Sky Full of Stars

She glances down at her watch before her eyes once again scan the few people littering the baggage claim area. He was supposed to be there to pick her up promptly at eleven, but her plane had landed almost an hour ago and there's still no sign of him. She sighs heavily, kicking her suitcase with the toe of her sandal to turn it back onto its wheels before she takes off towards the main entrance where there will hopefully be some cabs waiting. It's been a long day of saying goodbye to her family and making the tiring journey home and all she wants to do is get back to her apartment and fall into her fluffy duvet for three or four days.

The airport is mostly empty, considering the time of night, and she's almost creeped out by its desertion as she walks away from baggage claim, pulling her bags behind her. She's just about to head over to the multiple glass doors that lead outside when someone calls her name and she glances over her shoulder to see a scruffy smiling face that's been missing in her life for the past three months. He sighs when he finally reaches her and leans down to pick her up in a bear hug as she squeals in protest, demanding to be put down by playfully smacking his shoulder.

"Missed you," he tells her once she's back on her feet and she can't help but return his grin as he takes the suitcase handle out of her hand to pull it himself, despite the fact that it's purple and has her matching duffel sitting on top of it.

"I missed you more, Jord."

"Sorry I'm so late. Traffic was a bitch. Whose idea was it for you to fly back on a Saturday night anyway?"

"Jamie's, of course."

"Of course," he snorts.

"Where is he anyway? Wasn't he supposed to be the one to pick me up?"

"He'll be there tomorrow when we all go out for your welcome home breakfast."

The way he avoids her question makes her suspicious but she's too tired to question him so instead she lets it slide and follows him through the empty airport, mindlessly answering his thousand questions about what's going on back home and how her summer was and what her plans are now that she's back in Dallas. He mostly stays quiet on the drive home, instead letting the noise of his favorite radio station fill the comfortable silence, and she's almost fallen asleep in the passenger seat by the time they finally pull into the parking garage of the apartment building.

It's an extremely nice high-rise, a bit more than she ever wanted to pay for an apartment, but because she had refused to encroach on Jamie and Jordie's apartment, they insisted that she at least get her own in the same building so they could properly keep an eye on her. Knowing that they wouldn't take no for an answer, she finally gave in to their demands, but only on the condition that she get the smallest (and therefore least expensive) apartment available there. It's a tiny one-bedroom, about 700 square feet, but it's the perfect place for just her.

Jordie steps off the elevator with her on the sixth floor and makes sure she gets inside her door safely before he says goodnight and continues on to his own apartment nine floors up. She sighs heavily as she flips the light on, looking around for a moment before she turns back to lock up behind her. It's silent except for the sound of her suitcase rolling across the dark wooden floors as she heads down the short hallway to her bedroom, where she hasn't slept since she left in July.

Her bags are left abandoned by the doorway as she kicks off her sandals and she strips down to her underwear before climbing under the ivory duvet. It's only a few minutes before she's dead asleep.

-

She's only vaguely aware that there's a sudden weight bearing down on her, covering her in warmth but also making it a little hard for her to breathe. A voice calls her name softly, but she's too tired to turn her head or even open her eyes. She settles for a hoarse noise of acknowledgment and the chest pressed against her back rumbles with laughter, which shakes her whole body. "Get up, lazy, or you don't get breakfast."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a huge pain in the ass?" she grumbles as she presses her face into her pillow, still not ready to face the unforgiving sunlight pouring in through the windows of her small bedroom.

"May have heard it once or twice," he answers, and with the way he's lying over her, his chin digs into the back of her shoulder as he speaks. She has a sneaking suspicion he's doing it on purpose because he always knows just what to do to make himself more annoying at the right moments.

"Jamie?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm slightly naked under here, you know."

He immediately jerks upright, relieving the pressure from her lungs so that she can breathe normally again, and climbs off of her bed completely. "Jesus, Lissy, warn a guy next time."

"That was the warning. I knew your next move was gonna be yanking the covers off of me." Jamie rolls his eyes, knowing she's right because he's that predictable, but when she finally props herself on her elbows and squints up at him over her shoulder, he's blushing a little and she can't help but laugh. "You're such a prude."

"Fuck off," he grumbles, but the corners of his mouth curl up into a full blown grin, betraying his biting tone. He shakes his head and turns to leave the room, pausing only for a second to look back to her, his hand still on the doorknob. "You've got fifteen minutes before we leave you."

"You'd go to my welcome home breakfast without me?"

"If we were hungry enough, we just might."

"So fucking rude," she sighs. "Well, get out then. I have to take the world's fastest shower."

"Fourteen minutes and thirty seconds," he smirks before he walks out and closes the door behind him.

Calista drags herself out of bed and darts across the hallway to the bathroom for a quick shower, and eleven minutes later, she's heading back into her bedroom to quickly grab some clothes from her closet. It's surprising the outfit even matches since she just blindly reached in, but she dresses in a hurry and runs a brush through her damp hair before grabbing a pair of sandals and heading to the living room.

Jordie is stretched across her sofa with his green ball cap pulled down over his face and hands folded over his stomach while Jamie sits in the other chair, looking up from his phone screen to her face, impressed. "You made good time," he tells her as he rises and then he leans over to smack Jordie's feet off the arm of the sofa. "Get up, jackass. Let's go." The older Benn flips off his brother as he adjusts his cap then gets up to follow Calista out of the apartment. She leans her head against his shoulder and closes her eyes in the elevator and he rests his head on top of hers while Jamie rolls his eyes at both of them. "You know, you just got back after being gone for three months and you still haven't even officially greeted me yet."

Calista cracks one eye open to look at him but then she closes it back and smiles. "Maybe I would have if you'd been at the airport like you were supposed to."

She can feel Jordie's body shake with a laugh and she knows Jamie's pouting but she doesn't open her eyes again until the elevator dings and the doors open to the lobby. Jamie steps off first since he's closest and Calista laces her arm through Jordie's as they walk to the garage where Jamie's black SUV is parked. She slides into the back seat, declining Jordie's offer to sit shotgun because he's the one who needs the extra leg room, and Jamie climbs into the driver's seat before looking back at her.

"Any particular preference?"

She doesn't even have to respond verbally; the grin that stretches across her face gives him all the answer he needs and he shakes his head with an amused smirk as he starts the vehicle and backs out of the parking spot. It's a very short drive to the diner that they frequent and as soon as she walks inside, the waitresses greet her excitedly, having not seen her since she left at the beginning of July. Jordie leads the way to their designated table, the corner booth at the very back, and Calista slides in first so that she's sandwiched between the two brothers.

The middle aged waitress is right on their heels with three cups of coffee and even though she knows their orders by heart, she still pulls the little pad from her apron and writes it down before disappearing off to the kitchen with a smile and a "Welcome back, darlin'." Just goes to show yet another reason why Calista loves Dallas so much. It's practically the polar opposite of Boston.

While they're waiting for their food to come out, Jamie asks the same questions about their families that Jordie had at the airport the night before, and after grumbling that he'd already know the answers if he showed up like he was supposed to, she begrudgingly answers him. "Oh, that reminds me," she adds, patting Jordie's arm. "Your mom sent something for you guys back with me."

He quirks a brow at her. "What is it?"

"Not sure, but I'm willing to bet it's some type of baked good." Both boys laugh, agreeing that it sounds like something their mother would do-- send desserts for her sons back on a plane from BC to Dallas. "So, regular season starts this week," she says, changing the subject, as she picks up her mug to take a careful sip of her hot coffee. "You guys ready?"

"I think we are," Jamie nods. "There's a whole lotta new stuff happening with the team and coaching and all that, but it's going pretty well so far. We got some good results in the pre-season games, but I guess we'll see for sure on Thursday."

Calista chuckles and shakes her head at Jamie's very rehearsed, press-ready answer before she turns to his older brother. "How about the non-bullshit version?"

She hears Jamie scoff, but she doesn't look back at him while Jordie laughs at his brother's expense. "It's pretty much how he said, Liss. Looks like everything's workin' out as far as I can tell. New coach and all that too, but things were pretty good at camp. I think everyone's gettin' along."

"I know all that's probably hard, having so many changes at once. Ruff's good though, got a lot of wins with Buffalo. You guys are gonna do well this year, I know it."

"Who knows," Jamie grins. "We may even make the playoffs."

"I bet you will."

Their plates are arriving when Jamie switches the conversation around to focus on her. She thanks the waitress as the older woman places the short stack of pancakes in front of her and she drowns them in syrup while the boys dig into their overloaded plates filled with six different breakfast foods.

"So what about you?" he asks with a mouth full of eggs. "How's work?"

Calista raises her brows at him as if to ask where his manners are but he just blinks in return, waiting for her answer. "It was relatively easy while I was gone, but I know I've got some major work to do now that I'm back and the season's officially starting up," she says, swirling a bite of pancake through the syrup puddle in the bottom of her plate. "I'm supposed to go in tomorrow and meet with Mr. Lennox, just to catch up on all the stuff that's been going on here over the summer-- ya know, with all the trades and such. I know he's got a project he wants me to head up that needs to get started ASAP."

"You're getting your own project?" Jamie asks, sounding impressed.

She chuckles. "Yeah, nothing too important. It's on these two bonehead players. I think they're brothers."

"Seriously?" Jordie laughs. "Why didn't we know about this?"

"I didn't know you didn't. I thought for sure Mr. Lennox had told you. Maybe you weren't supposed to know yet. Oh well, don't tell him!"

"Stop calling him Mr. Lennox," Jamie says, shaking his head. "It's weird. He's just Seth."

"Yeah, to you guys, he's just Seth. To me, he's a scary, very serious boss."

"There's no way he can be scary," Jordie protests.

"You don't see him like I do, Jord. He's just your friend, the guy who takes care of all your team's marketing shit. I see him as the guy who decides whether or not I can afford to pay my rent next month."

"You know Seth would never fire you, Liss. We'd give him so much hell."

"That does not make me feel better, Jamie. I'd rather have my job because I'm good at it than have it only because my friends would raise hell if I got fired. I got the position on my own and I want to keep it on my own, without interference from the two of you." She sighs and shakes her head. "God, I hope you're not the only reason I've kept it for this long."

"Lissy, come on," Jordie interrupts, nudging her side with his elbow. "It's not because of anyone but you and you know it. Like you said, you got the job on your own, didn't you? It's because you're damn good at it. Who else would've gotten hired for such a big position right out of college? I'm about a hundred and twenty-four percent sure Seth would never fire you, but it's not because of Jamie and it sure as hell isn't because of me. It's because he knows how good you are and he'd be an idiot if he ever did."

"He likes you more than you think," Jamie adds. "He probably just has to be a hard ass because he's the boss, ya know?"

She nods in acknowledgment, not completely sure she agrees with their assessment of her boss. Sure, she's seen him grabbing a beer with the boys here and there, and yes, she knows he's capable of laughter, but that doesn't mean she experiences it on a regular basis. The guy she sees is a mid-thirties super professional type, always dressed to the nines and perfectly groomed, unlike many of the hockey players she sometimes works with. He's not one to goof off or make jokes and he doesn't appreciate when his subordinates do it either. She and her coworkers usually don't even speak when they're in the office, saving all their conversations for the outside world.

The conversation is dropped after that as the three finish their breakfasts in comfortable silence before driving back to the apartment building. Jordie makes the excuse that he needs to go work out after all the unhealthy food he just consumed so, even though it's a Sunday, he leaves for the gym while Jamie follows Calista up to her apartment on the sixth floor. He isn't super chatty like usual but she doesn't read too much into it as he reclines on her bed while she unpacks her suitcase. The ivory box that Mama Benn sent back to Dallas with her is all wrapped up with a neat green bow and as soon as Jamie sees it, he snatches it right out of Calista's hand to see what's inside.

She warns him not to eat the whole box as soon as he starts the first BC-famous homemade double fudge marble brownie square because, first of all, he's supposed to share with his brother, and second, he could make himself sick with all that sugar. Considering all the food he'd already eaten at the diner, she's amazed that he's even able to eat anything else, but his mother's desserts are one thing that can always be eaten no matter how full a person may already be. He shares hesitantly, letting Calista have one little square, but he hoards the rest, deciding he's not going to let Jordie have any of what's supposed to be his too. Calista just shakes her head, knowing that Jamie will probably get scolded for it the next time his mother calls.

Hours later, when they're sitting on the sofa watching a movie together that came out while she was gone, he suddenly remembers something and he abruptly leaves her apartment, saying he'll be right back. True to his word, he's peeking his head back in the door less than five minutes later. "I've got some news," he says with a little grin. "So close your eyes."

"Why do I have to close my eyes for news?"

"Just do it, Calista."

"Fiiiiine," she sighs, picking up the remote control to pause the movie before she sits back on the sofa and closes her eyes. She can hear the door shut behind him as he comes fully back into the apartment and he walks over to her, dropping something soft into her lap as he takes his previous seat next to her. "What is this?" she asks, running her fingers over the fabric.

"Look."

It's green and very familiar. She holds the jersey up in front of her and blinks as she looks at the #14 on the back in confusion. Jamie and Jordie had already given her new jerseys of theirs when the team changed their design and logo a few months before so she isn't quite sure what his reasoning is for giving her another one. Of course, Jamie knows that she hasn't heard the news so he's expecting this reaction. He chuckles at the puzzled expression on her face and instructs her to turn it around.

She gives him a questioning look but does as he says and her eyes scan over the front of the jersey, past the Stars logo and up to something that definitely isn't on the jersey already hanging in her closet. Her mouth drops open as she stares at the big white C on the chest and then up at him but he just waits silently, practically beaming with pride. "Oh my God," she squeals as she lunges forward, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug.

He laughs, hugging her back. "Took you long enough."

"Shut up," she scolds, jabbing him in the ribs as she pulls away. "When did this happen? Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Last week. I wanted it to be a surprise."

"You kept this a secret for a whole week? How in the hell? And why didn't Mr. Lennox tell me?"

"I told him I wanted to be the one to give you the news."

"So that's what that email was for," Calista mutters to herself, wondering to herself why she hadn't been more suspicious when she read the message from her boss early last week.

"Huh?"

"He emailed me last Wednesday and told me to take off the rest of my time home. Strict instructions not to read any work emails or hockey news, pretty much stay off the internet, until I got back to Dallas. Said I needed to take the week and decompress before the new season started and things got busy for all of us again. I should've known that was a bunch of bullshit," she laughs.

Jamie chuckles too. "Well when you see him tomorrow, tell him thanks for me."

She looks back down at her hands, running her fingers over the C as she shakes her head. "Holy shit, I can't believe you're the captain."

"Me either," he admits.

The smile on her face is contagious as she sets the jersey back on her lap and reaches out to wrap her arms around him in another hug. "I'm so fucking proud of you," she whispers into the crook of his neck.