Rating: PG-13
Original Date of Completion: September 2002
Dislcaimer: Don't own them, will one day. This is all fiction from my demented little mind, so please don't sue me.
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Mac's POV
When I called Kenny earlier and he said he was in a meeting, I knew immediately it was with Kirk. I begged him not to listen to anything Kirk said until I had the chance to explain to him what was going on. I'd agonized all of last night with how to tell Ken about the situation. I'd fallen asleep in my pool room I'd fought so long with ideas. In the end, I realized only one thing would work. I'd have to take the risk, and tell him the truth.
He agreed to meet me at noon and that's where I was now. It was two minutes and 19 seconds before 12:00; I know because in my nervousness, my eyes had been glued to my watch. I never got nervous. My dad always told me never to worry about something that's not under my control. But this situation had ravaged my nerves. This wasn't under my control, by any means. But from the first second I'd seem them together, I'd had that feeling of worry, and felt the obligation to watch out for them. And that's what I was trying to do today. I just hoped that my efforts paid off. I've been thinking about it for a while now, and I don't know how well I'd do without those two around.
The sound of a door opening snaps me from my thoughts. Ken stood in the doorway of his office and motioned me in with his hand. I got up quickly from my chair and walked into his office. We shook hands, and I watched him walk around to his desk before sitting down myself. I took my hat off and sat it in my lap. Ken looked more tired than I think I'd ever seen him. But then again, I rarely saw him in the off season, and that was the busy time for a GM. He sighed and rubbed his forehead, then fixed his eyes on me.
"So tell me, please, what is going on with Kris and Sergei, and now Kirk?" He asked, leaning back in his chair.
I took a deep breath and sighed. I tried to think of the nicest way possible to say it. "Sergei is a homophobic asshole" was certainly not the way to go. There really was no easy way to explain it. A person needed to know the whole story, from the very beginning, to understand what was going on now. I inched forward in my chair and rested my elbows on his desk.
"I'm gonna tell you something Ken that I really probably shouldn't," I explained, scratching at my chin. "I'm going to say it because I trust that you won't react negatively," He nodded, and I took a deep breath. "Kris and Kirk are...together,"
I stopped and waited for a reaction before continuing. Confusion was evident on his face. He leaned forward in his chair and rubbed at his forehead again. He stared at me silently, almost like he was trying to see if I was joking. My face was stone cold serious, and he realized quickly that I'd spoken the truth. He nodded his head and clasped his hands together, resting them on the desk.
"Kris and Kirk are..." He paused. "Homosexual,"
His hesitation caused my body to break out in a nervous sweat. I wiped my palms on my pant legs and slowly nodded my head. "Yes, they are," I replied, maintaining constant eye contact.
"I see," He said, leaning back in his chair. "So where does Sergei fit into this?"
The way he was acting made me start to believe that he may have a problem with them being gay. If that was the case, then any efforts I'd made were in vain, and I should probably start stocking up on best friend time as soon as possible. I wasn't even going to bother explaining the Sergei situation until I was sure he wasn't going to agree with him. It wouldn't look too great for me to punch my GM. Especially when I'm negotiating for a new contract.
"Before I get into that," I said hesitantly, leaning back in my chair. "You don't have a problem with them being gay, do you?"
"What?" He asked, almost like he were insulted. "Of course not, how could you think that?"
So my assumptions had obviously been wrong, and now I looked like a jack ass. "You just seemed kind of hesitant, that's all," I mumbled in reply, breaking eye contact.
"Well, it was a bit of a shock to hear. But I most definitely would NEVER have a problem with it,"
"Good," I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.
"Now, how does Sergei fit in?" He asked, turning sideways with his chair and resting an elbow on his desk.
I sighed and sat back in my chair. I ran a hand through my hair and turned in my chair so I was facing him more directly. "Well, a few months ago, when Malts and Drapes first got together, Sergei saw them kiss in the locker room, something Aves, Jesse and I goaded them into," I stopped and waited for a sign to continue. He nodded, and I drew another deep breath. "After they left that day, I was the only one left in the room. He made some derogatory comments about them, and I checked him on it. Then he told me I'd made a big mistake. That was the last I heard before I left that day,"
Ken nodded and again rubbed his forehead. "What kind of derogatory comments?" He asked, turning back to his desk and leaning forward.
"He called them a couple of fags. When I told him to lay off, he said if he wanted to screw with a couple of fags, I was in no position to stop him,"
He sighed and shook his head. "I think I know where this is going,"
I stayed silent but stared at him with a look of question. He spun around to a file cabinet behind him, and searched for a second before pulling out a manilla folder. He spun back to his desk and dropped the folder in front of him. He pulled his glasses from his desk and slipped them onto his face.
"He came in here a week ago," He started, flipping through the mound of papers inside the folder. "And demanded that Kris be traded, or he was going to walk. He assured me that the owner of Minnesota was more than ready to buy out his contract if I didn't cooperate," He pulled out a piece of paper from the folder and began to glance it over.
I grunted in understanding, and began to fiddle with the clasp on my hat, waiting for him to continue. He stayed silent briefly, but I heard the scratching of a pen. I looked up at him and saw him scribbling fiercely on whatever the papers were he'd pulled from the folder. When he laid the pen down, he closed the folder and looked at me.
"When were you made away of his plans?" He asked
"We all found out yesterday," I replied, crossing my leg at the ankle. "He crashed Kris' Cup party and told Dominik that he should enjoy them while he can, because Kris would be in Atlanta by October,"
He clenched his hands together and breathed an angry sigh. "Son-of-a-bitch," He muttered under his breath. "It's Roest all over again,"
My head shot up at the mention of that name, and I stared straight at him. "What does Stacy have to do with this?" I asked, leaning forward on the desk.
He sighed, and for what had to be the billionth time that day, rubbed his forehead. I was starting to worry that they guy might be having an aneurysm.
"Two years ago, Sergei demanded that Stacy be "eliminated" from the Red Wings," He explained, putting special emphasis on eliminated. "We couldn't afford to lose Sergei back then. I didn't really know what to do, I'd never dealt with a player demanding someone be eliminated. So I did the only thing I thought I could, and left Stacy unprotected for the expansion draft, and Minnesota did my dirty work,"
I could hardly believe what I was hearing. None of us had ever heard why Stacy had been left unprotected, we just knew that he had. But now, two years later to find out Sergei had been behind the entire thing, it was almost mind blowing. I'd always assumed his evil had been a newly acquired thing, but obviously it dated back at least two years. Why Stacy? He was engaged with a kid back then. And he certainly wasn't a threat to Sergei on the ice. Something just wasn't adding up here. I scratched my chin in confusion and glanced back to Ken.
"Why Stacy? What did he do to Sergei?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
He sighed and leaned forward on his desk, covering his eyes with his hand. "Stacy and Slava Kozlov had an affair," He explained, still covering his eyes. "Sergei found out about it, and since Slava was his friend, he blamed it on Stacy, and wanted him gone so it wouldn't happen again,"
"That bastard," I whispered, astounded at what an asshole Sergei really was.
"There's more," He said angrily, dropping his hand from his face and clenching it into a fist. "He told Slava the only reason he let him stay was because he knew he wouldn't do it again. And Slava, scared to death of losing his job, didn't for a while. But in the 2000-2001 season, he got together with Marty Lapointe. Sergei lost it, and demanded that they both be traded. It was so close to the end of the season, I stalled him off until the end, then traded Slava, and let Marty go to Boston in free agency," He slammed his hand down on the desk and shook his head, keeping his eyes from mine.
By the time he finished speaking, he was almost seething with anger. Me, I was just in shock. It seemed like so much went on right underneath my nose. Hed been doing this to people for two years and no one had said a thing? An anger flashed through me, directed at all of my teammates. I couldn't believe all of this had happened, and no one did a thing. Then it struck me. I turned my head slowly and locked my eyes on Kenny. How did he know all of this, and still let it happen? Anger surged through my body, and I clamped my hands onto the arm rests of the chair to try and make it subside. 'He couldn't have known.' I told myself. 'There's NO WAY he would've done it if he had known everything back then.' If he did, I just lost a whole lot of respect for him.
"God dammit," He muttered, still staring away from me. "I can't believe I let myself be manipulated like that,"
I sighed, and within my mind I knew it was a sigh of relief. If he's claiming manipulation, that means he didn't know what was going on. But the fact that he did it without even trying to figure out why still made me leery. I stopped for a second and tried to see things his way. His star player comes to him and demands someone be traded, or he's going to walk. None of them were necessary cogs in the Hockeytown Machine, so he did it, all in the interest of keeping his team successful. In those days, he was right, we couldn’t have handled it without Sergei. I think if I were in his shoes back then, I would've done the same thing. But now, that's another story. And I'm not leaving here until that story has an end, one way or another.
"There was nothing you could do, Ken. You didn't know," I said, trying to sound reassuring.
He sighed and shook his head. "I should've tried to figure out why he wanted them gone. With Stacy, I didn't think anything of it. But when Marty and Slava came to ME and ASKED to be traded, I should've known," He shook his head and slammed his hand on the desk again. "I should've known!"
"Easy, Ken," I stated, leaning back in my chair. "You were looking out for the success of your team. Any GM would do it,"
"Yes, but that doesn't make it right,"
I shrugged. That's all I could do. I could convince him he was just doing what anyone else would've, but that still didn't make it right. There is nothing I could think of that could make what he did right.
"I'll tell you one thing. That sorry son-of-a-bitch may've gotten away with it twice before, but it's not going to happen again,"
I wasn't looking into a mirror, but I'm sure my face lit up. That's what I'd come here wanting him to say. Well, not those exact words, since I never thought that Sergei was this big of an asshole. But to get confirmation that all would be okay, that my boys were safe, that's why I'd come here. I stared at Ken, and calmly nodded my head, trying to disguise my excitement. My cell phone was starting to burn a hole in my pocket, there were two people who really deserved a phone call right now. I tapped at my cell phone unconsciously with my hand, and Ken grinned.
"I'll call them for you," He explained, opening up the folder from earlier. "But there are a few other phone calls I have to make first. So if you don't mind, I'll call this meeting to close, and get down to business," I stood up and cracked my back. "Unless you want to a sign a contract?" He asked jokingly, looking up from his papers with a smirk.
I grinned and extended my hand. "Thank you, Kenny. I really appreciate everything you've done for them today,"
He nodded and sat his pen down on the desk. He must've noticed my looking, because his hands slipped over the paper, covering the words from my sight. He grinned at me and shook his head. "It's a very good thing you're a hockey player and not a detective,"
I laughed, and walked toward the door. As I started to step outside, him saying my name caused me to turn around.
"Thank you, Darren, for not letting me make the same mistake again,"
"Hey," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "I couldn't let my boys down,"
I smiled and walked out of his office. I said good-bye to Glenna, his secretary, and made my way outside. I stepped outside a lot lighter than I felt when I walked in. A huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. For the first time in months, that feeling of worry wasn't there anymore. It was just, like after so long, my efforts finally paid off. It was almost like winning the Cup. Months of worry, and struggling with how I could protect them, in the end paid dividends. I could stop worrying now if they’d be okay.
The situation was out of my hands, and in the hands of someone who seemed determined to make it okay. He'd made the mistake twice before, and I could tell from the look in his eyes that he wouldn't do it again. I didn't know what Kenny planned to do, but I wasn't going to worry about it. My boys were safe now. They could go on with their love, and not have to worry about some asshole trying to fuck it up. That's the way it should've been from the very beginning. I promised them that I'd make it okay, and I'd stuck to my promise. I could let them be adults, and handle their own problems now. My worrying days were over.
Actually, who was I kidding? As long as I live, I'll look out for the two of them. Because I've said it a million times; they are my blood, my family. And as long as I have a breath left in my body, no one will fuck with my family.
TBC
© 2002 Triple X
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