The Three C's

-Toews-
After I dropped Maggie off at the airport, I headed back to Pat’s to have a word with him on how to not be an idiot. I stormed into his place, made my way to his dark room and turned the bright light on, he was already drunk. All party mood was long gone, none of us cared about going out for New Year’s, I looked at Pat, he looked pathetic.

“How fuckin’ stupid can you be?!” I growled and walked over towards him, he didn’t move, “Patrick!”

“I don’t wanna talk,” he grumbled and I sighed, grabbed the king size mattress and picked it up, watching as Pat fell to the ground on the other side of the bed.

“Do you know what I just did?!” I yelled as I walked over towards Pat and looked at him lying on the floor, “Pat! Do you know what I just had to do?!”

“What?! What did you just have to do?!” Pat yelled, looking at me, squinting his eyes from the light.

“I fuckin’ just took Maggie to the airport! She went back to Pittsburgh! YOU just broke up with her!” I snapped and Pat sighed and sat up.

“It was for the best,” he mutter, pushing himself off of the bed and walking towards the closet.

“Where are you going?”

“We both need to move on,” Pat said and he started to grab some clothes, “Are the guys still meeting at the club?”

“Don’t fuckin’ do this Pat,” I said as I walked over towards him, “Pat, we all know that you love her- You just let her walk away!”

“What can I do, Jon?! She’s too far away! I can’t do it anymore!” he said and I saw the tears forming in his eyes.

“Do you love her?”

“OF COURSE!!! Of course I fuckin’ love her!” he yelled and watched as he leaned against the door, Pat ran his fingers through his hair, “But I can’t do it- I thought I could- I had hope- But then this fuckin’ rule!”

“You’re an idiot,” I say and he looked at me, “You just let the one girl that loves you for you walk away- You didn’t even stop her- You let her walk away.”

“Then you fuckin’ go after her!” Pat slurred and I glared at him, grabbed him by his shirt and shoved him against the wall.

“You jackass! Do you know what I would give to have Maggie look at me the way she looks at you?!” I growled, admitting something I never did out loud, “Do you know how jealous I was of you?!”

For whatever reason, what I was saying clicked in his head, “You fuckin’ bastard! You like my girlfriend!”

“She’s not your girlfriend anymore, Pat! You fuckin’ dumped her!” I growled, “And yeah, I’ve liked her for a long time now- Why do you think I pushed you back and told you not to even try during All Star week? I fuckin’ was hitting on her first, I actually talked to her, helped her do dishes after she cooked us all breakfast- And she fell for you! I liked her, but didn’t fight for her like I should have,” I said and pulled back from Pat, glaring at him, “I let you win and you go and break her heart.”

“I can’t change it,” he said and looked down, “She’s in Pittsburgh, I’m in Chicago- This new rule-“

“Fuck the rule!” I yelled and he looked at me surprised, “Why do you think there are things called petitions?”

-Maggie-
I sucked in a morning breath and blinked my eyes opened, I felt arms around my waist and looked up, sighing in disappointment to find that it was only James, ‘…I hoped that it was only a bad dream…’ I thought as I sat up and looked to my other side to see Geno; he was sleeping on his stomach, one hand under the pillow, the other on top of James’ across my stomach. I gave a small smile at the two and looked towards the clock on the nightstand to see that it was almost noon, ‘…It’s my birthday- Worst birthday so far…’

“You’re awake,” I heard and looked up to see Kasey sticking her head into the room, “How are you?”

“I’ve been better,” I whispered and she walked into the room and giggled at the sight of Geno and James.

“That’s a bromance- They even choose the same girl,” Kasey teased and I giggled and attempted to climb out of the boys’ grip, but it wasn’t happening.

I sighed and decided that instead of breaking through their grip, I was going to push myself further up the bed and slide out from under their arms. Kasey giggled when it worked and I left the two sleeping, snoring, hungover boys in my bed as I followed Kasey out of my room and we headed downstairs.

I walked into the kitchen to see Olli and Sidney sitting on the chairs in front of the island drinking coffee. They looked at me and I just sighed and gave them a small smile before walked over towards the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water.

“Where are G and Nealer?” Sidney asked and I walked over to the counter and pushed myself up onto it.

“Still passed out- Where’s Beau?” I asked, opening my water and taking a sip.

“Passed out,” Olli said and I nodded my head, “You all right?”

“Fine,” I said and Sidney just gave me this look, but I ignored it, “So how many hangovers am I taking care of today?”

“No one’s,” Sidney said and I looked at him, “They’ll handle themselves,” he said and I sighed.

‘…I can’t be here…’ I thought and slid off of the counter and headed for the doorway.

“Where are you going?” Sidney asked.

“I can’t be here Sid- I’ll go crazy,” I sighed, “I’m going to the rink.”

“I’ll go with you-“

“No,” I barked and he looked at me surprised, “I want to be by myself.”

-Kane-
“I’m sorry, you did WHAT?” Abby yelled as she glared at me in my own home after Jon had called the team and wanted a meeting, they knew it was about Maggie, some of the wives and girlfriends were there too.

“I ended it,” I muttered, looking down, feeling the disappointed stares from my teammates.

“You’re a fuckin’ moron, Kane!” Sharp growled, “Why wouldn’t you do that?!”

“I don’t know, I panicked,” I said and the guys sigh.

“What did she say?” Abby asked and I looked at her.

“What?”

“Maggie! What did she say when you said this to her?” she asked and I sighed.

“She said fine,” I said and Abby scoffed, “What? She just said fine!”

“You idiot!” Abby yelled and slapped my over the head, “Fine doesn’t me fine! The scale goes: great, food, ok, not ok, I hate you, fine!”

“What?!” every guy in the room looked at her confused.

Abby just sighed and shook her head, her own husband was confused, “Boys, let me give you a little hint about women- So take some damn notes!” she growled and then looked at me, “You especially!” Abby said and the guys looked at her, “There are five deadly terms that we women use,” she said and looked at the other women in the room, “Number one! FINE” she emphasized and I was catching on, “This word is used when a woman wants to end an argument when she knows she’s right and you just need to shut the hell up! Two! Nothing! She says this after you ask if something is wrong- Something is wrong and you need to be worried!”

‘…There are secret codes?...’ I thought and sighed.

“Three! Go ahead!” Abby said and I rolled my eyes, “This is a dare, NOT permission, so do not do it! Four! Whatever!” she said and I looked around the room and was surprised to actually see some guys writing this stuff down, “A woman’s way of saying ‘fuck you’,” she said and a few guys snickered, “And five! That’s ok! Which basically means that she is thinking long and hard about how and when you will pay for your mistake!”

“That it?” Shaw asked and Abby looked at him.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Abby asked and he shook his head, “Thank god, I would slap her for being an idiot,” she said and a few guys snickered and I looked over towards Jon to see him sitting on the island just soaking everything in.

“I don’t need or want a girlfriend, I’m good with bunnies,” he smiled cockily and I remembered when I was like that.

“And you know what,” Abby said, “Here’s a bonus word for you,” she said and looked at Shaw, “Wow!”

“Translation,” Jon said and we looked at him, “When she says ‘wow’, it’s not a compliment; she’s just amazed at how stupid one person can be.”

“Thank you! Tazer is the only one who can speak women!” Abby said and the guys snickered.

“You’ve got something to tell us, Cap? Growin’ a woman part?” Saad asked.

Jon hopped off of the counter and glared at his teammates, “No, I just appreciate them a lot more than most of you," he said and then walked over towards me and handed me a box, "She left you this."

"What is it?" I asked and he shrugged his shoulders. I tore he paper off and opened the small box to find a nice black watch, I wanted a new one. I took it out of the box and flipped it over to see that there were words engraved on the back. I gulped and ran my fingers over the letters, 'Love you forever - Maggie' I looked down and ran my fingers over my face, "I fucked up."