At Last

It was the second week of December when Stella finally had to face Jason. It had been almost a month since the trade but there had been only four home games during the stretch. She had been at them but headed straight home after the games to avoid having to see him. Alex though had begged to see Jamie and Tyler after the game that Saturday night after the guys had played the Devils. They headed downstairs after and Stella waited for her fate.

Jordie hurried through his postgame routine so he could find Stella and do his best to get her and Alex out of the building. He knew she wasn't ready to face Jason, and to be honest, he wasn't ready either. He loved what he and Stella had going on together, and he loved spending time with Alex. He never imagined his life with a girlfriend who had a kid but being with them filled a void he didn't even know he had.

It had been easy to get along with Jason in the locker room and then when they were paired together on the ice. Jordie had always been able to put aside his feelings for the team in those circumstances. Jason was nice, a cool, easy going dude, and Jordie could shelve his dislike for the man who broke Stella's heart for the team's sake. It didn't mean he had to go out of his way to socialize with him on off days or post game though. Because as soon as they were out of that locker room, he became the man who turned his back on his son and Jordie didn't trust him.

"You got a hot date with Stella?" Tyler shouted across the room as Jordie made his way to the door.

"Maybe."

"Hold on a minute. I got something for Alex. Is he here?"

"Yeah, he's here." He saw Jamie scowl from his stall. The brothers didn't talk about Stella or Alex, not since Jordie had texted him back that night and told him to mind his own business and not worry about what he was doing. He didn't give him details and he knew Jamie was unhappy with his decision to stay with her and Jordie was sick of trying to explain it to him.

"I'll see if she can wait a minute, Segs," Jordie told him as he pulled open the locker room door.

"I just gotta get dressed. Tell her I'll only be a second." Jordie nodded and headed down the hall to find her.

Picking her out in the room was easy and he headed right for her, pulling her to him and kissing her. He didn't care who saw or if anyone gave him shit for it, he just had to do it.

"Seggy asked if you could wait a minute. He was asking about Alex."

"That's fine," Stella smiled.

"You sure?"

"No, but Alex won't shut up about his goal so maybe this will get it out of his system."

Jamie and Jason were two of the last guys left in the locker room five minutes later. Jason was on his phone and when he got off, he gathered the last of his things to head out. He, Jason, and Tyler had gotten close since he arrived in Dallas and often hung out around town and on the road. Jamie liked him, thought he was a cool guy, and enjoyed hanging out with him.

"You going out tonight, Demers?"

"I don't know. Was thinking about just going home. Tiffany's flying in tomorrow night."

"Then you definitely should come out tonight. Come on; we'll go grab Seggy and head out. Have you met Stella yet? I'll get Jordie to introduce you."

"Yeah, okay. Can't turn the captain down, right?"

"Right," he grinned. They walked down the hall to the family room and Jamie scanned the room for his brother and girlfriend.

"I see Segs," Jason said, moving across the room towards him. He stopped dead in his tracks halfway there when the small boy Tyler had been talking to looked up and stared right at him. Same blue eyes, same mop of dark hair that he had.

"I don't like you," the boy declared, folding his arms across his chest and turning away from him. Tyler looked back and laughed.

"Sorry daddy, but we traded his favorite player for you. You'll never win the kid over."

At Tyler's laugh, Stella looked over at him and felt the blood drain from her face as she sagged against Jordie.

"It's okay, Stels," he whispered in her ear. "I'll get him."

"No, I have to face this."

"You don't have to tonight though."

Jamie eyed the interaction between his brother and Stella and saw her face go white from his position across the room, the way Jordie's posture changed and his protective stance as he shielded her from Jason's view. In an instant, he regretted what he had just set into motion. He made his way towards Jason and Tyler with his affable grin, determined to defuse the situation before it got worse.

"You ready to go, Segs?"

"Yeah, let's go. You coming?" He asked Jason. He nodded dumbly in response and Tyler knocked his shoulder into him. "You okay man? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I'm good," he replied while he watched Alex cross the room where he saw Jordie standing with a brunette tucked under his arm, talking close to her ear. "Is that Jordie's girl?"

"Yeah, that's Stella. Alex is her son. He's a great kid, and he likes Jordie so I guess that's good. Have you met her yet?" Jason shook his head no. "I'll introduce you."

"You can do that some other time," Jamie spoke up. "I want to see if that hot little blonde waitress is working tonight."

Tyler laughed. "Chill bro. If she's there, she'll still be there when we get there."

"Didn't you just tell me back in the locker room that you'd have Jordie introduce us?" Jason asked, shooting a pointed look at Jamie. He gulped and nodded helplessly as Tyler led the short distance to Jordie and Stella. Stella shooed Alex away to play with some of the other kids as they approached.

"Stella, you haven't met Daddy yet. I know Alex hates him but I'll let you meet him first before you decide whether you do too or not."

Jamie cringed at Tyler's use of Jason's nickname, one his San Jose teammates had given him that carried over to the Dallas locker room. He looked at Stella from where he stood behind Tyler and Jason and she looked over them at him.

I'm sorry, he mouthed to her. Jordie looked ready to murder him and he knew he had a lot of explaining later to keep him from doing just that.

"It's been a long time, Jason," she said in a soft, flat voice, holding tightly to Jordie, her knuckles white from where they wrapped around his forearm.

Tyler looked between them, his mouth hanging open, oblivious to the body language between them. "You know each other? Whoa!"

"I played in Worcester one season," Jason explained evenly, keeping his stare locked with hers, stance wide and arms folded across his chest. Jordie pulled her closer, holding her protectively and Jamie moved to flank Stella closely on her other side.

"You guys aren't doing this here," Jamie said with authority. The room was mostly empty but he didn't want to draw any more attention to what was going on. "Jordie, go get Alex. Come on, Stella," he said, holding his arm out to her. Jordie kissed her at her temple and said something to her before he let her go and she turned to Jamie, clinging onto his arm. He led her out of the family room and out towards Jordie's car.

"I'm parked in the family lot," she said faintly to Jamie.

"You're not driving; you're riding with Jordie. I rode to the game with him so I'll bring your car to our place. I just need your keys."

She dug through her purse for them and handed them to him. "Why are you being nice to me?"

"Because I just realized I'm an arrogant asshole and took it out on you. I'm sorry, Stella. I mean that. I thought you were going to fuck up Jordie's life with Alex and I was wrong. You made him better and that back there was my doing, because I'm a prick. I shouldn't have. I wish I hadn't."

"It's okay, Jamie. You were looking out for him."

"Some brother I am, trying to push you two apart. I'm a shitty brother."

"You're not a shitty brother, Jamie. You and Jordie are close, you want to protect him. I was married once, I have a kid; I'm not what anyone envisions for their brothers perfect match."

"You make him so happy Stella, and after Jen I didn't know if he'd ever be that happy again."

"Jordie makes me happy too. He accepted Alex and didn't run from it. I know when I told him it freaked him out, and I didn't expect to hear from him again but I did, and I fell hard for your brother after that. I would never jeopardize what we have. I promise you that."

"You don't owe me any promises, Stella. I'm sorry for the things I said and how I've acted."

"Jamie, please don't apologize for your feelings. They're allowed."

"You're too nice, Stella," he chuckled. "You should be throwing punches and yelling at me for being a jerk."

"If you weren't Jordie's brother, I might turn on bitch mode but you're his family and you thought you were looking out for him and trying to protect him."

"You're not the person I've tried to convince myself you are, that I've tried to make Jordie see. I thought it was a mistake for him to tie himself down to a woman with a kid but it's not. I see him with you, with Alex, and I see how much you both mean to him. I see it with you too. When I saw you tonight, in that moment when everything fell into place, I felt like the worlds biggest asshole. All I wanted was to take everything back because I saw it. You and Jordie have something so real and...I don't know, pure I guess. And I am the douchebag brother. Seriously Stella; if you want to hit me you can."

She laughed and wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug before stepping back. "I'm not going to hit you, Jamie. I can't make promises for Jordie though."

He groaned and leaned back against Jordie's car, pushing a hand through his hair. "He's going to fucking kill me."

"I'll try to keep him from doing that," she replied, touching his arm.

Jordie crossed the lot towards them then and Jamie could see his anger written all over his face. He shoved Jamie when he reached them. "You fucking asshole!" He said through gritted teeth.

"Jordie," Stella said gently, touching his hand. She shook her head and looked down at Alex who watched in confusion.

"I'm gonna drive Stella's car to our place," Jamie said quietly.

"I won't be home tonight," Jordie said tensely.

"I can leave it here?"

"I'll come to practice with Jordie and get it tomorrow morning, Jamie," Stella spoke up. "You use it to go out and get home tonight."

"I'm just gonna go home. Maybe I can take Alex with me?"

"Alex, do you want to sleep over at Jamie's tonight?"

"Yeahyeahyeah!" The six year old exclaimed, bouncing up and down, blissfully unaware of the turmoil that was going on.

"I have an extra set of clothes in the back seat. He can sleep in his new jersey from Tyler or the one he already has on."

"Okay. Come on, A-Dawg." He scooped Alex up and put him on his shoulders. "Tell your mom and Darth bye."

"Bye mom, bye Jordie."

"Be good for Jamie, Alex. Just like you listen to Jordie, okay?" He nodded solemnly.

"I'll call Jordie if I have any trouble."

"You won't," Jordie told him. "Alex is easy to get along with. I'll bring your skates to practice bud and we can skate after, okay?"

"You're gonna skate too Chubbs?" Alex asked excitedly.

Jamie turned red. "You taught him that?!"

Jordie laughed. "Pretty awesome, right?"

"No," he shot back. "Yeah, I'll skate with you too, Alex."

"Cool!"