Leaping for Your Dreams

After the boys got back from practice on the 19th we had our appointment for the finalization of our adoption. That went great. They were happy to see that she already had some friends, albeit their dad’s played with Geno but friends were friends, and that she had her own room. We hadn’t gotten the furniture into it as they got there but once I explained we had been painting it the day before they didn’t mind.

Once that was over and the final papers were signed, I relaxed. That’s when my phone went off. “You’re a go for Mari, what’s up?” I said as I tried making sure we’d have enough food for the crowd we were expecting tonight.

“Yo bitch, Working hard or hardly working?” Aleks asked. She must have been in the locker room as that was our normal gear up routine she was doing.

I laughed. “You gearing up Mal? You gotta be gearing up, you only ask me that when…” Then it clicked. “HOLY SHIT! YOU’RE the surprise! Bitch spill it.”

She laughed aloud. “What do you know Mari?” I heard her shuffle, which told me she was stretching out and missing me. “Who told you too.”

I giggled. “Oh My God, No Way! Sid said there’d be a surprise for us tonight while we watched the game tonight. Girl when did you sign?” I was trying to keep from having the guys hear me as I talked to her, her dream job it was so great for her.

“Couple days ago. Won’t be the same with you Mari, hey got any message for David? I’m sure I’ll be able to talk to him a bit.” I was hearing other players in the background starting their routines.

“Nah just kick some ass for me Mal. Hit a few guys for me too.” I heard a crash upstairs. “I gotta go Mal before Geno and the guys hurt themselves.” She said goodbye quick and I was able to dash upstairs.

“What happened?” I asked as I came into Anna’s room and found the tall dresser on the floor. The guys were picking it up hastily but I had seen it already.

“It’s ok Mama, Uncle Jordy’s butt is just too big to go behind it.” Anna giggled from her window seat. She was sitting there directing traffic it seemed.

I groaned. “Gronk…” I looked at him.

“We’re trying to decide if it should go here or in the closet.” He tried looking innocent but I knew him well enough now not to buy it.

“Not buying it. It goes in the closet cause right now she doesn’t need it out here. Then maybe you can go home for a few hours and see Heather.” I ruffled Anna’s hair as I sat down next to her.

“Aw all she wants to do is wedding stuff. Geno got out of it, why can’t I?”

I gawked at him. “You did _not_ just say that Jordan Lee. These are two _totally_ different things. First off I had Four hours to get everything together whereas you’ve had a lot longer. Secondly, I’m pretty sure Geno would have helped if you hadn’t had a _Game_ that night.” He nodded furiously, I knew he was a smart man.

They quickly finished up placement of the furtinure to _my satisfaction and I kicked Jordy out and called Heather to let her know he _should_ be coming home.

An hour before the game was to start about half the team gathered at the house. There were only a handful of kids there but that was ok with me. We were watching during the national anthem when the bench was panned over. “Holy Shit!” went the room. There, big as life, was Aleks standing on the bench in Caps Gear. All eye then turned to Sid who couldn’t keep the proud grin off his face.

“She called me after she signed. It’s a playoffs only contract. She also signed with Pat yesterday and is determined to come home next year.” He sounded so proud of her. He should be, she was the first female defenseman to play the game on this level. In fact the announcers were talking about her now.

“And in a history making move, the Capitals yesterday announced that they had signed Aleksandra Malahkov to a League approved Playoff only contract. We asked to speak with her but were told that she had said she didn’t want her being on the team to be a distraction for her teammates. The few other Caps players we’ve been able to speak to have all said that she’s been unofficially on the team for months and that they were very happy to finally have her during a game. Pierre what else can you tell us about her?”

We groaned. Pierre McGuire then took over. “Mal, as she’s called, is a hard person to get any dirt on. While she and Sidney Crosby recently came into the public eye with their relationship I have to wonder how he feels about his lady playing the game. I know that she played on the MSU Women’s team and helped lead them to a National Title just a few years ago and here she is now. I can not find where she has been between now and then. If I had to guess I’d say she was probably laying low so she wouldn’t be a distraction for whomever she was working with, back to you.”

Sid sighed. “Should I call the studio and get on the intermission report?” He asked the room. We agreed and he sighed.

The Caps scored first which made us all cheer, odd to think that we were cheering on the Caps but Aleks was there so I guess it evened out. We saw her being checked and covered tightly by them every time she stepped on the ice, even saw some of them chirping her but not once did she lose her cool. There was the Mal I knew so well. Cool and collected. It took a lot to rattle her. Through out the first the Bruins tried singling her out for extra punishment, like they were angry that a woman would _dare be on their ice and working hard than any of them.

Sid called the Studio and was placed on hold while we waited for intermission. Soon enough he went into another room while we watched his impromptu interview. “We have on the phone with us Sidney Crosby. Sid, Pierre before the game was wondering, and we all are too, _how_ you feel about Mal playing the game?”

“I’m _so_ proud of her. It’s been her dream and I can’t fault her for finding a way to make it happen. I know that she’s behind me 100% and for anyone wondering I’m behind her 100%.” We started clapping.

“So Sid, if you end up getting by the Flyers you _could_ potentially end up facing her in the playoffs, how does that make you feel?” We groaned.

Sid, however, laughed. “I won’t lie, it would be difficult, but I know both of us are professional enough to leave the game on the ice when and if we got any chance of seeing each other alone. I’d play my game and she’d play hers and whoever was better would win. Who that was I couldn’t tell you as we’ve never faced off like that.”

“Sid, do you think that this might take away from your own series? Be a distraction and everything?”

“No, not at all. As I said we’re 100% behind each other. If either of us ends up going all the way you can bet the other will be there cheering them on. I understand why she doesn’t want to be a distraction for the Caps, but I think you could tell by that first period she isn’t a token member of the team. She wasn’t treated any differently by her own team than anyone else which I think is a credit to how well she truly fits in.”

“One more thing Sid before we let you go. Are there wedding bells in your future with Mal? Will there be 2 Crosby’s in the League in the future?”

Oh that laugh… There was something a bit hysterical about it, just an edge I’m not sure any of the guys caught, but saw that Vero did. “I know that we will eventually get married when and where… that I can’t tell you. Hopefully the league would survive if we did and there were 2 Crosby’s within it, I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.” They let him go and moved on to other topics, we muted it so we could dissect what we saw.

I went into the kitchen, following Sid. “Ok you, what haven’t you told anyone yet?” I asked quietly.

He grinned at me boyishly and tried to deflect my question. “Nothing…” I looked at him sternly. “Ok, but you can’t spread this around. We’re getting married on our anniversary. We’re letting her mom handle the details, as we’re both super busy right now. It’s between Jordy and Flower’s weddings so the timing is good.” He stopped and looked at me. “What’s that look for?”

“You need to tell Heather and Vero, they deserve to know this information. As for the planning, I’ll take it over. This way neither mom can claim that they did it all, besides I know what she wants better than their mom does.”

“Guys the second is starting!” Shouted Jordy. I eyed Sid carefully.

“You tell those two by the end of the game or _I_ will tell them _and_ let them know you were too chicken to tell them.”

The second was more of the first, with fewer goals and more desperation from the Bruins. We all were on alert for chirping of Aleks and did our best to read lips when we could. “Why are they so hung up on who she’s sleeping with and wanting her to come over?”

I laughed. “Cause they’re trying to throw her off her game. It won’t work. She’ll give as good as she gets. Oh look, she just told Seguin that he wouldn’t know what to do with a real woman.” The guys laughed as it seemed to stun the Bruins around her and she was able to chip the puck to Ovechkin. The Caps added another goal by Semin late in the second bringing them to the lead again.

We didn’t really bother with the second intermission report, however I did noticed Sid taking Heather and Vero aside into my craft room. Good, maybe he wasn’t such a chicken after all.

Halfway through the 3rd Aleks got hit hard by Chara. It was so hard that it had all of _us_ on our feet and nearly holding our breath. Play stopped as she slowly got to her feet and Chara went to the box for checking from behind. She was taken to the bench and play resumed. They were watching her on the bench to see if she left but she didn’t. In fact she never missed shift.

A few minutes later the Bruins were in the Caps zone and looking for a way past Holtby when Chara wound up. I saw it as the rest of the guys did, Aleks putting herself between that rocket of a shot and her goalie. I knew what it looked like from the other side and breathed easier than the rest of them. Charac might be able to hit the puck easily over 100 mph but Aleks wasn’t one to let that stop her from doing her damnedest to win.

As the final minute of play was called, I saw Aleks and Seguin arguing about something. This wasn’t good; I saw her go pale. Seguin had crossed the last line she would tolerate. He was quick to tear off her gear which made all of us sit forward. I glanced at Sid out of the corner of my eye, he looked worried.

As Seguin began the fight everyone in the room was shouting encouragement to Aleks even though she couldn’t hear us. She hit him as she was taught to do, hard, fast and legal. He was telegraphing do badly _I_ could see where his swings were going to land before he hit.

She released the jersey and continued to stand her ground. This was something huge that angered her. Seguin played dirty then and began working her jersey off of her. I knew Aleks, she never wore her jersey without the fighting straps tight, so I knew it was futile of him to try. She gave him a few more rabbit punches to his midsection, which ended up taking them off their feet. The guys, with the exception of Sid, were on their feet and cheering. It was clear who won. Once the linesmen moved in to separate them Aleks stopped fighting, Seguin didn’t really. On his way off ice you could clearly see him arguing for Aleks to go as well and see the ref shaking his head no.

“She didn’t do anything but defend herself!” Cried Cookie. The ref seemed to agree with him as Seguin was given 2 minutes but Aleks was not.

I leaned over to Sid. “Ask her sometime who she learned from, you’d be surprised I bet. She wasn’t in any real danger from that little boy.” That took his eyes from fearful to determined.

Play resumed and all of us were on the edge of our seats. The Caps were dancing the puck all over the Bruins zone. “There Look!” Someone said. Aleks was tapping and shouting, she had found a hole. Sure enough Laich saucered her the puck and she wound up for a massive slapper from the point. As she connected we all but held our breath. It was going to be a close one. I saw it before anyone but Flower as we were the first to react. She’d slid it between the arm and the side of Thomas. Her first NHL Goal! The horn sounded second later and it was official. Aleks was an NHLer and one with a damned good career ahead of her.

“Hold on guys!” Shouted Michelle as Thomas skated up to Aleks. They had turned up the mic.

“Congratulations. Good game.” Thomas said plainly as he opened his glove. Sitting there was the puck she’d just slid past him, her first NHL goal puck.

“Thanks.” Aleks picked it up and grinned. “Better luck next time.” She then skated over to join my own teammates congratulating Holts on a great job. The room erupted into cheers as she did. I watched as Sid slid out of the room his phone in hand and had to smile. Of course he wanted to congratulate her in private. It was a _huge_ deal for both of them. If all went, as it seemed to be scripted they were soon to be the King and Queen of the NHL.