Sweet Caroline (Corey Crawford)

Because You Loved Me

Corey

The guys pick up right where they left off in the regular season we beat the Wild easily in five games then go into a heated quarter finals with the red wings.

The history between the two franchises are historic, so much hatred and heated battles have been going on for the past few decades. And this is the last year they will be in the central division so this would be that last time we would see each other in the post season unless we both make it to the finals.

And as history has it, this series has been dirty and super close. After falling down 3-1 in the series we tie it back up and head to a game seven back at the madhouse on Madison. We sure didn't want our phenomenal regular season to fall flat in the second round so we were all ready for a winner takes all game here in Chicago.

Well most of us were ready. Me? I'm not so sure. I have started every game so far in the post season and Q has made it more than obvious that I was this teams starter. Emery has been so supportive of me and I'm thankful because a lot of the teams success and failure falls on me. All I know is that I want to at least make it out of this round, it can't end like this.

So I lay down to take my pregame nap and I laugh at the thought of me sleeping right now. There's no way I could sleep.

"Do you want me to make you some tea" Caroline asks as we lay in bed.

"No thank you. It wouldn't help much" I insist.

"What can I do" she asks.

"Can you sing" I ask and she raises her eyebrows.

"I can. But just because I can doesn't mean I should" she claims.

"Your voice is so soft though" I insist.

"That has nothing to do with pitches and keys" she insists.

"Just try... for me" I ask giving her my best puppy dog eyes.

"There is his one song" she starts and I smile. "It's Céline Dion because my mom loved her so much. She was a great lyricist and Canadian. We saw her in concert one time and I thought my mom was going to faint" she giggles.

"She didn't though, right" I ask.

"Nope. She did cry a little" she admits.

"Which song are you thinking about" I wonder.

"Because You Loved Me. My mom sang it to my dad at their wedding" she explains.

"Was your mom a singer" I question.

"Yeah. But she was amazing at everything she did" she claims.

"Must run in the family" I smirk and she scrunches up her nose making her glasses slip. I push them back and she laughs at me. "Are you going to sing for me or just keep teasing me" I ask.

"I will sing if you promise to try and go to sleep" she insists.

"I promise" I say.

She sticks her pinky up and I give her one of those "are you serious" looks. She slowly nods her pretty little head and I eventually I wrap my pinky around hers. She smiles at me and I couldn't help but smile back, she was so great.

We snuggle under the covers and she scoots me closer. She rests her head on my arm and I run my fingers through her soft hair. She lets my breathing fall before her soft talking voice becomes melodic.

"For all those times you stood by me
For all the truth that you made me see
For all the joy you brought to my life
For all the wrong that you made right
For every dream you made come true
For all the love I found in you
I'll be forever thankful baby
You're the one who held me up
Never let me fall
You're the one who saw me through through it all."

I was expecting her to be good, but not this good. Now she didn't sound like Céline Dion, but she was just as talented. Her voice was so smooth and she had a great feeling for the beats and when to go higher and lower. And she hit every note on the head.

I look down and see that I have chills on my arms, all the hairs on my body stand on end as she continues to sing so beautifully.

"You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak
You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith 'cause you believed
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me."

I know I was supposed to be trying to sleep but I couldn't. I was wide awake making sure I don't miss a second of this. I try to continue to breathe deeply so she didn't stop to yell at me. But I can't help but feel my heart beat faster as her voice enters my ears and dances around in my head. I start to feel all fidgety and honestly I just want to kiss her.

"You gave me wings and made me fly
You touched my hand I could touch the sky
I lost my faith, you gave it back to me
You said no star was out of reach
You stood by me and I stood tall
I had your love I had it all
I'm grateful for each day you gave me
Maybe I don't know that much
But I know this much is true
I was blessed because I was loved by you."

I move my arm so she has to move in closer. She doesn't miss a beat but as she gets closer her words get louder. They're practically screaming at me. This song... it was amazing. And I have never heard it like this. Usually it is in your face and hard but this was soft and passionate, just like she was. I wasn't sure why she picked this song or why she sounded like this song picked her, but I had no complaints. I can honestly see her being a singer if she wasn't so timid or crazy about hockey. She wouldn't like being famous but I feel kind of spoiled that I get to hear her song and others don't.

"You were always there for me
The tender wind that carried me
A light in the dark shining your love into my life
You've been my inspiration

Through the lies you were the truth
My world is a better place because of you
You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn't speak

You were my eyes when I couldn't see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn't reach
You gave me faith 'cause you believed
I'm everything I am
Because you loved me."

She stops and the room falls silent. I'm happy my eyes were closed because I probably would have been crying by now.

"That was so beautiful" I whisper and I feel her giggle.

"You were supposed to be sleeping" she reminds me.

"And you were supposed to be bad at singing so I guess we both lied" I argue.

"You pink promised" she counters and I laugh.

"I sleep to take my mind off the things, and I think you did a great job" I insist.

"Well thank you" she sighs.

"Of course. So you think we're going to win tonight" I ask.

"I know so" she claims.

We do end up winning on a shot by Seab's and we head to the conference finals against the defending Stanley cup champions.