Seven Year Ache

Three to five minutes.

Riley glanced at the clock on her phone, unsure of when exactly she had set the little white stick on the bathroom counter. She was sure it couldn’t have been five minutes ago, so she sat on the edge of the bath tub and put her head in her hands, letting out a breath of air. She wasn’t sure what had made her pick up the pregnancy test while she was grocery shopping a few days prior, maybe it was the constant nausea that she had first pushed aside to stress, maybe it was the headaches, or maybe she just had a gut feeling about it. Life could be cruel, and she figured this was no exception.

She had been in Kelowna for almost a month, she had gone through Dave’s things and sold the condo, finalized any kind of legal garbage she didn’t understand, all that was left was for her to get the courage to go back to Nashville; back to Shea. That in itself was harder than dealing with her dead father’s possessions. She had to admit, that there was a part of her that was enjoying being back in Kelowna; she had nowhere she had to be, she didn’t have to pretend to be enjoying herself at games, she didn’t have anything she had to do more pressing than what was for dinner that night but perhaps the biggest benefit was that she finally, finally got the opportunity to be something other than the captains girlfriend.
 
She had been struggling with that for so long that the break she had now to remember all the things she used to love was a blessing in disguise. She had found the time to read several books, there was more time to cook just for the fun of it, and being home in Kelowna gave her so much time to be outside and take in one of the most beautiful cities, at least in her opinion. If it wasn’t for that nagging feeling of leaving Shea behind she would probably be 100% happy here.

Even more so if it wasn’t for that pesky little piece of plastic sitting five feet away from her. Deciding she had let herself sit and be tortured by the clock long enough Riley stood up and walked to the sink again, looking down at the pregnancy test she felt relief wash through her to find only one pink line on it. Negative. She couldn’t help herself from saying quietly, “Thank God.”

Wrapping the test in toilet paper she tossed it into the garbage before washing her hands and making her way downstairs. She nearly jumped out of her skin to find Quinn sitting at the kitchen table, two to go cups on the table and a bag of what Riley assumed was food. Curiously she asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I got bored, thought I’d come see you again.” Quinn told her with a small smile, pushing the chair beside her out and sliding the to go cup toward that side of the table. Riley took a seat and Quinn joked, “James was driving me up the wall.”

 Riley cracked a small smile and asked, “In other words you’re here to try to convince me to come back to Nashville.”

“I’m not above having ulterior motives, I’ll be the first to admit that.” Quinn told her, giving her a pointed look before she took a drink of her tea. Riley did the same, and once both cups were back on the table Quinn told her, “But in all reality I needed a break, so I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone so to speak.”

“I see.” Was all Riley said in response.

Quinn let out a sigh and said, “They’re gonna be in the playoffs."

“I know.” Riley told her, she had been keeping up with their games, she even watched most of them but she wasn’t sure she was ready to go back yet, even for the playoffs.

When that failed to get her on the same page Quinn informed her, “He misses you, he just won’t say it because he knows you needed this, but he really does.”

She sighed, pushed her fingers through her hair and told Quinn, “I know, and I do too but I just… I don’t know how to do that right now.”

Deciding not to drag this conversation out and make Riley uncomfortable Quinn changed the subject and told her, “So… for about five minutes last month I thought I was pregnant.”

Riley’s eyes snapped up to her friends in surprise, “You did?”

She nodded and then shrugged before saying, “But it was a false alarm. A nice little negative.”

“Yeah… mine too.” Riley stated softly, making Quinn raise her eyebrow at her.

“You thought you were pregnant?” She asked curiously.
 
Riley nodded her head and said, “Yeah… so I took a test this morning, waited the three to five minutes while having an internal freak out just to get a negative.”

“So… is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Quinn asked curiously, unsure of how Riley might be feeling about this. She knew for herself it was a good thing, an extremely good thing because she and James were so not ready for that right now, but Riley and Shea had been together for so long that she had to wonder if maybe it could be a good thing for them.

Riley shrugged her shoulders and admitted, “I don’t know. I mean… we want that, but not right now. I’m honestly a little bit relieved that it was negative, because I just don’t want anything that could throw away all the work we’ve done to try to fix us, you know? Which this would, it would take us right back to where we were before and I don’t want that now or ever.”

“Did you talk to Shea about it?” Quinn asked her curiously.

Riley countered back with, “Did you talk to James about it?”

Quinn made a point to sigh loudly and tell her, “I mean… technically?”

“What does technically mean? How do you technically tell your boyfriend you’re not pregnant?” Riley asked in amusement.

Shrugging Quinn explained, “I mean…he found the box and I sort of yelled that it was negative as I was leaving the house.”

Riley let out a loud laugh at that, it was probably something she would have done as well. She looked down at her cup in front of her and told Quinn, “I wouldn’t even know where to start with Shea. I just don’t see the point in telling him that, you know?”

“I know, I felt the same way, but honestly I’m kind of glad we had that talk, because we spent a lot of time after it talking about the future and what we wanted and now we’re on the same page finally.” Quinn told her, shooting her a look that made Riley sigh dramatically.

Trying to get the focus off of her and Shea Riley jokingly asked Quinn, “So when are you getting married?”

Quinn made a face and said, “Try never.”

With her eyebrow raised Riley asked, “Never?”

Quinn shrugged and explained, “That’s not my thing. Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed had it right all these years.”

“You do know that they’re married now right?” Riley asked with a grin.

Rolling her eyes Quinn stated, “Yeah well you know… if my opinion changes thirty years down the road then I’ll be the hottest sixty year old bride out there, but until then no dice.”

Riley shrugged her shoulders and told her, “As far as I’m concerned as long as you’re both happy who cares right?”

“Right.” Quinn said, before grinning and stirring the pot much like Riley had moments before, “So… when are you coming back to Nashville?”

- - -

2400 miles away in Nashville Shea was sitting on Pekka’s couch with a beer in his hand beside the goal tender. Pekka was playing some kind of game on his phone, Shea didn’t bother to ask, and he was simply sitting staring at his socked feet. He wasn’t sure what he could say anyway. It was odd; the way his life was right now. They were going to be in the playoffs for the first time in two years, they were all playing well, really he should have been on top of the world and yet he was miserable. He was being pulled in two different directions; half of him had half the mind to get on a plane and go home to Kelowna and say to hell with his career, and the other half of him knew the guys in the locker room depended on him, that he also depended on them and that he needed to be here. All he wanted was for Riley to come home, and he was afraid that maybe she wouldn’t.

After a much too long silence in his opinion Pekka dropped his phone into his lap, turned to Shea and asked, “So… what’s up?”

Shea shrugged, took a drink of his beer, leaned back against the couch and told him, “Honestly? Wondering why I didn’t just stay in Kelowna.”

Pekka frowned and told him, “She’ll come back man.”

“Yeah? How do you know? Because it’s been a month and I’ve barely even heard from her.” Shea mumbled, twisting his fingers around the neck of the beer bottle he was holding.

“Because it’s Riley and she wouldn’t miss playoffs for the world.” Pekka stated, and when Shea shot him a weary look he grinned and joked, “That and we sent someone in to infiltrate your BC fortress and bring her back kicking and screaming.”

“What?” Shea asked, trying to hold back laughter at the goal tenders statement.

“Quinn. We sent Quinn.” Peka explained, and when Shea’s eyebrow quirked he explained, “Her James were ready to kill each other, not used to living together again and all, so me being the genius that I am decided they needed some space and we needed to send a spy to Kelowna to try to convince her to come back.”

“She is so gonna kill you when she finds that out.” Shea told him.

“If she finds that out.” Pekka said with a shrug.

Shaking his head Shea told him, “No, no. She will find out, and then she’ll kill you.”

“But see then my plan will have worked.” Pekka stated with pride, and Shea again cocked his eyebrow so Pekka told him, “She’ll have to come to Nashville to kill me. Ergo she will come home.”

Shea shook his head in amusement at the goal tender but didn’t get the chance to say anything when there was a knock on the door followed by it opening and heels clicking against the hardwood. They both turned their heads to see who was walking into the house, and Shea waved lightly at Brooke as she walked into the house and said to Pekka, “I have a bone to pick with you."

Pekka grinned, asking, “Where’s the kid?”

“Oh, he’s at home in his room thinking about all the chores he can do for the next month that he’s grounded.” Brooke stated, shooting Pekka a look when he chuckled.

“Jeez. A month? What’d he do? Throw a rager and trash the house?” Pekka asked her with a grin.

“Please, have you met my kid?” She asked him, hand on her hip.

He nodded his head and said, “Yeah you’re right… that would never happen."

She narrowed her eyes slightly at him and said, “No… my once shy and polite teenager decided it would be a good idea to get into a physical fight with someone in the middle of math class today.”

Pekka’s jaw dropped upon hearing that, and Shea turned his head toward her in surprise. Neither of them could picture it, as she had said, Nolan was far too shy for them to picture fighting. Pekka couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Did he win?”

“So not the point!” Brooke stated firmly, and Pekka gulped and nodded his head. She glanced at Shea, before looking back at Pekka and informing him, “You’re so lucky there’s a witness here because I came over here to both verbally and physically abuse you.”

Shea stifled his laugh as Pekka raised both eyebrows and asked, “Me? What did I do?”

She stared at him incredulously for a moment before reaching out and smacking him upside the head and asked, “Where do you think he got the bright idea in the first place?"

Again Pekka gulped and then stated, “Oh… yeah… right… that.”

“Yeah… so thanks to you and your brilliant advice he’s suspended for two weeks.” Brooke informed him.

Shea couldn’t help but ask, in surprise, “Two weeks? For a fight?”

Brooke nodded and when Pekka grinned to himself she narrowed her eyes and told him, “He broke the kid’s nose. So really, thank you for trying to help but please don’t ever give my child advice again.”

“He broke his nose?” Pekka exclaimed, fist pumping. When he saw the look of unimpressed annoyance on Brooke’s face he dropped back into his spot on the couch, cleared his throat and said, “Yeah… I’ll keep my mouth shut next time.”

“I cannot believe you told a kid to solve his problems by throwing fists.” Brooke muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.

Shea turned to the goal tender in surprise and asked, “You told him to fight people to solve his problems? Dude.”

Rolling his eyes Pekka attempted to defend himself, “I didn’t tell him that! I just told him… I mean… okay yeah sure I did say that in my experience a few punches settle things. But really, what else was he supposed to do? I bet those assholes won’t be bullying him anymore.”

“They’re teenagers Pekka.” Brooke stated.

“Yeah and I guarantee no one will fuck with him again because he might just go hulk mode on them. He’ll never have any problems for the rest of his high school experience.” Pekka stated, a proud smile on his face.

When Shea saw Brooke’s eyebrow twitch he got up from the couch and said to Pekka, “I’d love to stay and watch you get your ass kicked but I’m gonna go home and pretend I never saw any of this.”

Pekka immediately turned his head to Shea and as he walked to the door he called out, “Webs come on! Don’t leave me here alone! Come on, she won’t touch me if you stay. Webs! Ah come on!”

Shea couldn’t help but shake his head in amusement as he walked out of the house, and he was stopped on his way to his vehicle when Nolan approached the driveway and asked, “Is my mom in there?”

Shea glanced at him, smiled and nodded, telling him, “Yeah she is.”

He nodded slowly and glanced at the front door before he asked Shea, “So… just how much trouble am I in?”

“If I was you I’d go back to my room and do whatever she asked for the next month.” Shea informed him, and he sighed gently. Nolan nodded his head and started to walk back to the house when Shea called out, “Hey, did you at least win?”

Nolan shrugged his shoulders and then nodded his head before he disappeared into the house and Shea grinned to himself as he got into his vehicle. The whole drive home he had a grin on his face, even walking into the big empty house it was still there. He gave Dug a pet before he walked directly outside to the deck and pulled his phone from his pocket, he stared at it for a few moments before deciding he had to just do it.

He dialed Riley’s number, held the phone to his ear as it rang, and he wasn’t all that surprised when the line clicked and he heard the automated voicemail system, after all these years she had never bothered to record her own.

Reaching her voicemail didn’t stop him from leaving her a message, in fact it made it easier for him to talk and say what he wanted to say. So when the machine beeped and he was signaled to talk he did so quietly, his usual low and slightly gruff voice much softer and lighter as he said, “Hey, listen I know you’re trying to figure things out and I get that. Really, I get it, and I want you to do that and I hope you are doing that but I miss you Ry. And I need you, I really need you, I feel like I’m falling apart without you here and I know I said I’d work on that, but it’s just the time of year I guess. It’s the playoffs and you’re not here and I miss you. I know I shouldn’t be asking you this, but I’m asking anyway, come home… please.”