Looking Up

February 2013

Rose Bishop placed one last framed photograph on her desk and settled into her chair, spinning a circle with a content sigh before letting out a squeal. She still couldn’t believe it. She had started an internship a year ago with the Lupus Society of Chicago and now here she was, an assistant in the public relations department. She had an actual desk, and an office with walls instead of a cubicle.

So what if it was a small office, barely big enough for the desk that was cramped into the space. It was hers and she didn’t have to share it with anyone. She picked up her phone and called her best friend and older sister who answered on the second ring.

“Rose? Everything okay?”

“Everythings great, Daisy. This is amazing!”

Daisy laughed at her sisters enthusiasm. “You're going to be amazing.”

“Thanks.”

“Now can I go back to bed? Chicago is two hours ahead of Vancouver, remember?”

“Oh right. Sorry.”

“Call me tonight, okay?”

“I will. Bye, Daisy.”

She ended her call and set her phone aside just as she heard heels approaching. She straightened as her boss knocked at her open door.

“Ready for your second first day?”

Rose stood with a smile. “Ready and raring to go,” she responded.

“Good. There’s a team meeting in an hour for the masquerade and I’d like for you to sit in on that.”

Rose nodded. “Sounds great. Anything you want me to work on in the meanwhile?”

“There’s a luncheon next month honoring a few volunteers. It was Tamara’s event but with her exit, I’d like you to take over that. Everything is mostly planned and you’ll find everything you need in that binder. You’ll need to confirm the location and caterers and those kind of details but they’ve all been paid their deposits so that shouldn't be any trouble. You do need to nail down a person to introduce each of the honored guests though. I think Tamara confirmed two of the three. Check her notes and work on that until the meeting. I’ll come get you when it’s time.”

“I’m on it. And thank you, Ashley, for the opportunity.”

Ashley smiled. “You were one of the best interns we’ve ever had. You earned this. See you in an hour.”

Rose sat, grabbing the binder and flipping it open. She was familiar with the volunteer luncheon, having helped in some of the planning the year before. She flipped through the pages, familiarizing herself with the details of this years event and the three volunteers being honored. The first two, Carol Martin and John Kennedy both had notes of people that were going to be introducing them. Carol was older, John in his thirties and both had given a lot of years to the organization. The third was the youngest of three honorees but had done a lot in the last three years, including a ton of fundraising. She looked over the notes Tamara had on Lennon West and studied them. Her mother had lived with Lupus for a number of years and in a different color ink she saw the notation that she had recently passed away. Looking at a calendar, she calculated that it had been only three weeks since it happened and her heart went out to the girl she didn’t know.

Looking back over Tamara’s notes, she saw that the person she was trying to reach out to, Jonathan Toews, had so far been unreachable. Tamara had left a message at his work but had not heard back. The notes said that he had made a donation in honor of Mrs. West just prior to the masquerade the year before and another in her memory in the days following her passing. Tamara’s notes made no mention of a home number so she pulled up the database of donors and searched for him. When she had the information she wanted, she placed her call.



Jon sighed as he leaned back in his stall as his teammates talked around him after practice. The lockout shortened season was nothing short of grueling. In the midst of the lockout, Lennon’s mom had gotten sick and she had left Chicago to be with her. Jon kept in touch, calling her once or twice a week to check in but coming back after the lockout he found wasn’t the same without his friend in town and with so much crammed into so little time, he wasn't able to talk to her as much as he wanted, especially after her mom succumbed to her disease three weeks earlier.

He would've liked to have been in Nashville to offer his condolences in person. Hell, half the team wanted to be there for her but it just wasn't meant to be. The last time he'd seen Lennon in person was the week that started with him going to the masquerade ball and ended with the Blackhawks convention. She had quit her job and moved home to Nashville by September when the lockout started and they were all still home elsewhere.

Pat dropped down beside him with a smile. "Hey; I talked to Lennon last night. She's due in this afternoon."

"How is she?"

"Seems okay. Sad but okay."

"I miss having her around."

"Me too. You're still going out for drinks tomorrow night after the game with us?"

“Of course."

"Do you think she'll move back?"

"I don't know. Maybe. It's only been three weeks though. I'm sure she needs time. I can only imagine what'd I be like if it were my mom."

"Yeah, me too."

Jon’s phone bleeted, alerting him to a missed call and voicemail. He pulled the phone down from it’s shelf and looked at the unfamiliar Chicago number before listening to the voicemail.

“Hello, Mr. Toes, this is Rose Bishop, with the Lupus Society of Chicago. My colleague, Tamara, has left a message with your office previously but hasn’t heard back and we are trying to reach you about our volunteer luncheon next month. We’d really like to have you attend and introduce one of our honorees, Lennon West. If you can get in touch with me about this, it would be greatly appreciated. The luncheon is next month on the eighteenth and we really hope you’ll be able to join us.”

“Who was it?” Pat asked.

“No one,” he answered. He suspected that this luncheon was a surprise and if he told Pat that they were honoring Lennon, he would definitely let the cat out of the bag. “What time is Lennon getting in?”

“Threeish. She’s just coming over once she gets in. She’s renting out her place and I told her she could stay with me.”

“Make sure she knows when she gets sick of dealing with you that she can stay with me, eh?”

“Whatever,” Pat huffed before standing. “She likes me best.”

As Jon pulled out of the United Center parking lot a half hour later, he used the bluetooth in his car to return Rose’s call.

“Rose Bishop, how may I help you?”

“Hi, this is Jonathan Toews. You called me this morning about Lennon West.”

“Oh. Oh! I said your name wrong before. I am so deeply sorry.”

Jon chuckled. “That’s okay. It happens a lot.”

“Tayvz,” she repeated the pronunciation slowly. “Okay then. Well, thank you for calling me back.”

“Of course. I’m sorry no one had gotten back to you. I’ve been out of town the last week so that’s probably why.”

“I understand.”

“So tell me about this luncheon.”

“Yes, well, every year the Lupus Society of Chicago chooses two or three of our volunteers to honor and we ask someone they are close to, family or friend, to introduce them. We never tell them who is being honored and let the person introducing them be the announcement of that. Tamara, she was the one who initially reached out to you, has a note in here that you would be the perfect person to introduce Lennon and we would truly love to have you.”

“So I would need to make like a speech about Len?”

“A short one, about what volunteering means to her, why this cause, things like that.”

“You said that was on the eighteenth?”

“Yes, the eighteenth of March.”

“What time?”

“Noon.”

“Yeah, I can do that. Put me down.”

“Fantastic! Thank you so much Mr. Toews.”

“You can call me Jon.”

“Thank you, Jon,” she corrected.

“Listen, Rose, can you tell me something?”

“Sure.”

“Is there room for another twenty guys to come?”

“Twenty?” she squeaked. “Umm...”

He chucked. “How about two more?”

“Yes, I can make that work.”

“Great. Thanks for making that work, Rose.”

“Not a problem. I look forward to meeting you and Miss West on the eighteenth.”



"Where is she?" Pat wondered aloud as he paced his condo. Jon was stretched out across his couch with his eyes closed. It was after five in the afternoon and Pat had interrupted his afternoon nap with a phone call to see if he had heard from Lennon or if she was with him. He had come over when his calls started coming every ten minutes.

"Have you called her?"

"Twice."

"Did you text her?"

"Twice."

"Did you call Dan?"

"Carcillo?"

"Yes, that Dan, the one that Lennon is also friends with."

"Why would she see Dan before me? I'm her best friend. She likes me best."

"Okay, well, I'm pretty sure she likes me best but I also know that Dan sent her something after Evelyn died that meant a lot to her so probably she stopped over there to thank him in person."

Patrick frowned. "No way she likes you best. It's totally me."

Jon rolled his eyes. "That's your takeaway? Has all the alcohol rotted your brain? Just call Dan."

"Fine," he grumbled.

"You're being summoned," Dan chuckled, looking at his phone which displayed a missed call and two texts from Pat.

Lennon laughed as she picked up her own phone, sending a text to Pat that she was on her way. "Thanks again, Dan, for everything."

"No problem," he grinned easily. "No more tears this trip though, right?"

"Right." She hugged him tightly and he wrapped her in his arms and held her. "You give the best hugs, Carcillo. Just don't tell Johnny Toes I said so." She leaned onto her tip toes to kiss his cheek.

"Your secret is safe with me." As she stepped back from him, he continued. "I found this local band that I know you'll love; they have a show day after next. Wanna go?"

"Absolutely."

"You’re staying at Kaner’s?” She nodded. “I'll come pick you up at eight. We'll grab dinner. Show starts at ten."

"Perfect. I'll see you at the game tomorrow."

He nodded. "See ya tomorrow, Len. Call if you need anything."

"I will." Dan pulled her back into another hug, kissing her forehead just as both of their phones went off again.

"You better go before Kaner has a total meltdown."

"He's such a baby," she joked.

"You're one of his best friends. He misses you is all."

"I miss him too. I miss all of you. I think I'm going to start coming back and visiting more now."

"I think we all would like that."

Lennon made the drive from Dan's loft to Pat's downtown condo and let herself in twenty minutes later. "Patty! I'm here!"

"Lennon!" He shouted as he ran into the front hall, picking her up into a hug and squeezing her tightly. "Where were you?"

"That's a dumb question," Jon said calmly. "You know she was with Dan."

"Yeah, but why?"

"Because I wanted to see Dan and thank him for sending me a thoughtful gift. And then time got away from us as we caught up. I'm here now though and I'm starving."

"You wanna go out or order in?"

"Order in. You're staying too, right Johnny Toes?"

"Yeah, I'll stay."

"Pizza?" Pat asked.

"You know what I like."

Pat smiled and hugged her again. "It's great to have you back, Len."

"It's great to be back."

Jon waited until Pat had disappeared into the kitchen before walking over and hugging Lennon. She held him tightly for a second longer. "Man I missed this," Lennon sighed as she squeezed him once more.

"We miss you too. You're gonna be impressed with how much Kaner's grown up since the last time you saw him."

"Oh yeah? I can't wait to see this." They walked into the kitchen to join Pat who handed each of them a beer.

They stayed in that night, just catching up and talking and laughing with each other. Just before nine, Lennon leaned her head against Jon’s shoulder where she sat beside him on the couch and within minutes was asleep against him. Pat stood and Jon scooped her up in his arms, following Pat to his guest bedroom. Pat pulled back the covers and Jon laid Lennon down before Pat pulled the covers back over her. They both crept quietly from the room, pulling the door closed behind them. Jon grabbed his coat and slipped on his shoes, heading for the door and Pat followed him.

“See you tomorrow, Kaner.”

“Night, Johnny.”