Lost In Love

~March 2011~
Jazzmine was in the hospital all night with labor pains driving her crazy. Max had taken the next few games off because of how close she was to giving birth to their new child. This time she had managed to actually wait to find out what they were having until she had it. Véro and Marc had bet them that they wouldn’t be able to hold out until she had the baby. This season the team was going for three in a row and it was something that had never been accomplished in the Penguins history. Max’s contract was up at the end of the season and right now they didn’t know where they were going to be in another year.

Her father had flown in on the red eye flight last night to get there to see his new grandchild born. Max’s parents were going to fly in the next day after she had the baby. They didn’t want to crowd the hospital to much for the family. It was going to be hard enough with the little girl around to be able to handle all the family and the visitors that were sure to be popping up out of nowhere. Sidney had already promised his favorite niece that he was going to be there to visit her new baby brother or sister the next day because they had a game that night. Rosalie was jumping up and down in the waiting room with her papa while her mom was in the other room with her dad having a baby.

“One more push come on baby” Max said kissing her head. “You are the most amazing wife and mother in the world” She smiled and cried out in pain as she pushed one last time to get the baby out.
“Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Talbot it’s a little girl” The doctor smiled. “Here you go” He handed the scissors to Max again.
“I can’t believe after so many years I’m still so crazy in love with you and have two beautiful little girls to show for it.” He smiled down at his new daughter, Sasha Francine Talbot.

Rosalie came bounding in the door once the doctor went out and told her she had a new baby sister. She went over to her dad and tugged on his legs for him to pick her up. When she looked down at her baby sister she had a smile on her face and wanted to sit on the bed with her mama. Max wouldn’t let her do that quite yet since the baby needed to get fed and everything. Her father came in the room with a smile on his face walking over to his daughter who was holding his newest grandchild. A long time ago if someone would have asked him what he thought about her marrying Maxime Talbot he’d have said she was crazy. Now he was completely in love with her and her family. They had given him two stunning granddaughters and they were his life and what kept the joy on his face day and night.

Jazzmine let her dad hold onto Sasha and took some pictures of the new baby and her papa. Max was still holding Rose and let her lean down and give the new baby a kiss on the forehead. She was so excited that she was going to be a big sister. All she could talk about was playing Barbie’s with Sasha when she was older. It was getting close to her third birthday so everyone was all excited about that. Now she was quite a talker at almost three years old. She could hold conversations with people, well at least simple ones. Jazzmine couldn’t believe she was a year and half away from putting her daughter into kindergarten. Now she had a new daughter in her arms and was so excited to have her children.

“Baby go sleepy” She said as she leaned into her Dad’s chest.
“Yeah and someone else has to get home to sleep too” He said giving his wife a kiss.
“Daddy stay with mama.” Roaslie scolded him.
“I’m going to be with mama tomorrow papa is staying with her tonight so I can stay home with you.”
“Bye mommy, love you” She waved at her mom. “Give baby kisses.”

The next day Max’s parents came to visit the new baby. They had been learning English from her dad so they were able to talk to her a little more. Rosalie would talk to them in French and say things even her mother didn’t understand. That was something that was very important to her and Max that their children grew up knowing both languages. It was possible that in a year they would be back in Canada because he was going to be on the trading block at the end of the season if they didn’t sign him in Pittsburgh. Jazzmine hated to play the role of the doubter but the way he’d been performing was enough to make anyone doubt whether or not he’d be signed again at the end of the season. It was like he was starting to downhill like he had the last season. Even though he was injured most of last season aside from being busy with the family.

After his parents left the hospital he called some of his teammates to come and visit the newest Talbot. Véro and Marc came with Àmelie. The second that Sidney walked in the door Rosalie darted for him. He bent down and picked her up into his arms twirling her around the room as she giggled. That was something he couldn’t get enough of the joy that was on her face every time she saw him. It was going to be weird for her once his girlfriend moved in. Sidney had started dating Jessica more permanitnly after they’d split for a couple months. He’d even asked her to move in with him and she’d accepted. He didn’t tell Rosalie yet that he was thinking about asking her to marry him. For a three year old she sure thought she was Sidney’s only girl in life.

“So how are you going to tell the princess that she isn’t your only princess?” Max said to him. “You have to tell her Jessica is moving in with you eventually.”
“I know I just don’t want to break her little heart.”
“Dude she’s still going to adore you no matter what.” He laughed at his friend. “She’s a Talbot for gosh sakes we adore everyone without the name Ovechkin attached.”
“I know but I don’t want her to hate Jessica.”
“She loves Jess” Max argued. “Just because she is moving in with you isn’t going to make my daughter suddenly hate her.” He laughed “She’s three, she loves anyone that plays Barbie with her.”

They brought the baby home a few days later and got her situated in her new room. Her Aunt Véro and Uncle Marc got her new stuffed animals to put in her bed. Her Uncle Sidney got her a little hockey stick to play with once she got older. Of course leave it to him to encourage their children to play hockey at a young age. Rosalie and him already started she was three years old and skating better than her mother ever could. They went to the rink sometimes and she went out with her father to skate around. She got her first set of hockey gear from her Uncle for her birthday. That was what Sidney was giving her in three weeks when they had her birthday and her party. He made sure it was okay with her mom and dad before he bought it.

Max had a game that weekend so he had to leave the baby at home and travel to Philly. That was the hardest thing about being a dad was leaving them behind. Everyone was asking him about his new baby all the media wanted to know what she was like. He would laugh because they asked if he was used to it wasn’t like he hadn’t gone through it before. Sometimes the media asked him the dumbest questions but he would answer them anyway because that was part of the job description of being a hockey player in the public eye. The guys played their hearts out in Philly and they ended up winning the game. Afterwards they flew back home to Pittsburgh and Max got home early in the morning. He went to sleep for 7 hours and then woke up when the baby did.

“She’s up” Jazzmine said sitting in the bed. “I guess that means we have to be up too.”
“Yea it does” He grinned getting out of bed. “I’m gonna go check on Rose and see if she’s awake.”

It seemed like not long ago he was just getting married and falling in love and now he had two children and a wife that he loved more than anything in the world. The past few years have been some of the best years of his life. He won the Stanley Cup two years in a row, Canada won the gold medal at the Olympics and yes he let his daughter sucker him into buying another dog. So now they had three dogs, Bebe, Kria, and Honey. Rosalie was so excited about having a little sister and a new puppy she was telling everyone in her pre-school about it. That was something else that he couldn’t believe he had a child in school already. It wasn’t long ago that he looked at his teammates who had children in school and wondered what it was going to be like for him and now that time was there.

Max felt like he was living a dream that year having a new child and fighting for a championship again. The Penguins made it into playoffs and everyone in the family couldn’t have been more excited. This time around Jazzmine and the kids went to every single game no matter where it was during playoffs. She was staying at hotel rooms with the kids while they were playing all over the place. They made it to the Eastern Conference final and it was against the Tampa Bay Lightning. That was nice because Colby had been traded there so she got to catch up with Natasha and their little boy Michael. The couples went out for dinner during their off nights but during the games they were not friends. She wanted nothing more than to see her husband make history before possibly leaving the team at the end of the season.

Seeing him raise the cup again was like a dream come true for her. They had beaten the Chicago Blackhawks in five games and won on their ice. It was the first time they had won the cup on their ice since the new arena opened up. Everyone was so happy for them and it was getting close to Sid’s last season with the team as well. That was the reason everyone thought Max was going to leave because they had to re-negotiate a long term deal with Sidney and they weren’t going to waste time on Max that season. He had pretty much accepted that this was his last time with Pittsburgh so he was going to enjoy his time with the cup as long as he possibly could. They packed up everything in their apartment and headed back to Montreal for the summer.

“Max I’m sorry” His agent said to him over the phone.
“It’s okay really, we were prepared for it.” He sighed. “It’s just going to be hard on Rosalie leaving Sidney.”
“I’m sure he will come and visit her whenever he can and Jazzmine will take her to see him.”
“Yeah” Max said trying to fight tears. “It was a good run while it lasted.”

Their time in Pittsburgh had come to an end and even though it was bitter sweet it still hurt like hell. The day that he had to look in his daughter’s eyes and tell her that they were leaving Pittsburgh was the worst day of his life. Sidney had come over to hopefully make things a little bit easier on her. She threw herself into her Uncle’s arms and didn’t want to let him go. He said he’d see her at him and Jessica’s wedding that summer and she was still the most special girl in the world. Rosalie wouldn’t talk to her father much after that but eventually she would get over it. Jazzmine felt horrible for ripping her daughter away from her life in Pittsburgh and her friends. It was a wait and see game to find out where they were going to be next season. Max had played great in playoffs and they knew he was going to get an offer it was just a matter of where he got that offer. She was hoping it was somewhere not to far away from Pittsburgh so they could still go and visit friends.

“Max how do you feel about Carolina?” his agent asked “They are offering a five year 22 million dollar contract”
“How close is that to Pittsburgh?” He asked and his agent figured that was going to be the question.
“It’s about ten hours but it’s less when you fly” He replied. “I think it’s a good deal it would be stupid not to take it.”
“Let me talk to Jazz and give you a call back.”

That was it after he talked to Jazzmine the decision was made. For 22 million dollars they were going to be spending their next five years in Carolina. It was going to be quite a change but it was something that they had to do for Max. The girls were going to accept it and be fine. Her father was sad to see Max not playing for Pittsburgh but he was going to support him no matter what team he played for. Sidney was upset and so were Marc and Véro they couldn’t believe their best friends weren’t going to be there next year. It was going to be hard on Jazzmine to make all new friends since she’d gotten so close to the women in Pittsburgh but she knew she would. Plus she already knew Tanya Staal so if all else failed she had her to hang around with.