Chapter Text
It was a slightly cold morning as Shane made his way to the Montreal Biodome, Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 playing softly through the car’s speakers. A car suddenly changed lanes in front of him without signalling and Shane had to quickly slow down to prevent rear-ending them. He glanced back at the car seat mirror but two year old Arthur Pike hadn't even noticed the change, his gaze focused on the cars driving beside them.
His plans for Thursday had been different from what they currently were but when Hayden had mentioned taking Jackie to her postpartum check-up and Arthur throwing a tantrum because he did not want to stay home with anyone but them—Jackie’s sister was visiting and was going to babysit—he’d surprised even himself when he offered to take him for the day.
After his injury knocked him out for the season, his parents had spirited him away to their home in Ottawa to rest and after that he’d spent two weeks with Ilya at the Cottage and a lot of August fulfilling brand deals.
His first meeting with Amber had been via video call in June.
He’d also missed Arthur’s second birthday.
“Really? Aren’t you spending this week preparing for training camp?”
He was. Training camp wasn’t mandatory for veterans in the first days but as Captain, Shane liked having first-hand information on the rookies’ abilities. It helped him know where to focus during practice. But he could take one day off without it messing up his schedule.
“Yes but I can take the day,” Shane assured as he sat down at his dining table with his breakfast of greek yogurt, oats and fruits. “How long will you guys be out for?”
Hayden hummed in the way that suggested a person was trying to remember information they already ought to know. “Maybe until like 2 or 3? The appointment is in the morning but we’re doing either brunch or lunch afterwards. Then I’ll relieve Juliette and she and Jackie can go have a sister date.”
Shane frowned at his breakfast bowl as he thought through the information. “What time is the appointment?”
“10. So we’d get him to you by 9, just in time for his mid-morning snack.”
Six hours. What was he going to do with a toddler for six hours? The last time he’d babysat for the Pikes, Hayden and Jackie had been gone for three hours for a date night. And he had to feed him too? Oh no, did he even remember how to change a diaper?
A laugh echoed through the phone. “Buddy. I can already tell you’re panicking. He has his lunch at noon then afterwards he naps from one till three. You’ll have to entertain him for four hours.” Okay, four hours was manageable. “But before we get ahead of ourselves, I’ll need to ask him. If he refuses, Jackie and I are probably going to have to take him with us.”
The conversation had ended there but ten minutes later, Shane received a text.
Hayden: All good to go. Most excited he’s been all week actually. The girls are jealous, they also want a special date with their Uncle Shane
Shane: Ha. I’ll see what I can do
Hayden: I’m sending a list of what Arthur usually eats. Lucky for you, your bird food diet has everything
Shane: It’s a macrobiotic diet recommended by nutritionists for athletes
Hayden: Sure buddy
Shane was deciding Arthur’s meals from the list Hayden shared: mid-morning snack, lunch and possibly an afternoon snack—maybe he’d just ask Arthur, the two-year had been picky recently according to Hayden and Shane wasn’t sure he was capable of handling a tantrum—when his phone rang.
“Ilya,” Shane breathed into the phone. He could feel himself smiling. “Hey. How’s Boston?”
“Solnyshko,” Ilya whined through the phone, “I miss you.”
Shane felt his cheeks widen. “I miss you too.” He glanced down at his list of food options and pushed it to the side. “What are you doing?”
Ilya sighed. “Unpacking. Preparing for camp. Is boring stuff, so you would probably enjoy it. What about you? Are you organising your spices alphabetically?”
“Wow, asshole,” Shane laughed, his heart fluttering. “Alphabetically? Big word and no, my spices are already organised alphabetically thank you very much—” He heard Ilya giggle on the other end, “—but I’m trying to figure out what to cook for Arthur.”
“Who is Arthur and why are you cooking for him?” Shane wasn’t sure if Ilya’s indignation was real or not but then Ilya teased, “Hollander, are you looking for a third?”
“Fuck off.”
Ilya started cackling.
Shane rolled his eyes. “Arthur as in Arthur Pike. I’m looking after him—”
Ilya interrupted. “Has Pike realised he has too many kids and is now getting rid of them? Shane, you are father now, yes? Does that make me a stepdad?”
“No, you dick.” Shane had no idea how Ilya came up with such things. “Hayden’s going with Jackie for her checkup. Jackie’s sister is babysitting but Arthur threw a tantrum. He didn't want to stay with anyone but his parents. Lucky for Hayden, I’m one of Arthur’s favourite people. He'll be here tomorrow for like six hours.”
“What are you going to do with him?”
Shane sighed up and glanced to his ceiling. “I don’t know. I was thinking of a movie or something.”
“For six hours?” Ilya’s incredulous tone made him roll his eyes.
“I guess we’ll play for some time but Arthur prefers to play alone. Whenever I’m babysitting, he’ll sit next to me and play with his blocks but he hates it if I mess with them.” Shane had done that once and never did it again. Besides, he understood Arthur’s irritation. When coming up with hockey strategies or formations, he had to bite back a scathing remark when someone erased his ideas on the whiteboard.
“Go outside. Like the park,” Ilya suggested with the confidence of one well-knowing of childcare. “Or the zoo. My niece loved visiting the zoo in Russia.”
Shane paused, already thinking of how a zoo could cut out some hours. Most of the zoos in Montreal were thirty or more minutes away and if they were to go in the morning hours, there’d be less people, especially since it would be a weekday. “That’s actually a good idea.”
“Yes I am full of those,” Ilya bragged. “You should listen to me more.”
Shane had to roll his eyes at that but it was done with more fondness. “Your bear tattoo was one of those good ideas?”
Ilya sniffed. “Of course it was a good idea. For my country. And also my team.”
They’d said their goodbyes after that and Shane immediately booked his ticket and Arthur’s free ticket for the Montreal Biodome. When Hayden had dropped Arthur off the next morning, Shane was prepared and after a quick snack, they were off.
Assured that Arthur was okay, Shane’s attention shifted back to the road.
Ten minutes later, Shane lifted Arthur into his arms and locked the car doors. He hesitated on whether or not to carry the diaper bag but decided against it. He had three hours before Arthur would need a change and they’d be done long before that.
“Are you excited Arthur? We’ll get to see animals.” Shane pointed to the entrance of the museum.
Arthur wrapped his arms around Shane’s neck and settled his face against it. Aside from telling Shane ‘hello’ and his father ‘goodbye’, he hadn’t said anything else. Shane knew Arthur was quiet and rarely spoke but his non-reaction at a possibly fun activity had him near panicking that he’d made a mistake.
Slightly shifting the toddler into a more comfortable position, Shane took a deep breath. They were already here. He’d walk around, point out the various animals and if Arthur hated the experience, they could simply leave and go to the park.
“Okay,” Shane soothed and ran a hand up Arthur’s back. “We’re going in and if you don’t like it, we can leave. Is that okay?”
It took some seconds but Arthur’s little head nodded in agreement.
They went in.
As Shane had hoped, the museum was near empty. He could see three other people walking around and one of them was pushing a stroller. He started walking towards one of the enclosures. There had been the option of a guided tour but the thought of making small conversation with the guide in between ecosystems was nauseating. Plus, he hoped he wouldn’t be recognised.
Shane patted Arthur’s back and the toddler raised his head. Immediately, Arthur’s eyes went round. He turned his head around and his mouth dropped into an ‘o’ shape, surprised at all he could see. He kicked his little legs and Shane leaned down and placed him on the ground.
“You have to stay close to me the whole time, okay?” Shane insisted. He couldn’t imagine how he would explain losing their child to Hayden and Jackie. “Or hold my hand.”
Arthur’s hand reached up and grabbed onto two of his fingers. Shane had to slouch a bit to maintain the grip but it was fine. Arthur tugged on his hand and Shane smiled as he followed his godson.
They did a small walkthrough of the Sub-Antarctic Islands and Shane sent Hayden a photo of Arthur looking at the penguins. The puffins in the Labrador Coast held his attention for some time. Arthur got tired of walking midway through the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Shane carried him through the remainder of that ecosystem and all throughout the Laurentian Maple Forest.
They were starting the Tropical Rainforest ecosystem, Arthur’s fingers rhythmically tapping against Shane’s shoulder when Arthur’s tapping turned into slapping and the toddler uttered out loud, “Uncle Shane.” And pointed at one of the animals.
Shane blinked at his godson. The last time he’d spent time with the Pike kids, Arthur was calling him ‘Unca Shay’. When did he get better at talking? Embarrassingly, Shane felt tears prickle his eyes. He ran a hand through his brown hair and when Arthur turned to look at him, ran a finger down his plump cheek. Blue eyes stared into his and Shane felt something in his chest squeeze.
Leaning forward, he placed a small kiss against Arthur’s forehead. He loved him. So much.
A hit to his shoulder. “Uncle Shane.” Arthur actually sounded mad this time. “What’s that?”
Shane followed the pointed finger and walked towards the enclosure. Arthur twisted in his hold but Shane didn’t put him down, he had him sit on his arm and rest his back against his chest, legs dangling in front of him.
“They look like alligators,” Shane said.
“They’re caimans,” a voice said behind him. The person moved to stand next to him and Shane recognised that they were a member of the staff, their uniform as evidence. “They’re relatives of alligators.”
Shane’s chest gave a flighty twinge but when the staffer only smiled at him, no recognition in her eyes, he settled.
“Did you hear that Arthur?” Shane bounced the kid but Arthur’s focus was entirely on the caimans.
Shane and the staffer shared a glance, both of them smiling.
“You know,” she started, using a tone kids tend to respond to. “Caimans are like the younger cousins of alligators. Do you have any cousins?”
Arthur nodded, quickly looking at her before looking back at the enclosure.
“He has an older cousin,” Shane offered.
She smiled. “Great! Fun fact, alligators have two groups; true alligators and caimans. So your cousin would be a true alligator and you—” Arthur turned his attention to her at this. “—would be a caiman. Same family but different groups.”
“Me?” Arthur asked, looking a bit confused.
The lady nodded. “Yep. Another fun fact is that caimans and alligators grow slower than crocodiles. So they live longer.”
Shane stared as Arthur’s eyes went wide, his gaze moving from the staffer to the dozing caimans. There was something so profound about watching a child discover something. The way they went quiet as they absorbed the information. How happy they got when they understood what was being explained to them. He felt his heart grow witnessing Arthur’s excitement.
Arthur started pushing outwards and Shane adjusted to have him standing in his arms, his gaze blocked by the back of Arthur’s head.
The three of them stood there in silence, Arthur watching the caimans and the two adults watching him.
“What do they eat?” Arthur quietly asked. Shane was so proud that he felt brave enough to ask and slightly squeezed the tiny form.
“Well, they’re carnivores, which means they eat meat. And because they live in rivers and swamps, they are better at swimming in the water than walking on the land. So a lot of their food is fish. They quietly swim up to a fish, open their mouths really wide—” Her hands came together to form a ‘V’ shape. “—and then CHOMP! They swallow the fish.” Her hands clapped together when she exclaimed and Arthur laughed at the theatrics.
“Chomp. Chomp. Chomp,” the kid started repeating to himself.
Shane mouthed a ‘thank you’ at her and she waved it away before leaving to talk to other guests.
“Want to go see other animals?” Shane asked, five minutes after the lady left.
Arthur shook his head. “No, Uncle Shane.”
So they stayed there, Shane’s arms beginning to burn from the strain but he continued to hold Arthur as he watched the caimans. Another twenty minutes passed and Shane had to call it.
“Sorry Arthur but we need to go now.”
Arthur turned and pouted. “But Uncle Shane—”
Tears were beginning to form in his eyes and Shane panicked. “You can always come back. Don’t you want to show your sisters the alligators?”
Arthur’s bottom lip continued to tremble but he nodded. “And daddy and mommy.”
Shane nodded. “And your parents too. But it’s almost lunch time and I need to feed you.” His hand came up and sharply dug into his side, before throwing him over his shoulder. Arthur shrieked in laughter. “So no tears, okay? Let’s see if we can buy something from the gift shop.”
The gift shop was stocked with the usual hats, t-shirts and keychains but Arthur spotted the stuffed alligators—small, long and green— and immediately asked if he could get one.
“Of course. Let’s see what we can get your sisters.”
In one arm, Shane held Arthur who held a stuffed alligator while the other arm chose a stuffed beaver, penguin and monkey which one of the attendants thankfully carried over to the counter. He continued to walk around, seeing if they had any bear memorabilia he could get for Ilya, and decided to update Hayden on the toys he was buying. For some reason related to Arthur never picking out toys, he said to get two more stuffed alligators, so Shane motioned to the attendant, pointed at the alligator and mouthed for two more. Seemingly a request they were familiar with, the attendant nodded, took two more to the counter that the cashier scanned then packed.
With nothing else of interest in the shop, Shane went to checkout. The cashier nodded to the already packed toys and started scanning the ones he’d picked for the girls.
“Can I scan that really fast?” they asked Arthur.
The boy seemed to think about it before handing the toy over. The cashier scanned it then handed it back. “What’s its name?”
The three toys were packed on top of the extra alligators and Shane paid before Arthur seemingly came up with a name.
“Chompy,” Arthur said and pet the green doll. “His name is Chompy.”
The bookstore was a last minute change of plans.
He’d planned on purchasing a new hockey related book during the weekend while grocery shopping, but it was on the way home and Arthur’s good mood made it safe to make one more stop.
While at the counter paying for the book, Shane looked at Arthur who was quietly looking at Chompy in his arms and asked the cashier, “Any books on alligators? Or similar reptiles?”
They made it to Shane’s home later than originally planned, mainly due to the stop at the bookstore, but lunch was already prepared and only needed to be warmed in the oven.
They ate, Arthur was changed and while watching a kid-friendly video on alligators, Shane sent a photo of Arthur resting on his couch.
Hayden: Dude. I don’t know why you were so worried. You’re absolutely killing babysitting duties