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The Moonstone Starlet

Chapter 56

Chapter 56

It was a cold day in December when the team's core players gathered at the Sharps house for brunch to welcome baby Sadie. A large Christmas tree stood beside the living room window, decorated with white lights and silver ornaments. Along the bottom were kid friendly ornaments, which the now walking and running toddler Maddie was excited to show Kane. A few she had made herself out of construction paper, glitter and colored macaroni noodles. Her favorite was double sided plastic picture frame with Abby and Elia on one side and the dog Byfuglien on the other. The Sharps had their own dog, Shooter, but Buff had made quite an impression on Maddy with her constant face licking. Shooter preferred lying on the back deck and watching squirrels run by.


El had sent Pat a handmade ornament too, but he hadn't set up a tree. The guys were all in the basement shooting against a wall and talking about who they thought was going to play in the Olympics. Some of them already knew they were going. Jonny had been invited a long time ago, obviously Crosby. Stamkos was out injured now, who would fill his slot?


Kane didn't have much to say. As one of the few Americans he was almost an outsider now. He of course was playing for team USA, but the selection competition wasn't quite as stuff as Canada.


The Bickells were the last to arrive, and as soon as they got there everyone sat down to eat. The team brunches had been strangely quiet this year. Without Elia and Bolland the loudest mischief makers were gone. Sharp had tried to make up for it but Abby didn't want him setting a bad example for the children. He could keep his trash talking at the UC.


"So, Pat, have you talked to Elia lately?" Abby asked, grinning.
"Not since like two days ago? Actually I had about a hundred missed calls from her last night. What happened? I tried calling her back but her phone is off. You know she's coming back this week right?" He replied. She was probably half way over the Atlantic right now as a matter if fact. He had assumed she just wanted him to pick her up at the airport.
"Oh my god! Read this text!" Abby yelled, scrolling through her phone and then passing it to Pat. He took the phone, holding it so Amanda could see.
"Finally a way I can trump your baby news!" Elia had written. The next text was a photo. Of a diamond ring.
"Ahhh!" Amanda yelled. “Oh my god that is gorgeous!”
"Let me see!" Elina yelled, reaching for the phone. Nobody could believe it. The Elia they knew didn't seem like the kind to settle down. Pat looked over at Jon as he and Lindsay looked at the text. His face fell.


"Uhh I got to go to the bathroom," Jon said, getting up from the table. Patrick waited a few minutes before getting up and following him. Jon wasn't in the bathroom, he was sitting at the bottom of the stairs by the front door.


"Hey man," he said as he quietly walked over.
"Did she say yes?" Jon asked quietly, his voice sounding pained, almost like he was holding back tears.
"I don't know." Pat replied. He wanted to smack Jon across the face, shake him and ask what he had been doing for the past two years. But it was just too sad now.
"She's content Jon. Francis is a really good guy. He will treat her right. But I don't know."
Jonathan sighed.
“I feel like I'm in this nightmare I can't wake up from,” Jon said as he stared down to the floor.
“I don't understand how you always feel you have no control over this situation, like why don't you just do something about it. Just talk to her or--”
“--I don't know what's wrong with me Pat I just, it's like the only thing I know how to do is hockey and the rest of my life I just--” he couldn't even find the words to describe how he was feeling. He never could. He wanted to punch a hole in the wall or go for a run, get out physically what he could never get out with words. El always understood that. And he had still fucked it up with her.

For the first time Pat realized just how much Jon had been struggling. He was Captain Serious after all, someone who didn't just wear his emotions on his sleeve. He was quiet and pensive. Kane knew that, but had still overlooked that Jonny had been distraught this whole time.


"Jonny, she will be in town tonight and I think tomorrow. And..." He hesitated. "And she's coming to Sochi.”
“And she's getting married,” Jon muttered angrily.
“Then you don't have time to waste, do you?” Patrick said sternly. “First thing you need to do is stop stringing that other girl along. Its not fair to her that you are keeping her around because you're afraid you can't get El back, and it's sure as fuck not helping you with Elia either.”

Jon swallowed and looked up at Pat blinking, processing what he was saying.

“Honestly Jon I don't even know why I'm going to help you do this since you have been such an asshole. I shouldn't even need to tell you what to do, it's kind of ridiculous.”
“Fuck you man,” Jon said, cracking a smile, knowing he deserved that. Jon stood up, getting ready to rejoin the brunch.
“Thanks though,” Jon said quietly. Pat sighed and pulled Toews into a hug. Normally they only did that on the ice after a goal, but Jon needed it.

“You guys really are gay for each other eh?” they heard Sharp's voice say behind them. Jon and Pat pulled apart immediately.
“You're just jealous I'm gay for the other Patrick,” Jon said, bumping shoulders with Sharp as he walked past towards the dining room. Sharpie just started laughing and followed him into the dining room.
“Lindsay, sorry to break this to you but you're boyfriend Toews is gay, he just admitted it to me.”

“Tays is gay!” Maddie repeated.
“PATRICK!” Abby yelled at Sharpie. She covered Madeline's ears and started bickering with Sharp in loud whispers. Pat looked over at Amanda, “Want to go outside for a while?” She nodded. They took Maddie in the other room and got her bundled up. Sharp had iced over a small circle in his backyard and had been teaching Maddie to skate. Kane and Amanda took her out and laced some skates up for her. They each took one of her hands and walked out on to the ice with her. A little later the Bickells came out, along with Hammer and Duncs, and they built a snow fort together for the little princess. Elina watched from the deck drinking hot tea with Lindsay. The Blackhawks may have all been a little crazy, but they really were a family.

“I miss this city,” Elia said softly, leaning her head against Pat's living room window and looking out across the Chicago river. The lights from the sky scrapers glittered against the ice in the dark. Pat was sitting next to her with his back against the window and Amanda was laying on the rug next to them.

“So. Come back.” Pat said. She looked at him, her eyebrow raised, as if to say they both knew why she wouldn't.
“But, I might end up a lot closer,” she said, flashing him a smile.
“Are you going to actually explain what you're talking about now or just keep hinting at it?” Pat asked.
“Ok, ok, fine.” She turned away from the window and set herself cross legged on the floor. She needed to be able to talk with her hands. The reason she had come back the America wasn't just to go to the Golden Globes at the end of the week. She had a meeting in Atlanta with the cast and producers of the Walking Dead.
“If they think I will get along well with everyone, I could be a new cast member!” Elia said giddily.
Pat laughed. For someone who had hated the show in the beginning, she had become quite obsessed. This was a good sign. Elia hadn't taken a role in over two years, and hadn't even mentioned to Pat that she was interested in doing anything.
“You would really want to do a tv show? Isn't that...I don't know...a step down for a movie star?” Amanda asked cautiously. Elia shrugged.
“I don't give a fuck, I do what I want. I think I like being on a steady schedule. This will be more consistent for me.”
“I don't know about that El, characters die on that show all the time. You could be out in a month.” Pat said. Elia slapped him on the shoulder.

If it worked out, she would be joining them late in the season. Normally the filming went from May to February, primary photography being in Atlanta. She hadn't really done television before, aside from a reoccurring role on Entourage years before, but she had always like the idea of it. Same group of people, year in and year out. How many co-stars had she bonded with only to say goodbye three months later? This would be more fun.

“But,” Elia started to say.
“And there's a but,” Patrick said.
“But, it's hard to marry somebody in Paris when you live in Atlanta.” Elia said, making a face.
“And the truth of the situation comes out.” Pat announced. He stood up and walked over to the couch to lay down, trying to avoid getting into girl talk.

“Do you love him?” Amanda asked.

It wasn't that simple. Elia felt like she was at a crossroads. She could see the life she would have with Francis as if it was all laid out before her. They would probably buy a house in the suburbs of Paris, where he could easily commute to the restaurant. Kids in a year or two, and Elia at home to raise them. He would be a good father, with good values and patience. She did love him, in the way that she had the utmost respect and admiration for him as a person, and their home would be one of peace and gentle caring.

The other choice was less clear. She would be closer to her friends and family, but in a way starting over. Again. Alone, with nothing but possibilities in front of her.

Then, there was that other thing. Elia spread out on the floor facing Amanda as they talked.

“You still love Jonathan.” Amanda said quietly, stating more than questioning.

“I can't make decisions based on that.” Elia replied, almost a whisper. Right or wrong, she wasn't going to make any decisions until after visiting Atlanta.

Notes

Comments

Well. There goes my reason for coming to the site. Brava on being done! Hope you find inspiration to write another story.

DELETED DELETED
4/27/15

omg its done.... what am i gonna read now :( So good girl!

hockeygirl07 hockeygirl07
4/26/15

What an amazing story. I can't believe it is over.

runawaycherry93 runawaycherry93
4/26/15

aweeeeeeeee

hockeygirl07 hockeygirl07
4/26/15

That was beautiful!!! Made me teary. Is this the end?

KWeber8771 KWeber8771
4/26/15