Do I Dream Again

Kyra couldn’t believe how excited Sophia had been all week. She had been counting down the days until the daddy-daughter dance, ecstatic that Henrik was going with her. She had made sure to tell Stacey that she was wrong about her and that she really was going to have someone to go with her. Stacey, who happened to come from a Red Wings loving family, was furious when Sophia had informed her that Henrik Zetterberg was going to come with her to the dance, and Stacey had proceeded to point out that Henrik wasn’t really Sophia’s father. But, not even hearing Stacey say that could bring Sophia down right now.

Sophia was currently dancing around the apartment, and Kyra was nervous that she was going to run into something and hurt herself. “Sophia, sweetie, why don’t you sit down for a while? You’re going to be dancing all night,” she reminded her as there was a knock on the door. Kyra walked over to the door, noticing that Sophia had just ignored her. She opened the door to see Kristina and Sadie standing there. “What are you two doing here?” Kyra inquired, opening the door wider to let them inside.

“What time’s the dance tonight?” Sadie asked, sitting down on the couch, smiling at Sophia dancing.

“Seven,” Kyra answered. “Why?”

“Well, if we can’t buy tickets to this event, then we’re going to be here when Hank arrives all dressed up and ready to dance. And, if I can get him to do so, I’d like a little preview,” Kristina said with a smile.

Kyra burst out laughing. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I can already tell you that there’s no way in hell Hank’s going to give you a dancing preview. I’m still shocked he agreed to do this for Soph. He keeps telling me how bad he is at dancing,” she explained, still laughing.

“Well, you’re going to have to convince him to give us a preview,” Sadie told her.

“And, how exactly do you plan on me doing that?” Kyra inquired.

“I can think of a thing or two that you could do that would change his mind,” Kristina told her, raising an eyebrow.

“Shut up,” Kyra laughed, hitting her lightly in the arm. “I am not going to whore myself out so you can see him dance!”

“Please?” Sadie asked.

“No,” Kyra told her, shaking her head. “Sorry.”

“What kind of friend are you?” Sadie asked her jokingly. “You’re not even willing to seduce your boyfriend so your friends can see him dance.”

Kyra started laughing as there was another knock on the door. “Well, you can try to convince him yourselves,” she told Sadie and Kristina as she went to open the door. “Hank, Sadie and Kristina are trying to get me to…” she trailed off when she realized that it wasn’t Henrik standing there, but instead saw Jonathan and Valtteri. “What are you guys doing here?” she asked curiously. “Did you come to get these two?” she asked, pointing towards Kristina and Sadie.

Valtteri nodded his head, going over to Kristina, who simply stared at him. “I’m not leaving until I see Hank dance,” she told him, and Valtteri shook his head. “What?” she asked him. “Are you really going to tell me you don’t want to see Hank dance?” she questioned.

“It would be funny,” Valtteri admitted.

“See,” Kristina said, folding her arms across her chest.

“Fine,” Kyra sighed. “You can all stay here and wait for Hank to get here, but I’m warning you, it’s very unlikely that he’s going to give you a preview.”

“That’s fine,” Sadie said with a smile. “I can be very persuasive when I want to be.”

“That is true,” Jonathan said with a nod of his head, causing everyone to start laughing at him.

Sophia came dancing out into the living room, and Kyra couldn’t help but smile at her daughter. Sophia had been wearing her dress that Kyra had bought for her all day, and she was currently twirling around, causing the bottom of the skirt to fly outwards. “Aww,” Sadie and Kristina said at the same time.

“Sophia, please don’t hurt yourself,” Kyra begged, scared she was going to fall.

“I won’t,” Sophia assured her mother, who continued to dance around the apartment, causing Kyra just to shake her head at her, knowing she wasn’t going to listen to her.

“There he is!” Sadie said excitedly as there was a knock on the door. “Be persuasive,” she ordered Kyra who simply ignored her and continued walking to the front door.

Kyra’s eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open when she saw Henrik standing on the other side, looking as handsome as she had ever seen him. “You look amazing,” she told him with a smile, moving aside to let him come inside. “I guess it’s a good thing they don’t let just anyone go to this thing because all those single mothers would be all over you,” she added.

“Well, I only want one of those single mothers,” Henrik replied quietly in her ear as he leaned down to give her a kiss.

“So, do we get a preview?” Kristina spoke up, and Henrik turned around to look at her, confused. “Of your dancing,” she clarified. “Can we get a preview?” she repeated. “Since we can’t go.”

“No,” Henrik said simply, shaking his head, which caused Kyra to laugh.

“What?” Kristina cried. “Why not?”

“I’m not dancing for you guys.”

“But, you’re going to a dance.”

“For Sophia,” Henrik stated. “That’s the only reason I’m going.”

“What I wouldn’t give to be that little girl right now,” Sadie mumbled, just as Sophia came running out to the living room, having heard her name. She had a wide smile on her face as she spun around.

“Hi, Hank!” she beamed up at him. “Are you ready to go?” she asked excitedly, grabbing his hand with her tiny one, dragging him towards the door.

“Wait, Soph,” Sadie called out, suddenly getting an idea. Sophia stopped in her tracks and spun around to look at Sadie. “Don’t you want to give us a little preview? You know, you and Hank dance a little bit?” she asked hopefully.

Henrik’s eyes widened, realizing how deceitful Sadie was being right now. “No,” Sophia said, shaking her head, and Henrik let out a sigh of relief. “I want to get to the dance,” she added with a smile, and Sadie put her head back against the couch, unable to believe her plan hadn’t worked.

Kyra laughed as she walked over to her daughter, who was still trying to drag Henrik towards the door. “Bye, Sophia. Have a fun time tonight,” she told her, and Sophia gave her mother a kiss. “Thank you again,” Kyra told Henrik, giving him a quick kiss before leaning in close and whispering in his ear, “Do I get to see some of your dance moves tonight?”

“I think we can work something out,” he said suggestively, and Kyra smiled at him, nodding her head.

“Go, before Sophia rips your arm out of its socket, and I have to explain to all of Detroit why one of their star players is out for the season,” Kyra told him. “I’ll see you tonight, and thank you!”

“Stop thanking me,” Henrik told her, walking out the door. “I’ll see you later.”

“Not fair!” Sadie called out as soon as the door shut behind Henrik. Kyra turned around, looking at her curiously, wondering what she was talking about. “You’ll use your seductive skills to your own advantage but not to help out your best friends?” she questioned.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Kyra smiled, nodding her head.

***

Sophia walked into the room for the dance, and she could immediately feel everyone’s eyes move in her direction, which put her at unease. She looked up at Henrik, hating the fact that all these men and their daughters were staring at her. She was still not comfortable around men, something she hadn’t taken into consideration when she had been so excited for the dance.

Henrik saw Sophia’s reaction, and he immediately grabbed her hand, guiding her inside further. He knew that the only reason everyone was staring at them was because he played for the Red Wings. No one would figure that a big hockey player was going to accompany a little girl to a dance.

He only hoped that as the night went on that people would stop staring. He could see that Sophia was now apprehensive about the whole event, and he just wanted her to have fun. It was her night, after all.

A tall, blonde girl, about Sophia’s age came walking over to them, stopping right in front of them. She looked from Sophia with a look of disgust to Henrik with a look of awe and back again. Henrik looked down at Sophia, wondering who this other girl was. Suddenly, a man that looked an awful lot like the small girl, obviously her father, walked up behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder. He looked up and saw Henrik, and his eyes went wide with shock. “I’m Tony Macdonald,” he introduced himself to Henrik, holding his hand out to shake, which Henrik did, still staring at the small blonde who was giving Sophia dirty looks. “This is my daughter, Stacey.”

“Hi!” Stacey said excitedly, perking up as she looked at Henrik.

“Henrik Zetterberg,” he told them.

“Why are you here with Sophia?” Tony asked, pulling Henrik off to the side a little bit so that Sophia didn’t hear them. “I mean, you’re not her father. I’d be surprised if Kyra even knows who the father is, with the way she is,” he mumbled, making Henrik angry. “Anyways, is this some kind of charity thing or something?” Tony inquired.

“No,” Henrik said through gritted teeth.

“Did Kyra pay you?” Tony questioned. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“No.”

“Oh,” Tony finally said. “She’s sleeping with you!” he exclaimed. “Of course that’s why you’d take her daughter to a dance!”

“You know, Tony, I’d get out of my way right now if I were you. Or, I can physically move you myself. But, do you really want to be embarrassed like that in front of your daughter? I mean, I have no problem with it, but I figured I’d give you the option,” Henrik told him in a low voice, causing Tony to immediately move to the side. “That’s what I thought,” Henrik murmured as he walked over to Sophia, asking her if she wanted to dance. Sophia quickly nodded her head, and they made their way out to the dance floor.

They danced for the next hour, everyone continuing to stare at them. Sophia had been bothered by it at first, but she soon began having fun, and started to ignore everyone’s eyes on them. She was laughing along with Henrik, who she had quickly learned really did not know how to dance. But, she didn’t care. She was just happy to have someone come with her to the dance.

As another song started, Sophia suddenly stopped dancing, and Henrik looked down at her, noticing she was staring off into the distance at something. He turned around to try to see what she was looking at, but he couldn’t see anything. When he turned back around, he saw that Sophia had turned extremely pale, and he began to worry that she was going to faint. He bent down to her level, putting his hands on her shoulders. “Sophia, what’s wrong?” he asked, as everyone began staring at them, wondering why they had stopped dancing.

“Don’t let him get me,” Sophia blurted out, and Henrik looked at her with a confused expression, not knowing what she was talking about. He stood up to look behind him. “Help me! Don’t let him get me,” she said, cowering behind him.

“Sophia, what’s going on?” he asked, still as confused as ever.

“Don’t let him hurt me!” she repeated, and Henrik finally realized what she was talking about. Standing in the corner was a man who looked eerily similar to Lance, and Henrik assumed Sophia thought it was in fact Lance. “Don’t let him get Mommy, either,” she cried, and Henrik saw that she had tears streaming down her cheeks.

“He won’t,” Henrik promised, picking her up and carrying her out of the dance as everyone watched them, wondering what was going on. “Sophia, he’s not going to hurt you,” Henrik told her as he got her outside. “That wasn’t Lance,” he explained.

Sophia looked up at him, her wide green eyes still full of tears. “It wasn’t?” she choked out. “Yes it was! I saw him! He was going to hurt me! Just like he said he would.”

“When did he say he was going to hurt you?” Henrik inquired, but Sophia shook her head, not wanting to answer. “Sophia, when did he say he was going to hurt you?” he asked once again.

“I see him in my dreams,” Sophia admitted to him. “He comes back home, and he says he’s going to hurt me and Mommy,” she explained quietly.

“Sophia, he won’t hurt you,” Henrik assured her. “I won’t let him hurt you or your mother.”

“You promise?” Sophia asked, looking up at him, holding out her pinky.

“I promise,” he replied, hooking his pinky with hers.