The Three C's

“And that’s a strike for Maggie, and a gutter for Kaner!” Josh, a nine-year-old little boy with cancer said as he looked at the monitor that told the screens.

When the guys and I got to the bowling alley, we met up with our other teammates and then were assigned a child. Pat was assigned this cute little boy named Josh, while I was assigned Allison, a seven-year-old little girl with something wrong with her heart. She had to be hooked up to monitors and was slow to walk, but with the help of gutters and that little ramp that helps you bowl, she was having the time of her life.

“Who’s side are you on?!” Pat teased and Josh smiled brightly and looked at me.

“I’m on the pretty girl’s side!” he said and I laughed, walked over towards him and kissed his cheek.

“He’s a sweet talker,” I smiled brightly and Pat chuckled and shook his head. I stood up and looked back at Allison, “All right, Allie, you’re up!”

We all bowled for at least three hours with the children, but the fundraiser was over and the children all left, leaving the team by themselves.

“I’m still up for playing a few more games,” Corey said and I giggled and looked at Pat, nodding my head, wanting to play too.

“Let’s get some food and beers and play a few more rounds then,” Sharp said and some of us agreed while the others decided to go home.

We all took up four lanes, four to a team and decided that whatever team had the most total points won, and the least had to buy everyone a round of beers. Pat, Jon, Leddy and Hossa were on a team, while Crawford, Sharp, myself and Saad were on a team, Bickell, Shaw, Keith, and Seabrook were on a team, and then Oduya, Regin, Versteeg, and Kruger were a team.

“Oh this is gunna be awesome! Mags and Pat pitted against each other!” Shaw teased and I laughed and felt Corey and Sharp wrap their arms around my shoulders.

“No way in hell did we wanna see the two of them on a team together! This is way more fun!” Sharp said and I laughed and stuck my tongue out towards Pat, who was smirking and shaking his head.

-Kane-
Maggie laughed as we walked into our home, she was teasing me the whole ride home for having one of the worst scores out of everyone; however, my team wasn’t the lowest score, so we didn’t have to pay the tab.

As soon as the door closed, I felt Maggie grab my jacket and pulled me closer to her, her lips were on mine and I smirked, grabbed her hips and pushed her against the wall. My fingers snuck under her shirt and I felt her hands move onto my chest, up to my shoulders and her fingers tangled with my hair.

“Oh please, don’t stop on my account,” I heard a sarcastic voice and I pulled back, we both looked to see Nick standing in the hallway, covering Troy’s eyes as he held his nephew.

“I forgot he was here,” I muttered and Maggie giggled.

“What’s Troy doing here?” Maggie asked as she walked over towards her brother, who was still on
Christmas break.

“Emma just dropped him off about twenty minutes ago, apparently has a big date with Toews,” Nick said and I smirked and walked over towards them, patted Nick’s shoulder and then walked into the kitchen, “So how was bowling?”

“Shut up,” I muttered, hearing Maggie laughing and then telling her brother everything.

I opened the fridge in the kitchen, grabbed a beer and closed the door to be greeted by her two of her dogs, Stanley and Bella, they were just looking at me. I bent down and petted both of them, but Bella then stood up and headed for the attached office, there was a door in the kitchen that lead into the room. When I didn’t follow, she came back into the kitchen and whined a little, barked even.

“Hey! None of that now,” I ordered, not wanting to hear barking, but she kept barking and whining, “Bella! Stop it!”

“What’s going on?” Maggie asked as she walked into the room.

“I don’t know, she just kept barking,” I said, opening my beer and taking a swig of it.

“Bella, what’s wrong?” Maggie asked as she bent down and Bella went over towards her owner, “Why do you keep barking, girl?”

Bella whined and then barked against and headed for the office, when we didn’t follow she came back out and whined again. I sighed and then placed my beer down and headed for the office, I walked into the room, Bella ran past me and on the other side of the big desk. Maggie had placed a big dog bed there, I walked over and saw Jazz lying on the bed, Bella climbed over him and laid her head on his back.

“What is it?” Maggie asked from the doorway.

“Don’t know,” I answered as I walked over towards the two, bent down and looked at Jazz, something was off, “Jazz,” I called out, but he didn’t pick up his head, “Hey buddy, want to go outside?”

“What’s wrong with Jazz?” Maggie asked as she came into the room, I felt her behind me and I felt her tense.

“Mags-“

“Is he-“

“I don’t know,” I said and felt her bend down next to me and watched as she started to pet his muzzle. We watched as his eyes opened slowly, he just looked at Maggie, whined a little and licked her hand, he was still alive.

“Pat,” Maggie said softly and I sighed and nodded my head.

“Go get the keys, I’ll bring him out,” I said and Maggie stood up and headed out of the room, “Come on buddy, I’m gunna pick you up and we’ll take you to the vet.”
-Maggie-

Pat and I were sitting in the waiting room at the emergency animal clinic, we rushed the half our drive and the whole way over, I sat in the backseat with Jazz, something was wrong with my eight year old boy. The doctor was looking at Jazz, and we were waiting to hear what the verdict was. We sat in the room for almost an hour; my head was on Pat’s shoulder, his fingers laced with mine.

“Marshall,” I heard and practically shot out of the chair and looked at the doctor. Pat and I followed him into the room where we saw Jazz lying on the one table.

I walked over towards him and pet and kissed his head, he looked so bad. I looked at the doctor, “So what’s wrong?”

“Well, he’s in pain now, if it isn’t obvious,” the doctor said and then showed some X-rays, “Some big dog breeds have this happen to them, their stomachs flip.”

I sighed and nodded my head, familiar with this, “He’s eight, and I know you can go through a surgery-“

“But you also know it’s going to most likely happen again as he gets older, Ms. Marshall,” the doctor said and I sighed and nodded his head.

“I have the money, and he still has more time,” I said and looked at Pat, he just nodded his head.

“So you would like surgery?” he asked and I nodded my head, “All right, I can schedule him in for tomorrow morning.”

The ride home was a quiet one, we walked through the door and the mood was so much more different than it was the first time Pat and I came home. Nick rushed to us to hear the news, I told him and then just wanted to go upstairs and get some sleep.

I took a shower, a long one, most of the time just thinking about Jazz, the pup’s been in my life for so long, it was just sad that they didn’t really have a long life span.

After I climbed out of the shower, I went to bed, a lot of things were on my mind, so I knew that I wasn’t going to get to sleep anytime soon. I heard the door open to our room, heard moving around, felt a dip in the bed and then felt arms around me. I knew it was Pat, I could smell his cologne.

“It’ll be all right, babe,” Pat comforted and then kissed my head. I turned around and snuggled my face into his chest and wrapped my arms around his waist, “Try to get some sleep.”

“I’ll try.”

-Kane-
I woke up to an empty bed, looking at the clock to see that it was almost three in the morning. I looked around the room to find Maggie sitting on the window bench looking up at the sky. I called her name, she just looked at me, “Come to bed, Mags.”

“I can’t sleep,” she breathed and I sighed, climbed out of bed, walked over towards her and hugged her, “I’m thinking about Jazz, the game, the surgery, the game-“

I chuckled, “You said that twice.”

“Yeah well, it’s something to think about,” she said and I cupped her chin and then pressed my lips against hers.

“It’s all going to work out, all right,” I said and she sighed and nodded her head, “Now come to bed before I drag you.”

“Is that a challenge?” Maggie smirked and I chuckled and wiggled my eyebrows a little.

“Maybe.”