell us," Brent insisted.

"I'm meeting her tomorrow," Corey replied, throwing his skates in the locker. He could hear the guys oooh-ing, and he rolled his eyes, not giving them the satisfaction of responding to their teasing. He was already starting to regret telling them that little tidbit of information.

He made his way to the showers, getting away from his teammates. When he got back to his locker ten minutes later, he found Brent still sitting there. "So you're really into this girl, eh?" he asked him, much more serious now that the other guys weren't around. That was the way it worked for the guys. You could never have a serious conversation when there were more than three guys in the room, it always turned into a jokefest. But, when it was just a one-on-one conversation with another guy on the team, you could be serious.

Corey shook his head with a laugh. "I don't even know her," he told him. "I talked to her for like five minutes today. All I know is she gets decaf coffee at Starbucks and dumps a ton of sugar into it," he said, recalling Autumn's actions with her coffee, something he just couldn't understand. First of all, who gets decaf coffee? What was the point? And then why dump a cupful of sugar into it?

"Well something must have stuck out if you're meeting her again," Brent pointed out.

Corey shrugged his shoulders. "It could be nothing."

"Or it could be a nice fuck," Brent told him. "She must be hot if you're going after her and you don't know anything about her. But, really, Crow, who drinks decaf coffee?" he asked, and Corey couldn’t help but laugh. Clearly he wasn't the only one that found it weird.

Maybe Brent was right, maybe she would be a good fuck. Or maybe she'd be a good girlfriend. Or maybe she'd be nothing. He didn't know, but he'd begin to find out the next morning.



Corey and Autumn hadn't set a specific time to meet up at Starbucks, they had simply said "the morning." So, Autumn had gotten there early and sat around with a smoothie, opting to go without the decaf coffee, which she just couldn't bring herself to choke down. She had brought her kindle and was currently reading one of the books Katherine had made her download about giving birth. She had to say, with every word she read, she was dreading childbirth more and more.

"Part of me was worried you weren't going to show up," she heard a voice say, and she quickly shut off her kindle to look up to see Corey standing there. He sat down across from her as he continued. "I thought you might think I was some crazy guy wanting to meet you again."

Autumn laughed lightly, shaking her head. "Crazy? No," she assured him.

"Smoothie today, eh?" he asked, motioning towards her drink. "Not into the decaf today?"

Autumn shook her head again. "No, not today. And you have an accent," she noted. Living in Canada the first twenty-two years of her life, she could pick a Canadian accent out in an instant.

Corey smiled at her. "I'm from Quebec," he replied.

Autumn's eyes widened. "You're kidding me! You're from Canada? I'm from Ottawa!" she said excitedly.

"Another Canadian, I like it," he smiled at her. "So what were you reading?" he asked, motioning towards her kindle that lay on the table in front of her next to her smoothie.

Autumn didn't say anything at first, trying to come up with an answer without revealing the truth. She didn't want to explain why she was reading a birthing book. She had a feeling he wouldn't really understand her situation and that he'd be running in the opposite direction without a second thought. "Um, just a book one of my friends recommended," she said with a shrug, hoping he'd let the topic go.

He nodded his head, not asking for more information, and Autumn let out a silent sigh of relief. "So, tell me about yourself," she said, changing subjects and putting the focus on him so she could figure out if there was going to be any chance of this going anywhere. If it was hopeless, she wasn't going to worry about telling him she was pregnant.

Corey froze. He wasn't ready for her to know who he was. He liked that she didn't know him as the Chicago Blackhawks goalie, and he wanted it to stay that way at least a little bit longer. "What do you want to know?" he asked her. If she didn't ask about what he did for a living, then he wasn't going to offer up that information.

"You could start with a last name," she chuckled. "Mine is Kinsington if you were wondering."

"Autumn Kensington," he said the name quietly to himself. It had a nice ring to it, he had to admit.

"And yours is…?" she prompted.

"Crawford," he told her the truth. So much for having someone who liked him for who he was instead of what he did.

"Corey Crawford," she repeated the name. Corey watched her face, waiting for the recognition to come across it, but it never came. "Nice name," she told him. "What do you do for a living?"

Well here it came. Now she was going to know. There was no way around it. "I'm in hockey," he said rather vaguely. Again, he waited on the recognition to rush over her face.

"Oh, like you coach?" she asked him. Corey was in disbelief. She really had no idea who he was. It didn't happen very often, especially someone from Canada, to not know about hockey. But, maybe she just wasn't a Blackhawks fan. He could live with that.

"Yeah, something like that," he shrugged.

"Very cool," she told him. "My best friend knows about hockey, but I've never really gotten to into it," she said, hoping it wouldn't be a deal breaker for him.

"A Canadian that isn't into hockey. How does that happen?" he joked.

Autumn couldn't help but laugh, taking a big sip of her smoothie before replying. "It just wasn't something I picked up from my dad. I was much more into movies growing up than sports," she told him. Her father had been a big hockey fan while she was growing up, but she just never really fell in love with the sport like he had. Instead, she would always immerse herself into movies, which was still her favorite thing to do today.

"Movies, eh?"

She nodded her head. "It's probably my favorite hobby. I love staying in and having a movie marathon. I would be happy doing that every single night," she told him. "And, you probably think I’m a huge freak, right?" she asked him, looking up into his eyes.

"Not at all. I think that's very cool. I actually prefer tv shows over movies, but maybe we can have a movie marathon some night and you can show me why you love it so much," he suggested, hoping he wasn't being too forward. They had only met the day before, and he was already suggesting they spend an entire night together. He watched her face, waiting for her reaction.

When a smile spread across her face, he let out the breath he had been holding. "I'd like that. You free Friday night? I can probably come up with a few movies we could watch," she said, biting her lip.

Corey knew Friday wouldn't work. He had a home game that night. "What about Saturday?"

"Oh yeah, that'll work, too," she nodded her head.

"I just, uh, have to work Friday."

"Oh, you guys have a game?" Autumn asked him.

"Yeah, we do," he nodded his head, continuing to let her believe that he coached some hockey team. He had never technically lied to her, he had just purposely not told her all the details his job entailed and let her keep believing he was a coach instead of a player.

"Well then I'll see you Saturday. Here," she said, grabbing a napkin and jotting down her phone number. "Text me," she said with a smile as she stood up and grabbed the rest of her smoothie that she still had. "I'll see you Saturday," she added as she walked towards the front door.