Chapter Text

Wyatt

It’s crowded and loud in the living room of Bood’s house with the entire team and a good portion of their significant others crammed inside and gathered around the TV. They were supposed to be watching the Montreal Metro playing against the Anaheim Mallards, both teams they would be playing against in the upcoming weeks. Bood had convinced the team to think of it as a combination of team bonding and research as a way to get them all to come over on a random Tuesday night. Wyatt is pretty sure that he just wanted an excuse to barbecue. It didn’t really bother Wyatt at all though, his wife was working a twenty four hour shift at the hospital and his only plans had been to go home and read the comic books he’d picked up after their morning practice. The books would still be waiting when he got home and he quite enjoyed the time spent with his team. And he’s especially glad that he agreed to it because tonight was one of the extremely rare nights where their captain Ilya Rozanov had chosen to grace them with his presence.

Even now, several months into his run as the teams captain and star center, Ilya was a bit of a mystery off the ice. He was friendly enough to everyone, always cheerful and joking with the team. He was good at giving them pep talks and Wyatt has seen him pull aside the rookies whenever they seem to be struggling with something. He’s not a bad captain but Wyatt has played for a few teams now and he’s experienced a lot of different types and its pretty easy to see that Rozanov’s heart just isn’t fully in it yet. There was a lot of speculation when Rozanov suddenly transferred to Ottawa when his contract with Boston up and he'd become a free agent. Rozanov was arguably the second best hockey player in the entire league, or first depending on who you asked and what their thoughts on Shane Hollander were. He could have had his choice of any team anywhere in the country. Hell he’d spent his entire career in Boston, it wouldn’t have been strange for him to re-sign with the team and play there til retirement. Instead he’d played out his contract and then transferred to Ottawa, a team known mostly for how terrible their record was. He had nothing to gain from playing there. And with how little of their off time he spent with the team there was a lot of speculation on what it was that had actually brought him to Ottawa.

But he was here now, crammed onto the couch between Wyatt and Chouinard and alternating between joking with the team around them and yelling at the game on the TV, his Russian accent growing stronger every time he gets worked up about the game and occasionally switching into what Wyatt is pretty sure might be curse words but could just be normal Russian. When Shane Hollander scores a particularly extravagant goal that probably would not have been possible for a normal human being Rozanov grabs Wyatt around the neck with his arm and gives him a good shake as he shouts. His words still come out sounding a bit aggressive but Wyatt is pretty sure that he’s actually cheering Hollander on instead of against him. Until just the summer before the whole hockey world had thought that Rozanov and Hollander were rivals both on and off the ice. You hardly ever heard one mentioned without the other in any situation and there were always rumors about what had started the now over a decade long feud between the two hockey geniuses. But then that had changed after Rozanov had transferred to Ottawa. He and Hollander had hosted a joint press conference and announced that not only have they been friends off the ice for a long time but that they were starting a charity together and would be hosting hockey camps to raise money for mental health charities. It was pretty admirable. Wyatt had joined them at their camps. He’d seen Hollander and Rozanov together. The way they’d constantly chirped and shoved and bickered but there had never been heat behind it. There had been humor sparking in their eyes even when their bickering had evolved into wrestling at the end of the days after the children had gone home. Though occasionally they had actually gotten heated enough that Ryan Price or Wyatt and Max, with the protection of their full goalie pads, had to pull them apart. It never lasted long though, and there had still been something a lot different about the way that Rozanov acted with Hollander than he did with some of the other guys, like Pike who also played for the Metros. He and Rozanov clearly had a mutual dislike for each other. But the way he fought with Pike was different than it was with Hollander. And Wyatt is pretty sure he's never seen Hollander actually fight anyone one on the ice other than Scott Hunter that one time.

“Foods up!” Bood’s voice boomed through the open windows where the mouthwatering smell of grilling meat had been filtering in for the entirety of the first period. Wyatt caught Rozanov’s gaze just briefly and then they were both attempting to get up at the same time grappling with each other to be the first off the couch though several of their teammates had already made it out the door and were already lining up to fill their plates with the delicious smelling food. Wyatt had just freed himself from the couch when Troy Barrett managed to trip over Dillon’s legs where he’d been stretched out on the floor and took Wyatt down with him. Rozanov cheered triumphantly and hurried outside before Wyatt could free himself from the tangle of limbs.

By the time Wyatt does make it there’s three of his teammates between him and Rozanov. Not that any of them should really be eating this late at night with the season still in progress and he’s sure that somewhere the team nutritionist is losing his mind over just the thought but the game had a 10 pm start time and they had a later practice tomorrow so Wyatt really didn’t mind and clearly none of his teammates could pass up Bood’s cooking no matter the time of night. By the time Wyatt has managed to get his own plate piled high with the delicious food the second period has already started and he’s lost his seat on the couch to Luca Haas who practically has stars in his eyes as he listens to whatever story Rozanov is telling him. He looks tired and Wyatt considers making a joke about it being past his bedtime but he remembers his own rookie year and how much he’d hated the way the older guys had treated him like a child, so he refrains and decides to save the joke for one of the vets instead as he finds a spot for himself sitting on the arm of the over sized chair that Barrett and Harris have crammed themselves into in a totally one hundred percent platonic way he’s sure. Even as Harris steals a bite of food off of Barrett’s plate and his only response is to duck his head with a flush on his cheeks.

There’s three minutes left in the period when it happens. A collision on the ice. There’s a few sharp breaths and muttered curses as they watch. Hayden Pike and two of Anaheim’s defensemen have gone down, hard enough that Pike and the defensemen, his name isn’t visible from this angle but Wyatt thinks it might have been Toole, go sliding across the ice and into the boards. Pike hits first, getting crushed between the wall and Toole’s body.

“Oh shit,” Harris whispers, grabbing onto Barrett’s wrist with his free hand. On the screen Toole pushes away from the boards and lets his teammates pull him back to his feet. He’s shaking his head and leaning more to one side but he’s up at least. Pike hasn’t moved yet though. He’s still laying against the boards, back to the cameras. One of the Metros players skates up quickly and drops to the ice next to him. Hollander, Wyatt remembers that the two of them are close from the training camp over the summer. Hollander is the god father of at least two of Pike’s kids if he’s remembering correctly. The trainers are coming out onto the ice now, and shortly after the medics join them with a backboard.

Rozanov stands quickly from the couch, Wyatt turns away from the screen and watches as his eyes dart quickly over the group of them. He looks strange. Worried maybe? Wyatt is reminded for just a moment, of a game he saw years ago when Shane Hollander had gone down during a game against Boston and hadn’t gotten back up. Nobody likes to see another player go down like that, but Wyatt remembers seeing Rozanov still on the ice. Having to be pushed away by the medics. Was he being reminded of that now? Had he been close to Hollander even then? Wyatt is admittedly a bit curious about it but when Rozanov’s eyes land on him he moves forward before Wyatt can say anything.

“Hazy you come with me,” he says grabbing a handful of Wyatt’s hoodie and pulling him along behind him as he heads for the front door.

“Cap?” Wyatt asks, doing his best not to trip as he keeps up with Rozanov’s long strides. “Where are we going?”

“Is family emergency,” Roz has his keys in hand and unlocks his car as they approach. Wyatt considers asking more questions but the look on his captain's face is serious enough that he decides to just go along with it and gets into the passenger seat. He barely has time to even get his seat belt on before Rozanov is pulling out into the road.

“Rozy?” Wyatt asks, double checking that his seat belt is actually secure as Rozanov speeds through Bood’s neighborhood. Roz shifts a bit and pulls his phone from his pocket, tossing it onto Wyatt’s lap.

“Look up flights,” He orders, “Montreal to Anaheim. First flight available.” Wyatt picks up his captain’s phone and is little concerned when he finds that its not locked, though its probably not the right moment to talk to him about phone security. Instead he swipes through the phone and is a little impressed to find that all of the apps are neatly organized into properly labeled folders. It seems almost out of character for how chaotic their captain normally appears. His airline apps are easy enough to find and Wyatt does his best to focus on finding the next available flight and not on Rozanov’s driving skills.

“Is this about Pike?” Wyatt asks.

“No of course not,” Rozanov scoffs, “No one cares about fifteenth best player on worst team in league.”

“I uh… I think that might be our team dude,” Wyatt points out.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I am here now. Cannot be worst team.”

“Okay but the Metros have Hollander.”

“Second best player in league does not make team better. Only first best. But is not about Pike.” Roz says waving a dismissive hand in Wyatt’s direction before tapping on the screen of his car and having it call a contact labeled ‘Jane’. Wyatt is admittedly curious as the sound of ringing fills the car. One of the top thoughts for reasons why Rozanov might have chosen Ottawa was a secret lover. Wyatt had put his money on that option and if he gets to be the one to discover that he’ll have bragging rights for at least the rest of the season. Except the call goes to voicemail and the message is just a robot repeating the phone number and saying to leave a message. Rozanov mutters what is definitely a Russian curse under his breath and hangs up before selecting another contact from the list on the screen. This one is ‘Best Pike’ and the call barely rings twice before it’s answered.

“Ilya,” A woman’s voice says, trembling. Wyatt feels a little weird hearing someone call Ilya by his first name. He doesn’t think that he’s actually heard the name at all since the Captain joined them.

“I am on the way,” Ilya assures her as he merges onto the highway. Towards Montreal. Wyatt had suspected it but its still a bit surprising. He manages to pull his own phone out of his pocket and shoots off a quick text to his wife letting her know where he’s going.

“You’re,” The woman starts, her voice catching. “You’re coming?”

“Da,” Rozanov confirms, “Hour and a half.” Wyatt is pretty sure that it takes closer to two. He focuses on the phone in his hand and located a red eye flight leaving at 2 am. Its nearing midnight now but he’s pretty sure that will be enough time.

“That's, that's good. That’s good,” The woman sounds a little steadier now that she knows he’s coming.

“You are okay,” Rozanov says, his voice firm and controlled. “You have been through this before.”

“I know, I know,” She takes a deep breath in and lets it out slowly, “I just. The girls were watching. I let them, I let them stay up and my parents are on their cruise still and Shane is with Hayden so obviously there’s not…”

“I already said I am coming,” He reminds her, “I am bringing Hazy. He is booking you flight right now. First class, yes okay?”

“Ilya I can’t just take off. Not with the kids.”

“Is fine Jackie, I take kids,” Rozanov shrugs one shoulder even though she can’t see him. “They have fun week with Uncle Ilya. You will go and tell Pike that he is now sixteenth best player on worst team.”

“I’m not going to tell him that when he’s in the hospital Ilya,” She scolds, but there’s a hint of amusement in her voice now and Wyatt has a feeling that that is exactly what Ilya was going for.

“Is fine,” Ilya waves a hand again and at their current speed Wyatt sure wishes he wouldn’t do that. “I will tell him myself after you bring him home.”

“Okay,” She breathes. “Okay. I should… Kids, pack. My passport. I need my passport.”

“We will help,” Rozanov promises her. Wyatt gets to the passenger information page of the flight booking.

“I need the information,” He tells the other man.

“It is there,” he reaches for the phone and Wyatt quickly holds it further away. Rozanov just rolls his eyes and puts both hands back on the wheel. “She is saved on my account. Jacqueline Pike.” Wyatt finds the drop down with the saved information and decides that now is not the time to wonder why Shane Hollander and apparently his parents are also saved there along with Hayden Pike, his wife, and Rose fucking Landry.

“I got it,” he says as he finishes up the booking with the card saved on the account, worried that if he asks about it Rozanov might try to take out a different card or something from his wallet.

“Good, okay,” Rozanov says, “Jackie we will be there in thirty minutes.” Wyatt very purposely does not look at the speedometer. It can't have been more than twenty minutes since they got in the car.

“Okay thank you. I should… the girls will need me.” Jackie says.

“Is fine. Give girls phone. Go pack your things. Uncle Ilya and Uncle Hazy will talk to them.”

“Uncle Hazy?” Wyatt mouths. There’s a shuffling sound over the phone and then the sound of a door closing.

“Mommy,” A child’s voice cries out.

“It’s okay Ruby,” Jackie soothes, “Uncle Ilya is going to come over and keep you guys company while I go check on daddy. Do you want to talk to him for a little bit?”

“Uncle Ilya?” the child asks.

“Yes here say hello to him Jade,” Jackie offers, “I’m going to go in my room and pack a bag okay. Uncle Ilya will keep you company. Please try not to wake the little ones okay?”

“Okay mommy,” two voices chime in unison. There’s a slight shuffling over the phone again and then the sound of a child sniffling.

“Hello beautiful girls,” Rozanov coos in an entirely unfamiliar voice. “We are doing okay da?”

“Probably,” One child says,

“Maybe,” Another says. Their voices are similar but one sounds further from the phone.

“Okay,” Rozanov answers. “Is going to be okay. Your papa is just bad skater and he will come home and be okay.”

“He didn’t get up,” One of the girls whispers.

“He is lazy” Rozanov assures them, “taking a nap on ice.”

“We’re not babies Uncle Ilya,” One of them sasses at him. Ilya lets out a loud laugh.

“No no you are right Jade! You are not babies,” He agrees fondly, “But you are very brave and very smart. That is why you know that if this was real bad thing then we would tell you truth."

"So it's not bad?" one of the voices asks.

"Probably not," Ilya answers. There's silence over the line, a short sniffle. "Okay?"

"Okay," They both say. Ilya nods his head and glances to the side at Wyatt, who definitely doesn't clutch onto the seat belt tighter when his captain's eyes leave the road.

"I am bringing Hazy with me," Ilya tells the children, "He is greatest goalie and knows many good stories. He will tell them to you."

"What kind of stories?" one of them asks skeptically.

"Superhero ones," Ilya starts to reach for his phone in Wyatt's hand again and without really thinking about it Wyatt smacks his hand away. Ilya looks offended.

"Like Moon girl?" a voice asks.

"She's the smartest in the whole world," The other chimes in. Other than their distance from the phone Wyatt can't really tell the difference in the two voices but Ilya seems to have no problem as he prompts them both to continue telling him about Moon girl. Wyatt is familiar with the character and when he brings up devil dinosaur both girls start talking at once. He does his best to keep up since Ilya, having decided he could handle it, was now focusing on the road properly for the speeds he was driving. Wyatt is wishing that he had some Dramamine by the time he's pouring himself out of the flashy sports car in the curved driveway of a two story suburban home.

"Okay girls, we are here now. I see you in a moment," Ilya says, ending the call as he gets out of the car himself. He heads for the front door while Wyatt is still getting his bearings.

"Ilya," The front door opens before Ilya reaches it and Jacqueline Pike rushes out and into Ilya's arms. He squeezes her tight, speaking so softly that Wyatt can't make out his words just a few feet away. The door to the house hangs open and inside two twin girls in purple and blue pajamas sit at the bottom of a set of stairs.

"Okay," Ilya says, releasing Jacqueline and cupping her face in both hands. "Okay you packed? You have passport?"

"Yes," She says nodding her head.

"Good, is good. This is Wyatt Hayes. Hazy. You remember him?" Ilya keeps a hand on her shoulder and turns so they're both facing Wyatt now. The girls lean forward to look at him as well. Wyatt has a feeling he's about to have to take a crash course in babysitting so Ilya can get her to the airport.

"Yes, Wyatt." She says offering her hand. Wyatt takes it gently, feels the slight tremble. "You were at the camp. I think we spoke briefly on family night."

"Yes that's right." Good she remembers him. That will make it easier for her to trust him with the kids. How many kids do they have again? Wyatt thinks that it might have been a lot. But only the girls appear to be awake right now.

"I'm Jackie, Hayden's wife." She reintroduces herself.

"Wyatt is going to take you to airport," Ilya says, apparently surprising them both if the look Jackie shoots him is anything to go by. Ilya tosses his keys and Wyatt catches them on reflex. Before this moment he's pretty sure he wouldn't expect Ilya to ever let anyone else drive his cars. Cars weren't really Wyatt's thing, but a few members of the team had practically drooled over Ilya's the first time they'd walked out of practice to find it in the player lot. Ilya had bragged about his collection and smacked away Dykstra's hand when he'd tried to touch the hood.

"I am?" Wyatt asks, just to make sure. Ilya nods his head and shoos them both towards the car before turning and grabbing the carry on that Jackie had dropped when she'd opened the door.

"Of course," Ilya says as he passes them both to put the bag in the backseat. "I have very favorite children to keep company."

"Ilya," Jackie says, her voice wavering again. Ilya pulls her into a quick hug once again then opens the passenger door for her.

"It will be okay," He says, carefully enunciating his words. "Everything is okay. You will go be with your husband. I will… hmm I am sorry. We have practices and i am captain so i will need to be there. But I will bring kids with me. They will show Centaurs what real hockey players look like."

"Thank you," Jackie says sincerely, she presses a kiss to his cheek and then lets him help her into the car. Wyatt remembers to give Ilya back his phone and then hurries to the drivers side and gets in quickly. He has to adjust the seat, he's not exactly short but he's nowhere near Ilya's height. Ilya knocks on his window and he rolls it down so his captain can lean inside.

"You will drive safe," He says sternly, Wyatt nods his head, feeling a little surprised that he's pretty sure its more about Jackie's safety than the car.

"Tell your husband he is awful," Ilya says to Jackie, she smiles and blows him a kiss. Then Ilya is backing away from the car and Wyatt starts it up. He feels a little nervous when the engine roars to life but takes a deep breath and carefully pulls out of the driveway. In the rear view he sees Ilya lift both of the twins into his arms as he heads inside.

Wyatt has about ten thousand questions buzzing around in his head that he's dying to ask but in the passenger seat Jackie has her phone clutched in both hands as she types away quickly at the screen and he doesn't want to interrupt her. So he keeps both hands on the steering wheel and focuses on the road and the directions pulled up on the gps to the airport.

"God," Jackie says after a few minutes, finally relaxing in the seat before scrubbing at her face. She's not wearing any makeup, and her hair is pulled up in a messy bun. Wyatt can't imagine what she's feeling right now. Her husband so far away and having to leave her kids with no notice.

"Are you okay?" Wyatt asks, trying to think of how his wife would act in his shoes. She was always the more emotionally intelligent of the two of them.

"Yes, no, I don't know." She admits, "I should be used to this. I should… I don't know I should have had a plan in place. Its not like this is a surprise. It's not like it hasn't happened before. If Ilya hadn't been home…"

"I um… I didn't know that you guys were that close." Wyatt tries.

"He's a menace," Jackie laughs, "He's a terror really, but he loves the kids so much and he loves- well, he just loves big. I wouldn't have expected it either. He and Hayden they have their differences, but i think they're okay. Hayden just wants the best for - well he wants to best for the people he cares about and really Ilya is the best choice for that." She's censoring herself, leaving something or someone out. Wyatt thinks about the unanswered call to Jane on the drive out here.

"Is it Jane?" He asks.

"What?" Jackie looks at him startled for a moment, and then she's laughing again. "God yeah I forgot. I mean yes. Yes it's Jane. Its complicated. Maybe when they get back they'll explain more but. Jane is important to me and Hayden, and Ilya is important to her. So he's family."

"That's good," Wyatt says, "me and the guys, well we were a little worried. Cap seems to be kinda shut off from the rest of us. Keeps to himself. We were worried he didn't have anyone."

"He's okay," Jackie assures him. "He's surrounded by good people. People he can trust."

"He can trust us too," he offers. "We have a good team, with good guys. If he wanted to open up a little more."

"He brought you along tonight," she points out, turning to look out the window as Wyatt pulls into the airport departures area. "I think this is his attempt at doing that."

"Well I hope I leave a good impression," He pulls up to the curb outside the airline he'd booked earlier, going around to open her door for her and get her bag from the backseat. Jackie gets out of the car, her phone in her hand once again.

"Its going to be okay," she says, Wyatt thinks that she's mostly talking to herself. But there's steel in her voice that wasn't there before. He thinks that it probably takes a lot of bravery to keep it together when someone you love is hurt. He can't imagine what it must feel like to be so far away. He's been lucky, there's never been accidents on the ice for him. Its something he and Lisa haven't had to face. But its always a possibility.

"It's going to be okay," He echoes to Jackie, just in case she needs the extra little push. "You have the ticket information?"

"Yes," She gives her phone a slight shake, "Ilya texted it to me."

"Alright," He nods, then looks to the side as she seems to gather herself back up and turns towards the airport. "I'll make sure that Rozy sends lots of pictures of the kids." Maybe he can convince Gen to follow Rozanov around like a private detective. Wyatt has seen his Instagram and its collection of weird pictures that have seemed to overtake what used to mostly just be gym selfies.

"Thank you again, for all this, for not asking all the questions I'm sure you have," Jackie says.

"It's not really the time for all that," He assures her. He wishes there was something more he could give her. Better assurances. But it seems like Roz has given her the one thing she needed the most in this moment and he's barely more than a stranger. There's a security guard motioning for him to move the car, and a few people stopping to stare at the flashy thing. But he waits until Jackie has gone through the automatic doors before getting back in and setting the gps back to the most recent location.

The drive back to the Pike house is surprisingly quick and quiet. But by the time Wyatt is pulling back into the driveway he's got three texts from Roz

Captain R

Did you make it to airport???

Is Jackie okay???

Is car okay?????

Me

Back now. Jackie seemed to be as okay as she could be.

Captain R

Come inside

door open

dont wake up

Wyatt assumes that the last part is referring to the children. He feels a bit awkward walking into the Pike house without at least knocking or something. But he really does not want to face whatever wrath Rozanov would have if he did actually wake the children and he doubts that Ilya got the twin girls to go to sleep in their rooms. He's proven right when he finds his way to the living room and both girls are curled together on the sectional couch. Ilya himself sits on an ottoman near them, on the floor at his feet is a baby carrier with a sleeping infant already buckled in. Ilya nods at him then leans forward to tuck a blanket over the straps but away from the babies face.

"Are we taking them now?" Wyatt whispers, he's a bit surprised. They certainly aren't going to be able to fit a car seat and probably two booster seats in Ilya's car and he's sure the kids would be more comfortable in their own beds for the night. Their practice does have a later start tomorrow but with the drive they'll both probably end up missing it and all odds are that Jackie will be bringing Pike home in the next couple days if he's able to travel.

"Practice tomorrow," Roz says it like that should answer everything.

"Yeah but…" the baby snuffles a bit and they both freeze, watching until she, Wyatt is pretty sure its a girl, settles back down. Then Ilya stands and ushers Wyatt out of the living room and into the kitchen. He grabs a cooler from the top of the fridge and moves around grabbing things like he's been here a million times before. And honestly, maybe he has. This is clearly not something new for him. The kids are familiar with him. He knew how to get the baby out of what is probably a crib and into the carrier without waking her. He's seen Rozanov with the kids at the camp, he shouldn't be surprised that he's good with them. He does blanch a bit when Ilya opens up the freezer and starts to put what is definitely bags of breast milk into the cooler.

"I am the captain," Ilya says, "I will not miss practice, and i will not be responsible for goalie missing practice. The kids, they sleep good in car. Guest rooms are already set for them. Will be fine. Hockey kids, Ah yes. Garage is that way. Girls will want their hockey bags. Go put them in trunk of van. Key is on the hook there," He points at the door and the hook as he speaks, then he's adding some sort of pouches to the cooler and grabbing a few boxes of snacks from a cabinet. Wyatt decides not to stand there and gawk at his captain and goes to do as he's told instead. He finds what he thinks are the right keys and out in the garage full of well organized kids things he finds two kid sized hockey bags and beside them a smaller bag full of protective pads and the tiniest pair of skates he can remember seeing. He brings them all out to the minivan in the driveway and gets them packed into the trunk. While doing that he spots two car seats and two booster seats in the two rows of seating and slaps his forehead when he remembers that Pike had talked about having a son as well.

"What are you doing?" Roz asks in a whisper as he comes out the front door with one of the twins in his arms. She's not sleeping anymore but Wyatt is pretty sure it wont take a lot for her to get back there as she rubs at her eyes. Clipped to Ilya's pants is what looks like a walkie talkie and he assumes that its probably a baby monitor or something for the kids left in the house.

"Nothing," Wyatt leaves the trunk open and opens the door to the backseat. The child has a winter coat and boots on now but he's pretty sure those are the same pajama pants she'd been wearing before. When Ilya sets her down in the door she climbs into the back and buckles herself into one of the booster seats before laying her head against the window and closing her eyes again. "Should i help?"

"Yes," Roz says, leaning into the car and pulling a blanket off the floor and tucking it over the girl. Its a big blanket and Wyatt is sure it will probably cover both girls. Once he's sure that the girl is settled properly he heads back into the house, tugging Wyatt along behind him. "You will take Amber, I will get Jade. Then I will get Arthur. If he wakes up he will cry and I do not want him to wake the others." Together the two of them get the remaining kids into the car, along with the over stuffed cooler and the bags that Rozanov must have packed for them all while Wyatt was still on the way to the airport earlier. It seems like a lot of stuff but Rozanov gets it all packed into the minivan expertly and managing to not wake a single child. Wyatt is honestly pretty impressed. Before Rozanov had come to Ottawa he had always seemed kind of flippant and Wyatt has to admit that he'd expected Rozanov to be as unorganized as most hockey players tended to be. But he had been to his captains house a couple times now and it always seemed like everything was put away. He'd thought that he just had a cleaner or something but after watching this he thinks that maybe it might just be Rozanov himself. Wyatt adds it to the mental file he's creating for his captain.

"Is there anything else?" He asks as he watches Rozanov head back towards the front door.

"No that should be everything. If i need anything else then… then it will be brought to me later," Rozanov pulls his keys out of his pocket and locks the front door then heads over to the side door that Wyatt had used from the garage and makes sure that is locked as well. Wyatt pulls the van keys from his own pockets and tosses his question about Rozanov having the Pike's house key onto his pile of unasked questions about this night. He considers pointing out the obvious censorship of what is likely Jane's name but decides that its far too late and he'd much rather get on the road than accidentally start an argument with his captain. Roz can't really decide what happens during their practices but he wouldn't put it past him to find a way to convince Wiebe to make him suffer.

"Are we driving back together or do you want me to take your car back?" There was another car in the garage, Pike's, Wyatt would assume, and with the plethora of children's things packed in there's no room for Ilya's car too. A car like that probably shouldn't be left uncovered.

"Car will be fine until tomorrow," Roz shrugs and heads for the drivers door, "lets go before little ones wake up and make big noises." Wyatt is not a car person, but he thinks that if he was he might be a little anxious about that. Still, it's not his car so he leaves it behind and gets into the passenger seat, being careful to close the door hard enough that its secure without making a loud noise. All four kids seem to be soundly asleep again and he does not want to be the one to disturb that.

The drive is quiet, Ilya blessedly focused on the road and driving the speed limit with the precious cargo in the back. His finger taps against the steering wheel every now and then. Wyatt pulls out his phone after a bit and scrolls through his notifications. Lisa, telling him to be safe. The team, asking where the hell he and Roz ran off to and then eventually giving up and saying they'd demand answers at practice the next day. Wyatt isn't even really sure what he'll tell them. Or what Rozanov will tell them. This is technically his whole thing so it should fall to him, but Wyatt isn't sure he'll give them an actual answer. He's sort of the king of avoiding answering things he doesn't want to answer which means it will fall to Wyatt.

"So," He says, keeping his voice as low as he can. Rozanov doesn't answer but Wyatt sees his eyebrow go up in the glow from the dashboard. "You're still going to come to practice tomorrow. What about the kids? Do you have a babysitter?"

"No," Roz shrugs one shoulder. "I will figure out." He must be pretty tired at this point. Losing his English words as the night goes on. His accent thicker now than it was at Bood's house.

"Well… let me know if I can do anything else to help really. I don't mind talking superhero with kids. But the diapers should definitely go to Bood, he's gonna need the practice for when his little one comes." Rozanov is quiet for a long moment. Wyatt leans his head back against the headrest and waits. The look on Roz's face right now kind of makes him think of Ryan, back in Toronto. The way he'd sometimes need a little extra time to put his words together before he said something. Like he was nervous or something. Wyatt wonders if maybe the reason that Rozanov is so secretive towards the team is because he's nervous, afraid to make connections with them, of letting them in.

"Thank you," Roz finally says, "I am… I am glad that you have not been annoyed helping with this. That you are not asking a lot of questions."

"I've got your back Cap," Wyatt assures him, "Whatever you need help with. I'm sure the whole team feels the same way."

"That is nice to hear," Roz admits. He goes quiet then, but in a thoughtful and not a fearful way so Wyatt lets him. He closes his own eyes and listens to the sounds of the car and the quiet snuffling of the children sleeping in the back.

The next thing he knows his arm is being shaken gently and the car is stopped outside of his own home. He shakes his head and adjusts in the seat as he wakes himself back up, blinking the sleep from his eyes.

"You are home," Roz whispers to him.

"Yeah, thanks. You don't need more help?" Wyatt asks, its more morning than night at this point. Roz still has a car full of kids he'll have to bring into his own house.

"No it is okay," Roz waves him off, "You need some sleep before practice. I expect to still see you there and playing your best."

"Yes captain," Wyatt says, he's sure that the smile on his own face looks as tired as the one on Roz's. But he gets out of the car, waves goodbye to his captain and carefully closes the door once again before making his way inside to pour himself into bed for a few hours before practice.