Chapter Text
It was just a coincidence that Ottawa’s first pre-season game was in Montreal. While Shane still didn’t love playing against his old team, winning another Stanley Cup, which he raised with his husband and the Centaurs, made Montreal an irrelevant nuance. A fly he could easily swat away.
Coach Wiebe told Ilya and Shane they would be sitting for the game. It wasn’t unusual for the top-liners to ease into the season and play only a couple of exhibition games, but this also had the added bonus of completely screwing over Montreal’s ticket sales. Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov guaranteed a full house across the MHL and denying Montreal their star power was petty but satisfying.
It was a Sunday afternoon game, so they made plans with Jackie to bring the kids to their box to watch and give Jackie a little bit of a break. They also offered to pick up takeout for the post-game meal, not wanting to put her out but Hayden insisted it was fine, he would grill.
The game was uneventful, a close 2-1 but Ottawa was experimenting with new lines and Wyatt Hayes was taking the first few weeks of the season to rehab his index finger after a brutal playoff injury.
The Pike kids had a blast with their uncles, gorging themselves on popcorn and ice cream, but Shane drew the line at cotton candy, not wanting to bring the kids back to Jackie all hopped up on sugar.
Ilya and Shane made an appearance in the Centaurs locker room after the game, as was expected, and the tiny Pikes earned multiple fist bumps from the team. Afterwards, they loaded the kids into Jackie’s minivan and made their way to the Pikes.
They let themselves in but the usual business of the house was replaced by an eerie silence. Ilya and Shane all the kids to wash their sticky hands and after a few minutes, Jackie came down, clearly exhausted and looking like she just woke up from a nap. “I’m sorry, guys” she said, pulling Shane into a hug and reaching for Ilya at the same time. “I’m just exhausted today, I meant to lay down for 10 minutes and fell asleep.”
“Don’t worry about it Jacks. Ilya naps like three times a day and blames it on Anya.”
“It is true Jackie. If I had four Anyas I would not survive.”
“OK well let me get started, I have everything prepped.”
Ilya and Shane followed her into the kitchen and got to work assembling Jackie’s famous chopped salad with Shane’s favourite green goddess dressing she makes from scratch. She pulled out fresh-made patties for the burgers, beef for most of them and the preferred turkey burgers for Jade, Arthur and Shane.
Ilya made his way outside and noticed the treehouse set they gifted the twins for the birthday last May was still in boxes, next to the intended tree. Shane came out to light the grill and Ilya pointed it out to him as the kids pulled him into a game of What Time Is It, Mr. Wolf.
Hayden showed up 45 minutes later and Ilya couldn’t imagine what had taken so long, it wasn’t like Hayden had to do press. He came outside to greet Shane and gave a head nod to Ilya, who had moved on to an intense game of Red Light, Green Light with Shane alerting the kids every time Ilya cheated. As he started placing burgers on the grill, Shane ribbed him a bit. “Do I need to lend you a screwdriver or something? That treehouse has been sitting there for months.”
“Whatever man, I didn’t have time to get to it. Those things are a bitch to put together.”
Ilya, who had been watching the interaction from across the yard, yelled out, “You got knocked out of the playoffs in April, you’ve had months!”
Hayden flipped him the bird and Shane expected a big reaction from the twins, whose swear jar was basically a mutual fund at this point. But they weren’t looking at Hayden, they were focused on Ilya. In fact, the kids hadn’t said anything to Hayden and he hadn’t said anything to them.
The meal passed in the usual chaos of 8 sets of little hands, 3 professional athletes and one tired host. Ilya wouldn’t let Jackie get up for a thing, he insisted on serving drinks and grabbing more napkins and cutting Arthur’s burger into quarters. Shane managed the ketchup bottle for the twins and dressed the salad, then scraped the cheese off of Amber’s burger when she changed her mind about it. Hayden threw back two burgers and three beers before Ilya and Shane had even finished their first, getting increasingly heated about Buffalo’s powerplay while the other adults traded off duties with the kids.
Jackie dismissed them as soon as they finished eating so the adults could get a moment’s peace and finish eating. As soon as they were out of earshot, Hayden leaned forward on the table and said, “Hey, did Jackie tell you guys?”
“Tell us what” Shane asked. “
“Hayd-“ Jackie cut in.
“It’s fine, Jacks. They won’t tell anyone.”
“Not really the point Hayden” she said tersely.
Shane noted that Hayden looked a bit….. sloppy. And was day drinking even though he had another game tomorrow.
“It’s fine Jackie you do not need to tell us” Ilya said, patting her forearm.
“Jackie’s pregnant!” Hayden exclaimed, nearly knocking over his beer bottle in the process.
“Hayden!” Jackie said, setting her fork down loudly.
“Babe their our friends, relax.”
“It’s early,” Jackie said, looking between Shane and Ilya, her lips downturned. “I don’t… we have a lot of testing to do.”
“We won’t tell anyone, of course” Shane said quickly. “Congrats though. Five kids, wow.”
Ilya smiled softly at Jackie and didn’t say a word.
Shane and Ilya were not in rush to get home, they had driven into Montreal instead of traveling with the team and didn’t have practice until 10 am the next day. So they hung around, doing crafts with the kids while Hayden watched a West Coast game, Shane drifting between the kitchen table and the living room.
With the kids occupied with paint-by-numbers and Shane and Hayden discussing Calgary’s new coach, Jackie steered Ilya to the kitchen island by his elbow.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” she said quietly. “It’s not that… it’s not that I didn’t want you guys to know. We just haven’t told anyone. And I’m not sure if….” She took a long pause. “I’m just not sure.”
“Please do not worry. We will not tell anyone; we will forget we heard it, OK? But if you need anything, anything. Appointments or babysitting, you will tell us right?”
“Thank you” she said, her voice thick with emotion.
In that moment, Ilya really hated Hayden Pike’s guts.
As they pulled out of the driveway, Shane exhaled deeply. “Five kids. Kind of insane.”
“Mmm. Especially for one person” Ilya said under his breath.
“He travels a lot, that’s true. And the baby will be born right in playoff season. You have to hope to get knocked out early at that point.”
“Did you not notice Hayden is fucking useless?” Ilya blurted out.
Shane took a moment to merge onto the highway, not answering Ilya right away but not rebuking him either.
“Ya, it was a bit weird. Like drinking when Jackie is tired and the kids are home. And the kids didn’t even like, notice him really. Is that what it’s like when you are away 8 months a year?”
“No” Ilya said strongly. “ He did not get up to help her once. He didn’t come up when we helped with baths.”
“Ya, you’re right. Same with outside. They go crazy when we walk in the room, maybe it’s the novelty.”
“Next time we are in Montreal, we should put together the treehouse.”
“I was thinking that too. I’ll bring my toolbox.”
“Good idea. And Jackie, I think will need help. With the baby. Or not the baby.”
“What do you mean, not the baby?”
“Hmmm. We spoke in the kitchen, very briefly. Maybe she is undecided.”
“Undecided?”
“Yes Shane. Undecided.”
“Oh” he said quietly. “Ohhhhhhhh.”
“Yes, oh.”
“Ok well ya, of course. Of course. Whatever she needs,” he said in his most Captain Canada voice, which is how Ilya knew Shane would hold this information with the utmost care.
Ilya pulled Shane’s hand to his lips and kissed his knuckles as they headed home.