Chapter Two
Derek Venturi madly punched the "down" button on the elevator at least seven times before the numinous tolling of the bell and the doors opening. Luckily, no one was inside and Derek rushed in and pushed the button marked "L" for lobby. He hastily ran his hand through his hair as he waited. When the doors opened, he rushed out to the lobby and scanned the numerous sofas and chairs. Finally he spied her – a little girl with gentle brown curls and blue eyes – sitting on one of the chairs. Her feet didn't touch the ground so she pumped them back and forth as if on a swing. Derek sighed and rolled his eyes before going over to her. He stood in front of her and crossed his arms angrily over his chest.
"Hannah, right?" He asked.
"Yes," she lifted her head and he saw her tearstained cheeks. If there was one thing Derek hated more than dealing with kids, it was dealing with crying kids.
"Look, I want a DNA test."
"A DNA test?"
"Do you know what that is?" Derek asked impatiently.
"Yes. They'd take a sample of my DNA and a sample of your DNA and put them together to see if our chromosomes matched. If there is a sequence of matched chromosomes, we're related. If not, we're not."
"Okay, screw the DNA test," Derek chuckled to himself, "I know for a fact you're Casey McDonald's kid."
"How did you…how did you not know about me?" Hannah asked him, her eyes wide.
"Well…I don't know. You see, me and your mom didn't get along much," Derek laughed at the understatement, "We hated each other actually. It was so bad that she left home to go live with her father in New York." So it wasn't the whole truth but why tell a kid that? A kid had no business knowing the truth.
"I'm sorry I bothered you," Hannah began.
"Nah," Derek shook his head, "Look, you can stay with me until I can get a hold of your mother…"
"My mom's in Africa."
"Africa? What the bloody devil is she doing there?"
"She's brining medical supplies to Darfur. She's going to be gone for two weeks…"
"Two weeks?" Derek chocked on his own saliva, "Look, I can keep you for like a day or something but not two weeks."
"I understand. I…I just wanted a day with you – nothing more."
"Why?" Derek asked, his voice became suddenly accusatory.
"Because, most kids see their father every day, they know what he likes, what he dislikes, what he enjoys, what he doesn't. They know everything about their dads! I…I just want a day with you to get to know you."
"Oh…well okay," Derek didn't really know what to say as he gathered up her two suitcases, "Come on back up to my apartment and we'll go over the game plan."
"Game plan?"
"Yes, it's a plan that teammates set up in order to make plays and – hopefully – win the game."
"I know what a game plan is," Hannah said, rolling her eyes.
When they arrived in the apartment, Derek instructed her where to put her suitcases, and told her that she'd be sleeping on the couch seeing as the only bed in the house was his own and she was never allowed near it with a ten foot stick. He then explained that there would be no running, shouting, screaming, yelling, crying, pouting, begging, wining, or anything else of the sort inside his apartment. Finger prints were prohibited and the refrigerator was completely off-limits.
"You have a lot of rules," Hannah said, scrunching up her face in disapproval.
"I bet your mamma has a lot of rules too," Derek said reflecting on how he and Casey had once been left to baby-sit together. She had tried to control the kids and plan only educational activities. In fact, Derek was still having trouble picturing Casey as a mother.
"Actually, no. She believes that children should be more creative and let's me do things on my own. She believes that if a child makes a mistake, she should learn from it not from being punished. She doesn't set lots of rules because she says she trusts my judgment."
"That doesn't sound at all like Casey."
"What do you mean?" Hannah asked, sitting down in one of the barstools by the island in the kitchen.
"She was so uptight. She once had this summer camp for kids and tried to make everything educational. She made chore-charts for our family and everything."
"You had a family together?"
"Well…sort of," Derek quickly changed the subject, "So kid, I have to get down to practice. I'm already late enough as it is so you have two options here: one, you can come with me and meet the guys and watch me play. Two, you can stay here all by yourself and watch TV and stay on that couch and not move a muscle. Take your pick."
"I want to come with you, Daddy."
"Whoa there kiddo! As far as I'm concerned, I am nobody's daddy. I am Derek and you are Hannah. Got that?"
"Yes, Derek," Hannah said, her face fell a bit.
"Come on, don't look so sad. You're gonna have lots of fun at practice meeting the guys and…"
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Hannah reached into her purse and pulled out a tray of brownies, "Here you go."
"What's this?" Derek asked, eyeing the tray suspiciously.
"You're birthday present. It was your birthday yesterday wasn't it?"
"Yes…" Derek shot her a look, "How did you know?"
"Mom told me. And here, these are for you," Hannah reached into her bag once again and resurfaced with a stack of cards in her hands, "These are also for you. They're from Mom and me."
"What are they?" Derek asked, eying the stack of cards doubtfully.
"Cards. Mom doesn't know that I took them but they are birthday cards – one for every birthday you've had since you spilt up."
"Wow," Derek honestly didn't know what to think. Personally, he didn't want anything to do with Casey McDonald but he was curious as to what the cards read. He made a mental note to look over them that night.
"So, are you ready to go to practice, sport?" Hannah asked, her eyes beaming.
"Yeaaaah," Derek said, dragging out the word, "Never call me sport again, got that kiddo."
"Yeaaaah," Hannah mimicked, "Never call me kiddo again."
Derek couldn't help but smile. Hannah Sophia had guts. No one had ever said no to him, well, at least no one had said no to him since he moved out. She had gumption, but then again so did Derek.
"I'll call you what I want," Derek said, erasing the smile from his face, "Now let's get going or Coach will kick my ass and if Coach kicks my ass I'll kick yours. Get your coat. It's cold outside."
Derek didn't know what caused him to say that. He didn't think he cared or not if she froze her ass off outside but then where did that comment come from? Shaking the thought from his mind, Derek grabbed his gym bag and led Hannah out towards the elevator. When they were outside, the valet pulled Derek's silver sports car up to the front of the apartment.
"Thanks, James," Derek nodded towards the valet, "Come on, kiddo. Let's get this show on the road."
"I can't ride in this!" Hannah said aghast.
"And why not?" Derek demanded, growing more and more impatient by the second.
"Because," Hannah stated as if talking to a child, "There is no backseat. I'm supposed to ride in the backseat until I am four feet tall. Do I look like I'm four feet to you?"
"No," Derek laughed, "You don't. How tall are you anyways, two feet?"
"Three feet five inches to be exact!" Hannah shot him a look, "Now then, either you find us some other means of transportation or I'm not…" She was interrupted by a hockey helmet being slammed onto her head. The thing was far too big for her and far too heavy. Her head tilted to the right because of the weight.
"What do you think you're doing?" Hannah demanded.
"You are going to ride in the front seat like everyone else. If you go crashing through the windshield, at least you got a helmet on," Derek smirked, "Now get your butt in the car."
--
"Venturi, you're late!" The Coach's voice roared across the rink.
"Sorry, Coach!" Derek called back, "I had a little incident…" He nodded towards Hannah, "This is Hannah. She just arrived this morning and will be staying with me for the day."
"Aw, she's a cutie!" Called one of the men from the rink.
"Go change, Venturi!" Coach hollered, seemingly ignoring the little girl at Derek's side.
"Alright, you stay right here," Derek instructed Hannah, "And don't cause any trouble."
Hannah sighed and sat down in the bleachers. She began to pump her legs back and forth once more as a blonde player took a seat beside her.
"Hey kid," he smiled at her, "My name's Sam. I'm one of D-Man's friends."
"I'm Hannah," she smiled up at the kind blue eyes, "I am staying with Derek. He's my daddy."
"Daddy?" Sam chocked on the word, "Uh, sweetie, are you sure that D-Man is your father?"
"Positive. My mommy says so."
"Uh-huh," Sam eyes her suspiciously, "And what, may I ask, is your mother's name?"
"Casey. Casey Elizabeth-Marie McDonald."
"Oh shit," Sam said before quickly covering his mouth with his hand, "Sorry."
"It's okay. Derek curses all the time around me."
"So you…you're Casey's girl, eh? And…Derek's your…father?"
"Yup. He denies it though but his name's on the certificate."
"How…how did Derek and Casey…how?"
"Sam, surely you know where babies come from," Hannah grinned. Her mother had already told her a while back and she knew all the logistics of it.
"Do you?"
"Yup. But I hardly think this is an appropriate conversation topic. The fact of the matter is that I am Derek and Casey's daughter. I've never met Derek and came here."
"How long are you staying with him?"
"Just today. Mom's in Africa for two weeks and Derek doesn't want me staying with him for that long."
"I find it hard to believe your mom just dumped you with him for two weeks."
"She…she wanted me to spend some time with him."
"Well, I suppose that's good. How is Casey doing? I haven't seen her in years!"
"You knew my mom?"
"Yup. She was a close friend of mine," Sam smiled almost drifting into a world of high school memories.
"She's fine."
"That's good. So tell me about yourself, Munchkin."
"Munchkin," Hannah repeated as if tasting the word on her tongue, "I like that name a whole lot better than kid. That's what Derek called me, kid."
"And you call him Derek?"
"He won't let me call him Daddy," Hannah shrugged, "But I'm eight and I live in New York City with my Mother. She's in Africa giving out medical supplies to the people of Darfur. She's big on helping people."
"Always was," Sam replied, almost wistfully before playfully punching her on the shoulder, "I'll give you props, Munchkin. It takes guts to live with the D-Man."
"What do you mean?" Hannah asked.
Sam just answered her question with a laugh before returning out to the ice.
