The States

when hell freezes over (i'll play hockey there too)

1854

"This is a disaster," Cordelia says cheerfully, and Michael resists the urge to copy Mindy's example and body check her.

"Shut up."

"You should have taught them the basics separately."

"Shut up."

"Mindy's going to give Oliver a concussion if she keeps hitting him with the stick."

"Shut- MINDY GENEVIEVE JONES WE DO NOT HIT PEOPLE WITH HOCKEY STICKS!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He'd taught Riley and Cass hockey before they had even got their statehood, but Michael hadn't gotten around to teaching Oliver, and Mindy was just now old enough.

(Michael still wasn't sure when they'd adopted Tyler into their little family, but if he was gonna be part of this then he was gonna learn hockey too.)

The good news was that Mindy was a natural on ice skates. She was fast and skated more like a figure skater than a hockey player, graceful and agile.

The bad news was that she wanted to beat her brothers with the stick.

Cordelia is laughing at him, and he can't even blame her. Hell, she'd taught them baseball and played a quick game in two hours.

And he couldn't even get them to stop fighting.

Michael scrubs his hands over his face. "Right, Mindy? Can you come here?"

Oliver makes the universal oh you're in trouble now noise and Michael rolls his eyes.

Mindy skates over. "I'm not going to apologize. Oliver's stupid and he deserved it."

Cordelia laughs so hard she has to lean against the goal post to stay on her feet.

"You are not helping." Michael hisses at her through gritted teeth and then directs his attention toward Mindy. "You know, I think you'd be a good goalie."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael winces as Tyler falls.

Cass giggles as she skates past him and steals the puck. "Good play."

Michael shoots her his best Disappointed Look. Cass sticks her tongue out at him before she flicks the puck over to Riley, who hits it towards Cordelia's goal. 

Cordelia hits it back so hard it nearly goes into the other goal, and would have if Mindy hadn't dived for it. 

Mindy's lack of self-preservation is a little alarming, but she's always been very competitive.  

Michael sighs, whistling sharply to signal a timeout. 

He skates over, crouching by where's Tyler's sitting on the ice. "You okay?"

"I lost my loose tooth. See?" Tyler grins, showing the gap where one of his baby teeth was. "We have to find it for the tooth fairy."

"Um." Michael shoots a look at Cordelia that makes her curious enough to skate over. 

"We have to find Tyler's tooth." He explains quickly. 

"I'm sorry, what?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"This was a disaster of epic proportions," Michael groans when it's all over, facepalming. 

Cordelia gives him one of her annoying I-know-something-you-don't smiles. "I wouldn't say that. Mindy's coming over here."

Michael sighs and pulls himself together as she makes her way over. 

She gives him a big, excited grin. "Can we do this again tomorrow? All of us?" 

Michael glances at the others, how all of them are smiling despite the various injuries they've collected throughout the day. 

He looks back at Mindy. "Yeah, sure."

Mindy grins even wider, throwing her arms around him. She's skating back towards the others before Michael can hug her back. 

"Told you so," Cordelia bumps him lightly with her shoulder. "You know, you're not as bad at this as you think you are. They all really love you." Cordelia doesn't wait for a response. She knows he's bad at emotional stuff like that. "So, same time tomorrow?"

Michael knocks his hockey stick against hers. "Yeah, same time tomorrow."