Derek and Ryan sat on the floor of Derek’s living room the next day sifting through boxes that the Rangers had sent them of gear. Reebok dri fit shirts, new Ranger t-shirts and shorts, and memorabilia from their run. “Dude do you want these?” Ryan had just opened another box filled with what looked like Jerseys. Stepan jerseys. “They have the Stanley cup playoff patches.” Ryan remarked. “Yeah I’ll keep them, I’ll give them to my parents and Josie, save me two though. I’ll get one framed and I’ll hang it up with the rest of mine.” Derek had an idea in the living room to frame a jersey from each of his teams. The Hasting Rams Travel A Team he played on with Kendall, Shattuck, Wisconsin, his 2010 USA Worlds jersey when he won gold, his Sochi jersey and now his Stanley cup Rangers jersey. “Alrighty but why do you need two then?” Derek gulped. “Aren’t you seeing Kendall today?” He nodded. “Dude your not giving a signed Stanley cup jersey to Kendall to get her back. That’s amateur hour.” Derek got up off the floor and walked into the kitchen to get another beer. “Bye Ryan, she’s coming over soon. I have to get ready.” He yelled from the kitchen. Shattuck his golden doodle running in to join him. “Fine, call me after me and Kaylee want to know how it goes. Bye Shattuck.” He collected the boxes he was keeping and walked out of the house. He walked back into the living room once Ryan left to clean up before Kendall came over. She had texted him when he was getting drunk with Ryan last night and pretty much said she wanted to get it over with as fast as possible.

---

He took a quick shower threw on a pair of jeans and his favorite old ratty Shattuck St Mary’s Hockey shirt that Kendall always used to steal from him and walked downstairs joining his new golden doodle on the couch. “Shatt calm down.” He whispered as the dog was going wild on his new couch with his favorite bone. That’s when he heard the doorbell and that’s when Shattuck flew off the couch towards the front door, barking and running around. He got up and walked into the foyer opening the door. “Hey.”

---

Kendall shouldn’t have been here she shouldn’t of came. Because once Derek opened up the front door of the house she was supposed to have lived in with him. Her heart sank. He was wearing his favorite t-shirt. The Shattuck one she used to steal from him all the time, it was her favorite too. It smelled like him, a combination of hockey and the Ralph Lauren Cologne he wore. He was standing in front of her but it wasn’t her Derek standing in the doorway. He didn’t have his usual smile plastered on his face, he wasn’t wearing a hat to hide the little hair he had on his head, and he wasn’t warm. It was like Derek was standing in front of her and she was meeting him for the first time, he was a stranger.

The aura he was giving off was cold. “Hey.” She responded. A dog, she guessed was his enveloped her in licks and kisses once she walked through the threshold into the house. “Shattuck stop. Shattuck stay, Shattuck inside.” Derek commanded as he led the dog into the room off the foyer that was the room that was supposed to be their office. He shut the door, the dog growling as he slumped by the glass paneled door and whimpered. “He’s only a month old. He was a present from Josie for winning the cup she didn’t want me to be lonely.” She gave him a nod. “He’s cute.” Derek bit his lip and led her into the kitchen. She didn’t need to be led, she knew this house like the back of her hand, it was her dream home. And he got to live in it because he had bought it for them, and she told him to take it. She didn’t feel right living in a house she didn’t buy. And she didn’t want a handout from him.

She took his lead and sat down at the big marble island in the middle of the kitchen. “Would you like anything to eat or drink? A beer?” She nodded. “I’ll take a beer.” She needed alcohol to get through what they were about to discuss. Their relationship. He got up, walked over to the sub zero wood paneled refrigerator and grabbed her favorite, a Corona. “Lime?” He asked her. She smirked. He remembered how she liked it. “Yes please.” He grabbed a lime from the fruit bowl housing lemons, limes, bananas and oranges and cut one up, dunking in a quarter of a lime the way she liked it and handed it to her. He grabbed himself his favorite, a Coors light.

“So….” She said trying to break the tension in the room. You could slice it with a knife. “I don’t know really where to start Kends.” She closed her eyes and took a sip of her beer. “Kendall. My name is Kendall.” She couldn’t hear him call her his nickname for her. “Sorry…Kendall.” He bit his lip once again he did that when he was nervous. “Stop biting your lip Stepan, I am not some weird stranger I am someone you’ve known since we were seven.” She was always direct with him. She always said how she felt, and always laid it out for him. He could take it or leave it. She wasn’t some girly girl, even though she loved dressing up, dresses, skirts, high heels and had an obsession with Lilly Pulitzer she loved the rink more then she loved shopping, she loved Nike shorts more then teeny tiny denim shorts and she would die for a Dri Fit Under Armour shirt then a crop top. She was Kendall Brooks. The infamous Herb Brook’s granddaughter. And she was amazing at two things in life, hockey, and being Derek Stepan’s partner but that was ripped from her almost a year ago. And now she was only good at one thing. “How’s your family?” He asked her. “Good.” She replied sipping her beer.

---

She wanted to die, this was so awkward, and forced, and weird and so many other adjectives. This time last June the two of them arrived back home after the crazy season that resulted in the Rangers going to the Stanley cup finals, losing to the Kings. He had proposed and she started planning a wedding to Derek with Kaylee and spending every day at the rink preparing to try out for the Boston Blades. She had just finished grad school at Wisconsin that May and joined Derek in New York City soon after. It was a crazy year, winning silver at the Olympics, cheering on Derek at the Olympics, graduating from Wisconsin, Derek’s season with the Rangers, the wedding proposal…She took another sip of her beer and closed her eyes again knowing that Derek’s were cemented on her. She flashbacked to the day he proposed.

---

“Kendall Brooks!” Derek shouted throughout their loft they had lived in since he started playing for the Rangers after their sophomore year at Wisconsin in Hastings. “What?” She yelled from their bedroom upstairs. She could hear him bounding up the stairs like a child on Christmas morning. He walked into their room she was sitting on their bed in a robe after taking a ice bath, her body killed from the training session this morning. “Get dressed.” He grinned at her as he flopped onto their bed. “Why?” She looked at him quizzically.

She hadn’t seen him this happy since the Rangers had won their only Stanley Cup final game at MSG a couple weeks prior. He had been in such a funk since they had gotten home that it was nice to see him back in his old Derek ways, smiling and happy. He reminded her of a golden retriever. “Don’t ask any questions. Just get dressed!” She rolled her eyes at him. “Seriously?” She asked him. He laid down next to her and kissed her cheek. “Please get dressed, you’re in for a surprise. Please don’t make this difficult.” She smirked at him. “Fine, fine.” She got off their bed and walked into their closet. Slipping on a pair of boyfriend jeans, Jack Rogers and a USA hockey t-shirt. “Happy?” She said walking out and seeing him laying peacefully on the bed. He looked so comfy, she just wanted to jump onto him, and lay with him all afternoon. “No. Change into something nicer. It’s s day you want to remember.”

She rolled her eyes at him as she walked back and changed into a new dress Derek’s sister Josie made her buy. It was white, eyelet, strapless, and skimmed her thighs. It made her look tan and accentuated her hockey curves. She wasn’t skinny but she wasn’t fat. She was curvy and toned in all the right places. “Fine happy now?” She bursted out of the closet to Derek staring at her. “If my jaw didn’t have metal plates holding it together, it would be on the floor right now.” She looked at him, her eyes glued to the jaw that their friend and Derek’s ex teammate Brandon Prust broke. “I am fine stop staring. You look beautiful Kends.” She smirked. “Thanks babe. Now where are we going?” She grabbed her phone as he pulled her out of the room and down the stairs. “You’ll see!” She hated surprises.

Once they were in Derek’s car she started asking questions. “Seriously Derek what are you up to? Where are we going? What are you going to make me do?” Her voice was getting edgy and annoyed. “Just shut up and kiss me.” He replied to her at a stop sign. “Ugh fine your so mushy Steps, grow some balls.” She laughed as she planted a kiss on his lips as the light turned green. She said that to him when he declared his love to her all those years ago at Shattuck. It made her all mushy inside to think about the last six years with him.

Her eyes were glued to him the whole way to their destination. “We’re here.” Derek said as she looked forward. He was pulling into one of the nicest streets in Hastings, the house’s ranged from 1.2 million up to 5 million. “Why are we on Kingsborough?” Kendall asked him. One of her favorite houses in Hastings was on this road. “You’ll see.” They pulled into 21 Kingsborough. She always thought it was the perfect house, and come on 21? Derek’s number, it was perfect. It had a For Sale sign next to the mailbox, under the for sale sign, it had a Sold sign as they pulled up to the gate. “Derek Stepan what did you do.” He pressed the right numbers as the gate opened and he pulled in. “I bought us this house.” She went from a smirk to a full on grin. “Shut the fuck up.” She blurted out as she opened the passenger side door and flew out. He shut off the car and followed her inside.

“It’s your dream house, so it’s mine. The apartment is getting cramped. We’re turning 24 we need our own house. We already live together in the city, it just seemed right.” She listened to him as they stood by the front door, him opening it with the key. “We can’t afford this Derek!” It was more expensive then the apartment in the city, it made their 1.2 milion dollar apartment in Soho look like chump change. “Yes we can. It’s called my contract, my agent would have never let me buy it if it wasn’t okay, and it’s an investment. We can always sell it if need be.” She never wanted to sell this place.

He got the door opened and they both walked in. The foyer was stunning, with staircases on either side leading to the upstairs. It had an office, two living rooms downstairs, an open floor plan that she loved, a screening room in the basement, a beautiful patio and pool, and four bedrooms. Perfect for when they had kids, if they had kids…She wanted kids.

She wanted him to pop the question already, they had been together for six years after all, she wasn’t going anywhere. He led her around the house, until he pulled her upstairs and opened the door to the huge master bedroom, with two walk in closets, a dressing room and a beautiful bathroom.

She saw rose petals on the floor where their bed would be. “What is this?” She asked as she walked out of the closet and over to the rose petals. It read out “Love you Kendall.” She wanted to cry. He was behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “It’s you and me baby, just us.” She wanted to cry. This day had become perfect. She turned to face him and when she did he unwrapped himself from her and went to one knee smirking at her. “Stop, Derek! Oh! My! God.” She knew what was about to happen. The day she had waited for.

“Kendall Brooks, you are the girl for me. I knew it when you took a five minute fighting major in Pee Wee’s when some kid cross checked me into the boards. I knew it when we both committed to Wisconsin, I knew it when I kissed you outside my dorm room at Shattuck’s for the first time, I knew it when we graduated and you looked at me like I was the world, I knew it when everyone said we wouldn’t last at Wisconsin together and we proved them wrong, I knew it when you told me you loved me for the first time, I knew it every time you visited me in New York and when you left I felt empty inside, I knew it when you rooted me on the last six years, especially this playoffs and I knew it when you jumped into my arms after the loss in LA after going on a five hour plane ride to see me play, when you cared less about the loss and more about me. I knew it when I woke up this morning to you snoring on my chest, I love you Kendall Kelsey Brooks and I can’t wait to make you Kendall Stepan.”

She was weeping by this point, and that’s when he pulled out the little black box. She wiped away the tears that were currently dripping down her cheeks in preparation for him opening it. “Marry me?” He asked. She nodded and he slipped the tiffany and co diamond ring on her left finger. She waited for him to get up off his knee, and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Kendall Stepan has a nice ring to it.” She murmured into his chest. He laughed. “KKS sounds pretty good to me.” They stood in silence wrapped up in each other for a couple more minutes, just letting this happy moment sink in. “I love you Derek Kenneth Stepan.” She kissed him passionately never wanting to let this moment go. “Let’s go babe, our families are waiting at the loft.” She couldn’t wait to start their future together. They exited the house, Derek locking up when she made an announcement. “Summer 2015 wedding. Here at the country club, and a party in Central Park in NYC what do you think?” He smirked. “Anything for you babe, it’s a great idea.” They walked back to the car together, hand in hand. Her diamond sparkling off her finger.

---

She didn’t know how they got from that moment to where they were now, sitting in the very kitchen of the house he proposed in not even speaking to each other. “Congrats by the way, I am truly sorry I couldn’t make it down. I would of loved to see you win.” She gave him a small smile. “I would of loved to have you there.”

She cried the night the Rangers won in her apartment in Boston. For numerous reasons. Her and Derek played for the cup every night in the summer during ball hockey, and on the frozen pond behind her house in the winters. She should have been there for him, sitting in the stands with his parents and sister, Kaylee and her cheering for their men. She should have been there, the rock on her finger, his number on her back she should have been there on the ice with him when the confetti dropped from the ceiling. She wished she could of taken back the last ten months.

“Derek…” She let out as she held back tears. “I am sorry.” She whispered. “I am sorry too. Kendall I was so wrong…if I could take it back I would.” She nodded. “I wish things turned out differently.” All she wanted to in this moment was kiss him, be held by him again. She closed her eyes and got up. “Take care of yourself Derek. I’ll see you around this summer.” She grabbed her clutch and walked out of the kitchen when something stopped her. His arm. Pulling her back to him. “Don’t go.” He whispered. If only he had said that ten months prior. “It’s a little late for don’t go’s Steps.” She kissed his forehead, and walked out of the house.

She made sure not to cry until she got into her car and drove out of the driveway. She made sure not to cry until she was back at the loft that she once shared with him. When she got through the front door she bursted out crying. She was strong for the past ten months but sometimes you can’t be strong.

Notes

In the next couple chapters we'll find out why they broke up and more about Kendall and Derek's relationship! Thanks for subscribing and reading! Feel free to comment (: