The Finnish Wonder

Finnish Wonder Part 47

2009-08-18T18:40:00.000-07:00

I grasped my dad's arm tightly, waiting for the doors to open back up. My dad looked over and smiled, "This is it kiddo, don't trip." he teased.

I knew his intention was to make me laugh, but I really was worried about tripping. I let my mind wander as I stood there, still waiting for the men in black and white to open the doors. I held my bouquet of red and white flowers tightly, then nodded to the men. They swung the doors open, letting the beams of light shine on my face.

[Val's POV]

Cameras started flashing left and right. I was blinded, not from all of the flashes, but from her. She was absolutely amazing, her face was glowing, her teeth the brightest of white. We were looking right into each others eyes, and she was the only person in the world. She was the only person that I could see or wanted to see.

As they finally reached the end of the isle she stopped and turned to her dad. He kissed her forehead and handed her over to me. "Take good care of her, son." he patted my back and I smiled back at him.

I took her hands in mine, smiling uncontrollably. "Hey" she whispered, "I missed you."

"I missed you too." I gave her hands a reassuring squeeze.

The priest began but we still didn't take our eyes off of one another. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join together this man and this woman in Holy Matrimony." We lit our separate candles, then the big one in the middle that represented our lives combined.

Ilari handed me the rings and I held her left hand in mine, holding the ring with my other. I then repeated after the priest, "With this ring I thee wed: In the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy spirit. Amen." I slid the ring onto her hand and smiled.

I watched as Morgan did the same, "I almost dropped it." she laughed. I laughed quietly until the priest began again. He turned us away from him so we were looking at everyone. "I now pronounce you, man and wife."

We walked down the isle hand in hand as quickly as possible. When we finally made it through the house and into the limo parked in front of the house we were laughing and crying all at the same time.

"I love you so much." She told me as she leaned in and kissed me passionately.

"I love you, Mrs. Filppula." I kissed her back.

She giggled, then rested her forehead on mine, "You look very hansom in your tuxedo, Mr. Filppula." She played along. We stopped all of a sudden, then got out to take our wedding pictures in a small park. It was a park that we had been to together dozens of times while being in Finland.

After all of our pictures were taken we climbed back into the limo and went back to the house for the reception. We both stopped on the porch, in front of the door, "I promise I won't drink more then a couple glasses Hun." And it was true, I didn't want to drink too much and not be able to remember the night. Plus, I felt kinda bad that she couldn't drink at all.

As we pushed the door open everyone screamed and yelled. The one that really stood out was Brett. "Eyyy Val!! Wooohooo, my married man!!!" he was the loudest man I had ever heard in my life.

[My POV]

We took our seats at the main table, Lacey and Madison to my right, Val, Ilari, and Pavel to my left and the Stanley Cup right in front of the table. The waiters began serving the food, and it was a good thing because I was starving. We had a Finnish dish that Val's mother had the chef make.

"Do you like it?" Val turned to me.

"I love it, but I think I'd eat anything right about now." I laughed.

After everyone finished with dinner the cake was rolled out. Val and I got up to cut it, I of course smeared it on his face. He looked at me with a hand full of cake and shook his head, "I don't want to cover that pretty face." he licked the frosting off of his lips.

Clanking of the forks on the glasses began all around us. Val raised his big bushy eyebrows waiting for me to kiss him. Leaned in and pecked his cake covered mouth, "That's some good cake." I winked.

My dad pulled me aside for the father daughter dance, and Val danced with his mom. As we swayed back and forth I laid my head on his shoulder. "I love you Daddy, and thank you so much for the necklace."

"I love you too kiddo, and don't mention it."

The music stopped and I heard a familiar song come over the speakers. I felt a light tapping on my shoulder and turned around to see his cheesy grin. "My I have this dance?" he asked.

I giggled and took his hand, "Of course." We spun around the floor, staring into each other's eyes. It seemed like time itself had stopped, if it had that would be okay. This is where I wanted to spend the rest of my life, safe, in his arms forever. Nothing could harm me, everything just felt perfect. And that's all I could and would ever ask for. He was mine and I was his forever and ever.

Finnish Wonder Part 46

2009-07-10T11:23:00.000-07:00

I woke up in the morning to my Dad slowly creaking the door open and peeking his head into the room. "Sorry hun, I didn't mean to wake you. Just checking up." he smiled.

"Morning Daddy" I waved and smiled as I watched him walk back into the hallway.

I hadn't realized just how late it was, I looked out the window and saw Rainer, Ronnie, and Aaron setting up the chairs outside. The alter was already fixed up, strung with thousands of white and red flowers. "Beautiful" I whispered to myself.

I sat up in bed, stretching, running my hand along where I wished Val could be laying next to me. On the pillow there was a little white piece of paper with a red ribbon tied to it..typical Val.. I pulled the ribbon off and laid it beside me on the bed.

Morgan-
I'm sorry I couldn't stay with you this morning.
I love watching you wake up.
My mom likes tradition so I guess I can't see you
until the wedding. Anyway, I can't wait to see you
walking down the isle, but even more, I can't wait to
have you in my life forever.
Love,
Valtteri

I felt a tear run down my cheek as I tucked the little white note into my purse. Soon after Lacey rushed in, followed by Madison and Val's mom. I quickly wiped my face with the back of my hand and put on a smile. "Good morning, are you excited?" Liisa asked in a thick accent.

"Yeah, just tired." I sighed.

Before I knew it Lacey had my makeup complete, it was gorgeous. Everything I expected and more. I sat and examined myself, my freckles on the bridge of my nose were gone, everything blending in as the same tone. The scar on the top of my lip just barely showed through, and I didn't mind. I've had that scar since I was three years old, it had become a part of me.

Liisa insisted that I eat some watermelon for brunch to hold me until the reception. So I followed her orders and ate four pieces. Need I remind you that I'm eating for three. After I was done munching, Liisa started on my hair. She pulled it back out of my face, into a pony and curled it. She let it fall to the side, landing just above my collar bone, then clipped the white vail in place. Simple, yet stunning.

Once that was done I stepped into my dress and held my breath as Madison and Lacey began lacing up the back, tugging in different directions.

"Does it fit?" I whispered, afraid to let my breath out.

"Open your eyes darling." Liisa whispered back.

I let my eyes open and looked at myself in the mirror. The dress fit like a glove, and I was amazed, thinking that for sure something would go wrong with it. My dad knocked on the door, and cleared his throat, signaling everyone else to leave.

I gave him a tight hug, "So what do you think?" I smiled.

"You look absolutely amazing, you have no idea how much you look like your mother right now." he looked over my face. I watched a tear roll down his pain felt face, and I could feel for the first time the pain that he went through everytime he looked at me and saw my mother.

"Well I actually came in here to give you this." he handed me a black velvet box with my mom's initials on the cover. I knew exactly what it was, but for some reason I was hoping that it wasn't what I thought it was. Sure enough I opened the box and found my mother's pearl necklace that my dad had given her many years ago. I had been hoping that he would keep it, he needed a piece of her more then I did.

I held it in my hands, feeling a chill run up my spine, then held it out for my dad to clasp it around my neck. It went perfectly with the dress, accenting every part that needed it.

"Thank you so much Dad." was all I could say. He pulled me into another tight hug, then left the room with more tears forming in his eyes.

"You made your Dad cry too?" I heard a manly voice come from the doorway.

"Aaron!" I jumped into his arms. "What do you mean?" I asked as he set me back down on the floor. He walked over to the window sill and stood there, just looking out into the yard.

"Val was in tears earlier, trying to write some note for you, by the way I helped him with that. You wouldn't have been able to read it if he did it himself." he clarified proudly.

"Oh." I stated simply. "Well thanks then."

"Well I just stopped by to say hello, and good luck. You look beautiful by the way." he winked as he left. I shook my head and laughed, same old Aaron.

Again I was left alone in my room, just waiting for it to be 3:00 O'clock. I continued watching everyone working outside again, Pav, Aaron, and Meechers were trying to move the organ closer to the alter. By the looks of it things weren't working out too well.

Derek saw me watching and waved, jogging into the house. Soon after he knocked on my door. "Hey, wow you do look beautiful." he smiled widely. I felt my cheeks turn red, "Thanks..So I see you gave up on moving the organ." I laughed.

"Oh, yeah. Uhm..well I just wanted to come in here to congratulate you, I never did get the chance, I kinda feel like a jerk. I really couldn't be more happy for you." he looked at the ground.

"So why did you feel like a jerk?" I was confused.

"Well, this isn't easy for me to say, so just bare with me here. I'm sorta, kinda..well I'm jealous. God that felt good to get off my chest. I know I shouldn't be, because you and Val are so perfect together. You belong together, it just took some time to get used to the idea." he sighed in relief.

"Well I'm glad you told me Derek. If you don't feel awkward or anything I'd really like to be friends, if that's not too cliche for you." I smirked.

"Uh, yeah. Friends, friends will be great." he stuck out his hand for me to shake but I pulled him into a hug. "Friends hug. Plus I'm getting married, so I deserve a hug."

I watched him walk out of the room just as I had watched many people go in and out of the room today. I sighed and sat back down on the bed just as Liisa came to get me. Wow, 3:00 already? I thought.

She pulled me down the hallway, stopping behind Lacey and Ilari. They both waved, Ilari whispering, "Last chance kiddo, I still don't understand why you're marrying my dorky brother!" I cracked up laughing right before the organist started the music.

Madison and Pavel disappeared through he doors first, then Lacey and Ilari. I realized it was my turn as my dad took my arm in his. I waited behind the doors as the music gradually slowed, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.

Finnish Wonder Part 45

2009-06-17T12:16:00.000-07:00

"No, this has to go there, so that can go over here." I ordered in a stressful tone.

Liisa grabbed my hand and led me to the French doors leading to the isle outside that I would walk down tomorrow. I heard Val yell from outside as my cue to start walking. My dad grabbed my arm as I walked along side of him in sweat pants and bare feet, nearly tripping twice. If I could barely walk with bare feet, just imagine what could happen in heels and a long dress..I though to myself.

After rehearsal was finally over Val and I took a walk out to the pond about a half a mile through his open yard. I locked my fingers in his tightly and swung our arms back and forth as we walked.

"This is unreal." I whispered as we both sat down in the cold grass next to the glistening pond.

"I know, I can't believe that the wedding is tomorrow. Seems like we just met each other the other day. But then again, it feels like I've known you my whole life." he shook his head.

I looked over at him as he skipped a rock across the still water. "So tell me something." he held my hand in his again. I nodded and set my head on his shoulder, listening to his heart pound, "Hmm?"

"Are you happy, I mean..is this what you really want. I-"

I set my index finger on his big soft lips, "Val...Of course I want this, more then anything I want this. I've wanted this since I was a little girl, I wrote about a guy like you in my diary everyday before I went to bed at night. I guess I was just hoping that maybe, by some stroke of fate, I would find you someday. I don't know what I'd do without you."

I sat back and looked up at the stars shining so brightly in the black night. Val loomed over me with his big, cheesy grin. The one that made my heart skip a beat every time I saw it, ever since the first day we met. "So you found him, what now?" he leaned down to kiss me.

"Well, obviously we get married." I laughed.

"Check." Val smirked.

"And we've got a family on the way.." I pondered.

"Check." he ran his hand across my stomach lightly.

"House.."

"Check."

"Well it looks like we've got it all then." I leaned up and kissed him.

"So tomorrow, you'll be Mrs. Morgan Filppula, and I'll be the happiest man alive."

I laughed and pushed him off of me, "Yeah, that's true." I shivered from the cold wind. He wrapped his muscular arms around me again, "We better get inside, it's getting chilly out here."

I shot up from the ground quickly, "Bet you can't beat me." I took off running to the house full speed, "Last one in feeds the dogs for the night!" "Hey!" I could hear him about twenty feet behind me, gaining speed. I reached the door first, then Val came about ten seconds later.

I twisted the handle, but the door wouldn't budge, "Uh oh" I laughed, out of breath.

"What?" he twisted the door handle himself. "Well I think we've been locked out." he stated the obvious.

I crossed my arms across my chest, "Ya think?"

"Stay here, I'll go check the other doors." I sat on the railing of the porch as I was waiting, humming to myself. Val came running around the corner about five minutes later, shrugging his shoulders, "No luck."

"Hmph.." I looked at the huge, white house, raising my eyebrows. "Follow me." I grabbed his warm hand and pulled him behind me to the railing at the end of the porch. He pushed me up onto the steep roofing that led to the window of his bedroom. I watched as he climbed through first, then pulled me into his arms, hugging me tightly.

"So..I'm marrying a burglar?" he laughed as he wrapped me up in a big fleece blanket from his bed. "Haha..The four of us would be frozen if I hadn't broken into your house. Just be thankful that I wasn't aloud to go out much as a teenager."

I covered myself with more blankets as I sat in bed and pulled Val closer to me. I was still breathing hard from the climb up the roof. "You okay hun?" Val pushed my bangs away from my face.

"Fine, just got a little carried away I guess. I can't wait to tell the guys that you lost a race to a pregnant women." I laughed and tried to push the pain out of my head.

"Not funny..Are you sure you're okay? Want me to get anything for you while I'm up?" he stood up and lifted his white shirt over his head. "Uhh..yeah there's some lotion in the bathroom that I need to rub on my stomach."

I watched Val's perfectly toned body walk into the bathroom, "What color bottle is it in?" he asked. "I think it's blue and white." I heard things fall on the floor and cupboards open and close loudly, "Found it!" he raced back into the room and jumped onto the bed next to me.

I lifted my shirt up past the round bump on my stomach, holding my hand out for the lotion. "Here I got it, if you don't mind." he rubbed his hands together. "No go ahead." I yawned.

The cool lotion felt good on my, now warm stomach. I drifted off slowly, after Val kissed my forehead, "Sweet dreams hunaja." I heard him from a distance as my dreaming began about what was to come tomorrow.

Finnish Wonder Part 44

2009-03-01T06:45:00.000-08:00

The next three weeks we were really busy planning everything out for the wedding, but for the most part everything was taken care of. We even set the date for when Val had the Stanley Cup, just to make the day even more special.

I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket while Val and I were out cake testing. I opened it quickly, "Hello?" I answered, not looking at the collar ID first.

"Hi hun! How's everything going over there?" My Dad's voice rang into my ear.

"It's going." I laughed as Val wiped frosting on my nose. "How have you been? Everything's fine I hope."

"Yeah, everything is good. The cup is going to be here soon so I was just wondering if you were still coming or not."

"Of course! I'll get on the plane first thing in the morning."

"Alright hun, take care. Can't wait to see you." he hung up the phone.

I finally wiped the frosting off of my nose, then smeared it on Val's cheek.

"Hey!" he grabbed me by the waste and pinned me against him, "I'll get you back for that." he kissed me gently.

"We'll see about that." I smiled.

"So who was that on the phone?" he grabbed my hand as we walked out of the cake shop after making our choice.

"My Dad. I have to go to the party tomorrow, he has the cup."

"Well I'm coming too then."

"Val, I'll be fine. Just enjoy it here while it lasts."

"No, I want to go. All the guys are going to be there, I miss not seeing them everyday ya know?"

"Ok, but we have to leave right in the morning."

Later on that night Val and I packed our suitcases lightly since we would only be staying two nights in Canada at the most. We needed to head back to Finland as soon as possible to get things ready for the wedding.

We boarded the plane in the morning as planned, Val switched seats with me, letting me have the window seat. He pointed out buildings below as we flew over Finland. I quickly fell asleep leaning on his shoulder, but woke up when he put his hands on my stomach.

"Sorry." he moved his hands back to his lap. I grabbed them and put them back on my stomach, falling asleep for the rest of the trip.

Val shook me lightly just before we landed, he knew that I loved watching the touchdown. We walked into the airport and got our bags off of the track, then found my Dad outside waiting in the car.

When we arrived at the Draper family house Val and I dropped our bags off in my old room, then joined the party in the back yard. Pretty much all the guys were there except Dom, Huds, and Kopy.

It only took about a half an hour of mingling before my Dad announced to everyone that Val and I were having a baby. Of course I had told him that he could, but it was a little embarrassing. After that I was getting tired of hearing things like, "Oh, you're showing already!" and "Those kids are sure going to be spoiled." The party ended pretty late, making me relieved when it finally did.

The next day My Dad was taking the cup to the children's hospital, so Ronnie and I went along too. I met some extraordinary kids, taking pictures with all of them. I held a little girl named Katelyn as we watched my Dad and a little boy play air hockey. My Dad let him win, which made the kid's smile a mile long. Katelyn had become attached to me, even letting me color in her favorite coloring book. Before we left I gave her my home address and email address so she could write me.

After we left the hospital we went back to the house. I found Val outside playing with the dog by the pond, "Hey hun, we're back." I yelled from the porch.

He got up quickly, running towards me and picking me up, kissing me. "How was it?" he asked, still holding me.

"It was awesome."

"Good, so you want to go for a walk?" he finally set me down.

"Sure." I grabbed his hand as we enjoyed the rest of our time in Canada.

Finnish Wonder Part 43

2009-02-13T12:03:00.000-08:00

I was sitting in the kitchen at the snack bar with Val's Mom drinking coffee when I heard a knock on the door. Val beat me to it, flinging open the door, "Hey guys! Long time no see." Val leaned against the door, blocking my view just to tease me.

I finally managed to get around him, "I missed you guys!" I hugged them all.

"Nice house ya got here Filppula." Aaron looked around with his mouth wide open.

"Yeah, this is amazing." Lacey joined in.

Liisa walked in the hall, "Oh, come in everyone! I made a fresh batch of cookies!"

"Cookies!" Aaron dashed for the kitchen, Val not too far behind him.

Lacey introduced herself first, "Hi, I'm Lacey, this is Madison. And the crazy guy that just ran into your kitchen is Aaron." she laughed.

We all headed into the kitchen, joining Aaron and Val as they shoved cookies into their mouths. We talked for a while, but Liisa, Madison, Lacey, Aaron, and I had to leave to get an early start on dress shopping.

The first five stores we went to didn't have anything that I liked at all. Everything was either had way too many beads and ruffles or not enough. Even though Aaron was a lot of help picking out dresses, he picked out the ugliest ones.

"Uhm, Aar? How about I pick out the dresses and you just tell me if they look good or not Ok?" I took the dresses from his hands and put them back on the hangers.

"Yeah, that'll work." he poked my stomach like usual.

I laughed loudly as we walked out of the seventh store and into the eighth. Val called just as I was putting a dress on in the changing room.

"Hey hun, how are you?" I could tell he had that cheesy grin on his face.

"I'm fine. Just trying on the thousandth dress of the day." I sighed.

"I'm sure you'll find it hun. I'll let you go then, just checking up on you. Love you."

"Love you." I hung up the phone and looked into the mirror.

"Oh my God! I love this one." I peaked my head out of the changing room and into the room where everyone was waiting.

"Something wrong dear?" Liisa offered.

I stepped out of the room, revealing the long, white, flowing dress with just enough beads on it. Lacey and Madison both gasped, jumping up and down pointing.

"So, what do you think?" I turned, looking at myself in the mirrors.

"That's the one, you look stunning." Liisa stood behind me.

"Whatda think Aar?" I looked at him in the mirror.

He stood up, grabbing my hands, "You look beautiful. You look like one of those brides on top of a cake." he examined me further.

"Aww, thanks Aar." a tear fell down my cheek.

We left after telling the tailor that I would need it fitted just a couple of days before the wedding. I made Lacey pay for it with my Dad's credit card because I couldn't do it. I was never a big fan of spending that much money, especially if it was someone else's.

When we all arrived back at the house Val was talking on the phone in our room. I snuck up behind him, running my hands up his sides making him jump. He turned around quickly, pulling me close to him. I kissed his neck, making him moan.

"Pav, I gotta go." he threw the phone on the bed behind him.

"So, did you find it?" he said between kisses.

"Mmhm." I rubbed the back of his neck.

"Good, I called everyone. And set everything up, the tuxes are being sent here." he fell back on the bed, pulling me with him. Aaron walked in without knocking, "Woah, sorry." he turned on his heel.

"What do you need Aar?" I got off of the bed.

"Val's brother's here with the baby." he announced.

We walked into the living room hand in hand, Val gave Ilari and his wife and hug, "Can I?" he reached for the little baby girl.

"Of course. Her name's Kari." Ilari told him.

"Hi Kari. I'm you're Uncle Val. And this is your Aunty Morgan." he held Kari tightly, kissing her on the forehead. He looked so perfect holding her, like it was meant to be. His face was glowing, I could tell that he was truly ready to have his own.

All of us just sat in the living room until around twelve at night talking and eating snacks. Aaron must have eaten his weights worth in chips. I sat next to Val and snuggled up to him as he still held Kari.

After Ilari and his family left everyone went to bed. I laid in bed trying not to fall asleep while waiting for Val to get out of the shower. He walked out with a pair of boxers on and laid down next to me.

"So what do you think about Teemu?" Val asked suddenly.

"Selanne?"

"No, well yeah. But I mean as a name." he laughed.

"You want to name one of our kids after Teemu Selanne?"

"Only if you like the name."

"We'll see Val. We have plenty of time, we don't even know the sex yet."

"Ok, I love you hun." he kissed my forehead, wrapping his arms around my body.

"Love you too."

Finnish Wonder Part 42

2009-01-31T16:09:00.000-08:00

As Val drove me to the hospital for my check up I noticed that he was extremely nervous. His forehead had beads of sweat on it and he always did this thing with his lips where he stuck the bottom one out a little. I set my hand on his thigh, "Why are you so nervous hun?"

"Nervous? I'm not nervous, what are you talking about?" he laughed it off.

"Val, come on. It's a little obvious."

"Ok, I just want everything to be alright with the baby. I don't want anything to go wrong."

I smiled at him as we pulled into the parking lot, he held my hand on the way in tightly. We took our seats in the waiting room until a lady came through a door with a clip board, "Draper?" she looked around the room.

"That's me" I got up, pulling Val with me.

Since we had been waiting there Val had filled a plastic cup up seven times with water and gulped it down nervously. We walked down a long hallway before we came to a small room, "Right this way Mrs. Draper." she opened the door for the both of us.

I took a seat up on the chair while Val sat next to me in another chair. He played with a model of a stomach until the doctor came in. Then he stood up quickly introducing himself and shaking hands.

"Alright, lets get this over with. I can see that you're a little nervous. First time?" he questioned Val.

"Yeah" he laughed a little, sounding uncomfortable.

He grabbed my hand and kissed it while he watch the doctor prepare.

"So, we're just going to put some of this on here" he squirted the jelly all over my stomach. While pressing the wand to my stomach and rubbing it against the jelly he examined the monitor.

"Hmm, this is interesting" he moved the wand around some more.

"What? What is it, is something wrong!?" Val panicked.

"No, no. Not at all. Actually you're having twins!"

My jaw dropped as I turned to face Val, his face was lit up like a Christmas tree, "You Ok honey?" I asked him.

He leaned over and kissed me, "We're having twins! This is unbelievable. I can't wait to tell my parents. I love you hunaja." he kissed me again.

The doctor cleaned off my stomach and he wrote some things down on his clip board, "Shall I schedule another appointment then?"

"Well, actually we aren't going to be here. I'm going to have to find a doctor in Finland. That's where we're going for the summer." I explained to him.

"Oh, well if you need anything I'm just a phone call away." he shook both of our hands. The nurse gave us a picture of the ultrasound before we left. You couldn't really tell what anything was but it was certainly interesting to look at.

When we got home Val called his Mom to tell her that we were coming for the summer. I began scheduling flights and packing everything up. While I was doing that I was on the phone with Aaron who was asking me a million questions about doing laundry.

"Aaron, just press the 'normal load' button and you're all set. It's not that hard." by now he had called me tons of times, and I knew he was just making things up so he could talk to me. He was one of the best friends you could ask for.

The six days of packing things here and there had gone by fast, but we were finally in Finland, a place that was beautiful, but brought back a flood of bad memories. I wanted to start everything out fresh though, forget the past and move on. After all this would be my home in the summer and probably after Val retired from the NHL, which was a long time from now.

Val and I walked into his parents home, holding Grizz by his collar so he wouldn't jump on anyone. Practically his whole family was there, they all rang out some words in Finnish that were incomprehensible to me.

"Hello again!" Val's Mom hugged me tight.

"It's so nice to see you again Mrs. Filppula." I smiled.

"Oh don't be silly dear, call me Liisa! Oh heck you can call me Koi if you would like."

"Koi?" I had no idea what she was talking about.

Val leaned down and whispered in my ear, "It means Mom" he laughed.

"Oh, sorry" I answered back.

"It's Ok darling, I'll remember not to use Finnish that much. So Val tells me that you are going to go dress shopping here?"

"Yeah, I'm going to fly in a couple of friends. And I was hoping that you could help me too if you want?"

I knew that family meant everything to Val so I tried to include them as much as I could in the wedding. They kept insisting to pay for it but my Dad already had already insisted on doing so.

Val and I unpacked our things in the same room we had stayed in the summer before, then got cleaned up for dinner. I laid on the bed looking at a magazine while I waited for him to come out of the bathroom.

He came out with a shirt half buttoned and a black tie in his hand, "Help?" he grinned.

I climbed out of the bed and buttoned his shirt up slowly, running my hands along his hard chest as I did so. "So, I was thinking of telling them tonight. What do you think?" he asked.

"It's fine with me. Do you think they'll be happy about it?"

"I know my Mom will be. I'm not sure what my Dad will think." he kissed my forehead.

"Well, there's only one way to find out."

We sat down at the long dinner table that stretched along the whole length of the dinning room. Everyone was dressed up, which they apparently did for every dinner. Val hurried up and finished his dinner before everyone else, then stood up.

"I have some news for everyone" he announced, grabbing my hand and pulling me over to him.

Everyone set their forks down and stared at us intently, "Well go on poika" his Dad urged him.

"Well, Morgan is pregnant with twins." he said proudly, holding onto me tighter.

His Mom rushed over to us, showering us with kisses proudly. His Dad just sat there staring, then said something in Finnish that I couldn't understand. I looked at Val, "What did he say?"

"He'll be fine" he smiled trying to convince me.

Val and his Dad went outside to talk, leaving Liisa or 'Koi' and I alone. We sat in the living room talking, then she pulled the old baby albums out on me. Val was absolutely adorable, lighter blond hair than he had now, but his eyes didn't change one bit. I could only hope that our kids would have his good looks.

"If you don't mind I think I'm going to go to bed. I'm exhausted." I told her.

"Good night darling. Get some rest, I'll see you in the morning." she kissed both of my cheeks as I went to our room.

I took off my dress and pulled one of Val's T shirts out of the drawer, slipping it over my head just as he walked in. He took of his shirt and threw it in the dirty clothes bin, doing the same with his pants.

"You're sexy" I ran my fingers threw his hair.

"You have no idea how amazing you look in that. I never thought that a girl would ever wear this." he kissed me roughly. "You really like that shirt huh?" he laughed. I was wearing his white Teemu Selanne shirt from the 1990's. It was all full of holes, but it was the comfiest thing.

"Mmhm" I slid under the covers and patted the bed next to me for him to come join me.

"So, I talked to my Dad about everything." he said as he played with my fingers.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, he didn't like the idea at first. But he's just going to have to get used to it."

"Well aren't you tough" I laughed.

"Yup, so when are you going dress shopping? I'm thinking that I'll go get fitted for a tux that day and call everyone to get their sizes."

"In two days, I'm flying Lacey, Madison, and Aaron over."

"Aaron? He's going to give you his opinion on a dress? I'd like to see that." he laughed.

I smacked his arm playfully, "Just because he's a hard head doesn't mean that he doesn't have a heart."

Val and I continued talking about the small details for the wedding, and I listened as he told me stories from his childhood and how much he missed this house. It was kind of nice just sitting there, listening to his voice all night.

Finnish Wonder Part 41

2009-01-10T07:46:00.000-08:00

It had been a couple of days after we'd won the cup and today the guys had to clean out their lockers. Val and I drove down to the rink, I hated saying bye to people. The team was like my family, and I wouldn't see most of them until training camp.

I didn't have very much stuff to bring back home, but Val had all of his sticks and equipment. We managed to jam it all into the car, then walked back into the Joe to say good bye to everyone.

"I'll miss ya Pav!" I hugged him tightly.

"No, I miss you. When I have cup, you and Val come to Russia to visit. It be fun time!"

I laughed, but hugged him again, "Alright, we'll have to do that."

Aaron came up from behind me, "You have no clue how much I'm going to miss you! I mean you're probably going to be in Finland right? That sucks, make sure to visit your Dad in Canada though eh?"

"Of course Aar, I'll call you when something exciting happens."

"Alright, take care of yourself Morgan." We hugged, then turned our separate ways.

Val grabbed my wrist and pulled me out into the hallway, "So, since everyone is here..You think we should tell them? I can't keep it from Pav, I tell him everything!"

"Everything?!" I raised my eyebrow.

"Well I need someone to talk to about stuff. We're best friends." he shrugged.

"Ok, well what about my Dad? I kinda wanted to tell him in person, like alone."

He stuck out his bottom lip, "Please, I love you!" he pulled me closer.

"Fine, but only Pav. I need to tell my Dad alone. So maybe he can come over for dinner tonight or something."

"Yes!" he ran back into the locker room to get Pav. Not too long after that they were both out in the hallway. Val quickly told him, leaving a shocked expression on Pav's face.

"Val be Dad? I like see that!" he joked.

"Pav, you can't tell anyone ok?" I informed him.

"Yes, I know. Val tell me dis." he said as we headed back into the locker room.

Later on Val and I sat in the kitchen cooking dinner together for when my Dad came over. Val couldn't stop tapping his fingers on the counter or bouncing his leg up and down as he sat on the stool. I placed one hand on his thigh and the other on this hand, "Val, settle down. Something bothering you?" I asked the obvious.

"Just nervous. What do you think your Dad will think?" he said, stirring the noodles.

"It'll be fine. We're getting married, its not like I just met you." I pushed back the long hair that was hanging in his face, "You need a hair cut."

"Yeah, I know. So what are we doing this summer?" he changed the subject.

"What do you mean?"

"You want to try the whole Finland thing again, or-"

"Val, I'll go where ever you're going. And Finland was beautiful, of course I'd go with you again." I pecked his soft lips.

The same old cheesy grin came over his face, it never got old though. I loved how one side of his mouth would be wider than the other as his bright white teeth showed, "God I love you." he ran his hands up my sides.

We kissed passionately until the doorbell rang, "It's me!" my Dad entered.

Val set the table as I chatted with my Dad for a bit, as we ate we made small conversation about the most random things. Val cleared his throat, looking at me then my Dad.

"Uhm, Dad. Val and I have something to tell you." I set my fork down.

"Yeah?"

"I'm pregnant." I said quickly.

He stood up suddenly, pulling me up with him, "Congratulations you two! I can't believe I'm going to be a Grampa!" he shook his head, then patted Val on the back.

"Really? You're happy?" I was stunned.

"Of course I'm happy! Now tell me, how many weeks?" he looked down at my stomach, not able to tell.

"Close to 11 now. I have an appointment tomorrow actually."

My Dad left about an hour later, Val and I sat on the floor and leaned against the couch in front of the fire place talking. "You want me to come to the doctors with you tomorrow?"

I nodded, kissing him lightly. I flipped through some wedding magazines, circling things here and there. I decided that I would get my dress in Finland, and have it fitted only a couple of days before the wedding since I would be getting bigger.

"You know what I want?" I laid my head on his shoulder.

"What's that?" he kissed my forehead.

"For the whole team to come, and all of them can wear their jerseys over their tuxes, I want the cup to be their too, and everything can be red and white." I envisioned it in my mind.

"Sounds great." he smiled, "So where is this going to be?"

"In your back yard"

"In Finland!" he got excited. "This is going to be great, have I told you how much I love you?"

"Only five times in the last half an hour" I laughed.

We sat their planning out our wedding, and actually got quite a bit done. We decided that we would leave for Finland next week, then fly to Canada when my Dad has his party for the cup.

We sat in silence, staring into the dancing flames making shadows on the floor in front of us. I found it hypnotising and quickly fell asleep leaning against Val, as he rubbed my back gently.

Finnish Wonder Part 40

2008-12-28T11:02:00.000-08:00

I woke up the next morning and had a craving for french toast. Val walked into the kitchen at around six, "What are you doing, its six in the morning honey. Come back to bed." he rubbed his eyes.

"I was hungry" I licked my fingers.

He joined me at the snack bar, picking at my breakfast, "Man do I have a headache"

"Here, take these. I figured you would." I handed him some advil.

"You don't have one?"

"No, I didn't drink last night hun." I finished my milk.

"Oh..Well why not?"

I kissed him lightly, "I have to tell you something"

"Ok, shoot" he went in for another kiss.

"Alright, so I'm just going to come right out and say it." I breathed.

"Morgan, honey are you ok?"

"Val, I'm...I'm pregnant!" I looked for a reaction. He sat there staring at me for a few seconds, unresponsive. "Val?" I grabbed his hand.

"Are, are you sure? I mean seriously? How many weeks!" he stood up.

"I think almost 10 now"

"This is unbelievable. I'm going to be a dad? Oh my God, we have so many things to do." he paced.

I stood in front of him, "Val, we have seven months." I set my hand on his chest.

He picked me up and kissed me roughly, then brought me to our room. He pulled my shirt up, looking at my stomach, then kissed it. I played with his golden hair as he traced circles with his finger.

"I just can't believe this" he laid his head on my chest, looking down at my stomach. He kissed my collar bone, then my lips, he raised his eyebrows, "I love you"

I climbed on top of him, kissing him roughly, then pulling his shirt off. He did the same, but couldn't stop staring at the hardy noticeably lump on my stomach.

"Val, what's wrong?" I stopped.

"Huh? Nothing, nothing" he kissed me hard, making me moan. Then he stopped, laying down on the bed, I laid on top of him playing with his necklace.

"Why'd you stop?" I finally asked.

"I can't do this, I fell like it's watching us" he looked my naked body up and down. I wondered just how long he could resist.

"You do realize that we've had sex within the last 2 months. Quite a bit actually" I pointed out that it wasn't a big deal.

"Yeah, but I didn't know that you were pregnant." he pulled me closer to his face. I laid there on top of him for about three hours, just listening to his heart beat while he slept. Aaron called, so I left the room quietly, putting on a robe.

I talked to him for a while, then we left for the brunch before the parade. It must have been 100 degrees outside during the parade, which made Val paranoid, he packed the whole cooler full of water. I was amazed at how many people showed up as we drove down Woodward Avenue.

Val and I rode in a truck together, waving at the fans. I thought it was funny how he would ask me if I was ok every 5 minutes. "Val, I'm fine. Just relax, this is why I didn't tell you during the finals" I laughed and continued waving to the crowd.

"Sorry" he smiled.

After the parade we all sat on stage, Ken and Mick gave their speeches, then two people from the team would go up at a time. Val went up with Mule, they both said a few words, then sat back down.

Clears and Huds went up to the podium after, "I would like to say one thing here, just follow me. Vets Go Ved Vings!" he chanted, making the crowd yell too. "There's only one Hockeytown, Detroit City baby! Yayee!!" he shouted. The whole team was laughing at him, it was truly hilarious.

After the team was done, we all stood by the mic and sang "We are the Champions." And after that we mingled with the fans. I even met a few girls that wanted my autograph, they wanted to be athletic trainers too.

Lacey, Madison, and Aaron walked over to me, "So? Did you tell him?" the all said at once.

I nodded, "Yup!"

"Well! What did he say!" Aaron joined in.

"He's happy about it. But he won't stop worrying about me, and he doesn't want to have sex because he 'feels like it's watching him'" I crossed my arms.

"I didn't need to know that..But now I'm going to go tease him!" Aaron skipped away.

I stood there chatting with the girls for a while, until my Dad came up behind me and goosed me, "Dad!" I yelled.

"Sorry hun, I just had to." he laughed.

"Well, Val's looking for you. He says that you should be putting on some more sun block?" my Dad asked, confused.

"Oh my God..Dad please tell him that I'm fine if you see him" I rolled my eyes.

"Ok hun, I'll see ya later!" he kissed my forehead.

Later on we headed over to Cheli's to celebrate some more, Val, Pav, Hank, Meechy, Downs, Brett, and Quincey were all standing on the counter top. Lebda had an important announcement to make, "What is Hockeytown now bitches!?" He screamed, then put his arms out to shush the fans, "We went there, we whooped there asses!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Lacey and I were laughing hysterically, everyone was so drunk I couldn't believe that they didn't fall right off of the counter!

I went home early, sitting on the couch with Grizzly, eating popcorn and watching a movie. Val stayed out late to celebrate with the boys. I decided to go home since I was the only one there who wasn't drunk. I fell asleep on the couch, cuddled up to Grizz.

Around four in the morning Val lifted me up off of the couch and put me in bed. He kissed my chest, then laid down next to me, wet from his shower. I fell asleep again, holding his head against my chest tightly.

Finnish Wonder Part 39

2008-12-22T17:09:00.000-08:00

I boarded the plane, holding Val's hand. Aaron pulled me aside, "Hey, you want to sit with me? I need to talk to you." he motioned his head toward his usual seat on the Red Bird II.

I made a curious face, "Uhm..sure why not" I separated from Val's grip and took the window seat. I was surprised that Aaron gave it up without a fight, he hated isle seats.

"So..What did you want to talk about?" I smiled.

"Why don't you tell me what's going on" he poked my stomach playfully.

I smirked, then got that sick feeling again, "Aaron, could you not do that.." I held my stomach, hoping that I wouldn't puke. I managed not to though.

He leaned over and whispered in my ear, "When are you going to tell him?"

"Tell who, what?"

"Val, that you're prego!" he half whispered.

I put my hand over his mouth, "God Aaron! A little louder please! Might as well put you on the loud speaker!"

"Sorry.." he smiled, "But it's not everyday that my best friend has a baby!"

I crossed my arms, "Well, I'm glad that you're happy..And I don't know when I'm going to tell him. You better not open your big trap either Aaron Douglas!" I flicked his arm. He hated when I did that, but that's exactly why I did it.

"Owe! I'm not going to say anything. I just wanted to talk to you about it." he gave me a funny look.

"What?" I laughed.

"You look great"

"Aww, Aar. You rock" I fell asleep leaning on his shoulder for about thirty minutes. He woke me up shaking me lightly, "Wake up sleepy head!" he grabbed my purse and carried it for me.

"Nice purse Aar. Really matches you're outfit!" I commented on the bright yellow color contrasting with his green shirt under his suit.

"Thanks" he shook his butt while walking up to the front of the plane.

I giggled, then followed behind him.
_______________________________

You wouldn't believe how nervous I was going into this game, every time someone said my name I jumped. Val skated by, "Hun, you ok?" he gave me a cheesy grin.

I looked up, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Good luck sweetie" I blew him a kiss.

"Thanks!" he skated away.

The first period rolled by quickly with Rafi scoring a wicked wrister. And in the second Val scored on a backhander. I honestly don't think that my smile could have widened. Seven minutes later Malkin scored. Having the lead going into the third still made me nervous. Hank made a snap shot, 3-1 now.

With two minutes on the clock Hossa shot one past Ozzie. It was now 3-2 with 15 seconds left. I watched as the puck trickled past Ozzie, dancing around the goal line, my heart sunk. Not another overtime. I heard the horn blow, the arena fell dead silent as our players jumped off the bench and skated over to Ozzie.

"Yes!!" I shouted, making my way over with the coaching staff. I linked arms with RJ and Pauly(Paul Boyer), our equipment manager. I was wrong about my smile not being about to get any bigger, my jaw got soar from smiling so much.

Lacey and Madison came from behind and hugged me, "Can you believe it!" they had tears in their eyes.

I shook my head, "Its a dream come true."

Val set his hands on my hips, spinning me around, kissing me hard. He had tears running down his cheeks, which made mine start flowing too.

"God I love you Morgan!" he kissed me again.

I didn't say anything, afraid to ruin the moment.

"Nicklas Lidstrom, the cup is yours to take back to Hockeytown." Gary Bettman announced. Just saying that sent chills up my spine.

I watched as he skated around with the cup, then handed it to Dallas Drake. Tears started flowing down my face again as Dally hoisted it high above him, it was his first cup. I kept my eye on every person as they lifted it, still in shock. Val spun around in circles, "I love you guys!" he handed it off to Huds.

Once the coaching staff lifted it they handed it over to RJ, then he handed it over to me, "I'm proud of you sis" he winked. I grabbed the cup on both sides, and hoisted the 35 pound silver chalice proudly over my head, only it felt weightless.

Babs slapped a Champs hat on my head, "You're just as much a part of the team than anyone else"

I smiled, trying not to cry again, damn hormones. "This is amazing" Val kissed my neck.

A reporter made his way over, "Excuse me, may I have a few words with the two of you?"

"Sure!" I smiled brightly.

"So how does it feel guys?"

"It, It feels like..Its indescribable really. Its just amazing..there really is no words for this feeling" Val said into the mic.

"Agreed." I said, following the rest of the guys to center ice. We took our picture, making peace signs and holding up our fingers, saying that we were officially #1.

We headed down the tunnel, Val was right behind me. He grabbed my arm and spun me around again. Lately that was making my stomach churn. He pushed me against the wall, kissing my chest first, then made his way up to my lips. I made a small moaning sound, then he looked up at me and smiled. "I love when you do that."

I pecked his lips, then went into the locker room to join the guys. I watched as everyone drank from the cup, that thought was drenched along with everything else in the room when Pav and Aaron sprayed us with campaign as we walked in.

"Ahhh!!!" Aaron ran around the locker room, he was on a mission to spray everyone and everything that was dry. Meanwhile Meechy handed the cup over to Brett, "THIS FUGGIN ROCKS!!" he yelled. Lacey and I laughed until we cried, everyone was already drunk, minus me.

Val took a drink out of the cup, then shoved it in my face. I remembered that I couldn't drink, god I wanted to so badly though. I stuck my lips on the cup, and pretended to take a sip, then pulled it away, wipping my mouth off.

Lacey, Madison, and Aaron all gave me weird looks, I shook my head telling them that I didn't really take a drink.

The party quickly moved onto the plane as Babs pushed them all out. There was no one that was going to sleep on that plane, and if you did there would be serious consequences.

When we arrived back in Detroit there was a huge party being thrown by the Ilitch's. There was just about everything you could dream of eating there. I watched as Aaron pulled a chef out to the dance floor and did some crazy moves. He was totally smashed.

Val and I left the party and headed over to Brett's house. We stood out in his driveway talking and bull shitting. Brett's phone rang, he sat on his car to answer it, "Yeah, hello? This is The Lebda!" he laughed into it.

"Hi, this is The Ticket Radio Station! Can we ask you a few questions?"

"Oh, ya ya! Haha!"

"Ok, so what are you doing right now man?"

"Haha! I'm sitting on my car with some friends over, we're standing in my driveway!"

"Oh yeah? Would you mind telling us who, or-"

"No, no I can't tell you. That would be too much. But Johnny Ericsson is one of em."

"Oh I see" the guy laughed.

"Yeah so I'm sitting here and my neighbor is sweeping his driveway! He doesn't even know man! He doesn't even know!"

"Well, that, thats good to know" the guy couldn't stop laughing.

"Look man, I have to go. My girlfriend is calling. Hoohoo!!" he shouted.

"Ok thanks Brett."

He hung up the phone, I shook my head laughing uncontrollably. "Night Lacey, see ya tomorrow at the parade!" I hugged her and walked across the road with Val to our house.

Val and I took a shower then went to bed. I felt Val wrap his arms around me, then stroke my side with his finger. I moved his hand over to my stomach, then set my on top of his holding it in place.

Finnish Wonder Part 38

2008-12-15T07:55:00.000-08:00

Once again the Joe was packed, the energy was absolutely breath taking. The crowd was doing the 'Ozzie Chant' before the game even started! The music started blaring, then the loud speakers came on announcing the starting line up. The crowd went wild again.

I looked over at Dom sitting on the bench, he winked at me. I felt kind of bad for the guy, Ozzie had taken over his role of starting goaltender in the first round. I smiled back at him, "We got this"

I watched as Val flung the puck in front of the net from behind as Stui jammed away at it, "Scores!!" my dad yelled.

Not too long after that Homer tipped one in on a shot from Hank. No one scored in the second, we went into the third with our heads high. I watched as Stui stood behind the net, giving it to Mule, then mule passed it forward to Val.

He exploded into the zone, getting tripped right in front of Fleury. He some how managed to flick it past him while in mid air. I jumped up and down hugging Ronnie, Val skated by and Babs gave him his praise. I was yet again amazed that Ozzie was able to pull off back to back shutouts though.

After the game the reporters were flocking around him, I decided to wait inside the locker room though. I walked over to Dom, "I told you so" I said winking.

"Yeah, you were right. Tell Fil he had an awesome goal by the way." he said in his very thick Czech accent.

"Sure thing" I smiled, then sat down in between Pav and my Dad.

I was talking with my Dad while I waited for Val to get away from the press. Val managed to slip away sooner than I though, I stood up hugging him, "Amazing" I whispered.

A smile spread across his face, "I think I surprised myself on that one! Bet lets go home, I'm starving!"

"When are you not hungry?" I shook my head.

"Good point" he laughed.

When we got home there was a huge vase of flowers sitting by our door, I bent down and picked them up, then smelled them.

"Who are those from?" Val asked.

"Lacey and Madison" I said as I read the card.

"For what?" he took the card, "Congratulations? For what?"

"Um..well you know them. They probably just bought them for the playoffs or something" I made something up quickly. I grabbed the card out of his hand and threw it on the counter, kissing him wildly. I hoped that this would distract him, and it did.

"What was that for?" he smiled, licking his lips.

"Just to say how much I love you" I pecked his lips once more.

He picked me up and took me to our room, closing the door behind him.

The next morning we left for Pittsburgh, I was surprised at how many Wings fans there were. Unfortunately we lost game three, but then won game four 2-1 with goals from our captain and Huds.

While back in Detroit we hoped that we could put the series away in five games and finally win the cup. That wasn't the case on June second, Helmer, Pav, and Rafi's goals weren't enough to finish them off. The game went into triple over time, my heart was racing everytime the puck went into their zone.

Petr Sykora shot one past Ozzie ending the game. I couldn't believe it, we were going back to Pittsburgh for a chance at the cup. The guys were all disappointed in themselves, but surprisingly Babs didn't even yell. He knew they gave it their all, and didn't attempt to make everything worse.

Val tossed and turned in bed, leaving me unable to sleep as well. I still got sick every morning, but tried to keep that from Val. He was catching on though, he woke up and was standing by the door as I was in the bathroom.

I walked out, not noticing him there. He grabbed my arm, "What's going on Morgan, you're sick every morning and you're on the phone constantly. I'm starting to get worried" he wrapped his arms around me.

"Val, nothing is wrong. And I promise that I'll tell you why I've been on the phone when the time is right. But its not the time not right now, you're going to have to wait." I ran my hands up and down his back.

"Wait..wait for how long. You're starting to scare me, is something wrong?" he took a step back so he could look at my face.

"No, I promise nothing is wrong." I walked past him and started packing my bags for Pittsburgh, again.

I honestly didn't know when I was going to tell him, hopefully sometime after the finals were over, if I could hold him off that long. I was surprised that I was able to keep it from him for this long in the first place. Lacey and Madison were making the trip to Pittsburgh also so at least I would have some one to talk to about it, they were still the only ones who know.

These are the times when I wish I still had my mom to talk to, I had no idea what I was getting into. A little advice would have helped, even in the tiniest way.

Finnish Wonder Part 37

2008-12-14T07:56:00.000-08:00

We had finished off the Stars and were finally going to the Stanley Cup Finals. We were back in Detroit and the boys were practicing hard everyday. Tomorrow we would be facing the Penguins in game one, if anyone deserved that cup it was our guys.

I unpacked Val's bag from practice while he was sleeping and threw all of his workout clothes in the washer. I sat at the snack bar eating my usual lucky charms. It was only seven in the morning, and I wasn't feeling the greatest, I fed my cereal to Grizzly then climbed back in bed with Val.

I faced him, looking at how cute he was sleeping there, a sudden smile came to his face, "Hello hunaja." he reached out and grasped my hand.

I loved it when he spoke Finnish, just saying that made me smile. "Hey.." I snuggled closer to him.

He looked at me for a while, "Hun are you OK? You look pail" he moved his hand to my forehead, "You feel warm too"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just have a little stomach ache that's all." I smiled, trying not to let the pain show in my face.

He pulled me closer, and hugged me tightly. Apparently that wasn't the best thing to do, as I got up and ran to the bathroom quickly to vomit. Val followed behind me, "Uh...I think you have the flu hun" he walked over to me, grabbing a hair tie off the counter and pulling my hair back into it.

Surprisingly my stomach ache was gone, I stood up slowly. "No, really I feel fine now" I argued.

"Nope, you're staying in bed today." he picked me up and set me down in bed. "And so am I, well until practice anyways.."

I smiled, "Val, you really don't need to, I'm perfectly fine."

"You are the stubbornest women I have ever met" he laughed.

Val left for practice so I decided to give Lacey a call, I had nothing better to do since he wouldn't let me go to practice.

"Hey girl! How have you been!" she answered the phone.

"Hey! Oh, I'm fine. But, uhh..do you think you could do me a favor?"

"Sure, anything!"

"Ahh, never mind.." I thought twice.

"No, seriously. What do you need?"

I took a deep breath, "A ride to the doctors"

The phone went silent for a few seconds, she finally spoke, "What's wrong? Are you OK?"

"Yeah I'm fine, look I'll tell you everything when you get here"

For a couple weeks now I had the same feeling every morning. So I took it upon myself to call the doctors for a check up, which was scheduled for today.

When Lacey got here I explained everything to her, she didn't say anything for a while, "You didn't take a pregnancy test?" she asked, concerned.

"What? No, I'm not pregnant. That's impos-" I thought back, realizing that it was very much possible. "Holy shit.." I gasped.

Lacey looked over at me as she parked the car, "No matter what happens, Val's always going to love you."

I stepped out of the car and walked into the hospital, taking a seat in the waiting room with Lacey. There was a book on pregnancy that I had been flipping through frantically. Lacey closed it, "Calm down, everything will be just fine" she reassured me.

"Mrs. Draper, the doctor will see you now" a voice called out.

I looked over at Lacey, then grabbed her arm, "I'm not going in there by myself!" I tugged at her.

"I figured that" she laughed.

After the doctor did some tests he told me that he would call in about 2 days. I looked at the clock, "11:45.." I read.

"So?" Lacey said confused.

"Val will be home at 12, I have to get there before he does. He was expecting me to stay in bed all day" I explained.

She drove faster, I got back home 5 minutes before Val did. Giving me time enough to change back into my pajamas and climb back into bed. I turned on Slapshot 2 just as I heard the front door open and close, then heard Val's gym bag clunk on the floor.

"Hunaja!" he called out. He probably wasn't expecting me to be in bed still, after all I really was stubborn as he had said before.

"In here" I replied.

"I brought you something" he had a mischievous smile on his face.

"Oh yeah?" I returned the smile.

He nodded, then kissed my forehead. He handed me an Arbies bag, "I figured you'd be hungry" he laughed.

I opened it and saw a reuben and curly fries, "My favorite" I smiled, taking a bite out of the reuben.

"Just don't eat to fast, I don't want you puking again." he rubbed my thigh. It send chills up my spine for some reason, "Val, seriously. I really do feel fine." I smiled.

He lunged on top of me, kissing me hard. He pulled away quickly in pain, grabbing his groin.

"Val are you alright?" I set my hands on top of where he was holding in pain. "Yeah, yeah..I just tweaked my groin again today at practice. Nothing serious.." he got up off the bed and walked it off.

"Val, I swear if you get a long term injury from not listening to me.."

"I'll be fine hun" he climbed back onto the bed slowly. We laid there watching Slapshot, or I did anyway. Val was tracing circles on my stomach, every once and a while he would lean down and kiss my cheek. I wanted to tell him so badly that there could be a chance that I was pregnant with his baby right this second, but I knew he would be too disappointed if there wasn't. And I didn't want to distract him from the finals, I knew how much that meant to him, it meant a lot to me also.

I decided to keep my mouth shut about the whole thing, besides it was now game day. The Joe was absolutely filled, and the crowd was going crazy. I had to yell in order for Ronnie to hear what I was telling him. "Everything is ready coach" we reported to Babs.

"Good, this should be a hell of a game" he smiled.

In the first period there were no goals, and in the second, only one from Sammy. Entering the third, Sammy got his second goal of the night. I watched as Clears back handed one right past Fleury, then Hank did the same about 2 minutes later. We ended up winning 4-0, Ozzie had a shut out in the SCF, I couldn't believe it. The team headed out to congratulate him, Ronnie and I went into the locker room to get the ice bags out of the freezer.
_______________________________

It was now Monday, May 26, 2008. We had another game vs Pittsburgh today, but that wasn't until later. Right now I was completely focused on that phone call I was expecting. I kept the phone by me all day, not wanting Val to answer it. It finally rang at around 2 in the afternoon.

I hesitated to pick it up, "Hello?" I finally said.

"Yes, this is Dr. Piklar. May I ask who I'm speaking with?"

"This is Morgan.." I answered.

"Hello Mrs. Draper! And congratulations, you're 7 weeks pregnant!" his voices was filled with happiness.

I was speechless, I couldn't believe it. I was really going to have a baby..

"Mrs. Draper?"

"Y-yes?"

"I'll schedule you for another appointment if you would like"

"Um, how about anytime after the Stanley Cup Finals are over" I replied.

He must have though I was joking because he chuckled a little, then realized I wasn't, "Oh, yes of course."

"Alright, so I'd say that they'll be over by the 9th of June. Is that OK?" I replied.

"Yup, is 1 O'clock good for you?"

"I guess" I sighed.

"Oh and we'll need to know the name of the father.."

"Valtteri Filppula" I had to spell it out for him.

"Oh! A little hockey player baby I see eh?" he joked.

"Mhmm.." I picked at my nail polish.

"Hey, cheer up kiddo! You should be happy, see you on the 9th!" he hung up the phone.

I quickly called Lacey and Madison to tell them the news, of course they were both ecstatic. I didn't know what to think, I've always wanted children, but I didn't think that would happen until after marriage.

"I don't know what Val's going to think" I worried.

"I'm sure he'll be thrilled" Madison said reassuringly.

"Yeah, I guess so. Hey guys, I'm going to go for a walk with Grizzly to think about things. I'll talk to you later" I hung up.

Grizzly and I walked a few miles, I loved the smell of spring. After we got back home I was absolutely exhausted, I decided to climb into bed and take a nap with Val. I tried not to disturb his pre game nap, but he woke up and threw his arms around my body, pulling me closer to him. I laid there just staring down at my stomach, it truly was weird to think that something is growing inside you.

Finnish Wonder Part 36

2008-11-23T13:54:00.000-08:00

We got back to the hotel later then expected because of Babs' speech on the game, so everyone was ready and eager to get to bed. We had a long flight back to Detroit the next morning. I watched Val walk into his room, but I just stood there in the middle of the hallway.

"Hey MP!" Aaron yelled from behind me. "Whats up?" he caught his breath from running down the hallway.

I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't know Aar"

"Well I really think you should talk to him. He asked me like 100 questions during the warm ups, he's not doing so well."

Before I could say anything Aaron wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly, "Go." He gave me a push towards the door.

I stood there just looking at the door in front of my face for a while, then I moved my hand slowly up to it. I slid my hand down the door, feeling the grain on my finger tips. I knocked three times, but nothing. I knew he was ignoring me, Aaron gave me his room key.

I pushed the card in the slot and waited for the green light to flash. I opened the door only to see Val sitting on the side of the bed with his back faced to me and his head resting in his hands.

I walked over to where he was sitting and took a seat next to him on the bed. Resting my hand on his shoulder, I could feel every short breath he was taking. He looked up at me, staring into my eyes, I could see the confusion in his.

I broke the silence, "Val, I-"

"Morgan, I was going to tell you, I really was. I just wanted to wait until after your birthday. I wanted everything to be perfect, but I ruined it." he shook his head at himself.

"Val...I'm sorry"

He looked up again, "Why are you sorry? I'm the one who-"

"Yeah I know...But I'm sorry for overreacting. But you have to understand that its hard to believe you when you have lied to me so many times. I just..I want to know what you're thinking, I want to know what's inside of your head. But if you don't let me in, then how am I supposed to know what's going on with you? Val if I'm going to be your wife I need to know if you really, truly love me. I can't determine that when you don't tell the truth.."

"Morgan you know I love you. I love you more than anyone could possibly understand. When I'm away from you for 5 minutes it seems like days. I can't stand not seeing your face every second. Morgan, I WANT to spend the rest of my life with you. I just hope that you still want the same"

I knew he loved me, I felt the love that he shared with me. And I knew exactly what he meant by being away from me for five minutes, I felt the same way.

"Val, you know I love you. Nothing could ever change that. You just need to let me in more, and of course I still want to marry you. I don't even want to spend another second apart from each other." I laid my head on his shoulder, staring out the window and into the black sky.

"I'll work on opening up to you, I'll do anything for you. Just promise me that you'll never say that you're done ever again, please. I love you way too much to lose you."

The moment when I had said that was replaying over and over in my mind, I don't know what I was thinking when I said it. Clearly I loved him to much to let him go, I could never leave him behind. I felt horrible for saying such a thing.

We both had tears in our eyes now, which made me believe just how strong our love really was for one another.

I lifted my head off his shoulder, kissing his wet cheek, "I promise I'll never say that again, I love you too much to ever let you go."

He smiled slightly, making me mirror his expression. He grabbed my hand, placing something cold in it. Pulling his hand away, he closed mine tightly, then kissed is gently.

I opened my hand, revealing a long, silver locket. “Val..you didn't have to get me anything” I gawked at how beautiful it was, I could have sworn that I had seen it before.

He placed it on my chest and clasped it in the back of my neck, “This was my grama’s locket. She gave it to my mom, and my mom gave it to me. Now it’s yours” he smiled.

It sat on my chest perfectly, shinning brightly. I opened it, reading the Finnish words: ‘To the love of my life, Val.’ In the opposite side it had a small picture of the two of us. It was my favorite, one of us sitting in front of the fire place at our, then, new house.

“Val, this is absolutely amazing.” I brushed my lips against his softly. I then realized my hunger for him, kissing him passionately. This was one of the many things that I had missed over the past couple of days.

Val moaned, "I missed that" he said, smiling brightly. He placed his hand on my cheek, and stroked it with his thumb, "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me" he had tears in his eyes again. I smiled and kissed him, hungry again.

A knock on the door interrupted us, we knew it was Aaron so we didn't answer. But the knocking became louder and more frequent, so much so that it couldn't be ignored. I got up and opened the door slowly, “Aar-“ I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was Tanya, standing two feet away from me.

“Boy have you got some nerve coming here!” Val came up behind me, he couldn't believe his eyes either.

“Yeah well I need to talk to Valtteri” she winked at him, taunting me.

“Well I don’t think that that’s going to happen any time soon” I spat back.

“Oh? You tell him who he can talk to know?”

"No, he can talk to pretty much anyone. Except whores named Tanya!" I shouted.

Before she could say another word she was out cold on the floor. You know that urge I had to slap Val earlier in the week, well that all came out on her, but instead of slapping her, I punched her square in the face. I hadn't done that in years, not since I played hockey anyways. I stared at her helpless body laying in front of me on the floor, “Shit” I backed away slowly, not believing what I had just done.

Val grabbed me, holding me in his arms tightly, “Holy shit can you throw ‘em!” he referred back to me punching her.

I clenched my hand, which was swollen and had some of her blood on it. Aaron walked it, “What the? Is that Tanya? Did you, ohh you did! You punched her out!” he seemed to be proud of my actions, that made one of us anyways.

He high-fived me then ran down the hallway knocking on everyone’s doors. Practically the whole team came running down the hallway to see the scene.

“No way!”

“Alright! Way to go MP!”

“Holy shit! Look at the blood!”

That’s all I heard for the next 5 minutes, then she woke up confused. She scrambled to get her stuff together, realizing that she was surrounded by people that were all on my side.

She looked at Aaron as if he was going to take her back right then and there, he shook his head in disgust.

Besides the fact that my hand was throbbing with pain still, I slept fairly well with Val's warmth embracing my body. If anything, everything that we had just been through just made our relationship stronger. I felt like we could take on anything.

Finnish Wonder Part 35

2008-11-16T11:06:00.000-08:00

I had decided that we both needed our space for a little while, at least until we both cooled down and could talk to each other with out screaming.

I walked down to the room where Jimmy and Brett were sharing a room, only because Madi and Lacey were staying in there too. I knocked on the door slowly and waited for about 5 seconds, Brett whipped open the door.

"Hey MP! Come to join the party?" he asked loudly.

"You wish Brett..Hey can I sleep in here tonight?" I asked, being kind of hesitant about it.

"Uhh sure, I guess. What's up?"

I didn't answer his question, I walked in the door, plopping my stuff down next to the fold out couch. I had to tell my whole story to the four of them, to tell the truth it was a little embarrassing.

Lacey and Madi both hugged me, then Brett joined it, "Aww group huggies!" That seemed to cheer me up a bit, he always knew how to make a person laugh.

It was now eleven at night, Babs didn't like anyone staying up too late, especially during playoffs. "We better hit the hay" Jimmy said as he shut the lights out.

I watched Lacey climb into bed with Brett and Madison with Jimmy. I wished that none of this had ever happened, I wanted so badly to be held close by Val and feel his strength comfort me as we laid side by side. I loved him dearly, but yet there was something standing in the way of it.

I tossed and turned throughout the night, there was no doubt that I woke up Lacey a few times, twice she chucked a pillow at my face. We woke up to Madison's phone alarm, then got dressed and headed down to eat something.

As we walked down the hallway Val stepped out side with Aaron, following us about ten feet behind. Aaron caught up to me, "Hey.." he put his arm around me, letting me know he was there for comfort. "So how's my bestest friend in the world this morning?" he poked at my stomach. He did this regularly, but for some reason it just didn't feel right. I felt like crap that morning, and I could tell that Val did too.

"I don't know Aar, I couldn't sleep all night. How is he?" I asked, whispering.

"In all my years, I've never seen a grown man cry. Well actually I didn't see him cry, I heard him in the bathroom. It was horrible..He kind of sounded like a hump back whale…But seriously I did get a chance to talk to him about it"

I didn't answer, knowing that he had been crying made me feel even more like crap. "He said he couldn't believe that you said you were done. When I heard that I didn't believe it, did you really say that?" he had a full intention of getting us to talk to each other, but wanted to know both stories first.

"Yeah..I said that. But I was just pissed off, I should never have said it. God I'm such an idiot." It didn't really go through my mind until he mentioned what I had said last night, I was still mad about what he had done. I didn't even take the time to think about what he was feeling. I set my mind on talking to him about it, I just didn't know when or where just yet.

Over breakfast you could hear the clanking of every one's forks against their plates. It was awkward, I'm assuming that everyone had heard. Val never looked up once, he barely even touched his food.

After breakfast we took the bus over to the Stars' arena for our morning skate. During the whole practice I was completely in my own world. I couldn't think about anything else, Pav almost shot a puck right into my face without me knowing. Ronnie snapped his finger in front of my face, "Morgan? Morgan are you OK, you've been staring off all practice."

I nodded my head, when indeed I wasn't OK. I was crushed, crushed to see our relationship going down the drain because of one stupid kiss. Not even, it was just one stupid lie tearing us apart.

I watched him skate up and down the ice, from blue line to the goal line. He dragged his body limply instead of holding his head up high like he usually did. He looked totally different as his blades slit open the cold, hard ice cleanly. After practice Babs announced the lines for tomorrow night, game four vs. the Sharks.

"It's going to be
Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom.
Samuelsson-Cleary-Hudler
Filppula-Helm-Draper, and
Downey-Maltby-Kopecky.
Get some rest everybody, we have a big game ahead of us tomorrow" I watched Babs walk out of the locker room, then looked over at Val, who was still staring at the ground.

The locker room cleared quickly, I sat with Aaron on the bus, as my dad sat with Val. "Great" I said to myself.

"What?" Aaron asked."My dad...he’s probably talking to Val about this whole ordeal right now. Just what I need" I didn't even look at him as I talked, I picked the nail polish off of my fingernails.

"Ehh, it will be fine. You guys were meant to be" he said optimistically, giving me a hug.

Once again I slept in Brett and Jimmy's room. We stayed up until ten playing various card games such as bull shit and uno. "Brett you are such a cheater!" I smacked his arm as he snuck a look at Lacey’s cards.

"What!" he acted innocent.

We joked throughout the night, but I some how didn't feel right abandoning Val. He must have about ten million questions going through his head at this very moment, nothing different from what I was going through.

I got up, trying to give up the courage to go to his room and talk to him.

"What are you doing?" both Lacey and Madison asked.

"I think I'm going to go talk to him" I wasn't sure if I could really do that just yet.

"Um..I wouldn't do that if I were you" Brett chimed in.

"Why?" I answered, confused.

Jimmy answered for him, "He, he..well I think he just needs his space. He wouldn't even talk to any of us guys today. I think you should let it be for now."

I thought about it, then sat back down on the floor in between Lacey and Madi.It wasn't too long before that that we all passed out on the floor, I think everyone slept through the night except for me.

Today was the day of game four, and again I stood on the bench next to Ronnie, Babs, and the assistant coaches. I watched and observed like usual, but with an empty stare, not interested at all with what I was seeing in front of me at the moment.

We lost 3-1, no one seemed very spirited throughout the game, Babs took his frustration out on the players before he left, as usual. We would be going back to the Joe to see if we could get a win there and go on to the Stanley Cup Finals. But before we left we spent the night in Dallas another night.

Finnish Wonder Part 34

2008-11-09T11:35:00.000-08:00

We had swept the Colorado Avalanche in the 2nd round and now were playing in our third game in the third round against the Dallas Stars. 'May 12th, 2008' I scribbled down on the clip board, while standing in my usual spot on the bench, but instead in Dallas. This is the last place I wanted to be on my birthday.

My dad skated by me during the pregame skate, "Happy Birthday Puddy!" he yelled. Ken Daniels must have heard him, because the camera turned right towards me, "Today is also our athletic trainer's 21st Birthday!"

The mic was now 3 inches away from my face, "Thanks Ken" I smiled and waved into the camera. "So How does it feel to have your first beer?" he asked.

I laughed, "Well I am a Canadian citizen so technically today wasn't my first" I gave a quick wink, then they turned the camera back to Ken.

The game finally started, we scored first with a backhander from Pav. Everyone screaming on the bench and smacking their sticks on the outside boards. They tied it up not too long after, but Pav struck again getting us back on top with a quick wrister from the point. The stars only scored one more goal through the rest of the game, while we scored 3 more. We had won in Dallas minus the help of Franzen. Unfortunately he was out with a concussion.

Once again it was Val, Aaron, and I sharing a room together, this time no Tanya. "So Aar, what happen with you and Tanya?" I asked over dinner. After gulping down a giant glass of milk he finally answered, "She broke up with me, turns out she likes some other guy" he didn't seem concerned or even hurt the slightest bit.

Pav stood up, raising his glass high in the air, "A toast!" he yelled, "Happy 21st Birthday MP!"

Everyone stood up, clanking their glasses, including Babs, "Yes, a toast to one of the best AT's we've ever had!" I made a surprised face, Babs never said anything like that. Just then my face was crammed into a towel full of shaving cream.

I heard the whole team go, "Ohhh!!" I turned around, with some of the shaving cream on my hands and wiped it on my dad's face. "I should have seen that one coming" I shook my head.

After dinner we headed to the bar, where Aaron pulled me aside and gave me a big hug. "What was that for?"

"Just a birthday hug" he shrugged. "But I do need to tell you something" he grasped my wrist then lead us outside. "Promise you won't freak out or anything?" he paced back and forth.

"Pinky promise" we wrapped our pinkies together and shook them slightly.

"Well, umm...you know how at dinner I said that Tanya liked another guy?"

"Yeah..." I didn't see where he was going with this, but I continued to listen.

"Well that other guy is kind of well uhh...he's your fiancee" he explained quietly.

"What? No, that can't be true. Val? My Val? This makes no sense Aaron!" I said in confusion.

"I'm not joking" he said in a serious voice, "She told me that they kissed, you know when they saw each other in the bathroom.." he went on.

"I-I don't believe it! Val told me that nothing happened. Where is the bitch, I'll kill her!" I yelled out of anger. Aaron held me tight, not letting go until my continuous sobbing stopped. His shirt was wet from my tears. Val walked out, "There you are! I've been looking for you all over the place" he noticed that I was still latched onto Aaron, "What's going on?"

I nodded to Aaron, signaling him that I needed to talk to Val alone. "I cannot believe you Val! Why would you lie to me!" I said, trying to be calm.

"Lie to you about what?" A light bulb must of gone off in his head, he was now looking at the ground, ashamed. "I'm sorry" he said quietly.

"Yeah, Val what are you sorry about?" I said furiously.

"Look would you just give me a chance to explain?" he fought.

I sat down on the curb, not wanting to deal with any of this right now, but he continued on. "She kissed me Morgan, I pulled away. It wasn't like I urged her on or anything. I knew it was wrong, nothing happened. You have to believe me."

"Oh don't pull that shit with me! Valtteri Mattias Timo Filppula you lied right to my face, you told me that nothing happened. I did believe that nothing happened, but you lied" my voice faded as it became more hoarse, "You lied..."

I walked back to the hotel, Val following me the whole way, "Hunaja!" he shouted from behind me. I stopped in my tracks, wanting to slap him for everything, "Don't Val, I'm done. You know all I really wanted today was to have a nice birthday surrounded by all the people I love. But I guess that's just to hard for you." He reached for my hand, but I pulled it away. Aaron came running up from behind us, pulling Val away, "Just leave her be man.."

I stepped into the room that the three of us shared, soon to be only the two of them. Grabbing my stuff, I knocked on my Dad's door. There were black tear stains on my face as I quickly hugged him. I explained the whole thing to not only him, but his two other room mates, Uncle Malts and Uncle Mac.

Malts got up, "I think you're overreacting Morgan, he told me the whole story. He was going to tell you, but he was afraid that..well I guess he was afraid that this whole mess would happen."

I thought about it for a little while, as I watched the three of them play guitar hero. "I'm sorry for bothering you guys" I said as I again grabbed my stuff and went out the door. Just as I stepped out Val was unlocking his room door, he stood there staring at my face. Then looked down at my things gathered in my hand. Looking at the floor he stepped inside the door, closing it behind him.

Finnish Wonder Part 33

2008-10-02T15:38:00.001-07:00

We had won game number 5 in Detroit, now it was back to Nashville. Winning this game meant that we would advance to the second round.

I glanced around the hotel room, "Different room, same decor.." I sighed. Val laughed, then picked me up from behind, plopping me down on the bed, his knee was getting better by the passing of every day. I kissed him roughly.

"Ahem!!" Aaron cleared his throat from the doorway. Val and I turned our attention to him, noticing a tall, slender, brunette on his arm. "This is my girlfriend, Tanya" he announced.

Val and I looked at each other, confused. Aaron wasn't the type of guy to have a girlfriend, so it would be interesting to see if things would actually work out between them. "I'm Val, and this is my girlfriend Morgan" Val answered back.

"She'll be staying with us tonight guys so no monkey business" Aaron joked.

"Yeah, yeah.." I rolled my eyes at him.

It was time for their nap, I snuggled close to Val, feeling his heart beat right next to my ear. It was the most comforting noise in the world. I fell asleep quickly, but only stayed asleep for about a half an hour, "Morgan!" Aaron whispered, waking me instantly.

"What.." I replied, still closing my eyes. "I'm starving..you want to grab something to eat?"

"Huh..Why don't you ask Tanya?"

"Because, well I..I think I just need to be with a friend. She's really clingy." he said carefully, trying not to wake her.

"I suppose I could go" I slipped my shoes on as Aaron and I tip towed out the door. "Shhh!" we giggled while the door squeaked shut.

We took the elevator down to the lobby, "Jackpot!" Aaron screamed, pointing at a vending machine. I covered his mouth quickly, "You do know there are other people in this hotel" I informed him.

He sprinted to the machine, searching for money in his pant pockets. I watched him gulp down his 8th mini donut. "Are you done yet?" I laughed.

He smiled, his teeth brown from the chocolate covered treat. I pointed and laughed, people walked by with disgusted looks on their faces. If only they knew who they were laughing at..

He wiped the brown stains off his teeth as we headed back up to the hotel room, "So..you must really like this girl eh?" I said in my Canadian accent, trying to be subtle about the situation. He let out a big sigh, "No, not really."

I made a confused face, "Then why-" He cut me off, "Because the guys are always ripping on me because I can never keep a girl. I thought maybe if I invited her here they would stop"

I felt bad for him, I knew his last relationship, which was with Madison, was tough to get over. Every time she comes into the locker room latched onto Jimmy's arm, I could see his heart break in two all over again. "I'm sorry for bringing it up Aaron.." I said softly.

"Its OK, I just feel bad for leading Tanya on. She's really nice, its just I'm not really a relationship kind of guy"

"Everyone is a 'relationship kind of guy' Aaron, you just have to try and forget the past I explained, using air quotes along the way. He gave me a hug before we entered the room.

I found Val sitting up on the bed watching ESPN, and Tanya was in the shower. "Hey!" I pounced on him as soon as I saw his perfect figure awaiting on the bed. He replied with a quick, "Hi" as his face turned bright red, which seemed odd to me. His face didn't turned red unless he was embarrassed, I couldn't see anything that he would have been embarrassed about though.

"What's wrong Hun?" I ran my fingers through his soft, blond hair. He didn't look me in the eyes like he usually did, "Nothing.." he flicked through the channels once more. I shrugged my shoulders and continued on watching TV with him.

A few moments of silence went by, "Where were you two anyways?" he asked, keeping his eyes glued to the screen in front of us.

"We went down to the lobby to get a bite to eat"

"Oh" he replied quickly again. Tanya walked out of the bathroom in a white complimentary towel, I noticed Val look, his face turning red again, then he turning his attention to the TV.

The air was filled with tension, Aaron and I were looking at each other, knowing that something was going on.

"OK!" Aaron shouted, "What the hell is going on here?" He had his hands on his hips to give it the full effect, waving his finger in the air.

Val looked up quickly, searching for something to say, but apparently found nothing, "Shouldn't we get going, the game starts in an hour and a half.."

I rolled my eyes, then headed on the bus. Val and I sat in the same seat like usual, but it was awkward, he didn't say much the whole way to the arena. After the final buzzer sounded, they announced that we would be moving on to the next round. The Preds' arena was silent as the fans exited.

The team was going crazy in the locker room, Babs gave his speech before we headed back on the plane, "OK boys, tomorrow no practice!" he ended after 5 minutes of talking.

I laced my fingers with Val's while walking on the plane, something still wasn't right. Most of the team was sleeping, including me, "Morgan?" he shook me awake. "Hmm?" I answered. He looked down at his feet, signaling he was about to tell me something. I sat up attentively, "You going to tell me what happened now?"

He nodded his head, "You know when you and Aaron went down to the lobby?"

I shook my head, wondering what could have happened in that time. "Well I thought Tanya and Aaron left and I thought you were in the shower..."

I crossed my arms, still listening to every detail.

"I was going to join you, but when I opened the curtain it wasn't you" he explained, his face about as red as it has ever been.

"Val, why didn't you just tell me that? It was an accident, its not like you did anything...Did you?" I asked worried.

"No!" he shouted, waking up Pav and Hank behind us, "I would never do that to you" he was now looking me straight in the eyes, which was what I was used to.

Finnish Wonder Part 32

2008-08-26T15:05:00.000-07:00

While Val was in the shower I lay on the hotel room bed listening to 'Always' by Saliva on my iPod. I sang out loud, totally unaware that Val was standing about ten feet away. I got a little too into the song, "I love you, I hate you...I can't live with out you!!" I belted out.

"Well that's nice to know!" Val laughed at the song I was listening to.

"Jesus Val! You scared me!" I said, sitting up on the bed. I moved my eyes down to the white towel that he was wearing around his waist and raised my eyebrows, mischievously.

"Why do you always seem to be in the mood when I have a game to play in a few hours?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't know...So does that mean that you're playing then?" I changed the subject.

"Huh...Yes, I'm playing. I'm sorry but my team needs me, and besides my groin is feeling way better"

"Mmhm, sure Filppula. But what about your knee?" I reminded him.

He walked over to me, placing his hands on the back of my neck. He kissed my forehead, then my lips softly, "Well I'm sure that would feel better if you massaged it." He had his way of getting me to do things. I couldn't resist those big blue eyes staring down at me and gave in.

He sat down on the bed next to me and rested his leg on my lap. I began rubbing it, Val moaned and made all kinds of funny noises. I threw a pillow at his face, "Shh! My dad is next door!"

He snickered, "Now that's funny" He couldn't stop laughing, his face turning pink from it now. I hit him with another pillow, "Are you insane?" I laughed along with him.

I had never seen him laugh like that before, ever. His continuous giggling turned into moaning again when I grabbed a hold of his knee. "Val cut it out!" I laughed.

"Come on wouldn't it be funny if he confronted you about this!" he started laughing again.

"Yeah, and awkward!"

"You're right, sorry" he apologized. He kissed me, making his way down my jaw line and onto my chest. "I thought you had a game tonight" I reminded him.

"Game shmame"

We got a knock on our door five minutes later, I grabbed one of Val's shirts from the floor and answered the door.

"Aaron!" I greeted annoyed.

"Hello! I've been out here for about 10 minutes. You do realize that I'm his room mate right?" He leaned against the door way, inspecting my outfit. He laughed, "So that's why you guys didn't hear me! Sick!" he stuck his index finger into his mouth, making a puking noise.

I slugged his arm, "Shut up Aaron you perv! I was massaging Val's knee" I explained, only telling half the truth.

"OK, whatever you say. I just want to take my pre game nap, so if I could come in it would be nice." he said, walking past me. He threw his stuff on the bed next to Val's.

We all fell asleep until the alarm went off, "Game time!" Aaron jumped out of bed, punching the air. Jab, Jab, Upper cut, hook, he continued this pattern on the air for about 5 minutes.

"Now I'm ready to kick some ass!" he shouted, probably waking up the portion of the team that were in the rooms next to us.

Val finally got up from the bed, pulling on a black suit with a pink button up shirt and a different color pink tie. Aaron on the other hand had on an interesting ensemble, a black suit with a dark blue button up shirt and a black tie.

"Aaron, are you really going to wear that?" I asked, laughing.

"Yeah, why?"

"Here" I dug through his bag and pulled out a different colored tie, "You looked like a mobster before" I joked again.

We headed to the Preds' arena, I walked behind Val, noticing that he wasn't limping as bad anymore. I decided not to say anything, maybe massaging it really did work, I wondered.

I took my place on the visitor's bench with Ronnie and the coaching staff, "Hey big bro!" I gave him a little tap on his bicep. "Hey..." he said, staring down at his slip board contently.

I watched the game begin, Dom starting in the net. I held my breathe as Hamhuis and Weber scored just seconds apart, putting us behind by two. In the second Pav scored, but then the Preds followed with another one. Pav scored again in the third, but we lost again, tying up the series 2-2.

I walked through the locker room to check on Val, I found him sitting on the bench untying his skates, "That was bullshit" he said to me. I knew he didn't want me to comment on it, he just wanted to vent, "How's the knee?"

"What? Oh...It's actually feeling pretty good. I think its the tape, once I take the tape off the pain is going to come like that." he snapped his finger.

"Well maybe you should consider a brace" I suggested. "No, if the press gets a wif of this, Bab's is going to get swarmed with questions. And he's not the only one that'll look like the bad guy, they'll be all over you and Ronnie" he explained to me.

"I understand...I'm just ready to go home" I sighed

He pulled me onto his lap, "Thanks, I know its hard for you to see me in pain, I'm glad you understand where I'm coming from" he said sympathetically.

I didn't say anything, I latched onto his arm as we walked out of the locker room and got onto the plane back to Detroit.

2008-08-26T15:04:00.001-07:00

Finnish Wonder Part 31

2008-08-19T09:22:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we had to go to Nashville for the next two away games. Val still hadn't made his decision, or if he had he didn't let me know yet. He was on the couch icing his knee, so I decided to go for a jog with Grizzly. That was what I did to get my mind off of things.

"I'm going for a jog" I told him, hooking the leash onto Grizz's collar.

"No, don't go." he begged. I watched him limp over to me, "Whenever you are worried about something you always go for 'extreme' jogs" he grabbed my waist, pulling me closer to him.

"I don't know what you're talking about" I said in denial, knowing exactly what he meant. Every time Val and I argued I went for a jog, apparently he had caught on.

"Come on Morgan, I told you that I'd let you know first. I just haven't made my decision yet, this is tough" he explained, sitting back down on the couch. I hung Grizz's leash back up on the hook, disappointing him, then sat down next to Val and massaged his knee. I worked my way up to his thigh, "Looks like you injured your groin too mister!" I could tell exactly where he was in pain.

He made a "Oops, I forgot to tell you" face. "Forgive me?" he whispered into my ear. I rolled my eyes and continued massaging him, hoping he would feel better if he wanted to play tomorrow.

"You know Bab's is going to be calling any second to see if you can play tomorrow" I urged him to make a decision.

He pulled me on top of him, playing with my hair, "Well I was thinking.."

"Oh boy" I joked.

He laughed, then continued on, being very serious, "I was thinking that maybe I would try the warm ups and then make a decision. I haven't skated since the injury so if my knee feels alright out there then I'll skate the game." he paused, "But, if you don't want me too then I won't"

"Val you can't expect me to make a decision for you." I looked up into his piercing eyes, "If you feel comfortable enough to play, then that's your choice. Not mine or anyone else's"

"I love you" he said with a cheesy smile on his face. I tangled my hands in his hair, kissing him violently. He moaned, then turned his attention to his knee, so I pulled away, "Sorry." I said, turning to massage his knee again.

He grabbed the back on my neck, pulling me closer again, "Please" he pouted, "I promise I'm fine, just a little sore. That's all."

"Val! You obviously aren't in any shape to do anything right now" I teased him, wrapping my arms around his abdomen, kissing him lightly.

"That's more like it" he moaned.

An hour later we were laying on the couch asleep, our legs tangled in each others. The phone rang, making us both jump, "Hello?" I asked, my voice quiet. I didn't want to disturb Val, he looked like he just wanted to sleep for the rest of the day.

"Hi, is Fil there?" I recognized Bab's voice right away. So much for not disturbing him, I thought. I set my hand on Val's side, giving him a little shake, "Val, the phone's for you" I whispered in his ear.

He grabbed the phone and held it to his ear, not bothering to open his eyes, "Hello?"

I stood up, wanting to give him some privacy, but Val wrapped his arm around my waist pulling me back down onto the couch next to him. "Uhh...I think I'm going to take warm ups and see how that goes" he explained to Babs. He hung up the phone, then rested his head on top of mine.

"Well this is it!" Val said as our plane landed in Nashville. We were running late, so by the time we got to the hotel and dropped our bags off we had to rush over to the rink to get ready for the game.

I watched Val do laps around the rink, working on his cross overs and testing his knee. He joined us at the bench, "Feels pretty good, I think I'll give her a go" he said pointing to his knee. "Are you sure?" I said, wanting to make sure he was positive. "Yes, I'm sure" he said, pecking me on the lips, then skating off.

The game started off pretty well, with nine minutes left in the first period my dad scored with a wrist shot. He skated by the bench, tapping gloves with everyone, "That one was for you Cat!" he shouted to me.

In the second period everything was looking clear, Huds had one goal, making it 2-0. "Yes!!" I screamed at the top of his lungs. Radulov and Legwand both let slap shots rip by Dom.

In the third, we came back with Pav's goal. But then Dom let two more by, making it 4-3, but also making up Bab's mind, "Ozzie get in the net!" he shouted furiously. Dom skated over with his head hung low, tapping Ozzie on the shoulder, "Good luck" he said in his funny accent.

With a change in goaltenders, came a change in play for the guys, but we just couldn't seem to sneak one past Dan Ellis. The Preds scored another goal, locking the game up for good.

"Its ok, we'll get them next time" I reassured Val, who was sitting in an ice bath. "Mmhm" he barely managed to say, clearly in massive amounts of pain.

"Val, are you sure you should play the next game?" I asked him, worried.

He shook his head, "I'm not sure"

Finnish Wonder Part 30

2008-08-10T18:09:00.000-07:00

Val had told me that the doctors cleared him and that he was able to play on March 26th. That was the day that Darren McCarty also came back. We were officially going to the playoffs, and had won the President's Trophy.

It was now April 10th, the day of our first playoff game. We were facing the Predators, which was a pretty big surprise. The whole team and staff had to be at the Joe 3 hours early to make sure everything was just right. Ronnie and I were running around, checking every one's equipment, making sure everything was up to Babs' standards.

Mike Illitch came down before the game, to make sure everything was all set, then he gave a heartfelt speech to the boys. "No matter what happens out there, if we win or loose, you'll all still be my boys. I proud of you guys for making it this far. Now get out there and make your fans scream!" he shouted, raising his fist up high. "That was sweet Uncle Mike" I told him as I left the locker room with a tear in my eye.

"Welcome to the Joe Louis Arena. Here are your Detroit Red Wings!" the lights flashed as the winged wheel appeared on the ice in many different places, spinning.The Joe was sold out and every person was out of their seat, screaming as the players skated out of the locker room. I watched them warm up, then joined Ken Daniels in an interview, "And here's our soon to be Mrs. Filppula." My smile widened, which I didn't think was possible.

"Hey Ken, watch out!" I pointed behind him at Ozzie. It had become a new ritual of Ozzie's to hit Ken with his stick during warm ups while he was interviewing people. Ken smiled, then slugged Ozzie with his free hand. "So how do you feel about this whole situation. I mean look at this place, isn't it great!" he exclaimed. "I'll tell you what, after all the sweat and blood that this team goes through during the regular season, this is all worth it. We couldn't ask for a better crowd, now lets get this game moving!" I talked into the mic that Ken was holding in front of my face. I watched him walk back up to the press box, the camera man following him the whole way.

The game quickly started, 6 minutes later Johan Franzen flipped a back hander past Dan Ellis, making it 1-0. In the second Jordin Tootoo tipped one in past Dom, making it 1-1. Going in to the third the guys were silent. Babs gave them his usual pep talk and sent them back out onto the ice. I watched the puck go from Nickle, to Pav, then to Hank. A hard slap shot sent the puck flying into the net. With 19 seconds left, I watched the clock wind down, the Preds pulled their goalie, and Hank scored, locking the game up.

The team went out to celebrate, but I had other plans. I had to meet up with the girls, we were going to go shopping. It was my way of celebrating, I figured that I needed a break away from the guys for just one night. I guess the girl's night out worked, the stress was lifted, that is until the next game.

During the second game against the Preds I watched Val get slammed into the boards by Tootoo. He didn't look the same after that. It didn't look serious enough for me to disrupt him from focusing on the game though. After words the boys were going to the Post Bar to celebrate again, but once again I had other plans. This time, they were with Val, only he didn't know that yet.

"Hey" I leaned up against his locker, looking at his sweaty body. I watched him as he wiped the sweat off his face with his shirt. A wide smile spread across his face, "Hey" he whispered, putting his hands on my hips. I raised one eyebrow, "So you want to go home instead tonight?" I ran my finger down his stomach, stopping at his hockey pads.

"Yes! I mean, I don't think the guys would be too mad at me if I skipped out on tonight.."

I waited in the parking lot for Val while he changed. My eyes followed a dark limping figure, knowing it was Val. He hopped in the car, then greeted me with a kiss, but I pushed him away wanting to talk. "Are you OK?" I finally managed to say.

"Yeah why?" he pretended to not know what I was talking about. I shot him a disappointing look, "You know I saw what happened. And I saw you limping just now. Now I'm asking if you're OK!" I tried not to shout.

He rested his hand on my shoulder, "No...I need to tell you something. But you have to promise not to be mad at Ronnie for any of this."

"What are you talking about, why would I be mad at Ronnie for you being hurt?"

"Just listen...You know when I got hurt in March?" I nodded my head, confused. "Well, Ronnie sorta, kinda....well he did me a favor."

I scrunched my eyebrows together, "What did he do?" I said, sounding worried.

"Well...he cleared me to play early. I wanted to play in the playoffs so badly and I didn't think that it would heal fast enough. When I started playing again it injured it even more, but then tonight when Tootoo hit me..." he looked up, wondering what I was thinking.

I didn't know what to say, I was in shock that he'd been trying to hide this from me all along, and I had no clue. "Why would you do that? You could have permanently done damage to your knee, you know that." my medical knowledge was kicking in.

"I know that..." he said, looking down at his shoes, "I'm so stupid, now I probably won't play for the rest of the playoffs."

I set my hand on his, talking in a soft tone, "Why, because you think your hurt badly enough, or because you think that I won't let you. Because I can't stop you from playing..." I asked, already knowing that he thought I wouldn't let him.

"Look, I'm not sure what to do now. I haven't made a decision, but it would mean a lot to me if you would just try and understand why I did this.." he said, looking into my eyes.

I smiled at him contently, then kissed his lips softly, "When you make your final decision, do me a favor? Tell me first, and don't let Ronnie influence you, that boy's going to get a serious talking to."

He started the car, and we continued talking, "I promise I'll tell you first. But you shouldn't blame Ronnie for this, I begged him to do it."

Finnish Wonder Part 29

2008-08-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

It was now March 19th, the day before Val's 24th birthday, and I was yet to get him a present. I had plans to go shopping later on after practice got over, at one.

Babs blew his whistle, "OK, I want to try out some new defense pairings, Stui and Kroner..." he went on.

Ozzie skated over to me, "What did I tell ya! I knew he'd place them two on the same shift!" I shook my head as I continued to watch the drills. Babs blew his whistle again, this time signaling Stui and Kroner to defend Val on a two on one. Ozzie was waiting in goal, shifting left and right, his blocker and glove ready in each hand.

Val tried going in between, and somehow managed to squeeze through, but got tripped up on accident. I saw his knee hit the hard ice, knowing that he wasn't alright. I skated across the ice with Ronnie, with every step I could see by his face that he was in excruciating pain.

"Val? Come on lets get you to the locker room." I signaled for one of the guys to come help him off the ice, "I got it." my dad yelled out.

I watched them skate over to the bench, Val completely relying on Ronnie and my dad, not putting any pressure on his left leg. "Morgan!" Babs called out. I skated over with a disappointed look on my face, "Yeah?"

"Go take care of him, send Ronnie back out." I smiled back at him, then rushed to the locker room, "RJ, Babs wants you out there, you too dad"

I saw Val laying on the table, and couldn't help but grimace at the sight of his knee. It was twice the normal size, and all black and blue. "This is a stupid question, but...are you OK? I mean do you need me to get you anything."

Val smiled up at me, which I didn't expect in his condition, "No, I've got everything I need right here." I looked down at his knee, then up at his face again, "I'm not sure how long you'll be out" I told him with concern.

"Look...Morgan, I already asked Ronnie if he could be my doctor for this one. I don't want you worrying about it OK?"

"What do you mean you asked Ronnie? How can I not worry about it, I'm going to be your wife this summer and you don't want me to worry about you!? You're my number one priority right now Val, why wouldn't you want me to worry about this?" I said, trying to keep my cool.

"Well, I just think its best if my fiancee worries about taking care of me at home, and I'll worry about taking care of you at home. I don't know, I just think that's how it should be. You know?"

I could see where he was coming from, but it was my job. Babs ordered me to take care of him, not Ronnie, "I guess..." I said quietly. "I'll go get Ronnie, if that's what you really want"

"Come here.." he put his arms around my neck, pulling me closer. I kissed his forehead gently, "I'll see you later.." I walked out of the room, and back onto the ice, pulling Ronnie aside, "He wants you"

Ozzie skated over to me, asking tons of questions. I told him everything, but not looking at him once, I just stared at the empty net that Val had fallen in front of. Babs came over not long after, "Everything OK? Or should I call Grand Rapids for another player?"

I still was staring at the empty net when he asked me, "Yeah, I have a feeling he's not going to be back anytime soon" I swallowed hard, skating back to the bench and picking up my clip board, crossing his name off for the game tomorrow.

I met up with Lacey after practice to go shopping for Val's birthday. "I have no idea what I should get him." We continued walking around the mall for several hours, just talking while trying on different clothes. Just then Lacey and I were handed a brochure, a light went off in my head, "Let's go car shopping!" I screeched.

I grabbed Lacey's wrist and yanked her out of the mall, we drove for five minutes until we got to a car dealership. "That one, I want it, now!" I yelled, pointing at a big black Range Rover. "Its perfect! I'll take it!"

I signed all of the papers, then took the keys from the man's hand, "I can't wait to see his face when he sees this. At least he can still drive, its his left leg that's hurt, not his right!" I said in excitement. I decided to keep the car at the dealership over night, and pick it up in the morning without Val knowing.

I couldn't sleep the whole night, not only because of excitement, but because Val was tossing and turning in pain all night. I finally got up at 6 a.m. after Val couldn't stop moaning. "I'll be right back birthday boy!" I yelled from down the steps.

Lacey drove me to the dealership, then I drove the new Range Rover into our driveway, enjoying the new car smell. I wrapped a giant red bow around the hood of the SUV, then walked inside, watching Val limp into the kitchen.

I helped him outside, putting my hands over his eyes, "Happy Birthday baby!" I kissed his lips softly, then spun him around.

"Holy shit! What did I ever do to deserve this!" he exclaimed.

"You've done everything I could ever ask for. If anyone deserves this, its you. Happy Birthday Valtteri Filppula!"

"Thank you so much, but you didn't have to do this." he was looking guilty. "I wanted to." I gave him another kiss, this time longer and harder, making him moan. He put the key in the ignition, "Joy ride?"

We parked at a near by park, looking at the scenery. "So I have great news, Ronnie says that I'll be back sooner than you expected" he said excitedly.

"How soon?" I said, confused. "Well, he said within the next few games I could be back, that's when I want to be back anyways. Isn't that great? I'll be back in time for the playoffs!"

I shook my head, "That depends on how your knee is the next few days. You can't predict something like that." Val set his hand on mine, "Trust me, its feeling much better. Everything will be fine, no need to worry."

That night, Meechy was called up from Grand Rapids to take Val spot. Which was unusual, Meechy was a defender, not a forward, but I trusted Babs. We lost against the Predators, 2-1 in a shootout. But Meechy had the assist on the only goal, so the guys did have something to celebrate. Besides that we all went to Cheli's Chili for Val's birthday.

Finnish Wonder Part 28

2008-08-01T18:58:00.001-07:00

Val slammed the locker room door behind him, "What the hell was that?" he said, pointing towards the door. I assumed he was referring to why I was crying and hugging Aaron.

"What was what?" I asked in a daze.

"You know what I'm talking about, why were you crying in there?"

Tears started forming in my eyes again, looking up at the ceiling, I managed to choke them back, "Oh, I think you already know"

"What? OK look, I'm going to go shoot around with some of the guys, I'll talk to you later, OK babe?" he kissed my forehead lightly, hugging me, then walked back into the locker room.

And how does he expect me to get home? I asked myself. I sat on the cold floor, again staring at the names of past Wings. Meechy came out of the locker room, stopping in his tracks, "Hey, you alright?"

I leaned my head back on the wall, sighing loudly, "I don't know...Val's staying here so I don't really have a ride home." I chuckled, even though I didn't think it was the slightest bit funny.

"Well I'd be happy to give you a ride. But I'm starving, you want to get a bite to eat or something?"

"Well, I've got nothing better to do"

"Gee thanks!" he joked, sticking his hand out to help me up off the floor.

We pulled up to a small restaurant, "I love this place, ever been here before?" Meechy asked as he held the door open for me.

I looked around in awe, "Wow! No, I haven't...this place is beautiful!" All of the wood work looked gorgeous, all swirly and full of different patterns. Meechy and I shared a peperoni pizza and got two milk shakes. "So..I know this isn't any of my business but, is everything alright between you two?"

I looked up, thinking for a few seconds, "Between who?" I said jokingly.

"Uhh.." Meechy searched for a way out of the conversation nervously.

"Just kidding, jeez calm down. Val and I, well I guess we just need to talk." I put a fake grin on my face, but could tell he wasn't falling for it.

"Well that's good. Hey, I hear you started playing the guitar! So, you want to play with me?" He quickly changed the subject.

I couldn't think of a reason why not to, "Uhh, I'm not very good, but if you want your ears to bleed I guess we could!" We headed back to my house, where I had a spare guitar, actually it was Lacey's that she had left at my house a while ago.

"So what can you play so far?" he looked interested.

"Umm, well a few chords"

Meechy had a huge smile on his face, "You know I could teach you how to play a lot more than that."

"Yeah? So when did you first learn to play?"

"When I played in juniors, Dion Phanuef was my room mate. He'd always go out partying so I decided that I had to do something with all the spare time I had" He placed his fingers on the strings and began strumming a few tunes. I picked up on what he was playing right away, then tried it myself, not doing quite as well.

Meechy laughed, then stood up, grabbing my fingers and placing them on the correct notes, "Here, now try"

I strummed a few times, surprised by what I had just done, "Wow, I did it!" I screeched.

We played until my fingers were numb, the sun was beginning to set, "I better get going. You sure you're OK here by yourself?"

I smiled at his concern, "I'll be fine, and hey! Don't forget that you're my official guitar teacher!"

He smiled as he got into his car and pulled away, I stood on the front porch until his car disappeared in the distance. I decided to wait for Val to come home, sitting on the swinging bench on the porch. I was in deep thought when I heard Val's voice, "Morgan? What are you doing out here, its freezing!"

"Huh? Oh, I was waiting for you, I think we should talk."

"Yeah..me too, what's been bothering you lately?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" I said, trying not to let anger take over my tone.

"Tell you what? What are you talking about?"

"I'm serious Val, you know...about the trade" I was starting to get annoyed that he couldn't just fess up.

"What trade? I'm being traded!? To where, how come coach didn't tell me?"

"What? You mean he didn't tell you anything about being traded?" Val stared into my eyes, getting more confused by the second. "No...no, he didn't. I'm I being traded or not?"

I jumped up, pulling Val off of the swing with me, jumping up and down. "This is great!" Val's eyes shifted to the floor, "What?" I grabbed his hand, now sitting on the steps, "So why did you right that you were traded to Atlanta on your facebook page?"

"What's facebook? And you're saying that I'm not being traded? Some idiot just put that up on the Internet for no reason?" Val looked extremely confused, and he was beginning to get upset.

I explained the whole misunderstanding to him, not leaving out any details, knowing that he would just get even more confused. "So this whole time that you were acting weird it was because you thought I was being traded? If I was being traded I would have told you that! I'm not about to leave my soon-to-be wife here in Detroit while I go prancing off to Atlanta!"

"I'm sorry, when I found out I figured you just wanted some time to think it over. But then when you didn't tell me a few days later I got angry. I should have asked you right away, I'm so stupid."

Val's eyes were now an icy blue, he looked serious now, "Look at me, you're anything but stupid, if any one's stupid around here its me for not taking the time to talk sooner. Lets go upstairs OK?"

"I guess," although I didn't agree with him calling himself stupid, I was sick of arguing already. He gave my a light peck on the lips, as if to test me, then kissed me again.

"Val!" I screamed as he chased me up the stairs and pinned me down on the bed, "I don't think so Filppula, no sex the night before a game!" I teased him. He thought about it for a second, "Yeah, you're probably right...but what coach doesn't know won't hurt him right!"

He pounced on me, kissing me roughly, "I'm glad I didn't go to Atlanta, I don't think I'd look to good in those blue jerseys." he joked. I laughed at him trying to make a joke, "No, but it would bring out those piercing eyes of yours," I said revealing my weakness. Val smiled at my compliment, then raised his eyebrow, turning his attention back on me.

Finnish Wonder Part 27

2008-07-31T11:51:00.000-07:00

I sat at home on the computer, talking to Madison and Lacey through our web cams. "So what are you doing?" Madi asked, with boredom in her tone.

"Just checking my myspace, and facebook, and shopping around. What are you two up to?"

"Huh, not much. Well you already knew Brett went for a jog with Val.."

"Yeah, oh hey! Look at the puppy Val got me, isn't he cute! I named him Grizzly, Grizz for short."

"Aww, isn't he just the cutest wittle thing!" Madi blurted out.

"So there's no game tonight, but I do have to go to practice at ten, you guys want to do something after? Say around 1:00 ish?"

"Only if there's shopping involved!"

I scrolled down my facebook page, seeing that a Valtteri Filppula had added me, so I gladly accepted, then viewed his page. Traded to Atlanta for Marian Hossa, flashed on the screen in front of me. "This can't be true!" I said out loud.

"What can't be true?" Madi asked.

I quickly sent them both the link, and went into panic mode. They tried reassuring me, but nothing could calm me down at the moment, "I'm sure its not true, I mean Val would have told you. And don't you think that Babs probably would have mentioned it?"

"Well what if it is true? I'm sorry guys, you're going to have to go shopping without me today."

I switched my web cam off, sitting in my sweats with my knees pressed tightly to my chest. I got up, walking back and forth from the kitchen to the living room. I left for practice early, taking my car and not telling Val where I went.

When I arrived Al still hadn't turned the lights on, so I sat in the dark, cold locker room by myself. I sat there wondering for the longest time. I totally forgot the trade deadline was the 26th. I'll wait a few days, give him some time to think, I thought to myself.

I heard an unfamiliar voice at the doorway, "Am I interrupting something?"

Turning to the door, I saw a blond haired guy I had never seen before, "Um, no..are you lost or something?"

"Nope, the name's Brad Stuart. I just got traded here from LA, and you are?"

"Oh I'm sorry! Welcome to Detroit, I'm Morgan Draper, Kris Draper's daughter, and also the athletic trainer."

"Wait aren't you dating one of the players?"

I laughed at his questioning, "Yeah, well I'm actually engaged to Valtteri Filppula"

"Oh, the Fin! Well look out, I hear they're trouble." he gave me a wink, walking past me and throwing his bag down next to an empty stall.

Ozzie walked in, along with Pav, Hank, my dad, Malts and Nicky, "Holy new guy!" Ozzie pointed out. "The name's Brad Stuart in case you were wondering"

"Hold it, we'll be the judge of you're name" Ozzie wrapped his arm around my dad and Malts, then pulled them into a huddle. "OK, we've come to a decision, and you're name is Stui! Welcome to the team, I'm assuming your D partner will be Kroner." Malts pointed to Niklas Kronwall's stall full of equipment.

I rolled my eyes, those three had given every single team member their nicknames since they arrived here. My dad walked over to me, "Everything OK Cat?"

"Yeah" I lied.

A few days of worrying had passed, and Val still hadn't told me about the move. And I still hadn't heard anything about it at the Joe. I came to the conclusion that everyone was trying to keep quiet around me.

Val walked past me in the living room, "Big game vs. the Avs tonight!"

We had been on a losing streak, 6 games so far, so we were hoping to break it tonight against our rivals. "Yup, big game. You better be ready!" I flashed him a fake smile, then headed to the bathroom to take a quick shower. I heard the door slam, making me jump, "Hey, can I join you?"

I wanted to say yes, but I was beginning to get angry with him, "I'm almost done.." I said in an annoyed tone. I hopped out of the shower 5 minutes later, pulling a towel over my dripping wet body, noticing that Val was still in the bathroom.

"A little privacy?" I raised one eyebrow, opening the door for him.

"OK..What's wrong with you? Is everything alright?" he sounded concerned, but I couldn't care less at the moment.

"Look I don't have time for this, we have to be at the Joe in 10 minutes"

"Fine...We'll talk after the game then." he said, with a now very serious look spreading across his face.

"I guess.." I figured that he finally wanted to tell me what was going on.

On our way to the Joe it was only a 15 minute ride, but it seemed like forever. Val kept trying to bring up conversation, but I wasn't in the mood to say anything to him. The game flew by, we won 3-2, finally ending our 6 game losing streak.

I sat on the bench next to Aaron, staring off into space, not wanting to talk to Val after he got his equipment off. "You OK?" Aaron asked, putting his hand on my knee. I looked up at him, with tears in my eyes, "I'm not sure I am.."

He pulled me into a hug, forcing Val to look a little jealous. "You want to talk about it?"

"No, I have to talk to him about everything first" I pulled my self back together, then stepped out of the locker room. I stood in front of the wall full of the past Red Wings and their records, just staring while I waited for Val.

Finnish Wonder Part 26

2008-07-29T18:40:00.000-07:00

The next few days were heck tick at the Joe, Dom was still out and Ozzie was doing horrible in Babs' eyes. We had to pull him against the Stars in the first period and again during the next game. I was astonished by Jimmy's performance, he was doing great. Since Dom had already told the team that this was his last year, I was hoping Jimmy would be our back up for next year.

It was Valentines Day, but it didn't feel like it, we played the Sharks at the Joe that night, but we unfortunately lost. The team didn't seem to mind, especially sense our record was great this year. As soon as the game was over I decided to go for a walk out on the dock by the Detroit River. It was a little chilly and I had left my jacket in my locker.

I walked down to the end of the dock, gazing up at the huge moon. I stood there for about 15 minutes, leaning against the railing, watching the stars come out one by one.

"Hey.." I recognized Val's voice behind me.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all."

I wrapped my arms around Val's warm body, sending chills up my spine. "I used to come out here a lot when I was a kid. While my dad was at practice I would just sit out here, skipping rocks."

"Yeah? You mean like this?"

Val grabbed a flat rock, then held it sideways in between his thumb and index finger, skipping it three times across the surface before it plunged to the bottom.

"No, I think it was more like this" It skipped six times, then joined Val's rock at the bottom of the river.

He kissed my lips softly, "Lets get out of here."

I bit my bottom lip, waiting for another kiss. Val picked me up, putting me on his back, "Guess I'll have to carry you to the car" He raced to the car, plopping me down on the hood. We got in, then arrived back home in 20 minutes.

Val and I walked in the door way kissing, my hand searched for the light as Val ripped his coat off and threw it on the floor. We made our way over to the couch, then Val pulled away.

"I have something for you" he whispered in my ear. He got up, and ran into the bathroom, and then blind folded me.

"OK, you can take the blind fold off!"

I opened my eyes to see a little yellow fur ball sitting in front of my face with a giant red ribbon wrapped around his neck. "You got me a Golden Retriever puppy! How adorable! Aww Val you're the sweetest." I gave him a soft kiss, loosening his tie and unbuttoning his shirt collar.

"Wait, there's more" He shoved the puppy back on my lap, then pointed to the red ribbon. My jaw dropped as my heart skipped a beat.

I watched Val's finger grab the ring and hold it up to eye level, "Morgan, I'm crazy about you, and we've been through just about everything together. I want to spend the rest of my life with you...will you marry me?"

Tears streamed down my face, "You're so cheesy, but that's what I love about you. Of course I'll marry you!"

He slid the ring on my finger, then closed the box, tossing it behind him. I unbuttoned the rest of his shirt, heading up stairs.

The next morning we had practice, I couldn't wait to tell everyone. When we got to the Joe Val and I were as happy as could be. I didn't know how I was going to tell my dad, but I was sure he would be happy for us.

I sat next to Aaron and waited for the boys to get their gear on.

"Well would ya look at that rock!" he shouted so the whole locker room could hear.

"Shut up Aaron!" I yelled, punching his arm.

Everyone got out of their seats, walking over to me, staring at the ring on my finger. They soon left me and headed over to Val, I over heard Cheli giving him a little talk, "Big mistake, now she controls everything you do. Just kidding man, she's a great girl. But hey, she's like practically my niece so don't you dare hurt her!" he held up his fist to Val's face jokingly.

"Cheli!" I whined.

I jumped on my dad's back, "Daddy D! Well whatcha thinking?"

"Well, I'm proud of you, but my baby girl is all grown up, now what am I going to do"

"Aww daddy, I'll always be your number one fan. Between you and me, I'd wear a Draper jersey before a Filppula jersey any day" I gave him a quick wink before walking back over to Val.

I took my cell phone out, calling Lacey and telling her the news. We both screamed then started talking about the wedding. After I called her I talked to Madi for a while, and we did pretty much the same thing.

"So my little sister is getting married" Ronnie pondered on the bench next to me.

I nodded, keeping my eyes plastered to Babs, he had us on a tight leash these past few days. Mike and Marian Illitch came up behind us, "Is it true that my little Morgan Draper is getting married?" Marian asked in a squeaky tone.

I smiled, giving both of them hugs, "Uncle Mike, Aunt Marian!" They weren't really my relatives, I've just known them so long it felt like it. I've called them that ever sense I could talk.

"Yeah, its true. I'm marrying Filppula over there" I pointed across the rink to where Val was shooting on Ozzie.

"Well congrats!" Uncle Mike added. They took a seat next to Ronnie and I on the bench, watching the rest of practice.

Finnish Wonder Part 25

2008-07-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

I woke up with my arms wrapped around Madi's leg like a teddy bear, and my feet lying across Lacey's stomach. I laughed, then got up to use the bathroom, noticing Val in the shower.

"Hey sexy!" I whispered through the steam in front of me, peaking my head around the curtain.

"Hey!" he said, sounding excited, "Join me?"

I walked out of the bathroom a couple minutes later, grabbing a cup of coffee from the snack bar in the kitchen. It was 11 in the morning and the girls still weren't up, I pulled my robe tighter then walked out the door, snatching the newspaper off the deck mat. Sitting down on the swinging bench on our front porch, I found myself laughing at Andreas Lilja. He was washing his car just down the street, playing the air guitar to his music. I decided to take a walk over just to chat with someone.

"Hey neighbor, long time no see" I greeted him.

He looked surprised to see me, "Oh hey! What brings you here?"

We talked for a while, then I made my way back home, hoping Lacey and Madison were up by now. As I made my way up the stairs I noticed Brett approaching me, Oh boy, this aught to be good, I thought to myself. "Hey, is Lacey in there?"

I hesitated to answer him, thinking if she wanted him to know where she was or not, "Um..yeah but I think she's still sleeping. Did you want me to tell her something for you?"

"Uh, no. I just was wondering" he put his hands in his jean pockets, then turned to go home. Lacey cleared her throat behind me, "Hey.." she said almost apologetically.

"Hey.." Brett said, mimicking her tone, biting his bottom lip.

[Lacey's POV]

"I've been thinking about us"

"Yeah, so have I. But I came over to give you this" he handed me a white envelope with the college from Chicago's return address on the top left corner. I stared at it a while then looked back at Brett, tears welling up in my eyes. "Listen, whatever's in this envelope changes nothing between us, I still haven't made up my mind if I'm going or not. I love it here, especially being with you, but you know I love my home town too."

"I love Chicago too, how do you think it feels to have to live here for...who knows how long. I've made friends here and learned to love it, and I met you, the best thing that's ever happened in my life. So you can't just tell me that this changes nothing, because if you do get accepted I'm not so sure there can be an us."

I held the envelope tightly in my hands, closing my eyes, thinking about the consequences. I slowly ripped the paper into halves, then again into fourths. "Don't ever say there won't be an us again. The thought of you and me not together hurts too much."

"I don't expect you to throw away your career for me, I just want to be with you. I know you could find a job here, you have to let go of your past and look into our future together."

Smiling, I gave him a light kiss, but strong enough to send a message.

[My POV]

I stepped out on the deck while Lacey and Brett hugged, and let out a quick screech, "I knew you guys would make up!"

I threw my bag in the back of Val's car, then twirled the keys around my fingers waiting for him. We were gone on a four game road trip, playing Chicago, Nashville, Columbus, and St. Louis in that order. We had lost 2-0 against the Blackhawks, but defeated the Predators and Jackets once again. It was on to the Blues, where we were down 2-1 in the second. Val got a suicide pass from Meech, putting him down on the ground instantly.

"Shit!" I yelled a little too loud, sliding across the ice with Ronnie, holding a white towel. There was blood everywhere, I quickly applied pressure to the left half of his face. Ronnie grabbed Meechy's hand, pulling his arm over his shoulder, while I still held the towel to his face.

We got into the locker room, putting him on the doctor's table. The press immediately caught wind of it, storming around the locker room door.

I held Meechy's hair out of his face, injecting the wound with a small needle, then sewing it up. "Boy you sure do make a lot of sacrifices for Val" Ronnie joked. I rolled my eyes then sat with Meech for a bit, making sure everything was OK. "The period has 30 seconds left, you should just stay here until the third" I reassured him.

The team walked into the locker room, surrounding Meechy, checking out his newly sewn face. Aaron did the secret handshake with him, "Niice bro!"

The press wanted in on the Meech story, preferably from the coach, but Babs hated the press, unless it was Mickey Redmond, Ken Danials, or Larry Murphy. Instead he sent me out into the mess of a hallway. I was immediately swarmed with questions, "Well he's suffered a deep wound just under his left eye from the edge of the boards, we sewed it up and he'll be back for the third."

I left the hallway, closing the door behind me and leaned on it for a second, feeling like I had escaped. During intermission, I soon found out Dom was hurt again. This time with a lower back injury, planting Jimmy Howard as our new back up goalie for the next few games.

I quickly dialed Madison's number, telling both her and Jimmy the news. There were both so excited that they forgot I was even on the phone, then hung up.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" the Blue's announcer boomed, "There has been a change in the Detroit Red Wings goaltender, #30 Chris Osgood will now be in net."

The crowd booed, and chanted, "We want Dom!" knowing that a change in goaltender meant a turn around attitude for our players. We turned the game around on them, winning 3-2, leaving St. Louis on a good note.

Finnish Wonder Part 24

2008-07-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

Two days after the funeral I arrived back at practice along with Ronnie and my dad. The locker room was silent when we walked in. Babs grabbed the bucket of pucks and walked out onto the ice, scattering them near the bench. He blew his whistle, acting like nothing ever happened, "Lets go boys, hustle! Filppula get your legs moving and work on your balance. Holmstrom, go stand in front of Ozzie and at least pretend like you're doing something!" he barked out orders.

Ronnie and I stood in our usual spot on the bench, not saying a word. I doodled some things on my clip board, and soon found myself day dreaming. I stood with my head down, looking at my shoes, my arms crossed. I felt dizzy all of a sudden, then fell back onto the cold bench.

Ronnie looked down at me, a concerned look fell upon his face, "You should get some rest before the game tonight. I think I can manage practice on my own."

I nodded, then handed my clip board over, grabbing Ronnie's hand as if I was going to fall over. Val and I had rode together, so I called Lacey to come pick me up. She arrived in about 15 minutes, then we headed straight for the spa, "I think you just need to relax and get some rest. After they're through with you here, you'll be all ready for the game tonight."

"If you say so" I replied, resting my head on the window.

We changed into the complimentary white robes, then headed to the massaging tables. There were candles lit all around us, which seemed to relax me. While they were rubbing our backs Lacey began talking to me about Brett. I had no interest at the moment, but listened anyways.

"I don't know, everything thing that I do just seems to bother him lately. Its like he doesn't want to be bothered."

I yawnd, then searched for some advice in the back of my brain, "Well maybe you should just talk to him.." I trail off.

I heard my cell phone ring in the locker next to me where my clothes were. Lacey sat up, "Don't even think about it!" she demanded.

I rolled my eyes, then signaled for the lady standing next to me to get it. I flipped it open, seeing a text from Val, where are you?.

Before I could hit the reply button Lacey snatched it out of my hand, "I told you not to worry about anything right now. You'll have enough stress later on at the game." She stuffed the phone back in the locker then pulled me off of the table, "Lets go get our hair and nails done now!"

Not long after we were through we got in her car, then went to Brett's house. I walked in stepping over trash and beer cans. Lacey and I both looked at each other, then at Brett, "What'd ya do, through a party with out us?" I joked. He turned to us, shifting his eyes back and forth between us. "Whatever, sense when do you tell me what to do."

"I think I better go." I told Lacey, slamming the door behind me. Before I could even get down the steps I heard yelling, then pretty soon Lacey came outside crying. I asked her what was wrong, then let my share of tears out with her.

"He was listening to me and my parents talk on the phone last night. I told them that I had been thinking about coming back to Chicago to finish school, but I wasn't sure yet. He's mad that I didn't tell him, but mostly hurt, he thinks we're going to have to break up."

"Well did you tell him that you don't want to?"

She looked at me with a look I had never seen before, a look that told me exactly what she was thinking. "Oh...well, I think you should think about it. And you should talk to him"

Brett came out, standing behind us on the steps, "Um..can I talk to you?"

I hugged her quickly, then walked across the road, back to my house. Val greeted me from the kitchen, "Where were you all day? I texted you but..."

I wasn't feeling good at practice today, Ronnie told me I should get some rest. I called Lacey and she brought me to the spa. But I need to ask you something."

"Yeah?"

"Do you think that Brett loves Lacey?"

"Well yeah, I've never seen him like that with any other girl."

"OK, that's all I needed to know"

We sat in the kitchen for a while, talking about those two, until we had to leave for the game. We won 3-1 against the Blue Jackets. After the game I followed the boys into the locker room, patting them on the backs, "Good work guys!" I shouted. I couldn't help but notice Brett, he had his head down, sitting on the bench. I walked over to talk to him, but Ozzie pulled me away, "Don't bother"

My phone rang, answering it, I heard Lacey's voice, "Hey...I decided to go look at the school in Chicago. I still haven't made my mind up yet."

"Oh...did you tell him yet"

"Yeah...talk to you later"

The boys went across the street to the Post Bar to party like usual, but I decided to invite Lacey over for the night. Madison joined us later on, bringing vodka, "Girls night out, finally. It hasn't been just us in quite some time!"

The night continued with drinking and talking about our everyday lives until we all fell asleep leaning on each other.

Finnish Wonder Part 23

2008-07-27T13:45:00.001-07:00

Val and I were enjoying our alone time in our new house, we even had fun washing the dishes together. He chased me around the island in the kitchen with a wet dish rag, snapping my butt with it. I giggled, then grabbed the hose out of the sink and sprayed it at him, drenching him from head to toe.

"Your turn!" he shouted grabbing the hose out of my hands and spraying my whole body. "Damn" he said, looking me up and down. I hit his chest with the back of my hand playfully, then jumped into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist. The phone rang, interrupting our fun, "Don't answer it" Val said, in between kisses. I groaned then reached for my phone on the counter top, "I have to" I gave him one last kiss, then flipped my phone open. I got down slowly, walking away from Val.

Val could tell there was something wrong, but knew not to say anything. My dad's voice was getting faster and faster as he tried to explain to me what was going on. Running out of breathe he finally stopped trying to speak, "Just go to the hospital."

In a panic I dropped my phone on the slippery floor, grabbing my car keys. Val looked at me with great concern on his face. I grabbed his hand, and led him to the car, putting the keys in the ignition, my hands shaking. He grabbed my hand, "You're not driving like this." I agreed, then slid into the passenger's seat.

We arrived at the hospital, just as it started pooring rain, Val and I walked through the doors completely soaked. We met my Dad, Ronnie, Malts, and Madison in the waiting room. I looked at them all, searching for answers. Without saying a word, Ronnie pulled me aside, "Mom collapsed at home, they had to rush her here right away, we don't know what's wrong yet." he told me, wrapping his arms around me in a hug. I hadn't seen Ronnie cry since we were kids.

I started sobbing uncontrollably, my dad walked over to us, taking his coat off and draping it over my wet body. Nobody said a word as we were waiting for the nurse to come tell us what was wrong.

Finally, about an hour later a male in blue scrubs confronted the waiting room, we all stood up, hoping for good news. "We're sorry, we couldn't save her" he said with disappointment. I became angrier by the second, "What do you mean you couldn't save her!" I shouted. I soon felt helpless, dropping back onto my chair, rocking back and forth holding my knees to my chest. I repeated the same phrase over and over again, "They couldn't save her. She's gone."

The doctors pulled my dad and Ronnie aside, telling them everything, they soon told Val about the news. My dad stood in front of me with tears running down his cheeks and into his red beard, "Morgan...she had a tumor in her head, it was too late when they caught it. I'm so sorry."

I started crying uncontrollably again, regretting not ever really getting to know my mom. I thought back to all those years when I only wanted to be around my dad, it was always hockey this, hockey that, no time for her, I though to myself. Val wrapped his arm around me trying to comfort me, but a pushed him away, not wanting to be touched.

"Come on, lets get you home" he said, tucking my hair behind my ears.

The whole ride home Val tried to talk to me, but I wasn't ready to talk to anyone. When we got home I went straight to bed, crying myself to sleep. I woke up when Val finally joined me, I rolled over, grabbing him by the shirt collar, kissing him roughly. He pulled away, feeling uncomfortable with the whole situation, "What are you doing?"

I laughed, then tugged at him again. "You're in no condition to be doing this" he said with confusion.

I rolled my eyes, then fell back asleep.

[Val's POV]

The next few days after the incident, Morgan seemed like she was holding in her emotions, all she wanted to do was go out and do things. I suppose she was trying to keep her mind off of things, but I could tell she was still hurting.

As Morgan was in the shower, the morning of the funeral I dug my black suite out of the closet and set it down on the bed. She walked out in her towel, looking at my suite, then looking up at me again.

"You're not going" she demanded.

"What? How can I not go, your dad is one of my best friends. And don't you think I should be there for my girlfriend?" I shot back at her.

"Look, I don't need your help, I've done this by myself before, when my Grampa died."

I knew she didn't mean it like that, but it hurt knowing that she didn't want me anywhere near her. I unsuccessfully tried pulling her into a hug. She pulled away, slipping a black dress over her head and onto her body. I watched her walk out the door, an hour early for the funeral.

"Hello?" I picked up the phone after a few rings.

"Hey..is Morgan there?" Lacey asked quietly.

I sighed, "Uh..no, she just left."

There was an awkward pause, "Well why aren't you with her then?"

"She doesn't want me to come" I answered back.

I heard her sigh into the phone, "Look, I know she told you that she didn't want you to come, but she really does. She needs your support, just trust me on this one. Brett and I'll see you there." she said hanging up the phone.

[My POV]

I sat in the church all by myself, in the front pew. Resting my head on my hand, staring at the closed casket in front of me. I heard the door slam behind me, but thought nothing of it. The foot steps came closer and closer, until I finally looked up expecting to see the priest, but found Val looking down at me, holding his hand out. I smiled, then laced my fingers with his.

"I know you told me not to come but..."

"I'm glad you came" I said, resting my head on his shoulder. He pulled me into a hug, making me let all of my bottled up emotions out into tears. He put his finger under my chin, looking me in the eyes, "You can't ever expect me not to support you."

I smiled again, still staring into his eyes, "I know, I'm sorry. It means the world to me that you'd say that"

He smiled, "Well I mean it, you're always supporting me. I need to be there for you too." he replied.

Not long after the whole team walked in, Meech sat by me, putting his hand on my shoulder," I lost my mom when I was 11, I've been through this already. If you need someone to talk to, I'm here" he whispered.

A tear ran down his face, I quickly wiped it away, giving him a hug, "I think I might have to take you up on that offer."

We both let out a little laugh, then turned our attention to the alter. The funeral didn't last long, but after words I felt like I had accomplished something. Val and I headed home after saying our goodbyes to all of my family members and the team. We sat on the floor, leaning against the couch, covered in a fleece blanket. We watched the fire for a little bit, then Val got up and walked into the kitchen, opening and slamming the cupboard doors shut.

He joined me on the floor again shoving two marsh mellows on a long, metal roasting fork, "S'mores?" he said, shoving a marsh mellow in his mouth.

Finnish Wonder Part 22

2008-07-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

We took the Red Bird II over to Atlanta on the 25th, one day early. The super skills were the following day, and the day after was the actual game. Babs had us down at a local rink with the rest of the Western team to practice as soon as we got off of the plane. Val headed to the hotel we would all be staying at with our bags.

I quickly took out my cell phone, making a three way call to Lacey and Madi, trying to not let Babs see me. "You guys!" I half shouted, "You have to come down here, I just met some of my favorite players, Joe Thorton, Marian Gaborik, Manny Legace..I could go on for days!" I was so excited that Babs had chosen me over Ronnie, I idolized most of the guys on the Western team, and some on the Eastern. Lacey and Madison seemed annoyed, "Yeah, well we have to go, the guys are taking us out tonight"

"Hey gorgeous, lets see what you got!" a voice came from behind me, it was Legace.

I giggle, then took a few slap shots at him, getting a few by on his blocker side. Then I dribbled the puck down the ice, going five hole, "She shoots, she scores in the overtime!" I yelled, impersonating Bob Cole, one of my all time favorite announcers.

Manny skated over to me, "Dang girl, you got some major skills"

"Well, I guess I get it from my dad"

"Yeah, who's that?"

"Kris Draper" I said, while tossing the puck up in the air and catching it again.

His face went pail, "Well you're practically family then! NHL royalty"

"Well I wouldn't say that, but I do love the sport"

Ozzie and Evgeni Nabokov both skated over to where we were standing, "That's my girl" Ozzie said, putting his arm across my shoulder. "I haven't taken her on since she turned 16" he told them, trying to impress them as if he had anything to do with my hockey skills. I rolled my eyes and skated to the bench grabbing my clip board, and standing there waiting for further instructions.

The next day the teams had to be at the Thrasher's rink early, there was tons of reporters waiting, and Babs still needed to tell the players who would be doing what skill. I was supposed to stay by Babs' side, but I hurried inside, my fingers laced with Val's. A swarm of reporters came to us, only because we were the first ones inside.

"Miss Draper!" a man shouted, "Do you know who's doing what super skill today?"

"Yes, I do." I said into the mic, then walked in the locker room for safety.

Val pinned me on the wall, kissing my roughly, "You sure know how to tease a guy, don't ya!" he said, before kissing me again. I heard a door slam, it was a woman with a mic in her hand, next to a man holding a red camera. I turned Val's head towards the camera, then laughed, "Reporters suck"

"How long have you two been dating?" the woman asked.

Val looked at me, then back at the camera, "Uh, 2 years and a couple months"

The reporter still didn't look satisfied, "I heard you live together, is there marriage in the air?"

"What? Look I really don't think it's any of your business" I told her, grabbing Val's hand, and dragging him out to the bench. It was 6 p.m. and the super skills started, all of the players sat on the ice, next to the bench. The players kids sat on the edge of the bench, next to Val and I.

Chris Pronger (My most hated hockey player) sat on the bench next to me, "Hey, the names Chris" he told me, "And you are?"

I rolled my eyes, but Val answered for me, knowing that I hated him, "This is Morgan Draper, my girlfriend, and I'm Valtteri Filppula"

"Yeah, I know who you are Filppula, I had my eye on you during the playoffs" he told him with an evil glare across his face.

I rolled my eyes again, then got off the bench to go sit by Ozzie, Hank, and Pav. Not too long after that I heard a bunch of booing towards the other team from the bench. Pronger was teaching the kids how to boo people, "What an idiot, I whispered to Ozzie"

The next day the press was just as bad, but we managed to avoid them once again. The West started off horrible, Ozzie letting in way too many. Then we came back in the second period, then fell behind again in the third, losing the game in the end. The team headed back to Detroit on the Red Bird II, not worried about the loss, just worried about their upcoming game.

Finnish Wonder Part 21

2008-07-22T11:29:00.000-07:00

It was January 2nd, Ronnie called to see if I could babysit.

"Yeah, there's one problem RJ, you don't have kids"

"Well my new girlfriend has a little boy, he's 4 years old." he shot back.

"OK, I'll watch him, but remember that we have a game tonight" I said hanging up the phone, and sitting down on the couch next to Val, sighing. Ronnie came about a half an hour later, along with his new girlfriend, Tara, she was pretty tall and had shoulder length brown hair.

"Ronnie, we're going to be late!" she pouted.

Rolling my eyes, I picked up the four year old, Tommy, then went into the kitchen, putting him down on the stool. Val came up from behind me, massaging my shoulders.

"Not now Val, can't you see I'm a little bit busy" I told him.

Val retreated back to the couch, flipping through the channels, "Hey you want to go out for lunch or something?"

"With a kid, sorry I can't"

"Right, well I'm going to go over to Lebda's for while, see you later" he walked out, slamming the door behind him.

Not to long after that Madison and Lacey called, wanting to go shopping. I told them my situation, then hung up the phone, trying to keep Tommy occupied. Later that night I changed into my athletic trainer suite, then grabbed my cell phone, hoping to get a hold of Ronnie. I had no such luck, so I left a message, "Ronnie James, where the hell are you! We have to be at the Joe in ten minutes" I shouted into the phone. Val walked into the house, grabbing the car keys, "I thought Ronnie was supposed to-"

"Yeah, he was. Looks like I'm going to have to call the girls and see if they can watch him"

Madi and Lacey were both going to the game, so they arrived early at the Joe to watch Tommy. Ronnie didn't show up before the game, and Babs was furious, not to mention my dad.

"What the hell are we supposed to do now!" Babs yelled in the locker room.

"Well at least you've got me coach" I said, trying to cheer him up.

The team headed out on the bench, and I caught myself being interviewed by a tall blond woman.

"Can I get a word with you miss"

"Sorry I'm kind of in the middle of something" I said, pretending to write things down on my clip board.

"Miss, where is the other athletic trainer? Isn't he your brother?" she asked, pushing the mic closer to my face.

"Um, yes he's my brother, now like I said I'm trying to do my job" I rushed to safety on the bench, standing by Babs. The game started, and Ronnie still didn't show up. It was the second period, and we were tied, 1-1 vs. the Stars (Aaron's old team), Aaron came down the ice with the puck, passing it right across the crease, where Maltby was standing. The Joe went crazy, "Goal for number 18 Kirk Maltby!" the announcer boomed, "Assist and first point as a Detroit Red Wings, Aarong Downey!"

I screamed, then high fived Aaron, "Not bad!"

The game was over, and we won 4-1, but there was still not sign of Ronnie anywhere, this went on for several days. I was laying in bed, watching a Disney movie when the phone rang, I picked it up and heard Val's voice, then Lacey and Madison's.

"Well she's busy right now, but what else is new" Val told them.

"Yeah, I think we should come over and talk to her" Lacey replied, with Madison agreeing.

"No, I mean, I should talk to her."

I hung up the phone, hearing Val's footsteps making their way up the staircase.

"Morgan?" Val called from outside our room.

I opened the door, leaning on the door frame, "Look I know what you're going to say, but Ronnie's my brother, and this means a lot to him. He hasn't been out on a date in years"

"I know he's your brother, but don't you think he's taking advantage of you?"

I pulled him into a hug, knowing that he was right, "I just don't know what to do"

Just then, the phone rang, answering it, I recognized Ronnie's voice. I was extremely mad, not only that he dumped this kid on me, but because he missed work twice, without telling anyone where he was.

"Ronnie, come over here right now and get this kid. This is her responsibility, not yours or mine!" I shouted through the phone.

"Yeah, I don't think we'll have the kid around anymore."

"What?" I asked curiously.

"She cheated on me, that's why I haven't been around for a while. I just couldn't bring myself to tell you."

I wasn't surprised, I didn't like that girl from the moment she set foot in the house. Tara came over later, picking up Tommy and slamming the door behind her.

Val and I left for practice the next morning, and found out who was going to the All Star game, Lidstrom, Pav, Hank, Ozzie, and Babs.

"Morgan can I talk to you?" Babs yelled from the bench. I skated across the ice, patting the guys on the back who were waiting in line, "What's up coach" I said, leaning on the boards.

"Well, since I'm going to be coaching the All Star game, I was hoping that you could be the athletic trainer there?"

I gasped in shock, "Yes! I mean, it would be my pleasure! Thank you so much Coach!"

I skated over to Val, who was standing in line, waiting to do his drill, talking to Pavs about the game.

"Guess who's going to Atlanta!" I shouted.

"Hmm, let me guess, Pav?" Val said sarcastically, trying to get me riled up.

"No, me!"

"Well, I guess you better get packing" Pav said.

"Yeah, but Val, don't you want to come?" I asked him.

"Well, I suppose, if you really want me too" he said kissing my lips gently.

Babs, caught us, then yelled out, "Filppula, take a few laps!"

Val's face turned bright red, he gave me one more kiss, then skated backwards around the rink, crossing his skates in and out, putting me in a trance, it looked so perfect. That is until Ronnie snapped his finger in front of my face, "We have to go fill up the tubs with ice" he told me, demandingly.

Finnish Wonder Part 20

2008-07-21T17:42:00.000-07:00

Before I knew it, it was the morning of the party. Both Lacey and Madison were over to help set up, I knew I couldn't count on any of the guys. They were all across the street at Bretty's house, watching football. I was surprised that Val went over there, he's never watched a game of football in his life until the guys forced him too, he's more of a soccer kind of guy, but aren't all Europeans?

My phone rang, it was the manager for the band that we were supposed to have playing for the New Years party.

"Sorry, we're not going to be able to make it tonight"

"What! I've got a house full of hockey players all expecting an awesome party, and you can't make it?!" I screamed through the phone.

"Like I said, we're sorry, have a nice day" the man said hanging up.

I started swearing in Finnish, not realizing that Val was standing in the doorway, along with Homer, who spoke a little Finnish himself.

"What's wrong babe? And how did you learn to swear like that, damn." Val said, while walking towards me.

"Calm down there Fil" Homer yelled, with his thick Swedish accent.

Val's face turned bright red, then he cleared his throat, "Here let me get that." He grabbed the lights out of my hands and hung them above the doorway.

"Thanks" I said, wrapping my arms around his neck, pulling him into a deep kiss.

Homer walked past us making one of his, oh so famous, eh noises. I rolled my eyes and told them all about the news. Lacey looked at me with one of those, are you thinking what I'm thinking looks, that she all ways gave me.

"What?" I asked.

"Well, you know we could be the band for tonight! You know I'm skilled at the guitar, Madison can play the drums, and hello, you rock at singing!" she shouted.

"Oh no, the last time I sang was, well it was too long ago." I fought back, knowing that I could never win a fight against her.

"You sing?" Val said with excitement.

"You said that with such encouragement" I said rolling my eyes, thinking about what songs I would even sing while I was up there, "Well, alright.." I finally gave in.

Lacey and Madison both jumped up and down, coming at me for a hug, "I'll go get the stuff from Brett's house."

Later that night we finally had everything ready for the party, we were just waiting on all of the guys to arrive. Aaron arrived first, not to long before all the rest of the guys.

"What's this? You sing MP?" the guys asked.

"No, I figured that I'd make a complete ass out of myself in front of you guys!" I said sarcastically.

The first song that we sang was Last Resort by Papa Roach, and it went really well actually, the guys seemed to really like it. I checked my watch, we had five more minutes until midnight. I let the stereo play a slow song, one that I knew in particular, I don't want to miss a thing by Aerosmith. I started looking for Val to dance with, but before I could find him, he grabbed my waste from behind and kissed the back of my neck, "This is our song"

I couldn't believe that he remembered, "You remembered!" I whispered in his ear.

"How could I not" he said in between kisses.

"Five, four, three, two!" Aaron shouted from the stage.

"One" Val whispered in my ear, then gave me a long hard kiss, "Happy New Year Morgan"

I giggled from the touch of his cold hand on my warm stomach. I kissed him hard, then pulled away, teasing him.

"Mm" he moaned, "Damn you look sexy in that ref costume."

"Well you look sexy in that firefighters costume." I teased back.

I could tell what he was itching for, and kept on egging him on, "Maybe later"

"Yes, but now you can try a whopper!" a voice came from behind me.

It was Aaron's voice, but it sure wasn't his face, he was wearing the BK King costume, it was so creepy, I felt like screaming.

"Aaron, you're such a dork." I yelled at him.

"Yeah, yeah. So are you two going to, you know, later on?"

"Aaron!" I punched his shoulder, "You're such a perv!"

"Come on, help me sneak up behind Brett, Lacey, Jimmy, and Maid" he begged.

We made our way over to the snack table, where they were all talking. My job was to distract them.

"Whopperrrr" Aaron whispered from behind them a few times, then popped up yelling, "Large fries mother fuckas!"

They all screamed, Lacey and Madi jumped, then chased after him, dumping what was left of their drinks on him.

Before we knew it, it was four in the morning, and most of the guys had left. Val and I went up stairs, leaving the mess for the morning. We found Madi and Jimmy crashed in one of our guest bedrooms, Hank and Emma in the other, and Meechy in the other one, all by himself.

"I feel bad for him, he deserves a girlfriend." I said to Val.

"Don't worry," he said ripping his shirt off, and picking me up off my feet. He threw me on the bed, but we were interrupted by Aaron walking out of our bathroom, sill with his mask on.

"Sorry, I already plugged the bathroom down stairs"

I chucked a pillow at him, then ran my hands up Val's chest and onto his neck.

"This is going to be a great year" I moaned.

Finnish Wonder Part 19

2008-07-15T09:42:00.000-07:00

The next day Val and I went to my old apartment to start packing things up to move into our house. When we arrived Aaron and Meechy were sitting on the couch with Ronnie playing NHL 08.

"Hey guys, what are you doing here?" I asked, throwing the keys on the counter.

"Hey MP! Didn't you hear, we're Ronnie's new room mates." Aaron said proudly.

"Yeah, we're going to hook him up with some chicks!" Meechy said, with his eyes glued to the T.V. screen.

"Right..well you might want to get some for yourself first" I joked.

Val and I grabbed the boxes and headed into my room, throwing all of my bed sheets in one box. Val packed up all of my Cd's and DVD, while I carefully put my posters away. We all ready had furniture in the new house, so I didn't bother taking anything big, sacrificing my T.V. over to Aaron. Before I walked out the door for the last time Aaron asked when we planned on breaking our house in. What he meant by that was throwing a huge party.

"I don't know, how about everyone comes over for New Years?" I suggested.

"Ahh! You're brilliant! I bring beer" he shouted, as I walked out the door.

After we left, we went straight to Val's house, he didn't have much left there, since he practically lived at my apartment. We grabbed what was left, then headed to the grocery store.

When we got back home I went straight to the kitchen and started stalking our fridge. I noticed that Val bought tons of Gatorade, he and I both love orange Gatorade, he takes one to every game and practice. I put away the milk and all of the other groceries, then Val came up behind me, putting his hands on my hips. I turned around and pressed my lips firmly to his, "I can't believe that we have our own house!" I said in between kisses.

"I know, now we can finally be alone!" he said, referring to my brother always being in the apartment.

After the house was decorated, we could finally sit down and take a break from everything. Val and I sat on the couch until the door bell rang.

"Hey girl! Welcome to the neighborhood!" Lacey said, handing me a plate of watermelon. "That's your house warming present, I didn't have time to bake cookies"

I laughed at Brett, trying to get the lawn mower to start from across the street.

"Isn't this so exciting! You live right next to Brett, which is where I am most of the time!"

Lacey and I went into the kitchen and talked for a while, eating the watermelon along the way. I told her about the New Years party at our house, and to tell some of the other guys if she saw them around.

"Morgan?" Val yelled from upstairs.

"Yeah?" I said, running up the steps.

I followed his voice, and noticed that he was in the bathroom. I Carefully opened the door, and saw Val filling up the hot tub. "Hey sexy!" I yelled, tackling him into the suds.

It was so relaxing to just sit there talking with him. We sat in the tub for about an hour, until the phone rang, then we both got out. I wrapped the towel around my body, then threw on a pair of jeans and my Jokerit hoodie.

"Its Aaron, he said to come open the front door" Val yelled from our bedroom.

I rushed downstairs, wondering what he wanted. I opened the door, and Aaron was standing there with his arm behind his back, "I think I may have found something under my bed that belongs to you."

"What?" I said, confused.

He held out his fist in front of me, then opened his hand slowly, "Aaron! Give me those!" I yelled, taking the small red thong from his hand.

"You're such a perv, ya know!" I said, hitting his chest.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." he said, entering the house.

We sat at the snack bar in the kitchen, talking about the New Years party. Aaron wanted it to be perfect, so he figured that he'd better come over and start planning it early. When he finally left it was 11:00 at night, and all I wanted to do was sleep.

"See ya in a few days!" he shouted as he left the drive way.

I walked up the steps, and into our bedroom, seeing Val on our bed watching hockey night in Canada. Coach (Don Cherry) was on, of course bragging up his Canadiens again. Val turned to me, grabbing my hand, and resting it on his stomach.

"New Years party..Aaron sucks" he said, barely being able to keep his eyes open.

"Yeah, but hopefully it'll be fun"

"Mm.." he trained off. A few minutes passed, "Morgan?"

"Hmm?" I asked.

"So, what did Aaron have to give you?"

I laughed and pulled the thong out of my pocket, throwing it into the laundry basket across the room.

"Morgan?" he called again. "I love you"

I smiled, then moved closer to him, wrapping my arm around his body, "I love you too."

Finnish Wonder Part 18

2008-07-14T13:37:00.000-07:00

I took Val's hand in mine as we stepped off of the plane, the air was crisp, but calm. I loved the smell of Canada, and how the snow fell so softly. I turned around to see what Val's reaction was, only to see him shivering, "B-babe, can we go inside? Its freezing out here!"

"Yeah, but first.." I grabbed a bunch of snow in my hands and press it together, making a perfect snowball. I aimed right for Val's back, "Gotcha!"

"Hey! Get back here!" he yelled, chasing me into the house. We slammed the door behind us, and set our bags down on the floor. "Honey!" my mom greeted me, giving me a tight squeeze. Her gaze shifted over to Val, "Why hello there Mr. Filppula." she said shaking his hand.

Val moved onto my dad, "Hey Drapes, long time no see!" They did some weird handshake that the team made up, then hugged. I shook my head, then grabbed my bags and headed to my old room. I walked in, seeing the familiar walls were still littered with my old hockey posters that I won in contests, or ripped out of magazines.

"Holy hockey!" Val said from the doorway.

"Yeah, I was pretty obsessed back then."

We stacked our suitcases next to the desk, then plopped down on my full sized bed. I gave Val a quick peck on the lips, then ran my hand up his back. He dug his face into my neck, then kissed my lips roughly, hesitating. "What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Huh? Oh, well I guess I just never thought I'd be making out in front of my heroes Teemu Salanne and Jari Kurri." he said lying next to me. I laughed then sat up, leaning on my elbow, looking into his deep blue eyes. The trance was broken by my dad, "Kids, dinner's in a half an hour!" he yelled from the kitchen.

I got off of the bed and walked over to our suitcases, unzipping mine, and throwing my clothes in my old closet. Val's present was in the bottom of my suitcase, so I quickly zipped it up. We headed out for dinner, walking into the kitchen, my Grama and Grampa Draper were sitting at the snack bar.

"Grams, Gramps! What are you two doing here? I thought you weren't coming until tomorrow!"

"Well, we heard that you got a decent boyfriend, so we had to come meet him, before he got scared off by the whole family." my Grama told me.

"OK, well this is Valtteri, he plays on the same team as daddy"

Val stuck out his hand, but my Grama went in for a hug, and suprisingly, so did my Grampa. "Now, I thought you told me that you would never date another hockey player as long as you live?!" my Grampa questioned.

"Well, that was a really long time ago Gramps." I told him.

We all sat down for supper, my mom made fries with gravy, Turkey, and corn. I looked over at Val, and saw that he was looking weirdly at what my dad had just slopped on his plate.

"Its just fries with gravy, its a Canadian dish, just try it" I said, making a face that he never says no to.

He must have liked it, because he shoved his face until there wasn't any left in the bowl. He sat there rubbing his stomach, listening to the weird stories that my Grampa always told. My mom, my Grama, and I did the dishes, while my dad, my Grampa, Ronnie, and Val got out the mini sticks and the clothes baskets, playing hockey in the living room.

The next morning Val and I were waken by a bunch of little kids at the foot of the bed. "Wake up sleepy head!" they yelled. I sat up, checking my cell phone, there was a video message from Aaron. It was from him and Meechy, saying that they missed me, I shook my head and pressed the next button. A text message from Lacey, that said Merry Christmas, and one from Madi that said the same.

Val and I walked into the family room, where everyone was sitting around the tree opening presents. They all were staring at Val, "Everyone, this is my boyfriend Valtteri Filppula. Val, this is everyone."

"Merry Christmas!" everyone shouted.

Val and I made our way over to the couch, he plopped down, pulling me onto his lap. "Merry Christmas" he whispered, handing me a rather large box. I opened it, seeing that it was an old Jokerit hoodie of his that had Filppula on the bottom back. "Thanks!" I said, giving him a peck on the lips.

I pulled out a box and gave it to him, he opened it and saw that it was a new jacket. "So you didn't like my parka?" he said laughing.

After everyone got down opening their presents, we went outside to play a little hockey on our backyard pond. I was on a team with my dad, and my cousins Sara, Ricky, Mike, and Wes. Val was on a team with Ronnie, and my uncles, Rob, Scott, Terry, and Jeff. My team won 10-7. We unlaced our skates, putting our boots back on and walking up to the back deck.

"S'mores anyone?" my mom yelled out.

Val had another confused look on his face, "A what?"

"Here, just eat it" I said, shoving the gooey treat into his mouth.

We all sat by the fire, while my Grama played the piano, and the little kids sang Christmas carols. Later that night we had to head back to Detroit. When we got off the plane it was 11:00 at night, but we were both beat.

"Val, where are we going?" when I noticed that he wasn't driving to my apartment.

"You'll see, just wait." he told me, smiling.

We pulled into a familiar neighborhood, it just happened to be where most of the players lived in Novi. I was surprised when we didn't pull into one of the guys' driveways, but instead, we pulled up to a huge house. I looked at him, then he handed me a little black box with a red ribbon around it. I opened it, seeing that it was a key, "Oh my gosh, this.."

"Yeah, just go open the door, I'm beat."

"You mean, this is.." he cut me off.

"Will you live with me?" he asked.

I looked at him and gave his a long, hard kiss, "Of course."

We fell asleep on our new bed, that didn't even have sheets on it yet, but it was a great feeling, knowing that Val was right next to me.

2008-07-14T10:46:00.000-07:00

Finnish Wonder Part 17

2008-07-10T12:30:00.001-07:00

When we got back to my apartment later on that day I opened a letter from my parents that was on the counter.
I sighed as I was through reading it. Val looked at me with confusion on his face, "What's a matter babe?" he asked.

"My parents want us to go back to Canada for Christmas with them."

"Sounds like fun."

"Yeah, right. Christmas with the Drapers is crazy!" I told him.

"Well its better than being cooped up in this apartment for Christmas." he said reassuringly. I gave in and grabbed the phone to call my dad. He sounded excited that Val, Ronnie, and I were coming back to Canada with them.
Christmas wasn't for a few more weeks, but I wanted to get all of my shopping done early. Madison was in Grand Rapids, so it was just Lacey and I shopping.

I put on a pair of dark jeans, a green T-Shirt, and a pair of sneakers. I grabbed one of Val's old hoodies from when he played for Jokerit in Finland, stopping in my tracks from the great smell.
My phone rang on my way out the door, it was Triina, "Hey, how's the baby!?" I asked excitedly.

"Its doing great! We're expecting it sometime in April."

"That's awesome, so whats up?"

"Well I was just calling to ask you what size shoe Val wears, Ilari wants to get him some new ones for Christmas."

"Oh, size 11. But I have to go now, take care!" I flipped my phone shut and hopped into Lacey's car.

We spent the whole day shopping, but we bought stuff for us too. Before we knew it, it was time to leave for the game. It was the third period, we were down 2-1, and my dad got absolutely crushed in the corner, I turned my attention to Ronnie, then the whistle blew. Ronnie and I ran over to our dad as quickly as possible, "What hurts?" I asked with concern.

"I'm fine, just a little shaken up." he replied.

He tried getting up, but was in too much pain, "OK, maybe my leg hurts a little." he said with a grin on his face.

"Well lets get you into the locker room and check you out." Ronnie told him. While Ronnie helped him into the locker room I returned back to the bench. The game went on, but we lost 2-1 in regulation.

Two weeks passed by, and there was a week left until Christmas. There was a knock on the door, "Hey buddy!" Franzen yelled to Val.

"Ready to go ring the bell for the salvation army?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess.." Val drug himself off the couch, grabbing his brown parka out of the closet. I tried not to make a face as he put it on, but it was the ugliest jacket I'd ever seen. I handed him some money to put in the bucket, and sat back down on the couch.

I fell asleep on the couch not long after that, but was woken up when he came back three hours later.

"Have fun?" I asked, sleepily. Laughing, he came over to the couch and carried me into my bedroom.

Christmas Eve rolled around, Val and I went down to the Joe to record the team holiday greeting for the team website, and to record them reading the book, "The Grinch Stole Christmas". I laughed at Dom when he was reading, you could barely understand what he was saying at all, same with Huds, Kopy, and Pav.
When it came time for Val to read, I couldn't laugh, I found myself thinking about how good he would be with children.
Aaron came up behind me whispering, "I like the way Fil says pudding, pooding!" he joked.

"Ha, ha, very funny Aaron." I said punching him in the arm.

We won the game that night, then boreded the plane for Canada, along with basically half of the team, apparently they all were going back home for the few days we had off. I looked outside of the window when we landed and took a deep breath, feeling at home again.

"I love it here." I said to myself, smiling.

Finnish Wonder Part 16

2008-07-09T15:02:00.000-07:00

A week later the team was off to Nashville to play. I really didn't want to have to deal with Jordan Tootoo's attitude again, he's the guy the slashed Val across the face.
I took my seat on Red Bird II and rested my head on Val's shoulder, sighing.
"What's a matter babe?" Val asked, stroking my hand.
I looked up at him and touched the scar on his face, "Well your face heals nicely, but hopefully there won't be another accident with that guy."
"Relax, that was a one time thing. Its not like I ever did anything to him, I don't know why he even did it."
"Yeah, I guess you're right.." I said dozing off.
What seemed like five minutes of sleep ended in a, "Waky waky!" from Aaron.
I punched him quickly and ran to Val for protection, sticking my tongue out at him.
"That's the best you can do for protection? I could take Filppula any day!" he yelled. Val smirked, "Yeah, he's probably right."
"Well I don't know, judging by what you did to Meechy's face.." Ozzie chimed in.
"OK boys, could we go a little slower getting off the plane?" Babs yelled. We all rolled our eyes and headed off the plane.
We all went out to eat later on, of course signing autographs along the way. Tons of teenage girls swarmed around Val, so I just stood by Ronnie until the crowd passed. "Well Fil's just the new hearthrob of the team, isn't he." Ronnie teased. "Well look at him, he's gorgeous." I shot back at him, staring at Val's body. Ronnie rolled his eyes and walked into the diner. I walked over to Val, leaning on his arm, "Almost done?" I asked.
"Yup, done. Lets go eat, I'm starving."
After we got done eating, we headed to the hotel for the daily nap that the guys took.
Val and I set our stuff down in the hotel room, "Time for my nap, care to join me?" he asked.
"Um, actually I think I'm going to go shopping sense Lacey and Madison came." I told him. Val wrapped his arms around me, "Please don't go." I pulled my lips away from him, "I'll only be gone for a few hours."
I left the room catching up with Lacey and Madi, "Hey girls!"
"Hey! So, where do you want to go to get Val his anniversary present?" Madison asked.
"I have no idea, I've never shopped for one before."
"Well, you should get him something that he'll never forget." Lacey suggested.
"Yeah, but what's that. Our anniversary is tomorrow and I didn't get him anything yet!" I panicked.
"I don't know!" they said in unison.
We giggled and talked about our boyfriends the whole time, until I found the perfect present. His watch was broken, so I decided to get him a really expensive one.
"So what do you think he got you MP?" Madison asked curiously.
"I'm not even sure he remembers. He probably doesn't, but he's a guy."
"Yeah, Brett can't even remember his own birthday, but I love the guy to death." Lacey said, staring off.
It was finally time for the game, I watched the starting line up go to the blue line, and Dom go to the net. The National Anthem played, then the game started. Jordan Tootoo skated by eying up Val, "Hey Aaron!" I yelled from just down the bench.
"Hmm?"
"Keep an eye on Tootoo for me, will ya?" I told him.
"Sure thing!" he said with an evil grin on his face. Ozzie looked over at me, shaking his head, "Tootoo, a younger version of Pronger."
"You got that right!" I said, smacking his hand. Nothing bad happened to our team, but as for Tootoo, Aaron hit him so hard in the second period, he didn't return for the rest of the game. Later that night Val and I were sitting in the hotel room, I got up, brushed my teeth and started changing into my boxers and beater for bed. Val quickly got out of his chair and stripped down to his boxers, "You read my mind. I'm beat!" he said, plopping down on the bed.
I climbed into bed and put my hand on his stomach, directing my attention to him.
"I can't wait until tomorrow." he whispered in my ear. I looked up at him in shock, I couldn't believe that he remembered, I smiled at him and fell asleep in his arms.
In the morning Val wasn't in the room, but I woke up to a teddy bear right beside me. It had a little tuxedo on, and it was holding a little pink envelope, that read:
"Happy anniversary Morgan, but you can't see me until tonight. I'll send you clues throughout the day of where you have to go. Love, Val."
I headed down to have breakfast with the gang, "Hey, isn't Val eating this morning?" I asked Aaron.
"Yeah, he already ate. But he did say that he took a plane back to Detroit. Oh, and he told me to tell you not to call him, and that you'll get the rest of your clues sometime today."
"Oh, OK.." I said sitting down.
When we got back to Detroit there was a Limo waiting outside, a guy was standing outside with a silver platter. When I got closer I could see that there was a single rose and a little pink envelope. This one read:
"Get inside the car, and put on what's wait on the seat. The driver will know where to bring you. Love, Val."
I smelled the flower and looked back at Madison and Lacey, they both smiled and made hand gestures for me to go. When I got inside the Limo, I saw a beautiful black dress waiting on the seat, along with a dark blue box. I quickly changed into the dress, then opened the box. Inside was a heart shaped locket, I opened it and saw a picture of Val and I, and the words I love you engraved inside the locket. A tear rolled down my cheek as the Limo came to a stop.
The driver opened the door, I stepped out and saw Val standing there with that cheesy grin on his face. He grabbed my hand and pulled me close to him, kissing me softly. I looked around, to see where we were, "A harbor?" I asked.
He grabbed my hips and turned me around, "Our boat awaits us." he whispered in my ear. My jaw dropped at the boat that was lit up by Christmas lights hanging every which way.
"Its-" before I could finish Val put his finger over my lips, pulling me onto the boat.
"Just wondering, you do know how to drive a boat right?" I asked.
"Not exactly." he replied, putting it into gear and taking off. We stopped in the middle of the Lake, sitting against the side of the boat under the stars.
"I almost forgot, here's your present. Its not anything compared to what you got me-" I said getting cut off by another soft kiss. He opened it and smiled, "You noticed that mine was broken!" he said excitedly. I watched him set the watch carefully back into its packaging.
"I love it. And before I forget, I have another present for you."
"What, that's not fair!" I pouted. He took out a small square box, and opened it. A little band of metal with a huge diamond appeared out of the box, "This is to tell you that I love you."
Tears started streaming down my face, "Well you could have just said it, instead of buying me such expensive things." I said kissing him.
"I love you." he whispered. I quickly put the ring back in the case, pouncing on Val. He unzipped my dress, and I ripped off his clothes. "Val?" I said quietly. He stopped kissing my neck and looked up at me, "Right, I'm sorry."
"No, not that. I love you too."
He smiled at me, "So..you really want to do this?" he asked. I grabbed his neck and pulled him closer to me, kissing him roughly. I woke up in the morning, with my naked back stuck to Val's chest. "I could get used to this." I whispered to my self.
"Me too." Val said kissing the back of my neck.

Finnish Wonder Part 15

2008-06-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

Val grabbed his bag, along with some of his sticks, and his dirty clothes.
"So where are we going?" he asked me.
"I thought we could just go up in the bleachers, alone from everyone." I looked up at all of the stairs, my whole relationship with Val rushed through my mind. I stood there staring off.
"Ahem" he cleared his throat, "You OK?" he asked. I quickly turned around, but I couldn't get anything to come out of my mouth, so I nodded. As we headed up the stairs, my hands got sweaty and my heart started pounding. I picked a place to sit, Val followed and sat right next to me, which didn't make the whole nervous thing any better. I took a deep breath, but before I could say anything, he started talking.
"Morgan, I know what I did was wrong b-" I cut him off.
"Just listen. Its not about that, this is about me being able to trust you again."He looked hurt knowing that I didn't trust him, "So, does that mean you'll give me another chance?" he smiled deviously.
I laughed, while that big cheesy grin that I missed so much came over his face. I grabbed his hand, feeling that his were sweaty too.
"Yeah, we can give it another shot, but you're going to have to gain your trust back." I told him. He smile as I kissed his cheek, "I don't know what to tell Meechy." Val stood up, leaving his bags on the floor, "I'll talk to him."
As he walked away, everyone on the ice directed their attention to me, "Whats the dealio!?" Aaron finally shouted, breaking the silence.
I looked over at Meech, and hesitated to say anything, "Looks like I've got some dirty laundry to do." I shouted back. The whole team smiled and watched Val walk over to Meecher.
[Val's POV]
As I walked over to Meecher, the whole team was staring at me. I didn't have any intention of telling him off, he was one of my closest friends. As I got closer I could see that he had a black eye, and a mouth full of blood.
"What'da come over here for. To beat me up some more?" he asked me.
"Hey man, you started it. But no, that's not what I came over here for." I told him.
"Oh, yeah, then what for?"
I looked up at Morgan, she was smiling, "Morgan and I are getting back together."
"Oh, so you came over here to rub it in then?" he shouted.
"No, Meecher, you're one of my best friends. I came over here to tell you that even though this didn't work out for you, I know there is an amazing girl out there for you somewhere."
He looked up at me, "Yeah?"
"Definitely." I said patting him on the back. He smiled back at me and walked into the locker room.
[My POV]
I watched Val talk to Meechy for a while until they separated, Val walked up to me, "My work here is done." He grabbed my hand and pulled me into a deep kiss, everyone on the ice started clapping, out faces turned bright red.
"Come on," Val said, pulling me down the steps.
The next few weeks flew by, and today was our first game of the season. Everything had to be perfect, Babs even gave Ronnie and I new jackets and wind pants to wear. I wasn't to fond of our outfits, but at least they weren't super ugly.
I found myself nervous for the first time on the job, I had no idea why. I decided to go to the Joe early and shoot some pucks around. The game started at 7:00, but the boys would be out on the ice around 6:30, so I decided to go around 5:00. As I laced up my skates I got a sudden rush of adrenaline. I stepped out onto the ice, I loved the feeling. I began stick handling down the ice, trying different tricks, then I decided to stand at center ice and do slap shots.
"Holy!" a voice came from behind me.
"Hey sexy!" I egged him on.
"So you wanna go or what?" he said grabbing a stick from the bench.
"Bring it Filppula."
We skated around for about a have an hour, we weren't really keeping track of the score, but I argued that I was winning. I scored a goal and celebrated, as he watched me take my lap around the ice, his blue eyes caught mine. I skated over to him, knocking him down on the ground. I landed right on top of him, we laughed for a few minutes before I got hypnotized by his eyes again.
"Those damn eyes." I said out loud
He laughed, and kissed me roughly.
"Ahem!" Al Sabotka yelled from the Zamboni doors, "I kinda have to do my thing here, if you don't mind."
It was the third period, we were behind 3-2, when Val skated down the ice, 2 on 1. He deked a few times, shot, "Scores!" I yelled.
He lifted his arms in the air, waiting for his team mates to come celebrate with him. Before they could a guy from the other team skated by and slashed across the face with the blade of his stick. I saw blood all over the ice, and rushed over with Ronnie, I quickly applied pressure with the towel. As he lay on the ice, his face covered in blood, I just stared at him.
"I love you" he said looking me straight in the eyes.
I swallowed hard, then kissed him, "I love you too."
The whole arena had their eyes glued to us as I helped him back up.
We won 3-4 in a shootout, and the boys were looking extremely tired.
I walked over to give my dad and Ozzie and good bye hug, "So you really like this guy hey?" my dad asked.
"No daddy, I love him." That had only been the second time I had said that, but I realized I had been in love with him all along.

Finnish Wonder Part 14

2008-06-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

I turned to look at Meechy, feeling quite embarrassed. I let out a small laugh, "Thanks again" I said running my fingers up his arms. I rested my head on his lap as we watched The Mighty Ducks on DVD. Ronnie walked in shortly after we had fallen asleep, I jumped up to greet him. "RJ! I haven't seen you in, well it seems like forever anyways.." I hugged him. "Hey, I'm just going to go to bed, I'm extremely tired." he told me. "Night!" I yelled, waking Meechy up. "What?" he said, popping his head up from the couch.
"Nothing, hey I'm going to go to bed. You can stay out here if you want." I walk into my room, slipping into my red lace panties, and my old Shanny T-Shirt that has a giant #14 on the front.
It felt good to get back into my own bed, I plopped my head down on my pillow, but felt something poke the back of my head. Lifting up my head, I say a tiny white envelope with my name on it. I could tell Val's writing from any ones, I hesitated to open the envelope, but decided I'd better.
I found that there was a letter inside from Val, it read:
'Morgan, before you decide anything more about us, I want to take the time to tell you I'm terribly sorry, and that I should have confronted you about the situation. I should have known you better, I knew you would never do anything to hurt me. But you've got to understand, I wouldn't never, ever do anything to hurt you on purpose. You're the most amazing woman I've ever met, and if you give it a chance, I know that we could have many more memories to look back at. Well you know my number if you want to call. Love, Val
I could feel hot tears rolling down my cheeks, I didn't know where to go from here. I texted Aaron, and told him to come over tomorrow around eleven a.m. "Sure thing" he texted back.
When I woke up in the morning Meechy was gone, and Ronnie was in the kitchen making me french toast. "You read the letter?" RJ asked walking toward me with a hot plate and a cold glass of orange juice. "You knew about the letter?" I asked him, sitting up.
"Val told me everything. Well, he kinda had to if he didn't want to get hurt." Ronnie pressed his fist against the inside of his hand, making punching motions over and over.
He got a smirk out of me, "So, what do you think I should do?"
"You're asking me for advice?" he laughed, "I think you should talk to him" he walked back into the kitchen, "So training camp starts next week. You ready?"
"Shit, I completely forgot about it. I still need to get all of my paperwork together." I sat back on the couch, looking up at the ceiling, wishing there was an easy button I could push.
Aaron came over, but we didn't do much talking. We sat there and played NHL 07, which meant that he was still on the stars' team, which he hated. We played Habs vs. Wings, I won of course, but only by one goal, scored by Huds.
He reached for the remote, shutting off the T.V. "I talked to Flip" he said, staring at my twiddling thumbs.
"Well, actually he didn't really talk much. It seemed like I was talking to a totally different person" he told me.
"Yeah, well that's why I called you over here. Aaron, I don't know what to do, I'm so confused.."
Aaron got up and opened the door, "I can tell you still have huge feelings for him, and he doesn't even know how to live with you. That's all I have to say" he slammed the door behind him.
The next week flew by, I didn't see too much of Meechy, but he did come over occasionally. Training camp was finally here, Ronnie and I got in the car and drove to Traverse City. The whole team was suiting up in the locker room, including some new faces, who looked scared out of their minds.
"Hey daddy!" I shouted from across the room. "My, my, will you look who it is! I haven't seen you all summer Cat." he said while hugging me.
I glanced over at Val, his head was slung over, and he was staring at the floor. I finally gave up the courage to go talk to him, I set my hand on his shoulder and sat on the bench next to him. He imediatly directly his attention to me, I stared into his amazing blue eyes, hypnotized.
"Hey, I read your letter. I think you're right, can we talk after training's over?" I asked. He glanced over at Meech, then looked back at me, "Yeah, but....Meech?" I knew exactly what he was thinking. "Look, after training. OK?" I said, while resting my hand on his knee.
He nodded, "Yeah..." I ruffled his hair a bit before heading out onto the ice with Ronnie.
Babs blew his whistle, and the whole rink silenced, he cleared his throat, "Line up, the lowest to highest number, Captains behind me. I caught Val staring at me from across the rink, and I blushed. Meech must have saw it because he had an upset look on his face.
Every time I skated past Val, he looked me up and down, I didn't mind it though.
Meech skated over to Val, and circled him, "Stay away from Morgan, she said she didn't want to see you anymore." I heard him say.
Val followed his stare, "Hey, what do you know about Morgan. You've only known her for, how long?" he said.
Meech pushed him, the first time Val tried skating away, but he pushed him again. Val turned around and grabbed onto his jersey, it broke out into a long fight. The whole team was surrounding them, until my dad and Malts broke them up. "You two, in my office now!" Babs yelled. A few minutes later Babs stepped out, "Morgan, my office please."
I walked into his office, "I'm sorry, but you've caused enough distractions to this team Morgan. You're fired."
"I understand." I was surprised that's all I said, usually I stand up for myself, but I guess I was tired of fighting.
I walked into the locker room grabbing my things and putting them into a box. I could hear Babs announcing to the team that I was gone, the team sounded disappointed. Then Babs came into the locker room, "There has been a misunderstanding Morgan, someone explained the whole situation, and I'm letting you off with a warning. But remember, three strikes and you're out."
I smiled and gave him a hug, "Who made you change your mind?" I asked
He cleared his throat, like he was about to give some huge speech, "I am not at liberty to tell you that." I saw his eyes shift over to the doorway, I turned around, only to see Val standing right there. Babs left the room, "I'll leave you two kids alone."
"It was you?" I asked Val.
"It was the least I could do. So you wanted to talk?" he said, taking off his equipment.
I nodded, "Yeah, but can we go some place else?"
"Of course." he said smiling.

Finnish Wonder Part 13

2008-06-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

I called Jimmy's house to talk to Madison, but the answering machine said they went to Canada for the summer, so I called Lacey instead. "Hey girl! I haven't heard from you in a while, whats up?" she asked. "Hey.." I said quietly. "Whats wrong?" she said in a concerned voice. I explained the whole situation, but had to get on the plane shortly after.
Ronnie picked me up from the airport, swearing the whole way home, saying things like, "What an idiot, he's going to get next time I see him!" I fell asleep during the ten minute drive home, but managed to drag myself up to the apartment. I took a the longest shower of my life, thinking about what exactly had happened. When I walked out Lacey, Brett, Meecher, and Aaron were all sitting on the couch, "Hey!" Aaron jumped up and yelled. A smile quickly came over my face, but remembering everything wiped it off. Lacey threw my jean short shorts, my gray and white striped beater, and my flip flops at me, "Get your ass moving, we're going on a road trip to the Chi!" she said with her hands on her hips. "What?" I finally managed to spit out. Like always, I gave into her.
"Tada!" Aaron said while directing my eyes towards his new red convertible mustang with white racing stripes. We all raced to it, Aaron and I sat in the front, while Lacey, Brett, and Meechy sat in the back. Aaron turned the key in the ignition and the whole car started vibrating, 'Just a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit' boomed through the speakers. "Haha, oops!" he laughed.
The trip down to Chicago was frustrated, especially since Aaron had never driven down there before and refused to take directions from Lacey or Brett. "Dude, just let me drive eh?" Brett yelled from the back seat. Aaron finally gave in, Brett and Lacey switched us seats, and I found myself sitting in between Aaron and Meechy. Meechy wasn't his normal self, shy for once, but Aaron made up for that.
We arrived at Brett and his brother, Arik's, house, it was pretty nice. We dropped our bags off inside and took off for six flags. Brett and Lacey led us everywhere, they probably had been there hundreds of times. We went on a few rides, and had tons of fun, by that time every one's hair was sticking straight back. I turned to Meechy and laughed, "Here let me fix that" I told him while pulling his hair back to normal. He smiled, then blushed, "Thanks." "Step right up, don't be shy, get yourself a huge teddy bear. Hey kid, betcha can't knock all these pins down!" the worker taunted Meech. "Alright, fine" Meechy said, he stepped up to the red line on the ground and wiped the ball so hard, it shattered all of the pins. The worker's mouth slung open, then he handed the giant teddy bear to Meechy. "Here" Meechy said, handing me the bear. "Aww, thanks" I said kissing him on the cheek. He looked at me, then kissed me on the lips, I pulled away, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have" he told me. "No..no its fine" I said smiling. "Lets go on the Ferris wheel guys!" Aaron yelled. We all ran towards it, "Oh, hell no, I ain't go on that thing!" Brett said. We all looked at like he was crazy, "You just went on all those twisted rides, and you won't go on the Ferris wheel!" Aaron said. "Last time I went on that thing, I puked" he said timidly. We all burst out laughing, "You're crazy, come on!" Lacey yelled. We managed to get him on it after a long debate. Meechy and I were in the seat right behind Lacey and Brett, and Aaron got stuck behind us with a fat chick, "Guys, this is not funny!" Aaron yelled from behind. Meechy and I both turned around and stuck our tongues out at him, then started laughing. "Guys, I-I think I'm going to-to" Brett said as he blew chunks onto the people below him, it was like a chain reaction, until the last person puked on the ground, instead of on other people.
We left the park a little after we got Brett's shirt cleaned, but he had to go topless, which Lacey didn't mind at all. "Why in the hell is the traffic so heavy?" Brett said to himself. We drove past an accident, the cars were jammed up for miles, Aaron stood up and started doing his siren impression, which sounded exactly like one. "Aaron! Sit down, are you nuts!" Brett yelled from the front seat.
[Meechy's POV]
We were on our way back to Brett's house, and got caught in heavy traffic. Morgan fell asleep on my shoulder, which I didn't mind at all. She looked beautiful, and smelled great too. I put my arm around her, and rested my head on hers, then Aaron flicked my arm. "Dude, what are you doing, she's kinda going out with one of our best friends!" Aaron whispered. "That's not what she told me" I shot back at him. "Whatever dude, all I know is that I don't think she needs all this drama right now. Training camp starts next week and we all need to be focused on that.
We got back to Brett's house and I didn't feel like waking Morgan up, she looked so peaceful. I decided to carry her in myself. I plopped her down on the reclining chair, but fell right on top of her. She pulled me in front of her and muttered, "Thanks."
[My POV]
Meechy and I fell asleep on the chair, while Aaron was on the couch, snoring really loudly. I chucked a pillow across the room, hoping he would shut up, but no luck. In the morning I woke up to Meech's face right in front of mine, he looked so cute laying there. I got up and made a pot of coffee, Aaron followed the smell and came in shortly after. "Hey, you know if you ever need to talk to me about stuff, you can." he said assuringly. "Yeah, I know" I said, handing him a cup of coffee.
"Water skiing today gang!" Brett said staggering into the kitchen. "You have a boat?" I asked with curiosity. "Well yeah!" he said taking Aaron's coffee. Soon enough we were all out on Lake Michigan, Lacey and I had never water skied before, but it sounded fun. Brett was strapping Lacey in and teaching her the basics, while Meechy was doing the same to me. Aaron was going to be the driver, for now anyways. Our first attempt didn't look to classy, I did the splits, while Lacey fell forward. We got the hang of it though, and we had a blast. "Alright girlie's, you get to drive, while we show you what the pros can do" Brett laughed. We hooked up another rope for Aaron, they looked amazing out there, doing tons of tricks and showing off.
Our fun was soon over, we headed back to Michigan. Aaron dropped Lacey and Brett of at Brett's place first, then drove Meechy and I back to my apartment. Our hands bumped several times before he finally grabbed mine, lacing his fingers with mine. I looked over at him and smiled, I gave him a little hip check. He smiled, I could see him looking over at me, so I looked back at him, he blushed and kissed me on the cheek. While I searched for my room key in my pockets, he looked me up and down, "Oh really?" I said raising one eyebrow. I pushed the door open and dropped my bags on the floor, "Val? What are you doing here?" I asked, pulling away from Meechy's grip. "I came back to talk to you about us, and about what happened." he pleaded. "Wait, what the hell is this? What is he doing here?" he shot at me. "Hey man, calm down!" Meech yelled at him. Val started saying horrible things, but Meechy cut him off, "Hey, don't talk about her that way, she's the most amazing person I've ever met!" he yelled. "You know what, fine, I thought I cared for you, but if you can move on then so can I." Val mumbled. I opened the door, then walked over to the couch crying. Meech came over to me, trying to comfort me. "I'm sorry you had to deal with him." I said, as tears rolled down my face. He reached over and wiped them off with his thumbs, "Its OK, I'm hear for you."

Finnish Wonder Part 12

2008-06-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

We got to Val's parents house, where we would be staying for the rest of the summer, "Its beautiful" I said while gazing.Val smiled at me, then grabbed my hand to pull me inside, "I'm glad you like it" he said still smiling. "Just make yourself at home sweety" Val's mom, Liisa told us as she stood there with a huge grin on her face.
It had been a few weeks since we had been in Finland, Val and his family took me on the royal tour of the town, and we also went to Vantaa, where Val was born. In those few weeks, I had gotten to see all of the embarrassing, naked pictures of him and Ilari from their childhood, and watched family videos. Val didn't seem to mind that I was pulled away from him by his family, but he seemed to enjoy watching me interact with them.
Triina, Ilari's soon to be wife was the nicest women I've ever met, she'd do anything for the man.
The phone rang, "Morgan!" a voice yelled out, "Where are you? I haven't heard from you in forever!" my dad yelled. "I'm so sorry dad, I thought Ronnie would have told you by now." I said, trying to explain myself. "I'm fine dad, I'm in Finland for the summer with Val." I said, hanging up. I felt cold hands wrap around my stomach, "Val!" I screeched. He smiled, "I'm really happy that you're getting along with my family, it seems like you and Triina are getting to be really good friends too." I smiled back at him, kissing his lips softly, "Yeah, they're all really nice."
Val went to town for a few hour with Ilari to pick out some things for the wedding, soon after he left Triina came busting through the door. "Morgan, I think I might be pregnant!" she said crying. I stood up quickly, helping her over to my bed, "Are you sure, I mean did you take the test?" I asked frantically. She looked at my with tears in her eyes, "No, but I've got all the symptoms. Will you help me?" My mouth hung open, "Y-yes, of course I'll help you. We got back from the drug store with five pregnancy tests, none of them were negative.
"I don't know how Ilari's going to take this, and I sure don't know how to tell him." Triina said, searching for an answer from me. "I think you should tell him when he gets back." I told her. She nodded her head, "Yeah, but lets go shopping first." she laughed. We grabbed our coats and took off to the mall.
My cell phone rang, we had been at the mall for about five hours now, it was Val's mom, "Hey, honey, not to get you worried or anything, but have you seen Val or Ilari around? They stopped at home when we weren't there and left a note saying they went out." she said in a worried voice. "N-no, I haven't Liisa, but Triina and I will go looking for them right now." I said turning to Triina.
I followed Triina to every place that Ilari goes to with his friends, but we couldn't find them, then my cell rang again, this time getting me a little bit worried. "Hey" Ilari said, "Have you seen Fil, he ditched me downtown somewhere, and I have no idea where he went." "I'm looking for him right now." I told him, trying to sound calm. "There is one more place that he could be." Triina told me. We rushed to a little bar just around the corner, Triina went up to the bar tender and asked him if he'd seen Val anywhere, but by the time she came back, I had already found him.
There he was, making out with some blond girl, I assumed he'd just met. I couldn't believe my eyes, "V-v-val?" I barely said. I ran out of the bar, but he caught up to me, grabbing my wrist, "Morgan! Wait I can explain." he yelled at me. I turned around, trying to loosen his grip, "Really? Because I don't think you can." I said looking him in the eyes, "Now just let go of me."
He let go, and the blond grabbed him from behind, kissing his neck. It made me sick. I got in the cab with Triina, but I went to a hotel instead of going back to the Filppula's.
It was about three in the morning when I heard Val's voice at the door of my hotel room, "Morgan, if you just open up the door, we could talk about it." I didn't make a sound, I just sat there in the dark, trying to think why he would do such a thing. I turned on my cell phone, and saw the picture of me with Val's family, I changed it to a picture of Aaron, Pav, Meechy, and I. I decided to text Aaron while I was up, he always knew what to say to cheer me up. I fell asleep after he told me that I just needed some time to think things over for myself.
In the morning I opened the door, only to see that Val had spent the night outside my hotel room. I tried shutting the door, but he had fallen just inside of the door, then he woke up.
I went back into the room flicking on the T.V. "Morgan, how could you do this to me!" he shouted at me. "What the hell are you talking about Valtteri Filppula, you are the one that is having an affair!" I yelled back at him. "Then why are you pregnant, when we never even had sex!" he yelled again. "What! Have you lost your mind, I'm not pregnant!" I screamed. "Oh, don't give my that crap, I saw the tests in the bathroom!" he yelled. Triina and Ilari were standing in the doorway the whole time. I walked out into the hallway, and slid down the wall crying, Triina came over to comfort me. We listened to Ilari and Val go at it, "Morgan isn't pregnant, those tests were Triina's!" Ilari finally said. "Oh, well...." I heard Val say. Ilari walked out of the room, "Come on girls, I'll take you back to the house.
We started walking out to the car, but Val pulled me aside, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that." he said trying to kiss me. "You think you can just say sorry and everything will be okay again? Well sorry just doesn't cut it." I said pulling away from his grip. "Please, Morgan. Just, just give me one more chance. If it doesn't work out, then I'll leave you alone." he said looking down at his shoes. "No, that's not what its about, its about the both of us making each other happy, not you trying to please me, or me pleasing you. I just need some time alone, I'm going back to the States to think things over. Just, please don't call me okay?" I said breaking my fingers away from his.

Finnish Wonder Part 11

2008-06-05T13:51:00.001-07:00

The first two rounds of the playoffs went by really quickly, we had beat the Flames and the Sharks, so it was onto the Anaheim Ducks, one team I couldn't stand. The team was all fired up to go for the first game, Val skated over to me before the opening face off and kissed me, "Good luck," I said smiling at him.
The first few minutes went by slowly, the puck going back and forth to both ends, "Score!" the announcer boomed, the whole team jumped off of the bench to give Hank a high five. The second period rolled by with no scoring for either teams, no one was hurt so I ended up taking stats for Ozzie. By the third period the Ducks scored one lucky goal, but we came back with a tip in front from Homer, "And the Detroit Red Wings win the hockey game 2-1," Bud Linch announced.
I walked down to the locker room and saw the guys celebrating, I left them be, sat on the bench and recorded no injuries for the game. "Hey cutie," I heard a voice say from above me. I smiled as Val pulled me off the bench, grabbing me by the hips. I gave him a quick peck on the lips, "Great game tonight, Val," I told him quickly. "Ahem!" I heard someone clear their throat, "Would you to mind not making out in the middle of the locker room?" Ozzie teased. "Oh, shut up Ozzie," I said while throwing Val's glove at him. "Hey!" hey yelled, flashing a quick grin.
Game two quickly arrived, our fans were going crazy, unfortunately we lost 4-3 in Overtime. Everyone looked pissed after the game, so I kept my distance. "Don't worry, we'll get them next time," I told Val. "Yeah..." he said tiredly, "Lets just go home."
The next day we left for Anaheim, where we lost the next two games, back in Detroit, we lost our forth and we were done for the season. Everyone shook hands with the ducks, not liking it, but trying to look like they didn't want to kill them, Cheli was the only one who didn't shake their hands. I've never heard the guys so quiet before in my life, so I quickly left before Val got a chance to talk to me.
It was the morning after, and the highlights were all over the news, it killed me to watch them, so I didn't turn the T.V. on all morning. "Morgan?" a familiar voice rang out from the door way, a smile came to my face, "Why did you leave last night, I looked all over for you," he asked. "Well, I didn't want to wait around and see everyone so down, and I didn't really want to bother you," I told him, touching the cuts on his face. "Bother me! That's the least thing you could do, I came over because I needed some cheering up," he replied. I smiled at him and pulled him over to the couch, "Wanna play?" I asked, holding up some cards. We sat at the coffee table, playing go fish, I thought it would take his mind off of everything for a while. "Do you have...eh, a 9?" he asked while shoving a cracker into his mouth. "Nope, go fish!" I laughed.
Val scooted closer to me and kissed my lips gently, "What are your plans for this summer?" he asked, searching for an answer. "Well, I-I really don't know, I guess to just stay here?" I said thinking about it." His face lit up, "Nope! You're wrong!" he shouted, shoving another cracker into his mouth. "What?" I said with a confused look on my face. "You're coming to Finland with me?" he half asked. "What!" I jumped up, pulling him up with me, "Are you serious!" "Well I mean you don't have to if-" before he could finish I gave him a long hard kiss.
"So you're really going to come with me?" Val asked once more, just to make sure I wasn't fooling around. "Of course I am! I can't wait, when are we leaving?" I said ecstatically. "Well, if it's not too soon, I have two tickets for tomorrow night." he said once again searching for a answer through my facial expressions. "Well, we better get packing!" I rang.
It was the day that we were leaving for Finland, but I still hadn't told anyone about it, except Ronnie, I figured that I would call them when I got there and surprise them.
We left on the plane at 5 p.m., I fell asleep on Val's shoulder, but woke up to him playing with my charm bracelet. "Val, stop it," I whined. He smiled and kissed my forehead, "Get some sleep, you're going to need it when you meet my family," he said falling asleep him self.
"Meet his family!" I thought to myself, I started to panic, and quickly went to the bathroom. "Morgan, you in there?" Val rang from the other side of the door. "Um, yeah. I'm just a little sick, I'll be out in a minute." I told him while thinking of the worst things that could happen.
I went back to my seat and sat down, "Listen, Morgan...My family's going to love you, you've already met my dad, look how well that went." he said reassuring me. I smiled and rested my head back on his shoulder, "Yeah, I guess you're right," I said yawning.
I woke up to Val's voice in the morning, "Morgan, wake up hunaja," he whispered in my ear. "Did you just call me honey?" I asked, smiling. Val was shocked, "Have you been trying to learn Finnish?" he asked quickly. "Well, I pick up bits and pieces from you and look it up," I said. I kissed him on the lips, we walked off of the plane and into the airport. I recognized Val's dad, but none of the other faces, "Valtteri, my little baby poika!" his mom said while squeezing him, "You must be Morgan!" she said while hugging me. She told me that I was going to like it here. I smiled at Val, he grabbed my hand as we walked out of the airport to visit his home town, Espo.

Finnish Wonder Part 10

2008-06-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

We arrived at his house, he opened the door and turned on the lights, I stepped in and looked around, "Wow, I could get used to this," I said while walking over to the couch. His face lit up, "Yeah?" he asked, "I guess its pretty nice." Val went to his room to get some new clothes on, I wondered around the house looking at the different rooms. "Val, you must not get home an awful lot," I said, looking at his answering machine, "Twelve new messages." Val came out to the kitchen, pulling his shirt over his head, "Yeah, I'm always at your place, at the Joe, or out doing something."
Val pressed play and we listened to the people that left messages, some in Finnish. "Shit!" Val suddenly yelled, "That father-son road trip is tomorrow, my dad should be getting here any second!" I walked up to Val and kissed his troublesome face, he relaxed and kissed me back. "Well, I better get going if you're dad is coming," I said, reaching for my purse. "No! I want you to stay, I've already meet your dad, so you can meet mine," he said excitedly. "Well...OK, but only because you look so cute when you beg," I said sliding my hands up his chest. He blushed, "Yes!" he said, picking me up twirling around in circles.
"Ahem, am I interrupting something?" a stranger said at the door. Val set me down, grabbed my hand and went straight for the door, "Dad!" he yelled and gave him a big hug. "And just who is this young lady?" Mr. Filppula asked, while smirking at Val. I could tell they were related, Val had the same smirk that his dad did. "Uh, this is my girlfriend, Morgan," he said looking into my eyes. "Well poika, you've got yourself a beautiful woman," his dad said winking at me, I smiled and extended my hand to shake his, "I'm Rainer," he said.
We sat down and ate a snack while Val's dad was telling us how excited he was about the trip. "So, Morgan, what do you do?" he asked. "I work down at the rink, I'm an athletic trainer," I told him proudly. I could see Val's big smile on his face, he was glad to see that we were getting along.
We left on the plane the next morning, Val, his dad, and I sat together playing cards on the way there. Rainer fell asleep, leaving Val and I alone, I kissed him on the cheek, and he came at me with a long hard one, "Val, not right now, you're dad is right there," I whined, feeling uncomfortable. He rested his head on my shoulder, falling asleep with in no time.
The hotel was beautiful, Ronnie and I had to share a room, while Rainer and Val were together in a room. "This bites," I complained to Ronnie, "Oh, get over it, its not like he's that far away," he said rolling his eyes.
[Val's point of view]:
"Val, I want to talk to you about that girl," my dad rang. "You mean Morgan? She's not just a girl dad, she's everything, she's, huh....she's indescribable" I said while looking at a picture of her in my wallet. "You really like her eh, poika?" my dad asked. "Of course I do, she's means the world to me," I shot quickly at him. "Listen, I just don't want her to get hurt, you better not be messing around with her," my dad warned me. "I would never do that, I-I-I love her!" I said while in shock, I was blown away that that had came out of my mouth. "Does she know that?" my dad asked. "Oh, I'm sure she does. I mean she has to, doesn't she?" I asked my father with confusion. "Val, when the time is right you'll know when to tell her," my dad said while walking out of our room, "I'm going to the rink, you should go see her."
[Back to My point of view]:
I slammed the door behind me and left for the arena with Ronnie to get ready for the game vs. the Stars. When we arrived everyone in the locker room was silent, they were all praying and trying to get focused for the game. I went out on the bench and sat down, the guys came flying out not to long after, I watched them skate around the rink. I caught Val staring at me, I blew him a kiss and he blushed.
The game was over, we won 4-3, Val scored one of the goals. He walked up to me in the locker room all sweaty and wet, "That goal was for you babe," he said while kissing me.
The rest of the road trip was fun, we won all but one of our games, we headed back home to get ready for the playoffs. "Flames," I said while massaging Val's shoulders. "Yeah, I don't want to think about that right now," he said, looking into my eyes. I loosened his tie, and unbuttoned his shirt partially. "I'm too tired Morgan..." he said making whining noises. "Oh, my big poika is tired," I said in a whiny tone. He quickly sat up and kissed me the hardest he had ever, "Sorry, you speaking Finnish, well...it turned me on," he said, kissing me more. I kissed him back, he ripped my shirt off, but I pulled away, "Val, I'm not ready for this," I said looking into his big blue eyes. "I'm sorry, I got a little carried away," he said hanging his head. "No, its not your fault. Lets go to bed." I said grabbing his hand and pulling him up.

Finnish Wonder Part 9

2008-06-03T12:43:00.001-07:00

I woke up in the morning feeling around on the couch next to me, but Val wasn't there. I poked my head up and looked around the room, "Hey sleepy head," he smiled at me. I flashed a grin at him and got off of the couch. "Want some?" he asked, pulling out frozen waffles from the freezer. "So you found Ronni's stash?" I asked eyeing them up. "You know it, when a man is hungry he has-" I cut him off, "Mmhm, especially a huge guy like you!" I said squeezing his muscles.
He quickly grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder, "Val!" I screamed, "Put me down you bad boy!" I smacked his butt, and he gave out a loud yelp, "Mmm," I said, "You have buns of steel!"
The waffles popped up and we both jumped, he put me down and we raced to get dibs on the first one. I got there first, only because he let me, but I acted like I won fair and square, just so I could see his smiling face. I fixed my plate and pored syrup on it, Val came up behind me and grabbed my hips, kissing the side of my neck, I got goosebumps all over. He picked me up and put me on the counter, kissing me while moaning. His hands slid up my back under his hoodie that I was still wearing. His hands were soft and ran smoothly against my skin. I finally managed to push him off me for two seconds, "Val, the waffles are getting cold," I said running my hands through his golden strands of hair.
"True," he said while grabbing the plate and running off with it. I ran after him yelling, "Hey Mister, you better get back her with my-" he shoved a piece of waffle into my mouth. I smiled as we finished our breakfast staring into each other's eyes. I noticed that he had some syrup on his hands, "Uh, you got a little something on your finger," I said laughing. "You got a little something on your stomach!" he said, "What? Where?" I laughed. He lifted up my shirt and smeared the syrup all over my stomach, "Oh no you did not!" I yelled. "Wipe this off right now Valtteri Mattias!" I ranted while chasing him into the bathroom. "What are you waiting for?" I asked, "Wipe it off!"
Val reached for the shower handle and flipped on the water, "Shower?" he begged while sticking his bottom lip out. "Well I guess we're both kind of messy now, there's no use in wasting water right!" I teased. I took my clothes off and jumped in the shower, he looked nervous, so I reached out and pulled him by his pants, "Well, what's taking so long?" I said while unclasping his necklace. He smiled at me, ripped off his clothes, and jumped in after me, pinning me against the wall kissing me. With my body pressed tightly against his, I let out a long moan, as did he.
"Morgan!" I heard someone yell from outside the bathroom door, "I have to pee!" Ronnie said. I pushed Val away from me and got out of the shower, unlocking the door. "Shh!" I whispered in Val's ear. Ronnie quickly left, but it wasn't soon after that the phone rang, "Morgan!" Ronnie yelled again, "Phone!" I jumped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself, then threw one at Val, "I'll be right back," I said while rolling my eyes.
I walked out to the kitchen and grabbed the phone off the snack bar, "Hey Morgan!" Lacey yelled, "I was just wondering if you and Val wanted to come with me, Brett, Madi, and Jimmy to a club tonight?" she asked excitedly. "Well, I don't know, just hold on a sec. I have to ask Val," I said walking back into the bathroom. "Wait a second, its only ten in the morning! He stayed over last night didn't he!" she screeched in my ear. "Yeah, well at least I didn't have sex with him!" I whispered teasingly. Val looked up at me with confusion on his face, I wrote it on the mirror so Lacey wouldn't know I was telling him. "I did not need to know that," he said kissing my neck. I asked him about going out tonight and he agreed. "Well it's a go," I said, "But now I have to go, I'll tell you the details tonight, bye!" I shouted. I left Val in the bathroom to go put our clothes in my room. "Hold it right there Morgan!" my brother yelled, "So, could you maybe worn me next time you two are going to be, uh, ya know, in the shower?" "Shut up RJ, we weren't having sex, we were just taking a shower, and besides how did you know that he was in there?" I asked. "His clothes were only on the floor," he said hinting that I should be a little smarter than that. "Whatever," I said while walking away.
Val was already sitting in my room on my bed, I slowly walked over to him and jumped on his lap. "That was fun," he said with his facing glowing. I smiled back at him and gave him a small peck on the lips. I started getting dressed and handed him his hoodie, he pushed it back into my chest, hinting that I could keep it. I gave him an even longer kiss, but pulled away before we lost track of time.
We left for practice, I separated from Val and met up with Lacey and Madi. They were smiling and excited to hear what had happened, "Well!" they both yelled at the same time. "Well, what?" I asked smiling. "Oh come on! Give us the details girl!" Madi finally yelled. I told them what happened last night and this morning, "Aww!" they both sighed. "You two are so cute together," Lacey said. I left to go into the locker room to take every one's heart rate, when I walked in the whole room was silent. "What's with you guys?" I asked looking at every one in the room, "Flip has a girlfriend!" everyone sang. "Yeah, you guys are just jealous," I said rolling my eyes.
Practice was over and I was waiting for Val to get out of the shower. He finally walked out, "Well that was a boring shower," he said smiling. He quickly got dressed and went to the club, I was wearing jeans and a red cami just to keep cool. Val pulled me out to the dance floor and I laughed at him trying to dance, "Hey give me some credit, I have a big butt and it doesn't move as well!" he said grabbing my hips. I looked to my right and smiled at Lacey and Brett grinding on each other, Brett broke out the sprinkler move, followed by the shopping cart, and the lawn mower moves. Madi and Jimmy were on my left grinding also, Val and I tried not to join in with Brett's mad dance moves. The song quickly turned into a slow one, it was 'I don't want to miss a thing, by Aerosmith,' Val went to grab my hand to walk away, "Where are you going?" I asked, making a sad face. "I-I don't know how to dance," he finally spit out. "Come on I'll teach you," I told him. "So would you consider this our song?" he asked. "Mmhm," I said resting my head on his chest, listening to his heart beat. We swayed back and forth with his hands around my waist. The song got over and I was tired, "I'm beat," Val said, taking the words right out of my mouth. We left, and so did Madi and Jimmy, Lacey and Brett were still in the center of the dance floor, Brett doing the milk shake. "Lets stay over at my place tonight," Val half asked, searching for an answer. "OK, but are there any room mates I should know about?" I asked. "Nope, its just you and me tonight," he said with a devious smirk on his face.

Finnish Wonder Part 8

2008-06-02T12:54:00.001-07:00

The next morning I woke up and got a cup of coffee. Ronnie looked at me with a smile on his face, "You look a little happy today, I haven't seen you like this in forever!" he said. "Whatever" I said, rolling my eyes. "I'm going to go get our mail," I told him. I opened the door and there was a bouquet of a dozen roses in the floor, I picked them up and brought them inside. "Hm, I wonder who those could be from," Ronnie joked.
I took the card out from the flowers and read it, laughing at his poem that he attempted to write. "Where's my cell phone?" I asked Ronnie. "Who knows where you put it now" he said rolling his eyes.
"Hello?" Val answered, sounding tired. "Hey, I hope I didn't wake you up," I told him. "Well I couldn't exactly sleep anyways, I was up all night thinking of you," he said trying to impress me. "Oh, really?" I said while playing with my hair. "Mmhm...so, uh did you get your flowers?" he asked with delight. I looked towards the flowers and smiled, "Yes, and I love them!" I said playfully. "Well that's good," he said laughing. We talked for a while longer, mostly about my dad being weird last night.
"So, um, what are you doing for New Years Eve tonight?" he asked me stuttering. "Nothing, I guess," I sighed. "Well that's too bad, because I happen to know that there is a party tonight at Cheli's place," he said teasing me. My face lit up, but I tried to hide my excitement, "Oh, so all the guys are going there then?" I asked. "Yeah, and I was thinking that, well if you wanted to, that uh-" he said, "I'll go," I shot quickly at him. "You will!" he said excitedly, "OK, great, I'll pick you up at 6 then," he said. We hung up the phone and I put my shoes back on to attempt to get the mail again, "Thanks for getting the mail sis!" Ronnie yelled, "So what are you and Mr. Trouble doing tonight?" he asked. "Going to a party over at Cheli's," I told him.
It was 5:00 p.m., when I got out of the shower. I put some jeans on and a white cami, knowing that no one there would be dressed up. Dancing around my room, I was trying to decide what color eye shadow to wear. I was finally ready and walked out into the living room to wait for Val, but I saw he was already there. I put my hands over his eyes from behind and kissed his neck, he grabbed me a threw my over the couch and onto his lap. He went in for a long hard kiss, but I pushed him away laughing while he tickled me. "Get a room!" my brother yelled from the kitchen. "Oh shut up!" I yelled back at him.
Driving over to Cheli's, we blasted music, but I turned it off and put my hand on his thigh. His attention quickly turned to me. My hand traveled up his thigh further and he giggled, "Not while I'm driving," then he grabbed my hand and held it on his lap. I smiled at him, as I stroked his hand with my thumb.
We finally arrived at the party, "Well what do we have here!" Pavel came up to us dancing, he grabbed the beer out of Val's hands, "Come on in and join the party!" I spotted Lacey and Brett right away grinding on each other, "Hey I'm going to go talk to Lacey for a bit OK?" I asked Val. "Yeah, I'm going to go find Hank," he said moving his hips. I just stood there and watched his body move back and forth, trying to get my eyes off him. I finally did, but only because Pav stood up on the table and started taking his clothes off to the song "Wild Thing." Hank soon joined him and I threw a 5 dollar bill on the table. "That all you got honey?" Pav yelled. I walked away with to try to find Lacey again, I couldn't see to find her, so I asked Cheli "Hey, have you seen Lacey around anywhere?" "Well she just asked me where the bathroom was about ten minutes ago, but will you bring this pizza up to the kids, they're in Dean's room," he asked. "Yeah sure," I told him. I walked up stairs to give Dean, Cheli's sixteen year old son, the pizza. "Hey guys, pizza delivery!" I shouted over the music. "Thanks, but uh Morgan could I speak to you out in the hallway?" Dean asked me. "Sure?" I said puzzled. "Some one is in the guest room making an awful lot of noise, could you check it out, the kids think its a monster, but they won't believe me," he told me. I walked down the hallway to the next room and knocked on the door, "Hello?" I shouted, "Anyone in there?" The noise stopped but then came a voice "I'm sleeping!" yelled Brett. "Oh my gosh!" I yelled, "Dean, get back in your room, and tell the kids there is no monster, but rather two frisky ones!" I yelled winking my eye. "I cannot believe this," I whispered to myself.
I went down stairs but in the process some guy grabbed my butt, "Excuse me, would you not do that?" I asked demandingly. "I'll do anything you want," he said making is eyebrows move up and down. I slapped him across the face and he dumped his beer on me. Val saw everything and tapped on the guy's shoulder, throwing lefts and rights, there was blood every where. I pulled Val off of him kissing his lips firmly. "My hero," I whispered in his ear. That cheesy grin came over his face again, and he kissed me back, "You want to go home and get changed?" he asked. "No, I don't want you to leave the party," I said smiling at him, "I'll just catch a bus or something." "I don't think so," he told me, "I'm driving you home."
We got in his car and he gave me a grey and white striped hoodie to put on. I started taking off my shirt and his face turned bright red, he helped me pull the hoodie over my head, and kissed me. "Mm...smells like you," I said with a smile. We went back to my apartment, Val he sat down on the couch, I plopped down next to him, "I thought you were going to change?" he asked. "Why should I, I love this hoodie," I said wrapping my arms around him. "Hey," he said quietly, "I need to ask you a question." "I'm listening," I said with my eyes closed. "OK, well, um," he said stuttering, "I was just wondering, what would you consider us?" he asked finally managing to spit it out. "What do you mean?" I asked back. He took a deep breath, and I sat there listening to his heart beat,"I mean, are we just friends, or you know-" I cut him off again, "You mean like boyfriend, girlfriend?" I asked trying to take some of the pressure off of him. "Yes," he said exhaling. "Well, what do you think," I said curiously. "I know that I like you," he said smiling. "And I really like you," I said while playing with his belt. I looked up and opened my mouth to say something, but he kissed me roughly, "I," he kissed me again, "Think we should be," I finally managed to say between kisses. He stopped and looked at me, then kept going, "Me too," he finally said.
The ball dropped and we followed tradition by kissing, then he grabbed a crazy hat for me and 2007 sunglasses for him, he plopped the hat on my head and kissed me again. We both fell asleep on the couch watching the New Years Eve performers on T.V., Val's hands were wrapped around me, and in the hoodie pocket.

Finnish Wonder Part 7

2008-06-01T17:33:00.000-07:00

It was dark in the arena and I had the key to turn on the lights, when I switched them on it was like he came out of a trance. I quickly went to my car, hoping that he wouldn't see me, I didn't want to hear it from him tonight.
The next morning Ronnie ran and jumped on my bed to wake me up, "Hey little sis, get up!" he yelled rubbing a pillow in my face. I jumped up and chased him around the house, "Yes!" I yelled, "First practice of the season," I said while doing a little dance.
Ronnie and I jumped into the car and took off for the Joe, most of the guys were there, including my dad, "Hey honey!" he yelled across the room, "Haven't seen you in forever, where have you been hiding?" "She's been at my place Drapes!" Pavel murmured. "Yeah dad, didn't you know that me and Pav were together?" I said while sitting on his lap with my arms around him. Pav seemed surprised at this, but played along, "I suppose I should start calling you dad now, hey Drapes?" My dad was laughed at our little skit and pulled me off of Pav. Val walked in just before the little act started, and seemed pissed at the whole situation. Val glared across the room at Pavel, "Well I'm going to go out on the ice and warm up," Pav said with no emotion what so ever.
Half of the season went by, with each day getting more hectic between everyone.
We were practicing as usual, but this time Babs had different drills, he said the boys weren't working hard enough. About half way through the practice all of the boys were tired and clearly over worked. "OK, I want Hudler, Filppula, and Cleary to run it this time," Babs rang out. Huds passed the puck to Val, and he shot it, but Dom's stick hit his knee and he went down. Pav was the first one over, but Ronnie and I followed right behind him. "My knee!" Val screamed in pain, "Which one?" I asked. "Right, right!" he yelled back at me. Ronnie and Pavel helped him into the locker room while Babs pulled me aside to talk to me.
"Morgan, you take care of his conditioning, Ronnie can handle everyone else's," he said skating away. "But!" I yelled, but he just kept skating away. I walked back to the locker room where Ronnie, Pav, and Val were sitting, Ronnie was feeling Val's knee and Pav was standing there watching. "Guys, Babs told me to handle this one, you two better get back out on the ice," I told them. "Uh, Morgan, are you sure about this?" Ronnie asked.
"Look, Babs told me to do something, and I'll do it!" I yelled.
I quickly pulled out my clip board and asked him to bend his knee back and forth. He couldn't bend it all the way back, and he couldn't keep it straight either. "Well its pretty swollen," told him, "But we have to take some ex rays of it before I can tell you when you'll be able to skate again. Val stared at me for a while before saying something, "What really happened that night?" I was shocked, but I began telling him about Michael and how much he hated seeing me with other guys and how he thought I was a prize that he had won. "Mm.." he grunted. It was a while before his ex rays came back, "Well, the good news is, nothing is broken, but you do have a deeply bruised bone," I said with a concerned voice. I just wanted to grab his hand and tell him that I was there for him, but I quickly remembered that things weren't like that anymore.
For the next few weeks I didn't get to go out on the ice during practice at all, I had to stay in the equipment room with Val. "OK, have a seat up here Mr. Filppula," I said. Val had a very surprised look on his face when I said this, "What ever happened to you calling me Val?" he said playfully. I totally ignored what he had just said and started rubbing his knee, which was really awkward. "Oh, that feels good, harder?" he moaned. I couldn't help but laugh at him. "Come on, please, when you do that all the pain goes away," he said with his eyes closed and his eyebrows moving in circles. "I wish it were that easy for the pain to go away inside me," I said without thinking. Val quickly sat up, seeing my eyes fill with tears, "Morgan, I'm sorry I didn't listen to you when you were trying to tell me what happened," said with a foggy voice. His hands slowly went up and down my back, sending chills up my spine with every soft stroke.
"You OK Morg?" he asked, pushing me off his warm body. He kissed my forehead and grabbed my hands, "I missed you babe," he whispered in my ear. I laughed and asked him if his knee felt any better, "Everything is numb," he replied while wiping the tears off of my face. We both laid there on the examining table and talked about the last year. I fell asleep while he was telling me about his games with the Griffins. I opened my eyes and I was fast asleep in Val's car, but I decided to stay asleep, he carried my up to my apartment and into my room. He started walking away but I grabbed onto his shirt and he fell on top of me. "Morgan, I should get going, me knee-" I cut him off with a long hard kiss. "You can stay here tonight if you want to," I said sticking my bottom lip out. "OK, I'll go ask Ronnie if I can borrow some blankets for the couch," he said quickly. "No, I mean you can stay here if you want to," I said putting my finger down on my bed. That big cheesy grin came over his face again and he dove into my bed.
"Oh Fil," a voice rang from the other room. "Oh my gosh!" I whispered, "That's my dad, hurry get out of my bed!" I yelled. "Um, yes Drapes?" Val yelled. My dad shot questions at him like there was no tomorrow, "Mr. Draper, I, I just, she was just-" he tried explaining. "I fell asleep at the Joe, and he brought me home, now if you would excuse me, I'm going to bed," I told my dad. "OK Hun, but I'll escort Mr. Filppula to the front door," he said in a suspicious voice. "Yeah dad, you do that," shot back at him. Val walked out the door with my dad, but he turned around and I mouthed, "Call me." He smiled as my dad pushed him down the hallway like he was under arrest. "Night," I whispered to myself.

Finnish Wonder Part 6

2008-06-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

Red and White flashed by me, but I didn't lift my head up to look, the guys didn't bother me today, I figured my dad must have had a talk with them in the locker room. Babs started the drills right away instead of chatting with the guys first. Even though practice was going great and the boys were looking awesome for the game in a few days, something didn't seem right.
"Whats up with Fil," my brother whispered in my ear, trying not to let anyone else hear.
"Huh, oh, sorry," I said as I looked away from my doodles on my clipboard. "What do you mean, he seems fine to me." I said annoyed. "OK, then how come every time he shoots the puck it goes high and wide?" Ronnie said with a 'I told you so' look on his face.
"OK, so maybe he's a little tired from last night, I don't know, its not like I even like the guy," I said out of frustration. Practice was over and the next few days seemed to go by rather quickly.
"Welcome, your 2005-2006 Detroit Red Wings starting line up!" the announcer boomed.
I spotted Lacey behind me sitting by the glass. I quickly got up to her and told her what happened. "Well, just look here, do you see all those guys out there?" she said trying to cheer me up, "Well I bet you could have any one of them if you wanted. I laughed and told her who the new guys were on the team this year. She seemed particularly attracted to Brett Lebda. "Who is #22!" she yelled and applied more lip gloss. "Oh, he's new too, that's Bretty, the sweety of the team, he's really shy, but once you get to know him he's crazy." I said with a smile on my face.
"Hey Brett!" I yelled and hand motioned him to come over. "Morgan!" Lacey shouted.
"Hey pretty lady, who's your friend?" he said, trying to be cool, but gave it away by blushing.
"Brett, this is Lacey, Lacey, this is Brett," I said proudly. "Lacey is from Chicago too, but she just moved her to go to college," I said, elbowing Lacey to say something. "Whats that?" I yelled, "Guys, I have to go, I think I hear Ronnie calling me, bye!" I said laughing.
I walked onto the ice to make sure everyone was ready, and had no problems with their skates or equipment. "Any problems guys?" I walked around yelling and smacking everybody in the back to get them fired up, "Come on boys!" I yelled loudly.
I didn't pay attention to who I was smacking, but some of the guys would yell things like "Hit me baby, one more time!" and "Oh baby, a little lower please."
"Yeah, yeah, shut up guys." "Well as long as you're not with Flip anymore than why should we lay back?" Pavel yelled.
Val looked over at me, but not directly in the eye. I turned around and walked back to the bench, glanced up and saw Val push Pav. They didn't do any damage, Val just lost his temper.
"Val..." I said, "What was that all about?"
He looked up at me, took a drink of water and spit it onto the bench, then he skated away.
I rolled my eyes and sat back down. We won the game, but the guys didn't seem all that impressed. Lacey was sitting next to Brett, and Madison was sitting next to Jimmy, only she had the pleasure of him not smelling. I was sitting on an exercise ball still doodling on my clip board. My dad walked over and told me that Val won't be playing much this year, unless someone is hurt. "Good for him," I said sarcastically as Val walked by.
Lacey, Madison, Brett, and Jimmy all came over to my apartment after the game, we played around with this microphone that Brett apparently got out of a lucky charms cereal box. We all fell asleep in the living room, by morning everyone was all tangled up. "Hey were we playing twister last night by any chance?" Brett said while rubbing his eyes. "Yeah, in your wildest dreams," I said while hitting him over the head with a pillow. The next few months were as boring as anything, we won some, we lost some, and the playoffs weren't too exciting either.
The annual Charity softball game came up and all the Grand Rapid Griffins and Wings would be playing. Brett and Jimmy bought Lacey and Madi snow cones, while Ozzie bought me mine. Val was up to bat but he got struck out. "You know, ever sense your date with Morgan you haven't been the same, you can't even focus on anything anymore," my dad told him. "Yeah I know, but I can't just heel that quickly, have you ever been cheated on Kris?" Val asked.
"Oh for God sakes boy!" my dad yelled, "Get your damn head out of the gutter, she didn't cheat on you!" Val left the game after that, but I stopped by the Joe later on to pick up some papers and there he was, standing in the middle of the ice doing tricks with the puck.

Finnish Wonder Part 5

2008-06-01T07:14:00.000-07:00

He must have spent a lot of time looking for this place, because I've never heard of it before, and I must admit he has great taste. "Filppula," Val said in a manly voice. "Right this way sir," the man said. Val raised his big bushy eyebrow, trying to hint at what a nice place this was. I never noticed before that his hair is golden, but his eyebrows are brown, I found it to be cute actually.
Val pulled out my chair and we ordered our food, we got to talking and having a lot of fun.
"Morgan, Morgan is that you?" a voice rang from behind me. I turned around and shot up from my chair surprised. "Michael!" I said with a fake burst of excitement. "Long time no see," he said looking towards Val with an angry expression.
"Um, Mike, this is Val, Val, this is Mike, my ex boyfriend," I said with despair.
Not so sure about Val, he looked toward him with an evil grin on his face "Well then, I can see that your having a lovely time, but can I steal her for just a moment?"
"Oh, yeah...sure, I guess." Val said quietly looked down at his food. I could tell that he was disappointed, but it wasn't my plan from Michael to show up here. Michael and I went outside to talk, you could still see inside, so I kept looking at Val, he looked so helpless there by himself. Michael must have noticed that I wasn't paying much attention to him, because he grabbed my face and started kissing me. I tried to pull away, but I couldn't get away, "Michael," I yelled, "Michael don't do this!" He stopped for a second, and said, very clearly, "Why, you know you aren't really into that guy anyways, just consider it a favor." He winked, walked to his car, and drove away. Val came running out after he'd saw us, he had the wrong impression, he yelled at me, "Why would you do that Morgan, I try to be nice to the guy and then you go and kiss him right in front of me!" he no longer had the that brightness to him, he face was filled with pain.
I ran after him, taking of my heels, it started to rain. "Val you don't understand!" I yelled, hoping that he could hear me through all the noise. "What don't I understand, I know a kiss when I see one, and you were clearly into that guy."
Tears streamed down my face as I watched him drive away, I realized that my bag was in his car, I walked back to the restaurant and asked if I could use the phone. "Sorry Miss, but we do not allow non people who do not eat here to use the telephone," the waiter said in a voice trying to sound intelligent. More tears fell down my face, I walked to a gas station about three blocks away, I called Ronnie to come get me, but he didn't answer. I hated calling my dad but it was my last resort, "Dad," I said still crying, "Can you come get me?"
"Morgan, whats wrong, what happened?" he said with great concern. His car pulled up and he got out and put his coat around my shoulders, "You're shivering honey, hurry get in the car, you can come stay at my house tonight." We arrived at my parents house, and my mom was standing at the window waiting for us, she came out rushing me inside, hugging and kissing me on the way. "There's some pajamas in my dresser in the top drawer dear," my mom said while drying my hair with a towel.
I was sitting in my old room, looking at all the posters and pictures that were on my walls, "Honey, can I come in, we should talk," my mom rang at the door. I let her in and we talked for a while, my dad came in with a hot coco and a plate of cookies, "Just like when I was little," I whispered. I fell asleep really late, I kept tossing and turning. Not being about to sleep I got up to get a glass of water, the phone rang. "Morgan, where in the hell are you?" Ronnie asked, "If you were going to stay the night over at Flip's house then the least you could do was call!"
"I did call Ron, but I'm not staying with him, I'm at mom and dad's house for the night, look I have to go, dad's coming."
I snuck back to bed and finally fell asleep, my dad woke me up in the morning to go to practice. I sat on the bench next to Ronnie again waiting for the guys to come out of the tunnel, I stared at my clip board blankly.

Finnish Wonder Part 4

2008-05-31T12:02:00.000-07:00

The next morning I was awakend by the microwave beeping in the kitchen, I couldn't get to sleep after that, so I got dressed and made my way out to the living room. I flicked on the T.V., but there was nothing on, I felt a thud next to me.
"Morgan, I'm sorry for yelling at you last night, I had no business." Ronnie said with content.
"No, you shouldn't be sorry, I'm sorry for bringing up Sara last night, I know how tough that was for you, I mean I wouldn't be able to handle seeing someone die, especially someone you loved as much as her." Ronnie had tears in his eyes, but he tried to hold back from crying, he reached in for a hug and we sat there talking for a while.
It was 10:oo a.m. when we arived at the rink for the morning skate, Ronnie and I sat on the bench waiting for the guys to come out onto the ice. Madi came running in soon after that and plopped down next to me on the bench. "Hey girl, so where's this Jimmy guy you were bragging up?" she said excitedly.
I looked up at her with a grin "Oh, he should be here, but he's not dressing, he just came to watch the practice."
I watched all the guys skate out on the ice and I checked each one of them off on my list. Both Madi's dad and my dad came skating over, pushing each other on the way. "Hey girls, what are you two up to today, don't get into too much trouble!" Malts said laughing. "Hey!" my dad yelled to Kirk. He then looked at me like I was going to get one of those long talks when I was 14. "Dad," I said before he could say anything, "I know what you're going to say, but its not worth it, I mean we probably won't even go out to eat again, we're just freinds, thats all."
My dad skated away, shaking his head. Val soon came over and asked if everything was ok between me and Ronnie, he must have heard us yelling last night.
"Yeah, everything is fine," I said quickly, "So, uh you better get your butt out there and practice, we've got a game coming up next week!"
He smiled at me and started skating backwards, still looking at me with that big, cheesey grin on his face. Cheli stuck his stick out behind him, and that was the end of him smiling. My dad went over to help him up, he brushed himself off and looked up at me, only to blush. All the guys saw him and poked fun at him all day.
"Hey guys, whats up!" I heard a voice say behind me, It was Jimmy. "Hey Jimmy, this is Madi, Maltby's daughter, and one of my closest friends," I said with excitement. They quickly got to know each other, then moved into the bleachers to be alone and talk, apperently they really like each other, because Jimmy got yelled at by Babs to pay attention and stop making out.
Everyone started laughing, except Kirk, he looked like he wanted to crawl under a rock.
Practice was over and so was the after practice work out. I grabbed my bag and started walking out of the Arena. I could here all the boys in the locker room still, they were saying, "Just do it," and, "You'll be fine." I was wondering what they were talking about but before I could even think about it someone grabbed my hand from behind. "Val!" I yelled with suprise. "Uh hi, I didn't mean to scare you," he said with concern on his face. "No, its ok," I said softly. He started doing that stuttering thing again, and I could tell he was nervous, he was still holding my hand and his was all sweaty. "I-I was wondering if, if you wanted to, uh go out, like on a date?" he finally said. "Of course!" I said with excitement. The worried look quickly was wiped off his face, and he smiled once again. By now the guys were all poking out of the locker room to see what was happening, we started laughing and held hands out to the parking lot.
"Well, I guess I'll see you later then, what time are you coming to pick me up?" I said while fixing the chain around his neck. "Is 6:00 ok?" he said quickly. "Yeah, I'll see you then." I said gazing into his eyes. I hurried back to my apartment and plopped down on my bed. My web cam popped up, it was Lacey, my friend from Chicago. "Hey Morgan you there?" she rang.
We got to talking and I got to telling her about my life and my job up here, and of course about my date tonight. She told me that she is coming up to Michgan to go to college, so I offered her two tickets on the glass to the first game of the season.
"I have to go get ready now Lacey, but I'll talk to you later!" I said while closing my laptop.
I put on a red, halter dress and curled my hair, then came a a knock on the door. I opened it to find Val standing there all dressed up, his eyes bluer than ever.
"You clean up nice for a rookie," I shot at him. He smiled and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Lets go, I've got a lot of plans," he said with excitement.
I was really excited for this too, I grabbed his hand and we walked out to his car.

Finnish Wonder Part 3

2008-05-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

"Nice car," I told him as we started driving to get something to eat.
"O, thanks I just got it, starting to get used to it I guess," he said with a rather large smile on his face. We both blushed and started talking about Finland, the more and more he said about it, the more and more I wanted to go there, it sounded beautiful.
"So, where do you want to eat," he asked, "Um I don't know, how about somewhere where there arent a lot of people?" His smile widened, to the point where he noticed and started blushing again. "Yeah, that sounds good to me, but I haven't lived here long, so where could I find a place like that?" he said pondering the fact.
"Well, there's always the classic McDonald's." I said half serious. He seemed to like the idea because he began looking for a sign to the nearest one.
We got to talking and I didn't feel so speechless around him anymore, and he didn't have as much stutter in his speach than he did at the rink. I found that he has an older brother named Ilari that plays hockey over in Finland. It seemed like 10 minutes but it was 3 hours that we spent in the booth and McDonald's before my cell phone rang.
"Valtteri," I said quickly looking up at him. "You know, you can call me Val if you want." he said laughing. I began to blush, I left the booth and went into the ladies room, "Hello?" I whispered. "Morgan, where in the hell are you, and what did you do with that rookie?" RJ yelled through the phone. "He's sitting at the table, why does it matter to you anyways?" I shot back at him. "Well, Madi came over and sense you're not here she's kinda just sitting here waiting for you, so I'd apreciate it if you came home ASAP!" he said in one big breath.
I walked out to where Val was sitting and I told him about everything, he offered to drive me home, and I took up that offer.
"Thanks for the ride Val," I said, putting emphisis on his name.
He shot a grin at me and walked me up to my room. "Well this is me, I'll see you at practice tomorrow then?" I said with anticipation.
"Not if I see you first," he said playfully. I laughed and dug for my key in my pocket.
I felt his finger under my chin, slowly lifting it up, and I looked into his gorgeous blue eyes, he pressed his lips softly onto mine at first, then more firm, I slammed against the apartment door and he went in for one last kiss. Ronnie opened the door thinking that I forgot my key again, but he was in for a big suprise. "Morgan, Val, what are you doing!" Val looked up in shock and we both looked at each other and smiled.
"Good night Morgan" he whispered softly into my ear.
I watched him walk down the hallway then said softly to myself, "Night."
"Awww how sweet Morgan, but what in the hell are you going to tell dad, do you really want to go through this again with him!" he yelled at me. "Ronnie just let it be, he's really sweet, and nice, and...and you don't even know the guy, and at least I actually have the courage to go out with someone, you won't even talk to a girl after what happend to Sara, Ronnie James!" I yelled at him and I saw a tear come to his eye. "Ronnie," he slammed the door, "Wait you know I didn't mean to say that, I was just, huh..." I sighed.
"Ok, I'll get going Morgan, I don't want to bother you, I think you should get some rest anyways, you look beat, I'll see you tomorrow at the rink." Madison said in concern.
"Yeah." I said with disbelief of what I had just said.
I went to my room and shut my door, I looked out the window and watched Val drive away.
"What a day," I said drifting away on my bed while listening to Jay Leno.

Finnish Wonder Part 2

2008-05-30T17:49:00.000-07:00

Round and round my thumbs twiddled, I found my self intrigued by them, of course that really wasn't what I was thinking about. I soon felt a drop of water on my head, I looked up and Ozzie was standing right in front of me.
"Hey cutie, why the long face?" he said in a concerned voice.
I gave him a blank look, Ozzie is like my second dad, he was always there to give advice, and not so annoying and weird like my dad is.
"I don't know, I mean when I first saw Valtteri I just couldn't talk, I don't really know why, I mean you know me Ozzie, I'm usually the first one to talk to the new guys and become best buds with them." I looked at him like he was supposed to tell me what to do next.
"Well Cat, I don't know what to tell you, maybe you should just try talking to the guy, I mean he can't be that bad, he shouldn't bite, at least I don't think he does." Chris said trying to get me to crack a smile.
I grabbed my clipboard and yelled to the guys in the shower to hurry on out to get measured and weighed. Not to long afterwards there was a parade of half naked men walking out of the showers, nothing I'm not used to. I looked up to see who was going to be first and Valtteri was peeking out of the shower to see who was watching him, apperantly the guys took his towel away from him, that being just the beginning of the rookie pranks.
I threw a clean towel on him and he blushed, as did I. My dad must have saw me because it wasn't long after that that he came rushing over only to tease me about the whole situation.
My cell phone rang, it was Madison, Malts' daughter, we've been best friends ever scince Kirk was brought over from Edmonton.
"Uh, RJ, do you think you can do the rest of the guys, I have to take this call." I shot quickly.
Ronnie began mocking me, "Why you too afraid to touch your little boy friend?"
"Shut up Ronnie!" I yelled as I ran out the door.
"Madi!" I practically screamed, "Where were you today, I thought you were going to come to the rink!"
"Was that today!" she said sounding suprised, "I am so sorry Morgan, should I still come tomorrow?"
"Well I mean if you want to I guess you could, but you don't have to, but you know Jimmy Howard is going to be at practice, so I'd advise you to come if you want to see him!" I teased
"Morgan!" she screamed in the phone, "Where are you, is he there, can he hear you?" she shot questions at me.
"Madi, calm down, he isn't here, besides I'm out in the hallway where no one can hear me" I told her. I saw something out of the corner of my eye and looked over, it was "him." "Uh, listen Madison, I have to go I'll call you later when I get home." I hung up.
Valtteri walked closer to me and with every footstep my heart would beat faster and faster.
"I didn't mean to intrude on your conversation, but I'm leaving soon and um, well uhm, I was wondering if you wanted to, you know, get something to eat and stuff?" He said sounding very nervous.
He looked just as nervous as I was, but I quickly replied, "Yeah, I'm starving." I was suprised to hear that anything came out of my mouth.
I told him that I had to go tell my brother that I'm going with him and to take the car back home. I walking into the locker room and the guys started shooting questions at me, "Where'd Flip go MP," one said, "Well what happend, tell us!" another exclamed. "Settle down guys, I'm just going to get something to eat with the guy, jeesh!" I said in a panic. My dad stood up and hugged me, "Morgan, be careful, we haven't quite tested him yet, we don't know what he's like." he said jockingly. "Yeah, yeah dad, I'll be fine." I said annoyed.
The guys quickly made kissy faces as I walked out the door, I shot glares at them and they did it even more. "Morgan and Val sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Pavel yelled. Pavel was the last one I would have expected to say that.
I ran down the hallway and walked through the doors with Val, I didn't know what to expect, but he seemed sweet.

Finnish Wonder part 1

2008-05-30T15:09:00.000-07:00

^An Idea of what I kind of look like^

Name: Morgan Elizabeth Draper
Nicknames: Cat, puddy, puddy k, MP
Age: 19
Date of Birth: May 12, 1987
Current Date: June 15, 2005
Height/Weight: 5'8"/115 lbs
Eye/Hair Color: Long, wavy brown hair, down to mid back/hazel, but mostly green
Personality: Obsessed with hockey and everything that comes with it
Life: Daughter of Kris Draper, Born in Detroit, Michigan, now lives in an apartment in Novi with my brother Ronnie, a few blocks away from my parents. I am currently working at the Joe Louis Arena as an athletic trainer.
___________________________________________
Name: Ronnie James Draper
Nicknames: RJ
Age: 19
Height/Weight: 6'1"/210 lbs
Eye/Hair Color: Brown wavy hair with Carmel highlights/blue eyes
Personality: Hilarious, sarcastic, loving, a lot of help, and is afraid of rejection
Life: Born in Detroit, Michigan and went to the same school as me, we always got along even if it meant him getting teased by his friends, currently has a job as an athletic trainer at the Joe Louis.
____________________________________________
Name: Valtteri Mattias Timo Filppula
Nicknames: Flip, Val, Fil
Age: 21
DOB: March 20, 1984
Height/Weight: 6'0"/193 lbs
Eye/Hair Color: Blond straight hair/blue eyes
Personality: Shy around woman, hilarious around his fellow teammates, fun, caring, loving, speaks fluent Finnish.
Life: Born in Vantaa, Finland, currently plays for the Detroit Red Wings, played his 1st game in 2005.
_____________________________________________

Part 1:

I wiped the cold slush off of my face and punched my dad in the shoulder, for stopping right in front of me.
"Hey guys anyone want to play one-on-one?" I yelled
"Cat you know you couldn't take anyone of these guys!" My dad said, egging me on.
So I went to the bench and sat as I recorded the conditions of the guys with Ronnie on my left and a box of towels on my right. I suddenly noticed a new name on the conditioning list in which I was supposed to check off daily. "Valtteri Filppula," I read aloud, "huh...must be pretty good if he's going to play for this team," I joked to RJ. "Haha yeah, must be damn good!" yelled Ronnie.
"Ahem," I looked up, there, standing right in front of me was the most gorgeous buy I have ever seen in my life, tall, blond, and sounded like another swede. "Uh, Coach Babcock said I was supposed to check in with the athletic trainers, do you two know where they are?" he said stuttering in a mysterious accent. I tried to talk, I moved my lips, but no words, no sound, nothing was coming out. Ronnie quickly came to the rescue, "Well you must be the big shot from Finland, lets see here...Valtteri Filppula's your name ain't it?" "Yup that's me alright, so about those athletic trainers.." he half whispered trying to be stealthy for a reason unknown to me. "That's us, I'm Ronnie Draper and this is my little sister, Morgan." my brother said slightly laughing, yet trying to be serious about it. Valtteri signed the conditioning form and started saying something, but before he could finish, my dad, yelled for him to come join the show. "What was that!" my brother yelled. "What was what?" screaming back at him. " O you know what I'm talking about, usually you are all over hockey players, asking them questions about every possible thing you could!" again screaming back at me. I got up and went into the locker room to get the tape measure, the scale, and the weight lifting equipment ready for after practice. Soon enough I heard the slamming of doors and the yelling and wooing of the guys joking around, nothing I wasn't used to. My dad came up to me first, "So puddy, you got a little crush on Fil heh?" "What, dad no, what are you talking about!" I boomed. He rolled his eyes and one of the guys yelled, "Drapes leave your daughter alone, she doesn't have time for her old man anymore!" "Thanks Malts, you're a life saver," I said jokingly. Valtteri soon came into the locker room and took his equipment off, he walked over to my dad. I couldn't quite make out what they were whispering, but I can only imagine what my dad could be telling him. Val looked up at me and smiled, I couldn't help but smile back. Ronnie pushed me from behind and Dan Cleary pushed him from behind. We were about a foot away from each other now. I pulled out my clip board and told him that he better hit the showers before I start measuring him for conditioning.