To Sweden With Love

I've now been living in New York for about a month. Derick has been in Russia for the last couple weeks for World Championships. So I've just been hanging out in his apartment.

I missed going to the Penguins' games with Olivia, but I was still keeping up-to-date with their progress. They just defeated the Lightning to advance to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

I sent Patric a text.

Grattis on making the finals! Sorry I've been off the grid for a while now but I'm doing fine. :)

I figured he was probably worrying about me so it was probably best to let him now I'm okay.

Then my phone rang.

I answered, "hello?"

"What gives you the right to just get up and disappear?"

"God morgon to you, too, Patric," I rolled my eyes.

"Sorry, Ellie. It's nice to finally hear from you. Where did you go? How are you? Are you okay?" I could tell be had been worrying about me.

"I'm doing great, actually. I uh, I've been in New York this whole time. I got a new job."

"Why in New York? We could have gotten you a one here."

"Well uh, remember the night of Olivia's wedding and I went back to my hotel alone?"

He was silent.

"I had someone meet me there, and well, yeah, I ended up in New York with him," I confessed.

"Him?"

"Derick Brassard."

He let out a little sigh of relief. "You know after all this time, I was worried that Adam had gotten to you," he began to lecture me.

"I'm sorry. I just needed to get away so he couldn't get to me."

"Well, I'm glad you're doing fine. Where are you right now?"

"Derick's apartment," I swallowed hard.

"And this job you got?"

"Head of marketing for the Rangers! He helped me get it! I'm so excited!" I exclaimed.

"That's great, grattis, älskling! I hope he's being good to you," he said concerned.

"More than I ever wanted. Tack, Patric. But I have to go. I have to go to the airport to pick up Derick, he's getting back from Russia today."

"I miss seeing you at the games, call me if you want to come and I can arrange to get you two a couple seats."

"Thank you and good luck, Patric. Tell Malin and Isabella I miss them!"

I hung up with him and got ready to head out to the airport.

I made my way over to JFK and anxiously waited for him arrival.

I saw him come out of the terminal and stop to look at me.

"I didn't think you would remember," he joked.

"Are you kidding me? I had a countdown on the fridge for every day leading up to this," I greeted him with a hug and then a kiss.

He continued to tell me that he was thinking about what we were going to do the moment he got back.

"I'm going to take you down to MSG and give you a tour of the place: show you where you'll be working, meet some of the people you'll be working with, I'll even take you down onto the ice if you'd like to," he smiled.

"I'm not that great at ice skating," I frowned.

"I'll teach you then, we can make it a date!"

I let out a small laugh. "And then we can go get ice cream?"

"And then we can get ice cream," he repeated me. "I also want to take you to see a few places in the city this evening as well."

---

Later that same day, we were just slowly walking down the streets of Manhattan. I could see the flashes of all the screens in Time Square. They lit up all around me.

"I feel like a little girl again. I was 10 the first time I came to New York. We came for our vacation. It was our last one as a complete family before my brother went off to be into the Army."

He grabbed my hand as he heard my voice get soft.

"I don't normally talk about my family much. I've been on my own since I turned 18. I went off to Penn State to get my degree and got a job soon after graduating. So the only time I ever got to see them was when I went home for holidays."

I sighed. "I still keep in contact with my brother but it's hard with him being stationed overseas right now. As for the rest of my family, I haven't talked to my parents in five years. They tried telling me that Adam was bad for me but I didn't want to listen, so they cut me off."

He kissed my temple. "That's terrible. We can talk about something else if you'd like to."

"No, this is helping me get a lot of things off my chest."

He put his arm around my back.

"I just wish they cared enough to come see how I'm doing now. But I know they'd just tell me 'I told you so' about my past."

"If they ever said that to you, you'd just tell them that that's all in the past now, and that you're better now."

"They wouldn't care. They would have LOVED to see me in my darkest time. I was depressed and suicidal. And you want to know something? If it weren't for my brother, I probably wouldn't be here right now. He's the only one who cares about me." My eyes started to well with tears.

"I care about you, and surely you have friends back home who do to."

"I do, Olivia has kept me grounded for the last few years. Until her wedding was only a couple months away and she just kind of forgot to ask how I was doing."

I paused as we reached Times Square. He held me close to him.

I continued. "And then there's Patric and Malin, they took me when I--"

He kissed me. "You talk too much."

I bit my lip. "Sorry." I grabbed his face and kissed him again.

"I'm glad you're here with me. I wouldn't want it to be any other way." He continued, "There's one more place I want to take you."

He grabbed my hand I pulled me down the sidewalk. I did my best to keep up with him.

Before I knew it, we were standing outside of the Empire State Building.

"This is one of my favorite things about New York City."

We went up to the 86th floor of the building. The view was spectacular.

The sun was still setting: the reds, the oranges, and the silhouettes of the clouds in the sky. It was remarkable.

"This is beautiful."

"Almost as beautiful as you," he kissed me.

It didn't matter that there were tons of people around us. All that mattered was that we were there and there together.

It felt like an eternity before he let his lips come off mine. I felt like I was five again after I had gotten my first kiss.

---

The next morning, Derick called me out into the living room.

"I have a surprise for you!" He exclaimed.

He held four plane tickets in his left hand.

"Where are those for?" I was afraid to ask.

"Pittsburgh and then San Jose."

I could have jumped him but I was too in shock over what he just told me.

"I figured you'd been cooped up in here since last month so I wanted to treat you."

"I could kiss you."

"I'd like that," he walked over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. And so I kissed him. "There's more."

I pushed him away, "there's more?!"

With a scared look on his face he says, "I contacted Patric and he got tickets for you and Olivia to go to games 1 and 2 in Pittsburgh."

SHUT UP!

I pulled him in by his shirt and just kissed him so hard.

After he got a minute to breath, he continued, "I overheard your conversation with Olivia earlier, and figured why not?"

"And then San Jose?" I questioned.

"Beach time and games 3 and 4. Just you and me."

"When do we leaving?" I said after a few moments of silence.

"Tomorrow afternoon. Now get to packing, babe!"

I scrambled to find a suitcase and get stuff put together.

"Oh and we're making a stop in Nashville for a couple days on the way back home."

I'm going to be so sick of flying after this vacation.