5// backyard-igans

"I got up twenty minutes late, and now I'm rushing like a menstrating bitch to a bathroom to get ready," I said on my bluetooth to Jamila as I scrambled around my room to find converse to wear. "You should really by a watch, it could come in handy for you," Jamila told me. "Shut up," I told her with an eye roll. "What's on your schedule for today?" "Getting an incoming high school freshman into shape for baseball season, followed by high school football player who was kicked off his team for being a washed up alcoholic, OH! And I got roped in to teaching a swimming class to people Hales' age," she told me. I chuckled. "You sound so excited about it all," I commented "Oh, I'm fucking bursting," she told me with her casual tone of sarcasm. "You should bring Hales over here before you three leave soon." "Can't. she's coming with us," I told her. "Apparently, there's a lot of kids on the Hawks team and Derick's hoping she'll make more friends." '"Damn it, I don't wanna go to work today," Jamila told me. "I wanna sit on my couch, eat my food, drink and binge on Grey's Anatomy," "No one watches Grey's ever since April and Jackson fucking ran off together," I told her bitterly. "I don't know where the fuck you get your information from but that's extremely wrong," she told me. "Whatever," I told her; now's not the time to get into the discussion of my Grey's Anatomy boycott. "I gotta get ready, Derick will freak if we show up late." "Oh no, a bunch of hockey heads will eat all the meat without you, how ever will you survive?" "Shit, you really aren't in the mood for today..." "It's a damn Saturday and I have to go to work, of course I'm not in the mood." I chuckled again, "You'll survive," I told her before I hung up. We had a Team Barbecue to attend at the Coach's house, as a way for the players and their families to bond together for the upcoming season. I was expecting to stay home with Haley today, but Derick told me he wanted us to come as well. Now, I'm hauling ass trying to get ready to leave on time. I got Kristen helping Haley so we don't have another outfit disaster like on the first day of school again, and Derick's doing whatever Derick's do. I settled on wearing a black tank top with jean shorts and black converse. As I put on my sunglasses, the door shot open with Haley running in. "You're going slow!" she told me dramatically, wearing jeans shorts as well along with sandals and a Disney Princesses t-shirt. "Watch you attitude," I warned her. "But it's true!" she told me, "Uncle Derick keeps saying it!" I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Come on, let's go so he stops talking," I told her as we walked out and downstairs where we saw Kristen sitting down while on her phone and Derick pacing around the living room. "We're ready!" Haley shouted with a smile. "Bout time," Derick mumbled while giving me a dirty look; I rolled my eyes as we walked out of the house and into the SUV, making our way to the Coaches house. xxxxxxxx

I don't think I've ever felt this uncomfortable in my life.

Everyone here was a big part of the team in some way, and I felt like a big elephant in the room as I didn't know anyone and I was the only sister-in-law around. I found myself sitting down at a picnic table by myself, sending texts to Jamila that got no response due to her schedule, but it was better than looking like I had nothing to do. Haley was making friends though, so that's all that matters.

As I was trying my best to ignore everything, someone decided to stop by and take a seat next to my picnic table.

"Haven't I seen you lurking around before?" a familiar face asked me.

"Yeah, I just got a job with the organization recently," I told him, "and I'm pretty sure I've seen you around..."

"Patrick Kane," he told me with a smile, "if that rings any bell."

"Oh, Kat Stevens, if that rings any of your bells," I told him. We both laughed for a minute.

"So, are you a girlfriend or fiancee?" he asked me.

"Neither," I replied, "I'm a sister in law."

"Really? For who?"

"Derick Brassard."

"Brassy? Lucky girl," he told me. "He seems pretty cool.

I shrugged. "He's decent, I guess..."

Patrick laughed. "Well, If you're gonna be here, you should do some bonding with the team family."

"I'm the only sister-in-law here, I got nothing in common with anyone else here,"  I told him.

He was silent for a moment, then pointed across the yard to two women. "Over there is my girlfriend Leslie with Jonathan Toews' girlfriend Ashley. Go talk to them, you'll love them."

I sighed, "you're pretty pushy, man."

"Nothing wrong with pushing," he said with a smile.

I rolled my eyes, getting off of the picnic table and heading over to the other girls, who immediately took notice to me.

"Hey, are you a new wife or girlfriend?" the one with long, brunette hair asked me.

"Um....I'm new, but that's about it," I told them.

"Huh?" the one with blonde hair in a bob asked.

"Sister-in-law of one of the new players," I explained, "Kat Stevens."

"Leslie Nelman, I'm Patrick Kane's girlfriend," the blonde told me.

"And I'm Ashley Taylor, Jonathan Toews' girlfriend," the brunette told me.

"Nice, so how long have you been dating them?" I asked them.

"We met at a bar almost two years ago after the lockout ended," Ashley explained. "I work as a bartender."

"And we met after he won his second Stanley Cup on vacation in Mexico," Leslie told me.

"Nice."

"So, who's your family?"

I went over and pointed at Derick and Kristen, who were making their way around the yard meeting with people. "Derick, he just got traded from New York."

"Oh yeah, he does pretty good at practices," Ashley commented.

"So, what about you? What do you do for a living?" Leslie asked me.

"I actually just got a job with the organization, I'm with public relations and marketing," I explained.

"Awesome!" Ashley said with a smile, "the girlfriends and wives actually do a lot with them because of charities and stuff, looks like we'll be seeing a lot of each other!"

"That's cool!" I said with a smile aswell. "Uh...I'm gonna head back now, but it was cool meeting you!"

"Yeah, see you later!" Ashley told me; Leslie kept quiet as I made my back to the picnic table where Patrick was at with a smirk.

"See? Socializing isn't too bad," he told me.

"Fuck off," I told him with an eye roll.

"You're welcome," he laughed.

I was about to give him a retort, but Haley came running up so my attention went to her.

"Can I get ice cream?" she asked me, "everyone else is."

"Did you finish all of your lunch?"

"Yes!"

"Even the veggies?"

Haley stayed quiet, then looked down to her feet, causing me to sigh. "Hales, you know the rules."

"But mom!"

"No buts, you know the rules, you have to eat everything for dessert."

"Whoa," Patrick stepped in, catching both of our attention, "today's a special day, why not bend the rules for one day?"

"Yeah, mommy," Haley said with complete sass, even putting her hands on her hips, "It's a special day."

"You need to watch yourself," I warned her.

"Come on, mommy!" she started begging, "I always eat my veggies every night, this is my first time not!"

"Come on, cut her some slack," Patrick told me with a smile.

I thought about it for a moment, then sighed. "You can get one bowl, but that's it until dinner tonight."

Haley grew a big smile on her face. "Thank you so much!!!!" She ran over and hugged me quick, before looking back at Patrick. "Thank you for helping me."

"No problem, kiddo," he smiled at her, "us blonde haired-blue eyed kids gotta stick together."

"I've never met anyone else with blonde hair and blue eyes before!" Haley told him excitedly.

"Really?" Patrick asked her, shocked. "What about your-"

I quickly started shaking my head. I knew exactly what he was going to say: "what about your dad?" We're having a good day, and I don't want to get into the topic of him. Luckily, Patrick caught on and didn't finish his sentence, but just smiled at her.

"Blonde hair and blue eyes are supposed to be rare, so I guess we're lucky to have met," he told her instead. Haley smiled really big, before running off to get ice cream.

"Thank you so much," I told him.

"No problem," he said, "I'm not positive what's going on, but whatever it is, I'll respect it and mind my own business.

I was about to say something, when I heard a faint "Patrick!" being shouted across the yard. We both turned to our left and saw Leslie calling him over.

"I think that may be my cue to go," he told me. "but I'll see you around the United Center."

"Yeah, totally," I agreed.

We smiled and waved at each other as he left, and Kristen came to replace him with two red cups in hand which were filled with I presume would be alcohol. I gave her a weird look.

"Derick's driving back home," she told me.

"Thank God," I said as I grabbed the cup and took a sip.

"So, you and Hales are bonding with Patrick Kane?" she asked me.

"Yeah," I told her, "he's pretty cool, and Haley's so fascinated that he looks like her."

"Really?" she asked me with a smirk. "Maybe that's your baby daddy."

I rolled my eyes, "shut the fuck up, don't even joke about that.

Kristen cocked her head, "you never know, little sis."

She then walked away from me. I thought about it for a moment, then shook my head; she was being crazy. I didn't meet Patrick until last month, there's no way. Haley's dad is probably roaming around taking advantage of other girls. But it's not Patrick, he isn't that type of guy.

4 // introduction

*Jammy's POV*

I smirked down at my phone as I read a text from Kat; it was her first day and she already was crushing on one of her coworkers- sort of, they sort of worked together...It's a long story. She also made sure to send me a picture this morning of Hales on her way to school. I was there for her first day of pre-school and Kindergarten, but I had an early meeting with a new client today so I couldn't make it.

As I stretched out, a slim tall girl with brown eyes and brown hair walked up to me.

"Excuse me, Miss Brenner?" she asked me timidly.

"You can call me Jamila," I said with a chuckle as I stood tall. "And you must be Sarah?"

"Yep," Sarah said with a smile. We shook hands before we began walking over to the equipment.

"All right, so we'll have a solid one hour of cardio with a bit of stretching to cool off," I told her. "For the warm up, we'll just do jump ropes for a couple minutes to get the heart rate up."

Sarah nodded as she grabbed a jump rope off of the hooks.

As our session went by, I quickly noticed something about her that was different than my previous clients back in New York. By the end of the session, she confirmed my thoughts. As we went over to the water jug and hydrated, I put my hand on my hip and looked at her hard.

"What's your deal?" I asked her.

"Huh?" she questioned.

"You're incredibly in shape," I told her, "most of the people I've worked with were out of shape due to illness or injury, but you don't seem to have anything holding you back. Whats up?"

Sarah sighed, before she sat down on the bench nearby. "I'm a detective on Chicago PD's Intelligence squad," she explained.

"Wow, that sounds really cool. Good job," I told her.

"Thanks. They bumped me up from patrol about two years ago, and I've loved every minute of it," she said.

"Well, if you're a cop, you're clearly already in tip-top shape."

"Not exactly. I just got off of maternity leave a while ago-"

"Oh, congratulations!" I said excitedly. She looked a little embarrassed.

"I didn't keep the baby," she explained quietly, "I did surragacy for a friend who had cancer growing up and became infertile. Besides, if I actually got pregnant, no way my boyfriend would let me keep the baby."

"Pretty sure he can't do that," I told her, "but continue on."

"So yeah, I went back to work like two weeks ago, and Immediately we got hit up with a rape chain."

"A rape chain?"

"There was like a whole fucking gang of people who would rape girls around the city and use a knife to leave a scar across their right cheeks, the mastermind turned out to have murdered a few victims, too."

This is why I do Personal Training- I don't deal with that type of scary ass shit. The only time I wanna deal with that is when I'm watching NCIS thank you very much.

"But yeah, my partner and I were in a highway chase with one of the accomplinces and it ended up with me chasing him on foot," she continued to explain. "I caught him, but it was such a fucking battle, and it didn't used to be!"

"So, you just have high standards for yourself?" I asked her.

"I'm protecting the greatest city in the world, of course I have high standards!" she said.

"I mean, I think you're in great shape, but...if you wanna come here and pay me to help you, I won't stop you," I told her.

A devious smile appeared on her face. "I'll see you in a week at the same time," she told me.

"See you then, Miss Detective."



*United Center, Kat's POV*

I found the conference room relatively quite quick. Take that, Derick.

I waited in silence for five minutes along with a few other people, until a tall guy wearing a suit literally hopped into the room. He was clearly young, deep blue eyes, gelled blonde hair and a vibrant vibe.

"Welcome to a new season, coworkers!" he said to us with a gigantic smile. "As most of you know, I'm Chris, but because we have some new people here, let's just go around and introduce ourselves."

One by one, everyone went around in a circle introducing themselves like we used to back in elementary school. Most of them with veterans around the office, but a few were new like me.

"My name is Kat," I said when it was my turn. "I got my Communications B.A recently, and I got lucky enough to find this job shortly after my daughter and I moved her, and I'm excited to start."

I chose not to say anything about Derick and Kristen; it's my first day, I don't want them to know I have connections with the team and view me as that bratty girl living off of someone else's fame. Yeah, they helped me land the job, but I plan on keeping the job because I know what I'm doing.

"Alright, so here's the skinny," Chris said, "it's our job to make the Hawks look good, and to help interact them with fans through good advertising and campaigns. Last year that was easy because they won the cup, but LA just HAAAAAD to beat them in overtime back in June," he paused and shook his head. "So, now we got to think of a new campaign to use. Something that captivates the attention of people, that makes them glad that they're Blackhawks fans, makes them feel comfortable with these men, and of course, that we can spin alongside the players themselves. You got an idea, we write it up on the whiteboard. Best idea wins, and we spend the rest of the day planning advertisement opportunities."

As a group, we went back and forth on ideas. Some of them were good, some were impressive, some were just plain awful. After a while, it got quiet as people were out of ideas. That's when I got one.

"What's your goal," I said out loud, all eyes on me.

"Huh?" Chris asked me.

"Well like, the past few seasons we've gone bu the slogan 'one goal' as in our motto to win the stanley cup. What if the season, we do a what's your goal campaign. We could like, get videos of the players stating their goals for the upcoming season and turn it into a commercial. And for the fans, we can create a facebook page where they can send in their goals and we could actually make a few of the goals happen. Like, i don't know, say a kid has cancer and wants to skate on the ice with Jonathan Toews as their goal, we could make that happen. It's a fun idea that we could spin in multiple directions, all of them making the team look good while also making fans feel good."

The room went quiet for a moment after I finished explaining, making me nervous. Then, a big smile appeared on Chris's face.

"Excellent," he said, writing it on the board. Then, he looked back at me, "welcome to the PR department, Miss Stevens. I have a feeling you'll fit in just well."


The morning went on, until I finally got to my lunch break at eleven. With my bag in hand, I headed towards the 100 level to watch the team practicing alongside Kristen, who was taking pictures for her article.

"How's the first day?" she asked me.

"Great, they're using my idea for the campaign this season!" I said excitedly.

"Kat, that's great!" she told me with a smile. "See, this is a great place to be. I have a feeling working here will change our lives for the better."

I tore my sandwich in half and gave one to Kristen; I knew she was skipping lunch to work extra, it's just the kind of stuff she does. "What do you mean change our lives?" I asked her. "You work for one of the most famous papers in the world and your husbands a hockey player, your life can't get any better."

"Fine, maybe your life will change for the better," she corrected herself before taking a bite.

I sighed before replying, "yeah, for Haley's sake, I really hope it does."n