Careful, Honey

The Pittsburgh Penguins regular season started on the first Friday of October in the worst possible way: a three day road trip. Geno spent the week before he left mentally preparing himself to be away from Alena. It was only going to be three days and it would have to happen eventually but still he wasn’t ready to leave her alone. Geno was so thankful for Rose though, she had been a Godsend the last few weeks and it was clear that Alena was comfortable around her.

At 12:30 in the afternoon Geno fed Alena her baby cereal and then put her down for a nap. He kissed her forehead, turned on her nightlight, and crept out of the room and down the stairs.

Geno double checked everything in his bag and then walked into the living room with a piece of paper for Rose who was pacing back and forth the length of the couch hunched over her phone whispering angrily. She abruptly stopped when she looked up to see Geno standing there and hurried a goodbye to the person on the other end.

Rose slipped her phone into her back pocked and looked up at Geno with an obviously faked
smile, “All set?”

“Da, you okay?”

“It’s…fine,” Rose said as she sardonically shook her head and flopped back onto the couch, “Just boy trouble, you know,” Rose clarified with a flick of her wrist into the air.

Geno stuttered for a second not knowing exactly what he wanted to say before he choked out a simple, “Why?”

“It’s nothing. He’s just not exactly thrilled about me staying at another man’s house taking care of his kid…”

“I don’t want to be problem for you.”

Rose placed a hand on his arm, “Geno it’s his problem. This is my job and he knew that when he met me two years ago and he knows that now. He’s just being all macho.”

Geno nodded once not wanting to further the conversation since he was already late and already feeling guilty enough for causing a riff in Rose’s life. “This is for you,” Geno handed the printed paper to Rose. “All our hotel numbers and game dates…call any time.”

Rose nodded and stood up placing the paper on the coffee table in front of them before walking Geno out to his car. Once Geno was safely in the front seat Rose closed his door for him and rested her forearms in his open window. “Good luck Geno. We’ll be good here and we’ll call a thousand times a day. Try not to worry too much.”

Rose gave Geno a knowing smile; he would worry, and worry a lot. He nodded to her then started his car and backed out of the driveway slowly. When he looked back Rose was safely in the house and he was on his way to the airport. By 8 o’clock that night the first game of the season would be in motion and next eight months of his life wouldn’t be his own.

The team was hustled into the arena straight off the plane for a quick skate and then released at three o’clock to get back to the hotel and get their pregame rituals done. Geno crawled into bed a half hour later for his pregame nap but couldn’t fall asleep until he called to check on Alena.

Rose answered the phone on the fifth ring with Alena screaming in the background, her voice was calm but over exaggeratedly cheery, “Hey Geno!” Rose bounced on her heals trying to soothe Alena but they both knew that Alena was aware Geno was gone for longer than a run to the gym or grocery store.

Geno sighed, “This was bad idea.” Geno crawled under his blankets and pushed his phone closer to his ear.

“It’ll all be okay Geno. She’s just adjusting…we’re all just adjusting.”

Geno sighed again, “Maybe I made wrong choice when I kept her. I should have given her to a family that can take care of her all the time. Not just four months a year.”

“Geno, better a family that loves her than a family that’s there constantly. So what if it literally takes a village to raise Alena, it’s a village that loves her. Now do you want to say ‘hi’ to Alena before your pregame nap or not?”

Geno smiled at Rose’s strong will and confidence, not only grateful that she’d come into his life to take care of Alena but to also take care of him in a sense. “Da,” he muttered before he heard the phone clamor on the other end and Alena’s quieting sniffles rang clear in his ear. Geno spent a full minute whispering to Alena in Russian about nothing in particular until he was sure she had fully calmed down. When Rose put the phone back to her ear Geno thanked her for…well for being Rose and then hung up.

Rose watched the game on the couch with Alena in her arms half asleep. She tried to explain the rules to the small baby but that just made her feel slightly insane. By the middle of the second period Rose moved up to the guest bed and put Alena in her crib. She sent a picture of the sleeping baby to Geno’s phone then curled up in the soft blankets and attempted to watch the end of the game.

Geno spent the entire game reminding himself to focus on the task at hand. When he got back to his stall after the second period he found a picture of Alena asleep in her crib on his phone.

He smiled before he tucked it back away into the jacket pocket of his suit that hung behind him. Twenty minutes later the Penguins won against Tampa Bay by three points and Geno was named second star. He flew through the post game interviews and zombie walked to the bus to bring him back to the hotel, unlike all the other guys who were going out partying. Geno’s mouth practically watered at the thought of a full night’s sleep—uninterrupted.

The team heckled Geno the next morning at breakfast for not going out with them while they nursed hangovers. Geno simply smiled at them as he fiddled with his phone, he tapped the screen then held it out for everyone to see. A quick video of Alena sitting up on her own for a full five seconds played across the iPhone screen. The boys shut up quickly and the table was soon filled with a chorus of very unmanly, “Awwwhhhhh’s.”

In Nashville the Penguins swept the scoreboards in a shutout and Geno went out for a few hours after that game but felt obligated halfway through the night to go back to the hotel alone. Father’s weren’t supposed to go out partying every night in his mind. And even though most of the guys on the team were fathers they weren’t alone in it. Single fathers ran by a different rule book—a stricter rule book. He couldn’t afford the bad press especially once the world finds out about Alena.

Geno called Rose the morning before the last game of the road trip as the bus pulled up in front of their hotel in New Jersey. “Sorry I call so much,” Geno started off. It was true that he was pretty much dogging Rose with phone calls every free minute he had.

“It’s all okay Geno.”

Rose gave Geno the run down on the night and how everything had been—usual…nothing but routine in the Malkin household. He listened to all the cute things that Alena had done while he was away and smiled as Rose told him each story with enthusiasm in her voice. Rose excused herself off the phone call when Alena began to cry over the monitor. Geno hung up and wandered down to the hotel restaurant where the rest of the team was eating lunch.

The team lost the game that night by a single point and got onto the plane with somber faces. Once they landed Geno hoped into his car and robotically drove back home. It was almost midnight by the time he pulled into his garage and climbed the stairs to Alena’s room but found that her door was open and her crib empty. He crept across the hall to the guest bedroom and found Alena in Roses arms drinking a bottle as the TV flickered across the walls.

“Hey, welcome home, Dad,” Rose smiled her eye half closed. Geno smiled and kicked off his shoes climbing onto the other side of the bed and taking Alena in his arms. Her bright blue eyes popped open and found Geno’s face almost immediately.

“Hi baby.” Alena gurgled a reply before closing her eyes again and settling into her daddy’s arms. “Are you going back home now or stay the night?” Geno asked Rose.

Rose stretched her legs and jumped out of the bed, “I’m going to head home.”

Geno walked Rose down the stairs with Alena in his arms and bid her a goodnight, “Tell your boyfriend thank you for letting me borrow you.” Rose just laughed, kissed Alena on the forehead, and squeezed Geno’s bicep before she got into her car and drove away down the street.

Heaving a sigh Geno trudged tiredly back up the stairs and turned into his bedroom. He placed Alena in her bassinet so he could go change into his pajamas but once he put her down she began to cry loud heaving sobs. Geno quickly pulled on his sweatpants and hung his suit back up then pulled Alena back out of her bassinet her sobs instantly stopped as she curled her body into her father. Geno crawled into bed with Alena on his shoulder and pulled the blanket up over him. The clock ticked just past one in the morning with he was finally able to close his eyes and sleep. It was going to be a very long season.