Chances Risked

I sighed and watched as Maggie attached the pucks that I had set up, I felt bad for Fleury. We had been here a while and Maggie was getting frustrated with herself that she wasn’t doing as well as she once was, now instead of concentrating on hitting the puck, she was just swinging her stick and the pucks were going all over the place and Fleury was struggling to make sure he wasn’t hit because Maggie was hitting them as hard as she could.

I had been in town for about three days, the first few I wanted to just relax with her and stay in. Today I was taking her to the ice to see how she was doing, she wasn’t doing well. I felt like I was watching a person who had never played hockey before hit the puck.

“Maggie, Maggie, Maggie! Calm down! You gunna kill me with those pucks!” Fleury yelled after Maggie ran out of pucks to hit. I looked towards Maggie to see that she was looking down, gripping her stick hard, “Aw fuck,” he said and propped his helmet on his head and skated over, “Maggie?”

I skated over and looked at Maggie, she was shaking, her eyes clenched closed. I sighed and looked at Fleury, “Flashback?” I asked and he nodded his head. I heard more skates on the ice and turned my head to see Crosby coming over.

“How is she?” he asked and I shook my head, “Mags,” he called and placed his hand on her shoulder.

I took my gloves off and placed them and my stick on the ice, bent down and got in front of Maggie. I slowly pried her fingers from her stick and had her grab onto my hands, “Babe,” I called and felt her shaking, “Mags, just breathe, it’s going to be all right,” I said it to her over and over again for about five minutes before Maggie pulled herself out and started to breathe heavily, “You’re all right,” I said and cupped her face and pulled her in to hug her.

“How long did this one last?” Crosby asked.

“Less than ten minutes,” Fleury said and Crosby nodded his head, “They’re not coming as much and as long now.”

“But they’re still coming,” Maggie said and I looked at her, “They need to stop coming.”

“We’ll get through this, Mags,” Crosby said and she nodded her head, “Come on, let’s get to practicing, I figured the more that were here, the more it might help.”

I looked towards the doors and saw a few more Penguins come onto the ice. Dupuis, Cooke, Kennedy, Staal, Malkin, Neal, Martin, Niskanen, Orpik, and Johnson were all here and dressed in their gear, “What do you say Mags? Wanna get dressed and we’ll try this for real?”

“Sure,” she said and I smirked towards her.

-Maggie-
“When are your teammates going to be here?” Pat asked as we walked down the hallway towards the ice.

“In about an hour,” I said and he stopped me and I looked back towards him.

“Why are we here early then?” he chuckled.

“I wanted to be on the ice,” I said and he smirked and nodded his head and we skated out onto the ice, placing our things onto the board. We were there for a few minutes when I felt eyes on me and turned my head to see the door opening and Kris skating out onto the ice. I tensed and looked towards Pat, he wasn’t paying attention and I was happy about that, ‘…I didn’t know he would come today…’

“You’re here early,” he said and I nodded my head, Pat turned his head and saw Kris, let the glaring match begin.

“Knock it off guys,” I growled and then dumped the bag of pucks onto the ice and started to line them up. I looked towards the boys again and saw that they both were tense and glaring at each other, “Guys!” I yelled and they looked at me, “Stop it.”

“What is he even doing here? I thought the team was going to help you, Maggie,” Kris said and I sighed.

“I want him here,” I said and Kris rolled his eyes, “Kris, if you’re just going to be here to start an argument, then just go home.”

“I didn’t come to start an argument, I just didn’t know that he would be here,” Kris growled and I rolled my eyes.

“Do you have a problem with me?” Pat growled and I shook my head.

“Of course I have a problem with you!” Kris growled and I skated over towards them and moved in-between them, “You fuckin’ stole Maggie!”

“I didn’t steal anything- You fucked up!” Pat yelled and I held up my hands.

“Guys, enough of this,” I snapped, but was only ignored.

“I know I fucked up- How do I know that you don’t fuck around in Chicago?!” he yelled and my eyes wide.

“You fuckin’ shit-“

“Pat!” I yelled when he tried to go around me to get to Kris, “Boys! Stop it!”

“Enough!” I heard and turned my head to see Sidney skating over, “What the hell?”

“He fuckin’ started it!” Pat yelled and I looked at Sidney sadly.

“Yeah, well I’m finishing it,” Sidney snapped and looked at Kris, “Go to the locker room.”

“Sid-“

“GO!” Sidney yelled and Kris sighed and headed off the ice.

“Sidney,” I said and Sidney snapped me a look.

“I’m sick of this Maggie,” he growled and I sighed and nodded my head.

“Sorry.”

“Tell the guy to fuckin’ leave her alone then!” Pat yelled and Sidney looked at him.

“At least now you’re starting to see how he felt,” Sidney said and I looked at him shocked.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Pat yelled.

“You pinned after Maggie while she was with Kris,” Sidney said and my eyes widened.

“We were just friends! I didn’t do anything-“

“No,” Sidney said, “But you wanted to, you were just waiting for the perfect time to move in.”

“Sidney,” I breathed and Sidney looked at me.

“Maggie, if this keeps up, he’s not allowed to be here anymore- I’m tired of this, you’re just fuckin’ torturing Kris,” he said and I looked down.

‘…It’s my fault…’ I thought as I just looked at the ice. I remembered back to Toronto, everything that happened that day and my eyes widened and I snapped my head up and headed for the door. I heard Pat call my name, but I ignored it and skated off the ice and made my way towards the locker room. I could feel my eyes watering, ‘…This really is all my fault…’

I opened the door to the locker room just in time to see Kris standing up from sitting on the bench, he looked at me surprised and I just looked at him sadly, “What?” he asked and then turned towards his stall, “I thought you were Sid.”

His back was to me, I looked down and rubbed my hands nervously, “I’m sorry,” I said and Kris turned his head to look at me.

“What?” he asked surprised.

“I’m sorry,” I said again, “It’s my fault.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked and I looked at him.

“Toronto,” I said and he winced, “Before I left to go out with my cousin, Pat called me, we were talking- You walked in and I saw you get mad- I just- I just thought that you- I don’t even know what I thought,” I sighed and wiped my eye from the tear that threatened to fall, “It’s my fault that you went out with the boys, my fault that you started to drink when you were upset-“

“Maggie,” he breathed and took a few steps closer to me.

“It’s my fault that you slept with Catherine-“

“It’s not your fault!” he said quickly and I flinched, “It was my mistake- Yeah, I was angry because you were talking to Kane- You were always talking to Kane-“

“Kris, I never did anything- If I gave you that impression, I’m so sorry, we were just friends,” I said and he just looked at me.

“Do you love him?” he asked and I was surprised, “Do you love Kane?” I looked at him wide eye, I know that Pat has said it to me, and there was definitely something there, I definitely felt something for him, “Because I don’t think that you do, Maggie,” he said strongly, “You rushed right into another relationship, right after ours ended. You quickly went to him as soon as you left me.”

I flinched at his words; they hit me hard, “You’re right,” I said barely above a whisper and looked down, “I’m sorry if I gave you the feeling that I cheated on you first-“

“Don’t,” he said and I looked at him, “I didn’t starting thinking about it until you started to see Kane.”

“Kris, I never meant to make you feel like- like you didn’t mean anything to me,” I said and Kris walked up to me.

“I didn’t mean to sleep with Catherine,” he said and I sighed and shook my head.

“You might not have meant to, but you did it, and you’re going to be a father,” I said and he looked at me sadly.

“I don’t want to be with her, Maggie,” he said and then cupped my neck, “I don’t love her.”

“Kris, please, you don’t mean that,” I said and looked up towards him.

He leaned in close to me, our faces inches apart, his lips brushed against mine, “Je t’aime, Maggie.”