#iyla

Iyla Sai, a bright and ambitious young woman from Sulani, grew up in a warm, close-knit household with her parents and her older brother. After graduating Cum Laude from the University of Britechester with a degree in Language & Literature, she followed her long-standing dream of becoming a lawyer. With her aunt living nearby in San Sequoia and opportunities booming in the city, Iyla packed her bags and moved to San Myshuno to begin her legal career.

After months of studying and juggling internships, she finally passed the bar exam, marking the official start of her journey as an up-and-coming attorney….

Shane had woken up from a dream, something about a loon and Iyla chatting in Russian, and noticed that his husband’s half of the bed was empty. It had been a week since they brought their daughter home from the hospital in Toronto. A wonderful surrogate name Delia had given birth to all 7 pounds 6 oz of her. She had a head full of curly brown hair and the roundest eyes Shane has ever seen. Svetlana had donated an egg, offered over a year ago as an offhand comment on how she never wanted kids of her own but she would be happy to give the the couple an opportunity to raise a child from three different hockey dynasties. Iyla and Shane had laughed at the time, but when they had started discussing it shortly afterwards and it seemed like a great idea. They loved Svetlana and it would be wonderful to have her as part of their family.

Shane had wanted to use donations from both of them and let science decide but Iyla had said that he was happy to not be involved in that part of the process, happy to not pass on any of his father and the mental health issues he and his mother suffered from. He also had secretly wished the entire nine months that freckles were a dominant trait, the idea of having a baby that looked like Shane was his deepest wish. Anastasia Yuna Rosanov-Hollander was surrounded by so much love, but none more than the 6’3” hockey player currently holding her on his bare chest blanket covering all of her except her tiny head, asleep on the couch. Shane had walked into the living room and was struck still by the scene in front of him. Iyla was beautiful, lit by the warm orange light of the fireplace, and Anya asleep in the dog bed next to it. Shane wished he had his phone to take a picture but instead he just stood there in awe of the scene, appreciating his life, his husband and his daughter, a life they had fought so hard to create and it was all lying there sleeping in their living room. He was about to take a few steps closer to place a gentle kiss on both of their heads before heading back to bed, he heard a small cooing sound and then a loud fart that Shane couldn’t believe could come out of a person so tiny. The sound had woken Iyla and he started to laugh in a hushed whisper chest shaking gently. He looked up and saw Shane watching the two of them. “I know you want to blame that on the baby, but you can’t convince me that our perfect daughter could ever make such a terrible noise.” Iyla smiled at him and gentle patted the couch next to him beckoning Shane to sit down.

“We have a night nurse Iyla, why are you lying here with our daughter at 4 o’clock in the morning? Where is Liliana?”

Iyla whispered back, his accent thicker than usual in his exhaustion “I sent her home, I heard Ana wake up crying and Liliana was feeding her. I took her and Liliana set up all bottles and laundry and things for rest of the day. Baby finished her bottle and fell asleep like this and I absolutely could not move her, so I sent Liliana home, full pay, she’ll be back tomorrow.” Shane smiled at that, knowing this tiny baby had this giant Russian hockey enforcer wrapped around her tiny little fingers. “She does look cozy, and as someone who also enjoys sleeping with their head on your chest, I understand the appeal. You will eventually need to put her down, you have a hockey game tonight. Our flight leaves in 6 hours.” Shane whispered back while he gently kissed her head. Iyla responded “Tell them I quit hockey, I am stay at home Dad now. You are captain, Ana and I will cheer you on from right here.”

“Now I know you are sleep deprived, you wouldn’t give me that C on your chest for anything, not without a fight anyway”

“For her, I think I would give up everything.”

Shane looked at Iyla’s face and it looked so sincere and beautiful that he could feel tears welling up in his eyes. Iyla slowly turned his head, shifting slightly to turn more towards Shane. “I thought when we got married it would be impossible to love anyone as much as I love you, but I have to tell you my love I think you may be silver metal now.” Shane laughed, a little louder than he meant, causing Ana to stir, stretching out before tucking right back to her curled up position. “I understand, and I feel the same way if that makes you feel any better. I didn’t know I could fall in love with someone so quickly.”

“I did.”

They looked at each other, eyes filled with love that it made Shane’s heart feel like it might burst. He leaned in to kiss Iyla, and Ana jostled by the movement opened her wide eyes and looked at both of her fathers. She laid there still for a moment then, just staring. Iyla kissed her head and whispered something to her in Russian that Shane couldn’t translate that early in the morning. “I am going have to up my Russian with the two of you around, who knows what you’ll say about me if I can’t translate it.”

“Ah, our Ana will be fluent in all the languages, Russian first obviously, then English, French, even bird. You’ll be in charge of those lessons.”

“I only speak Loon, but I’ll do my best to teach her what I know.”

Shane shifted to get up. He knew at this point they were up and there was no going back to sleep. He could at least get the coffee started.

“Mom will be here at 7, are you packed or do you need me to hold her while you throw your clothes haphazardly into a suitcase?”

Yuna was coming to stay with Ana while the team had their first round of playoff games in Tampa. The timing of Ana’s birth wasn’t ideal for their schedule, but babies don’t care much about fitting themselves into anyone else’a schedules. Iyla had found a wonderful Russian born nanny who had been living in Ottawa for the past 15 years and she was just finishing a contract with another family. She would start next week and Yuna would fill in the gaps until then. Both men had never wanted to not make it to the playoffs more in their entire careers but that didn’t mean they didn’t want to make it to the playoffs. Ottawa had come close the past two seasons but hadn’t made it to the finals. This year the team was on fire and there really was a good chance they could come home with the cup.

“Bag is packed. Just need a grab a few essentials, toothpaste, deodorant, lube.” Shane’s eyes lifted and Iyla grinned. “I think you will be too tired after not sleeping and playing a full game of hockey to worry about anything but sleep”

“Ah, my love I will survive without sleep, but no alone time with you in a hotel suite after we win a playoff game, that might kill me.”

Shane leaned down to kiss his husband and his daughter and walked towards the kitchen. He could hear Iyla singing something in Russian, both gentle and woefully off key, into Ana’s ear and he felt like he could live in that moment forever.