A year. A year has passed since I was deployed and to make matters worse, a year since I last saw Jonathan in person. We'd only been together a year or so before I left, but we decided to keep up our relationship status even though we knew it would be difficult as I would be on the other side of the world with little to none communication and Jonathan playing his hockey. But despite all the struggles we made it work, and now I am on my way to surprise him with the help of all his teammates.
Originally I was suppose to stay longer as I result of my job in the special forces, but with the help of my father, who over looks my regiment, and others I found myself leaving a week earlier. Jonathan had no idea that I was coming home early, I was told to lie and tell him I was going into a zone where I could have no communication with anyone. It hurt him when I told him this, but that is my job, going into zones where we did not know if we would come out alive.
But now I found myself arriving off the plane at Tampa International Airport, my uniform still on my body and I exited with my rucksack. As I made my way to the arrivals area people stopped me to thank me for my service and while many did that, some walked past with disgusted looks upon their face and it didn't bother me when I saw the tall Swedish male waving in my direction. I fixed my rucksack on my shoulder and walked over to him, I wrapped my arms around him and pulled away.
"Long time no see, Y/N." Victor laughed taking my rucksack off my shoulder and carried it.
"It's so good to be back." I smiled as we made our way out of the airport.
"And you know who'll be happy to see you? Jonathan." Victor cooed nudging my shoulder as my cheeks flared up at Jonathan's name.
"Does he know that I am coming home early?" I asked cautiously as I stood beside Victor's car.
He shook his head. "No, he stills thinks you're away on some sort of job that you can't speak about."
"Positive?" I asked chewing at my lip.
"Positive and besides, he's too silly to realize." Victor laughed. I agreed and laughed with him.
"Right, let's get going." Victor smiled opening the door for me. I returned the smile and got in the car, Victor ran around to the driver's side and drove away from the airport.
We made our way to the Amalie Arena where it is set up that I would surprise Jonathan before the anthems, all done to the work of his teammates. Victor pulled up to the arena in a suit after we made a quick stop at his apartment to change, I got out of the car still wearing my army uniform and followed Victor into the arena. He had made sure that we got there extra early in case Jonathan arrived at the same time, but all is going according to plan at the moment.
"We'll keep you hidden until the time comes for the anthems, hopefully he doesn't cry." Victor laughed showing me into a comfortable room below ice level.
"I can't say I won't, I'd probably break down as soon as I see him." I chuckled taking my cap off and sat down in the comfortable chair.
"Well let's hope that nobody cries then." Victor smiled. I nodded and bid him a 'see you later' when he exited the room, I took a deep breath to register what is about to happen and a smile made its way onto my lips at the thought of seeing Jonathan soon.
The time finally came and I found myself standing at ice level, the arena went dark and soon the announcer came on.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please stand if you are able to and join me in welcoming Officer Y/N Y/L/N who is recently back from her deployment in Iraq." With that I walked out on the carpet that covered the ice and soon the arena irrupted into cheers, I felt myself smile and wave in thanks. It didn't take long until I found myself wrapped in the arms of a certain hockey player who I had hoped the surprise him, I moved my arms around him and gripped him tight.
"We should also mention that Officer Y/N planned on surprising her boyfriend, Jonathan Drouin of the Tampa Bay Lightning, and as you can see it worked!" I laughed through the tears at the announcers words. Jonathan moved his head out from the crook of my neck, his eyes red and a smile on his face.
"You're here, you're actually here." He said as tears ran down his cheeks.
"Yeah, I'm here." I nodded keeping my hands on his arms.
"I missed you so much." Jonathan told pressing a kiss on top of my forehead.
"I missed you too." I replied. Jonathan let out a large laugh and then looked back to me.
"I have to go play some hockey now, don't you dare leave before I can see you again." Jonathan said leaning forward and pressed his lips against mine.
"I wouldn't dream of it."
_ _ _ _ _
At the end of the game, Tampa winning 3-1 against the Penguins, I found myself waiting outside the Tampa changing room where Jonathan told me to meet him. I leaned against the wall facing the room with my cap in hand and waited for him to emerge. My head popped up at the sound of the door opening and out walked Jonathan wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and a cap to keep his sweaty hair back.
"So you planned all this? To surprise me?" He asked walking forward and wrapped his arms around my waist.
"Yes, with the help of all your teammates." I nodded looking up to him.
"Should I thank them?" Jonathan wondered.
"Of course, if it wasn't for them I would have called you up at the airport and asked for you to come pick me up because I hadn't arranged transportation home." I laughed looking into his dark eyes.
"I would have dropped everything and came straight away." He told leaning his head against my forehead.
"And that is the reason why I wanted to surprise you." I said.
"You sure as hell did surprise me, when the announcer said your name I was like 'he is having a laugh', but then they showed you on the screen and I was like 'holy shit she's actually here'. And well I jumped over to boards before anyone could protest and came straight to you." Jonathan laughed at his version of events. I chuckled at it as well.
"I'm glad." I told pressing my lips against the bridge of his nose.
"I've really missed you." Jonathan said softly, his voice sending shivers down my spine.
"I've missed you too, I'm just glad to be back home with you." I said truthfully. Jonathan smiled and pressed his lips against mine, our first deep kiss since I was deployed a year ago.
A/N: nhl__11 I hope this was OK for you, sorry it took forever to be written. It's also unedited so apologies for the mistakes.
-Lauryn.