Blue Lines(126)

Piper looked up to see Erik enter the room and her heart began to race at the sight. When he looked over at her and smiled, she knew that both she and Dimitri were also lucky to have him. She just hoped that it would be forever. Watching as he greeted and hugged his teammates, he made his way toward her and then looked down at Reese with a grin.

“You’re in my spot.”

She laughed and said, “You’re lucky I kind of like you.”

Erik smiled. “I am lucky.”

Reese shot him a grin as he scooted in close to Piper, moving a piece of hair off Dimitri’s forehead. It seemed like a waste for Dimitri to have so much hair, since he was a boy, but then again, Piper loved it.

“Look up, guys,” Elli said.

Piper did as she was asked to see that Elli was holding up her phone. Putting her hand up, she said, “Ew no, Elli. I look like poo.”

Erik laughed as he pushed her hand down and said, “You look gorgeous, now smile.”

Piper looked at him with a half grin and he smiled back, before leaning over to kiss her softly on the lips. Parting, they both turned to grin at the camera but Elli wasn’t looking.

“Elli!” Piper complained.

Elli looked up and laughed. “Oh, I took it of y’all kissing, but I’ll take this one, too.”

Satisfied with her picture, Elli said, “I’m putting it on the team’s Twitter so everyone knows about the addition to the Assassins family.”

Shea smiled over at them and said, “Erik, I’m pretty sure Dimitri will be a great right winger.”

“I think so, too. Look at those shoulders. Those are hockey shoulders.”

Piper laughed as she rolled her eyes. “Y’all are nuts.”

“You didn’t know that by now?” Fallon said with a laugh.

Erik smiled as he leaned into her, taking Dimitri’s little hand in his. “Tell Mommy, say, ‘I could fight for days with these fists, boom, boom,’ ” he said, pretending that Dimitri was throwing a punch. Piper shook her head as she laughed.

“Not to be rude,” Reese said, standing up and clapping her hands together, “but I think we all need to leave Mommy and Daddy alone with their baby.”

Piper wanted to jump up and kiss her sister.

“She’s right, we’ll come and bother y’all once you’re out of the hospital. Get some rest, Piper, and congratulations,” Elli said as she smiled down at them.

“Thank you, everyone, for coming,” Piper said as Erik stood up, hugging and shaking hands as everyone started to leave. Finally the room was clear and when Erik turned to grin at her she said, “Thank God.”

“Right?” he asked, coming to the bed and sitting back down, but right as his butt hit the bed, the door opened again and in came Alla and Cooper.

“For fuck sakes,” he whispered as he looked up at his parents.

“We’ll be quick, I promise,” Cooper said with a shake of his head.

Alla laughed. “We just wanted to bring y’all some dinner and to kiss Dimitri goodbye before we went home.”

That was when Piper noticed the bags they held. It was takeout from Virago, Piper’s favorite sushi place. Looking up at Alla like she had just given Piper a check for a million dollars, she said, “Oh God, bless you.”

“I know you said you missed sushi, so we went and got all your favorite rolls. Figure once you put the baby down for a few minutes, you two could eat.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Erik said as Cooper came to the bed, kissing the top of Piper’s head.

“Good job, kid; he is gorgeous,” Cooper said, taking Dimitri’s hand in his.

“Thanks, Cooper. He looks just like your son,” Piper said with a grin.

“Sure does.”

“He is just too cute for words, I can’t wait to get him home and play with him,” Alla gushed, pushing Erik off the bed so that she could get closer to Dimitri. Erik made a disgruntled noise as Piper giggled.

“Babushka will spoil you rotten.”

Piper leaned in to Alla and said, “What the heck did you say?”

Alla laughed. “Babushka, ‘grandma’ in Russian.”

“Oh, that’s neat, but don’t expect him to say that for a while,” Piper said with a grin.

Alla shook her head. “He’ll get it; don’t you worry about that.”

She took his little fist in her hand and smiled as she looked down at him.

“You two are very blessed; he is a beautiful miracle.”

Piper nodded as she looked up at where Erik was leaning on the wall and said, “Yeah, we are.”

Cooper leaned over and kissed Dimitri on the head before standing up. “All right, come on, woman, let’s go. These two need to eat and spend time with their little guy.”