Dream On (Jonathan Toews)

Chapter Forty-Seven| New Year Old Me

Mary Kate

Family skate is early the next morning and I was more than excited. I put on my favorite pair of jeans and my warmest coat. I let my natural wavy hair free and found a Blackhawks headband to keep my ears warm. Jon and I circle around as people slowly make their way out to the ice. "This is so cool" I gasp looking around. "This is pretty cool" Jon admits. He leans in for a kiss and I decided to have fun with it so I remove myself from his grip and dart out to center ice. Eventually he opens his eyes to see me halfway across the rink and grows a playful grin. He chases me around for a while until he corners me behind a net. "Come here" he demands and I shake my head. "Mary Kate Fletcher" he say like a dad and I slowly skate over to him. He places a kiss on my lips and I smile halfway through it. "You're so silly" he says and I shrug. He wasn't wrong.

Eventually everyone joins us on the ice and I find myself with Hossa's daughter Zoja and Sharps daughter Madelyn. Kids were naturally drawn to me and I've spent a good amount of time with these two outside of hockey. We play a little game of hockey and I was goalie while the two would pass the puck back and fourth until someone shot it to me and I would let it go in. "I win" Maddie cheers and I pull her into me. "You guys were great. You'll be amazing just like your dads" I say to the girls and their eyes light up. They were adorable.

I continue to play with the girls until I feel a tap on my shoulder. "I find it highly insulting that I've been here for about 5 minutes and my best friend hasn't even said hi to me" the person says and I turn around to see Vanessa there. I quickly jump into her arms as we spin around in the ice. We texted every day but I haven't seen her since the summer. "I've missed you so much" I say. Her hair was getting long and she looked great with long blonde hair. "I've missed you more, how have you been" she asks. "Good, the charity is up and running and we've just been getting ready for the rest of the season" I explain. We skate around and catch up until Patrick steals her away from me so I go find Jon.

"Catch me" I yell as I jump in the air and Jon easily catches me. "See, I told you I would always catch you" he says. I cup his cheeks and place a kiss on his lips, it was cold outside but his lips made me feel so warm. He softly sets me down and I fix my hair. "Jonathan" a woman's voice rings out and I already felt like things were about to get interesting around here. "Sam" he asks and I turn to see a dark haired girl around my size trying her best to skate over. "What are you doing here" he asks as she trips and he helps stabilize her. He lets go but she doesn't and I could feel the fire burn inside me. "I'm here with Brandon" she explains and his eyes get big. Brandon was a sweet guy, but sometimes a little too sweet. "Right..." he trails of as they awkwardly stand there. "Um Sam, this is my fiancé Mary Kate. Mary Kate this is my ex-girlfriend Samantha" he says and both hers and my eyes get big. Why was his ex-girlfriend messing with Brandon? "Fiancé" she asks and he nods. She looks to my ring hand and sees the lump under my gloves. I skate over to him and he wraps his arm around me and I stick my hand out to shake hers. "Nice to meet you" I say with smile trying not to overreact. She takes my hand and I shake hers firmly, it was a habit honestly. Brandon comes over but she continues to look between Jon and I. It was obvious she wasn't here for Brandon which I hated because he was a literal sweetheart. We talk for a little until he helps her skate away and I let out a deep breath.

"I know what you're thinking" Jon says as soon as she got far enough away he felt like she couldn't hear. "I'm not mad, Jon" I say honestly. "I know, but I swear she's nothing to me any.... wait what" he asks causing me to laugh. "I'm not mad. I trust you Jon. Although I'm sure she's here to get you back I know that if you were to leave me for her I wouldn't be the one in a bad situation" I defend. "I like how sassy you are when you're jealous" he says skating around me. "And what makes you think I'm jealous" I counter. "Because I know you better than anyone in this world. I can feel it" he says still circling me. "And what if I am jealous" I ask crossing my arms. "Then I get to have fun proving to you that you're the only one for me" he replies cockily. "And how exactly are you going to do that" I challenge. "Like this" he says dipping me backwards and placing a very passionate kiss on my lips. He stands me back up but still holds me close. "You know New Years is tonight" I joke. "I guess patience hasn't always been my thing" he responds making me smile.

The boys all have a New Years party at the hotel and we got to dress up and drink a little before the game tomorrow. It was a day game so we couldn't have too much fun. I slip on a black sparkly long sleeved dress that stoped right above my knees and Vanessa curls my hair because that's a two person task. She does my make up because I'm incapable of doing all that and I slip on my shoes before we stand in the mirror together and look at the finished product. I wasn't that girly but the occasional dress up was fun to me. "Wow... we look good" I laugh looking at our reflection. "I've missed you so much" Vanessa says. "I've missed you too. I can't wait till you move to Chicago" I reply. "Me too, it's going to be so much fun" she smiles.

We go downstairs and meet the guys at the dance hall. I see Brandon and Sam talking to Pat and Jon, although I didn't like it I let it go because at the end of the day he chose me. He catches my glance as I make my way down the stairs and he excuses himself from the group making his way over, never taking his eyes off me. "You look... I can't believe... you are... wow" he stutters. I place a kiss on his lips and he finally calms down. "Thanks, you look really nice too" I say fixing his tie like I always did. We walk back over to the group and I notice Sam and Brandon barley talked to each other. It genuinely bothered me that Brandon didn't look like he was having a good time. This was a great place and a great reason to celebrate and he looked miserable. Halfway through the night I pull him into the hallway to talk to him. "Hey Sadder, you okay? It's New Year's Eve and you don't look like you're not having fun" I say as we get a drink. He shrugs and refuses to make any kind of eye contact with me. "Hey, look at me" I demand and he does. "What's wrong" I ask and he lets out a sigh. "I thought Sam wanted to come here to experience a cool thing with me and get to know me better but it turns out she just wanted Jon back. When she found out you two were engaged she stopped talking to me and I just feel like an idiot now" he says in one breath. "Alright calm down. Everything is going to be okay" I assure him and he looks up to me. "How do you know that, I mean he's in there with her right now" he says. "Don't remind me" I groan earning a smile. "But the craziest thing about being a part of a team like this is that they will always have your backs. Every person associated with this team looks out for each other, we're a family. It hurts now but come ice time tomorrow it's you and 20 of your best friends" I say earning a smile. "Yeah, but I have no one to kiss at midnight now" he sighs. "I can't help you there, but I think Joel's niece is here and she super cute and super into you" I say and he perks up. "You think so" he asks. "I know so".

We go back in and I see Vanessa seething in a chair with Pat laughing and Jon trying to calms her down. "What happened here" I ask as Brandon trails me. "Vanessa poured wine over Sams head" Patrick laughs and Jon hits his chest and points to Brandon. "It's fine Tazer, I had a good friend help me out" he says nudging me. "So why did you pour your wine on her exactly, that shit is expensive you know" I ask sitting next to my extremely upset best friend. "She asked Jon that if you were still paralyzed on that hospital bed if they would still be together and when Jon said no she said that maybe if her family died like yours she could be his charity case too. She's lucky I didn't lay her ass out" she scoffs. "Wish she would have" Jon mutters and I shoot him a glare. I might not like the girl but we certainly weren't about to bully her. Now Vanessa wouldn't hurt a fly unless the fly did something to hurt something she cared about. It takes a lot for her to retaliate, even on the ice. But I love that she was protecting me. "Thanks V, you're the best" I say giving her a hug and she lets out a sigh. I turn to talk to Brandon but find him talking to Joel's niece already. "You do that" Jon asks and I nod. "You're a good person" he says snaking his arms around my waist. "I try to be" I laugh. The countdown ensues and his lips meet mine once again, starting the new year off right. "Happy New Years baby" he says moving a piece of hair out of my face. "Happy New Years Jonathan" I respond happier than I had been in a while.