Archive of Our Own ^beta

Kent Parson has a child. A little girl. He brings her to the first practice of the preseason, in a little Parson jersey, and the team surrounds her, cooing and aww’ing at her. Jeff keeps his distance, not quite sure what to do about the fact that Parse has a kid.

He strongly remembers him not having a kid last season. Parse would’ve put her in the cup if he had her last season. And as far as he knows, Kent Parson is not married, and does not have a significant other. So why does he have a baby?

Jeff skates up to Kent midway through practice to ask him, leaning on his stick next to the boards. Looking at him, he manages to forget every single word he’s ever learned, in all three languages he knows. What’s a sentence? He sure as hell doesn’t know.

“Hey Swoops! You doing alright?” Kent asks, looking up at him. Jeff practically chokes on his tongue, and just shakes his head and skates off, leaving a confused Kent Parson in his wake.

He takes a few shots on goal, and suddenly realizes everyone around him is gone. He looks around, and sees that Kent is carrying his little girl out onto the ice, cradled in his arms. She’s maybe 6 months old, and she’s the cutest little thing.

Jeff skates over, standing on the outside of the crowd again. Even though she may be adorable, he doesn’t want to go near her. Jeff’s not the biggest fan of babies.

“Yo! Parse, what’s her name?” Gabs asks, and Kent smiles, eyes bright.

“Her name is Grace Marie!” He declares, and Grace Marie coos, and Jeff is pretty sure the rookies just melted. It’s only later, after practice, that Jeff is able to ask Kent about Grace Marie.

He’s, thank god, not so distracted he forgets everything he wants to say, but he still stumbles over his words and almost misses Kent leaving.

“Parse!” He calls out, running after Kent down the hall. He’s carrying a hockey bag, and Grace Marie’s car seat. Turning to look at Jeff, Kent stops, and waits.

“Yeah, what’s up?” He asks, as Jeff runs up to him, practically breathless. He needs to get into better shape, holy shit.

“This is gonna sound weird, but Grace Marie? Where did she come from?” He asks, and then winces at the way it sounds. Kent makes a face.

“What do you mean?” He asks, voice tinged with suspicion. Jeff wrings his hands, avoiding Kent’s eyes.

“I, uh, I mean. Don’t be upset about this, but you haven’t like gotten secretly married or something, have you?” He asks, and then immediately wishes the ground would open up and swallow him.

“It’s a long story. If you want, you can come over for lunch and I’ll explain.” Kent finally says, after a long pause, only broken by Grace Marie’s little coos and hums.

This is how Jeff Troy ends up sitting on his captain’s couch, listening to him explain that when they won the cup, a few days later, this little bundle of joy was sitting on his porch step, wrapped up in an aces blanket, wearing a Parson jersey, sleeping in a car seat.

“I don’t know what brought her here, but I think it might be something to do with cup magic. I’ve always wanted a baby, and I thought I would be married and have a child, but I guess, the cup decided to fulfil that wish, since I hadn’t achieved that, and really wanted it.” He explains, and Jeff nods.

“I know I’ve heard about instances like this, but like I didn’t think it actually happened.” He replies, and then they sit there in silence, and Jeff can’t help but think about how Kent probably feels, how weird it must be to suddenly be a dad. That’s when Jeff decides that he’s gonna help Parse.

“You know, if you need anything, I’m here to help.” He tells Kent. Jeff doesn’t know a lot about babies, but he’s gonna help as much as he can. It’s part of being a good teammate. It’s the least he can do for his captain.

Jeff has no clue how to take care of a baby. He tells Kent this when he calls one day, asking him to watch Grace Marie.

“I’ll look after her, of course, but I don’t know what I’m doing, honest.” He explains, and Kent chuckles.

“Swoops, I know just as much about babies as you do, but honestly, you probably know more than I do. I really need to go run some errands, so I’ll see you in five.” Kent says, and hangs up.

Kent is bringing Marie Grace to his house, and it’s a good thing she’s not really up and moving around just yet, because the house is nowhere near baby proof. He cleans up the living room though, just in case.

Kent is knocking on the door a little while later, and Jeff opens the door, and Parse comes in for a moment, helps him get Grace Marie settled, and then back out the door, probably running late.

Grace Marie babbles and coos, holding a plush version of the Ace’s mascot, chewing on it’s foot. She giggles and waves it around as soon as she sees Jeff. He’s sitting in the floor, inventorying the contents of the diaper bag Kent left with him.

He looks up at Grace Marie, and sighs. Hopefully, he can handle this.

When Kent returns to retrieve Grace Marie, he finds Jeff and her playing peek a boo. Grace Marie is still chewing on her plush bunny’s foot, small hands holding onto the plush body tightly.

He helps Kent load Grace Marie’s bag and things into the car, and stops for a minute, and just watches how Parse’s face lights up with joy as he buckles Grace Marie into her car seat.

He doesn’t think he’s seen him like this, well, ever. Kent’s not really surly, but he’s definitely not the type to just smile all the time. The way he’s been acting in practice and around the team has changed too. It’s subtle, but Kent’s spirits are high and he seems to be enjoying playing hockey in a way Jeff has never seen.

He hopes it continues, even if they play the Falcons for their home opener.

Standing on home ice before the game, Jeff watches the other team, anthem ringing through the arena. Of course, they got stuck playing Providence for their home opener. Kent’s been worried about this game for weeks, and the positive spirits Jeff had seen have kind of faded into the background. Kent has got some bad blood with Zimmermann, and having to see his mood sink, sucks.

As they prepare for the face off, Jeff gives Parse a small nod, as if to tell him that he’s there for him, just in case.

It’s a tense game, and the Aces scrape out a sorely needed win, and Jeff almost kisses Parse right there in the overtime goal celly.

While not a good idea, he wants to kiss Kent Parson so bad, his heart aches. He can’t name the feeling stirring in his chest, but he can feel it, bubbling up, threatening to spill over and become something he’s not sure he knows how to handle.

Jeff’s life starts to revolve around Kent and Grace Marie, as they both ever so slowly start building a home in his heart. It all culminates in a head when Jeff finally kisses Parse one night.

He’s sitting on the couch, and they’re watching a movie while Grace Marie is sleeping. They’ve got the volume low, to avoid waking her. Kent is telling Jeff about some play that they need to try in practice tomorrow and Jeff can’t help it.

He leans over and kisses Kent, and he’s so shocked, he doesn’t react. Jeff pulls back, and looks at Parse’s stunned face. Fuck.

He apologizes quickly, and moves to get up, when Kent pulls him back down into a kiss. His hands drift into Kent’s hair, and he can’t believe it. Something he’d longed after for so long, finally being fulfilled.

Kent pulls away to turn the movie off, so he can drag Jeff off to bed, just so he can kiss him some more. It’s perfect, even if Kent tastes like pizza.

Jeff rolls over one morning, practically slapping Kent in the face. He grumbles and pulls half the covers off of Jeff, who shivers, cool air rushing over him.

It’s barely time to even be awake, and he glances over at the flashing red lights of his alarm clock and rolls over to where Kent is, and wraps his arms around him. He snuggles under the blanket, and falls asleep like that, Kent breathing softly next to them.

Neither of them have to be anywhere, and Grace Marie is sound asleep in her own room, finally able to sleep through the night. Everything is still, just for a moment.