The Hockey Life - A Patrick Kane Fanfic

Part One Hundred and One - House Hunters

PART ONE HUNDRED AND ONE: HOUSE HUNTERS

Morning sickness is an absolute bitch. Being pregnant made me wonder why it was called morning sickness, though. It happened at any given time of day, and it was pretty random. Sure, it happened slightly more often in the morning than at night or in the afternoon, but I was never prepared for it. I felt a little bad for Patrick, who had to deal with me randomly throwing up all the time. But then I remembered that as a guy he didn't have to deal with periods or pregnancy or giving birth or anything like that, and I didn't feel so bad anymore.

"Morning sickness, eh?" Keith asked me one day at practice after I had to suddenly run off. A lot of the guys on the team had kids, so they were somewhat used to having pregnant women around.

"Yeah, it's not fun," I replied. "Thankfully, it's not going to last for the entire nine months."

"You know, if you ever need to take a day off to rest or anything like that, let me know," was a consistent sentence coming out of my boss's mouths. Even Coach Q pulled me aside and told me that he'd pull strings if for some reason, I couldn't convince anyone else to give me time off of work when I felt like I needed it. It was crazy how different people treated me now that I had a little human growing inside me. Sure, I felt nauseous more often and I was a little more tired and hormonal than usual, but I was perfectly fine. I didn't need any special treatment. I did appreciate Tess' help, though, because of course she showed up at my door a week after finding out that I was pregnant with a gift basket.

"Happy pregnancy!" she smiled when I opened the door to greet her. She handed me a basket full of all kinds of pregnancy goodies including books, vitamins, snacks, and a bunch more things that I hadn't even thought about needing yet.

"Aw, Tess! You didn't have to do this," I said as I examined everything.

"I know I didn't, but now that I did, you'll have to return the favor when I get pregnant!" she told me. I laughed in response.

"True. Smart thinking."

Tess stayed over for a while and we mainly just sat around, talking about everything from babies to weddings to home decor (we decided to watch some HGTV). By the time Patrick got home from a team meal (with Jonathan) we were oo-ing and ah-ing over houses on TV.

"You know, the lease on this place will be up soon," Patrick commented.

"Wait a second, are you suggesting leaving this gorgeous apartment?" Tess asked, shocked. It was a really nice place, and it had a decent amount of space. I truly did love living there, but I could see what Patrick was thinking.

"I mean, I've lived here for a while. And I know you like it here, Lean, but I always pictured us getting a place that's all our own," he explained.

"Yeah, me too. And with the baby entering the picture in the summer, we probably could use a little more space," I agreed.

"Hey, if you guys are serious about looking for places, you can house hunt with Jonathan and I anytime. We've been trying to find a place for the two of us so we can finally move in together," Tess offered. Jonathan nodded in agreement.

"Maybe we will look together, then. I feel like we should definitely try to find a place soon. Now is the perfect time to move. Or at least, in a couple months when our lease is up." I nodded. Of course, Tess and I were excited about the fact that we both were looking for houses, so that afternoon we started looking online at places. When we were younger we always said that we would be in each other's weddings and then live across the street from each other once we were married. Although living that close to each other was a bit of a stretch, we honestly did search for neighborhoods that had multiple houses for sale. Patrick and Jonathan rolled their eyes at us and Tess preceded to make a joke about how they couldn't possibly complain about being able to see each other all the time, even outside of hockey. As always, they acted as if it was a lie, but I knew they couldn't truly deny it. As much as they fought like idiots sometimes, they were practically brothers.