A Second Chance at Love

I walked into the locker room not long after dropping her off. There was loud music playing and almost everyone had a look of dread on their face. "Come on guys, its a fresh start, let's do it right." Mike yelled over the music.

I sat down and started to tape my stick. Kris approached me and giggled like a little boy, waving a cell phone at me. "Danny, your girlfriend says hi." he stuck out his tongue and walked away.

I looked up and everyone's eyes were on me. "Yes, surprisingly she agreed to be my girlfriend." I yelled to the cheering and hollering. I finished getting ready and headed out towards the ice.

Lavy started us by running simple drills. We looked worse than a group of ten year olds. You could tell most of the guys hadn't stayed in the best of shape over the summer, hell Carcillo looked like he was ready to pass out at center ice. Lavy lost it about thirty minutes in when a simple odd man rush drill looked like a scene from the movie Slap Shot.

Jeff and Claude were arguing over who got laid more this summer when they collided and sent Mesz straight into the goal with Bob. "Suicides, now....... And keep em up until you need to be carried off" LLavy barked. The first ten or so weren't bad. You could tell the guys who skated a lot, they were still looking confident.

I started to zone out and think about last night and the look on her face when she climaxed. "That good huh" Mike laughed as he skated by.

I caught up to him and I yelled, "Yea, I guess it is." We continued on.

Mike and I got called off the ice first. "Get showered and go into the tape room. There is some stuff I want you to watch" Lavy pointed us towards the locker room.

Not long after Kris, Boosh, Mesz, Kimmo and Pronger joined us. We sat in the room watching stuff for awhile before anything was said. "So how is it going?" Mike whispered to me.

Pronger just laughed "You got one crazy girl there."

I looked at them and smiled. "I guess its good so far. We are supposed to take the boys out tonight to dinner. Should be interesting to say the least."

Kris jumped up and announced he was coming tonight. "I think we should do Dave and Busters, that would be awesome."

I threw him a look. "Who said you were coming?" I asked with a fake frown on my face.

"I called Rainy, she said I'm allowed" he pouted.

"Well count me in, we got off easy today" the captain said smirking. I knew then and there we wouldn't have much alone time this season.

All counted, I had eight of us on the way to my house to get ready for dinner. Claude, Kris, Jeff and I drove in my car. Mike, Mesz, Carcillo and Leino drove behind us.

The boys were already home with the babysitter. They didn't like someone being there with them, especially Caelan who felt that he was too old and could take care of the other two. I however had gotten smart in my old age and knew leaving the three of them together was trouble.

After grabbing the boys, the eleven of us trekked across the street. Kris flung the door open and ran into the living room. She looked up, suprised at the amount of people in her living room. She was on the cell phone and mouthed "One minute" to me. The guys decided to give themselves a tour.

We ended up all downstairs. Kris and Jeff started playing pool, arguing over who was better. She came down a minutes later with Ryan.

"Sorry I kept you waiting fellas. The eldest Staal can talk for hours if you let him. I leaned over and kissed her. "Eric has a million ideas for a charity him and his family want to start. It's hard trying to get him to focus."

She threw on shoes and we left for Dave and Buster's. I was pleasantly surprised when Caelan announced he was driving with her and Ryan. I figured he was trying to make her and Ryan feel more comfortable.

Once we got there it was pure insanity. She played the guys in skee ball. Kris was beating her bad, so she climbed up the alley and stuck the ball in the 100 point hole. The boys applauded her creativity.

Cameron high-fived her when he was finished getting his high score on basketball. I took Ryan over to the racing games. "Danny, can I play this one? he asked with a huge smile. It was a motorcycle game. I lifted him on and held it as he raced Claude.

Carson and Mike came over to us as I was taking him off the motorcycle. "You know he isn't your Dad. You can't have him." Ryan looked up at Carson and frowned. I was speechless. The other two boys seemed to be handling the night well.

Mike jumped right in. "Hey Carson, come on, you and Uncle Mike need to have a talk."

I took Ryan and walked over to Raina and Kris. They were currently having a dance competition. Cam was taking pics with her cell phone and Mesz was trying to distract Kris.

Dan and Ville were sitting at the bar, watching the spectacle. Jeff was busy trying to talk to the bartender, a slender girl with fiery red hair who appeared to be paying him no attention whatsoever.

I walked over to the bar and got the bartender's attention. "Hey, what can I get ya?" she asked.

"Well I wanted to get a table for dinner in a half hour or so for thirteen. If you can make that happen that would be perfect. I also wanted to introduce you to my friend Jeff."

She gave me a killer smile. "Oh I met Jeff already, cocky isn't he?" I just shrugged at Jeff and walked back to our group.

Mike and Carson rejoined us a few minutes later. Carson walked up to Raina and pulled her by the hand. Hey Raina, can you come play basketball with me?" They walked towards the game.

I looked at Mike. "So how did that go?" I asked quietly.

"He 's ok, he was jealous. She was playing with Caelan and Cam and you had Ryan. He wanted one of your guys attention. I told him Uncle Mike had huge connections and that if he behaved all week I think I could get Phillies tickets so he can go with Rainy to cheer on her favorite team." I had to smile. Mike knew Carson was a big Blue Jays fan.

I looked up and smiled at Mike. "Thanks man. I knew this would be a little difficult."

He slapped me on the back. "You guys will be fine, The boys will get used to it. It's just new for them."

Our table was called and we gathered up the group and sat down. Jeff came back to the table grinning. "Finally broke her down eh?" I asked.

"Her name is Pam and she promised to talk to me after her shift." I just shook my head at him. He looked like a kid in a candy store.

Dinner was surprisingly uneventful. We drove home and pulled up to her driveway. She motioned me and Caelan over to the car and pointed smiling. Cam, Carson and Ryan were sound asleep in her backseat, leaning against each other. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her forehead. Things were good.

Notes

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