Looking Up

-----Elle's POV

"Dad come on let's go find our seats the warm ups are about to start," I say as I pry him from the wall displaying the history of the Flyers franchise.

"Alright sweetie, I'm coming- I want to see Steve when he comes out onto the ice anyways," he laughs as he follows me through the crowd of people. As we find our seats, my dad is amazed by how good they are- he can't believe we are sitting in the first row. "Eleanor! How much did you pay for these tickets?!"

I give him a nudge, "Don't worry about it dad; they're an early birthday present from Steve and I- they weren't too expensive."

"Oh, so from you and Steve?" he asks with a smirk.

I can feel my face start to get red, "yes it's from the both of us," I say and then take a sip of my Coke.

"So when am I going to hear wedding bells?" he nudges me and I start to choke on my soda.
"Wedding!? We've been together for only 6 months!" I exclaim in between coughs.

"Alright, alright, calm down sweetie, just giving you a hard time," he laughs as the lights in the stadium dim and music blares through the speakers. A big grin spreads across my dad's face and we stand up to watch the guys file out onto the ice. Steve is the first player to skate by, we both give him big smiles, and he waves to us enthusiastically.

"Did ya see that Eleanor? He saw us!" I just shake my head and laugh at my dad's kid-like excitement. During the warm-ups, Claude and Jakub skate by us and toss some pucks over the glass- which has my dad smiling bigger than I've ever seen before.

My dad and spend the game, screaming, cheering, and yelling like we do at home- I forgot how fun it was watching games him. After the first period, Zepp takes over in goal and Steve sits on the bench, which is right next to our seats. Even though I know I shouldn't bother Steve, I can't help but to look over at him every so often and smile. We catch each other looking at one another a few times, and a couple of girls sitting behind me notice. My dad and I just laugh as we hear them whisper things like "we should've got tickets for our seats and we would have been able to talk to Steve!"

After the game, my dad and I head down to the locker room and he meets some of his favorite players on the team- he wouldn't stop thanking Steve for letting him meet the guys.

"I hope to see the two of you at your aunts for my birthday next week!" my dad chimes.

"Yes of course! We wouldn't miss it sir!" Steve smiles.

Once we say our goodbyes, my dad and I navigate our way out of the stadium and head to a rest stop we're meeting my mom at so I don't have to drive all the way down to their house. "I'm really glad you two found each other. He's exactly the kind of man I wanted you to be with ever since you were a little girl and yelling about how you wanted to marry Justin 'Tim-Something' from whatever boy band you loved at the time," he says with a furrowed brow and a laugh.

I shake my head and chuckle, "Well, Steve is really great."

"I know, and I'm glad you have someone during a time like this sweetie," he mentions and I feel a rock drop into my stomach. "I know this has been tough and not a lot of people go through this at your age but you're strong. I told your mother not to tell you the news because I wanted to tell you myself."

The lump in my throat swells even more and I bite my lip to keep myself from crying as we pull into the rest area, "what is it?" I ask, my voice shaking.

"Well, the doctors told us I don't have too much longer."

"How much longer?" I turn to look at him fighting back tears, I didn't want him to know I was crushed.

"About 4 months left."

I feel a tear run down my face and my dad wraps me in a hug before getting out of the car and into my mother's, "Elle it's going to be okay, don't cry or worry about me. I'll see you in just a week, now please get home to Steve- I'm sure he's worried about you driving so late- and so are we." He pats my back and gives me a kiss on the cheek. We say our goodbyes and I make my way back to our apartment in a complete daze.

*****

------Steve's POV

With only two more days until regular season, I am starting to feel like Elle's more excited about hockey starting than I am.

"Come on! Get excited!" she yells watching CSN Philly's piece on the Flyers.

"I am, don't worry," I laugh and take a swig of my coffee as I make my way over to the couch. I've been trying to act as normal as possible around Elle since she told me about the news her father gave to her last week- she told me not to give her any special treatment. It's been hard not asking her if she's doing okay- I don't want her bottling everything up but she insists it's the best thing for her.

Before we head over to Aunt Kate's for her dad's birthday party, I find Elle secretly patting some tears off of her face in the bathroom. Once she sees me walking towards her she shakes her head, "I'm fine don't worry, it's just hard."

"I know, but I'm here, okay? It's gonna be a fun day. I can't wait to meet all of your family," I smile and she fights back a big smirk.

"I think you're speaking too soon," she laughs softly.

"If they're as crazy as you I'm sure I won't be able to last an hour," I tease playfully.

"Well, you are in for a trip Steve," she says cheerily as we make our way out of the bathroom and to the car.

*****

Her dad's birthday party goes well, and meeting her family is a breeze, but every time I thought Elle was having a great time, she would take me inside the house away from everyone, and just ask me to hug her while she took a few deep breaths. The "I'm okay" face she was putting on for her family, especially her father, fooled everyone- even me before she showed me her smile was a fake one.

Once we got in the car after saying goodbye to everyone, on our way back to the city, I did my best not to ask her about the 'charade' she put on for her family at the party and instead tried to cheer her up.

"So, since you're my girlfriend, you can go to our home games- all the wives and girlfriends sit together," I say and her face lights up.

"Really? That sounds like a lot of fun- I just have to stick with Ryanne," she laughs, "I don't really know any of them personally."

"I wouldn't worry about it- I'm sure Ryanne will re-introduce you and get everyone talking- she's friends with all of them," I smile and stroke her hand trying to comfort her.

"You're right. Did you look into when your away games are yet?"

"Yep, there's a couple times where I won't be home for a few weeks actually."

"Oh, wow," Elle says with a trace of sadness in her voice.

"Yeah, I am definitely not looking forward to that. It's going to suck being away from you for that long," I admit, "I know it sounds dumb, but I really hope you won't get sick of dealing with me traveling often and not being around all the time."

"Oh stop," she nudges me on my shoulder, "The only people I'll be seeing is costumers at the bakery, friends and the pizza delivery guy while you're gone and I won't be falling in love with him," she laughs, "but really don't worry Steve, I don't want anyone else." Elle gives me a small smile and strokes my hand as I park the truck.

"So when are you leaving tomorrow morning?" she asks as we step into the elevator.

"Around 1 o'clock for the airport, we should get to Boston around dinner time- I'll call you when we arrive."

"Okay, that sounds good," she says with a smile, "I'll just be getting out of work by then and watching TV with George." As the elevator doors open, I intertwine her fingers with mine and head towards our door. Under the hallway lights, I can see faint bags beneath her eyes displaying her stress and fatigue, strategically covered up with makeup. Why didn't I notice this before?

-----Elle's POV

"Hey do me a favor? Could you fill up George's food and water bowls?" he asks quickly as soon as we step into the apartment, "I want to change real fast."

Before I can even say yes, Steve is in the bedroom with the door closed, "well that was weird George," I murmur to him and George gets on his hind legs and licks my face. I head over to the kitchen, turning on a couple lights and the TV on my way. Just as I am about to fill George's bowl with fresh water, Steve opens the bedroom door sporting a dark blue v-neck and sweatpants, "Bambi, could you come here?" he asks softly.

"Hold on, lemme set this do-"

"Come here," he says with his panty melting smile. When I get over to him, Steve takes both of my hands in his, "close your eyes."

"Okay, but what the heck is going on?"

"You'll see," he says.

I close my eyes as he leads me through the bedroom, "please don't let me stub my toe!" I plead and we both laugh when I hit my arm on the dresser.

"Okay you can open them!"

I gasp as soon as I open my eyes, and Steve cannot be more pleased with my reaction. "Oh my god Steve," I say covering my mouth and take in the relaxing environment. The bathroom is lit with flickering candles, all over the counters, and ledges of the bathtub. I hear the quiet hush of relaxing music playing from his iPod, plugged into the stereo across the room. The large jacuzzi bath tub is filled to the top with bubbles and surrounded by several candles.

"I know you've been feeling really stressed lately and I just wanted to do something that could help you unwind a little," he says shyly.

"Thank you so much Steve," I pull him into a hug just before I stand on the tip of my toes to kiss him. He wraps his large hands around my face and presses his lips down onto mine even harder. "You're joining me in the bath tub, right?" I whisper.

I feel his body tense up a bit, "oh-well- I wasn't goi-"

"Please? The tub is big enough for the both of us," I say cutting him off; I bat my eyes at him and gently stroke the back of his neck with my thumb.

"I would be happy to," he smiles and presses his lips down onto mine. I turn around and lift up my hair so it's off my neck, "unzip my dress for me?" I say biting my lip.

"Sure," he says deeply. He lightly places his hand on my back and slowly undoes the zipper which send chills down my spine. I turn back around to face him and he watches me shrug the dress off my body with hungry eyes. I slip my fingertips underneath of his shirt and he helps me remove it from his nicely sculpted torso. When he drops the shirt from his hands, Steve goes to the clasp on my bra and unhooks it in one swift motion.

Once both of us are completely undressed, Steve helps me into the tub and sits behind me while I lean my back up against his chest. He brings his hands from my thighs, to my shoulders and starts to give me the best back rub I've ever had.

"Steve, that feels wonderful," I moan as he continues to untangle the tight knots in my back.

"Good," he replies softly.

I turn my body so our lips meet each other and I wrap my left arm around his right shoulder. Our kisses start slow and eventually speed up as his tongue presses against my bottom lip. I let out a moan and Steve lifts me up, turns me around, and places me on his lap with ease. He entangles his fingers in my hair and presses his lips onto mine even harder than before as I reach down and stroke his length slowly.

One of his hands slowly lingers down the small of my back and cups my ass. In a matter of seconds, Steve places his hand on the back of my head and he moves us to the other side of the tub without our lips breaking contact. He sets my head against a towel on the ledge of the tub, "are you comfortable?" he asks breathing heavily.

"Yes," I sigh, "thank you."

He touches his lips to mine lightly and slips two fingers into me and pumps slowly, which causes me to moan loudly against his lips. He continues to do this while he strokes the side of my face with his thumb. After a few moments, I feel myself getting closer to climaxing so Steve stops just before I do. He places both hands on my sides and leaves my lips, "I'll be right back," he says with a smile and winks.

I pull him back into me before he gets out of the tub, "you don't have to actually."

Steve gives me a confused look, "what do you mean?"

"I'm on birth control now, I switched over a couple of months ago," I say shyly, avoiding looking up at him.

"Oh, are you sure you want to?" he asks lifting my chin up so our eyes meet.

"Yes," I reply, biting my lip fighting back a smile. He gives me a big smirk and presses his lips onto mine before brushing his tongue against my lip. He aligns our hips and slowly enters me causing us both to moan. Steve picks up pace and I cling even harder to his body, running my hands through his hard. I push him up and towards the other side of the tub so I'm on top of him. I ride him slowly, moving my hips back and forth and in quick circles. Steve places his hands on my hips and pulls at me, making my pace faster.

After a few minutes, he grips my thighs tightly and stifles out a moan. I rest my hands on his strong jaw line and press my fingers roughly against his skin. Seconds after, we both climax and long waves of pleasure ripple through both of our bodies as we sloppily kiss. As we come to a stop Steve kisses my forehead, "I love you."

"I love you too," I say into his neck while lightly tracing his bicep with my fingertip. After a while of talking about random topics, we get out of the tub with pruney looking fingers and toes and go to sleep trying not to think about him leaving in the morning.

Notes

Hey guys! Hope you liked the chapter! The semester started back up for me so once again sorry for the annoyingly late update hahaha. I swear I'm going to take a day and write out a ton of outlines so it doesn't take this long to update again!

ANYWAYS, leave some feedback for me, I always love criticism! Thanks so much for sticking with the story! (Hope you're having a good weekend!)