Cinematic Confessions

Corey dreaded road trips. It was ironic because he used to love them. He used to love going on the road, having a one-night stand with some hot girl in any given city, and then coming back home to a crowd that cheered his name every night. Now, all he wanted when he was on the road was to come back home to Autumn.

The guys called him whipped, but he just shrugged all of their comments off. He knew that the married guys understood where he was coming from. Hell, Sharp called his wife and kids every single night when they were on the road. It was no different for him to call his pregnant girlfriend every night as well.

He was constantly worried that she was going to go into labor when he was on the road. He had talked to Brent, Duncan, and Patrick about this during dinner one night, all of them having had the same fear when their wives were pregnant during the season.

"You can't do anything about it," Duncan said simply, shrugging his shoulders as he took a drink of his beer before going back to the steak he had ordered for dinner. "Just be glad it's not your actual kid, that's tough, thinking about your kid being born without you there," he added.

Corey kept his mouth shut, though he wanted to tell Duncan it didn't matter if the baby was actually Cade and Katherine's. It was still Autumn going into labor, and he wanted to be there with her when she had the baby.

"Is she going natural or having labor induced? She can make sure you're there if she just induces labor," Patrick commented.

Corey shook his head. "No, she wants everything naturally," he replied. "They said something about her maybe needing a C-section and she freaked out."

"Well, just hope that everything goes well with her," Brent said. He still hadn't gotten over what had happened with Brianna during labor.

"How's your wife doing?" Duncan asked, changing subjects from Corey's problem, not that Corey minded. He knew they weren't going to be able to really help him with this. He just needed to realize there was a chance that she'd go into labor when he was on the road. But, she still had three weeks til her due date, so he didn't need to worry about it too much just yet.

Brent shrugged. "Better," he said, not really expounding on his answer much as the guys moved on from women and started talking about the road trip and how it had gone. They had one more game the following night, and then they'd be heading back to Chicago for a nice, long home stand.

The rest of the night was pretty mellow, and Corey and Duncan headed back to their room after dinner. Duncan was on the phone with his wife, so Corey took the time to text Autumn, asking her how she was doing. He didn't get a response back, and he assumed she had just gone to bed. So, he plugged his phone in and got into bed, falling asleep fairly quickly.

He woke up the next morning to a text from Autumn, telling him that she was sorry for missing his text last night, but she was with Katherine, and they had been watching a movie. Corey smiled to himself, happy that she was getting to spend time with Kat. He knew Autumn felt lonely sometimes, being on bed rest constantly, and it was good that she had some company the night before.

He texted her back, asking if she was going to watch the game that evening, even though he already knew the answer was yes. Then, he walked into the bathroom, getting in the shower quickly before heading with the rest of the team to the arena for morning skate.

The day passed by normally, with Corey going back to the hotel room and took his pre-game nap, then woke up, ate some food, and got ready to head back to the arena once again to play. He felt ready for the game, he was in the zone and on a five-game win streak, and he was determined to make this game number six.

Between the pipes, he moved smoothly, making save after save. He knew Autumn was watching him from back home, and he knew she'd be proud of him with how he was playing. She was always proud of him.

He finished up with a shutout, something that always felt good, but especially good when it came against the Blues. Now, all he had to do was shower and get ready to go back home to Chicago, something that he couldn't wait for.

He was stopped for interviews before he was able to go take a shower. He knew it was part of the job, but sometimes he hated reporters. The questions they came up with were ridiculous, and he wondered if they just hired anyone for the job. By the time the last question was finished, he was more than ready to take off his sweat-soaked clothes that were sticking to his skin.

He bypassed his locker and headed straight for the shower, thankful that there was a few extra towels already in there. He washed off all the sweat and turned the shower off, wrapping a towel around his waist as he headed back out towards his locker.

Corey dug through his bag for his clean clothes, and his phone accidentally fell out and onto the floor, the screen lighting up. He was about to ignore it when he noticed that there were a ton of new notifications. He usually got several after a game, but this seemed out of the ordinary. So, he picked up his phone, still standing there in just a towel, and looked to see what he had missed. His stomach dropped when he saw several missed texts from Autumn and four texts and three calls from Katherine.

"Shit," he muttered, fumbling with the phone to try to get to his texts first.

"What's up, man?" Sharp asked from his locker across from Corey.

Corey ignored him as he read through Autumn's texts, his eyes settling on her last one. Kat's taking me to the hospital…my water just broke. She hadn't texted him since that one, and he didn't waste any time in calling Katherine, not bothering to read her texts or listen to her voicemails she had left him.

"Pick up…pick up…" Corey chanted under his breath, impatiently waiting for Katherine to answer her phone.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Patrick asked as Corey hung up when he heard Katherine's voice mail start up.

"Autumn's water broke," Corey stated, trying to push back the panic that was rising in him. This was his fear, that she would go into labor when he was on a road trip.

"Okay, don't panic," Patrick told him, noticing that his teammate was worried. "Get dressed, and go talk to Q. Maybe they can get you on an earlier flight. Besides, women are usually in labor for a while, so I'm sure you can make it back before anything major happens," he told him.

Corey nodded his head and took a deep breath as he turned around and grabbed his clothes, quickly putting them on before heading to find his coach. He found Quenneville on the bus, waiting for the rest of the team to get out of the locker room. "Crawford," he acknowledged him as Corey walked onto the bus.

"My girlfriend's in labor," Corey rushed out, and Quenneville's eyebrows shot up at Corey's announcement. "I need to get home. Is there any way that I can catch an earlier flight?" he asked him. The team's flight didn't leave for at least four more hours, and Corey knew that time was precious.

"I'll see what we can do. Grab your stuff, and we'll get you a car to the airport," Quenneville told him, not asking any more questions, and Corey was grateful to have such an understanding coach.

Corey wasn't sure how Q had done it, but somehow, they had gotten a car for Corey to take to the airport and by the time he got there, they had already switched his ticket for a flight that left in just under an hour. That still seemed like a lifetime with Autumn in labor, but it was better than waiting an extra three hours. Thankfully, the flight from St. Louis to Chicago was short.

He sat in a seat at his terminal, waiting to board the plane. He heard his phone start to ring, and he instantly picked it up when he saw Kat's name flash across it. "Kat, how's she doing?" Corey asked in a rush.

"Didn't you listen to my voicemails?" she asked, and Corey blushed, realizing in all the chaos he hadn't even bothered to listen to what Katherine had said in her voicemails. Looking back at it now, he realized that probably would have helped him and his anxiousness at the moment. "Of course you didn't," she laughed. "You're such a man."

"Kat! How's she doing?" he repeated.

"She's doing okay, as I said in the messages I left you," Katherine told him in a playful tone. "Her water did break, but she isn't very far along at all. Are you on your way back? I know she really wants you here. You've got some time it appears, though. She's not even like two centimeters dilated," she informed him.

"I'm at the airport, waiting on my flight. I take off in like a half hour, so I should be there soon. Take care of her, will you?" he requested. "I hate that I'm not there now," he added under his breath.

"You know me and Cade are taking care of her," Katherine assured him. "And, she'll be happy when you get here. She's so stubborn, I think she's willing her body not to be even close to having this baby until you get here. You'd think you guys had a bet or something," she laughed.

Corey smiled. "No, no bet. But, I do want to be there," he said as he heard them announce that they were boarding his flight. "Look, I have to go, I'm getting ready to get on the plane. But, tell Autumn I love her, and that I'll be there as soon as I can," he told Katherine.

"She already knows you love her, Corey," Katherine told him. "But, I'll tell her anyways. She's probably going to be pissed at me that I got to talk to you and she didn't," she added with a laugh. "But, just know she loves you, too. I know she'd want me to tell you that."

"Thanks, Kat," he said. "I'll see you soon."

"I'll see you when you get here. Have a safe flight," she told him.

He hung up the phone and got in line to get on the plane. He found his seat and got settled in, putting on his headphones so he didn't have to talk to anyone else. He usually was friendly when it came to the public and fans, but he didn't want to make small talk with someone next to him when he was worried about Autumn. He leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes, willing time to move forward faster than it currently was so that he could be by Autumn's side, knowing that she and the baby were okay through all of this.