Chapter Forty Seven

"You did good today, Brace," Patrick McNeill said as he skated over towards the boards where I was taking a break and grabbing a drink.

"Thanks," I said and then placed my bottle down and skated back out onto the ice.

It was Thursday, March 15th, and I had my first practice back as a Hershey Bear, most of the faces I recognized, all of them knew of me and were a little surprised to see me back in the AHL. I didn't tell any of them what had happened, I didn't find that it was any of their businesses. Tomorrow was my first game as a Bear, it was a home game against the Adirondack Phantoms.

By the end of practice, the guys wanted to get something to eat, but I declined and headed back to my hotel. It wasn't far from the arena, and I was able to stay in one of their suites, it had a small kitchen and everything. When I got back to my room, I crashed onto the bed and stared out the window towards the sky that looked like it was going to break apart and start to pour. When there was a knock on my door, I was a little surprised, but pushed myself up, thinking it was the maid or a staff member. I sighed and walked over towards the door and was a little surprised when I opened it and saw and old friend and teammate, Julien Brouillette.

"Julien, I didn't think you were still on the team," I said as I moved out of the way and let him inside the suite.

"I had to miss today's practice, family thing," he said and I nodded my head, "But I was surprised to hear that you were back on the team."

"Yeah, long story."

"I have time," he said and I gave a small smirk. We were both rookies last season and because fast friends, his girlfriend was good friends with me, when Julien introduced us, we clicked quickly. I sat Julien on the couch and told him everything that happened, and I mean everything, even me going to Sidney and asking for help, "Lyss, they all warned you when you were heading up that those guys were assholes."

"Yeah, they were all assholes at first, but then we became friends, and then it all changed at Christmas when they found out that I was friends with the Bruins."

-Milan-

We had brutally lost another away game, this time against the Panthers. After the game everyone didn't feel like going out, we sulked back to our hotel and stayed in for the night. The next day the guys were going to be heading back to Boston to prepare for our home game against the Flyers, but I was going to be taking a separate flight to fly into Hershey, Pennsylvania.

It was definitely a long flight, but by the time I had reached the airport, rented a car, called Alyssa's sister and asked for information, and found the hotel that Alyssa was living at, she was already gone, at her arena preparing for her first game as a Bear.

I called the guys to check in with them and tell them that I was going to see Alyssa tonight after her game. The guys told me to attend her game, but I wasn't going to because I needed to keep out of sight, and that was a little hard to do when I'm at a hockey game with a lot of cameras.

The elevator dinged and I looked to see the cleaning lady walking onto the floor, I was standing in front of Alyssa's door like an idiot, waiting for it to magically open. When I saw the cleaning lady, and idea clicked and I started to search myself for the imaginary key that I had lost.

"Are you have some trouble, sir?" the woman asked as she made her way towards me.

"Uh yes, my girlfriend sent me to get something to eat but I left my wallet in the room. My key is in my wallet and I think that my girlfriend's in the shower or something," I said and the woman nodded her head and reached for the key that was hanging from her waist, '...Wow, it's sad that that was that easy...' I thought as the woman opened the door, "Thank you so much!"

"No problem," she said and I walked into the room and looked around.

"This is taking creepy to a whole new level," I snorted as I looked around the suite and saw that it was pretty big, '...Guess she planned on staying for a while...' I thought as I walked into the bedroom and sighed when I saw the empty suitcases and saw that all of her clothes were hung up in the closet, '...Oh my poor girl...'

I noticed a room key on the nightstand next to the king size bed, I was hoping that it was an extra one because when you checked in, they usually gave the person two keys. I smirked and then grabbed the other key and slid it into my back pocket, deciding to go back down to my car and grab my bags. As I walked out into the hallway, the woman looked at me and I smiled and showed her the key.

"Don't lose it!" she said and I chuckled and nodded my head.

I walked to the elevator, headed down to the lobby, out to my car, grabbed my stuff and headed back up to the top floor where Alyssa was staying. The woman was in a room cleaning already so I was happy that I didn't have to explain why I had bags and not food. I looked at my watch and saw that it was almost five, Alyssa would probably be back here in about five hours. I walked into the room and laid on the bed, it smelled like her, I missed her a lot and was excited to surprise her.

I hadn't realized that I fell asleep on her bed, so when I woke up, it was just after eight. I sighed and then turned on the TV and saw that the game was on, it was the start of the second period and Alyssa was on the ice. I saw that the Bears were playing the Phantoms and that the Bears were up by two.

I watched the whole game, smiling brightly when the final score was six to one, Bears. I was even more excited at the fact that Alyssa had scored three of the six goals. I knew that they were going to want to interview her after she showered, I also knew that she was going to be starving when she came back to the hotel, so I decided to order room service about a half hour before I figured that she would be back.

-Alyssa-

"Hey Red! You coming out with us?" Julien asked and I gave a small smile and shook my head.

"I'm tired, maybe tomorrow night," I said and the guys nodded their heads and then headed over towards the car and drove off. I walked into my car and then headed out of the parking lot and drove back towards my hotel, I was sick of reporters asking me questions as to why I was brought back down, not even acknowledging the fact that I scored three goals.

Even though we had won the game, I was still in a pretty bad mood, not liking the fact that I was back in Hershey, wanting to be with the Capitals even though I was pissed at most of them.

When I pulled into the hotel parking lot, I saw that I had a few texts from Nick, Dennis, Sidney, Brad, Tyler, Nathan and Milan; all telling me how I did good tonight and encouraging me that it would get better. I sighed and then decided that I was going to call Milan as I walked out of my car and headed for the hotel entrance.

"Hey babe, good game, nice goals," Milan said, answering on the first ring.

"Thanks," I said and then hit the button for the elevator to come, "I miss you."

"I miss you too," he said and I could hear a little happiness in his voice.

"What are you happy about?" I asked confused.

"You're my girlfriend and you're awesome," he said and I snorted.

"If I'm so awesome then why am I back on the Bears," I said and heard him sigh.

"Patience, it'll get better," he said and I scoffed, "Where are you?"

"In the elevator, if we cut off you'll know why," I said and heard him chuckle, "You're in a really good mood today."

"I know."

"Why? I'm sorry about the last two games, are you going to be all right against the Flyers tomorrow?"

"I don't know, I'm scratched," he said and my eyes widened.

"What?! Are you all right?!" I asked as I got onto my floor, "Are you hurt? I'm sorry I didn't watch the game, but I recorded it and was going to watch it tonight?!"

"I'm all right, where are you now?" he chuckled and I was a little confused.

"I'm walking towards my room, why? Milan, what's going on?"

"Nothing, why would anything be going on?" he asked and I opened my door and was instantly hit with the smell of food.

"I'll call you back, something's-" I heard an echo on my phone and looked around me room, "Oh, you didn't."

"Hi babe," I nearly jumped out of my skin when he came up behind me.

"Milan," I said as I turned around and saw him smirking towards me, a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

"I missed you."

"Oh my god," I said and closed my door, jumped him, wrapping my arms around his neck and digging my face into his neck, "I missed you so much! What are you doing here?"

"I missed you too, I had to see you, I hated hearing that you were this upset and there was nothing I could do," he said and I looked at him a little shocked.

"Why- Why would you do that? You're game!"

"It's only one game, babe, I'll be back in time for Monday's game," he said and I stepped back a little, my hands on the top of his chest.

"But why, Milan?"

"Because Alyssa," he said as he walked up to me, cupped my face and smiled down towards me, "I love you."

Notes

Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that I was going out of town again and won't be able to update until next Sunday the 14th! I'll try to do one more today, but I wanted to update all of my stories, but I'll try.

Happy Reading!