A/N: I was originally gonna throw in Drury here because the trade would make a helluva lot more sense but I can’t let the little bugger go, I just can’t! My apologies. And Mark Davis in Hershey is my own creation. Take my word for it he’s really good! Wink. And also thanks Jad!
Chapter 115—Danny XII—Unexpected News
Danny was in an odd mood as he stripped out of his clothes in the locker room before their practice that Saturday morning. Patrick was at the other end, still clothed and talking with Footer. But Danny had seen the scratches all over his back earlier that week. Of course they were sex scratches and Patrick seemed proud of them as the guys had teased him about them. It made Danny blush almost in embarrassment and he thought of Michele. She had done that to him? That sweet, little woman, that quiet voiced woman?
Of course it was none of his business but the thought of her pinned under his body, naked and frantic enough to claw him like that, just like she had bit him, stuck in Danny’s mind. Could she really have been pleasured? Or had she been in pain, scared and trying to escape. Danny knew it couldn’t be right and he couldn’t conceive of doing such harm to Cecile, causing her to harm him like that.
He shook his head, began to get dressed in his gear, and decided not to think about it. He didn’t even look at Patrick.
"Jesus Christ Patty!" he heard Footer bark. "What the hell happened to you now?"
"Eh," Patrick replied and Danny looked up at him and held back a gasp. There were other exclamations from the guys and finally Joe said in a tired voice.
"OK Patty, give it to us, what happened?"
There was a huge square shaped bruise square on Patrick’s chest, glaring and purple. Patrick looked straight into Danny’s eyes and said in a cold, yet cheerful voice. "Didn’t she tell you Noter? Your girl did this to me."
Absolute horror filled Danny’s heart and he could feel the gaze of every man in the locker room looking at him, piercing through him. He thought of how quiet Cecile had been with him last night, as she ate her dinner and spoke very little and how hard she had hugged and kissed him when he had walked her to the front door... It had been almost as if she were unwilling to be let go by him and go into the house alone.... She had said nothing to him about this! "What did you do to her!" he gasped, feeling the anger inside him.
"More like, what did she do to me!" Patty exclaimed.
"Well!" Danny cried. "What!" This is not happening he kept thinking over and over.
"I come home yesterday," Patrick said calmly looking around and talking to everyone, "and the kitten thinks I am an intruder so she grabs a metal box and lies in wait and ambushes me! She has a good strength Noter, she knocked me to the ground with one whack. I thought my lungs collapsed."
The whole locker room burst into laughter and Danny didn’t feel the least bit relieved as Keaner clapped him on the back and said through his laughs, "You did find a good one! She knocked Patty off his feet!"
"Is that all?" Danny asked.
Patrick’s eyes narrowed and cut through his brain with a blue glare. Danny refused to look away though. "What?" he snapped. "Are you implying? Ask her! She was close to tears thinking she had hurt me, but is all."
Danny looked down and mumbled out some apologies. What had he been expecting to hear? And he blushed all over. He knew Cecile better than that; she always spoke up when there was something important, she never held back when it came to her mind. If something bad had happened to her she would have told him.
"You like them feisty too, eh Noter?" Pascal Trepanier said with his ever glowing smile. "I didn’t know you were like that."
"Oh dammit," Hinote said looking at Trep, "Leave me alone!"
"You know," the nutty Quebecois said, unhindered as he draped an arm over Hinote’s shoulder. "My advice to you, and you will thank me for this, I can see this. My advice to you is to find a nice evening alone with your little angel and...."
Hinote’s eyes widened in disgust when he heard what Pascal whispered into his ear and he shoved him away. "Dammit Trep!" he yelled. "She’s not that kind of girl!"
"Oh but they all are," he said with a whisper, "The more they deny and fight the sweeter they are at it. You should make her see that."
"Rape?!" Danny exclaimed. "Is that what you’re endorsing?"
Pascal yawned. "I’m talking about... "persuasion" is a completely different thing."
Danny sighed and pinched the top of his nose with his eyes closed. "Why could someone have such a degrading, screwed up view of women?"
Before anyone could make a reply the locker room door swung open and Hartley came in, a solemn look on his face. Danny’s breath caught in his throat and he knew everyone else was holding their breath too. That was "trade face".
"Who is it?" Joey asked, his face serious.
"I think I know," Pascal said brightly. "Am I right?"
Hartley looked at him, his face tight and almost contemptuous. "Yes," he said. "You." And then he looked more passively at Kaspar, "And you too."
There was the silence, as there always was, no one quite knowing what to say or do. Danny didn’t feel angry with Trep anymore and he looked at him. There was no remorse or anger in his face however, and Danny had to wonder why. Trep simply smiled. "C’est la vie!" he said.
"Or we make our own beds," Hartley replied getting a grimace and a nod from Trep.
"Where?" Kaspar asked. "For whom?"
"Also Mark Davis in Hershey is going," Hartley said.
There was a twinge in Danny’s brain. He knew how good that kid was from training camp, he was only twenty pounds away from making the team he had been sent down to bulk up, otherwise he remembered Pierre gloating about his talent. Even the captain had been raving about his talents. What could have made Lacroix part with him?
Danny looked back at the coach. "Dallas," Hartley replied. "For Kirk Muller.." There was a pause from Hartley and Danny could only think how shitty a deal that was. Muller had to be almost as old as Patty. In fact there was an irritated grunt from Patrick and Danny could only guess that Patty was thinking the same thing. "And Mike Modano."
Danny’s pulse absolutely stopped when he heard that and he could hear the shocked inhales from the team.
"You gotta be fucking kidding me!" Forsberg exclaimed. "Right?"
"I don’t like that language," Hartley snapped. "And this is no joke."
Danny looked at Tangers who had blanched and everyone exchanged glances. Everyone had to be thinking the same thing, Danny thought. This was a nightmare! And then everyone looked at Joe.
Joe frowned and snapped. "What are you looking at me like that for?"
"Sacre Bleu!" Trepanier exclaimed. "Now I’m pissed about leaving! Now that things are gonna get fun here!"
"So I shouldn’t suit up?" Kaspar asked in a naive voice.
"No," Hartley said. "No not now. Your tickets have been bought for Dallas, you’ll be leaving this afternoon, they would like you to get to the team as soon as possible for their game on Sunday."
With that Hartley left the room.
Everyone sat in silence for the longest time as Trep began changing into his street clothes. Danny couldn’t think of what to say except that Peter was right. This was a nightmare. Modano in this locker room? With Joe? This was gonna be hell! How were they gonna protect him 24/7? And the real bitch was they couldn’t immediately talk about it cause Joe was sitting right here. Where the hell had this trade come from? What could have triggered it? So many questions were racing through his mind.
Tonight Mike Modano would be here, he would skate with them on Sunday, Danny thought. And he would be with them for the game against the Red Wings on Monday. Un-flippin-buh-leeve-ah-bull!
Kaspar was cheerful and quiet voiced as he said his goodbyes to the guys and Patty even gave him a huge lingering hug. And then when Kaspar walked out the door everyone looked at Patrick who had a tear in his eye.
"I didn’t know you liked him so much!" Danny exclaimed, it was touching to see Patrick looking so vulnerable all of a sudden.
"Eh," Patrick said. "I just don’t like to see a good defenseman go."
"Well I shall say farewell kittens," Pascal sang still smiling.
"Hey," Danny said clasping Pascal’s hand and giving it a squeeze. "Take care OK?"
Pascal winked. "I think I will, don’t worry about me, but you..." And Danny lost all of his goodwill as Pascal suddenly reached over and grabbed his crotch gently in his hand. "Take care of yourself too, don’t let it whither and be forgotten yes?"
There was a round of laughter from the guys. Danny was not amused.
"I’m gonna miss ya," Peter said wiping away a tear and giggling.
"Yeah," Pascal said in a dreamy voice sauntering over to Peter and as he did he grabbed Tangers ass in his hand. "I will miss all of you!"
"Ahh!" Tangers howled. "Coach he’s grabbing my ass again!"
"And I will miss you too Dru," Pascal grinned and Drury took a huge jump back, holding his ass with his hands.
"Don’t think about it pal!" Drury snapped. "Keep those teeth where they belong!"
Pascal giggled and shook his head as he did. "Patty I will miss you too, especially your charming wife."
Patrick shrugged and grunted.
Finally, Joe stood up and held his hand out to Pascal. "You’ve been a great guy," Joe said. "Keep up the good work."
"Awww," Pascal said sounding almost choked up. And then abruptly he leaned forward and grabbed Joe in a hard, Godfather style kiss.
Danny’s mouth dropped open and then Pascal released Joe whose face was frozen in wide-eyed shock.
"Preview of things to come no?" Pascal laughed.
"You little..." Scott Parker barked as he swung a fist at Pascal who ducked and Parker’s punch landed squarely in the wall. "Aaaaaaaaah!" he screamed.
Pascal’s laughter cackled down the hallways as he darted away, taking all of his insanity with him. Danny sat down on the bench with a sigh.
Finally Joe moved. "Frenchmen!" he muttered.
Danny closed his eyes. Frenchmen were the least of the troubles this locker room was gonna feel at this point. The very least!
Links to other sites on the Web