Chapter Text
Hayden Pike stares at the list he was just given, eyes wide. “This list is longer than the receipt that Jackie and I get from our weekly Costco trip!”
Ilya Rozanov is standing in front of his door right now, holding a puppy in his arms. The puppy is none other than Anya. “Of course, Pike, she is my daughter. You will treat her like a princess.”
“Our daughter,” Ilya’s newlywed husband, Shane Hollander, corrects.
Hayden is only now wondering why he agreed to do this. A few weeks ago, he watched his best friend get married to his long-term boyfriend. It was only recently that the couple announced that they would be going to Spain for their honeymoon. It was only for a week, but they needed someone to watch their dog, Anya. Hayden was told that he was sort of their last option, as everyone else who lived closer to them couldn’t take her in.
“Tell me again why you can’t just drop her off at a dog kennel?”
“Not a dog kennel. Is a doggy hotel,” Ilya states matter-of-factly. “And usually I would drop her off there, but we will be away for longer than usual this time, and I want Anya to feel comfortable in a home. Shane insists you will do that for us, will you not?”
Hayden sneaks a quick look at Shane, who is gesturing dramatically for Hayden to say yes. Sighing, Hayden says, “Of course, I will look after her for you guys.”
A sudden shriek rings through the room. All three men look toward the source of the noise. It was Ruby, one of the twins. She is bolting towards Ilya’s direction when Hayden stops her just in time. “Whoa, kiddo, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Puppy!” she yells excitedly. “Can I hold her?”
Hayden raises a brow at his daughter, knowing he taught her better than that.
“Please can I hold your puppy, Uncle Ilya?”
Ilya chuckles and kneels to where he is eye-level with Ruby. “Yes, but you must be gentle. She is very precious to me, just like you are very precious to your father.”
Ruby giggles in response. “I will be very gentle with her, Uncle ilya!”
Ilya slowly deposits Anya into the little girl’s arms. Hayden stares at their interaction in awe. As much as he strongly dislikes the Russian hockey player, Hayden will admit that Ilya was absolutely amazing with kids, especially his kids.
Ruby is gushing at the puppy, and Hayden is surprised at how gentle she is with Anya, considering she is constantly getting into fights with her twin sister, Jade.
Maybe this won’t be so bad at all. His kids love Anya, and the puppy will only be staying with them for a week. Besides, Hayden Pike has survived with four kids. A puppy is like, what, half a kid? He’s certain he will be fully capable of this simple task.
The three men are still watching intently at the little girl with Anya in her arms when Shane clears his throat. Hayden and Ilya both look at him. “Um, we do have to go soon. Our flight’s in less than 2 hours.”
Ilya looks at him in disbelief. “Montreal airport is only a few minutes away. We can’t stay for five more minutes?”
“Ilya, I am not missing our honeymoon because you decided to stay for another few minutes,” Shane deadpans.
Ilya looks back at Anya again with what looks like tears in his eyes. “But, our puppy, Shane. She will miss us so much.”
Hayden can’t believe that the Ilya he is seeing right now is the same person he plays against on the ice. He also can’t believe that it’s the same person who married his best friend, but there is a lot that Hayden still can’t believe, so he holds his tongue.
“Ilya,” Shane puts a hand on his husband’s shoulder. “It will just be for a week. Besides, Hayden says we can FaceTime whenever we want.”
“Is true? You will allow us to see her whenever we want?”
Shrugging, Hayden says, “Yeah, sure. It shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Fine.”
Shane manages to lead his husband towards the door, ready to leave, when Ilya reminds Hayden that he needs to brush Anya’s teeth at least once a day. “You will also use her doggy shoes when you go on a walk with her. If I come back and see blisters on her paws, kiss your kids and your wife goodbye.”
“Fuck off, Rozanov.”
“Swear jar, Hayden,” Shane smirks, nodding his head towards Ruby, who seems to be paying no mind to the three adults in the room, as she still has Anya in her arms.
“Whatever! Don’t you guys have a flight to catch?”
Glancing at his watch, Shane widens his eyes and tugs on Ilya’s arm. “We really gotta get going, Ilya.”
Hayden is watching the couple in front of him scramble to put their shoes back on. They had taken it off before when they were dropping all of Anya’s supplies at his house. Thinking that they’d only take one trip from the car to his house, Hayden reassured them that they didn’t have to take their shoes off. Shane only glanced at Hayden in sympathy and declared that they would be making more than one trip. Hayden had watched the couple take not just one trip, but five trips from the car to his house.
Once Shane and Ilya have left after they waved their goodbyes, Hayden shuts the door. He now takes another good look at his living room and winces. Now his house looks like a doggy hotel.
A few hours later, Hayden feels like he’s got a hand of things, except when he allowed all of his kids to see the puppy at once. Anya had probably felt nervous with all the kids surrounding her, and she left behind a little accident on the living room rug. Hayden quickly cleaned and discarded the evidence before his wife will return from her yoga session.
By the time Jackie returns home, Hayden has felt pretty winded. She walks into the living room, kissing Hayden on the lips when she finally takes in her surroundings. “Did they drop off ten dogs or something?”
“Nope,” Hayden says. “It’s just one.”
Jackie raises a brow and looks carefully at the living room. “Hayden?”
“Yeah, babe?”
“Where’s our rug?”
“Uh…”
Jackie can only sigh.
The next morning, Hayden is woken up from his slumber when he hears his phone ringing. It’s Saturday, and there shouldn’t be anyone who’s calling him at this time, so he lets his phone continue to ring. Hayden feels himself falling back asleep when his phone rings again. This time, Hayden decides to pick up.
“H’lo?” Hayden grumbles, not happy that he is woken up from his sleep so early in the morning.
“Pike, where is Anya?”
Shit. It’s Rozanov. Hayden sits up a bit after making that realization. “Dude, do you know what time it is here?”
Hayden can hear Shane tell Ilya that they should have waited another hour before calling. “No, it’s fine, guys.” Hayden looks at his clock. It was 5 in the morning. Okay, maybe it isn’t fine.
“Is 10 AM here in Spain. Just wanted to check in on Anya. You said we can call at any time, Pike.”
Okay, fine, Hayden will admit he said that. He just didn’t realize they would actually call him at 5 AM in the morning. “Yeah, starting to regret I said that.”
“Just tell me how our daughter is doing, then you can go back to sleep.”
“She’s doing just fine, Rozanov.”
“Did you brush her teeth last night?”
“Yes.”
“Did you take her for a walk with her doggy shoes?’
“Yes.”
“Did you-”
“Ilya,” Shane chimes in this time. “You can trust Hayden to take care of Anya. Just let him go back to sleep.”
Hayden can almost hear Ilya whine over the phone. He would have made a comment if he isn’t so tired. “Please listen to your husband, Rozanov. I’m going back to sleep.”
“Okay, but next time you will pick up my call the first time, da?”
“Sure, yeah, whatever,” Hayden mumbles tiredly before he turns off his phone, not giving the person on the other end of the line a chance to respond. He sets his head back on the pillow and is dozing off when-
“DADDY! RUBY IS BEING A MEANIE!”
Hayden shoots his eyes open. It is Jade, who looks like she is on the verge of tears.
Great, well that’s a way to start a Saturday morning.
Hayden gets up from bed, ready to deal with whatever the twins are fighting about this time. He doesn’t make it two steps into the bedroom when he steps on something terribly, terribly mushy. Hayden isn’t sure he wants to know what he steps on, but he can’t help but look down, and yep, he really doesn’t want to know if the brown stain on the sole of his feet is anything to go by.
Jade looks at her father in shock before she starts bursting into laughter. Ruby is right behind her when she hears all the commotion.
“Girls-”
“DADDY STEPPED IN DOODOO,” Ruby is full-on giggling. Thankfully, that’s enough for them to forget about whatever fight they were having, and they’re now sprinting towards the living room where they had been playing.
It’s that moment when his lovely wife steps into the room, and she takes a glance at Hayden’s feet, and she can’t help but giggle.
“Jackie!” Hayden whines. He is truly regretting agreeing to watch Rozanov’s little demon.
“Sorry, babe, you’re on your own,” Jackie replies as she heads to the living room, ensuring the twins don’t break out into another fight
“Fucking Rozanov,” Hayden mutters, now hopping on one leg to get to the bathroom to wash his feet. “I’m never agreeing to this again.”
By the middle of the week, Hayden thinks he’s finally got this pet-sitting business down once and for all. Anya hasn’t made another accident since that morning when he stepped foot on her– no, he doesn’t want to think about that again.
Hayden has also proven that he can pick up Rozanov’s calls the first time. The latter has also made an effort to call at a more reasonable time, and Hayden thinks Shane had something to do with that.
Everything is going quite well, Hayden thinks. Maybe he will consider getting a dog for his family in the near future. Even his kids have been surprisingly well-behaved with Anya.
It’s a Wednesday morning when Hayden is waiting by the door for his daily mail to come. He opens the door when he sees the familiar mailman.
“That’s all for today,” the mailman confirms.
Hayden thanks him before closing the door. He’s sorting the mail he just received; they’re all just ads, so Hayden tosses them onto the kitchen counter for his wife, who’s currently at a book club meeting. Jackie usually likes to look through the ads to see what’s on discount.
A few hours later, Hayden’s playing with his youngest daughter, Amber, when the twins pop into the living room.
“Daddy!”
Hayden whips his head around to see Ruby, looking lost. “What’s wrong, honey?”
“I can’t find Anya!”
Hayden doesn’t allow himself to freak out. “What do you mean you can’t find her?”
“We want to play with Anya, but we’ve been looking everywhere, and we can’t find her,” Jade pouts.
Hayden has to put Amber down. Nope. He’s not going to freak out. Yet. “Did you look in the laundry room?”
The last time Anya nearly gave Hayden a heart attack was when they couldn’t find her at night. Eventually, they found that she had followed Jackie into the laundry room and fell asleep on the pile of dirty clothes, paying no mind that she nearly gave Hayden an aneurysm.
“We checked everywhere!”
“Okay, girls, it’s fine. Daddy will look for her.”
Hayden runs from room to room, calling out the dog’s name. By the time Hayden has checked each room, twice, and there’s still no movement from Anya, his heart is beating just a little bit faster than he likes it to. “Anya, girl, where are you?”
His kids are also searching for the puppy, and they can’t seem to find Anya anywhere either. “What if she misses Uncle Shand and Uncle Ilya and she’s trying to look for them?” Ruby suggests.
Hayden’s heart drops. Oh no. That can not be fucking happening. Hayden is frozen in place. His kids don’t notice their father’s panic creeping in, thankfully. “Why don’t you and Jade go to your rooms and play? Daddy will keep looking for her, okay?”
Luckily, Ruby doesn’t argue with him, and she’s walking away when Hayden whips his phone out.
Okay, maybe it’s time to freak out. He dials a number on his phone and waits for the other person on the line to pick up.
“Hello?”
“JJ, I’m in trouble.”
“Good morning to you too.”
“This is no time for jokes, JJ!” Hayden huffs in frustration. “I’m in big shit.”
“Look, if this is about your wife being upset at you for not putting your clothes into the laundry basket, then I can’t-”
“NO! It’s not that!” Hayden hisses.
There’s silence, then JJ responds, “Okay… then what’s the issue?”
“It’s Anya!”
“Rozanov’s dog? Aren’t you pet-sitting her?”
“Yes, and, well…” Hayden takes a deep breath. “I may have lost her.”
“WHAT THE FUCK, HAYDEN?!”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!”
“Rozanov’s going to KILL you.”
“You think I don’t fucking know that?!”
“Then Shane’s going to kill you again after he has to bail Rozanov out of jail.”
Hayden closes his eyes and rubs the bridge of his nose. God, what has he done to deserve this? All he wants is to live peacefully with his wife and kids, and now he may not get that opportunity. Hayden Pike knows he’s utterly fucked. Ilya Rozanov is going to murder him. Hayden briefly contemplates writing a will for Jackie and the kids before he takes his last breath.
JJ must notice the panic that’s rising in Hayden when he quickly responds, “Because I love you man, and I don’t want to see you dead, you want me to come over and help you look?”
Hayden’s nearly on the brink of tears. He’s so, so glad that he has such a great friend and teammate. “Will you, please?”
“Sure, give me 10 minutes, and you owe me a beer,” JJ sighs.
“I’ll buy you 10 beers.”
They hang up after that, and Hayden starts pacing around his house. When he hears a dog bark, he rushes towards the sound, only to be disappointed when he finds out it’s from the TV show that Arthur is watching.
JJ arrives shortly after, and Hayden wants to collapse onto his friend when he sees him.
JJ winces when he steps into the house. It looks like a tornado hit. “You checked everywhere?”
“Yes!” Hayden cries. “I even checked under the couch. TWICE!”
“When’s the last time you saw her?”
Hayden thinks, but he’s drawing a blank. “I think this morning? Maybe, I don’t know? Oh my God, I’m going to die. Rozanov will kill me, and Shane will never talk to me again.”
“Maybe. I mean, you did also out them-”
“JJ!!!! THAT’S NOT HELPING!” Hayden is probably two seconds away from a panic attack. He’s had stressful moments, but never like this. Hayden can’t believe it. He’s a two-time Stanley Cup winner; he’s pushed his body to the limits during playoff season; he’s had four kids with the love of his wife. Hayden thinks he has pushed through all odds. He can not believe that it will be a 30-pound puppy who puts his good luck streak to an end.
Hayden contemplates fleeing the country. He’ll take Jackie and the kids, make a new identity for himself, and live peacefully in maybe the middle of Arkansas. Yeah, that can work. He’s pulled out of his thoughts when he hears his phone ring and looks at the clock. “Shit.”
JJ gives him a look.
“It’s Rozanov,” Hayden gulps. “He’s always calling at this time.”
“Are you going to pick up?”
“He wants to FaceTime!”
JJ throws his hands up. “Good luck with that.”
Hayden takes his phone out and declines the FaceTime request. He immediately sends a call request instead.
“Pike, is everything okay?”
Hayden swallows. Okay, he needs to sound as normal as possible. “Hey, Rozanov! Yeah, everything’s great here! What’s up?”
“You can’t FaceTime right now?”
JJ starts making his way towards the couch, sitting down on it like he owns the place. Hayden wants to throw his friend into the river because if he has to go down, then someone will have to go down with him, and he decides that person will be JJ.
“Oh, um, yeah, sorry,” Hayden clears his throat. “Uh, the camera on my phone broke. Um… during practice, so yeah.”
Shane, being the perceptive little shit that he is, can seem to sense Hayden’s nervousness over the phone because he responds, “Hayden, are you okay?”
“Of course!” Hayden hopes the crack in his voice doesn’t give him away. “How’s your honeymoon so far?”
This time, Ilya replies, “Is great. Shane won’t be able to sit for weeks.”
“Ilya!” Hayden hears Shane hiss at his husband, but he’s so damn nervous he can’t even manage to clown the couple.
“Oh, that’s, uh… wow,” Hayden chuckles, praying that this phone call won’t last any longer than it needs to. “Um, I have to go soon-”
“Let me hear Anya.”
Hayden gulps. “Oh… um….” He can see JJ raise a brow at him, wondering what the hell he was just asked over the phone. Hayden is trying to plead with his eyes, but unfortunately for him, JJ doesn’t seem to get the hint.
“Sorry, Hayden, if you’re busy, we can call back later?” Shane says.
“Oh, no, not at all. Um… let me find her. Give me a second.” Hayden mutes his phone and looks at JJ with wide eyes. “They want to hear Anya!”
JJ starts bursting into laughter.
“It’s NOT funny!”
His teammate is wiping a tear in his eye, and Hayden is ten seconds away from making JJ cry for real. “So? Just bark into the phone. They won’t notice the difference. Probably.”
Now, really, Hayden is about to throw hands at JJ when he realizes that it could work. Oh god. He’s going to bark into the phone, pretending to be a dog. He doesn’t know if it can get any more humiliating than this.
He unmutes the call. Here goes nothing. Hayden tells himself this will buy him some time. He’s about to bark into the phone when he sees JJ pull out his phone to record him. God, he shouldn’t have invited JJ at all. What was he thinking?
“Hello?” Rozanov says, confirming Hayden’s still on the line.
“Um, she’s right here!” Squeezing his eyes shut, here it goes. “Arf!”
JJ has to cover his mouth with his hand so he doesn’t start laughing outright.
“Who’s a good girl? Do you miss us?” Rozanov coos.
“Arf, arf!” Hayden wants to throw up. No, he actually just wants to be left alone and live in a cave for the rest of his life. “Arf!”
“We’ll see you soon, Anya. Just a few more days. Daddy’s got so many gifts for you from Spain!”
“Okay!” Hayden starts. “I gotta run now, guys.”
“Thank you, Hayden,” Shane says nonchalantly, obviously having no clue that his best friend is on the verge of crawling into a hole for the rest of his life. “I knew you were the right person to ask to watch Anya for us. We really appreciate it.”
“Y-Yeah… no problem, guys. Anytime!”
They hang up soon after they say their farewells. When Hayden finally sets his phone down, JJ is howling like a hyena. “Oh my God!” JJ cries, wiping his tear-streaked face. “That video is so going into my favorites album.”
“Can you, for once, be fucking useful! Fuck!” Hayden really wants to strangle his teammate right now. The Montreal Metros can deal with getting another replacement. Actually, they’re going to need to find two replacements once Hayden’s done with JJ.
“Sorry, buddy!” JJ raises his hands in defense. “That was fucking hilarious. You gotta admit.”
“Whatever! Are you going to help me find Anya or what?”
“Where would we even start?”
Hayden thinks hard about the last time he saw Anya. It was before the mailman came over to drop off his mail. His heart suddenly drops lower than it already has, realization settling in. “Oh my God, I think she ran out of the house.”
Hayden doesn’t miss the worried look his friend shares on his face.
“What’s the look on your face for?”
“Uh, you know, just praying for you in my mind?”
“Well, if I die, I’m bringing you with me.”
“Shane will never let you bring me down with you,” JJ pouts.
“Shane won’t, but Rozanov will.”
At the mention of the gremlin himself, JJ scrambles up from the couch. “Fine, fine, let’s start looking outside.”
They end up sending a search party, including Hayden’s children.
An hour is spent outside, desperately calling for a lost puppy to no avail. Hayden sees a sewer and considers jumping into it. It will be better than being murdered by Rozanov, he thinks. They’re almost back home when Hayden sees his wife’s car. She must be back from her book club.
“Hayden, where were you?” Jackie must have seen Hayden and the children coming home through the Ring camera. “And what is JJ doing here?”
“Hi, Jackie!” JJ beams, waving to her. “Your husband’s in trouble.”
“Huh?” Jackie looks confused as ever. “What do you mean? Also, Hayden, I don’t see Anya around. Please tell me you brought her with you.”
“Mommy!” Jade cries, running to Jackie. “Daddy lost Anya!”
Jackie holds Jade in her arms as she looks at Hayden, eyes wide after hearing what her daughter just said. “Hayden, you lost their dog?!”
Hayden thinks his face looks like he’s been caught red-handed because Jackie looks as concerned as ever. “We’ve been searching for almost an hour!”
“Hayden, how can you lose a dog?” Jackie interrogates, clearly frustrated. “No, how can you lose Ilya’s dog. You know how much he loves Anya!”
“Jackie, I didn’t mean to lose her!” Hayden cries. “S-She…”
“Okay, we need to figure something out. Why don’t you all get back inside?”
Hayden feels so incredibly lucky that he managed to marry his level-headed wife. Unfortunately, he also feels terribly ashamed of himself for not watching Anya closely enough and for Jackie herself because she’s one day closer to becoming a widow after Ilya murders him.
“Okay,” Jackie claps her hands together. That means business. “I think we should call Harris.”
“The Centaur’s social media manager?” JJ questions.
“Yes. Ilya adopted Anya from his family, and Shane told me that his family owns a farm with tons of dogs. I’m sure they have experience with this kind of stuff.”
Hayden can only look at his wife with admiration. God, he’d hate to leave her a single mom of four children. “I can call him. I have his number.”
The phone is ringing after Hayden presses Harris’ contact information.
“Hello?”
Harris sounds confused over the phone, which Hayden doesn’t blame him for, because why would a Montreal Metros player be dialing the social media manager for the Ottawa Centaurs? “Hey, is this Harris Drover?”
“That would be me! To whom do I owe the pleasure of speaking with?”
“Harris, it’s me, Hayden Pike from the Montreal Metros.”
“Oh, yes, Hayden Pike! I remember you from the wedding. Is everything alright?”
Here goes nothing. “Well, um, you know how Shane and Ilya asked me to watch their dog?”
“Ah, yes! Anya, of course!” Harris sounds delighted just at the mention of dogs. “How is she doing?”
“She, um, well, was doing great.”
“What do you mean by ‘was’?”
“Well, say you lost one of your dogs,” Hayden gulps. “What would you do?”
There’s silence, then– “YOU LOST ROZANOV’S DOG?!”
Hayden winces and hears some shuffling over the phone. Then, another voice chimes in. “Hey, this is Troy. I’m Ilya’s teammate. Sorry, I couldn’t help but eavesdrop, but from what I just heard, Anya is missing?”
“Yes…”
The couple is clearly having their own conversation over the phone because Hayden can’t quite make out what they’re saying. He’s about to say something when Troy speaks again. “Um, you know Rozanov’s going to kill you, right?”
“TROY!”
“What? I’m just saying…”
“Hayden’s probably freaking the fuck out right now!”
“I would be freaking out too if I were him!”
“You’re not helping!”
“Maybe we can help him escape the country? Don’t you have an uncle who works in the embassy or something?”
“TROY!”
“What–”
“Okay, guys!” Hayden exclaims. “This isn’t helping!”
“Sorry about Troy,” Harris addresses apologetically. “Look, I can only give you advice from here, but you will need to find that dog soon, otherwise…”
“Yes, yes, I know! Otherwise, Ilya will kill me!”
“Yeah… that.” Harris continues, “I would first visit an animal shelter nearby. Maybe check to see if anyone saw Anya and dropped her off. I know Ilya had Anya microchipped, so that should be your first step. Second, start putting up posters. I would refrain from posting anything online in case either Shane or Ilya sees it.”
Hayden wants to thank the Heavens for sending Harris down to Earth. Harris is way too good for this world. “Harris, thank you so much. I seriously appreciate the help.” Hayden makes sure to send a glare at JJ, who shrugs dismissively.
“No problem! And, look, jokes aside, I know it was just an accident,” Harris reassures, tone comforting. “Besides, we know Ilya has Shane now, and if anyone can calm Ilya down, it’s Shane.”
Hayden can only hope Harris is right about that. “Thank you for everything, Harris.”
“Of course, call me soon when you have an update.”
They hang up shortly after that. Jackie clasps her hands once Hayden sets his phone down. “Okay, we got some work to do. Why don’t you two go to the nearest shelter and see if anyone dropped off Anya? I’ll stay here and start working on the posters.”
Hayden wants to scoop his wife up, bridal style, and run off into a different city, with their kids, of course. However, he’s too anxious to start celebrating too early, but he can always appreciate his wife at any given time. Jackie must sense his uneasiness because the next thing he knows is that she is pressing a soft kiss on his lips. “You heard him, dear. This was just an accident.”
Harris and Jackie are right. If all else fails and Hayden doesn’t end up finding Anya, he will have to confess to Ilya and Shande that he lost Anya. Maybe Ilya will understand? Maybe Ilya will pat him on the shoulder, shed a few tears, and Shane will be there for his husband, and they will leave him alone.
But what if he is left alone? Ilya may come back for revenge. He will be sleeping at night, and Ilya will kidnap him, send him to some Russian mafia, and he’ll never see Jackie or his four kids again. Ilya will then come to his house and tell Jackie that it was all just an accident.
Hayden can already picture the headlines: LOCAL HOCKEY PLAYER FOUND DEAD AFTER LOSING RUSSIAN’S BELOVED DOG.
Oh God… that can not happen. He refuses to die like this.
He will find Anya. He must find Anya. Before Shane and Ilya get home. Most importantly, before Rozanov ends his entire bloodline.