God Bless The Broken Road (Jonathan Toews)

Papparazzi

Maisie

After the Hawks won the Stanley cup everything was crazy. I mean I've lived in this city all my life. I've gone through the Sox and Bulls winning championships, but I have never seen anything like this. The parade was insane. I mean there was nowhere to go because there was so many people. Just thick lines of people everywhere you looked. For a week straight I felt like I was in a dream but it was real... and I was real tired. On the bright side I have gotten tons of great pictures over the past few days and I can't wait to send them in. The season might be over but my job is alive and well.

"Excuse me miss, are you Maisie Brown" someone says and I turn around to see a smaller man with a camera and a notepad. I was out with Jackson and Jon getting some food for the apartment and trying to figure out what to do all summer now that Jack's not in school and there's no hockey.

"Umm yes" I say a bit skeptical.

"I'm Richard Little with the Chicago tribune, mind if I ask a few questions" he says.

"Actually, I do" Jonathan says finding my side and pulling me away from him.

"Jonathan. Even better. Is this your girlfriend" he asks.

"Do you really need to know that? We just won the cup... isn't that news enough for you" Jon snaps. Oh he didn't seem happy.

"It's news and my job is to report it" the guy claims not backing down.

"My private life isn't news. My job and what I do there is news. But my relationship is not anyone else's business besides me and my friends and family. I gave the fans what they wanted and all I ask for in return is some privacy" he says getting increasingly angry. Jackson holds onto my legs and I pray this doesn't get any worse. I don't need both of my boys getting upset.

"You're Chicago's biggest star right now. I hate to tell you but you and you're little girlfriend here aren't going to be protected by a thing. Someone's going to talk and it'll just be easier and more accurate if it came from you" the guy sneers.

"You will keep my girlfriend and her sons name out of your mouth, out of the paper, and out of the public... you hear me" Jon yells.

"Daddy" Jackson cries trying to get him to stop yelling.

"What Jackson" he screams back and the boy stops moving. His blue eyes turn glassy as the tears start to fall. Without a word he runs to the door and I give Jon the 'really' look before chasing after him. I find Jackson in the Blackhawks section by the entrance because where else would he be? I pull him into a tight hug as he sobs into my chest. He hated confrontation and especially when guys yell. I knew he was going to get upset but I wasn't expecting Jon to yell at him like that, I would have pulled him away a lot sooner if I thought that was what was going to happen. I wasn't going to let Jon do something stupid to protect us but I sure as hell didn't want this to happen either. I know he was just trying to protect us and that guy got under his skin, but I really didn't need Jackson there for the whole thing.

"I'm scared" he cries and I let out a sigh. This is going to be hard to explain to him. He doesn't know why things like this is so scary to him. And I just can't be like "yeah your real dad was abusive and loud and nearly killed you so subconsciously you're terrified of any type of male confrontation." That won't help anything. Instead I just pray Jackson still trusts Jon.

"I know baby. But Daddy is just trying to protect us" I tell him.

"I want to go home" he says not giving in to what I was going to say.

"Alright, lets grab daddy then we can go" I say trying to pick him up.

"No. Without daddy" he whimpers.

"Baby you don't mean that" I say rubbing his arms and he nods. I run my fingers through my hair and think of how we're going to fix this. This isn't going to be easy. I see Jon approach through the reflection in the door and tell Jackson to stay put while I talked to him.

"I'm so sorry" he starts.

"I know Jon, you're just trying to keep us safe. I'm not mad" I explain and he looks at me questionably.

"Really" he asks.

"Yeah. If it weren't for you that guy would have gotten me to tell him anything he wanted. I don't have experience with them like you do. He was a journalist and I know they like to twist words or throw some opinions in there. I get what your trying to do. But Jackson... that's another story" I trail off.

"Is it bad" he wonders.

"It's pretty bad. He said he wants to go home but not with you. You really scared him and he doesn't get why. You're the first father figure he loved and doesn't understand why he feels the way he does. I'm not sure what to do or what's going to happen" I admit.

"Should I talk to him" he asks.

"You can try. I'm not sure what he'll do" I shrug. We find him playing with a championship pennant and a fake Stanley cup by himself in the corner, looks like I'll have to buy those now. Jackson sees me first then finds Jonathan and his face drops. It hurt my heart to see my baby like this, but I needed him to be okay with Jonathan, for the both of us. He backs away and Jon stops moving towards him.

"Jackson I'm not going to hurt you" Jon says softly.

"You yelled at me" he says letting a tear fall. I can tell he doesn't want to be scared, he loves him almost as much as he loved me.

"I didn't mean to. Just because I yell, it doesn't mean I'm going to hurt you. When you score a goal you yell right" Jon asks.

"Yeah" he nods.

"See. People yell for a lot of different reasons. That guy was bad and I wanted him to know that he wasn't allowed to hurt you or your mommy. I was upset with him and I accidentally yelled at you. But as soon as I did I felt terrible. I never meant to upset you, I know you hate yelling. I promise it won't happen again" Jon tells him. Jackson gets up off the floor and wraps he arms around Jons neck as he was squatted down to see eye to eye with him.

"I love you buddy, you know that right" Jon asks.

"Yeah dad. I love you too" he sniffles. Jon picks him up and I grab the toys he was playing with.

"You want these" I ask and he nods. He rests his head on Jon's shoulder and closed his eyes. He had to be tired with how crazy the last few days were. I place a kiss on his forehead and a smile creeps on his face. I hear a camera click and see someone run down the street. I let it go because I've had enough drama for one day. We head home and we put Jackson down for a nap. He cuddles in with his new tommy hawk stuffed animal and falls asleep easy.