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Taking a Shot
Chapter 3
~OooOooO~
Sometimes being on the road really sucked and this time was no exception. I had someone special waiting for me at home and my mind seemed to wander to her. My mind should have been on winning games, not on getting Bella in my arms and underneath me.
The first two games against the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers were awful. My head wasn't in the game and I played like shit. Hell, the entire team played like shit and we lost both games terribly. We barely had any shots on goal and it seemed we spent more time in the penalty box than anything.
I needed to get my head out of my ass and back on hockey before tonight's game, but it was going to be hard. It had been five days since I had left Bella in Philly catching a flight to Canada for our eight day stint. It was hard to get our schedules to mesh and random texts and a voice mail here and there weren't cutting it for me anymore. I needed to hear the sweet voice of my Bella.
We had just finished up our practice and I had a few hours before our game against Calgary tonight, so I thought I'd try and reach Bella. It was Saturday, hopefully I had a good chance of catching her.
After three rings my hopes of hearing Bella on the other line were dwindling until the sweetest sound came through my phone.
"Edward?"
"Baby, you have no idea how good it is to finally hear your voice. I really miss you."
"I miss you, too. But I hope you playing like shit had nothing to do with that."
I groaned. "I was hoping you didn't see that."
"Of course I saw it. No chance in hell I was missing out on seeing my man in action. Although, you needed some work out there, baby."
"It seems I can't get a certain brunette out of my mind."
"As much as I love hearing that, I think you need to get you head out of your ass and man up. I'm not going to be the reason for your shitty playing."
"Bella …"
"No. You listen to me. Do you think it's been any easier for me? Yesterday I lost a patient and the only thing I wanted to do was crawl into your lap and have your arms around me."
"I'm so sorry."
"I am too, but you know what? I got through it and moved on and that's exactly what you need to do. You need to separate your personal and professional life and start playing like the hockey player I know you are."
"Yes ma'am."
In that moment I wanted to yell to the whole world that I loved this woman. She knew me better than I knew myself. She could put me in my place but could still be my biggest supporter. Bella put a whole new perspective on things making me rethink and evaluate myself. I was frustrated and moody and instead of leaving it off the ice I let it over take me.
"Edward, we knew this was going to be a challenge, but we can't let it control us. I miss you more than anything. As long as when you come home I'm the only one you want to see, that's what makes the separation manageable."
"I only want you, Bella. If I have to tell you a thousand times till you believe it, then I will. When I get home I'm going to lock you in my bedroom for hours and show you just how much I've missed you."
"Promises. Promises."
"Oh you have no idea, sweetheart."
We talked a little while longer before Bella had to get back to the hospital. It had been pure luck that I caught her before she was due for her twelve hour shift. When I hung up the phone I felt more relaxed and better than I had in days. I was ready to kick some Flames' asses.
That night when my feet hit the ice my head was clear and I was determined to win. I took my place on the ice waiting for the puck to drop. Once it hit, we had possession and we were off up the ice. The puck went back and forth between defense men, but we had no opportunity for a shot. Back down the ice Bryzgalov defended shot after shot but at the end of the first period the Flames were up two to nothing.
Halfway through the second period on a breakaway I took the shot and got the first goal of the game for us. It felt good to be back on my game. With two minutes left in the period Voracek slipped the puck past Kiprusoff to tie up the game. No sooner had we scored when the Flames came back to take the lead again.
With the start of the third period we were down a goal. We tied it up at four to four when Stajan was sent off for boarding twenty seven seconds into a penalty for too many men on the ice. We needed only a few seconds to capitalize on the 5-on-3 power play to score.
We roared back, outshooting the Flames twelve to two over the final six minutes of the game, scoring twice to win the game five to two.
We did our customary interviews outside of the locker room after we'd finished getting dressed. Jazz, a few of the other guys, and I were going out to celebrate our victory. I have to say that I was most looking forward to the cab ride because I'd finally be able to call my girl. She'd managed to email me her schedule but it didn't really do any good because most of the time she ended up working longer hours or going in early to cover for someone else.
I let Jazz tell the cabbie where we were headed as I pulled out my phone and dialed Bella's number.
"Hey, handsome," Bella said sleepily.
"Hey, baby. Did I wake you?"
"Mmmhmm, but that's okay." Bella yawned. "I was hoping that you'd call. I caught the very end of your game. You were awesome tonight, Masen."
Even though she was sleepy, I could hear the smile in her voice.
"How was your day?" I asked, wanting to know everything just so I could feel close to her.
"Tiring. We had a set of triplets come in. The mom gave birth at 34 weeks. Their lungs aren't fully developed and they are so tiny."
"Are they going to be okay?" I asked.
"I think so. They seem to be responding well to treatment so …."
I felt relieved. She'd already lost one patient a few days ago and I didn't want her to have to go through that again when I was so far away from her. I also had to admit that the thought of my sweet, beautiful Bella sitting in a rocking chair speaking softly to a tiny little baby did things to me. I wanted to witness that and even more – I wanted it to be our child that she was speaking softly to.
"Edward?" Bella asked. "Are you still there?"
"Yeah, I'm still here, baby. Sorry I spaced out there a little."
"It's okay. How is everything on your end? I mean, I know how the game went, but how are you and Jazz doing?"
"We're good. We're actually on our way out to celebrate. I wanted to call you now before it got too late but I guess I shot that all to hell, huh?"
Bella giggled.
"Edward, you can call me anytime. If I can't answer, I won't. But know that because I can't answer doesn't mean that I don't want to hear from you, okay?"
"Okay. Hey, baby, we just pulled up to the bar so I'll talk to you tomorrow?"
"Yep. Goodnight, handsome."
"Goodnight, Bella. I miss you."
"Miss you too, Edward."
I ended the call and I immediately missed the sound of Bella's sweet voice.
"Eddie … did you tell your girl we're coming home tomorrow?" Jasper asked breaking me from my reverie.
"Nah … I want to surprise her. I have her schedule for the next week but it's never solid. She could be called in early or have to work overtime. I'll just take a chance and call her after we get home."
The next morning, we flew home. We'd have a day and half off before we had to leave for San Jose late Monday night. We arrived in Philly in the early afternoon and I was anxious to get home and have a nice relaxing shower before calling Bella. She had supposedly finished her shift at seven that morning and hopefully she was at home sleeping peacefully. She didn't have to be back to work again until seven the following morning but again with her job – things could change on a moment's notice.
After my shower, I threw on some basketball shorts, grabbed a beer out of my fridge, and sat down on the couch to watch ESPN. By habit, I picked up my phone and scrolled through my messages noticing that I'd missed one from Bella.
Hey, handsome. I actually got off work on time for a change. I'm heading home to sleep but call me this afternoon if you get a chance. Miss you. XOXO – B
It was so hard not to just pull up her number and call her right then and there but I knew she needed her sleep. Hell, I could have used a few more hours myself. We stayed out until three a.m. and made it back to the hotel in time to gather up our shit and catch the shuttle to the airport.
I thought to myself - If you're smart about this – you could call Bella and the two of you could be napping together.
That idea definitely had merit, but I still wanted to surprise her. I quickly replaced my shorts with a pair of jeans and threw on a t-shirt and hoodie. I grabbed my keys and wallet and headed for Bella's. After I parked, I called and after five rings, she finally answered.
"Hello?" She said sleepily.
"Hey, beautiful."
"Hey …"
I could tell that she wasn't fully awake and I couldn't blame her – she'd only had a few hours of sleep at most.
"Open your front door, beautiful girl."
"Edward … I'm so tired, I really don't want to get out of bed."
"Please?"
"Did you have something delivered?"
"Maybe …" I answered cryptically.
"Can you ask them to bring it back later? I'm so tired …" Bella whined.
"Please, Bella. Get up and answer the door and then you can go right back to bed."
"Ugh! This is not winning you brownie points, Masen!"
I couldn't hold back my chuckle but I dually noted that Bella did NOT like being woken up. I stood outside her door and listened for the sound of her footsteps.
"Okay, okay," Bella said grumpily. "I'm walking toward the door. I'm opening the …."
As the door swung open, I watched as realization dawned on her face and the most radiant smile graced her lips.
"Edward!"
"Hey, baby," I said pulling her up into my arms and kissing her soundly.
"Oh my God! You're really here? I thought you were on a long road trip?"
"Technically, we are, but we had a couple days between games so we came home. God, baby - you are a sight for sore eyes."
She kissed me again as we walked past the doorway, and I kicked it shut with my foot. I set her down long enough to lock it behind us.
Bella tried to wipe the sleep from her eyes, but I took her hands in mine and began to explain.
"I was going to wait until later when you'd had time to sleep to call, but I'm exhausted too and I thought maybe we could nap together?"
She smiled again as she wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me in for another kiss.
"I hate to waste the precious time I have with you on sleep, handsome, but you do look exhausted," Bella admitted.
"I don't care … I only wanted to be near you, Bella. Besides, I did promise that you could go right back to bed."
I grinned widely at my beautiful, sleepy girl and encouraged her to lead me to her bedroom. I'd only been to her apartment once before, and I'd only seen the kitchen and entryway. I was hoping that later Bella would be willing to give me the grand tour.
I followed behind Bella like a lost puppy as she led me to her room. The only light in the room was the dim numbers glowing from her alarm clock, and I watched as Bella crawled into her bed.
"I don't like to sleep close to the door," Bella admitted.
I couldn't help but chuckle at the adorable expression on her sweet face as I crawled into bed next to her.
"How long do I have the pleasure of your company for?" Bella asked later that evening as we sat on her sofa eating take out.
"Until tomorrow night," I sighed. "We're taking an evening flight to San Jose so that we can get a practice in before the game on Tuesday."
"But you'll be back after that right?" Bella asked hopefully.
"Yeah, definitely. We come home Wednesday and have a game Thursday night and then I'm off Friday and Saturday with the exception of practice until I have to leave for our game Sunday morning."
Bella's face lit up like a Christmas tree.
"I'm off Friday and Saturday too!" She exclaimed.
"Yeah?" I chuckled. "Did you have particular plans for this weekend?"
"Not really, but I'd love to spend it with you," She answered nervously as she bit her lip.
"You have no idea how good that sounds."
In the meantime, I had an entire evening off to spend with my Bella, and all I wanted to do was cuddle up next to her on the couch, watching movies and kissing her sweet lips. When I told her my wishes for the evening, she hummed in agreement and kissed me softly. What started out as a sweet kiss quickly became more – full of passion and want. We never did watch a movie that evening, but I spent plenty of time worshipping my beautiful Bella.
The following morning, we both had to be up and about early. Bella had to be at work by seven and I had to go to practice. I gave Bella a kiss as we parted and promised that I'd join her for lunch after practice. Those three little words were right on the tip of my tongue but I had to bite them back as Bella smiled at me.
"See you later, handsome."
"Bye, beautiful."
Practice was brutal that morning. We were leaving that evening for San Jose to play the Sharks and they were coming off of a road trip and hoping for a hometown win, but if I had anything to say about it – it wouldn't happen. They had managed to beat the Flyers the last eight times they'd played us and it was completely unacceptable to me.
We ran drills and strategized for the following night's game, hoping we could make the trip worth our while.
I took Bella to lunch again that afternoon because I felt horrible that I wouldn't be there to join her for dinner.
"How's your day going so far?" I asked.
"I've been with the triplets all morning. The smallest one is still struggling," she said sadly.
"Do the doctors think it'll be okay?"
"I don't know. I hate this part of my job. They come to us so helpless and we do all that we can but sometimes it's not enough to save them."
I moved closer to Bella and pulled her into my arms. I hated the thought of having to leave in a few short hours not knowing how Bella would feel at the end of her day.
"Can I call you when I land tonight?" I asked.
"You better," Bella sniffled.
I hated having to peel myself away from Bella's soft, warm body but knowing that I'd have her back in my arms in less than 48 hours was a huge comfort.
"See you when you get back," Bella smiled as I waved to her from the elevator.
With one last wave she was gone.
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