Leaping for Your Dreams

***Mari’s POV***

I was so thankful that Geno had gone out with Sergei for their daily training. It gave me a chance to dig out what I would need for tonight’s party. Geno knew that we were having his birthday party tonight, and that Anna would be staying with Sergei and Ksenia tonight for a sleep over. What he didn’t know was how much prep work I had put into his party before we’d left Pittsburgh.

I dug out my suitcases and got into them. Anna was keeping watch just in case. Opening the cases I got out all of the Steelers memorabila that I had gotten specifically for this party. When I had totaled everything up I found out I had nearly $300 in gear that we were mostly going to be leaving here to enjoy in the off season. “Are we clear still?”

“Yes mama!” She hollered back. With that I started hauling everything out into the living room. When I was done all three girls and Ksenia were awed.

“You know him very well.” She said approvingly. “He needs both parts of his life in both places, this is a good. _She_ never knew him and would never have gotten him something to remind him of his other life for here. Zhenya’s friends have taken to you and Anna quite well too.” We spread out the bounty I had accumulated and began looking around for places to put things.

“I know how much he loves the Steelers. I don’t think that will go away anytime soon. Some of this will be saved for later when the whole gang is here. But I want to put up the signs and the pennant before they get back and see if he notices.” The girls giggled and began looking for places to hang the 2 signs that were perfect for my husband.

Quickly they were all hung and looked great in their places. One was in the living room, near his favorite chair and the other 2 were in the room he had so much hockey stuff in already. We put the rest of his gifts hidden behind his chair in the smallest of his suitcases. After that was done, the 5 of us began making food for the party, including finishing the cake.

An hour later the men were home. The girls ran to meet them at the door happily while Ksenia and I continued to work on the food for the party. As a trio, they all wished Geno a Happy Birthday! He just laughed and took turns swinging the girls around and saying thank you. Sergei, meanwhile, had snuck into the kitchen and seen what we had accomplished. “I am impressed. You might be able to feed the crew coming over tonight with all of this.” That earned him a towel thrown at him, to which he just laughed.

Geno came in holding Victoria and with a big smile on his face. “I keep telling you that you do not have to do this, we could easily go out and not have to clean up after.” That’s when I noticed that Nathalie and Anna were holding to his ankles and _had_ to laugh.

That’s when Anna piped up. “Papa you missed some of your birthday gifts.” She let go of his ankle and began tugging on his free hand trying to get him back into the living room. “Come on Papa! Come see!” She, with help from Nathalie, pulled him back into the living room. “Find it!”

Sergei leaned over and spoke softly. “What did you get him?” I smacked his hand for trying to sneak something.

“Steelers stuff most of which will be staying here. He’s missing one sign in the living room and a coupel more things already hung in his trophy room.” I said just as quietly.

The girls began playing hot, warm, cold with Geno looking for his gift. When they were all but screaming hot, he found the first sign. He roared with laughter when he saw and read it. “Misa, you do this?”

I looked up from my work blandly. “There are a couple more things I couldn’t wait to put up, why don’t you see if you can find them. Then you can take the girls to the park to play while I finish some other things.” Ksenia just smiled, she knew what was next on my list.

He and the girls went off in search of the other things already hung up. Sergei moved around out of my reach. “So how can I help?” That was a mistake.

“I need to match the color of astro turf for the cake. Find me that color.” He saluted and went across the hall to look for what I asked. Before she could say anything. “Yes I know I just gave him something I could easily do. You’re welcome.” I winked at her.

She air kissed me with a smile. “You are devious and I love you for it.” She finished up what she was working on and snuck back to her place. Yes I had given my neighbors the afternoon free to do whatever they wished.

Geno and the girls came out of his trophy room and in to the kitchen. He kissed me thoroughly. “We go to the park now. When do we need to be back?” Dinner was going to be early so that the kids could all be there before the babysitter got to the house.

“You told them to be here at 5, so be back before then. I can handle everything from now on.” I looked at them and saw the grins on their faces. The girls all went for their park gear and Geno came into the kitchen.

“Love you _so_ much. I did tell you Ovi and Maria coming right?” I nodded. Happy that at least I would have someone to talk to, I didn’t know Ovi well but even a little was better than not at all like Geno’s other friends. “Good, expect gifts for you too.”

I kissed him again and playfully shoved him towards the door. “I know, flowers or other things. It’s the Czech way too. Go before the girls come in here and pull you away.” He chuckled and left.

After the coast was clear, and the door locked, I pulled out the cake to finish it. It wasn’t a traditional Russian cake; I had made it from scratch though. Well technically I had made the both from scratch, a chocolate and a vanilla. I’d made this before but never quite like this. I pulled out the laptop and looked up the color of astro turf, knowing that Sergei was too busy now to give me the answer. I decided that I’d go with a mottled green to mimic the field. I also decided to use the current field.

I assembled the cake and started on the frosting and such. I took my time and got everything just right. As I frosted, I made sure it was level and that I knew where the center was still. I had premade stencils at home with the Steelers logo and lettering so that I could easily put them on the cake. I placed the end zone stencils and began filling in the stencil with the yellow icing I had made.

Once that was done, I rolled out the one bit of fondant I brought with me and placed the logo stencil over it. I then finished off the logo with the correct colors and placed the fondant in the center of the cake. I picked up the white icing and began carefully piping on the yard lines. Yes, I had planned this cake carefully.

I finished the cake as I heard the door next door open and then a knock on ours. After putting down the piping bag, I went and unlocked the door. It was our lovely neighbors, which I expected. “Come on in, I just finished up the cake. He took the girls to the park.”

They came in and Sergei just smiled when he saw the cake. “Zhenya is going to love this. His other friends too.” He pulled me away from the cake and hugged me to him tightly. “Have we told you how wonderful it is to have you and he together? We watch as you and he circle each other but never getting together until this year. You now give him family and show him what real love is, not fake love like his ex did.”

I blushed. “Sarge you know how long I’ve liked him, and how long we’ve been trying to stay unentangled. I love him, I have for a long time. I can’t imagine life without him and Anna. I’m trying not to stress out over the house and what we’ve had to redo in the last few weeks, they help with that a lot.”

He grinned at me. “It will all come together, don’t worry. You and very good at making all the details come together and work perfectly. Come; forget those troubles for now. We bring a gift for you and another for him.” He brought me out of the kitchen and sat me down in the living room. “For you.” He gave me a tote bag. Looking at it I had to smile. It had the letter M on it in red with a little red butterfly. It was heavy so I kept looking. Inside were 2 things, the first ended up being a SIGG 1 liter water bottle that had Respect the Butterfly with a goalie on it. I giggled. Then there was a box. Opening it I saw a swallowtail butterfly outline. I set the bag and everything down and threw myself at Sarge.

“Thank you.” I hugged Ksenia next. “I love them.” They just laughed.

“Good.” I have a feeling he would have said more but there was a knock at the door. It was the mailman and he had 2 packages for us. I took and signed for them then thanked him. “Who are those from?” Sarge asked as I moved them further into the room.

I looked at the boxes. “I can’t tell by the outside, knowing our friends it’s from one of them. Sending something for his birthday.” I then heard the pounding of feet running up the stairs. “Oh look I hear the herd.” I joked as the kids came into the apartment.

“Mama! Papa knows Ovi!” Anna looked surprised. She’d seen Ovi on TV when we were watching the finals and had kind of met him once, but seeing him out of the context of hockey just blew her mind.

Sarge just laughed as the aforementioned Ovi and his giflfriend came into our place. Geno was not far behind. The new additions were warmly welcomed and soon Sanja was eyeing me, trying to place how he knew me. I straightened and looked at him. “Trying to place me aren’t you?” He nodded slowly. “I’m Mal’s best friend, I came by for a visit early last season. We brought everyone cupcakes.” I saw the recognition dawn in his eyes followed by a huge smile.

“Yes I remember you; all the stories but nothing bad or embarrassing about Aleks. So you know Zhenya, this is good. He needs good woman who knows hockey in his life.” I heard the giggles of three girls coming from the kitchen.

“Excuse me, I need to go rescue my cake from three little girls.” I saw my husband’s eyes pop open as he perked up. “No, you can’t help me. You are _not_ spoiling my surprises!” I moved into the kitchen in time to move the cake into the fridge and out of the girls reach.

Maria had followed me as had Ksenia. “Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked politely as I was turning around.

“No we’re mostly just waiting on more people, then I’ll need help getting the food out and everything. Until then let’s just relax. I did a lot of planning for today.” We had come back out into the living room by now and saw that Geno had noticed the boxes. “I think they’re from one of the guys, I haven’t opened them yet to know for sure.”

He looked at me with those beautiful eyes and pleaded with them. I knew that there would be more than enough things for him to open when the rest got here so I nodded. He tore into the first box from Uncommon Goods. When he got to the note that was enclosed, he handed it to me to read. “This is from Sid and Aleks. He writes that the team needs a new team sport besides soccer and hopes that this will give you ideas.” By now he had the box open and was laughing at what was inside. It was a portable ping-pong set. I smothered some laughter of my own, knowing what was in the suitcase tucked behind him.

With gusto he tore into the other one, it was also from Sid and Aleks, though more from Aleks. Again he handed me the note inside. “Mari and G, I thought you two could use some help getting up in the morning. Got one of these for the Nova Scotia house and have fallen in love with it. Don’t leave them in Russia! One for your Burgh house; one for him on the road. -Mal” We were all a bit confused by the note until he pulled out an alarm clock with colored light. “Ok I don’t think I can love her any more then I already do, but if Sid doesn’t treat her right I’m stealing her.” _That_ made everyone laugh.

Sergei then added his own two cents. “At least you should be able to wake up with this. You can not sleep through light.” Again everyone laughed. Then the arty began more in ernest as more of his friends arrived. True to tradition they all brought just a little something for me as well. It ranged from the tote bag and goodies to some handpicked flowers and everywhere in between. They all brought something for Geno too.

Finally, after we had mingled a little bit and the girls began to get antsy, I sat him down. “Ok, let’s get the demolition over with! Girls, help him get his presents.” Quickly they ferried all of his gifts to his feet and sat there in wonder as he opened everything. Once everything was opened and all of his friends were thanked, Geno tried to get up. “Nope, you have more. Sit.” I then pulled out the suitcase to everyone’s confusion. “Where else would I hide them? He wasn’t going to be looking in here until we had to pack to leave.”

With that he opened the case and gasped at the bounty inside. The first thing he pulled out was the 3 combination locks. Then he pulled out the tablet sleeve I’d found for him. Under which were the flipflops. His smile was now light up the room big and there was still more. He found the ping-pong balls and laughed aloud. Then the pilsner glass came out to much ohhing and ahhing.

When the shot glasses came out of the bag, everyone looked happy. Then he came to the last item in the bag. The Magnetic Darts set. He looked from the set to me to the sign on the wall by his chair and back, tears gathering in his eyes. He got up, put the bag in his chair and kissed me thoroughly in front of everyone. He couldn’t speak he was so overwhelmed.

I let him sit down again while we all ate and then I brought out the cake I had made. He took one look at it and placed the cake on the table and knelt before me. “Желание моего сердца, вы сделали этот день ярче, чем я мог когда-либо желать. Хорошие друзья, замечательная еда и все вещи из нашего дома, я не заслуживаю тебя. Там нет никого в мире я люблю больше, чем вы моя любимая жена. (The desire of my heart, you made the day brighter than I could ever wish for. Good friends, great food and all the things from our homes, I do not deserve you. There's no one in the world I love more than you my beloved wife.)” He kissed my wrists as I now teared up. You could have heard a pin drop from everyone else though. I looked up to see why, there in the now open doorway was the Ice Bitch, Oksana. Oh shit…