Start Me Up

"Are you at least gonna try to like this one?" Shea asked Tessa as he pulled his truck into the driveway of yet another house. They had seen three that day already, but hey, it hadn't been Tessa's bright idea to go house hunting five months in advance.

They were at a standstill with Roman's house, waiting on the tiles in the master bathroom to set before they could move forward with the rest of that room so Shea had decided that instead of spending Tessa's day off the way she wanted to; laying in bed, ordering in and enjoying each other's company, they would spend the day house hunting. She had been grumpy from the minute he got her up that morning.

"Why are you even house hunting now anyway?" Tessa asked him, tucking her phone into the inside zipper pocket of her bag.

Shea shrugged, "I need a place to live next season and I just figure finding a place now would be best because then we don't have to worry about it this summer, and it's not a scramble next summer. As much as I love staying in the same place as you, we can't live in your apartment together full time."

"Oh, is it too small and humble for the poor millionaire athlete?" Tessa joked, grinning when he reached over and pinched her thigh.

He informed her, "It is extremely cramped but also I want a backyard."

Instead of responding to him she looked up at the house and had to admit to him, "Well... I hate it way less than the other three already."

It was a small craftsman with pale slate blue siding, white detailing, shutters on the windows, and a front porch that spanned from one end of the front of the house to the other. It had wide, tapered brick columns at the edges of the porch and on either side of the steps, and a fenced in backyard.

Shea had to admit that he could have driven past this house a thousand times and never have it jump out at him before, but now that he had picked up little things about Tessa and what she liked it stood out like it was the only house in a hundred mile radius. He had saved the best for last, and truthfully, he knew she would hate the first three, which was exactly why he kept this one for last. Because this one he knew she would love.

Tessa got out of the truck before he could even pull the keys from the ignition and he managed to catch up to her at the bottom of the stairs heading toward the front door. Shea reached out and pulled the door open and he stepped inside behind her. They stepped into a wide but short entryway that branched off into three sections; to their right was the living room with a large stone fireplace and built in shelves, to their right was what Tessa assumed was a dining room with a kitchen next to it and directly in front of them was a staircase.

As they wandered through the first floor Shea told Tessa, "So there's three bedrooms, the master bedroom has an attached bathroom and a walk in, and then there's a half bath off of the kitchen and another bathroom upstairs between the other two bedrooms."

As they stepped into the kitchen Tessa grinned and mused out loud, "White cabinets. My favorite."

"I know." Shea told her, leaning in to kiss the side of her head quickly as she marveled at the large, bright kitchen with white cabinets and countertops of mixed greys and whites.

Beyond the kitchen was the half bath Shea had been talking about and a porch that looked as though it doubled as a laundry room. Outside was the two level deck, the section coming off of the house was screened in, and the large backyard but Tessa didn't get to take much of that in because Shea seemed intent on dragging her up the stairs and to the second level.

They poked their heads into each bedroom and the bathroom before Shea pushed the double doors of the master bedroom open and let Tessa step in first. It was large with a three-sided fireplace dividing what was obviously the sleeping side of the bedroom and the sitting area. The closet was filled with shelves, racks and everything you could ever need out of a closet.

Shea asked her, "Do you think you could fit all of your shoes in here?"

She glanced at the floor to ceiling shelves he was looking at and she smiled, "It's quite possible... although I don't know where you would put yours."

"You'll have to give me enough space for my three pairs of dress shoes." Shea stated as they headed to the bathroom, which was next to the closet.

Tessa grinned over at him and joked, "In your dreams."

As Tessa glanced around at the bathroom and it's features like the large tub and the glass encased shower Shea mused, "I wonder how many marriages double vanities have saved."

Tessa looked over at the two sinks and she laughed, "Millions."

As they headed back down the stairs to the entrance of the house Shea asked Tessa, "So what do you think?"

She smiled at him, "I think it's beautiful."

He grinned at her, "I am really relieved to hear you say that."

Her brows scrunched together as he reached into his pocket and he pulled out a key ring with three identical keys on it. The smile on his face was contagious because the corners of her lips turned up just the slightest as she asked him, "What did you do?"

"I knew you would love it and there were already so many offers put in so I put an offer in ten grand over the asking price and paid cash so that someone else didn't buy it over the summer." Shea explained to her, and when she kept staring at him like he was crazy, although he thought he probably was as well, he continued, "The lady that owns my place wants to sell it since I told her I wasn't renewing again. I know that moving in with me is a big step for you, so you can move in whenever you feel comfortable."

"Really?" She asked him, her voice slightly raised in excitement.

He nodded his head and told her, "But that expires September 1st. If you haven't moved in by then I'm moving you in myself."

"This is crazy. You seriously just offered someone hundreds of thousands of dollars cash for their house?" Tessa asked him in amusement.

Shea nodded his head again and then he asked her with a smile, "So... what do you say? Will you move in with me sometime before September?"

"Wait." Tessa said, pausing the conversation for a moment before she smiled and asked him, "Am I allowed to renovate the mud room?"

Shea grinned and wrapped his arms around her to pull her into him tightly and he told her, "You can do whatever you want in here... as long as you're moved in first."

"You're crazy." Tessa told him before she leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed him quickly.

When she pulled back he told her, "Probably true but at least you love me."

"Someone's got to."

Hours later, with Tessa, Shea and Pekka getting together for lunch, ordering in at the new house to show it off, Pekka had barely touched his food so Shea asked him, "So what's up?"

"Hmm?" Pekka asked as he sat down on the patio chair on the back deck next to Tessa.

Shea said, "You ate like you're a mouse."

"Just not very hungry, had a big breakfast." Pekka lied, badly at that.

Tessa reminded him, "I've seen you eat a big breakfast and you're hungry like an hour later."

"Well... I do have something to say... to tell you guys... I guess." Pekka stated, obviously nervously because his voice shook a little and he kept looking down at his lap rather than over at his two companions

"Alright... so what is it?" Tessa asked him, pushing him a little further into the conversation.

Pekka remained silent for a minute or two before he finally came out and said, "Tara's pregnant."

Shea choked on his mouthful of water and Tessa reached out to pat his back gently as she stared at Pekka in shock and asked him, "Come again?"

Pekka nodded his head, a small smile making its way onto his face as he said, "Yeah. She's pregnant. Nine weeks. I'm actually not supposed to tell you that but I feel so much better now that I have. I think I can actually eat now."

Tessa and Shea shared a look before Shea asked Pekka, "Is this a prank or something? Are the guys gonna come out and start laughing at us in a few minutes?"

Pekka shook his head and told him, "Nope, straight up one hundred percent truth. Come October I'm gonna be a dad."

It came out before Tessa could stop it, "I don't hang out with you for a couple of weeks and this is what happens..."

Pekka let out a loud laugh at that and he told her, "See, I need you in my life."

Shea exclaimed, "Hold on, how long have you guys even been seeing each other?"

Pekka's cheeks flushed, "Well... going on four months."

"Jesus." Shea muttered.

"Hey, you guys have barely been together longer and you just bought a house." Pekka reminded him with a pointed look.

"Yeah, but we've known each other for six years. Plus, buying a house is way different than having a baby with someone you barely know." Shea told him and Tessa put her hand on his thigh as a way to tell him to stop talking.

Pekka shrugged his shoulders, "It's not something I can change now but I get that it's something that might take some getting used to... just like it took everyone getting used to with you guys."

Shea didn't have a response for that, he simply nodded his head slowly and looked out at the backyard in front of him. Tessa shot Pekka and apologetic smile before she looked down at her watch and stated out loud, "You guys should get going or you'll be late."

Pekka nodded and got up, stating, "I'll be in the car."

Once he had gone inside and then out of the front door Tessa stopped Shea from doing the same and she asked him, "What's up with you?"

He sighed, "I don't know. I was just surprised and it came out the wrong way and now I feel like a dick."

"Yeah, you should." Tessa informed him, before she told him with a soft smile, "But you have a long plane ride to make it up to him. Just try to remember that Pekka was the first one to support us, so maybe you should be supportive of him whether you are or you aren't really."

"It's not that I'm not supportive Tess, really, he just caught me off guard and surprised the hell out of me. I mean, what are you even supposed to say in response to that?" Shea asked her as they headed to the front door.

"Well, generally congratulations is a good start." Tessa stated with a smile and Shea rolled his eyes at her but he smiled nonetheless.

Together they stepped out of the house and Shea locked it up before he handed her the key ring and he told her, "I'll lose them and I don't have time to go back to my place."

So she tucked them into her back and followed him down to his vehicle where Shea grabbed his bags from the backseat and transferred them into the back of Pekka's car next to the goaltenders own bags. He then handed Tessa the keys to his truck and as she tucked those into her bag as well before she turned to him and she asked, "You'll call or text when you get in? So I know you got there safe?"

"I will. See you in two days." Shea told her, leaning down to kiss her quickly.

When they parted she smiled and as he got into Pekka's car she told them both, "Good luck."

She waited until she couldn't see Pekka's car down the street anymore before she went back to the front door of the house and unlocked it. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her and then she took another, much slower walk-through of the house as she thought about all the ways they could make it their house.

She had a crew coming the next morning to assemble the bathroom at Roman's and Tessa wondered if she would have time to pack up Shea's house for him and unpack over here before they got back the morning after that. He had been so good about her finishing Roman's house before their summer really got started and just good to her in general that she thought maybe doing this for him would somewhat make up for it all.

Plus, she knew either way the game tomorrow went he wouldn't really want to take the time to move himself anyway.

- - - -

The work at Roman's had gone seamlessly, he would be coming home to a brand new, fully functional master suite. She had managed to pack up everything that she could of Shea's and unpack it at the new house, and then she had sat down in her own apartment to watch the game. That was something she wished she hadn't done.

It wasn't just the loss that made her wish she hadn't watched or the fact that with it came the end of their season officially and that they wouldn't be making it to the finals like they all worked for. It was the fact that even Tessa couldn't deny the fact that she had just watched what may have actually been the worst game in Shea's entire decade plus long NHL career. By a long shot.

She knew he would be hard on himself, take the blame for himself and Tessa wasn't sure if that was something she should try to convince him otherwise on.

The truth was that yes he hadn't helped his team much at all but it wasn't just him that had an uncharacteristically bad game. Everyone had.

This had been what she had been worried about; she didn't know what Shea was like when the season ended in disappointment. She didn't know how to act, what to do or what to say, or if she shouldn't do or say anything.

Did she call him and leave a voicemail to tell him she loved him and that he could call if he wanted? Did she tell him she was sorry? That he shouldn't beat himself up? Did she just leave him alone and let him call her?

She didn't feel comfortable asking for advice from anyone, especially other WAGS. Tara had already text her to ask if she thought she should text Pekka and Tessa had been honest with her when she said that she really didn't know. Tessa debated texting Harper, who had made the trip out to San Jose to watch the game, to ask her to see if maybe she thought Shea would want her to call but she decided against it.

So instead of doing anything with her cell phone Tessa carried it with her as she got ready for bed; washing her face and brushing her teeth and changing into pyjama's and then when she was laying under the covers she picked her phone up again. She wasn't expecting anything from Shea, especially not so soon, but she would be lying if she said that the idea of him texting or calling first didn't make her nerves settle down a little.

She drafted a text to him for nearly an hour of every possible thing she could have said to him because she just didn't know what to say. Nothing felt right, so she deleted every text after the first line.

Finally, she settled on something quick, simple and to the point and thought that should be enough until she could see him in person and get a good feel for what he really needed to hear.

I love you.

Hours later when she woke up toward five in the morning and noticed the little red dot blinking on the top corner of her cell phone Tessa pulled it off of the charger and toward her. She squinted at the light when she turned the screen on and adjusted the brightness all the way down to zero to save her eyes a little bit and then she found a new message from Shea waiting for her. It had come in hours after she had sent hers, and she smiled slightly as she read it.

I'm sorry, I love you. I'll see you tomorrow.