The Gentle Giant

Dani's POV

It was April and the first round of the playoffs were in full swing. Andreja was a little over four months old and doing phenomenal. We still tried to avoid big crowds with her which is why I was currently watching Game 2 versus the Penguins from my apartment and not watching at the Wells Fargo Center.

Pam had stayed with me and little Mikey was running around my living room. The kid was so smart. He learned words quickly and walked even faster. Jeff was absolutely adorable with him. He took him everywhere and I had seen a million pictures of him just walking around town with him. They were already contemplating having another child according to Jeff.

“So girl, you ready for another?” I asked.

She just smiled. “I think I am pregnant now honestly. I just am refusing to take a test until the playoffs are over. He is so stressed out right now.”

I nodded my head. “I hear that. Andrej is driving me insane with all this superstition nonsense. He can only watch certain things on tv the night before a game and has to leave at a specific time to go to the rink. The other day he was running late and freaking out. He swears that is why they lost Game 1.”

Right now they were up 1-0 in the game. Danny had scored on a beautiful wrist shot. It was nice to see him get it considering he just started playing again. He was miserable while he wasn’t playing and I thought at times Raina might just kill him. He was upset about being hurt and pushed her away completely. She spent a lot of time alone and it was definitely taking a toll on her.

“So are you ready for this wedding? You don’t have much longer now.” Pam said, grabbing Andreja out of her swing.

I smiled thinking about it. “Yep, his mom is doing most of it. The only thing I had to work out was travel arrangements for everyone, which wasn’t too bad.” Danny, Raina and the kids were going, Pam & Jeff, Kris, Bella and Mike. Max and Geno had booked their own flights and were meeting us there. We were set to get married on June 23rd. I was excited but would be happy once it was over. I wasn’t much for the center of attention.

The sound of the crowd yelling snapped me out of my thought process and I saw Andrej celebrating. “See that mama, Daddy scored a goal for his baby girl.” Pam cooed to Andreja.

I took her and gave her a bottle, putting her to bed. She usually only got up once in the middle of the night now for feedings which was nice. Mikey was still awake, laying in between us on the sofa, pointing out at his “Dada” every time he appeared on the screen. The Penguins got a goal back at the beginning of the third. We still had the lead and I was feeling pretty confident.

The guys were playing good defense and it was looking promising. With three minutes left in the third, Pronger got caught pinching in and they came back with a two on one and Kimmo had no chance at it. They lit the lamp and I felt deflated. I knew the guys took that goal terrible.

They looked like they were defeated, before overtime even started. Two minutes into the overtime, they had lost the game. Geno scored the game winner, on a bad save attempt by Bob. Pam just shook her head. “Great, he’s going to be such a fun time.” she said as she got her stuff together. I just groaned.

Once she left I went in and laid in bed. Andrej texted me to let me know they were going to blow off some steam. Knowing I didn't have to wait up for him, I feel asleep quickly.

Around four o'clock Andreja woke up and I flipped on the tv and made her a bottle. I noticed my phone had a few missed calls in the past hour to a number I didn’t recognize. I called it back and realized it was a police station in Atlantic City. I explained that I had several calls from there.

“Well Miss Briere. I’m happy to let you know that we have a few of your guys here. We have them in a secluded holding cell so the press isn’t alerted. The five of them are in pretty bad shape though. None of them are going to be able to drive for a few hours so I am going to need you to come pick them up. He snickered and I knew I was in for it.

“Idiots” I hissed and the officer cracked up.

“Don’t give them too much of a hard time. They were scared to call you, but I gather you were easier to call than Jeff’s wife and your brother looked petrified to call his wife. Something about not be able to be alive for the next game."

“Ok, I will be there in a little while. I just have to get a sitter for my daughter.” I got off the phone and called Bella to meet me at my house. She groggily agreed.

She was cracking up by the time she got to my place. “So they all are in the slammer. Hysterical. What morons. I wonder what they did.” I left Andreja with Bella and got into the car, headed for Atlantic City.

Andrej’s POV

I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes only to hear Jeff go on a tear again.

“God, this is so bad. She is going to kill me. Dude, and I think she is pregnant again.” Kris was so drunk he still found the situation hysterical. He was cracking up at Jeff who in turn was swatting at him. “Not funny man, Bella isn’t going be upset. Pam will murder me.”

Mike just laid across the bench smiling. “Wonderful, this will all be my fault by tomorrow morning. Wait until you see how this plays out.”

Danny sat with his head in his heads. He already had been having enough problems with his wife. He didn’t need any more drama.

I found it rather funny myself. I knew Dani would be mad, but it wouldn’t be that much of an issue. We weren’t doing anything really wrong. We took a limo to Atlantic City after drinking for a few hours. The driver was being a pain and we tortured him thoroughly, so much so that he was swerving and got pulled over. Our drunkenness got us locked up on the spot. We couldn’t stop laughing at the driver who complained that we were distracting him from driving so they took us in. We all got charged with drunk and disorderly.

The approach of the guard made me swallow hard. “One of your girls is here. She don’t look happy. Good luck with that little hot tamale.” Everyone looked at me. I just shrugged.

The guard let us up the hallway and I saw her staring at us. We walked quietly to the car after she wrote out a check to the guard for all of our tickets.

“Are you serious. Couldn’t take a loss, eh? How old are you guys? Do you know what the media would have done if they got ahold of this? You are so lucky they were nice about it.” Her accent was magnified one-hundred percent.

Kris snickered and she punched him in the shoulder. “Not funny moron.” We drove home in silence, her dropping each guy off. She got out of the car and talked to Danny for a few minutes before he went into the house. I leaned back against the head rest, Kris snoring in the back seat as we head back across the bridge to our place. Bella jumped into Kris’s arms the minute we got back to the apartment.

They left and Dani and I sat down at the kitchen table. She got up and put her arms around me. “Baby you guys had a tough loss. I feel for you. I do. I know you guys didn’t do anything wrong. I was so mad at Danny. He doesn’t need to give Raina any reasons to be mad at him after how he acted while he was out hurt. Now go get some sleep, you are leaving for Pitt tomorrow and you idiots got practice in a few hours. Don’t want to give Lavy any reasons to get all mad at you now.”

She kissed me and I went and laid down in our room, Dani headed towards the sofa. Andreja was starting to fuss and I felt bad and got up and got her. “Hiya pumpkin. Let’s let mommy sleep, be quiet so you don’t get Daddy in trouble.”

Dreja and I hung out in the bedroom while Dani slept. I dozed on and off while she was in her swing. My phone rang around 10:00 am. “Yo, paper got ahold of the story somehow. Lavy just called me and blasted me.” Mike said quietly.

“Ok, I’m getting dressed now, meet you at the rink.”

I shook Dani awake gently. “Gotta go, the media just ran with the story and Lavy is having a fit.” She kissed me.

“Can’t be any worse than the Danny and Jordan drama.” She snorted. “Good lucky baby, love you” she said as I headed out the door.

I met Jeff on the way into the practice rink. He looked somber. “How was Pam?” He smiled. “Surprisingly ok, she said she knows I won’t cheat on her and I deserve time out with the guys, although she mentioned we probably should not get arrested when we go out. I was shocked she didn’t freak out.”

Mike met us at the doors with Danny who looked like he got run over by a truck. We walked down the hall towards Lavy’s office. Kris ran to catch up with us. We got reamed out for a good forty-five minutes. He threatened to bench us all, which I knew wouldn’t happen. We ended up with tons of community projects and a babysitter while we were in Pittsburgh, poor Lappy. Mike and Lavy ended up in a screaming match. “You think we don’t care? I agree we didn’t handle it right but don’t accuse my players of not caring. It’s messed up and wrong. We leave it all on the ice. Jeff just came back from an injury and is playing. Kris, Andrej and I are all hurt and we are playing. Appreciate what you have.” Mike slammed the door and walked out.

I got up and followed suit, walking down to the locker room and getting dressed to practice. I guzzled two bottles of Gatorade and prayed for the miracle of electrolytes. I knew Lavy was going to kill us in practice and I didn’t want to get sick. He shocked us all by canceling practice.

We left together, quietly, the team split between those of us there last night and those of us who weren’t. Pronger had some choice words for us and him and Jeff argued. Kris quickly grabbed him. Giroux started to chirp about being a great leader and Mike flew after him, grabbing him by the throat. “Don’t even Claude.” Danny broke it up and yelled at Claude to mind his own business.

Us five walked towards the parking lot and I noticed Danny had bags in his car. “Dude, she took it that bad?”

He just shook his head. “Something like that. Raina is not a happy person. Can I stay at your place?”

I nodded. “Come on, we will go get something to eat and relax for a few.” I said and we headed towards a diner close to the rink.

Once seated, Danny broke down. “Dude she told me she is so sick of me moping and being miserable. She told me she wants a divorce if I can’t get it together. I cannot go through that again. I don’t know what is wrong with me. I feel like I’m not happy unless I’m playing. Last night was ridiculous. I think she only got mad because we have been fighting so much lately. My game sucks and I know I’m frustrated but she knew she was marrying a hockey player bro. I feel like some of this she just needs to put up with it."

I just looked at him and smiled. “Would you be happy if I was miserable constantly around Dani? Think about it. She already deals with the crazy schedules, the time away, the puck bunnies that swear they will land you. The last thing she wants to do is spend time with a guy who doesn’t even appreciate what he has.” He nodded and we ate the rest of the meal in silence.

Dani's POV

The boys came in not long after they left. Danny headed right for Andreja, picking her up and kissing her. Andrej explained to me more what was going on with Danny and Raina. I tried calling her while the boys were occupied. “Hey sis, pick up the phone, I know you are there.”, I said, yelling into her voicemail.

She called me back while I was making dinner for the guys. “Hey what’s up?” she asked nonchalantly. “You know what is going on my dear sis in law. You cool? He is staying here until you two work on whatever. They are actually in the living room. I’m in the kitchen. He doesn’t know I called.”

She sighed. “Yep, I’m fine. I just refuse to put up with someone being miserable forever. I did it with my ex. I refuse to do it again. He was miserable for months and blamed me until the day when I walked in and he was dead from a self-inflicted shot to the head. Dani, I refuse to do it again. I can’t do it again. Once he decides he is happy with life we can be happy together. He isn’t getting any younger Dani. Eventually he is going to have to retire, and then what.” I didn’t have much to say because in some ways I agreed with her. He wasn’t getting younger, only had a few more years on his contract and then what, he couldn’t play forever. We finally hung up and I put dinner on the kitchen table.

The boys came out and Andrej put Andreja into the swing. “Dreja is getting so big.” Danny said as he sat down.

“Oh no you too, what is with the whole Dreja nickname?” I whined. Danny and Andrej just laughed.

“I don’t know, it fits. The more and more I look at her Dani she doesn’t have our blood in her. She looks like her Daddy.” Danny said reaching for the baked potato.

“I know don’t remind me Dan. It sucks. All of your kids look like you besides Lil’ Danny. He looks just like Raina.” As soon as I said her name he looked crestfallen. “Eat, then we are going for a walk big bro, we need to talk.” I said, pointing my fork at him.

We ate in silence, Andreja’s babbling keeping it from being awkward. “Wow, Dani, you can cook. I’m impressed.”

I just laughed. “Can’t let big boy over here starve to death” I said, wrapping my arms around him. “OK you two, seriously Mesz, none of that during the playoffs.” Danny said looking horrified.

Once we were finished eating I pulled Danny out the door and down the street, “come on, it is beautiful out.” We walked for a minute or two. “You know she loves you. She doesn’t want to lose you but you have to remember what she went through before big bro. He was seriously depressed for months before he killed himself. She is the one who found him.”

He looked up at me. “Wow, I never even thought about that. I love hockey Dani. I will eventually be lost without it. I don’t know how to live a normal life.”

We sat down on a bench. “Actually you do, you coach the boy’s teams, you take care of Jolie and Daniel and you are a good husband. Go home, be happy and all that mushy stuff Danny. You know where you belong.”

He smiled at me. “I will. I want to see them before we leave tomorrow anyway.”

He left and I headed back up to my apartment where my favorite guy in the world was bathing our daughter. He brought her out squirming in her towel, a large wet sport forming on his white t-shirt. “Seriously Dani, she pees on me every single time I hold her when she is naked. Can you change her so I can get a shower?”

I got her in pajamas and fed her. I was doing more bottle feeding than anything now because it was easier in public, but I opted not to use the bottle tonight. I cuddled into the bed and snuggled her to me. Andrej came in and his eyes lit up. “I miss this from when she was little.”

I smiled at him. I was kind of down. I was going to miss him. He was going away for three maybe four days. It was driving me mad. I would be happy when the season was over and we had time to spend together. Andreja fell asleep while nursing and he put her in her crib. He slid back into bed and on top of me, kissing my collarbone and neck. “God I’m going to miss you Danielle. Everyone is so down about losing. And now all of this nonsense with the arrests. At least I can be happy at home.”

Notes

Thoughts, comments? I'm going to start posting my Talbot fic tonight.... which is sort of a sequel to this and A Second Chance at Love.