Courageous

The day before our second meeting of six in the series against the Pittsburgh Penguins and all I could think about was my impending talk with James. I didn’t know what to say to him or how to say it. Hell, I didn’t even know how to broach the subject with him. I mean talking with him about my desire to be with Hank would be easy. James already was aware of my attraction for the goaltender from me telling him about what I had done with the Swede in Buffalo. But I didn’t know how to tell him that I knew about what he had been doing with all those girls and that I knew that he had been planning to use me for some bet he had with his teammates.

Sighing, I ran my hand through my hair and got up to take a quick shower so that I would be ready before Hank would be here to pick me up and we would head to the airport to board our flight to Pittsburgh. The warm steam and hot water helped to calm my nerves some as I washed my now barely blonde hair. But it didn’t relax me much as I had hoped because I couldn’t stop dwelling on the fact that James had lied to me for almost the entire time that our short relationship had existed. Did he think that I was just some dumb blonde who was gonna be an easy lay? Or was it that he might’ve been attracted to me beyond that but just didn’t want to go out of his way to make things work? Stepping out of the shower, I continued to ponder over those things while I got dressed and got ready for the short road trip to Pittsburgh.

It wasn’t too much longer after I got ready that Hank had arrived to pick me up and as I slid into the car his presence immediately helped to relax my nerves because he was the most consistent thing in my life. I loved him for always being there for me even if I didn’t always need him to be. Like tomorrow, I wouldn’t need him to talk with James but he would be if I asked him to. Offering him a quick kiss, I found myself able to smile for the first time since after celebrating the Winter Classic win over the Flyers as I greeted him,

“Good morning.”

Hank smiled back down at me before he pulled out onto the busy New York streets that would take us to the JFK International Airport. To my relief, he didn’t ask me about what I was planning on doing about James. But he did let out a frustrated groan when my iPhone began to ring. Giggling at his childishness I placed my nearest hand on top of his while my other hand picked up my chiming phone. I wasn’t surprised to find that the person calling me was James,

“Hey, Sparky.” I answered, semi sweetly into the phone, which caused Hank to roll his eyes at my façade as he turned his hand around to grasp mine. Shaking my head, I made sure that Hank understood that he couldn’t talk.

“Hey, Kayla, I was just callin’ to see if you were wantin’ to go somewhere to eat before the game tomorrow.” James informed me from the other end.

I paused of a moment, thinking about what he had said. I wasn’t sure if that was such a good idea or not. It would’ve been if things were different than they had worked out to be. But that was just ‘a what’ if now. When I took so long to respond, I had worried both James and Hank because the both tried to get me to talk to either of them,

“Kayla?” James prompted, probably wondering if I had hung up on him.

“Mickie? What’s the little bastard saying?” Hank inquired.

“Who was that, Kayla? Who are you with?” James questioned me with as a tone of possessiveness and jealously slithered it’s way around his words.

Glaring at Hank, I shook my head at him to tell him to quit because he wasn’t making this any easier for me, “It’s just Hank, James. We carpool to save gas. You know this.”

“You’re with him. Seriously, Kayla?” An icy venom crept was now dripping off every word that fell from his lips.

“What? I thought that you didn’t have a problem with him.” I reminded him of what he had said when he had come over to hang out with me after I had gotten sent home from Buffalo.

“The hell I don’t!” James almost roared back at me, “Kayla, he took advantage of you while you were drunk-“

Suddenly, I felt my own possessiveness kick in as I cut him off, “Don’t you dare talk about him that way. It was my fault as well.”

“Yeah, but you were drunk and he-“

“And he what, James?” I inquired back, gripping Hank’s hand a little tighter that it caused the Swede to wince, slightly.

“He raped you.” James drew out as if I was some stupid teenager who didn’t understand what was going on. I felt belittled and I hated the feeling. But for him to accuse Hank of raping me was way out of line.

“Look, James,” I began as an eerie calm wrapped itself around me as I spoke, “You can’t rape the willing. But yes, I would like to have lunch with you tomorrow. I’ve got to go now. We are getting ready to get on the plane.”

“Alright then. See ya tomorrow.” James huffed in response to being shut down.

I didn’t say anything more to him. I didn’t need to so instead I ended the call quickly. Setting my phone in my lap and I brought my free hand to cover my face. I couldn’t believe how quickly James had decided that he had a problem with Hank. In fact, Hank had only been brought up once out of all the times we had talked and that was after Buffalo. Sure, at the time, the news had probably stung a little but I’m the one who should be hurt more by what James had been doing to me over the past couple of weeks.

“Mickie?” The soft murmur of my name danced its way upon my ears and caused my heart to soar a little as I looked back over towards Hank, who still held onto my other hand, “You don’t have to go to lunch with him, you know that right?”

“I do, actually. I need to tell him the right way so that he doesn’t find out through the grapevine. That would only cause more trouble for us.” I informed Hank with a small smile as I squeezed his hand a little before pulling my own out of his. I paused for a moment as another factor came to mind,

“Do you think that Brad will or has said something to make James suspicious?”

Hank sighed as he ran a hand through his well-groomed hair in thought. He knew that I had a point. How could I not? Especially, with how Brad had reacted when he had found out that Hank had cheated Therese with me. James had also been Brad’s teammate for a lot longer than he had been ours so why wouldn’t Brad take it upon himself to be the bearer of bad news.

After a while, Hank shook his head before he informed me of his opinion, “No, I don’t think that he would or has. Brad might still be a friend to James, but they aren’t as close as they used to be despite what Brad says. I also think the guys here have worked him enough to be on our side.”

I smiled, slightly as Hank’s words took away some of my fears of the approaching day and our journey to Pittsburgh, “Really? Do you think he’s come around to the idea that you and I are going to be together?”

“I’m not sure if he likes the idea of how our relationship was formed but I think that he respects both of us adults and is trying to accept the fact that we are together now.” Hank informed me with a smile of his own before the rest of our drive to the airport fell into silence.

When we arrived at the JFK International Airport, I was immediately tackled by Michael and Brian who were both fighting over who was going to sit next to me on the flight. Laughing I manage to get myself away from the pair so that I can take my suitcase from Hank,

“Guys, don’t you think that I could sit with Hank for a change?”

“What?!” Brain exclaimed, pretending to be hurt by my words. Michael only took my suitcase from so that Brian could scoop me up over his shoulder and carry me towards to the plane. Rolling my eyes, I couldn’t help but wonder what was so addictive about carrying me over their shoulder for these guys.

“Brian?” I inquired after a good five minutes of hanging over the giant’s shoulder. My head was beginning to feel woozy as blood began to rush to my head.

“Yes, Mickie?” Brian chuckled, adjusting my weight a little as he did so.

“Tell DZ that I will sit with him if I don’t pass out from all the blood rushing to my head first.”

To my surprise another voice had offered to sit with me as well, and it was the one person I was least expecting out of all of my teammates, Brad, “Guys, I’d hate to burst your bubble but maybe there are other people on the team who would like to sit with Mickayla.”

At Brad’s words, Brian almost dropped me from the shock but thankfully Hank was close enough to prevent me from receiving a concussion. After Hank turned me right side up, I leaned into him for a moment or two because I was still dizzy from the imbalance of blood flow in my body. Eventually, I felt like I was stable enough to speak,

“Brad? You want to sit with me?”

“Is it a bother?” He inquired looking between Hank and I as a frown grew on his face. Blinking at him for a moment, I slowly nodded, deciding that I needed to find out what Brad wanted from me,

“Alright, Brad, I’ll sit with you.”

“Cool.”

I, then, followed the forward onto the private plane past my grumbling friends. I allowed Brad to take the window, so that I could have a fast escape if things got hairy. I watched as the rest of the team filed in while Brad said nothing. Instead, he was looking down at his phone as if he was waiting for something. It wasn’t until the plane took off that he decided to speak up.

“I wanted to apologize for being such a dick to you,” He informed me, “I was out of place to push my opinion on you and Hank. I was also wrong to say the things I said to you on New Years. I realize I was being selfish and immature. I didn’t really mean it, you just had me backed into a corner and I didn’t know what else to do.”

I couldn’t help but smile at this small victory, but I knew that this was hard for Brad to apologize to me. It’s hard to apologize to anyone. Brad had decided to man up and be a bigger person about the situation even if he was the one who was clearly in the wrong.

“Brad, you’re right. You were being a dick. You were out of line. You were out of place and wrong to say the things you did.” I agreed, staring him down before I continued, “But I also realize that you were just trying to look out for your friends. Hank, James, and Therese are your friends. I was the one who was messing up everything you knew. So I’m sorry for putting all of them through what they’ve been through.”

“Well, you’re my friend, too.” Brad informed me, finally cracking a small smile.

“Really?” I couldn’t help but smile back at him. Before everything had happened with Hank, I knew that Brad had considered me a good teammate but I wasn’t sure what he thought of me as a person off the ice. For him to say that I was his friend really meant something to me.

“Yeah, I mean, you’re the team’s annoying little sister, but you’re also one hell of a person.” He pointed out to me.

I had realized that being the team’s little sister was part of my role and to be honest, I really enjoyed it. It meant that despite being annoying, the guys were still out to look out for me. It was kind of a reversal of my role at Boston College when I had been everyone’s ‘big sister’ and was the one looking out for the rest of the guys.

“Yeah? Well, you’re the annoying, overprotective big brother I never had.” I told him and gave him a side hug.

Brad chuckled and returned my awkward hug, “Well, as a concerned/overprotective brother I’d like to know, what are you going to do about James since we are going to Pittsburgh?”

Sighing, I scratched the back of my head, “James called me this morning actually… He wanted to take me out to lunch before the game tomorrow. I was planning on ending things with him before we went out though. I’m done stringing him along even if he is lying to me.”

“What if he’s not cheating on you?” Brad inquired, deciding to play devils advocate and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was testing me.

“Even if he’s not cheating on me, I’m still gonna end things… Brad, I can’t do that to him. These feelings I have for Hank…” Shaking my head, I ran a hand through my hair, “I’ve never felt so strongly about someone before. I’ve never had a connection so strong.”

“You really love him, don’t you?” Brad stated with a small smile.

“I do.” I blushed a little at the thought of loving someone like Hank but I can’t help it.

Brad sighed, but then nodded back to where Hank was sitting, “Well, I’m happy for you guys. I think you two are gonna be the best for each other in the long run.”

“You think so?” Needless to say, I’m slightly surprised that Brad really does approve of my relationship with Hank after everything he’s said to me and done as he tried to keep us apart.

“Yeah, I don’t know why I couldn’t see it before.” Brad confirmed, “You guys just have this chemistry off and on the ice. Everyone can see it.”

“Yeah… It was really hard to be around him whenever HBO had their cameras rolling.” I admitted with a chuckle as I thought back to all times Hank and I had to dodge the cameras in order to spend time together leading up to the Winter Classic.

Brad laughed a little at my statement, “I bet. It was hard to find some privacy when they were around.”

“No kidding!” I agreed, “I hope we don’t have to do something like that again.”

“I thought you liked the attention?” Brad joked back with me.

“Hell nah! I’d rather be left alone. Besides the only times I like being the center of attention is when I’m shitfaced.”

“So when you start being an attention whore cut off your alcohol flow?” Brad inquired, probably thinking back to the Buffalo incident and all the loud, obnoxious singing I had done after consuming nearly an entire bottle of wine.

“Yeah… that would probably be a good idea.” I agreed, scratching the back of my head.

Brad and I continued to talk for the rest of the flight. It felt good that I finally had the ‘old Brad’ back. His apology and just talking to him about everything going on really lifted some stress off my shoulders. To know that he wasn’t upset with me anymore and that he was supportive of my decision was a huge relief for me.

The plane landed in the Pittsburgh International Airport around six o’clock that evening which would allow us to get to the hotel, have a few team meetings, have dinner, and then get settled in for the night to rest up for the big game against the Penguins the next day. The bus ride that followed was almost as eventless as the plane ride but as soon as we arrived at the hotel was when the shenanigans began.

Everything started out normal, as I was swept over Brian’s shoulder once more and carried into the hotel upside down. I managed to check in and get my bad into the room I would be sharing with Hank for the night and then I went back downstairs to get a snack. That was when I saw the hotel’s luggage carts. Upon the sight, I concocted a devious plan and ran to get Brian, DZ, and Derek Stepan.

“GUYS!!!!” I exclaimed, excitedly as I poked my head in Boyle’s room where all three of them were conveniently located.

“WHAT?!” Brian shouted back at me, hopping off his bed as the rest of the guys looked at me like I was some kind of creature from the black lagoon.

“WE. MUST. CART. RACE. NOW!” I informed them.

Brian shrugged and looked back to the guys, who were all quick to stop whatever they had been doing and join in on the fun.

“So where are we going to have this ‘race’ at?” Derek asked me as I lead them to the luggage carts. I paused for a moment and shrugged,

“Well, I hadn’t thought it that far. I just saw them, had the idea, and ran to you guys.”

Derek rolled his eyes at me as we all leaned against the racks now thinking about how we were going to pull this off.

“We can’t race in our hallways. Torts’ll get pissed at us for disrupting the peace for sure.” Michael pointed out, rather unhelpfully.

But all of us agreed with him. There was no way we could manage something like that and not get in trouble with the head honcho himself. But that left us with very little options because we still had to consider all the other hotel guests. Until Brian was there to save the day when he shared with us his idea,

“How about we race in the parking lot?”

“Right on! Let’s do this!” I agreed, hopping into the luggage cart as Brian began to push it towards the doors while Michael had to push Derek. Rubbing my hands together, I couldn’t help but smile because I knew things were about to get epic!

*General POV*

Brad Richards and Henrik Lundqvist were sitting in the Swede’s hotel room enjoying the uncharacteristically quite night before they would face the Penguins tomorrow when a noise outside caught the center’s attention. Getting up from his seat, he went to see what was going on and he almost couldn’t believe what he was saw.

“Hank, you gotta see this.” Brad informed the other man, waving him.

The man in question got up from his bed and made his way over to the window before peering outside to see four of his teammates racing luggage carts out in the hotel’s parking lot. He wasn’t surprised by any of the people who were participating in the race. Three of them were some of the youngest players on the team, so they were bound to do such things and then there was Brian Boyle, who was a child at heart so he fit right in to that group.

Shaking his head, Hank made a move to sit back down until he saw that the long, light brown hair of his girlfriend flash as she did some sort of flip on the bars of the cart while it was still moving. For a moment, Hank felt his heart stop a little when he saw her pulling such a stunt but it restarted when he saw that she hadn’t been hurt and he heard her shout,

‘FUCKIN’ HURRY UP, BOYLE! THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL I AM LOOSING TO DEL ZOTTO!’

‘HAHA YOU GUYS SUCK! LOOK AT YOU, BRIAN! YOU’RE PUSHING THE SMALLEST PERSON ON THE TEAM WHILE DEREK AND I WEIGH ABOUT THE SAME!’ Her usual defensive partner shouted back at Brian as his team pushed ahead.

‘YEAH, HOW THE FUCK DOES THAT WORK OUT!’ Derek Stephan chimed in as he pushed Del Zotto across the parking lot.

“Hey- Hank, Brad, what on earth on you guys looking at?” The voice of Brandon Prust inquired as he, Ryan Callahan, and Brandon Dubinsky poked their heads into Mickayla and Hank’s room.

Brad was quick to move out of the way, “See for yourself.”

Prust was the first one to the mirror, a fit of laughter erupted from the man’s chest as he saw Brian, pushing Mickayla ahead of Derek and Michael Del Zotto. He then made room for the Cally and Dubi who were anxious to see what had made the other forward laugh so hard and in seconds they were both in a laughing fits themselves.

“Jesus. They are crazy. Running around out there without wearing coats!” Ryan exclaimed, having noticed not a single one out of the four were dressed properly for the snowy weather outside.

“I bet they all get sick. Especially, Mickie, she stole my room card when I wasn’t paying attention so now I’m locked out of my room until she gets her ass back inside.” Dubi complained with annoyance in his voice because of Mickayla’s ninja pickpocketing skills.

After regaining control of his laughter, Prust pushed both of the other men out of the way before lifting up the window and shouting down the group, “HEY YOU FUCKIN’ IDIOTS? IF COACH FINDS OUT YOU’RE ALL DEAD!”
The other four men in the room with him heard their lone female teammate shout back, “FUCK OFF, CRUSTY PRUSTY. YOU’RE JUST JEALOUS I DIDN’T INVITE YOU TO COME RACE WITH US.”

With that Prust shot out of the room and was outside, trying to get to Mickayla who had jumped off the luggage rack and running back towards the hotel’s entrance but Prust managed to cut her off. She skidded to a halt in front of the blue eyed forward while all the other men watched on with bemused expression on their faces.

Jumping forward, Mickayla caused Prust to flinch as he tried grab her after they had spent a good five minutes staring each other down, but she jumped just in time to escape Prust’s grip. She proceeded to side step him as he lost his balance and fell into a random snow pile before she made her get away into the hotel. Brandon was quickly back on his feet and chasing after clever girl. The four men inside as well as the three men outside were all left dumb founded as they watched all this take place. Well, that was until the four men inside heard footsteps dashing down the halls towards the room they were in.

“Fuck!” Mickayla swore as she popped into the room and saw Brad, Dubi, Cally, and Hank all staring at her. But as soon as she was in the room, she was gone again as Prust flashed by the room. They heard a door slam open and a screech that had them all headed towards Dubi’s room where they found Mickayla beating Prust away with a pillow.

“YOU SHALL NOT TOUCH!” She hissed, unaware that she was being watched as she continued to wail on the defenseless forward.

“Alright, alright, I give! I give!” Prust pleaded defeat when the defenseman popped him on the head with underside of her fist.

“That’s right, you son of a bitch.” Mickayla hissed back, clutching onto her hand obviously in some pain and flopped onto one of beds, “FUCK! You asshole, your head is like a rock. Do you have a skeleton of adamantium or something? Because I think you just shattered my hand!”

“Serves you right, you little bitch.” Prust scoffed back at her. There was a long moment of silence until both injured teammates burst out laughing.

Their sudden hysterics left their watching teammates confused at the sight before them. The four men looked at each other, trying to decide who was going to ask them what was going on until Mickayla finally noticed them. Her face was flushed from laughing and she was still trying to regain her breath as she pointed at them unable to say anything for another minute.

“You guys saw the whole thing, didn’t you?” She questioned with a contagious smile on her lips. Each man nodded unsure of what to do or say in this situation. That was until Dubi decided to snatch his keys from her before punching her in the arm,

“That was for locking me out of my room all night.”

Mickayla only stuck her tongue out at him before jumping up and swatting him outside the head, “You are not permitted to touch.”

“I’ll show you what I’m permitted to touch.” Dubi hissed, dangerously before leaping towards her.

Shrieking, Mickayla scurried off the bed before using Hank as a blocker to prevent Brandon from getting her. Dubi fought hard to try and get the netminder out of the way but Hank had had enough of everyone’s childish antics, so he decided put a stop to it before someone got hurt,

“We’re done here. Both of you need to calm the fuck down. Or we’re all gonna get in trouble.”

Instantly, Mickayla turned on her heel and headed towards Del Zotto’s room without another word. Her actions left most of the guys worried because usually she would’ve fought Hank a little for ‘trying to dictate her life’ but this time there was nothing. All eyes now on Hank, they all looked for some explanation as to why their ‘little sister’ was acting off.

“What’s up with her, Hank?” Prust inquired from the floor of his room stilling having not recovered from the blow Mickayla had delivered to his head. The Swede sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he informed the group:

“She’s going to talk with Neal tomorrow. That’s why she’s been acting up.”

The only one whose jaw didn’t drop was Brad’s. But that was because he had already talked with both Hank and Mickayla about what was going to go down the next day. The others had almost forgotten that Mickayla had kind of been seeing James Neal before she hooked up with Hank because they had grown used to seeing the pair together.

“Well, that’s gonna cause a shitstorm.” Prust pointed out, “They are gonna be all over her ass tomorrow.”

“I know.” Hank stated as he looked at all of the guys, “Which is why you’re going to make sure they don’t kill her.”

Ryan was the first to step up and agree with the goaltender, “Hank’s right. We can’t hang her out to dry.”

The rest of the guys seemed to agree with their captain that left Hank with some peace of mind because he knew he couldn’t help her out on the ice because of his position. With that, the group disbanded and went their separate ways for the rest of the evening, each knowing what they had to do in order for Mickayla to survive the game the next day.