The Gentle Giant

Andrej was an amazing father. I laid across the sofa and just smiled as he laid back on the recliner, our peanut daughter cuddled into him sound asleep. He had his eyes closed, relaxing. Andreja was attached to her Daddy and she had only been home for a week now.

Our company had left and we were finally spending alone time together. I had made a big dinner for us and now we were just laying around relaxing, getting in that little time we had before he left tomorrow. I was happy he wasn’t going to be gone too long. He should be home in three days, which I guessed I could handle.

He had bothered me all through dinner about when I was going to plan a wedding for us. Honestly I wished he would agree to elope. I wasn’t too keen on planning a wedding. Raina had the best idea last year and saved herself months of aggravation. For some reason, Andrej wanted something big though.

I guess it was different for Danny and Raina because they both have been married before. I just didn’t like the idea of planning something so big. “Andrej, put her in the crib, let’s go lay down.” He obliged and started to strip once we got into the bedroom. The sight of him still took my breath away.

He had a mouthwatering body and a little boy grin. “Sleep now mommy, while you can. I’ll hook you up tomorrow before I leave.” I just laughed. He was perpetrating like he didn’t want it as much as me, but I obliged, easily falling into a deep sleep.

I was up twice in the middle of the night feeding Andreja, who still was on an every three hour feeding schedule. I slid back into bed at six o'clock, hoping for a few more hours sleep. I knew Andrej had to be out the door by eight o'clock so I made sure the alarm was set correctly before drifting back off to sleep.

He gave me a kiss gently waking me up to let me know he was leaving for the airport. I opened one eye to look at him. “What happened to hooking me up big boy?” He just gave me a goofy smile.

“I’ll call you after the game and guide you through it.” I threw my pillow at him and he left. The minute he closed the door Andreja started to cry.

She was extra fussy today and I knew I wasn’t going to get more sleep. Her apnea monitor went off twice which worried me, but a simple tap on the foot and she was back to normal.

Pam ended up stopping by early in the afternoon. Her son Mikey was at Raina’s with the twins so she decided to drop by and visit.

“What’s up mama, how is she?” She asked as I led her in to the living room.

I just smiled, “perfectly spoiled thanks to her father.”

Pam sat down and I handed her over. “Aren’t they all spoiled by their Dads? Jeff was terrible. He’d watch tv for hours with Mikey on his lap. Every time he would go away Mikey would freak out and want to be held all day long. You know what I found soothed him a little when he was away, a blanket with Jeff’s cologne on it. I cuddled it into him when he was in the crib and it worked. She picked up a blanket and walked into the bedroom.

“What does he wear the most?” I had to go smell each one before I could tell her. “It is definitely that. “ I said, pointing to the bottle of Armani Mania. Once I fed Andreja, I let Pam swaddle her in that blanket and amazingly enough it worked.

“So what is going on with this wedding girl?”

I just groaned. “You and Rainy got off easy. Andrej is determined to have a big wedding, as soon as the season is over.”

She raised her eyebrows at me. “Jeff and I would have, if either one of us really thought about it. I have no idea why we just up and got married like that. I guess he is very impulsive and so am I. You should have a big wedding though. I’ll help you plan it.” I agreed to meet her for lunch tomorrow. She said goodbye and I laid around some more, just dozing on and off, watching some tv.

I finally got up and got a shower and started to cook dinner for myself. I decided once I was finished with dinner to go for a walk. The game didn’t start for another hour, I needed some air. Andreja loved being outside and was rather calm as I walked block after block.

I looked down at my watch and saw we had been walking for over an hour and we were still pretty far from my apartment. I sped up and made it back to our place in thirty minutes.

I grabbed my cell off the table and notice it had 6 missed calls, all from Raina. I dialed her back “What’s up girl? I was out walking and didn’t realize you called.”

She sounded frantic. “I wanted to see if anyone from the team had called you. Danny got slammed hard into the boards head first. I think he was unconscious. I’m so worried about him.”

I took a deep breath. "Let me call around. Give me a few and I will call you back." I called the numbers they had given me when I was pregnant and no one answered. I was annoyed that they wouldn’t at least have someone from the team at least call her. I dialed more numbers and I still got no answer.

Jim Jackson was reporting he was taken to the hospital but no one was calling me back. I finally got Bundy on the phone, one of our old alumni, who was the radio color commentator. “Raina is freaking out, please have someone call her ASAP.” He said he would run down and grab someone.

I called Raina and let her know I was getting Andreja ready and we would be over. I called Pam and asked her to meet me there. It sounded like it might be a long night.

Notes

:( Poor Danny. At least u get more Raina/Danny in this story though. I like writing stories that all connect.