Goodnight, Beautiful.

“Is that my Metallica shirt?” Dropping his bag on the floor beside the couch, Daniel finally caught Bristol first handed as she slipped his favorite tee onto her back. A sly smile parted her lips as she unconvincingly tried to tell him that it was in fact hers. Liar, Dan thought, she had been trying to sneak the shirt into her pile of clothes since the first day they met.

“Why are you wearing it anyway? The one you were wearing was way, way, cuter.”

Bristol shoved the last bite of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich in her mouth as she rested her back against the island in the kitchen. Daniel knew something was up; neither Bristol nor Matt could look him straight in the eye. “What?”

“Nothing,” Bristol assured him. “It’s nothing.”

Her words were laced with laughter as Matt shot her a look and shook his head. Daniel was beginning to get very suspicious. A towel was wrapped around her head, covering her—assumed—damp hair from the shower. Bristol lowered her can of Diet Coke to the counter and cleared her throat. “If I show you, you promise you won’t get mad?”

Already, Daniel knew he did not like where this conversation was going. When he glanced back at Matt, all the older brother did was point to Bristol. Apparently, there was more of a spontaneous side to her than he knew of. He had no words, and said he could not promise anything. Unraveling the thin, white cotton towel from her head, Bristol tossed it to the table and ran her fingers through the new locks she sported.

“What do you think?”

“I—um,” Clearly Daniel was at a loss for words, just as Bristol had expected him too be. It was a rather shock, even to her. The hair that once fell long in perfect beach waves was now cut short in choppy layers and reached only an inch or so past her collarbone. Its natural brown color was jet-black while several chucks were highlighted in a shockingly familiar orange. “It’s, wow.”

“I know right!” Bristol took pride in her wild side; Daniel was in shock and he didn’t know if he liked it or not. At least it was black and orange…not black and red. “I’m gearing up for the playoffs. I started doing it when the ‘hawks first made the playoffs back in ’09. And, since I am no longer living in the Windy City and I am dating one of the biggest goons in the league, I figured what the hell; I’ll cheer on the Flyers.”

Daniel reached one of his hands forward to run his fingers through her hair. He pulled back abruptly, as if scared to do so. Bristol moved the new bangs out of her eyes and pushed she damp hair behind her ears.

“I know, it’s going to take a few days to get used to, but, when you win the first round, you’re going to happy I did this.” Smiling and moving past Dan, Bristol placed a small kiss to his scruffy cheek. Leaving him speechless in the kitchen, she and Matt headed upstairs to finish getting ready.

---

They showed up at Kris’s apartment almost an hour late. She found the door to have been left unlocked and was greeted by a roomful of both men and women as they stepped in. After handing off the bag containing the Wii to Kris, Bristol made her rounds saying hello along with Dan. Matt was introduced, and he expectedly became friends with the once eerie men. The stories that Kris had expelled in the locker room had them feeling rather nervous about meeting her older brother.

Still feeling slightly jaded from what Caelan and Carson had said to her earlier in the day, Bristol just glanced at Danny as he sat down his beer before standing to greet her. She neither spotted nor heard any evidence that the boys were there — which didn’t surprise her— leaving Bristol to conclude they were with their mother. Moreover, the reason Danny had decided to join Claude.

“I’m liking the hair.” Danny pulled her into a tight hug and placed his hands on her hips. They kissed cheeks and pulled away. From across the room Carcillo was shooting daggering into the back of Briere’s head.

“When I was a teenager, my hair was always like this.” Bristol ran her fingers through it, still trying to get use to the length. “Expect it wasn’t black and orange, just badly bleached, platinum blonde.”

Platinum blonde, Danny thought, now there was a sight to make any man hard.

“Did Gina come with you?” Bristol looked over Danny’s shoulder into the kitchen, wondering if she had missed her. “I wanted to apologize about last night at dinner. Matt and I shouldn’t have intruded like that but,”

Danny stopped her from blabbering on any more. His ex-wife did enough of that already. “Yeah, she’s outside with Allison and there is no need to apologize. It was my idea for you guys to stay and she was cool with it anyway.”

Before she could let out another word, Daniel and Kris interrupted. Dan shoved a Mike’s Hard Lemonade in her hand while Kris pulled her into the kitchen where they would begin making teams for the “Dance-Off” he had planned for later. If the man was not singing or dancing, Kris was bored out of his mind. There was one good incentive of Allison moving out to Philly; Bristol was now officially off karaoke duty and no longer embarrassed herself in front of shit-faced city slickers.

The dining room table that Bristol had searched high and low for was now being used as a beer pong station. She would have loved to bring the piece of furniture with her—the black painted wood would have gone perfect in her dining room—but Daniel was adamant about bringing his.

Scott, James, Mike, Jeff and even Kris crowded around for their chance to toss a ping-pong ball into the red Solo cups, while Chris, Matt and Blair spectated. It had been a while since Bristol played the game that dominated most of her college years, and it didn’t take long for Kris to shove the ball in her hand. She tried to hand it back, explaining she couldn’t drink too much for she had a ballet class to instruct in the morning. Daniel told her to call in sick; it was a rare free night and he wanted to see if the rumors he had heard were true. Taking the ball back from Kris, Bristol stuck her tongue out in concentration, ready to make all of the men pay. She had been named NIU’s Beer Pong Champion her senior year.

Halfway through their game of pong, Briere came into the dining room from the kitchen holding a green bottle and a few cans of Red Bull. Bristol immediately knew what his intentions were; she had let a little secret slip that she had a hard time holding herself together when Jager-bombs were brought to the party. Danny was trying to get her sloppily drunk so maybe he’d get lucky in her old bedroom later.

“I really don’t appreciate the fact you’re trying to get me drunk off my ass. I tend to make some bad decisions when I get to that point.” Bristol took the small glass from Danny once he was done pouring. She tossed it back and swallowed with a sour look on her face. She hated the taste of cherry cough medicine.

“That is my plan.” Danny poured himself and Bristol another before clinking the two glasses together. She glanced over at Daniel who was conversing with Scott and took the shot. The look on Daniel’s face was clear; he was beginning to become anxious and annoyed with Danny and his cheap attempts to get Bristol in bed with him…especially with him in the same room.

Motioning over to Danny with his beer, Dan shook his head at Scott. “What, does he think I’m stupid or something? I know that desperate attempt to get a girl drunk then convince her to blow me. Fuck, I perfected that attempt!”

“Relax, killer.” Scott placed his hand on the base of Dan’s neck and squeezed. “Let it go. What’s the worst that could happen? She sleeps with him. At his age I don’t think he could get her pregnant.”

Dan shrugged his shoulders and finished off the last of his beer. The Daniel Carcillo three months ago wouldn’t have minded if one of his—many—girlfriends slept with one of his teammates. He didn’t feel anything for them in the first place. Hell, he was with Brittany for nearly a decade and he would have actually been relived to find out she was screwing around behind his back. At least then, he could dump her and keep her in Pitt without feeling like an asshole.

Nevertheless, Bristol was different. He did not care how much of a pussy it made him sound like, but Daniel was head-over-heels in love with that woman. He’d take a beating and season suspension for her in a heartbeat if he found out some guys were ogling or speaking bad of Bristol.

Daniel licked his lips and placed the empty bottle on the table. “I don’t know, man, I think I may actually be in love with her. I mean, I’ve told her I do a couple of times but that was just so she’d sleep with me. How’d you know you were in love with Lisa?”

Both men found their gazes fall upon Bristol and Lisa who were in an intense conversation about marriage with Lauren Pronger. The fiery redhead whom Daniel had learned to love was engaged to become the new Mrs. Scott Hartnell over the summer in mid-July. He and Bristol had gotten their invitation to attend months ago.

“I knew I was in love when I started using condoms with the puck-bunnies.” Scott looked over to his friend and tried his hardest not to laugh.

“You are no help what-so-ever.”

Jabbing Dan in the bicep with a light punch, Scott brought his beer to his lips for a drink. “I’m just kidding. But in all seriousness, if you don’t put a ring on her finger soon,” Scott pointed casually to Briere. “You can bet the Stanly Cup he will. I can see the look in Bristol’s eyes. With all these married women around her all time with Lisa dragging her around on cake tasting visits and shit, she wants that for herself. If you don’t give it to her, she’s going to end up leaving you for someone who will.”

It didn’t take long before Dan could feel his chest swell with an feeling he wasn’t accustom to. He had no reason to be jealous of Danny, but the thought of losing Bristol to him was enough to make him go mad.

“Daniel Briere,” he said under his breath as Scott left to get two more beers. “You may score in regulation; but it’s me who wins the game in over time.”