To Philly With Care

***Jass’s POV***

Monday had been a long one, dealing with a newcomer who didn’t trust anyone. It took hours for me to get her situated and settled. Normally our kids weren’t this skittish. Today when I came in she seemed more accustomed to the place and happier to not be on the streets. Today was also Game Day.

It was towards the end of my day and I was in my office finishing up some paperwork before I left when there was a timid knock on the door. “Enter.” I said as I continued to read over this years’ Holiday Letter we would soon send out to our contributors.

“Ms. R, can I come in?” It was our newest arrival, she hadn’t given a name yet but that wasn’t unusual.

“Of course my dear.” She came in and closed the door. “What can I do for you today?” She looked more confident today than when she had come in.

“How much would I be in trouble is I had a family I was running away from?”

_That_ got my attention. She was sitting low in the chair, her confidence melted, staring at a spot on the floor. “Well my dear, that would depends on who they are and _why_ you were running away. Can you share that with me?” I moved to the other side of my desk, it often helped bring them out of their shells.

She handed me an ID card, taking a look I was gob smacked. Teresa Vanderthorpe, oh shit. As I digested this bomb she tried placating me. “They don’t know where I am, I just _had_ to get out of that house. My father doesn’t let me do _anything_.” Her voice has a hysterical edge.

“Teresa, stop. We don’t force anyone to go home no matter who they are.” She wasn’t the first member of Philly’s elite to run here, nor would she be the last. In fact I watched; she visibly relaxed. “Let me guess your father is being overbearing and you need a chance to breathe.”

She nodded. “Uncle Tommy says this is a great place. Dad thinks he’s dumb for doing so much for you guys.”

I fully understood how she felt; my folks were like her dad. More concerned with how they were seen instead of letting the kids grow up. “Would you mind if I called your uncle?” Tommy Vanderthorpe was a childhood friend, a good contributor and a brilliant attorney. Teresa shook her head no and I picked up my phone.

I dialed his cell by heart and answered his hello with, “Tommy, it’s Jass.”

“Jass, I don’t have a lot of time ‘Resa’s missing.” He sounded wrecked.

“Can you come over without George, it’s important.” I was trying to drop a hint without saying anything just in case.

“Jass is she, no don’t tell me. I was about to leave for the game, I’ll do that now and come over.” I heard the hope in his voice as he hung up.

I hung up the phone and buzzed Tricia. “Tricia, when Tommy Vanderthorpe comes in, please show him in.” Once that was done Teresa looked even better. ‘Why don’t you freshen up in the bathroom.” I opened mine and she smiled and went in.

I saw behind my desk again and sighed. This was quite the tangle; I hope we fixed it to the benefit of Teresa. I was jarred from my thoughts by a knock and then my office door opening. In came Tommy looking haggard. I stood up and hugged him as the door closed. Then I knocked on the bathroom door. “How long Tommy?”

“Almost 3 days. George is frantic but doesn’t know why this happened.” He collapsed into a chair before Teresa came out.

I smiled. “This is Day 2, she came in yesterday morning.” The bathroom door opened and she came back in.

“Uncle Tommy!” She hugged him tightly. I saw as he clutched her just as tightly.

“Oh Thank God! Jass…” His voice broke as be broke into tears. I sat on the edge of my desk and just waited. I knew what this brought back for him.

When they parted finally I spoke. “Tommy, she doesn’t have to leave if she doesn’t want to, you know that. She also doesn’t have to call her father either until she wants to. That being said, I knew _you would do better if you knew that she was safe.”

Tommy looked at me with relief clear on his face. “So Batsion de le Securities saves another Vanderthorpe.” I nodded. He stood and pulled me to him and whispered in my ear. “Thank you, thank you _so_ much Jass. She’s _so_ important to the family.” I just held on and let him hold me. Years ago Tommy had done the exact same thing his niece had just done and ran away. His uncle and my grandmother had a similar moment when he let us call the family.

When he pulled himself together, he turned and sat back down. “So what do we do now? I can’t lie to him but I know she needs to learn how to care for herself and he just doesn’t want to let her do that.” _That_ would be the sticking point. Teresa was the only child of George and his late wife Martha, he didn’t let Teresa do anything that might let her learn how to grow up and be self-sufficient.

I went behind my desk and began looking up what the family had done when Tommy ran away. We kept _good_ records so I knew it would be in there. Reading through his records, I smiled. We could do the same with Teresa. Looking up at them, I spoke. “Good news is that what was done for you can be done for her, for the same reasons too. Unfortunately it _does_ mean that she will need an advocate and basically take her father to Teen Court.”

Tommy sighed. “I remember having to do that, it’s part of what made me want to be a lawyer. I can’t be her advocate; I know that. I _do_ know who should be though, do you mind if I call her and get the ball rolling?”

I looked at Teresa. “This is your call. Tommy can make his call and we get you put on the Teen Court docket. You will be basically suing your father for the right to learn how to care for yourself. How that would happen would be up to the judge but staying here is an option.”

Teresa looked between us. “Uncle Tommy, did I hear right? You ran away too?” He nodded.

“We’ve now saved three generations of your family Teresa, and countless others as well. If he’s going to call who I _think_ he’s going to call, you’re in good hands. She’ll spell everything out for you and help you make informed choices. We’re quite well known by the Teen Court judges so they all know we’re willing to help. Tommy, this means you can’t be her father’s lawyer either.”

He nodded. “I know, it’s a serious conflict of interest. I wouldn’t want to anyway. I’d rather be another option for her, in case. I’ll make sure Uncle Bobby knows too.” I nodded.

“So I’m trying to decide if I’m taking my dad to Teen Court, what _is_ Teen Court?” I explained that it was a court specifically for problems dealing with teens and their needs; whether it be a case like hers where she wanted to care for herself and her surroundings and so far the parents had not allowed it all the way up to basically divorcing your parents. Teresa looked at her uncle and then me. “Make the call. I don’t want to divorce him; I want the right to care for myself. To know how to care for myself; cooking, cleaning, everything. He won’t like it, he’ll probably even try to bully me out of it, but it’s what I have to do.”

Tommy grinned. “There’s the Vanderthorpe Heiress I knew was inside you.” He stood up and went towards the office door. “I’ll make this call and then, if it’s ok I’ll take you to the Flyers game.” They looked at me and I laughed.

“I can’t tell her not to go. The rules haven’t changed, as long as she leaves a note saying where she’s gone and with whom she’s covered. I might even see you there.”

Tommy grinned and went to make the call. “I didn’t know you were a Flyers Fan Ms. R.”

I nodded. “Ms. Lyon got me into them by taking me to a few games. We have season tickets a few rows up from the bench. In fact if you’re still here you might get to meet some of them. They’re a Corporate Sponsor this year.”

“So those guys saying they’d met Briere, Giroux and Talbot, they weren’t just pulling my leg?” She was standing as we talked, feeling much better about everything it seemed.

I laughed and pulled my shirts out of my bag. “I always change before I leave for the game. And yeah they were here I gave them the tour myself. We’re working on getting the entire team in for a tour soon.” She giggled, flat out giggled.

Tommy came back in with a smile. “Laura will be here tomorrow at 2 so start everything if that’s ok.” I nodded, as did Teresa. “Now, ‘Resa I know you have some gear, did you bring any of it with you?” She giggled again, took his hand and pulled him out of my office. I waved goodbye as they left, feeling more confident in what was going to happen with her.

***Max’s POV***

True to my word to Jassmine, I made sure that there were passes for herself and Dani to get back after the game. I didn’t really have time to worry about that as I was in my final preparations before warm ups began. Lavy hadn’t been in yet but that was fine. “So Talbo, how goes the Bagging of the Broad?” I mentally rolled my eyes at Hartsy’s comment.

“You know Hartsy, it’s not _all_ about getting a lady into bed. Sometimes there are other things first.” I said sincerely. As much as I was attracted to Jassmine in _that_ way, I’d rather get to know her first. It was an odd feeling for me but I’d roll with it.

Unfortunately it set quite a few people off with comments. I ignored them, if things went right I’d get a chance to see Jassmine again tonight. Between that and wanting to work my ass off tonight so I would get to see her smile, the guys could go to hell with their innuendos that I was losing my touch. “You know fuck you all! Yeah I like her so the fuck what! She interests me in a more than just below the waist kind of way. Fuck All ya’ll if you think I’m gonna sleep with her just for the notch in my belt.” I jerked on my warm up jersey and went outside the locker room to wait. Contrary to popular belief I _did_ have more control than that.

***Jass’s POV***

Dani and I found our seats before warm ups started as usual. We cheered along with the others in the arena as the guys took the ice. Max wasn’t difficult to find, but something was not right. “Does Max look angry to you?” I asked Dani and he circled.

“I was about to ask you the same thing. Did we look for the passes he said he’d get for us?” The realization dawned that in our rush to get to our seats we hadn’t checked. “Do you think he knows and that’s why he’s upset?”

I shook my head. “That can’t be it. Not everyone is in yet.” I looked out and saw Danny waving at me. I grinned and waved back.

“Excuse me Ms. R. I have an envelope for you.” I turned and gasped.

“Adam! Of course.” He handed me the envelope with a smile.

“I saw that your ticket had been checked in and I just had to come down and see you. I’m one of the Assistant Managers for the Box Office now. Would it be ok if I stopped by Bastion some day? Sometimes I miss that place.” The radio he had on his hip crackled to life asking for assistance.

“We could _always_ use mentors Adam. Thank you for bringing this out to me, it wasn’t something you needed to do.” Adam had been one of the kids we’d graduated a few years ago; he waved as he answered the two-way and moved off. I then opened the envelope he had handed me and found not only the passes but also another note. ‘Thanks again for showing us around. I hope we’ll see you tonight after the game. –Maxime’

“Somebody likes you.” Dani said in her sing-song voice. I just rolled my eyes. “Quit it. Inviting you to practice, coming by after you invite the team for a tour, giving you his number and asking you out and now these. Come on Jass the evidence is mounting.”

I ignored her and reached into my bag of holding for a pen and paper. I wrote a thank you note and made sure to tell him that we’d be there after the game. I signed it and added my cell number. After I folded it, and continued to ignore the knowing look that Dani gave me, I tried to think of someone who could give this to him before the game.

The arena filled around us slowly before the game was slated to start. I’d just about given up hope of getting this to Max when Joe Siville came up to us. “Hello ladies.” We both looked over and smiled at him. “I was wondering if we could go over something really quickly.” We nodded and he continued. “In setting up the tour of your facilities I was hoping we’d be able to film them for Flyers TV. Good press for you and us.”

I thought about it for a second. There wouldn’t be any problems with them filming in Bastion’s main location but the secondary one the idea was right out. Seeing that we were going to be touring the main location there wasn’t an issue. “There’s no problem with that. I do have a bit of a selfish question to ask.” He leaned in and I swallowed my fears and went on. “Is there a way to get a note to Max, thanking him for the passes he got for us?”

Joe smiled. “Sure there is. I’ll give it to the trainers to get to him. He might not see it until the first intermission though.” I handed him the note and he went down to the bench. I heard him tell the trainer to give it to Talbo ASAP. The guy nodded and headed for the locker room. Joe came back up with a smile. “We’ll see you after the game, I’ll send someone to help so you don’t get lost.”

Once he was out of earshot, Dani chimed in. “You realize I’m _gonna_ want _full_ details right?” I shoved her lightly as the Wells Fargo Center came to life. “Oh come on, you _know_ you at least like him, you have for years even before he came over. It was his rep that stopped you from voicing opinions before.” I couldn’t help but blush as the players came back out onto the ice for the beginning of the game. Dani just smirked, knowing she was right. Some days I hated her.

***Max’s POV***

Lavy had made his points for tonight’s game against the Wild. We were as ready as we could be. Before I went out into the hall to wait for the walk out, Sal came over and handed me something. “Joe said you needed this.” Confused I opened the note and couldn’t help but smile. She was here. That was all I needed to fire me up for this game, then I saw the end of the note. She gave me her number. My heart pounded as I hid the note in my shaving kit. The _last_ thing I needed was someone else finding it.

The game flew by, at least for me. In the end we won 3-1 and triumphantly went back into the room. After the reporters had left, we all started making plans for dinner and maybe going out that night. I had put the note from Jassmine out of my mind and focused on the game, however I found it while cleaning up after and stopped in my tracks. I had a haunting lady waiting for me tonight, I couldn’t go out with the guys.

I finished getting myself ready to leave and was close to walking out the door when Danny stopped me. “So, when are you going to call ‘er?”

I’d been caught. “What do you know?” I asked quietly, not wanting the guys to hear this conversation.

“Jus’ that you got a note that had a phone number on it from the lady. The boys are looking forward to the Thanksgiving Trip. If you are interested in more than just one-way Maxime, make a move. I’ve heard a few others planning moves of their own.” He slapped me on the back and then went out to get his boys.

Dumbfounded I followed soon after and almost wished I hadn’t. The girls were standing there talking to G’s girlfriend, Ryanne, also standing there were the Schenns. They were practically drooling on Dani. I came up and put a hand on Jassmine’s back, to let her know I was there. I was _not_ expecting the look on her face when she turned around.

The only way to describe her face was pure joy. I’d never had a woman look at me like that before. Lust, envy, need… those looks I knew but not this one. “Max!” A shiver went down my spine as she turned to face me and I saw Ryanne smirk behind her.

“Hi, glad you could make it down after.” She just smiled up at me. “I don’t know about you but I’m starving, you wanna get out of here and grab a bite?”

That seemed to be Dani’s cue. “Jass, I gotta scat, early meeting tomorrow. Call me tomorrow yeah?” Jass nodded and Dani excused herself. Brayden and Luke tried to step in on Jass but Ryanne cut them off.

Jass laughed. “Well I guess I’m free now. Dani and I normally go out after for the same reason. Neither of us can eat at the games, afraid we’ll miss something.” She blushed, clashing with her hair just a bit. I saw Ryanne urging me on behind her and just decided to go for it.

“Well then,” I offered her my arm. “Where shall we go?”

“That doesn’t matter to me, but if you point me to a bathroom and give me 2 minutes they can’t throw us out at all.” My puzzlement must have shown on my face. “I have the blouse I wore to work in my bag, between that and my sweater we’ll be kosher for anywhere in town.”

I showed her to the ladies room near the locker rooms and waited outside. G and Ryanna passed as I waited. They both just had thumbs up for me as they did. They hadn’t been around the corner long when Jass came back out. It was all I could do to not have my jaw drop at the simple transformation. “Wow, you weren’t kidding were you.” I offered her my arm again and we made our way out to my car. “Do we have to come back later?” I asked as I opened the door for her.

“Nah, we take turns driving. Tonight was Dani’s turn. Her early meeting was her way of telling me I’d better give you a chance. She’s been teasing me all night about everything.”

I felt bad as I got in the car, I didn’t mean. “I’m sorry…” I started but she cut me off.

“Please don’t be. She’s closer to me than my own sister; it’s her way of gently pushing me into something I’m fighting against.”

“Uh… ok?” This was feeling weird now.

She sighed heavily. “I’m explaining this badly. Dani calls me on the carpet when she sees things that I want that I’m not actively going after. She sees all the nice things you’ve done and knows what I’ve said before and…” She sighed again. “This is Dani’s not so subtle hint that I need to take some chances in my life.”

I laughed aloud. “I have a few friends like that myself. So why don’t we dedicate this night to taking chances.” We pulled up in front of The Lansborogh and my home. “Do you mind walking a few blocks? This way we can have what we want to drink and not have to drive right away.” I was still kind of haunted by what happened to Aleks so I had been even more careful about my drinking and driving.

“That’s fine. I like walking after a good meal.” I breathed a sigh of relief after hearing that, pulled into my parking space and we went to The Prime Rib, about 2 blocks away.