"when is dad coming home?" your 6 year old twins, leo and william whined while doing their homework.

"your father will be home in a few days." you said.

"we miss him. he's been gone for too long." william said.

"i know. i do too." you said. "how about i order pizza for you guys so you can have it after you're done with your math?"

the boys frowns were quickly replaced with smiles and cheers. leo and william quickly did their math.

"IM DONE." one of the boys yelled.

"IM DONE." the other one echoed.

you laughed and walked over to them. you checked their homework quickly and sent them off to the kitchen for pizza.

from the other room, you could hear them bickering about who got to take the pizza first. you laughed as you saw leo finally get a slice of pizza and run to the dining table. william glared at his twin brother. you watched as they scarfed down the pizza.

"boys, don't eat too much. you have hockey practice tonight." you said. their eyes lit up.

just like their father, they absolutely adored hockey. really everything about them was alike to gabriel, they both had his blonde hair and bluish gray eyes. clearly, they had taken mostly his genes.

"are you excited for your game tomorrow?" you asked the twins.

"yeah. we are going to beat the other team." leo said. you smiled at his confidence.

"will dad be there for the game?" william asked. your smile turned into a frown.

"next game, will. not this game."

both of the boys faces fell in disappointment.

it hurt you to see them so defeated. you knew it hurt gabe that he couldn't watch his sons play. leo and william loved what their dad did for a living, but they didn't like that he was gone so often.

you drove them to hockey practice. they had their fun. you took them home, got them in the shower, and then in bed. when they went to sleep, you fell onto the couch with your favorite food and your favorite movie.

while you were watching the movie, you thought you heard the front door open and close, but you knew you had locked it, so you kept watching the movie. shortly after, you heard quiet footsteps coming near the living room where you were. you sat up quickly. the light from the tv allowed you to see a tired looking blonde running his hands through his hair.

"gabe?" you said squinting.

"y/n? i didn't think you'd be up." he said walking over to hug you.

"i was watching a movie." you said. he gave you a kiss and picked you up.

"i'm tired. let's go to bed." he said. you nodded.

"quietly please. leo and will are sleeping. they miss you so much gabriel." you said.

"i missed you guys so much."

you woke up the next day early. gabriel got up with you because he wanted to see leo and william before they went to school.

leo and will stumbled down the stairs, rubbing their eyes.

"DAD." they yelled at the same time. they ran to him and gabe picked them both up.

"how are my boys doing?" gabriel said. the twins just smiled as they were swayed around. you smiled as you watched the scene.

every time gabe came home it was like this and it would never get old. seeing your kids happy was the best thing ever. along with seeing your husband happy. having gabriel home definitely made the whole house happier.

gabe kissed you goodbye with groans of disgust from the twins. he volunteered to take them to school.

both of you decided to pick the boys up from school after your day of relaxing. the boys ran to their dad and hugged him. you could hear will say,

"dad, are you going to watch out hockey game tonight?"

"of course. i want to see you beat the other team." gabe said smiling. you knew where the twins' confidence came from.

of course, you both went to the game with stares at gabe because, well, he does play for the colorado avalanche. the twin's team won, not that it really mattered because they were so young. the best thing was seeing the twins so happy as both you and gabriel saying how they had improved and were getting better everyday.

12 years later

one of the happiest days of your lives. both of the twins had gotten so skilled from the assistance of uncle nathan and mikko and the rest of the avalanche and all the hard work they put in that they got drafted.

leo went to the detroit red wings and william, to the winnipeg jets.

you and gabriel were the proudest parents in the world. even if they hadn't become hockey players, you would still be so very proud of them because they had grown up into such polite young men. you remember skating on the outside rink with gabe and the twins when they were just learning how to skate and now they are professional hockey players.

oh how time is crazy.