Dreaming Out Loud // Jonathan Toews, Chris Kreider, Nathan MacKinnon

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 19, 2019

Your sister is kinda bitchy, did you know that?

Eva smiles at the text message and gestures for the roadie to walk out before her. The man thanks her as he walks out the door and into the tour bus. She feels her heart flutter as she prepares to respond to Chris's text message.

You saw which bitchy sister of mine?

The cop one.

She laughs. Of course Chris encountered Jack. Cat is only aggressive or mean spirited when it comes to contract negotiations or anything related to business. On the other hand, Jack is always grumpy and mean. It did not matter what the occasion was. Jack has always been that way, which was amplified following the death of their mother.

Yeah, Jackie is not exactly a people person.

I thought she lived in Chitown?

Yeah she does. Not sure why she is in the city. Eva looks away from her phone to look at her crew.

Various crew members are walking around and past her with the stage equipment, and loading them onto the bus. She stares at the Philadelphia city skyline. Eva wonders why their father never took them here. She remembers Cat nagging him to take her to see the liberty bell, but it never happened, despite Cat being the favorite child. Philadelphia was not far from New York City

How was your show? I'm sure you made the city of brotherly love feel loved.

Eva stifles a giggle.

It was great, thank you very much.

Wait, is Jack the one engaged to Toews?

Yep, and speaking of, they played Philly tonight and I got a date with him like right now.

She checks the time on her phone and cranes her neck in search of her tour manager. It is time for her to start heading over to her dinner with Jonathan and her tour manager is nowhere to be found.

"David!" She yells in hopes that he would show up

Two roadies look over at her curiously as they walk past her. Meanwhile, her phone buzzes.

A date with Jonathan Toews, huh? Should I be jealous?

Grinning, she quickly responds.

I don't know, are you?

Eva walks out of the venue and throws her leather jacket on. In her search for David, she finds Lisa instead, fumbling with a set of keys. Her agent looks up at her knowingly and waves the keys at her.

"What is that?" Eva asks.

"You have to meet up with Toews, so I'm dropping you off," Lisa replies.

Even though Lisa can be overbearing and demanding, Eva does not know how she can live without the older woman. Lisa makes it her life's mission to have Eva's life together, when Eva herself does not even know what she is supposed to be doing half the time.

"You know where, right?"

"Eva, it's my job to know where," Lisa starts walking toward the rental car.

Technically, it is her tour manager's job to make sure she has a means to get to her commitments during this tour. However, Lisa takes it upon herself to organize and manage every aspect of Eva's job, eliminating Eva's need to hire a personal manager.

They get in the rental car and Lisa begins driving towards the restaurant. Eva takes this opportunity to return her attention back to her conversation with Chris.

Do you want me to be?

Stop flirting with me! I have a date to go to!

Although this dinner with Jon is nowhere near a date, she likes to tease Chris. She wants him to ask her out on another proper date. Ever since he agreed to the arrangement with Mika, he has been pretty passive about expressing his interest in her. He was more than happy to keep their relationship under wraps while she flaunts a fake, but public relationship with Mika. However, he has not offered to take her out on another date following that night at the sake bar. It is understandable since they are both so busy, but Eva is afraid that maybe he is not that interested in her after all. The best she can do right now is engage in light flirting with Chris to see if he reacts the way she wants him to.

Tell Toews I'll give him a special check to the boards next time we play each other.

It seems like he is interested enough to joke about roughing Jonathan up during their next game. Eva is relieved. It is difficult for her to determine if Chris is still interested in her when they have not spent a day together in weeks. They both have demanding schedules so neither of them can be blamed. However, it is so difficult to start a relationship under these circumstances.

Will do, 20!

Lisa drops her off at some high-end place that Eva has never been to before. Eva really looks forward to catching up with her future brother-in-law, and is thankful that they are both in Philadelphia on the same night. Conversing with him is the only way for her to figure out how her younger sister is doing, which is kind of sad. Jack is not really a talker or sharer. Sometimes Eva has to pry information out of Jon. Cat was the one who started using this tactic, and Eva is not above doing the same.

Eva lowers her head and enters the restaurant. She tries her best to not attract any attention, but when she approaches the hostess at the establishment, she is immediately recognized.

"Ms. Hale, Mr. Toews has been expecting you, this way please," the hostess leads Eva toward a private dining room.

It is normal for their dinners to take place in private dining rooms. Jon is a private man and Eva's celebrity status tends to interrupt dinner. The best solution is to hide out where no one can see them, where they can dine in peace.

Jon Toews gets up from his seat when Eva enters the private room. She smiles at him and pulls him into a bone crushing hug when he walks over to greet her. The hostess excuses herself and promises to come back with wine. When they are left alone, they both allow themselves to take their seats and conduct in conversation.

"How are you, JT?" Eva starts.

"I've been well, lost to Philly tonight though..."

"Come on, JT! We were counting on you to destroy our division rivals!" Eva sighs in defeat.

Jon laughs and picks up a glass of water to a sip from it. He has had several private dinners with his future sister-in-law, especially when her tour coincides with his road-trips. He always make it a point to invite her to dinner when they are in Chicago at the same time. However, she has not toured at all in the last couple of years. He has always wondered why she stopped but never felt compelled to ask. Eva is almost always an open book and if she is keeping something under wraps, there is a good reason.

"Kane somehow thinks he has a chance with you, especially since you're dating hockey players now," he says playfully.

Word on the street is that Eva is in a relationship with Mika Zibanejad from the New York Rangers. Jon is not one to read the tabloids but his teammates like to talk in the locker room.

"Did he miss the part where I am dating Mika and not him?" Eva asks, amused.

She respects that Kane never fails to shoot his shot. Eva recalls the hockey superstar moving in on Jacqueline once upon a time.

Jon's eyebrows perk up in interest since he can tell that she is radiating just from talking about her relationship. He has never seen her look this happy when talking about a relationship. He knows at this moment that this is more than a publicity ploy. Some of her relationships are ploys to promote a tour, album, or even an actor's new film. Although a handful of her relationships were legitimate, they never work out because with her lifestyle, it is hard to find true happiness.

"Oh? Do you like him?"

Eva tries to downplay her smile as her mind reverts to thoughts of Chris. Of course, she cannot unveil to Jon who she really is building a relationship with. She has to continue to play the part and the best way to do that is to tell half-truths.

"I really like him, Jonny! I haven't felt this way in like forever!"

The hostess comes back with the promised wine and starts pouring into their wine glasses. Eva thanks the woman and picks up the filled glass. The woman gestures behind her for the wait staff to bring the food in. All of a sudden, food is on their table.

"I know what you like by now," Jonathan comments.

Eva looks at the salmon dish in front of her gratefully. The Canadian hockey star is not wrong. Although she is confused as to why he could not have waited for her to review the menu before ordering, she is hungry and ready to devour the plate in front of her.

Once they are left alone, Jonathan speaks up again.

"He seems like a great guy," Jon observes, "really amazing hockey player too."

Eva nods in agreement.

"He really is."

Jonathan is delighted to hear that there is someone that Eva is smitten with. For the past year, she has given up on her pursuit of love. While it seems like they are both getting to know each other and love is not on the table yet, Eva has not had luck in the romance department and things might start to look up for her. Jon really hopes that the Swedish hockey player is truly the one for her. He has witnessed failure and devastation following Eva's romantic pursuits. For once, she needs an epic romance with someone she is madly in love with.

"We're going to have to do two weddings, ehh?" He teases.

Eva rolls her eyes. She knows he is only teasing her, and he does that sometimes. However, the topic of marriage used to be one that haunted her. She is almost 29 years old and she has failed at every aspect of her romantic life. Many instances, Eva thought she had found the one. In the end, she was wrong. The fact that her younger sister found the love of her life and is engaged at age 27 gives Eva pressure. Eva literally just met Chris. She has really strong feelings for him but it is way too early for her to be thinking about that.

Instead of letting herself go down that rabbit hole, Eva decides to change the topic.

"How's my sis?"

Jonathan drops his knife on the table, ignoring his food to give her his undivided attention. He knows that this is the only way the singer can check up on her younger sister. Jack is never one to discuss her wellbeing with her sister, or anyone else. He knows the drill by now. Eva and Cat gets all their information about Jack through him. Unfortunately, he is afraid he does not have a lot to offer this time around.

"She's doing well, I guess. Got a new big case to solve, it's in New York," Jon explains.

That explains why Chris saw Jack in the city. Eva had been confused about that until now.

"She's temporarily living in New York, right?"

Jon nods, "she's going back and forth for right now."

"Where is she staying?"

"Some hotel room, accommodation of the Chicago PD."

Eva shakes her head.

"She can stay in my flat," she offers.

Jon looks a bit hesitant.

"I don't know, Eva..."

"Look, I know how she is. She doesn't like handouts. Why don't we frame it like this... I need someone to house sit while I am on tour?" Eva suggests.

Her sister's fiancé mulls her suggestion over for a few moments before finally agreeing.

"She'll be back in Chicago in two days and I'll be able to catch her before she goes back to New York, so if you give me the keys, I'll give it a try," Jonathan says genuinely.

Eva pulls her house keys from her purse and tosses the object to Jon's waiting hand.

"This is the only one I have on me. I'm sure Lisa has a spare on her so I can actually go home when I'm done with this tour," she says.

Jon takes a bite out of his steak and waits until he is done chewing before responding to her.

"If Jack takes you up on that offer, I'll go to Home Depot and make a spare. When you play in Chicago next month, let's meet up again and I'll return your keys," Jon suggests.

Eva is surprised that Jonathan knows her tour schedule. The two have been pretty close since he started dating Jacqueline but she did not expect for him to go out of his way to study her tour schedule.

"Thanks, JT!"

"Now it's my turn," Jon takes a sip of his wine.

Eva raises an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"I have a question."

For once, Jon is the one who is trying to get information from Eva. It is typically the other way around, which is a nice change for Eva.

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

Jon clears his throat.

"Your mom, I want to know what happened to her."

Eva freezes.

"I..."

"If you are comfortable talking about it. I don't mean to make you relive it, I just want to understand Jack better."

Eva is not surprised that Jack has never opened up to Jon about their mother. She expected Jack to have opened up to her fiancé but it is so like her to keep memories of their mother close to her chest. Eva is unsure if she should reserve this issue for Jack to discuss with bim. It may not be in her place to tell Jon what happened.

Then again, Vera was also her mother. Eva does not owe Jack anything. She can talk about the pain she lived through following Vera Hale's death to a friend if she wants to. If Jack gets upset with her, that is what Eva will tell her.

"What do you know?"

Jonathan scratches his head.

"She went missing when Jack was 15 and they never found her. To this day, no one knows what happened."

Eva lets out a shaky breath as she thinks back to that day. She returned home from school to see police cars outside their apartment. At first, she thought law enforcement was there for one of their neighbors. However, by the time she got home, she realized something was wrong. She felt the dread in her heart as she faced the detective in their living room. Her father was distraught and in tears. It was the first time Eva had seen her father cry.

"Where's mom?" She had asked.

Dom Hale was silent as he wiped tears from his face. The detective placed a hand on her shoulder and explained that their mother was missing. Eva sensed something was wrong and noticed that their mother had not been home for a while.

Dom told his daughters that Vera had gone to Long Island for vacation. She had bought it and she felt stupid for assuming that her mother had gone on vacation without saying goodbye.

"It was the worst day of my life," Eva tells Jon, "we should have seen it all coming but we didn't realize until she was gone."

Jon reached over the table to place a hand over hers in reassurance.

"We were young but I was the oldest. I should have known something was wrong..." Eva explains, "mom had been acting distant for a while prior to her disappearance. She was around but it felt like she was not actually present with us. I suspected that she was fighting with dad or something."

Eva uses her other hand to pick up the wine glass. After taking a sip, she continues her story.

"We were in school so we did not know what mom was doing during the day. Every once in a while, she would get home late, after dinner time. I had to make dinner on those nights because she was not there," Eva says, "I did not think too much of it. Just assumed mom was busy with her friends or something, but not Jackie..."

Jonathan stirs at the mention of Jack.

"When mom disappeared, Jack took it the hardest. She blamed dad for not noticing that something was wrong with mom. She had been changing right in front of our eyes and dad did not do anything about it."

"Jack was very close to your mother," Jon notes.

"Yes. Growing up, Jack and mom were thick as thieves. They did everything together. Mom taught Jack how to play the violin and how to paint. Jack wanted to be just like her when she grew up. Before marrying our dad, mom was a painter. She was no Van Gogh or anything, but her paintings had sold. Greenwich housewives loved her shit. She stopped painting after she married our dad..."

Jonathan did not know that Jack had aspirations to become a painter. He did not even know his fiancée painted. It is concerning to him how little he knows about the woman he is about to marry

"Sorry, I went on a tangent. Point is, Jack never forgave our father for what happened to mom. She spent the next two years acting out and causing trouble for dad. But Jack studied hard and got a pretty hefty scholarship from University of Chicago. She left and never looked back. As you know, she studied criminology at college. Our mom's death changed the trajectory of Jack's life. She went from aspiring to paint at the New York Institute of Art and Design to wanting to become a detective so she can eventually figure out what happened to mom."

Jon removes his hand from Eva's.

"Thank you for sharing this," he says gratefully.

"Does this provide you with insight into Jack?"

"A little bit. It explains why I had to beg her to talk to your father about our wedding, although I doubt she will actually go through with it, to be honest. Is it cruel of me to encourage her to rekindle her relationship with your father?"

Eva shakes her head.

"Maybe I'm selfish but I think twelve years is long enough for Jack to hold that grudge. I just wish that Jack can see that dad is only human. He could have done something different, and who knows, maybe the same thing would have happened to our mom. While we all looked to him for protection, it is not fair for him to be expected to prevent everything bad from ever happening to our family."

The hockey player nods in understanding. He feels like he is overstepping and forcing himself to get to the bottom of Jack's troubled past, but she leaves him with no choice. It is so clear she is still affected by this. However, they are about to get married and start a new chapter to their lives. Jon needs Jack to confront her past and stop letting it define her.

Otherwise, he is not sure if there is room for this tragedy in their marriage.

"Thank you, Eva."