Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

February 2011-A Bar in Montreal

"And may we always beat the Bears!" Comeau shouts at the top of his lungs.

The guys with shot glasses in hand down them in an instant. Shane fiddles with his ginger ale before taking a sip. He usually doesn't go out with the team, but on occasion Hayden convinces him to come to a celebration.  Tonight is a good pick because it will give him some plausible deniability for where he's headed after the bar.

JJ slides up between Shane and Hayden and drapes his arms over them. "Did you see the girls in the corner? They've been eyeing us since we got here. It would only be polite to introduce ourselves."

Shane bites back a frown. He would rather be doing literally anything else. Especially given that he's agreed to meet Rozanov in a hotel room in a couple hours, but, for the sake of plausible deniability, he knows he'll allow himself to be dragged over.

Hayden turns his head so fast that Shane worries about whiplash. "Well, it couldn't hurt to introduce ourselves."

JJ bounces over to the group of three who have been allegedly eyeing them. JJ immediately begins making small talk.

"My name is Jean-Jacques, but my friends call me JJ and we are all friends here, yes?" JJ smiles. He pokes Shane's shoulder, who gives half a grimace, before his media training kicks into high gear and a facsimile of a smile appears. "The is Shane Hollander. And of course this is Hayden Pike."

Hayden can't stop staring at the pretty woman with long dark hair, curled at the bottom and sparkling green eyes.

The brunette holds out her hand toward Hayden, who is still standing in front of her in some type of shock. "It's wonderful to meet you Hayden. I'm Jacquline, but since we are in fact, all friends, you can call me Jackie."

Hayden snaps out of his daze at the sound of his name. "The pleasure is mine."

Shane watches as his friend gently grips Jackie's hand and gives it a kiss like in the romance movies his parents enjoy on their date nights, and then looks at the time.

He best be getting to Rozanov's hotel room. However if he would have known that Hayden would grow from his co-rookie line mate into his best friend and that his best friend just met the love of his life, maybe he'd have tried to stick around longer.

But as it stands, he has a rival to meet.

---

Pre-Season 2011-An Apartment Building

Shane brings a dessert from his favorite bakery. One that makes a sugar free, dairy free, gluten free chocolate cake that suits his long list of dietary requirements, that makes it so he can afford a small slice.  He also got a slice of the Strawberry Crème Dream for Hayden and ChocoCaramel Explosion for Jackie.

Today he is going to the shiny new apartment Jackie and Hayden decided to move into together.  Jackie is finishing out her degree in kinesiology this year and so they wanted to find a place that was equidistant to the practice rink and her college. The building is grey brick with sleek and modern lines complete with a doorman. Hayden and Jackie live on the 7th floor. "I'm Shane Hollander, here to see Hayden Pike? 712?"

The doorman smiles. "Of course." He calls upstairs to get approval before gesturing to the open elevator. "They said to add you to permanent guest list."

Shane gives a small smile. He likes hanging out with Hayden. Most people seem to prefer his media persona and get angry when that isn't who he is all the time, but Hayden always says how glad he is to 'see beyond his mask' when they head back to their shared hotel room on road trips. Hayden also appears to listen and enjoy his thoughts and opinions about the most recent hockey book he's reading, which is nice.

He knocks on the door. Hayden answers with a huge smile. "Shane, my man! How are you?" He claps Shane on the shoulder knowing that hugs are less preferred.

"Hayd, you saw me yesterday." Shane pushes him out of the doorway.

"That was over 24 hours ago!" Hayden exclaims indignantly. "Who knows what could have changed? Like maybe you decided that red meat isn't on the banned list and I can break out the steaks we have in the fridge!"

Shane laughs as Jackie shouts from the kitchen, "Hayden Pike if you think about changing this menu, I am leaving!"

"Fine, fine, I did spend all that time grilling the salmon." Hayden smiles, "I even got a fancy cedar plank and everything."

Jackie leaves the kitchen and walks over to Shane and extends her arm so Shane can choose a half hug or handshake. He decides to go for the half hug today. "Thank you for cooking.  I know he didn't do any of the actual work."

"Hey, I take offense to that!" Hayden smiles. "Not only did I grill the salmon, I marinated it! And grilled the vegetables, Jackie wouldn't let me chop them."

"Probably for the best, we can't have you losing a finger this close to the start of the season." Shane teases.

"You cut yourself with a knife one time and then all of a sudden..." Hayden trails off muttering under his breath into the kitchen.

Shane takes off his shoes and sweater to hang on the hooks by the door. "Jackie, it's lovely in here! I love how you decorated the place."

"How do you know I didn't decorate?"

"Hayd, I saw your last apartment." Shane smiles. "I did hired a decorator for mine because I know I don't have as good an eye as a professional, but this is a good mix of classic pieces and modern decor."

"Thank you Shane. In my last apartment I had most of these as pieces from my grand-mère's house once she went into an assisted living. Now, she's beating everyone at bridge and I have gorgeous walnut furniture my great grand-père made." She guides Shane to the dining table that is in an adjacent space to the kitchen, split with a half wall.

Hayden finishes setting the table and laying out the salads, quinoa, salmon and roasted vegetables. "Tada! Dinner!"

Shane nods his head. "Jackie thank you for cooking, it looks delicious. Hayden the fish looks... edible."

Hayden mock gasps. "How dare you question the integrity of my fish!"

They laugh and pile their plates with food. "So." Hayden says.

"So?"

"Shane." Jackie says with an air of seriousness and she then takes a deep breath and holds out her hand, showing off a golden ring with a cat-eye shaped emerald surrounded by several small diamonds along the boarder.

Shane blinks. "That's a very pretty ring?"

Hayden shakes his head with a small smile. "Shane, my dude, she's showing you her engagement ring."

"Oh." Shane looks between the two of them. "Oooh! Congratulations guys! I'm so happy for you both!" Shane did remember at the one Metros meet up they had in the summer that Hayden was thinking about going ring shopping, but he hadn't heard anything else.

"And, I'd love it if you'd consider being one of my groomsmen?" Hayden says, a little more apprehensively.

Shane sits for a moment, thinking about weddings and the attention that fall on the people at the front. He knows most people look at the bride and groom, but he also knows that if he were doing something weird it would be in pictures and people might talk about it. Hayden looks up from the bite of salad and his eyes look hopeful. Shane sighs internally for a moment for the scrutinization of being in the wedding party, but genuinely smiles. "Of course, Hayd you're one of my best friends. I would be honored." He channels his inner Rozanov for a moment and adds "Congratulations on marrying up."

Hayden smiles back and grabs Jackie's free hand. "Don't I know it."

Jackie places a kiss on his cheek. "And may you never forget."

The three chat about the current drama in the WAG chat. Hayden because he lives for the drama and Shane because he needs to know who is going to be too distracted for their preseason game in two days, so he can cover for them on the ice. They eventually break out the desserts and Hayden convinces them to play a round of Catan.

Shane has some really good friends. Even if no one is willing to trade him any sheep.

---

June 2012-A Flower Field

"I'm going to throw up." Hayden says pacing a small hole in the Groom's Suite.

Hayden's Best Man is his best friend from childhood.  They were in kindergarten together and played hockey together until juniors when Dean decided he wanted to focus more on advanced classes with the end goal of being a doctor.  They have remained good friends even as time moved on, Dean attending as many games as he can in Toronto where they grew up.

Dean sighs and plops in the chair next to Shane, who is absentmindedly fiddling with his cufflinks while scrolling through a contract his mom sent over for a new brand deal opportunity. "Can you do something? I've tried all my tricks."

"Huh?"

"To get him to calm down? Like I don't know, maybe what a locker room assistant captain speech might sound like, but for his wedding?" Dean gestures towards Hayden imploringly.

Shane thinks for a minute. "Pike!" He exclaims like they were on the ice. Hayden stops and looks at Shane. "Listen up. Today is the day you are going to marry the love of your life. Ever since you met Jackie you've been talking about her non-stop and as your roommate, I know you've been talking to her non-stop. This is the start of the rest of your lives together. Do you want to be this panicked mess or do you wanna go out there and marry the woman you love?"

"Yes I want to go out there and marry the woman I love!" Hayden exclaimed loudly, nerves calming. "Let's do this!"

Shane extends his had and pulls Hayden into a bro hug, one fist landing on Hayden's back. Ever since he learned there was going to be an A on his chest next season for assistant captain, he started practicing speeches again and figuring out ways to engage with his teammates. He's always appreciated a bro hug for the brevity of contact and minimal invasion of his personal bubble. Shane murmurs to his best friend, "You got this. Today's gonna be amazing."

"Thank you for being here, Shane." Hayden gives his back one more thump. "Alright! Time for photos."

---

Shane holds his hands gently clasped in front of him. He made sure to ask Jackie what pose she would like best in her wedding photos. Hayden acted aghast, clutching his heart, that Shane did not care about his opinion, as Shane was his groomsman. Shane had just smirked and said "It's Jackie's wedding, you just happened to end up on the guest list."

Shane's smile is fully genuine, as he watches two people who folded him into their life with Hayden going from being his road roommate to weekly dinners at their apartment to even the occasional night out on the off season where he has a beer and Hayden and Jackie drink so much that they end up drunk on his couch as he shepherds them back from the bar.

"Do you Jaqueline Annabelle Clément, take Hayden Anthony Pike to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

The smile that bursts out on Jackie's face is enormous. She squeezes Hayden's hand tighter. "I do."

"Do you Hayden Anthony Pike, take Jaqueline Annabelle Clément  to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

Shane can't see Hayden's face, but he knows that he must be grinning from ear to ear as he says "I do."

"By the power invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

Hayden pulls Jackie forward as the audience begins clapping. He dips her and they have their first kiss as a married couple.

Shane claps the hardest he ever has because his two best friends are in love and now they're married. He couldn't be more excited for them as they enter into this next part of their lives together.

---

December 2012-Hayden and Jackie's Apartment

"Fuck Ilya Rozanov." Hayden says booing at the Bears game replay playing on ESPN.

Ilya is bragging yet again about being the best player in the league. "I am ahead in goals! Assists, bah, boring. I swish into the the net with my very good, very strong back hand." Ilya winks at the camera.

"Yeah." Shane says a little distracted by the shirtless wink. "Fuck that guy."

Jackie brings over a platter of snacks, ranging from vegetables, to fruit, to cheese and sits herself in Hayden's lap wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "Shane."

Shane looks up from the celery piece he was dipping in the homemade dairy-free protein-rich dip he made for the occasion. "What?" He looks at her sitting on Hayden's lap and rules out divorce, but the last time she said his name like that she announced they were getting married. "Did something else life changing happen?"

A wide smile breaks out across both Hayden and Jackie's faces. In unison, almost like they practiced, they shout, "We're having twins!"

Shane's eyes glance down at Jackie's stomach before he can stop them. He quickly raised them back up to the smiling faces in front of him. "Twins?!"

"Yep, Jackie Pike, mother of two!"

"Hey and Hayden Pike, father of two!"

Shane laughs. "Congratulations, guys! I'm so happy for you!" He stands up and gives them both half a hug. "How far along are you?" Shane thanks his mom's guilty pleasures of romcoms for showing him what to ask in this moment.

"We're about 3 months in. I'm slowly starting to show and we made it past the first trimester. You're like the 1st person we've told outside of family."

Shane smiles. "Thank you for telling me! I'm honored! Please make sure to send me your registry!"

"Of course! The twins already love their Uncle Shane!" Hayden smirks. "And his deep, deep wallet filled with Rolex money."

"I see how it is Hayd, you only want me for my money!" Shane smiles again. "Seriously though. You guys are going to be great parents. I'm so excited to become an Uncle. Thank you for giving me that title."

Jackie pats him on the shoulder. "There is no better word to describe you to our little ones.  They're always going to know they can count on Uncle Shane."

"Yeah, they certainly can."

Chapter Text

June 2013-Hayden and Jackie's Apartment

Shane sits with Jackie on the terrace connected to the apartment. Both are reclining on the chaise loungers Hayden and Jackie set up for the season, sipping virgin Moscow Mules with some crudité sitting on the table between them.  Jackie looking stunning in a giant sun hat and black and white polkadot maternity sundress. Shane is wearing khaki shorts and a deep blue polo and has sunglasses perched on his nose. "Garçon!" Jackie calls. "We need a refill!"

Hayden comes outside with a pitcher of the Moscow Mule mix. "Anything else madam?" He tries to sound annoyed at the end, but it just reads deeply fond because Jackie was giggling through the entire exchange. It's also been a while since she looked this content.

"I was wondering when dinner would be ready?" Jackie flutters her lashes.

"Both the vegan zucchini lasagna, extra cheese lasagna, and meat lovers lasagna are in the oven." Hayden spent the morning making his Nonna's sauce for the 3 different mini lasagnas that he was requested to make. He apologized to his Nonna when, to cut the sweetness and increase the nutritional value he added a veggie puree of peppers, mushrooms, and the smallest amount of kale he could get away with to Shane's portion.

"Thank you for the update, Garçon. We will call if we need you." Jackie dismisses him.

"You know, this is also my last dinner with Shane before he retreats to a remote lake in Quebec with his parents."

"Yes, but you see him more during the season and don't care about architecture.  I want to hear about Shane's plan for creating his own cottage." Jackie makes a shooing motion.

"Fine, fine, I'm going, I'm going." Hayden shakes his head and goes back inside. It's fine, he's supposed to be checking on the lasagnas anyway.

Jackie turns back to Shane, "Now that our nosy waiter is gone, where were we?"

"Well, so far I've only acquired the land. It's near my parent's cottage which I love because the area brings me right back to my childhood. I'm still shopping around for who I want to design the cottage. I'm hoping when I'm up there at my parents this summer, I'll be able to survey the land and see where I want things to go."

"Like let the land speak to you, makes sense. It'll also be easier once you're there to meet with people in the area."

"Exactly!" Shane is about to launch into the several people he is planning on meeting with in the next few weeks, when Hayden calls them inside.

"It's lasagna time!" Hayden dutifully pulls out Jackie's chair for her and tucks her into the place in front of the extra cheese lasagna. "As you can see making the mini lasagnas in the mini loaf pans, was in fact genius."

All three plates have the bubbling cheesy pasta on one side and salad on the other. Hayden and Jackie's plates also have a golden brown garlic bread crostini. "Hayd, I have to say, this honestly looks super edible."

Hayden rolls his eyes. "Why thank you my darling wife. I'm glad that you approve." He knows this is one of her favorite meals, but gentle chirps towards one another is part of their love language.

They make it about half way through the meal taking bets on who is going to win what award at the awards ceremony, when Jackie pauses mid-sentence. "Okay, so, nobody be alarmed." Hayden and Shane are immediately alarmed. "I'm like 80% sure  my water just broke."

Hayden stands abruptly. "Okay, we've prepared for this. It's go time! I need the go time bag!" He runs off into their bedroom. Shane comes to Jackie's side and carefully helps her up. "Babe, babe! Where did we move the go bag? Why can't I find the go bag?!"

Jackie sighs and points out a neatly packed dusty rose colored duffle that is sitting by the door. "Babe, we wanted it to be easier to access, so it's already out here."

Hayden had been in the process of storming down the hallway to check in every room in the house when he freezes and sees Shane and Jackie waiting by the door with the duffle over Shane's shoulder. "Uh, do you want me to drive? So that the two of you can sit together in the back seat?"

Jackie bends over slightly and both Shane and Hayden reach out to help her. "Just a contraction. Whoo, they were not kidding."

Hayden eyebrows come together and his lips purse. "Would you mind? I think I'd rather stay in the back with her."

"I'm not a child. I don't need a baby sitter." Jackie says as they slowly make their way to the car.

"Fine, we all know it's really you babysitting me anyway." Hayden says holding her hand.

"You know, that is a fair point." Jackie smiles. "I love you. Remember that later when I am cursing you out."

"Of course."

---

"Look at them." Hayden says to Shane outside the baby view area. "Ruby and Jade. Uncle Shane you should wave hello to your favorite nieces."

Shane smiles and waves. "They're my only nieces Hayd, but they're already my favorite."

"Good, good, because you're already their favorite Uncle."

"Hayden, you have a brother."

"I said what I said." Hayden clasps Shane on the shoulder. "Thank you for being here today and staying all 7 hours."

"Of course. Besides leaving you here stranded while I stole your car seemed like a bad plan."

"Thanks for not doing that." Hayden says, eyes still unable to move from his girls faces. "Do you want to see Jackie?"

"I would love to, if you're sure she's up for visitors." Shane takes one last look at his new nieces and smiles. Uncle Shane has a great ring to it.

---

July 2013-Hayden and Jackie's Apartment

Shane enters Hayden and Jackie's apartment for the first time since the twins had come home from the hospital and finds it to be more chaotic than it usually is, but apparently Ruby and Jade Pike are both going through a colicky phase, and neither of his friends are sleeping.

"Oh thank god." Jackie runs over. "First, hand sanitizer is by the shoe organizer table. Then come over here and give me a hug and take this baby."

Shane dutifully sanitizes before heading over to give Jackie half an armed hug. "Hey Jacks."

"Shane, this is Jade." Jackie shows off her little bundle. "She really wants to go and hang out with you Uncle Shane."

Shane, having never held a baby before, asks "Can I sit down first?"

Jackie almost pushes him on to the couch. "There we go watch the head. Right now they only sleep if they are being held." She gently place Jade on his shoulder. Shane looks confused about the positioning. "Now you just hold her there face down is better, so that's why she's on your shoulder instead of in your arms. I'll put on the white noise machine."

Hayden emerges from the nursery and whispering yells, "Ruby is down, I repeat Ruby is down."

Jackie smiles. "Finally. Shane's here."

"Oh perfect. Uncle Shane, Ruby wants to be hel-" he stops abruptly already seeing a baby in his arms. "Jackie, I thought we agre-"

"You snooze you lose Pike." Jackie stands up. "Now then, I am going to go to the bathroom, put up a load of laundry and take a power nap."

Hayden, not wanting his plans of giving his best friend the baby he is responsible for today, so he can do his chores of the dishes and meal prep, to be derailed, decides to try something. "So, we've been getting picture of people holding both twins at the same time for the baby book. So what if I put Ruby on your other shoulder?"

"Uh, sure? If that's safe?" Shane's immediate worry about the safety of his kids is almost enough to make him feel slightly guilty about what he's about to do, but it's not like he's lying, this photo will go in the baby book.

"There we go." Ruby settles onto his other shoulder. Both girls profiles facing towards the middle of Shane's chest. Hayden does coo for a moment at the adorable sight of his best friend holding both his kids, as he takes out his phone and snaps several photos. "Perfect so, just stay exactly like this." Hayden puts on a hockey documentary on the TV at a very low volume with subtitles on. "You don't have to get up from this couch ever again, just keep swaying and bouncing a little like you're doing and you'll be good. It's my turn for dishes and meal prep today. Have fun with the girls."

Shane sits, trapped on the couch by the two cutest babies he's ever seen. He whisper yells, "Hayd, is the only reason you invited me over so that I could be a human baby bounce for your children?"

"Um, no comment?" Hayden says, also whisper yelling from the kitchen. "Okay, so like it's only 70% the reason. 30% we missed you?" The latter part trailing off into a question.

Shane sighs. "You're lucky you're my best friend." Shane locks in on the documentary and keeps up his slight swaying and the girls stay asleep.

"Hey, so, could I join Jackie for a quick power nap? Please? We haven't been able to be asleep at the same time in days." Hayden begs.

Shane looks a little apprehensive. "I've never been near babies before."

"And the minute they cry we will come out.  They've been down for about a half hour and have around another hour until they'll wake up hangry." Hayden eyes are wide and pleading.

"Go nap with your wife. Uncle Shane is here." Shane smiles and shakes his head.

Hayden kisses both girls heads gently and says "Fuck it." And kisses Shane's too for good measure. "Thank you."

Shane shoos him off and sits there for about an hour watching the documentary until Jade and Ruby both decided it's time to wake up. Neither screaming yet, just looking at each other with bright green eyes that look like Jackie's and Hayden's blonde showing in their wispy hair. "You both are adorable. Uncle Shane loves you."

Ruby's face starts to scrunch up.  "Okay, time to go into your parents' room!" Shane has an adventure standing with his arms full of babies, he decides it's not a terrible core workout.

He makes it to Hayden and Jackie's room, just in time for the hungry screams to begin. "I think you need these back."

Hayden tries to snuggle back into Jackie. "Ten more minutes, please."

Jackie nudges him off her. "Come on you big lug. The girls are hungry."

Shane passes them over. "I'll get started on dinner for us."

"You're staying? I thought you couldn't be here long?" Hayden asks.

"I had my mom reschedule my flight for a red eye tomorrow for the commercial." Shane shrugs. "You guys look like you need a little more help."

"Shane, I could kiss you." Jackie says.

"Hell, I could kiss you." Hayden says.

"None of that please. Now let Uncle Shane help you guys out."

Shane spends the rest of the evening helping to cook and tidy their house. Sometimes he ends up with a baby in his arms. Sometimes he doesn't, but either way when he leaves Jackie puts on a baby voice and says "Bye Uncle Shane! We love you!"

"Uncle Shane loves you girls too."

---

December 2013-Bell Centre

It's always good PR when the family of players are in the stands. It's especially good PR when adorable infants are in the stands to cheer on their dads. It was only a matter of time until the team 'requested' that Jackie bring the girls as a PR stunt. It was basically a right of passage as a Metro's baby.

"Hayd, if you tell me you're worried one more time, I am going to shove you into the boards." Shane says fishing his stretches.

"I know. I know that they'll be fine, they're even in the WAG box and not the stands. But what if they get upset and cry the whole game?" Hayden is stretching with half-hearted effort.

"Okay, look, I asked my parents to come tonight." Shane says starting on his next set.

"What?" Hayden asks. "I thought your dad had a work thing?"

"He rescheduled." Shane looks at Hayden and grips his shoulder. "I knew you were worried about Jackie managing the two of them herself and sure there are other WAGs but a lot of them have kids. I figured my parents would love to hold a baby and they've both met Ruby and Jade already the last home game they were they came to when you invited us all to lunch. So now, can you relax so we can focus on beating the Bears?"

Hayden nods. "Aye, aye, Captain!" And then more sincerely, with a double pat to his shoulder. "Thank you."

"Of course." Shane knows that raising kids is a community endeavor, and with Hayden's parents in Toronto and Jackie's parents living an hour away, but frequently needing to take care of her older siblings children, Shane is happy to be that support.

The real reason Shane made the call to Yuna and David is because, while over for dinner last week, Shane overheard a conversation Jackie was having with her mom on his way to the bathroom.

"Hey, could you come down for the weekend? Hayden has a game and management said it would be 'really great to see our newest fans in the stand', so it was clear that they want me to bring the girls and I'm worried about being alone with them at the rink." Jackie paused, clearly listening to her mother's response. "Daphnée can sometimes bring her own kids to their weekend practices." She waits again. "Oh, so because I'm a stay at home mom, I don't deserve any support?" She paused again. "You know what, mom, I'm glad that Daph has you. Have a good day and I'll talk to you later." Shane peaked around the corner and saw her head in her hands.

Shane had quickly backed away and when Jackie rejoined her and Hayden it was like the exchange with her mother had never happened.

He called Yuna on the drive home.

---

"Ready to lose, Hollander?" Rozanov says skating closer, then softer and with a flirty edge. "We can make a little bet for later."

"You wish." Shane says and then mumbles the code to his new building.

The game is close to starting and everyone is called back to their benches. Hayden elbows Shane and points to the WAG box that is appearing on big screen. Jackie is standing at the edge of the box holding Ruby as evidenced by the red bow in her blonde hair. Yuna is standing next to her, talking about something, holding Jade marked with a matching green bow.

Jackie realizes that they're one camera and grabs the sign she made that has the girls' handprints on the boarder. "Go Metros!" The girls each make a grabby hand on a corner and hold the sign.

Then Yuna and Jackie turn so that everyone can see Yuna and Jade in Hollander jerseys and Jackie and Ruby in Pike jerseys.

Shane feels his heart melt at seeing them in their tiny jerseys. He couldn't believe that they had gotten Jade a Hollander one.

"Thank you. Jackie was really nervous about being alone." Hayden says right before they're about to go on the ice.

"I know. But this is what family is for." They clap each other on the shoulder and hop on to the ice.

"Let's destroy Boston!" Shane yells.

"You got it Captain!"

---

After the game the Metros are in a good mood with a very narrow victory of Boston on home ice. They had lost the away game at the TD Garden last month and needed this win for the rankings.

Jackie and Yuna are waiting outside with the girls. Both looking a little sleepy. "They had fallen asleep around halfway through second period. David is clearly where you get your sleep magic from Shane." Jackie hands him Ruby and Yuna passes Jade to Hayden. "They want you to take them for the press."

Hayden shakes his head. "Exactly why we had kids, right Jacks? So that I'd have props for my pressers?" Hayden blows a raspberry on both girls sides to wake them up and get them smiling a bit.  "We'll try to make it quick."

"What are you doing after this?" Hayden asks as they head to the press area. "Are Yuna and David staying?"

"Nah, Dad moved his work thing to tomorrow and they're driving back tonight, so I'm just gonna head home, relax." Meet up with Ilya Rozanov and have a great time. He thinks the rest to himself.

"Lucky, there's no way we're having an easy night with the girls after this."

"This is why I like my uncle rights." Shane says hoisting Ruby up a little higher. "Much better for my sleep schedule."

Hayden shoves him a little as they line up for the press, ready to answer what ever questions get thrown at them.

Chapter Text

June 2014-Hayden and Jackie's apartment

"Fuck." Hayden says.

"Swear jar." Jackie and Shane reply in unison.

"I hate it when you guys team up on me. Also, I'm right. Boston and mother bleeping Ilya Rozanov are about to take the whole mother bleeping Stanley Cup before we did." Hayden shakes his head. "A damn shame."

"Yeah, a real shame. But there's hope. Even if they win tonight they still need one more tomorrow." Shane says. Shane can't help but notice that since the Olympics Rozanov has been playing amazing hockey, but also, it hasn't seemed like he's been enjoying the hockey, but that is none of Shane's business, the 3 unanswered text messages sitting in his conversation with Lily, has told him that.

"Excuse me." Jackie says getting up for the third time since the game began.

"Is Jackie okay?" Shane asks.

Hayden laughs. "I should have known you'd notice." Hayden shakes his head. "Let's wait for Jackie."

Shane raises an eyebrow, but turns back to the TV. Jackie comes back. "What did I miss?"

Shane goes to give a play by play of the last couple of minutes of the game that she missed when Hayden ask, "Shane, why don't you ask Jackie what you asked me?"

Shane pauses the live TV stream. "Oh, I just wanted to know if you were doing okay because you've gotten up a lot during the game." Shane says, eyes looking down to the side, hoping that he didn't say something wrong.

Jackie smacks Hayden's arm. "I told you he'd notice it this time."

"This time?" Shane asks, eyes snapping back up to Jackie's face. "You've been sick like this before?"

Hayden and Jackie look at each other again. "We were waiting to tell people again until the end of the 1st trimester, but..."

"I'm pregnant! Again!" Jackie finishes for Hayden.

"Oh! Congratulations!" Shane says. "When are you due?"

"February, so this is only month 2, but we're excited. We're also planning on going house shopping!" Jackie says. "I hope that we can count on your expertise."

"Of course! I would love to!" Shane says. "We can look after the game."

Hayden and Jackie look at each other and smile as Shane unpauses. Of course hockey first.

---

February 2015-Shane's Apartment

"Go on your baby moon!" Shane says, practically shoving Jackie and Hayden out the door. Jackie is almost any day now levels of pregnancy, but they weren't able to do a baby moon before the girls because the week it was supposed to happen, Hayden's mom broke her wrist and they both flew to Toronto to help instead of going to the resort like they had planned.

"I know, but are you sure you'll okay? Don't you need to practice for All Stars?" Jackie asks, hovering.

"Listen, it's 3 days. Then you'll be back and then I can fly to All Stars. Besides, my mom is going to come to town tomorrow and we're all going to go out. This is great for me because it helps keep my mom from asking me when I'm planning on settling down."

Hayden smirks, "Well, now that you mention it, my friend knows this personal trainer and-"

Shane physically pushes Hayden out of his house. "Leave. Please. Enjoy the spa resort. The girls will be fine. We will FaceTime before bed. You've literally left them overnight with me before."

They all wave one more time and Shane shuts the door. Ruby and Jade look up with matching expressions from the books that they are coloring. "Color?" Ruby asks, holding out a crayon.

"Yes. Let's color!" Shane puts on their approved music playlist that they like and grabs a coloring page showing a cartoon knight on a horse. He knows there is a very strict screen time limit, so he made sure to research developmentally appropriate activities for them to do together for the rest of today. Then tomorrow, there is an indoor playground that has a toddler room specifically for their age demographic.

---

After a nap and a snack, Shane made sure to set up the next activity for the girls.

"Unc''Nane?" Jade asks. "Mama?"

"Mama is with Dada and they'll be back in a few days, so Ruby and Jade get to have a sleepover with Uncle Shane!" Shane says as they work on fine-motor skill builder he found online. Who knew stuffing a whisk with pompoms would be good for that. Then the girls are dipping the pompoms on the glue stick and making a picture. Picture is a bit of a loose term, but they seem to be having fun.

Ruby nods. "'Eepober." She places a pompom on an existing pair making a triangle.

"Yes, sleepover. I love how we're using the space, very 3 dimensional." Shane says and Ruby nods along.

"So, girls do you want pasta with red sauce, pasta with white sauce, or chicken nuggets with mashed potatoes." Shane asks.

The girls look at each other and in unison go "Nuggies!"

"Nuggies, it is." Shane says. "Do you girls want to help me make dinner?" They nod. "Okay, then we need to clean up our stuff and head to the kitchen."

---

"So, now that the girls are asleep how were they really?" Jackie asks looking very relaxed, leaning against Hayden.

"We were doing really good until the mashed potato incident. Hence why they needed the bath." Shane shudders at the amount of mashed potatoes he still needs to clean from his floors.

"I'm sorry." Jackie sighs. "I should have warned you that the texture of mashed potatoes makes them excellent mess making food. But they seemed to like it, even with the cauliflower you sneaked in there."

"The trick was to make it a volcano. They really enjoyed the Dino nuggets on the volcano mountain, complete with little edible trees."  Shane sighs. "I wanted this to feel like a fun adventure for them too. I know they're little still, but their lives are also about to change, so I was hoping they'd have fun with Uncle Shane."

"They look like they're having a blast. You even read them 3 stories. You're doing great." Hayden says. "Okay, so bye! Thank you for being amazing, but we have before bed plans."

Jackie hits him on the back of the head. "Bye Shane, call you and the girls tomorrow."

---

"Hey, so, do you mind keeping the girls another night?" Hayden says calling the morning the girls are due to get picked up. Tomorrow is Shane's flight out to All Stars.

"I mean, no, but you need to get here by 7 am tomorrow morning." Shane says a little anxiety in his voice.

"I wouldn't ask, but as we were driving, um, Jackie went into labor and well, I'm not sure how long it will take."

"Hayd, next time lead with that so I don't think you're risking my professional career for an extra day of your very 'wholesome', I'm sure, spa vacation."

Hayden laughs slightly. "You're right, I'm just freaking out."

"Why, there's only one this time, we got the house set up and ready, and you both got this. Do you want me and the girls to come to you?" Shane asks.

"No, no. Jackie would prefer them to not be here yet if that's okay. If not I can try her mom."

"Absolutely not." Shane is offended because he is a much better choice than Jackie's mom who maybe sees the girls once a month. "We've been good. You focus on Jackie and little Arthur. I can hang out with the girls another day."

---

February 2015-Hospital in Montreal

Labor takes shorter than expected because Shane gets the call to bring the girls by the hospital in the early evening. "Mama!" They exclaim running to her bedside. In her arms is another blonde baby with green eyes. "Arter?"

"Hey Ruby, Hi Jade." Jackie says with a smile. "This is your little brother Arthur."

"Squish." Jade says looking at his face.

Hayden laughs. "You were also squishy when you were small."

"Tiny." Ruby says with a nod.

Shane takes a candid shot of the whole family looking at baby Arthur together. He's glad he's been able to help his friends out both times babies were being born.

"Shane, get over here and meet your nephew!" Jackie calls him over.

"Hello Arthur. I'm your Uncle Shane." Shane waves at him.

"Cool." Jade says.

"Yes, Uncle Shane definitely is very cool." Hayden says teasing him with a giant smile on his face.

Jackie looks up at Shane, a smile on her face, eyes shining. "The coolest. Thanks for being here."

"What are friends for?" Shane says looking at Arthur, green eyes squinting up at Shane. "Hey, buddy! I'm Uncle Shane!"

Shane stays until he needs to leave so he can get some sleep before his flight. "Goodbye Pikes!"

A chorus of goodbye Uncle Shane follows, their usual farewell. "We love you!"

"Love you guys too!"

---

June 2015-Ilya Rozanov's Apartment

Shane Hollander clearly had something to prove this year. Ilya knew that much. After the hotel room in Vegas, their meet ups returned. Ilya didn't want to admit that the joy of playing hockey also began to creep back in as well.

The Metros and Bears fought the most viscous round 2 playoff series in the league. A war of attrition with 3 of the 7 games going into overtime, including game 7. In the end, Hollander landed a goal and Montreal decided to have a functional defensive line for a change, able to shut Ilya from scoring a tying goal.

"And the Montreal Metros have been on fire all season! I wonder if seeing his arch-rival Ilya Rozanov secure the cup for Boston last year left Hollander with something to prove."

Even out of the playoffs, Ilya is pleased that he's still being referenced. Admittedly when he plays, Shane usually gets a mention as well.

Ilya Rozanov. Shane Hollander. Two sides of the same coin if you were to ask anyone with more than a casual opinion on hockey. The Bad Boy and The Golden Boy.

There's about 2 minutes left in 3rd period. The Metros are up by 2 goals, so the games basically theirs. Washington hardly standing a chance, even with pulling their goalie.

Shane Hollander, of course, scores a hat trick just for fun on the empty goal with 12 seconds left on the clock. "Of fucking course. Fucking Shane Hollander."

Jane

Congrats on finally becoming Stanley Cup champion. I, obviously, as best player in the league did it first. But, good hat trick. See you at awards.

Ilya watches as people make the way on to the ice to celebrate with the team. Last year, no one came on to the ice for him. Ilya sees two people heading down wearing Hollander jerseys. Each one carrying a tiny blonde girl with pigtails. Next to them, with her dark hair in a high ponytail wearing a Pike jersey is Pike's wife carrying their newest addition.  Hollander had been showing pictures off at All Stars to Boiziau of the hours old infant at the time.

Pike rushes over and picks up his wife and son and spins them around. Both are laughing. She then walks over and gives Shane a hug and hands him Arthur. He gives Arthur a tickle, before handing him off to Hayden and gestures towards the cup.

It's not atypical for a team to put a baby in the cup if they have one the right size. It's a much more wholesome image than what the cup usually gets up to and certainly compared to the absolute nightmare of jungle juice the Bears filled it with last year.

Hollander takes the girls from his parents and calls over the rest of the team's kids. Pike places the baby in the cup. Hollander has the girls grab on to the handles and the rest of the kids fill in the space around the cup.

Of course Canadian Golden Boy, Shane Hollander, can take what should be a night of debauchery and turn it into a wholesome family affair.

The little girls end up back in Shane's arms. Both clearly talking to him at the same time. Then the TV cuts from the celebrations and goes back into replays. He's sure there will be some footage from the locker room in about 20 minutes.

Ilya clicks off the TV. Shane Hollander, uncle to the Pike children. He knew this conceptually. The few times they talked about their lives, being an Uncle to Pike's hoard of children has come up.

Maybe one day Ilya will see all the different sides to Shane Hollander.

Chapter Text

February 2016-Pike Family Home

"I got the cake!" Shane says walking in the open front door.

Arthur's first birthday is falling on their bye week, a perk of being born on a bye week, surrounding the All Stars games. Shane is on a red eye out to LA in the morning but for today, he is ready for Arthur's alligator themed 1st birthday.

Something that the Pikes have noticed is that Arthur is a little different than his sisters. Let's just say, if Shane would have been watching Arthur during the great mashed potato incident, there never would have been an incident. He also is a lot less verbal than his sisters were at his age. The doctors aren't super concerned yet, but they know to keep an eye.

It's why the Pikes are worried about throwing him a birthday especially with the loud and energetic cohort of 2-3 year olds from the girls' play group and a few of the younger siblings closer in age to Arthur. In order to prevent Arthur from being unhappy and overstimulated, Jackie and Hayden devised two plans: Chompy and Uncle Shane.

Chompy is Arthur's favorite toy. It is a soft plush thing that started out as twice as big as him and now they are roughly the same size. Where Chompy the Alligator goes, that's where Arthur will be.

"I still say it's just because he likes the fabric of my shirt." Shane says holding his godson, who is quite happily hugging Chompy and rubbing his cheek on Shane's chest.

"Listen. The why doesn't matter. What matters is that you're his favorite person in the entire world." Hayden says. "So it's your job to keep him happy today."

"I still don't know why you let Renée talk you into this." Shane says 'Renée' like it's a curse. He knows Jackie can't hold a grudge against her mother and Hayden holding the grudge for her wouldn't be a good look for anyone. Shane is more than happy to hold Renée accountable for her clear favoritism of Daphnée and Louis (Jackie's older sister and younger brother). "Arthur would have been fine with a small family gathering."

"I know, but 'all of my grandbabies deserve to have a party and a smash cake.' Be lucky we were able to talk her out of a smash cake." Hayden says through a gritted smile as he nods and waves at his in-laws and they come in for the party.

"There is the birthday boy! Come to Grand-mere." Renée says and, unceremoniously and without Shane or Arthur's consent, pulls Arthur out of Shane's arms and into her own. Her husband Charles comes and puts an arm around her waist.

Daphnée and her husband Matt also come in with their three children immediately running off.

Jackie appears behind Hayden, just as Arthur starts to whine and reach for Shane and when Shane doesn't take the hint and pick him up out of Renée's arms, he moves on to trying to reach for his parents. "Hello family, good to see you." Jackie says, trying to give the air of calm and relaxed, and reaches for Arthur whose whimpers are getting louder.

Renée holds on tighter. "Come now Jacquline. I never get to see my little man."

Jackie holds back a sharp and pointed 'whose fault is that?'. She scoops him out of her arms anyway. "Sorry mom. But it's feeding time anyway. We'll be back soon."

Jackie walks away squeezing Hayden's arm before leaving him with his in-laws. "Hayden." Renée says. "Good to see you as always and your friend here, Sam, right?"

"It's Shane actually." Hayden corrects. "You've met him on at least 4 occasions." He leaves out the part of reminding her that he's also an international super-star and was on the cover of a magazine Hayden had seen on her coffee table the last time they visited. "Ruby! Jade! Come see Grandma!"

The girls, ever willing to see people, come running over from where they were playing. "Hi girls, grand-mere is happy to see you."

"Why don't you girls show off your chalk drawings?" Which at 2 and half, left much to be desired, but it got Renée out of his house and outside to the covered and heated patio where the party is.

"Listen I know what you're going to say." Hayden says.

"I wasn't going to say anything. You know how I feel. I know how you feel. And most importantly, I know how Jackie feels. So if party line is keep Renée happy, I'll do it. For you and, more importantly, for Jackie." Shane leans over and bonks the sides of their head together like Hayden usually does when they're in helmets. "I got your back."

Hayden's parents come in next and it's a much better time. "Hayden, my baby!" Willa Pike gives Hayden a kiss on both cheeks. She turns to Shane and holds out her hand. "Shane, thank you for helping Jackie take care of this one."

"Of course Mrs. Pike." Shane says shaking her hand with a smile.

"Willa, please." Willa pulls her husband over. "Paul, say hi."

Paul shakes his head at his wife's antics. "Hello, son. Shane, it's good to see you again." Shane nods in his direction and Hayden goes in for a hug. His dad wraps his arms around him. "How are you doing with everything?" The everything is loaded with questions about his in-laws.

"We're holding up." Hayden says clapping his dad on the back one more time. "I'm just glad you guys could make it down."

"You know we'll visit more, once your mother is ready to retire." Paul teases.

"The youth still need education!" Willa claps back. "Besides, we're still planning on coming down for at least a week this summer. Marc says he's sorry he couldn't make it today, but he sent a gift."

Hayden rolls his eyes. "Of course, of course. Big lawyer man is busy." It's mostly good natured ribbing. Hayden couldn't go to his brother's birthday party last year because he had a game. "How unfortunate you have two very successful sons."

Renée had returned to hang up her coat and lets out a small scoff. Shane wills himself to keep the peace. Clearly, Willa did not get the memo. "Renée, wonderful to see you, as always. So thrilled. Did you have something to contribute to the conversation?"

"Just that putting a hockey player and a lawyer on the same level is ludicrous. My Louis is studying law as well." Renée huffs. "It takes hard work, dedication to the craft, and intelligence."

Willa's smile turns sharp, smelling blood in the water. "Three things I suppose you'd know nothing about personally." Shane is impressed with the chirp. It would make Ilya Rozanov proud. And it means that Shane doesn't need to get into a verbal spar at this moment to defend hockey to one of his least favorite people in the world.

Jackie rushes over feeling the tension. Arthur in her arms, fed and content. He immediately reaches for Shane who grabs him. "What are we talking about over here?"

Willa smiles. "Just how between us we have three very successful sons." She turns to Paul. "Come now dear, we must drop these gifts off on the table for our sweet little grandson." She leans in to take a look at Arthur in Shane's arms and gives him a smile and Chompy a pat on the head. "Have fun with Uncle Shane dear. Nana loves you."

Paul gives Chompy a pat on the head as well. "Pappy loves you too little man." He claps Shane on the shoulder. "Thank you for looking out for my family."

"Of course." Shane says, hiking Arthur up a little higher in his arms.

Renée is clearly holding in a scoff, so Shane turns and asks Arthur, "Do you want to see where your sisters ran off to?"

Arthur doesn't respond, but he also doesn't disagree, meaning he's probably good to see them. Shane places him on the ground and grabs his hand to guide him to find Ruby and Jade. He tries to ignore the harsh whispering coming from Renée behind him. This isn't about him. It's about making sure Arthur has a good day.

---

Jackie and Hayden decided to forgo a cake for Arthur and brought out a fruit tray. It had all of Arthur's favorites. Apples cut into bunny shapes; Shane had done for the kids once and now it's the only way he'll eat them. Clementine wedges cut into smaller triangles. And strawberries halved and quartered and lightly sugared. All served on a tray with 3 separate compartments.

Everyone who wanted pictures got close to see Arthur's little thinking face as he carefully grabbed his fruit pieces. First he decides to eat the apples.

The girls also grabbed fruit from the tray for everyone else, in addition to the cake being served as well.

"Arthur eat apple! We all eat apple!" Ruby exclaims as if it is doctrine. The adults have a laugh, but the kids they are with all also take a bite of apple.

The parents of Ruby and Jade's play group were surprised as several of the toddlers followed them in eating the apple slices before even looking at the cake.

"Do you think the girls have realized they're cult leaders?" Shane whispers to Hayden.

"Shh. They cannot know the powers they hold. The world, Jackie and I, would not be able to handle it." Hayden says elbowing Shane lightly in the side.

The girls continue their ceremonious guiding of their peers as Arthur carefully eats the clementine pieces followed by the strawberries. "Now we done cebrating Arthur!" Jade says, finishing her last berry. "Cake time!"

"Cake time indeed!" Renée says bringing over a small smash cake. "It's smash cake time!"

"Mom!" Jackie hisses, fake smile plastered on her face. "We talked about this."

"My grandson deserves to have a smash cake on his first birthday, just like all my other grandbabies. I need pictures to show at bridge tomorrow." She carefully places it on the tray in front of Arthur. "I listened, he had his fruit first."

Shane moves closer to where Arthur is sitting, to be with in grabbing distance. Hayden and Jackie look at each other and weigh the pros and cons of creating a scene in front of their entire social circle. They think for a beat too long because as Arthur looks at the cake, not really sure what to do with it, Renée takes his hand and smushes it into the buttercream.

The effect is instant. Arthur starts crying loudly, scaring himself and crying some more. Shane, waiting for his moment, scoops him up and out of the seat. He brings him over to the sink and they wash hands together. Arthur calming down as his hands get less and less sticky. "I know, I hate being sticky too. It's gross."

Arthur nods. Very rarely does he seem to respond to what is going on, but in this instance he knows he agrees with Uncle Shane.

Shane makes sure to give Renée plenty of space for the rest of the day as he carts Arthur around from guest to guest. Willa wanders over. "You're good with him."

"I'm pretty sure he just really likes my shirts." Shane says his default line.

"I think it's that, but also your energy. You're a calm person for him." She says with a smile.

"I try to be." Shane adjusts his hold so Arthur is closer to her.

"Thank you for looking out for all of them." Willa says. "It's hard, to be in Toronto. I can't leave my job and lord knows Hayden would hate playing for the Guardians, especially now, with Dallas Kent, but originally when he was drafted to Montreal, I was worried. Then he started mentioning you and JJ." JJ had to fly down Haiti for his own family affair. He was sad to miss it and had dutifully liked all the photos in the group chat. "I knew he had found friends and a support system. So thank you."

"Of course Willa. He's my best friend." Shane says.

Willa gives Arthur a small pat on the head. "Nana loves you, never forget that little one."

Arthur stares at her and nods. "He knows." Shane says with a laugh. Willa walks away. "You know buddy, you have a lot of people who love you. Myself included." Arthur gives another small nod. "Love you buddy."

---

May 10th 2016-Shane's Apartment

"Hayden."

"Shane."

"When I open the door to my apartment, am I going to find a surprise party?" Shane asks, arms crossed.

Hayden had asked for Shane's help with running some errands. It was the girls turn to bring in a craft for their play group and Hayden claimed that he was always having Jackie do everything and wanted to lead this one because they had the day off, so it turned into 'Uncle Shane, you've done so much research into activities for the girls, can you help me come up with something I could lead?' and obviously, Shane wasn't going to say no, but the timing of going out 4:30 pm on the day of his birth for craft supplies, is extremely suspicious.

Hayden folds immediately. "Listen you only turn 25 onc-"

"And I told you the best 25th birthday gift to me would be us winning back to back cups not engaging in what ever this is during the playoffs." Shane bites him off.

"You don't even know what this, is." Hayden says. "Could you try and keep an open mind?"

Shane wants to keep arguing, but he knew there was a reason why Hayden had it set up at his house. Shane had no where to run to, except for his hook up building, but he can't risk anyone finding out about that. "Fine. But everyone better be out of here by 8pm."

"8pm! Promise!" Hayden gestures for Shane to get the door.

"I knew giving you an extra key was a terrible idea." Shane mutters as he unlocks his door.

He pushes it open. "Surprise!" The shouts come from inside.

Shane goes to yell something sarcastic in response, when he takes a look at the people in his house. He was expecting it to look like it did when Drapeau threw Comeau a surprise birthday party: beer, terrible decor, and asking all the WAGs to invite single friends, but he should have given Hayden more credit.

Sitting around the table are Jackie and the kids, JJ, and his parents.  "Oh." Shane says smiling. "Hi everyone!"

"Capitaine!" JJ cheers. "You thought Hayden had gotten bullied into throwing you a big birthday bash, eh?"

Shane rubs the back of his head sheepishly. "Kind of."

"The team tried to convince me it's what you'd want, but I told them that 'Jackie would kill me.' Which as true, and also a great excuse."

"I would have killed him.  We know you Shane." Jackie gets up and grabs Arthur from his high chair. Noise reducing headphones coming off now that the loud shouting is done. She gives Shane a half hug and hands him Arthur.

Yuna stands next and comes to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Happy birthday Shane."

Then David comes over and gives him a pat on the back as he hugs him. "25. Can't believe it. It feels like yesterday, you were as small as Arthur here."

The girls done with their waiting, come running over. "Uncle 'Nane!" They both grab a leg and he has Arthur in his arms.  Covered with his nieces and nephew.

"Hayden." Shane says smiling. "Thanks for this."

"Ha! You owe me $10!" Hayden tells JJ.

"Shane! Why! I was expecting you to continue to act grumpy!" JJ says pulling out the money. "While secretly having fun!"

"Sorry, but this is exactly what I wouldn't mind as a surprise, especially because Mom, did you make miso soup and sushi?" Shane says finally getting a good look at the table.

"Oh you mean your favorite birthday dinner you had growing up?" Yuna crosses her arms. "What do you think?"

Shane smiles. "Thanks for remembering."

They all go to sit at the table and as Shane puts Arthur back in his high chair he grabs Chompy and offers him to Shane. "Chomp."

"You want me to hold Chompy?" Shane asks.

"He wants you to pat Chompy." Hayden supplies. "It's the greatest honor he can give a person."

Shane pats Chompy's head until Arthur nods that he can move his hand away. "Now all that's left is winning the cup and this will be the best birthday ever."

Shane can only think of one thing that would make it better. But 'Lily' is already back in Moscow and the time difference makes sexting annoying.

At least the Metros end up taking the cup.

Chapter Text

October 2016-Biodome

"Jackie is pregnant." Hayden says unprompted and sudden, Ruby and Jade running ahead to the touch tank that is set up. Arthur and Chompy tucked into his stroller.

"Again?" Shane says, disbelief in his voice. Last time they spoke about possibly having more kids was after everyone else had left from Arthur's first birthday party and Jackie swore she did not want to be dealing with a new born, a toddler and Pre-k aged kids.

"Jesus, thanks." Hayden says rolling his eyes.

"Sorry. I mean," Shane pauses awkwardly, "congratulations."

"Yeah, you sound super happy for me." Hayden says with wry smile on his face.

"Well, I mean..." Shane gestures at his three nieces and nephew. Ruby and Jade are already a handful with big personalities and while Arthur is the sweetest, he can have next level meltdowns on occasions.

"Yeah, I know." Hayden sighs. "But Jackie's happy. I mean... she's fucking bored, right?"

Shane's not sure if bored is what he would call her, but happy for sure. Jackie has told Shane that she wants a big family, despite her slightly dysfunctional relationship with her family, she knows she would hate being an only child.

---

After being mobbed by people in the Antarctica room for photos, Shane made sure to put his hat and sunglasses back on. Arthur and Jade wanted to see the Snakes up close in the tropical rainforest exhibit. Hayden was deathly afraid to get too close to any of the tanks and Ruby insisted on "I stay. Protec daddy."

Shane shakes his head and grabs Arthur and puts him on his hip and takes Jade's hand. Jade smiles and says "Ruby 'cared, like daddy. Me and Arter brave."

Arthur gives a small nod and hoists Chompy up higher. Shane smiles. "The bravest."

They take a look at the different snakes in their habitats. "Up, please." Jade asks wanting to get closer to glass. Shane places her on his other hip. "Arter, have fun?"

Arthur nods holding Chompy tightly. "I think we're all having fun." Shane says smiling at Jade and then pointing the snake out to Arthur. He takes a second before tracking its location.

"Uncle 'Hane?" Jade asks. Shane looks down at her. "Why don't you have girlfriend?"

Shane looks at her in surprise. He didn't expect a 3 year old to also join her parents in nagging about his love life. "Why do you ask?" Shane is just glad that Arthur is completely enchanted by the different reptiles, and not questioning him about his love life.

"Mommy and Daddy said they worry because you no have girlfriend." Jade says innocently looking at the snake through the glass. Her blonde pigtail whacking him in the face as she turns to look at the different creatures.

"Uncle Shane is happy being single right now. I have hockey to focus on." Shane says. He thinks about curly, dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes and striking moles for a brief moment, before shanking his head. "Nothing is more important than hockey right now."

"Hockey fun! Hockey most imporpent! We go 'kating?" Jade asks as they walk to the next tank.

"Yeah, when your Dad and I get back from our next road trip, we can go skating." Shane says, slowly beginning to loop back to where Hayden and Ruby are looking at rainforest flora.

December 12th 2016-Ilya Rozanov's Apartment

Ilya is looking at the images on his phone, glaring intently.

Shane Hollander and Rose Landry: Secret Love Children?

Anyone with a basic understanding of the Montreal Metros knows the children in the picture are Hayden Pike's twins, but that is not a clickbait title.

Hollander is in a beanie, or a toque like boring Canadians call them, and sunglasses. Rose Landry is in a similar state of attempting to be incognito.

As if Shane Hollander could ever attempt to blend in at an ice skating rink.

Rose Landry seems to know how to skate well. It's infuriating.

The main image is one where the two girls are in the middle, Hollander on one side. Rose Landry on the other. The four of them skating in a line.

Hollander and the girls are laughing.

Ilya feels his insides burning.

The Previous Day-December 11th 2016-An Ice Rink

"Again, I am so sorry about this." Shane says as Rose meets him at the car. Jade and Ruby still in their car seats.

"It's fine." Rose says. "I haven't been skating in forever. I'm excited."

Shane opens the door and gets Ruby out and then walks over to pick up Jade. "Uncle 'Hane? Who that?"

"Girls, this is my friend Rose." Shane didn't want to go through the process explaining that's she's his perfectly nice girlfriend. Who is kind, funny and they get a long great.

"Hi! I'm Ruby!" Ruby says waving, wearing a red coat.

"And I'm Jade! We're twins!" Jade supplies the key information fixing the zipper on her green coat.

"Hi girls! Are you ready to skate?" Rose asks.

"Yeah!" They cheer grabbing her out stretched hands. Shane has a brief moment where he thinks that maybe Hayden should cover stranger danger in a bit more detail.

"So Arter is sick-" Jade say.

"And mommy has a pointment." Ruby finishes.

"Cause wes going to have new sister."

"So daddy go to doctor with Arter."

"And we getting to 'kate with Uncle 'Hane."

Rose keeps bouncing her head between the two girls as they share about their day so far. She's smiling because they remind her of her own nieces. "Do you girls like to skate?"

"Yeah! It so much fun!" They say in unison.

Shane is bringing up the rear with everyone's skates. He was surprised that Rose had her own pair. Rose sits the girls down on the benches and helps Shane lace up their skates. "Thank you for this."

"Of course. They remind me of my niblings." Rose says with a smile. She takes out a pair of light purple skates. "Please don't judge me. I've had these since high school."

"I won't!" Shane says, lacing up his own skates. They are hockey skates, but clearly older and not his current professional pair. "As long as you don't judge me for wearing these old beat up things."

"Of course not!" Rose replies. "Ready girls?"

"Yes!" They respond and all four head out on to the ice together.

"Alright, girls do you want to hold hands or use the penguins?" Shane asks gesturing to the kiddie skating helpers.

"Penguins!" They say in unison. Shane helps them set up with the penguin skaters and off they go.

"You know, they're not bad for three years old." Rose says slowly skating holding Shane's hand.

"Oh, I know. Hayden wanted them on skates as soon as possible. Basically since they had the balance to stay somewhat upright on skates, so I think like a year ago?" Shane says. "Sometimes we'll have a family skate practice. Not often; but it makes for a good photo shoot for our socials."

"Ahh yes. Optics." Rose says with a nod. "It's all anyone cares about these days."

"Correct. Usually my parents will come. My dad and some of the other people who played 'back in the day' will try on the lines. Dad doesn't do too bad for someone who no longer skates regularly."

"Aw, does he make you proud?" Rose teases.

"Sometimes." Shane smiles back.

"Uncle 'Hane? Hands?" Ruby asks after they go around on their own a few times.

"Sure." He looks to Rose. "I can take both or do you mind if we skate with them in the middle?"

"Let's put them in the middle."

The four of them skate together, until people start asking for autographs when a hat goes flying.

"Sorry girls." Shane says as he buckles them into their car seats.

"It's otay. Daddy said you rollflex famous so you can buy us Barbie Jeeps for critmas." Ruby says.

Shane and Rose let out a laugh. "Did he now? Well girls, how would you also like a music kit? Considering your dad is now getting coal." The girls cheer and then he remembers Jackie. "You can only use it though when dad is watching you okay? When it's mom she gets to relax and you girls play with something else."

The girls nod. Rose laughs. "Well, see you around Shane." Rose gives him a kiss on the cheek.

"See you around Rose."

---

January 2017-The Pike House

"I still can believe you broke up with Rose Landry." Hayden says in disbelief.

"I still can't believe you broke up with Rose Landry before I got to be introduced." Jackie says taking the takeout out of the containers.

"Listen, we both decided we are better off as friends. Jackie I can still introduce you two." Shane says helping by setting the table.

"You better!" Jackie says setting the Greek food out on the counter.

Arthur, now almost 2 is sorting his blocks into different piles based on color, creating small pyramids in view of the dining table.

Ruby and Jade are currently playing dolls in the living room.  There is a very involved narrative that all adults are afraid of getting wrong, so they're trying not to ask the girls about it.

"How are you doing this go around?" Shane asks.

Jackie, now around 6 and half months pregnant, sighs. "Not bad. Honestly, I've been very fortunate because my pregnancies have all been mostly full of minimal problems. Right now it's juggling the kids we currently have."

Hayden helps to finish setting out the dishes. "Yeah, Ruby and Jade are due to start pre-k in the fall and then, well, we're worried a little bit about Arthur because the twins were taking a lot more than he is."

Shane nods. "I think babies just take time sometimes. Mom says I was a late talker and then I was talking in sentences once I started."

Jackie and Hayden look at each other and nod. "Yeah, but we're still keeping an eye out for him."

Shane nods. "Makes sense."

"Girls! Dinner!" Hayden calls. There is a mad dash of feet and some squawking as the girls race to the kitchen.

Shane heads over to Arthur and helps him put the last 2 blocks in place. "Ready for dinner?"

Arthur looks at the blocks all lined up correctly. He turns one block slightly, before be lifts his hands up to be held. Shane picks him up and brings him over to the table. Arthur immediately rubs his cheek on Shane's shoulder twice, like he usually does and settles into his arms.

"Sorry I can't be at your birthday buddy!" Their bye week and All Stars are falling a little earlier than usual. Arthur just blinks up and him and nods.

"Uncle 'Hane! Why go Stars?" Ruby asks. "Daddy says you no go party?"

"Well, Ruby, I do love you guys, but I need to play hockey." Shane says, putting some of the Greek salad, no cheese and a low-fat dressing, on his plate. He then adds some of the chicken shawarma pieces on top.

"Hockey fun!" Ruby says. "But we miss you."

"I'll miss you too, but think of it this way, you can watch Uncle Shane on the TV!" Shane says taking a bite.

"Ooooh!" Ruby says, biting into a French fry. "TV time! I guess that otay."

Jackie and Hayden exchange looks. "Yes, I guess we can watch Uncle Shane destroy people at All Stars. Even if that means I need to watch him play with fu-freaking Rozanov."

"I know!" Jackie exclaims. "I can't believe they're finally putting you on the same line!"

"Eh," Shane says, trying to sound nonchalant. "I think we'll be fine."

"Listen, when in doubt, punch it out!" Hayden says, throwing a fake punch.

The girls immediately follow suit. "Punch out!"

Jackie glares at him. The message is clear 'fix this or I will punch you out.'

"Girls, daddy was just kidding I promise. Never punch anyone."

Shane tunes out Hayden's attempt to quiet the girls continued chants of 'punch out' and turns to Arthur who is lining up his chicken pieces by size and eating them smallest to largest. Shane whispers, "can you believe these guys, buddy?" Arthur just shakes his head slightly.

Shane gives Chompy a pat before turning back to his salad.

Chapter Text

February 2017-The Pike House

The Allstar games are beginning. Jackie dressed all 3 kids up in their HOLLANDER 24 jerseys that they have. "I still don't get why in addition to my jerseys they all also need Shane's jersey." Hayden grumbles, mostly joking.

Or it was joking until the kids pipe up. Jade starts with "Uncle 'Hane is best player. He's gots the most goals!"

"He is also super fast! Like liting!" Ruby adds.

"Cool." Arthur adds. His eyes glued to the TV.

Hayden flops down so he's draped dramatically over the girls. "Betrayed by my own kids. I'm supposed to be the coolest."

"Daddy, you says lying is bad." Ruby says, elbowing Hayden in the side to reach the popcorn on the coffee table.

"Jackie! Do you hear our children?" Hayden shouts as Jackie comes back from the bathroom.

"Yeah, I did. I'm sorry you're just not cool babe." Jackie says with a smile.

"In my own home!" Hayden cries.

---

They watch the game and Hayden sees Rozanov give a kiss to Shane's helmet. "Huh." Hayden thinks about the girl Shane has in Boston and the lack of any other girls and the lack of wanting to meet other girls, except for Rose Landry, who Shane broke up with and- "Nah." Hayden scoffs and shakes his head. "Impossible."

April 2017-A Hospital in Montreal

Apparently Uncle Shane is somewhere in this terrible place because he got hurt. The lights are too bright and it smell yucky like when mommy or daddy start to clean the bathroom. Arthur thinks that this place would just make Uncle Shane hurt worse.

Mommy said that the whole family needs to visit Uncle Shane, so he can get better faster. Arthur insisted on walking by himself, while hugging Chompy. Mommy has been walking slower because she has a baby in her tummy. Arthur isn't quite sure how one of his sisters' dolls ended up in there, but he's not going to ask any questions. Daddy had gone off some place to ask about Uncle Shane. Arthur hopes that there are less lights and weird noises, so he is trying to follow him.

But daddy is fast. He's tall and plays hockey and Arthur is short and doesn't play hockey. Arthur is pretty sure he's lost. He looks down at Chompy for support and gives him a hug.

"Littlest Pike?" Arthur ignores the tall blonde man, he's not his daddy. "Little Pike. Are you looking for Shane Hollander?" The man is now crouching down in front of him at his level.

Uncle Shane does that too. Arthur thinks most adults prefer to stay tall. He likes the ones that make it so he can see can see all of them because they make themselves smaller. Arthur looks to the side though because after he was sick his daddy had a long talk about stranger danger.

"Hello Little Pike. I am Ilya and I play hockey with your father and," Ilya pauses, "Uncle Shane."

Arthur's head moves to look at the blonde man more clearly. Ilya continues, "I bring you to Uncle Shane?"

Arthur pauses, and then nods. "Great! You follow me." Ilya starts walking and checks behind him every so often. He briefly wonders where Pike had gotten to, considering that this is his smallest child, the one that fit in the 1st Stanley cup the Metros had won in years, and is clearly lost and alone in a hospital, but he's more concerned about being seen with Pike's child, least he be accused of kidnapping or worse he gets accused of being friends with Hollander. Being caught as a friend of Hollander is terrible for the image the two of them have crafted. No matter how nice the picture Shane painted of life at the cottage sounded. It can never become a reality.

Ilya looks down and the small boy and says, "That is nice alligator."

"Chomp." Arthur supplies, carefully following along. He starts to frown because the lights are getting brighter again. When the man stops in front of a door.

"Look who I found." Ilya says walking into Shane's room, after peering through the curtain to make sure the coast was clear.

The lights in here are not as bright and more  importantly, Uncle Shane is on the bed.

"Me?" Shane asks, pain medicine still making him loopy. Ilya shakes his head. "You?"

"Look down." Ilya says.

"Arthur! Chompy!" Shane exclaims. "Hi!"

Uncle Shane seems different than usual, but it's still Uncle Shane. Arthur walks over to the side of the bed and extends his hands upward.

"Hey buddy, I can't lift you right now cause I have a boo-boo. Could Ilya lift you up and put you on the bed?" Shane asks looking down at Arthur and then his big brown eyes turn to Ilya.

Arthur did know that Uncle Shane was hurt and that's why Arthur's family needed to come to this awful place to visit him. He looks at Ilya, who is poised and ready to help him and nods once. Ilya lifts him up and  Arthur goes to snuggle into Uncle Shane's side, but the weird thing he's wearing is scratchy. Arthur feels tears start to well up.

"Hey buddy, wait. Ilya can you pass me the good blanket." Shane asks. Ilya grabs the wrong blanket from the corner. "Sorry, the other one." Ilya picks up the dark blue, bamboo, weighted blanket from Shane's apartment and carefully drapes it over Shane.

"Here is blanket." Ilya says looking down. He grabs Shane's hand and squeezes it. "I must go. Goodbye little Pike."

Arthur doesn't respond, instead choosing to cuddle into Uncle Shane's side now that the blanket is soft. Different from Uncle Shane's usual shirts, but much better than the scratchy shirt he's in now.

Shane waves as Ilya leaves. Arthur is now curled into his good side. Shane brushes Arthur's hair from his face and Arthur smushes in closer. Shane can feel him relaxing. "Is it nap time, buddy?" Arthur nods. "I agree. Let's sleep."

---

"How do you lose an entire child Hayden?!" Jackie whisper yells, trying to keep her voice down because it is a hospital.

"I don't know! I thought you had him!" Hayden whisper yells back.

The girls are sitting with 'Great Uncle Dave' because 'he's Uncle 'Hane's daddy, so he's not a reglar uncle'. David is reading them a book from the bag Jackie had packed to entertain the kids.

Yuna sighs. "Arguing about who lost Arthur is a waste of time. We need to find him." She looks at both Jackie and Hayden. "Is there a reason he might not have stayed close?"

"He gets-" Hayden pauses trying to remember the word.

"Overstimulated." Jackie finishes. "He probably didn't like the lights or the antiseptic smell."

Yuna nods. "Shane really hated hospitals as a kid. So, he might have gone to find a quieter, less busy area. Okay, let's ask the nursing staff where those types of areas might be."

Jackie and Hayden nod. "Thank you." Jackie says holding Yuna's arm.

"David, why don't you take the girls to see Uncle Shane and I'll keep you updated." Yuna says, slowly directing the older Pikes to the nurses station.

"On it!" David says. "Do you girls want to walk or do you want to be carried?"

"Walk!" They say in unison.

"Okay, hold hands everyone!" David holds out a hand for Jade to take, her hair in two braids today. She reaches for Ruby, who opted for a high ponytail.

The girls skip ahead slightly. "Whys everyone 'cared?" Ruby asks.

"Is cause Arter went on 'venture?" Jade adds.

"Well, it's not that he went on an adventure, it's that he didn't tell anyone where he was going." David says. "If you ask permission to do things, your adults will usually let you do it, or explain why you can't. Like Arthur going off on his own means that we don't know if he's safe and it's your adults job to make sure that you stay safe."

The girls nod. "Uncle 'Hane always says safety first!"

"Who do you think taught Uncle Shane?" David says conspiratorially.

The girls let out a gasp. "Great Uncle Dave!"

"That's right!" David says, pushing the door to Shane's room open.

There on the bed is his son, resting, curled slightly around a tiny figure in bed next to him. Arthur is fully asleep, snug against Shane's good side, Chompy in a vice like grip.

The girls let go of his hand and rush over to the bed. "Arter!" They gasp.

David pulls out his phone and snaps a quick photo, before sending it to the group chat with the caption: found him!

"Girls, looks like they both can use some rest so let's go color over here and make Uncle Shane some nice pictures for when he wakes up." David brings them over to the area with two chairs and a small table and takes out the coloring books.

Ruby looks carefully at the options, before deciding on an outer space themed picture to color. She's going to make the planet in the Metros colors!

Jade reviews the different book options before picking out a fun rainforest scene with a snake, she's going to color it to be like when Daddy and Uncle Shane took them to the Biodome!

David settles in on a chair that was placed closer to Shane's bed. He is confused because he knows that the blanket from Shane's house was in the bag across the room. He also knows that Shane can't lift anything with his broken collarbone and yet, Arthur made it up on to the bed even though he's much too small to climb that high. He just opens his novel when the door bursts open.

Hayden has led the charge back to the room. Yuna walking at a more sedate pace with a hand on Jackie's back. "Arthur!" Hayden exclaims.

"Shhh daddy!" Ruby says.

"Uncle 'Hane and Arter take nap!" Jade chastises.

"Sorry. Sorry." Hayden says as Shane stirs slightly. Arthur whimpers for a second before snuggling deeper into Shane's side. Hayden walks over and runs his hand over Arthur's hair. Jackie comes and stands beside him to do the same thing. "I'm just glad that he is alright."

Jackie leans into Hayden. "Me too. How is Shane?"

Yuna runs through the list of injuries. "So, out for the rest of the season, but could have been a lot worse."

"Ehh, our playoff prospects weren't looking too great before he got injured, so-"

"You better step up." Shane says blinking the sleep out of his eyes. "You're captain in my absence.  I want us to at least make it to round 2 of the playoffs."

Hayden smiles. "We'll give our best run possible! It's so good to see you awake. It was scary watching you go down like that."

"Hayden had to defend your honor and punched Marlow across the face for you." Jackie teases. "A knight in shining hockey gear defending his best friend."

"Eh, the penalty was worth it. If I didn't hit him, someone would have. We have to defend the captain." Hayden says. "I am glad that it's not just worse."

"You and me both." Shane says. "Also, how did you lose your kid?"

"Who told you?" Hayden looks behind him like someone could have snitched.

"Maybe when a nice man brought him here." Shane lies, reaching down to give Chompy a pat. "Neither parent to be found."

"Listen, he's fast okay!" Hayden says.

"He's two!"

"A fast two!" Hayden yells a little louder than he means to. Arthur whimpers again. "Sorry buddy. Go back and rest with Uncle Shane." Hayden moves him to be a little further up the bed in a more comfortable position next to Shane. "I'm just glad he ended up here with you."

Jackie pushes Hayden to the side to get close enough to grab Shane's hand. "How are you feeling really? What is the plan for recovery?"

"Still feeling a little loopy from the medication. As for the plan..." Shane trails off and looks to Yuna.

"David and I are going to bring him back to Ottawa." Yuna says grabbing his other hand.

Jackie brushes the hair off of Shane's face looking at the bruises forming. "I'm glad you'll be forcing him to actually rest because we know how it would go if we left Shane to heal alone." Jackie says looking up at Yuna with a grin.

"Oh I know it!" Yuna smiles. "He broke his wrist when he was 6 and kept trying to sneak back to practice. It was a nightmare." Yuna and Jackie laughs.

"I don't like this energy." Shane pouts.

"Now you know how I feel when you and Jackie gang up on me!" Hayden says sticking his tongue out at Shane.

Shane sticks his tongue out back at him. "Well Jackie and I are usually right!"

"Uncle 'Hane! I finished!" Ruby says holding up her planet. "Is planet Metros! Do you like it?"

"I love it Ruby. Thank you! I love how you've blended the colors together." The almost 4 year old did a good job of mostly staying with in the lines.

"Me too!" Jade rushes over with her rainforest piece. "Biodome! When we went see the 'nakes! Remember, daddy and Ruby were big 'frady cats?"

"Was not! Daddy need me to protec cause he's a 'frady cat!" Ruby insists.

"Girls, let's say one nice thing about each other's work." Jackie asks.

"Ruby, I really like planet Metro!" Jade says.

"I think your rainforest is real colorful!" Ruby says.

"I love them both. Mom can you help them tear the pictures out of the book so that I can hang them up?" Shane asks.

"Come with Aunty Yuna, girls." Yuna says guiding them back to where they were sitting.

Shane looks down at Arthur and then up at Hayden and Jackie. "Thank you for coming. And thank you for bringing the kids."

"Of course!" Hayden says. "You're our family."

Jackie squeezes his hand. "No where we'd rather be.

Chapter Text

Late May 2017-Hollanders Family Home in Ottawa

"I can't believe that I missed it!" Shane laments over FaceTime. "The only one of your kids that I haven't met or been around for the birth of!" 

Amber Pike has a head full of light brown hair and bright green eyes like the rest of her family. The twins hair still platinum blonde in color, while Arthur's has mellowed into a light dirty blonde. They make quite the picture on the call, all crowded around Jackie's bed. Jackie laughs at Shane's lament. "Don't worry! This is the last baby we're having! And anyways, you'll meet Amber soon. Besides you're concussed!" 

"I was concussed." Shane corrects. "I have been cleared of that now, thank you. Now it's just time for PT to do its thing for my collarbone. I have done some extensive research into different programs and I found one that I think I like." 

"Shane, buddy. No backseat driving your treatment plan please." Hayden is practically begging. The time Shane had to miss a few games for a jammed pinky comes back to him like a horror movie flashback. "Just bask in being an Uncle to another kid." 

"Uncle 'Hane!" Jade says. "Is you coming to our fort birthday party?" 

"I'm sorry, Jade and Ruby, I can't but I did send you a gift in the mail." 

"No Uncle?" Arthur asks, lower lip quivering. 

"Sorry buddy, no Uncle Shane, but I can read to you guys at bedtime tonight?" Shane asks Hayden, knowing it's up to him. 

"Yeah, I'm going to be there to put them down and then Renée is going to spend the night." Hayden says with a grimace.

Shane, not for the first time, wishes that he wasn't still injured, so he could spite Renée and watch the kids tonight. "Great. Jacks, how are you holding up?" 

Jackie's smiles and sighs, "as good as the last 3 times I've been asked." 

"Okay, okay, I will stop hovering." Hayden says. "It's just, I love you and I want to make sure that you're doing okay." 

This was the first, and now, only time that Jackie had to get a c-section. While the doctors were doing the surgery, she also asked for her tubes tied. "I know and I love you too, Hayd. Our 9 pound 2 ounce baby girl, is perfect, but considering the kids have only been getting bigger as we have more, I figured it was time to call it. So yes, is recovery going to be a little harder this time around? Yes. But we'll make do like we usually do. Besides, I'm currently still on the good stuff." 

"Alright, well, I'll let all of you rest! Uncle Shane loves you guys!" Shane says waving goodbye to the kids.

"We love you, too!" Everyone replies and they get off FaceTime. 

---

July 2017-Shane's Cottage

Ilya rubs his cheek on Shane's thigh and presses a kiss to it. "Don't start something you can't finish Rozanov." 

"Oh, Hollander, I don't start things I can't finish." Ilya presses another kiss into Shane's thigh. 

Shane leans down and lifts Ilya's face to give him a kiss. First on his forehead, then his cheeks and finally his lips. He goes to deepen the kiss when an alarm goes off. Shane pulls back. "Shit. It's Wednesday."

"What is special about Wednesday?" Ilya asks, looking up at Shane through his eyelashes. 

"It's Pike family dinner day." Shane brushes Ilya's hair behind he's ear and he stands up. 

"Pike? Hayden Pike?" Ilya gripes. "He is ruining sexy time again?" Ilya drapes himself across the couch. "Why are we letting this man come between us?" 

Shane laughs. "It's not that serious, I just need to do story time with the kids." 

"Is Hayden Pike illiterate?" Ilya asks. One of the first words he made sure to learn as it was one of the most common chirps thrown at him while he was learning English.

Shane laughs again. "No, but if I'm in Montreal we eat dinner together on Wednesdays and then I read them a story. If I'm not, I FaceTime them and if I have a game or another commitment, I'll record a video." 

"Yes, but why can't you delay or have them replay old video?" Ilya asks. "Then we can back to having sexy time, yes?" 

"Please stop calling it sexy time." Shane walks over and kneels down and kisses Ilya's forehead. "I can't cancel on Arthur." 

"Middlest Pike is 2. He doesn't know days of the week." Ilya argues, kissing the corner of Shane's mouth. 

"But he has a schedule. And he knows when it's craft day with his play group, it's new book day with Uncle Shane. If it wasn't for new book day, he'd only read the same 3 books." Shane gives him a kiss. "Arthur is my godson and this is really important to him. And him having a meltdown right now, wouldn't be fair to Jackie." 

Ilya kisses his nose. "Fine, go be boring. I know you also like schedule." 

Shane flushes and huffs. "Nothing wrong with that!" 

Ilya cups his cheek. "I know солнышко (sunshine). It is one of the things I like the most about you." 

Shane nods, still blushing slightly. "Sorry, I'm a boring Canadian through and through." 

"My boring Canadian." Ilya says kissing his forehead. "I am most excited for Friday! Sleep in day! No running at 6 in the morning. Perfect for morning love making." 

"Also not a fan of the term love making." Shane says standing up and heading to their room. 

"How should I refer to sex then? You say sex is too blunt, then you say no to both sexy time and love making. I am out of ideas." Ilya says, standing up and following him to their room. 

Shane is rummaging through his bag for one of the picture books that he purchased. He pulls it out of his bag. "Listen we'll workshop it. I need to go call Hayden and the kids." 

Shane heads back down stairs and puts his phone on a tripod that he has set up for these exact times and calls Hayden.

It takes a little longer than usual for him to answer. "See, bud? Told you Uncle Shane could never forget you!" 

Amber is on his shoulder snoozing. Arthur is in bed with Chompy being held so tightly, it's a miracle he's still in one piece. Arthur sniffles once before waving slightly at the camera. "Hey Arthur! Hi Ruby! Hi Jade! Hi Amber!" 

"Uncle 'Hane!" Ruby and Jade say excitedly. Everyone is piled on to Arthur's bed like usual waiting for the story. 

Ilya walks over and sits on the floor behind the camera. He mouths 'I like story time too.' 

Shane shakes his head and pulls out the book. "Okay, so for New Book Wednesday we have 'Little Witch Hazel' by Phoebe Wahl." 

Shane carefully reads the book. Ilya sitting cross-legged, engaged in the story as much as the kids on his phone screen. Arthur is smiling and nodding along to the story. Ruby is in love with the art style. And Jade is asking questions about the story. It's the usual chaos of New Book Wednesday, but now Shane has Ilya looking up at him with stars in his eyes. 

Shane finishes the story. "Good night Pikes, Uncle Shane loves you." 

"Good night Uncle 'Hane we love you too!" They all say back. Arthur giving a sleepy wave. 

Shane turns the camera off and Ilya flops back on the couch, head once again on Shane's thigh. "You are good Uncle." 

"I try to be." Shane plays lightly with Ilya's curls. "You've probably noticed that I can be– particular about certain things." Ilya nods. "Well, it hasn't always made making friends the easiest thing for me. Especially because I was better at hockey and so focused on hockey." 

Ilya nods. "Yes. I am familiar. I was also the best player on my team. People did not like that about me, so I make them understand by dropping gloves." 

"Well, you know I'm not one to do that, but anyway, Hayden made the time to get to know me. Getting assigned as his road roommate as a rookie was probably the best thing that happened to me, well aside from telling this grumpy Russian that he shouldn't smoke near a no smoking sign." Shane says with a smirk.

"I just remember pretty freckles." Ilya says leaning up to kiss Shane's cheeks.

"Anyway. Yeah. So Hayden was my first real friend I had. A curse of being better and more awkward than my peers. But he didn't judge me for my hockey facts or routines, he actually seemed interested in them. Then he met Jackie and she's one of the nicest people I have ever met. They kind of adopted me because I think they knew I was lonely." Shane says brushing a thumb over Ilya's cheek. "Then when they had their kids, they wanted me to be involved and I love those kids so much, they are my nieces and nephew." 

"Okay, fine, Pike is still 15th best player on Metros, but can be your number 1 friend. As long as I am number 1 boyfriend."

"Of course." Shane still couldn't believe that they had made it official after being caught by his parents. "No one I love more than you." 

Ilya mutters, "I love you." In Russian and then kisses the inside of Shane's thigh "Sexy love time?" 

"Hate this one the most. Combing was definitely not the answer. But yes. We can have some fun." Shane says kissing him again on the forehead.

---

Late July2017- The Pike House

Shane lets himself inside the house after giving a polite knock. "Hello?" 

The house is in more chaos and disarray than Shane thinks he's ever seen it in. There is half folded laundry on the coffee table, a pile of dishes high in the sink and more toys out on the floor than the ones put away in their spots. 

Hayden stumbles out of Amber's room having just gotten her to bed. "Shane!" Hayden practically runs into his arms. "Thank god." 

Shane hadn't been expecting it to be this bad, but on the last phone call they had Hayden admitted that he was at a loss on what else to do because Jackie has been really out of it. He thinks it might be postpartum depression, but Jackie says she's fine, just more tired than usual. Shane went on a deep dive through so many articles because he was determined to come today and make himself useful.

"Hey." Shane hugs him back. Ruby and Jade come running out of their room wearing their elaborate princess outfits and covered in markers, while Arthur has yet to make an appearance.

"Uncle 'Hane!" The girls attach themselves to his legs. 

"Ruby and Jade! Look at how tall you guys have gotten! I can hardly believe it." Shane ruffles their hair. 

"I'm going to go check on your mom and Arthur okay?" Shane says. "Hayd, pick a task. Dishes or laundry?"

"Laundry." Hayden was eyeing the pile.

"Good start there. Girls, who ever can pick up and put away the most toys in their proper spots before I come back will get a special prize!" Shane says.

Ruby and Jade look at each other and nod, before racing off to put things away. Shane makes his way through the house and stops off at Arthur's room first. "Knock, knock. Hey buddy." 

Arthur doesn't look up from carefully placing his animal figures in a line. Smallest animals in the front. Biggest in the back. 

Shane walks over and places one of the creatures in the right spot. "I'm here if you need anything. Love you kiddo." 

Arthur nods and continues to sort the critters.

Shane continues down the hallway and knocks on the door to Hayden and Jackie's room. "Jacks? It's Shane." 

Jackie is lying in bed. Her hair is greaser than he's seen it and it looks like she hasn't moved in a while. She flips over when she hears his voice. Wiping her eyes. "Oh, um, hi, Hayden didn't tell me you were coming." 

Shane makes his way over to her carefully. He climbs on the bed and gently pats his shoulder. "Come here." 

"You hate physical contact." Jackie sniffles, but goes and lays her head on his shoulder anyway. She grew up in a very tactile environment, with her two siblings, who were either making blanket forts or wrestling, and her mom, who might have been exacting, but she also was free with her hugs. 

"I hate unexpected physical contact and with strangers most of all. Been a while since you and Hayd were strangers." Shane puts an arm around her. "Jacks. Hayden is really worried about you." 

"I know. I thought it would get better. It did after the girls." Jackie says. "I don't want to be a burden to Hayden, or the kids." 

"You're not." Shane says. "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to shower or I can run you a bath. Then me and you are going to go to that bougie yoga place we like and we're going to get smoothies." 

"Okay, but I'm not going to be very good at yoga." Jackie says. "I think I can manage a shower." The last thing she wants is to leave this bed, but Shane is here, going outside of his comfort zone for her and her family, so she can at least try. Especially because a shower sounds nice in theory, just difficult to do in practice. 

"We don't need to be the best, sometime we just need to be." Shane says. "A lesson that I can use more often myself. While you shower, I'm going to go help Hayden." Shane helps her up and over to the en suite. He grabs a big, fluffy, clean towel and passes it to her.

Shane heads back into the living room. "Oh goodness gracious girls! It looks amazing in here!" Shane goes to the toy caddy on the wall to see if things were actually put back in the correct spots and they were. "I think we both earned a surprise." 

"Really? Because I definitely cleanded more." Ruby says.

"Nu uh! I did!" Jade insists.

"Girls. I said you both did a good job. So you both get a surprise!" Shane pulls out of his bag 2 new coloring books. "Tada!" 

"Wow! Uncle Shane can we go color?" Jade asks, eyeing the superhero coloring book.

"Pretty please?" Ruby asks, eyes wide with the princess book.

"Of course." Shane sets them up at the table to begin their quiet activity. He then heads to the sink to begin tackling the dishes. 

This is literally one of Shane's worst sensory nightmares, which is why he came prepared. He breaks out his elbow length cleaning gloves and hopes that it's not too terrible. 

It's not. Thankfully someone (Hayden) has at least been scraping the plates mostly clean. Shane starts by emptying the dishwasher and then loading it.

Hayden comes up behind him. "Thank you. I know you hate the dishes." 

"Correct. I am in hell right now and you owe me." Shane says matter-of-fact. "You're going to pay me by letting me kidnap your wife. The girls should be occupied with the new coloring books I got them. Arthur is organizing his figurines and Amber is sleeping. Your job while I'm out it to pick something I like to get takeout from when Jackie and I are on the way home and then take a nap. The monitor will wake you up." 

Hayden eyes fill with tears. "Shane, I–"

"You don't need to say anything. I know. I'm here. I'm also crashing in your guest room so I guess you can also make sure that it's habitable." Shane says finishing loading the dishwasher. 

"Holzy, I can never repay you enough." Hayden says clapping him on the shoulder.

"This is what friends do." Shane says clapping on the shoulder with his soapy gloved hand.

"Gross. I take back all the sappy shit–stuff I just said." Hayden says.

"Swear jar!" Three voices sound in unison. Though 2 sounded more like 'wear jar'.

---

Jackie comes back from yoga and smoothies with Shane feeling a little more like herself. She agreed to at least call her doctor to get the name of a therapist. It was nice to move her body around in a way that felt challenging but good. She's didn't do anything that would impact her scars healing. When she admitted to Shane that she was also worried about that and having it affect her view of herself and her relationship with Hayden, they stopped at the nearest pharmacy and picked up Shane's favorite scar cream. 

"My mom would kill me if I didn't do everything to reduce my scars. What ever would my sponsors think of scars on the body of a man who plays a high contact sport?" Shane joked. Jackie smiled and thanked him for his help. 

Jackie smiles when she sees that her house is looking a little more put together. The table is set and the kids and Hayden are watching Tangled. "Hello family!" 

"Mama!" Ruby and Jade run up and give her a hug. 

"Hi babies." Jackie says. Hayden walks over carrying both Amber and Arthur and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "Hi, honey. Thank you." Jackie says looking Hayden in the eye, conveying her gratitude at holding down the fort and calling Shane for back up. 

"Of course babe." Hayden kisses her cheek again. "Real hero of the day is Uncle Shane!" 

Shane is carrying the bags of take out from their favorite Mexican restaurant. "I know, Uncle Shane is the coolest huh?" Shane gently elbows Hayden in the side. 

"Seriously man. Thanks." Hayden says.

Shane walks towards the set table. "Of course. Anytime." 

Jackie has never been more grateful for those hockey boys coming to introduce themselves that night at the bar. Her wonderful husband and her wonderful kids and their wonderful best friend.

Shane looks up from his taco salad, feeling Jackie's eyes on him. "We got you Jacks. We're gonna figure it out." 

Hayden kisses Jackie on the cheek. "Babe, I love you so much. Thank you for going out today." 

Jackie laughs. "Listen if this is the thanks I get for leaving, maybe I'll do it more often." 

"Mama, we need you! Daddy can't braid good!" Ruby says. 

"Daddy is also bad at ponytails." Jade adds.

"Loud." Arthur says.

"Okay when did this turn into gang up on Daddy time?" Hayden asks.

"Listen Hayd, you're just an easy target." Shane smiles. 

Jackie knows that she's got a lot of work ahead of her, but she knows she has people in her corner.

Chapter Text

December 2017-A Winter Market

Jackie is pushing the double stroller with Amber and Arthur, looking for a table to sit at. Amber is bundled up in a little purple puffer coat, a hand-me-down from one of the twins. She had never been more grateful that Shane had gotten her the best double stroller on the market when the twins were born. It could fit kids of the same age group or kids of different ones and then could even be converted to an individual stroller. Pre-Amber they mostly kept it to one stroller for Arthur and then the girls went in the wagon.

Ruby and Jade claimed to be 'too big' for the wagon and insisted that they could walk the whole day like 'big girls', and who was Jackie to deny them. Especially when she has 2 large hockey players to carry them when they get tired later.

Jackie finally finds a table and settles in. There should be enough space if the squish a bit.

Shane is holding Ruby at one of the snack counters and she is carefully selecting if she wants regular popcorn or kettle corn. "Come on Ruby-bear we need to bring back the snacks for everyone." Shane tells her. Ruby settles on a small bag of kettle corn for her and popcorn for her sister. Shane also gets 2 soft pretzels for the adults and Arthur to share. Hayden took Jade to get some lemonade.

"Lemonade!" Jade exclaims. She is carrying 2 small pink lemonades for her and Ruby. Hayden has a big original lemonade to share with Jackie and small one for Arthur.

The market is outside, but there are large heaters throughout the market and they are even more concentrated near the food tables. Shane and Ruby make their way over with be snacks. "Snacks!"

Arthur gestures to leave the stroller. "Uncle 'Hane hold me pease."

Shane puts the pretzels on the table. "How can I say no to such a polite request?" Shane reaches down and grabs Arthur to put on his lap for snack time. He knew that Arthur would eventually start talking, it's funny how similar to what his mom said it was like when he started talking.

"Okay so-" Jackie begins rattling off everyone they need to buy gifts for and if they need to buy anything else for anyone.

Shane tunes them out. He's already bought gifts for everyone by the end of November. He's mainly here for moral support and an extra pair of hands. He focuses on cutting pieces of pretzel for Arthur to eat, tuning out the sounds of the crowd and Jackie and Hayden.

"Shane, Shane," Jackie says increasingly louder. "Uncle Shane!"

"Huh?" Shane tunes back in. "What? Sorry?"

"What should we get for Yuna and David?" Jackie asks.

"What do you mean?" Shane tilts his head to the side and furrows his brow.

"For Christmas." Jackie says, as though that explains everything.

Shane is still confused. "Why would you buy my parents gifts?"

Jackie sighs and looks at Hayden imploringly. "Well, they send the kids birthday gifts and help look after them at games and invite us all out to lunch anytime we play Ottawa."

"Well yeah, because they're my parents and you're my friends. Why would you get them gifts?" Shane tilts his head slightly in the other direction.

The girls have started throwing pieces of their popcorn across the table to try and get it in the other twin's mouth.

"Girls, we can share, but no throwing and Shane, because we know they care about us, and we want to show them that we care about them." Jackie says.

"We love Great Uncle Dave and Aunty Yuna." Ruby says matter-of-factly.

"Great Uncle Dave give us 2 dollars and tell us 'not to 'pend it all in one pace'." Jade says nodding.

"And Aunty Yuna says she brings gummy bears when she knows she see us." Ruby says.

"Anyway. We would like to buy your parents a present." Jackie finishes.

"Oh. Should I buy your parents presents?" Shane asks, though the idea of buying Renée a gift sends a shudder through him.

Jackie laughs. "No, you have a different relationship with our parents than we have with yours."

Shane nods, still not quite getting it, but does finally answer, "Uh, I usually get my Dad a nice bottle of liquor? He likes trying new things and fancy vintages and then usually some type of cooking appliance. This years is a bread maker. Then a tie because my mom used to have me pick out a tie for my dad to gift him when I was a kid. He got quite a few hockey themed ties. And along with it is a new puzzle, we used to do them together when I was a kid. I don't do them with him as much anymore, but he still likes them." Shane looks down at Arthur, who is now pushing the salt that fell off the pretzel into a straight line.

Hayden and Jackie share a small smile at the idea of a tiny Shane picking out a different hockey themed tie each year for David.

"Then for mom, usually something cashmere, a scarf set or a cardigan. The same matcha kit every year. And some sort of experience we can do together. This year I got her Hamilton tickets."

Hayden mouths 'Rolex money', Shane hits him in the arm and continues. "Then her sentimental gift, is a new charm for her Pandora bracelet. I would pick one out for her every year. She also got a lot of hockey or Metros colored beads. So yeah, that's uh, what I get my parents for the holidays. Mom likes trying new tea, so maybe a tea sampler?"

Jackie looks at Shane, who is still not looking directly at them and has begun to help Arthur move the left over salt crystals into a line, and says, "Thank you for sharing. I think I have an idea now."

Shane glances up at Jackie and Hayden, and there is no judgement in their eyes for essentially getting his parents the same gifts for holidays, year after year. If anything Jackie's smile almost looks too wide, like it's one of the best things she's heard today.

"Uncle 'Hane?" Ruby asks. "Do yous also get the sames gifts every year?"

Shane blushes, arm reaching to rub the back of his neck. "Yeah, usually they get me very similar things each year, but honestly I kind of prefer it?"

Hayden and Jackie think about their annual gift from Shane. He buys the kids the most expensive gift off their lists because he has 'no other children to spoil and it's only 1 present and as Hayden's told the kids, I have my 'rollflex' money' and then 1 or 2 smaller items. Jackie also gets a cashmere garment and a very expensive hot cocoa kit. Hayden always gets a random gag gift, some sort of hockey or workout gear, and a hat because he loses his at least once a season. Shane also gifts the whole family season passes or memberships to some cultural institution with activities for kids, like the Biodome.

"Wow! We get clothes every year!" Jade says. "I like clothes, but toys are better!"

Shane pats Jade on the head. "They sure are Jady-bug."

---

January 2018-The Pike House

The first time Yuna and David drive up for a game in Montreal after the holidays is in January, so Hayden and Jackie invite the Hollanders to their house for lunch. The kids dressed in the nice clothes that Yuna and David had mailed for the holidays. They had also sent a few small toys, a puzzle for Arthur, a teddy bear for Amber and matching art kits for Ruby and Jade.

"David, thank you for the whiskey." Hayden says, greeting him with a handshake.

"Of course!" David says smiling easily. "It's one of my favorite vintages."

Meanwhile Jackie was hugging Yuna. "Thank you for the perfume set. I'm obsessed with how good it smells."

Yuna smiles. "I had gotten a free sample from a brand that was hoping Shane would do a collaboration with, and when I smelled it, I thought you would enjoy it, so I bought the set."

Shane watches as his best friends greet his parents first, as if he wasn't even there. "I see how it is. It's like I'm not even here."

Jackie and Yuna both lightly whack him on opposite shoulders. "We see you all the time!" Jackie exclaims before giving him a hug. "There. Happy?"

Hayden then comes over and claps him on the back. "Let's head inside."

The kids all run over and say high to their Great Uncle Dave and Aunty Yuna and to thank them for the presents.

"Alright kids!" Hayden says. "Why don't you guys go get your presents for your aunt and uncle."

The kids each produce a handmade card with varying degrees of artistic talent. Inside the one with Amber's hand prints (which Jackie had made for mostly everyone) contained a membership to the National Gallery of Canada.

Yuna gives Ruby and Jade a hug. Then she offers Arthur a high five which he tentatively reciprocates. Then she scoops Amber from Jackie's arms. "Hello sweetie." She says to the 8 month old.

"These are from us." Hayden says handing over 2 small gift bags.

"You shouldn't have." Yuna says passing Amber back to Jackie. She opens the gift bag to find a fancy tea sampler pack and a mug decorated with 'Aunty Yuna' that had been painted by the girls. "This is so thoughtful. Thank you."

David smiles as he pulls out a custom etched whiskey tumbler that says 'Great Uncle Dave' and a picture puzzle of all of them standing on the ice near the Stanley Cup after the team's second win. "This is really thoughtful. Thank you." David claps Hayden on the shoulder.

Shane watches the whole exchange without really saying anything. He's already exchanged gifts with his parents and the Pike's, but he appreciates how much his family and friends care about each other.

Arthur toddles over and reaches his hands up. Shane scoops him. "Same shirt." Shane looks down and he had, in fact, put on a matching shirt.

"Mom, did you buy Arthur and I the same shirt?" Shane asks incredulously.

"Well, you're the one who insists he likes your shirts, so I figured I should get him the same brand." Yuna says smirking.

"Mom!" Shane says, as Hayden takes a photo.

"Uncle Shane and his mini-me!" Hayden exclaims.

"Hayden this is literally your son." Shane says with a sigh. Arthur just snuggles in closer, Chompy in hand.

---

June 2018-The Pike House

"Ruby-bear!" Shane exclaims as he opens the door, Ruby running toward him full throttle.

"Uncle Shane! Me and Jade are turning 5!" Ruby says enthusiastically.

"I know Ruby-bear! Very fancy!" Shane says. "Are you excited for your party?" The smile on her face starts to fall a bit. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"Can we go sit in my room?" Ruby asks.

"Sure thing Ruby-bear." Shane brings her to her shared room with Jade, who is absent from the room. "So what's up?"

"Well, I wanted my party to be Space Cowperson temed." Ruby says matter of fact.

"Cowperson?" Shane asks.

"Yeah, I'm a cowgirl, and you'd be a cowboy, so cowperson is what mommy sad would be ghendar nwetal." Ruby states.

"Makes sense." Shane nods.

"But Jaaaaaaade wanted it to be Spy Princess temed. 'Nd now it Space Princess Cowperson Spy temed." Ruby pouts.

"It sounds like a good compromise Ruby-bear, so you and Jade can both have the theme you want." Shane says.

"Yeah, but Arter got to have anoter Chompy Party! And 'Mber got to have a bunny party! Only me 'nd Jade need to share a birtday." Ruby says, tears welling up. "Only me 'nd Jade has to share a room."

Shane cradles Ruby closer. He is desperately wishing she picked any other adult in her life to have this meltdown with. He is so far out of his depth. He can understand when Arthur is upset because there is usually an environmental factor at play which is something that he can fix. This is purely emotional. Shane has never even had to contend with a sibling ever, in anyway shape or form. He is so far outside his wheelhouse. "Would you want your own room?"

Ruby shakes her head into his shoulder. "No." She says muffled into his shoulder. "Mybe, 'ometimes, like when she 'teals Mr. Fluffles, but I like her wif me."

"Okay, would you want your own party?" Shane asks.

"Mybe, bu' den who gets mommy and who gets daddy?" Ruby pulls away from Shane's shoulder. "Who gets Uncle 'Hane?"

Both twins have been better about saying the S in his name. They only drop it now when they're talking too fast, too tired, or upset. It tugs at his heart. "So, do you think the compromise so you can both have the theme you want and have all the people you want there is good?"

"Mybe." Ruby grumbles. "Do you tink Space Princess Cowperson Spy temed is a fun idea?"

"I like it because it gives people a lot of options." Shane says. "Now I can be a cowboy spy or a cowboy prince or any combination."

"Optins are fun!" Ruby smiles. "Tanks Uncle Shane!"

Ruby bounces away and Shane is still reeling. She seems okay, but as Shane thinks about it, he usually thinks of the Pike kids as either an entire collective or as the girls, Arthur, and Amber, which doesn't seem fair to Ruby and Jade who are their own people, even though they get referred to collectively so often.

"What are you doing in here?" Hayden asks, standing at the door. He's not accusatory, but he is inquisitive.

"Ruby and I had to have a private conversation, so she brought me here." Shane says, standing.

"What did she need to talk to you about?" Hayden asks.

Shane pauses for a moment. "Can we play a game really quick?"

"Uh, sure?" Hayden is fairly confused, but figures that Shane has his reasons.

"Pretend we just met at like a school event and the kids are playing in like a playground and then answer the question." Shane says and Hayden nods. "Which one are your kids? My little Timmy is over there and Shayna is over there."

"Your fake kids are named after Tim Horton's and yourself?" Hayden asks smirking.

"Fuck you. Answer the question." Shane says crossing his arms.

"Fine. Probably something like 'the twins over there on the slide, my son Arthur is over there with the dinos and my wife has our youngest Amber." Hayden says.

Shane pauses, "I think, Ruby and Jade are getting to an age where they want to start exploring their individuality."

"You got something this complex and nuanced from a conversation  with my, arguably, most chaotic child who also happens to be 5?!" Hayden asks incredulously.

Shane pauses. "I think so? She was having– what does Jackie call them? Big feelings? About her birthday party theme?"

"Ah, you mean the compromise." Hayden nods.

Shane proceeds to go through the exchange in detail and ends with, "So I think maybe? And I know it'll be difficult, but maybe start trying to do things with only one of them? Like an Uncle Shane hangs out with Ruby-bear day or Uncle Shane hangs out with Jady-bug? I don't know. I don't have siblings! I'm bad at emotional problems."

"That's not a terrible idea." Hayden claps Shane on the shoulder. "Thanks for being someone my kids can rely on. Even if you are bad at the emotional stuff."

Shane gently checks Hayden into the wall. "Ref, five minute major! Boarding!" Hayden shouts.

"Shut up." Shane says.

Chapter Text

October 2018-The Pike House

"Welcome to the official start to the season baby!" Hayden cheers as the team rallies for their annual start of the season barbecue.

The team lets out a cheer. There's a full house here, the guys from the team, WAGs, and kids are all over the backyard, there is the 3 seasons sunroom for people who want to be outside and inside at the same time and then there is the den for people who want a slightly quieter place to relax.

Shane made himself in charge of greeting the team, as captain, it would usually fall on him to host, but his apartment isn't big enough and quite honestly having more than 10 people inside his actual home sounds like his worst nightmare. He is getting tired of greeting everyone. Already 2 of the WAGs have mentioned friends they could introduce him to.

Once he's done with greeting everyone he makes his way into the backyard. "Capitaine!" JJ calls. "Come settle debate! Who is better defenseman? Me or Wile Kelly?"

Shane scoffs. "You obviously." Shane starts listing if JJ's stats vs. the Carolina defense man who had made it to All Stars for the first time last year.

"Okay, thank you Holzapedia." Comeau interrupts. "JJ is the better defenseman."

Shane stands awkwardly at the rebuff. He nods his head. Shane knows that sometimes he can get a little too overboard in his explanations. JJ sensing the weird energy says, "Thank you for defending me Capitaine!"

"Of course." Shane smiles at JJ. Arthur wanders over and thrusts his arms (one holding Chompy) up in there air, so Shane picks him up. "Hey buddy."

"Uncle 'Hane, I haf scales!" Arthur holds out his hand. His nails have been painted a pretty green color. "Match Chomp!"

"How cool! They look great buddy. Did Ruby and Jade do them?" Shane asks.

Arthur nods and squirms in a way that means 'put me down now.' Shane relents and Arthur toddles over to show off his new 'scales' to Jackie's best friend Penny, who is 'here for hosting moral support' and definitely not trying to rebound her 4 year long relationship with a 'hot af hockey player'.

Hayden wanders over from the grill. "Arthur showing off his 'scales'?" At Shane's nod he continues. "Jacks and I were worried when the gir-" Hayden pauses. Everyone has been trying to refer to them by their names instead of 'the girls', he continues "Jade and Ruby, suggested to paint his nails, but then he saw he could have green nails to match Chompy." Hayden shakes his head. "He only had a little bit of a meltdown when the polish touched his skin, he was great the rest of the time, but Jackie finished the job after the tears because they're 5 and we're still perfecting coloring in the lines."

Comeau huffs. "Just be careful man."

Hayden turns to stare and levels Comeau with a frown and furrowed brow. "Be careful about what, Pat?" The name comes off harsh.

"Just that people might get the wrong idea." Comeau puts his hands up.

"The wrong idea about my alligator obsessed 3 year old?" Hayden asks, an eyebrow raising. Shane's heart is pounding in his chest at the exchange.

"Listen, I'm not homophobic, but you don't want him to get bullied." Comeau says defensively.

Shane needs to walk away before he says something stupid. He heads inside and finds Ruby and Jade still playing nail salon. "Uncle Shane! Do you want us to do nails?"

Shane pauses and thinks about Arthur's scales and what Comeau said. He thinks about someone making a comment like that in earshot of Arthur. He thinks about the small comments that the teams made about Hunter this year when the played the Admirals. He thinks, maybe he can try to change the culture in at least his locker room.

Shane looks down at Ruby and Jade's earnest little faces. "Sure. But can you be careful like you were for Arthur and try to keep it on my nails only?"

The girls give him twin nods. "What color?" Jade asks.

"Maybe Ruby-bear you can do my left hand red and Jady-bug can do my right hand blue, so they're Metros colors?" Shane asks nervously, looking to the side.

Ruby gasps. "What a great idea Uncle Shane! I'm ecited."

The girls carefully, with the most attention to detail they've given anything, paint Shane's nails, careful to keep the polish off his nail beds. It's a little easier to do because Jackie had gotten nail polish pens, that are supposed to be easier to use than the bottles. The corners of his nails end up a little wonky and sparsely painted because they don't want to get too close to his nail bed, but it's otherwise very good for two 5 year olds. "Ruby-bear, this is lovely! Jady-bug, you have out done yourself."

"Okay, now you dry." Ruby says pushing Shane into the couch.

Arthur heads inside. Everyone has seen his super cool new scales and it's nap time for sure. If only he can find Uncle Shane and nap on him. Uncle Shane's shirts are the softest. He finds him with his older sisters. "Uncle Shane paint scales too?!" Arthur asks excitedly.

"Yeah, buddy. Ruby-bear and Jady-bug did a good job, huh?" Shane says showing off his blue and red nails.

Arthur nods and climbs on the couch next to Uncle Shane. He stands up a little so that he can nestle into Uncle Shane's side properly for nap time. "Nap time huh?" Uncle Shane asks. Arthur knew, he'd know without Arthur having to say anything. Arthur nods confirmation and pulls Chompy closer.

Shane carefully hugs Arthur to him, so he doesn't smudge his nails. Ruby and Jade abandon the nail salon to go find new kids to play with. "We're gonna be okay buddy." Shane says reassuring himself.

---

Shane heads back outside and makes himself a plate. Salad, a few pieces of grilled chicken, a piece of chicken sausage, and a small spoonful of Jackie's famous potato salad. He goes and stands over where most of his teammates have congregated around the fire pit. The kids mostly inside watching Mulan, the WAGs moved to the sunroom, half to be in earshot of the kids, half to be far enough away from the hockey players to gossip about them.

"Hollander!" Wilson called. "Welcome back!"

Shane waves before slumping down into one of the open Adirondack chairs. "What are we talking about?"

"The best s'more consistency." Koch supplies. "Which for the record is a marshmallow so burnt that it's almost about to fall off your stick into the fire."

"Terrible take." Taylor says. "The marshmallow will lose any integrity at all! You want to have a little of that sponge texture in the middle! You want a slow roast rotating as you go; golden outside. Right, Cap?"

"Does Holzy even eat s'mores?" Someone mutters softly, enough that's it audible, but hard to pin down under the casual chatter.

Shane leans forward thinking. "Okay, so I like a little burnt flavor, but if it's too gooey it's not a good texture for me, so I sort of burnt the top half once and then the bottom was kind of raw, which originally made me not want to eat it, but it was the last marshmallow, and now that's exclusively how I make them, by putting it on the chocolate vertically, burnt side to chocolate."

Hayden, who has seen him do this chimes is with, "It is, as wild as it sounds. He did convince me to try it and it was actually pretty good."

The younger guys on the team (Taylor, Koch, Andropov, and Laine) all insist they need to try it and break out the goods.

"Captain Holzy, please, you have to have one with us!" They sent the rookiest rook to ask, Laine is looking at Shane with a slight pout, eyes pleading. Shane shakes his head. "Fine, I will show you the patent pending Hollander method of making s'mores."

Shockingly, most of the team joins in. With the pokers closer to the fire, Gagon notices Shane's nails. "What's with the polish Holzy?"

Shane looks down. "Ruby and Jade opened a nail salon." He says matter-of-fact.

"So you just like let them do it?" Stedlund asks.

"Yeah, I mean they're my nieces and Arthur was happy that I also got my 'scales' painted." Shane says turning his marshmallow. Shane immediately changes the subject. "Okay, so once the end is looking charred and the back is still pale you put the charred end on the chocolate and you should be able to use your had to push the unmelted marshmallow off the stick. Then we top with our other graham cracker."

Everyone follows along with the instructions. Taylor lets out a groan. "Okay, Cap you might be on to something."

Shane smiles a little. "I know."

"So, Metro colors?" Schneider asks.

"Yeah, I thought it would be nice to get team colors." Shane says, taking a bite of his s'more. It's been a minute since he's had something this sweet during the season, but then again, it technically doesn't start officially until tomorrow.

Comeau lets out a huff and takes a sip of his beer and mutters something inaudible.

Shane grimaces. He puts on his captain voice. "Also, there's something that I need to tell you guys."

Everyone straightens up a bit. Some a little tipsy, no one is drunk because they still have their first game of the season tomorrow. "I'm gay." Shane says it simply and without fanfare. "I'm not planning on telling the public or anyone outside of this team, at least not yet. But, yeah. You guys have been there for me, we've won two cups together and I feel we are due for a third! So, no more secrets."

There's a stunned silence. The rookies break first and let out a small cheer, saying things like "thank you for telling us!" And "we still love you!"

Hayden immediately pulls him up and into a hug. "I love you man. No matter what."

There is some clear shock and apprehension coming from the older players. The corner they were sitting together in is still silent.

JJ runs over and picks Shane and Hayden up for a quick moment with his long arms. "Now I know why you make a terrible wingman, eh?" JJ says loudly. Then quietly, "we will have your back Shane."

"Here for you." Hayden whispers into his other ear.

When Hayden and JJ finally release him and he gets clapped on the back by more players than he expected, but less than he'd hoped, he announces, "For the record, even if it took me a minute to figure out that I was gay, I have, through my entire career, known I was interested in men. I have led us as captain to 2 cups and I plan to lead us to a dozen more! Let's make the season count!"

Aside from one or two remaining silent, that did get a cheer from everyone on the team.

Shane just hopes he made the right call.

---

December 2018-Shane's Apartment

"I need you to be nice today." Shane says. "I already had this conversation with Hayden, but I need you to also promise to be nice."

"I am very nice. I was very nice at last month's dinner. I continue to be nice now." Ilya says coming up to kiss Shane's neck where it meets his shoulder and works his way up to just under his jaw.

"Ilya, I swear to god." Shane switches to Russian, he's not very good yet, but he is determined to learn, "I will not sleep with you."

Ilya smirks, replying in Russian. "I know that's a lie, my love, but I will pretend to believe you."

Shane and Jackie had planned the entire thing to re-reintroduce their husbands to one another. The logical solution was to use the kids as a buffer. Ilya loves kids and Hayden needs to be a good example because they're his kids.

Shane is also finding it nerve wracking because these are 2 of the most important groups of people in his entire life. He made a crowd favorite, his mom's teriyaki. He has rice in the rice cooker and it's one of the 4 meals Shane actually knows how to make. Mainly because it's making the sauce and then cooking the protein. He's making both chicken and salmon teriyaki. "It's not right." Shane pouts tasting the sauce.

Ilya tastes it, having had Yuna's a few times at this point. "I think it needs more mirin."

Shane nods, adding another small dash and lets the sauce simmer for a minute. He tastes it again. "Perfect. I love you." He kisses Ilya's cheek.

There is a knock at the door, mainly to be polite, because the Pike's just open the door. "Uncle Shane!" There is a chorus of voices in the hall and a the patter of feet on the tiles as the oldest Pike kids come running in.

Shane steps away from the stove and Jade and Ruby wrap their arms around his waist. Arthur wraps his arms around Shane's knees, Chompy squished between them. Amber brings up the rear, toddling wildly as she's only been walking for a couple of months now. She smushes herself into her calf. Shane feels a bit like a Power Ranger Megazord with how all of the kids have found a docking slot to hug him. "My niblings!" Shane says, he's been trying out the more gender neutral term that Rose introduced him too. Hayden is still coming around on it. Jackie thinks it's great.

Hayden, not to be out done by his kids claims Shane's last slot, by hugging him around the shoulders. Ilya frowns at Shane dramatically over Hayden's shoulder. Shane mouths 'relax' and hugs everyone for another second. "Alright, enough, I need to go finish dinner." Everyone but the two littlest Pikes untangle from him. Shane bends down to pick both of them up. Arthur does his two cuddles on Shane's shirt sleeve and Amber stares at him and put her hand on his cheek. "Nane." Amber is around where she should be with her speaking milestones, she says, mama, dada, bubu (her stuffed bunny), mo (more), and Nane (Uncle Shane).

"Ambie-boo, where are you?" Shane asks hiding behind Arthur. He peers around him and says "There she is!" She's a little old for peek-a-boo, but it makes her laugh still, so Shane is going to keep doing it.

Ilya has been watching Ruby and Jade stare at him. They finally noticed the addition and are done patiently waiting for an introduction. "Uncle Shane, who is this?" Ruby asks.

"He's so tall!" Jade observes.

Amber turns to where her sisters are putting their attention and looks over. Arthur hides his face behind Chompy at the stranger.

"Pikes, this is my boyfriend Ilya." Shane had practiced how he was going to do this introduction. "You know how your parents wanted me to have a girlfriend, well, he's my boyfriend."

"But he's a boy?" Ruby asks confused.

"Some boys want boyfriends, like me. Some boys want girlfriends, like your dad. And some people want a boyfriend or a girlfriend, like Ilya." Shane says, having expected the question.

"Is daddy getting a girlfriend?" Jade asks. Jackie bursts out laughing.

"No sweetie, before mommy was daddy's wife and your mommy, she was my girlfriend." Hayden explains.

Ruby and Jade nod like it makes sense. "Hi, Lilya (Lee-Yah). I'm Jade and she's Ruby! We're twins. Behind the algator is Arthur and the littlest one is Amber! Do you play hockey?"

"Da, I play against your dad and Uncle Shane. I play for Boston Bears." Ilya says. "I hear you girls are great at nail salon? I bought polish, if you would like to paint."

"Oh!" Ruby exclaims. "Yes! Let's play!" She guides Ilya to the kids table that has been set up in Shane's house since her parents went on a baby moon just days before Arthur was born.

Ilya, had wondered why Shane had a knee high table and tiny chairs, but didn't want to ask in case it was some weird Canadian thing. Rather than attempt to it on one of the chairs, Ilya decides to sit cross-legged on the ground. He takes the black and gold nail polish pens he bought out of his pocket and places it on the table.

Amber wiggles down wanting to see what her sisters are doing and then wanders over. She's usually shier with new people, but maybe it's the familiar environment because she tucks herself into Iliya's side. "Oh, hello, zajchik." He says the last part in Russian.

"What does bajk mean?" Ruby asks.

"Ah; is Russian. It means little bunny." Ilya repeats the word again helping Ruby's pronunciation focusing on the za sound.

Shane had turned back to cooking. Arthur still in his arms watching what Uncle Shane is doing. Hayden leans in and says, "You were right." Watching Ilya get his nails painted Boston's colors by his two oldest daughters. Amber is standing in between his crossed legs tapping his cheek, tugging on a curl, and holding on to his gold cross. "He is good with them."

Shane smiles at Jackie. The plan is working. They don't need Ilya and Hayden to be best friends, but if they could get up to grudging respect and not fist fighting, that would be great.

"So, Ruby, Jade, how is kindergarten?" Ilya asks.

The girls leap into a discussion about their teachers and their classmates. "We got into seprate classes, but we see each other at lunch, recess, and gym."

"Yeah, and Sally is in my class, but Thea is in Ruby's." Jade says. "So is okay cause we each haf one best friend with us."

"Yeah, and then now that we go to school we get to play hockey!" Ruby yells. Startling Amber who almost falls back, but Ilya is able to borrow his hand back to steady her. "Oops. Sorry Ambie."

Amber doesn't start crying, but it is a near thing. Ilya takes his other hand back and lifts her for a moment above his head, spins her and then places her sitting down on his lap and hands her an activity book for young toddlers that he sees now that he's at the level of the table. It has things she can button and snap together. He holds his hands back out to Ruby and Jade as they tell him all about hockey practice and then the drama in their dance troop as well.

Shane smiles as he listens. "Hockey is going well then?"

Hayden begins to gush about how the girls are doing. Waiting until kindergarten was the compromise that Jackie and Hayden came up with. Jackie's been worried about them playing because she's seen the damage hockey can do, but the girls really wanted to play, so she's agreed. The team and league prioritize safety. It doesn't hurt that Uncle Shane offered to buy them top of the line safety equipment, which he had to fight for because Jackie said 'they're going to out grow it too fast', to which Shane replied 'then we can donate it so more kids have access to good hockey equipment!'

"Dinner is ready!" Shane calls. Ilya brings the girls over to the table. Ruby and Jade settle in to their booster seats. Arthur is in the fancy toddler chair Shane bought (and still has 2 of), which is different than a high chair because it brings him closer to the actual table. Amber gets settled into the high chair.

Ilya and Hayden mostly stay civil throughout dinner. The discussion is let mostly by Ruby, Jade, Jackie and Shane, but is going leaps better with the kids as a buffer than it did last time. Shane and Jackie look at each other and the end of dinner. Time for phase 2. "Ilya, Hayd, Jacks and I are going to get the kids set up and settled in for our movie. Can you clear the table and clean up the kitchen a bit?"

Ilya looks at Shane with pleading eyes and Hayden's facing Jackie with the same look, but Shane and Jackie remain strong, each grabbing 2 kids and heading into the living room.

"Okay." Ilya says breaking the silence between the two of them. "Let's clear air. You do not like me, I do not like you, but we both like Shane, da?"

"Yes." Hayden says grudgingly, scraping some small leftover bits into the trash before putting the plate in the dishwasher.

"Excellent. Then we be nice for Shane, da?" Ilya says hand washing Shane's good frying pan.

"Yes." Hayden says, shoving a plate a little harder into the dishwasher than he means to.

"Now that air is clear. Your team. Have they been good about him coming out?" Ilya ask scrubbing at a particularly stubborn stain on the pan.

Hayden freezes and sighs. "Most of us are supportive of him. The rooks all still think that he is like Hockey Jesus or something. The older guard, well no one has said anything to him and any sort of, even slightly homophobic language has stopped in the locker room, at least around us."

"At least around you?" Ilya can tell that Pike is attempting to imply something to him.

"Yeah, me, JJ, and Shane. They know the two of us won't stand for anything bad said about him, so if there was something going on behind the scenes, they'd be sure to keep us out of the loop."

Ilya nods. "Makes sense. I still do not like you Pike. But I will thank you for being there for him when I can't."

Hayden hates how he immediately is less on guard around Rozanov as he admits this. He has hated him so much for years that this show of humanity and more importantly, show of care, towards his best friend, makes him seem like a human and someone to be sympathetic to. And then Rozanov says, "I suppose you can move up to 10th best Metro."

"I fucking hate you." Hayden says back instantly. Hayden slams the dishwasher shut as Rozanov finishes his scrubbing.

They head into the living room. Shane and Jackie are curled next to each other in the center of the couch, leaving the space near the arms open for their partners. Shane has both Amber and Arthur snoozing on him already, with Ruby and Jade on the floor in front of them coloring in some coloring books. The opening to Frozen paused on the screen.

Ilya settles in next to Shane and wraps an arm around his shoulders. He presses a kiss to his cheek. "See, we did not kill each other."

Shane kisses his cheek back. "Proud of you."

They lean back and enjoy the movie. All in all, a successful second run at dinner.

Chapter Text

February 2019-A Hotel Room During All Stars

Shane leans into Ilya's side. They are curled up together for the first night for All Stars.  "We need to call Arthur."

Ilya kisses the side of his head. "I know, it is Middlest Pike's birthday. Did he like the gift I sent?"

Today is Arthur's actual birthday, but they had the party on Saturday.

"Arthur loved it, Hayden hated it." Shane says with a smile. Ilya had gotten him a dinosaur shaped slide that has an attached ball pit. Arthur had immediately insisted it got set up in his bedroom and now every night before bed (it's been 4 days) he sends Chompy down the slide first and then he takes his turn. It's added about 10-15 minutes to his bedtime routine.

"Success all around then. Middlest Pike loves, Annoyingest Pike hates. What does Smartest Pike think?" Ilya asks because he actually cares about Jackie's opinion after she had invited him over for WAG wine time when Boston got in a night early for their game against the Metros who had been scheduled for back to back home games (admittedly it was only the two of them, but it's the thought that counts).

"Jackie is worried about safety, but because it is Arthur, she set up clear rules about using it only under supervision, and he'll probably listen to her because he hates breaking rules." Shane kisses Ilya's jaw. "It was a really thoughtful gift."

Shane's phone starts going off. "It's Hayden."

"Answer it." Ilya says.

Hayden's voice came over the speaker. "Shane, am I safe to click the FaceTime button, or am I about to be retraumatized?" Hayden is referring to the last time he FaceTimed Shane and both he and Ilya weren't wearing a shirt and Shane had a huge hickey blooming on his neck.

"You're safe Hayden." Shane says, shaking his head, transferring the call to FaceTime. "Where is my adorable godson?"

They had decided to wait until bed time. Shane is going to read one of the current books in rotation (Tiny T-Rex and the Impossible Hug by Jonathan Stutzman) because it is Tuesday and not New Book Wednesday.

Hayden opens the door to Arthur's room. Jackie is watching him play in the ball pit. "Arthur, look who it is?"

"Happy Birthday Arthur!" Shane and Ilya respond together.

"Uncle 'Hane and Uncle Liya!" Arthur says. "Tank you for the presents. I love dinos!"

"You are very welcome Arthur. I saw it and it made me think of you." Ilya says. "So I had to buy it."

Shane had also gotten on board with the dino theme. He got several to scale to one another dinosaur figures. The largest is about 1 foot tall and the smallest is a couple inches. It also came with a dinosaur atlas.

Arthur heads from his new nightly routine of the ball pit and into bed. First he tucks Chompy Jr. under his little blanket on the side of the bed reserved for him, placing and even smaller teddy bear into Chompy Jr.'s arms. (Chompy is too big to come to his Pre-K class next year, so they introduced Chompy Jr. to be his Pre-K buddy.)

Hayden repeats the process with Arthur himself. Tucking him in tight around his legs and then placing Chompy into his arms. "Otay Uncle 'Hane. Story time!"

Shane reads the book to Arthur. He is nodding and mouthing the words as Hayden displays the copy they have so he can see the pictures up-close and bigger than the phone screen, very practiced at turning the page the same time as Shane.

What's new is Ilya chimes in and does some of the voices. Usually when Hayden interrupts he gets in trouble, but instead Arthur replies with "Wow Uncle Liya! You have a good story voice too!"

Hayden tries not to pout to much, as if calling Rozanov 'Uncle Liya' wasn't bad enough, he can tell by the smug smile on Rozanov's face that Shane must have told him about Hayden's plight in trying to co-read a story with his best friend. He tries not to feel too betrayed by Shane giving up his secrets.

Shane finishes the story. "I hope you had a really good birthday, buddy."

Arthur nods sleepily. He hugs Chompy a little tighter and yawns. "Love you."

"We love you too." Shane and Hayden say in unison like they usually do.

Hayden gives Arthur a kiss goodnight on the forehead. "Do you wanna say goodnight to the girls?" Ruby and Jade, now almost 6 have a slightly later bed time than their siblings.

Shane looks at Ilya, eyes asking if it would be okay to delay their fun a little longer. Ilya kisses the side of Shane's head with a nod. "Yes, please!" Shane says.

Hayden brings the phone into the girls room. Ruby and Jade launch into their day at school and the drama that is Kevin, who keeps trying to take toys from Amie during playtime.

Shane and Ilya listen. Ilya starts asking follow up questions, now deeply engaged in understanding the drama of 2 Montreal kindergarten classes.

"Bye Uncle Shane! Bye Uncle Liya! We love you!" Ruby and Jade say together.

"Love you too!" Shane says.

"Bye girls!" Ilya says. Shane finally hangs up the phone. "You are good uncle to them."

Shane smiles. "I try to be. Growing up, I didn't– We've had this conversation before."

"Yes, my love, we have." Ilya says. "But sometimes I think you need reminder"

Shane presses his lips to Ilya's for a long moment. "I love you."

"I love you too." Ilya says.

---

October 2019-An Airport

"Hello, yes this is Hayden Pike." Hayden says into the phone, stress coating his voice as he reads the caller id. "Yes, my wife, Jackie is on a field trip with Ruby's class. Oh, is she okay?" Shane isn't intentionally eavesdropping, but now he's curious. "I'm currently stuck in an airport in Minnesota. No, don't bother calling Shane, he's here with me. Give me a minute to make some calls. Someone will get Jade soon. Thank you Mindy." Hayden lets out a long breath. "Fuck."

"Jade okay?" Shane asks.

"No, she threw up. Jackie didn't say anything about it this morning and this wouldn't be an issue if our flight hadn't gotten delayed!" Hayden shouts the last part as if the weather gods could hear him. "I'm here, you're here–"

"I did warn you that it was dumb to make me the third emergency contact." Shane says.

"Shane, I don't need an I told you so. I need an answer." Hayden pinches the bridge of his nose. "I guess I can ask Renée."

"And make Jade wait over an hour?" Shane asks. "No. I have an idea, but you're going to have to trust me. Come with me."

Shane guides Hayden into the family bathroom stall at the airport for privacy. "Who are we playing at home tomorrow?"

"Ottawa-why does that matter?" Hayden says with growing annoyance.

"It means Ilya is in town dumbass." Shane says. "I could ask him. If you'd be okay with it."

Hayden thinks about how sick Jade must be and the next closest person is Renée and she didn't even drive to pick up Amber this morning, making Jackie drop her off last night. Hayden definitely cannot make Jade wait an hour for pick up, so Iliya is the only option. "Fine. Do it. Call him."

Shane dials Ilya and it barely rings before he picks up. "Shane, sweetheart, I saw your flight was delayed?"

Shane breathes in. "Hi, Ilya. I have a favor to ask."

Ilya's voice goes an octave lower. "Well, depending on what it is, I might be able to make it happen."

"Fuck off. Not like that." Shane says blushing as Hayden shakes his head. "Jade is sick and someone needs to pick her up from school."

"Oh." Ilya says. "Am I just allowed to pick up Pike's children?"

"Hayden would have to call and tell them that you're coming." Shane says. "I should have everything you need at the house. After I found out that I was one of the kids emergency contacts, I've stocked up on pedialyte, children's Motrin, children's Tylenol, crackers and keep a thing of my dad's chicken and rice soup in the freezer."

Hayden's eyes go wide. "Shane." He practically tackles him with a hug. "You are truly my best friend."

Shane pats Hayden's head awkwardly. "And the Land Rover should still have the car seats set up and it should be parked in my spot because Hayd and I carpooled to the airport."

Ilya nods, not that anyone can see him, but to steel himself. "Won't people ask questions. About why Ilya Rozanov, best player in NHL is picking up 15th best metro's child?"

Hayden grabs the phone from Shane and puts it on speaker. "So, Mindy, who works the front desk is quite possibly the only person in all of Montreal who knows literally nothing about hockey. She asked Jackie once how she became friends with 'notable model, Shane Hollander' after Shane picked the kids up once, so if you only interact with her you should be good. Just, maybe also wear sunglasses and a hat and maybe a large jacket with a hood."

"Ah, look like criminal to pick up a very ill Jade. Understood." Ilya says with a smirk. "I will do this, but Pike you owe me. Shane, I promise to take good care of boring car and Jadest Pike."

Hayden backs away to call the school back and inform them of who will be picking up Jade.

"Thank you." Shane tells Ilya. "It shouldn't be a long flight and they said we should be cleared to board soon."

"I love you."

"Love you too. Don't forget to bring an ID to the school. I'll text you the address." Shane says. "Let me know how it goes. Bye."

"Bye. Safe flight." Ilya hangs up the phone. He breathes for a moment and desperately hopes that Mindy is as oblivious as Pike says she is or things are going to be very, very awkward.

---

October 2019-A School in Montreal

"Hello my name is Ilya Rozanov." Ilya says with the most western accent he can muster. Drawing out the vowel sounds and essentially pronouncing his last name as Rose-a-noff. "I am here to pick up Jade Pike." Ilya slides his ID over to Mindy and briefly removes his sunglasses.

Mindy carefully grabs the ID off the counter and looks at him. Ilya is giving her an almost manic smile. She twirls one of her curls around her finger. "Yes, we did get permission from Mr. Pike that you could pick up Jade. Poor thing, she's really not doing well." She pauses to call for Jade over the intercom. "How do you know the Pikes?"

Ilya is about to frown before he catches himself in a fake smile as he replies, "Family friends." The idea of calling Hayden Pike, 15th best player on the Metro's anywhere close to a friend is painful.

Jade shuffles out from a room down the hall. "Uncle Liya?" She asks. She looks pale and her eyes are glassy.

He immediately scoops her up into his arms. "Hello little bunny. Let's go home."

Mindy stops him. "If you could just sign here please."

Ilya stops himself from demanding to know why she didn't have him sign before Jade came out and signs as fast as humanly possible. He carries her to the car and delicately places her in a booster seat. "I'm sorry you don't feel well. We'll get you to Uncle Shane's soon."

Jade nods. "Where's daddy?"

"Ah, him and Uncle Shane got stuck in an airport. They finally were able to board the plane." Ilya had gotten the text as he left the car to go into the school.

"Okay." Jade is quiet for the rest of the ride. Which is the most concerning part about this because her and Ruby are usually always chattering about something.

They reach Shane's apartment and Ilya scoops her up again. "Where do you want to set up? Couch? Your room?"

"Where are you gonna be?" Jade nestles closer into his shoulder.

"Let's get you on the couch." Ilya gently places her on the chaise lounge section of the couch, propping her up with some pillows. He takes out his phone and then he dials Yuna Hollander. "Yuna? Hello."

Yuna's voice comes through the speaker a little tinny and a lot concerned. "Ilya, dear? Are you okay?"

"I am fine. I am in charge of Jadest Pike because she has stomach bug and threw up at school. I wanted to get your advice on what to do first?" Ilya says heading into the kitchen.

"Well, hydrate first, do you have anything with electrolytes?" Yuna asks.

"Da. Shane says Pedialyte is in back of refrigerator." He pulls a bottle out of the refrigerator and brings it over to Jade.

"Small sips." Yuna says on speaker.

"Aunty Yuna?" Jade looks around. "Where's you?"

"On the phone Jady-bug. Uncle Ilya is going to give you something to drink and I want you to take tiny sips as if you really were a ladybug, okay?"

"Okie Aunty." Jade takes the open bottle of Pedialyte and takes a small sip.

"Okay, Ilya, bring her a big mixing bowl in case she feels sick again."

"On it." Ilya scrambles to the kitchen to get one. He didn't consider what might happen if she got sick again. "Okay, brought it."

"Good." Yuna says. "Bug, is it just your tummy or do you feel achy too?"

"Just my tummy." Jade says taking another small sip.

"Okay, when you feel like you've had enough to drink, lay down and Uncle Ilya will tuck you in."

Jade manages to drink a third before passing it back to Ilya. Ilya grabs Jade's throw blanket from the ottoman (a jungle theme with frogs, each kid has one) and wraps her in it. "Rest up Jadest." He brushes her hair away from her face and moves back into the kitchen.

"Okay. So because she's not achy, I didn't want you to give her any Motrin or Tylenol because sometimes that can upset their stomachs more or trigger her to throw up again. For now let her sleep."

"Should I heat up freezer soup?" Ilya asks.

"You can probably wait. I would try crackers first." Yuna says. "Shane should have some plain saltines for times like these."

"Thank you Yuna. You are amazing." Ilya says.

"Of course. Call me back if you need anything."

"Will do." Ilya leans against the cabinets. His phone starts ringing. Incoming: Best Pike. "Jackie? Hi, I have Jade."

Jackie sighs. "I know. Thank you and I owe you. I just, when it rains it pours, you know?"

Ilya isn't 100% sure what she means but says, "Yes."

"So you know how I'm on a field trip? With Ruby?" Jackie takes a deep breath before continuing. "The bus broke down."

"The bus broke down?"

"The– bus– broke– down!" Jackie repeats dramatically. "I'm supposed to pick up Arthur in an hour. And the boys don't touch down for another hour and we're currently 45 minutes from Ruby and Jade's school.

Ilya sighs. "I guess this means I need to get Middlest Pike?"

Jackie sighs. "If you wouldn't mind. I know it's a lot on you. I guess I can call my mother." Ilya scoffs. "I see you've spoken to Shane." Jackie sounds unimpressed.

"We talk a lot about a lot of things, like how for Arthur's birthday she bought him a football." Ilya says. "He likes dinosaurs and hockey best."

"I know." Jackie says. "Will you get him?"

"I want to." Ilya says pausing. "But picking Arthur up from the pick up line is much more exposure than Mindy who apparently lives under a rock."

"I know." Jackie says. "It's why I was hesitating and hoping they'd figure this bus thing out."

"I will wear disguise." Ilya settles on. "And we all will pray."

Jackie laughs. "Thank you. I appreciate you."

"I know." Ilya is hoping he can put something together that is even more hidden than when he went to get Jade.

"Good luck!" Jackie says. "I'm going to work on a cover story just in case. Do you think we could pass as cousins?"

"I think you need to keep workshopping."