The Three C's

“Thanks for picking me up, Jon,” I said as I jumped into Jon’s car, running out of the airport, hoping not to be noticed.

“No problem,” he said and as I buckled up, he pulled out of the parking spot, “I should be thanking you- I hope this works.”

“You and me both,” I said and then sighed, “There’s no reporters or anything- Right?”

“No, Coach changed the practice sight at the last minute to throw the reporters off,” Jon said and I nodded my head, “It’s an optional practice, so the whole team won’t be there.”

“That’s all right- Do they know I’m coming?” I asked and Jon nodded his head.

“All but Pat,” he said and I sighed and looked out the widow, “So how long are you staying?”

“Two days, that’s all the time I’ve got- I’m already missing one of my practices,” I said and he looked at me.

“You know he’s really lucky- Right?” Jon said and I giggled and shrugged my shoulders, “No, I’m serious Mags- Any other girl would probably be bitching at him to get his shit together- Not flying out to come and help him.”

“I can’t help it, Jonny,” I said and looked at him, “I love him.”

Jon sighed and nodded his head, “Let’s just hope that this petition pulls through for us,” he said and I nodded my head as we pulled up to the practice rink, “Head over towards the visitors’ locker room, I’ll text you just as we’re about to head out onto the ice.”

“All right,” I said and grabbed my bag out of the bag seat and followed Jon as we walked into the building and then separated to head to our own locker rooms.

I had a whole locker room to myself; I took my time, changing into my gear, just as I was lacing up my skates, my phone buzzed and I picked it up to see that Jon texted me. As I was about to put my phone down again, my phone went off again and I saw that James had texted me, I opened it and saw that he was asking where I was. I sighed, I didn’t tell anyone other than Coach and Sidney where I was going, I didn’t really want to the team to know that I was coming to Chicago to help an opposing player with their game. I replied to James, not telling him the whole truth, just telling him that I went to visit Pat. My phone rang and saw that James was calling me.

“Hey,” I answered, holding the phone against my shoulder.

“You went to Chicago?” he asked, sounding confused, “What time did you leave?”

“Before you all were awake- Did you just notice that I wasn’t there?”

“Well- Yeah,” he chuckled, “It was too quiet on the bus.”

“Fuck you,” I said and we both laughed.

“When are you coming back to us?”

“I’ll be there for the game,” I said and then we finished up our conversation.

After I finished changing into my gear, I headed out towards the ice and already saw some of the guys doing their routine warm ups. I leaned against the boards, still unnoticed as I watched Pat, I sighed, even in practice he looked like he wasn’t all there. His movement was slow, reflexes were delayed, I needed to help him, figure out why he was having this.

I stayed back and watched for a while, a few players noticed me, but I motioned for them to keep quiet, Pat still hadn’t seen me, and I wanted to continue watching. The boys were in the middle of practicing a play when Shaw passed the puck to Pat, but he missed it, I groaned because that was a beautiful pass and he shouldn’t have missed it. Sharp picked up the missed puck and headed back towards Crawford, scoring a goal.

‘…It’s worse than I thought…’ I thought and looked back down the ice to see Shaw and Pat getting into a shoving match and growling at each other, ‘…Time to cut in…’ I opened the door and my blades touched the ice, ‘…Remember Mags, he’s gunna act like a tough guy and that he doesn’t need help- Don’t let him push you away…’ Coach Q blew the whistle and yelled for the boys to stop the shoving match, Jon, Sharp, Seabrook and Saad were trying to help pull the boys apart.

“When’d you get here?” I turned my head to see Corey skating over towards me.

“This morning- I’m here to help Pat get his game back,” I said and Corey looked at me surprised and then nodded his head.

“You’d better get in there,” he said and I looked back to see that Jon and Pat looked like they were about to go at it, “He’s turned into a real ass- And we’re just trying to help.”

“Yeah well, if he acts that way towards me- I’m gunna punch him,” I said and Corey chuckled and I started to skate towards the team.

Pat and Shaw were back to yelling at each up and I quickly appeared in front of Pat and he stopped mid sentence and looked at me surprised. I looked back towards Shaw and saw that Sharp had him and Jon grabbed his arm because it looked like he was trying to punch Pat.

“You punch me, and I’m gunna punch you back, Shaw,” I said and he just looked at me. I turned my head back towards Pat to see him pushing off Seabrook and Saad.

“What are you doing here, Maggie?” he asked and I sighed.

“I’m here to help,” I said and he looked at me confused, “So this doesn’t happen during a game- Or even in practice.”

“I’m fine Maggie,” he said and looked away from me.

“Oh really?” I asked and looked at Sharp, “Pass me a puck,” I said and he nodded his head and passed me a puck, “Try to catch this,” I said and passed him a puck, to prove my point, he missed it, “Yeah, you don’t need my help.”

“Maggie-“

“You’re head isn’t clear Pat- That’s why your game is off,” Jon said and Pat looked at him.

“What is this- A fuckin’ intervention,” he growled and I sighed, “I’m fine!”

“Then why couldn’t you catch that pass, kid?” Sharp asked and Pat glared at us and then turned around and headed off the ice.

“Kane!” Jon yelled and I held out my arm.

“I got it,” I said and followed after him.

I followed Pat into the locker room and I saw him throwing some stuff across the room, he looked at me and then plopped onto the bench, “You shouldn’t have come, Maggie.”

“Well too bad, I’m here,” I said and walked over towards him, “And I’m not going anywhere.”

“I don’t want your help, Maggie-“

“I don’t care if you don’t want it, Patrick,” I said and he looked at me, “You’re getting it,” I sighed and bent down, my hands on his knees and I looked at him, “You helped me when Mikey died- Let me be here for you Pat- I know this is about your Grandfather.”

“It’s not just about him,” Pat breathed, his head down and he ran his fingers through his hair, “It’s about the Olympics too.”

“We won Pat- Why-“

“Yeah, we won- But I played like shit! I only got two assists!” he snapped and I looked at him, “Mags, you got the winning goal! The one that won it for us! You got the goal that I had at the 2010 Olympics and I wanted it so much.”

“I’m sorry Pat- I tried to-“

“I know you tried for me to get a goal,” he sighed and looked away from me, “I’m sorry, I just- I don’t know why my game is off.”

“You’ve got a lot on your mind, Pat,” I said and grabbed his chin for him to look at me, “But you need to get back out onto the ice- Your team needs you.”

“Maggie-“

“Pat, it’s almost time for the playoffs- Don’t you want to win it again? Win the Stanley two years in a row?” I asked and he looked at me, “Of course when you play us in the finals, we’re going to give you hell- But don’t you want that opportunity?”

“I do.”

“Then I’m going to say this the nicest way possible,” I said and he nodded his head, “Get your head out of your ass and get out there. Stop thinking about how you miss your grandfather and play the game for him,” I said and sighed, “That’s what I do for Mikey.”

“Mags-“

“And stop thinking about the past Olympics and look towards the future,” I barked and he looked at me and nodded his head, “Jon needs his partner in crime on the ice, Pat,” Pat chuckled and nodded his head, I cupped his face and leaned my forehead against his, “And I need my old Pat back.”

“I’m sorry I was a jerk before,” he said and I nodded my head and then pressed my lips against his, “Maggie.”

“Hmm?”

“How did you get here?”

“Jon picked me up,” I said and Pat looked at me, “When I hung up with you yesterday, I called him to see what was going on, when he said that you were having a hard time,” I shrugged my shoulders, “I called Sid and my Coach and told them I would meet them in Washington.”

“You dropped everything for me?” he asked and I giggled and pressed my lips against his, my hands on his gear covered shoulders.

I leaned my forehead against his, “You did for me.”