2020-01-11 - Feels Like Home

Katy is sitting in the living room of her brand new apartment, working on her laptop. She hadn't really had the time to settle into her new place yet, only having moved in the previous day. She was still waiting for some of her belongings to be sent from Washington, so the place felt somewhat bare and not really hers. But she had all the important things, the dishes, the appliances, the furniture, some of her clothes, and her work laptop. She was wrapping up her day's to-do list for her work projects so that she could spend time with Jonathan, her favorite part of any day.

Having gone home to pack that bag he was going to pack, as well as a little talk with an overprotective mother who's also a doctor, Jonathan has made his way to the apartment now. And thus, as the door to apartment opens, and he enters, looking around right after entering. Placing the bag on the floor, making sure it's not blocking anything, he steps further in. "Now this looks like an amazing place," he offers, with a smile.

Katy hears the door open and a smile slides across her features. She places her laptop on the coffee table and meets Jonathan. "I know right? It's pretty intense. And way too much for me alone. I'm glad you agreed to stay. I'll show you where to put your bag." And when he's ready, she ushers him to the master bedroom, with a large spacious king sized bed, and a beautiful balcony with a view. There's even a walk-in closet and the master bathroom, with the jacuzzi tub is right there.

Jonathan moves to pick up the bag again, then moves to follow her to the master bedroom. Unable to hold back a bit of a whistle at the place, he smiles. Looking out at the balcony as well. "It looks quite fantastic," he offers, still looking around.

"Welcome home, Jonathan Wallgren," Katy says with a smile as she wraps her arms around him, giving him a sweet, tender kiss. She doesn't open the access to the balcony but does draw the curtains. "It's beautiful here. I'm so glad I get to share this with you now."

As she wraps her arms around him, and kisses him, he kisses her back. "Thank you. It feels so good to be here," he replies, nodding at her words. "It truly is beautiful here. I'm glad you wanted to share this with me." A brief pause, before he adds, "You make me feel special."

"It's because you are special, you're special to me, babe." Katy replies softly, her arms still around him, and them still intertwined in an embrace. "I can't even begin to count the number of times you've made me feel like the only girl in the world. Sometimes, all it takes is you smiling at me."

Jonathan smiles as he hears that, his own arms moving around her as well. "I'm glad I manage to make you feel that way," he replies. "And I'm so glad you moved into town. You really managed to brighten up life here for me."

Katy pulls away from the embrace and turns to look out the glass doors leading to the balcony. "It's been a long time coming. I just needed to make sure I had my ducks in a line before I uprooted my life. I actually wanted to move around the time of your accident, but I couldn't afford to at the time because of the contracts I was handling," she confessed to Jonathan, "But then my family decided to make sure I had the most lucrative contracts in town and I still got to keep a lot of my clients, so it works out now."

"While I'm very glad you're here now, I'm also glad you made sure everything was in order for it." Jonathan replies, looking out the balcony doors as well. "After all, a cross-country move without having things in order can be even rougher than the usual cross-country move." A smile as well. "And the most important thing is that you are here now."

"I wanted so badly just to drop everything and see you the minute I learned about your accident, but I couldn't," Katy admitted, "I had Sportscenter in the background while I was working at home, waiting to hear about the game, and they reported about your concussion." She paused, unsure of the words to say next. "I knew I had to work extra hard to sort everything out to be with you again. I felt so guilty for not being there...that's why I checked in so often."

"I'm sorry. I'm sure hearing about it was a bit of a shock," Jonathan replies, quietly. "For the first while, I thought it would just pass, like that other time." He places a hand on her shoulder, before he adds, "And you should not feel guilty. You checking in so often was great help too." Another brief pause, "And it wouldn't have helped as much if both our careers had broken like that."

Katy smiles a small half smile at Jonathan. "I guess you're right." She shrugs. "So did you tell your parents you were basically moving in with me?" she asks with a light tone.

Jonathan grins, "I'm not as stupid as I look," he offers a bit jokingly. "Every now and then, I'm right." As for the last part, he nods a little, shrugging with a grin. "I did. Mother sounded a little worried, but then again, she often does, especially when it has to do with medical things. But in the end, everything's okay."

"Worried? Is there anything left to be worried about?" It's Katy's turn to be concerned and she managed to catch herself before she could impulsively summon up her Glimmer.

Jonathan shakes his head a bit. "I don't think so, but my mother tends to worry more than most. Probably because she works in the medical field herself, you know."

"When was the last time you had a bad headache?" Katy asked, an edge to her voice present in a way it wasn't before.

"A little before Christmas. They have been fewer and far longer between them lately. The last time I was in for a checkup at the hospital, they said they might not come as often." Jonathan replies, before he adds, "The risk now is more that another concussion could lead to more of the lingering trouble. Which is when I realized even the smallest chance of getting back to playing games was gone."

Katy exhales as she listens to Jonathan talk, her expression thoughtful and perhaps mildly stressed. She can't help but feel bad about the whole situation but she tries not to let it show. "It's not fair..." she says, "You should be out there living your dream." She sighs, thinking about her own dreams, and how she was told she would never make it with her body type, and how it was too late for her. It wasn't that she was unhappy with her tech sector job, she loved it but it wasn't her passion like dance once was.

Jonathan looks away for a few moments, before he lets out a breath. "One thing I've realized from all of this is that while my time in the big leagues was cut short, I made it there. Lots of my good friends from various teams I've played on never made it there. I know some of them play in Europe now, and many probably gave up their dreams to work normal jobs." He smiles at her again. "When one dream ends, it's time for new dreams, right?"

"Do you have them? New dreams I mean." Katy asks in a small voice. They hadn't really discussed any of this in depth during his recovery, her not wanting to bring her feelings into play for fear of upsetting him. And she hadn't really discussed her own dreams, considering that aside from what she had said at Sweet Retreat before, she hadn't really spoken about it out loud since it all happened before she started visiting Gray Harbor.

"I'm still working on those new dreams," Jonathan admits, as he glances around again. "But at least I have realized I need to look forward, not just to the past. I think that's a start, right?" He goes a bit thoughtful again as he glances out the window once more.

Katy nods with a smile. "I was just wondering, you know? I will always be the first to support whatever your heart desires, whatever new dream you want to chase." She turns around to glance at her bedroom, her huge master bedroom. What had her life become? "Wow...I still can't believe this is my life," she muses quietly, almost as if talking to herself.

Jonathan smiles, nodding as he hears her words. As she looks around, he smiles. "Funny how life turns out, huh?" he offers, words kept just as quietly.

"Yeah real funny." Katy closes her eyes for a moment to take a few deep breaths to regain her composure before she says, "So you wanna see the rest of this place? I was thinking I would give you the tour and then we could make dinner together."

"Sounds like a good plan," Jonathan replies, with a smile. "Both seeing the rest of this place and the making dinner together," he adds, taking a few moments longer to look around the bedroom once more.

With the expectation that he would follow, Katy steps out of the master bedroom into the hallway. As she walks by, she points out a second bathroom, and a second bedroom which looked fancy, though less extravagant. She figures she'll have to have someone dismantle the bed and she'll have to set up new furniture to turn it into an office. "So this is the room I was thinking of converting into an office. I figure, it's big enough that we could share the space, if you wanted a computer setup or something."

Jonathan follows, looking both at the second bathroom and the other bedroom. "Looks like the room could easily be converted. And it would be good to have somewhere to be able to work, when I get something to do." He offers another smile, before he adds, "I mean, if coaching isn't where the future lies, I have some management knowledge thanks to college."

"You could always see about coaching one of the local hockey teams, coach them when they're young," Katy suggests, "It's nice that you have that degree in management, but I don't know if you want to sell your soul to that kind of a job. Not when you know where your heart is." She continues down the hall.

Jonathan nods, smiling a bit. "That's what I'd like. Maybe not when they're at the youngest but some kind of mid-teens or something. When they might be starting to chase their own dreams, or something." Following her as she leads on down the hall.

Katy says nothing further about the subject as they end up in the living room. The open concept allows them to also see the kitchen from where they are standing and it's pretty spectacular. The large Smart TV, the L shaped black leather couch. The view and yet another balcony area for meals with patio furniture. It really was luxurious in the apartment.

Jonathan looks around, letting out a bit of a whistle as he sees how luxurious the apartment is. "Wow..." he offers, unable to hold back a grin. "This looks... wow..." Seems like he's quite impressed.

"Who would have thought we'd end up in a place like this together?" Katy says lightly, "Still wrapping your head around the fact that this is basically your home too?"

"Some dreams actually come true, it would seem," Jonathan replies, smiling. "And yes, still trying to wrap my head around it. It might take some time to process it, but it's quite nice."

"And what dreams might those be, Mr. Wallgren?" Katy asks playfully as she steals a quick kiss from him in the middle of the living room.

Jonathan smiles, letting her steal that kiss before he answers. "Well, you and me, and a fancy apartment." It's offered with a grin, before he adds, "The one big difference is that in my dreams the location was always one of the bigger cities, not here. But the most important parts happened."

"Seattle's only a couple of hours drive away," Katy offers with a smile as they move towards the state of the art kitchen with the stainless steel appliances. "I bought some stuff for a fettuccini alfredo, if you're interested in that tonight."

Jonathan grins, "I know. And Seattle also holds a place in my heart." As they head to the kitchen, he whistles once more. "Now this looks like a great kitchen," he says, looking around. "And fettucini Alfredo sounds quite great. I've always enjoyed pasta."

"So I was actually in the mood for a bit of shrimp, so this is going to end up being a shrimp alfredo, I hope you don't mind." Katy starts pulling ingredients out to make the sauce from scratch and she pulls out the pasta and the shrimp. She has a tablet standing upright on the counter with the recipe pulled up.

"Shrimp alfredo is quite okay," Jonathan replies, before he looks to the tablet with a grin. "Isn't that like bringing small notes to an exam?" It's offered lightly, and in an amused tone. "What do you want me to do?" he offers.

Katy grins as she says, "I can follow directions, I'm not actually good at winging it or anything like that." She glances at her screen and then says, "Start with grating some cheese." She hands him a block of parmasean cheese.

Jonathan grins as he hears that. "We'll have to train you in the art of winging it, then." He takes the parmesan and the grater, grinning as he starts working on grating the cheese. "Cooking is one of the things I've really enjoyed doing for a long time," he says. He looks quite relaxed too.

"Well if you can make the alfredo sauce from scratch, I guess we really don't need the recipe, now do we?" Katy has an admiring look on her face, impressed at Jonathan's hidden talent. "I didn't know you could cook..." she pointed out.

"I use it as a way to relax. Besides, couldn't go out for dinner all days back when I played," Jonathan replies, with a grin, as he finishes grating the cheese. "Now if we start by preparing the pasta," he offers. "And then we'll get started on the sauce."

"I'm totally fine with following your lead." And she starts up the big pot to boil water for the pasta. She reaches for her tablet and turns on some music, and she moves to the music, helping with the food prep.

Jonathan grins, "Good. We'll have a great meal soon." It's offered rather lightly as he reaches for the saucepan. Butter and cream readied, he starts warming the mixture. "The important thing is that we keep this from boiling. It's supposed to just simmer for a bit before we add seasoning."

After adding a bit of salt to the pasta water, Katy looks over her shoulder at Jonathan in action. "We make a good team, don't we?" she comments playfully as she walks over to where he's working.

"Not a good team, a great one," Jonathan replies, with a grin, before he looks back to the pan. Turning down the heat a bit, he adds the seasoning, whisking the ingredients together for a long while. He then picks up a spoon, using it to scoop up a little of the as yet cheeseless sauce. "Need you to taste it and tell me if we need more seasoning," he says, holding it out to her.

Katy takes a taste from Jonathan and says, "Hmmmm, it's perfect." She turns to the pasta water as it's boiling and adds pasta to it. "This should only take a few minutes."

Jonathan grins, and uses the spoon to taste the sauce as well. "Tastes quite good," he agrees, before he nods at the words about the pasta. "I'll just add the cheese, then. Won't take long until the sauce is all ready." He takes the cheese, and puts it into the sauce, stirring the thing until it's getting smooth. "Any moment now," he offers, with a smile.

"So Winterfest is coming up, do you wanna go and hit up the rink, go for a skate?" Katy asks as she drains the pasta out of the water and puts it in a large serving bowl. She looks to Jonathan, waiting for his reaction. "I still have my skates and I think they still fit, even though it's been like, 8 years."

Jonathan grins as he hears that, "Going for a skate sounds like an excellent idea." He smiles as he looks to the pasta. "Looks good. Shrimp's ready too, I hope?" He stirs the sauce a little more, before he grins. "Think you still got the balance to use them?" The skates, that is.

"Yup, these bad boys are ready to go!" Katy calls out as she checks the other pos she's working on with the shrimp. She smirks at the question about her balance. "It can't possibly be any more of a disaster than the first time you taught me. Remember the great skating disaster of 2009?" she asks, referring to their first holiday season spent together, before they even started dating.

Unable to hold back a bit of a laugh as he hears that. "Ah, yes. I remember that. While it wasn't a big success that time, nobody can claim it wasn't entertaining, right?" He grins to her now, as he adds, "But don't worry, I won't let you fall this time." A brief look to the food. So, we add the shrimp, and the sauce, mix it all together a bit and we have ourselves a nice meal."

"Meanie! I can't believe you let me go!" she calls out with a feigned pout, then she chuckles. The smell of the sauce takes over the kitchen and she's in heaven. "Wow, you really are good. You might just have to take the lead for every meal. I don't mind helping out." She smiles, genuinely impressed.

"Hey, I thought you were able to keep your balance," Jonathan replies, with an innocent expression. For the part about taking the lead for every meal, he smiles. "It's the least I can do," he replies, with a smile. "But if we're going skating, I think I'll pick up my old Wings jersey and helmet as well as my skates." Helmet for protection, the jersey for nostalgia, or something like that.

Katy simply smiles as their first dinner together in their new apartment was turning out great. She placed the bowl of pasta on the island, figuring if it was just the two of them, they didn't need to use the dining table. She also pulled out some coke and a pitcher of water from the fridge and set a couple of places for them.

Jonathan smiles watching her set things up. "Looks like everything's in order now," he offers, moving the rest of the way to see if there's anything he should do to help.

After everything is set, and they were ready to eat, Katy surveys her handiwork. "Looks like everything's ready." She sits down at one of the stools and smiles. "I could get used to this new reality."

Smiling as he sits down on his stool, Jonathan gets ready to serve the food. "You'd better get used to it, my dear. It would seem this is our reality now." He starts filling up the plates with the food. "Here's to us," he offers.

Katy fills her glass with coke and raises it to him. "To us."