@garrett44graham
when hunter had reached out, ilya had been a little surprised. sure, these days, they were friendly. but he wouldn't say they were particularly close. so when scott had come to him with a request, he was a little suspicious. it wasn't that he thought there were any dubious ulterior motives. it's just that he couldn't figure out why he was asking this.
there was a kid, the son of a retired player for the admirals. a huge fan of boston, he'd been told. it would be a dream come true to meet the former boston captain. & apparently he was a teenage hockey phenom, just like he & shane had been. so with a broken wrist & nothing better to do, ilya agreed to fly down & meet the kid.
which is what brought him here to meet garrett graham. he hadn't known it was graham's kid he would be meeting, & perhaps hunter had planned it that way. he didn't know phil graham personally, & their time on the ice had only overlapped by a single year, but he'd heard some things and seen the tapes... the guy had been a brutal player in his prime. so it made him wonder what phil graham's son would be like.
he arrived at the rink a few minutes late, but it didn't matter. there was only one person on the ice when he did. according to scott, hockey practice would have ended about a half hour before he arrived, but apparently, garrett liked to hang back and practice a bit more on his own sometimes.
ilya approached the ice slowly, letting himself assess the scene, then he came to lean against the small stretch of unguarded boards where the players came on & off the ice. & he simply waited.
