Chapter 4: What could have been

When Autumn finally made it back from her roll call, Nathalie walked out of the bathroom and looked at the list, “Everyone where they should be, huh?”

Autumn slumped down on her bed, shrugging. As if it even mattered.

Wanting to keep a conversation going, Nathalie continued, “So what Jacob did for you was really nice.”

Frowning, Autumn looked over at her, “He didn't have to do that, he's not here to save me. He's here to save pucks.”

Poetic, Nathalie thought as she rolled her eyes and went over to her own bed. Autumn clearly wasn't in a very good mood, so talking to her would only make things worse.

“Well, good night...” Nathalie turned off the light on her side of the room and crawled under the covers, checking her phone one final time before letting her head rest on the pillow. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

-

For the staff of Team Sweden, an early start to the day was perfectly normal. Not so much for the recently hired girls, though...

“Ughhh I don't want tooo...” Nathalie moaned as her alarm went off for the third time. “This is not faaaair.”

On the other side of the room, Autumn was hitting the snooze button yet again, until she realized the time, “Shit!” She flew out of bed. “We're gonna be late, get UP!”

Nathalie held on to her pillow for dear life as Autumn tried to drag her out of bed, “Pleeeease no...”

Sighing, Autumn filled a glass of ice cold water and poured it over Nathalie's head, causing her to shriek loudly, “It was my only choice...” Autumn set the glass down and watched Nathalie putting her clothes on while cursing in what sounded like very angry Swedish.

“Stop bitching and hurry up!!” Autumn raised her voice and started going through the mini fridge they had in their room. She grabbed a bottle of water and drank all of it in next to no time at all. Blinking at the strange taste, she started to feel a little weird, and everything was starting to look a bit fuzzy.

“Ok let's go...” Nathalie said and put her keycard in her wallet before she went over to the door and opened it for Autumn. She followed Nathalie and made her way towards the elevator, ignoring the feeling of dizziness that was rushing over her more and more. After pressing the button to get the elevator to arrive, Autumn started to feel unbalanced, and before she knew it she was on the floor.

“Oh my god!!” Nathalie crashed onto the floor next to her. “Are you okay? Autumn...?”

“What's going on?” Came a voice from behind Nathalie. She looked up and saw Jacob standing there with Tim and David. “I... I don't know... She just fell...” Nathalie looked over at Tim and saw him smirking, which immediately made her hover over Autumn to smell her breath. “You asshole!” She stood up, looking right at Tim. “What did you do?!”

Jacob looked confused, “What are you talking about?”

“She's drunk... And the last thing she drank was... A bottle of water, which I'm assuming WASN'T water.”

Tim held up his hands, “Hey, I'm innocent... She must like her drinks.”

Nathalie gave him an evil look and mimed “Fuck off.” before she turned her attention to Jacob. “Please help me... I still have to do my work, but she can't go like this. Can you take her back to our room?”

“Of-of course... Yeah...” Jacob hunched down and picked Autumn up into his arms. Standing up, he realized something. “I'll need your key...”

“Oh right...” Shaking, Nathalie took it out of her wallet and handed it over to him. “It's room 25.”

“Ok... You guys can cover for me, right? Say I'm feeling a bit of a sore throat or something?”

“Yeah, of course. We'll come up with something.” Nathalie assured him. Just as she said it, the elevator arrived and Tim, David and Nathalie all went inside. Just before the doors closed, Jacob heard Nathalie screaming at Tim, and he shook his head with a slight smile.

Autumn moved in Jacob's arms as he started to walk towards the girls' room, “Put me doooown...” She moaned, slightly opening her eyes. “I... woooork...”

“Nope...” Jacob said, holding a tight grip of her. “You're going to rest today, ok?”

“I caaan't...” Autumn sighed. “They'll fire me...” She repositioned herself and tried to climb over Jacob's shoulder in order to escape, but he caught her in time and opened the door to their room.

“Nice try, but do you think you can climb over me?” Jacob gently set her down on top of one of the beds. He then went over to the fridge, grabbing a new water bottle. Just to be sure, he opened it and took a sniff. He wouldn't want her to get even drunker. Luckily, this one contained pure water, and so he went back over to the bed with it. “Take this, you need fluids.”

“Nooo... No... No...” Autumn pushed it away. “It made me... sick...”

Jacob picked it back up, “It won't make you sick, it'll make you bett-”

“Kill meee...” Autumn interrupted him, groaning. “I am in a hotel room... with the... annoying... sessy guy...”

Jacob raised his eyebrows, still trying to get her to drink the water, “Pardon me?”

“Wait...” Autumn swallowed loudly. “If you're SWEDISH why aren't you... blonde?” Jacob sat down on the bed next to her and she accidentally burped, “Sorry...”

Jacob smiled, “We're not ALL blonde, actually. Now drink this.”

“NO!” Autumn moaned.

“It'll make you feel better...” Jacob pleaded, holding the bottle up once again. His negotiating went on for another twenty minutes before Autumn would even consider touching the bottle, and he was so close to giving up. When she finally took it, she managed to spill more than half the contents over her shirt.

“Fuck!” She exclaimed, looking down at herself. Jacob sighed and picked her back up, having thought of something that might help. Autumn protested, though,“What are you doing?!”

-

In the lobby, Nathalie had gone over to talk to Roger, and was just finishing up Autumn's excuse when David showed up behind her, “Coach, Jacob's feeling a bit of a sore throat so he'll pass on practice today. He wanted me to tell you... Better safe than sorry, you know.”

“Right...” Roger nodded. “So we're one goalie and one assistant short. Can you handle it alone, Andersson?”

“Yes, I'll take care of it, sir.”

Roger nodded once again, “Good, good... So get everyone on the bus and we'll leave for practice, yes?”

“Of course...” Nathalie took a deep breath as Roger walked over to the assisting coaches. She didn't know exactly how to handle it all alone, but she would figure it out somehow.

“Wow you look so tense...” Tim came up behind her and whispered in her ear. “Looks like you could use a good whole-body massage. You know, like I used to give you... And as always, it would be followed by-”

Nathalie felt a shiver go all the way up her spine when Tim started to speak, and she pushed her elbow into his stomach, interrupting him, “You. Shut. Up.” She said through gritted teeth. Taking another deep breath, she walked away from him, counted slowly to ten in her head and went to gather all the players.

In some magical way, they all arrived at the practice arena in time and managed to complete a whole practice without any major cutbacks. Nathalie was doing the best she could, but she had a feeling some of the players were trying to see how much she could handle. This ended with her sitting alone on the bench at the end of practice, catching her breath. Two players were left on the ice: Tim and David, who always went off last. They skated over to her and as they left the ice, Tim winked at her and bit his lip. She just shook her head and focused on what she had to clean up around her. She wouldn't want to actually kill him. 

-

Meanwhile, Jacob was running a bath for the poor drunken and soaked girl he was supervising, but she didn't seem to like it very much.

“I said, what... are you... doing?”

“I'm running you a bath,” Jacob replied. “Get out of those clothes and get in the tub...”

“WHAT?! NO!” Autumn yelled. “I knew it, you're just trying to get in my pants!”

Jacob held up his hands, “I just want you to take a bath, I won't do anything... Now do you want to take a bath in your underwear or fully dressed? Your choice.”

“How about neither.” Autumn tried to get out of the room, but Jacob pulled her back. If she was going to be this stubborn, he'd have no other choice but to use some force. He lifted her up yet again, and put her down in the hot water. She started coughing and splashed water around her, “I'm going to kill you!” The words coming out of her mouth were finally smooth and without any sound of drunken nonsense.

“Fine...” Jacob crossed his arms. “But you're talking normally now...”

“Oh...” Autumn calmed down in the tub and leaned back against it. “I guess so...” She put her arms around her knees. “I'm sorry...”

Jacob sat on the edge of the tub, rubbing her back gently, “You don't have to be sorry... It's ok...”

“No... “Autumn whispered. “If it wasn't for me you had been playing tonight... It's all my fault.”

Jacob frowned, “You didn't do it all yourself, it's not on you. And I can manage missing the game against Lativa...”

Autumn looked up at him, noticing a scar on his cheek, “Where did you get that?”

“Oh...” Jacob unintentionally touched his face. “I was playing hockey with my brother and got a stick there... No big deal.”

“That happened to me once, too...” Autumn said, suddenly very calm.

“You played hockey?” Jacob looked pretty surprised.

Autumn nodded, moving back her hair a little bit, “When I was little... See, under my neck here? I got slashed by accident...” She paused. “It's kind of in the shape of a heart... Do you see it?”

Jacob looked closer, “Yeah... That's actually cool, mine's just a line...”

Autumn reached up and touched it, “Yes... You've got freckles, lots of them... I never noticed. It's a remnant of the child Jacob, you know. Before you leave your teens, it's all you have left of that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well... You've still got some boyish features... Bright eyes, the freckles, dimples... And your mouth.”

“My mouth?”

“Yeah... It's...” Autumn ran her thumb over it and leaned closer. “You're... beautiful...” She moved her hand to the side of his face and kissed him slowly. Jacob put his hand on the back of her head, returning the kiss. The two were interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Jacob?” Oliver's voice came from the hallway. “Roger wants you to take part of the team meeting...”

Jacob swallowed, looking into Autumn's eyes, “I'm sorry... I have to... And Nathalie's probably gonna be here soon...”

“Yeah, yeah...” Autumn bit her lip, watching him walk away. She sighed and laid back in the tub, looking up at the ceiling. What was she doing?

A couple of minutes after Jacob left, Nathalie walked through the door and found Autumn in the bathroom, “What the hell happened in here?”

Autumn looked at her, “Oh he just made me take a bath... To get me sober...”

Nathalie raised her eyebrows, looking at the complete mess that was their bathroom. She felt bad for whoever was going to clean their room in the morning, so she did what she could to clean up while Autumn put on dry clothes and crawled into bed.

“What a day...” Nathalie thought as she brushed her teeth and looked over at Autumn, who was already sound asleep in her bed. Little did she know what direction Jacob and she had been headed before they were interrupted. And maybe it was better that she didn't know. 

chapter 3 : pushing buttons

Dinner was in the dining hall of the Chateau Laurier, which was one of the most beautiful places many of the group had ever seen. It was one thing that the rooms themselves were magnificent, but this place boasted a gigantic chandelier and what looked like antique furniture.

"I'm almost afraid to sit down," Oliver said quietly, while Andre took pictures with his phone. All around the table, the Swedes were sitting down to a meal, while the Czechs were seated at a table in the next room. Nathalie found herself sandwiched between David and Tim, while Autumn was fending off Jacob's gaze from across the table.

"I don't know what any of this is..." Andre groaned, looking over the menu, "My English...so bad..."

"I can help you if you like," Nathalie offered, leaning over to point to things. David looked at her longingly.

"If any of you order steak or lobster, I'm fining you." Autumn warned.

"What's the fine? Do we get a spanking?" Jacob asked, a wide grin spreading across his face at her reaction. She stared daggers at him.

"Are you trying to get in trouble, Markstrom?" she snapped.

Jacob kept smiling, "The angrier you get, the more I want to get into trouble with you." He lowered his voice. "All sorts of trouble..."

Tim smirked, "Atta boy."

Autumn rolled her eyes, "That will be the day."

"It sure will..."

"When HELL freezes OVER."

Later on, Oliver somehow found the courage to talk to her, "Hey...are you from around here? Roger said you were Canadian."

Autumn pushed her food around on her plate, "I'm from North of here, actually."

"Where?" Tim asked, prompting Nathalie to pay attention.

"You've never heard of it," Autumn insisted.

"Try me, I've been here a few times," Erik Karlsson piped up.

"Attawapiskat."

"Where's that?" Nathalie asked.

Autumn sighed, "Just a small village that no one cares about."

Jacob, who had been listening for some time, perked up, "You must care about it, it's where you're from."

Their eyes met, for probably the first time, without a hint of anger or tension.

"I assure you, it's the last place anyone would want to be."

"I would if you were there," Jacob said quietly. Autumn responded by kicking him in the shin, making him wince.

Tim, clearly bored, nudged Andre, "Hey, Andre..."

"Yeah?" Andre pushed the bland food around on his plate.

"Bet you 200 kroner you can't get a picture under her skirt," he gestured to Autumn. Andre nearly choked on his Coca-Cola, "What?!"

"I'll up it to 300 if you get a panty shot." Tim smirked.

Andre looked at Autumn, who was busy trying to ignore everyone, then back at Tim, "Deal. I'll get it done." He paused. "You distract everyone."

"Oy, Caretaker," Tim said loudly, garnering attention, "Why you such a priss?"

"TIM!" Nathalie's eyes went wide. Everyone was looking at him.

"Excuse me...?" Autumn arched an eyebrow.

"Legitimate question," Tim said cooly as Andre crawled under the table.

Autumn crossed her arms. Nathalie shook her head, "No, that's rude, Tim."

"I'm here because I'm being paid, and that's all," Autumn said, trying to mask her anger. How irritating could these kids be?

Of cours, Jacob had to say something, "You COULD be a little friendly from time to time..."

"Define 'friendly', Markstrom."

"You know, smile..."

Andre was about to snap a picture when Autumn accidentally dropped her fork. He froze. "Look, I'm not going to-" Too late. She noticed him and screamed.

"What the FUCK?!"

Andre hit his head on the table, "Shit, ow..."

Nathalie leaned over, "What the hell?"

"Fucking PERVERT!" Autumn screamed, backing away from the table, "I swear, I'm going to report..." Just then, she saw Tim laughing, and she figured it out instantly.

"You. Of COURSE it was you..." she pointed at him.

"My head seriously hurts," Andre said to no one in particular.

"Bet him 200 kroner, it's no big deal," Tim said non-chalantly, "Besides, you probably wear granny panties anyway." He grinned, "Does she, Jacob?"

Autumn was fuming to the boiling point and jumped onto the chair, diving across the table and tackling Tim to the ground. Nathalie got up just in time to grab her, "Whoa, do you want to get fired?!"

So thick in her rage, Autumn went to pull away from Nathalie and punch Tim when her fist sent a plate of spaghetti flying across the air, landing right in the face of Erik Karlsson. But instead of being upset that his Calvin Klein shirt was now ruined, Erik stood up and declared, "Food fight!"

Nathalie went straight into a panic, "GUYS, NO!" But it was already starting as food went every which way. Spaghetti sauce landed on her head and she gave in.

"Oh FUCK no!"

David sent a bowl of salad towards Jacob, who responded by hurling a piece of cake and missed, hitting Oliver, who squealed, "MY HAIR!" as loud as possible. Andre crawled back under the table to hide from all the mess, while Autumn tipped over the punch bowl all over Jacob. Tim had made a run to the other side, slapping his teammates with a giant breadstick.

"That all you got, PUSSY?!" Autumn screamed at Jacob, who responded by pouring his coke all over her head. She grabbed a handful of butter and shoved it down his shirt and wound up getting pudding in her face.

David was trying to fight off Nathalie, who was shoving dressing in his face, "Stop it! I'm gonna bite you!" Nathalie started to laugh, "You've got NOTHING!"

Autumn got on top of the table and grabbed the giant salad bowl, preparing to throw it at Jacob, who saw her plan instantly. He grabbed her leg and pulled her down, both of them ending up on the floor, her on top of him.

It was quite the scene, the walls were coated with food and everyone was throwing whatever they could find. David and Nathalie were laughing like crazy, trying to fight but so lost in fits of giggles that they just wound up on the floor. Tim ran across the table screaming as Oliver chased him with a jar of pickles, threatening to break it over his head.

"You're a BITCH!" Tim shouted. Oliver threw the contents of the jar, watching Victor Hedman slip over some of them and use the rest as ammunition against the others. As a full bottle of mayonnaise went all over the chandelier above, a booming, angry voice echoed throughout the room and brought silence.

"What is going on in here?!"

Roger Ronnenberg, the coach, was furious.

Autumn quickly got up off Jacob, "Roger, sir, I had the situation under control, but Andre Petersson and Tim Erixon-"

Tim objected, "HEY!"

Roger glared at her, "All of you. Line up. Now."

The group hurried to get in order while Nathalie pleaded, "We are so sorry, sir...we tried to stop it-"

Roger snapped, "Enough."

Everyone was quiet.

"Who started this?"

No one said a word.

Oliver said quietly, "Everyone..."

Roger looked at him, "I highly doubt that, Oliver."

Tim pointed at Autumn, "She did. She blew up at me."

David sighed, "Tim..."

"What?" Tim shrugged, "She did."

Roger turned to Autumn, "Is this true, De Wilde?"

Autumn closed her eyes, "...yes, sir."

Roger nodded, "I'm sure you're aware of the punishment."

Autumn sighed, "A game day suspension of activities."

"But that's not fair-" Nathalie started to say, but David hushed her. She bit her lip.

Roger continued, "In addition, since you started this, and the nature of your mistake here, in representing this team...you will be denied three days pay."

Autumn's eyes grew wide and terrified, "Roger, please..." She desperately needed the money, but she wasn't about to say it. Only if she had to. Begging wasn't something she wanted to resort to.

"No, that's fair. You aren't even a Swede, therefore you've led this team astray in support of an ulterior motive, in the eyes of the IIHF." Roger paused. "I don't make the rules, Miss De Wilde, I'm sorry."

Just then, Jacob spoke up, "Actually, I'm the one that started this..."

Autumn looked at him in shock.

Roger frowned, "Markstrom?"

Jacob nodded quietly, "I apologize, Roger, but it was me."

Roger sighed, "Well. You'll be suspended for the game against Latvia tomorrow. Fair?"

Jacob agreed, "I'll take the suspension. She had nothing to do with it."

Roger accepted, "You're dismissed, De Wilde. The rest of you, I'm going to have a word..." He then broke into angry, thick Swedish, of which Autumn was unable to understand. Roger then pointed to the elevator, and the boys nodded. She slipped away through the stairwell and climbed to her floor and into her room.

-

It was 10:00pm and Autumn was doing her last roll call to be sure all the boys were in their rooms. She had gotten to everyone, and Jacob was last on her list. She briskly knocked on the door.

Jacob opened the door, standing in just his boxers, "Oh. Hi."

Autumn found herself looking him up and down without realizing it, then she quickly stopped and cleared her throat, "Right...just doing roll call."

Jacob nodded, "Alright. Well...I'm here. Can't really leave."

Autumn put a check next to his name and pressed her clipboard to her hip, "Listen...about what you did tonight...for me.."

Jacob shrugged, "It's not a big deal."

"You didn't have to. And I don't want you to. I can take care of myself."

Jacob was surprised with how frigid she was, but still saw the good in what had been done, "Well I wanted to. I miss a game, you would have lost your salary for three days... I can manage."

"Right, well...good night, Markstrom."

"Good night, I guess..."

Autumn suddenly turned around, "Look."

Jacob leaned against the door, "Yes?"

"Just...just because you helped me out once, doesn't mean I owe you." She stuttered.

Jacob frowned, "When have I said that you owe me?"

"You haven't," Autumn explained, seeing the bulge in his boxers, "It's just..."

"Just..."

Autumn tapped impatiently on her clipboard, waiting for him to get it.

He didn't, "Do you have something to say, or...?"

Autumn rolled her eyes, starting to walk away and down the hall, "No. Nothing. Good night. Dumb athletes..."

"Excuse me?" Jacob went after her, "What right do you have to say that?"

"YOU GOT A BONER WHEN I SHOWED UP!" Autumn clapped her hand over her mouth.

"I'm a GUY, I can't help it every time!" Jacob exclaimed.

"Oh for fuck's sakes."

"What is your problem?"

"YOU. YOU are my problem, and yo have been since day one!" Autumn dropped her clipboard on the carpeted hall floor, "You are irritating with your stupid...face and body and voice and accent and..."

Jacob raised his eyebrows, "Um...doesn't really sound like you dislike me."

"Oh believe me, I am trying my VERY best."

Jacob smirked and turned around, heading back to his room, "Good night."

Autumn shook her head, "Unbelievable..."

Sometimes, he made it easier to hate him. This was not one of those times.