Nirvana

James woke up to an empty bed that morning, he got dressed for the day, and went downstairs. Sasha, the name they had both settled on for the dog looked up from his bed when he heard James coming down the stairs. Once he confirmed it was in fact his human approaching he put his head back down and went back to sleep, James shook his head in amusement at him and followed the sound of music into the kitchen, where he found Harley standing at the stove making breakfast. Half of her hair was up in a bun, the other laying flat against her back, she was wearing one of James' t-shirts with knee high socks. James got the perfect view of the lace outline of her boyshorts when she reached up to grab a bowl from the cupboard.

If James could wake up to this every morning he was sure he would die a happy man.

When she turned to go into the fridge for the eggs she jumped, hand on her chest and exclaimed, "Jesus Christ!"

James couldn't help but grin, "Not quite but I'll take it."

Harley rolled her eyes at him and lined the spatula with his chest, warning him, "Watch it."

He held his hands up in a surrender fashion and she turned back to the stove, James wrapped his arms around her waist, kissed her neck and told her, "Morning."

"Morning." She mimicked, turning her head enough to press her lips to his cheek gently.

Placing his head into the crook of her neck James tightened his grip around her and Harley ran her free hand through his hair a few times. He had been feeling guilty since Monday, and he didn't know how to approach this subject at all. The whole thought of what might transpire between them after he brought it up made him nervous. After a few seconds of silence James tried to keep his news as casual as he possibly could, "My mom is thinking of coming to visit."

She didn't tense up, which was a good sign to James. In fact she didn't even freak out like he expected her too, she simply nodded, smiled, and asked, "When is she thinking?"

"Maybe in a few weeks?" James asked, both trying not to let her see how shocked he was that she was fine with the idea of meeting his mother, and that he wanted to gauge her level of sanity. He may have been surprised with her reaction but if he knew Harley he knew she was probably already thinking of all the ways this could go wrong. 

Harley nodded and turned her head to kiss him quickly before she told him, "Whenever she wants, just give me at least a days heads up yeah?"

He let out a chuckle, "I'll try."

Pressing a soft kiss to the side of her head James reached over her and grabbed two glasses from the cupboard. Harley noted the fact that he didn't even have to stretch and rolled her eyes, but said nothing as he went to the fridge and filled them both with juice. She plated their breakfast, set the plates down on the table before she disappeared. James sat down and stared at the archway she disappeared out of in confusion, and when she came back she was holding a piece of paper. 

She sat down across from him and told him with a smile that made him nervous, "I have something for you."

"Yeah?" He asked, glancing down at the paper in her hands that he still couldn't see. 

Nodding, Harley handed the piece of paper to him and watched nervously as he flipped it over and looked at it. It was a printed off picture, a cartoon style drawing of four hockey players in full gear, each one with the back of their jersey showing, Himself, Shea, Craig and Pekka. When he looked up at Harley, slightly confused, she told him, "It's gonna go on the wall with the booths. I figured you know, you guys did this amazing thing for me, and technically you do own part of the bar so I wanted to do something to remind you guys that it didn't go unappreciated."

James shook his head, "We know that."

"I know, I just wanted to do it." She told him with a smile.

"It's pretty awesome though." James told her with a grin, and Harley simply chuckled and nodded. As they fell into a silence while eating their breakfast James glanced around the kitchen. The fridge was already being taken over by pictures and bills, Harley's phone charger was plugged in by the fridge, there were dog toys everywhere. Cautiously James brought up the subject of her moving in again, "So...when were you thinking of moving stuff over here?"

Harley glanced up at him, took a quick drink of her grapefruit juice and said, "Em and I were gonna pack up my apartment tomorrow, bring stuff over this weekend."

"If you wanna wait a few days I can get some of the guys to help when we get back." They were headed out on a four day road trip and while he was glad she was going to be more permanent around the house James felt bad that she was planning on doing all the actual moving in herself. 

She shook her head at him, "No it's fine, we'll be okay."

He looked at her wearily and Harley simply stuck her tongue out at him. James let out a laugh and said, "You really are a child."

"Takes one to know one." She retorted, breaking off a piece of toast before popping it into her mouth.

James shook his head in amusement at her before he asked, "So what's the plan for today?" 

Harley shrugged and didn't look up from her food when she told him, "Take the dog for a walk, stop by Diosa to sign some papers...and then... I don't know... hang out in bed all day?"

When she smirked at him James grinned and stated, "I like that idea."

Hours later, while they were driving out to the arena, James couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He glanced over at Harley, who was sitting in the passenger seat beside him, her hands in her lap staring out the window. He slid his hand into hers, gave it a squeeze, and asked, "When are you and Emma gonna get started packing?"

"Probably in the morning." She said with a shrug. Eventually Harley glanced over at him and asked curiously, "Are you okay?"

James nodded, a little over enthusiastically in Harley's opinion. He didn't say anything, so Harley didn't push the subject. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze and focused her eyes on him. He kept his eyes on the road, and his shoulders looked tense, but other than that there was nothing different. James' eyes flickered to her and back to the road before he said with a small smile, "It's okay, I know I'm pretty stunning to look at."

Harley let out a loud laugh, pulled her hand from his and ruffled his hair, making James roll his eyes and immediately reach up to fix it. Harley leaned back in her seat, grabbed the pack of gum from the cup holder and popped one in her mouth, offering another to James. She tossed the empty package onto the floor by her feet and James shook his head at her.

"Don't even start." She warned him with a pointed look to back her statement up.

James simply grinned and told her, "You're lucky this is your car. This is why we never take my car anywhere."

"And here I thought it was because you finally came to the conclusion that my car is better than yours." Harley said with a smirk. James rolled his eyes at her and slid his hand into hers again as he pulled into the parking lot. It was filled with vehicles both coming and going, most of his teammates were already here.

Harley took note of how slowly he got out of the car, she watched him grab his bag from the trunk and sling it over his shoulder. She met him at the drivers side door, wrapped an arm around his waist and leaned into him. Once he put both arms around her and was bent more to her level she asked him softly, "Are you sure you're okay?"

He nodded into her neck, kissed her soft skin, but made no motion to move. Harley wasn't sure what this was, he'd never been like this before a road trip, at least not around her. She rubbed her hand against his back for a moment before she fixed the back of his hair and James finally pulled away from her. He smiled gently and asked, "You sure you're gonna be okay tomorrow?"

"We'll be fine, just go win some games okay?" She asked, waiting until he nodded to lean up and kiss him.

She intended for it to be a quick one, but his hands on the small of her back pulled her into him and kept her where she was. When he did pulled back James smiled and asked, "Please don't take over the closet."

Harley let out a quiet laugh, gave him a gentle shove and told him, "Go. You're gonna be late."

"I know." James said, not making any motion to move. Harley leaned up to kiss him once more before she gave him a gentle push toward the rest of his teammates and James smiled, "Alright, alright. I'll see you soon."

He turned and started to walk away and before she could stop herself Harley reached out and grabbed his hand, "James."

When he turned to her and grinned James said, "You said yourself that I'm gonna be late."

She didn't roll her eyes. Instead all she did was say, "I love you."

Harley didn't give him the chance to respond, she got into her car, started it and left. James stood where he was for a few seconds, watching as her car disappeared around a corner. After a good few minutes he smiled, turned around and walked toward the rest of his teammates.

An hour and a half later James was sitting on a plane to St. Louis he still had a smile on his face. Pekka took the seat beside him, noted the smile but had said nothing until now. Finally he turned to his teammate and asked, "What's with the Dory routine?"

James turned to the goalie and raised his eyebrow, "The what?"

"You know... Finding Nemo? That fish that's always smiling? Isn't that called Dory?" James couldn't help but laugh at his teammate for this. Of all the things he could have said, he makes a Finding Nemo reference.

For a second it crossed James' mind to say it was nothing, but then he remembered that this wasn't a temporary home. Nashville was home now, and he needed to start acting like it was. The guys on his plane were his team, and he may as well get used to them being friends. Nashville isn't Pittsburgh, he figured it was time to change his thoughts. Nashville was better.

"Harley's moving in tomorrow." James said with a smile, and Pekka grinned, giving his shoulder a shake.

"God help you." He said, making James raise his eyebrow. Pekka looked at him with wide eyes and asked, "Have you seen how many pairs of shoes she owns?"

James couldn't help but let out a loud laugh at that. It was true, so much so in fact that before he left he had stuffed his shoes together to clear an entire extra shelf for her. James couldn't help but shake his head at himself, however he had gotten to this point he was glad he had.

- - -

"Okay... furniture?" Emma asked curiously, glancing around the apartment. They had gotten breakfast, set Hannah up in a play pen, and were now standing in the kitchen of the apartment above the bar.

Harley looked up from the box of kitchen stuff she was packing and over at the furniture in the living room. She looked down and the box in front of her, she was separating the kitchen stuff they needed and didn't need. Emma stood waiting for an answer, and eventually Harley told her, "Those are going to the house."

Emma raised her eyebrow but wrote down 'House' on a sticky note before she stuck it to the couch and two chairs. It wasn't until they had moved onto the bedroom that Emma asked, "Are we taking the bed too?"

Harley shook her head, "That's staying. Might as well keep it if this place ever gets rented again."

"And the couches?"

Harley was going through her shoes when she explained to Emma, "I'm gonna put them in the basement. He's been so good about all my stuff kind of taking over his house so I figure I'll put some furniture together so he has his own space."

"And to think, you don't think you can love him." Emma told her with a grin. Her grin faded when Harley's lips turned up in a small smile. Emma exclaimed, "Woman put down the Jimmy Choo and spill it."

"I may have managed to fall in love with him after all." Was all Harley said as she placed two pairs of shoes in a suitcase.

"Does he know?" Emma asked, getting up from the bed and walking into the closet to face Harley.

She nodded slowly, put another pair of shoes into the suitcase before she said, "Yeah I told him today, before they left."

"Ugh. You two kill me. You know?" She voiced, making Harley roll her eyes. Emma sent her a pointed look and said, "I'm serious. I wish Shea and I were as cute as you and James."

"We're just new and shiny. I'm sure we'll be exactly like you and Shea when were married with kids." Harley paused, realizing what she just said, and looked at Emma, who was basically squealing. Harley took a second before she told Emma, "You're weird."

"And you're in loooove with James and you're gonna get married and have babies and live happily ever after."