Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories:

F/M, Gen, M/M

Fandoms:

Heated Rivalry (TV), Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid

Relationships:

Hayden Pike/Jackie Pike, Shane Hollander & Hayden Pike & Ilya Rozanov, Jackie Pike & Ilya Rozanov, Hayden Pike & Ilya Rozanov, Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov

Characters:

Hayden Pike, Jackie Pike, Shane Hollander, Ilya Rozanov

Additional Tags:

POV Outsider, POV Hayden Pike, Established Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Temporary Amnesia, Hayden grappling with the entire future in one afternoon, Jackie having way too much fun with her amnesiac husband, I think this is funny, Post-Book 6: The Long Game (Game Changers), Good Friend Hayden Pike, Hayden Pike Finds Out About Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov

Language:

English

Series:

Part 3 of Amiss but Never Forgotten

Stats:

Published: 2026-02-07 Words: 4,185 Chapters: 1/1

Connecting Dots

Summary

Hayden woke up in a hospital bed with his mind back in 2018. His loving and endlessly supportive wife was at his bedside; her and the mysterious new best friend she kept texting were have way too much fun at his expense.

Things got even more confusing when Shane arrived. He wasn't alone.

Notes

I had big plans to be productive today and then I was walking to my car and suddenly *but just imagine Hayden and his endless suffering learning everything all at once and Jackie laughing her ass off at him*

Womp womp Hayden, you almost escaped me anmesia-ing hockey boys

Hayden knew he wasn’t in his own bed before he was aware of anything else. He knew their bed, the extra thick memory foam pad they had on top of an already thick mattress and the super soft sheets that Hayden bought five sets of when Jackie mentioned something about liking them. They were still early into their relationship then and Hayden had NHL money to figure out how to spend. The original sheets have been replaced, but only with identical sets.

He also knew he wasn’t in a hotel bed. He was deeply, deeply aware of every category- good and bad- of hotel bed out there.

That left one option. Many really- friends and family all had beds- but hospital beds had a particular unpleasant keel to them.

“Hate hospitals,” he muttered.

Jackie was tracing abstract lines on the inside of his forearm. She always did it when she took a shift at the bedside of one of their ailing kids. Or Hayden’s bedside. Hockey was good training for the immune system but it was nothing compared to the kind of bioweapons they cooked up in daycares.

“You picked the wrong profession then,” she said without stalling her hand.

Hayden forced his eyes open. There was nothing particularly unique about this hospital room. Nearly white walls, cabinets on the wall across from his bed with like syringes and shit on the counter. There was another bed in the room, the pale green curtain between them was only partially extended but the other bed was unoccupied.

“But blades and sticks are so much fun.”

“So is having all of your bones intact so you can chase our kids around all summer.”

Now that he thought about it, there was a shocking lack of screaming in his room or generally nearby. No kids with them then.

“Who is watching our little angels?”

Jackie was sitting angled away from him in a plastic hospital chair, her feet were kicked up near his at the end of his bed and their arms nearly aligned. She had a phone in her lap and looked away from it after one last smirk at whatever notification came across the top of the screen.

“Your parents are going to pick them up from school- or-“ she glanced down at the phone in her lap- “picked them up from school a little bit ago.”

“My parents live in Ottawa?”

Jackie nodded, nothing in her face or body revealed that she agreed that it was odd that his parents were in Montreal for some reason. Or that Jackie and all of the kids had travelled to an away game and none of them had come to the hospital with Jacks. She had mentioned school though. Hayden’s parents and his children’s school should not be in the same place unless there was a national holiday involved.

“Your leg is fractured, not broken, they had to operate because of something they saw on your x-rays, but you need to keep off of it so it stays that way.” She grimaced, Hayden hated when she looked upset. She was too wonderful to ever look anything but happy. “No Olympics for you.”

The Olympics happened… recently. Somewhat. Couple weeks, couple months ago maybe. And Hayden certainly wasn’t playing, the NHL had put a full stop on active players participating a few years ago.

His head was a little bit scrambled. Anesthesia was a drug after all. He would probably be fine.

Then again, there were a lot of things that weren’t lining up.

“Hey, Jacks.” She hummed in acknowledgment. “This might be a weird question, but what year is it?”

Jackie snorted. “Sorry, sorry. I’ve just been trying to convince- um, someone that people waking up with weird memory stuff after going under is unusual. At least you remember who I am, but you hitting on me might have been funny.”

“I don’t even know what to say to that. Should we maybe get a doctor or something?”

There was a button on the monitor beside his bed for that apparently. To call a nurse.

“So, what year do you think it is?”

“2018… ish? I’m a little hazy.”

Jackie’s eyes dropped back to the phone. “Interesting,” she said. Her voice was flickering the way it always did when she was trying to hide a laugh. Hayden really preferred it when he wasn’t the thing making her pretend to not laugh.

Two nurses came in as Jackie started rapidly typing, a grin slipping out as someone replied.

They asked him how he was feeling, his name and if he remembered a random handful of facts. He was never great with tests.

The memory loss wasn’t particularly unusual given the amount of anesthesia he’d been given- hockey player tolerance was mentioned- and he hadn’t had any recent head trauma. It should all be back soon, but they would be monitoring it regardless.

“So,” he drew the word out once he and Jackie were alone again. He didn’t cut the vowel off until she finally looked away from the phone in her hand. “Anything interesting happen in the last eight years?”

“Well,” she took a deep breath, “let's see. I got pregnant with Cammy at the end of the season you think you’re in the middle of. Ella came the next year and Mike just turned two.”

Hayden’s mouth was dry. The room was starting to get weird. Spinning? Yeah rooms weren’t supposed to spin. “Se-seven? But I-“ he tried to hit his forefinger and middle finger together to mime scissors but his hand was shaking.

“And then we took a family vacation to Mars,” Jackie added, as seriously as she had told him the rest of it.

He exhaled so hard his soul went along for the ride. “You are an evil woman.” Jackie cracked. Cackling in her chair while clutching two hands around the phone. “What is wrong with you?”

“The opportunity was there, how could I not take it?”

“Can you tell me real details now? About our four and only four children.”

Jackie talked for a while, even without almost a decade to catch up on there was always a lot going on with their kids. They were a rambunctious bunch and Hayden loved that his work was able to help them live out their full potentials even if it kept him away from them so much.

They were growing into real people with their own personalities and interests. A part of him mourned not remembering witnessing those changes but it was fascinating to hear about all of it so suddenly like this.

“Are you aware that you’re being shifty?”

“There are a lot of things that have happened in the last few years. Big things.”

“Things that you are worried about telling me?”

Jackie bit her lip, the corners of her mouth creeping upward. “Not worried, per se…”

“You are having way too much fun with this. My suffering is not for your amusement.”

“You aren’t suffering.”

“Real easy for you to say as the one who isn’t in a hospital bed right now.”

Jackie shifted in her seat, her shoulders straightening. “Do you actually want me to stop? I know we like to tease each other and mess around but if I’m actually making you uncomfortable…”

Hayden loved her. He loved her so much. “Nah. I won’t say I’m not dying to know what’s happened but I’m a little bit intrigued to figure out what you’ve been cooking up for me. You and your phone buddy I’m guessing?”

“This is your phone. You really need more games by the way.” She returned to her lounged position. “I suppose I can get started on the fun stuff. You were supposed to play for Canada at the Olympics, not one of the original line up but you were high on the alternates so got pulled in. This-“ she gestured down to his leg- “happened at practice. It was a freak accident, the coach sent me a clip, they were recording the scrimmage for video review. Gibbs was also hurt in the collision but they think he’ll be good to go by Milan.”

“Damn,” Jackie made her swear jar face and Hayden stuck out his tongue. “I was going to be an Olympian, I’m allowed to react.”

“I know, Babe, I know.”

There wasn’t exactly a shortage of good Canadian players for this kind of thing. On a personal level, it was devastating but the team would still kick ass. He was good, he knew exactly how skilled he was and how hard he worked to maintain that but he would never be-

“Oh shi- stick, yep definitely was going to say stick. Shane’s definitely on the team. How’s he holding up? I’m kinda surprised he isn’t here. I always hate it when he goes down.” He shuttered, the hit in that game against Boston still haunted him.

“Shane’s still wrapping up his captain-y stuff. This whole operation basically condenses the whole preseason into like two weeks and only a fraction of that with the players free from their regularly scheduled icetime.”

“My bestie is the captain of the Canadian Olympic team,” Hayden grinned. He knew it was no secret how great Shane was on the ice, nearly unrivaled if it wasn’t for a certain asshole Bear. It never got old being happy for his accomplishments. “I mean, it’s not surprising, why would anyone not pick him, but that’s still so cool for him.”

Jackie hesitated, fiddling with Hayden’s phone. “I agree with you completely. And I assure you, Shane has been congratulated incessantly by all of us who love him.”

“Is he the one you’ve been talking to?” It made sense, Jackie and Shane have become friends as a result of their mutual closeness with Hayden but it also existed outside of him. Someday Hayden hoped that he got to have that kind of spontaneous friendship with Shane’s life partner.

Hayden was happily married, but he didn’t think someone needed to get married or even to have a relationship to be happy. He just had a feeling that Shane did want that. Maybe in an abstract, distant kind of way, but Hayden caught the far off look he sometimes got when one of the guys of the team announced their engagement or that their wife was pregnant. He knew how Shane looked when he was talking to Lily. Or thinking about her.

“Kinda. He’s in the group chat and he was suitably disapproving about our shenanigans before I assured him that you okayed this.”

“You have a group chat on my phone with Shane and a strange co conspirator?”

“All four of us are in a group chat. We could just text directly- and sometimes we do- but it’s more fun to plot in front of you guys.”

Hayden knew Jackie very well. Better than he knew any other person. Well enough that when something odd like this was happening he should have at least had a guess as to who this mysterious individual was, but he had nothing.

Damn amnesia.

“Do I even want to know who this person is?”

Jackie laughed. It wasn’t her normal laugh, it was the laugh of a crazed person who thought their plan was about to come to fruition. It was rhythmic and shook her whole body.

“You’re scaring me,” he said, actually partially concerned for her sanity.

“We live in Ottawa, by the way.”

The news was insane enough for him to overlook the sudden change of topic. “I got traded?” It was a twisted feeling, maybe Montreal had its less pleasant team members and staff but it was the team that drafted him. The team he and Shane both spent their whole careers with. “I know it’s not the most realistic, since people get traded all the time and it’s so rare, but I have always had this like one image in my head, of 35 and 24 being retired beside each other in Montreal some day. Shane’s will. I’m glad I didn’t get sent too far away though.”

“There were a couple of years you were apart, but you and Shane are teammates again.”

“What? He didn’t, like, follow us here? Right?”

That would be insane, Hayden would never ask him to do that. Ottawa was a newer team, but even among those they were not exactly looking at getting a cup anytime soon. There was one season, a couple of years before Hayden’s memory where they had a near miss with the second wildcard spot but that was the closest they’ve ever gotten. That would have been a decade ago by now, maybe their frequent roster changes finally started working in their favor.

Ottawa was a place- a handful of guys who had been there since they started in the league aside- that people didn’t stay for long, it was a team still trying to find its identity and they just kept trying things with the hope that someday something would stick.

Hayden hoped that he stuck. He didn’t want to uproot his family god knows how many times until he found a new locker room to call home.

“Technically we followed him. But really you needed out of Montreal and even without our friends on the team, Ottawa is close and much better for us. The Montreal WAGs were never my speed, you know that, and well I don’t think you’re all too upset about the guys you left behind.”

“J.J. maybe, but other than that you’re right. How the hell did Shane end up in Ottawa anyway? You know what, I require proof for this after the kids thing you pulled earlier.”

Jackie rolled her eyes but passed him his phone a moment later. A Sportsnet clip was paused in front of him. He recognized all four people at the table, but two of them as active players not analysts.

”-I guess I’ll be the one to bring things back east, Ottawa has a nearly incomparable depth of their forward end.”

“There is hardly a night we don’t talk about the Centaurs.”

“Canada’s darling. Responsible for five, was it? Five players on Canada’s Olympic roster even with today’s loss of Pike up front due to an unfortunate injury.”

“How do we think Ottawa is going to fare after the Olympic break with this hit to their second line?”

“For most teams I’d say the usual, it will make things tricky but it isn’t like losing a top line guy. But this could go either way. On one hand, losing Pike could interrupt the chemistry of their line which was definitely improve when he was brought in, but on the other…”

They all laughed.

“On the other, the Centaurs are the new definition of team chemistry and it’s hard to imagine Hollander and Haas not making due with anyone who can hold a hockey stick.”

“They won’t be without Pike for too long but let’s hope this is the last Olympic injury for them with how many players will be enjoying the Italian ice here soon, in a variety of jerseys.”

“The Ottawa Centaurs everyone. This won’t be the last time you hear about them on the world's biggest stage.”

Jackie pulled the phone back away from him. “Satisfied?”

“Either I woke up in an alternate reality where you faked this video rather impressively but somehow overlooked the fact that having Shane on a second line was completely insane or something weird is going on in Ottawa.”

“Weird is a word for it. The power of love and all that.”

“What? I- you- what does that have to do with anything?”

Hayden was all for love. Love- and a great deal more thought and consideration than you would think with all of their jokes about them being overwhelmed- brought him four kids and the most amazing woman in the world. But they weren’t talking about love.

Were they?

“2018; you know about Lily then.”

“I’ve known about Lily for years.” Her name existed in brief moments since not that long after Shane was drafted to the team.

To Montreal. That wasn’t their team anymore.

“But things are different with Shane and Lily, have been since him and Rose ended their brief relationship.”

“That- they- are you implying that he and Lily are together together? Is she the one you’re texting?”

Rose was a confusing period for Hayden as a knower of Shane. She appeared in his life in a blink and that whirlwind went on for a couple of weeks while Shane kept being weirdly sad all of the time and then one day they transitioned to being good friends. And not that long after Lily was a major part of Shane’s screen time again.

“So you don’t know that yet. Interesting.” Jackie went back to texting. “This changes my plans. Hah! Yes,” she turned back to Hayden, “don’t worry, we have a new plan.”

“You know, I always thought Shane’s person would be kind of laid back. Someone to help him relax for once in his life. Not… whatever contribution Lily has to the chaos happening on my phone right now.”

“Don’t worry,” Jackie villain laughed again, “Lily helps him relax plenty.”

Hayden scrunched up his face. “Oh, ew, Jacks. I don’t want to think about my best friend like that.”

“You got used to it.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.” She smiled far too brightly for the situation.

“Is she still down in Boston? That must be really hard for them. Shane is even further from her now.” Jackie was watching him with a lifted eyebrow. “Unless… Lily is in Ottawa? He came here for love?”

The Boston thing always threw him off. Hayden had no idea how Shane even met anyone in a city they only visited a few times a year let alone how they survived seeing each other that little. Shane was weirdly insistent that it wasn’t a whole thing at the beginning but she was Shane’s only for so many years.

Love found a way apparently.

“Lily is in Ottawa. Moved here a few years ago. After what you remember but not by much. He didn’t plan to come here for their relationship but when the time came for a change, Lily is exactly who he wanted to be with.”

“So Shane came here for her, but somehow he’s on Ottawa’s second line. Did love make him forget how to play hockey?”

Jackie fiddled with his phone again. She clicked it off after reading the text and placed it face down on the edge of his bed.

“Love has made them the best.”

Hayden heard voices before anyone new entered the room.

“-believe you have kept this from me. Whole world of opportunity."

Ilya fucking Rozanov was outside of his hospital room door and Jackie was giggling like the kids on Christmas morning surrounded by presents.

“You are the most observant person on the planet. It is not my fault it took you this long to realize that cars in Québec don't need front plates.”

Nope. That was worse than just Rozanov. Shane and Rozanov together in his hospital room was a recipe for disaster.

“I pay attention to interesting things, Moya Lyubov.”

The door opened.

“Licence plates are interesting.”

The two of them walked in, their shoulders bumping as they walked. They were both decked out in matching red and white jackets. Matching Team Canada looking jackets.

“Are interesting now that I know I can put whatever I want on front of cars.”

Shane shot Rozanov a look that was not nearly annoyed enough for Hayden’s liking. “Me and Harris need to approve anything you even think of putting on a car registered in either of our names.”

“Not everything is about you, maybe I just want to give Yuna a nice present from her favourite son.”

Hayden didn’t even know where to begin with everything he was witnessing.

Jackie was still laughing, so there was that.

Shane said something back to Rozanov that Hayden couldn’t understand. Either Hayden’s admittedly poor French was worse than he thought or Shane was speaking something else entirely.

Like Russian.

“Maybe I did wake up in an alternate reality.”

“No,” Rozanov disagreed with a smirk, “is very real, I am favorite son.”

“You wish.”

“I wish for many things,” he slipped into Russian to say something that made Shane blush harder than Hayden had ever seen. “But I do not need to wish about that. Yuna tells me often.”

Hayden raised his hand before he remembered that it probably wouldn’t work on Rozanov like it did between Shane and Hayden’s family. It was also going to get him mocked.

Only it didn’t.

Rozanov watched him with wide eyes and waved a hand when Hayden didn’t start talking.

Shane looked proud at the display.

Hayden either needed more or less drugs to deal with this.

“The amnesiac in the room would prefer if instead of hashing out… whatever this is, someone explains why you,” he motioned to Rozanov, “are in my hospital room.”

“Am friend, friends visit friends in hospital.”

“I might not remember a lot, but I remember all the reasons why I wouldn’t want to be friends with an asshole like you.”

Rozanov placed a hand over his chest. “You wound me, Pike, you forget all of our time together and call me mean things.”

“Play nice,” Shane said without any force. He dropped into the seat on Hayden’s other side and Rozanov followed him like a lost puppy. There was never more than a foot between them.

“This is how you speak to your captain? Insubordination.”

Shane spun around to look up at him. “Who taught you that word?”

“Jackie,” Rozanov said just as Jackie happily pointed to herself.

“Of course. But you’re forgetting that for the next couple of weeks I’m your captain.”

“We are not in Italy. In North America I am captain.”

Shane tugged on the bottom of Rozanov’s jacket. “I’m captain,” he reaffirmed.

“Fine. In Pike’s hospital room you can be captain.”

Shane was the captain of the Canadian Olympic team. The Olympics that were happening in Italy. Rozanov said Shane could be captain- his captain- only in Italy and he was wearing a Canadian jacket.

“How? What? But he’s Russian? Someone please tell me I’m wrong about what I’m thinking.”

“Is called citizenship, is what you get if you marry boring Canadian with a weak backhand.”

Shane scoffed.

Hayden squawked.

“You married him?” He spun back to look at his laughing wife. Never, in all of the years he has known her, has he ever seen her laugh this much in such a short period of time. “Please tell me this is the kids thing all over again?”

“The twins facilitated their first ceremony, but we were at their wedding that summer.”

Shane held out his hand. His left hand. He had a wedding ring on his fourth finger.

“But…”

Jackie had brought up Lily for a reason.

Lily who lived in Boston for the whole time Hayden could remember.

Lily who moved to Ottawa. Who Shane joined in Ottawa.

In North American I am captain.

“Oh my god. Him? The whole time? Why does that almost make sense?”

Shane loved playing in Boston or against Boston in Montreal. Or in the All-Star game, often against the top European players, but especially in 2017 when they finally did West vs East.

He didn’t have a girl in Boston. He had a guy on Boston’s team.

The only person who could truly keep up with him on the ice.

Love made them the best.

“You were much more indignant about this last time around.”

“Can you blame me?”

Jackie and Shane sighed in near unison.

“You and Ilya have learned to get along,” Jackie said, tracing patterns on his arm again.

“Ilya?”

“Is my name. Everyone in hockey knows my name. Best player of all time, captain of Ottawa for two cups, will be assistant captain of Team Canada when we win Olympic gold.”

“The girls love their Uncle Ilya,” Jackie added.

Shane patted his shoulder. “You’ll adapt, buddy.”

“I’m suddenly less anxious to get all of my memories back.” Hayden groaned. “Your Ottawa’s captain. I’m on Ottawa.”

“Yes,” Rozanov- Ilya? Does Hayden call him that now, he’s basically his brother-in-law- agrees. Hayden expected him to start on about having a new bad player on the team but instead he says, “Shane needed new linemate, you and him are good on the ice together. You being on team makes him very happy. I like Shane happy.”

Amidst all of the usual talk of Rozanov chirping and being an asshole on the ice, Boston had always loudly cherished him as a captain. Maybe he was a good captain at the end of the day.

Or, at the very least, he was a good husband for Shane.

The future- present technically, but from his point of view this was the future- was weird. But maybe not all that bad.

“This has been the weirdest hospital visit of my life.”