It's Real

Kate had to pee more than she probably ever had in her life, if she had to think about it. But there was no way she was leaving her seat. That would involve putting down the baby Benn she had in her arms, and possibly missing the winning shoot out goal.

Nope. She’d hold it.

She’d regret it. But whatever.

“Go Uncle Jamie!” She looked down at the little voice next to her, all blonde curls and green eyes. Jordie and Sarah made some cute kids. Sarah and Kate shared a grin and flicked their attention back to the rink below.

It had been a brutal game; it always was when Dallas played the Bruins. Even though it was usually rougher when the Stars travelled to the East coast, Kate knew she’d be massaging over some bruises when Tyler took her home tonight. Krug had slammed her husband so hard into the boards during the second, she thought for a brief moment that he wasn’t going to get up.

But being as stubborn as Seguin is, he was good to go. After a shift change then a quick once over from the trainers. And a slew of curse words across the bench while the captain tapped his helmet to calm him down.

Jamie swept up the puck from centre ice and flew towards Rask, not easing up on speed at all and he attacked with a triple deke to the right. But Tuukka had been on fire tonight and sent the rebound out towards the ref’s skates as Jamie circled back. The camera caught the ‘fuck’ come out of his mouth, and Kate bit her lip.

Bergeron came out for Boston, waiting for the whistle before slowly making his way to the puck. Kate didn’t want to watch, which she knew was weak of her but she distracted herself by checking on the baby in her arms and cringed when the groans of 16,000 people in the AAC told her Kari hadn’t been able to block the shot.

Shit.

Daley was taking a shot for Dallas. She loved Trevor. When her and Ty couldn’t get their shit sorted and kept dancing around the subject of whether or not they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with each other, Trevor cornered Tyler in the locker room and told him that she was the best thing that was ever going to happen to him, and he’d make damn sure that Tyler would regret it if he didn’t make a honest woman out of her.

Or so Tyler says.

She was pretty sure there might’ve been some idle threats about losing manhood, but she wasn’t going to bring it up. They worked it out in the end.

“Yes!” They cheered, as quietly as they could, while the rest of the WAG’s and family in the suite celebrated. Daley rushed back to the bench and fist bumped the line, his massive smile permanently stuck to his face.

“Oh don’t worry, he’s exactly like his father.” Kate looked at the baby and then to his mom. “He’ll sleep through all of this.”

“Aren’t you lucky?” She teased, and Sarah rolled her eyes, bouncing Ella on her lap.

Marchand was up next Kate. It was the weirdest situation she found herself in, and was glad that it only really happened once a season. Brad had been one of Tyler’s groomsmen, and had spun her around on the dance floor in Hawaii at their reception with the proudest smile on his face for his friends. He had come over for dinner last night where they shared good food and a lot of laughs and here he was, the enemy. She hoped for his sake he got a goal, but for Dallas’ that he missed by a mile.

“How was dinner?” Sarah asked, still keeping her eyes on the ice. The 63 flew to the left and tried for a five whole, but Kari was on it, the stadium cheering for their goalie.

Kate let out a sigh of relief. “It was great. Tyler misses him. Marshall too.”

The Stars fans were all on their feet, Kate and Sarah joining them as Tyler took to the ice. He’d already scored a hat trick in the game, the last goal coming 2.3 seconds before the end of the third to make sure that Dallas stayed in the race. Her favorite of his goals were ones against Boston. Even though Ty didn’t hold any animosity, and everyone was thankful they made the stupid mistake and traded him, Kate still felt smug every time he played his best games against them.

Yeah Boston. See what you’re missing.

Kate bounced Lucas in her arms and bit her lip. Please go in, please go in, please go in she chanted to herself, holding her breath as Tyler took the shot.

It was silent for about point 1 of a second before the American Airlines Centre erupted, and Pantera started blasting through the speakers. The entire roster was on the ice instantly, surrounding their top line center in one of the biggest celly’s Kate had seen for a while. Everyone in the suite hugged each other, the wive’s happy that this game was over.

She didn’t know anyone connected to this team that liked Boston.

“Daddy won!” Ella squealed, wriggling out of her Mom’s lap and onto the floor to run around with the other toddlers. They might not have understood exactly what was happening, but they were having fun.

And it was a sight to behold to see all the kids running around with their Dad’s names and numbers on their backs.

Kate ran her hand over her growing stomach. She couldn’t wait to buy their son or daughter a baby ‘Seguin’ jersey. And no matter how much Tyler begged, they weren’t going to find out what they were having. Their parents had decided to be surprised, and she wanted to be as well. Tyler was just impatient in general and hated secrets.

“Okay, I’m busting, I’ll be back,” She groaned, handing Lucas back to his Mom, dodging the kids on the way out the door and to the bathrooms. When she had been picked up for the game, she thought heels were going to be okay, but she’d regretted it for the last 20 minutes or so. Normally she’d just take them off, but they had buckles and getting them on the first time was struggle. Everything was all too hard these days.

She busied herself with general conversation about what ideas every had on where to go during the summer when she’d returned, now that the holidays were over. Kate shrugged when they asked her, and said that her and Ty were probably going to be in Toronto for a bit with his family, and she’d come back to Dallas earlier than him while he was at training camp. She was due in April, and didn’t want to plan any holidays when she could barely remember where she left her toothbrush that morning.

Tyler found it in the fridge when he made lunch.

“Daddy!”

Ella was still full of beans and sprinted to the door as Jordie came through, picking her up like she weighed nothing and threw her in the air. Jamie was right behind him and barely caught his niece when she changed her mind about who’s arm she wanted to be in.

“How’s my favourite girl?” He asked, and Kate bit her lip. His ‘Dallas’ Most Eligible Bachelor’ interview said he wanted four kids, she wished he’d hurry up and make that happen. At least she knew she’d have a permanent baby sitter 3 streets over.

“Hey hey,” She chimed, leaning into Jordie’s hug as he kissed her cheek. “Nice work.”

Jordie shrugged with a smirk. “Just doing what I do, baby.”

“Shut up,” Sarah laughed, kissing her husband. Kate looked around and saw a pair of hazel eyes finding her across the room. He’d worn the grey pinstripe suit she loved so much, with a purple tie and Kate decided there and then that her husband was the most delicious person on the planet. If there was one thing that made her excited about this pregnancy (apart from… y’know, the obvious. Baby Seggys!), was the increased libido.

Tyler didn’t mind that one either.

“Hello Mrs Seguin.”

She grinned at the name, still after over two years, and leant up to kiss him hello. “Great game, baby. You goal hog.”

He winked back at her praise, cupped her cheek in his hand and leant down to kiss her slowly. She sighed happily as he pulled away, and Kate wanted to lock away the look he gave her in her memory forever. She felt warm all over and wrapped her arms around his waist to cuddle into him as close as she could.

“Okay honey, say goodnight to your Uncles and Aunty Kate.” Jordie tapped Ella’s nose and she turned around in Jamie’s arms to lean over and give Tyler a big kiss on his cheek. He laughed and muttered a ‘see you tomorrow, baby,’ into her curls, and Kate gave her an eskimo kiss that Ella had dubbed theirs.

“No Mama, Aunty Kate and I do this one. It’s ours!”

“Bye,” They chimed, the older Benn’s family walking away.

Tyler pulled Kate impossibly closer and watched on as Jamie gave his niece a tight hug, dropping her down on the floor and promised to go over early watch The Little Mermaid with her in the afternoon before they all had dinner. What. A. Sucker. They watched him walk them all the way to the door before Ella finally let go of his hand and latched onto her Dad. Uncle Jamie totally knew he was the favourite.

Kate shuffled her feet to ease the tension radiating through her heels and Ty pulled back, looking down. “How about,” He started, his hands roaming her back, “We head home, get you out of those shoes…” He trailed off with a bite of his lip and Kate automatically deemed this conversation too R rated for their friends to hear. She raised an eyebrow as he paused, “And I’ll give you a foot massage.”

“OhmyGod, yes,” She groaned, leaning against his chest. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” She grinned into his suit.

“Oh good, because I kind of love you back,” He teased and she pulled her face away to glare at him. “What?”

“Don’t get cute with me, Seguin.”

He really needed to work on his poker face. “I can’t help it, I was born this way. Seguin,” He threw back and Kate rolled her eyes.

“You wish you were cu-“

She stopped talking at the same time Tyler stepped back. Her hands flew to her stomach, as did his eyes. She didn’t breath, but let out a gasp as she felt it again.

Kicking.

Against her hand.

“Is that-?” Tyler was scared. A little bit. He wasn’t going to say it out loud.

“Oh my God, c’mere,” She squealed, reaching for his fingers, pressing them down gently on her dress pulled tight over her stomach. It took a few more moments, but sure enough, there it was.

Their baby was kicking.

“Holy shit,” Ty breathed, looking at his hand on his wife’s stomach. “It’s real.”

Kate gave him a look. “Of course it’s real, dumbass,” She deadpanned, but it was filled with love. “I’m not gaining weight just for fun.”

“That’s not what I- Oh, wow!”

Okay, Kate lied. That was the look she wanted to keep in her memory forever. Like suddenly all the moods swings and morning sickness (more like all day sickness, god the amount of conversations they’d had that had been cut short while he was on the road while she puked was ridiculous), the ultrasounds, the back pain that she had suffered hadn’t proved she was creating a life inside her.

That little kick did.

“Uh, you two okay?” Jamie asked, swiping the back of his hand across his mouth after he’d gulped down his Gatorade.

Tyler looked over, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. “Yeah, dude - this, Oh my God, like - come here, feel-“ His snapped his eyes back to his wife. “Can he?”

Kate rolled her eyes and put a hand on his face. “Would you calm down? Yeah, he can. Jamie,” She motioned for his hand, and he tentatively held it out, his eyebrows shooting up as she put it on his stomach next to Tyler’s. I mean, he loved his liney’s wife as much as the next person, but he didn’t see them with their hands all over her.

“Whoa,” He muttered, taking half a step forward to angle his hand better. “Is this the first time he’s kicked?”

“It’s kicked,” She stressed, frowning at her Captain. “And yes.”

Tyler giggled as he felt it again. “It’s like, he’s saying ‘hi Dad! Hi Uncle Jamie’.”

“It, Tyler. Stop telling me I’m having a son.”

But the two forwards weren’t listening to her. Jamie had felt Sarah’s stomach once, when she was pregnant with Lucas. Ella didn’t move much, or at least not when he was around, so he never got to experience it. Lucas was going to be a soccer player, if hockey didn’t work out, that had been decided before Sarah was even 6 months along. They both shared a grin before looking back to their hands. Ty shook his head in disbelief.

“I love you,” Tyler beamed, like he’d only just figured it out and couldn’t wait to share the news with the world. Kate laughed and Jamie grinned even harder, dropping his hand so Tyler could replace it with both of his. “Like, a whole lot.” Jamie rolled his eyes and waved goodbye, but neither of them saw.

Kate shrugged, smirking at the man in front of her. “You’re alright.”

He grinned and moved his hands around her stomach, around the sides and up her back, one hand resting a little too low for what’s acceptable in public, but he couldn’t care less. His wife was pregnant, his felt his baby kick, and everything was perfect.

“So, Daddy, how about you take me back to that mansion of ours for that foot massage, huh?”

He nodded, picking up his bag from the floor where he’d dropped it in shock, taking her hand in his. “Sure thing Mama.” He knew there was no way their kid wouldn’t pick up the Texan version of ‘Mom’, so he may as well start now. “Let’s go home.”