breaking the ice | j. drysdale

[ epilogue ]

3 years later - june 17th, 2027

【 eliana's pov 】

it's tied 2-2 going into the last five minutes of the third period. eliana is on her feet, along with every other person in the honda center. camryn has a hold on her hand. the silver ring on cam's left ring finger digs into eliana's skin.

time is ticking down in game seven of the stanley cup finals. it's anaheim versus the rangers. of all teams, the rangers. well, the rangers minus luka.

eliana has never been happier to read about a trade in her life when she found out luka went from one of the best teams in the league in new york to one of the worst in chicago. even with bedard and nazar, they're still struggling and have been for nearly a decade.

what's the saying? karma's a bitch? she loves seeing luka at the bottom of the standings every single season.

the ducks "daycare" all have points so far in game seven. trevor scored a goal with jamie and mason assists on a power play. leo has the second goal with a cutter assist. the daycare has taken care of business so far.

a little less than two minutes are left in the period after a whistle stops play once the puck is deflected into the net after a trevor shot on goal. cronin calls a timeout to gather his team and give them a little talk.

"i can't do it, el," camryn tells eliana. "they need to do something before i stress myself into labor."

eliana looks over at a very pregnant cam. "they'll be okay," she replies. "baby z can wait a little bit."

a whistle blows to let the teams know that the timeout is over. trevor takes a faceoff and wins it, easily getting the puck back to minty.

her eyes carefully watch the puck. franky avoids a hit from jacob trouba and gets the puck to trevor, who gives it to jamie at the blue line. he takes a shot and eliana squeezes camryn's hand as the puck flies through the air.

the buzzer goes off and honda center celebrates before she even knows what happened. camryn is screaming next to her and her jaw is on the floor.

with thirty seconds left on the clock, jamie scored a goal. once it hits eliana, she's a screaming mess.

she finally celebrates her boyfriend's goal as she watches a replay of it on the jumbotron. the puck flew right past igor shesterkin's shoulder into the top right corner of the net. "he scored!" she yells. "jamie scored!"

camryn smiles and hugs eliana. the tears begin to form as the seconds tick down. the women just hold each other as they watch their boys do what they do best. frank and trevor are announced as the assists on jamie's goal.

the ducks play keep away as the time winds down until the clock hits zero and the horn goes off. the tears fall as the ducks throw their helmets, sticks, and gloves in the air to celebrate their stanley cup victory.

everyone in the family suite celebrates. wives and girlfriends of the players hug each other, the kids run around and scream, parents celebrate their sons. eliana looks out onto the ice and watches the ducks achieve every hockey player's dream. players hug each other on the ice and are given hats.

the families are told they can head down to the ice. eliana walks with camryn to make sure that she doesn't fall because she is almost nine months pregnant. they've made it clear that she is not allowed on the ice.