Chapter 48

It should have come as no surprise to anyone that Patrick and Elia had an arrest contingency plan in place. Some of the first words they spoke to each other were about being arrested. Pat knew the phone numbers to both her lawyers, her PR team, and the combination to the safe in her bedroom where she kept large amounts of cash. Jon didn't even know she had a safe, and he lived there. It was a strange moment, walking into his bedroom with Pat and watching him walk over to the wall. He took down the picture on the wall of Elia, Jon and Pat with the Stanley Cup and sure enough, behind it was a small door. Aside from stacks of cash wrapped with bands of paper labeled “$1,000”, there was a hand gun, two passports, a leather file folder, a journal, some keys, and a surprising amount of jewelry boxes. A few flash drives.
“Elia doesn't even wear jewelry,” Jon had said absent-mindlessly. She had the moonstone necklace, and the rose gold bracelet he had given her that first Christmas.
“Obviously that's why it's in here and not on her,” Pat said, giving Jon a strange look. They paused with the safe door open, looking at each other.
“Don't do it man,” Pat said.
“Do what?” Jon replied.
“Snoop. You want to snoop.” Pat said.
“What, no,” Jon protested. Look around maybe, but not necessarily snooping.
“She probably wouldn't even care if you'd just ask her.” Pat added. How was I supposed to ask about a safe that I didn't know existed? Jon thought to himself bitterly.

Pat offered to wait at the station for Elia, but Jon insisted he would do it. Even though it was nearing midnight and there was no way of knowing when she would get out. He took a cab down to the police station on Kedzie and Harrison, carrying a bag containing one hundred stacks of one thousand dollars each. It felt like he was in a James Bond movie. Late night on a Thursday was an interesting time for a police station on the west side of Chicago. Jon sat in the lobby waiting, watching suspects be brought in cursing at police officers, or clenching their jaws in silence. There were a lot of drunks coming in to sleep it off in a holding cell, and a lot of women Jon assumed were prostitutes. It was a side of Chicago he hadn't seen before. He wondered how Elia was doing, how she was being treated. Hopefully not getting herself into more trouble.
Jon was starting to fall asleep in his chair when he heard high heels across the linoleum floor. He opened his eyes and sat up, hoping it was El. But the sound was coming from the wrong direction, and when the figure came into view it was a tall blonde female. She looked at him like she knew him and walked over.
“Stacey Bennet, it's nice to meet you.” she said, offering him her hand. He stood up to shake it, trying to remember how he was supposed to know her.
“You're Elia's publicist,” he said, finally realizing who she was. He sat back down. Stacey was gorgeous, for an older woman. Tall, long blonde hair, blue eyes, perfect figure. But her face was hardened, small wrinkles in the corners of her mouth from chronic frowning.
“I thought my job was going to be a lot easier once she started dating you. You've been such a good influence on her.” Stacey said, still standing. She half sighed, half laughed as she tapped away on her cell phone.
“She didn't need me to influence her, she just needed someone to believe in her.” Jon said. Stacey looked up from her phone, and stared at Jon. She was about to say something when a man from down the hall called her name. He wasn't very tall, and as he stood next to Stacey he seemed to shrink. If not for his white hair and glasses he might've been mistaken for a teenager. When he spoke his voice was firm and commanding, and thick with a New York accent.
“Lawrence Greenberg,” he introduced himself to Jon. Elia's lawyer. He shook his head as he looked back at Stacey.
“Well, she punched a guy in the face right in front of a police officer. So at minimum we're looking at misdemeanor battery. Still waiting to hear back from the plaintiff. You brought the money?” he asked Jon. He passed the money to Greenberg, who took it and walked back down the hall. When he returned he was on a phone call and paced back and forth in the lobby. Stacey took a phone call too, and then they were both pacing around in circles. Jon had been there about an hour when Elia was escorted to the front of the station by two officers. She was smiling and laughing about something with them, they stopped to take a picture with her. Greenberg hung up his call and walked over to her, grabbing her by the arm.
“What's the matter with you?” He said as he walked her towards the exit.
“Hey, I was in holding with a girl named Joyce Johnson, I want you to get her out,” Elia said, ignoring his question.
“This isn't an animal shelter Elia, you aren't here to rescue criminals,” he said sternly, “Do you think this is a game? Are you happy you just spent a hundred grand because you can't control your temper?”
“Of course I'm not. Not to mention however much I have to pay you, and whatever the fine is going to be. How was I supposed to know he would press charges?” Elia pulled her arm out of his hand, rubbing it before slipping her other arm around Jon. He put his arm around her shoulders as they walked outside. Once they were in the parking lot Lawrence started talking again.
“There isn't going to be fine for this Elia, not this time. Lucky for you this Torres is willing to drop the charges. Stacey, she's going to need to make a public apology--”
“--I'm not apologizing to that asshole! After what he did to Hossa and what he said,” Elia yelled.
“Oh grow up Elia. I don't care what he said. You will apologize. You take this to court and there is a good chance you will serve time.” he said, exasperated. Elia stared at him momentarily, shocked.
“Then you should do your job better,” she shot back at him, weakly. He laughed.
“You punched someone in front of an officer, in front of security cameras. You're not getting out of this. Not after that police report was filed a few years back in which you threw a lamp at Jeremy Renner?”
“He fucking choked me!”
“He what?!” Jon asked.
“And the incident of intentionally hitting someone with your car. Elia you need to realize the extent of the trouble you're in. You're not going to just wriggle out of this one.” He stopped talking only at the sight of a news crew getting out of a van and photographers coming out of nowhere. Stacey walked forward to meet the reporters, repeating that there would be no comments on ongoing legal procedures. Jon and Elia picked up a brisker pace toward the driver that was waiting to take Elia home.
The ride home was fairly quiet. Elia apologized profusely for keeping Jon up, for causing so much drama during playoffs. He told her it was fine, squeezing her hand tighter in his. Her anger softened, the argumentative attitude dissipated. There was no need for that front when she was with Jonny. She explained what her lawyer had said, about her prior issues. The first time she and Jeremy Renner had broken up they had gotten in a fight in his New York condo. The neighbors had called the cops. And the car thing. She didn't really hit somebody with her car, she just got really close to a pedestrian that was jay-walking.
She said hello to all the animals once they were back in the house before heading up to sleep. They brushed their teeth, Elia washed her face, then tried to scrub the ink from her fingers, Jon looked at a new bruise on his shoulder, they looked at Elia's bruised knuckles, and together they climbed into bed.
He lay on his side as Elia curled up against his chest, pushing one of her legs in between his. It lasted only a few seconds, and then she was scooting herself up, resting her head across from his and putting her hand on his face. He wrapped his arms around her body as she put her leg over his waist.
“I don't know why I always do such stupid things. Ugh, I can't believe I did that. Do you still want to be with me even though I'm crazy?” she asked softly.
“Of course El, I already knew you were crazy. And I've always wanted to have a prison pen pal.”
Elia smiled at the joke, too emotional to laugh. She slowly ran her hand through his hair, then along his patchy playoff beard, and down across his chest and over his sore shoulder where he had hit the boards hard in the game. Her hand and her gaze stayed there a moment.
“I hate that you're playing like this,” she started to say. “I know you aren't fine Jon. Every hit you take I hold my breath, so scared you'll be on the ice and you won't get up.”
He gently wiped a tear from her cheek.
“El, I play hockey. I'm never going to be able to promise you I'll be 100% safe, that's not how the game works.”
“I know. I know that. And I will never ask you to hold back or stop. But I also love you more than anything, and that's never going to stop. So you're going to have to hold me when it makes me cry.” She moved her head closer to his so their foreheads were touching.
“I promise I will.” he said, kissing her. “El, you're getting worked up over a few worst case scenarios that rarely happen. Everything will be fine in the end.”
They lay in silence for a few moments.
“Is that why you punched Raffi Torres?” Jon asked a while later. She sighed, then started to tell him what happened.
After the game ended Elia had waited around a bit talking to Abby and Elina in the box suite. On their walk down to the exit Elia had met up with Pierre for a while, talking about the next game. As they continued heading to the parking lot they happened to run into some Coyotes players walking to their bus. The girls stopped to let the group through, when Elia made her first dumb decision, saying to Abby loudly, “Let them go first, it's best to keep them where you can see them.” At first, the players kept walking, but then Torres turned around and asked Elia if there was something she wanted to say to him. The confrontation had been initiated.
“Yeah, next time you intentionally try to take out one of our best players maybe remember that Hossa has a wife and baby girl at home and they had to watch him immobile on the ice because of you. What kind of person does that?” Elia said. Raffi took a step towards her.
“Maybe you should ask Duncan Keith, he did the same to Daniel Sedin last year. I was just finishing my hit out there. That's just part of the game.”
“If you don't know that was a dirty hit you need to be kicked out of the league,” Elia retorted.
Abby could tell Elia was getting angry, and tried to walk her past Raffi, towards the car. They were several strides away when Torres kept talking.
“I forgot you don't know what real hockey looks like. Now that Big Buff is gone nobody on the Blackhawks knows how to make a hit.”
“Keep walking, he's not worth it,” Abby said, trying to keep Elia from stopping.
“Can't blame a little girl like you not knowing what a hit is when your team's a bunch of fucking fags like Patrick Kane.”

It was as if he had studied Elia to learn the perfect combination of words to set her off. She spun on her heels, pushing Mike Smith away as he reached out to stop her. “You're an ignorant son of a bitch, take back what you just said!” She had yelled at him, pushing him in the chest. He looked down at her and laughed. When Andrew Ladd was on the team, he used to box with Clint Reif before warm-ups. One day, noticing Elia watching them, Ladd had offered to teach her. She swung at Torres the way he had taught her, making contact between the jaw and the cheekbone. She had caught him surprised, he didn't even have time to put his hands up. He stumbled backwards a step. Elia bent over clutching her hand and holding in a scream. She had intended on a follow up gut punch but without gloves on it really fucking hurt. Pain shot up her whole forearm. How did guys do that all the time? She never wanted to punch anyone ever again. Slapping was definitely the way to go in the future, she decided. Once he recovered Raffi yelled at a police officer standing out near the entrance. "This bitch just hit me, aren't you going to do something?"

Just telling Jonny about the hit made her wrist sting again.
"Sounds like he meant for you to swing but was unprepared for how hard you can hit. Hawks fans are tough, especially our women." Jon said.
"I still have to apologize to him. Not just because of him but to set an example." Elia said.
"We have to be role models." Jon agreed.
"Which means no punching."
"Unless you're on the ice."
"Or they go after Hossa. Or Kaner."
"Now we're back at the beginning again."
"Crap."


Elia got up early the next morning despite getting to sleep late. She took the dog out, fed the animals, watered the plants and started on breakfast all before Jon woke up. He sat down at the table where Elia had placed a bowl of fruit and a protein shake.
"You're up early," Jon remarked. She was even dressed.
"Rise and grind darling, thug life."
She sat down across from him with her laptop and coffee. Her phone was still wherever it had ended up after going to the hospital with Hossa and she was having to email people to get their numbers. Stacey had sent her a morning update. No video footage of the punch had circulated, but a photo of Elia being put in a cop car was circulating the internet courtesy of deadspin. Her mug shot had also gone out first thing that morning. Anna Kendrick had tweeted "Elia Downs looks perfect after being arrested does this girl ever take a bad pic?!" So she had that going for her.
"El, I don't know how to bring this up exactly, but I was wondering about the safe," Jon said out of the blue. Elia looked up from the computer.
"You can put stuff in there too if you want, I should have told you that sooner. I've been trying to lock the doors now that you've got stuff in here too." She said, seeming distracted by whatever she was doing online. Jon wasn't expecting the conversation to go that way. It was so...easy. She sent him an email with the combination.
"Hey, I'm heading out with Kaner for a while. See you after practice?" She said, standing up.
"Yeah, what are you guys up to?"
"Oh, just stuff. Hanging out."
"Cool, mind if I come? I can be ready in 5," Jon said.
"Uh, he actually wanted to hang out just the two of us, I could ask him though," Elia replied.
“Nah that's cool. I'll see you later."
Elia ran over to give him a kiss. "Okay, love you, bye!"

Pat and Elia sat on a bench across from the old Water Tower building. It was one of the oldest buildings in the city, having survived the Chicago Fire of 1871.
"What the hell are you wearing?" Pat asked, looking strangely at Elia. She shrugged, looking down at herself "What?" A Blackhawks hoodie, cut off jean shorts and cowboy boots.
"Jon is always using the washer and my last clean jeans smell like jail now, okay?"
He snorted as he started to laugh at her. Maybe she shouldn't have gone mudding and gotten arrested in the same week.
"Alright have you gotten him anything so far?" Pat asked. Jonny's birthday was less than two weeks away and Elia was panicking. Should she throw him a party? What if they ended up having a game? It was all very confusing. On top of that she needed to find the perfect gift.
"I got tickets to see Bruce Springsteen at Wrigley, but does that even count? I get those for free."
She wanted to get him something meaningful, not just expensive.
"Why did I buy him such a cool watch already? I set too high a precedent. All my gifts after that have sucked."
"No, your problem is you're always giving him little things for no reason when you should be saving them. Like that sweater from Zadig&Voltaire. And the friendship bracelet you've got him wearing."
"Don't look at me like I'm weird, I made that bracelet with an actual child present I didn't just decide that on my own."
Caroline had gotten a friendship bracelet kit and of course had to bring it to Elia's. And of course Elia had to make one for her man. They decided to check out some stores to see if anything would inspire an idea. Top shop, All Saints, Burberry. There was nothing that really said Jonathan. And Pat was sort of right, she already did give him clothes sometimes. They stopped by the Blackhawks store to surprise some fans. Then Elia had an idea. She and Jon had gone camping together last summer and always talked about taking a longer trip. She could get them a good light weight tent for two and plan a trip to Banff with a couple of his friends. Pat thought that was a good idea so they walked down to the REI store.

Elia stashed the gifts at Kane's apartment and the two hung out for a while. Pat had gotten them each copies of The Maze Runner to read together. They sat on his sofa together reading. Pat didn't need to say anything, Elia could tell he was down. Amanda was still on his mind a lot, and it hadn't helped that he was struggling to score against the Coyotes. When Pat left for practice they decided to hang out again the next morning.
The atmosphere at Johnny's Ice House was grim. Hossa had been sent home from the hospital, but was not expected to return to play or even come to the games. They had just lost a game on home ice, in front of their fans. Coach Q had been fined for calling out the officiating in the game. Everything added up to an intense practice, everyone was pushing themselves harder as if it would make up for the night before. Jon stopped by Pat's locker as they were getting ready to leave.
"Hey Kaner, what's up?"
"Nothin much, you?" Pat replied. It was a weird conversation considering they had just skated together for over an hour. Pat took a long sleeved shirt out of his locker and pulled it over his head.
"Not much. Hey, were you with Elia this morning?"
"Yeah, why?" Pat set a water bottle back in his locker and turned to look at Jon. He had known Jon a long time, and this was Jon's trying to stay cool face. The face he wore when trying to play off a prank by Sharpie, and pretty much their entire rookie season.
"Just wondering. She just seemed a little weird about it when I asked her."
Patrick shut his locker door, getting more annoyed by the second.
"What did you think she was doing?" He asked Jon.
"Oh, no, I figured she was with you. Just wondering."
"She was probably weird about it because we were planning for your birthday asshole. I'm not going to answer any more of your paranoid questions." Pat said, starting to walk to the door just as it opened and Clint walked through.
"Hey Toews, glad I caught you before you left. Can you bring El's phone back with you?" Elias phone lay in his outstretched hand. Jon looked at him, a little confused by being given the job as he took the phone.
"The lock screen, that is you, isn't it?"
Jon hit the circle button on the phone and it lit up. There was a picture of him and Elia lying in bed. She was kissing him on the cheek, and he was smiling, half facing the camera half trying to look at her.
"Uh, yeah...That's me." He said still looking at it.
"Damn, that sucks," Reif said, surprising Kane and Toews. "No, not that you two are, you know, together or whatever, just sucks that Sharpies going to win the betting pool. He's the only one that bet on you to hook up with Downs."
"The what?"

Back in 2009, sometime in the first week Elia was filming with the team, Patrick Sharp and Duncan Keith had started a bet between them. At first, Sharpie had bet that Elia was going to hook up with Burish, and Duncs had said Kane. It didn't take long for the other guys to find out, and it turned into a pool. Sharp had changed his bet somewhere along the way to Toews. When Elia started dating Brad Sharpie had insisted the bets weren't off.
"I can't believe this! If I had known--"
"--probably why it was decided not to tell you about it." Clint said.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Kane asked. "Who was your money on?"
"I don't know, you were too close to Toews or too close to Elia? I had my money on Kyle Beach." He said, shrugging. Kane thought that was an interesting strategy. Jon wanted to know more about this but Clint had to get the gear loaded and back to the UC.

It was just Jon and Pat again. Pat looked at Jon holding Elia's cell in his hand. He wondered how long Jon would wait before trying to look through it. If he would ask her about anything he found or just get angry. Would he remember when Versteeg had started a running joke of sending Elia pictures of each other's asses, and how he'd react if he found any. She and Bolland were always saying inappropriate things to each other just for laughs. What if she had old texts from Kadri? And who knows what Elia and Abby Sharp talked about all the time.

"You see that lock screen pic? That's the only thing on there you need to know." Pat said before walking out the door.

Notes