I was panting, my entire body heaving. "Move your asses!" Coach Walsh screamed at us.

I'm not sure what happened that he was in such a foul mood, but he was punishing the entire team.

We had been winning our games. It had been a little over a month since our first game. It was Halloween this weekend, today was Friday. Sometimes I found my mind wandering during these drills, to a certain blonde that was always on my mind. I had been seeing Lili much more often. She and her friend Cami, had become close with the boys and I. In fact, neither of them knocked anymore. After I had gotten coffee with Lili three weeks ago, we had been talking more. Nothing about her was a turn off. Absolutely nothing. She couldn skate, so I could teach her. She made fun of me for not being able to drive a stick, I got to see the smile she made. She couldn't cook, I could cook for her. But we were just friends. She wasn't off limits per-say, but Danny made it very clear taht I should not fuck it up with his new favorite babysitter.

We were running drill after drill and some of the freshmen had already thrown up. Coach checked the clock, "Practice is over for today!" he announced. "Seniors!" he called just as we were going to step off of the ice.

I heard Cooper curse and he, Danny and I turned around. We skate slowly to the other side of the rink where Coach is waiting to talk to us.

"Hey boys," he said, his voice was not as harsh and for some reason it made me more worried. "So I knew that none of you would do this, but I was told to remind you that only seniors on the hockey team are allowed to live in the Hockey House."

"Yes Coach," we all replied dutifully. I could feel Danny go completely tense beside me.

"I don't think that you guys have done anything wrong, but there has been a rumor that you guys have been keeping a child on the premises," he said with a laugh.

Cooper and I laughed along, but it sounded fake to my ears. I wasn't even positive that Danny was breathing, he was so worried.

"I'm sure that it won't be a problem, but the admin is going over to the House in half an hour to take a peek," he told us.

There was a beat of silence.

"Okay Coach," he prompted.

"Okay Coach," we all repeated in sync.

"Dismissed," he said.

We flew across the ice. We didn't even talk to each other as we took off our gear and took the world's fastest showers. We grabbed our gym bags and we headed toward my car. We all climbed in and that was when the silence broke.

"Oh my God," Danny moaned.

"What are we going to do?" he panicked. It would take ten minutes to get home if I sped, but that would leave maybe seven minutes before the admin got there. That was not enough time to get rid of Mila and all evidence of her.

"It'll be okay," I consoled him. "We'll figure something out. Who is watching her right now?"

"Sadie," Danny replied quietly.

"Then we say that Sadie is her mom," Cooper said quickly. "She looks enough like Sadie, same gene pool it's fine."

I was surprised by the quick plan from Cooper, but it was perfect.

"Okay," Danny agreed, he seemed to have found his voice again. "Why is Mila's stuff there?" Danny asked.

"Sadie needed us to watch her overnight last night and you're such a great uncle that you bought her things," I said quickly as I made a right turn back onto campus.

"Okay," Danny agreed. "We'll have to lock her room or something," he said. His brain was screwing back on. "We'll put as much of her stuff into her room and lock it before the admin comes."

"Yes," Cooper agreed.

We finally reached the house and we all sprinted out of the car. We ran straight into the house and almost into Sadie who was standing by the door.

"Sadie," Danny huffed. "I need your help," he said desperately.

"I have to go Danny," she told him. "I told you that I have a deposition at 3:00, it's 2:56." She was mad.

"Sadie, I really need-" Danny started to plead.

"No, Danny," she told him. "I can't skip it, you need to find someone else to watch Mila," she pushed past him and out the door.

"Daddy!" Mila shouted as she ran into his arms. Danny sighed, but put on a smile for his daughter.

"Hey baby!" he said enthusiastically. "What are you guys doing standing there?" he hissed back at Cooper and I.

Cooper and I snapped into action. We picked up dolls, princess dresses, baby cereal, and an entire barbie playhouse and dumped it into her room upstairs.

"Where is the key?" Cooper asked.

"I don't know," I told him, tensely.

We heard scrambling downstairs. "Guys!" Danny called up to us. "Admin is pulling up!"

"Shit," I cursed.

"Swear Jar," Cooper said instantly.

"Not the time man," I reminded him.

"Break it off," Cooper told me quickly.

"Break what off?" I asked him hurriedly.

"The doorknob," he said as though it was obvious.

"You think that I can break off a doorknob?" I asked incredulously.

"Just try," he said.

I rolled my eyes, but I yanked on the door knob, no movement. I yanked three more times and I felt a weird click. I turned the knob to the right and it fell out in my hand. Cooper and I looked at each other in stunned silence.

"Dude you're Superman," Cooper whispered.

I rolled my eyes and I tossed the doorknob into my room. I watched as it rolled under the bed and out of sight. "It broke off at our last party," I told Cooper.

"Agreed," Cooper nodded.

We both scrambled down the stairs to where Danny and Mila were. Mila reached her hands up, she wanted me to hold her. I was a sucker for that kid, I picked her up just as there was a knock on the door.

"Hello," a woman said. "I'm Chrissy and this is Walter, we are here to check out a tip we got in the office about another person living in the Hockey House. We really hate to do this, but it should only take a second so long as you aren't breaking any rules."

Danny laughed awkwardly, "Come on in." He seemed accepting that we were going to get caught.

Chrissy and Walter's gaze looked at Cooper and I and then zeroed in on Mila.

"Who is this?" Chrissy asked.

She was clearly the boss between the pair, in fact I would not be surprised if Walter was only her assistant. Chrissy was tall, lean, and demanded attention of the room. She had sharp features and frown lines although she couldn't be over 45.

Walter on the other hand, was short, stout, and demanded zero attention he almost faded into the background. Other than being Chrissy's opposite he seemed like he took no pleasure in his job where Chrissy looked like she was going to be floating on air for catching us.

"Hey who's in your-" my favorite voice started to ask.

Lili had let herself into the house, like she always did and I could not be more happy to see her.

"Lili!" Cooper says, before she can say anything else. "These are Chrissy and Walter, they work for the admin."

"Hello," Lili said politely. Then she found my eyes with a concerned look. I moved next to her.

"You live off campus right?" I ask her.

"Um.. yeah, why?" she asked me.

"Go with it," we all told her.

"Mila," I whispered in the little girl's ear. "I need you to pretend like Lili is your mommy okay?"

"It's like a game," she said.

"Yes," I agreed. "And you love games."

She giggled in agreement. I went back to listening to the conversation.

"That's Mila," Danny said defeatedly. "She's-"

"Lili's daughter," I interrupted.