Always

Neither of them spoke as they looked down at the tiny screen, both momentarily stunned by the small plus sign on the screen. Liz fumbled with it in her fingers for a moment before turning her head to look up at Adam.
"Well," she didn't know what else to say.
"Yeah," he didn't know what else to say either.
After they were both silent for a moment, Liz couldn't handle it anymore and broke down in tears. Adam quickly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into him.
"Hey, hey it's gonna be okay."
"How is it going to be okay, Adam? I'm in school, you're in the NHL. Neither of us have time for this right now!"
"We can make time-" she pulled away from him and jumped off the bed.
"I can make time, sure. How can you make time?"
He was silent for a second.
"That's what I thought, you have no time! I'm 21, I shouldn't be having a baby in the middle of school. How am I going to tell my parents? How are you going to tell your parents?! I can't even think of everything we have to think of right now."
He got up and made his way over to her, but before he could touch her she jerked away from his reach.
"We won't be able to figure everything out right now, but there's no use freaking out about things we can't change." He stopped and looked up at her, his eyes growing sad, "unless you don't want to keep it."
She saw the sad look in his eyes and it broke her heart, but her brain was still freaking out and it was currently in control of everything coming out of her mouth.
"I don't know what I want right now." She grabbed her purse off the desk beside her and headed for the door.
Looking confused, he followed after her out to the living room where she was pulling on her shoes.
"Where are you going?"
"I don't know. I just can't be here."
She grabbed her coat and ran out of the apartment down the hall, completely skipping the elevator and heading right to the stairs. She needed to think, to breathe. She had all week to think about it, but she never really thought of what they would do if she was actually going to have a baby. She reached the parking lot and headed right to her car, starting it immediately. With no idea where she was going, she just started driving.

Adam reached the parking lot and looked around noticing her car was gone. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair and closed his eyes. He had no idea why she was acting like this, she seemed calm before but this was a completely different Liz. Pulling out his phone, he called the only guy he could think of who would know how to help him find Liz.
"Yello?"
"Andy, I need your help."
Andrew's voice suddenly got serious hearing the tone in Adam's voice. "What's up Quaider?"
"I need help finding Liz."
"Liz? She still won't talk to you?"
"No, we got over that, but," He stopped letting out another sigh, the whole situation becoming very overwhelming, "She's pregnant."
"Whoa." Andrew breathed from the other end of the phone.
"Yeah, I know."
"Let me talk to Krista and see what she thinks, she knows Lizzie pretty well. Do you want me to meet you somewhere?"
"Can I just come to your place? I need to drive for a bit."
"Yeah, see ya soon bud."


Liz didn't know where she was driving until she ended up in Greg and Katie's driveway. Slowly getting out of the car, she walked up to the front door and knocked taking a shaky breath in. Greg opened the door and took in the appearance in front of him. He could tell she had been crying and he only hoped that it wasn't because Tyler was right. Instead of saying anything, he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into the house.
"Katie." He yelled as he closed the door.
They heard feet down the stairs, but before they saw her they heard her.
"Liz, what's wrong?"
As soon as she saw Katie, a fresh wave of tears took over her. Katie ran down the rest of the stairs and wrapped Liz in a hug.
"You told him?"
Liz nodded.
"Did you take it?"
She nodded.
"Yeah?"
She nodded again and sobs took over once again.
Greg stood looking at both girls with a concerned look of confusion. She gave him a sad smile and started leading Liz towards the living room, she mouthed 'let me talk to her' and Greg nodded watching the girls walk into the next room.
Katie sat Liz on the couch and Liz wiped at her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know where else to go. I just needed to get out."
"Don't worry about it, what did he say?"
"He said it would be okay."
"And you didn't believe him?"
"I don't know If i can. I'm only 21, I'm in school. He's barely home half of the time. How is this going to work?"
"I know Adam, he's not going to leave you high and dry. I'm not saying it won't be hard, but you should believe him."
She rested her head in her hands and sighed.
"I don't know if I can do this."
"Do you mean keep it?"
She started crying again and Katie wrapped her in a hug again as Greg came into the room, cell phone in hand.
"Kate, it's Krista."
Katie rubbed Liz's back and got up, grabbing the phone from Greg and heading into the hallway.
"Hey."
"Please tell me she's with you?"
"Yeah, she's here."
"Oh thank God. Adam's here and he's worried sick."
"Adam's there?"
"Yeah, after Liz ran out Adam called Andy since we talk to Liz so often."
Katie sighed, "She's a mess. She hasn't stopped crying, she doesn't know what to do, she's freaking out."
"Poor girl. Andy's talking to Adam right now. When she calms down, try and get her to come here and talk to him?"
"Yeah, I can do that."
"Thanks, hun."
The two hung up and Katie looked at Greg who was staring at Katie with furrowed eyebrows.
"Does someone want to tell me what's going on?"
She sighed and gave him a semi-stern look. "This doesn't leave this house."
He nodded and she looked back into the living room before turning back to Greg.
"She's pregnant."
"What?"
Katie nodded slightly and Greg ran a hand through his hair processing what he just heard.
"This is crazy."
"You're telling me. Adam's at Ference's place, he's worried sick."
"She just ran out?"
"She's scared Greg, she's only 21."
"Can I go talk to her? I know it's a girl thing, but I know Quaider."
Katie nodded and leaned up to kiss him. "Thanks, babe."
Greg headed into the living room and his heart broke when he saw Liz's small frame shaking on the corner of their massive couch.
"Hey Liz."
She turned and wiped her eyes looking up at Greg.
"Hey Soup."
"I hope it's okay, but Katie told me."
"Yeah, that's fine, everyone's going to find out sooner or later."
"So how do you feel about everything?"
"I don't know how I feel. I didn't even think this would happen to us so soon, I'm just freaking out."
"I'm not sure if this will help or not, but I know Adam. He's not going to just flake the minute things get tough. He's going to be right there in it with you."
"He's just so busy. You guys are barely home as it is, how are we supposed to throw a baby into the middle of that?"
"Guys do it all the time, Liz. The guy loves you, any guy in our locker room would tell you the exact same thing. And if he didn't want to be a part of this with you then he wouldn't be over at Andy's freaking out cause you ran out after you told him you were having his baby."
"He's at Andy's?"
"Yeah, he didn't know where else to go."
She thought back to what she said before she ran out. Her voice rang out in her head telling him she didn't know what she wanted and suddenly she felt terrible. A week ago, she would have taken anything life threw at her as long as she had Adam by her side and now she was freaking out about their future together. She looked up at Greg.
"I need to go talk to him."
"You going to be okay?"
She smiled slightly and nodded, reaching across the couch to give him a tight hug.
"Thanks Greg."
He squeezed her back and smiled. "We're here any time you need us."
She pulled away smiling at him again and went out to the hallway to be met with Katie.
"I'm going to go talk to him."
"Yeah, you are." Katie smiled and pulled her into a hug.
"Thanks for putting up with me Kate."
"Hey, we've gotta stick together, right?"
"Of course, I'll call you later."
She grabbed her purse and headed out back to her car, thinking more clearly this time.

Adam sat in Andy's kitchen, head in his hands as a glass of water was placed in front of him.
"You guys talked about what you're going to do?" Andrew questioned as he sat on the stool beside his younger teammate.
"I tried, but she freaked out and said she didn't know what she wanted and that's when she just bolted."
"Look at it from her perspective, she's 21, in school, away from home. That's gotta be scary as hell." The voice of wisdom rang.
"I'm young too man, still trying to make a name for myself in the league."
"Exactly. You're going to be in the league, you don't have to worry about that. What is she going to do? Drop out of school to take care of the baby because you're not home for weeks at a time?"
"I don't want her to drop out of school."
"Does she really have a choice, Adam?"
He sighed and ran his fingers through his mop of curls.
"Do you really love her Quaider?" Andy asked.
"Of course I do."
"Then you guys will work this out."
He was silent for a moment before his barely audible voice spoke. "She doesn't know if she wants to keep it…"
"I've seen the way she is with the girls, if she said that, I think it was more a spur of the moment emotional thing and not the truth."
"I hope so, man."
Andy chuckled a bit, a smile spreading across his face as he thought. "You've never seen her with the girls, have you?"
"No, I don't think I have."
Andy clapped him on the shoulder and smiled reassuringly, "she's gonna be a great mom."
Drawing the boys out of their moment, Krista placed a hand on Andy's shoulder and nodded to the doorway of the kitchen. Looking back he saw that Liz was standing there, with a much more sullen look than he had ever seen on her face before. He sent her a reassuring smile and clapped Adam on the back again before getting up from the stool and following his wife out. Adam didn't think anything of Andrew leaving the kitchen, but when he heard a quiet "hey" from the doorway, his head snapped up immediately. He took in her appearance, the sullen look on her face, the way she was turned into herself, not the usually vibrant, happy girl that he was used to. He hopped up off the stool and made the few long strides it took
to reach her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her right into his chest. After kissing the top of her head he responded in the same quiet voice.
"Hi."
"I'm sorry for running out like that."
"It's okay."
She pulled away to look up at him, but kept her hands on his arms. "How is it okay? You were trying to be supportive and understanding, but I was an asshole and ran out."
He chuckled, "I won't say that's not what I thought at first too. But Andy put it into perspective. If you want to do this, then I'm going to be there 100% of the time I can be."
She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest. "Of course I want to do this. It's a part of us," she smiled lightly, "and I'm pretty fond of us."
He rested his head on top of hers and smiled lightly, happy to hear those words from her.
"I'm sorry I made it sound like I didn't want this baby."
He kissed the top of her head. "Don't worry about it."
The pair stayed that way for a minute before Liz broke the silence.
"So word around the locker room is you're pretty in love with me."
She felt his chest rumble with a chuckle.
"Word around the Ference house is you're going to be great mom."
She pulled back to look up at him with a smile, but furrowed brows.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Apparently I need to see you around the girls."
"It's hard not to have fun when they're around." She let out a deep breath and slid her hands up to rest on either side of Adam's face. "So we're really going to do this?"
"You and me babe." He ran a hand through her hair, brushing it out of her face.
She smiled up at him and he leaned down to press his lips to hers.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
Just as they were about to go in for another kiss, they heard a little voice from the doorway.
"Eeeeewww."
The pair chuckled as they turned to look at the source of the voice and saw the oldest Ference girl peeking around the corner at them. When she was noticed, her eyes went wide and she covered her mouth with both hands, a muffled 'oops' coming out. Liz smiled down at one of her favourite little girls and pulled away from Adam turning and walking half way to her before crouching down and holding out her arms. The blonde cutie broke out in a smile and ran into Liz's waiting arms as Liz pulled her in as tight as she could, loving it.
"I missed you Lizzie."
"I missed you too, cutie."
"Are you going to come play with us again?"
"Sure, anytime you want."
"Really?" Her eyes popped open with excitement.
"Of course! Anything for my favourite girls."
Liz was immediately engulfed in another tiny hug.
Adam stood back watching the contact between the two girls. He was seeing what Andy meant when he said she was going to be a great mom. The second time the younger Ference wrapped her arms around Liz, he felt himself starting to smile, finally feeling for the first time all afternoon that they just might be okay after all.
"There you are! What did we say about the kitchen?"
Liz looked up at Krista, "it's okay. I needed a good hug from my little cutie."
The small girl headed back over to her mom as Krista looked between the two. "Everything good?"
Liz got up and headed back over to Adam, wrapping her arm around his waist as he wrapped his around her shoulder and placed a kiss on her temple.
"Yeah, we're good."
A warm smile spread across Krista's face as Andrew approached from behind her, "good."
"Smiles, I like to see smiles."
"It's all good, bro." Adam nodded in direction to Andrew.
Liz smiled and looked over at Andy, "thanks."
"Anytime kid."
Liz sighed a content sigh and looked up at Adam, "what do you say we go home?"
"That sounds like a good idea to me."

Notes

DUN DUN DUUUUUUN.
There's that answer you've been waiting for!

I hope you all enjoy the outcome, I feel like it's going to be fun writing this!

Let me know what you think, leave a comment in that pretty little box over there!

LOVE YOU BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!