Danny had invited Claire to dinner at his house after practice with some of the guys. Scott picked her up half an hour before they had to be there with Claude already in the car. James would be meeting them there, seeing as he lived in New Jersey.

The car ride was enjoyable as always, the three of them cracking jokes on the way to the Briere residence. Claude found himself looking at her with aid of the rear view mirror, admiring her pretty features and hoping to God she wouldn’t catch him staring. “You’re gonna love the boys,” piped up Scotty, “They’re amazing kids, like little Dannys so you can imagine.” Claire grinned, “Good. I can’t wait to meet them. The way he speaks about them, I can only imagine how great they are.”

The three fell into comfortable conversation for the rest of the way. When they pulled up outside the Brieres' nice-sized house they saw James’ beaten up old car. It seemed fitting for a hockey family of five, big, a well manicured lawn, and the hints of street hockey equipment poking out in the garage.

Danny welcomed into the house, his warm smile contagious as he ushered them in, telling them James, Sylvie, and the boys were in the kitchen. Claire followed the guys welcomed by the delicious smell of whatever was in the oven. The kitchen was huge and beautiful with a large granite-top island and counter space. James sat at the island with three young boys who looked to be spitting images of their father.

Claude greeted the kids excitedly as Scott homed in on the 20-year-old forward, “Reimer! The boys keeping you in line?” James laughed, swatting away Hartnell’s hand as he went to ruffle his hair, “Don’t they always?” Danny chuckled, making his way around the island, “Where’s Syl?”

“She stepped out for a sec,” James replied, turning his attention to the young brunette, “How’s it going Claire?” She smiled, “It’s going. Nice to have a little break.” The three men nodded, the next day being an off day for the team and staff. “Au plaisir d'une journée de paresse, hein?” smirked Claude, a playful glint in his eyes. “Ouais, vous êtes l'un de parler Giroux,” she fired back with a large grin, “ Dit l'homme qui ne sera pas sortir du lit au moins jusqu'à une heure dans l'après-midi.”

Danny and the Briere boys snickered at their playful exchange while Scott and James seemed a little lost but amused anyway, knowing Claire had just shut Claude down. She almost always won in verbal spars against the men on the team and now was no different.

“So, these are the famous Briere boys, eh?” she asked, the smile still spread across her lips as she turned her attention to Danny and the kids who looked so much like him. Their eyes lit up as she acknowledged them and Danny couldn’t help but smile like the proud father he was. “Yeah,” he beamed, “This one’s my oldest Caelan, then Carson, and Cameron.” The three all grinned excitedly at her and she couldn’t help but grin right on back, their smiles contagious. “It’s so nice to finally meet you! You’re dad and the guys can never stop talking about you three,” she smiled.

Turned out, that her warm and sweet demeanour had won over the Briere boys in a total of five minutes. They were talking and joking around with her as if they had known her their whole lives by the time Danny’s wife had decided to grace them with her presence. “Danny, how much time is left on the chicken?” she asked as she entered the kitchen. He looked at the timer, on the oven’s digital display, “20 minutes.” She nodded, pouring herself a glass of wine before turning to greet the newcomers, saying hello to Scott and Claude before her gaze landed on Claire. The relative warmth in her eyes that came with addressing the others instantly dissipated and the young brunette felt rather uncomfortable under the older woman’s scrutiny.

“Qui est ce?” she asked, her cold gaze trained on the other female presence in the room. “Syl, this is Claire. She’s the assistant athletic trainer for the team and a really good friend of ours,” Danny said as diplomatically as possible, gesturing to his teammates as he sensed his wife’s tenseness. “Plaisir,” she greeted, finally addressing Claire directly, extending a hand politely. “Le plaisir est pour moi,” Claire replied feeling a flicker of triumph at the clear look of surprise that flashed across Sylvie’s cold eyes. She hadn’t expected the 21-year-old to answer in perfect French.

The two were civil over the course of the evening, Claire genuinely wanting to befriend Danny’s wife. He had become the ultimate big brother figure to her and she cared deeply for getting to know his family, wanting nothing more than to befriend his wife and kids, knowing they were everything to him. Sylvie’s constant pointed stares and glares were irritating to say the least but she shook it off and ignored them, wishing to enjoy herself. She knew that the older woman saw her as a threat, as a puck slut who was using the team and her job to get to Danny, which was, of course, the furthest from the truth.

The boys really took a liking to her, especially Cameron. He had latched himself onto her and rarely left her side throughout the course of the evening. Claire didn’t mind, especially since the boys had captured her heart within the first few moments of her arrival at the Briere residence.

Danny and the others were amazed at how quickly his sons had taken to the young woman. They never took to people that quickly. Even Claude who had become an older brother to the three had taken at least a day to get used to. She was exceptionally good with kids and had a way about her that just drew them in. Her smile and her personality were infectious and the boys had found it damn near impossible not to like her. She played with them, even winning several games of NHL 09.

Claire was in a heated match against James and was somehow beating the hockey player pretty badly at his own sport on the game console. Caelan, Carson, and Cameron were rooting for her as Scott decided to be nice and back up his teammate. Danny and Syl had dismissed the kids and their guests to the den, not allowing them to help with cleaning up. Claire knew they were probably having a nice “chat” about her being there.

Claude sat silently in the easy chair that was situated near Claire’s side of the couch. He was watching her movements and interactions with the kids and his teammates and couldn’t help but feel himself falling for her a little more. She was perfect. His perfect woman and he didn’t have the balls to even ask her on a date. She was stunning, no matter what she wore, somehow always managing to look nothing short of gorgeous. She was a total sweetheart that didn’t beat around the bush and cut straight to the point. She was passionate, much like him, about her job and now he could add “amazing with children” to the long list of reasons as to why she was incredible.

“Hey Claude,” Cameron’s voice tore him from his thoughts as he looked at the kid who stood before him with a small smile. “Hey buddy, what’s up?” he replied. “Nothing, you just looked all alone and I wanted to keep you company,” came the eight-year-old’s innocent response. “Aw, thanks Cam,” smiled the ginger, pulling the youngest Briere up onto his lap. The two sat quietly for a little while, both engrossed in the rather intense game between Claire and Reemer.

“I like her Claude, she’s really nice,” piped up Cameron, out of the blue. “I like her too,” the forward murmured before catching himself and adding on, “She’s one of my best friends.” Cam laughed, his big naive eyes lighting up innocently, “I think she should be your girlfriend.” Claude nearly choked on the water he had been drinking, carefully closing the bottle before looking confusedly at the little boy, “What did you say?”

Cam stared at him with a fairly serious look on his sweet young face, “I think she should be your girlfriend.” Claude frowned, “What makes you say that Cam?” A large grin spread across the kid’s face, “’cause she’s awesome! She plays videogames with us and likes hockey and is really pretty and… and she’s really cool! Plus you like her and it would be so cool!” He laughed, ruffling the youngest Briere’s hair, “I’ll think about it, okay buddy?” The little boy nodded, his questions answered for now, sating them until the next time he decided to look into it.

Cameron slipped off of his lap and instead got up to join Claire and his brothers on the couch. Normally in situations such as this, Claude would have laughed and just gone out or something. It weirded him out that he was for some strange reason, hung up on the somehow rather wise advice from an 8-year-old child.

French Translations
Au plaisir d'une journée de paresse, hein?- Looking forward to a day of being lazy, eh?
Ouais, vous êtes l'un de parler Giroux. Dit l'homme qui ne sera pas sortir du lit au moins jusqu'à une heure dans l'après-midi.- Yeah, you're one to talk Giroux. Says the man who won't get out of bed until at least one o'clock in the afternoon.
Qui est ce?- Who is this?
Plaisir- Pleasure
Le plaisir est pour moi- The pleasure is all mine