The Three C's

When I saw that puck hit the back of the net behind Crawford, I sighed, they had lost. It was game seven of the Conference finals and Chicago had lost to LA, they were not going to the Stanley Cup Finals. The boys put up a good fight, losing in overtime to a lucky goal. As soon as the puck went passed Crawford, I stood up from my seat up in the suite and headed downstairs, wanting to be there for Pat, for all of them, when they came off of the ice.

“Babe,” I called and Pat looked up, I saw the sadness on his face, I rushed over to him and wrapped my arms around him, ignoring the fact that he reeked, “I’m sorry.”

“We almost had it,” he breathed into my hair and I sighed and then looked up at him.

“Next year,” I said and Pat just looked away, making my cup his face and having him look at me, “Next year, ok?” I asked and he nodded his head, I gave a small smile and then reached up and pressed my lips against his.

Pat went into the locker room and I waited outside, Abby came down and waited with me, her daughters’ home with the sitter. We had a small conversation about our plans for the summer, but as soon as the boys started to come out, we stopped and just waited for someone to say something to us first.

When Jon walked up, defeat washed all over his face, I rushed over towards him and pulled him into a hug, feeling his arms wrap around me and his forehead on my shoulder. Pat came out of the locker room and looked at us, giving me a small smile and then walking over and patting his Captain’s back.

“I still have to face the media,” Jon said and I looked at him sadly.

“I’m sorry,” I said and he sighed and nodded his head, turned around in the opposite direction and heading off towards the conference room. I looked towards Pat and he was watching Jon go, when he looked at me, I laced my fingers with his and he squeezed my hand, “Ready?”

“Yeah,” Pat said and we headed back to his place.

The drive was short and quiet and as soon as we walked through the doors, we got through the dogs attacking us; Pat walked over towards the couch and just plopped. He didn’t turn the TV on, or looked at his phone; he just sat there staring off into space. I sighed and then walked towards the bedroom, into the bathroom and over towards the tub, turning on the water and started a bath. I walked back into the living room, in front of Pat and grabbed his two hands, pulling him up and pulling him towards the bedroom.

“Mags, come on-“

“Please,” I breathed, looking at Pat sadly, just wanting him to follow me. Pat sighed and allowed me to pull him along, into the bedroom and then into the bathroom, “I just want you to relax,” I said and looked at him, “Ok?”

“Ok,” he said and I pulled his suit jacket off of him, hanging it on the door.

I kissed his cheek as I pulled on his tie, getting a chuckle out of him, and then starting to unbutton his shirt. Pat grabbed the back of my neck and then pressed his lips against mine, I moved my hands up his chest, over his shoulder, cupping his bearded face and ran my fingers through his mullet.

“Thank you,” Pat breathed and I nodded my head, helping him get undressed and then watching him walked over towards the tub and step in.

I left him alone, collecting his suit and then walking out into the bedroom; I saw Jazz, Bella and Stanley walk into the room and looked at me. I needed to take them outside, so I ushered them out of the room, decided to check in on Emma and Troy to find that they weren’t in the guest bedroom, they weren’t in the condo. I wondered where they had gone as I walked into the living room, grabbing the three leashes that were in the one chest.

Walking three dogs at once, wasn’t hard, well, at least with these three, they were pretty good and knew not to pull me. We walked a few blocks to the little park and then I watched the dogs do their business, I kept thinking about the house that were having built and was really excited for it.

I felt my phone go off in my pocket and saw that Pat was texting me, wondering where I had gone. I told him what I was doing and then decided to give Emma a call to see where she was.

“Hello?”

“Hey Em, where are you?” I asked as Bella came over towards me and I smiled and patted his side.

“I’m with Jon, I wanted to make sure he was all right- I watched the game,” she said and I was a little surprised.

“Jon? Jonathan Toews? Captain Serious?” I asked confused.

“Uh, yeah,” she giggled a little, “Just thought that Pat would need you and since Jon doesn’t really have anyone- I came to help.”

I smiled a little, “Ok, have fun.”

“You should see it, Mags, he’s sitting on the couch and Troy’s sleeping on him- It’s so cute,” Emma giggled and I smiled.

“Good, you both should get some sleep, tomorrow the boys need to go in and clean out their lockers,” I said and then sighed, “That’ll be a depressing time.”

“Yeah,” Emma said and then we said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone.

When the dogs were finished, we all headed back to the Towers, up the elevator towards Pat’s floor and then into the apartment. I let the dogs run free as I closed the door and then looked into the kitchen to see that Pat was looking in the fridge. His back was to me, but I saw that he was shirtless and had a pair of sweats on.

“You hungry?” I asked and Pat looked at me, giving me the chance to see that he had shaved his sideburns and little beard off.

“Yeah, but I don’t know what I want,” he said and I walked over towards him, leaned against his back and wrapped my arms around his waist.

“What time do you have to be up tomorrow?”

“Need to be at the rink at eleven,” Pat sighed, still looking in the fridge.

“Want some leftover steak and shrimp?” I asked as I reached into the fridge to grab he foam container of my dinner from the night before when we went out.

“Sure,” he said and then took the container, I closed the fridge and watched as he didn’t even heat the food up, just ate it cold right from the container.

“I’m gunna go to bed,” I said and Pat looked at me and nodded his head.

“I’ll be in soon,” he said and then sat at the counter and I nodded my head and headed for the bedroom.

When I went to bed, it was just after midnight; I was tired and fell asleep instantly. However, when I woke up feeling like a long time had passed, I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost four in the morning and Pat still wasn’t in bed yet.

I climbed out of the bed, walking towards the door, hearing the TV on in the living room and sighed. I knew what he was doing; he was watching the game and kicking himself for stuff that he couldn’t change now. I walked out into the living room, I was right, he was sitting on the couch, a beer in his hand, the dogs all around him and he was watching the game.

“Pat,” I called out sleepily.

“I’ll be right there.”

“That’s what you said almost four hours ago,” I said as I walked over towards him, took the beer can, which was empty, and then sat on his lap. My arms wrapped around his shoulders and I leaned my head on top of my arm. I felt his hands on my thighs and he leaned his head back against the couch, “It’s going to be all right, babe.”

“It’s just, we were-“

“I know, Pat,” I said and looked at him sadly, “I know that feeling, remember.”

“Yeah,” he said and I kissed his head and then stood up, turned the TV off, grabbed his hands and pulled him up from the couch. It was a little easier this time; I walked him to the bedroom and watched as he climbed into bed.

We both climbed into bed, Pat wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer to him. I smiled and then we fell asleep, not wanting to get up in a few hours to head to the rink.

-Kane-
“How was your night?” I asked Jon as we walked towards the locker room together.

“It was all right, I wasn’t alone,” he said and I looked at him surprised.

“Pick up a bunny?”

“Naw, um, Emma came over and her and Troy kept me company,” Jon said and I stopped walking and looked at him shocked.

“Emma? Maggie’s friend, Emma?” I asked and Jon looked back at me and nodded his head, “Something happen?”

“No, she just came over and kept me company,” he said and I looked at his face, he was lying.

“Dude, it’s me- What happened?” I asked and looked around, no one was there.

“Nothing happened,” Jon said and then rolled his eyes, turned around and headed for the locker room, I smirked.

‘…Something happened…’