Chapter 5

It felt good to be back on the ice after over a week away. I had needed a break from hockey but it was long enough. It was Monday, September seventh, 2009; Labor Day in North America, and the day before the start of my sophomore year at the University of Michigan. The girls were still sleeping when I left the condo at five and the nets were waiting for me to drag onto the ice when I was ready.

We had arrived home from Washington on Sunday afternoon and spent the rest of the day doing laundry after unpacking our suitcases. I put some of the gifts on display in the condo while others went in the hidden safe. After a simple supper, we went to bed early to try to get ourselves turned around back to Michigan time.

As I skated and shot on either net, I thought about the week we spent in London after the ceremony. It seemed we were busy every second of the day the entire week we were there. Modeling took up most of the time for me and the three band members. We had the help from the trio of Barb, Trisha and Molly to assist the three band members in their posing. They also made it their goal for the week to drive me crazy as they took the directive from Katie to raise the risqué factor very seriously. As their outfits got progressively skimpier, their body positioning for the right pose seemed to entail lots of extra movement and contact with me before the pose was perfect.

My trio seemed to enjoy my discomfort and certainly didn't discourage the models from their evil ways. When we finally finished up on Friday, my three ladies persuaded the other three to visit us in Ann Arbor soon and suggested that Molly live in our English house as caretaker when she was in London. The redheaded beauty quickly agreed and informed us that she would be visiting Barb and Trisha in New York as well as us in Ann Arbor in the coming weeks.

Asuka and I visited the barracks a couple more times to spar with anyone that wished it. We both took on two soldiers at once on our second day which presented a challenge for me but not much of one for her. Once the competition was deemed by Asuka not to be sufficient, we just worked out using the equipment downstairs in our new house and sparred in the empty room across the hall.

Emma and the girls got very close during the two days we had with her. The actress spent Monday showing Asuka and Elizabeth around and then Willow spent the evening getting to know her. Monday night we met up with Princess Beatrice at the club and they all insisted on dancing with me on the infrequent slow dances. Tuesday morning Emma and the Princess took Elizabeth and Asuka to a private track where they all drove the Aston Martin One-77. That evening we stayed in and spent the time after supper talking.

Each of the girls spent a night alone with Emma in one of the bedrooms but none of them ever let me know what went on. The Wednesday morning send-off of Emma to the airport was sad for everyone but there were promises of visits to both Providence and Ann Arbour. Emma gave each of us a big hug and kiss before driving away.

Wednesday night we dined with the Queen in a small dining room in her suite. We had an interesting talk about the future and she drew out what I had planned with my AI project. She made me promise to include Prince Andrew and his team in the planning of the project along with the Duke and the others. I agreed that everyone I had gotten together on the weekend would have a part in the start-up as long as everyone got along.

We flew to Washington on Saturday morning and were picked up at the airport by a private limo that drove us to the Sander's house. After being shown to the two bedrooms they had prepared for us, we freshened up and then were taken on a tour of the city by the whole family. During the tour, we had individual conversations with the family, discussing Hanna's progress for the week. It appeared that she was much better, eating and helping out with the chores.

There was another discussion held after eating Italian take-out around their big dining room table Saturday evening. The women, my three and their three, continued the conversation while the Congressman and I sat on the porch and considered the relative chances the Washington Capitals and the Detroit Red Wings had this year. We were out there for an hour before they came and got us. They never told us what the results were but just led us to the living room where they had a movie already to play. Hanna sat on one side of me while Asuka sat on the other. They handed me a bowl of popcorn and placed a pop in front of me just before the movie was started. Of course it was a romantic comedy and both ladies snuggled up close. Hanna grabbed my hand and held it while resting her head on my shoulder during the movie.

When the movie ended we found Hanna asleep on my shoulder. I eased her off my shoulder and picked her up before carrying her upstairs to my bedroom. She woke up as I placed her down on her bed and gave her a kiss on her forehead.

"Good night Hanna, I'll see you in the morning," I told her.

"Good night Mike," she replied with a smile.

We wished the rest of the family goodnight and Asuka joined me in bed.

"You did very well with Hanna, Michael," she said as she slid in beside me. "We're going to take things real slow with her and see if we can forgo her associating you as her master. We're hoping to have you develop into something like an older brother or older friend rather than a boyfriend or master. She had a good session with her therapist this week and they discussed how to use you to help her. So, for now, don't be anything other than an older friend; don't give her commands or get too affectionate."

"That I can do," I said with relief. "I wasn't looking forward to doing anything else."

"Now, her sister on the other hand, would like to be more than just a chaperone when you visit here or the two of them visit us," she informed me with a grin that I could see in the darkness by her shiny teeth.

"And I hope the three of you nipped that in the bud right away," I replied.

"Well, Elizabeth and Willow might be nipping her in the butt right about now," Asuka responded with a giggle.

I groaned into the pillow.

"Please tell me you're kidding," I finally said. "Don't you think we have enough women begging to join us?"

"Relax, we let her down gently and said no," Asuka told me. "Between the models and Emma, you already have a girl for every day of the week. Where would we put anyone else?"

"Asuka!" I growled.

"They all have feelings for you and so do you for them," she explained. "We all know that you would be with any of them if you weren't with us."

"What might have happened is irrelevant; I'm with you three and you're more than plenty for me," I replied. "We'll just have to be friends."

"Not many men would turn down the opportunity to be with women of such beauty and fame," Asuka observed.

"I have three beautiful and very intelligent women already," I told her. "Now, let's drop the subject and get some sleep. I'm going to fall asleep on you in a minute."

She snuggled up beside me and was asleep before I was. In the morning we were treated to a Sunday brunch before we flew back home.

Now, back on the ice, I thought more about the women in my life as I continued to do some skating and shooting drills. I was surprised that my trio wanted to add the modelling trio and Emma. While all of them were beautiful and intelligent, I really didn't want a harem, even if was supposed to be every man's dream. While I did lust after all of them, especially Molly for some reason, I didn't love them like I did my trio. Geography would play a big part in what happened so I wasn't too worried. I finished up my practice and made a decision to just wait and see what came out of my trio's plans.

I worked out in the weight room before having a shower and heading back to the condo. Once there, I turned on the coffee maker and then made some breakfast for everyone. I went in to wake them up and told them breakfast and coffee were ready before going back to the kitchen to get everything onto the dining room table.

Asuka came out first and gave me a kiss before sitting down with a leg underneath of her. She was wearing just a short gown and she smiled when she saw me checking her out.

"I love how you look at me; it makes me feel wanted," she told me.

"I'll always desire you," I told her. "Now fill up your plate before everything gets cold."

The other two came out wearing similar gowns and immediately poured some coffee and took a sip before acknowledging my presence. I was long used to their ways and just got busy making an egg and bacon sandwich on a piece of toast.

"Michael, this looks good," Willow complimented me as she reached for some toast. "You're becoming quite the cook."

"Well, it's really not that hard to make breakfast," I replied. "So what's on the agenda today?"

"The band has a practice today and then we'll be packing up the equipment so they can drive it up to Toronto," Willow informed us. "We head up Wednesday afternoon and start the media blitz on Thursday before the CD debut on Friday and the concert Saturday night. Then it's off to Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and then the east coast."

"We're sure going to miss you around here," I said. "We'll be up there for the concert and maybe for the CD release. We'll have to let Aunt Nancy know where and when the concert is."

"I already took care of that," Elizabeth piped up. "They have special seats already reserved and backstage passes will be waiting for them at the door."

"Thanks for doing that," I replied. "What else is going on today?"

"I'm going to head back to Lansing this afternoon to get ready for school tomorrow," Elizabeth informed us. "I need to get started on my reading or I'll fall behind quickly."

"I need to do that as well," I admitted.

"I'm going to head over to Mitsy's and see what the state of affairs is," Asuka added.

"It seems like our lives are going to get busy again," I noted. "Let's make sure we make some time to be together when our schedules permit it."

"For sure," Elizabeth agreed. "Willow is going to have to fly back to get her Michael fix every few weeks or she'll go batty."

"I won't be coming back just to see Michael," Willow stated, looking at Elizabeth and Asuka.

They smiled back at her and nodded in agreement. We finished up with breakfast and spent some time planning the next month out before the girls had a shower and got dressed. We gave Elizabeth some extra attention because she was going to stay overnight at her new apartment but would be back Tuesday night to say goodbye to Willow. Willow went downstairs to gather up Rach and Crystal before heading over to the studio to practice. Asuka left with her and I found myself alone for the first time in ages. It felt strange but at the same time I felt a load lift off of my shoulders. While I enjoyed spending time with the trio, I hadn't realized how much I missed my solitude.

I used my time wisely, reading the textbooks for my classes this semester. I was taking a third year networking class, a graduate class in corporate computing systems, a fourth year project class, a robotics class from engineering and a business class as my option so I would know a little bit about running a business when I started mine. It was a heavy class load but I wanted to take as many classes that would help me in the future. The fourth year project wasn't a class but a large project that I would have to present at the end of the semester. I would have bi-weekly meeting with the professor on the status of my work which would entail some research, a presentation of the theory behind the project and then the actual project in some computer related field.

The afternoon went by quickly and I had some cabbage rolls ready for supper when Willow and Asuka returned.

"How was practice?" I asked.

"It went well," Willow responded. "I think we're ready but we'll have another one tomorrow morning and then pack up, just to be sure. We only get Saturday morning to practice a couple songs once the equipment is set up before we play that night. We haven't played any of the new songs live except in London, so it's going to be baptism by fire."

"You'll do great, I know it," I assured her.

"I hope so, a lot of people are counting on us to do well," she replied.

"No, a lot of people hope you do well," I corrected her. "There shouldn't be any pressure on you because you're financing most of the tour yourself. Mitsy and Calvin Klein aside, no one else has a vested interest so just try to relax and have fun."

She leaned over and gave me a kiss before saying, "And it's all because of you so thanks again Mikey."

"You're welcome," I replied.

After supper we watched a movie and then the two of them made sure I was exhausted before continuing on without me. It was very entertaining to watch them pleasure each other but they had drained me of any inclination to join them. It was a very good night's sleep to say the least.

Tuesday morning I was joined on the ice after my weight room work-out by the rest of the team as our two-a-day practices started up.

"Hey John, how's it going," I asked as he skated up.

"It's going well," he replied. "How did the week go after we left?"

I told him what happened and we shot the shit as we skated and shot on the goalies. Eventually we were called to the centre of the ice. There were obvious changes in the coaching staff that I and the rest of the team were unaware of as we gathered in a big half circle. Coach Benson was flanked by three new men plus our current goalie coach as we leaned on our sticks.

"Good morning gentlemen, welcome to our first official practice," Fred started off. "There are lots of new faces here on the ice and in our support staff. First of all, Sam Gardner has taken the head coaching position at Western University, so I'd like you all to welcome Henrique Samuelson as our new forwards coach."

We pounded our sticks on the ice to welcome him as Coach Samuelson took a step forward and held his hand up.

"Frank Piper has also left us for a new head coaching position, and in his place we've brought in David Turnbull to coach the defensemen," Fred continued.

We greeted him the same way.

"Finally, I'm not getting any older so the powers that be have hired me an assistant head coach," Fred stated. "This is Bob Huntley, who will work with special teams as well as be in charge when I'm not around."

We greeted him while some of the veterans looked at each other.

"Obviously this is a very big change for our team but I'm sure that with the returning veterans' help we can have the coaches up to speed on how we've done things in the past while also integrating their new ideas into our practices and game plans," Fred said. "We also have plenty of new faces amongst you players so it's going to be a bit chaotic as we teach the rookies our systems as well as the new coaches. Everyone will have to be patient with each other as we show the new people the ropes. I'm depending on the veterans to step up and lend a hand."

He looked around at everyone for a few moments and then continued.

"We have twelve rookie forwards, six rookie defencemen and two rookie goalies all vying for spots on the team," he announced. "Returning from last year's team, are twelve forwards, six defencemen and two goalies which means we have a lot of competition for a few positions. We can only keep fourteen forwards, eight defencemen and three goalies on our final roster so I expect all of you to compete very hard to win a spot on this team. No one is automatically guaranteed a position, whether you were on the team last year, were a sub or a highly touted recruit. We had a great regular season last year but fell far short of expectations at the regionals. I expect us to do better; we need to do better."

He looked around at us for another moment and then nodded to Bob.

"As Coach Benson said, I'm Bob Huntley and I'll be handling the special teams as well as being in charge when the he is unavailable," Bob announced. "Coach Samuelson, Coach Turnbull and I are new to Michigan but not to big time hockey. We'll be adding some new drills in practice as well as some new plays to supplement what you had last year. Returning players will help the rookies with the existing drills and everyone will have to learn the new ones. So, let's split up between offence and defence and the goalies can take turns in the nets."

The defencemen followed Coach Turnbull to one end while the forwards went to the other.

"Alright listen up!" Coach Turnbull shouted when the rookies wouldn't be quiet. "We have twelve of you vying for eight positions and in reality it is ten of you vying for six. John Reilly and Mike Stewart were the only fulltime starters from last year's team to return so it's a safe bet they'll probably earn their spot fairly easily – not that it gives them an excuse to slack off. The rest of you have a lot of competition for the other four starting positions and the two backups. You're going to have to show us how bad you want to play for the Wolverines or you'll find yourself watching from the cheap seats. Work hard at practice, at your workouts and at your schoolwork. I suggest you don't spend a whole lot of time partying or that will be all you'll be doing. Michigan puts a lot of their players into the NHL, but you have to actually make the team and contribute to get noticed. Ok, let's pair off; Reilly you're going to be part of the number one pairing and Stewart, you're on second pair. We need to split you two up to use your experience."

He went on to assign the rest of the returning players as the senior members of the pairings and then consign a rookie to finish the pairings.

"Hi, I'm Mike Stewart," I introduced myself to the kid assigned to me.

"Hi, I'm Alfred Montador," the skinny six foot kid replied.

"Welcome to the Wolverines, Alfred," I said. "I'm from Dryden, Ontario."

"Minneapolis, Minnesota," Alfred responded. "I saw your game with the Canadian Olympic team. You played well and that goal in the shootout was sweet."

"Thanks, I got lucky with that one," I responded.

We ran through our normal drills with the returning players showing the newbies what to do. Alfred was a good skater and could stick handle and pass ok, but I was worried that he couldn't handle the physical aspect of the game. When we weren't doing the drill, I watched the other hopefuls. Ian and Brian, sophomores that saw some action last year, looked in good shape but Don Farr and Randy Pierce, the other two returning sophomores, came into camp like they thought they had a position locked up without having to stay in playing shape. I was impressed with two or three of the rookies but the rest didn't do anything to stand out of the crowd so far.

We rejoined the forwards to start some three on two drills. There were a mix of returning players and rookies on each line but it was easier for a forward line to gel than a defensive pair. Alfred got burned a couple of times as the lines we went up against avoided my side every time. I moved to the middle to help him out but he didn't make a good impression during the drill. I gave him advice each time we waited for our turn and he seemed to be ok with listening to me.

After the drills, the team went through last year's offensive formations and set plays and then did the same thing on defence. The final ten minutes we went through some of our neutral zone traps before calling it quits.

I quickly showered and said goodbye to John before hustling up to the main campus to my networking class. I arrived at the room with a couple minutes to spare and found a seat in the small classroom. I nodded to a couple of people I knew from other classes and got ready for the lecture. Professor Wu arrived a minute after me and started right on the dot. As I suspected, the class was going to be very dry and technical but I needed to know the material to make my AI idea work. There would be weekly assignments from the textbook as well as two midterms and a final.

When the class was finally over, I hustled across campus to the Engineering building and found my robotics class. This was going to be a hands-on class to learn both the hardware portion as well as the programming side of robotics. The classroom had tables and chairs for the lecture but also work benches for the practical side of things.

"Welcome to robotics ENG-120," the tall man said from the front of the room. "I'm Dr. Tanner and will be the professor for the semester. In this course, we'll teach you the basics of robotics, giving you a quick history of the subject from the beginning to what's current and what will be developed in the near future. After that, we'll focus on the physical side of things and then get into the programming aspect. There will be assignments on a weekly basis, several hands-on projects, one midterm, a final project plus a final exam. Any questions before I start?"

There were none so he continued on with the lecture. Dr. Tanner was a very good speaker and made the material very interesting – adding his own spin on the textbook's dry history. As I was going to be very much involved in robotics, I was counting on this course to give me the basics to start my project.

After the lecture was over, I walked back to the computer building and had some lunch while working on the network homework assignment. When it was time, I packed up and walked to my business class and found a seat in the auditorium. It quickly filled up with a few hundred people as the course was the introductory course for first year business majors. A striking woman, along with another younger man and woman entered and stood in front.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Hedberg and this is BUS100 - Introduction to Business," the tall brunette announced into the mike on the podium. "On my left are my head teaching assistants Victor Federov and Tina Mayer. With a class size of five hundred, it's them that you will be interacting with more than I. I will lecture on Mondays and Wednesdays and you will also have labs with one of the TAs during the week. Make sure you sign up on the board outside up for one of the many available. There will be weekly assignments, two midterms, a group project and a final exam. Alright, enough of the housekeeping, let's get started."

She started on the basics and seemed to follow the textbook closely which I was grateful for. It meant I just had to read ahead to stay current with the course. I knew I wouldn't learn everything I needed in a first year intro course but I would at least have the basic understanding of things when the experts were talking. I planned to take a second course during the winter semester.

When the lecture was over, there was a mad scramble outside in the hallway to sign up for the labs. I waited off to the side as this was my last class of the day and I had an hour and a half to get to the arena for the four o'clock practice. A couple girls and another guy joined me as we leaned on the wall and watched the crowd.

"Did you see that little blonde just jab that guy in the side and then move in front of him?" asked the tall brunette standing beside me. "Very sneaky that one is."

"Oh, and look at Lurch over there, he's just bulling his way to the front," said the short, stocky guy with brown hair on my right. "He's almost as big as you, dude."

"A crowd like this is always entertaining to watch," a raven haired short girl stated from beside the tall brunette. "You see things done that would never happen in a normal everyday situation. Look, that guy just felt up that girl's butt and she doesn't know who did it."

The professor and the two TAs came out of the auditorium and looked at the mob and then at the four of us waiting patiently.

"I see the cattle have stampeded already," the Professor said with a grin.

"Professor, you're insulting the good name of cattle everywhere," I replied with an answering grin.

She chuckled as did the TAs and the three beside me.

"I suggest the four of you consider yourselves a group for the group project later in the semester," the Professor said. "At least we'll have one decent presentation to sit through. And by the way, there is another set of signup sheets outside my office which will get processed first."

We grinned and followed her to the elevator.

"My, you're a big one," she said to me as the doors shut. "Surely you must play some type of sport around here."

"I play a bit of hockey," I admitted.

The two younger girls grinned at my comment, which caught the eye of the good doctor.

"I gather he's being funny somehow?" she asked them.

"This is Mike Stewart, he plays for the Wolverine's hockey team and is a model for Calvin Klein," the tall brunette said. "He was drafted by the New York Islanders and just got traded to the Detroit Redwings. He also was invited to the tryout camp for the Canadian Men's Olympic Hockey team."

"Impressive Mr. Stewart, what brings you to our intro to business course?" the Professor asked.

"I'm majoring in computer science and I have a very good idea for a business," I replied. "So I need at least a general knowledge of business concepts so I can at least understand what my advisors are talking about when we get started in the spring."

"That is very smart of you, most businesses don't fail because the idea is bad, but because the management of the business is shoddy or the financial backing is insufficient," she stated. "Why bother taking the risk when you'll probably make very good money playing hockey?"

"Hockey will keep my body active but I'd go crazy if that was all I did," I replied. "Besides, I make more money modeling than I probably ever will by playing hockey. And this idea will be much bigger than both of them combined."

"You seem very sure of yourself," she commented.

"I'm here on a computer science scholarship, not an athletic one," I explained. "I'm already in the last stages of marketing a computer game I developed last semester that should do very well worldwide and that's just the simple program I did. My area of expertise is in AI."

"You bear watching, Mr. Stewart," she said before exiting the elevator.

She led the way to her office and unlocked the door. The four of us looked at the empty bulletin board and then back at the trio entering the outer office. The professor had a grin on her face when she came back out with a few sheets of paper and pinned them on the board.

"Alright, pick a lab time and sign up for it," she instructed. "It would be best if you all attended the same one if you can manage it."

The two girls looked at each other and then at the guy and me.

"I'd like to avoid the Friday labs if at all possible," the short girl stated.

"How about right after Tuesday's or Thursday's class since we all obviously don't have a class after today's?" the other guy suggested.

"I have to be at the arena by about twenty to four for practice at four," I told them. "I can just make it as long as we get out by three thirty. I'm good all Wednesday afternoon before three thirty."

"I'm good from one to three thirty on Wednesdays," the tall brunette put forth. "We should have some extra time after the lab to review or meet for the project. There is a lab at one and we would have from two to three thirty to work on assignments or the project."

"I'm good with that," the other guy said.

"Me too," the short girl added.

"Ok, it's settled," the brunette said and moved to the board to sign her name, Jenny Marsh, for the Wednesday one o'clock lab.

She handed the pen to the raven haired girl and she put her name down as Peggy Swifton. The guy signed as Bob Sherwood and then I was last.

"Alright, we're agreed that we're going to be a group for the project," Jenny said. "I'm sure we'll have to schedule extra time for that so I'm free most evenings. Mike, when do your practices end?"

"They run four to six so I can be available from seven onwards on Mondays and Wednesday evenings," I replied. "I also have Monday afternoon open if we need it. Fridays are an option if we have a home game but it's a travel day if our game is elsewhere."

We looked to Peggy and Bob.

"I'm good on Monday and Wednesday evenings and I'm free from one to three thirty on Monday," Bob stated. "Fridays are mostly clear except from ten to eleven."

Penny added, "Monday and Wednesday evenings are good for me as is Monday afternoon. Friday I have a lab in the morning as well, I think at nine to ten."

Jenny summarized, "Ok, I think we have enough time together to make a go of this project as a group. We start meeting as soon as we get the project outline in class."

The doctor was watching from the doorway and grinned as she handed out each of us a piece of paper. I looked at it and the title was BUS100 Project Syllabus.

"I'll be handing this out next class so I'm not giving you too much of an advantage," she said. "Most of the concepts won't be presented in class for a while but I have the feeling you four will be reading ahead and getting a jump on the project anyway. Good luck and I'll see you in class."