2nd Intermissions

I was actually looking forward to work, if you can believe it. It was the one thing that could calm my nerves.
Things were going smoothly, almost too smoothly, and it made me nervous.
I arrived early at the shared building, ready to do the paperwork that I had let settle on my desk. Calmly filling in the correct spaces with the correct information, I found myself humming and nodding my head.
When the receptionist knocked on the doorframe, I jumped, throwing the pen in the air.
"Patient in room one." The wily old woman caught the pen and placed it on my desk.
I smiled at her and said thanks as I followed her to the first examination room. She handed me the clipboard she had brought with her and I scanned it before walking in the room.
I barely had time to process the name before the door was closed behind me and I looked up at Antti, sitting on the table, swinging his legs. He smiled up at me, running his hands through his hair.
"You won't get in trouble for dating a patient, right?" Antti asked, glancing at the door behind me.
"We could always say we were dating before I got the job." I scanned the next page on the clipboard, absorbing the information.
I heard him chuckle and I sat in the doctor's stool and rolled over to where he sat. Antti looked down at me, his hair falling in his face. "Sore shoulder?"
"Yeah," He rotated his left shoulder, faking a wince. "I need to get it looked at before I start tomorrow night."
"You're lying about it being sore, aren't you?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about!" He said, acting shocked that I would ask.
"Antti, if they're is nothing wrong with you, why are you here?" I laughed, standing to put the clipboard back on the desk.
"I wanted to make sure you're still coming tomorrow night."
"Oh, of course I'm still coming! I wouldn't miss it for the world." I leaned against the wall, attempting to keep my space so I wouldn't do anything unprofessional.
"Because, you know, I'm starting."
I smiled worriedly at him, "I didn't congratulate you, did I?"
Antti shook his head.
Walking up to him, I placed my hands on either side of his face. "Congratulations on becoming the starter, Antti."
"Do I get a kiss?" He asked, leaning closer.
"Meet me after work and maybe you will, my no-longer-back-up goalie."

Of course, after he left, I had more time to myself in between a couple of new patients. A swimmer, a high school wrestler, and a minor league baseball player, in fact.
Right before the Blackhawks had played Calgary on the road trip (not even half-way through) Huet's bad performance forced Coach Q to announce that, "We'll all be seeing more of Niemi."
So, Antti would become the starter! Not in as many words, though. It was always tough to break it to the goalie who would become the back-up.
Unofficially, Niemi had become the starter, at least.
That night's game against Calgary was a sight to behold. I watched it in my room and I remembered being strung like a violin until halfway into the 2nd, Kane made it 1-0 and my breath whooshed out of me in a rush.
Soon the Flames tied it and we scored again in the 3rd, keeping the lead. They pulled their goalie and Duncan made it 3-1 for extra security. Of course, they picked the home town goalie who saved shot after shot and only let one in. Understandable, but Antti didn't even get a star.

When he called me that night, I told him, "You can be my #1 star." I had heard him chuckle and Antti replied, "Thank you."
I smiled in the memory and it was round-about that time to clock out and go home. When I stepped into my empty and dark apartment, I called Angelina.
"Hello?" She extended the 'o'.
"Are you still coming with me tomorrow to cheer on Antti, Troy, and the boys?" I dumped my purse on the kitchen table, walking to my bedroom, shedding my jacket.
"Of course! Troy is making my wear his away jersey. He managed to con the equipment manager out of it for tomorrow night." I could hear her giggle, something Angelina does not do often.
"Yeah, I'm wearing Antti's Pelicans jersey." I saw it, still folded on the dresser.
"No. Way." Angelina may not have worked for the Blackhawks, but just like me, she was a super fan- nothing got past her intellect. She knew exactly how big of a deal that was. Earlier in the season, she had assigned her students vocabulary and turned on the season opener in the middle of the day.
It was my turn to chuckle lightly. "Number 31, like it has been always."
"Troy never offered his Moosejaw jersey to me." Of course, she was referring to the Moosejaw Warriors, Brouwer's team before the Norfolk Admirals.
"Maybe it doesn't mean as much as the Hawks jersey." I quickly changed out of my clothes while still holding the phone to my ear.
"Hmm. That's cute." She said, and I stretched out on my bed.
"You'll be driving me, right?" I asked sarcastically, but to my surprise- she replied with, "Yeah, I'll pick you up at your apartment at..game starts at seven thirty...warm ups...we need to get there at seven..." She thought out loud.
"Pick me up at six thirty?" I laughed.
"That sounds good! See you then?"
We hung up and I stretched again across the bed, cracking my back.
"Oh jeeeesus." I spoke to the empty room, feeling my muscles strain.
Maybe I should start going to the gym or do some yoga. When I was running around all day with the Blackhawks, I never felt this tense.

My next day started early and drizzled by. The slow movement of the events made me even more anxious for tonight.
"Patient in room two." The receptionist said from my open office door. Standing, my high heels clicked in the tiled hallway as I made my way to the room two's closed door. I grabbed the clipboard and opened the door to see Hjalmarsson sitting in my stool.
"Hey buddy!" I said, motioning for him to sit on the table, instead. He smiled and obliged, but then his smile fell.
"What's wrong?" I asked, scanning the clipboard to see that his foot was having trouble. Broken toe.
"Mr. Bowman doesn't want us...outsourcing? Outsourcing our..health?" Niklas said, confusion clear in his voice.
My face dropped and his gaze swept to the floor.
"Hey, it's not your fault. It's understandable, actually." I reasoned with him, sitting on the stool and rolling towards his foot.
"Thank you..do you work tomorrow?"
"Of course, Nik!" I laughed, trying to show him that it was fine.
When really, it wasn't. After he had left, I realized that my friends could no longer come to visit me for stupid, funny reasons. Granted, they had only been visiting for a couple days, but it sucked. I sighed, then glanced at my watch.

Giddy, I left the office and drove home, blasting music that got me even more excited.
Once I parked the car and flew up the stairs, I shed my work clothes and jumped in the shower. And as I dried myself, I did a mental catalog of my clothes. I knew I would be wearing Antti's jersey..but what would I wear under it? Were we going to see each other after the game?
Standing in front of my closet in only a towel, I chuckled to myself and grabbed the Blackhawks colored bra and panty set.
Once Angelina had arrived in front of my apartment, I had donned myself in Antti's Pelicans jersey (not sporting an undershirt), some dark jeans that hugged nicely, and a pair of low wedges. My hair was tamed and my make-up slightly darker than it was earlier, and I was grinning as I trampled down the stairs and jumped in Gina's car.
"Troy gave me your ticket from Antti, too." She greeted me with a heavy paper ticket. I gladly took it and put it in my back pocket.
The ride was slow and jerky, the same way Angelina had driven since she first got her license and to avoid watching the cars, I looked down at the large jersey. I had grabbed a rubber band and did the age old trick of pulling some of the fabric near the hip and tying it, then tucking it underneath. That helped somewhat, but the massive blue sweater still billowed out. I found myself tracing the emblem in the center with my fingers and glancing at the advertisements that sat on the shoulders. I noticed for the first time all the puck marks that dotted the fabric.
The game after Niemi had given up one goal to the Flames is when they played the Vancouver Canucks. Antti had started again, and after letting three goals pass in the first period, was taken out for Huet to start the second. Angelina and I were in a loud uproar in her apartment, yelling things at the television. I remembered him calling me that night, sadness lacing his voice. They had lost 5-1 and I could hear the pain of the loss in his phone call that night.
We finally made it safely to the game and we rushed to our seats, eager to watch the warm-ups. When Angelina glanced at her ticket again to try and find the seats, she almost dropped the root beer she had just bought.
"Sam, these are glass-seats."
"No." I dug the ticket out of my back pocket where I had replaced it after having it scanned at the entrance. I knew we were 100-level, but not.."Oh..Angelina, do you know what section this is?"
"Actually, I do." She still sounded as shell-shocked as I did. We approached the seats, directly behind the bench and sat down in them, our breathing heavy as season-ticket holders filled in their seats adjacent to us.
"I..can't believe this." In all our years loving the Blackhawks, we had never actually had 100-level tickets. These seats were worth a pretty penny and we both knew that the guys had gotten them for next to nothing.
Our home team skated onto the ice, and applause burst out of the fans that already sat in their seats. Angelina and I clapped also, our grins unable to keep off our faces.
"Angelina, this is awesome." I told her without tearing my eyes away from the guys stretching, and Antti doing butterflies.
"Oh, I know. OH LOOK AT TROY." She said urgently, grabbing my arm. I winced from the tight grip and scanned the ice for the the red counterpart of Angelina's sweater.
He was stretching, and Gina's overworked hormones honed in on the fact he was bending over, his butt in our direction.
"Aw man, I don't want to see that. He's like a freaking brother, man!" I said, my eyes going back to watching the heavily padded Antti skate.

After the warm-ups that were hell on my arm- Angelina grabbed at it whenever Troy was stretching in a somewhat erotic way. "Woman! Stop that!" I had told her.

The opening face-off had happened almost directly across from where we sat and I was momentarily distracted by our proximity to the bench. I could pound my fist on the glass and irritate Coach Q if I wanted to. I smiled at the thought and focused my eyes on the puck until the first period ended, scoreless and tense. You could cut the tension between these two teams with a knife. St.Louis was just waiting for the Hawks to slip up, so they could either score, or get violent. I had noticed how the boards shook harder than they normally do.
The second period started with a fight, Ben Eager had left T.J. Oshie bleeding as he accepted his place in the penalty box across the rink. Halfway through, Ladd had scored with assists from Kopecky and Fraser. Angelina and I shot out of our seats and pumped our fists to 'Chelsea Dagger', almost spilling our pop as we pounded on the glass.
With a 1-0 lead and a fight, the second period ended with even more intensity, Antti making acrobatic saves that made me stand and yell my praise with the rest of the home crowd.
Sitting with the rest of the crazed fans, I enjoyed watching games like this much more than I enjoyed watching the games in the tunnel. During the second intermission, we abandoned our seats for five minutes while we ran to the bathroom, the root beer leaving us bouncing in the chairs.
The third period was punctuated by roughing penalties between players, both teams feeling the pressure.
Antti had been on the other side of the net when a St.Louis player poked it past the goal line. The crowd almost audibly groaned as the seconds ticked down to bring us into overtime.
Angelina and I ceased to be dramatic as we gripped each other's arms when overtime began. I was nervous for Antti when they played at that end and the score went from 1-1 to 2-1 as Kane found the back of the net.
The United Center erupted and when we pounded against the glass, we could barely hear "Chelsea Dagger" or "Rock You Like a Hurricane". The plexiglass swayed and pulsated with the fans fists, and my heart filled with the feeling of this city behind the Blackhawks. I rubbed the space behind my ear that was filled with ink and the crossed hatchets graced the skin there. I never felt more proud for this whole town as the lights dimmed and they announced the third star.
"Your third star, Andrew Ladd!"
"Your second star of the night, with 38 saves, Antti Niemi!"
"Chicago, your number one star of the night, with the game winner in overtime, Patrick Kane!"
I saw Ladd and Antti retreat into the locker room as the woman from Comcast Sportsnet interviewed Kane on the ice.
"Where do we go now?" Angelina said, grabbing her purse.
"I have an idea." I quickly calculated how long it would take the boys to get dressed. Angelina followed be dutifully as I weaved my way through the crowd, finding the hallway that I needed. It looked nondescript, until you saw the rather large man leaning against the wall across from the dark wooden door I knew so well.
"Ralph!" I called, outside the hallway. He looked up and smiled, his dark skin crinkling.
"Hey doc, how are you?" He approached up.
"I'm fine, and how are you holding up?" I made small talk with Ralph, introducing him to Angelina.
"I assume you're waiting for the kids?" He had always referred to them as 'kids', and his southern personality peeked through.
"Yeah, that win was amazing!"
"I didn't know you were seeing Niemi now." Ralph had motioned his eyes to both the 31's on my arms. I laughed and rubbed the back of my neck, nodding.
"Well, he's a good kid. I never liked you dating Burish..Something about those cheeseheads." He shook his head.
I chuckled and Angelina hit my arm. Before turning to see what was wrong with her, I saw Brouwer come out from the door, dressed in his suit. His face lit up when he saw Angelina standing there in his away jersey and Ralph jerked his head, giving her the green light to rush to him.
"Still bossing everyone around, I see." I laughed with him as we watched to two hug.
"Oh, you know it, doc." The nickname was more affectionate coming from the aging security guard and I watched as Versteeg, followed by Ladd and Hjalmarsson walked out.
"Doc!" They said, approaching me to engulf me in a manly group hug. "Come back!" "Be the doc again!" I heard them say and I peeled myself away from them.
"You guys are ridiculous. You should have visited the practice while you could." I said, shaking my head.
Versteeg had a funny look on his face as he said, "Oh, no worries."
The other guys came out of the locker room and I saw Antti just barely over the other tall players. Being 6"2 wasn't helpful when all the other guys were 6", too.
He caught my eye and picked up his stride towards me. His gray suit and blue tie looked good on him as he wrapped his arms around my upper arms and he crushed me in a hug, kissing my forehead. I heard Kopecky yell, "OW OWW!" and another player (most likely Versteeg) shout, "DO WORK, NIEMI!" I was laughing so hard and trying to breathe while crushed into Antti's chest.
"Not that I don't like this and everything, can you let go so I can breathe?"
I felt him chuckle and release me. I took dramatic gulps of air and he said, "You look better than fantastic in that sweater."
I felt heat rise in my face and I said, "Thanks."
"Angelina is driving Brou home, do you want to come over to my apartment? Tomas is going out with the guys." A smile was on the side of his mouth as always and I agreed quickly, following him out to the garage after waving goodbye to the guys and we left to a chorus of more cat-calls and, "STAY VERTICAL, KIDS!" that I knew didn't come from Ralph.

My long legs matched his stride and we made it to his SUV in no time and I slid into the bench seat. Antti started the engine and I leaned my head against the head rest.
The ride was pleasantly quiet until he asked, "Did you like your seat?"
I let out an un-ladylike guffaw and replied, "Antti- I LOVED the seat! It was the closest I've ever had a seat."
He cast a sideways glance at me before turning back to the streets and I kept my gaze on his profile, vaguely registering the unfamiliar neighborhood.
Antti's chin was soft, not jutting- perfect for his rounded jaw. I cast my eyes upward to the cute curve of his nose and noted how it turned up at the end, just a hair- barely noticeable. What I did notice, was the lack of stubble and attendance of a pre-beard.
"Are they guys not shaving again?" I asked quietly, reaching over and brushing my hand across his cheek and jaw.
He chuckled and I dropped my hand. "Yeah, but I still need to trim it, or else I'd look like Santa."
I laughed with him and Antti used his free hand to pat the bench seat next to him. I quickly unbuckled my seat belt and slid into the middle, clicking that seatbelt into place.
He brought his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side. I sighed, letting my eyes close for a little.

I felt someone gently place a kiss on my forehead and I woke up, feeling around me for the car that I was just in. Instead, I was in an unfamiliar apartment building, laying on a soft bed.
My eyes found Antti, standing near the edge of the bed, pulling his tie off. I noticed his jacket already draped over a chair in the corner.
"Nice bedroom. How did you get me up here?" I commented, looking down at my shoe-less feet.
Antti chuckled, "Carried you." and began unbuttoning his dress shirt. I didn't believe him, but all the evidence agreed with him being able to carry me. I swung my legs off the bed and drowsily made my way over to him. Stilling his hands, I replaced them, methodically unbuttoning until I reached his waist band. Smiling down at me, Antti pulled the shirt out of his dress pants with my help and I released the last button from its hole. I slid it off his shoulders and he let it fall on the floor as I toyed with the hem of his white undershirt. The soft cotton was still between my fingers when he captured my lips with his own. I still felt the sleep at the corners of my consciousness, but I also felt his heat underneath his thin tee as he pressed me against him and my hands were trapped between our bodies.
He released my lips and said against them, "You're tired, let's go to bed."
I shook my head and nibbled his lower lip until he rested his forehead against mine. It was me who captured his lips this time, and our noses bumped while he backed me up until I fell onto the bedspread.
Our lips separated again and I saw Antti kicking his socks off. I used his belt to drag him onto the bed with me. His body rested on top of mine and when his already swollen lips touched mine, I felt my head get light- a feeling I have now associated with Antti's touch and his lips. The constant feeling of being filled with air usually came before the flood of passion for him. It was an odd combination of feelings for one guy, but I soon acted on it, raising my hands to his hair.
I felt his chest rumble when I lightly tugged on a handful of his dark blond hair. He had pulled my tongue into his mouth and now very gently bit it. My head felt like it only held air and my hips thrust up to meet his. He gasped at the blatant grinding of my hips to his and released my mouth.
"Minun täytyy hillitä itseäni." Antti whispered into the electrified air. My head dropped back into the bedspread and he looked down at me, a question crossing his face.
"I don't mean to be forward, Antti, but do you even know how erotic hearing you speak Finnish is?" I groaned out, closing my eyes again, absorbing the feeling of him against me.
"Oh?"
I just nodded, and registered his hands run up my sides.
"Dirty things?" He asked and my head moved on it's own now as I tried to pull his head down to mine again.
"Tämä tunne, että päälle sinulle ja kun korotat lantion minun, minä vaadi paljon itsehillintää." He had almost-whispered, before crushing his lips to mine again. My fingers ran through his hair, massaging his scalp as he pushed my hips into his bed.
The way Antti could make me feel was..insane- and even that was an understatement. Only he could make me want to hug and cuddle with him, want to have fun and go out with him, and make me want to sleep with him this early in the relationship.

I had fully intended to sleep with him that night as our breathing became more erratic. I pulled his shirt above his head and wrapped his legs between mine as I rolled us over, so I was straddling his lap.
Antti squeezed his eyes shut and I could see him attempting to restrain himself.
"You're not going to hurt me, Antti." I whispered to him in the near-darkness and pressed my fingers into his bare skin.
There was hair on his chest, I could tell it was the same blond as his beard, but longer, and more sparse. His torso was like feeling a brick wall through a blanket. Soft, but you could feel the muscle underneath. Antti's biceps were perfect goalie biceps. He had strong arms that didn't follow the same rules as his torso, these were just like gripping iron. I leaned over him, no longer resting on his lap, and began kissing his neck, sucking some of the skin into my mouth and sucking hard, determined to leave a love bite as I worried it with my teeth. I could hear the sharp intake of breath from him and felt his hands grip the backs of my upper thighs. I moved down from his neck to his chest and felt the hair brush my face. I kissed my way down to his belly button, where I found a blond trail of hair leading beyond the waistband of his dress pants. I looked up at him and saw Antti looking back down at me, his husky eyes bright in the twilight of his bedroom. I smiled up at him and looked back down at the trail of hair. Kissing my way down that, too, I reached the barrier of his pants. I kissed along it and could feel him pressing against the pants. His hands crept inward on my thighs and he pulled me back up to his face.
His breathing was ragged and he managed to say, "Sinun täytyy lopettaa..Lopettaa." I tilted my head until Antti clarified, "Let's...stop. I don't want you to- "
I interrupted him, "I know you don't want me to do anything I will regret. I don't feel like regretting this." I lowered my bottom until it rested just below the bulge in his pants.
"Please, I don't want this to be spoiled between us. Let's wait and I promise it will be worth it." He reached down and adjusted himself within his pants.
I nodded, understanding his logic. "Okay. It's not my fault, though?" I said, unsure.
His face bore into mine, "Samantha- it will never be your fault. This is taking..so much will power." I noticed how he struggled to translate Finnish into English. I smiled and kissed the tip of his nose. "Good."
"Let's try to sleep, you have work, right?"
I nodded again, knowing that I would have to set the alarm on my phone an hour early so we could return to my apartment. I told him this as I slid off him and the bed.
He agreed and shed his belt and his dress pants, throwing them off the bed before crawling underneath the blankets. I had caught a glimpse of his boxers and I laughed as I untied the jersey, letting it fall to mid-thigh and wiggling out of my jeans and kicking them to the side. I turned my back to his eyes and pulled the jersey over my head before climbing into the bed next to him. As his arms wrapped around my bare sides and I shivered at the contact, he said, "You really do love the Blackhawks."
A blush rose to my face at the knowledge that he had seen my undergarments. I laughed my approval and as I curled into his spoon, I debated whether staying the night here would be a good idea. A mental battle raged on until I heard Antti utter one word, "Pysyä."
I didn't need a translation from him. Just that single word uttered against the back of my neck and the inflection he used it in tipped me off. He pulled me in tighter against his body and I dozed off.
Stay.