Sequel: Family Goals

Keep It Kasual

Chapter 6

I yawned and stretched in the guest room. Today was Monday, the day we headed for Toronto and cleaning out my place. Seeing that we were going to be caravanning, I had found us a couple places to stop to attend to needs. I listened for a moment and found that Alex was still asleep. This was good as it gave me a chance to shower quickly.

I went and made breakfast for the household as I heard them beginning to move. Kris joined me in a little bit also fresh from the shower. We’d worked out an ok morning routine in the last couple days. It might change after my things were all moved in. “Matin. Dormez bien? (Morning. Sleep well?)”

“Other than the bed hating me again, yeah I did. I’m kind of nervous about today though. I hate that you guys are missing a week’s worth of training to help me too.” I heard him sigh and put down his coffee cup. We both had been having this conversation for a couple days now. I knew how important off-season training was, and they kept insisting a week wasn’t going to kill them.

“Nous serons bien. Les deux de nos formateurs sont heureux de nous laisser partir pour une semaine si elle permet tout ce qui à s'installer dans le long terme. (We'll be fine. Both of our trainers are happy to let us go for a week if it allows everything to settle in the long term.)” He came over and rubbed his hand on my back trying to comfort me. “En outre, vos amis et votre famille veulent nous rencontrer. Nous voulons les rencontrer aussi. Il travaille pour nous tous. (Besides, your friends and family want to meet us. We want to meet them too. It works for us all.)”

I sighed and stirred the scramble I was making. If they all wanted to “sign off” on who I was working with; Kris had made that very clear, we would be working together to make sure Alex was happy and healthy, who was I to judge. Kris chuckled as the third member of the household let out a loud and happy squeal. “Je vais obtenir de lui, il sonne heureux ce matin. C'est une bonne chose. (I'll get him, he sounds happy this morning. This is a good thing.)”

I grinned as he padded down the hallway. That was a view I still wasn’t used to, it made my insides turn to jelly every time. I finished up making breakfast as the two of them came back up the hallway. Kris got Alex into the high chair and I made sure we all got fed.

An hour later we were now just waiting on Marc and Vero. We had even packed up the car already. We were now sitting on the couch, in the case of Alex playing in front of it, waiting. I was now glad I had pulled my hair back and did a fishtail braid on the end. It was out of my face and secure. It also meant it was pretty much Alex-proof.

When they finally arrived, we were all more than ready to hit the road. It was now 9 am and we had about an 8 hour drive ahead of us. I showed Vero the route I had found and she agreed that it wasn’t a bad idea to stop for a few minutes and stretch.

We made pretty good time after getting out on Montreal. We hit Cornwall, Ontario in short order and all got out to stretch a little bit. There was a nice little rest stop just off the 401. We spend about 15 minutes changing the kids and walking a little bit before Kris spoke up. “W’ere are we goin’ to ‘ave lunch?” Of course as soon as he asked, his phone rang. The rest of us rolled our eyes as he stepped away to take the call.

“He has a good point, Kingston is about halfway and would be a good spot to stop for lunch.” I brought out my tablet and fired up Chrome. Googling places to eat in Kingston, Ontario we found quite a list. As we opened them and looked one by one, there was one that jumped out at us. Harper’s Burger Bar. Well ok it jumped out at us due to the amazing burger pics we found on a blog.

Kris came back over with a big grin. “ ‘old on.” He turned to us then. “Nealer wants to join us an’ ‘elp. W’ere should ‘e meet us?” We looked at each other and then I turned my tablet around. “Hey Nealer, ‘ow about ‘Arper’s Burger Bar in Kingston? Nah from t’ere we can ‘it your place and grab gear. Only gonna be in town 2 days. Seriously? Will ‘e not try and kill us? Ok, we see you t’ere. We’re about 2 hours away so we should get t’ere about t’e same time.” He hung up and grinned. “Nealer gonna join us t’ere. Gary said we can train wit’ ‘im for t’e 2 days we’re in town.”

Marc groaned but then sighed. “I guess we can ‘andle two days.“ We then made sure to load the address into the GPS systems and headed on our way to lunch.

Pulling into the lot, Kris turned the car off and looked at me. “If Nealer does somet’ing to upset you, speak up abou’ it. I do no’ want you to t’ink that you do not matter. You matter _very_ much. Alex already loves you very much, it would ‘urt ‘im to try and find someone else.” I saw what I interpreted as ‘it would hurt me too’ in his eyes.

I smiled. “I have a thicker skin than you might think. If he does upset me, he will know about it. It will take a lot to get rid of me, somehow I underestimated the Letang boys appeal.” Kris smiled and it dawned on me that what I just said could be construed as both of them. Whoops, way to let him know that he’s as important to you as you are to them…

We got out and I grabbed Alex and the bag. It turned out that not only had Nealer come up, but others who were at the same training facility. I got introduced to Steven Stamkos, Steve Downie, Jeff Skinner and Carey Price. Nealer just kind of looked down a bit and then spoke. “It’s a cheat day. We all need something that’s not too far off from the diet but is really good too. Gary’s not too happy but hey it’s not like we’re doing junk food.”

We made our way into the small shop and ended up taking over 3 tables with everyone we had. I kind of felt bad for having such a large presence in the shop until the guys began signing autographs and taking pictures without a problem. I sat next to Vero dumbfounded, she noticed. “T’is is normal w’en t’ey go out as a group. You get used to it.”

After we all got a chance to look at the menu, Alex made his demand known to be fed and fed now. Fortunately we were prepared. Soon enough he was sitting there leaning into the spoon as I fed him the Sweet Potato and Turkey Dinner we had. This kid loved sweet potatoes, which was great if you asked me. Kris got up and headed for the bathroom which gave everyone else a chance to pounce on me. “Ok, how did you _really_ meet Tanger?” Nealer asked as soon as Kris was out of earshot.

I sighed. “Exactly how we told you. Yes I really am a photographer and yes I did volunteer to change my job in order to help these two.” Alex was now trying to grab for the spoon, which made me reach into the bag and grab the spoon I made sure to grab just for him. “There you go little man.”

Downie just smiled. “He seems to like that, what is it?” I held up the packaging and he just nodded. “Sweet potatoes, kids love it. I know Madi does.”

Vero smiled. “I can wait for Estelle to get t’at big. She’s ‘eavy enough already.” That made the rest of us laugh and her daughter squeal. Alex was getting food; she wanted some too.

Stammer looked up from his menu. “So Kalista, do you have a nickname or a boyfriend?” I was caught dumbfounded.

Giving Alex another spoonful while I thought about what he asked, I couldn’t help but notice that he seemed to be genuinely interested. Vero quietly nudged me under the table. Stealing a look at her, I saw she was shaking her head ever so slightly. I then knew how to answer. “I’m quite happily single right now. As for nicknames I might have, the one most often used is Kallie.”

Kris sat back down and pulled his chair closer to mine. “Kallie, ‘ave your folks said ‘ow many of your brot’ers will be coming down?” I chuckled; I had answered this question before we left the house this morning.

“All three. I think Mom just wants some peace and quiet before she gets invaded.” Actually she wasn’t’ upset at all to get a new couch in exchange for getting rid of her boys for a day or two. “Don’t be surprised if Dad tries to interview you or just start talking hockey. He’ll do one or the other and if it’s the interview he might use it in an article too.” Ah the problems of being a sports writer’s child.

Kris smiled and nodded. He was with me when my dad called the evening I called to tell mom that I had a new job. Dad had tried to interrogate him during that call. I got him to stop, but not before Kris was chuckling. “I ‘ave already promised t’at ‘e can talk to me w’en we get t’ere.” I shook my head again at him and wiped Alex’s mouth with the spoon.

Our food arrived shortly after Alex finished off his lunch. To keep him from grabbing at our food, Kris put some of the Organic Apple Puffs on the tray in front of him. Now that didn’t mean we didn’t share small bits of our lunches with him, it just kept him from grabbing at it.

The conversation went from getting to know me a little bit to current training regimens to raising children and a few other topics during the meal. I don’t know it the guys were trying to be nice or genuinely wanted me to feel a part of the conversation. It felt like being at home with my brothers and their friends.

Just over an hour later we were back on the road and heading for Whitby, Ontario. Nealer had called him mom to let her know that he was bringing back some friends to her place. She didn’t sound thrilled until he mentioned that those friends also had kids she could fawn over. Then everything was wonderful.

2 hours later we pulled into the driveway. This time Kris got Alex out of the car. That meant I had Stamkos, Skinner and Neal all trying to help me out of the car and into the house. Don’t get me wrong they are all good looking guys with money and incredible talent, but I wasn’t interested at all. They kept trying though, I had to give them credit for that.

Once we were all inside, James’ mom offered to help us with the kids, making us all laugh. It was clear she wanted to be a grandma, sometime soon too. In the end we all let her help where we could, it was too cute when she would have one of the kids and try to hand them off to James or one of the others who did not have kids.

Soon though both kids were more than ready for afternoon naps so make it easy we put them into the cars and drove to the hotel, The Fairmont Royal York. After checking in and getting the kids into their portable cribs, Kris and Marc went down to the hotel gym to try and do some work today, that left Vero and I alone with 2 sleeping kids. She sat on the couch and reveled in not moving for a while. I went exploring the bedrooms. I was a little shocked when I found only a King size bed in both bedrooms. I then figured that we would figure it out when it was time for bed. If anything else I could sleep on the couch.

I came out and sat on the couch. “Go look and decide which room you want. It doesn’t matter to me.” She sighed and went to look. She must have found one she liked as she came out and grabbed their bags. Once that was done, she sat back down. “We could move Estelle in there if you’re willing.”

“Only if we move Alex too and your bags.” I nodded and grabbed the bags. I just set them inside the other room to get them out of the way. Coming back out Vero had Estelle out of her crib and was trying to figure out how to collapse it to fit through the door. I got the crib down and then again back up, Vero had Estelle back inside and she was back asleep.

Moving Alex was much trickier. I picked him up carefully and helped Vero collapse the crib. We got into the bedroom and I had the choice of putting Alex on the bed or trying to get it set up one handed. Unfortunately for me that’s when Alex decided that it was time to let loose. I had to abandon Vero and change Alex immediately; I’d learned that he did _not like being wet or dirty. When I began to unwrap him from his clothes I found out that he would need a _full change, I nearly gagged at the smell. “Wow kid, you sure did a number on this outfit.”

Unfortunately by the end of the change, Alex was awake and not wanting to go back to sleep. We did everything we could think of to try and get him back to sleep, but nothing worked. Eventually we just put him down and let him cry. It was nerve wracking. It took him 15 minutes of crying to settle down and at least be quiet.

I texted Paula and Adam, letting them know we made it into town and where we were. After that I ended up taking my own nap on the couch. That last wasn’t planned but I didn’t fight it too hard.

I woke up in the bedroom we had put Alex in. I tried to move and found myself anchored down. I was able to turn my head and found that Kris had a hold of me and was asleep next to me. I decided not to fight too hard; I laid my head back down. Alex was still asleep too which made a nap a great thing.
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Yes I really did find Harper's Burger Bar on a blog, this one in fact. It's Number 10 on the list and has a link to the website underneath it. I would suggest checking out the original post by this blogger, those pictures were mouth watering.

If you don't know who Gary Roberts is, google him. His website is here[/url. Check out the Elite Off-Season Program, that's where I found pictures of some of the pros mentioned.

Yes the Fairmont Royal York is a real hotel. It's a _really_ nice hotel and the website I will share with the next chapter where it will be more prominent.

Here's [url=http://www.polyvore.com/kalista_drive_to_to/set?id=93362326]Kalista's
travelling outfit and here is Alex's. I didn't do one for Kris, he dressed himself well enough. ;P