Cinematic Confessions

Corey had a lights out practice, and he was feeling good for the game coming up the next day. Everything in his life seemed to be working out right now. He and Autumn had spent several nights over the last two weeks watching movies and getting to know each other more, and his happiness off the ice seemed to relate to him playing even better on the ice.

"Damn, you're on point," Duncan Keith said, shaking his head, as the two of them skated off the ice. "I feel bad for those damn Canucks who have to face you tomorrow night. On second thought, no I don't. They deserve to get shut out," he told Corey.

"Damn right they do!" Andrew Shaw said from behind him. "I don't know what you're taking, but give some to me because you're on fire right now."

"It's that girl," Brent Seabrook said. "Hold on to her," he joked. "Hell, keep her through the playoffs at least!"

Corey rolled his eyes. None of the guys knew much about Autumn other than that he had been seeing her for a couple of weeks now. He hadn't introduced them to her, not wanting her to be overwhelmed by the personalities on the team. He figured he'd have to get her to know them sooner or later. They were such a big part of his life, and if things kept up with Autumn, she'd be a large part of his life as well.

"She must be giving it to you good with all your wins lately," Duncan chimed back in. Little did the guys know that he and Autumn hadn't had sex yet. He'd put some moves on her, but she always seemed a little hesitant to go all the way, and he hadn't pushed her. He'd gotten to second base plenty of times, but he hadn't hit a home run just yet.

"When are we going to meet this girl?" Nick Leddy asked. "I'm sure Lena would love to have another girlfriend in her corner," he said, speaking of his girlfriend of two years. "She's always talking about how she wants some more girls to hang out with. I'm sure she'd like your girl," he told Corey.

"Yeah, I'm sure she would," Corey nodded in agreement.

"So you'll introduce us to her?" Brent asked hopefully.

Corey shook his head. "Nope," he said before laughing at Brent's fallen face. He knew he'd introduce her eventually, but he really didn’t want the guys scaring her off.

"Whatever, asshole," Brent muttered, and Corey chuckled as he went off to the showers before heading to Starbucks to get his coffee that he didn’t have time to get that morning. Ever since he had met Autumn at that one Starbucks, he always went back to that one, not specifically to see Autumn, but because it brought back those good memories.

He walked inside and was pleasantly surprised to see Autumn in the corner with who he assumed was Katherine. He'd never met her best friend before, but by the way the two of them were acting, he could tell they were best friends. He ordered his coffee and then made his way over to the two of them. "Hey Autumn," he said, and she smiled as she turned around to see him.

"Hey," she said, standing up and giving him a quick kiss. "I don't think you've ever met Kat before! This is Katherine. Kat, this is Corey," she said, making a quick introduction as the two of them shook hands.

"You heading out?" he asked.

Autumn nodded her head. "Yeah, I've got a doctor's appointment," she spoke the words without thinking first, and she immediately regretted it.

"Oh? Are you sick?" he asked her.

Katherine stared at Autumn. "You haven't told him?" she asked through gritted teeth, narrowing her eyes at her best friend. "Autumn!" she exclaimed when Autumn didn't reply.

"Didn't tell me what?" Corey asked, looking between the two of them. Autumn was looking at the ground while Katherine was hitting her with the back of her hand on Autumn's arm. "What's going on?" Corey asked, feeling exceptionally out of the loop of these two best friends.

"Autumn!" Katherine said again.

"Kat. Shut. Up," Autumn said through gritted teeth.

"Autumn?" Corey asked.

"I'm going to the OBGYN," she told him, and Corey's face scrunched up in confusion.

"Um…" he trailed off, not knowing what to say to that response.

"Autumn. Tell. Him," Katherine said in the same tone of voice Autumn had spoken to her. Corey stared at them, knowing there was something Autumn wasn't telling him.

"Autumn, what's going on?" he asked her, and Autumn knew everything was about to come out. She couldn't keep this from him any longer.

"Corey, I'm…I’m having a baby," she said her words in a rush, half hoping he wouldn’t understand her and would let the matter go, though she knew that was just a dream.

She saw his face change from confusion to anger. "What?" he practically yelled, and Autumn looked around, noticing people from other tables were staring at them now. "You're pregnant?" he questioned. The two of them hadn't had sex, so he knew it couldn't have been a result from him, which meant she knew she was pregnant when they first met.

"Please, let me explain," she begged, but Corey wouldn't allow it.

"Let me get this straight," he spoke his words calmly, but there was an underlying tone of complete and utter anger. She could see it in the way he looked at her. "You were pissed at me because I didn't tell you that I played for the Blackhawks when we knew each other for like three days. But, we've been dating for two weeks and you haven't thought to mention that you're fucking pregnant?" he seethed.

"Corey, please just listen to me," she told him.

Corey shook his head, not wanting to hear anything she had to say so Katherine tried to talk to him. "Look, it's not what you think. She's carrying my baby," she tried explaining, but Corey wasn't listening to anything she was saying, staring Autumn straight in the eyes.

"I thought you were different," he told her. "But, you're worse than all the others. Pregnant. God, and I wondered why you wouldn't sleep with me. It's because you've opened your legs up too many times before," he spewed venom at her.

"That's not true!" Autumn defended herself, getting angry at Corey for not even listening to anything she was saying. She understood how he could be angry for her not revealing this to him sooner, but to accuse her of being loose was absolutely uncalled for when he wouldn't listen to an explanation. "I'm carrying her husband's baby!" she exclaimed, only confusing Corey even more.

Corey turned to look at Katherine. "And you're still friends with her? Jesus, you two are fucked up," he said. "Have a great dysfunctional family, but stay the hell away from me," he stated, grabbing his coffee and walking out on the two of them.

Autumn turned to look at Katherine with tears in her eyes. "That's exactly what I thought would happen," she said barely above a whisper. "He wouldn’t even listen. He just automatically thought I was a whore."

"Look Autumn, I'm not defending him in the least bit because he was the biggest asshole ever right there, but we didn't do a very good job explaining it to him. We never did say it was a surrogacy so I'm sure he thinks you slept with Cade," she said, trying to contain her laughter at the thought, knowing Autumn was upset.

"Let's just meet Cade and go to the doctor," she said, and Katherine nodded her head, putting her arm around Autumn as they walked out of Starbucks.

They drove to the hospital in silence, neither of them knowing what to say. When they got to the hospital, Katherine found Cade and gave him a quick recap of what had happened that day to make sure he wouldn't accidentally say anything and upset Autumn even more.

Dr. Shively did a sonogram on Autumn and found the baby, which she told the three of them looked great. She reminded Autumn of the things she needed to ensure a healthy baby, including keeping her stress down, which was going to be difficult with what had just happened with Corey.

"She looks miserable," Cade whispered in Katherine's ear outside the room as Autumn was inside getting changed back into her street clothes.

"Because she is," Katherine replied. "But, I'm going to make sure Mr. Goalie knows he made a huge mistake when he walked out on her," she promised.



Brent walked into the locker room and immediately found Corey sitting on the bench in front of his locker. "Crow, we need to talk," he said.

"Not now," Corey shook his head. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now, and he especially wasn't going to risk Brent bringing up Autumn. Since he had walked out on her the day before, she was the only thing he could think about. How she was pregnant with her best friend's husband's baby. What kind of soap opera mess had he been associated with?

Brent looked like he was going to start talking anyways but thought better of it. If the hot handed goalie didn't want to talk before the game then Brent wasn't going to force him to. He'd always choose a win over his own wants any day.

Corey got changed into his pads and skates, trying to figure out how to forget about Autumn. The last thing he needed was to be thinking about her during the game and let unnecessary goals in. He tried to zone out, but as he stepped out onto the ice, he knew it was going to be impossible. He knew tonight's game wasn’t going to be a good one for him.

Corey had been right. He had been pulled at the beginning of the third period, having let five Vancouver goals in, and Coach didn’t want to allow anymore. The Blackhawks ended up losing six to one, and Corey skated off the ice and made his way into the locker room, ready to sulk. He knew it was his fault for the loss. He'd been hot up until this point, and if this game had taken place a week ago, he would have let in one goal max. But, the game didn't happen a week ago. It happened today. One day after he had walked out on Autumn.

"Ready to talk, hot shot?" Brent asked, clearly frustrated.

"Look, I know I fucked up tonight. Can you save the lecture for tomorrow?" Corey asked, just wanting to go home and grab a beer or four and forget about everything.

"No, I can't," Brent said, ignoring everyone around them staring at them.

"Shit, Seabs, I had one bad game. Don't act like you've never fucked up," Corey said, irritated at his friend and teammate. Why couldn’t he just let it go for tonight.

"This isn't about the game," Brent said loudly, and Corey stared at him, wondering what exactly it was about if it wasn't his awful play tonight. "You walked out on Autumn," he stated.

"How the hell do you know that?" Corey asked. He hadn't mentioned Autumn to anyone. How could Brent possibly know that not only had they broken up, but that Corey had walked out on her.

"Because she's pregnant," Brent continued. The rest of the guys had dispersed, and Corey was grateful Brent wasn't talking loudly enough for them to have heard what he had said.

"How the fuck…" Corey began but Brent cut him.

"You're a fucking idiot," Brent told him.

"How…" Corey tried to speak, but once again Brent didn't allow him.

"She's pregnant with my niece or nephew," Brent dropped a bombshell on him.

"What?!" Corey screamed out. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"She's a fucking surrogate, you dumbass," Brent told him, and Corey could feel his heart beating out of his chest. "She was artificially inseminated so she could carry a baby for another couple. She didn't just open her legs too many times before," he spoke the same words Corey had said to Autumn the day before.

"She's a surrogate?" Corey asked, completely dumbfounded. He now realized that Autumn and Katherine had both tried to explain that to him, but he had taken their words and spun them to create his own idea of why she was pregnant.

"Yeah, for my sister and her husband."

Corey looked at Brent. "Katherine's your sister?" he asked slowly.

Brent nodded his head. "Yeah, you dumbass. Her maiden name is Seabrook." Brent had talked about his sister before, but Corey had never met her, and he'd never made the connection that Autumn's best friend Katherine could be the same as Brent's sister Katherine. Katherine was a common name after all. "And you've pissed her and myself off. And, now you're going to have to deal with me."

"Look man, I thought," Corey started, but then he stopped. He had been completely wrong in what he had thought, and now he was regretting jumping to conclusions.

"Oh, I know what you thought," Brent told him. "You thought Autumn was some whore who just opened her legs up for anybody. You thought wrong." Corey rubbed his temples. This was almost too much to deal with right now. "And, I'm telling you, you're going to make up for it. Because if Autumn's upset, then it's not good for the baby. And if something is not good for my niece or nephew, then I'm not a happy man."

Corey looked up at him, seeing how protective he was of not only his family but Autumn as well. "I'll talk to her," he promised him. "I'll apologize."

"You're damn right you will. But first we've got to see if she even wants to talk to you. Because I'll be honest with you, if I were her, I'd want to cut your balls off. Hell, I still want to do that for what you said to her." Brent shook his head. "Have I mentioned how much of a dumbass you are?" he asked.

Corey hung his head low. "I know."

"I told you to hold on to her," Brent reminded him.

"Wait a minute," Corey said, his mind racing. "Did you know all along that my Autumn was this Autumn?" he asked.

Brent shook his head. "No, not until Kat called me this morning and told me what a dumbass you had been. I didn't know you were dating that Autumn."

"You think she's going to talk to me?" Corey asked.

Brent shrugged his shoulders. "I don’t know, but I will tell you this. If she does talk to you again, you're damn lucky, and you better take that chance and run with it, because she's way too good for your dumb ass."