The Maroon Beret

-Brayden-
It’s pretty amazing to see how quickly Sean’s attitude changed after the phone call from Charlie. We were getting worried that he was showing signs of depression, and we were going to have to find a way to get him help.

But all it took was one phone call from Charlie to fix all of that. Now, two weeks later, it’s like he’s a totally different person. He’s smiling, laughing, joking, and he’s even back to playing again. I’d bet an entire year’s salary that Charlie told him to get back to playing.

The day he came back was a huge surprise to almost everyone. He waited until everyone had left his apartment except me, Janine, Claude and Amanda before saying anything. No one even told coach about it. He just showed up to practice the next day, ready to go. Practice was open to the public, so the fans got to see his entrance back into the hockey world go down. They went crazy when they saw him, and by the time practice was over his name was trending on twitter.

Today’s practice was light, since we have three games in four days starting tomorrow. Sean is basically back to his normal self both physically and emotionally, which has the rest of us playing better. Things are finally starting to look up.

As we’re all finishing up getting dressed, Paul comes into the locker room and heads over to Sean’s stall. He doesn’t look happy, and that worries me. I’m distracted by a pair of arms wrapping around my torso, and turn to see my fiancee’s smiling face.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, pecking her lips.
“Well since Sean is practicing again and I’m still on leave from work, I’ve got nothing to do. I decided to come watch practice.” I smile and push a strand of hair away from her face, kissing her forehead.
“I think-”

My response is cut off by Sean yelling.
“What the fuck do you mean she’s claiming she’s pregnant with my child?”

That gets everyone’s attention.

“She has pictures of herself inside your apartment. And pictures of you sleeping next to her in bed. She also has a positive pregnancy test.” Paul says, and everyone’s jaws drop.

Sean’s face is red.

“You’re telling me she was in my apartment? While I was sleeping? I got a fucking restraining order against her for a reason! I never fucking slept with her!”

“Sean, I believe you. But she has pictures, and she’s willing to take them to the media. We have to figure out how to handle this now, before it gets out. With everything going on with Charlie right now.... NHL fans all over North America have fallen in love with Charlie, and if they think you’ve cheated on her.... It could get really ugly.”

“Do we even know she’s pregnant? You said she showed up with a positive test. That doesn’t mean she’s the one who took it, right?” Sean asks.

“I guess not. She’s in my office now, we can get her to take a test here to prove that she is the one that’s pregnant. It would at least buy us a little bit of time to figure out what to do.” Paul is seriously considering this option.

“I have a test in my car.” Janine speaks up, drawing attention to the two of us. “I can go get it if you’d like.”

“That would be perfect.” Paul responds. The two of them leave the locker room, and Sean sits down at his stall, head in his hands.

“I didn’t sleep with her.” He says. “Even if she is pregnant, it’s not mine. I had no fucking clue she was in my apartment.”

“We all believe you.” Kimmo says.

“I can’t fucking deal with this shit right now. I need to focus on getting my apartment ready for when Charlie comes home. Why is everything happening to me?”

“How the fuck did she get into your apartment?” I ask.
“She probably picked the locks.” Rinaldo suggests.
“We’re going to figure all of this out, guys.” G says in his captain voice.

Paul and Janine come back into the locker room and are followed by the evil woman in question. I hope she can feel the disgust radiating from all of us.

“Hi Sean!” She says, cheerfully.
“Kelsi.” He barely acknowledges her.
“I hope you’re excited about our baby! I know I am. Maybe now you’ll leave that one-legged bitch and realize you’re meant to be with me.”

Six pairs of hands grasp onto Sean’s body as he stands up furiously.
“Let me get one thing straight.” He says to her through clenched teeth. “Even if you were pregnant with my child- which there’s NO possible way that’s true- I would NEVER leave Charlie to be with you. And if you ever say anything about her again you’ll regret ever speaking to me.”
“Are you threatening me?” She asks with innocent eyes. “How would the press feel about this? What are you going to do, Sean? Hit your pregnant mistress?”
“He won’t, but I will.” Janine says, fury in her voice. She thrusts a box in her hands. “Go take the damn test, bitch.”

Kelsi takes the box and heads back to the toilets. As soon as she’s gone, Sean’s shoulders slump and he sits back down.

“Don’t you listen to her.” Janine says to him. “Even if she is pregnant, we all know it’s not yours. Everyone here will back up your statements, and we will find a way to prove that she’s full of shit.”

“Everyone is going to judge her.” He says, with sadness in his eyes.
“Who, Kelsi? They should judge her.”
“No. Not Kelsi, Charlie. Everyone is going to judge Charlie.”
“What makes you say that?” I ask.
“She has one leg. People don’t understand that. They’re going to judge the way she looks.”
“Who cares if they do?” Janine says. “Everyone who matters knows her story. She’s a National Hero. A veteran who has serviced her country with great pride. Who gives a fuck what the ‘Kelsis’ of the world think?”
Sean just looks at his feet.

At that moment, Kelsi herself comes back from the bathroom. She hands Paul the test, and smiles at us all.
“Unfortunately, we have to wait three minutes before we can celebrate. But I just want to say that I can’t wait to get to know all of you.” She places her hands on her stomach. “Baby Couturier and I are beyond excited to become a part of your family.”

“You’ll never be a part of our family.” Someone grumbles. I think it’s Luke.

I look at my watch and see that it’s only been forty seconds since she came back. This is going to take forever. My mind starts wandering, trying to distract myself. Janine comes back over to me and squeezes my hand.
“It’ll be okay.” She says.
“Why did you have a pregnancy test in your car?” I ask quietly, looking down into her face.
“I-I didn’t want to say anything yet....” She smiles. “I wanted to take it before I got your hopes up. But I’m late.” She whispers.
My heart swells and I can’t contain the smile that spreads across my face.
“We could be having a baby.” I state.
“It’s possible.” She smiles. “But like I said, I don’t want you to get your hopes up. It could just be a missed period from all the stress I’ve been under lately. You know, trying to take care of Sean and everything.”
“But we could be having a baby.” I say again. She chuckles.
“Yeah, babe. We could be having a baby.”
With that, I plant a huge kiss right on her lips. I ignore all the whistles around us and pull back, just smiling at my fiancee.

I didn’t even realize we had been talking for three minutes, until an alarm went off on Paul’s phone.

“Reality time....” Someone says as Paul looks down at the test.

“Well Kelsi, it looks like you are.....”