March 18th.

-James POV-

“Neal, you doing alright?” Coach Laviolette asked, patting my back. I nodded slowly, my arms resting on my legs. “Practice has been over for an hour and a half and your still sitting here in your gym gear. I’m going to ask you once more, you okay?” He sat next to me. “Yeah, I just feel like something is wrong.” “Is it about that girl from Pittsburgh?” My head shot up. “How do you know about Eisley?” “She’s only one of the most popular Coach’s assistants in the league kid, it hardly takes little to no snooping online to see that you two were very close before you came here.” “Yeah, her kid is due any day. But it doesn’t match up to be who I think it is.” “Sidney Crosby?” I nodded. “Come to my office, let’s do some math.” I followed coach to his office and he pulled up a calendar and asked how far long she was, I rattled off that she was now 39 weeks, due any day, and on bed rest, keeping her from being on the road with Sid. I silently was happy about that. “She got pregnant in June, kid. Long before you came here.” He looked at me. June? June! I hadn’t even known about the trade officially yet! Sid wasn’t even close to wiggling into her bed at that point! I slammed my hand on the desk and laughed. “It’s my kid coach! It’s my baby!” I stood up and ran my hands through my hair. How did I not figure it out till now? “Sit down, son. What are you going to do about this?” He asked, crossing his hands. “I don’t know, I have to get to her soon, but I can’t leave the team. I’ll just call her or something, hopefully she’ll answer.” I replied, leaning back in the chair. “Your wrist still been bothering you lately?” He asked. “No, it’s fine. Just a little stiff in the mornings.” “No, Neal, I’m pretty sure your wrist is still not working at its full potential and we can’t risk you playing with an injury.” I raised an eyebrow, confused. “Now, I’m going to hand write you a medical leave of absence from March 18th to April 1st on a wrist injury. I expect you to be ready to take the playoffs after that.” My mouth dropped, “You’re serious?” I asked. He nodded, taking out a leave of absence form and filling in the information. “Coach I can’t thank you enough.” I shook his hand, quickly. “Go get her, Neal. Don’t make me regret this!” He called as I ran out ofhis office to my car.

-Eisley POV-

“Sam’s been asking for you a lot.” I told Sid on the phone as I walked around the house in circles. Winter scratched at the back door, so I let her in and walked up the stairs to the bedroom next to mine, which was now Ivana’s nursery. “Yeah, she keeps calling. Don’t think coach is too thrilled.” He laughed. “She’s taken quite the fancy with you, Mr. Crosby.” I smiled, moving around a few stuffed animals. “She’s cool, but I got my heart set on someone. Oh, hey, I gotta head back to practice. Just wanted to call and check in, make sure your okay. I’ll call you after the game.” He spoke. “Kill them Senators tonight, Sid.” I hung up the phone and played with Winter a little bit. I took a step down the stairs and felt warm and wetness rushing down my legs. I looked down, did I just pee all over myself? Wait, this isn’t pee. Fuck.

-James POV-

I pulled into the front of my old house, and opened the garage. No cars were parked in there, so she wasn’t home, but the lights were on? I went inside to investigate and immediately slipped on a water puddle on the floor. “What the hell?” I asked, looking to make sure it wasn’t dog pee. I looked around and saw a mess in the kitchen, like she had opened her purse and papers had fallen out, like she was in a rush to get somewhere…I picked up one of the pamphlets on the floor and red it. It was for a local hospital’s labor and delivery program. I started piecing things together, until I saw her phone sitting on the counter. I picked it up and saw a text sent to Coach Johnston letting him know that her water had just broken, and she was heading to the hospital. I dropped her phone and ran out to my car, speeding all the way to UPMC. I pulled into the parking lot and ran all the way to the front counter, it wasn’t until then I realized how wet I was, and that it had been raining outside. “Can I help you?” The receptionist asked. “Eisley Kemp, she’s in labor. Where is she?” I asked frantically. She typed on the computer, and told me the 6th floor so I took off running as fast as I could. When I reached the 6th floor, a nurse grabbed me and asked me where I was going. “I need to see Eisley Kemp. She’s having my baby. She’s here on the sixth floor.” I told her, trying to catch my breath. “She’s in room 618, down the hall and to the left. Congratulations Mr. Neal!” She smiled. I walked to her room, and slowly knocked on the door and let myself in. She was asleep on her side, hooked up to all kinds of wires and machines. “Eisley?” I asked quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder. She quietly stirred and turned around, sitting up, while rubbing her eyes. “Eisley, before you say anything, I’m sorry. I am so sorry. But I’m here now. And I will be for this baby for as long as I’m alive. And I’ll be here for you too.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “I know the baby is mine, and as soon as I figured it out, I took the first flight here, and I went home but you weren’t there so I put two and two together, and now here I am. And I’m not going anywhere, unless you’re coming with me.” Her face softened, her eyes filling with tears. She erupted into tears, covering her face. “I wish you would of told me sooner, Eisley. I would have been here a long time ago. I want to come home, Eisley. I want to come home to my family.” I kneeled down by her bed and took her hand in mine, she just stared at me. After a few seconds of silence, she nodded, exhaling and crying. Then a contraction hit her and she let out a tiny yelp. “What can I do to help?” I asked her. She opened her mouth to talk, but as soon as she did, another contraction hit her. I felt my stomach doing flips as I watched the beautiful girl in front of me in pain. “There are really close together, can you go get the nurse?” She asked, gripping on the handrail of the bed. I nodded and jogged out of the room, and spoke to the first nurse I saw. “She’s having contractions really close together, I’m not sure what to do about that but she said that you would know.” I laughed with the nurse. She nodded and smiled, following me to Eisley’s room. Eisley was sitting up gripping both sides of the bed, her face twisted in pain. “Go ahead and lay back for me, Ms. Kemp.” The nurse told Eisley. I sat next to her, holding on to her hand and the nurse examined her. She looked up and smiled, “It’s time.” Here goes nothing.

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Everything was a blur. First doctors and nurses were rushing in, and taking vitals. Eisley remained calm the whole time, but she never let go of my hand. While I should have been paying attention to everything else going on, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Why did I ever think that I would be okay without her? Why did I ever think I could see life without her? The next thing I know, the doctors are telling her to push and she’s doing it, and she still looks perfect. Her blonde hair was falling out of her messy bun, and her face was stained with tears but she looked like she had known exactly what she was doing. A few minutes after she started pushing, I heard for the first time the cry that could end wars. Nothing in my life seemed to make sense until this point, when the doctor handed me my daughter for the first time. I’ll be the first to admit I cried like a baby. I cut her umbilical cord, I watched her take her first breath, all while holding the love of my life’s hand.Eisley held our tiny daughter and I let out a soft sob, watching the two interact. She wiped tears off her face and grabbed my hand, and I swore she said she loved me and that she was sorry. I took the tiny baby in my hand, and let a tear fall on the blanket that cuddled her. “She’s so perfect.” I whispered Eisley. “She needs a name.” She smiled, her head leaning back on the bed. She scooted over and motioned for us to join her on the bed. We laid together, and admired the perfect human in my hands. “I like Scarlett and Layla.” I told her. “Scarlett Layla?” She asked. I shook my head. “Scarlett Katya?” I asked her. She smiled and looked down at the baby. “Scarlett Katya Neal.” She smiled, gently rubbing our daughters head. She had the most perfect light red hair, and perfect round cheeks. “I’m so sorry about everything James. I was so selfish. I should have known all along you would have never left me alone if you had known. I let my selfishness get the best of me.” She spoke softly. “No, no. I should have called. What I did was wrong. But we can’t fix the past we can just change the future.” I wrapped an arm around, Scarlett laying on a pillow in between us. A light knock on the door made a sound and Sidney Crosby made himself known as he entered, stopping dead in his tracks as he saw me. I stood up from the bed, letting him greet Eisley as she showed off Scarlett. “I tried getting here as fast as I can, but I see daddy beat me to it.” Sid nudged me. “Thanks for being there for her.” I told him offering him a handshake. He shook it, and excused himself from the room. “So you and Sid still together?” I asked her. She shook her head, “When I found out I was pregnant with this beautiful creature, we decided to be friends until things evened out, things are better off that way too. Plus I think Sam has a thing for him.” “So all that time, I thought you were dating Crosby and you weren’t?” She shook her head. “I feel like a fool.” I laughed. Scarlett started to wimper, crying a little bit so I picked her up and held her on my chest. She instantly stopped. “She already loves her daddy.” “I love her. So much. And I love you, more and more.” Eisley leaned her head against my shoulder, and I felt her slowly drifting off to sleep. I silently prayed, thanking God for the two beautiful girls in my arms, and prayed even harder that things would work out for us. I was determined to make them work, and to be a good dad. And now, more than ever, I was determined to change Eisley’s last name.

Notes

I have been DYING to get this chapter out :D