Houses of the Holy

"Brass, that picture goes everywhere with you", teased John.

"Oui, it reminds me of Ottawa. Now I just need to find a good picture of Quebec City", said Derick, adjusting the photograph of the Rideau Canal that hung on the wall.

"This feels freaky, having to meet the other guys like this. Are there any former Flyers on the team?", he joked.

"Luke Schenn, but he was only a Flyer for a while. But it's good to know everyone before training camp starts, and we're also going to meet some of the staff", said Derick.

"Hopefully nobody on the team sucks at singing, that's the worst thing about karaoke", said John.

"Hey guys, I hope they have some Zep at the place" said Dan as they waited downstairs for a cab.

"At least you can sing and you got the best taste in music, Carbomb. Reckon it's a good ice breaker", John mused aloud.

"It sucks we couldn't find a place in the Old Town, but this is close to Le Colisee", said Derick as the cab pulled up to the curb.

"That poutine was awesome, Brass. Next time I'm going to try the one with spaghetti", said Dan happily.

"Carbomb, that is fucking gross. You're Italian, you aren't supposed to eat that crap", said John dubiously.

"I'm Canadian, that's our national junk food, Champ. Living here in Canada, you have to eat it, poutine is the best junk food", said Dan proudly.

The trio arrived at the bar and were greeted by Danny, hand in hand withi a young blond woman. "Bonjour messieurs, this is my wife Laima", he said.

John and Dan shook her hand while Derick kissed her hand lightly. "Bonjour, madame Briere", he said politely.

"Brass, you gotta work the Frenchy charm, huh?", teased John.

"Vous Francais, monsieur Brassard?", she asked.

"Oui, madame Briere. Vous francaise?", he asked.

"Non, mon maman est Lituaniene et mon pere est Russe", she replied as his jaw almost dropped.

"I know, when I first met her, her French was better than mine and I am French", said Danny with a chuckle.

"Damn, what part of Russia are you from?", asked John.

"I am a Yank like you, Mr. Moore. My mother is from Pittsburgh and my father is from Pskov in Russia, you might have heard of him", she said enigmatically.

"Her dad is Sergei Fedorov", said Dan as the others looked impressed.

"I have hockey royalty as my father in law, we couldn't go to Russia this year because of how busy we were, but Sergei and Alisa are going to visit us for Christmas", said Danny.

"Hey guys, everyone else is coming sooner or later", said Jared Staal, taking a sip of his beer.

"Hey Staalsy, maybe your ginger self can get laid up here", cracked John.

"Shit, could you at least come up with an original nickname?", he joked.

"Sorry, I thought that's what everyone calls you", said John.

"Maybe Brass can come up with something, he's French", Dan suggested.

"Okay, I know some French from when I played in Sudbury, there's a lot of Frenchies that way. Just don't give me a stupid one", laughed Jared.

"Mon ami rouge, our guests have arrived", said Max Talbot, clapping Jared on the back.

"Hey Max, everyone's trickling in. Bonjour mes amis, bonjour", he said with a crooked grin.

"Max, how many drink you had?", teased Jared.

"Only two so far, this is the second. If you are going to do karaoke, you have to have a few drinks", he laughed.

"Max, don't get too drunk", chided Ausra.

"I don't have the great drinking genes, Madame", he retorted.

"Are you working for Medieval Times or something?", asked John.

"No, I made it. And Medieval Times is overrated", she retorted cheerfully. Ausra was imposing in her emerald green floor-length gown stitched with gold brocade, her red hair in two long braids to her waist. A rope of glittering green gems hung around her long, slender neck and simple gold rings adorned her fingers, having the bearing of a queen.

"Ausra, the room is ready for the party", said a blond woman, speaking with a heavy French accent.

"Merci. This is my assistant Natalia Mazurska, she handles the foreign press", she said.

"Vous Francaise, mademoiselle?", Derick asked.

"Non, mon pere est Polonais et mon maman est Quebecoise. I speak French, Russian and Polish, monsieur Brassard", she said politely.

Dan had a chuckle when he saw Derick checking her out, a slow smile forming on his lips when he saw the brunette enter the room, her slate-gray eyes looking cross. "The tables are ready", she said with a touch of impatience.

"Relax, we are comng. This is Jacquetta Lemaire, she is the one in charge of arranging travel and transportation", said Natalia.

Dan smiled to himself as he followed the group to the private dining room. She's got the whole Ice Princess thing going on, that is hot, he thought, watching her ass as she walked on modest two-inch heels.

"Privyet, gentlemen", said Ilya Bryzgalov.

"Hey Bryz. Are you gonna go up there and sing?", teased Luke Schenn.

"Nyet, I don't drink so there's no way I'm going to make a fool of myself", he replied cheerfully.

"Dad and Laima can go onstage, I'm not gonna make an ass of myself", said Caelan, sipping his beer. The eldest Briere son wore jeans and an Iron Maiden tour t-shirt, his straight dark hair reaching his shoulders and his brown eyes serious.

"That's because you're a guitar player, you're not a singer", said Danny.

"You play guitar?", asked Dan.

"Yeah, Laima taught me. It's a great skill to have on road trips and girls like it", he chuckled.

"Iron Maiden are badas, I saw them last year in Toronto", said Dan.

"We saw them at Bell Centre, my favorite part was Bruce in the Anubis mask when they did Powerslave", said Caelan.

"Are those the guys with the zombie dude, that's kind of 80's", said John dubiously.

"Don't say that about Maiden, Mr. Moore. I have all their albums and I've seen them five times", said Ausra.

"Me too, I was in a tribute band in college", said Laima.

"Danny, you're wife is awesome", teased Dan.

"Oui, she got me into better music. Before her, I just listened to whatever everyone else liked", said Danny with a chuckle.

"Mademoiselle Mazurska, do you travel with the team?", asked Derick.

"Oui, I help out Ausra with the PR stuff, and it's interesting to visit churches in different cities", she replied.

"Are you Catholic?", he asked.

"Oui, I haven't missed a Mass since I was a child with chicken pox. Are you Catholic, monsieur Brassard?", she asked.

"I was baptized and had my confirmation, but I haven't been to church in a long while", he replied with a shrug.

"Natasha, not everyone likes being Catholic. Christianity is bullshit, my gods can kick your god's ass", said Ausra cheerfully.

"Ausra is pagan", explained Jacquetta.

"Whoa, I've never met a pagan before. My family is supposed to be Catholic, but my folks don't go to church and neither do I", he chuckled.

Jacquetta gave him a dissaproving look as the waiters appeared with the first course. Dan just winked at her and took a sip of beer. Ice Princess, I got you in my sights", he thought.

After the dinner dishes were cleared, the waiters set up the karaoke machine and two tablets with songs. "Don't be shy, someone break the ice", said Danny.

Jared drained his beer and made his selection, getting up on the small stage as his teammates looked his way, the speakers playing Dirt Road Anthem by Jason Aldean:

Yeah, I'm chilling on a dirt road
Laid back swerving like I'm George Jones
Smoke rolling out the window
An ice cold beer
sitting in the console

Memory lane up in the headlights
Has got me reminiscing on them good times
I'm turning off a real life drive and that's right
I'm hitting easy street on mud tires

Back in the day Potts farm was the place to go
Load the truck up, hit the dirt road
Jump the barbed wire, spread the word
Light the bonfire then call the girls

King in the can and the Marlboro man
Jack 'n' Jim were a few good men
Where you learned how to kiss and cuss, and fight too
Better watch out for the boys in blue

And all this small town he said, she said
Ain't it funny how rumors spread
Like I know something y'all don't know
Man, that talk is getting old

You better mind your business man, watch your mouth
Before I have to knock that loud mouth out
I'm tired of talking, man, y'all ain't listening
Them ol' dirt roads is what y'all missing

Yeah, I'm chilling on a dirt road
Laid back, swerving like I'm George Jones
Smoke rolling out the window
An ice cold beer sitting in the console

Memory lane up in the headlights
Has got me reminiscing on them good times
I'm turning off a real life drive and that's right
I'm hitting easy street on mud tires

I sit back and think about them good old days
The way we were raised in our southern ways
And we like cornbread and biscuits
And if it's broke 'round here, we fix it

I can take y'all where you need to go
Down to my hood, back in them woods
We do it different 'round here, that's right
But we sure do it good, and we do it all night

So if you really want to know how it feels
To get off the road with trucks and four wheels
Jump on in and, man, tell your friends
We'll raise some hell where the black top ends

I'm chilling on a dirt road
Laid back, swerving like I'm George Jones
Smoke rolling out the window
An ice cold beer sitting in the console

Memory lane up in the headlights
Has got me reminiscing on them good times
I'm turning off a real life drive and that's right
I'm hitting easy street on mud tires, let's ride

I'm chilling on a dirt road
Laid back, swerving like I'm George Jones
Smoke rolling out the window
An ice cold beer sitting in the console

Memory lane up in the headlights
Has got me reminiscing on them good times
I'm turning off a real life drive and that's right
I'm hitting easy street on mud tires, let's ride

Dan grabbed the microphone and saw the list of names. "All right, that was Jared Staal with Dirt Road Anthem. Up next we got Max Talbot with Mysterious Ways by U2", he said, handing it over to Max.

The song played as Max did his best 90's Bono impersenation, flipping down his shades and crooning the lyrics, much to the amusement of his teammates:

Johnny take a walk with your sister, the moon
Let her pale light in to fill up your room
You've been living underground, eating from a can
You've been running away from what you don't understand

Love, she's slipping, you're sliding down
Will she be there when you hit the ground?

It's alright, it's alright, its alright
She moves in mysterious ways
It's alright, it's alright, its alright
She moves in mysterious ways

Johnny take a dive with your sister in the rain
Let her talk about the things you can't explain
To touch is to heal, to hurt is to steal
If you want to kiss the sky, better learn how to kneel

On your knees boy

She's the wave, she turned the tide
She sees a man inside the child

It's alright, it's alright, its alright
She moves in mysterious ways
It's alright, it's alright, its alright
She moves in mysterious ways, yeah

It's alright, it's alright, its alright
Lift my days, light up my nights

One day you look back and you see
Where you were held out by this love
While you can stand there, you could move on this moment
Follow this feeling

It's alright, it's alright, its alright
She moves in mysterious ways
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
She moves in mysterious ways

It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
We move through the miracle days
It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
Spirit moves in mysterious ways

It's alright, it's alright, it's alright
(It will move you now, she moves with it)
Lift my days, light up my night

"All right, let's give a hand to Max Talbot, our very own Superstar", said Dan. John drank his beer and glanced over at Ausra, noting the odd ring on her finger. It was a heavy gold ring with a black double-headed black eagle in a tree holding a sword in its beak. "That is the Romanov eagle and it's combined with our family coat of arms, an eagle in a tree with a sword. Our family is from the western border regions, we defended the country from invaders", she said proudly.

"Badass. Does your dad have a castle?", he asked.

Ausra's lips twitched in a smile. "Not the ancestral one, the Commie bastards stole it. Dad buuilt a big house in Pskov and we have another one in Moscow", she replied.

John nodded and sipped his beer. He had to smile when he saw Derick talking with Natalia and Dan trying to get Jacquetta's attention, the brunette icy cool and aloof. Typical, Brassy works his French charm and Carbomb goes for the Ice Princess", he thought with a chuckle.

"Make sure Brassard doesn't hurt Natalia, she's a great employee", said Ausra coolly.

"Brassy is a gentleman, his folks raised him good. He's not that type anyways, you ought to watch Carbomb", he replied cheekily.

"He better not, she's a good Catholic girl from a conservative family, her uncle is a priest in St. Foy", she said.

"Ooh, hot Catholic girls", he joked as she gave him a wan smile.

"All right, since we haven't any old guy up here, let's get the coach up here", said Dan as everyone laughed.

Danny blushed as the tips of his ears grew hot, Laima squeezing his hand reassuringly and Caelan giving his dad a thumbs up. "Don't pick anything corny", he muttered.

"Don't worry, Coach", said Dan reassuringly.

Danny heard You're The One That I Want come from the speaker and saw Laima smile at him, putting on a brave face as they did the duet from Grease:

I got chills they're multiplying
And I'm losing control
'Cause the power you're supplying
It's electrifying

You better shape up, 'cause I need a man
And my heart is set on you
You better shape up, you better understand
To my heart I must be true
Nothing left, nothing left for me to do

You're the one that I want
You are the one I want
Oo-oo-oo, honey

The one that I want
You are the one I want
Oo-oo-oo, honey

The one that I want
You are the one I want
Oo-oo-oo, the one I need
Oh, yes indeed
If you're filled with affection
You're to shy to convey
Better take my direction
Feel your way

I better shape up, 'cause you need a man
I need a man who can keep me satisfied
I better shape up, if I'm gonna prove
You better prove that my faith is justified
Are you sure yes I'm sure down deep inside

You're the one that I want
You are the one I want
Oo-oo-oo, honey

The one that I want
You are the one I want
Oo-oo-oo, honey

The one that I want
You are the one I want
Oo-oo-oo, the one I need
Oh, yes indeed
You're the one that I want
You are the one I want
Oo-oo-oo, honey

The one that I want
You are the one I want
Oo-oo-oo, honey

The one that I want
You are the one I want
Oo-oo-oo, the one I need
Oh, yes indeed

You're the one that I want
You are the one I want
Oo-oo-oo, honey

The one that I want
You are the one I want
Oo-oo-oo, honey

The one that I want
You are the one I want
Oo-oo-oo, the one I need
Oh, yes indeed

You're the one that I want
You are the one I want
Oo-oo-oo, honey

"Give it up for our coach Danny Briere and his lovely wife, you're a lucky bastard. Anyone else want to try up here?", asked Dan.

"I'll give it a try, I don't many American songs, though", said Ilya.

"All right, Bryz. Try an Elvis song, everyone knows at least one", aid Dan as he helped Ilya make a selection. "Guys, give Bryz some encouragement here, he's stone cold sober and has never done this before", said Dan as the speakers played Hound Dog. Ilya was nervous at first with all the eyes staring at him but he grew more comfortable, recalling how the song went and doing his best Elvis impersonation, much to everyone's delight.

"Give it up for Bryz, he's got serious balls coming up here. Anyone else want to come up here?", he asked.

"I'll go but I'll have to hook up my Ipod", said Ausra.

"Okay, come rightup. You guys better be nice to the lady, she'll kick those all your asses", he joked.

Ausra chuckled softly and walked onstage, handing him the Ipod as they hooked it up to the machine and he nodded in approval. "Sweet, those guys are badass", he said.

"Thank you, anything Blackmore does is good", she replied.

John wathced as she grabbed the microphone and acoustic guitar music came fromt he speakers, frowning when he heard Greensleeves. That corny old shit, they play that crap at the mall during Christmas, he thought in dismay.

He changed his mind when he heard her husky mezzo-soprano and was riveted, singing the lyrics of the spurned lover with a coyness that hid the anguish and hurt underneath. In her green gown and red hair, Ausra had the look and charisma of an empress or a Druid priestess, reminding him of a character right out of Game of Thrones:

Alas, my love, you do me wrong
To cast me off discourteously
When I have loved you so long
Delighting in your company

Greensleeves is my delight
Greensleeves is all my joy
Greensleeves, my heart of gold
And who but my lady Greensleeves?

I have been ready at your hand
To grant whatever you would crave
I have both wagered life and land
Your love and good will for to have

Greensleeves is my delight
Greensleeves is all my joy
Greensleeves, my heart of gold
Who but my lady Greensleeves?

Well, I will pray to God on high
That thou my constant sea may see
And that yet once before I die
Thou will doth say to love me

Greensleeves is my delight
Greensleeves is all my joy
Greensleeves, my heart of gold
And who but my lady Greensleeves?
Who but my lady Greensleeves?

John was unaware that he was clapping the loudest, everyone getting up and giving her a standing ovation. "Whoa, give it up for Ausra Fedorova, she actually made Greensleeves rock. And Blackmore's Night is kickass, Richie Blackmore is a genius. Anyways, who's up next?", he asked.

Derick approached the stage and made his selection, Dan raising an eyebrow. "Now we got Derick Brassard up here, I had no idea Brass was into this stuff. Brass, you better make sure some of that swag rubs off on you", he joked as the speakers played My Way by Frank Sinatra:

And now the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend I'll say it clear
I'll state my case of which I'm certain

I've lived a life that's full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way

Regrets I've had a few
But then again too few to mention
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption

I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way

Yes there were times I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all when there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out, I faced it all
And I stood tall and did it my way

I've loved, I've laughed and cried
I've had my fill, my share of losing
And now as tears subside
I find it all so amusing

To think I did all that
And may I say not in a shy way
Oh no, oh no, not me
I did it my way

For what is a man what has he got
If not himself then he has not
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels
The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way

Yes it was my way

Natalia perked up when she heard the song, watching Derick sing. He moved with an easy grace and his smooth baritone had a passing resemblance to Sinatra's, exuding the the cool Latin charm that comes naturally to all French men. A slight blush forned on her cheeks when she realized where her thoughts were going. Don't go there, she reminded herself.