So I decided to follow up the initial one shot and do it from AJ's side of the coin...hope you all like!


One week later...

April sighed when she saw the giant banner welcoming them into the building. She closed her eyes and shook her head, unable to erase the grin that was slowly starting to creep across her lips. When she reopened them, all she saw was a massive sea of red, black and white. Looking over to her left, she saw the massive smile on his lips as he clapped his hands together, looking like a kid who had stumbled upon Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. He was at home here.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the sixth annual Blackhawks convention!"

The loud voice announced its presence as they walked into the convention center, swarmed by eager fans there to get their hockey fix, even if the season ended a month ago and would be right back in their lives a short time from now in October. She couldn't understand why people were so upset when the sport ended only to have it come right back as if it hadn't missed a beat. Hell, Phil was like that. She could recite one of their many conversations over the past few days that led to them being here.

"I need hockey. I miss it. October's too far away."

"Punky Bear, you still have baseball and the Cubs to fill your sports need."

"Yeah, but still. We just won the Cup. I want hockey back. Like right now."

"Aren't we going to that little convention for the Hawks this weekend?"

"Little convention?"

"Oh here we go again…"

She laughed to herself at the way he would get so heated and so animated over his beloved Blackhawks. It wasn't enough that he had taken the entire team out for pancakes after they reached the finals, and still wasn't enough that he had gotten to hang out with them before their parade and got his picture snapped with the Stanley Cup (he had sent her the picture and titled it, "I'm cheating on you with Stanley tonight, sorry crazy lady", and it made her laugh harder than she had in quite some time)…he had to be here, to get some rare memorabilia, see the team again, touch the Cup again…he was such a geek for this stuff, it made her look relatively ordinary, standing next to him in her black and red Superboy shirt, oversized glasses and bright pink knee high Converse. Yes, compared to him, she was the poster girl for normalcy while he was dressed head to toe in Blackhawks gear, including the signed jersey from one of his favorite players (Keith? She didn't know).

"So, what do you wanna do first?", he asked, that lopsided grin of his having not left his lips once. She couldn't remember a time when he had been this happy for something. It had been that long.

"What do you mean, what do I want to do? You dragged me here, Phillip", she replied back with, entangling her hand with his as they stared out at the crowd in front of them and all around them. "I feel like I should cut you loose for the day and let you be amongst your fellow fanatics."

Laughing out loud now at the way he tilted his head to look down at her, she had to stop herself before she spontaneously combusted from her giggle fits. "You sure you wanna do that, Apple Jacks? You might be the tiniest person here…you let me do my thing, and I might not be able to find you till next year."

"Then send out a search party, Punky Bear", she said, nudging him slightly in the direction of one of the memorabilia booths. "Go on, I'll be fine. Maybe I'll learn something about this crazy sport that you adore so much."

He went without a fight, leaning in to give her a peck on the cheek before he left. But after a few steps, he stopped, turned to face her and had his trademark look of irritation on his face. "Adore? I hate to quote Mizanin here, but really?"

"Go!", she ordered sternly, pointing ahead, and he did as he was told, which made her grin. Before she knew it, he was gone, lost amongst the countless waves of Blackhawks fans all here to get their fix with the reigning champions of hockey.

So there she was, an outsider so to speak, wandering around the Hilton Hotel, having no clue as to what to do with herself. She never understood the hoopla that came with hockey, why people loved it and obsessed over it so much. Having grown up in New Jersey, she knew about the Devils, and the fact that they were three time champions and had the best goaltender (she always wondered why they couldn't be called goalie, like in soccer) alive…but she knew jack squat after that. She remembered last year, when the Devils made a surprising run to the Stanley Cup Finals, watching everyone around her back home go crazy as the home team battled for the Cup, while she sat there like a stick in the mud, twiddling her thumbs and wondering what the big deal was about.

Needless to say, her friends and family weren't pleased with her lack of support.

"Signed collectable pucks here! Come get your signed collectable puck!"

Figuring that this was as good a place as any to start learning about the Blackhawks and the sport in general, April walked on over to the souvenir stand and began to check out its contents. There sure were a lot of pucks there, but for the life of her, she couldn't make out one name scribbled across them, only the numbers that they wore on their jerseys.

"Excuse me, sir? Who signed this one?", she asked the vendor, pointing to one that had the most recent logo for the finals on it. It didn't even look like a signature; to her, it was more along the lines of chicken scratch, but she wasn't about to say that out loud, not with so many people surrounding her.

"Ah, that one my fair lady, was signed Duncan Keith himself, star defensemen of the team and one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet", the man replied with gusto and a smile. "He signed about a hundred of these babies the day after they won the Cup."

"Is he the one that wears number two?", she asked a little shyly. Her limited knowledge of the sport sure was beginning to shine through here. When the man nodded, she breathed a sigh of relief, so she felt the need to ask another question. "He's the one with the missing teeth right?"

Again, the man nodded, his smile never wavering. "Yup, lost seven of them during game four of the Western Conference Finals back in 2010 against the Sharks. Came back minutes later. He's one tough son of a gun, that Keith."

"How much for it?", she asked. She knew that Phil would love to have this if he didn't already. When the man told her how much, her eyes bugged out a little bit. "Two hundred? Did he sign it with his blood?", she asked, getting a laugh out of the man.

"I originally charged a hundred a pop but they went so quickly, I raised the price a little. You know how it is in this kind of business", the man mused, and despite not really understanding what he meant, April nodded her head anyway. "This is actually the last one I've got."

Her ears pricked up upon hearing that. Looking over her tiny shoulder, she saw another man eyeing the same item she was, kind of like how Randy would stalk someone before he delivered an RKO. She had to act fast. "I'll take it!", she exclaimed right before the other guy could even open his mouth, a smile that was a mile wide spreading across her lips as she took out her credit card and gave it to the man to swipe.

"Here you go little lady, the last one. Adding it to your collection?"

Sweeping her hair out of her glasses as she placed the puck into her bag, she shook her head, still smiling, this time at Phil's reaction when she'd give it to him later. "No. It's for my boyfriend. He loves the Hawks. A lot."


She spent the next two hours wandering around the ridiculously spacious hotel, checking out the various booths, getting more merchandise for Phil (she even bought herself a cute little hair bow for herself) and taking some pictures with the various fans who recognized her and subsequently geeked out upon seeing her. She hadn't seen Phil since they arrived, but she figured that would be the case; he was probably seeing some of the guys from the team, touching the Cup again, and just generally enjoying himself like she knew he would. For all she knew, he was in the middle of a pancake eating contest with some of the guys from the team. It wouldn't have surprised her.

Truth be told, she was enjoying herself as well. The fans were dedicated, personable and very, very friendly. They were also incredibly passionate about their Blackhawks, and now, just a little bit, she was starting to see why hockey fans had such a deep rooted connection to the sport and their team. It was an eye opener for her, she admitted to herself.

"Having fun, short fry?"

April damn near jumped out of her skin at the sound of his voice. He was directly behind her, grinning like the Cheshire cat, having somehow managed to pile on even more ridiculous stuff onto his person, which included, but was not limited to, buttons of various shapes and sizes, an autographed flag, mini hockey sticks, a few hats on top of his head…he was all pimped out from head to toe in everything Blackhawks, and she found it hilariously adorable. She hadn't seen him smile like this in who knew how long.

"Believe it or not, I am. I didn't think I would, but this…it's an eye opener. I can totally see why Amy goes to all the games with you", she said, taking one of his hats off and putting it on her own, getting a chuckle from him. "I might actually join you two next season…if you'll let me, that is. I know how ritualistic you two are when it comes to—"

"Are you kidding? I'd love it if you came, and so would Ames!", he exclaimed, scooping his girlfriend into a hug. "I'm gonna turn you onto this sport so much…"

"One step at a time Punky Bear, one step at a time", she said with a grin as they laced their hands together while he led her through a crowd that was quickly gathering around something. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see", he said cryptically, though with a smirk as he tugged on her hand and continued to lead her through the massive crowd. After another minute or two, they stopped and Phil turned around to face her, that trademark grin of his not leaving his lips. "Well, shorty, here we are."

April couldn't see what he was talking about, so without any warning, she felt Phil's head between her legs, putting her on his shoulders as he lifted her up to see what he was talking about; the Stanley Cup. Fans were getting a chance to get their pictures taken with it, and it amazed her to no end just how majestic the thing looked in person.

Letting her down and back onto her feet, he pushed her through the crowd till they were at the very front. "Go ahead. I know you want your picture taken with that bad boy. You don't have to try and play coy with me. I know you want it."

She giggled madly as his hand fell on her shoulder and he nudged her forward. "You know, I think I know how you felt when I took you to see Wicked last week."

"Yeah? How so?"

"You did it because you wanted to make me happy and because you loooove me", she said teasingly, stealing a peck on the lips from him. "I know you, for a better lack of term, hate musicals and that kind of stuff, but you did it anyway. And you have no idea how much I appreciated that."

"You'd be right about all of that, especially the make you happy because I love you part because who wouldn't love someone like you?", he asked rhetorically, stealing a kiss of his own from her delicious lips. "What's your point?"

"My point is, I can see why you love the Blackhawks and hockey in general so much. I was wrong to think that your obsession was childish…I mean…look at me right now", she said, showing off her outfit. "I'm dressed like the geekiest girl alive."

Phil smiled, wrapping April into a hug before nudging her again to go get her picture taken with Lord Stanley's Cup. "And that's what makes you so endearing and loveable. Now you, go get your picture taken with the Cup!"

She grinned, but before she did anything, she dug the puck she had bought for him out of her bag and handed it to him. "Here…I got this for you. It's signed by your favorite player."

"Duncan Keith?"

"If he's the one with no teeth, then yes, that's him!", she exclaimed, her heart swelling with emotion as she watched his eyes light up upon receiving his gift. "I thought you'd like it."

He didn't say anything; instead, he just gave her a kiss and a wink, before whipping out his phone to take her picture. When she got to the platform, she stood next to it, but he shook his head. "I don't want you just to be next to it. I want you to lift that sucker over your head."

And she did as he asked, though with a bit of difficulty, seeing as she was so tiny and the Cup weighed quite a bit, but eventually she was able to lift it over her head as Phil snapped the picture. And then it dawned on her.

Much like Phil had discovered last week…she now too knew what love truly meant.