Disclaimer: I own nothing but the ideas rattling in my head!

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"Ugh." Her feet hit the floor and she winces at how cold the floor is getting. "Note to self: buy a fuzzy rug for winter," she grumbles as she hunts for her rolling alarm clock on the floor. This time, it's over by the laundry hamper. "How did you get over there, Bumper?"

The bathroom radio is set to the news. She likes mixing it up: Al-Jazeera one day, the BBC the next, and so on. When she's feeling really ambitious, she sets it to the Spanish and French new stations and lets them drone on in the background as she gets ready for her day. It's an old habit: her grandpa always had NPR blaring in the morning while she was growing up.

"'It never hurts to be informed, Darcy girl,'" Darcy rumbles with a laugh, jumping in the shower. By the time she settles down for breakfast (coffee, granola, yogurt, and an apple), she's finally ready to start looking over the social media feeds.

Christine made it clear very early on in her internship days that there had to be some separation from social media in her life. "I don't even look at the sports news until I get into the office," she said, making a face. "If it's that important, I expect a phone call and so should you. Nothing short of a media catastrophe should pull you out of bed, all right?"

It's good advice, and Darcy has adhered to it over the years. After all, juggling the Knights' Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, and Vine as well as their associated quirks is no small feat. It usually takes her entire commute up to Tarrytown to go through the notifications and mentions that have happened overnight. As the Social Media coordinator, she spends most of her time around the team, though if she's not traveling with them then she's working at the Knights' offices in Midtown.

On the subway, Darcy goes through her usual routine. On Twitter, she favorites a few tweets (even if their teams are mortal enemies, whoever runs the Mammoths' Twitter account is hilarious, okay?), retweets a few more, and blocks a number of assholes who think they have something to say about her and the Knights. Rinse, lather, repeat.

By the time she arrives in Tarrytown, she's ready to send off the first tweet of the day: It's Headshot Day! I'm betting RealHowlett32 is going to be the grumpiest, any takers?

The facility at Tarrytown hosts the Knights, the Knicks, and the Liberty. Darcy hangs a left from the lobby, smiling briefly at the miniature Stanley Cup that is now housed in the trophy case. The entrance to the Knights' wing is a hallway lined in framed, retired Knights jerseys. Darcy's favorite is the Peggy Carter jersey, number 13, that also hangs in the hallway. She salutes it as she passes by.

From that hallway, the wing splits in three directions: straight, to the weight, equipment, locker and shower rooms and the training rink, left to the player's lounge and the video review room, and right to all the offices. Pepper's office is dark, but that's not a surprise seeing as today is not a practice day. Pepper tends to handle the more corporate aspects of running the Knights at the downtown office, but she likes working in Tarrytown when the players are there.

Christine, like Darcy, tends to work where the players are, so of course she's in. Darcy pops her head into her office. "Morning, Christine!" she chirps.

She glances up from her computer. "Morning, Darcy. Anything I should know about from social media?"

"Nope," she replies cheerfully. "Except that the Mammoth's media strategy is so much better than it was last year, but that's not really important. What about from the rest of the media world?"

"Don Cherry was spouting the same old tired rant. I think he's still angry that Maria and Nat got to touch the cup, let alone hoist it." She takes a sip of coffee. "I swear, one of these days…anyway, don't you have a video shoot to get to? The photographers came in the same time I did, so setup should be finished."

"On my way, just thought I'd check with you." If the photographers are already set up, then the KTV crew shouldn't be too far behind them.

Christine waves a hand. "Go, go. I'll be down in a few minutes. Did you see any of the players as you were coming in?"

"No-" Voices echo down the hallway and she leans out. "Scratch that, I just saw Maria and Mike go by." They, of course, are on their way to the locker room to put on their jerseys for the shoot.

"Good. Now, shoo!"

The photographers have set up shop in the area just off the loading docks: it's the only place besides the rink itself with a large amount of open space to set up backdrops and what looks like a turntable. "We're putting players on that thing?" Darcy asks doubtfully as she comes up behind Ian, who's fiddling with the camera.

"Yeah, the NHL wants some stock footage of the team looking solemn as they spin around. They're sharing it with us, so we figure we can use it on some of our footage later on," Miles explains. He grins impishly. "If there's footage of players turning green, we can probably use that later on, too."

She snickers. That sounds like the kind of footage that ends up in the mini clips that she posts on Twitter and Instagram. "Sounds good to me."

"There you are, Darcy, you're late!" Peter says, glancing up from his tablet. "Come on, we need to film your opening and closing sequences."

"Screw you, Parker, I'm on time!"

He wrinkles his nose and pokes her on the forehead when she comes over to peer at the tablet. "Why do I deal with you again?" he wonders as she scans the script.

"That would be because I'm wonderful," she says, pointing to herself in the chest before gesturing towards the camera. "And the camera loves me."

Miles and Ian crack up like she's the funniest thing in the world. "'Wonderful' is one way to put it," Miles muses as he comes over to fit her with the microphone and pack. She considers the merits of whacking him on the head with one of the boom mikes, but decides the dent in her paycheck isn't worth it.

"You know you love me."

"Love is relative," is the wry response.

Darcy pats his cheek. "You know, you say that but I really don't believe you."

"Light check," Ian announces, and Darcy goes where he directs her to make sure everything looks good on camera. After a few moments, he gives them the thumbs-up.

Peter watches the whole thing with a practiced eye. "Darcy, you got your lines? It's okay if you flub them, we have all morning to do takes."

"Please don't take all morning," Miles whines plaintively. Darcy rolls her eyes.

"Honestly, it's like we've never worked together before. Let me know when I can go."

Peter nods at Ian. He holds up his fingers, counting down.

Darcy instantly pastes a smile on her face. "Hello Knight's fans, this is Darcy Lewis with Knights TV. There are a lot of things that go on behind the scenes in the lead up to the preseason, and one of those things isn't something you'd think of off the top of your head. Remember those days back in elementary school when you got all dressed up and sat together with the class? That's right, today the players are coming in and filming their headshots for the official Knight's website. You may not know it, but they change every year and today we're going to show you just what goes into taking those photos."

"Cut," Peter says with satisfaction. "Nice ad-libbing, Darcy. I actually like that better than the original script."

"See? Wonderful." She has a tendency to make things up on the fly after scanning Peter's scripts, and if something goes wrong, that's what editing is for.

Ian is already playing back the footage. "Yeah, this looks like a pretty good shot," he agrees. "I don't think we'll have to do too many takes, though we should probably do a few more just to be sure."

They do three more takes, but thanks to Darcy's ad-libbing, the script changes a little bit each time. Towards the last take, her smile feels like it's beginning to freeze on her face and even though she's a pretty high energy person, there's only so much she can do to keep that energy sustained consistently through each and every take. She doesn't know how news anchors do it. Hell, she doesn't know how actors manage. This is why she tends to be sympathetic when the NHL makes the players do ridiculous film segments during media days. It makes her all the more appreciative of Christine's media strategy when it comes to the payers.

Just as they're wrapping up the last take, Maria and Mike walk into the photography area with Christine. By the way her hands are moving, it's clear that she's explaining the whole process to them. Both Maria and Mike give the turntable the same dubious looks Darcy had earlier, which makes her feel better about her misgivings.

"Barton's going to like that thing a little too much." Maria's voice drifts over to them. "And you're going to be lucky if Storm doesn't try pulling some kind of Captain Morgan pose."

"Also, good luck getting Ben on there," Mike adds. "You know how he is with motion sickness."

Darcy turns and pokes Peter in the shoulder. "We definitely have to film Clint when he's on the turntable. I bet you he's going to handstands just for the hell of it."

His eyes light up at the thought of it. "Deal."

She turns back to her tablet to check Twitter – the tweet from this morning has been favorited and retweeted a number of times. There are a few replies as well, but Christine's policy is that she shouldn't respond unless it's another team's account or a player. Otherwise, she's just supposed to favorite the tweet if it's particularly nice.

There is one response from the Mammoth's Twitter account: We'll take your RealHowlett32 and raise you one JConstantine. He's taller.

Darcy presses her hand over her mouth to laugh. John Constantine is one cantankerous bastard and a great defenseman, but she'll take Logan in front of the net all day long.

It doesn't take long for her to formulate a response, walking over to Maria and Mike as she does so. JConstantine might be taller, but who has a better plus/minus? She might not be a stats genius like Maya, but she is a sports journalist and she damn well knows her team's figures backwards and forwards.

Maria raises an eyebrow when she notices Darcy. "Is someone wrong on the Internet again?"

"Yes, whoever runs the Mammoth's Twitter account is dead wrong and I was simply informing them of their error," she replies, putting the tablet away and skipping over to thread her arm through Maria's. "They should know better than to pit anyone on their team against ours when we're clearly the best."

Mike nods solemnly. "This is true."

"So long as you're being polite about it," Christine says, but there's no real warning in her voice. It's been a long time since she's had to vet anything Darcy put on the Internet. The Knights have one of the largest followings on social media amongst NHL teams and that's largely due to Darcy's freewheeling, informal style. Whilst the Knights are very particular about the narrative they present to the public* at large, Darcy has plenty of freedom to work within those constraints and still be fun, rather than stilted.

Darcy grins. "Please, I'm always polite about it."

"Debatable," Maria deadpans. She only shrugs when Darcy turns wide, wounded eyes on her. "But you get a free pass because it's the Mammoths."

"See, we understand each other." That accord had been a little baffling to some of the others at first. They didn't expect Darcy, who was usually bubbly and overly sarcastic, to get along well with their cool and contained new center.

But unlike many of the other members of staff, Darcy is in a unique place to be both friend and support while still working together. It's Darcy's job to make sure that everyone appreciates everything Maria is and everything she's done and, well…she's really good at talking about her friends.

"So, resting bitch face: yes or no?"

"Try gameday face," Maria replies without skipping a beat, batting Darcy's hands away from her jersey. "It's more intimidating." She watches as Mike takes a few regular headshots before hopping onto the rotating turntable.

"Should I cross my arms?" they hear him ask the photographer.

"Whatever helps you get into character. We're only going to be filming you from about the elbow up, so it won't be obvious."

Mike's a veteran, so his turn is over in a matter of moments. Other players file in and soon there's a queue, leaving the players to talk and chirp amongst themselves. They have video review after lunch, so there's really no pressing need to go anywhere else. Ian drifts around with the camera on, taking candid shots to fill out the video later on.

Logan stomps in and makes a beeline for Darcy, his trademark scowl on his face. "You're making all my notifications go up, girlie."

"That's a good thing, considering that you never have any activity on your Twitter feed," she explains reasonably, reaching over to adjust his collar. "Take my advice: post pictures or videos of your cat. People will love it." Logan's cat Rogue is a Maine Coone, and every bit as affectionate as her owner is taciturn. He always brings her for the rescue animal photo shoot, regardless of whether or not she's going to be in the photo with him.

His frown deepens. "I ain't posting anything with my cat."

"Shame," Christine comments as she walks by. "I think that would be a good idea. People love seeing athletes and their pets."

"And anyway, I've been defending your honor," Darcy tells him. "The Mammoth's Twitter keeps trying to pit you against John Constantine when you're obviously better."

Logan smirks a little bit. "Damn right." He pulls out his phone and glances at it. "Should I say something, then?" His fingers fly over the screen because for all that he complains about new technology, he's actually pretty good at handling it.

One of Darcy's notifications chimes. She glances down. JConstantine NHLKnights MammothsNHL Best plus/minus at our next game. Loser buys drinks.

Her tablet chimes again. RealHowlett32 NHLKnights MammothsNHL Deal. Better save up, Howlett.

Oh lord. She should have realized that Logan would do something like that, and that John Constantine wouldn't be able to resist taking him up on it. "That wasn't exactly what I was going for, Logan, but it's not bad so I'll let it slide for once."

He waves his phone at her. "What are you complaining about? You're the one always telling me to use the damn thing and I am!"

"But maybe challenging a team rival over social media isn't the best idea, right?" Darcy argues. Honestly. Professional athletes are always so competitive. "You'd better make sure we win, Logan."

"As if there was any question," he says dismissively, walking off towards the line.

Arms wrap around her from behind, lifting her off the ground. "What's Logan done this time?" Clint's rich, warm voice echoes all around her.

Her hands go up to his forearms because well, it's not like she's ever going to pass up an opportunity to grope Clint's arms.

Truth be told, she's not one to pass up on spending any amount of time with Clint, period. He's one of her best friends on the team and it's been that way from the beginning, when he sat beside her on the plane, plucked one of the earbuds out of her ear, and settled down for the rest of the flight. When she flirts, he flirts back. Sometimes he's endearingly awkward about it, stuttering over his words, while other times he makes her feel like she's burning from the inside out.

It's actually very confusing. He'd been dating Bobbi when Darcy started as an intern, so he'd earned a firm spot on her Off-Limits list. But the pair fizzled out not long after, and the flirting between Darcy and Clint never really let up.

But then there's Nat. She and Clint have a freaky twin thing going on both on and off the ice and Darcy's not entirely sure if it's platonic or not. She wouldn't blame Clint for falling for Nat – they have so much in common. Like Clint, Nat is an orphan and was raised in a Russian orphanage until someone realized just how good she was at hockey. They hang out all the time and have all sorts of deep conversations that she's just not privy to.

Also, Nat's gorgeous and an amazing hockey player. Heck, Darcy has no problem admitting she has a tiny crush on Nat, too.

So, confusion. So much confusion because she doesn't know if she should still like him the way she has for a very long time, or to put him back on the Off-Limits list.

"Oh nothing," she tells him, going limp so he'll swing her around. And because Clint is Clint, he gets the hidden message and obliges. She shrieks with laughter. "Just messing around on Twitter. We need to make sure we win next time against the Mammoths."

"Can do. Hey, is that a turntable? Please tell me someone's been striking ridiculous poses on top of it."

"I'm working on convincing Thor to Vogue on top of it, does that count?" A bunch of groans erupt and sure enough, Johnny's doing bodybuilding poses from on top of the machine. "Hang on a second." She breaks away from Clint's embrace (rather reluctantly, of course) and goes up to snap a photo on her phone. This one goes on Instagram. Clearly Johnny has another calling besides hockey. #bodybuilding #wowlookatthosemuscles #whatisthatpose

That post has over one hundred likes within the hour.

"Darcy." Peter jogs over and does some complicated secret handshake with Clint that has her rolling her eyes. When they finish, he's grinning. "Let's shoot the voiceovers for the clip in the studio. It should be quick and we can leave Miles and Ian with the team."

"Sure thing."

The KTV team has a pretty cozy set-up in their shared office. They call it a studio because there is a soundproofed booth in the corner made for this specific purpose. There's a small soundboard in front of it, and the three desks in the room are home to high-powered computers with three monitors each for video editing. Though Peter mainly functions as the video director and reporter and Ian and Miles handle the equipment, all three of the men are well versed in each others' roles and are equally adept at editing footage for the channel.

"Script?" Darcy asks as they walk in. Peter hands her his tablet and she goes into the booth, slipping the headphones over her ears.

They're old pros at this by now. She waits for his signal and repeats the lines, adding her own little flare. After a few recordings, Peter flashes her a thumbs up and she comes out of the booth. "All good?" she queries, handing him back his tablet.

"All good, Darcy. Thanks."

When they get back to the team, Clint is on the turntable and is, as predicted, doing a handstand. Not only that, but he's doing push-ups as the thing is turning. Darcy's phone is out and recording in a second. "That's definitely going on Vine," she announces to no one in particular. She's a little put out that the jerseys are long-sleeved, but someone seems to be watching out for her because the jersey slides down, showing a delightfully toned stomach. Hot damn.

After a few rotations, he does a little twist and flip and lands on his feet. All that gymnastics training certainly has come in handy, Darcy thinks, tilting her head and staring appreciatively.

"Enjoying the show?" Nat says in her ear. Darcy jumps a foot in the air and makes a horrifically embarrassing noise that has everyone turning around and staring.

"Damn it, Nat!" Thank goodness she'd stopped recording. Wow, being caught ogling your friend's maybe boyfriend is not a good thing. "I mean…who wouldn't?"

"Indeed." Green eyes twinkle merrily back at her. "Who wouldn't?"

"Um." Is that a warning? There is another strange factor to the Clint and Nat relationship: namely, one James Buchanan Barnes. He's been head over heels for Nat from the start and she seems pretty receptive of his advances…but then there's the way she is with Clint. And Nat is the last person to ever lead anyone on. It's enough to make Darcy's head hurt.

Nat pats her arm. "My turn. I'm hoping my glare will break the camera. John Constantine has nothing on me."

That much was true, and even Constantine admitted it after a particularly vicious fight with Nat where she came out victorious. Actually, Nat has a tendency to be victorious in all her fights, mostly because her opponents constantly underestimate her.

To quote Mr. T: "I pity the fool."

Clint bounces over to her. "So, did you see me?"

"I did, thank you for doing it for the Vine," she laughs.

"But I didn't do it for the Vine! I was doing it for-" He cuts himself off and looks away.

"Doing it for what?" Darcy asks, oblivious. Nat has finished her pictures, hopped onto the turntable, and is glaring down the camera. She's pretty sure the photographer is terrified. "To show up Johnny?"

He snorts. "Why would I need to show up Storm?"

"Good point." Her stomach growls. "Wait, how has the morning gone by so fast?"

Clint shrugs. "I don't know, but catering is set up in the player's lounge."

"Darcy." Christine appears at her side, looking extremely apologetic. "I know you were just meant to be covering the headshots for today, but I have an emergency meeting with some of the NHL media and promotions people and I need you there."

Meetings with NHL people are never good. "Media day was last week, what do they want?" Alexander Pierce is notorious for sticking his nose in team business regardless of whether or not it is under the NHL's purview. If there is a meeting with the NHL's people, it probably means that they are going to try and make a move for more access when they really don't have a right to it. There is a reason why Pepper and all of the other owners lobbied to ensure that the organizations had complete control over who they hired for their media and PR staff, rather than allow the NHL to provide them. It made sure that the staff was loyal to the team's interests and not the NHL's.

Christine scowls. "Hell if I know. Nothing good."

She makes a point of cracking her knuckles and stretching. "All right, let me at 'em."

It was a good thing she'd dressed for filming, in a smart skirt suit and a cute printed blouse. If she isn't working downtown or scheduled to be on camera, she is usually wearing jeans and some sort of Knight's apparel. Working for the team definitely has its perks because she can get all the merchandise at a massively discounted price. Needless to say, she is her nephew's favorite because there is always one new signed item come Christmas.

Christine heaves a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness." She motions back towards where the players are still congregated around the backdrop set-up. "Do you have everything you need from here? They're going to be breaking soon for lunch."

"You know I do," is the cheerful reply. She always makes sure that she has more than enough material to work with. It isn't like Pepper and Christine expect her to post something every hour of every day – but Darcy gathers material like she needs to anyway because it makes sense to have a large amount to choose from, especially if there are slow days. It is why she has her own souped up phone and tablet on top of her personal cell phone, because data storage is a nightmare.

"Great." Christine checks her watch. "We have fifteen minutes until they arrive, so let's go to my office and come up with a quick game plan, all right?"

"Right with you." She waves at Clint, who makes an exaggerated sad face. "Later, Barton. You owe me food!"

"Wait, what? It's not my responsibility to feed you, Darce!" His words echo after her as she scrambles after Christine. Honestly, she has no idea how Christine and Pepper manage to walk so quickly in those sky-high heels. She has a hard enough time just walking in regular heels. Luckily, she is friends with hockey players with very fast reflexes. She can't count the number of times someone on the team has stopped her from faceplanting. Thor often jokes that he needs to just carry her around – a prospect that she has seriously considered more than once (What? Thor can carry her piggyback the entire day and not even notice).

Not one, but two hours later, the meeting is finally finished. The meeting itself had only been about an hour, but there had been enough delicate negotiation and outright maneuvering that they'd called Pepper to give her an update just so that she could head off any possible arguments from Alexander Pierce.

The topic? A "long road to the Stanley Cup" style documentary focusing on the Knight's rebuilding, starting from Pepper's takeover and adding in crucial moments like Maria and Nat's signing, and of course ending with them winning the Stanley Cup at the end of last season. Both Christine and Darcy had firmly argued that such a production was best handled by the Knight's organization, as the KTV crew had a great deal of "backstage" footage as it were. It would also be easier for the KTV crew to arrange interviews with the team and staff. All they needed from the NHL was game footage, which they had anyway.

Of course, the NHL's media team hadn't liked the idea, citing the fact that the longest clips the crew handled were twenty minutes long. How would they be able to handle a documentary? Darcy pointed out that the segments in question were already filmed documentary-style, complete with professional voiceovers from an actor in the city.

Eventually, the NHL media people had backed off, on the condition that the Knights had to have a prototype script to be approved within the month.

The moment Christine closes the video conference with Pepper, she slumps back in her seat, absently rubbing her forehead. "What a nightmare," she mumbles. "And it's only been a few months since the Cup win, there's still going to be a lot of Cup related media."

"Hence them moving in with this." Darcy's already removed her jacket, and her heels are forgotten somewhere on the floor. "But we're right about wanting to do this ourselves, right?"

"Of course we are." Christine purses her lips, tapping her pen against her desk. "Especially when it comes to talking about Maria and Nat. It was Pepper's idea. The Knights were the ones to bring the idea of female players and integration forward to the NHL. There's no way we can allow them to control that part of the narrative because they'll try to take credit for it. Worst of all, they'd probably frame it stupidly. For that reason alone, it needs to be ours."

Darcy nods. Alexander Pierce is not a progressive thinker by any means. Darcy shudders to think about what he would say in an interview concerning such a thing. "And the rebuild was an organization-wide effort, so it stands to reason why we need to control how we show it."

"Exactly." The blonde rubs her eyes. "Ugh. I need to tell the KTV guys so we can start. I expect Peter and I will be scripting and storyboarding."

"That journalism background certainly is handy."

Christine snorts. "Yes, but who thought I'd need to use it in this way?" She waves a hand. "Anyway, you should go. You've gone above and beyond today. You should head on home and get some food. Watch Netflix or something."

Darcy perks up immediately at the mention of food. Breakfast now seems like a distant memory and they'd skipped lunch to deal with the NHL people. "Oh man. I feel like I could give Thor a run for his money at a buffet right now."

"Now that is something I would pay to see. Seriously, go."

"I'm going, I'm going!" she laughs as she bounces out of the room. The first place she checks is the player's lounge, on the off chance that there is some leftover food from lunch. They always order extra because hockey players but then the staff gets a crack at it. But of course, because the universe is conspiring against her, the tables are completely empty. Her stomach gives a pitiful little growl and Darcy drags her feet down to her office, wondering where she should stop off to get some food.

Her office light is on as she approaches, which is weird because she definitely turned it off in the morning. A rich, savory aroma hits her as soon as she steps in, and she blinks because Clint is sitting at the chair in front of her desk, dressed in street clothes and fiddling with his phone. The delicious smell is coming from the box perched on top of her desk. "Barton?" she queries, coming up to stand beside him. "What are you doing here? Hasn't everyone left already?"

He tips his head back to look at her and shrugs. "Yeah, but I saw that you and Christine were still in your meeting so I thought I'd get some food for us."

She flips open the box to reveal…are those deep fried Twinkies? "Clinton Francis Barton!" she scolds. "These are so contraband it's not even funny! How did you get these on the premises without Carol tackling you to the ground?" Carol has a sixth sense for when the team hasn't been sticking to the meal plans, and Darcy has become her co-conspirator in rooting out all the hidden snack caches that pop up at the facility. "Aren't you supposed to be a professional athlete or something?"

"Well they're not really for me now, are they?" he drawls, his eyes crinkling at the corners in a way that makes her knees go all wobbly. "I mean, if you eat them that means I won't be tempted to break my nutrition plan at all."

Darcy's already cramming one of them in her mouth. Her eyes nearly roll to the back of her head at the deep-fried, sweet and cakey goodness. "You are a dirty, dirty cheat," she informs him, sinking down to perch against the edge of her desk.

"You love it," Clint laughs, slouching down further in the chair. Darcy tries not to pay attention to the way his jeans cling to his legs but it's a struggle because hockey thighs. Honestly, this man is going to be the death of her because he can be so unconsciously sexy sometimes that it takes all her strength not to bite him. But then he'll do something stupid like miss the door completely during a line change and have to crawl over the boards. "Besides, we can't have you hungry when you start tweeting people back. You get mean when you're hungry and Pepper likes snarky, not mean."

That statement causes her to pause, eyeing him thoughtfully. She had no idea he paid that much attention to her. Sure, they're buddies and all, but… "Thanks, bud," she says softly, nudging him with her toe. "I appreciate it."

His eyes dart up to hers and hold them. Sometimes she forgets how very blue his eyes are, not dark like the Knight's jerseys, but bright like the sky on a summer's day or something horrifically cliché like that.

She's waxing poetic about his eyes. Oh no. She has it bad, even worse than she thought. At this rate, she's going to have to request a trade to the Oilers or something like that. Except she doesn't want to go to Edmonton, okay, she's been there before in the ass-end of winter and it had taken her weeks to thaw-

Warm fingers curl around her knee. "Everything okay, Darce?"

Her heart beats staccato in her chest at the way he shortens her name. Lots of people do, it's not like the nickname is particularly special. The way he says it, though? Yeah, that's what's special. "Nothing," she rasps, watching the way he swallows at the sound of it. "Everything's perfect."

"Great." He motions towards the box. "Come on, eat up and let's get you home."

"You're on."

Please review!

It's finally here! I thought I'd start with Darcy because I love her. Let me know if there are any particular scenarios or people you want to see in action, and I will do my best!

Please note that I have absolutely no idea how to run a hockey team and everything I have learned, I've learned from articles, documentaries, and NHL clips. If you do have experience with these things, please drop me a line - I'd love to pick your brain!