Goodnight, Beautiful.

Bristol was in the process of unwinding from work. She had fallen in love with the giant, oversized bathtub in Daniel’s bathroom. He often denied the fact he too enjoyed a nice soak on occasion to relax his overworked muscles. With Wham playing softly through the Bose docking station on the counter and the dozen lit candles spread around the room, Bristol stretched out and sank farther into the lavender bubbles.

For just a minute she could forget about her approaching birthday, the dozen unread text-messages from her brother and another road trip for Daniel.

It was almost quiet, peaceful and relaxing.

“Since when do you listen to Wham?”

Bristol opened one eyelid and stared at her bath-mate. Daniel was sitting across from her; bubbles splattered amongst his chest and his cheeks were flush from the heat of the water.

“Since always.” Bristol didn’t feel the need to defend her taste in music. If she had to deal with listening to The Who on a regular basis, Daniel could handle a few minutes of George Michael. “I find it to be rather soothing to the mind. So shut you’re trap; I’m trying to find my Zen.”

Daniel shifted. His foot grazed Bristol’s hip as he bent his knees. “George Michael can suck my coc—“

“Daniel!” Bristol lifted her head up from the towel it was resting on. “You’re the one who wanted to bathe with me so, either shut up about my music and relax, or get out and play air-guitar around your room like Eddie Van Halen.”

Busted, Daniel thought. Bristol rested her head back down. “I know that’s what you do when I’m gone.”

Sinking down, Daniel took in a heavy breath before blowing some of the bubbles in Bristol’s direction. He loved her feisty attitude. She did look relaxed to him as he stretched out a soapy arm and rested it on the edge of the tub. With her black waves messily tied up on top of her head and her black eyeliner slightly smeared, Daniel still thought she was beautiful.

For the six weeks they have been together, Bristol had figured him out—almost—and she didn’t quite trust the utter silence she heard. Cracking an eye open once more, her sight fell upon Daniel. He wasn’t even splashing; he was watching.

“Can we at least… fool around?”

“No,” she answered.

“Then why are we in here then?”

Bristol hoisted herself up to press her back against the wall of the tub. “After a tough dance class, I like to soak in the tub and relax my muscles.” She couldn’t help but melt at the sight of his sad face. “On second thought, I will totally have sex with you as long as you massage my neck.”

“Only if we do it in that order.”

---

Resting her book on her chest, Bristol pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Her wet hair had left a spot on the pillow and she tried to rub it dry as she sat up. It was eerily quiet throughout the apartment. From the time she had spent there—most of the guys suggested the two just move in together—Bristol knew the apartment was never quiet.

Opening the bedroom door, she caught a chill as she walked down the hall. Peeking around the corner, Daniel’s back was to her. She bit her bottom lip and waited for him to move out of the way. Whatever he was staring at had his full attention.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

Panic surged through Dan as he turned around. His cheeks turned red and Bristol could tell he was hiding something. “What are you doing? You’re supposed to be reading, with the door closed.”

Now intrigued, and suspicious, Bristol stepped into the kitchen trying to sneak a peak behind his back. He grabbed her, trying to back her out.

“Go watch television or something.”

Folding her arms over her chest, Bristol shook her head. She had a feeling it had something to do with her birthday tomorrow. She pouted her lips, hoping he would let her see what he had been working on for the past hour. Daniel didn’t budge.

“It’s nothing important.” He pressed his lips lightly to hers, hoping that would evade her.

Instead, Bristol pushed him to the side. Happiness rose inside as she finally saw what he had been hiding. Sitting on the counter was a round, chocolate frosted cake.

“You made me a cake?” Skipping over to the creation, Bristol dipped her finger into the can of frosting and licked it clean. Wrapping her arms around Dan’s neck, all he could do now was nod.

“Yeah. It was supposed to be a surprise but somebody can’t control herself.”

An embarrassed smile tugged on her lips. She tried to justify her actions but, no words came to mind. “It’s beautiful. I love it. We should have—“

“No eating it until tomorrow! I have spent a lot of time on it.”

His fingers were dirtied with frosting; that should have been the first clue to Bristol. She wanted a piece, bad. Mimicking him, Bristol grabbed the can of frosting and figured that would hold her sweet tooth over until tomorrow. She was both nervous and excited to see what the guys had up their sleeves.

“You have frosting on your cheek.” Giggling, Bristol watched Dan as he fell for her third grade trick. “Here, I’ll get it.”

She smeared a glob of chocolate on his cheek. Dan showed absolutely no emotion as he ripped the can from Bristol’s hand and shoved his inside. Scooping out a handful, Bristol knew what was coming. Ducking around him, she ran, not wanting to get dirty after just taking a bath.

“You’ll never get me.” She taunted. They were now on opposite sides of the couch and Bristol was ready to make a break for the bedroom. At least she’d be safe behind a closed and locked door.

Daniel only smiled, and shook his head. As he went right, she went left, but unfortunately for Bristol his reflexes were faster. Grabbing a hold of her, Daniel held tight and laughed along while she tried to wiggle out of his vice-like grip.

“Daniel,” she warned. “Don’t you dare smear that—“

Too late. He expected her to become angry and storm off to wash her face. Bristol instead tackled him to the ground. She wiped her cheek against his and laughed in process.

“Alright, I surrender.” Catching his breath, Daniel placed his hands on Bristol’s hips. “Truce?”

Satisfied, Bristol smiled and nodded, “Truce.”

---

Bristol tapped her fingers on her shaky knees. The score on the board made her stomach tie up in knots and it was clear everyone else around her felt the same way. Caelan, Carson and Cameron—all three wore orange and white sweaters—leaned against the railing in the skybox as they refused to take their eyes off the puck. It was tied 1-1 with two minutes left in over time.

A sea of black and gold sweaters was in her line of sight and the fans which dawned them stood and cheered as Fleury made another save. Marc-Andre was beginning to get under her skin as much as Roberto Luongo.

When the horn sounded and the game went into shootout, the four of them were just as nervous as everyone else. With the victories becoming harder and harder to come by, the two points looked better than one. The first round was uneventful, Ville Leno was robbed and Kris Letang missed the net completely.

Only a select few stood and cheered for their team while Alex Kovalev let one slide right past Bobrovsky. The Fylers answered back quick. Briere buried the puck deep, not even letting Fleury get his eyes on it. They fell 2-1, in the forth round. While Richards was unable to score, Chris Kunitz won his team the extra point.

The arena erupted with boo’s as the Penguins met at the north goal to congratulate one another. Bristol didn’t mind a loss on her birthday, and she knew the guys wouldn’t allow it to ruin their nights either.

“What do you say we head down to the locker room?” Bristol scratched the back of her head and for the meantime let Cameron keep his arm around her waist.

The four of them goofed off outside the locker room as they waited for the okay to go in. Bristol used the time to respond back to all the birthday text-messages she had gotten during the game, and ignored the call from her sister. When Adrienne called, it was usually only for one of two reasons. She either needed money or a shoulder to cry on.

They only waited a half an hour and when the reporters filed out, that was the cue they could head in. The boys bounced in and Bristol followed somberly behind. She was slightly expecting them to be in odd moods, it was never easy loosing but loosing to their state rival always but them in a funk.

Richards and Carter were the first to greet Bristol; wrapping their arms around her as they wished her a happy birthday. She thanked them. Bristol never liked making a big deal about the day of her birth and once Kris realized it he made it his duty to throw her the biggest party every year. He loved spiting her.

With the smug smiles the Briere boys held, she could tell something was up. It wasn’t until Dan and Kris came out from the equipment room with a cake full of lit candles did she realize they were missing. Kris had started the “Happy Birthday” and everyone else jumped in.

Bristol thought for sure her cheeks were blushing and there was no hiding the smile which spread wide on her face. When they finished, Dan and Kris held the cake up to her. It was the cake Dan had made last night.

“Make a wish.” She heard Cameron urge.

Gathering her hair in one hand, Bristol thought carefully before blowing out all twenty-five candles. Pictures were snapped and applauds were made as the two men set the cake down.

“Happy birthday, babe.” Dan smooched Bristol before she and Kris hugged.

She had never been surprised with a cake in the locker room before. It was more enjoyable than the huge, surprise party Kris had thrown for her last year. “Thanks, you guys.”

Mike handed her a white envelope. “It’s from all of us.”

“We put Dan’s name in the card because we figured his cheap ass didn’t get you one.” Scott poked fun at his friend and teammate.

A few of the guys did a drum-roll on the bench as Bristol slid her index finger under the flap to open the envelope. She pulled out the card and knew there was no way in hell any of the guys had spent time picking it out. The message on the front and on the inside was way too sentimental. Defiantly on of the wives picked it out.

“Omigod,” Bristol girlishly jumped up and down and turned to Mike—because he was the closet to her—and tightly hugged him before pulling out the cards contents. “Bulls and 76’ers tickets! You guys are awesome, thank you, so much.”

Kris interjected. “Don’t think you get to have all fun. A bunch of us are going to.”

“And, we gave you Dan’s ticket too because we know he’d lose it before the game tomorrow night.”

Dan rolled his eyes and headed up to pack up his things. Bristol made her way around the locker room, thanking all the guys. From what she found out, a good chunk of the guys would be accompanying her to the game tomorrow. She took a seat next to Briere and the boys, who were more pumped about the game than she was. Cameron said he had even bought a Bulls jersey to match Bristol’s Derek Rose one. She would defiantly be showing her Chicago pride tomorrow.

Bristol and Dan had plans to go out to eat, and once he was done packing and changing, she made her rounds saying goodbye. Briere stood up, still dressed in his Under Armour, and hugged her tight. For his spot across the room, Dan couldn’t help but zone out of the conversation with Richards and Versteeg as he watched Bristol and Danny interact. He could feel his heart jump in his chest as Danny’s hand slid lower and lower on her back. It was hard to tell whether or not it was friendly kiss Danny had slyly pressed on Bristol’s mouth but one thing was for sure. Tonight, Dan would remind her why she had fallen for him, not his older teammate.