Chapter Text
Henry Turner, Ph.D was a Oxford graduate, the head of La Petite Académie, and blissfully unaware of how badly his day would end when he woke up that morning. His first hint of trouble was when Mrs. Leroux marched into his office, holding the arm of Emi Hollander-Rozanov. The four year old reminded the man so much of her father back when he had been a student; from her quizzical brown eyes framed in dark lashes, to her stoic and analyzing expression. Not a day went by that Emi did not have a brightly colored ribbon tied into her braid, and a sparkly bracelet on her left wrist.
Before properly girding his loins, Henry called Emi’s dads’ in for a meeting to get to the bottom of the disagreement between the little girl and her teacher. In the moment it was a lot of back and forth, with no resolution clear before them.
Shane Hollander-Rozanov was not a man to trifle with, and his daughter’s kindergarten teacher had done just that. Ilya had to jog to keep up with his husband’s enraged speed-walk down the halls of the painfully expensive private school that their children attended. In one hand was a folder full of evidence of every reason his daughter’s teacher should be terminated and black listed from any facility that tried to boast “an open minded and welcoming environment for all families”.
When the door to Dr. Turner’s office opened, Shane took a quick scan of the room to find his little girl sitting in a leather armchair, kicking her feet back and forth and humming a Russian children’s song to herself. Meanwhile on the other side of Dr. Turner’s desk stood Shane’s current greatest enemy, something should have scared Mrs. Leroux much more than it did.
Emi beamed. “Bonjour papa!” Then Ilya stepped into the room behind Shane and Emi’s gaze moved to him. “Привет, папочка.”
Ilya smiled warmly and went to stand beside his little girl, smoothing her hair. “Привет, малыш.”
“Mr. Hollander, Mr. Rozanov.” Dr. Turner greeted as he stood up from his desk. “Thank you for coming in on such short notice, please, have a seat.”
“It was no trouble.” Shane lied as he took a seat nearest Mrs. Leroux, feeling the need to stand guard between the woman and his daughter. In reality Shane and Ilya had been in the middle of a team meeting when the call came in, and they were far from finished. The season was just beginning and there were a lot of kinks to work out before they traveled for their first game against New York. If Ilya Rozanov hated anything, it was losing to Scott Hunter.
“Was some trouble.” Ilya corrected as he sat between Shane and Emi. “We are important, busy men. What is the meaning of this?”
Dr. Turner opened his mouth to explain the situation as he understood it, but Mrs. Leroux beat him to it.
“Emi is disobedient in class.” She huffed, Dr. Turner’s eyes widened in fear. “She refuses to follow simple instructions for assignments and brings confusion to the classroom.” Mrs. Leroux’s nose was so high in the air that Ilya wondered if she was trying to sniff the ceiling, her arms crossed over her this chest and her ugly sweater making her look like those weird thief creatures he saw in the Star Wars movie.
“That is a lot for one little girl to do before eleven in the morning.” Ilya sighed, already knowing that this was all going to end badly; Shane had a personal vendette against Mrs. Leroux and the way she was talking about Emi wasn’t helping.
Shane glared at Mrs. Leroux for a moment before he turned to his daughter, “Emi, what was the assignment?”
Before the little girl could even open her mouth, Mrs. Leroux started talking. “It was very simple. I asked each child to draw—”
Shane turned to his current number one enemy and interrupted her. The way his head turned reminded Ilya of a horror movie they had convinced Jackie and Hayden to watch last halloween.
“I was speaking to my daughter,” Shane looked back to Emi. “Honey?”
With the poise of a girl twice her age, Emi sat up a little straighter in her chair. “Mrs. Leroux asked us to draw a family portrait.”
“Did you draw the picture, зайчик?” Ilya asked.
Emi nodded enthusiastically. “I did. I drew us at the cottage; Luke and Logan, Nikolai, Daddy, Papa. I even drew Sidney and Gretzky.”
Ilya’s brow furrowed. “What about Gordie?”
The little girl suddenly looked perplexed by the question. “Gordie is an indoor cat Papa, we were standing outside.”
Ilya turned to Dr. Turner and Mrs. Leroux. “She even drew the dogs!” he threw his hands up, still not seeing why Mrs. Leroux had an issue with his daughter.
The answer came quickly and left the fathers in stunned silence.
Mrs. Leroux crossed her arms over her chest in a pout. “She failed to include her mother.”
Emi pipped up, a crease having quickly formed between her brows. “I don’t have a mother. I have my Lucy.”
Mrs. Leroux scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Everyone has a mother, Emi.”
“Enough.” Shane’s tone was deadly calm. “Emi, why don’t you go wait for us in the hall? I’d like to have an adult conversation.”
Easily recognizing her Daddy’s “unhappy” voice, Emi’s eyes widened as she looked for reassurance from her Papa. It was incredibly rare that Shane used that particular tone in front of his children, so when he did, it left them stunned. Without a word, Ilya nodded towards the door, Emi wasted no time in scurrying from the room.
Shane turned back to Mrs. Leroux, he slowly stood, ignoring Ilya’s attempts to pull him back into his chair.
“Mrs. Leroux, are you familiar with the concept of same sex marriage?”
He didn’t give her time to answer.
“Because I think you are confused. Our children have two fathers. No mothers. Three of our children are lucky enough to have the women in their lives who gave birth to them, women who are kind and generous and loving. Women who adore them, who gave them life. For Emi, that woman is Lucy. They have a beautiful relationship that Ilya and I are very proud to nurture and encourage. Emi has two fathers, a wonderful female influence in Lucy, she has an adoring and present grandmother, as well as doting adopted aunts. She has no lack of female influence and relationship.”
At this point the color had drained from Dr. Turner’s face while Ilya just sat back and sighed, knowing better than to stop his husband, and Mrs. Leroux was reduced to a red faced creature that vibrated with indignation.
“Everyone was given birth to. But no, not everyone has a mother, and I’d appreciate it if you did not pick a fight with my four year old over the matter.” Shane looked to Dr. Turner. “If I am called back down here, or Emi mentions a single instance of any of her teachers being homophobic again, I will withdraw all four of our children effective immediately.” With that Shane turned on his heel and marched from the office.
Ilya sighed, slowly stood and unnecessarily brushed imaginary dust from his sleeve. “Please do not make the same mistake twice, Dr. Turner.” He made eye contact with the shocked educator. “Today was Shane… Next time, I’ll make sure Yuna comes to have a conversation.”
—
Four years ago…
Shane’s knee bounced up and down under the table enough to annoy Ilya. The Russian sighed and placed a hand over his husband’s knee in a fruitless attempt to calm his overflowing anxiety.
“I feel like I’m on a first date.” Shane griped.
Ilya shrugged, still looking over the menu. “Sort of are.”
Shane glared at his husband. “I stopped trying to date women in 2017.”
“Relax. Is not real date. We are just meeting woman who we might try to impregnate.”
To no ones surprise, that summary of events was even worse than the reality.
Nikolai was at home with Yuna today, giving Shane and Ilya the afternoon free to meet with a woman they were matched with through their fertility clinic.
They were told it was a little uncommon, but Shane and Ilya weren’t common men, so they felt no shame in inviting Lucy to lunch before officially agreeing to the match. She would be the biological mother of their child after all, they figured lunch wasn’t a big deal. Luckily she had enthusiastically agreed.
Neither of them were sure what caused them to look up when the door of the small bistro opened, plenty of people had come in and out since they arrived and they paid no mind. But they looked when she walked in. They had no real way of knowing it was her, and yet they recognized her immediately.
Average height, with a feminine build, long, light brown hair and soft hazel eyes. She was dressed in a light sweater and fitted jeans, her purse slung over one shoulder. She was beautiful in a girl-next-door, approachable sort of way. Blissfully unaware of the men watching her in awe, she smiled kindly at the hostess and was directed to their table.
“Shane? Ilya?” Her voice was warm and kind, she sounded like a mom. Shane stood and pulled out her chair for her.
“Lucy, it’s nice to meet you.” His anxiety started to ebb in her presence, like she was a walking Xanax.
She took a seat and smiled at the men. “Thanks for inviting me, I can’t tell you how nervous I’ve been.”
“You’re nervous too? Shane changed his shirt four times.” Ilya chuckled, earning a kick under the table from Shane.
Lucy laughed softly, not at Shane but at the situation. “Then I think we can all relax a bit now, if we’re all a little nervous then we’re all taking this seriously.” The waitress arrived then, giving them a natural break from conversation while they placed their orders.
Once they were alone again, Lucy looked expectantly from Shane to Ilya. “I’m sure you both have questions for me.”
“Why do you want to have our child?” Ilya asked without any hesitation. Shane groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose; they had talked at length about their questions for today, and Shane thought they had agreed to start with something easier.
Lucy didn’t flinch. “I’m a mother already to a beautiful little boy, his name is Jack.” She pulled out her phone and showed them her background. Lucy was in a park, and on her hip was a boy no older than three, with her eyes and bright smile. There were features of his father there too, his blonde hair and nose, but the way he wrapped his arms around his mother’s neck made it clear he loved her. “My husband was sick as a child, making it impossible for us to conceive naturally. So Jack was conceived via IUI.” Lucy paused and took a deep breath before continuing on. “We were in the process of preparing for our second child when Nathan died. Car accident. It was early on, but I had already started the medications and shots to prepare. It felt like a waste to just… stop.” Lucy sighed. “My dreams of a second child died with my husband. I’m very happy to have Jack. But I figured it a waste to not try and help another couple.”
Shane wiped a rogue tear that had the audacity to fall from his eyes. “You’re sure you’re ready for such a big change in your life?”
Lucy nodded. “Yes. Jack understands I’m having a baby for another couple. He is excited regardless. He is so smart.” She beamed with pride. “I’d be happy to help you grow your family, if you feel we’re a good match.”
After that lunch, Shane and Ilya couldn’t have imagined anyone other than Lucy.
Shane and Ilya weren’t in Ottowa when Lucy went into labor three weeks early. It was the day before the Stanley Cup finals in LA. Scared of Lucy giving birth without anyone at her side, Shane and Ilya started to make calls.
David was traveling on business. Yuna was in LA with Nikolai.
Hayden and Jackie had taken the kids to Disney World after the Metros didn’t make it into the post season.
The entirety of the Centaurs and their spouses were in LA.
Ilya was five minutes from booking a flight home “fuck the cup, my baby is coming!” he had shouted in the hotel conference room, surrounded by the team during lunch, as Shane ignored his husband’s spiral and kept his focus on solving the problem at hand.
“We should have expected her early. She is Russian, we are stubborn. We do things when we want, not when doctor tells us!” Ilya ranted as he paced.
Bood leaned over to Shane. “I thought you were the bio-dad?”
Shane rolled his eyes. “I am.”
“Doesn’t matter!” Ilya insisted, having heard what Bood said. “I love her so much, I make her Russian!”
It was then that Shane fully accepted that his husband had lost it.
When things seemed helpless, everything fell into place in an instant.
Emi Irina Hollander-Rozanov was born twenty three minutes after the Centaurs won the Stanley Cup. Shane and Ilya traveled home the second they were done with press; going straight from the rink, to the airport, to the hospital.
It was through a lot of luck that Scott and Kip were able to make it to Ottowa in time. It was convenient that their son was already spending the weekend with his grandparents, and that one of the major benefactors at MoMA (where Kip was the curator) had a private jet and owed him a favor.
Shane and Ilya crept into the softly light hospital room just before seven in the morning, finding Lucy asleep in the bed with Kip at her side. Scott was dozing on a plastic looking couch along the wall and there, at the foot of the bed, was a bassinet.
No one said a word as Shane and Ilya approached their daughter; she was swaddled in a pink blanket. She slept soundly, blissfully unaware of the emotion in the room.
“She’s been waiting to meet you.” Lucy’s sleep heavy voice whispered. “They offered to give us separate rooms, but I didn’t want to leave her before you got here.”
Ilya went to Lucy’s side and wrapped her in a hug, a year of anticipation finally crashing down and leaving him relieved but almost as tired as her. Ilya kissed the top of Lucy’s head. “She is perfect. You are incredible.”
“If someone had told me three days ago that I’d be holding a knee while a Hollander-Rozanov was born, I would have laughed in their face.” Scott groaned as he stretched.
"Someday when she is accepting award as best PWHL player of all time, you can feel pride." Ilya sighed as he adjusted Lucy's pillow.
Shane scooped up his daughter. “We can’t thank you enough.” He said looking down at his daughter. She was perfect, little cherub face with dark lashes and a thick swatch of black hair on her head. At first glance Emi was all Shane, but there were subtle features she shared with Lucy.
Ilya came to Shane’s side, reaching out to stroke their daughter’s cheek. For a long moment they were lost in her face, amazed at their child.