Chapter 22: Conner's Fear

Days passed and Conner was waiting for his leg to heal. Hank assured Conner that he had to take as much leave as he could to get his leg back into shape. At the moment, Conner was enjoying his time with Kira and his kids.

One day, Conner was sitting in his chair with his leg propped up when Kira came downstairs with Kirsten in her arms. "Somebody missed her daddy," she informed. Conner smiled as she placed the baby into his arms. "Here, you feed her," she instructed. Conner took the bottle and placed it into Kirsten's mouth.

"Okay, if you spit any of this back up, daddy won't be happy," he informed.

Kira smiled as she sat next to him and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're a great dad, Conner," she told him. Conner smiled as he kissed her head.

"I love my wife and my kids, nothing can change that," he told her.

"And we love you too," she told him.

Kira smiled as she wrapped her arms around him and they both looked at their daughter. "Where's Chris?" He asked.

"Chris is with your parents," she replied.

"So, we've got just baby Kirsten?" He asked.

"Yeah, you mom commented that you always wanted to be able to spend time with Kirsten, especially when you're at work. You just want to be with your daughter," she replied.

"And she's right."

He looked at his daughter with a sigh. "When Chris was born, we didn't have anything. All we had was my family, Dr. O, Kim, and each other. We had no money and I worked late after my coaching job," he agreed.

"Conner, you've done a great job. You're a great dad," she told him.

Conner sighed as he pulled the now empty bottle from his daughter's mouth. "Yeah, but I missed out on some things in life. Watching my son grow up. I just want us to have some money, so we can be with the kids," he explained. She kissed him before taking Kirsten upstairs for her nap.

(Three Weeks Later)

Conner was on his crutches going out to the field to see what he was missing on the practice. Hank walked up to him and Kira went to the side to get Kirsten to stop screaming. "McKnight, so far you haven't missed much. Just going over some new plays that I came up with," he informed.

"When will I learn these plays?" Conner asked.

"As soon as you're back up on your feet," he replied.

Kira was trying to hush the screaming baby, not knowing that Justin was coming up to her. "What a cute baby," he commented.

"Thanks, I can't get her to stop crying though," she told him.

Kira sat down and started rocking the baby back and forth. "Justin Cain," he informed.

"I know who you are," Kira told him.

"Oh! Cold shoulder and I don't know what I did wrong," he commented.

"Yeah, right. Conner knows you sent that guy after him after the game," she told him.

"How do you know Conner?"

"Sorry, I'm Kira McKnight, his wife."

Justin was shocked, this beautiful woman with a baby was Conner's wife. "How did McKnight snag a beautiful thing like you?" He asked.

"Simple, he's not you," Kira replied.

She got up to walk away and Justin just watched as Kira walked away and was checking her out at the same time. "Whoa! That's the first time I saw a girl give Justin Cain the cold shoulder," one of his buddies commented.

"Well, either way, McKnight's going to be leaving our team soon enough," he commented.

Conner looked over to see Justin looking at his wife. He wrapped his free arm around her shoulders, hoping that Justin wasn't planning what he thought he was planning.