based on our canonical crumbs of information about jackie pike (met hayden at a club, got married relatively quickly, hottie) i now imagine that pre-hayden, jackie was a club rat to rival the likes of ilya. just her and like four other girls absolutely tearing up the montreal party scene. leaving a string of broken hearts across the great white north. multiple clubs, outfits, guys, and girls a night. she has three tattoos that shane knows about and five that nobody but hayden ever sees. and maybe she liked the idea of a family one day down the road but it never really crossed her mind because she was happy as she was, having fun with her friends. until one night out of the blue she meets this guy in a club. and he’s clearly very nervous talking to her (who isn’t) and he doesn’t seem like the most interesting guy there at first, but he’s cute and sweet and a surprisingly good dancer for a hockey player as she finds out, and he tells her earnestly that he wants to have a million kids before stumbling back to add only if my wife does, obviously, and there’s just something so charming about the way he says my wife like it’s a sure thing to him, like he doesn’t know who she is but he’s already completely devoted to her. and one thing leads to another and suddenly it’s 2 am and he’s coming back to her apartment and kissing every one of her tattoos and then just. asking her questions. about her life, her family, her interests, and she can’t help but feel a pang of jealousy towards whoever ends up being this guy’s wife who he may or may not have a million kids with.
only one thing leads to another and before long jackie’s friends are staging half-joking interventions because he’s a hockey player, jackie, he is literally a professional jock, and he’s always going to be traveling, and he must have had at least five concussions already, and how are we going to go out without you? and jackie laughs and eventually the protests die down and she goes out with her friends just as often, only now the massive rock on her left hand catches under the neon lights.
it’s quintessential to me that shane has no idea about any of this. he just thinks jackie is a nice girl hayden happens to cross paths with at a club one night. and pre-my dinner with hayden shane is having a total nervous breakdown to ilya because these are my best friends, they’re the best couple i know, how am i going to explain to them that we’ve been dating for six months but we’ve been fucking for almost ten years? they’re going to think we’re insane oh my god and then ilya opens the door and is face-to-face with the girl who did a line of coke off of his abs in a seedy montreal club and then left with two of his teammates ten years ago and he’s like. moya lyubov i don’t think jackie is going to judge us for anything.
