Better Together (Patrick Kane)

23| Valuable Relationships

Patrick

I get ready in my hotel room to walk the red carpet before the NHL awards. It's my first event like this and I was nervous. Like really nervous.

"You'll be fine" my dad promises.

"Is it bad I just want this to be over" I ask.

"Yes, because you can only win the Calder once. You should want to savor this moment" he says. He has a point.

I get all tidied up and my mom takes about a hundred pictures. My sisters all looked great and I had to keep a look out for any boys who think they have a chance, because they don't. I don't know what would happen if one of them ended up with a professional hockey player, or worse, Jonny.

"Where's Danny" Jessica asks as we get in the car to head over.

"Yeah, where is she" Jackie adds on.

"Geez, nice to hang out with you too" I mumble.

"We've hung out with you all day, we haven't seen Danny yet" Erica explains.

"She's with her dad and grandpa. She's a Bowman, she always has places to be too" I laugh. She doesn't officially work for the Hawks because that wouldn't be illegal but she does more things than some of the people who actually do work there. "We'll meet her there, lets go" I encourage.

We arrive pretty early and stand at the front of the red carpet. I've never been here before. I've never been to this type of thing surrounded by so many great people I look up to. People like Ovechkin and Brodure and Lidstrom is here. No pressure.

"There she is" Jackie yells as she points across the red carpet.

There she stood, as beautiful as ever. Her long black hair curled and down her open back. She was wearing the dress I picked out and looked amazing.

"Go get her" Jackie encourages nudging my side. I slowly make my way over to her and wrap my arms around her waist from behind her.

"Oh Patrick! You nearly scared me to death" she giggles.

"What? You missed us already" Stan teases.

"I had to come see the people who got me here" I insist. She turns around in my arms and she cups my face.

"You look great" she says.

"Ummm" I stutter as I take in her features. Her soft and loving face set in a bright smile. Her plump lips naked and looking so kissable right about now. Her long eyelashes reach her eyebrows as she searches me up and down.

"I've known you for ten months and you've never stopped talking and you chose now to do so" she giggles.

"Sorry, just. Never-mind" I stutter.

"Why don't you guys hit the red carpet. Do some interviews and what not" Stan suggests.

"Sure" Danny shrugs. She laces her fingers through mine and gives me a assuring smile. My palms instantly start sweating because I thought I was nervous before, now I have her to worry about too.

We make our way down the carpet and take a bunch of pictures. We stop for a little and I snake my hand around her waist.

"Hey Patrick, ESPN here and we would like to ask a few questions" a lady with a camera crew behind her says.

"Um sure" I guess.

"Awesome, thank you. First question: what will you remember most about your rookie season" she asks.

"All the relationships I've made. There's a lot of rookies who come in every year and sometimes it gets tiring being the new kid on the block. All the new rookie jokes and hazing. But I was welcomed from the first day I hit the ice. The guys took me in learning my game. They protected me if I had my head down and helped me play some defense. It's obvious I'm a smaller guy and it's important I had someone like Sharpy to dig me out of trouble" I laugh.

"And relationships outside of the team" she asks as her eyes move from me to Danny back to me.

"I was blessed to live with the Bowman family this season. I wasn't sure I would stay on the team and didn't really have a permanent place to stay once the season started so Stan offered me the basement. Now let me tell you, they are the most loving family you will ever meet. Everyone is very intelligent about hockey and life in general. Stan is a great guy who is doing great things for this Blackhawks organization. I got to experience first hand how genuine of a guy this dude is and I'm honored of all the things he has done for me. He didn't have to take me in or feed and house me but he did because he believes in me and as a rookie trying to find his way in the big city, that meant the world to me.

And as for who this pretty little miss is, this is Danielle Bowman, Stans niece and Scottys granddaughter. If you hear her talk about the game it wouldn't take me telling you to know that. She's incredibly knowledgeable about every aspect of the game. She helped me dissect my own game and make it NHL ready. She helped me be safe, taught me how to carry the puck, how to read plays and predict them. We spend many nights going through her grandpas notes and game tape trying to figure out what to do to help the team. And I would say it worked pretty well because I'm here" I laugh.

"What would you say the most impressive thing about Patrick's first year is" she asks Danny.

"One thing I learned about Patrick is that he loves to prove himself. They said he was too small, that he would get hurt or wouldn't be able to use his magic with the bigger guys. He was able to avoid contact and get what he needs done almost by himself most of the time. They said he was too young but he was hanging up there with the big dogs, played every game.

Taking a small inexperienced Buffalo boy number one over all is risky, but you gotta take the risk to get the reward. He proved he's not just a good offensive player but has a good chance to be someone who brings hockey back to not just Chicago but the hearts of little American boys and girls all over the world" Danny claims. Woah, that was heavy.

"You two seem to be mighty connected" the lady notices.

"He's my best friend, from now until forever. I wouldn't want to be with anybody else right now" Danny smiles at me.

The woman lets us go and we keep walking. We get stopped a few more times before we go find our seats. The Bowmans were right next to the Kane's which was perfect. Until I see the Toews right behind us.

"Patrick! Danny! I've missed you" Jon says heading to his seat.

"Hey man! What's good" I ask. I actually missed the fool.

"Doing a lot of training, some r and r" he says. "What about you" he asks.

"Still helping Stan out. I'm getting back to the ice and it feels great. Ready for this break to be over so we can all focus on next season" I nod.

"I hope you know you're going to win this" he says and I shake my head.

"It can be anyone's" I try.

"You're not anyone" he claims and I smile. Maybe he wasn't such a prick after all.

My sisters steal Danny away while we talked but I get her back. The show was about to start and I pull her to the side.

"I'm kind of freaking out" I admit.

"Don't" she tries.

"I can't help it" I insist.

"Listen here and listen closely. I have every reason in the world to believe that you are going to take this league by storm. Starting tonight you will start stacking up the trophies and before you know it you're going to be in the hall of fame. I know you're scared of the future, I am too, but you need to know that you're exactly where you need to be" she explains.

"And that's next to you" I smile and she blushes.

The awards come and go and I do end up winning. Jonny congratulates me and my family was ecstatic, so was Danny's family. I take pictures and finally breathe a sigh of relief.