Rising Star (Patrick Kane)

Chapter Seventeen- Home Sweet Home

Patrick

Today my wonderful girlfriend is turning 24 years of age and I had an amazing day planned. I talked with her band and figured something out. I wake up early and go to the store to pick some things up. Then I head to the studio to set up the surprise party in the brainstorming room. The guys and girls and I fill the studio with silver and blue colored decorations and gifts and cake. She was supposed to be here at 11 but she's always early so she should be here any minute now.

"Alright, everything is set. You guys ready" Emily asks us.

"Yup" I say looking around. I hang around with them for a while before we hear the handle to the studio jiggle. We all jump up and the door finally opens.

"Happy birthday" we all yell and Lizzie's hands shoot up to her mouth.

"Oh my gosh guys! This is so sweet" she squeals. We all give her a hug and I was the last one up. I give her a kiss and wrap her arms around her.

"I love you so much, thank you" she says into my chest.

"Of course baby, nothing but the best for you" I smile. We cut the cake and pass it out while their music plays in the studio. They're making good progress and sounded so freaking good. They all went to college for music and composition so together they were getting something pretty cool.

A song starts playing and I recognized the lyrics. It was the song Elizabeth wrote and sang for me the first month we met.

"You guys chose this song" I ask.

"Yeah. It's my favorite, but all of the guys like it too" she shrugs.

"That's so cool" I admit. She starts to open gifts and I have to admit she got some pretty great gifts. Vivian gave her a new pair of shoes because she loved her heels. Emily gave her a painting with the band name and all of them in the back, it was impressive. The boys gave her a gift basket full of flowers and candy and a bunch of other shit. The other backup singers got her a black leather jacket she's been dying for. At the end I pull out a large box and she looks at me.

"You do this" she asks pointing to the box.

"Its was a group idea" I say looking around. She tears into it and opens up the box. Inside was a guitar case and she gasps.

"No way" she gasps.

"Open it" I encourage. She opens the case and inside was a acoustic guitar with her name etched in it. It was dark and hand carved.

"I have never seen such a beautiful guitar in my life. It's amazing" she whispers as she traces her fingers over it.

"It's specially made for you. We wanted you to have something nice to build your career off of" I explain.

"This is so great, thank you all. Group hug" she demands.

"I'm good" Kurt insists.

"Nope, it's my birthday and I said group hug. Bring it in" she says. We all come in and give her a hug. We all start laughing when we realize how weird this was. Eventually everyone goes home for the day and I take my girlfriend with me.

"Where are we going" she asks as we drive off.

"Home" I say.

"That's no fun" she pouts.

"No silly. Home home" I explain and her eyes go wide.

"Like back to the farm" she asks and I nod. I put a baseball cap on and give her one too. She fastens it to her head with the biggest smile on her face and looks forward.

I drive to the address her parents gave me and pull up to a huge farm. There was a bunch of animals running around and it was actually kind of cool. I was a city kid but the farm life intrigues me. It's a part of Chicago most people don't see, but they should.

"Welcome home" I smile pulling up in the circle driveway.

"You didn't have to do this" she insists.

"I wanted to. I know that no matter what happens to you, this is your home. This is your humble beginning. I know I'm no one without Buffalo and this is your Buffalo. And it should be so easy to come home every once in a while, but it isn't. I get that. So I figured before hockey started back up and you start changing the world with your voice you can show me who you really are" I say.

"You are the sweetest thing ever, thank you so much" she smiles.

We go inside and tell her parents hi. They were making pies and dinner for us in the kitchen and encouraged us to go out back. Elizabeth pulls me right to the stables and there was five horses all lined up eating food.

"Sweetie, come here girl" she calls. A all black horse trots over and stops right in front of her. She pats the horse and it seemed really excited to see her.

"Is this your horse? The one from the picture hanging up in your room" I ask.

"Yeah, I raised her from birth. I rode her, named her, I love her so much. She was the coolest, I spent all my time in the stables with her" she explains petting the horse. She grabs my hand and puts it on the snout of. I start to pet her and a smile comes on my face.

"She's quite a big horse" I comment. She could kick the fuck out of me if she wanted.

"She's a gentle giant" she assures me.

After that Elizabeth takes me to the chicken coop and she feeds them. She laughs when one of them chases me but teaches me how to stop them from doing that. After I catch my breath we go see the cows which was actually really cool. There was a little calf that was just born and we had to feed it by hand because it's mom passed away giving birth.

"Here. Hold the bottle up so the milk goes down" she instructs slightly tiling the bottle. The cow latches on and starts drinking as I hold its chin up so it doesn't choke.

"Good boy, take it slow" she says softly petting the calf. It slows down and opens its eyes. It has such long eyelashes, honestly it was adorable.

"Good" she says again and the little calf finishes the bottle. I pet him for a little before it returns to the other cows.

"That's was so fucking cool" I admit.

"Isn't it? There's so many cool things that happen on this farm. I miss it sometimes but I like where I'm going" she admits.

"I would miss a place like this too. There's so much to do" I say looking around.

"It keeps your mind busy, that's good for a girl who has a lot to think about like I did" she sighs.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that..." I trail off.

"I know... let me show you something" she says taking my hand in hers. She runs off and I closely follow her. She go through a small gate covered in barbed wire far away from the farm and into a corn field. The corn was mostly ready to pick and all brown but you still couldn't see what was happening out here.

"Do you know where we're going" I laugh.

"Yes, trust me" she says. After a while I start getting tired but her feet keep going. Finally we reach a opening and I gasp. There was a pond with a little boat and a amazing view of the horizon.

"Woah, this is incredible" I admit turning around.

"This was my safe place. This is where I would come and sing to the sky. Just let it all out and figure out my problems. But I wanted you to see it because you're my safe place now" she says. I pull her into a hug and look out over to the sun set.

"Happy birthday baby" I mumble into her hair.

"Thanks Patrick, for everything."