‹ Prequel: Chances Risked
Sequel: Life's Chances

The Three C's

Chapter Twenty Eight

We all stood in a line in front of the red carpet, already holding our flowers and waiting for our gold medals to be given to us. Canada had received their silver medals and headed off of the ice towards their locker room as we stayed on to accept our gold.

One by one our names were called and the medal was placed over our heads and hung from our necks. When my name was called I held my breath and bent my head so the beautiful object could be placed around me, I was so happy to have it, I had a silver, I had a gold, now all I needed was a Stanley Cup and I would be a happy hockey player.

When we all had out medals, we gather around each other for the team photo, all holding up our earned prizes. Once the photo was snapped, we broke apart and took pictures with our NHL teammates. Paul was on the ice in a suit, wearing his USA jersey over it, he, Brooks and I took a picture together, holding up our medals. I had a picture with Pat of course, and then with my buddies, Kessel, Oshie and Quick, I was going to miss these guys as my teammates.

It felt like only a short amount of time, but actually the game had been over for almost an hour. The fans had left, the guys were off the ice and in the locker room, I stood on the ice alone, soaking everything in. I heard my name and turned around to see my family; Mom, Dad, Nick, Emma, Dana and Amber. I opened the door and they stepped out onto the ice and hugged me.

“We came to see you in the locker room but the boys said that you didn’t come in yet,” Mom said and I smiled towards her.

“I’m not ready to leave yet,” I said and Dad smiled towards me and hugged me.

“How ‘bout a photo?” Mom said and held up her camera, I giggled and nodded my head. Emma took a picture with my parents and I, then one of Nick and I, and then one of Nick, my parents and I. Mom then grabbed the camera and had Dana, Emma and Amber stand around me and I got a picture with them.

“Maggie,” I heard and turned to see Pat comin’ on the ice, he chuckled when he saw my family, “Oh good, you found her.”

“Wasn’t that hard to find- Figured she’d still be here,” Dad said and I giggled and shrugged my shoulders and Pat came over to me, he was still in his gear.

“So what now?” Dad asked and I looked at her, Pat coming up next to me.

“We leave to head home tomorrow,” I said and sighed, “Our time here is finished; now we go back to the NHL.”

“Where’s the 2018 Olympics being held?” Dana asked.

“In South Korea,” I said and smiled towards her, “You gunna be there?”

“Hell yeah!” she yelled and we all laughed.

“I know I will,” Amber said and I high fived her, “I’ll be taking home two golds!” she bragged and I giggled.

“I’ll be there to cheer you on, cuz- The only event where I’ll cheer for Canada,” I said and Pat chuckled. I looked at him and felt his fingers lace with mine, “We did it Pattie.”

“How ‘bout a picture of you two?! I’ll send it to your mother, Patrick,” Mom said and I rolled my eyes and felt Pat pull me into my side, our fingers still laced toward, but my hand was bent behind my back. She snapped a picture of us and then I turned to Pat, placed my hand on his cheek and pressed my lips against his. I heard the girls giggle and my brother groan.

-Kane-
On February 23rd, USA beat Canada and won the gold medal in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, the next day we all flew out at the same time, though to head to different directions. I wanted to go to Pittsburgh before I headed back to Chicago like I was supposed to, but Jon told me that we needed to head back to get back into the groove of things. Maggie pouted, but even Jon apologized to her, knowing how we wanted at least one day together.

We sat next to each other on the long plane ride from Sochi to JFK in New York, from there we parted ways and I headed back to Chicago while Maggie went to Pittsburgh. Just as we exited our gate and we’re about to head in opposite directions, I pulled Maggie back, in the middle of the airport and pressed my lips against hers, not really caring who saw.

“I’ll see you in a week,” I breathed as I pulled back from Maggie, who just looked at me and nodded her head, in one week the Penguins and Blackhawks had an outdoor game in Chicago, and I was looking forward to it.

Maggie and I pulled apart, heading in the opposite directions with our teammates, I sighed and felt Jon pat my back, “It’ll be all right, Kaner, you’ll see her soon.”

-Maggie-
Of course the first thing we do when we land in Pittsburgh, is go to the Consol. I giggled as Paul, Brooks, Kunitz, Sidney, Geno, Olli, Jussi and I walked into the doors and headed down the hallway. We saw cars in the parking lot, so the boys were here. I heard pucks being shot and wondered who all was here. We walked out to the ice and stood along the benches, seeing that most of the guys were here.

I looked over and saw that none of them had noticed that we were here; I smirked, brought my fingers to my mouth and blew a whistle. This caught their attention and, each one of us wearing our medals, well, all except for Geno, Brooks, Paul and I in our gold, Sidney and Kuntiz in silver and Jussi and Olli in bronze.

“Hey, hey, there they are!” James laughed as he skated over and I hopped onto the boards and sat there, “How’s everyone feeling? Ready to get back into the ole grind?”

“Give me one day to sleep all day and I’ll be perfect,” I said and the guys around me chuckled.

Kris skated over and I looked at him, he gave me a small smile, but something was off about him. I gave him a confused look, and he returned it. I stepped onto the ice and walked over towards Kris, he chuckled and held my arm, “You’re gunna fall.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said and looked up towards him, he was taller than me without the skates, he was a giant with, “You all right? Something’s off.”

“Just haven’t been feeling well lately, I think it’s a bug,” he said and I nodded my head, “Congrats on gold,” he said and flicked my medal, “Lucky shot.”

“Fuck off! I earned this!” I said and he chuckled.

“I watched, you played well,” he said and I smiled up at him.

“Thank you,” I said and he looked on the side of my face, it was still a little bruised from when I was jumped.

“What happened here? Which game?” he asked his glove covered fingers pointing towards my cheek.

“Uh, no game, just an issue in Sochi, but it’s all over with,” I said and he gave me a confused look, but nodded his head.

“Maggie!” I turned and was almost tackled to the ground by Matt, Brandon and Beau, fellow Americans on the team, “We won!”

“You guys are too much,” I giggled; Beau still had an arm wrapped around my shoulder.

-Kane-
We were back home, having just lost our away game against the Rangers, I caught the NHL highlights and saw that the Penguins had lost their game in a shootout against the Canadiens. It was early Friday morning; we had flown out of New York right after the game. Maggie was going to be flying out of Pittsburgh in a few hours to head to Chicago.

I wanted to see her so badly, but I had to wait until game day, which was tomorrow. The outdoor rink was all set up and both teams were going to have a shot at skating on it today. The Penguins were to land around ten in the morning and were scheduled for noon to four and we were scheduled from five to nine.

When I got home it was about four in the morning, it was five in the morning in Pittsburgh and I knew Maggie would be awake for her six thirty flight. I sent her a text saying that I couldn’t wait to see her and that I was finally to bed, her reply made me groan, telling me that she wished that she was there and that after the game tomorrow, no matter who won, she was going home with me for the night.

‘…The things I’m gunna do to this girl…’ I smiled mischievously because Maggie and I haven’t been able to have sex in a while, not once in Sochi, like we were supposed to. The last time was, I couldn’t even remember when, it’s just been a long time. I hit reply on the phone and typed out my text, ‘Ur ass is all mine, Marshall!’

I hit send and stripped out of my clothes and climbed into my bed, I was so tired and wanting so badly to go to bed. My phone buzzed on the nightstand and I grabbed it and looked at the message, ‘Ass, pussy, tits, mouth- Everything is ur’s if u can make me scream =P’

“Ugh, this girl is gunna be the fuckin’ death of me,” I chuckled and shook my head, hitting reply on the phone and typing away, ‘So I’ll be winning twice in one night?’

I smirked and shut my light off and plugged my phone into the charge and got comfortable in the bed. My phone buzzed and I looked at it and chuckled, ‘Go to bed Kaner, ur sleep deprivation is makin’ u delusional!’

I let out a laugh and shook my head, just sending her a heart and a goodnight. I sighed and decided that just before I fall asleep, I was going to check Twitter. I had posted a few pictures while over in Sochi and a lot of tweets were said, some good, some not, I knew that I didn’t play as well as I would have hoped to, but there was nothing I could do now. I went onto Maggie’s page and saw that her cousins had posted some pictures of her during the game and when they were standing with her on the ice. I smiled at how happy Maggie looked at then clicked on the picture that her mom had taken of Maggie and I.

I looked through a lot more pictures and ended up following her two cousins, Dana and Amber on Twitter, when I looked at the time, thinking minutes had past, an hour had gone by, ‘…And now it’s time to put the phone down and go to bed…’