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Boston Lily was pregnant.
Hayden was going to be totally supportive about this. He was going to be totally cool. Jackie’s birth control had failed shortly after their marriage – who knew antibiotics didn’t play well with newlywed horniness? – so Hayden had all sorts of experience with the stress and nerves and exhilaration of unexpectedly learning that you were going to be a dad ahead of schedule. He was going to be there for Shane, and Jackie would be there for Lily, and before they knew it, Baby Hollander would be in the same preschool class as Baby Pike.
Shane was going to be an awesome dad. He was already an awesome uncle. Yeah, Hayden knew Shane had always said he wanted to wait to have a family until he retired, but they played hockey, y’know? Hayden’s opinion was that it was a better idea to start early. He’d met too many retired players in their forties who moved like they were seventy. Hip replacements and toddlers didn’t sound like a great combination.
Hayden was pretty sure it was early days still. Shane hadn’t said anything yet, probably waiting until twelve weeks. But he hadn’t had to say a word – he’d tumbled into their hotel room the previous night looking poleaxed, and Hayden had recognized the expression on his face immediately, even in the short glimpse he’d got before Shane was mumbling some excuse and fleeing straight to the shower. It was the look of someone who’d been whacked over the head with a hockey stick, and then whacked again for good measure.
And if Hayden had had any doubt, it had vanished the moment he saw Shane at the rink. Shane had been gone when Hayden woke up (back at Lily’s, for sure), but the instant Hayden saw him again pre-game, he could barely keep from blurting out that he knew. Shane’s mouth kept forgetting that it wasn’t supposed to be smiling. His lips kept twitching upwards, and his eyes were somewhere far away. Not the far-away disassociation that he got when he was overstimulated (which always made Hayden snap into protective keep-away mode on his behalf), but the kind of daydreaming people got when their future suddenly bloomed and got real real. Jackie had had exactly that same look, in those early-pregnancy months with the twins. (Well, when she wasn’t throwing up.)
“So,” Hayden said, with a friendly shoulder-check. “How’s Lily?”
Shane’s mouth curved again. Even his eyes crinkled. Utterly smitten and besotted. (Jackie read Hayden excerpts from her romance books sometimes. It expanded his vocabulary, and gave him an extremely healthy respect for women’s libidos. The filthiness of their smut was unbelievable. And it definitely helped Hayden get laid more often and more creatively. Jackie said his blushes turned her on. Fuck, he loved his wife.)
Shane didn’t answer the question, though. Not surprising - Shane never answered questions about Lily. Instead, he turned away and pulled his shirt off, reaching for his compression top.
Hayden made a small involuntary sound in his throat.
JJ wasn’t as restrained. “Fuck, Capitaine! Is Lily a girl or a tiger?”
Now the whole room was looking at Shane’s back. Kudos to Lily, Hayden thought, trying not to laugh. That pregnancy horniness was something else. Jackie’s always started in the second trimester, but either Lily’s had started earlier, or they were farther along than Hayden had realized.
Because Shane was fucking mauled.
There was a chorus of wolf-whistles and catcalls. Gil hollered something about needing her number to shoot his shot if Hollzy ever fumbled her, which ew, gross. Hayden wasn’t a prude, but Jackie was friends with Marie. Slut it up as much as you wanted while you were single (although maybe not quite as much as say, Rozanov or Kent, who could probably single-handedly kick off a public health emergency if they caught something and started passing it around), but marriage was supposed to mean something. He couldn’t imagine cheating on Jackie.
Shane was beet-red. He was trying to pull his compression top on, but he was so flustered he dropped it. Hayden, succumbing to a wicked urge, snapped a quick picture of his back and texted it to him. send it to lily she deserves to see her art
He only felt a little bad when Shane choked the next time he looked at his phone.
~🏒~
Boston Lily was a nerd.
It was a couple weeks after Shane found out Lily was pregnant, and the dude hadn’t stopped smiling the entire time. He’d never played better hockey. It was like the universe knew he was going to be a dad, and wanted to make sure that his kid came into the world while Shane was on top of his game. Annoyingly, Rozanov was also playing out of his mind, but the two of them were country miles ahead of anyone else in the scoring race. Which – was pretty much how it normally was. But doubled. And with flair.
Shane would nonchalantly score a goal that nobody else in the League could have netted, then come back to his locker during the period break and go straight for his phone, chewing his mouthguard in a futile attempt to hide his grin. He’d bite his lip to stop himself from laughing from whatever texts Lily had sent, and send some back. Then go back out for second period and do it all over again.
And the nights! Shane would just sit in his bed staring at his phone and grinning like a crazy person. Hayden would bet cash money that the guy was researching car seats and nanny agencies and, like, pregnancy yoga or some shit like that. Or maybe Lily had finally agreed to move to Montreal, and Shane was house-hunting. No time to build, not like the legendary cottage, but there were some nice neighborhoods. If Shane would ever break and tell Hayden the news already, Hayden could recommend ones near their house.
The night Hayden found out that Lily was a nerd, he’d been trying to get Shane to cave. He chirped him about smiling at his phone, which just made Shane unsuccessfully try to hide his smile. “Dude. You were a mess in Boston. And then you started acting really weird. Are you, like, Shane Hollander from another universe or something?”
No, I’m just… going to be a dad?
Shane was chewing his lip. Hayden didn’t know why the dude was even trying to hide his smile. It wasn’t going away. “We’ve won five Cups, right? And you’re our Vezina-winning goalie?”
Hayden wrinkled his nose at him. Fuck that shit. Nothing against goalies, but Hayden had never been one and never wanted to be one. Hayden was a good fucking winger, on the first line of a team that was going for a third straight Cup. He was damn proud of who he was.
Now Shane was laughing, and snapping a picture. Probably to send to Lily. “I’m fine, Hayd. Just – I worked some things out with Lily.”
Aha! “Wait. Are you guys official?”
We’re actually going to get married, before the baby comes. Will you be my best man?
Shane tipped his head slightly to one side. He looked hesitant, but his eyes were still soft. God, he was far gone. As a guy who’d freely admit to being whipped himself, Hayden knew his own kind. “It’s – it’s complicated. But we’re talking more.”
You can say it, Shane. Complicated because of THE BABY. Come on, spit it out.
But when Shane continued, what came out of his mouth was something entirely unexpected. “Did you know the Puffins’ penalty kill fell to 68% for the season this week? That’s worse than LA in ’80. Lily says we should call them the Putrid Puffins until they get it together.”
Hayden stared at him.
Shane looked fondly exasperated. “I said the Pitiful Puffins fit better, but putrid was apparently the word of the day today.”
Hayden kept staring at him.
“Uh,” Shane said. “Did I break you?”
Hayden slowly leveled a finger at him. “Shane Hollander.”
“Yes?”
“Is Boston Lily a hockey nerd?”
Shane grinned.
Hayden thunked his head back against the wall. “Figures. Hockeysexual. You never wanted the hot yoga girls, you wanted the nerd girls arguing about xGF and PDO.” Suddenly something occurred to him, and he screwed up his face. “Oh god. She’s from Boston. Tell me you didn’t meet her on Hockey Reddit, arguing that Rozanov’s better than you based on that one stupid year with the quality-of-competition thing.”
If fucking Boston fucking Lily put Baby Hollander in a Rozanov sweater, Hayden was going to lose it.
Shane shrugged. He was still fucking smiling. “I wouldn’t call Lily a nerd exactly.”
“Oh yeah? The Puffins’ PK is what you chat with your girl about? I knew it was bad, but not the percentage. Sounds like a nerd to me.”
“Well,” Shane said. The smile had turned into a smirk. “Maybe Lily just knows more about hockey than you.”
Hayden groaned. “Dude.”
When he told Jackie about this development (after the roadie was over, after he’d taken her to bed and made her come her brains out), she propped her chin on his chest and hummed. “Makes sense. How many times have we joked that Shane would marry hockey if he could?”
“That’s what I thought,” Hayden said. He stroked her hair. It was so soft. Sex was amazing, but there was something about cuddling afterwards that was even better.
Jackie had been a little skeptical at first when Hayden told her that Shane and Lily were pregnant, but she’d soon had to admit that Shane was definitely acting way differently. Besides the smile that couldn’t stay completely gone for very long, he seemed somehow – calmer? More settled? It was like he’d always been a little uncomfortable in his skin before, and now it fit properly. He moved with less nervous energy, and he just seemed – like a guy who wasn’t just a kid anymore, but a man in love with a baby on the way.
“Imagine dinners at their house,” Jackie said. “Feeding the baby, while you argue about whose backhand is most underrated, or whose dick the media is most undeservedly sucking.”
“Not in front of the baby,” Hayden gasped, mock-scandalized. When Jackie laughed, he kissed her, and stopped thinking about Shane for a while.
~🏒~
Boston Lily was sweet.
Hayden hadn’t meant to see the texts on Shane’s phone. Shane usually guarded it like a dog with a bone. But Patty and Monty had got in a scrap over something Patty had said about Monty’s sister, after a rough game where Patty let in four goals and Shane’s hat trick had been wasted. When he bolted over to break up the scuffle, Hayden’s glance accidentally caught sight of his abandoned phone.
Lily❤️: bad day today
Lily❤️: too bad daddy can’t kiss it better
Lily❤️: 😏👉👌👀
Shane: Daddy? Really?
Lily❤️: daddy could also make gross smoothie and talk shit about stupid goalie
Cute, Hayden thought. He was pretty sure it was one of the best parts of having a partner – not having to censor yourself at all, not having to pretend to be supportive or diplomatic or team-spirited, not having to be anything other than your naked self. Just swearing up a blue streak about stupid losses that could have been wins if Patty would just do his fucking job, and Andy’s farts were not as funny as he thought they were, they weren’t fucking twelve –
Also, Lily asking “daddy” to kiss her bad day better was super sweet. Hayden remembered the days he would kiss Jackie hello and then bend down to kiss the twins hello, laying a big smacking kiss on Jackie’s bump while she laughed. He needed to bring that back with the new baby, actually.
Although it sounded like apparently Shane didn’t want to be “daddy” to Baby Hollander. Must be a “papa” guy. Hayden’s uncle Joe was a papa guy.
Shane came back to his phone looking ruffled, but scooped it up and typed away.
And when JJ looked at Patty the wrong way (apparently) and the fight re-erupted, Hayden did sneak a peek on purpose this time, as Shane abandoned his phone to wade in and start using his captain voice to break it up.
Shane: Wish you were here. Wish Mitty was here too. Fucking Pat.
Lily❤️: miitka was second best metro, rip
Shane: He’s not dead, he’s on the Nomads.
Shane: So maybe just brain dead.
Lily❤️: also i did not know miitka fucked men
Shane: ???
Lily❤️: u said u wished he was there fucking ur useless goalie
As Hayden surreptitiously watched the screen, more texts came in.
Lily❤️: some good fucking might help his game
Lily❤️: always helps yours 😇😈
Lily❤️: call later, hat trick means u cum 3x
Hayden looked away quickly as Shane came back, visibly frustrated. The vibes in the room hadn’t been great for a while. Patty’s struggles had led to a vicious cycle of self-doubt, which he took out on the rest of the room, and their backup goalie had just sprained his MCL. They were still winning at a decent rate because of their first line, but even the greatest of first lines only went so far. This wasn’t American football, where having a legendary quarterback like Brady virtually guaranteed you a deep playoff run. The good teams would feast if you were unbalanced.
He could see that it was getting to Shane. Shane had always seemed to be immune to locker room tension, letting it roll off him and focusing on hockey. (In the early years Hayden had thought it was just Shane’s personality, but then JJ had talked with him about the pressures of being not white in an overwhelmingly-white world, and the armor you built to deal with it, so that you didn’t get labeled difficult or emotional or aggressive or whiny. Hayden didn’t have experience with that himself, but ever since those conversations, he’d seen how the coaching staff and the team treated Shane and JJ, and it made him uncomfortable.)
But now it was like – like Shane had turned off his white noise machine, and heard everything. Things Hayden was used to tuning out too. Hayden would see Shane’s head turn and his eyes go hard, and replay the last minute of background conversation, only to remember someone making a crude joke about puckbunnies, or calling an opposing player a slur, or talking about cheating on their wives.
Maybe Shane was imagining someone calling Lily a slut (and how he would immediately punch them in the face for it). Maybe he was imagining how it would feel if Baby Hollander turned out to be gay and someone said he shouldn’t play hockey if he liked dick. (Hayden had thought about this himself. What if Arthur turned out to be gay, and wanted to play hockey? Was it cowardly of Hayden to keep his head down now, and just support him 100% down the line when they crossed that bridge?) Maybe the racial stereotypes and jokes Shane had always seemed to ignore were hitting differently, when Baby Hollander was on the way and might hear them soon.
Shane was a dad now. He was seeing things with new eyes, and it was making Hayden open his too. Maybe it was time to stop silently judging, and start standing up for the things he believed in. Even if it was hard.
“Hey,” he said to Patty, who was now claiming that Anaheim’s second-line center had sucked the referee off during the break. “Don’t talk like that, man. Not cool.”
Patty looked at him like he’d just said Rozanov was his favorite player, but JJ snorted and said, “Oui, everyone can be a ref, straight, gay, man, woman, doesn’t matter – they just have to be blind!”
Which – wasn’t nice to blind people, so Hayden wasn’t sure how much he’d helped. But Patty did stop throwing gay slurs around in the locker room for a few days, at least.
(Jackie looked at him like he was crazy when he told her about what he’d been thinking. “Fucking yes, Hayden,” she said, breaking her own swear-jar rule. “I know it’s hard, but call that shit out. You’re an A, and you don’t have to worry about guys being racist towards you or losing the room. Be the A who guys know won’t let shit slide. Do it.”
Hayden was going to try. For Jackie. For his kids. For Shane and Lily and Baby Hollander too.)
~🏒~
Boston Lily was beloved.
It had been another difficult game. Shane was fighting off a cold that made him sound hilariously nasal and caused even his legendary energy levels to flag, and they’d only managed one goal to Toronto’s three. Plus, it was Toronto, and playing the horrible duo of Kent and Barrett wasn’t pleasant even when the Metros were playing well, let alone when they were struggling. By the time they made it back to the hotel, Shane was dragging hard, his eyes fighting to slip shut even while he brushed his teeth.
When his phone rang, though, he slipped his headphones in quickly. “I’m here,” he said, his voice pitched low and soft. “At the hotel. With Hayden.”
Lily must have said something. Shane’s headphones were military-grade, though, and Hayden couldn’t hear anything. Even if he’d been trying to hear. Which he wasn’t.
“No,” Shane said, his mouth fighting a smile. “Of course not.”
“Tell her goodnight and go to sleep,” Hayden said, plaintively. He pulled the pillow over his head. His bruises had bruises.
“Hayden says hi,” Shane said, turning off the lights. “He says we should go to sleep.” A pause. “Lily says you should go fuck yourself.”
“Can’t, you’re here, would be weird,” Hayden said. “And I’m too tired, my dick won’t work anyway.”
Shane was laughing with Lily. A laugh that Hayden had never heard from him before. Something gentle, something affectionate. The laugh a guy had with the girl who was precious to him, who made him daydream about waking up with her curls in his face. The laugh a guy had with the mother of his baby, the girl who was his future and his heart.
Fuck, this roadie was too long. Hayden missed Jackie and the kids and Baby Pike.
“I mean, you can,” Shane said, with an ear-splitting yawn. “But I’d be a bad audience tonight. I’d probably fall asleep halfway through. Save it for when I’m at home,” and his voice dropped, so low and intimate that Hayden could barely hear it, “when I’ve got the tripod.”
Shit. Secret sex fiend Shane Hollander, coming in hot with a sex tripod. Good for him and Lily. Hayden had always been too embarrassed – but if Shane of all people could nut up and perform with a tripod, maybe he should give it a go…
Shane hummed, a soft contented sound in the darkness. “Yeah. Was it a good day?”
And when Shane started snoring ten minutes later (damn that head cold), Hayden was pretty sure that if he went over there and listened on Shane’s headphones, he’d hear Lily’s voice, sweetly telling him all about her day and the baby and her plans for tomorrow.
Shane was in love. It might have taken him longer than Hayden and Jackie, but Hayden had always known that Lily was special, and she and Shane had got there in the end. Hayden smiled into his pillow, letting himself drift off too.
(The sex tripod was an excellent addition to Hayden’s sex life. He didn’t tell Jackie what had inspired it – she already teased him about having a little crush on Shane, he didn’t need to add any fuel to the fire – but he definitely learned how to use a tripod to its fullest potential. What was a little embarrassment, to make the love of your life happy?)
~🏒~
Boston Lily was a smokeshow.
The day after the paparazzi pictures of Shane and Rose Landry hit the hockey world like a detonating bomb, the room was still in an uproar. Even though they’d seen the tiger scratches that Lily had left just a few weeks ago, a shadowy unseen Boston girlfriend couldn’t hold a candle to Rose Fucking Landry. Right? Their captain was a dog.
(Hayden hadn’t even had to ask to know that there was nothing in it. Shane had looked like he was going to throw up all practice yesterday. There was no way in hell that Shane had cheated on Lily, on the mother of his child, on the girl who sent him filthy texts and talked him to sleep and made him smile so soft and sweet. That man was in love in love. Rose Landry who?)
Gil clapped Shane on the shoulder. “Fuck yeah, Hollzy! The ass on her!”
Shane whirled around. His lips were tight, his eyes so sharp they could cut. “Fuck off, Gil. I have a fucking girlfriend.”
“Like that stopped anyone before,” Donkey said, under his breath.
“It’s Rose fucking Landry,” Monty said, laughing.
Hayden slapped the back of Monty’s head. He couldn’t reach Donkey. “Guys. He’s not cheating on Lily. Shut up.”
Shane’s head swiveled, taking in the room. “Anyone else think I’m cheating on my girlfriend?"
Patty – who had finally learned how to block goals again – was in a better mood. He grinned, and sang out, “With tits and an ass like that, hell yeah, brother!”
“For your information,” Shane said, his voice every inch the captain, “Lily’s ass is five times better than Rose Landry’s.” Then he blinked, slow horror dawning in his eyes, as the guys began to hoot at him. “From what I saw in her movies! Fucking hell. Lily’s my girlfriend, and all of you suck.”
He stormed out of the room.
When Hayden found him five minutes later, Shane was rinkside, staring at the ice. He didn’t acknowledge Hayden when he dropped down to sit next to him, but after a minute he sighed. “I wish I hadn’t said that.”
“Well,” Hayden said. “I figured she probably was really hot. And I’m pretty sure Jackie would forgive me for being crass about her if I was saying her ass was five times better than Rose Landry’s.” Lily’s tits were probably gorgeous too – pregnancy was great for tits – but Hayden definitely knew better than to say that.
Shane groaned and slumped down in his chair.
“Seriously, dude. Next time you call, tell her the locker room was congratulating you on cheating on her with Rose Landry, and you shouted at them in your captain voice and told them she was five times hotter than Rose. Leave out the ass part. She’ll make you come so hard you see stars.”
“Ew,” Shane said, making a face. “No sex talk. It’s weird.”
Hayden laughed. “Okay, fine. But still. Do it.”
“She’d like it,” Shane said, reluctantly. “But – I just feel like I encouraged them. I don’t want them thinking about Lily, or about my sex life, or any of that.”
“It’ll blow over,” Hayden said, with more confidence than he felt. Their captain possibly screwing the hottest girl in Hollywood was a plum that some of the cavemen in their room were going to have difficulty letting go of. If Shane brought Lily to a game, or even announced that she was pregnant, it might be easier – but he hadn’t even told Hayden and Jackie yet, so that didn’t look likely anytime soon.
Hayden would just have to keep being patient and supportive, until Shane was ready.
(Jackie, who was still one-hundred percent bisexual despite being married to a man, and who was the reason why Hayden had seen all of Rose Landry’s movies, was agog at the fact that Lily was hotter than Rose. “I have got to meet this woman,” she told Hayden, intensely. “Sweet hockey nerd who is hotter than Rose Fucking Landry?!”
“Well, I mean – you’re a sweet hockey nerd who is hotter than Rose Fucking Landry,” Hayden said, which was maybe a bit more suave than he usually managed to be, because his wife was amazing and had set up the pass perfectly.
And Jackie was in her second trimester now, so his day promptly got even better.)
~🏒~
Boston Lily was lovely.
Jackie’s pregnancy was going well, but she was having way more cravings this time around. Like with Ruby and Jade, she constantly wanted ice (the kind in nice little crunchy chunks). Like with Arthur, she wanted cantaloupe with hot sauce (which still made Hayden shudder). But this Baby Pike also wanted steak, pickles, chocolate, and French fries (but only from McDonald’s).
(“It could be worse,” Jackie said, sucking pickle juice from her fingers. “I could put pickles on the steak. Or melt chocolate and dip the fries in it. Actually, that doesn’t sound bad…”
Hayden held up his hands in surrender.)
Now Hayden was staring at an enormous wicker basket on his dining room table, with no idea who sent it.
Jackie was elbows-deep, with a pile of loot already unpacked. “Oh look!” she said, happily. “Pickles!”
“Those don’t look like pickles.”
“Pickled vegetables, Hayden,” Jackie said, waving a jar at him. “Cucumbers aren’t the only vegetables you can pickle.”
Hayden, who until this moment had not really thought about what pickles had been before they were, well, a pickle, decided to keep his mouth shut.
“And oooh,” she said, setting the jar down next to a pair of slippers, “chocolate!”
“Jackie. Who sent all of this?”
Instead of answering, Jackie unloaded boxes of tea, various things that looked like spa and lotion stuff, eye masks, a robe that looked luxuriously butter-soft, a candle, the most adorable little stuffed rabbit Hayden had ever seen, and something called an ice roller. Then, finally, she said, “Aha! There’s a note,” and pulled out an envelope.
The only person Hayden could think of who would have gone to all this trouble would possibly be Jackie’s mom. But Melanie would have brought the basket herself. This just showed up on their doorstep, delivered by a special courier.
“Dear Jackie,” Jackie read, “Shane says the baby is hungry and wants pickles and chocolate and steak. Your baby has good taste. We wish you happiness and good rest while the baby finishes baking. Love, Lily. And she’s put a little flower drawing and a heart after her name.”
“That’s sweet,” Hayden said. Shane had bought them a crazily-expensive stroller and a formidable nursery surveillance/monitoring system for Ruby and Jade, and a wonderful handmade rocking chair for Arthur. But the sheer volume and thoughtfulness of Lily’s basket felt so much more personal. She must have thought about all the things she needed herself, and put together the perfect mommy-to-be basket for Jackie.
“P.S. The raspberry jam is my favorite. Put it in the tea. It makes any bad day better.”
“Goddammit, Shane,” Hayden said. “Why is she not living in Montreal already, sitting in our living room and reading Arthur ‘If You Give a Mouse a Cookie’ for the eighteenth time today?”
“She sounds really lovely,” Jackie said, her voice thick with pregnancy-hormone emotion.
Hayden was already moving around the counter to give her a hug, even before she pulled out a handful of McDonald’s gift cards from the bottom of the basket and started snort-laugh-crying all at the same time.
(Later, a special delivery of steaks from the best butcher in Montreal showed up at their door, and Jackie informed Shane that if he didn’t marry this girl, she was going to lobby Justin Trudeau to legalize polygamy so she and Hayden could.
Shane laughed and blushed, but Hayden noticed that he didn’t deny anything.
He still didn’t break the news, though. Lily must be six months along now. Goddammit. What was Shane waiting for?)
~🏒~
Boston Lily was a menace.
“Jesus,” Hayden said, staring down at his phone after hanging up as quickly as he could.
Some things did not have to be heard.
A judicious amount of time later, he texted Shane:
Hayden: soooooo … Lily’s visiting you then?
Shane: What?
Hayden: bro
Shane: I’m on a silent retreat.
Hayden: buddy
Shane: I don’t know what you mean.
Hayden: im not so sleep deprived I dont know what a blowie sounds like
Hayden: and that sounded like the mlh cup of blowies
Shane: Ugh.
Hayden: shane i have been so patient 😭
Hayden: please please let me meet this woman
Hayden: i feel like i know her already
Hayden: i need to meet her
Hayden: i wont even complain that she got to visit the cottage first
Hayden: EVEN THOUGH I HAVE BEEN ASKING FOR YEARS
Shane: You feel like you know her?
Hayden: dude
Hayden: shes a hockey nerd
Hayden: hot as fuck
Hayden: funny sweet good to you
Hayden: sends unhinged sex messages that make you blush
Hayden: cheers up your bad days
Hayden: makes you smile like all the TIME all the time
Hayden: you found your jackie, man
Hayden: seriously, im so happy for you both
He almost added “and she’s having your baby,” but he was still trying to be patient. Still trying to let Shane have his moment and announce it himself. They’d got to be ready by now. Even if Lily had just found out that day in Boston, she’d be nearly ready to pop by now. Shane had such a big horseshoe up his ass, even an unplanned pregnancy had worked out with the hockey schedule, landing nicely right in the middle of the offseason. But was he just planning to come back in the fall and casually announce that he was a dad now? What the hell?
Shane didn’t text back for a while.
Finally, as Hayden was holding a sleeping Amber so Jackie could take a shower, his phone buzzed.
Shane: Lily and I would like to invite you and Jackie to visit us at the cottage next weekend.
Hayden whooped. Amber woke up. Jackie shouted, “Hayden!” in despairing tones from the shower.
~🏒~
Boston Lily was Ilya Rozanov’s sister.
Hayden and Jackie had arrived at the cottage at the same time as Rose Landry, who was apparently Shane’s friend now. (When did that happen?!) Shane had welcomed them inside, and David Hollander had offered them drinks, and they’d gone through to the back lawn by the lake, where Yuna Hollander was laughing with a man who looked like Hayden’s personal nightmare.
And then the man had turned around, and he was Hayden’s personal nightmare.
“Oh my god,” Rose Landry said, next to him, and then, “oh my GOD, Shane,” more loudly.
Shane laughed, a nervous shaky sound. “Surprise?”
Hayden couldn’t understand why fucking Rozanov was at the Lily reveal party. Was he a friend of Lily’s? Please fuck let him not be Lily’s ex.
Oh no. Oh fuck.
Hayden felt dizzy, as a million tiny threads connected all at once.
Rozanov was Lily’s brother, wasn’t he? That’s why she lived in Boston. That’s why she was such a hockey nerd. That’s why she was so hot. That’s how Shane met her, and why he’d kept it such a secret all these years. It made so much sense. Nobody would’ve given him a minute’s peace if it’d come out that he was dating Rozanov’s fucking sister.
As Hayden’s entire world rearranged itself, Rose Landry was pelting across the grass and sticking out her hand for Rozanov to shake. “This explains so much,” she said, laughing.
Where the fuck is Lily? Hayden thought, dazed and numb. Was she stuck in the bathroom? Nine months pregnant would do that to you.
He and Jackie were walking with Shane towards Rozanov. And then they were there.
“Hayden,” Shane said, sounding constipated, “this is Ilya.”
Hayden supposed if you were having a baby with the guy’s sister, you’d have to use his first name. No wonder Shane sounded constipated though.
Fuck. Hayden was going to be cool. He was Shane’s best friend. He could be cool. He was the coolest. Best friend ever.
He swallowed, and stuck out his hand to Rozanov. “Baby Hollander’s going to have both the Hollander and Rozanov genes? God help the League in about twenty years, huh?”
Rozanov blinked at him. He made no move to take Hayden’s hand. Asshole.
“Hayden,” Jackie said. “What are you talking about?”
His own wife, a traitor. Hayden looked at Shane, then at Rozanov. “Lily’s baby?”
“What?” Shane said, faintly.
“I waited so patiently for you to tell me,” Hayden said, plaintively. “I didn’t ask one time. But I’m so happy for you, dude. Even if the baby’s going to have Rozanov for an uncle.”
Rozanov was staring at him with a weird look on his face. Then he swallowed, and turned to Shane. “You – you got Lily pregnant?” His voice was trembling.
How… how the fuck did the dude not know his sister was nine months pregnant? Was he a total dick? Hayden would totally know if one of his sisters was pregnant. Even if he hadn’t seen her in a while. Unless – was Lily part of some religion that didn’t believe in telling anybody that she was pregnant until she had the baby? Fuck. Oh fuck. Was Baby Hollander already here? Was he or she already inside Shane’s cottage, just waiting for the right minute to make an appearance?
Hayden’s spiral was arrested by two things.
First, Jackie started laughing.
Then, Shane said, “Fuck off, asshole,” and shoved Rozanov in the chest (which made a whole helluva lot more sense than anything else in the last five minutes).
“Nooooo, Shane,” Rozanov said, “I need Pike to tell me more about your magic dick. Also we need to call a doctor. To take the baby out.”
“It’s called childbirth,” Hayden started, indignant –
And Jackie said, “Hayden. Hayden.”
Hayden turned to look at the love of his life. Her eyes were crinkled up with laughter.
“What?” he said, hearing the sulkiness in his voice.
“Who do you think Lily is?” she asked.
Hayden waved his hands in exasperation. “A sweet kind nerdy girl who lives in Boston. Shane’s head over heels in love with her. She’s having his baby. Like, any minute, if I’m doing the math right. And apparently,” he said, glaring at Rozanov, “she’s this asshole’s sister.”
“Ah,” Rozanov said. “There is just one problem with that.”
Hayden was trying. He was really, really trying. He didn’t want to fuck things up for Shane and his Lily. But fuck was it hard to be polite to Rozanov. “What?” he gritted out, between his teeth.
Rozanov smiled. It was a frightening smile. Slightly unhinged, and way too wide. “I don’t have a sister.”
“Then why are you here?” Hayden said, at the end of his rope.
Rose Landry said to Yuna (in a whisper that carried farther than it meant to), “I’m making this into a movie. I’ll turn it into soccer or something.”
Rozanov opened his mouth, no doubt to be annoying again. But Shane said, “Ilya,” putting his hand on Rozanov’s elbow, and he snapped it shut.
“Shane,” Hayden said, desperate. “Is Lily having a baby or not? And where is she?”
Shane closed his eyes for a brief moment. Then he opened them again. “Lily is exactly everything you said she is,” he said, softly. His hand was still on Rozanov’s elbow, holding him back from further mayhem. “Sweet, kind, nerdy. Lives in Boston. We’re in love.”
“Okay,” Hayden said, warily. It sounded awfully like there was a “but” coming.
“But,” Shane said, “there was one piece of the puzzle you didn’t have.” He hesitated for a moment, then bit his lip and continued. “He’s an asshole sometimes too.”
“Hey,” Hayden said, aggrieved, “that’s no way to talk about your … girlfriend… ” He felt his voice trailing off, as a word choice registered.
For one wild moment, he updated his mental picture of Lily to Rozanov’s brother instead of his sister. Obviously no baby. Maybe Rozanov got most of the assholery, but genes meant that it wasn’t surprising that Lily – Liam? Luke? got some too.
But then Hayden saw the way Rozanov was looking at Shane. His eyes were shining, and his mouth was smiling that little half-smile of the absolutely besotted. His entire body was turned towards Shane, like Shane was his sun and Rozanov a loyal planet, locked in orbit. Hell, he was even wearing a shirt that Hayden now recognized as one of Shane’s, down to the tiny hole near the hem that Shane had poked in it with scissors while doing arts and crafts with Ruby and Jade.
He looked around him. At how Yuna and David were watching Shane and Rozanov, their faces soft and warm. At the gleefulness in Rose’s face, the suppressed laughter in Jackie’s. At the blush on Shane’s cheeks, and how his body tilted into Rozanov’s, his fingers tight on Rozanov’s elbow.
Hayden Pike sat with his feelings for a long moment, remembering the last eight months.
And then he took a step forward and offered his hand again, to the Russian menace who was his personal nightmare, to Shane’s beloved Lily. “I’ve been a little stupid,” he said, owning up like he always was telling the twins to do. “But if you make Shane happy, then that’s all I want.”
This time, Rozanov took his hand, with a quirk of his eyebrow. “You don’t want to be godfather to our baby?”
“Well,” Hayden said, squeezing his hand in a grip contest he probably couldn’t win, “ask me again after Shane retires.”
~🏒~
- twenty years (and five Cups) later -
Boston Lily wasn’t pregnant.
Boston Lily – now known as Ilya Rozanov-Hollander to the public, and plain Ilya Hollander at home – was holding his baby daughter in his arms.
He had the overwhelmed look common to all new fathers. Hayden remembered it very well, even now, when he was old enough that his youngest was playing professional hockey herself.
“She won’t break, Ilya,” he said. “I promise. Just support her head.”
“She’s the most precious thing I’ve ever held,” Ilya said. His eyes were shiny.
“And she always will be. Unless you have another one. Then your heart just expands to fit them all.”
Hayden watched Ilya touch his lips to his daughter’s forehead, so softly, so gently. He watched the way Shane’s fingers brushed his husband’s curls.
“Congratulations,” he said, and meant it with all his heart.
~🏒~