SquidgeWorld Archive

He was running late. Again. The Garden was right in front of him and if he hurried he could get there in time. That was when he was pushed into the building next to him.

"Give me your wallet." The man demanded, pointing a gun to Don's abdomen. He raised his left hand and reached behind him with his right. Coach was going to kill him that is if this man didn't do it first.

"Freeze!" A man's voice yelled. Don didn't dare to look. Knowing the way his day was going it could be another robber that wanted to get to him first. He was never going to make it to the game in time. His attacker dropped the gun as he was pulled away from him. Just then three other men ran up to where he was standing. Don heard a clicking sound as his attacker was handcuffed and dragged away.

"You all right?" One of the men asked. Don finally looked to make eye contact and was met with a pair of blue eyes. He felt his mouth go dry and the first stirrings of arousal coursed through his veins. He didn't trust his voice, so he nodded. "Good to hear that. They're gonna need a statement Why...don't...Aren't you Don Flack?" he asked. Don smiled.

"Yes." He replied, not trusting himself to say anything else.

"I knew it!" The man exclaimed. "Why aren't you at the game? It starts in half an hour. You should be in there getting ready. By the way, I'm Detective Danny Messer, NYPD." The man, Danny, said, talking a mile a second.

"Well, I was running late. My family lives here in NYC and I stopped by to say hi before the game started." Don shrugged. "I lost track of time and hurried out here, where that idiot tried to rob me. Can we get the statement later? I kind of need to hurry. Coach is going to kill me as it is."

"Sure, sure. Hey Mac?" The man yelled at one of the other officers. He looked up, acknowledged Danny and walked over to where they were standing. "Mac, this is Don Flack. He's a goalie for the Detroit Red Wings."

"I know who Don Flack is Danny. How could I not? With the way you go on about hockey all the time, I feel like I know all about each player." Mac extended his hand. "Detective Mac Taylor, NYPD."

"Goalie Don Flack, DRW." Don replied with a grin. Mac gave a small laugh.

"Well, Mac, you see he needs to go and play. We need his statement. Would it be alright if he stopped by the station tomorrow?" Danny asked, practically bouncing on his heels.

"That will be fine." Mac replied. Don grinned again.

"Why don't you two come to the game? My treat. I've got passes that need to be used. Consider it a thank you. Don't say no because you cannot accept gifts. Just consider it a small token of my appreciation."

"Can we? We're off the clock. We could always pick up a bite to eat at the game. Discuss the case in between periods." Danny asked Mac, his face breaking out into a full grin. He reminded Don of a small child on Christmas morning.

"Well, we're not supposed to, but we should go and tell his coach what happened. If we happen to stay," Mac shrugged. "So be it." Danny let out a whoop of joy and grabbed Mac's arm with his left hand and Don's with his right.

"Lead the way." Danny said to Don. Don just grinned and walked the three of them to the player's entrance.

They were met at the entrance by Herb Bowman, the assistant coach.

"Where in the hell have you been Flack!? You were supposed to be here an hour ago." The man yelled.

Mac stuck his hand out towards the man. "Good evening. I'm Mac Taylor from NYPD."

"NYPD? Flack what did you get into?" Herb asked, but he shock Mac's hand anyway.

"Mr. Flack didn't get into anything. Some one tried to rob him on his way here tonight. Me and my partner, Detective Messer, were in the area and wanted to come down and explain the situation. It wasn't Mr. Flack's fault. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Mac explained.

Herb looked at Mac then at Don. "Hurry up. You don't have much time to dress out." He said then went back inside.

"Thank you." Don said before reaching into his back and pulling out two passes. He handed them to Danny and Mac before walking through the door, following Herb inside.

Danny turned and looked at Mac. "Never in a million years." He said with a grin. Mac shook his head.

"Come on, fan boy, let's go watch this game. You can explain all of the rules to me as they play. All I know is that you can't rough the goalie." Danny smirked.

"That's the main rule. No roughing the goalie while he's guarding the net."

Mac and Danny walked into the coliseum and were amazed with the spectators. Mac, not knowing a lot about hockey, would have thought since they were in NYC he would see a lot of Rangers' jerseys. This was not the case. The audience was divided between red for the Red Wings and blue for the Rangers. It looked like a patriotic Fourth of July celebration. Danny grinned at Mac and pulled him over to the merchandise stand.

"Excuse me, ma'am. I'd like to get a jersey." Danny said after he caught the attention of the woman behind the counter.

"Which one?" She asked.

"Number 30. The Flack Jersey." He replied. Mac just groaned. He knew that Danny was obsessed with hockey and had a slight hero-worship feeling towards all of the players. But as nice Don had been to the two of them, he didn't want Danny to come across as a blubbering idiot.

"Danny." Mac cautioned.

"Don't sweat it Mac." He replied with his thick New York accent. "I've got one for every other player in Detroit. It's just that I can never find one for Don. His is always sold out." Mac shook his head and waited for Danny to pay for his jersey. "Here I bought you a hat." Danny grinned as he tugged a hat on Mac's head. He shook his head again at Danny's antics and followed the younger man to their seats. This was going to be interesting, Mac thought as they sat down.

Half way through the third period, an octopus was thrown onto the ice. Mac looked at it, wondering why someone would do something like that. Then Danny stood and started cheering with the rest of the crowd. Seven more octopi were tossed onto the ice before the staff could get them all removed and the game resumed.

"Why did they do that?" Mac asked, leaning over to yell in Danny's ear over the noise of the crowd.

"Tradition. It takes eight games to win Lord Stanley's Cup. Each one of the legs represents a win." Danny responded, his eyes never leaving the ice. Mac looked at him quizzically and shrugged. It sounded like a silly tradition to him.

The game ended swiftly. Mac couldn't believe how good Don was as a goalie. The moves he had were amazing. He threw himself in front of the puck like his life depended on it. It was truly a sight to behold. The rest of the team was also really good. Mac was hooked. And all it took was watching Detroit beat the Rangers 4-0.

"Let's go down to the player's entrance and see if we can congratulate Don on his victory. That was a hell of a game." Danny said as he stood and joined the crowd leaving the stadium. Mac just nodded. He found himself wanting to congratulate the tall lanky goalie also.

They stood outside for almost two hours before the door finally opened, but it wasn't Don. There stood the coach that they met earlier.

"Gentlemen." He said.

"Mr. Bowman." Mac replied. "We wanted to give a message to Don Flack. In seems that in my partner's excitement to watch the game, we forgot to tell Mr. Flack when and where to give his statement." Herb nodded.

"Come on in, gentlemen. I'll go make sure Don's outta the shower and changed. You can wait for him here." He said pointing towards a spot across from the locker room doors as he went back through them. Mac glanced at Danny.

"Don't worry Mac. I'll be fine. I'm not gonna embarrass you." Danny said as he leaned against the wall.

"Just wanted to make sure. I didn't want you to start screaming at them like a rabid fan."

"What do I look like, Mac? A teenage girl?" Danny replied, mischief clouding his eyes.

"No you don't." Mac replied as the door reopened and Don stepped out, followed by another player.

"See you tomorrow, Lucio. Have a good night." Don called after the man and turned to face Danny and Mac. He grinned. "Hey, where you able to stay for the game?"

"Yeah, it was awesome! You guys played really well." Danny replied as he stood back straight.

"Thanks, and I like your jersey." Don said with a teasing grin.

"He didn't have one. For some reason." Mac muttered, and looked back at Don. "You said you lived here?"

"Still do in the off-season."

"Well, come down to the station tomorrow morning between 9 and 10. We'll get your statement and you're done." Mac said as he handed Don a business card. "Here's the address."

"Thanks. You want to go and grab a beer? Some of the guys are getting together for a post game celebration."

"I'm going to decline this one. I need to get some paperwork done. Danny, if you want to stay, feel free. It was nice meeting you Don."

"You too, Detective Taylor. Thank you for helping me earlier today. I appreciate it. Maybe next time I'm in New York we could grab that beer?"

Mac paused and took a good look at the hockey player. Did he want to? Yes. Should he? Probably not. He opened his mouth to decline. "Sure. My office number is on that card."

Don grinned as Mac walked out of the coliseum. "Let's go and grab that beer." He said to Danny.

Danny just grinned. Today was his lucky day.