Catch Up With Fate

Diane and I exchanged a look and then I could only lean into Hayden’s side and laugh.

“Drunk hockey fans are amusing as fuck,” I giggled, slightly buzzed as well, but not much at all.

“Sometimes yes,” Hayden agreed with a chuckle. He was probably feeling pretty good right now, sandwiched between Diane and I and one arm around each of us. The reason for us switching seats was that the guy that Diane was now sitting next to, had taken a liking to me a little too much. As of right now Hayden was pretending to be my... ‘something’, unfortunately that only meant that Diane was now the new victim. I kept glancing at Dillon over my shoulder, but he wasn’t reacting at all, which I found extremely strange.

“Staly’s not going to kill me for this, right?” Hayden asked and I let out a chuckle.

“If I tell him why, no,” I shook my head. “He’s used to us rescuing the guys and vice versa.”

“Who do you save the most?”

“Vik,” I laughed. “Maybe Corey, sometimes Pat, but only if the others thought his conquest was too atrocious.”

Hayden laughed, too. “Sounds about right.”

“They also rescue CC and I a lot, especially me. Somehow I always manage to attract the crazies.”

“You’re too nice, that’s why.”

“Nice? Wow, ouch,” I snorted and watched in great amusement as Hayden tried to backpedal. “Relax, I know what you meant. So, would Alexis mind this?”

“Nah, she’s cool,” Hayden smiled proudly.

“How’d you guys meet?” I asked curiously. We only had a few minutes left in the second intermission, but things like that interested me.

“At one of the shows,” Jared piped up from behind. “She basically melted at his feet cause he’s good at guitar playing.”

“Skilled fingers and all, y’know,” Adam added and laughed, when I shuddered and also blushed.

“Not quite like that, but a bit,” Hayden smiled. “She actually asked if I gave lessons.”

“In what? Tonsil hockey?” The peanut gallery behind us was having way too much fun with this.

“She actually already knew how to play though, so we just went out for coffee and that’s basically it,” Hayden finished and I smiled.

“Cute.”

Before any of them could ask about Viktor and I, the players came back and the game went on. After a scoreless second period, the third held some excitement when Minnesota evened the score at 1-1. It didn’t take long for Brouwer to give us the lead again and we managed to keep it to the end with Dowell even getting an empty netter to make it 3-1. It was a much needed victory after a bad road trip and even more so because Coach Q wasn’t behind the bench. The players didn’t know much, so I didn’t know either, all they told everyone was that he’d been admitted to the hospital the night before.

We waited for a little bit after the game ended and then came the real treat of the night, well, for at least Hayden it would be. The United Center was a little confusing to get around in sometimes, but it didn’t take me that long to find the way.

“Where are we going?” Diane wanted to know, and going by the look on Hayden’s face, he already knew.

“Miss Alvensleben, it’s been a while,” one of the security guards gave me a small smile as we came to the area that was closely guarded.

“I know,” I nodded. “I’ve got some friends with me-“

“I’ve been informed you’d be bringing some extra guests,” he told me and I grinned. “Enjoy your night, Miss Alvensleben.”

“Thanks, Mr. Pierce, you too.”

“Oh my God, I can’t believe he knew your name,” Dillon laughed. “And that he let us in.”

“My name’s on the list,” I said in the most stuck up voice that I could muster up. “He’s cool, some of the others are a bit grim.”

“Thanks so much, Tasha, this is a dream come true!” Hayden beamed and hugged me to his side as we walked.

“Bet you didn’t expect to get the team as a package deal with me, when you picked me after the audition,” I laughed and hugged him back.

“Tasha!” No sooner than we had arrived in the family lounge, I was surrounded by some of the WAGs that surely had heard I was staying, but hadn’t seen me since at least Monday.

“You remember my bandmates,” I gestured to my ‘guests’.

“If all pro athletes get girls like this, I'm on the wrong career path,” Jared whispered to Adam, but I still heard him.

“Musicians get a lot of pretty girls, too,” I told him with a laugh.

“Not like that,” Jared shook his head and I was tempted to smack him.

“Don’t forget that you gotta sing,” Diane reminded me with a smirk and I made a face. “Come on, you know it’s perfect!”

“Shut up,” I grumbled, not at all happy about their glorious idea to make me sing a certain song for the players and especially Viktor. “I don’t think I drank enough for that.”

“Awe, poor baby Tashy,” Dillon mocked me. “It’s your own fault.”

“I know,” I rolled my eyes.

It took a little while still until we were signaled that whoever wanted could go into the locker room. One look into my bandmates’ faces answered my question if they wanted to go in or wait in the lounge for the players to come out.

“Girls coming in, in 3, 2, 1!” I yelled at the door, jokingly covering my eyes with a hand as I walked through it.

“Would you look at that? Look who’s still here!” Brent called loudly.

“Nice goal, Brouw,” I told Troy, who gave me a big grin.

“Thanks.”

“Jonathan Bryan,” I turned to the captain then and everyone laughed at the stern face I had put on.

“Natascha Maria,” he replied, still in his under armor while most other were in various states of undress or even absence, so in the showers.

“I have a bone to pick with you,” I informed him. One of many... “You jinxed Viktor.”

Jon made a face. “Sorry.”

“You better be,” I thumped his shoulder. “He’s showering, huh?”

“He was pretty eager to get changed quick,” Jon grinned. “Hey guys,” he greeted my ‘guests’ then. “And Diane,” he added, which made her grin proudly.

“Thanks for the tickets, man,” Adam told Jon, who nodded.

“Welcome. I owe this little lady quite a bit,” the Canadian nodded at me.

“Who’re you calling ‘little lady’?!” I huffed.

“Little Lady Sunshine,” Hayden grinned and they laughed.

“Alright, I’m just gonna wait over there,” I rolled my eyes and went to Viktor’s empty stall. From there I watched my sister also come in. She glanced at me and somehow I could tell she was glad to see me. I didn’t know how much or if it was even true, she certainly hadn’t tried to convince me to stay. Still, it was good to see her and some of that heaviness I had felt since finding out she was moving in with Jon, had lifted. That didn’t mean to say that I had any idea about what was supposed to happen now, but at the very least she’d have her life and I’d have mine. With Viktor. Who gave the people a whole new reason to cheer, when he returned from showering and putting back on his fancy suit.

Our smiles when we saw each other were anything but inconspicuous, but what he did next topped it all. Before I could even say a single word he had just walked up to me, leaned down and kissed me. It was a short kiss but that didn’t matter to the others. The room exploded into cat calls, whistling and shouting, mixed with laughter, especially when I tried to hide my blush in his chest.

“I hate you,” I complained, but he only laughed.

“Nice jersey.”

“Thanks, just some guy off the team,” I joked with a shrug.

“Must be some guy alright, if you’ll wear his number,” Viktor grinned happily.

“Tasha, you gotta sing!” Dillon reminded me from the other end of the room and my smile quickly turned into a small frown.

“Sing what?” Vik perked up.

“Nothing,” I shook my head. “A-dam!” I whined when the bassist came to pull me away.

“Sing!” he told me firmly, making me stand somewhat in the middle of the room.

“I'm not warmed up.”

“Sing.”

“I hate you.”

“Guys, I think Tasha’s got a song for us!” Jon jumped in to help and was as always number one on my shit list once again.

“Ugh, fine. This was not my idea and I guarantee no correct lyrics, notes or anything. It’s completely my bandmates’ fault!” I pointed out firmly and took a deep breath.

It was better to have been put on the spot like this, because that way I didn’t have much time to develop any nerves. Singing like this in front of the entire locker room was a huge thing and earlier I’d thought that maybe they’d make me sing when we went out to a postgame dinner together, but not like this. I’ll admit that whoever had come up with the idea to make me sing ‘And I am telling you I'm not going’ by Jennifer Hudson, was a genius. The lyrics were about as fitting as it got.

And I am telling you
I'm not going
You're the best man I'll ever know
There's no way I could ever, ever go
No, no, no, no way
No, no, no, no way I'm living without you
Oh, I'm not living without you,
Not living without you
I don't wanna be free
I'm staying, I'm staying
And you, and you, and you
You're gonna love me

You're gonna love me, yes you are
Ooh ooh love me, ooh ooh ooh love me
Love me, love me, love me, love me

You're gonna love me
(And I am telling you I’m not going – Jennifer Hudson)

While I sang, I looked at no one in particular and especially not Viktor. I knew it was still a pretty emotionally loaded topic for him, you don’t just forget stuff like this within a day or two. My hope was that I’d be able to make it up to him and that he would let me. From the look in his eyes I figured he would, he was positively beaming at me when I finished.

.

“I can’t believe I just sang in the damn locker room!” I groaned in the safety of Viktor’s car. “And such a difficult song, too!”

“You did really well,” Viktor insisted, still grinning happily. It was so good to see how proud he was of me. “It’s a great song.”

“Yeah, the lyrics are perfect,” I agreed and reached over to take and squeeze his hand. “It’s true, you know. I’m not going anywhere.” He nodded and brought my hand up to his lips to kiss my knuckles. “I’m sorry I scared you so much.”

“I’m just glad you’re staying, everything else doesn’t matter,” he told me and held my hand the entire drive to the restaurant we were all meeting at.

To be honest I was pretty tired and just wanted to go home, but the guys deserved to celebrate and I couldn’t take it from my friends to have a ‘Yay! Tasha is staying after all!’ dinner either. It had been an exhausting few days, few weeks actually, and I felt drained. So much had happened and changed, now I needed to take a step back, take my foot off the accelerator, so to speak, and calm down.

“Alright, I wanna know how this happened though,” Dillon pointed at me. “What made you change your mind?”

My first look went to Viktor, which they had plenty to say about. “All you guys,” I told them. “It was overwhelming to see so many people Monday night. It made me realize I have a pretty awesome bunch of friends that I’d be stupid to leave.” I looked at Diane, who gave me a small, but smug smile. “Thanks for that.”

It was really like it was in the song. I was not going to wake up the next day with no one there for me and Viktor was one of the greatest men I’d ever met. There was no way I was going to leave that behind and deliberately walk away. I’d been stupid to even think I could. My place was right here, with him, in Chicago. And however things would progress and develop from here on out, we would face it together.