The Fleury Life

Closing day, also known as clean-out day. It is the saddest day of the hockey year, unless, of course, it happens after winning the Stanley Cup.
However, we did not win the Cup, so it is a sad day.
Marc and I were one of the last people to arrive, and to be honest, everyone was in fairly good spirits. The best thing about hockey players is that even when the season is ended much too soon, they are able to put it behind them because it doesn’t make things any better to dwell on it.
When I walked into the locker room, everyone cheered. I laughed. “What? You haven’t seen me for a day and you miss me already?”
Jordan came up and pressed his lips to my cheek. “You know it.”
I rolled my eyes and punched his shoulder as he turned to walk away, laughing. Marc walked past me and to his locker, knocking fists with Johnny in the process, and I turned around and spotted Kris coming into the locker room, apparently from talking with the medical staff about his hip.
“Hey, Kris!” I called, trying to get his attention over the pretty loud roar of the locker room.
He heard me, perked his head up and smiled as he walked over. “Oui?” he asked, wrapping one arm around my waist in a hug.
“Happy Birthday,” I whispered, hugging him back. Today was not only closing day, but also his birthday.
Kris laughed. “Merci, Erra.” He smiled down at me. “Ari is coming in later.”
“Oh, I know.” I grinned. “She’s painting the baby room while she’s here. Then her and Nik are flying to Sweden before flying back a week before their wedding here.”
Tanger raised an eyebrow. “You know all this, yet I don’t?”
“I’m a girl. This is girl talk.” He laughed.
I just couldn't believe that Ari and Nik were having their wedding in a beautiful little vista just outside of Pittsburgh. When I told her that I was pregnant, she changed her location from her hometown in Quebec to here because I would not be allowed to fly since I would be in my final month of pregnancy.
She’s such a great girl. So in the middle of June, she will be here, getting married.
“Anyways,” I said to Kris, holding up an envelope. “This is your gift, from Marc and I.”
Kris looked at me curiously, and opened the envelope, his eyes widening. “I know it isn’t much, but it’s something.”
“You bought me my plane ticket down here?” His dark eyes met mine. “Erra, you didn’t have to do that. I can pay for my own ticket.”
“I know,” I smiled. “But you don’t have to come down, but you offered to stay with me while Marc has to go up to Quebec to handle family matters. Since that’s just a few weeks before my due date, the fact you’re staying with me so I’m not alone means a lot. So we wanted to pay for your trip down here. I told you it wasn’t much, but it’s something.”
Tanger didn’t say anything to me. He just wrapped his arms around me, hugging me close. “Thank you. And you know you can always count on me to be here when you need me.”
I chuckled. “I know.” I pulled away for him as Mario entered the locker room. “I have to go. I have a conference to go to.”
Kris nodded and I stepped away from him and towards Mario, who smiled and opened the door for me. I walked through and headed down to the conference room, where all the management staff was.
“Hello,” I said politely as I took my seat.
“Hello, Sierra,” Ray said with a smile.
“You put us in yet another predicament, Erra,” Mario said as he took a seat. “Last year you retired as a player, but we wanted you with us so we hired our third athletic trainer when two is the norm, and now,” he glanced down at my swollen belly, “in a few months you will have a new member to your family. So we have to change things around again.”
“Because we know that you won’t want to go on all the road trips,” Ray said, then smiled. “We won’t let you.”
I laughed. “Don’t worry, I don’t want to. I want to be home for my son.”
Dan leaned forward in his chair. “You have that look in your eye, that same look you had last year.” He smirked. “You already have an idea formed. Well, let’s hear it.”
I chuckled again. “I do have an idea.” I looked at all of the other guys in the room, including my fellow athletic trainers, and everyone nodded, giving me the go-ahead. “This is what I was thinking.” I took a deep breath. “I love being a trainer. It keeps me around all the guys and I can still help coach them. I love bringing them back from injuries. Of course, I will not be wanting to leave all the time, so my thoughts are that I work while the team is home.” I smiled. “I can still be a trainer when everyone’s home, and I can still help coach. But even better is the fact that I can work with the injured while the team is away.”
A few eyebrows rose and I continued on. “When there’s a serious injury, such as a broken bone, the player gets left behind since they can’t play and aren’t close to returning. When they reach a certain point in their recovery, however, they are ready to get back to training so long as there is a watchful eye on them, but if the team is away, they don’t get any help from them and have to do nothing. The recovery takes longer. But since I’ll be here still, I can start getting them back on the ice and doing workouts. I can be the one to keep my eye on them. That goes even more so if it is a broken wrist or something, where the player can still work out on a bike or something. This could potentially speed up the recovery time.”
A few shocked faces stared at me as I finished. Then Dan laughed. “I didn’t think about that. Girl, you can figure you way around anything, can’t you?”
“I like to think I can.” I grinned.
Mario and Ray looked at each other before shaking their heads and smiling. “That sounds like a great idea. Once again, Sierra, you solve our problem of losing you yourself.”
I stood up and shook their hands with a smile. “Glad I can help.” I winked and they all laughed.
“We will see you next year, with a little one on your hip of course.”
I nodded to them. “See you then.”
I turned around and walked out the door and into the locker room. Marc-Andre was giving an interview, so I stood patiently talking with a couple of the other guys, but as soon as he was done, he beckoned me over frantically.
I walked over, and he swept me into his arms, pulling me into his lap with a smile. “Hello, my love.”
“Why, hello,” I laughed.
“How’d it go.”
I grinned and winked at him. “The plan worked. I will be staying as the home athletic trainer.”
Marc hugged me tightly, pressing his lips against mine. “Excellent,” he whispered as he pulled away, resting his forehead against mine. “Things are changing again.”
“For the better.”