Leaping for Your Dreams

We heard the cheering before we fully got in the door. Something happened in the few minutes we’d been gone, something good by the sound. Once we were in we saw the reply, Mal had scored! I checked the score without even thinking, it was 2-0 now. I looked over at Geno who had this huge smile on his face. I tucked myself under his arm and half whispered in his ear. “Let’s shelve this until later. Mal needs us.”

“Not so sure. That was sweet.” He said back at me while keeping his eyes on the tv.

Mario came up on my other side. “Where’d you two disappear to?” Like every other player in the room, his eyes were glued to the screen.

“Bitch wants house or money, not getting either. We be neighbors soon.” Geno explained shortly. “What happened to Scuds? Not on bench or ice.”

“Boarding and a game misconduct, he’s done.” Mario looked at us briefly. “You’re buying the lot behind us that got condemned?”

I chuckled. “We’ll tear it down first. Black Mold and Termites I will _not_ live with. Oh hell…” We all watched as Nicklas Backstrom made it 3-0 Caps. “There was no way Quick saw that one. Too well screened.”

“How can you tell from that angle?” Cookie asked. Both Mari and I chuckled. “Oh come on, I didn’t say anything funny.”

Mario smiled. “Oh but you did. Mari has a _very_ good record in our 1 pm games. She’s even stopped me quite often.” That got the attention of quite a few of the guys. “How is it that none of you ever noticed that Mari and Aleks are as attached as some of you are? They did more than _just_ go to school together. How many championships have the two of you won?”

I tilted my head up and looked at the ceiling. “Let’s see 3 with SSM and another 3 with MSU, so 6 total, or do you mean all the trophies we’ve won together? That’s a _much_ bigger number.” To be honest one, I had no clue about either. “We’ve been skating together since we were 4. Thanks to her folks we _both learned the basics by watching the Wings. She’s always played Defense and I’ve always been in the pipes. It’s like breathing for us.”

As I watched the guys digest this, I saw that it hit Flower the hardest. “So w’en you were talking to Johnny all t’ose mont’s ago after t’e game. You really do know w’at we go through.”

I sighed and shook my head. “Flower, have you ever noticed that while I’ll joke around with some of the guys, if _they_ started it with me, I _never_ bother you or Johnny? That’s because I know how you guys have to get your heads on right and I don’t want to throw you off of doing that. Now, knowing Mal the way I do, she’ll want to do yoga before the games and will probably love a partner. She’ll wrangle me into doing it cause she knows I love it as much as she does.” I looked slyly over my shoulder at Geno. “Of course Yoga helps with flexibility which in turn helps with other aspects of life.”

The guys laughed. “Pilates is also great for any hockey person do to. I’m hoping to find a good Pilates studio this coming year, I’ve been too busy making everything run smoothly until now.” Flower just nodded, he finally got why I never bothered him until _after_ the game, professional courtesy.

I went and grabbed something to eat. After everything that had happened in the last few hours, I was starving. The guys had pretty much gotten over the shock of finding out I could play with them and hold my own. It was the first intermission and I was just enjoying the fact that I would be on vacation soon. Nathalie came over and hugged me after a few minutes. “Mario jus’ told me. ‘ow long will it take to build your home?”

I chuckled. “I don’t know, we have an appointment with Mobius tomorrow. We’re going to break the news to Anna when we get home so we can, as a family, look for a house plan online that we all like. I just can’t believe the nerve of that bitch.”

Nathalie put a hand on my shoulder. “At leas’ you know before she take it, you ‘ave a plan. The schools here are incroyable. I t’ink Anna will like t’em very much.” Then she got an idea. “Oh! Alexa can ‘elp. She likes Anna, maybe she can ‘elp babysit. Alexa, come here please.”

She came bubbling over. “This game is going so great! What do you need maman?” She had her own plate of goodies.

“Mari and Geno will be moving into the place behind us sometime in the fall. ‘Ow do you feel about watching Anna after school?” Alexa looked between her mother and myself several times.

“This isn’t a trick is it? I’d _love_ to watch her after school! I can help her with her homework and make sure she’s got a snack.” She began making plans for all the things they could do.

I just started laughing, she quirked her head at me as if she didn’t understand why I was laughing. “Alexa, the house still has to be built first. Heck we have to find a plan we like and _all_ that first. It’s great that you’re so enthusiastic though.”

She grinned. “How close to behind us will you guys be?” Her initial happiness was now tempered with wanting information.

“Is sharing a back fence close enough?” I asked and had to quickly hand my plate to Nathalie as Alexa squee’d and hugged me tightly. “Anna doesn’t know yet and of course we’ll double check in the fall that you _still_ want to do this. If the answer is still yes, we’ll work out a schedule so that you still can have a social life too.”

Geno touched my back as he approached. “Second start soon.”

I looked up at him. “Nathalie has asked Alexa if she’d be willing to watch Anna after school in the fall. She’s _more_ than willing.”

He grinned. “Not all the time. I be home too. We talk another time about. Watch Finals now.” I took my plate back and let him guide me to the seats he’d gotten for us. I finished my plate as we listened to them talk about what a different team the Caps were when Aleks was on the ice versus when she wasn’t. It took everything I had not to scoff at them. Of _course_ they were different. When Mal was there, they had better leadership than when she wasn’t. That was just Mal, natural leader.

The puck dropped on the second and we’d given up all pretense of having a party for anything but to celebrate the game. Mal wasn’t on the ice at the start, which was no big deal though. I watched as she hopped over the boards and a neat little play developed. I was watching carefully. “Mal sees something!” I said loudly as I saw her tap her stick on the ice, calling for the puck, the next second she had the puck and was flicking off a sweet little wrist shot. “Come on Mal.”

The goal horn went off and we all stood and cheered. It was her second of the night. “If she gets another I’m kissing her! Sid be damned!” Everyone laughed at that. We all were hoping she’d get a third and her first hatty, but as we watched everything _but_ that happened.

Time after time they were unable to convert. That didn’t deter them though. The Kings were doing some _stupid_ shit this game. Like now, it was nearly the end of the second and Penner got himself a 10-minute misconduct penalty. Shortly after that Carter slid the puck past Holtby. “Fucking Carter!” “What an ass!” I had Flower sitting next to me, we’d bee watching Quick and Holtby really closely.

After Carter got that one by him, I could see Holtby cursing himself out. I tapped Flower and looked over. He was nodding. Mal skated over, tapped his pads and said something to him. I couldn’t quite read her lips. “There’s the patented Mal to Goalie Pep Talk. I’ve gotten a few of those.” I heard Flower chuckled.

“She and Cookie might have words. He normally gives me the Pep Talk when I’m getting down on mysel’.” That made me chuckle. “Cookie is bad at t’em t’ough.”

I shook my head. “Mal’s not. She said what maybe a dozen words just now and he’s grinning. Never says more than that unless she’s off ice. Just the bare bones of what’s needed.” He nodded, mentally filing it away for future use.

As they all filed off the ice for the second intermission I relaxed. Geno’s phone went off with a text alert. He fished it out of his pocket and read it. Chuckling he let me read it, then he stood up. “Got text from Sid. He say, You may not see us for a few days when this night is over. Thank god her apartment is soundproof.” The guys just about died from laughing so hard. I grabbed Geno’s phone and text him back. Geno about died from laughing so hard as he read what I wrote.

“Anyon’ ‘ave a key to his place? We should give t’em a welcome home surprise.” There was some wariness from the guys about this idea.

I gave Flower a shove. “She’s got a _long_ memory Flower. They also are going to have enough of a difficult summer, don’t add her long slow _cold_ revenge planning on top of it. You _won’t_ win.”

He looked at me oddly. “ ‘ow are _t’ey_ going to ‘ave a difficult summer?” Everyone was looking at me now. I sighed and told them all why.

“You all know they get married on the 8th of July right?” God I hoped so, cause most of them were supposed to _be_ there. The guys all nodded. “What you don’t know is that Aleks has been told that she was to report to rookie development camp on the 9th. They aren’t going to _get_ a honeymoon because of this.”

Mario looked over. “She shouldn’t have to go to Dev. Camp.” Sounded to me like Mario knew nothing about this.

I shrugged. “That’s what both she and Sid told me. They’re coming back here and when she’s done I think they’re going home. I don’t know for sure.” I knew for a fact she knew how to be a pro, hell she’d been living like one all her life really.

He nodded. “I may have to look into that. She’s too used to doing things the way they need to be done for a pro already, she shouldn’t have to.” Something told me I needed to lay low at work the next couple days, lest I have the wrath come down on me.

The rest of the intermission was pretty chill. Anna was pretty tired so Alexa took her to her room and let her sleep there. A lot of the kids were tired at this point so one by one Alexa and Austin ferried them to a spot to sleep until their folks were ready to go.

I was snuggled up against Geno during the third, not asleep but not as energetic as I had been. The Brown/Brouwer crap that went down I just shook my head about. I spent most of the period watching from my husband’s shoulder, until the last 4 minutes when something happened that had all of us gaping. L.A. pulled Quick for an extra attacker in the final few minutes. Yeah, they were desperate. Doughty, the extra man, ended up making Gagne fall, his own teammate. It was an accident of course but it changed how the Caps were going. We watched as Chimera was hooked to his knees, and not called either, and _still_ passed it to Backstrom. Holy Hell an Empty Netter! We made a little bit of noise but what got us was 15 seconds later when Mike Green put one in.

They were down to the last 3 minutes and 30 seconds of the game. That close until Mal and the Caps were Champions. They’re entire bench was standing, not that I blamed them; this was an exciting way to end the game. I saw the Caps making one last change at about the one-minute mark. “She’s on the ice guys!” I said excitedly. My best friend, nay my sister was about to make her dream come true.

The entire house that was still up at this point was glued to the screen. At 30 seconds most of us started to stand. At 20 I heard a few of the older kids coming back into the room. Then it was on. As a group we counted the last 10 aloud. “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! YEAH!” I watched holding back happy tears as Aleks and Holtby threw off their gloves and embraced as the final horn went off. After that they were mobbed by the rest of the team and ended up on the boards as a mass of humanity.

It was then I noticed that I was blinking a lot. Geno pulled me to him and wiped my face. The look on his face was one of concern. “I’m happy, nothing’s wrong.” He wrapped himself around me and held me close.

“Next year, our turn.” He said in my ear. I just smiled at him. We all watched the handshake line with pride, even a chuckle or two as a few of the guys embraced. “Scuds there, almost to Mal.” Geno said to the room. He pulled her in close and gave her a hard hug that had all of us smiling. Mal even got handshakes from Richards, Carter and Gagne. I couldn’t tear my eyes off of Mal; I even saw her getting congratulations from Luc and Hexy.

In time they were ready for the presentation of the Conn Smythe. “Ok gang who’s getting it?” I asked a loud. I had my own guess and it wasn’t Mal.

“It’s either Mal or Holtby! Anyone else and it’s a travesty.” We all laughed, in agreement. Then the moment came… Bettman announced “The winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the playoffs is Braden Holtby.” We all cheered. He’d done _so_ well for them for the entire playoffs.

Then the room went silent. The Cup was being carried down the carpet to the table. I felt Geno hug me tightly and I snuggled a bit more into him. Every player in the room was silent with awe and hope. Bettman stepped back up as the Keepers stepped to either side.

“The greatest Trophy in all of sports. It takes hard work and determination and great fans. It starts at the top of any organization, Ted Leonosis, George McPhee, Dale Hunter and most importantly these great players. From a seed number everyone counted out to knocking off the top three seeds in the East. An amazing performance.” He then turned to face the players. “It’s my honor to present The Stanley Cup to Capitan Alex Ovechkin.”

We all cheered a little bit, I mean come on we might hate them during the season but you _had_ to cheer for the Champs when all was said and done. Ovi skated over and took the required photos with Bettman. Once those were done, he got a good grip and hoisted the cup over his head.

We watched as one by one they all skated the Cup. I had goose bumps, I was jealous and _so_ proud of Mal at this moment. We all laughed, and a few tears were wiped as Holtby skated his turn and then handed it over to Green. When Green was done, he handed it to Mal. The look of joy and wonder that filled her eyes was something no one but I had seen before really. Everyone around me cheered when she touched it, pride in our friend was clear.

After her turn we saw her get tapped for a few interviews. Mario flipped to the Hockey Night In Canada broadcast so we could see that one. When she came on, they asked her a coupe of questions I’m sure she wouldn’t remember answering, then they asked. “So, do you know where Sidney is right now?” I heard her laugh. “Somewhere in the building I know that much. Exactly where I couldn’t tell you.” We were howling at that. Mario flipped back to NBC and we saw that Pierre had her in an interview now. “So Aleks, how does it feel to be the first woman to get her name on the Cup as a player?” Again her answer killed the room. “Ask me in a week when it sets in!”

After the execs got to hold the Cup, it was time for the On Ice Picture. Mal was put right in front of the cup, sitting next to Holtby and with Ovechkin’s hand on her shoulder. Once that was done, it was pretty much time to clear out. Geno went and grabbed Anna while I got our bags to the car.

I went back into the house to say good night to everyone. Nathalie hugged me tightly and grinned. Mario did similar but added that I was now on vacation and did not have to come in until August, or even September if I needed that extra time. I smiled, I didn’t think I’d need the extra time but it was nice that I had it if need be.

Once we got home, we put Anna to bed without a fuss. I tidied up a little bit and then went upstairs. Of course Zhenya was waiting. “What is wrong?” He asked as I sat on the bed.

I sighed. “It’s every player’s dream to hoist The Cup, even mine. I just don’t know if I’ll ever get my shot.” He rolled over the bed and rubbed my shoulders. I knew it was silly to have it bother me, but it did. I wanted my shot.

He pressed a kiss to the junction of my neck and shoulder. “We talk to people about it when we come back. Bring gear home we skate and get in shape for season. We get you checked for legal equipment for game, then who knows what happens. Come to bed, I show you how a Champion celebrate for real.” He pulled me back against him and peppered my neck with kisses meant to enflame. It didn’t take long for it to happen either.

Once things got going, there was no way I was going to let them stop without a good reason. We rolled around on the bed for a little bit as we divested ourselves of restrictive clothing. Then it was no hold barred. I don’t even know if we were using protection, not that I truly cared at this moment. The intensity was building slowly, achingly slow really. I opened my eyes and realized why. Geno was barely moving and looking at me so tenderly. I didn’t want that though, I wanted it a little rough to feel the exhilaration of loving each other fully.

I pulled him down to me and kissed him with all the heat I was feeling. As he pulled away I saw him smiling and felt him chuckling. “No more tease I get it.” It didn’t take long after that for the world to melt away and have us be the only people that mattered.

After a mind blowing orgasm, or three, I lay in his arms sure of how important I truly was to him. Before sleep claimed us both, he whispered in the dark. “You are _my Champion. Without you life is not,” He groped for the word. “Life is just _not_. You are mine and I am yours and together we do everything.”

I snuggled closer and sighed. “Mine.” He whispered back a simple yes and sleep over took us. I knew in my heart that with him by my side, we were unstoppable.