Chances Taken

-James-
“Dude, what did you tell Maggie?” Matt asked as he walked into room holding a small pizza box.

“Nothing, why? What did she say at dinner?!” I asked, sitting up.

“Nothing, she didn’t come to dinner,” he said and I looked at him confused, “She just came down to tell us you weren’t coming and then said she suddenly wasn’t feeling hungry,” I looked at him and then looked down, “Look, Nealer, I know you two don’t really like each other, but we’re teammates now. You need to let whatever happened when we were on the Stars go.”

“I said something pretty fucked up to her,” I admitted and sighed.

“What?”

“I said she didn’t belong here, in the NHL,” I said and looked at Matt.

“You’re right dude,” he said and I looked at him surprised, “That was pretty fucked up.”

‘…That’s what he meant…’ I thought and nodded my head.

“You need to apologize to her,” he said and I looked at him, “Dude she came her to ask you to dinner with the team, as a peace offering and basically threw that away. That’s a real dick move.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said and Matt sighed.

“I brought you some food,” he said and threw the box next to me on the bed.

“Thanks man, but, I think I lost my appetite,” I said and Matt nodded his head.

“Apologize and maybe we can actually start acting like a team. We were given this opportunity because we’re good, Nealer, don’t fuck this up!”

-Maggie-
I sighed as I skated onto the ice of the United Center, home of the Blackhawks. I could see the home team warming up on the other side of the ice, shooting pucks towards their goalie, Corey Crawford. I caught a few glances at Kane and Toews, some of the others too. Sharp gave me a quick smile and I nodded my head towards him.

It’s back to being awkward between Neal and I, but this time, I absolutely despise him, wanting nothing to do with him. I didn’t tell my brother or Kris what he said, the only one who know what Kane, who probably told Toews, who probably told the whole team, making me rethink of telling Kane in the first place.

‘…Please don’t start something with him…’ I thought because even though I didn’t give Kane a name, I knew that he was going to be able to figure it out.

We sat in silence in the locker room as we waited for the game to start. I bounced my knee, I was really nervous about the Hawks picking a fight with Neal.

“What’s wrong?” Mike asked as he slammed his hand on my knee to make it stop.

“Nothing,” I said and he gave me a look.

“You’re my sister, I know when something’s bugging you,” he said and I sighed.

“It’s nothing, all right,” I said and Mike nodded his head and I was surprised to see him giving up so easily.

Coach came in and announced the first line, I breathed a sigh of relief when he called Jordan’s line, me, Jordan, Tyler, happy that I didn’t have to deal with Neal. At practice we were horrible and Coach was frustrated, he wanted us to be like Sidney, Kunitz and Pascal, able to read each other’s movements, make moves before we know where the other is, just knowing that they’ll be there at the right time. Jordan, Tyler and I were sort of like that, in fact, I was almost like that on any line, but with Neal, I can’t past my dislike for him to concentrate on the game.

Jordan, Tyler, Mike, Kris and I were on the ice with Marc in the net, while Toews, Sharp, Kane, Keith and some guy with a really long name. Both teams were facing each other, Kane smirked towards me and I smirked and rolled my eyes. Sharp gave me a little wave and I smirked and shook my head, ‘…Idiots…’

Kane looked at everyone on the ice with me, gave me a serious face and waved his fingers towards my teammates, I knew what he was asking, he was wondering if it was any of them who told me I didn’t deserve to be in the NHL. I shook my head and he sighed, my teammates and I turned around and looked towards the American flag, the woman getting ready to sing the national anthem.

When it was finished, we went to the center faceoff circle, I was next to Sharp, fighting for our stick to be in front, “Hiya Sparky,” he smirked and I giggled.

“What’s up Sharpie?”

“So which asshole’s ass are we kicking?” he asked and I looked at him.

“Of course Kaner would tell you,” I sighed, “Don’t worry about it, please.”

“No promises,” he said and Toews won the faceoff, shooting the puck towards Tyler.

-Kane-
It was the middle of the second period, we were up by one, the score being two to three, Maggie getting one of the goals and then assisting in the other. I managed to just assist two of our goals. Maggie’s new teammate Neal has been on all of our asses all night, probably trying to get payback the last time we played them because Duncan accidently one of their players when he did a clean hit.

I was getting really aggravated with him because he tripped me and I was getting ready to fight him. We were at a faceoff, Sharp going against Staal. Maggie came up next to me and I looked at her and then back at the circle, “Neal’s really starting to piss me off.”

“I’ve noticed, please don’t do anything,” she said and I looked at her.

“So it was him,” I said and she looked at me confused.

“What are you talking about?” she asked and we heard a whistle and looked forward to see that Staal was being traded out for Neal.

“Duncan accidently hurt his Star teammate the last time we played them, we think he’s trying to get us back,” I said and then puck was dropped and Neal won it and shot it over towards us.

Maggie grabbed it and headed for Crawford, she was fast, I cursed at how fast she was. I hoped that Corey was ready for her, because we weren’t going to make it to help. She looked like she was about to do a slapshot, just as her stick hit the puck, the whistle blew and I turned around to see Jon and Neal shoving each other.

“Not again,” Maggie muttered as she came up next to me, “So you think he’s trying to get payback?”

“Yeah,” I said and then looked at her, “But he’s the one who said-“

“Don’t do anything,” she growled at me, but then softened her eyes, “Please.”

“If he comes at me, I going back,” I said and she sighed and nodded her head and then skated off towards the shoving match.

I followed after her and watched as she grabbed Neal’s jersey and pulled him away from the refs, I came up pretty close to hear her tell him to knock it off and forget about whatever happened with the Stars. I watched as he shoved her off and it was only making us madder because Maggie was our friend.

“Don’t worry about him,” she said and I sighed and watched as she skated off.

“What she say to you?” Jon asked as he came up next to me.

“It was him who said it to her,” I said and Jon nodded his head.

“We’ll make sure he won’t forget how to talk to teammates,” Keith said as he came up on the other side of me and I nodded my head.

We headed for the faceoff circle; both lines were still on the ice. I placed myself next to Neal and saw Maggie across from me giving me a worried look. I flashed her a quick smile and looked at the puck.

Staal won the puck and passed it to Neal, he got it and headed for Crawford, but I caught up to him and tried to steal the puck back. We headed for the corner and began to fight for it, pushing and shoving, trying to kick the puck.

“Give it up, Kane!” Neal growled and I shoved him with my shoulder, and managed to kick it out, hoping that one of my teammates would get it.

I crused when I saw Maggie get it, she was cornered by Sharp and Jon, Duncan managed to steal the puck from her and I caught up with them. I was almost there when if felt a tug on my skate and I crashed onto the ice and went into the boards in front of the Penguins bench. The whistle was blown and before I could get up, before I could see what happened, someone crashed into me, cried out and landed basically on my lap.

I groaned because when I landed against the boards, I must have landed on my knee wrong and then hit my head against the board. I looked down at whole was on my lap and saw the number before I saw the name. I clicked and I saw Maggie on me.

“Maggie?” I called and shook her shoulder a little, she wasn’t moving, “Maggie!”

“Mags!” her teammates were looking over the boards and the refs were coming over, but stopped when Neal and Duncan started to fight.

Her brother came up next to me and bent down, “Maggie,” he called and shook her a little.

I groaned and took my gloves off and tried to pull her a little, “Maggie.”