Chapter Text
One Year And Six Months Later
Ilya sat on the couch, scrolling through his phone, fidgeting nervously. Shane was going to come home any minute.
He read through the latest NHL results, checked the trending topics on twitter and answered some emails.
A key turned in the door and his husband made his way over to the couch.
"Sorry it took so long, there was a wreck and I had to take a detour. I did bring you a croissant from the bakery as a peace offering though", Shane said, kissing Ilya on the cheek.
"No need for peace offering. You are here now", Ilya said and pulled him closer for a deep kiss. "Did everything go okay?"
"Yes." Shane said, kissing Ilya again.
"So we have the whole day to ourselves huh?", Ilya whispered and dragged Shane up and towards the bedroom.
"Well not the whole day, I told my parents we'll be at the rink later and also Anya is still here so-" Shane was interupted by Ilya pulling him in to shut him up with a kiss.
"Shanya please", he whined. "Half the day then."
Shane laughed and kissed him again.
"How about we talk later after..", Ilya said and kissed down Shane's neck.
He did not need to be told twice and followed Ilya to their bedroom.
---
The final bell rung and Elena was dragged out the classroom by an overly excited Willow. "Slow down, Wills."
"Nope. No slowing down. You will meet my Papa now!"
They reached the school's parking lot in record time that if it weren't for summer break starting now would definitely mean a warning from their principal, Mr. Polman.
Willow waved excitedly at a black SUV. It looked to clean and new to be their family car. It must've been a rented one.
"Papa!", Willow screamed and opened the driver door. A nice looking man in a dark blue shirt, sunglasses and overall very proper looking got out and pulled Willow into his arms.
"Meine kleine! Man bist du groß geworden!", My little girl, man have you grown!, the man said and kissed Willow all over her face.
"Papa this is Elena, my girlfriend!", Willow announced and pointed at Elena when he finally let her go.
"Nice to meet you Elena. I'm Johann!", Willow's father said and shook Elena's hand.
"Kannst du Elena bei ihren Großeltern rauslassen, die wohnen mehr Richtung Eishockey Arena als wir.", Can you drop Elena of at her grandparent's they live a bit closer to the arena than us,Willow asked her dad.
"Sure thing", Johann replied in english.
---
They arrived at Yuna and David's house. Elena kissed Willow goodbye and gave Johann a high five. For an investment banker he seemed pretty cool. "Thats the Kölner Luft! The air in cologne", Johann said.
Elena left the car, waved Johann and Willow goodbye and entered the Hollander home.
"LENA"
Elena could barely look before an excited six year old threw themselves at her.
"Jamie!", she said, hugging the child.
"I see your sister already welcomed you", David said, looking tired from trying to keep up with the six year old all day.
Jamie was Jameela, Shane and Ilya's former foster daughter and now foster fail. Born to an elderly couple from Pakistan. It went great the first five years. Until the father suffered a heart attack and her mother died of an aneurysm shortly after. Being an only child without any other living relatives it was the best for her to move into a foster home. She was adopted shortly after the the social worker lightly mentioned the option to them.
"Grampy David taught me how to crochet, look!", Jamie said and shoved a wonky looking yellow crochet square in Elena's face.
"Awesome!", Elena said and looked for Yuna.
"She's out for groceries.", David answered the unsaid question. "We totally forgot to get gluten free stuff for Jameela."
"That's okay, she ate enough at breakfast for an entire month anyway", Elena said and lightly patted Jamie's stomach, who giggled.
Yuna came back soon after and greeted her older grandchild. And quickly made Jamie a gluten free pasta meal.
"Should we go to the rink now?", she asked as Jamie was stuffing her face with pasta, no mystery which parent she got that from.
"I wanna go too!", Jamie protested, mouth full of pasta.
"Fine, we'll go after lunch.", Yuna said, quickly wiping Jamie's face.
---
The rink was packed with kids, coaches and parents. It was Elena's final summer recital with her team. She loved skating, but doesn't have the time for it, her last year at school arriving soon.
There would be about an hour before the recital even begins and two more until Elena's number.
"Papa, Dad!", Jamie yelled as soon as she spotted them at the drink stand.
"Ah my Lvyionok! My little lion! Papa missed you so much!", Ilya whined and hoisted Jamie up into his arms. He said her down again and she ran straight into Shane's arms.
"OOOF", Shane huffed "Hi Jamiebug", he said, kissing her forehead, which made her giggle.
"She insisted on coming now. She can't wait to watch her big sister on the ice", Yuna said. "I told her we'd have to sit around for two hours but she wouldn't stay"
Now it was Elena's turn to hug her parents.
Her family being with her for her final skating performance made her more emotional than anticipated.
"Hey"; Ilya said, rubbing her back in comfort. "Do not cry. If you cry I cry too"
Elena let out a wet chuckle. "You'll cry anyway", she mumbled into his shoulder.
"Why are you crying,Lena?", Jamie asked, pulling on Elena's show outfit.
"Because I'm happy Jamiebug", she said and hugged her little sister.
"I'm so proud of you", Shane said, also tearing up.
Elena hugged him next.
"Alright, who wants ice cream?", Ilya announced to break the tension.
"ME!", Jamie said raising her hand.
"Ooh, me too", Yuna said.
So the whole family went to get ice cream.
---
"Auntie Rosie!", Jamie yelled and ran towards Svetlana and Rose who were standing by the ice cream stand. The others got in line to get ice cream.
"JamJAm!", Rose yelled back and hugged her. "I thought you were coming later!"
"No! I wanted to come with Lena!", the six year old explained.
"How is my little kotenok", Sveta said, hoisting Jamie up, "Buddy, you're getting heavy!"
"Or you're getting weaker", Rose teased and kissed Svetlana on the cheek.
"Oh you're being gay again", Ilya said as he walked towards them with two ice cream cones. "Continue, do not let me interrupt"
"What does gay mean?", Jamie asked, fidgeting with Svetlanas, hopefully fake, leopard coat.
"Gay is when you like a boy when you're also a boy or a girl when you're also a girl, like Lena. Or even more simple: What Svetlana and Rose are doing together."
Svetlana glared at him.
"So you and daddy are also gay?", Jamie wondered.
"Your dad is definitely gay", Ilya said and earned a loving smack on the shoulder Shane who just came over. "What did I miss?"
Jamie filled him in immediately.
"Auntie Rose and Auntie Sveta are gay!"
---
"Give it up for a special performance by Elena Hollander-Rozanova! This will be her final performance so give her a big applause!", Coach Sievers announced and cleared the ice for Elena.
The rink darkened.
Elena had a moment to take everything in one last time. The ice, her team mates on the bench. Her coach. Willow.
Her parents, her sister, her grandparents.
She took a deep breath and nodded.
Control by Zoe Wees started playing and Elena skated forward.
---
"Malyshka that was perfect", Ilya kissed her head and hugged her deeply. Shane joined the hug and blinked away a few tears. "We're so proud of you."
"I wanna hug too!", Jamie said, pushing herself into the group hug. "It looked like you were flying, Lena!"
They stayed in that hug for a long time.
Elena didn't want it to stop.
Jamie broke the silence. "Can we go home now?"
"Yes, let's go home."
The End.