Chances Taken

I heard people sniffing the air as they walked into the kitchen, “Do I- Do I smell food?” I heard and turned my head to see a few of the players walking in. My eyes widened and I quickly turned my head, seeing some shirtless and only in their boxers or pajama pants, while some remembered that I was here and had clothes on.

“It smells good in here,” I heard and then felt bodies behind me, “You made food?”

I smiled towards Marc and nodded my head, “Dig in.”

“You made food for us?” Kane asked, he was one of the ones only in his boxers.

“No, I’m going to eat all of this myself,” I said as I pointed towards the plates of stacked pancakes, the bowl of scrambled eggs and plates of bacon and sausage.

“You’re really awesome!” he yelled and hugged me, “You should come to Chicago!”

“Fuck you! She’s coming to Tampa!” Stamkos yelled and I looked at Marc and he smirked and shook his head while he poured some coffee and we listened to the players argued about wanting me on their team.

“Is it really just because I slaved in the kitchen for two hours?” I asked Marc and he shrugged his shoulders. I laughed and looked down at the pan; I was finishing up on cooking up some bacon. I turned my head and watched as the smell of food brought these hungry hockey players to life. They grabbed what they needed and started to pile food onto their plates, ‘…It’s hard work feeding almost thirty people…’ I thought as I looked around the kitchen, the island was packed with food, well now almost empty plates, the stove had grease stains on it, pots and pans were in the sink. I sighed, knowing that I’ll be cleaning this too.

“Oh! Oh! Oh!” I turned around, to see an eager Shea Weber stand up from the table and run out of the kitchen.

“Ok,” I said confused and everyone just looked at each other wondering what that was about.

“Are you going to eat?” I heard and saw rookie, Taylor Hall standing on the other side of the island, filling his plate.

“Oh, don’t you worry, I made sure to eat before anyone came down,” I laughed and he smirked and nodded his head.

“Guys, guys, guys, she’s not going anywhere!” Marc yelled and I looked towards him, not realize that they were still talking about me coming to their team, “Right Mags?!”

“I like Pittsburgh just fine,” I smiled and the guys whined, ‘…Some of these guys, they’re jerks on the ice, but surprisingly nice off…’

“I almost forgot!” Weber said as he returned to the kitchen with his laptop in hand, “I looked you up last night!”

“I did too!”

“Yeah, me too!”

I groaned and looked at Marc and glared at him. He laughed and shrugged his shoulders and I listened to Weber putting his laptop on the table and the players gather around him, some saying they didn’t see the video that Jordan posted on youtube.

I sighed and shook my head as I heard the video playing and mine, Mike, Nick and Emma’s voices blaring out of the laptop’s speakers. I was thankful when it was over, but then groaned against when he played the other song.

The guys were saying that we were good, some saying that they were going to bust my brother on the ice the next time they played us, ‘…There’s something I want to see…’ I smirked, knowing that Mike would try to pick a fight if the league knew about this big tough defensemen secret talent.

“All right guys! Listen up!” Lindstrom announced as he walked into the room and saw everyone making their way back to their seats at the large table or leaning against the wall, or me in front of the stove, “We’re leaving in about two hours to head to the gym to workout. After that we’ll be hitting the ice to clock our strengths for the skills competition, understand?” we all nodded our heads, “Kane,” Patrick perked up, “Marshall,” I turned towards him, stopping from getting ready to wash dishes, “Here,” we both walked forward and saw that we were both given A’s, “They’ll be sown on your jerseys.”

‘…Whoa…’ I thought as I held the letter that meant that I was Assisted Captain. I looked up towards Lindstrom and smiled, “Thanks,” he nodded his head and then went back to making other announcements as I walked back over towards the sink. I looked up towards Marc and saw him smiling at me, ‘…This just keeps getting better and better…’

After a while, the guys had left to get ready for practice, I was still in the kitchen cleaning up. I was washing a plate when I felt someone appear next to me and grab a clean plate, “You look like you could use some help,” I turned my head to see Toews standing there, drying the plate.

“Thanks.”

“Least I can do, you did make a feast,” he said and smiled towards me, “I literally only woke up because I smelled food.”

“I knew it would work,” I smiled and he chuckled.

“Women and their alternative motives,” he teased and I smirked and shrugged my shoulders, “How’s your shoulder?”

I looked at him and then sighed, “You saw that, huh?” I asked, realizing that he was talking about when I dislocated my shoulder during the home Bruins game.

“Yeah I saw it, looked like it hurt,” he said and I smirked.

“That’s because it did, I dislocated it,” I said and Toews made a painful face and I nodded my head, “My teammates said that they heard my scream before they were off the ice when Doc popped it back into place.”

“Ouch,” he said and sighed, “Been there, done that-“

“Mark that off the bucket list,” I said and we laughed a little.

“Exactly,” he said and we turned when we heard people coming.

“What’s goin’ on in here?” Stamkos asked a smirk clear as day on his face.

“He’s being nice and actually helping me clean up,” I said and Toews held up the towel and plate.

“I helped,” he and St. Louis said.

“Really? How?” I smirked.

“We helped eat your food,” he said and I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

“Thanks, ya’ll were such a help,” I said and they smirked and headed outside.

“You’re originally from the South?” Toews asked and I looked at him and nodded my head, “I can hear your accent sometimes. Just like Kaner, I hear his Buffalo accent.”

“I know I say ya’ll a lot, but I don’t really notice my accent,” I said and he smirked and shrugged his shoulders, moving on to the next plate.

“Mags!” I heard and leaned back to look past Toews to see Marc walking towards us, “Sid wants to talk to you.”

“Uh, ok,” I said and walked over towards him, taking the phone, “Hey, what’s up?”

“Just wanted to say congrats on your A,” he said and I smiled, “Flower told me.”

“Thanks, when are ya’ll comin’ down?” I asked and looked towards Toews to see him smirking and pointing at me.

“There’s your accent!” he laughed and I rolled my eyes and waved him off, a smirk on my face.

“We’re flying in Friday, we’ll be there for the Skills comp,” he said and I leaned against the island.

“Awesome, ok, see you all then,” I said and then smirked towards Toews who rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically.

“All right, talk to you later,” he said and we hung up and I gave the phone back to Marc.

“They’re flyin’ in Friday,” I said and Marc nodded his head and then headed back upstairs.

Toews helped my clean the rest of the kitchen and by the time we finished it was time for us to get ready to head to the gym. We walked up the stairs towards our rooms and I got dressed in my workout gear and was sure to pack other things that I was going to need while I was away from the house.

When it was time to go, we all headed downstairs and outside to see the bus that was going to take us to the rink waiting for us. Marc and I sat next to each other; I took the window seat and immediately threw my headphones on and turned my music on.

When we got to the rink, we headed for the locker room, threw our stuff in an empty stall, claiming it as our own for the time being and got ready for an intense workout session the was going to last the rest of the afternoon.

As soon as everyone was ready, we left the locker room and headed down the hall and up three flights of stairs to the gym, if there was anything in the world I hate it was stairs, and anything I loved it was elevators and escalators.

We walked into the gym and I smirked at all of the nice and clean equipment. I put my hands together and rubbed them a little, “Ok, let’s get this party started.”