I'll Be Right Beside You

Christmas had flown by, and even though I’d ended up having a fainting episode that caused me to fall down the stairs and hit my head on the way down, it had been good. It was nice to have everyone in one place, and to see all the kids and everything.

The real drawback, was that I wasn’t allowed to coach by myself for a few weeks due to the doctor’s fear of me having another episode and not having someone around to take care of the situation. I understood it, but it didn’t mean I had to like it.

“Found anybody yet?” Eric asked as he hovered behind me. I’d taken up residence in his office going through parent lists and anybody else I could think of who might be up for the position. So far, nobody wanted to commit the kind of time and effort it required to coach their kids’ hockey team.

“No… ugh. I don’t get it. They won’t even commit to splitting it… it’s their kids’ sport hanging in the balance…”

“Some parents just can’t, and others don’t want to. Not everybody’s been as lucky as us Jord. You’ll find someone,” Eric sighed, patting me on the shoulder before moving my binder to grab some files from underneath of it.

“I hope so,” I mumbled, not feeling overly optimistic.

“Hey! I fixed your problem!” Eric grinned as he walked in the door. I looked up from my laptop, and raised an eyebrow at him. I’d already cancelled two practices and a game, and the kids weren’t happy about it, neither was I.

“Really?”

“She’s right here,” his smile nearly reached his ears, and I found out why a second later when Cam walked in behind him. I was sure my jaw almost dropped to the table when she walked past my brother, a knee brace on over her jeans and while she hobbled a little, she still took my breath away all the same.

“Hi,” I somehow managed to stutter it out, and I caught the blush on her cheeks and her smile before she answered.

“Hi Jord – how are you?” she asked before wrapped her arms around me. I pulled her in tight, and let the feeling wash over me. It was something I missed more than I would admit to anyone; I hated nights alone without her, and the days we’d go without texting or anything. It drove me nuts.

“Good, good. What happened?”

“Well, we got horsing around, and then Kris went to lift me up and spin me around but Geno and James had been going to tackle us and it turned into a huge mess and I twisted my knee under myself. So ta-da!” she held out her hands, and gave me a cheesy grin, before chuckling.

“Assistant coach?”

“I thought I was up to the challenge,” she shrugged, and I nodded.

“Thanks so much,” I hugged her once more, whispering for just her to hear. The fact she’d go out of her way to come help me tugged at my emotions.

“Of course Jord,” she replied, before pulling away and bringing Eric back into the conversation. She let me keep my arm around her waist though, which I knew would catch his attention but keep away questions.

“Hello! I’m home!” everybody turned at the sound of Tanya’s voice, and she got a loud chorus of ‘hello’ in response. As soon as she’d put her grocery bags down on the counter and turned to see who all was in the living room her face lit up a little.

~

“Cam! Hey! I didn’t know you were coming!” she gushed as I got up to give her a hug.

“Hi Tanya! Eric made me an offer for my off-time, and I couldn’t resist,” I replied, and recognition lit up her eyes when she realized what I was talking about.

“That’s good! You two will have tons of fun; they’re a great group of kids,” she assured me, before I started helping her out with putting groceries away. Jared came to help, but retreated from the kitchen as soon as Tanya was ready to start cooking. We all knew how dangerous it was for him to be in a kitchen; his cooking ability was worse than Jordan’s was when I’d first joined the Penguins.

We were kept busy for about a half an hour making spaghetti and meatballs, and Jared, Jordan and Eric were kept busy trying to keep the kids out from under our feet. Parker wanted to be right in there and trying everything, but Tanya was worried he would end up burning himself.

Once dinner was made and everybody was seated in the dining room – which I’d learned was seldom used at Eric and Tanya’s, they preferred to just eat in the kitchen – things quieted down a little bit. The boys were all too busy eating to talk much, and the same went for the three older generation Staal brothers. Eric offered for him and Jared to clean up, much to Jared’s chagrin, and so the rest of us retreated to the living room. Jordan sat next to me and again put his arm around my shoulders, letting me snuggle into his side as we watched whatever show it was that Parker and Levi had on.

Not long after Jared said goodbye and headed for his own place; waving as he mumbled something about calling Natalie.

“Come on boys; time for bed,” at Tanya’s voice her sons immediately started up the stairs, with no complaint or argument. Eric shook his head, and Jordan was soon laughing.

“What?”

“You should see the fight they put up when it’s us trying to get them to bed,” was Jordan’s answer, that had me chuckling as well. I’d figured that Tanya wore the pants around all of these Staal men.

“Of course,” I rolled my eyes, making my way downstairs with Jordan, because that’s where the two spare rooms were. Well, the one spare room and what was now Jordan’s room.

“Hey, thanks for coming down here, it really does mean the world to me,” he caught me before I went into my room, his fingertips light on my elbow as he’d reached out to me. The whisper-soft brush was enough to send goosebumps along my skin, and I fought off blushing like a little schoolgirl as I shrugged.

“I’d choose getting to see all of you guys and help you out then sit on my ass at home and be pissed about doing nothing any day Jord, you should know that,”

“But the thing is you didn’t have to, and that’s what means a lot to me,” he insisted, his voice soft. I swallowed hard, wishing I had some semblance of control over myself and my emotions, because right now Jordan was making a mess of them.

“Well, we better get to sleep; I bet Park’s going to wake both of us up before he heads to school,” I mumbled, needing to get away from him so I could breathe and function normally, and figure out what the hell was going on with me. Jordan nodded, his thumb absentmindedly stroking my elbow, before he gave a gentle tug that had me in his arms and pressed against his strong body. I looked up, about to speak up in surprise when those velvet lips were on mine, just as soft and supple as I’d remembered. Any words I might have had at my disposal disappeared as I melted against him, his lips moving perfectly over mine before he pulled away and rested his forehead against my own. We stayed there for a moment, like time had frozen, before he whispered goodnight, pressed a quick kiss to my forehead and retreated to his bedroom.