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Jamie’s flight was due to take off an hour before Elle had to be on the clock so it made sense that she’d accompany him to YVR. She took him through a lesser known security gate and even got him into the AirCanada VIP lounge to wait. He’d covered his head with a Giants hat and had his collar pulled up. The airport was quiet for the middle of the afternoon and Elle wasn’t at all worried about him being recognized.

She was worried about him getting into trouble. They’d woken up that morning to dozens of texts from team mates about ditching the team for tail. Only half had truly been upset and instead of enjoying their last minutes in bed, Jamie had been making reassuring call after reassuring call to his guys.

Elle had wondered if the price tag was worth the few days they’d gotten.

She’d watched the muscles under his shirt flex as he’d reached for a coffee mug, the phone tucked between an ear and his shoulder, and knew it was worth it. She had an intimate knowledge of his physiology. She’d even noted that he was favoring his right hip.

They’d been thorough in their exploration.

Jamie’s hand tightened around hers and Elle snapped out of her memory. The door was open to the skyway, which meant they’d announce boarding soon. “You don’t have to board and wait. I know you’re flying first class, but you can board last so long as you’re right here.” She gave him a hopeful smile.

“You sure? What if they don’t want to give me special treatment?”

She laughed a little and tucked her head into his shoulder. “That’s not special. Lots of people don’t like to sit and wait.”

He brought both arms up and squeezed her tight. They stayed like that through the first class call, and the sections in economy. When the fifteen minute warning call rang through the gate, he finally loosened his grasp. It was time for him to go back to Texas.

Standing, they both gave each other long looks. For Elle this marked the end of an amazing vacation, even if Jamie hadn’t been there for half of it. And it also marked the beginning gof the next step of their relationship. They’d talked long into the night about the logistics of continuing and had agreed that there was going to be a lot more Skype. And probably a lot more phone sex.

She colored, thinking about how Jamie had leaned close and described all the things he wanted to do to her in the dark of last night. He’d been surprisingly descriptive and she was sort of looking forward to their calls.

The gate attendant shot them a meaningful look and Elle knew it was time. She held him tight, memorizing the smell and feel of him. He inhaled deep, probably doing the same, before brushing a kiss to the crown of her head. “Gotta go.”

She nodded into his chest. “April isn’t so far away.”

When he pulled back, there was almost a glint to his gaze. “It really isn’t. Perhaps there might be a couple of days were both free too. Maybe in about a week and a half.” There was meaning in his words. She calculated the Canucks’ schedule in her head.

“The boys are doing an east coast trip in a week and a half. Is this your way of suggesting I come down and visit?”

He blushed a little but nodded all the same. “I’ve got games but a free day right in the middle of the Canucks’ trip. It might be worth thinking about.” She wondered when he’d found the time to check schedules without her knowing but she was delighted that he’d made the effort.

“It’s definitely worth thinking about.”

A five minute warning sounded on the speakers and she turned him towards the gate. He shot her another look a little wave right as he rounded the bend in the jet way and Elle sighed. She already missed the steady presence of Jamie at her side.

She stood still long enough to watch his plane taxi before heading over to her corner of the airport. She was leading in two flights that afternoon, back to back, and she hoped the constant flow of work would keep her distracted until she was alone in her apartment again later that night.

Any hope of a smooth start to her day was immediately dashed upon the rocks of reality when she hit the Jetz employee room. It was empty except for her boss. Rob glanced up from the newspaper he was reading, expression less than impressed.

“Glad you decided to join us today. And looking so well.”

She coughed plaintively. He glared. Elle sighed, knowing her ‘sick day’ hadn’t been believed. “All right, you got me. Something came up yesterday.” Rob crumpled the newspaper to the table in front of him and she raised her hands. “In my defense, I knew full well that we’d be covered. There was no real need for me to be in for the charter flights. I mean, come on. There was only a dozen players with no transportation needed. How much damage could they cause?”

Rob was shaking his head as he stood and Elle had a feeling this was bad. “Considering three Swedes wandered over to the International Terminal to hit up the duty free and almost got themselves deported, I’d say a fair amount could happen.”

Her jaw dropped. It was a long and convoluted path through back hallways to get to International here without clearing security again. “How the fuck did they make it through the locked doors? They don’t have key cards.”

“Well,” he drew out the syllables, crossing his arms. “They sweet talked their way through, name dropping you. I had to let two baggage handlers go last night.”

Elle grimaced and she looked down. She had the feeling she knew exactly who had been fired; she’d always maintained a good relationship with baggage and there were a few guys from her time in the salt mine that she treated better. In exchange they’d been instrumental in keeping her charters running smoothly. She felt really bad for the guys, but honestly, they would have to break about seven rules to get players over there.

“Who were the players?” She’d make a note to talk to them.

Rob was shaking his head again. “It doesn’t matter. What does matter is the reputation of this charter company. The whole reason you’re here, the whole reason you have a job at all, is to prevent this sort of thing from happening. If this stuff is still happening, you don’t have a job.”

Elle blanched because she’d never expected to have her livelihood threatened by taking a day off. Maybe if she had really been deathly ill Rob wouldn’t be looking at her like he was now. But she’d played hooky, they both knew it, and things had gone awry. Elle hung her head, both hands coming to rest on the back of a chair.

The price tag for her two days of bliss was climbing higher.

“It won’t happen again.” She could at least put a little bit of confidence into her voice, sounding far braver than she actually felt.

Rob headed for the door. He shot back, “It better not,” before he left her to her thoughts.

This was absolutely not okay. Jetz was her dream job. She loved it here; she loved this city and her team. She liked the paycheck and the life style it afforded. She couldn’t even comprehend giving that up, not even for Jamie. At least not at that point in their relationship.

As she stashed her stuff for the afternoon she thought about the airports in Dallas. There wasn’t a Jetz branch but she had some contacts at Delta. If things continued to go well with Jamie, she could probably transfer down there. Probably. The Stars had an in-house guy who did her job with the team so that wouldn’t work, but more private charters? She could do that anywhere.

Me: Just got dressed down by the boss. I guess I didn’t look as sick as I had hoped this morning, lol.

Her text was supposed to sound flippant. She turned her phone off before Jamie would have ever gotten it with the in-flight wifi and headed out to do her job.

-------

Vernon Fiddler was, in general, one of the more laid back guys Jamie had had the privilege of playing with over the years. By the time they’d ended up on the same team, Fids was the older, mature voice of reason. Never out past midnight and always, always, at every skate.

When Jamie opened the door to his house, exhausted mentally from his days in Van City as well as the flight, he was not expecting the almost-enraged version of Fids he found in his living room.

Jamie froze in the hall as Fids jumped up from the couch. “What the actually fuck, Benny? You can’t just take off for a few days in the middle of the season. You’re the captain. For fuck’s sake. What the hell are you thinking?!”

He took a step back, absolutely not expecting this vitriol. “Hey, I missed one practice-“

“You can’t miss any. Ever. Unless you’re infectious. Come on, this isn’t rocket science, Benny-“

He cut Fids off before the attack could continue, “Seriously, relax. It was an optional practice; we don’t even have a game for days. Both you and Jordie were there if there was an issue. I don’t understand-“

Speaking of his older brother, Jordie’s voice popped up from the dining room entry way. Jamie hadn’t even realized Fids was with Jordie. “Chubs, come on. This is ridiculous.” Jamie hung his head and dropped his bag to the floor. He felt like he needed a drink. The pair of them combined, an unavoidable wall of responsibility staring him down on his expensive Persian rug.

After five minutes, the pair of them playing off each other’s indignation and irritation, Jamie finally held up his hands. They stopped immediately. “First off, I’m sorry. I should have at least warned you guys. That was my bad. But you guys. I had to go. I just had to. Jordie, you know how my weekend went. I couldn’t-“

Jordie cut him off with a wave of his hand. “You don’t get to ditch your team, your job, to get laid. That’s how people end up in the SPHL, bro.”

Jamie could see there was no talking to either of them right now. “You’re right. Absolutely. I’m sorry. I’ve learned my lesson. Now, would you guys leave so I can take a shower? I’ve got plane funk on me.”

Fids pursed his lips but left without comment. His side eye was vicious though and Jamie sighed. He was lucky to have an Assistant that was so dedicated, but fuck. This wasn’t that big of a deal.

Jordie was also giving him a heavy look. When his brother sighed, Jamie did the same. He knew that sound. Jordie still had some thoughts and wanted to share. Jamie raised an eyebrow. “Say it.”

“Was she worth it? Was she worth possibly fucking your career over?”

“You’re being dramatic, Jordie.”

“You didn’t have to toil through the system. You don’t know-,“ he cut himself off and took a deep breath. “I’m just saying. This could be a really fucking slippery slope little brother and you gotta think about whether it was worth it. You can’t hop back and forth. All in with the team or hand that shiny “C” over to someone who will be here when we need them.”

Jamie could give him that point, he supposed. This couldn’t become a habit. As much as he wanted to spend time with Elle, basically all of his time, he still couldn’t imagine not being where he was professionally. “It was worth one time. We’ll figure something else out. I don’t have to pick one or the other. Plenty of guys have relationships.” Jamie thought he sounded just a touch too whiny for his pleasure.

Jordie’s expression was thoughtful and he gave Jamie a quick nod. “They do. But they also make sacrifices. A lot of sacrifices. You and that girl need to work on that but until you get it figured, your job can’t take second place.”

Jamie almost wanted to punch Jordie. His team would never truly take second place, not ever. He was more dedicated to leading the Stars than he was to anything else. Even Elle. Perhaps sensing his growing disgruntlement, Jordie shook his head again and left him in peace. As the front door slammed shut, Jamie realized he should have at least asked if management had found out, just to prep himself for practice in the morning.

There was nothing to be done about it then, so he shuffled his suitcase to the laundry room and set about getting his life back together for the second half of the season.

-------

Me: Today was awful. Even worse when I knew you wouldn’t be at my place when I got there.

Jamie: Yeah.

Jamie: I had a not so excellent conversation with Jordie and Fids.

Me: This fucking blows.

Jamie: lol for sure.

Me: At least my bed still smells like you.

Jamie: God, don’t say that. I washed all my clothes so I don’t have anything that still smells like you.

Me: Check your outer pocket. I left you a present.

Jamie: Oh my god. How did you sneak that shirt in there?

Me: I have my ways. And now you have to figure out how to get it back to me.

Jamie: There’s a flight out of Vancouver on the 12th, during your off week.

Jamie: I’ll buy the ticket tonight if you know you can make it.

Me: That’s so tempting. You have no idea.

Jamie: I think I have a pretty good idea.

Jamie: I gotta hit the sack now tho. Early practice.

Me: I’m going to miss sleeping next ot you.

Jamie: Yeah. For sure. You can cuddle with the pillow I was using.

Me: Already am.

Me: Night Jamie.

Notes

So so sorry about the lack of updates. I can't believe it's been almost a month. School started. And I moved, lol. Its been a stupidly busy September, but it's all evened out now.