Forever Chicago

*Adam’s POV*

The next day at practice I couldn’t focus and the guys could tell. Marchy and Bergy kept giving me looks of sympathy so I guessed that they knew what was going on. I mean of course Bergy would- he and Arianna were best friends, but then I wondered if Segs knew. I was guessing he didn’t because he seemed completely normal- well as normal as Tyler ever is, but if he knew he would have been in a weird mood too. He always wanted me and Arianna to end up together. He’d never liked Toews from the first time we all saw them together.

-Flashback-

“Adam quit worrying.” Tyler said as we laced up our skates. It was the night of our big game against Chicago and I knew Arianna would be here because she had called and told Bergy she would last week. I hadn’t seen her in about 8 months and to say I was worried was an understatement. This was the girl I loved and wanted to be with and not having seen her in that long made me wonder if Chicago had changed her at all.

“Oh shut up!” I heard a familiar voice yell from down the hall. “Seabs put me down!” I heard her yell again. I knew that voice anywhere and so did the rest of the team and we all had a confused look on our face when we heard her yell Seabs. “Shawsy I’m gonna kill you!” I heard Abby yell from about the same distance away. “Just tell me where it is!” I heard Arianna yell again. “Ow!” I heard a male voice say. “Babe get off my back and I’ll tell you.” I heard someone say. “Now Patrick, tell me where Arianna’s Seguin jersey is and where my Marchand jersey is or you’re not getting any tonight.” I heard Abby threaten Patrick. That’s when I realized she was talking to Patrick Kane. I looked over at Marchy who had a hurt expression. Yeah he slept around a lot, but he had always had a soft spot for Abby and if the chance had presented itself, he was gonna go for her and he thought tonight might have been the night.

“Wow… I’ve never heard Abby threaten that before.” I heard someone say and by this time I was walking towards the door along with Tyler and Bergy to see who was talking. We stayed at an angle where we could see them but they couldn’t see us. Out in the hallway stood Andrew Shaw, Patrick Kane, Brent Seabrook, Abby, Arianna, and Jonathan Toews. “Now Abby,” started Patrick, “let’s be reasonable. We all know you can’t resist this body.” He finished with a sly grin. “Oh and you can resist mine?” Abby retorted back which got a snicker out of the three of us by the door. “Now I never said I was going to. You’re the one who threw out the threat.” He said stepping close to her, any closer and they’d be kissing. She didn’t say anything, but responded with a passionate kiss and I looked to see Brad who was now sitting in his stall, disappointment written all over his face. “Now if you want that and much more later on, you better tell me where the jerseys are.” Abby said pulling away and backing up. “Well to be honest, I actually have no idea. Jon and I didn’t take them this time.” He said leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest.

Abby and Arianna immediately turned around to see Patrick Sharp and Brendan Saad holding up the jerseys and snickering. “Looking for these?” asked Brendan nonchalantly. Arianna went up and snatched them away. “Yes thank you very much assholes.” She said as she slipped her Seguin jersey over her head and threw Abby her Marchand one. “Now the Bruins will win.” Abby replied walking up to Patrick as he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Yeah sure. You’re our good luck charms.” He said as he kissed her cheek. “Well whenever we go to one of their games, they win and we always wear our jerseys so…” added Arianna from the corner. “Well, you’re my good luck charm and whenever you’re with us, I score.” And as Jon said it he gave her a kiss and she smiled, and that was when I could practically hear my heart breaking into a million pieces.

After that the girls and the Blackhawks went back to their locker room and as I sat down by my stall I couldn’t think of anything. Segs was fuming over by the bathroom as Lucic was trying to calm him down while Bergy was trying to bring me back to reality. “Adam! Adam you need to focus- we need to win this game. She needs to see you and realize how much she misses you and wants you. She hasn’t seen you in 8 months so once she does, all the feelings will come back, I promise.” Bergy knew Arianna better than anyone, better than Abby even, and this gave me hope. And we did win the game.

“Bergy!” Arianna squealed as she slammed into him once she and Abby had made their way to our locker room after the game. “Hey hun!” he said as he hugged her back after regaining his balance. “You were amazing! Congrats on the hat trick.” She said smiling up at him after he had put her down. She then walked over to Segs who was still steaming and brought him out into the hallway and once they came back in he was calmed down and latched onto her just like he always did – he’d never admit it but he’d always wanted her as more than a friend but they were like brother and sister and we’d heard about Jonathan Toews and how he slept around a lot- we all wanted to protect her. She then started towards me but stopped and headed for Bergy instead. She looked nervous and right before she came over to me he gave her a big hug and whispered something in her ear that I couldn’t make out- it was something between them that no one else was supposed to know I guess.

“Hey Adam.” She said nervously as she made her way over to where my stall was. She had never been nervous around me before and I knew it was because we’d all seen her with Toews. “Hey.” I said as I put my skate into my bag. “So uh, Segs told me you guys saw me and Ab with the guys.” She said as she twiddled her thumbs. I wasn’t looking at her but I could see her out of my peripheral vision. “Yup.” I said simply because I knew if I gave anything else I was gonna cry. “Adam please.” She begged from behind me as her voice cracked. I had never been able to stand seeing her cry and knowing I was the reason was gonna kill me. I turned around to hug her and as I soon as I did she let it go. “Adam please don’t be mad at me. I never meant for any of this to happen and I sure as hell didn’t mean for you all to find out this way. I didn’t know Jon and Pat were gonna be our neighbors and I couldn’t help it Adam- he gives me the feelings you always gave me.” She said as she looked up at me sadly. “I’m not mad at you. I just miss you and seeing you with him- it makes me think if I had gone with you to Chicago the day you moved, maybe I could have saved us- I could have shown him that you were mine and that he couldn’t have you, but I didn’t and now I’m seriously regretting it.” I said as I let my tears fall freely. Everyone who was left in the locker room knew how I felt about Arianna and knew how hard this was going to be for me. “Adam you can’t blame yourself. Even if you did come with me for the first day or even until training camp started, it wouldn’t have changed anything. You’re here in Boston, a thousand miles away from where I am in Chicago and Jon is right next door. I mean I love you Adam, I do, but a thousand miles is a long distance for four years… you and I always knew it wasn’t gonna work… no matter how much we both wanted it to.” She said as she cried more. I just held her there after that as she continued to apologize and I continued to say that it was my fault and I didn’t try hard enough to keep her, but it never did any good.
The next day she was gone, back to Chicago with her boyfriend. Back to where I’d lost her the first time. Back to where she’d found the guy that would replace me in her heart…

-End Flashback-

“She told you, didn’t she?” Asked Bergy after everyone else but him and Marchy had left the locker room. “Last night.” I said as I got up and grabbed my stick. “She still loves you Adam. You should have seen her freaking out about telling you.” Marchy said as we all stood in the locker room, not quite ready to leave. “She doesn’t want to hurt you. She never did. It broke her heart just as much as it did yours, but you can’t fight love Adam. Maybe life has something else planned for the two of you and maybe you’ll end up together, but Arianna can’t control that- she can’t control her feelings. You of all people know that.” Bergy said as he patted my shoulder and walked out and onto the ice with Marchy and I following behind.

-Flashback-

*Adam’s POV*

“Alright boys,” started Richard Bisesti. He was brother-in-law to our new GM David Bouchard. He had been up here the past couple of weeks helping David get settled in and working with us because the two of them knew more about hockey than anyone I’d ever personally known aside from Coach Julien. “We’ve got a little announcement before you start practice.” He and David and had come into the locker room before practice along with his son Nick. “My niece Arianna is here for a couple of weeks visiting. She’s been in Longmeadow at her friend Lianne’s house since David and Barbara moved out here because she was finishing out her sophomore year of high school, but now that she’s done, she’ll be here for the summer. I want you all to be nice and welcome her.” He finished and let David talk. “Now boys, she’s my only child and she’s my little princess I want you all to be nice to her like Richard said, but no one, and I mean no one is to go after her. She is off limits.” He said emphasizing every word of his sentence. Of course all of us expected to see this little 16 year old girl sitting in the stands when we came out, but boy were we wrong.

Arianna was out on the ice with a little girl who looked to be about 2 years old and was skating around while holding her hands. She was in denim shorts and a black top that showed off her tanned and toned stomach and her long, straight, brown hair was up in a ponytail on her head. Once she saw us she picked up the little girl and skated over to where we were.

*Arianna’s POV*

Damn they’re attractive. I thought as I picked up Gia and headed over to where my uncle, father, and cousin Nick stood with the team. “Hi boys.” I said as I smiled at them. “Teenager.” My uncle started and smiled at me. “Meet the boys.” He said pointing to everyone. Everyone was quiet for a moment before Chara spoke up. “Hi, I’m the captain, Zdeno Chara. Nice to meet you.” He said with his think accent as he stuck out his hand for me to shake. Gia had hid in the crook of my neck as he started talking because she wasn’t used to the accent. Next up was Bergeron. “Hi. I’m Patrice Bergeron, alternate captain.” He said as I shook his hand and smiled. “And who is this little cutie?” he said tickling Gia which got a little laugh out of her. “G you wanna tell them who you are?” I asked as she looked at me. Immediately she went back to hiding which caused everyone to let out an aw or two at her cuteness. I put her down on the ground and squatted so I was at eye level with her.

*Tyler’s POV*

As she squatted down to talk to the little girl she had referred to as G it gave everyone quite the view of her. I looked over at Quaider who couldn’t keep his eyes off of her and I couldn’t blame him... she was gorgeous.

*Arianna’s POV*

“G sweetie why are you being so shy?” I asked my little cousin as I took her hands. “They’re big and scawy.” She answered in her little voice. She had just turned 2 and was still learning pronunciations of words. “Oh sweetie there’s nothing to be afraid of. I’m right here with you baby okay?” I asked as I picked her up. “Okay. I love you Anna.” She said as she squeezed me which got another round of aw’s. “Anna? You’re not her mom?” asked the guy I recognized as Tyler Seguin. I’d recognize him anywhere since I’d been in love with him since I was 12. “Oh hell no. No babies for me at 16. We’ve got quite some time before that happens. She,” I said pointing to Gia, “is my little cousin. Now G are you gonna introduced yourself to these dapper young fellows?” I said earning a laugh out of Nick, who was Gia’s father. “I’m Gia.” She said quietly. “Well, it’s very nice to meet you Gia.” Said Tuukka Rask and Adam McQuaid as they walked towards us. “I’m Tuukka and this is Adam.” Tuukka said pointing to himself and his teammate. “It’s nice to meet you… both of you.” Said Adam looking at me… from then on I knew he and I would have something special…

-End flashback-

Notes