Seven Year Ache

Her bag had been packed for a week, but Riley hadn’t been able to bring herself to get on a plane and go back to Nashville, so it sat by the front door and she pulled things out and put them back in as she needed. Quinn had gone home ten day’s previously, and Riley had spent three days thinking about what she had said about going home, being with Shea, him missing her, their relationship and even the playoffs. Then there was the voicemail she had gotten from Shea, asking her to come home, that nearly made her lose it completely, which was what had caused her to pack her things into her suitcase and clear out the house until they were back that summer in the first place. Every part of her had intended to, and wanted to, be back for the playoffs.

But then something happened, she tried three times to book a flight home to Nashville and she couldn’t do it. Her hands hovered above the computer mouse, but she couldn’t force herself to click and book them. She wasn’t sure why, but that was where she was now, sitting in front of the computer again at eleven o’clock at night, on the West Jet website, trying to find the quickest flights back to Nashville.

Beside her was her phone, and in that was the text message she had gotten from Quinn fifteen minutes earlier. Shea’s injured.

It was simple, short and to the point but it got her moving again. She was scrolling through flights to find the best options time wise, and just when she thought she wouldn’t be able to get anything earlier than noon tomorrow she found one leaving Kelowna at two-thirty this morning. This time it was easy, and quick, to click on the little booking option, and before she knew it she was printing off her flight information and hurrying around the house to make sure she had everything packed and ready. She called a cab, threw on a light jacket, knowing that it was well above zero in Nashville, and when she saw the lights shine into the front window she grabbed her suitcase, turned the lights off and locked up behind her before she got into the cab and headed to the airport.

Once she was checked in and through security she grabbed something quick to eat, and waited for her flight. She checked her phone, finding an influx of texts about Shea’s injury that she didn’t respond to at all, she debated texting Quinn or Kelly to let them know she was coming back, but instead decided not to tell anyone. Not even Shea.

She busied herself on her phone, scrolling through a few emails, online window shopping for no apparent reason but to make the clock tick by faster, and she even studied the NHL website. She knew that they were playing the Blackhawks in first round of the playoffs, she had watched the first game but had of course missed the second game and Shea’s injury. But she knew from what the Predators website said, as elusive as it was, that it was likely he was out for the rest of the first round at the very least. She knew what statements like that meant, there was much, much more to it that they were keeping hush hush until they either knew more or knew there was no chance of him playing again for the rest of the season.

There was ACL speculation, among other knee related injuries that made her cringe, she also knew what those could mean. So while she waited for the time to board her flight she pulled a pair of headphones into her phone, pulled up youtube and watched the play over and over for probably twenty minutes trying to decipher it. Finally after what felt like forever they announced that they were boarding and she got onto her flight, spending another twenty minutes on her phone before she turned it off and tucked it into her pocket as they started the take off.

She hated flying, really, really hated it. In fact, if it didn’t take several days’ worth of driving Riley would demand that they drove back and forth from Kelowna to Nashville each year. It wouldn’t be so bad if they could fly all in one shot, but this taking off, landing, a layover and then another flight was horrid. She spent the two hour layover in Seattle drinking a boat load of coffee she would probably regret drinking in a few hours, trying her best to ignore her constantly ringing phone, and attempting to concentrate on the book in her hand that she couldn’t get through more than a sentence of before she got distracted.

Now she was white knuckling the arm rests of her seat on the second plane as it started its descent into Nashville. She had her eyes closed, head leaned back against the seat concentrating on breathing in and out, and she couldn’t help but think of how if he was here Shea would be laughing at her, as he always did every time they flew together. He was on planes so often that it wasn’t an issue for him, and Riley so hated him for that, because every time she was on one she freaked out.

She had to sit in her window seat until practically the whole plane emptied, and then she got up and grabbed her suitcase from the overhead compartment and shakily walked off the plane and into the airport. She was glad that she didn’t have to wait for her bag, she simply pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes and walked outside, climbing into the back of the first cab she spotted, suitcase and all.

As they approached the house Riley panicked, for a moment she wondered what if Shea was angry with her. For not coming back, for leaving him alone, for missing the playoffs. It hadn’t occurred to her that he might be angry with her for all of that, and then some, and that she might be walking into a big, huge fight. She was so focused on this factor that she didn’t even realize they pulled into the driveway until the driver said, “Miss?”

She pulled herself out of her thoughts and paid for her ride before she got out and dragged her suitcase up the driveway toward the house. The door was locked, something Shea rarely did when he was home, and upon finding the house empty Riley let out a breath of relief. When Dug came around the corner to inspect who was entering his house, clearly expecting Shea, and saw Riley he took off in a run toward her, his large paws slipping and sliding on the floors, and Riley bent down to give him a good pet, slobbery dog kisses and all.

After a few seconds she got up, and brought her suitcase upstairs, not surprised that there was clothes all over the floor of the closet as she unpacked her bag, Shea had truthfully never been good at that. She tucked the suitcase away down the hall with the rest of them, changed from her outfit of yoga pants and a sweater into a pair of pyjamas and crawled into bed. She wasn’t in bed more than five minutes when Dug came into the room, rested his head on the bed and stared at her, Riley grinned and patted Shea’s empty spot beside her, laughing when he immediately jumped up on the bed and got comfortable beside her as she rubbed his side and they waited for Shea to get home.

It was almost noon by the time Shea hobbled into house, crutches and all, with some not so great news. He had been hoping that what appeared to be a fluke at the time remained just that, that he would go to the doctor and they would tell him it was nothing major, that he pulled a muscle or something weird, and he could go back to playing. That was definitely not how that appointment had gone, and so as he walked into the house he wanted nothing more than to collapse onto the couch, hang with the dog and try not to turn on TSN.

It wasn’t until he had walked through most of the downstairs that he realized Dug was nowhere to be found, so he carefully climbed the stairs, finding it was much easier to do so today than it had been to do the night before. He poked his head into both guest rooms and the bathroom, thinking maybe he had gone in there and closed the door with his tail, locking himself inside like he had done more than a few times. He was walking past the master bedroom to check the last room at the end of the hall when he saw the dog on the bed, and instantly got ready to scold him, but upon walking into the bedroom and seeing a head of brown hair beside him he paused.

He stared at Riley, asleep beside Dug, for a long time in both surprise and confusion. He pulled out his phone, noting that no one, not even her, had told him that she was coming home. He looked at her again curiously, a small smile spreading across his lips knowing she had come home finally. Dug shifted on the bed, and jumped up in alert when he realized someone else was in the room, he barked twice before he realized it was Shea, and dropped back onto the bed but the commotion was enough to wake Riley. She sat up, pushed her curly hair from her face and her eyes met Shea’s, and she smiled gently before saying, “Hi.”

He grinned at her, “Welcome home.”

She was smiling, but her eyes wandered down to knee before she patted the end of the bed for him to sit at, and he did so. He couldn’t help himself from throwing the blankets off of her, grabbing her by the ankles and pulling her down the length of the bed so that she was beside him. She let out a chuckle before she laid her hand on his lower back softly and asked him, “You okay?”

He shrugged, “Pretty much out for the season. Talking about options now, you know… the usual; surgery or no surgery.”

She nodded slowly, and then asked, “What do you want?”

“I don’t know honestly.” He told her quietly, looking down at her legs, which were laying across his lap. He placed his hands on the tops of her calves and asked her, “So how did you know?”

“Quinn.” She stated, reaching up to pull her dark hair into a big bun.

With a cocked eyebrow and an amused smile he asked, “And what, you just hopped on a plane right then and there?”

“Well I figured you know, Mr. MVP went and got himself all kinds of fucked up mid playoffs and I should come home and make sure he doesn’t go off the deep end.” She joked, and she pinched his side when he tilted his head back and let out a loud laugh at her comment. Riley pulled herself closer to him, rested her chin on his shoulder and told him, “I wanted to be here for playoffs, I really did.”

“I know.” He said, rubbing the sides of her thighs. When Riley raised her eyebrow at him Shea smiled and said, “I know that you would never miss playoffs unless it was really important, and that’s totally okay Riley. I want you here but only if you’re sure, and you’re okay with being here again.”

She nodded, leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to the back of his jaw before she ran her fingers through the hair at the back of his head and said to him, “I want to be here.”

“I’m glad.” Shea told her, turning in his spot, lifting his not bum knee up onto the mattress before he grabbed her by the hips and pulled her even closer to him. Riley shifted enough to lift both of her legs over his thighs, tucking them behind him before she leaned up and kissed him on the lips. When he felt her start to pull away from him Shea put his large hands on both sides of her face and held her in place for a moment or two longer before he let go of her and they parted.

She reached up and used her thumb to wipe off the pink tinted lip balm from his top lip before she asked him, “So what’s the plan for today?”

He shrugged and said, “Well I guess we can’t do what I’d really like to do now that you’re home.”

When his eyes lowered and glanced between their bodies Riley let out a laugh and said, “That’s true. You just haaad to go get yourself injured.”

He rolled his eyes and joked, “Because I totally planned to fuck up my knee.”

“Well I mean you could have, it did get me home. Who says that wasn’t your plan all along?” Riley asked him with a grin that made Shea chuckle at her. She then gave him a coy smile and told him, “I guess it is really true what all the girls say in the wives room.”
 
He quirked his eyebrow and asked her curiously, “And what’s that?”

“That hockey totally ruins your sex life.” Riley stated, trying desperately hard to keep a straight face. Both of Shea’s eyebrows raised, and when she smiled he reached out and tightly wrapped his arms around her waist as she tried to get free of his grasp he simply held her there and captured her lips with his. When they pulled apart Riley stayed tucked against his chest, put her head on his shoulder with her nose pressed against the side of his neck and told him, “I missed you.”

He sighed gently, his large chest heaving as he did so, and as he pulled her hair out of its messy bun he ran his fingers through the long tresses and told her, “Me too. I really missed you too.”

“So… since you pretty much can’t do anything that requires a lot of walking… pizza for lunch and a movie afternoon?” Riley asked him, ruining their moment when her stomach grumbled and she realized all she had to eat since dinner the night before was a lot of coffee and an airport cookie.

Shea chuckled and nodded, telling her, “Sounds good to me.”

She got up and started walking out of the bedroom, calling out, “Come on hop-along!”

He rolled his eyes but let out a hearty laugh at that as he hobbled down the stairs slowly, and when he approached her in the kitchen while she was using his iPad to order lunch he told her, “Stop being mean to me.”

When she let out a laugh at his pouty faced comment he reached out and tapped the outside of her ankle with his crutch, and Riley turned to look at him, with a smirk on her face she told him, “That’s two minutes for slashing Mr.”

He groaned, a smile on his face and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into him before he said, “Stop torturing me.”

“Torturing? How am I doing that?” She asked him innocently.

He leaned down and kissed her quickly before he pulled back and said, “You’re making me think of being in the box.”

She shrugged her shoulders, “I’m surprised that’s torture to you, you spend so much time in there I figured it would be like being at home.”

He rolled his eyes, leaned down to whisper in her ear, his chest vibrating underneath the palms of her hands, “No, see you say two minutes for slashing and all I can think of is you in there with me.”

“I thought we got rid of that fantasy in Kelowna a long time ago? Because if it’s back too bad, I am so not doing that again.” Riley stated, pulling away from him long enough to hop onto the counter.

Shea stepped between her legs and asked, “No?”

“No, that was the most disgusting experience of my entire life thus far.” She informed him, and when he raised his eyebrow at her she assured him, “I mean not the… you know because that was pretty great… but… you know… then I started thinking about all the sweat and the spit and just… ew.”

Shea let out a booming laugh at her comment in combination with her scrunched up face of disgust and then he said, “You sure are good at ruining a moment.”

She grinned over at him and said, “It’s not like you can have sex right now anyway.”

“We could… it would just have to be you on top… which as you know I don’t really mind that.” He told her with a smirk that made her roll her eyes.

She reached out, finished ordering their pizza, set the tablet down again and then hopped off of the counter. Shea was so close to her that she rubbed against him getting down and when he groaned she pushed out from around him and told him, throwing him a grin over her shoulder, “I bet you’d just love that.”

“I would actually.” He told her, grabbing her butt as he passed her before he dropped onto the couch.

She took the spot beside him and said, “I’m not sure if we can risk you getting even more injured. Can’t have the whole city of Nashville trying to burn down the house with me in it, you know?”

He chuckled at her, wrapped an arm around her shoulder, kissed the side of her head and told her, “God I love you.”

“What a coincidence, I love me too.” Riley said with a wide grin that made Shea shake his head in amusement. He leaned down and kissed her lips hard, shutting her up completely. That was her favorite way to be shut up, and for a moment she decided it wasn’t fair that Shea knew that.