‹ Prequel: Chances Risked
Sequel: Life's Chances

The Three C's

Chapter Ninety Six

“Maggie? Maggie? Hey! Maggie!” I snapped out of my daze and saw my teammates looking at me.

We were all at the local sports bar watching the Carolina and Philadelphia game on the large flat screen. We had just watched Carolina lose, which meant that we were going to play Philadelphia in the Stanley Cup Finals, having just beat San Jose the day before.

“Maggie,” I heard and looked up to see Jon looking at me, he was sitting across from me with Emma next to him, Troy sitting on his lap, “You all right?”

“Fine,” I said and then looked around the table, they were all looking at me, all knowing that I was lying.

Ever since my brother’s death, even though Kokorin wasn’t on the team, I never played the same against the Flyers, I always seem to lose my concentration or get too emotional in the game and lose my cool too quickly. I felt Pat’s hand on my thigh, he gave it a small squeeze and I looked at him to see him giving me a worried look. I sighed and nodded my head towards him, slipping my hand on top of his.

“I’ll be all right,” I said and he sighed.

“You worried about playing the Flyers,” Sharpie said and I looked at him, “Aren’t you, Sparky?”

“I hate that team,” I growled and then looked at the screen against to see the teams doing the end of the series hand shake, “I hate them so much.”

“I know, we all know, Mags,” Jon said and I looked at him, “But we’re going to the finals with them, you need to keep your cool if we’re going to have a shot at the cup- Do you honestly want them to win?”

“Fuck no,” I growled and he nodded his head.

“We’ve got a few days to get ready for the Flyers,” Corey said and I bit the inside of my lip and nodded my head, “It’s going to be all right, Mags.”

I looked at Pat, “Can we go? I wanna give Dana a call?”

“Yeah,” Pat said and then finished off his beer and we both pulled our chairs back, “Have a good night, boys.”

“Yeah, you too!” they said and I looked at them and nodded my head.

Pat laced his fingers with mine and we walked out of the bar, towards his Hummer and he drove home. The drive home was quiet, Pat still held my hand and would kiss it everytime he hit a red light, be we never spoke.

When he pulled into the driveway, I got out and walked towards the front door, opening it and walking inside our home to have three dogs happily walking towards me. I smiled and petted each of them and walked deeper into the house. I walked into the kitchen, pulled out my cell phone and sat on the kitchen island. Dana’s number came up on my phone and I hit ‘call’. She didn’t answer, I didn’t think she would, I left a message telling her I watched the game and told her to call me if she needed anything.

“You all right?” I heard and turned to see Pat leaning against the entryway to the kitchen.

“Why the Flyers?” I growled and Pat sighed, he walked over towards me, stood in front of me and placed his hands on my knees.

“It’s just what happened,” he said and I sighed, “They lost in overtime in Game seven.”

“I wished we were playing Carolina in the finals,” I said and Pat smirked and nodded his head. I looked down at him, his playoff beard was growing, as well as his mullet. I smirked and laughed a little.

“What?” he smirked.

I ran my fingers through Pat’s hair and pulled at the end, the mullet part, “I hate this thing.”

“I grow it every year,” he said and I smirked and nodded my head.

“I know, and it only gets worse,” I said and he chuckled, opened my legs, leaned up, wrapped his arms around my waist, pushing me closer to him and then pressing his lips against mine.

I giggled and cupped his neck, I groaned against his lips when he pinched my sides and started a battle with my tongue. I ran my hands down, over his chest and then to his shirt buttons, I unbuttoned them and pulled his shirt off of him. My butt slid off of the island and I stood in front of Pat, my hands roaming his bare chest and over his shoulders, up his neck, through his hair. I gasped when he squeezed my ass and then groaned when he grinds his hips into mine.

Pat breathed my name as his fingers slithered under my shirt and then pulled it up and over my head. I only had my jean shorts on with my sneakers and bra and Pat only had his cargo shorts and sneakers on. Pat unclasped my bra and I moaned when his lips were on my breast, I leaned against he island, wrapped my legs around Pat’s waist and wrapped my arms around his head, digging my fingers in his hair.

I bucked my hips as Pat ran his rough hands up my soft skin, he teased with the button of my jeans, but we both stopped and stood up when our doorbell rang. We both sighed and I looked down and then back up at Pat, “You answer it,” I said and he smirked, grabbed my face and kissed it before walking out of the kitchen and towards the front door. I ran into the office attached to the kitchen and threw my bra and shirt back on before running back out, picking Pat’s shirt up and walking towards the front door.

“Sorry man, just wanted to stop by to see if Maggie was all right, didn’t mean to interrupt anything,” I head and peaked around the corner to see Emma and Jon in the doorway and I smiled at the face that Jon was holding a sleeping Troy.

“No it’s fine, come in,” Pat said and then moved out of the way.

“Hey,” I said as I walked towards them, handing Pat his shirt and then looking towards the sly smirked Emma, “Shut it.”

“I didn’t say anything,” she said and I smirked and rolled my eyes.

-Kane-
It was Game one of the Finals, we were home, up against Philadelphia and everyone’s nerves were on edge, especially Maggie’s. We were all in the locker room, Coach came in and gave a speech and then walked out of the room to talk to Wirtz about something.

“We had a shut out with the Sharks,” Jon said and we all looked up and at him, “We’ve had a hell of a season and been through a lot of shit,” he said and we nodded our heads, “It’s the Flyers,” he said and I looked at Maggie, she was looking down, “We can do this- We can win the cup- We can win Stanley!”

He managed to get everyone pumped up, warm ups had already come and gone, when we stepped onto that ice, it was time, we were in the Finals. Coach came back in and announced Jon, Maggie, myself, Duncan and Brent on the first line. We all headed out towards the ice, ready to win it all, I was ready to win the Cup, I wanted that cup this year for myself and for Maggie.

We were on the ice, standing on the line, waiting for them to sing the national anthem, I looked at Maggie, “I want that cup at our wedding.”

She looked at me and smiled brightly and then nodded her head, “I could kiss you right now.”

“You could,” I smiled sly and she just laughed and rolled her eyes, it made me smile as I attempted to calm her nerves.

During the national anthem, I looked at her helmet off, hanging at her side, her glove off and her hand clutching her brother’s necklace that hung from her neck, her head up, looking towards the ceiling and her eyes closed. I knew she was most likely praying for her brother to give her help, she seemed to do it every time we played Philadelphia.

After the anthem, we skated towards the face off, this was it, this was the start of the Finals, this series right here decided on who walked away this season with Lord Stanley, and my teammates and I intended on that team being ours.

The game had begun, Jon won the put and passed it over towards me, it was a race down the ice to see if we could score the first goal of the game.

-Maggie-
Game one ended in our favor, we one in the last minute of the third period with the final score of six to five. It was a close game, but Bickel managed to score the winning goal and help us not go into overtime. After the game we headed back to the locker room, showered, changed, answered the press’s questions and then headed home.

I only managed to assists two goals this game, Pat’s and Smith’s. I had four shots on goal, but nothing went through and I felt like I was choking and I knew that I couldn’t do that. The drive home was quiet and quick, we walked into our home, grabbed leftovers in the fridge, a few beers, watched the last of a baseball game, I didn’t really pay attention, and then went to bed.

The next day we had practice and the night after that was Game two, Coach had plenty of things we needed to fix on the ice and I was surprised that he didn’t say anything to me about my sloppy puck handling. The shots I took against the net, are shots I’ve done so many times that I’ve never missed.

After practice, I showered and changed, I was about to leave when Coach pulled me into his office, I sat there watching him looking over footage from Game one, I sighed and looked at him, he was looking at me.

“So what’s the problem?” he asked, “I know you know why you’re here.”

“I know, I’m trying,” I said and he shook his head.

“No, you’re not,” he said and I looked at him surprised, “I understand why you hold back against this team. It’s because of your brother- But you have to listen to me, Maggie, and I’m going to say this not to be a dick or your Coach, but from someone who’s lost a loved one,” he started and then sighed, “Mike is not gone, he’s always with you. I know you were used to playing with him on the ice, working together against the Flyers, against us. I’ve seen you perform well without him, as if you’re playing as both you and your brother,” he said and I looked at him, “I need that Maggie.”

“Coach-“

“That Maggie, is the Maggie I need if we’re going to beat Philadelphia for the Cup.”