Goodnight, Beautiful.

Bristol’s face twisted when she took a sip of the drink that was supposed to be hers. It surely wasn’t; the taste of whiskey was bitter on her tongue. She handed it to Jeff. “This one’s yours.”

“Yeah,” he handed Bristol his glass—which contained her drink. “This one’s yours. Cherry vodka? What are you, a pussy?”

“Excuse me?” Bristol took a sip of her drink and set it down on the cocktail napkin.

Jeff took a large sip of his before setting it down as well. “I figured you’d be drinking something a little less, girly.”

It was hard to hear over the loud music and Bristol shrugged off his comment as she searched for Dan. He was nowhere in sight. Rolling her eyes, she leaned over the bar and stole a cherry from the bartender. She ate the sweet cocktail fruit and raised an eyebrow at Carter. “Watch my drink; I’m going to find Dan.”

He gave her a small nod as he turned around to try and attract the attention of the attractive brunette who seated herself beside him. Pushing herself through the mass of people, Bristol raised herself onto her tip toes scanning the dance floor for any visible sign of her boyfriend. Dan had been MIA since they arrived at the club, and she was regretting her decision to tag along if it meant she’d be left at the bar all night. She had come to have fun with him. Not sit alone while he had fun and alienated himself from her.

The only Daniel she had seen was Briere—he tried to fight off the mob of girls which flocked him. He may not have been a fan favorite in Boston, but the girls who knew nothing about hockey took great interest in him. Bristol was beginning to feel left out, by both Dan and the fact no guy had tried flirting with her yet; she figured she’d save Danny from the flock of women. He was beginning to look overwhelmed.

Excusing her way through the crowd of sweaty bodies on the dance floor, no polite word came from her mouth as she grabbed Danny’s hand and pulled him out of the circle. “Sorry, ladies,” she spoke over the pounding music. “He’s with me.”

As the two stepped away from the heartbroken women, Danny didn’t as much as look back. He was grateful for Bristol’s rescuing actions. “Thank you.”

“No worries.” She waved a hand as she picked up her drink and took a sip from the short, black straw. There was still no sigh of Dan anywhere. There were only two places Bristol would ever find Daniel at when they headed out for a night of clubbing. And that was at either the bar or outside. He wasn’t a dancer and always refused to dance with Bristol when a good song was played by the DJ. But, that’s what she had Kris for.

Danny looked at bit out of his comfort zone to Bristol. He shifted uncomfortable on his feet, staring at all the young people who drank themselves into oblivion. He had been like that once; not a care in the world, having as much fun as he possibly could. Then Sylvie slapped him with divorce papers and fun suddenly stopped.

“Do you wanna get out of here?” Bristol asked. She was pissed off enough at Daniel and her heels were killing her feet.

Relief washed over Danny’s face. He had been thinking of excuses for the past few minuets to get him out of the Boston club. He’d much rather be back in his hotel room resting up and preparing for the next two games. They didn’t call him Mr. Playoff for nothing.

“Yeah, I thought you’d never ask.”

They didn’t bother telling any of the guys they were heading out. If they were slightly interested in where they had gone, they could call them. Bristol was sure she wouldn’t see Dan until the morning when he texted her, begging for a bottle of Advil and hot coffee. And with her mood at the moment, she had decided he could go fuck himself if any request of the sort was asked.

A chilly breeze whipped across Bristol’s skin when they stepped out of the loud club. Her eyes began to ring and her head began to pound. She wouldn’t have minded if she wasn’t so pissed off. Danny could sense she wasn’t to be messed with at the moment and followed in silence as they walked aimlessly down the street.

“I know of a good diner if you want to get a cup of coffee. It’s only a few blocks from here.”

Bristol’s expression softened. She always appreciated the fact Danny tried his best to make up for things whether it was his fault or not.

“Coffee sounds good.”

---

It was nearly 11:30 so the fact the tiny diner was empty came as no surprise to either Bristol or Danny. They took a seat at a booth in front of the large front windows, waiting patiently for the waitress to come by. When she did, the overly-made-up woman with 1980’s hair and a thick Boston accent took their order for coffee and a piece of apple pie which Bristol had spotted when they first walked in.

They sat in silence until their waitress—who went by the name of Kay—brought the coffee and pie by. Danny had declined on a piece of his own, but did steal a bite or two from hers.

“Did you do anything special with the boys for Easter?” Bristol asked. She stirred in a packet of Sweet’n’Low into the black coffee.

“Not really. After the game they went over to Sylvie’s. What did you do?”

Bristol hadn’t had the heart to tell any of the guys she had been in Vancouver and Chicago, cheering on her hometown boys as they battled through their post-season. As far as they knew, she had been home in Chicago with her family but when the opportunity presented its self to head to Rogers Arena for game 7, she wasn’t going to pass it up. Daniel had become aware of her activities while away, and his own pissy mood was likely the result.

It had been their second fight as a couple; Daniel was upset she had left Philly to go watch the Blackhawks play instead of her boyfriend’s team. Her response was she had gotten half the season tickets in her divorce and promised her friends she would be there to watch them play. Bristol was torn; she knew Nicklas Hjalmarsson would be disappointed if she didn’t show. She and the Swede had become close when Kris first introduced her to a few of the guys.

“Just dinner with family. My mother would have killed me if I didn’t show up for dinner.”

Daniel laughed. He knew exactly what she meant. The first few years Danny had missed Christmas with his family, his mother was upset but quickly realized missing holidays and birthday parties came along with his dream of playing professional hockey.

A big yawn escaped Bristol as she pushed her empty plate to the side. She had gotten into Boston only hours ago and was exhausted from traveling. She had just checked into the hotel when Kris knocked on her door and insisted she come out partying with them. Danny suggested they head back to the hotel and watch a movie on Pay-Per-View. She couldn’t pass up that opportunity and beat him, throwing money down the table to cover their coffee and her pie.

It had been a while since the conversation Bristol had with Caelan and Carson. Gina was out of the picture now that Danny realized the older woman wasn’t a good pick for him or his boys. She wasn’t sure if the boys had told their father what they had told Bristol, but by the way things were slightly awkward between them, she assumed they did. It was true; Danny wanted Bristol in his life more than his boys did.

---

She hadn’t planned on falling asleep in Danny’s room. When she woke up to the sunlight in her eyes, Bristol maneuvered her way out of his arms and got up without making a sound. Her pants had been off and were lying on the floor; she didn’t remember taking them off and assumed it had been Danny’s work, trying to make her more comfortable. Pulling the zipper up on her jeans, Bristol grabbed her phone for the dresser before slowly closing the door behind her.

“What are you doing?” Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest at the sound of a male’s voice. Bristol turned around and saw Scott standing the hallways in his swim trunks and a towel draped over his shoulder.

He wasn’t the man she wanted to see at the moment. Scott was very tight with Daniel and this wasn’t the most ideal meeting situation. Bristol’s brain shut down for a quick second and her words stuttered as they came out.

“We just watched a movie and I fell asleep.” She knew it didn’t sound convincing but, it was the truth.

Scott slowly nodded, leaving Bristol trembling in the hallway as he made his way down to the pool for a morning swim. Racing up to her room, Bristol let the door close behind her as she darted right into the bathroom. Her hands were shaking so hard, it was nearly impossible to for her to turn on the shower.

She didn’t know why she was so worried; after all it had been Daniel who left Bristol bored and by herself all night before she and Danny headed out. By the no unread messages or missed calls on her phone, Dan didn’t seem too concerned about her whereabouts. Just because they had one little fight, didn’t mean he had to stop caring about her all together.

It felt good to wash all dirt and grim off her body before Bristol turned off the water and stepped out. Her wet feet left imprints on the mat as she dried off her body and wrapped the soft cotton around her body. Her suitcase was open and sitting on the bed as she picked through it. Nothing she had packed seemed desirable to wear, so she went basic with just jeans and a tee. Bristol would be changing out of the tee come later and into her sweater for the game.

Checking the time on her phone, Bristol slipped into a pair of flip-flops. It was a quarter after nine and she figured Daniel had to be up. Grabbing her room key and stuffing it into the back pocket, she headed to the elevator and pressed the down button. It took a second for the doors to open and when they did, Bristol could feel the uncertainty welling in her stomach as pressed the button for the fifth floor. Her intuition was telling her not to go down, but like always she ignored it.

She had his room number written on her hand the pervious night, but it had since faded and washed away leaving her only to guess which one it was. She knew it had a 4, a 2 and a 5 but she couldn’t remember the order of said numbers. She took a wild guess and knocked on the door with gold numbers reading 524.

Mike opened the door in his boxers and wild hair. It looked like he had a good night. A yawn escaped before he had a chance to say hello. Stepping aside so she could walk in, Bristol found Daniel sprawled out in his bed with the sheet wrapped around the lower half of his body. The tanned skin of his back was exposed and he looked up briefly at Bristol.

“G’morning.” Bristol sat on the end of Dan’s bed, crossing her legs Indian Style. “You look beat up.”

He rubbed his eyes and rolled over, placing his hands behind his head. “Where the hell did you go last night? I was looking around for you and Carter said you took off with Briere.”

“Well, seeing as to how you left me at the bar while you went off and did whatever it is you do, Danny and I left and went out for coffee. I wasn’t in the mood to sit around and drink all night.”

“Maybe if you hadn’t been such a bitch all day, I would have wanted to spend some time with you.” Dan was tired and hung-over and not really caring what words he let slip from his mouth. He wasn’t looking for a fight, he just never thought before he spoke.

“You shouldn’t even have been out last night considering you’re currently down two games to none. Maybe if you took it a little more seriously you wouldn’t be pissed. Because you and I both know the real reason you’re upset.”

Neither of them noticed, but, Mike had slowly snaked his way out of the room, not wanting to be present for the couple’s obvious argument.

“Enlighten me, Bristol. What am I really upset about.”

“You’re just pissed because I left to go spend time with guys who can actually play hockey, have skill and average more than only six minutes of ice time a night.”

Dan was silent for a second, taking in what Bristol had said. She was right…sort of. “You’re right, I am pissed that you’d rather go watch those guys play instead of me, but, don’t ever criticize my playing style. Someone’s always gotta fight and I’m the guy who takes care of business.”

“God damn it, Daniel! I hate fighting with you because you always make the right points and now I have nothing good to come back with. Once and while, you have to let me win.” She ran a hand through her damp and curly hair. Dan smiled and grabbed her ankle, pulling her closer to him.

He kissed her forehead before pressing his cheek against her forehead. Bristol could hear Daniel take a deep breath. “I’m sorry for being asshole. Can you forgive me?”

“Yeah, yeah.” Bristol crossed her arms over her chest as she settled herself comfortably in Daniel’s arms.