Counting Stars

“What is so important that you made me pull my kid out of his nap to come over here?” Jon’s not usually scared of Dayna Seabrook but she looks pretty murderous when he pulls open the door to his condo.

Jon opens his mouth to speak but from behind his wife, Brent Seabrook is wildly shaking his head, so Jon changes his plan. “You should…you should come in,”

Dayna’s face softens from straight lethal to mildly suspicious at his tone, but she steps in the condo quickly. “What’s going on, Jon?”

“We were just hoping to talk to you guys,” Jon says. “Well, a couple of you, we need some advice.”

“Who’s we?” Seabs asks, exchanging a look with his wife.

“Jon and I,” Avery says, from where she’s sitting on the couch, texting.

Before Jon can even blink, he’s got a baby in his arms and Seabs and Dayna are bear hugging Avery between them. He shifts Carter in his arms, trying to soothe the now restless child, as the Seabrook’s chatter loudly to Avery. “What are you doing here?”

“That’s kinda what we wanted to talk to you about,” Avery says. “We um, we got married,”

“Shut the fuck up!” Seabs exclaims, immediately pulling her into another hug and squeezing tightly. “This is great, I can’t believe it,”

“Wait a minute,” Dayna must see Jon’s face because she doesn’t share her husband’s excitement. “What’s going on, Jon?”

“It was back in summer on a cruise,”

“And?” Dayna prompts.

“We were drunk,”

“And?”

“We just found out about it today?”

“More,”

“She’s still engaged?”

“There it is!” Dayna praises, settling in on the couch next to Avery.

“Really?” Jon bounces her kid in his arms. “That’s the problem you’re focusing on?”

“That’s what I’m focusing on,” Avery adds.

“Oh yeah, what are we doing about that?” Seabs is so casual they may have been talking about what they were doing for dinner. His casual manner doesn’t change as he sits down next to his wife but at Jon’s glare, he amends. “What are we doing about all of it...?”

“We’re—we’re married,” Jon settles in next to Avery, smiling at her as he does. Despite everything, he can’t help but feel this is the way it was supposed to be. “We’re staying married, telling our parents and some close friends,”

“But as far as everyone else knows, they’ll get an invite to our ‘wedding’ this summer,” Avery finishes.

“Tsk tsk,” Seabs teases. “Already married and going to have another?”

Avery raises her eyebrows at him. “You think either one of our mothers is going to be okay with us not having a wedding,”

“Good point,”

“I mean, nobody’s telling them we were drunk the first time,” Jon says.

“No way in hell,” Avery agrees.

“What are we telling them?” Dayna presses gently.

“We’ve been seeing each other for a while again,” Avery says quietly. It’s not exactly a lie; they’ve certainly been together a few times since they broke up. “And on the cruise, Jon proposed, I said yes, we fought about James, and to prove I was serious, we just—did it,” She stops abruptly after that, looking over at Brent and Dayna nervously. Jon understands; he’s nervous about how their friends are going to take the news too. But in his case, he’s pretty sure any feelings about what previously happened between him and Avery are going to be put aside. She’s always been the favorite girlfriend, not only of the Seabrook’s but also the other teammates who had known her.

Brent and Dayna exchange a look before both turning back to their companions. “I think we’ve made it very clear to Jon that you being back is something we’ve always wanted,” Dayna addresses Avery. “And I’m sure there’s more you guys have to work out,” Jon and Avery both nod; despite talking all afternoon, they somehow silently agreed not to even touch their break up. “But we want you to know we’ve got your backs,”

“For anything,” Seabs adds.

“For everything,” Dayna agrees. “I don’t know what you guys have talked about and what you still need to, but if there’s two people I think could pull this off, it’s you two.” She smiles at them, looking every bit the older sister they both consider her to be sometimes. “So anything you need, we’re here. But we need to address the elephant,”

Avery sighs in relief as Dayna finishes, but before she can reply, her phone buzzes on the table. “Speak of the devil,” She mutters, picking it up and leaving the room.

Brent reaches out to take Carter back from Jon, but Jon holds onto the kid. He’s sleeping gently against Jon’s shoulder; he’s not ready to ruin that. Seabs says nothing, just raises his eyebrows as he leans back. “What’s this really about?”

Jon’s eyes narrow. “What do you mean?”

“I’m going to be honest,” Seabs says bluntly. “I love Avery, you know that I do. But you fucked that up big time and there was a period of time I honestly thought that was it. That all you two would be is awkward exes that avoided each other at events. And now, not only are you back together; you’re unknowingly married for four months and she’s engaged to someone else.” Jon gulps. “You’ve loved this girl for like ten years and would do anything she asked. So I repeat: what’s this really about?”

“She doesn’t want to marry him,”

Seabs blinks. “That’s it?”

Jon nods. “That’s it. So I told her she didn’t have to,”

Dayna’s face falls. “Sweetie,”

He shrugs. Carter grumbles at him in his sleep. “It’s—I mean, you guys are right. It doesn’t matter that it’s been two years; she’s—she’s it for me.”

“Who are you?” Seabs says. “Admitting your love for someone with three questions. Where’s the robot? I don’t even know you anymore!”

Dayna grins. “They’re married now. He can say what he wants.”

“You guys are the worst,” Jon tells them.

They grin back at him. “Dibs on best man,” Seabs says. “I’ll fight your real brother for it,”

“Go for it,” Jon shrugs. “Might give him to Aves anyway,”

“Your mom would kill you,” Dayna says.

“Be worth it to see what she dressed him in,” Jon counters.

Dayna laughs. “Boys,” But her smile flattens as she looks at him again. “Are you guys going to be okay?”

Avery steps back into the room, looking uncomfortable. Jon knows it has everything to do with James, so he smiles at her. When she returns it, he knows. “Yeah,” He nods at Dayna. “We will be,”

“Will be what?” Avery asks bouncing the couch as she throws herself down next to Jon. “Never mind,” She shakes her head. “Hey, while we’re all here, we should talk about what we’re telling parents,”

“Never mind,” Jon looks back at Dayna. “Hold off on that last answer,”