‹ Prequel: Chances Risked
Sequel: Life's Chances

The Three C's

Chapter Twenty Four

-Kane-
I woke up to hearing people whispering, I yawned and sat up, blinking my eyes to see that I Maggie was not next to me on the bed, she was standing the doorway talking to someone. I slowly climbed out of bed and walked over towards her to see Malkin, Ovechkin and Datsyuk in the hallway, she let them in and they looked at me.

“Pat,” Maggie breathed as she looked at me, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s fine- What’s going on?” I asked, looking at the three Russians.

“Dats want Maggie to explain what happen,” Malkin said and I sat on the end of the bed and listened to Maggie explain the story for the umpteenth time.

“We look into it Marshall,” Datsyuk said and Maggie sighed and nodded her head, “We might be from different teams and countries, but we’re both still players and I won’t have anyone on my team act this way,” Datsyuk said and Maggie just looked at him.

The three Russians left, Maggie walked them out and then leaned against the door when it closed, her forehead against the wood and both hands on the door. I sighed and walked over towards her and placed my hand on her shoulder, she wiped around and threw her arms around my chest and dug her face into my shoulder, she was frustrated.

“Come on, Mags, Doc wants you off your feet and resting,” I said and drug her over to the bed and we climbed back in and Maggie went back to snuggling into my side.

Today some of the teams needed to play to place in the Quarterfinals; USA already had a spot because of how well we were playing, so we didn’t need to play. The Quarterfinals were tomorrow and we would find out later tonight who we would be playing.

-Maggie-
I was in the dining hall with the boys, there were already different countries in the hall, we were eating dinner. Oshie, Kessel, Quick and Praise were in line with me to get some food, I was in-between all the giant just waiting and listening when I heard people talking, I looked over to see that the line was in front of a table full of Russians. I looked at them; three of them were standing and had their backs to me. The one in the middle of the standing was talking up a storm, in Russian, of course, so I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but when the person to his left spoke up all the hairs on my skin stood high and I froze.

‘…Him!...’ I thought and snapped my head to look at him, he looked at me Jon’s height, the voice was the same, ‘…It was him…’

“Maggie,” I heard, but didn’t move, “Maggie,” I heard again, “Hey, are you all right?”

The Russians heard and turned to look at me, I saw him, I saw his face, it looked familiar, like I knew him, but couldn’t remember his name. I glared at him and he just looked at me, I looked at his hands, the knuckles were cut up, I snapped my head and glared at him.

“Maggie?” I turned my head and saw Praise looking at me, “What is it?” he asked and then looked towards the Russian.

“It was him,” I growled and then went back to glaring at him, “He did it.”

“You sur- Whoa Mags!” Praise and Oshie grabbed me because I was about to jump over the rope and deck him, “What are you doing?!”

“Let me go!” I growled and Geno appeared in front of me and I looked up at him.

“What wrong?” he asked and I pushed my Captain and Oshie off and looked passed Geno to see the guy running.

“Move!” I yelled and jumped over the rope and stared my chase. This was definitely getting everyone’s attention and the guy wasn’t leaving. The idiot decided that he was going to run in-between the Canadian and USA tables. Sidney, Kuntiz, Jon, Sharp, Pat, Paul and Brooks blocked the guy’s path and I caught up to the guy who tried to plow through the boys. I tackled him to the ground and sat on his chest glaring down at him.

“Who is this guy, Maggie?” Sidney asked, “Wait-“

“He’s the assfuck who attacked me,” I growled, my eyes not leaving his as we glared at each other, “Didn’t think I would find you, did ya?”

“Maggie,” I heard Geno and then felt his hand on my shoulder, he came up from behind me, “Tikhonov,” Geno said and it clicked, this guy was Vicktor Tikhonov, he had played for Phoenix before leaving the NHL and going back to Russia, “How you now it him?”

“Vy dumayete, chto vy tak zhestko, vy ne prinadiezhat,” I breathed, hoping I pronounced everything right, “That’s what you said to me, I know it was you- Your voice gave you away- Also the fact that you ran like a little bitch,” I growled and he tried to get up but I slammed the heel of my shoes on his wrists and held him down, “You think I’m tough now? Do I belong now?”

“Vy vse yeshche slaby i zdes’ ne mesto,” he spat and I held myself back from punching him.

“Speak fuckin’ English- I know you can,” I growled and he glared at me

“You weak and still no belong,” he barked and then shoved me off of him and went to stand up, I jumped up and brought my leg in the air, jumping, spinning and kicking him in the head and watching him fall forward, but Brooks and Paul grabbed him.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked as I looked at him. He glared at me and pushed my two defensemen off of him, but didn’t go anywhere, “If you want to fight me, then at least have the balls to fuckin’ face me- Don’t cower in the shadows and attack me when my guards down.”

“Maggie-“ Pat tried to stop this, but Tikhonov came at me and went to throw a punch but I grabbed his arm and sent a punch to his ribs.

He pushed me back and came at me, just swinging his fists and I kept walking back and dodging the throws. I backed into a chair and bent all the way back when he threw a fist at me, it just grazed the tip of my nose and I brought my legs up and pushed him back with my feet and then sent two punches at him, the first missing and the second one getting his cheek. He managed to land a good blow to my cheek and I accidently bit my lip and tasted to blood on my mouth. Tikhonov grabbed my arm as I threw another punch at me and I knew he was going to try and bring his elbow down on me, he was going to break my arm. I ducked down and swung my leg around and kicked him off of his feet and saving my arm. Tikhonov kicked me back hard and I stumbled and almost fell to the ground, but someone caught me and I was about to run forward again when arms went around me.

“All right, enough!” I heard and saw Coach appear. I struggled in someone’s arms and Tikhonov stood up and was about to come at me again when Geno grabbed him and put him in a headlock, told him something in Russian and I glared at the shit, “What’s going on?” Coach looked between me and Tikhonov, “Maggie?”

“He was the fucker who attacked me,” I growled and Coach looked at the Russian and looked at Geno.

“We handle,” Geno said who then looked over at Datsyuk, who just nodded his head and Geno started to drag Tikhonov away.

-Kane-
Duncan and Sharp had a pretty good grip on Maggie, catching her when she started to fall and then holding her to make sure she didn’t continue to go after the Russian. She put up a damn good fight, and we would have let continue, but when we saw some Coaches walk into the room, we knew it needed to end.

When Malkin started to drag the guy away, I walked over towards her, standing in front of her and placing my hands on her shoulders. She was shaking with anger and I looked at her bloody lip and sighed, she looked like she was angrier than when she fought Seguin two years ago in the backyard of the All Star home, or even when she fought the gangs in Toronto last year.

“Take her back to her room, Kane,” Coach said and I turned to look at him and nodded my head, “Do what you have to, I want her calm.”

“Yeah,” I said and placed me hand on her hip and she looked at me, but glared. Her breath was heavy and I thought she was just going to stand there, or even go after Tikhonov and Malkin, but she shocked me and shoved Duncan and Sharp off, threw her wrist out of my hand, turned and started to leave the hall. I sighed and ran after her, noticing that some of the guys were staying, while some followed. We followed Maggie thankfully back to her hotel room where she looked like she wanted to throw things and punch holes in walls, but controlled her anger and just paced and punched the air.

“Who do we play next?” Quick asked from next to me.

“The Czech,” Praise said and I just looked at Maggie.

“Is she going to be on the ice?” I asked and looked at my fellow Americans.

“So far, yeah- Why?” Praise asked and I sighed.

“Because she’s going to be looking for a fight, I can see it,” I said and the guys sighed, “She’s going to want to fight someone- Hell she might go after one of us.”

“I’ll talk to Coach,” Praise said and I nodded my head.

I hated to do it, but she’ll thank me in the long run. I thought it would be a bad idea for Maggie to play in tomorrow’s game, she would either get someone hurt or get herself hurt and I wasn’t taking the risk, she needed to calm the hell down.

‘…Please don’t be mad at me Mags, I’m trying to help you…’