The Power Of Love (Patrick Kane)

75

Rebecca

"This is going to be rough" Chloe grumbles as the horn sounds.

After a physically and emotionally depleating western conference final series against the Kings, the Blackhawks were defeated in a game seven at home in overtime. It's a lot more of a different feeling than the game seven against the Red Wings that they won at home last season. This one hurt a lot more, but I know it is still a good time to be a Blackhawks fan.

"It is. The guys are going to be crushed for a while, Patrick is going to sulk for at least a week. But they need to remember that they won two cups in four seasons and went to the western conference finals two years in a row. They'll come back next year and have the chance to do it all again" I insist.

"You think you could tell Jonathan that? Because I'm the one that's pregnant and he's the one who gets emotional" she insists and I laugh.

"I know how that goes..." I trail off.

"At least I'm close to having this baby, and I won't be pregnant at your wedding so that's great" she admits.

"Are you bringing the baby with you" I wonder.

"I'm not sure. I don't think I'll be able to leave her, but I also don't think I can live with my fear of losing her on a boat" she admits.

"Well Junior is already trying to walk so I know what you mean. If you see my kid on a leash don't worry, it's just so we don't have to jump in the ocean at any time" I joke and she laughs.

"Hey, I'll hold the leash if you need me to" she claims.

"I might take your word for it" I admit.

We say our goodbyes and I head to find my brother and my kid. I find them down by the locker rooms and pick Junior up.

"Was he good for you" I ask Oliver.

"Uh yeah, he cried a few times but I changed him and he was fine" he admits.

"Awesome. Thanks for watching him" I say.

"Any time" he assures me.

Eventually it gets late and Oliver has to go home. He was getting tired and he didn't take his medicine so he needed to go home. I don't know how I could deal with a mental breakdown from him and Patrick at the same time.

So I sit there and wait and wait and wait. It was the last interview of the year until locker clean out so I imagined it would be long, but not this long. Luckily for me Junior was fast asleep in his stroller which is going to save me so much time in the future.

Finally Patrick comes out with a backwards baseball cap on a shorts and a t-shirt. It was June first and it was already feeling like summer here in Chicago. But Patrick was also wearing a frown that made the warmer temperatures seems so cold.

"Hey" I say softly and he stops staring at the ground so he can look at me. As soon as his eyes meet mine he starts to smile and that makes me feel better.

"Hey" he responds and I laugh a little.

"You ready to go home" I ask and he lets out a sigh.

"No" he admits and I nod.

"Okay, then let me drive you somewhere" I say and he raises a eyebrow.

"Pardon" he questions.

"If you're not ready to go home yet, not ready to let this go, then let me take you somewhere where it doesn't feel like you're anywhere at all" I say.

"Okay" he smiles, suddenly looking like he was feeling better. I grab his hand and the stroller and head to the car.

I drove off and we drive for a while. The farther we get from the city the quieter it got. Eventually we get so far away that everything didn't seem like it was in motion, it was so still that it didn't feel like we were moving.

Finally I find a field so far away from anything that the only light was from the moon. It was huge, just sitting above our heads providing the only light we needed.

I get out of the car and grab Junior before walking out to the field. It was nothing but tall grass for miles around. As we walk out here the lightning bugs come out and start to fly around. By now Junior was wide awake and he was happy as can be. He sticks his little hand out in a attempt to capture the new creatures he's meeting. Eventually Patrick captures one and puts it in front of his face. Junior kind of just stares at it before deciding that likes these new creatures and starts to clap his hands together. The little bug flys away and Patrick grabs my hand and laces his fingers through mine.

"Is there a thing that places like this can't fix" he wonders.

"I don't think this place fixes anything, because as soon as we leave here all our problems are still here. Life just seems so small in places like this, our problems can't find us here" I explain.

"Man, I cannot wait to marry you" he claims and I laugh.

"Is that so" I tease.

"Yeah. Then I can tell everyone I tricked the most intelligent woman in the world into marrying me" he claims and I giggle.

"I make one mistake" I joke and he squeezes my hand. "You know I'm kidding. In just two months we're going to be floating away as a engaged couple and floating back as a married one. That's kind of crazy" I admit.

"It's going to feel so good. After all we have been through, after all we had to fight through, how we had to lean on each other and stuff. After all the tears and all the smiles were going to cement our names together. And there isn't a person that my name would go better with better go with than yours. No one I would rather wake up to every morning. No one I would rather have hold me when I cry. No one I would rather be with, than you" he says softly.

I pull him down into a kiss as our lips crash together. In that moment we both forgot about the heartbreak that occurred a little more than a few hours before now. We forgot how cruel life was to us, how it keeps putting us down. Standing here in the middle of nowhere, the important things couldn't seem more clear. We had each other and that's more important than any game seven loss in any series.