Ice Dreams

Disclaimer: Characters in this story are my creation, as is the city of Bannen,(as far as I know, Canada doesn’t have a city named Bannen in it), and the hockey team is fictional as well. California doesn’t have a team named the Demon Dogs, that is my creation. The characters in this story are not based on any specific person, so any similarities are purely coincidental. I do not own any rights to the Stanley Cup, and I don’t make any money off my stories.

---------------

I tried to keep the hockey facts as truthful as possible, so please excuse any slip-ups. While this is a story based on a sports team, it’s not my intention to focus completely on it, but instead on the romantic story. I also don’t bash hockey players in real life, as I’ve met a few and they are lovely people. It just works in my story for now. I was inspired from the recent playoff games, when this plot bunny jumped into my head. Please enjoy.

Warnings: angst, lemon, oral, death, fluff, language, m/f


** Asterisks indicate thoughts
-----------------



Chapter Twenty-Six




Nearly a week had passed since she and Graham had their frisky session, and since then, Hilary had been a no-show at any of the games. Denise could hardly believe it. It was relaxing for a change, not to have Hilary practically ambush her man after every game. Graham was more than pleased as well – now he wasn’t on edge after every game, and could talk to the reporters without worrying that Hilary was going to be waiting on the sidelines for him right after he was done. Life had taken a sweet turn, and Denise didn’t want to jinx it by even mentioning her name out loud. Graham seemed to have the same mindset, as they both didn’t talk about it, but it definitely popped into their minds occasionally.

The Christmas banquet and the hospital visit were drawing close now, but since Denise had taken a break from her job she could focus on being a good events coordinator. Bobby was more than pleased with the work that she had put in so far, and even though the pay was considerably less than that of a fashion designer, she adored the job. She could hardly wait until the two big events of December were here – it had taken meticulous planning, but she was ready and all the preparations were near done.

Graham had been such a help with the banquet, and having a hockey player’s input on such an important event made for the team made her life easier. Since Christmas was only a couple of weeks away, Graham had also been getting pumped up about her meeting his family. He knew her life story, so having a place to go for Christmas instead of spending it by herself was very important.

He had filled in his family about Denise, and they seemed very excited to meet her. She hoped that she lived up to their expectations though – he was their only son and she wanted his parents and sister to think that she was deserving of him. She felt that she was, but the parents approval was always an important thing.

Denise sat in the living room of her house, lazily spread across her couch. Graham was away at practice, and she always enjoyed the quiet time to ponder over what she needed to get done in the day, as well as think about her life. Things were going so smoothly – maybe even too smoothly. Denise squashed that worry as soon as it started to bubble up. She was allowed to be happy. She had waited such a long time for it, and had been through too much to have her life turn upside down again. She would not dwell on negative thoughts. Graham was her man, she had a good job, and new friends (who also happened to be hockey wives/girlfriends). That’s all she needed to live a good life.


-----------------------


Jenny laughed as Colin butchered yet another chance at race-car driving. They were spending their afternoon at an arcade, where Colin had bragged on and on about being a ‘damn good gamer’. Now that they were here though, Jenny had managed to beat him in just about everything they tried. Currently they were trying to get through a racing game, but Colin couldn’t even manage to drive in the right direction most of the time. He would hit a bump that would flip his car around, and he couldn’t right himself no matter how hard he tried.

Colin had been good-natured about it in the beginning, but now he was getting frustrated. He had shot his mouth off about what an expert he was, and now he was looking very, very bad. Jenny, who was normally not a gamer herself, had managed to get higher scores than him in just about everything she tried.

“Okay, I’m done now.” He exclaimed, watching the arcade screen flash ‘you lose’ in his face. As if he didn’t figure that one out already. Jenny was grinning at him though, trying to suppress laughter, and he couldn’t help but grin back. She was too cute, and staying mad just wasn’t worth it in her company. He really just wanted to be with her.

“Couldn’t stand the pile of losses coming your way?” Jenny said, lightly poking him in the arm. He had to roll his eyes.

“Please. I was just getting warmed up. Everyone knows that you need to take a few losses in order to get better. I was just working myself up to the greatness I know I am.” He laughed, puffing out his chest dramatically. Jenny laughed.

“Yeah. Uh-huh. A few losses? We’ve been here for nearly two hours, and during that time you weren’t really stacking up the wins. I beat you, fair and square.”

“Whatev.” Colin grinned, standing and leading Jenny out of the arcade. It had been a lot of fun, but it was dinner time and he was nearly starving. He imagined Jenny felt similarly.

“Supper?”

“Please.” She replied, taking his hand in hers. She still hadn’t figured out what his innocence was all about, but she had noticed fairly early on that he was shy around her, even though he tried to seem a little big and tough. She was certain that on the ice he was a different person, but here, with her, he was quiet and maybe even a little timid. She was being patient, but even holding his hand made him blush slightly. They hadn’t even shared a first kiss yet.

She had actually been to a hockey game when he had played. Although he was the back-up goalie, when he played he was quick and seemed confident. She had been keeping up with the sports section in the Bannen Sun and had read all about how Colin Burkins was changing as a player. It said at the start of the season he hadn’t been good on his feet, but now he was solid between the pipes and with his confidence. From sports writers’ points of view, Colin was looking like he was shaping up to be a good goalie. Maybe even fantastic, give or take a couple years.

It also said that his latest change in playing possibly had to do with the captain of the Bannen Warriors speaking to him. It was no secret that the team, even the whole city loved Tom Welding. He was a very respectable guy, and an awesome player. Word was that he gave Colin a little bit of a talking to and helped him get his head cleared up when he played. Tom was able to inspire, and from the looks of how Colin was playing, it looked like he did just that.

The coach even mentioned a couple times that both of his goalies might get to see action come playoff time. He wasn’t saying that for sure, but just even mentioning that looked good for Colin. It meant that the coach possibly had enough confidence in him to play him in a crucial part of the season.

Jenny smiled. To think that she didn’t even know who he was when she first met him. Now, being with him here, she couldn’t imagine anything different. Now the only thing she had to do was get to the bottom of his shyness. If he would just open up to her about that, even just a little bit, she could begin to understand why he was like that. And then she could decide the best way to ravage him. Inside, she had to suppress laugh. He had no idea how irresistible he was to women, especially her. Just controlling herself around him was a difficult task.


---------------------------


Eli Hanks had stayed on the ice long after practice was done to touch up on his scoring. Since he learned that a child was coming into his life, concentration was hard to come by. A lot of the people on the team had children, but this was his first and he was having a hard time trying to stay focused. The baby wouldn’t even be here for a couple months yet, and still he found himself getting dizzy with the thought of becoming a father for the first time.

Bruce Richards, the man who had coached the team in what seemed like forever, had been fairly forgiving when Eli had started giving up a few pucks. He knew what was on his mind. However, if he started making that a trend, he would be sent to bench-warming duty. He had to learn how to keep his professional and personal life separate, and not let thoughts distract him.

After taking an hour just shooting at an empty net, Eli decided to call it a day. No one could tell him that he wasn’t a dedicated player – after all, the team loved him and he was doing very well. He even got a raise at the beginning of the season – not an easy thing to do considering that the general manager was spending most of the big bucks keeping Graham, Tom, and Francis happy. With the salary cap it was impossible for them to shell out a lot on all the players. Graham was already making seven million a year, and that was going to go up eventually once his contract was close to expiring.

Eli was happy with his income. He had more than he ever could imagine, and the way it was now, he and Whitney were set for life. He kept playing though because he loved the game – that’s why all the guys with big salaries kept playing. It wasn’t so much about the money, although having that much in the bank was happy-making, to say the least. Eli was just pleased that he could support his future wife and know that his child would never want for anything.

Also, he wanted to give Whitney the dream wedding she desired. Since she was a child, she had dreamed of the big day she would walk down the aisle. Now that it was close to becoming a reality, Eli wanted her to have everything the way she wanted it. They would probably need to do it soon if Whitney did not want to be showing in her wedding pictures. It didn’t make much of a difference to him, but it was her body and those pictures would be around for life.

Stepping off the ice, Eli grinned to himself. Since the news of the pregnancy was still new, he had a bit of leeway with acting a little out of it. So long as his mind was in hockey mode during practices, and especially games, he could get away with it for the most part.


---------------------


Bruce Richards looked over the statistics of the teams in the league. The Bannen Warriors were doing very well, third in their conference. There was no doubt that they’d cinch a spot for themselves come playoff time. So long as they kept up the hard work and increased their wins, they’d be in a good place.

All the players seemed to be doing well. Jordan speed continued to improve, Graham was increasing his scoring while Neil was racking up points in assists, Tom was great as usual, and now Bruce could see that both his goalies were shaping up. Francis Osler always seemed to be at the top of his game, and as a veteran, he had nerves of steel. Colin seemed to be showing some of that now, which pleased Bruce greatly.

This was a team that could probably even make it to the Stanley Cup finals, if they worked hard enough and kept the goal in their minds. Bruce had no doubt whatsoever that they all wanted it, but they had to have the drive, all the time. You can’t take a break when you’re battling the best teams in the NHL. They will want it just as bad as you do, Bruce knew, and in the end the Bannen Warriors had to show that they wanted it more.


----------------------


Graham watched Denise doze beside him, completely enamoured with her. It had only been a couple months since they started dating, and Graham couldn’t even imagine a life without her now. So far they had had some bumps in the road, but there were more ups than downs. He had seen Hilary that afternoon in passing, and he knew she had seen him, but that was it. Her eyes didn’t linger on him, and she nearly scurried off as soon as she realized that she was in his company.

He wasn’t sure if the plan would go as smoothly as he or Denise had planned. Evidently it had, and that was good for the both of him. If they didn’t have to worry about her, they could concentrate on each other much more. It always put a damper on the conversation whenever Hilary was involved. Now that she was possibly gone for good both he and Denise had loosened up considerably.

Denise shifted in his embrace, blinking open her tired, blue eyes.

“Hey.” She mumbled, suppressing a yawn. Graham smiled, placing a gentle kiss on her nose.

“Somebody obviously didn’t get enough sleep last night.” He teased, pulling her closer to him. She rested her head on his shoulder.

“I wonder who’s fault that was.” She replied, almost slyly. He chuckled.

“Well, it takes two you know. I’d love to take all the credit but I think that some of it should go to you as well.”

“You’re so considerate.”

“And I’m crazy about you.”

“Ditto.”

They kissed, his body melding perfectly against her own. She was tired, that was for sure, but she also wasn’t complaining. Whenever Graham put his hands on her like that, resistance always seemed to melt away. She’d rather have passionate love and be tired rather than awake and unfulfilled. From the looks of it, she’d be tired for life, but always in a state of bliss. That was the right way to go about it.

Pulling away, Denise rested her head on his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart. This is what she wanted her entire life, and she felt more than lucky to finally have it. She might even go as far as to say she felt blessed. Graham had shattered all the negative illusions she had about men and showed her there were still some good ones left in the world.



-------------------------

A/N: This chapter has been long overdue. I'm working on a bunch of stories right now that I have to keep remembering to update them regularly! Very hard to do. Well, in anycase, please review. I love to read what you have to say and I always appreciate the comments. They always make me want to write more. Thanks!!

-------------------------