Start Me Up

"So how was that for starting your birthday off with a bang?" Shea asked Tessa with a smirk as he rolled onto his back beside her in her bed that morning.

Tessa held the sheet over her chest and heaved a breath in and out before she turned to look at him and she asked him, "Think your team could handle things without you for two games? I don't think I'm quite ready to let you leave yet."

Shea grinned at her and rolled onto his side, resting on one elbow propped up next to her while he laid the other arm across her stomach. He leaned down and kissed her quickly before he glanced at his watch, resting on the nightstand next to Tessa's side of the bed. He turned back to her and with a smirk he said, "I don't have to be at the arena for another twenty minutes you know."

"Mmm that's not nearly enough time for what I'd like to do." Tessa told him and Shea's brow lifted in surprise and curiosity. She grinned and said, "But that will have to wait for another day."

He grabbed her from behind when she sat up, and pulled her back into his chest before he put his head in the crook of her neck and spoke, his voice muffled against her skin, "You're killing me."

"I know." Tessa told him, and she pulled out of his grasp, dragging the sheet wrapped around herself with her. She turned to face him as she made her way toward the bathroom and she said, "You should get dressed so you're not late... but I'll give you a few minutes to take care of that problem you have there."

"A nice girlfriend would take care of it for me." Shea called out after her and Tessa let out a laugh from behind the bathroom door.

She told him, "I am nice, but I told you, we'll have to save all that for another day."

So Tessa slipped into a pair of boyshort underwear and one of Shea's many t-shirts that had been left at her place, probably on purpose. She brushed her teeth, and pulled her hair into a neat bun at the back of her head before she pulled the bedroom door open to find Shea standing by her bed, his open suitcase on top of it in dress pants, with a belt holding them up, and no shirt on.

She leaned against the door frame and watched as he unbottoned a dress shirt from his garment bag and slipped it on, covering himself as he slowly did the buttons up to be sure he got them all done up properly. The last thing he needed was to walk onto a plane full of his nosey teammates looking like he had spent all night with his girlfriend, even though he had.

He glanced over at her once he was done and smiled, pulling his suit jacket out of the garment bag before he zipped both that and his suitcase shut. He pulled the jacket on, heaved the suitcase off of the bed and back to the floor before he turned to Tessa and asked, "So, how do I look?"

"Like I shouldn't let you walk out that door." She told him with a grin, walking toward him. She straightened out his suit jacket, smoothing the dress shirt underneath it out before she leaned up and kissed him softly. When she pulled back and dropped down to the heels of her feet she sighed and said, "But, you're gonna be late."

So Shea followed her to the door with his bags in tow, and once they stopped walking he turned to her and before he could get a word out Tessa leaned up and kissed him again. He managed to hang his garment bag over the top of his suitcase without dropping it before he wrapped both of his arms around her and lifted her up off of the ground a few inches. It made her let out a squeal against his lips, and then, without putting her down Shea pulled back from her mouth and he asked her, "What's gotten into you?"

"A hot guy in my apartment in a suit on my birthday? Can you really blame me?" She asked him with a raised eyebrow and Shea smiled, leaning forward to capture her lips with his once more.

Finally, he put her down and gathered his things again, unlocking the door and heading into the hallway where he turned to her and said, "I'll let you know when we get in, and then I'll call after the game."

"Good luck, love you." She told him, leaning up to kiss him quickly.

Shea smiled against her lips and then when they pulled apart he told her, "Love you too."

He went to leave but she reached out and grabbed him once more, telling him, "Okay, wait, one more for the road."

She leaned up and kissed him again, and then when they pulled apart she leaned up once more for a quick kiss before she gave him a gentle push toward the hallway which made him laugh. Before leaving her Shea made sure to reach down and squeezed her butt, making her laugh.

He was still the first one on the plane, as usual with his captainly duties he always gave himself an extra half hour before he actually had to be there. He took his seat and got comfortable as he waited, and eventually the plane began to fill up with his teammates. He greeted every one of them with a smile, and when Pekka took the seat next to him he asked, "Okay, who put happy pills in Web's coffee?"

Everyone laughed, Shea rolled his eyes and asked him, "I can't be in a good mood?"

"Not at seven-thirty in the morning." Roman told him.

Pekka added in, "And you've never been in this good of a mood before."

Shea shrugged his shoulders and stated, "Life's pretty good right now, what's not to love?"

Colin, from several rows back, called out, "He got laid!"

There were cat calls and Shea's cheeks normally would have flushed deep scarlet at the thought of his teammates knowing any kind of intimate details about his life like that but instead all he countered back with was, "So what if I did?"

Pekka grinned at him and said, "If this is what you're like after sex I think you need it like every single day three times a day."

Again there was laughter, Shea even chuckled himself but he didn't response. Instead, he got comfortable in his spot on the plane and settled in for the two-hour flight.

When they arrived and were on the team bus to the hotel Shea's phone beeped in his pocket so he pulled it out to find a text waiting from Tessa. Not just a text, a picture. Without thinking much of it Shea clicked download and waited, and when the picture came through he fumbled his phone to his lap and then darted to grab it and hit the power button right away.

He didn't need his teammates seeing that much of Tessa, they already saw enough of her thanks to her less is more fashion sense.

He thought he had gotten away with his momentary panic over what had shown up on his cell phone screen but when he looked up to find Pekka next to him with a raised eyebrow and Roman and Craig in the aisle across from them watching him in curiosity he realized he hadn't. Shea cleared his throat and Pekka asked, "What'cha doing friend?"

Shea stuffed his phone into his pocket and said, "Nothing."

Roman and Craig stifled their laughter and Pekka simply nodded his head and spoke in amusement, "Sure."

His phone felt like it was burning a hole through his pocket for the rest of the ride to the hotel, through check in and all the way up to his room. Shea had never been so glad to have captain privileges with his own room that he didn't have to share.

He hung up his garment bag and left his suitcase by the door before he went and sat on the bed and pulled his phone from his pocket. The picture was still there and waiting when he unlocked the phone. The picture had been taken at an odd angle, the most he could see of her face was from the lips down, the picture slightly diagonal, and the sheets didn't quite cover all of her breasts, and a small peek at her butt in the bathroom mirror told him she had been sitting on the counter to take it, probably the easiest way.

Saving the picture knowing he had a password protected phone Shea exited out of it and then he tapped on the little phone button on the top corner of Tessa's name to call her. It rang three times before she answered it and she spoke before he could, telling him, "It's my birthday, and I'm feeling old so you need to tell me I don't look old."

Shea smiled and assured her, "You most definitely do not look old."

"Good, you may speak now." She told him with a small laugh.

He said, "Pretty sure my goalie almost saw that picture you know."

"Well, I didn't think you'd be dumb enough to open it in front of people." Tessa fired back in amusement.

"I didn't know what it was!" Shea said in self-defense.

"Okay, from now on if I send you a picture while you're on the road just assume it's nudes, Shea because this one won't be the only one you receive." Tessa told him, and his interest was piqued, he was a red-blooded male, he would be a liar if he said it wasn't.

With amused curiosity, Shea asked Tessa, "Have you always been an exhibitionist or is this a new thing?"

"You love it." Tessa told him.

"I mean... maybe a little." Shea told her with a grin on his face.

Tessa with a smile of her own on her face asked him, "How was the flight?"

"It was good. By the way Pekka says that I need to have sex three times a day every day of the week. Just so you know." Shea told her with a laugh.

"Oh yeah? He must think you and your right hand get along well." Tessa joked and when Shea scoffed it was like she could hear the smile on his face.

He told her, "Apparently I was in a good mood this morning and they would like for that to continue."

"Well I already sent you a nude, you're pushing your luck if you're about to ask for phone sex." She told him with a grin that he knew was present on her face.

A knock on his door made Shea tell her, "Someone's here so hold off on the phone sex topic. We can revisit it tonight after the game."

"In your dreams."

Shea grinned as he said, "Every night."

Tessa let out a laugh and she told him, "Alright, get out of here I'll talk to you later. Play good tonight."

"I always play good." Shea told her as he pulled the door open to find Pekka waiting for him. They were due for a team skate before a light meal prior to that night's game.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll talk to you later." She hung up before he could say anything else, probably knowing he wouldn't get off of the phone unless she did.

So Shea slid his phone into his pocket and followed Pekka down the hall to the lobby. Pekka asked him, "Tessa?"

Shea nodded and as curious as he was to find out if Pekka had seen what had been on his phone Shea didn't ask. He simply said, "Yeah."

"I should text her happy birthday. I haven't done that yet." Pekka stated, pulling out his phone from his pocket, typing away. Finally, when he put the phone back into his pocket he asked Shea, "You stuffed my card in that box of yours right? She wouldn't take it the other day when I tried to give it to her."

"Yeah, it's in there. I'll make sure she opens it tonight when we talk." Shea told him.

As they stepped out of the elevator Pekka nodded his head and said, "Cool... cool."

Back in Nashville Tessa had spent most of her birthday in bed, napping on and off. She had gone for lunch by herself, something Shea had called her a dork for doing, and then she had stopped by Roman's house and spent hours going through it designing the place in her head. When she was done that it was nearly seven and she knew she had to get back to her place to catch the game so she opted to order in pizza for dinner, and she arrived at the apartment only four minutes before it did.

With her dinner waiting on the coffee table Tessa settled onto the couch in sweat pants and a t-shirt that would never see the light of day around the general public, covered herself with a blanket and poured herself a glass of much-deserved ginger ale to enjoy with her pizza.

She had missed puck drop, and the first thirteen minutes of the first period which she felt guilty for because the game was tied and it appeared she had missed a lot. She pulled her phone off of the coffee table, she hadn't bothered to check it between arriving at Roman's house and now because she knew Shea would be in game mode and it wasn't as if she really text with anyone else.

She did have a message waiting, from Pekka so she opened it and laughed.

Nice pic, didn't know you had a mole on your butt cheek though.

She sent him back a response even knowing he wouldn't see if after the game but she hoped that if needed it would be a nice laugh for him if the game didn't go their way.

Getting naked in front of a camera apparently makes an old person feel really good about themselves. You should try it goalie boy.

She knew he would make some crack back about how they were practically the same age and he doesn't consider himself old, and Tessa knew she would get a laugh out of that.

While she was at it she sent Shea a message as well, and right when she finished typing and hit send her phone lit up with an incoming call from her mother. She was surprised, Elanor hadn't spoken to her in weeks, close a month and a half now, since the last time they had talked right after Amelia had found out about Tessa and Shea. Her mother had never really been that warm of a person, so Tessa wasn't expecting some heartfelt birthday message, which is a good thing considering what she did get.

"Your sister doesn't know that I'm calling you, but I think you should know this." Was the first thing out of her mother's mouth. After a moment or two Elanor went on, "I know you two aren't talking, and I know we haven't talked in a long time but this is something that shouldn't be ignored or kept from anyone."

So as Tessa got up with her glass of ginger ale and headed into the kitchen to throw some ice into it she asked, "What's going on?"

"Amelia's pregnant."

Tessa, so taken back by what had come out of her mother's mouth, dropped the cup she had been carrying and it hit the floor with a crash, the glass shattering and the liquid inside it splashing everywhere.

"I'm sorry... what?" Tessa could honestly say that there were very few times in her life that she had really been at a loss for words, this counted as one of those few times.

Elanor cleared her throat on the other end of the line and told her, "I said she's pregnant."

She didn't really want to ask because she didn't want to know but she had to ask, "How... how far along is she?"

"She doesn't know yet, she has a doctors appointment in a week to find out." So Tessa's initial thought was confirmed; there was a chance that it was Shea's.