Sweet Caroline (Corey Crawford)

Can't Lose You Again

Caroline

"Corey."
"Baby your phone is going off."
"CRAWFORD" I yell and he shoots up in bed.

"What did I do" he asks frantically.

"Nothing. But your phone has been going off" I say pointing over to it. He looks over and let's out a groan.

"Why did Jonny call me six times" he asks picking his phone up.

"I'm not sure honey. Why don't you call him back and ask him" I suggest.

"Okay. I'll be right back" he says. He places a kiss on my forehead before getting out of bed. I lay back down and close my eyes. I'm not sure how long I was laying there until Corey came back but I nodded off a little until I felt the bed move again.

"Caroline" he whispers shaking me a little.

"Yeah" I ask.

"We gotta get dressed, there's a meeting at the UC for all staff and players" he says and my eyes shoot open.

"Really? For what" I ask.

"It's about the lockout. And Jonny didn't seem too excited to call this meeting" he insists.

"Oh no, hopefully everything is going to be okay" I insist.

"I guess we're going to go find out."

We both get up and get dressed. I feed the cats before jumping in Corey's car and driving over to the United Center. We get in and walk to the meeting room where everyone was sitting around talking. We were about to start training camp here soon but apparently we wouldn't even get that far.

"Corey! Caroline! Man it feels like it's been forever" Patrick says coming over.

"Hey Kaner. How was your summer" I ask.

"It was awesome. I went to Cabo and chilled out for a while with the family. Came back and went to back work for this season. I mean if there's a season" he mumbles.

"Is it really that bad" I ask.

"I don't know the details, only Jonny does because he's been meeting with the NHLPA for two days straight trying to figure out what is going on. He'll explain it better than I can" he claims.

"Damn right I will" Jonny chimes in and I smile. He walks over and joins our little group. He pulls me into a hug and I can feel Corey growing angry beside me.

When he lets me go I go back to Corey's side. I take his arm and wrap it around my shoulder so he stops throwing a little fit and it eventually works.

"Hey Crow, thanks for answering my calls this morning" Jonny chirps.

"You called me at six in the morning. That's inhuman" he insists.

"Well this is very important. I'm glad you guys could make it out."

Once everyone answers their wake up calls we will get started. We sit in the video room and Jonny takes center stage in the front of the room. We all quiet down as he looks us over.

"I haven't gotten a lot of sleep the last few days so please bare with me. But I called you all here today to announce that as of this moment, there is no 2012-2013 nhl season. The lockout starts at midnight tonight and will continue until a deal is made. But right now it doesn't look like anything is going to happen" he admits.

"So what do we do" Patrick Sharp asks.

"Some guys are going overseas to play in the European league or the Russian one. Some guys are going to stay back and train. The people in the nhlpa are going to stay to make some negotiations and other things to try and get a deal made" he explains.

"So what do you want us to do" Bryan asks and he sighs.

"I'm honestly not sure. I don't want to encourage you to up and leave everything here to go to a new place where you don't know the language or culture or anything like that just to play hockey. Plus you could get hurt then suddenly the season is back and you're out. But I don't want you guys waiting around for the owners to stop being so stingy and let us play how we want to play either."

"What's going to be best" Corey asks.

"It's your guys' decision. If you know that you are going to be rusty if you stay here and do nothing go over seas. I know I talked to Patrick some and he's going to play, no one can stop him from being on the ice. But I'm going to keep training here until we figure out whats going to happen" he explains.

After a while we all break apart. Some go to talk to their agent about playing other seas, others trying to figure out if they should go back home or stay here in Chicago. There was not a lot of information given out, no one really knew what to do. I also didn't know what Corey wanted to do.

"Hey Corey! Wait up" Jonny's yells. He comes over and stops in front of us.

"What's up" he wonders.

"I was wondering what your thoughts were, what you were going to do" Jonny says.

"I'm not sure yet. I was going to talk it over with Caroline" he claims.

"You're going to do whatever is best for the team... regardless of what the means to me" I insist.

"That's not what's going to happen" Corey claims.

"It's what needs to happen" I argue. He lets out a long sigh and grabs my hand before turning to Jonny.

"Give me some time to think about it and I'll let you know" Corey says to him and Jonny nods. Corey pulls me out to the car before stopping us. He turns to me but he won't look me in my eyes.

"Please look at me" I beg.

"I can't lose you again" he whispers.

"What are you taking about Crawford" I ask.

"I had waited seven months to call you mine, then nearly a month after we got together I almost lost you again. And we were finally able to get our life together on the right track and... and this shit happens. I can't lose you again" he insists.

"You can't lose me at all. Keep me in your heart and I'm yours forever. I know I still have my mom with me, I see her every time I look in the mirror and smile. You couldn't lose me" I try.

"I don't want to be anywhere you aren't" he claims.

"You have to do what's best for the team, whatever that may be" I defend.

"And what would that be" he asks.

"Whatever helps you become a better goalie and a better person" I say.

"Let me think about it, okay" he asks.

"Okay" I nod.

He finally looks into my eyes and gives a sad smile. It was still pretty cute if you ask me.

"How about we go look at some toys for our kitties" he says.

"Let's do it."