Val’s POV

I was glad to be back to normality. Once Nathan and the Avalanche left, Jamie, Tyler and I all walked into the AAC. As soon as we entered the locker room, someone ambushed me in a massive embrace.

“Мой маленький Валерий! (My little Valeri!)” a deep voice cried. It was familiar and I would have recognized that voice anywhere.

“Sergei!!” I yelled loudly and rather excitedly. “Sergei! Sergei! Я знал, что вы не были плохой парень!”

“Ha-ha, no Val, I am not a bad guy. Let’s speak English though. You should be practicing.”

“Right. What are you doing here?”

“I heard from Rous and the others that you’d been having terrible hallucinations and had been sent to a psychologist place.” He looked at me with concern.

“I am fine, Sergei. I met friend!”

“Really? Who did you meet?”

“His name is Nathan MacKinnon!”

“Ah, the Avalanche sophomore right?”

“Yeah! We were both hallucinating and we got in a fight, but it was because we were hallucinating!”

Jamie and Tyler elbowed one another. Sergei sent them a look.

“I entrusted you both with my Russian baby and he walks the line of being in danger. What is wrong with you two? Any explanation, Captain?”

“Hey it was that Jonathan Drouin guy from the Lightning?!” Jamie stated. “He was seeking revenge on his Halifax teammate and Val got mixed up in things. It was an accident, but we won’t let it happen again. How’s retirement anyway?”

“Eh, not as fun as being on the ice, but I’m just glad this little guy is okay!”

“Sergei, stop it!” I cried, as the older man wrapped his arm around my neck and hugged me close.

“No more hallucinating and picking fights. I did not raise you to pick fights!”

“Yes, Sergei, I won’t hallucinate or fight!”

“Promise?”

“Yes, yes, I promise! Let me go!”

He released my head and I sent a fake angry look to him. He laughed. I couldn’t help but crack a cheesy grin. It was great to see him up and walking again.

“Don’t go seeking revenge on Cooke now, you hear?”

“Yes Sergei. I won’t fight Cooke.”

“You can hit him hard or own him with a sick goal, but no fighting.”

I nodded. I would do that for Sergei. I would behave myself and I would hit Cooke or score on him only. No fighting. No more. Fighting was bad. Scoring was good.

We all hung out a little longer, before everyone headed home. We all had to sleep and for once I was going to get the best sleep of my life! No more haunting hallucinations. I was free and I was going to bring it tomorrow. I had to. We were playing the powerhouse Chicago Blackhawks.

It was time to see Jaydrien Spooner, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane once again. I wondered what was going on with them. After all, I knew the secret that Jonathan and Patrick were madly in love with one another, even if they didn’t display it. They had to keep the facade going, but I knew. And so did Jamie and Tyler.

This was going to be a fun game.

And it was.

Tyler went over to hang with Patrick and I could tell they were joking and chirping one another. (Patrick learned about Tyler’s grand capture, while Tyler knew about Patrick’s love of his teammate.) I could see Patrick occasionally sending looks to the side, toward where Jamie and Jonathan were hanging out. He would wink every so often and I saw the Blackhawks Captain return it.

Then it was game time. Dallas came out strong. So did Chicago. I was lined up across from Jaydrien and he told me how he was glad to see I was okay and managing well. He also told me how he’d gotten engaged to Dolphiana Caffrey and his name was now Jaydrien Spooner-Caffrey. I was happy for him. They made a good match.

With the game still tied and both teams alive with energy and purpose, Coach Q created a deadly line matchup that started against my line. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Jaydrien Spooner-Caffrey. We kept them at bay, while I was on the ice, but when we went for the line-change and Lindy Ruff sent out “The Spezza Line” with Hemsky, our luck washed away. Jaydrien dished the puck to Jonathan, who played a game of back-and-forth with Patrick, eventually pulling a nasty move and managing to somehow send the puck sliding right through the five-hole and into the back of the net.

Jonathan’s goal in the start of the third period made it 1-0 Chicago, but Dallas was not deterred. It was time to show Chicago what a Russian did. I told Tyler and Jamie to get me the puck and they nodded. We lined up across from Chicago’s Brad Richards’ Line.

Jamie won the faceoff after Tyler was chased and he got the puck to Tyler. I shot off and some bizarre, but welcome speed. Tyler quickly passed it up to me with nice sauce. I got the disk in my blade and zoomed to the net and toward Corey Crawford, who tried to intimidate me. I wasn’t fooled though and I drove hard to the net and managed to tip the black object up and over his shoulder and into the back of the net.

1-1.

The game continued into Overtime and then into the Shootout. Tyler and Patrick traded goals in the shootout, but ultimately Jonathan won it, before I was put in. And though we didn’t come out with the “W”, for once we had a total team effort and I was back.

The killer Russian for the Dallas Stars was back and I wasn’t afraid to make the opposition quiver with fear!

Yeah, “Kinny” and “Nichy” were back and ready to light it up for a stellar second season!!

Notes

AWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!
Sergei and Valeri <3 :P
I wish this ending was true....I miss my baby Russian SO much, but at least Kanerboo is being Kanerboo :)

The End.

Thanks for reading this. Feel free to leave any comments or feedback for this. I really appreciate it. :D