Hero {Brendan Gallagher}

13 - Broken Down

I woke up to realize that lovely Mother Nature had decided to pay me a visit.

All over Brendan's sheets.

I felt my face getting red, and my palms got sweaty. What in the hell was I supposed to do? I knew Brendan was awake, so I just pretended to still be asleep. I mentally made a plan to just keep it hidden and fix the mess once he left for morning skate.

Brendan unknowingly threw my plan out the window when he pushed the covers back to get up. I heard him pause as he was getting out of bed, and I mentally cringed while I kept pretending to be asleep.

I heard him shuffle around the room getting ready, and I found it odd that he hadn't even showered. Once I heard the door shut, I checked the time. It was only eight in the morning; way too early for morning skate.

I shot out of bed, and I suddenly realized I had left all my feminine care products at my old place. I sighed, irritated by the situation. Could today get any worse? Pushing my self-pity to the side, I got to work on cleaning up the sheets.

I was struggling to get them to fit into a bag, and I was getting blood even more spread out on the white fabric. Finally, the hormones got the best of me and I just stood there and cried. It wasn't one of those dramatic cries, tears just rolled down my face every time I looked back at the blood-stained sheets hanging out of the bag. I felt guilty for ruining his sheets more than anything.

I heard the door open, and I attempted to wipe away my tears. Brendan came into the bedroom with a plastic sack in his hand, and his eyes widened at the sight in front of him.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know I was going to- I just- I need to go get tampons. And new sheets, oh my god I'm so sor-"

"Stels," he calmly interrupted me. "Breathe."

He came to where I stood and pressed his lips to the top of my head.

"I don't think you understand I ruined your sheets and I need tam-"

"Stella."

I finally looked up at him, and I was slightly surprised at how calm he looked. His level of calm instantly brought my level of crazy and hormonal way down.

"I have more than one set of sheets, babe. Here," he assured me, handing over the sack. "I didn't know what kind to buy so I just got a bunch."

I peered inside to see several boxes of both tampons and pads, along with a bag of Hershey's Kisses.

Tears began to flow down my face once again. Only this time, there was no frustration behind them; just pure period-induced joy.

"Oh my god, Bren," I whispered, looking back forth between him and the bag full of period supplies. I let the bag drop to the ground and jumped onto him, wrapping my arms around him.

"What's gotten into you?" he teased, wrapping his arms around me in response.

"That's the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me," I told him, and I truly meant it. I couldn't recall anything that has meant more to me than that. God, he was such a sweetheart.

"Oh, babe, you haven't seen anything yet," he murmured, pressing his lips against my forehead. I tilted my head back and pressed a quick kiss to his lips in appreciation before grabbing the boxes and running to the bathroom to clean myself up.