Alexei Lombardi attention turned to her glass of water as she handed the menu back to the waiter, quietly thanking him. The letter had revealed that she had been accepted into the graduate program at the University of Denver and Patrick instantly insisted on her joining the rest of the team for lunch as a form of congratulations. She attempted to turn down the invitation and tried to lie her way out of it but her godfather was rather persuasive. That and the simple fact he's known her since she was five-years-old and knew when she wasn't being truthful. Now, Alex found herself, sitting next to him and Joe, debating if it was possible to sneak out.

Probably not.

"I thought the Pepsi Center offered you a job," Joe mused, bringing her out of her thoughts, "And you were considering it."

Patrick let out a fake cough as he tried to stifle the smile. Alex had spoken with him about Grey Technologies' offer and had weighed her options. Both companies had searched her out immediately after finishing a internship with an entirely different company. Upon her graduation, she would have a job but the question was at which one? On one hand, she was offered to be a network engineer at the Pepsi Center and on the other hand, she would have the same job title at GT. He knew the exact reasons why his goddaughter reject the offer.

"I was," Alex simply replied, "GT has a company soccer league and they offered me more money."

"What do you do?"

The question had come directly across from her. Alex had noticed the young captain and he fascinated her. She wasn't sure if was the look he had on his face when his attention on her or the lack of a Swedish accent but Alex knew that there was just something about Gabriel Landeskog. There was no denying that he was attractive and handsome but there was no way in Hell that Alex would admit that out loud.

"I'm a network engineer."

"And a smart one at that," Patrick added, "Graduated both high school and college early. Not to mention top of her class as well."

Instantly, Alex bit her lower lip in an attempt to keep her face from turning red as her focus returned to her glass. Most people loved to get praise and compliments but not her. No, in fact, those always made her feel embarrassed an awkward. Alex preferred for others to take the glory and liked to hide in the shadows of the background. But now, there was no one she could hide behind.

"Must we talk about me," Alex asked in an overly-dramatic tone, "You know I absolutely hate it when that happens."

Much to her distaste, Patrick simple grinned and reach over to pinch her cheek. At the tender age of six, she had the misfortune of her older brother, River, revealing to both her godfather and father about how much she detested that. So, as typical men, the two of them would do that to the young girl whenever she was annoyed. Alex held some hope that maybe it would stop but now that she was twenty with a full-time job, Patrick still did that to her. An angry fury burned her eyes as she wrinkled her nose.

"Always so grumpy," Patrick joked, letting go of her cheek, "Your father was the same way and I believe River is like this as well. I begin to think this is a Lombardi trait."

Alex's only response was to glare as everyone chuckled at what was just witness. Well, everyone aside from Gabe. No, the look in his eyes silently told her that he knew exactly how she was feeling right now. Thanks to having an older brother and a twin sister, Gabe just felt a twinge of pity towards the woman. Instead, he continued with his questions.

"Do you like what you do?"

---

"So you had lunch with the Avs," her roommate, Sadie O'Donnell, asked as she leaned forward to smell the pasta that was cooking.

The blonde woman looked up at the brunette with interest, amused with Alexei as she subconsciously rubbed her check. Judging by that action, Sadie knew that she got her cheek pinched and was still fuming about it. That and the fact that Alexei was slamming the fridge door helped Sadie come to her conclusion She couldn't help but smile as her roommate started angrily muttering to herself while adding some salt to the pasta, "That would be correct."

"Is Matt Duchene hot in real life like he is on the television?"

Instantly, Alex's eyes snapped to lock with Sadie's green. She was in the middle of an internal tangent of course, her roommate had to ask a question that would bring her out of that rant. Then again, they had known each other since they were ten and she should have expected that. Sadie was infamous for doing things like this, especially when Alex was mad.

"Why do you ask me things like this," she snapped, checking on the noodles that were in the strainer.

"Because its funny," Sadie answered in a tone that said it should have been obvious.

Alex's response was to simply glare at her best friend, not saying anything as two dogs wandered into the kitchen. One of body was a sleek mahogany with a black mask. Dark eyes searched for a chew toy as pointed ears perched forward. This was Cairo, a Belgian Malinois, that had been adopted into the Lombardi family. He belonged to River but was under his sister's care when he was gone. The other was a dark grey and white husky with intelligent blue eyes. A bushy tail skimmed the skin of Alex's bare leg as he went to go to the water bowl. Mycroft glanced at his "mother" before settling his focus on the water bowl.

"Its not my fault that hockey players are just attractive," Sadie said when she realized that Alex's attention had turned to something else, "The Staal brothers, all fine. Crosby, he's got an ass that I'd like to slap. Letang, he's Mr. Sexy Hair. Duchene, total cute country boy. Landeskog, a total sexy Swede-"

It took every single fiber in Alex's body to not look at her friend when the Avalanche captain was mentioned. While Sadie continued on with her list, Alex's thoughts turned to her brief conversation with Gabe. Despite him being a famous hockey player, he was incredibly polite and genuinely interested in what exactly she did for a living. There was no way in Hell Alex could make being a network engineer sound fascinating but Gabe was absolutely enthralled. He even joked with her, asking if it was okay for him to call her whenever he had computer issues. Surprisingly, instead of the typical snark Alex Lombardi was known for, she simply said that it was fine with her. Patrick was surprised by the lack of attitude but he didn't say anything, only giving her a questioning look that she returned with a shrug.

Alex didn't want to admit that Gabriel Landeskog interested her.

A deep bark from Cairo pulled Alex from her thoughts and both girls turned to the large dog. His large paws were resting on the granite counter top as he attempted to reach a cookie that was just out of his reach. Sadie laughed as Cairo barked again, voicing his frustration, and pushed the cookie towards him.

"You know that you're just feeding his bad behavior," Alex asked as she began pouring the pasta onto a bowl.

"Oh, he's earned it," Sadie protested as she scratched the large dog behind the ears, "He's retired now! He's supposed to be enjoying life."

As predicted, Alex rolled her eyes, not bothering to say anything as she went to look for a can of soda. Then again, there was a lot of things Alex Lombardi wasn't going to say out loud.

Notes