Weapons of War

After trying and failing to get out of a team thing that morning Shea was finally arriving at the hospital. He took the elevator up to the floor Riley and Noah were on, and stopped to ask a nurse for the room number before he was headed down the hall she pointed him the direction to. This was supposed to be an off day, no game, no practice, and Shea was finally getting to be here for the day for Noah. That was until he got a phone call the night before telling him they had schedule a team meeting that morning that even him and all his captain pull couldn't get out of.

So he missed the whole morning of treatment, but as Riley had said, being here for the last few hours was better than missing out completely. So that was why he was walking down the hall toward the room his wife and toddler were in with the Preds blanket Noah refused to go to sleep without draped across one arm and a sweater draped across the other.

When he arrived at the door and stepped into the room he found Riley sitting on the edge of the bed holding a bucket with Noah's head stuck inside it. Shea frowned as Riley looked up at him and he set his things down on the chair by the door and then sat down on the side of the bed, his knee touching Riley's.

Noah looked up at the feeling of weight on the bed, "Daddy?"

Shea nodded and reached out, brushing his hair from his forehead as he asked, "Fighting through it?"

Noah nodded and told him, "I like you."

Shea smiled gently and Riley looked over at Shea with her own soft smile. It really was endearing to see the two of them together, and even at two Noah was so determined to be a big boy and to be tough like Shea was. His independence was growing and Riley wasn't so sure how she felt about that. The mother in her wanted him to stay little and ignorant to what the world was really like. But, like every little kid, he was increasingly demanding to do things all on his own, like dressing himself and even going up and down the stairs on his own which was what had prompted the baby gate at the top of the stairs.

When it seemed the wave of nausea seemed to have finally passed Riley wiped Noah's face with a napkin and threw it out, and a nurse was kind enough to take the bucket and rinse it out for them. Noah cuddled into the bed but his eyes spied the blanket in the chair by the door and he reached his little hands out for it so Shea grabbed it and spread it out over him and he took the chair closest to him.

Riley took the chair beside Shea and as Noah laid down and curled himself into a ball she pulled a book from her bag and handed it to Shea. He raised his eyebrow and she told him, "Helps pass the time."

"Oh." He nodded his head slowly and leaned back in his chair, opening the book he had been planning on starting this coming road trip anyway.

It wasn't long before Riley's head gently dropped against his shoulder and so Shea carefully draped his large sweater over her, not wanting to risk waking her up to get up and grab a blanket. He went back to reading his book, but did take a moment to look down at Riley, who looked exhausted, and then over at Noah who appeared to be sleeping. He hated that he missed so many of these days.

He was starting the ninth chapter of his book when he heard blankets shuffling and so he looked over at Noah, and smiled. He was laying on his side, still under the blanket, watching Shea with his big brown eyes that, in Shea's opinion, still seemed so big compared to the rest of his features. Shea raised his eyebrow and got a little giggle from the boy across from him when he asked, "What are you up to?"

"Mama sleepy." Noah stated, and as Shea's eyes drifted to Riley who was still asleep against his shoulder Noah's eyes stayed trained on Shea.

Finally Shea looked back at Noah, nodded his head and asked, "Do you need something?"

"Story." He told him, and when Shea gave him an 'I don't know' kind of look he pouted.

So Shea carefully grabbed Riley's bag from the floor beside him and hoped she had a book in there. Not only did she have a children's book in there, but there was also her own book, one of Noah's favorite toys, a folded up picture of the three of them last summer on the boat, a few snacks and even a puzzle. She had thought of everything.

So he pulled the children's book out, put the bag down on the floor again and got comfortable in his chair before he started to read, "The sun did not shine, it was too wet to play, so we sat in the house all that cold, cold, wet day."

When Riley woke up it was to Shea's voice and a little giggle. She glanced around for a moment, finding Noah laying on his side staring at Shea, giggling away, while Shea read a book to him. So she closed her eyes again before anyone noticed she was awake and she continued to listen to Shea's voice, changing when the book characters required it, and Noah's giggle while his father acted out Dr. Seuss, "'I will pick up the hook, you will see something new. Two things, and I call them Thing One and Thing Two. These Things will not bite you, they want to have fun.' then, out of the box came Thing Two and Thing One! And they ran to us fast, they said, 'how do you do? Would you like to shake hands with Thing One and Thing Two?'"

Noah giggled loudly again and Riley couldn't stop herself from smiling at the sound which made Noah tell Shea, almost in a whisper, "Mama."

Shea glanced down at Riley before he turned to Noah with a mischievous smile and asked, "I think we woke her up. Should we tell her we know she's awake?"

Noah nodded and so Shea laid the book on his lap and he quickly reached out and dug his fingers into Riley's sides. She jumped and laughed, and when he grabbed the book again she said to Noah, "Daddys picking on me."

"Daddy mean." Noah said, and Riley grinned at Shea.

Shea mumbled, "Traitor."

"Finish reading, I was quite enjoying the different voices for all the characters you know." When she told him this Shea narrowed his eyes at her but he turned back to the book, cleared his throat which caused Noah to giggle, and went back to reading to his audience of two.

When the book was finished Noah was asleep once again and Riley was on the verge of it. In fact, she was so close to sleep that when Shea moved and closed the book she jumped up from leaning against him into a sitting position. He laughed at her and asked, "Awake and alert now?"

"I don't even know how I managed to almost fall asleep while you were reading. You're so animated all the time." She stated with a yawn.

Shea grinned, "And you're the most boring story reader ever. It's why you read the bedtime story the most. He falls right asleep."

She shrugged and then leaned against his shoulder again, saying, "At least he falls asleep then."

"Don't get too comfortable." He warned her and she raised her eyebrow, he glanced at his watch and reminded her, "Your appointment is in fifteen minutes. We should probably get going."

"And leave him here? He's gonna wake up, see us gone and freak out Shea." Riley told him but he shook his head.

Before he could tell her his plans Pekka knocked lightly on the door frame and walked in the room, asking, "Someone needed my services?"

Riley rolled her eyes, "I don't trust you."

Pekka grinned at her and said, "He's asleep, what's the worst that's going to happen?"

"He wakes up and all hell breaks loose? The two of you in a hospital? That's just asking for news crews." Riley stated but she got up when Shea did, and as they were leaving the room she told Pekka, "Thanks for coming."

"Anytime."

As she and Shea took the elevator down three floors he told her, "I'm glad I'm able to be here for both of these things."

Riley smiled and she assured him, "I never would have made you miss the first sonogram you know. I may be emotionally handicapped but I'm not that cruel."

He frowned as they stepped off of the elevator, "I never said you were."

"I know you didn't, but I also know that I've given you plenty of reasons to think that I wouldn't have thought of you when making this appointment." She told him, and with the slight edge to her voice Shea didn't bother continuing the conversation that he knew would eventually turn into another argument.

Riley checked herself in, and they sat in silence in the half full waiting room for only a few minutes before they were called back. Shea took the seat closest to the top of the table that Riley was sitting on and he told her, "It's weird being back for one of these."

"Kind of different now though. Not as scary." Riley said with a nod of her head.

Shea placed his hand on her back and he said, "But just as exciting."

She nodded slowly, "Yeah."

He sighed, and she shot him a look as if to say 'not here' and he kept his mouth shut. He was really trying to supportive and understanding but he also expected Riley to be understanding of why it would bother him to see her visually unhappy and not excited right now. He was trying so hard to be understanding, even if he didn't understand it at all, and supportive of her right now because he knew how difficult this was for her but it was hard. It was hard to try to be those things when she couldn't even muster up a fake smile while they waited to see their baby for the very first time. He was trying, and she wasn't.

Before he could even start up a new conversation the door opened and their doctor came in. She smiled at them both and said, "It's good to see you again."

Shea nodded and Riley forced a smile on her face and said, "Yeah, it is."

So she could fake smile and be fake happy for the doctor but she couldn't do it for her own husband.

While she checked all the normal things; blood pressure, weight, she had blood drawn, she was asked about her menstrual cycle and Shea could have answered all of those questions for her, he could always tell when it was that time of month, and he had figured out when it happened and he knew it right down to the length of days. Not because he cared to know, really he could do without that knowledge, but because it was hard to live with a woman for almost ten years and not pick up on those things. They were both asked about any changes in their health from when Noah was born and then their doctor raised the question Shea had been wondering about, "Where do you rate your stress level?"

Riley hesitated, unsure of how to answer that, and then she shrugged and said, "Depends on the day."

"Okay, an average day. Low, moderate, high?" When Riley again hesitated to answer she said, "I know that it can't be easy, with Noah, and your blood pressure was a little higher than normal, so I'd like to know going into this if that might be an issue for you."

Riley sighed and said, "Moderate I guess. Sometimes it's low, sometimes it's high… it just depends on the day."

She wrote it down and out of pure curiosity Shea asked her, "And that can be a big issue, right?"

Riley wanted to sigh, but she kept it in and their doctor turned to him, and as she glanced between the two of them she spoke with candor, "The stress level wouldn't be my first worry. It's the blood pressure I'm most concerned with. Right now you're a little higher than normal but nothing we should be too worried with. If it gets worse then we start to worry."

"So, say it gets worse. What can happen?" Shea asked her curiously. They never had to worry about this with Noah, but then again, they never had to raise a sick toddler while Riley was pregnant and they both knew that changed this.

"It can cause a smaller baby, make you go into preterm labor, which comes with its own box of issues, and it can cause preeclampsia. But, like I said, the numbers aren't high enough for serious concern, they're just not low enough to not monitor." She told them, and Riley nodded slowly and she was relieved when the file closed and they were told, "Well let's have a look at this baby shall we?"

With the lights off and Riley laying back on the table, Shea reached out and grabbed her hand and he was grateful that she didn't pull hers away but rather gave his own a squeeze. Together they watched the screen to Riley's right, waiting for that moment when they finally got to see the little he or she that was growing inside of Riley.

The first time, with Noah, they had a hard time finding his heart beat and for several long minutes both Shea and Riley stared at the screen both afraid that they never would. Thankfully, this time, it took no time for the heartbeat to come through, loud and strong, and they were shown the tiny little spot on the screen that was their baby and it never ceased to amaze Shea.

With the lights turned back on and Riley cleaned off and sitting up again with a little handful of printed off pictures they were told, "Everything looks great, healthy, strong heartbeat, and you're a lot further along than you thought."

When they had made the appointment it was under the assumption that she was only five or six weeks pregnant, so Riley asked her curiously, "How much further?"

"You're around ten weeks pregnant."

Riley stared at her in surprise for a moment before she asked, "How is that even possible?"

She chuckled and explained, "Sometimes women have symptoms that are the same as the flu or normal symptoms if you're a little run down. Honestly, some women can go several months without ever knowing they're pregnant. It's different for everyone."

"But ten whole weeks? That's almost a full trimester." Riley exclaimed, and Shea grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze as if to silently tell her she was freaking out over nothing.

"It's perfectly normal." She was assured, yet again but it did little to calm her nerves.

Curiously Shea asked, "So that means…May?"

"Around the last week of May, could be earlier, could be later it all depends when he or she decides to come."

The walk back up to Noah's room was quiet, Shea was too busy in his head trying to remember all the little things from when Riley was pregnant with Noah. Like what she craved for food; grapefruit and fries dipped in melted ice cream. Like that she couldn't stand the smell of hamburger, and that she was sick right through the whole pregnancy. Like how full of energy she was. He was wondering what would be the same and what would be different this time around.

Riley however was far too busy thinking about how she had no idea how they were going to do this and the fact that she didn't have the extra five weeks she thought they did to figure it out was putting her even more on edge than she already was. She would have this baby during the playoffs, and that thought alone made her want to find the nearest garbage can and hurl.

"Mama!" Noah exclaimed as they walked into his room. He and Pekka were both on his bed, and he seemed to be climbing all over the lanky goal tender. No doubt the little surge of energy toward the end of his day of treatment was upon them.

Pekka grinned at Riley and Shea and said, "He's mine now. We voted and you guys lost."

"Two against two and we lost?" Shea asked in amusement.

Pekka held up the stuffed Pred Quinn had gotten Noah and grinned, informing Shea, "Gnash was the tie breaker."

"Alright my little monkey, how about we let uncle Pekka go home and you get ready to go home?" Riley asked him, picking Noah up off of Pekka and once the goal tender got up from the bed Riley set the two year old down and covered him with his blanket.

Shea walked Pekka to the elevator and Noah looked up at Riley and asked, "Where go?"

"Mommy just had to go get checked out by a doctor." She told him, smiling gently as she ran her fingers through his hair.

He seemed to panic when he asked, "You sick too?"

"No baby I'm fine." She assured him.

Her heart could have melted when he sent her a half smile and told her, "I share my fighters."

He was referring to his medicine, but fighters was easier for him to attempt to say. Riley smiled, kissed the top of his head and said, "Mommy's fine, you keep your fighters for yourself."

"Sure?" He asked her and she nodded.

Shea walked back into the room and while Riley continued to talk to Noah while the nurses and doctors got him ready to go home Shea packed up their things and slung the bag over his shoulder. With the green light to head home Shea picked Noah up, holding him against his torso and as they walked to the elevator Riley told him, "I could carry something."

"I'm fine." Shea assured her, and she didn't push the subject as they got in the elevator. Once they were settled in the car and Noah was occupied with a toy in the backseat Shea turned to Riley and with a small smile he asked, "You sure you don't need to borrow some of his fighters?"

She too smiled, "I'm sure. I'm okay."

He told her, grabbing her hand for good measure and leaning over to kiss her softly, "Well you have one fighter right here if you need to lean on him. I'll be here."