Heart of Man

Anna Trovato

“So you are telling me that you’ve spent the past month, puking your guts out for no reason, that Jordan Staal and Kris Letang went with you to the hospital in Pittsburgh, are camping out in your house, took you to the hospital yesterday morning before our game, they did biopsies and ran more tests, Paul Gaustad arrived this morning at your place, you didn’t tell me any of this, and continued to play.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Why were you throwing up?”

“He said that it was my body adjusting from overseas, to America, and that my body didn’t like it too much. Besides that, he said don’t worry if it stopped. He didn’t have an answer besides that. Everything came back clean. Spotless. Crystal. Running out of adjectives with my sleep deprivation.”

“When was the last time this happened?”

“Right before we left for Washington. Not since then.”

Guy Boucher watched me fidget in my seat. It was like one of those old cowboy show-downs, where things were fired back and forth, before silence. However, no amount of movies could prepare me for his next question. “Are you pregnant?”

My eyes widened, several things coming to mind of what to say. “I most certainly am not!”

“If you aren’t, give me a significant date.”

“April 13th.”

“What happened on that date?”

“That’s the last time I’ve engaged in activities.”

“With who?”

My face flushed, in which a grin crept onto my coach’s face. “That’s private.”

“Anna Trovato.”

“Dana and I went to this bar in Pittsburgh, and he kissed me.”

He deadpanned, looking at me with a ‘Are you serious?’ expression. “That’s your idea of ‘activities’? My God, clears everything up. I thought you were going to say something about Alex Semin..”

I groaned, interrupting my coach’s trolling. The entire team wouldn’t let me live game 1 or 2 down, and teased me at every chance they could. “Will you guys shut up about him? Nothing’s going on between us.”

“Tell me why Marty and Ryan were telling the locker room about how Harper came in, looking for Semin, and after leaving the medical room, where you were, he magically came out of it also, and through the locker room. Any idea where that story came from?” I wanted to crawl under a rock. It was ridiculously embarrassing, and they were only making it worse, by turning an innocent situation into the most perverted of ideas.

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Oh, then what was it like?”

“Coach, you’re like a high school girl. Nothing happened, and nothing will happen.” He smiled at my words, before looking behind me, nearly rolling in silent laughter. I turned the same way, only to see Martin St. Louis, Ryan Malone, and Steven Stamkos making kissing faces at me and each other, which obviously started when Semin’s name was mentioned. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Well, Anna, you brought it upon yourself.”

“I did no such thing.”

“Okay, fair enough, but you’ve got to give them something to do besides terrorize me.”

I looked at him, grinning like a fool, hoping to get back at him. “Should I send you a wedding invitation? You can be my maid of honour.”

“Get out of my office.”

~

“Hey Anna, I’ve got someone I want you to meet!” Raising my eyes, I saw Marty standing next to a young boy and girl, the girl in an Ovechkin jersey, and the boy in an over-sized Semin jersey. Not letting my face fall at the sight of it, I plastered a smile on my face, before skating over to the two.

“And who are these fantastic young children you have with you today?” Marty beamed, as he finished signing his jersey and handing it to the little girl.

“For you, princess.” He looked at me, laughing. “She asked. She said she’s my biggest fan, but Ovie’s still her favourite.”

The boy immediately giggled, before tugging on my jersey. “You have a funny accent.”

I grinned at him. “I do not!”

“It sounds just like my favourite player, Sasha! He has a voice just like yours, but his is badder.” His little-kid words made my heart soar. I wished I had used the word ‘badder’ as a kid. If mine doesn’t talk like that for a while, I probably wouldn’t know what to do with myself.

“It’s an accent, William. You have those when you come from an old place to a new place.” Sitting down on the ice, him and his sister followed suit. “What brings you both to Tampa Bay?”

“Mommy and Daddy are letting us go to all of Ovie’s & Sasha’s playoff games!”

My eyebrows rose. I knew exactly who he was now. True, the pictures and him had thrown me off with their similarity, but it was painstakingly obvious now. I’d give every penny I ever made, to make his life comfortable. “Oh?”

“I’m sorry about them, Miss Trovato.” Turning to see the newcomer, I saw a man and his wife watching us with huge smiles on their face. I shook my head, trying to dissuade them from becoming worried.

“It’s no problem at all.”

~

“We heard a lot about him, even this far south of Washington. I take it everything is going well?”

He only shrugged, but nodded instead, watching his wife skate with their children. “I can’t thank Alex enough for giving him hope.”

“Yeah.” A slight frown settling on my face, as William teased his sister with something he found on the ice. She squealed in happiness, before dragging her mother forward towards the boards’ door. “It was sweet of him.”

“I saw what was going on, during the ice, and about some of the problems in Vancouver. Ovie told us, to explain the tension.”” Snapping to him, my eyes widened. Just who else knew exactly was going on? Fuck it, it doesn’t even really matter at this point. Only shrugged because of a lack of words to respond, he chuckled softly, yet it had a warm, fatherly touch to it. “How old are you, Anna?”

Sighing deeply, I leaned against the wall, trying not to think about tonight, the voicemail my own father left me, where I would be, what I would be doing, or even my birthday in general. “I’ll be 25 in July.”

“Give it a chance, Anna.” His hand rested on my shoulder, warm smile on his face. “Give him a chance.”

Why was everyone being so ominous today?

“Miss Anna?” I glanced back to see William behind me, fidgeting nervously. He truly looked adorable in his too-big jersey, and Caps hat on his head.

Kneeling down to him, I was thankful I took my skates off when I came to meet with his father. Gave me a few more inches to not have to worry about when trying to be eye level with the little boy. “What can I do for you, William?”

“Um, your friend Marty gave my sister his jersey, because she likes him. I’ve decided that I like you.” I didn’t want to cry in front of him, but shushed him instead. Maybe it was for my own stability. Without giving it a second thought, I unstrapped my jersey’s fight strap, and pulled it off. Accepting the sharpie his mother was trying to hand me, I turned to the back of it, proceeding to write on the numbers.

~

Boucher paused the screen after reviewing one of the nastier checks I sent Semin’s way, during Game 1. He only fast-forwarded to certain plays, not saying anything for the longest time, until now. “Why didn’t you play like this before? In Omsk?”

Shrugging, I could only sit helplessly in front of the tv that reeled footage of that godforsaken game. I could only speculate on what was coming next out of his mouth. “I’m not really comfortable with playing that physically. It’s a change, and not one that I think I can adapt to easily enough.”

A smile rested on his face, as he paused it right before Harper backed off in Semin & mine’s confrontation. “Well, whatever drove you to play like that, both Steve and I, liked it. It may take some refining, but you’ve got the ability to get deep enough to get them where it hurts. Even in general, and looking at the future.”

Did my future even rest in Tampa, though?

He pressed the remote play button again, and within seconds, Russian filled the room. He continued to allow it to fill the room, until the Russian winger skated off. “What was said, Anna?”

Playing the rest of the game, we sat in silence, until it eventually clicked off. Hitting the power button to the tv, he turned around in his desk, facing me, hands laced as if in expectation of an answer to his question. I felt my body temperature go up a hundred degrees, as I thought about the embarrassment I put myself through. As I thought about how weak I appeared. “He was just saying I should back off of Harper, because if I don’t, I could lose valuable friendships with several people. Nothing important that I care about, to be honest.”

Brow furrowed, a sigh escaped his lips, before he tossed the remote into a drawer. “I know that’s not like you, because we really don’t see you having it out for Erika Harper specifically. I don’t care what was said about whom, because I trust you to handle yourself. If that comes to dropping the gloves to defend yourself, then so be it, but just try to not let it damage us too bad, alright?”

“I’ll work on that.” I stuck my tongue out him, for the man to burst into laughter. “Anything else, your majesty?”

“Make me a sandwich, woman.”

“Get after it, then. I’m starving.” Giggling into fits, I felt extremely relaxed, not worrying about anything important. “Seriously though, is that all?”

“Actually, no, it’s not. I have a few questions that I’d like to know the answers to, to satisfy my own personal curiosity.” Groaning, I slumped back into my chair, already knowing where this was going. “Ready?”

“Thanks for the prepping time. Shoot.” Guy Boucher reminded me of a high school girl again, by the way he was acting. “By the way, none of this gets out to any of the guys.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it!” He smirked teasingly, which already planted doubt into my mind. “What’s going on with you and Alex Semin? You both didn’t get along at the Olympics, so what gives now?”

“He still pisses me off to no end. Even just looking at him makes me mad. I just guess I don’t care anymore, alright? Is that a good enough answer?”

“Why’d you come from the Capitals’ area that night? Did you go see him?”

“That’s private, but nothing happened. I only apologized for how I acted, and for the things I said.”

“Why was he in our locker room?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You can’t fool me, woman. St. Louis & Malone wouldn’t shut up about it for an hour.”

“Bullshit.”

“Do you like him?”

“What part of me hating him does no one seem to comprehend?”

“Well, Anna, this is what I think.” I looked up at him for once, a chaste grin on his face, frown on my own. “You don’t like him, because he’s one of those people who bother you. Just something about him fucks with your mind, and you channel that by hating him. But deep down, you probably think he’s attractive, and his personality just draws you in. You don’t even realize this though. You like talking to him, you like being near him, you enjoy teasing him, you take pleasure in pissing him off. Something about him draws you in. You should stop smiling right now, Anna, because it’s a dead giveaway.”

My hands shout to my mouth, but I couldn’t force the smile away for a few seconds. He laughed, obviously enjoying this new torture method. “Jerk.”

“Admit it, Anna. You’re waiting for something to happen.”

The smile quickly disappeared off of my face. “No, I’m waiting for something that won’t happen.”

“Keep it a secret all you will, Trovato, but this very secret that you’re trying to conceal, is the very same one that you’re dying to reveal.”

“Stop being so philosophical.”

“Stop underestimating yourself. Let everything take its own course, and if something happens, then enjoy yourself. Take time for you, for once in your life. It’s perfectly fine to have a little attention every once in a while.”

I snickered, causing him to pause in his monologue. “I doubt that.”

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

“I get about as much attention as a white crayon, to be perfectly honest.” His face fell, whatever he was saying, obviously not hitting home with me. “And I’m okay with this.”

“Anna..”

“I don’t want him in my life, alright? I don’t even want myself in my life. I feel myself wasting away, and everybody yet nobody is watching.” Standing up and moving behind the chair, Boucher showed no indication of getting up himself. Resting my hand on the doorknob, I turned to him. “I don’t know why you signed me in the first place. I’ll never be able to match up against Harper or McGregor. They’ll always be on top.”

~

“Hey, Anna!”

“What do you need?” Marty and Ryan sat on both sides of me, wrapping their arms around my shoulders, and squishing me into a very uncomfortably tight sandwich.

“So, we were just kind of curious why Erika had to come into our locker room to find Semin.”

“What happened in the med room?”

“Or how he even got past us without us noticing.”

“Did you guys kiss?”

“Did you kiss him?”

“Did he kiss you?”

“Did Harper catch the two of you?”

“Are you going to see him again?”

“Anna..”

“Anna!”

“Please, stop, alright? He just felt bad because of what happened. It’s not a big deal. I didn’t kiss him, he didn’t kiss me, nothing fucking happened, and nothing will. Leave it the fuck alone.” And with that, I stormed out of the room with my skates, and towards the ice.

Ryan Malone

“She’s totally in denial.”

“I don’t doubt that at all.”

“You think she digs him?”

Marty rubbed his chin, leaning back while thinking, his eyes shut. We had spent a good half hour laughing about Erika coming in, and leaving with the winger. “Watching them interact, or even skating near each other, one cannot deny that they have a certain chemistry.”

Martin St. Louis was old-fashioned. Yes, Anna Trovato came from the Romance Capital of the World, but that didn’t mean that that shit still existed. Chivalry was not dead, but people just don’t work like that anymore. “Chemistry?”

“He has shorter strides, hers are longer, which is obviously a different style of play, considering he has been in the NHL for a while, Anna, not so much. Just watching that alone, or even the way they skate, it compliments each other extremely well.” Marty smirked, perhaps thinking of something amusing, judging by his expression. “I’d like to see them play on the same team.”

Something didn’t sit well with me, the thought of Semin and Anna actually getting together. Yeah, it was fun to joke around with, but if that actually happened, it wouldn’t last, and she’d just be hurt in the end. “Just because they skate well, doesn’t mean they are good for each other. On or off the ice.”

“In the months, since last summer when I first met Anna, I have never seen anyone get to her like he does. When she came onto the ice in overtime, she wouldn’t even look at the Capitals’ bench. Something happened in that room; whether it was something said or done, but I think she likes him. Deep down, maybe she doesn’t even know it, but she’s attracted to him.”

“Anna likes a challenge, and likes to be challenged back.” Our attention snapped to the newcomer, only to see Simon stepping through the door. Even though he’d been back with the trainer, apparently Anna didn’t know yet. “It’s complicated, to say the least. But I have an idea to test just how flustered our teammate will get over him.”

“I know what we could do, to make it even worse.” Steven Stamkos popped out from behind Gagne, smile on his tanned face. “And this time, it’s not going to be me who suffers.”

Marty let out a laugh, before standing up and dismissing himself. He had to get home to his wife, who had called moments ago about brunch. I cocked an eyebrow, only for him to pull his hand out from behind his back, and tossed us a black Tampa jersey. It was as heavy as ours, and looked exactly like our female counterpart’s, but only with a slight change. “She’s going to fucking kill you.”