No Holding Back

DECEMBER 2012

“What the hell?” Danny cringed as someone banged on his door.

Since Claude had left Berlin nearly a month ago Danny had been alone in their shared apartment. He hated that small, dinky little hole and prayed his time in Germany would soon end. However, it was looking bleak at the moment with the talks between the NHL and the NHLPA.

“Who is it?” he asked.

No one answered so he flung the door open in a pissed off state of mind. His eyes bulged out of his head when his three boys rushed him, causing him to drop his can of beer, “Dad!” they all yelled at once.

“What the…how are you…who?” Danny stammered over every word that came to mind.

“Lora,” Cameron pulled back first and smiled at him, “Lora’s downstairs in the lobby trying to speak German I think.”

“She’s what?” Danny asked.

“She said she took German in high school and she wants to know what she remembers,” Carson laughed, “She’s awful at it.”

Danny laughed too, “That’s Lorelei for you.”

The boys walked right into his apartment but he stayed in the hallway, hoping Lorelei would eventually make her way upstairs.

“Dad, she knows which one is yours,” Caelan rolled his eyes as he placed Christmas presents under the tiny tree Danny had purchased just to remind himself it was Christmas time.

“How long are you guys staying?” he asked.

“Until New Years’ day,” Carson smiled, “Where can we sleep?”

“Claude’s room is free,” Danny shook his head, “There’s still two beds in there from when he
had a friend visit.”

“I call a bed!” Caelan yelled.

“Me too!” Cameron squeaked.

“Son of a bitch,” Carson rolled his eyes.

“Hey,” Lorelei walked in, “What did I say? The bad words stop when we enter this building.”

Danny turned to her as she dropped her bags, “And I got all you kids here, so I get a bed over
all of you.”

“Yes you do,” Danny rushed to her and lifted her off the ground.

She giggled, “Merry Christmas Danny.”

“Merry Christmas,” he slowly put her on her feet, “I missed you,” he kissed her and then
turned to his sons, “I missed all of you.”

“I’m hungry,” Cameron broke up the moment.

“You have any food?” Lorelei asked Danny.

“No,” he shook his head with a laugh.

“I’ll go to the store,” she went to grab her purse.

“Hold on a minute,” he held onto her wrist and looked at his sons, “Three minutes, three
minutes of not destroying the place, please?”

“Hah, that’s all it takes?” Caelan made a dirty joke at his father’s expense.

“Just because you’re here doesn’t mean I won’t ground you,” Danny couldn’t help but hold back
his laughter.

He walked himself and Lorelei into the hallway and pushed her against he wall, “How did you
get all of this figured out?”

“Does it matter?” she kissed his lips.

“No,” he kissed her the way he had been thinking about since he left in October.

He had been in a state of depression since leaving the States and opening the door to find his
girlfriend and sons in the hallway was the best surprise and pick me up he could have asked for.

He wrapped her in a tight embrace, “Thank you,” he whispered, “This is perfect.”

“I know you’ve been depressed lately,” Lorelei ran her hand up his neck to his cheek, “I just
wanted to try to make it a little better.”

“Dad!” Carson opened the door.

“Not fucking now!” Danny laughed at his middle child, “Please.”

“Jesus,” Caelan yelled from within the apartment, “Dad’s trying to…”

“So help me God Caelan Briere, I am not afraid to dump you somewhere in Berlin and leave
you!” Danny laughed again.

Carson closed the door and Danny turned back to Lorelei, “The Briere’s are such a loving
family,” she teased.

He nodded with a smile and kissed her again. she felt the emotions from his lips float into her body and melted into his body. when he pulled away she had a dizzy smile on her lips, “That was…”

He felt tears start to well in his eyes and saw hers glaze over too, “I imagined kissing you since I left,” he told her, “We promised, no holding back,” he wiped a tear from her cheek, “I don’t want to and I don’t want you to either. “Kisses are like tears; the only real ones are the ones you can't hold back,”” he repeated the quote she had told him, “And I think that words are the same way. I love you Lorelei.”

It was the first time those words had been exchanged between the couple and it scared the hell out of Danny to utter them, but he did. He had told her after she quoted her mother that he would never hold anything back and that he wanted to experience everything with her, and that was what he was doing now.

In turn, Lorelei had promised the same thing and he hoped that she would uphold her promise to him. He had hoped she was taking this relationship as seriously as he was, but that had been confirmed when she showed up at his doorstep with his sons in toe.

She took in a deep breath and nodded. He caught a tear fall down her cheek with his thumb, “I love you too Danny,” she giggled and paused, “Damn the tears and kisses thing!” she stomped her foot and pointed to the tears falling down her cheeks.

He laughed, “I know,” he pointed to his own tears, “But it is such a true statement,” he kissed her through their tear, “With you, I can’t hold back tears or kisses.”

Lorelei took her bottom lip between her teeth, “Do you really love me?”

He wrapped her in his arms, moving his head so that it was next to her ear, “Oui,” he
whispered, “Je vous aime plus que tout. Plus vous allez jamais à connaître, plus que je ne sera jamais en mesure de vous dire. » (“Yes, I love you more than anything. More than you are ever going to know, more than I will ever be able to tell you.”).

“I don’t know what that means,” she giggled.

He moved away from her and took her hand, “I’ll explain tonight after the boys go to sleep, mon amour,” he gave her a wink.

Lorelei giggled and kissed him again, “You and your French,” she stood behind him as he opened the door, “I’ve missed it,” hse kissed his neck quickly before he opened the door.

“I’ve missed you,” he said as he opened the door, “So much,” he turned nad kissed her again.”

“Takeout tonight?” Caelan smiled at his father and girlfriend.

“Yep,” Danny nodded, “I want to spend time with my family,” he smiled at everyone.