Nirvana

It had been a week. The Preds were in the middle of a two day break between home games, the end of the season was fast approaching and no one had heard from Harley. After three days of unanswered phone calls Emma had decided it was time to investigate her disappearance. She had gone over to James’ to see what was up, and after he told her he had no idea where Harley was she had the door practically slammed in her face. She then went to Diosa, spent twenty minutes knocking on the door to Harley’s apartment, eventually giving up when no one answered. She sent a few texts letting Harley know she’d be there if she needed her and left it at that.

Craig and Shea had both gone by Diosa on several occasions, and they knew Sophie was lying to them when she said that Harley wasn’t there but neither of them pushed it. Shea even went about having Rich try getting a hold of her, but that call was never picked up or returned. He had run out of ideas, much like his wife. No one bothered asking James what had happened, he suddenly stopped joining them on team outings, he didn’t hang around the locker room any longer than needed after practice and he definitely went out of his way to avoid having a conversation with any of them. The only thing they had gotten out of them was that he and Harley had “gotten into a fight” and that was it.

This time Pekka figured he would try his hand at the Harley situation. He stole the key for Diosa off of Shea’s key ring after practice, and took off in the opposite direction after practice that morning. While his teammates all went for lunch or home for the day he made his way through downtown and parked his car on the street outside Diosa. It was just after one in the afternoon, the lights inside were on but he knew there would be no one inside, so he pulled the key from his pocket, unlocked the door and walked in.

One of the contractors looked up upon finding the door opening, raised his eyebrow and told Pekka, “Place is closed.”

“I know, hence the key.” Pekka stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He glanced around, taking in the renovations that were almost complete, before he walked past them and into the back. He took the stairs two at a time up, and without knocking tried the door, even when she was living with Rich Harley had a habit of leaving the door unlocked. She was sitting at the island, a half empty glass and a bottle of JD sitting in front of her. The sight made him state, “Well I’m glad you’re at least alive you know.”

She rolled her eyes, didn’t bother filling her glass this time, instead she took a swig right from the bottle. He watched as she practically slammed the bottle back onto the table and leaned her head back to look at the ceiling as Pekka pulled up a chair to sit beside her.

He tried a joke, “It would have been preferable if that was juice though.”

She didn’t even crack a smile, instead, in response to his comment she simply raised the well past half empty bottle to her lips and took another drink. He wondered how many bottles she’d gone through in the last week, and exactly how much of the bottle currently in her hands had she drank today. Harley paid no attention to the added company of the goaltender, she picked at the nail polish on her finger nails, took a few more drinks and pretended he wasn’t there.

“Alright, I can see you’re not going to talk. Does this have anything to do with James?” He asked curiously, and his thoughts were confirmed when her answer to him was her taking another drink of whiskey.

Finally she spoke, her speech slightly slurred, which was a good indication to him that she had more than likely cracked open that bottle today, “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Yeah, well, someone had to keep you from choking on your own vomit.” He told her with a pointed look as she hiccupped.

“Prince Charming.” She muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.

He couldn’t help but grin, “I’m glad you finally agree.”

“Can you people just leave me alone?” Harley muttered, grabbing the bottle again.

He let her have one last drink from it before he took the bottle out of her hand and despite her persistent glare he didn’t hand it back. He simply told her, “I think you’ve had enough.”

“You don’t get to decide that.” She told him, reaching for the bottle again. When he pulled it away from her grasp Harley muttered, “What the hell is it with people deciding what’s good for me lately? For fuck sakes I’m thirty years old, I can make my own damn decisions thank you very much.”

“What the hell happened Harley?” He wasn’t used to this Harley, the Harley he was used to always had a smile on her face, and he’d never heard her talk like this. Clearly whatever had happened was much, much more than “just a fight” like James had said.

“I am a failure that is what happened.” She muttered, narrowing her eyes at him. She was still expecting him to hand the bottle back to her, and when he didn’t she rolled her eyes and told threatened, “If you don’t give that back you’re never gonna play another game in your life.”

He got up from the table, taking the bottle with him and putting it on top of the cupboard on the wall, knowing she’d never be able to get it down without physically climbing onto the counter. He turned the switch on the coffee machine on and told her, “I’m going to make you some coffee. You look like you could use a pot or six.”

She muttered to herself and rolled her eyes, before she sat staring at his back. Her head was rested on one hand, and it was then that she noticed the glass in front of her that still had whiskey inside it. She glanced up at Pekka, his back still to hers, and she swiftly grabbed the glass and downed the liquid, somehow managing to tilt too far and fall off her chair and onto the hardwood floor. Pekka leaned over to check on her, almost laughing at finding her laying on her back, grumbling with her eyes closed. When her grumbling stopped and she fell asleep he turned the coffee pot off and pulled out his phone, texting Shea. 911. Diosa.

It took him 25 minutes but when Shea walked into the apartment, after being directed by the contractors downstairs, and saw Harley on the floor Pekka told him, “I figured it might do her well to wake up on the floor.”

When he bent down to pick her up he glanced over at Pekka and asked, “Is she drunk?”

All he could smell was alcohol, it almost made him gag. Pekka finally jumped in to help his captain get her to a standing position as he stated, “Halfway through a bottle of whiskey when I got here.”

Harley groaned, pushed her face into Shea’s chest and made a noise that sounded to Shea like gagging. They got her to the sink just in time for her to empty the contents of her stomach, which looked to both of them like it consisted of nothing but alcohol. Shea held her up with one arm wrapped around her waist, his older holding as much as of her as he could.

Shea looked over at Pekka and asked, “What happened?”

“I don’t know, obviously that fight Nealer was talking about wasn’t just a fight.” Pekka said with a shrug, grabbing a clean tea towel from the drawer beside him and running it under cold water. He pressed it into her hot skin, across her forehead and on her neck, trying to cool her down a little bit.

“Will you two shut up?” Harley muttered, not getting much more out before she pushed Pekka’s hands away from her and threw up again. She placed her forehead against the cold metal sink frame and let out a groan as Shea pulled the elastic from her wrist and tied her hair up in the messiest, barely even held up bun that she had ever seen.

“You wanna help me get her to my car?” Shea asked, glancing between Harley, who he was still holding up, and Pekka who was rinsing the sink, looking as if he might puke himself.

He nodded without turning to look at Shea, finished what he was doing, hung the towel across the faucet to dry. Harley shook her head when Pekka turned to her and told Shea, “I’m not going anywhere you two Neanderthals.”

“Too bad.” Was all Shea told her, lifting her up and practically heaving her over his shoulder. He heard her gag and was silently praying she didn’t puke all over his back as he walked toward the door. Pekka held the door open, and walked behind Shea down the stairs ready to step in if his assistance was needed.

When they were outside in the back lot Pekka couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw Shea wince and Harley pound her fists against his back while telling him loudly, “Put me down you Yeti.”

Shea didn’t bother responding verbally, his response was reaching for his keys, opening the backseat door and dropping her onto the seats as if it were the easiest thing in the world. He watched her stretch out across the seats, he was surprised when she didn’t try to get out the other side of the car and finally he closed the door and told Pekka, “Thanks for texting me.”

He nodded, pulled his own keys from his pocket and asked, “You need help getting her into the house?”

“No, I’ll be fine. Emma’s home. I’ll see you at practice tomorrow.” Shea told him, getting into his car. He glanced in the rearview at Harley, before turning the ignition over and pulling away from the curb. He tried to drive home as cautiously as he could, trying not to hit too many bumps for break too quickly, the last thing he wanted was for Harley to puke in his car.

He pulled into the garage, picking Harley up out of the back seat the same way he had to get her into the car. She didn’t wake up, and was practically dead weight over his shoulder, but he managed to both close the car door and open the door into the house with his hip.

Emma was sitting in the living room watching TV when she heard him come in. She practically jumped up from the couch when she saw him, “What the hell happened?”

He shrugged, “Beats me.”

Emma followed behind him up the stairs, she raised an eyebrow at Harley’s hair do but said nothing. She stood in the doorway as Shea placed her onto the bed in the guest room and spread a light blanket over her. Finally he sat down in the chair by the door and Emma asked her, “Does this have anything to do with James?”

“That would be my best guess, she won’t tell me.” Shea stated with a sigh. Emma put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze as Shea informed her, “I’m gonna stay in here until she wakes up. Just in case.”

She disappeared into the bathroom across the hall and appeared again with the garbage bin, setting it beside the bed before she went back downstairs. Shea knew she was likely pacing the kitchen and biting her finger nails. He pulled his phone out, letting Pekka know he got her back fine, before he decided to try his luck with James and ask why Harley would be that drunk at 1 in the afternoon.

- - -

When Harley woke up in the Weber’s guest room she had a tiny headache that served as a reminder of why she didn’t drink liquor anymore. She sat up slowly, holding her head, and she took a deep breath of air in through her nose, trying to decide if she needed to puke again or not. Shea watched her, almost laughing at her messy head of brown hair, before he asked, “How you feeling?”

She jumped slightly at the sound of his voice, before she turned to him, shrugged and told him honestly, “Like I got hit by a truck.”

“Sounds about right.” Shea stated with a small smile. He watched as she shoved the blanket off of herself and swung her legs around the side of the bed.

She sat there, taking in a few breaths of air again before she looked up at him and asked, “How did I get here anyway?”

“You don’t remember?” Shea asked her, watching as she tried to think before eventually she shook her head and he told her, “You were passed out on your kitchen floor when I got there. How much did you drink Harley?”

“Today or this week?” She asked, trying to make a joke at this entire thing. When Shea didn’t laugh she told him, “I lost count.”

When they heard the front door close downstairs Shea told her, “Come on, you should get some food in you.”

Harley slipped into the bathroom across the hall from the guest room, knowing Shea was still sitting in the chair in the guest room waiting for her. She looked at herself in the mirror and sighed, pulling the hair tie that was barely even in her hair out. She tried to run her hands through the tangles, before she got annoyed and just threw it into a slightly neater version of Shea’s work. She filled her hands with cold water and splashed her face twice, before she rubbed her went hands into her skin, and used some toilet paper to get rid of the remnants of mascara that had pooled around her eyes racoon style from the water. She took a moment to take a deep breath and patted her cheeks with the palms of her hands before she shut the light off and left the bathroom.

She followed Shea downstairs, wehre Emma was standing in the kitchen with a paper bag on the counter. She turned, smiled sympathetically, and told her, “I figured you could use something really greasy.”

“I thought you said I needed to eat better.” Harley said with a small smile.

Emma shrugged her shoulders and said, “I’ll let it slide today.”

She separated the three meals onto the table, trying to pick the most health conscious meal they had for Shea. They ate in silence, and it wasn’t until Harley was picking through her fries that Emma asked, “So, you gonna tell us what happened?”

“Nothing to tell.” Harley stated, making Emma roll her eyes at her.

“Sure, that’s why James slammed the door in my face when I went there last week looking for you.” She stated, making Harley’s head snap up toward her.

“You went to his house?”

“See, you just said his house. What happened?” Harley stared at her last few fries as Emma and Shea exchanged a look due to her silence.

Eventually she told them, “We broke up. I think that was pretty obvious.”

“So shit Sherlock.” Shea stated, getting a look from Emma, but a small chuckle from Harley.

“I don’t really know what to say, we got into it pretty back. Some things were said.” Harley stated with a shrug.

“Yeah but you guys will figure it out.” Emma told her, giving her hand a gentle and sympathetic pat.

Harley shook her head, “I moved into my apartment, he packed up the rest of my stuff and dropped it off yesterday. It’s done.”

Shea sighed and asked her, “You guys are really gonna throw away your entire relationship over one fight?”

“It occurred to me, both of us I think, that we kind of jumped into things without really thinking it through. We don’t even really know each other, I don’t know why we thought it would work when we weren’t taking the time to learn the basics about each other.” Harley stated with a shrug, taking a drink of her water.

Shea and Emma exchanged another look, before Shea glanced down at his phone. James hadn’t answered him and Shea was assuming he wasn’t going to. He was also assuming that there was more to this story that neither of them were sharing. He watched as Harley got up and cleaned up their lunch mess. Aside from earlier that day she seemed to be taking this all relatively okay, as if she had managed to get over it sometime during her drunken nap that afternoon. Shea wasn’t buying it.

“Well, Kelly and I are watching the game here tomorrow. You’re welcome to join us. We’re gonna make it a girls night, order in and spend the night in our pyjamas.” Emma told her as she tapped Shea’s shoulder and motioned to the baby monitor. Hannah was waking up and needed someones attention.

He took the hint and left them alone, but not before heading Harley’s response to Emma, “No offense but I’m really not interested in listening to you guys talk babies and pregnancy all night.”

Emma sighed and wrapped her arm around Harley’s shoulder, telling her, “It’ll happen for you one day honey.”

Harley chuckled and shrugged, “It would take a miracle at this point.”

“Well you can always steal Hannah, or if Shea and I don’t like the new baby you can have it.” Emma said with a giggle.

Harley turned her head quickly, raised her eyebrow and asked, “New baby? Is this your funny way of telling me you’re pregnant again?”

“Goodness no. I just mean… well we agreed to start trying, we’re hoping that by the time the season is over I’ll be knocked up again.” Emma said, laughing when Harley grinned and clapped.

“Oh I’m so excited! I hope it’s another girl!” Harley stated, grinning at Emma before explaining, “I think it would be hilarious if you guys had all girls. Shea would drive his car off a bridge.”

Shea, who had caught the tail end of that conversation, walked into the kitchen holding Hannah, and told her, “I might.”