Chapter Text
This day had already started in chaos. Hayden left the house early for team meeting and stayed at the rink until the game against the Centaurs later that afternoon. So Jackie was alone with their four kids the whole day. Nothing she couldn’t handle. Normally…
But today was different. She woke early because there were suspicious noises coming from the kitchen. “Please not again,” she said out loud as she looked over to the right side of the bed. Amber was still sleeping after being awake for several hours in the night, so she cautiously got out of the bedroom and headed to the kitchen.
She was not yet down the stairs when the scream came. “Noooo, you do it wrong!” Two more steps down, there was the answer “I do it like Uncle Shane.” Jackie was alarmed. Her twins were not making breakfast like last time with cornflakes in their bowls and milk spilled all over the kitchen counter. No, they decided today was the day, they wanted to do breakfast like Shane. The problem was that their Uncle Shane usually eats only one thing in the morning: smoothies. And of course to make a smoothie you need a blender. And a blender needs a lid before turning it on. She hurried down the last steps and started to run to the kitchen. But it was too late.
The moment she entered the room was the exact moment Ruby turned the blender on without the lid. The only thing Jackie could do was look at the disaster. There was red liquid and pieces of berries everywhere. Arthur yelled “STOP”. Thankfully Ruby turned the blender immediately off.
“You made Chompy all dirty,” Arthur cried. Jade smirked, “I told you, you were doing it wrong.” Seeing their mother now there in the kitchen with them, they looked up into her face and begun pointing the blame at the other, their voices getting louder as they try to talk over one another.
Jackie knew there was only one way to end this. “It doesn’t matter whose idea it was. You all need to get cleaned up and then we are cleaning this kitchen together and then while I’m making your breakfast, you three will sit at the table quietly waiting.” She cleaned the kitchen mostly on her own while her 3 young chefs picked chunks of berries out of each other’s hair. A bath would be needed but that could wait.
“But Chompy is full of berries” Arthur cried out with tears forming in his little eyes over his beloved now soiled stuffed crocodile. Jackie took a deep breath, sighed and said “Ok, give me Chompy. He needs an adventure in the washing machine.” She took Chompy and along with all the dish towels, rags, and 3 sets of pajamas, which also were victim of the blender catastrophe and started the load of wash. “You three wait right here, you all need clean clothes, and until I get you all in the bath, I don’t want you leaving this room or touching anything,”
Running up the stairs, she quickly grabbed clothes for each kid and went to check on Amber, who by now had to be awake. With her youngest baby in one arm, clean clothes in the other, she made her way back downstairs to whip up scrambled eggs and toast for everyone and some coffee for herself.
Four hours later the tears had dried, Chompy was in the backyard sunbathing to dry, and all the kids were fed and dressed for the game. Everyone wore jerseys. Ruby and Amber wore a Pike jersey like she did while Arthur and Jade wore a Hollander jersey. Jackie noticed that Jade looked a little sad. “Hey honey, what’s wrong? Everything ok?”
“Yes, but …” Jade started to answer but stopped, frowning, the look on her face showed she was having complicated thoughts run through her mind.
“But what, sweetheart?” Jackie asked tenderly.
“I’m sad that none of us can wear Uncle Ilya’s jersey.”
This was one of those situations they knew would eventually come and they feared. Explaining why they couldn't wear a Rozanov jersey was complicated.
In their young minds Uncle Shane had a nice boyfriend, they all loved Uncle Ilya, and since Uncle Ilya was playing Uncle Shane and daddy's team, one of them should wear Uncle Ilya's jersey. This pure and simple kid logic sadly didn't translate to many adult's logical brains
Allowing her own hurt and sadness to show, she explained “yes, it is sad. But nobody is allowed to know about Uncle Ilya and Uncle Shane being boyfriends. There are some people who won’t like it. So we all need to keep it private and secret for right now. Remember to call him Rozanov not Uncle Ilya if you talk to strangers or anyone on daddy’s team. Ok?” The kids all nodded.
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On the way to the rink, they stopped by a Tim Horton’s Café where Jackie bought their traditional game day donuts. The children loved this family ritual of eating blue and red frosted donuts before watching their dad on the ice. It was also the perfect opportunity to have another coffee after the exciting morning they all had. Plus, she was going to need the caffeine boost to get through the game with 4 sugared up children.
They met the other WAGs and kids in their designated section. There weren’t many of them for today’s game. Mostly because many thought attending a game against Ottawa wasn’t going to be all that exciting. Even with Ilya Rozanov on the team, they were still losing most of their games. Jackie wasn’t so sure about this game because all Hollander vs Rozanov games were exciting and lately the team was starting to click. Barrett was a great winger and meshing well with Ilya.
When they took their seats, Ruby and Jade scurried over to play with the other player’s kids having declared “we are big girls now!” This was fine with Jackie, the twins were still within sight and being with other kids would hopefully stop them from arguing with each other. Arthur was too shy to join his sisters with the other kids so he took the seat at the end of the row, next to his mom holding Amber on her lap and the emergency exit near the player’s tunnels.
During the break after the second period, the score was tied 2-2 with one goal being from her husband. “The Centaurs are strong tonight. I told you it wouldn’t be an easy win for our men today,” Jackie said to another’s wife next to her.
“Yeah, only because they have Rozanov. Looks like he really is making that shitty team better. Why couldn’t he have chosen a team in one of the Western conferences? We would like to see him less. No?”
“Ah, yeah but…” Jackie clears her throat “… wouldn’t it be a little boring without the rivalry? Plus, you know the league loves the money this rivalry makes them”
The other women sighs “Maybe, I kind of like the Hollander Rozanov Face-offs. But more easy wins wouldn’t bother me either.”
“Mom?” Arthur asked while tugging on the sleeve of Jackie’s jersey pulling her attention away.
“Yes honey?”
“Can we go to Uncle Shane’s after the game? I want to play with Anya.”
“No, Uncle Shane is busy tonight.” Lowering her voice, she leans closer over to him and quietly tells him that Anya isn’t at Uncle Shane’s that she’s at a doggie hotel. You can play with Anya when we take our trip in two weeks. I also think Anya isn’t in town at the moment.”
“But I want to tell Anya about Chompy’s breakfast and his rollercoaster ride in the washing machine,” he complains. “You can tell her another day sweetie. Dad will want to know about what happened to Chompy. You can tell him after the game.” Arthur wasn’t happy with her answer but he let it go.
Just at the end of third period Shane scores the third and wining goal for the Metros and the home crowd roared ecstatically. After those final minutes, the twins were back to arguing with each other. This time it was about why the Metros didn’t have cooler Jerseys with mythical creatures like the Centaurs have. Knowing this argument is only going to get louder and angrier, Jackie knows she needs to step in and settle the disagreement before other kids join in too.
Jackie got up and walked a few seats over where the group of kids were congregated, “Ok girls, game’s over, let’s head out to the car,” pouting, the girls get up to follow her as she turns to head back towards Arthur. But Arthur’s seat was empty. Not seeing him anywhere in her immediate sight, Jackie began to panic. Where had he been gone? A minute ago before the twins fight he was sitting totally calm and without any sings about wanting to leave.