Seven Year Ache

Early November 2014

Two o'clock in the afternoon Riley found herself sitting at a table at an outdoor patio restaurant with Kelly, waiting for Nicole and Amber to arrive. She had a rather productive day thus far, after Shea had accidentally woken her up that morning getting ready for practice at seven she had gone grocery shopping, met with a few of the other wives for the final details on a charity thing and then hit an hour and a half long yoga session with Kelly, who had grumbled through the entire thing.

Now however she was growing nervous for the evening she was about to have and not just nervous butterflies in her stomach, no it was more like Mothra from Godzilla was in her stomach and causing it to do flips and twists. She grabbed her wine glass, took a large sip of the red wine she had ordered and then put it down as Kelly chuckled and told her, “You really should calm down.”

“Don't tell me to calm down. The thought of even walking into that arena tonight makes me want to pule.” Riley told her sharply before sighing and apologizing, “I'm sorry.”

Kelly shook her head, “Don't worry, it's fine. But just so you know you're gonna be fine, it's just like any other game.”

“Yeah, any other game where half the team is going to be piling into my living room after.” Riley muttered, putting her head in her hands and letting out a heavy sigh.

Kelly put her hand on her back and rubbed it gently before telling her, “I'll hang out in the kitchen with you all night. I'll be your buffer.”

“You and I both know that with Rich and Pekka there you being a buffer and me staying in the kitchen all night will never happen.”Riley muttered to her, lifting her head long enough to down another large mouthful of her wine.

“I'll sick Craig on them?”

Riley nearly choked on her drink, and after she swallowed both Kelly and her burst into laughter as Nicole and Amber both took the seats across from them. They shared a confused look with each other before turning to Riley and Kelly, who were nearly in tears now. Nicole interrupted them y clearing her throat and then asked, “What did we miss?”

Kelly, still giggling, tried to explain but could only get out, “We just...she just...oh my god.”

“I'm thoroughly confused right now.” Amber stated with an amused shake of her head at the two girls across from her who were leaning against each other to hold each other up through a fit of laughter.

Once they both finally settled down Kelly explained in full this time, “We were talking about how intimidating Craig was.”

Nicole raised her eyebrow, a smirk on her lips as she asked, “So...not at all?”

This got the two brunettes laughing again at the thought before Amber said, “It's hard to look intimidating when you have Shea Weber, Mr. Intimidation Extraordinaire himself next to you.”

Riley took another drink of her wine as the three girls laughed at this and she picked at the cuff of her long sleeve, not realizing that the conversation had picked up around her. After she didn't respond for a few minutes Kelly nudged her to get her attention, and her cheeks flushed. Kelly was quick to tell the other girls, “She's a little nervous for tonight.”

Nicole, who had been off and on, though currently on, with Victor Bartley for going on two years sent her a sympathetic smile, “Yeah I guess game days are pretty stressful for you, huh Mrs. Captain?”

Riley forced a smile on her face and Amber, who was Rich Clune's leading candidate for this season's girlfriend, was quick to ask “Does it get any easier to deal with? I'm honestly amazed that you do this year after year.”

Riley felt bad for the girl, clearly she thought she would be sticking around but Riley knew Rich and she knew that wasn't likely to happen. It was too bad too, Amber actually seemed like a nice girl. Rather than letting Riley struggle through what that question Kelly told her, “It does, but it's still stressful. The goods outweigh the bad though.”

“Plus everyone seems to be more excited for this season, especially with the new addition and how good they've been playing so far.” Nicole stated, leaning toward Riley and Kelly, lowering her voice slightly to ask, “What do you guys think of him anyway?”

“James?” Riley asked, just to be sure she knew who Nicole was talking about. When the blonde nodded Riley shrugged and said, “He's pretty quite, but he's a good fit.”

“What about his not girlfriend, girlfriend?” Amber asked curiously, Riley knew James was currently living with Rich and so more than likely she'd either met the woman in James' life or heard about her.

Riley however had gotten to know Quinn very well over the last month and was happy to inform the girls who had yet to meet her, “Oh Quinn's great, a total sweetheart.”

Riley didn't partake in the gossip about why James was in Nashville and his sort of girlfriend was still in Pittsburgh, she wasn't one for gossip anyway but especially intra-team gossip. In her opinion there was nothing worse. So she took another drink of her wine and was thankful that their waitress interrupted them to take their orders. Her phone buzzed and she glanced down at it to find Pekka describing the woman who was coming to the game that Riley was supposed to sit with.

- - -

She was looking for a 'sort of blonde' whatever that meant. She really needed to teach Pekka some better words. Glancing at her phone again to see if Pekka had anything else for her to go on Riley sighed, shoved it into her pocket and glanced around, her eyes falling on a short, curvy figured woman standing with a teenage boy who stood several inches taller than she. Riley instantly straightened up and pushed through a few groups of people before coming to a stop in front of her and giving them both a bright smile.

“You must be Brooke.” Riley stated, keeping her smile as the woman before her nodded slowly. Holding her hand out Riley introduced herself, “I'm Riley. Shea's girlfriend.”

“Shea Weber?” Riley turned her attention to the boy beside Brooke, who looked down at her with slightly wide eyes. It was clear why they were at the game tonight and it wasn't so much about Brooke and Pekka's budding relationship like Riley thought.

Riley nodded and smiled at him, “That's the one. I think if you want to stick around after I can introduce you.”

“Really?” Instantly he turned toward Brooke, “Can we?”

She chuckled, hooked her arm through his and pulled him closer to her, saying, “That could be okay.”

His phone was pulled out and he was texting furiously on it which made Riley let out a small laugh as she motioned for them to walk and lead them to their seats. Tenth row of the one hundred level, centre ice and she knew the boy in front of her would be impressed with Pekka's choice in seats. Once they were seated Riley asked Brooke, “So you're Pekka's neighbour?”

She nodded, pulling the boys hat off and setting it in his lap before she turned to Riley and told her, “Yeah we just moved in over the summer. Nolan, my son, just loves him.”

“How old is he?” Riley asked curiously, glancing over at Nolan who was still paying attention to his cell phone.

“Fourteen.” Brooke told her.

They both chuckled when Nolan stated, without even looking at them, “Fifteen in February.”

“Oh, well excuse me.” Brooke joked, ruffling his hair. Riley smiled, watching them interact as the players began skating out onto the ice for warm ups. That was when Nolan's phone went into his pocket and he followed only the gold jerseys on the ice. They sat through warm ups in silence and when the players went back into the tunnel Brooke turned to Riley and asked, “So you to these games all the time?”

“Almost all the home games yeah. I usually sit in the wives room for them with the other girls.” Riley told her honestly, and when Brooke sent her a look Riley was quick to tell her, “Oh no I love sitting out here. It's nice to have an excuse to. These were my favorite seats when Shea was in juniors and his first few seasons here.”

Nolan leaned over to look past his mom and at Riley and asked her, “Do you think he's gonna have another 50 point season?”

Riley raised her eyebrow and asked, “What do you think?”

“Statistically? Probably. Last season he had 56 points, and he's been in the 40s and 50s since 2008 so it's likely. Then factor in Josi as his d partner with 40 points alone and 96 between the two of them last season it's pretty likely.” Nolan rattled off, glancing out at the ice again.

Riley raised her eyebrow a second time in surprise, he was fourteen and knew Shea's stats better than she did. Catching her surprise Brooke explained to her, “He's a bit of a numbers kid.”

“Nerd mom. I believe the word kids use is nerds.” Nolan told her with a grin.

Riley let out a chuckle at that before she asked him, “So do you play?”

Nolan cast his eyes to his lap and instantly Riley wished she hadn't asked. Brooke told her, “He doesn't. He wants to but he can't.”

Riley didn't push the subject, instead she asked him, “What position is your favorite?”

“Defence, definitely.” His spirits were lifted again as he launched into a big explanation of why defence was his favorite position. It always mirrored the reasons Shea had once ratted off years ago about why defence was the best position in the game.

With a smile Riley told him when he was finished, “I think you'll get along with Shea just fine.”

Brooke leaned over to her as the game started and Nolan had his attention on it and told her, “You don't have to do that you know.”

“I know, I want to he seems like a pretty great kid. Plus Shea loves meeting hockey obsessed kids, probably because then he has something in common with them.” Riley explained with a chuckle.

“So do you guys have any?” Brooke asked curiously, and when Riley turned to her with her brows crunched in confusion Brooke laughed and clarified, “Kids.”

“Oh no. No it's just us.”

- - -

Routine.

It was like being a mechanical robot.

It was the same thing every home game; she would wait for him in the family lounge and when he came out of the locker room, sometimes much later depending on how long the media kept him, she would get up, go to him, he would kiss her cheek and they would hold hands until they left the arena.

This time it was different however, while she did get up and go to him and he did lean down to kiss her cheek this time Riley looked up at him with a glint in her eyes that Shea hadn't seen in a long time. They had yet to have their conversation, but things were much easier between the two of them than it had been lately. She told him, “I may have promised Nolan we would stick around a bit so he could meet you.”

His eyebrow raised, “Nolan? Like Pekka's neighbour?”

“Yeah, I was a little surprised that Brooke has a kid but now that I've met him I can see why Pekka likes him so much.” Riley told him, surprising Shea when she slide her arm through his. She looked up at him as they walked toward where the tall, lanky goaltender stood next to the nearly as lanky teenage boy and his mother and told Shea, “He's like a walking hockey encyclopedia.”

This made him smile as Pekka reached out and slapped his back, “Good game El captain.”

“Yeah not bad huh?” Shea asked him with a grin.

Pekka rolled his eyes before he turned to Nolan and Brooke and then back to Shea to say, “So this is Brooke and her son Nolan.”

Shea reached out to shake hands with Brooke before he turned to Nolan and with a smile on his face he said, “Heard you were a hockey fan.”

“Only a little.” He stated, making Pekka and Brooke laugh. His cheeks flushed and he shrugged, “Maybe a lot.”

Shea's chuckle turned into a full blown, booming laugh when Pekka told him, “He has like all your stats memorized. I'm still working on mine but whatever.”

“Sometime you'll have to give me some pointers on how I can improve my game.” Shea told him with a smile that made Riley practically melt. It had been so, so long since she had seen that smile on his face. She caught Pekka's glance and his raised eyebrow and she rolled her eyes at him.

“Yo, you planning on making us break into your house to wait for you guys?” Rich called out as he, James, Roman and Seth walked past them.

Riley turned to him and said, “Alright Dick calm down.”

Rich rolled his eyes as his teammates had a laugh at his expense and he told her, “No need to go breaking my fragile heart Rilemeister.”

“You are hands down the biggest loser I know.” Riley called back at him as they left the building and Rich stuck his hand back in the door to give her the finger.

Shea turned to Brooke and asked, “You guys coming for dinner?”

“Oh... um-”

“Yes they are.” Pekka stated, knowing Brooke was going to politely decline and he wasn't quite ready for their night to end. He put one arm around Nolan's shoulder and the other around Brooke's and lead the pack out into the parking lot.

Riley smiled as she watched the three of them laugh at something, and Shea, who had been watching her curiously since he stepped out of the locker room couldn't stop himself from commenting aloud, “You're in a good mood.”

She turned her head to look at him and smiled gently as she said, “I am.”

“It's nice.” Shea stated with a warm smile. As they neared his vehicle he told her, “I was expecting you to be stressed out over tonight.”

They bid Pekka, Brooke and Nolan goodbye for now and got into the car. Once Shea was pulling out of the parking lot Riley told him, “I was, but not so much anymore.”

“I'm glad.” She didn't even let herself think too much about how off this was; the two of them being civil, smiling and having a real conversation.

“You know you're Nolan's favorite player.” Riley informed him, shifting in her seat so her back was toward the door and she was facing him.

She smiled when the corners of his lips turned up just the slightest as he asked, “Really?”

“Yeah, actually I think he knows all of your stats better than I do.” Riley told him with a grin.

“Well that's not hard.” Shea stated with a big, wide grin.

Riley gave him a look of surprise and slapped his bicep before telling him, “I won't cook for you tonight.”

“You wouldn't...” Shea stated, turning to look at her as he came to a stop at a four way. She shrugged and pretended to pick at her nails, grinning when Shea was quick to tell her, “I take it back.”

“Good.”

Pulling into the driveway Shea put the car in park and met Riley around the front of the vehicle and she was shocked when he put his hand on her back as they walked side by side up to the house. Kelly had let everyone in with the key Riley had given her earlier that night after anticipating a long media situation after their win.

“They're home!” Pekka exclaimed.

“Yeah, what did you guys have a quicky in the parking lot?” Rich asked, giving Kelly a look when she smacked his head.

Rolling her eyes at him she said, “Minor in the room you idiot.”

Shea pulled his hand away from Riley's back and shrugged off his suit jacket, hanging it on the hook by the door. Riley noted how the spot where his hand had been felt so much cooler, and that she didn't feel that burst of near electricity that reminded her of just how long it had been since Shea had touched her. Really touched her.

As everyone picked up their conversations Riley stayed out in the foyer, shoes still on and her bag still on her shoulder. Glancing down at her Shea lowered his voice and asked, “You okay?”

Pulling herself out of her trance Riley smiled and nodded, putting her hands on his chest for a fraction of a second before she told him, “I'm great.”

Shea smiled at her and leaned down, kissing her temple before he walked into the kitchen and Riley took a moment to smile to herself. For the first time in months that didn't feel like it was all for show.