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[frosty-fics.livejournal.com]

Title: You Are My Signal Fire (Part 33)
Characters: Andrew Raycroft / Ian White
Word Count: 1238
Rating: PG-13ish, swearing
Setting: Steinbach, Manitoba
Disclaimer: I don’t own these players, nor do I know their sexual preferences. The whole thing is a work of my imagination. The title is part of the lyrics from snow patrol’s song ‘Signal Fire’.
Author's Notes: Takes place about 2 weeks after part 32. If you don't like the fluffy, cutesy type conversations this chapter is not for you. :P

Ian’s POV

Ring…Ring… “Hello?”

I smiled at his voice on the other side of the phone, “Miss me?”

“Sorry, who’s calling?”

“Oh you’re so funny.”

“I think so. And yes…I miss you already. How was your flight?”

I shrugged into the phone, “It was okay. You know how I feel about planes, we hit some turbulence and I think I had an accident.” He laughed, and my stomach flipped.

“Just waiting for your parents then?”

“Yeah…they’re always late. No sense of time. I’m amazed I ever made it to a hockey practice when I was little.” I suppressed a yawn and shivered slightly, the air a little cooler out in the prairies but definitely fresher. I inhaled deeply, “Smells nice here. I wish you could have come with me.”

“Me too. Trainers wouldn’t have let me go anyways. We’re starting to train a little early since they’ve switched up the goalie roster so much. I’m meeting Toskala for the first time tomorrow….should be fun.”

“Just tell him to keep his hands to himself,” I joked. “You’re all mine. I don’t like to share.”

“I’ll keep that in mind when I’m trying not to break his hand.”

My turn to laugh, “I love you.”

“I love you too. See? Now how would this long distance thing work if I got traded? You’ve been gone for half a day and I’m already going crazy.”

“I miss you too. I don’t know how I’m going to cope without your lame…er…I mean witty jokes to cheer me up every two minutes.”

“Is that your girlfriend Ian?” I spun on the spot, and was face to face with my dad. A grin on his face that was welcoming and slightly amused with my phone banter.

Andrew’s voice came through the phone still firmly pressed to my ear, “Girlfriend? Why am I the girl in this relationship?”

“Uh…yeah...” I stammered, thinking I’d have more time to talk with my Andrew.

“Can I talk to her? I want to tell her a few things, like how happy you’ve seemed to be every time we talk to you lately. She must be quite the catch.” He reached for the phone, but I took a step back.

“You have no idea…and no sorry dad, she’s late for work…”

“…I am?”

“She has to go right now actually…”

“…I do? Now, who’s the bad liar. You couldn’t have come up with something a little more convincing?”

“Bye honey. I’ll call you later okay?”

“God you’re pathetic. And you better call me….love you.”

I grinned in spite of myself, “Love you too.”

Flipping my phone shut, my dad ruffled my hair and pulled me into a big hug, “That’s my boy. Your mother can’t wait for you to get home and tell her all about your new girl. What’s her name again? Actually…did you ever tell us her name?”

“Er…no I didn’t….it’s Andy.”

“Oh, as in Andrea? Cute.”

“Sure.” I agreed, backing down yet again. I was never going to be able to do this. Okay…change the subject. “Let’s go home. I’m starving. Plane food is disgusting.”

My dad chuckled, picking up my carry-on and tossing it on top of my suitcase, rolling it behind us as we made our way through the terminal to the parking lot. “Well you’re in luck. Your mom has prepared a feast for your homecoming. She went crazy with the cooking. Make sure you say how great everything tastes.”

“I will.” I argued, falling right back into old routines, “It always does. I don’t have to lie.”

“I forgot you have a stomach of steel. Her pot-roast always gives me heartburn.”

I shrugged, “It’ll be nice to eat something that hasn’t been burned to a crisp.”

“So she can’t cook? That’s too bad. What’s she do anyways?”

“Maybe we should wait till I get home so I don’t have to repeat myself when mum asks me the same questions.” That and I need to come up with a story.

“Suit yourself.” My dad looked over at me, containing his smile for about 30 seconds before grinning again and pulling me into a one-armed hug, “We miss you.”

“I missed you guys too. It’s too bad that we don’t play Calgary or Edmonton more often, and even that is quite a drive for you guys.”

My dad shrugged it off like the travel was nothing, tossing my bags into the back of his truck, “It’s worth it to see our son play in the NHL. Besides…we’ve been travelling around this country for your hockey games for much longer then I’m sure you can remember.”

“I do remember…and I appreciate it.”

“Good. Now let’s get you home, you look exhausted.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

An hour later I was home, being fussed over by my mom and loving it. An hour after that I was full of the three course meal my mum had made me. It’s official. I’m never going to eat again. I missed home sometimes, but something just wasn’t the same as last time I was home and then it hit me. Home was where Andrew was, and he was 1000 miles away. I detached myself from my mother for a minute and escaped up to my room, fingers already dialling his number as I went up the stairs, closing the door behind me.

I flopped down on my bed as the phone rang, “This is just getting desperate. We talked 2 hours ago. ”

“I can’t help it. My mum’s already force feeding me massive helpings of food. Plus, they keep asking me about my “girlfriend”. They really want to know all about you.” I sighed, “I want to tell them. I almost told my dad… but then I stopped. I don’t know. Why is this so hard? What did you do?”

“I didn’t really do anything. They kind of walked in…”

“What?! Are you serious? Fuck, that must have been awkward.”

“You’ve no idea. I think I see my dad still cringe every now and again when he looks at me. But whatever, they’ll get over it. It’s not like I’m there to get you in trouble.”

“No…you’re not. When’s practice?”

“It’s not really a practice, so much as a meeting.”

I rolled my eyes, “When’s the meeting then?”

“In an hour…maybe I should head over there soon. Wouldn’t want to be late. That wouldn’t really work in my favour at impressing the goalie coaches now would it?”

“Probably not.” I didn’t want him to get off the phone, but that was important. “Alright go…leave me with my parents.”

“You’ll survive. I’ll call you when I’m done okay?”

“Sure. Have fun. Bye.”

“Don’t be mad.”

“I’m not. Just tired, I didn’t mean for it to sound like that. So really…go. I don’t want you to be late.”

“Alright. Love you, bye.”

“Yeah yeah.”

One last laugh from Andrew and then silence. I lay back on my bed, looking around at the room that hadn’t changed at all. Winnipeg Jets paraphernalia covering my walls; a mixture of blue and green banners and a Randy Carlyle jersey hovering in one corner. The shelves were full of trophies, which were in turn covered in dust. My team Canada jersey from the world juniors was framed and hanging on the wall with my silver medal. I still can’t believe we lost to Russia. I felt my eye lids begin to droop and then finally I fell asleep.

You can find the whole series here in my fic journal, frosty_fics