Start Me Up

"Alright, I got a bone to pick with you." Shea looked up with a raised eyebrow when he heard Roman announce this. Shea was just getting out of his vehicle in his parking space at the arena, and Roman was approaching him from the player's entrance.

Shea's brow raised as he stuffed his things into the pockets of his dress pants and he asked, "What's that?"

"What's with the massive bruise Tessa has on her ribs?" Roman asked him, arms crossed with a serious expression on his face. Again Shea's brow quirked and Roman told him, "I saw it while she was working at my house, and seriously, I'll beat the shit out of you teammate or not."

The corners of his lips turned up into a smile and Shea told Roman nonchalantly, "She was asking for it."

This time Roman's brow raised and when Shea went to start walking to the doors Roman reached out and pushed him back to his spot and he asked, "What?"

Shea couldn't help but let out a laugh and he told Roman, "Really, it's cute how protective you are."

"So what did she get it from then?" Roman asked him, watching him with hard eyes.

Shea rolled his eyes and then he said, "Things you don't need to know about."

"Dude, seriously. I meant what I said; I'll beat the shit out of you teammate or not." Roman told him, crossing his arms over his chest and waiting for an answer.

So Shea exclaimed, "We were having sex, okay?"

Before he could stop it a grin took over Roman's features and he let out a laugh that made Shea stare at him with a raised brow. Roman, struggling to get words out through his laughter, told Shea, "She already told me. I just wanted to see what you were gonna say."

"She told you?" Shea asked him, brow raised.

Roman nodded, still chuckling to himself, "Yeah. I saw it and asked and I guess she assumed why I was asking so she told me about your kitchen escapades and how much counters hurt when you slip. Dude, your face was priceless, though!"

Shea rolled his eyes and shoved a hand through his hair, and he told Roman, "Dick move man."

"You made my day, though." Roman told him with a grin, and then as they made their way to the player's entrance Roman mused aloud, "You know... I gotta say... I can't really picture Tessa liking it rough..."

"Yeah, see, this whole talking about my sex life thing was a lot easier when you didn't want to bang my girlfriend at any point in time." Shea told Roman, who let out a loud laugh as they stepped into the hallway on their way to the locker room.

Pekka approached them and asked, "What's so funny?"

Shea joked, "You."

Pekka simply fired back with, "I know, thanks."

It was Roman who then asked Pekka, "Hey, you've known Tessa longer than me."

"Many years." Pekka stated, making Roman roll his eyes.

Shea warned Roman, "Mouth shut or I'll find a way to shoot the puck at your head tonight."

Roman let out a laugh, knowing his captain's threats were idle and he turned to Pekka, who was watching him expectantly, and Roman asked him, "Has Tessa ever struck you as liking it rough?"

Shea's cheeks flushed, and they went even deeper when Pekka nodded and said, "I've always known that."

Shea was curious this time, "You have?"

Pekka nodded and said it so casually Shea thought he might have misheard him, "There's just no way someone as 'take control' as Tessa is, is okay with a vanilla sex life."

Roman let out a loud laugh and Shea hadn't even realized that they had walked into the locker room until Colin asked, "Who's got a vanilla sex life?"

Shea rolled his eyes and as he headed to his stall he stated, "No one, conversation is over."

Colin couldn't help but joke, "Yeah, cool. Talking to you about sex is about as comfortable as talking to my dad about it."

Everyone laughed and Shea simply rolled his eyes and went about his day, thankful that everyone seemed to move off of the sex topic and he didn't have to answer any more questions. Shea had never been the kind of guy that went into details like some of his teammates, but maybe that was because Shea had also never really been the kind for casual relationships. Sure, he shared a few things here and there with Pekka and occasionally Roman, but now more than ever, with Tessa, he didn't want anyone to know anything about what they did behind closed doors.

He put the conversation out of his head, because there were more important things to think about than what his teammates might think of his sex life. Like winning their final home game of the season. Like the playoffs. Like whatever came after that.

- - - - -

Tessa wasn't sure why but she was nervous when she sat down in her seat at Bridgestone. She wasn't nervous about the game, no the Preds were the one thing she never seemed to be nervous about. She was nervous about meeting Tara. She was nervous about what she would think about her, and about whether they would get along because Tessa really, really, wanted to get along with the girl.

She didn't know whether or not Tara even knew that one of Pekka's closest friends was a female, or how she might feel about that. This was always what Tessa was worried about, because she knew that some women weren't fans of their boyfriends having female friends.

Her worries proved to be silly when a brunette stood next to her and asked, "Are you Tessa?"

So Tessa looked over at her and asked, "Tara?"

Tara nodded and Tessa immediately found herself being pulled into a hug, and then Tara let out a laugh as she pulled away from her and apologized, "Sorry, I'm a hugger and it's just so nice to finally meet you."

"Finally?" Tessa asked with a raised eyebrow.

The brunette next to her nodded as she got comfortable in her seat, "Yeah, Pekka was so nervous to tell me that his best friend was a girl, but the whole week leading up to tonight he wouldn't stop talking about you and how amazing you are and how much he hopes we get along. It was cute, really."

Tessa let out a breath of relief and she told Tara, "Well, I'm really glad to meet you as well, and it's definitely nice to have someone to watch the game with."

Tara's cheeks flushed and she told Tessa, "I have to admit... I've never watched hockey in my life."

"It's okay, really, up until I met Shea I hadn't either." Tessa assured her, making the brunette feel much better about her current situation. Curiously, Tessa asked her, "So how did you and Peks meet anyway?"

"We met through my job." Tara told her, taking a moment to look around the arena that was beginning to fill up before she looked back at Tessa and explained, "I'm a teacher, first grade and a few of the players were doing this thing at the school where they read books to the kids and stuff."

"Pekka reading kids books... now that's a sight I would like to see." Tessa said with a smile on her face. The man loved children, and he certainly was good with them.

Tara nodded her head with a smile and she told her, "Yeah, he sat down and started reading this Robert Munsch book with sound effects and accents and everything. The kids just loved him."

"And let me guess, he made up some big grand proposal for why you should go out with him?" Tessa asked her.

Tara's cheeks flushed, "He showed up the next day after school with Preds shirts for all the kids and because he had such a great time with them he wanted to know if he could come back sometime."

"How cute." Tessa mused.

"As a matter of fact it was, because then he asked for my number so that he could call to set up a time, and then he asked if he could call to ask me to go for dinner sometime too." Tara told her and Tessa let out a laugh.

"That sounds like goalie boy."

"So what about you and Shea? How did you two meet?" It had been an innocent enough question but it made Tessa nervous.

She bit down on the inside of her lip and looked around the arena for a moment before she decided that it was now or never and maybe this could be a dry run. So she told Tara, "We met through my sister... she and Shea were engaged actually."

"Oh." Tara said, a look of surprise on her face. It only lasted a moment before it was gone and she said, "Well obviously things worked out for the best."

Tessa nodded her head slowly and said softly, "Yeah, I guess they did."

Tessa had been nervous the whole game, there was a lot riding on this game. She was still getting used to this whole hockey girlfriend thing and if she was being really honest she wasn't sure she would ever not be nervous watching important games and she was terrified of the playoffs and what they would bring.

She had been nervous through the first two periods that had the Coyotes up by two, she was a little less nervous when Shea had scored in the third period and then just when it was looking like they were going to have to take a loss on their final home game that season Forsberg put the puck in the back of the net in the final minute of the game to send it to overtime.

Tessa had barely just finished explaining to Tara that after overtime they went into a shootout when Roman ended the game and Tessa could finally breathe a sigh of relief... at least until the playoffs started.

They were supposed to be meeting the guys at a bar down the street to celebrate and as they walked down the sidewalk with the crowds of other people also leaving the game Tara asked Tessa, "So... explain to me what the big celebration is for? Aside from winning."

"Well they secured a spot in the playoffs with that win, so we might be sitting around for a while before they show up but everyone will be in a great mood when they get here." Tessa told her as they slipped inside the bar and found a table to sit and wait at. It wasn't too crowded, but she knew that would change shortly when the whole damn team showed up.

She disappeared to get them both a bottle of water, Tessa was a little relieved that Tara wasn't drinking since it was a week day and she worked tomorrow, because she always felt a little like the black sheep when she didn't drink. When she came back there was a tall brunette male standing in front of their table and Tara looked very uncomfortable.

Tessa handed Tara her drink and then she turned to the guy when he started talking to her, "You ladies come from the game?"

Tessa glanced down at the jersey sticking out of her bag and she nodded, "Yeah, we're celebrating."

"Yeah, us too. Mind if we join you?"

Tessa looked at Tara, and then she let out a laugh, "Sorry, ladies night."

"Really?"

Neither one of them had the chance to respond when Craig walked up to them and stated, "Yeah, really, get lost."

"Oh thank God. My Prince Charming, my night in shining armor, my savior." Tessa stated dramatically, pulling him into a tight hug and then when she pulled back she told him, "We're gonna find you a girlfriend tonight."

Craig rolled his eyes, "How about we find your boyfriend instead?"

"Oh, is he here?" Tessa asked with a grin and Craig let out a laugh.

He didn't need to respond because Tessa took off the minute she saw Shea walk into the bar. She surprised him by throwing her arms around him when they were within touching distance but he was quick to slip his own arms around her waist and stand still long enough to lift her off of the ground for a second or two. Once she was back on solid ground Tessa put both of her hands on the sides of his face and leaned up to kiss him quickly.

When they pulled apart Shea took half a step backward and he took a good look at Tessa, and mused, "This is the most casual I've ever seen you dress."

Tessa rolled her eyes but then she grinned and asked, "Still hot, though, right?"

Shea let out a laugh and nodded his head, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and Tessa lead him over to the section of tables that the rest of the guys were now occupying. Shea stepped in behind Tessa, his forearm draped across her chest and he leaned down to speak quietly in her ear, "Just so you have something to look forward to; I can't wait to get you home tonight and celebrate the right way."

She turned her head to look at him and she grinned, "Well, what are you waiting for, let's go home now."

Pekka, having overheard her comment as he passed them to come back with a round of drinks exclaimed, "One hour minimum tonight, just so everyone is aware."

"You're a fun sucker." Tessa told him, and then she grabbed his arm and she lowered her voice to tell him, "By the way, I love her please don't scare her away."

Pekka grinned at her and Shea shook his head in amusement as they sat down in two chairs side by side with Craig and Roman on either side of them and Pekka and Tara across from them. Shea leaned over and spoke softly into her ear, "You know, I think we need a behind closed doors policy."

She titled her head just enough to look at him with a quirked brow, "What for?"

"So that my teammates don't know what goes on in my sex life, for starters." Shea told her, smiling when she shrugged her shoulders as if to say she didn't really care about that one way or another.

She grinned and asked him, a little louder than Shea expected, "Would you prefer I let him believe you beat me up?"

Shea's cheeks flushed as Roman laughed and Pekka, Craig, Colin and James all looked in their direction in curiosity. Pekka looked at Roman, and then he looked at Tessa and asked, "Okay, someone needs to just say it."

"Say what?" Tessa asked him.

"This is twice now I've been subjected to a conversation about what you and Webs do behind closed doors." He told her, and Tessa could have laughed.

She simply feigned innocence and as she brought her glass of water to her lips she said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

She took a drink from her straw, and Pekka looked as if he was going to say something so Shea changed the subject by asking Roman, "How's the house reno coming?"

Pekka narrowed his eyes and everyone at the table laughed when he said, "I see what you did there, don't think that I didn't."

Roman simply told Shea, "Ask the designer, I couldn't even tell you what color we're painting the living room."

Everyone turned to Tessa, who stated without even having to think of it, "Silver Sage."

Colin stated, "Sounds like a porn star."

Tessa rebutted with, "Lot's of experience with that or what?"

Everyone laughed, Colin included, and he joked, "I am single."

"That's probably why." James stated, laughing when Colin rolled his eyes.

Tessa looked over at Tara, who caught her eyes, and Tara joked, "Men."

The guys all rolled their eyes and Tessa responded with, "Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em."

Everyone rolled their eyes again, everyone but Shea, who simply wrapped an arm around Tessa's shoulder and pulled her into him slightly and he leaned down enough to speak quietly into her ear again, "Has it been an hour yet?"

She looked over at him and asked, "Why are you in such a hurry?"

His eyes flickered downward and then he looked over at her with a glint in his eyes as he informed her, "Because you're not wearing a bra."

She giggled and leaned closer to him, their heads nearly touching, and her breath cascading down his neck as she whispered into his ear, "I'm not wearing any underwear either."

She was surprised when Shea's chair flew backward, he stood up and pulled her into a standing position as well. He barely glanced over his shoulder as he pulled her to the door and called out to his teammates who were watching in confusion, "See you guys tomorrow."

Pekka called out after them, "It's only been thirty-eight minutes!"

As Shea held onto Tessa's hand and lead her out to where he had parked his truck in the back parking lot Tessa told him, "Slow down, I can't walk as fast as your Amazonian legs will carry you."

So he slowed, and he told her, "You're killing me."

"I know, it's so fun." She said with a grin, making him roll his eyes at her.

He opened the passenger door for her, closing it behind her before he jogged around to the driver's side and turned the key in the ignition. He turned to her with a grin and asked, "Quicky in the parking lot?"

Tessa laughed and informed him, "Find a more secluded spot."

He nearly slammed on the breaks, and he turned to her, truck halfway out of its parking spot, and he asked her, "Seriously?"

Tessa shrugged and she casually laid her hand to rest on his thigh, and her blue eyes looked over at him and she smiled, "I'm up for anything. Name the game."

"God, I love you." Shea stated as he pulled out of his parking space and onto the street, merging with traffic. He glanced over at her when he came to a stop at a red light and he asked her, "You know that right?"

"I know that, and I guess I sort of love you too...but you tell anyone that and I'll kill you. Dead. Donezo. Finished." Tessa told him and when he laughed she leaned over the center console and kisses him quickly. When they pulled apart she said with a smile, "Not that it isn't painfully obvious."