Staal [A Jordan Staal Story] Sixty-Five

The boys had beaten the Sens three to one; Miriya did her usual post game press conference, and soon after made her way to the locker room. “Hey babe,” she ran her hand over Kris’ clean black t-shirt and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek.

The next day at practice Ben approached Miriya, “Coach can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure, what’s up?” They sat down on the bench and Miriya removed her gloves.

“Are you cheating on Jordan?” Ben sat on the bench with a look on his face that Miriya was sure it had never held before, this was the most serious she had ever seen the boy.

“No,” she said taken aback. “I would never cheat on him; I love him more than anything in the world. The whole Kris thing had been going on for years and Jordan knows about it, and really it’s practically his fault…” She went on to tell of when they had played seven minutes in heaven years before. “That’s the only time his lips have ever touched mine. We only kiss each other on the cheek and we are both happily married, okay?”

Ben nodded. “And as I said, I would never cheat on him. Once I thought he was cheating on me and I don’t think that I’ve ever cried so hard in my life. Not only was I mad at him for being with someone else, but I love him too much to be without him. The thought of not being with him hurts too much.”

“What happened that made you think he was cheating?” Ben asked, playing with a water bottle that sat on top of the boards.

Miriya walked into the locker room after the game, making her way to Bugsy’s stall to wait until Jordan has finished with his interviews. It was early in the oh eight, oh nine season, Miriya and Jordan had been together for about a year. Ryan’s stall was across the room from Jordan’s and Miriya stood facing Ryan as she spoke with him about the happenings on the ice that night.

When all of the reporters had left Miriya gave Bugsy a hug before turning toward Jordan. He sat at his stall, but tonight something was different. “J-Jay?” Miriya asked her voice cracking as she chocked back a tear.

“Baby it’s not what you think,” Jordan said standing from his stall and pushing the blond girl from his lap.

Miriya grabbed her ice time from the bench and stormed into the lounge, longing for any of the guys. “Brooksy,” she said to the one remaining. “I need a ride home.”

What about--” He stopped himself from asking about Jordan when he saw the look of hurt on her face. They made their way to the car and Brooks was out of the parking lot as quickly as possible.

“Thanks Brooks,” she said before getting out of the white BMW and running up to the house. She jumped onto her bed and buried her face in the stomach of her teddy bear, Fleury. The next thing she knew the bed sunk down and there was a clam breathing behind her.

“Baby?” he asked, questioning whether or not she was still awake. She reluctantly turned to face him, tears still in her eyes. He gently wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb and looked into her ice, blue eyes. “It’s not what you think, she’s a friend from Thunder Bay, I hadn’t seen her in years. Baby I would never cheat on you I love you too much, and it hurts me to see you like this.”

She didn’t say anything but just crawled into his lap and rested her head against his chest. He held her tightly and soon she was asleep in his arms. Any time that she tried to move his grip tightened and this assured her that he had told the truth.

“I’m sorry Staalsy, that’s crazy. The only reason I asked was because I love you two and from what I can see you’re perfect for each other.”

“Well thank you Ben, it’s good to know that I’ve got people looking out for my boy,” she said putting her gloves back on. “But get back on the ice.”

When practice ended everyone headed home, Miriya sat down on the couch and put her feet up on the table. “How was practice?” Jordan asked after sitting on the couch next to her.

“Good, the guys are doing really well I just need to be away from the arena for a little while.”

“I know the feeling; you wanna watch movies all day?”

“That actually sounds amazing, what do you wanna watch?” She asked standing from the couch.

They eventually decided on a movie and sat watching contently without another thought in the world. When Scott woke up Nik took care of him to give Miriya a break and when it came time for dinner they ordered pizza to continue their relaxing day. With the empty pizza boxes on the table the Staal family sat back to watch the Devils take on the Canes.

As Jared and Eric Staal skated around the crisp ice Miriya was with her own Staal brother watching a game that she was glad wasn’t her own. “Being a coach is stressful.”

“But you’re good at it and the boys are giving all of the other teams a run for their money.”

“Thanks babe but you’re part of the team too and it’s early in the season. It’s way too early to be thinking about the cup, I’m still thinking about stuff for tomorrow’s game.”


The next morning Miriya headed to the arena for morning skate and soon after everyone headed to the airport. Once the plane landed in New Jersey the team went to the Rock to get ready for the game. Not much happened that was exciting, the win came easily for Miriya and her boys, the third win against the Devils although the first two were pre-season.

“Hey Staalsy,” Scuds called from behind her. “I’m really liking this travel schedule, are we gonna do this all season?”

“As much as we can, as long as it’s only a one day trip. If we’ve got a long trip it’s not going to work, but I’ll definitely think about it.”

“Thanks coach, you’re the greatest,” he said embracing her in a hug.

“Let’s wait a few more games before we start saying things like that we’re only four games into the season and have seventy-eight more to go.”


The boys had the next three days off but Monday they had practice to stay in the game mindset. The rest of the month went by quickly and soon it was the day before Halloween. Miriya who was still a little kid at heart not to mention that she wasn’t too far removed from being a child, decided to have a team Halloween party.

“Baby, have you seen my other combat boot?” Miriya asked from the bedroom.

“Nope, do I look like a vampire?” He asked walking into the room.

“You remind me of Edward Cullen, very sexy.”

Miriya finally found her boot and the Staals headed to the arena. Most of the team was already there and as instructed, in costume. The decorations which had been left to Colby didn’t look as bad as Miriya thought they would, his costume on the other hand was very, frightening.

“Wow Scream, I haven’t seen one of these costumes in years.”

“Funny Staalsy, you look ready to go play with guns.”

“Well actually when I was in the Air Force I played with fire, but guns are fun too.”

As Miriya walked around the locker room some interesting costumes drew her attention. Mark, Sid and Vero along with Jordan were vampires. Brooks, Marc, and Geno were part of the mafia and they pulled the look off perfectly. One costume that really drew Miriya’s attention though was Michelle’s; she was dressed in scrubs and a lab coat with a stethoscope around her neck.

“Wow Chelle, how original,” Miriya said with a laugh.

“I could say the same about you little miss Air Force.”

At that point a new group walked in, Ryan, Deb, and Jess. Jess was dressed as a bumblebee and Ryan and Deb as Spiderman and MJ. They were so cute together and looked better than the actual movie couple. The rest of the kids were dressed up as well, Jamie just like his mom was dressed as a pirate, Will as a hockey player wearing a jersey with his dad’s name and number. Nathan was a pumpkin, Christiano a frog, and Scott a penguin, they were all adorable.

The party went well and Miriya seemed happy with it when she got home with her vampire husband. She took Scott from his penguin costume and put him to bed before going to her room and taking her own costume off.

“I want to suck your blood,” Jordan said crawling onto the bed.
“Baby, vampires don’t say that.

“Fine,” he said kissing her cheek.


The next day Scott was back in his penguin costume while Miriya put a table at the end of the drive-way with a bowl of candy and a sign that read ‘Please take one…Happy Halloween! The Staals.’

With that in place the Staal family got into Miriya’s mustang and soon pulled into her parent’s drive-way. After walking up the big hill they made it to Sam’s mom’s house where they would be meeting with the rest of the group.

Sam’s mom had made pumpkin seeds for all of them and the pumpkins that they had come from sat decoratively in the front yard. Once the usual group was there they made their way through Miriya’s old neighborhood. After visiting every house Scott had fallen asleep but his pillow case was full of candy.