Family Reunion
Six
After a few months of dating, John and I have become rather serious as a couple. He bought me season tickets right before opening night on October 12th and I’ve only missed one game because I was sick. He calls me every night when he’s on the road and it’s rare now- just as it was in the beginning when we first met- that I don’t see him every day if he’s home. Of course, I’ve made friends since I got here with some of the WAGs on the team, Mandy especially, but I'm usually preoccupied with work or spending time with John, not that I’m complaining.
I finally moved into a legitimate apartment a few weeks ago, in the same building as John, a floor directly below him. And Christmas is coming in two weeks. I made plans with Joonas for him to come out to DC to spend the holiday with me, and he’s coming today so John is driving us to the airport.
We get to baggage claim for Joonas’s flight and wait for the people to start coming off the plane to collect their bags. After about twenty minutes, I see the familiar blonde quiff of my brother’s hair. He sees me and smiles widely, “Eela!” I run up to him, throwing my arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. We stand there for a minute, until John comes up behind us.
“Joonas, this is John,” I say in Finnish; then in English, “John, this is my brother, Joonas.”
John smiles shaking my brother’s hand. “Hello,” he says in Finnish as best as he can. He was up with me late last night trying to learn a few phrases in Finnish so he could impress my brother and he wouldn’t leave my apartment until he had them down.
My brother looks him over, clearly impressed. But, he smirks and starts talking in rapid fire Finnish, so confusing that I actually start to get a headache from it. “Joonas, cut it out, John tried really hard.”
He laughs and nods, then sees his bags come around on the carousel. While he goes and gets them John leans down to my height and whispers, “Is Tuukka the only Rask that’s tall? Joonas is only, what, 5’10”?”
I look up at him, glaring, and see a smirk on his face. I shake my head. “You think you’re so cool, being 6’3”. Short people have fun. And Joonas is 5’11”, thank you.”
John rolls his eyes playfully, going over to Joonas and grabbing one of his bags and then taking a hold of my hand and leading us out to his car. I take my usual seat in the passenger seat and John drives, leaving Joonas in the back seat with his bags. John's attempts to make a conversation don't go unnoticed by my brother and he smiles approvingly at me before answering the questions John brings up.
We get back to the apartment building, going up to mine to dump Joonas’s bags and get him into his room. While he unpacks the majority of his stuff, John and I sit in the kitchen, talking idly about Christmas. Somehow, the topic of what to get each other comes up and John smirks at me. “What? You know, I’m starting to despise that smirk of yours,” I whine.
“I know what you’re getting for Christmas,” he sings.
I groan, “I hate you right now.” He laughs, coming around the counter and slinging an arm around my waist and walking to the Christmas tree we had set up yesterday in the living room. We sit down on the couch and I notice boxes under the tree that weren’t there a few hours ago before we picked up Joonas from the airport. “Joonas, did you put these presents under the tree?” I call.
He comes out of his bedroom with two more presents in his hands and sets them under the tree. “No, these are from me.”
I glance at John and see him smiling, looking out the window next to the sofa. “…John?”
He looks at me, his smile widening when he sees my questioning look. “Yeah, they’re from me,” he concedes.
“John, there are two boxes under there, what happened to a small Christmas?”
He shrugs and kisses my head, mumbling into my hair, “You’ll love them anyways.”
-
Christmas finally comes and the morning of, Joonas comes into my room early, jumping on my bed and telling me to wake up. I bury my head under a pillow and check the time. “Joonas. It’s six o’clock. Get the hell out of my room and go back to sleep for at least two more hours,” I whine half in Finnish and half in English, my voice muffled from the pillow on top of my head.
Joonas groans but leaves my room. I don’t know how much longer I sleep after that, but it’s interrupted when John comes into my room next, complaining for me to get up so I don’t ruin Christmas. When I don’t move, John groans loudly and flings my blanket onto the floor and then yanks the pillow from on top of my head. I narrow my eyes at John, and he simply smirks, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of bed.
He wraps an arm around my shoulders and kisses the top of my head as we walk down the hallway to the living room. Joonas is already sitting on the sofa with what I assume to be my present from him and once I sit down next to him, he hands me the box. I waste no time in taking the box from his hands and tearing the paper open. Once I get it all off, I open the small box and move all the paper out of the way. “Joonas, I thought I lost this!” I say, reverting to Finnish out of habit in being around my brother.
John must think me talking in Finnish is a cue for a brother-sister bonding moment and excuses himself to go into the kitchen. I pull out the bracelet that was in the bottom of the box. “I found it a few weeks ago in your old room at Mom and Isä's house.”
I look over the bracelet he had gotten me for our fifteenth birthday, six years ago. The white gold chain holds seven charms: a hockey stick and puck, my birthstone, the logo for the Finnish Elite League, my initials: EIR, a gold star and a locket containing a picture of Joonas and me.
John comes back into the living room with three cups of coffee just as Joonas and I separate from our hug. Joonas hands John an envelope in exchange for a mug. “I’ll leave you two to enjoy Christmas. I’m exhausted.”
I look between the hallway Joonas disappeared down and John, laughing. He hands me the third mug as he gets up and walks over to the tree. “That one’s for you,” I say, pointing to a medium sized box propped against the wall. “And that one.”
He laughs, mumbling about a small Christmas as he carries our presents to each other over to me on the couch. “This one first,” he says, handing me a tiny box. I see John smiling fondly at me out of the corner of my eye and I look up at him, but he nudges the box towards me, urging me to open it.
I turn my attention back to the wrapping paper and tear it off then open the box to reveal a Washington Capitals charm. “Joonas told me about your bracelet and it gave me an idea.”
I take the charm from out of its box and clip it to my bracelet I had put on the coffee table, kissing him on the cheek as a thank you.
I motion to John to take the bigger of the two presents. He looks at me tentatively, grabbing the present and tearing the paper off. He finally gets everything open and he pulls out the picture of us in front of the Lincoln Memorial I had framed.
He looks at me, smiling widely, “This is going on my nightstand. All thirty of them.”
He puts the frame on the coffee table and grabs the second present for me. It's a rather large and heavy box, square and badly wrapped. I look at John unsurely and then tear at the paper, revealing a framed John Carlson jersey. My John Carlson jersey I got at the beginning of the season. Signed by the whole team. "You're really pushing the Caps on me, huh?" I joke, glancing over all the autographs.
He laughs and points out all the autographs that aren't legiable. After that, John goes for his second box and tears it open eagerly.
Once he has the box open he's looking at me like I've gone crazy, "Plane tickets to Savonlinna, Finland. To see your parents?"
I shake my head. "You look terrified and confused. Chill, we're not going to see my parents."
He visibly relaxes and lays down, sprawled on the couch, moving so his head is in my lap. I brush his hair that he's decided to let grow out away from his eyes, running my hand through it before he takes it and plays with my fingers distractedly.
"I just wanted you to be able to see Finland. It was actually Joonas's idea so you can blame him."
He smiles and puts my hand down on his chest, reaching for the plane tickets he had put on the coffee table. "It's during the allstar break," he smirks. "And if I get nominated to the allstar roster?"
Grinning, I retort, "We both know you're going to Finland with me for four days."
I finally moved into a legitimate apartment a few weeks ago, in the same building as John, a floor directly below him. And Christmas is coming in two weeks. I made plans with Joonas for him to come out to DC to spend the holiday with me, and he’s coming today so John is driving us to the airport.
We get to baggage claim for Joonas’s flight and wait for the people to start coming off the plane to collect their bags. After about twenty minutes, I see the familiar blonde quiff of my brother’s hair. He sees me and smiles widely, “Eela!” I run up to him, throwing my arms around his neck and hugging him tightly. We stand there for a minute, until John comes up behind us.
“Joonas, this is John,” I say in Finnish; then in English, “John, this is my brother, Joonas.”
John smiles shaking my brother’s hand. “Hello,” he says in Finnish as best as he can. He was up with me late last night trying to learn a few phrases in Finnish so he could impress my brother and he wouldn’t leave my apartment until he had them down.
My brother looks him over, clearly impressed. But, he smirks and starts talking in rapid fire Finnish, so confusing that I actually start to get a headache from it. “Joonas, cut it out, John tried really hard.”
He laughs and nods, then sees his bags come around on the carousel. While he goes and gets them John leans down to my height and whispers, “Is Tuukka the only Rask that’s tall? Joonas is only, what, 5’10”?”
I look up at him, glaring, and see a smirk on his face. I shake my head. “You think you’re so cool, being 6’3”. Short people have fun. And Joonas is 5’11”, thank you.”
John rolls his eyes playfully, going over to Joonas and grabbing one of his bags and then taking a hold of my hand and leading us out to his car. I take my usual seat in the passenger seat and John drives, leaving Joonas in the back seat with his bags. John's attempts to make a conversation don't go unnoticed by my brother and he smiles approvingly at me before answering the questions John brings up.
We get back to the apartment building, going up to mine to dump Joonas’s bags and get him into his room. While he unpacks the majority of his stuff, John and I sit in the kitchen, talking idly about Christmas. Somehow, the topic of what to get each other comes up and John smirks at me. “What? You know, I’m starting to despise that smirk of yours,” I whine.
“I know what you’re getting for Christmas,” he sings.
I groan, “I hate you right now.” He laughs, coming around the counter and slinging an arm around my waist and walking to the Christmas tree we had set up yesterday in the living room. We sit down on the couch and I notice boxes under the tree that weren’t there a few hours ago before we picked up Joonas from the airport. “Joonas, did you put these presents under the tree?” I call.
He comes out of his bedroom with two more presents in his hands and sets them under the tree. “No, these are from me.”
I glance at John and see him smiling, looking out the window next to the sofa. “…John?”
He looks at me, his smile widening when he sees my questioning look. “Yeah, they’re from me,” he concedes.
“John, there are two boxes under there, what happened to a small Christmas?”
He shrugs and kisses my head, mumbling into my hair, “You’ll love them anyways.”
-
Christmas finally comes and the morning of, Joonas comes into my room early, jumping on my bed and telling me to wake up. I bury my head under a pillow and check the time. “Joonas. It’s six o’clock. Get the hell out of my room and go back to sleep for at least two more hours,” I whine half in Finnish and half in English, my voice muffled from the pillow on top of my head.
Joonas groans but leaves my room. I don’t know how much longer I sleep after that, but it’s interrupted when John comes into my room next, complaining for me to get up so I don’t ruin Christmas. When I don’t move, John groans loudly and flings my blanket onto the floor and then yanks the pillow from on top of my head. I narrow my eyes at John, and he simply smirks, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of bed.
He wraps an arm around my shoulders and kisses the top of my head as we walk down the hallway to the living room. Joonas is already sitting on the sofa with what I assume to be my present from him and once I sit down next to him, he hands me the box. I waste no time in taking the box from his hands and tearing the paper open. Once I get it all off, I open the small box and move all the paper out of the way. “Joonas, I thought I lost this!” I say, reverting to Finnish out of habit in being around my brother.
John must think me talking in Finnish is a cue for a brother-sister bonding moment and excuses himself to go into the kitchen. I pull out the bracelet that was in the bottom of the box. “I found it a few weeks ago in your old room at Mom and Isä's house.”
I look over the bracelet he had gotten me for our fifteenth birthday, six years ago. The white gold chain holds seven charms: a hockey stick and puck, my birthstone, the logo for the Finnish Elite League, my initials: EIR, a gold star and a locket containing a picture of Joonas and me.
John comes back into the living room with three cups of coffee just as Joonas and I separate from our hug. Joonas hands John an envelope in exchange for a mug. “I’ll leave you two to enjoy Christmas. I’m exhausted.”
I look between the hallway Joonas disappeared down and John, laughing. He hands me the third mug as he gets up and walks over to the tree. “That one’s for you,” I say, pointing to a medium sized box propped against the wall. “And that one.”
He laughs, mumbling about a small Christmas as he carries our presents to each other over to me on the couch. “This one first,” he says, handing me a tiny box. I see John smiling fondly at me out of the corner of my eye and I look up at him, but he nudges the box towards me, urging me to open it.
I turn my attention back to the wrapping paper and tear it off then open the box to reveal a Washington Capitals charm. “Joonas told me about your bracelet and it gave me an idea.”
I take the charm from out of its box and clip it to my bracelet I had put on the coffee table, kissing him on the cheek as a thank you.
I motion to John to take the bigger of the two presents. He looks at me tentatively, grabbing the present and tearing the paper off. He finally gets everything open and he pulls out the picture of us in front of the Lincoln Memorial I had framed.
He looks at me, smiling widely, “This is going on my nightstand. All thirty of them.”
He puts the frame on the coffee table and grabs the second present for me. It's a rather large and heavy box, square and badly wrapped. I look at John unsurely and then tear at the paper, revealing a framed John Carlson jersey. My John Carlson jersey I got at the beginning of the season. Signed by the whole team. "You're really pushing the Caps on me, huh?" I joke, glancing over all the autographs.
He laughs and points out all the autographs that aren't legiable. After that, John goes for his second box and tears it open eagerly.
Once he has the box open he's looking at me like I've gone crazy, "Plane tickets to Savonlinna, Finland. To see your parents?"
I shake my head. "You look terrified and confused. Chill, we're not going to see my parents."
He visibly relaxes and lays down, sprawled on the couch, moving so his head is in my lap. I brush his hair that he's decided to let grow out away from his eyes, running my hand through it before he takes it and plays with my fingers distractedly.
"I just wanted you to be able to see Finland. It was actually Joonas's idea so you can blame him."
He smiles and puts my hand down on his chest, reaching for the plane tickets he had put on the coffee table. "It's during the allstar break," he smirks. "And if I get nominated to the allstar roster?"
Grinning, I retort, "We both know you're going to Finland with me for four days."