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It's approaching the end of warmups when a commotion catches his attention. Shane looks at the jumbotron to see what's happening and sees Irina on it, one of Harris' people standing with her and a microphone, and she's showing off her Hollander-Rozanov jersey to the camera.
Shane stops skating to pay attention, and he wonders where his parents are. His mom wouldn't let Irina be randomly interviewed for the jumbotron.
They know they can't really stop the camera from panning on them during the games they attend, though to be fair Harris has given his team the order to keep it to a minimum. But they do try to shield her away from too much media attention. She's still so young, Shane and Ilya want her to have space to figure herself out away from the public eye.
He sees some other players stopping near him to watch the scene too, and he nods in their direction.
The guy — James, that's the name of the employee responsible for these sort of interviews meant to entertain the public during the games — asks Irina if she's having fun and she is quick to tilt her head towards the microphone he's pointing at her. "Yes, I love hockey!"
"And who are you supporting today?"
Irina rolls her eyes and it looks playful in the same way Ilya usually does it. "Obviously my dads!"
"Do you like watching them play?"
"Yeah, they're so cool," she shows two excited thumbs-up to the camera.
Shane can't help but smile, his chest filling up with pure adoration for his daughter.
"Hollander? Cool?" He hears Dykstra ask out loud, and some teammates snickering. Shane turns to send them a quick glare, not wanting to miss the rest of Irina's impromptu interview.
Shane had been so worried when they adopted Irina. She was already six when they got the call about needing someone to foster her. Shane's first instinct was to freak out about the fact it would be so hard if they took on the challenge at the time, what with his and Ilya's hectic schedule. They would be adopting a fully formed child who would need help to unlearn and relearn so many things from at least one previous home. He always thought they'd adopt a baby and have a couple of more years before having a talking, thought-forming little person in their house.
But then the social worker had explained that they were calling them specifically because the child had some difficulty with English and needed placing urgently.
Her name is Irina. Russian parents are now out of the picture.
Honestly, it was a done deal before they even got to meet her after they heard that.
It's still hard now, with eight-year-old Irina being with them for almost two years now. Shane struggled on the days Irina decided she wasn't going to utter a word in English and speak Russian way too fast for Shane to understand. He struggled when she asked about her real parents, or about Russia and why Ilya had no Russian relatives around, or about why their foundation was named Irina.
It's a tricky situation on top of how hard it is to simply be a parent. Shane worries all the time if she has eaten, if she's having trouble at school, if he's saying the right things, if Ilya and him are doing enough and not fucking her up.
But it got a little better everyday. And luckily, so so luckily, they are actually able to bond over hockey. Irina seems to enjoy the game a lot, and she always wants to be involved. It's one of the things Shane has good footing on, and is able to explore with her without the constant doubt and uncertainty that coat the rest of his parenting moments.
His parents are also doing amazing; which is not surprising, but still pleasant to watch. They've made a habit out of bringing Irina to Ottawa games, and to practice whenever they could. Irina has everyone wrapped around her fingers.
It's nice to see how far they've come as a family, seeing her proudly and happily wearing a jersey with their names. So far from the apprehensive girl they met.
Once the whole arena stops awing and clapping, James asks her "what do you like most about hockey?"
And Irina doesn't skip a beat before answering.
"Violence!"
Shane can feel his face heat up behind his visor as he stares at the jumbotron, shocked at the answer.
The whole arena erupts in loud laughter, as do his teammates. Fuck, where are his parents? He looks around to find someone to get a message out to James to end this sooner rather than later when his gaze comes across Ilya—
Ilya smiling that big, I'm-so-proud-and-love-you-so-much grin that Shane sees so rarely in public, usually only privately aimed at Irina and him. It takes Shane's breath away.
Once the laughter dies out a bit, James says, "Yep, that's Ilya Rozanov's daughter alright."
And Irina beams.
The camera pans back out to the warmup happening on ice.
Shane can't really be mad at her now, can he? His perfect, perfect daughter. His too honest and definitely way too influenced by being raised by an asshole hockey player daughter.
He slowly skates over to Ilya.
"See what you've done?" His reprimand comes out sounding so endearing that he can't even pretend to be mad at Ilya for a second.
"One of my best works." Ilya squeezes his shoulder, still wearing that proud smile.
And Shane can't do anything but agree.