Chapter 87 – Fast approaching

AN: I am sooo sorry! I suck at life. I've been meaning to update this story but I just haven't had time to work on it. Between the marketing class I'm taking and my new boyfriend I haven't had much free time. He doesn't yet know of my secret love affair with Sasha - he's not a hockey fan so I figure I'll ease him into it gently :)


Any who - on to the next chapter...



Nef’s POV

Midterms. I hate them so much. No really. I don’t think there is any student who ever like midterms but these midterms were a little more important. They were my last set before graduation. I was being audited for graduation and if any of my grades were slacking there was the potential that I wouldn’t graduate on time. I wasn’t worried about that. I knew I had been performing well. I was more concerned that midterms signaled the fast approaching real world. The time to be a grown up was getting closer and closer and I didn’t think I was ready for it. It was going to be a mad dash until the end of the semester.

I know that I still have time before they actually get here but if you hadn’t noticed I tend to overanalyze and worry about everything. It’s my nature. Sasha’s contract is another thing that I was worried about. Sasha told me that his agent and George McPhee had been in nearly constant talks and that they caps didn’t want to trade him. Both sides knew that this had been an off year for all parties included. Sasha hadn’t maintained the level of production he’d started the year with and the Caps had been struggling to adapt to this new defensive mind set. He tried his best to assure me but I wouldn’t stop worrying until there was a signed contract that had been approved by the NHL in my hands.

I was going with him wherever he went but I was hoping that he wouldn’t be going anywhere.
Sasha called me as I was leaving McKeldin Library.

”Where are you?” he asked.

”Leaving the library, just finished with a study group.”

”Do you think you’ll have time to stop by my house today?”

”I can swing by before I go home for the evening. Why?” It’d be later in the evening but I could swing that.

”I have something for you. I gave it to my mom and I’ll tell her that you’ll come by later.”

“What is it?” Valentine’s Day had pasted and the only thing up next was his birthday…why would he be giving me a gift for his birthday?

”A surprise. Gotta go, love you.” he said before hanging up.

Have I told you how weird that man is? Half of the time he makes absolutely no sense. Anyway, my next class was starting in a few minutes, leaving me just enough time to run to the Student union to food to eat in class.

I texted Sasha throughout my class trying to get him to tell me what the surprise was but he wouldn’t. He simply said that it would be waiting at his house when I got there. Boo him. I hate it when he does this. I really wanted to know. Not because it was a present, but because I couldn’t stand not knowing. After a while I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and his answer was the same as it was for every other occasion where I had to get him a present. He said “I don’t know.” I’ll ask his mom, maybe she can help.

When I did make it to his house his parents were in the living room talking. They did that pretty frequently. My parents did the same only they talked in the kitchen. My mom had once told me that the reason why their marriage had lasted for nearly 30 years was because communication was such a big factor. I assumed it was the same for Sasha’s parents – they after all were older and had been married longer than my parents.

”Hi Tatiana and Valeri. I’ve been sent here by that son of yours.”

”He told me that you would stop by. He wanted to give you this before you found out some other way.” Found out?

Tatiana handed me a stack of papers. I saw the NHL logo and started to read it. To say it was complex would be an understatement. Tatiana took the papers back and flipped to a page that had signatures – Sasha’s, George McPhee’s, and a space for an NHL representative. A contract. It was a contract!

”They signed it before the team left this morning and sent it to the NHL for approval. There will be an announcement tomorrow.”

I picked up my phone to call Sasha.

”Why didn’t you tell me when you called!”

”Well hello to you too,” he said mocking me. I often said that to him when he would call me and just start rambling. ”I thought it would be better this way. I could have let you find out another way like on the news or through a teammate.”

”Not and live. I would have killed you for not telling me.”

He laughed, used to me threatening his life. I stayed at his house for a little while longer to talk about Sasha’s contract. They’d opted for a one year deal again, giving him a slight raise. This contract was at 6.7 million. I knew that it wouldn’t go higher than that – that’s what Nicky was making but Nick’s contract was for 10 years. I did ask why the contract wasn’t for longer and Sasha told me that he would tell me once the next CBA had been negotiated.

”Won’t they do that over soon?” I asked.

”Soon-ish, I’ll tell you then.” What did the CBA negotiation have to do with the reason for taking a short term deal? I knew that Sasha wasn’t interested playing for the KHL because if he did he’d be there already.

When I did make it home I called my mom and dad to tell them the news. Both of my parents were excited. One less thing to worry about.


Sasha’s POV


It was almost intuitive when I drove from the airport to Nef’s apartment. She was the first person I wanted to see when I got home from an away game or a road trip. When I walked into Nef’s apartment she was seated at the dining room table with her laptop and her books spread across the table.

”You’re still awake?”

”Yes, I had homework that I needed to finish. I thought I’d get it done while I was waiting for you.”

Nef did that sometimes. Sometimes she would wait up for me during the week if the team didn’t get back at an unreasonable hour. If we were leaving on a longer road trip she would actually drop me off and pick me up from the airport.

She packed up her books and her laptop and we went to bed. In the morning I got up before her so that I could make her breakfast before she went into work.

“To what do I owe this honor?” she asked when she walked into the kitchen, fresh out of the shower.

“Just because,” I said.

I told her to hurry up and get dressed and we’d have enough time to sit down together for breakfast.

”How has work been going?” I asked. She didn’t talk about it much.

”It’s okay. I’m telling them today that I’m not accepting the job offer after graduation.”

”But we’re staying in DC…I thought that you would accept it if I resigned.”

”I was but after thinking about it I’d rather work with my family. I know how much it means to them.”

”But what about what it means to you?” I didn’t want her taking the job because it would make everyone else happy. I wanted her to do this because she was happy.

”It means a lot to me. I’m glad that I was offered a job but in the long run I think this will be better for me.”

Nef told me that her grandfather would be flying into DC in a week. He’d be here for two weeks for meetings, planning, and the financial audit of the North American Branch of the company. She said that she would tell him then about accepting the job with the company.
“Will you still love me when I have to go to Germany?” she asked. Her grandparents lived there an operated out of the Berlin office. It made sense that she’d have to go there for training eventually. I just hoped it wasn’t for too long.

“As long as you come back to me I love you forever.”

After breakfast Nef left for work, telling me that she had her graduation audit in the afternoon. I wished her luck and told her that I’d be going home for a nap after practice. Lately when we‘re not traveling and we have the time for real practices Bruce has been putting us through bag skates. Bag skates are hard and leave even those in the best of condition gasping for breath and bone tired. Bruce had said that if we work this hard in practice the games would get easier and we’d be able to show consistency. We were down to the last few weeks of the season and we need every advantage we could get.