Staal [A Jordan Staal Story] Fifty-Five

Hey guys, life is getting less busy, thank god, I hope it stays that way. As I said I'm writing a Fleury story and it's still in the early stages, so look for the in the next month.

The Pens game last night scared me a little, I still don't know what to think of Chris Kunitz, and I miss Ryan Whitney... A LOT! For those of you who don't know I'm a Hawks fans as well so I'm proud of Jonny Toews. Congrats Jonny on your first NHL hat-trick, too bad it had to come against us.

I hope you all enjoy the chapter, comments are greatly appreciated.

Fifty-Five

“What do you name your child?” the priest asked as the close family stood at the baptismal font.
“Scott Patrick,” Miriya replied.

Next Cassie and Geno, who were to be the godparents, had to promise to lead Scott in the right direction and take care of him if anything were to happen to his real parents. “The father, the son, and the holy spirit,” he said making the sign of the cross on Scott’s forehead.

Christiano was also baptized that day, Miriya and Jordan being the godparents, then it was back to Miriya and Jordan’s for the party. As always there was plenty of food and lots of fun. Miriya and Jordan’s family were there which includes Cassie, Geno, Nathan, Sid, Michelle, and Christiano. Michelle and Sid’s families were also there, since it was Christiano’s party too.

At about two the house phone rang and a familiar voice was on the other end. “Nik, how are you?”

“I’m good, sorry I couldn’t come back for the party today. Tell Scott I say hi and give him a hug for me.”

“I will.”

“And tell everyone that I say hi and miss them. Erin’s here to visit so I’m gonna go”

“Okay, tell her I say hi. See you next month.” They both hung up and Miriya got everyone to shut up. “I just talked to Nik, he says hi and that he misses everyone. And he’ll be back in a month.”

Everyone went back to partying and Miriya decided to put Scott down for a nap and change into her bathing suit. Some of the other guest had also decided to swim. “So Mir, we’re still on for slip ‘n sliding on Friday, right?” Michelle asked.

“Pretty sure, hey Ryan would you want to come?”

“Um, slip ‘n sliding, like in someone’s backyard, aren’t we a little old for that?”

“One, you are never too old to slip ‘n slide,” Miriya said. “And two not in someone’s backyard, a bunch of us are going down to the arena and are gonna…”

“Wait, you’re going slip ‘n sliding in the arena?”

“She is the coach,” Michelle said.

“Sure,” Ryan said with a laugh. “I guess I’ll be there, what time?”

“Noon.”

Once everyone was gone, except for Jordan’s family, Miriya and Jordan cleaned up while Marc and his wife Leah took care of Scott. Marc was doing most of the playing with the baby since Leah’s plump stomach got in the way. “Marc you’re so good with Scott,” Miriya said sitting down.

“It’s a thing he’s good with kids huh?” Eric asked.

“Yes it is,” he said rubbing his wife’s stomach.

“Three down, one to go.” Henry, daddy Staal said with a laugh.

“Yea, Jared you’re the only one left,” Jordan said.

“Hey, I’m not even married yet, give me some time.”

“Couple more weeks right?” Linda asked.

“Yep,” Andrea, Jared’s fiancée said with a smile and rested her head on Jared’s shoulder.


Friday finally came, but not quickly enough. Miriya and Michelle had had this planned for months but obviously couldn’t do it while the three girls were pregnant. So the third Friday in July finally came, little kids were at grandparent’s houses and the big kids were waiting outside the arena.

“The only time they lock the door,” Miriya said trying to find the right key. “You guys know they never lock the door, not even during games.” She finally found the key and everyone went down the long hallway to the locker room. Michelle went to the training room to get the speakers she had left there and Cassie went to the Equipment room to get garbage bags.

“What are those for?” Colby asked.

“Do you really want to slide on just the ice?”

“Sure,” he said flashing his signature grin. After everyone had stripped down to their bathing suits and Michelle’s iPod was hooked up to the speakers Colby decided to slide first. He started from the goal line and flopped down to the ice at about the blue line. When he stopped he pried himself from the ice to reveal a stomach as red as a tomato. Slowly he made his way to the bench where everyone else stood. “I think I’ll take one of those garbage bags,” this caused everyone to laugh.

Some of the guys decided to get competitive and see who could slide the furthest. No one blamed them; after all they are professional athletes who hadn’t been on the ice in three months. The girls and Ryan slid just for the fun of it and enjoyed watching Sid, Geno, Colby, and Jordan “race”.

After a while ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ came on and everyone looked at Miriya. It was here song and it needed to be played if the Guins were losing otherwise there was no hope of a comeback. When the intense rendition of Journey’s song was over Natasha Benningfield’s ‘Unwritten’ came on and Colby stood at center ice singing. Everyone laughed as Michelle went to sing with him. Everyone along the boards clapped when the song ended before sliding a few more times.

“Do any of you boys wanna skate?” Everyone was silent. “Okay, as your coach I’m telling you that you’re gonna go change and put your skates on. I know none of you have started training yet.” The four Guins hurried to the locker room, Michelle, Cassie, and Mel followed to put their skates on too. “Ryan you wanna skate?”

“I don’t have skates with me.”

“You’re in a hockey arena, I’m sure we can find you a pair.” She said with a laugh. “Cass, can you hook Ryan up with a pair of skates?”

“I’m sure we can find some.”

Once everyone was changed and laced up they headed back out to the ice. Since they had just walked on it in tennis shoes it was still glassy smooth and felt good under Miriya’s skates as she stepped out from the runway. She let the arena take her thoughts as she glided down the ice; she loved the atmosphere of the arena, she felt at home there, even more than at her own home. She breathed in the scent and smiled, it mostly smelt of ice, yes ice has a smell. She loved the smell more than anything, anything other than the way Mellon Arena smelt. There was a very slight difference between the way the two arenas smelt, so slight that many people didn’t even notice, Miriya on the other hand did.

She past the bench for the second time and sped up, still not going full speed, but pretty fast by most standards. After three laps she decided that she should stretch before she got hurt. Rounding the ice a few more times she stepped behind the crease and looked up at the stands. “MIRYA!” a voice called down the ice pulling her from her thoughts.

“RYAN!” she said turning around. Everyone was skating and have a good time, and continued to do so for about an hour and a half before heading to the locker room.

“Bye Miriya, thanks for inviting me. We should hang out more often.”

“We should, well during the season a bunch of us get together for movie nights on Fridays, you and Deb should come, and you can bring Jess.”

“Alright, let me know when and I’ll try my best to be there.”

“See ya best friend,” she said giving him a hug.

“Bye.”