Lucas had gotten his hat trick.

Scoring three goals in a game was huge, and he couldn’t believe he had pulled it off. He couldn’t have done it without his team, and Lucas couldn’t have felt more blessed that he had come to Nashville than he did at that moment. Not only was he playing the best he had ever played, but he had Fallon and Aiden in his life now. Everything was coming together for him, and Lucas couldn’t grasp that all it took was the love of a child.

“Let’s give it up to Brooks. First hat trick in what? Ten years?” Bacter asked with a grin on his face.

Lucas laughed. “Three.”

“Ten, three, same thing. Here’s your puck.” Bacter handed Lucas his puck and Lucas smiled widely as he looked down at it. Before he would have kept the puck, but now Aiden would be getting it. Lucas grinned down at his puck before grinning up at his teammates.

Man, he loved his life.

*********************************

“Three goals! Three! I screamed every time and Mom let me stay up late just to watch!” Aiden gushed the next day. Lucas sat in a hotel in Vancouver with his iPad in his lap, smiling at Aiden. He had been busy all day with workouts and press crap, and he didn’t get to talk to Aiden the night before because the game ran so late, so Lucas couldn’t have been more relieved than to be sitting in his bed talking with his son.

“That’s awesome, bud. I’m glad you got to watch,” Lucas said with a grin. “How was school?”

“Fine,” Aiden said with a wave. “Can you teach me how to do that one shot you did against that one guy? The one with a big nose? That shot was awesome! Even Mom cheered for you!”

Lucas chuckled as he smiled. At the mention of Fallon, his groin tightened. He had missed her so much, almost as much as he missed Aiden. “Did she now?”

“Oh yeah! She jumped up and everything! So you gotta teach me how to do that!”

“Will do,” Lucas laughed. “So, what did you do at school today?”

“Boring stuff, are you bored? Are you ready to come home?”

Lucas smiled as Aiden grinned at him. “I am.”

“I’m ready for you to come home, too. It’s gonna be the best birthday present! AA says that your mom is coming! That she’s my grandma! Do I call her Grandma?”

Lucas nodded. “Sure, we’ll have to ask her.”

“Cool, I already have a Grammie and a Grandpa, but Mom says that it’s good to have another grandma because that means I’ll be loved by all kinds of people, which is so cool!”

“It is cool. Have you been practicing with your stick?”

Aiden nodded quickly. “Yup. AA got so mad at me because I broke one of her vases in the living room. I told her that I need to practice, but it didn’t work,” he said with a guilty look on his face.

“We’ll buy her another one when I get back.”

Aiden’s face lit up and all of the sudden the screen went fuzzy from where Aiden was bouncing on the bed. Lucas laughed at Aiden’s excitement before the screen went back to normal and Aiden started talking about a game he wanted for his birthday. As Lucas listened to Aiden talk a million miles a second about the game, the only thing Lucas could think was that he had never missed someone the way he missed Aiden.

Lucas wanted to go home; he wanted to be with his son, but then he thought that even if he went home he wouldn’t be with Aiden 100 percent of the time. It would always be a trade-off with Fallon and he hated that. He wanted that moment when the door opened and he was attacked by his kid. All the guys from the team that had kids talked about that moment and Lucas knew he wouldn’t be able to experience it because of his situation with Fallon.

Man, how he wished they could work things out. Their flirting and hot glances were driving him crazy. Lucas said that he didn’t think Fallon could hold out much longer, but really he wasn’t sure how much more he could handle. He wanted her more than he wanted to breathe. Yeah, it was cliché but it was the truth. Lucas felt like his heart only beat her name, no other woman could compare and he just wanted her. Not only did he want to come home to Aiden in the house, but he wanted Fallon in his bed, or cooking for him, or just being lazy on the couch, anything! He just wanted Fallon and Aiden, all the time.

Lucas wanted a family.

His family.

**********************************

Fallon slowly climbed the stairs to the second floor to check on Aiden. She knew he went upstairs to Skype with Lucas, but usually she heard something out of him by now. When Audrey appeared at the top of the stairs, Fallon smiled.

“Hey you,” she said. She hadn’t seen much of Audrey lately. Either Fallon was working or Audrey just wasn’t home. Fallon noticed that ever since Lucas left, Audrey had been home more, which was weird.

“What’s up?” Audrey asked with a grin.

“About to go check on lil' man,” Fallon said, nodding her head towards Aiden’s room. “I haven’t seen you much.”

“Yeah, I’ve been busy,” Audrey said, looking away.

“Really? Busy doing what?”

“Nothing important. Just stuff.”

“Okay,” Fallon said, eying her younger sister. Sometimes it was hard to read Audrey. Fallon could never tell if she was lying, and it drove her insane. “Is everything okay?” Fallon found herself asking.

Audrey looked up, giving Fallon a small grin. “Everything is fine.”