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Part Sixty Nine

Andrew's POV

I open the door and see her standing there, her green eyes connecting with mine and making me light up. "Hey," I say, my heart beating ever so slightly like it does every time I see her. "Hi Andrew," she says with a little grin as she walks into the apartment. "Congratulations on that win last week," she says, referring to the triple overtime goal I scored to win game one of the Stanley Cup Final. I beam at the memory. "You watch hockey?" She blushes. "I love hockey. I've been watching since I you started playing." I shake my head. "Wow. That's amazing." "My brother tried to make me a Red Wings fan," she laughs. "But I made a good choice." I make a face, causing her to crack up. "Good choice, good choice," I say. "Good luck to your brother." "I'll tell him," she says, through laughter.

We've been talking through everything with Becca and Nick in the past week, and I've slowly been getting better, accepting the past as it is. It still hurts, but Taylor is helping me slowly mend the hole in my heart. She makes me smile and feel at ease. "Hey Taylor?" I ask as she's leaning to get something out of her bag. "Yeah?" she says, looking up with a smile. "Can we..." I pause. "Can we just talk about our lives today...and maybe some hockey?" I give her a hopefully little smile and she nods. "Sure. That's why I'm here anyway, Andrew. To talk about what you want to talk about."

We end up talking about everything, from high school stories, to me making it to the NHL, to how she went to college. We end up talking past my time with her and I look at the clock. "Oh crap, I'm probably making you late." It's already eight o'clock. She laughs, pulling her hair aside into a ponytail."You're actually the only one I have today. So don't worry about it." She reaches for her bag, getting ready to leave. "Do you-" I start. She looks up. "Hmmm?" I take a breath, wondering if I'm doing the right thing. "Do you- could you," I correct myself, "Could you stay for dinner?" I give her a hopeful little smile.

She thinks for a moment, her hand hovering by her coat, almost about to grab it and be on her way. "Are you sure you want me for dinner? You really don't have to?" She says with a tiny, nervous laugh. "I should probably go though. You're so busy with hockey and you have game six tomorrow and I know it's important and..." Her babbling trails of as she looks at me. "I guess-I guess I could stay for a little bit," she says blushing. "I don't know how good of a cook you are though," she says, her voice teasing me.

I give her a laugh, crossing my arms. "Hey, hey! I'm a good cook. You'll see!" I rush off to the kitchen and she follows me in, chasing me and pinning me around the waist with her arms. "Caught you!" she singsongs and then she turns red, quickly unlocking her arms. "Sorry that was-I don't know what that was," she says, awkwardly. I take her hands and wrap them around me again, my own arms circling hers. "No, it's ok. I like it."

Laura's POV

Jonny comes down into the kitchen, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He smiles at me, sitting at the counter, my hands writing down everything for tonight. "You ready?" he asks, with a grin. I laugh. "I'm not the one playing, captain dork." He shakes his head. "You just can't panic about it. Once you get on the ice, you just play and if you play your best, it all works out." I give him a little kiss. "Just try not to make it go to game seven ok? I don't think my heart can handle that right now." He rolls his eyes. "Trust me, babe, I don't want it to go to game seven either. I just want to win tonight."

Im fidgety the whole day, between stressing about the baby in my stomach and the game tonight. Everything is just so crazy right now. Jonny told me the baby is going to make it, that nineteen percent is better than nothing. I'm trying so hard to believe him, but it's hard, hard to really believe that someone so tiny can exist if they only have a nineteen percent survival rate. I feel like I did something wrong, that I deserve this for some reason. I just wish I could fix it.