Chapter Text
Instead of his desk in the 2-7 bullpen, Frank Cosgrove was staring, eyes unseeing, out of the window of a fancy restaurant in downtown Manhattan. It was the middle of a day when he’d normally be working. He’d taken a personal day for this, though, mostly because the men filing into the private dining room were not people he’d be happy to leave.
The men with whom he’d done Titan Run.
His nephew from his eldest sister dropped into a seat at his right. His college mentor seated himself to his left. Across from him, brows raised, two of the best friends he’d ever had took a seat with no prompting.
Haltingly, stopping when the waitstaff came in, Frank told them his whole story. About how he’d fallen for Nolan. About how Lily adored Nolan’s effective nephews. How the Portland situation worried him.
In the end, Nate Partridge and Dom Olson shared a look, Greer Rowan sighed and Ryan Cosgrove blinked at him.
Unlike the other men at the table, Frank wasn’t involved with a gorgeous, talented younger man who adored him. If he’d have dwelt on it, he’d probably have complained about it by now. Good thing he didn’t.
Greer cleared his throat and offered
”I can get you tickets for the Pirates and the Seabirds, make a fuss about an anniversary of some sort, since Ryan’s team plays us in a few weeks.” Ryan perked up, looking at Frank hopefully. He shrugged, relieved when Dom quietly offered to contact friends he’d fallen out of contact with and Nate scratched his chin and commented wryly
”Carter’s agreed to do a show with Fallen Angel anyway, so I’ll be there.” Frank snorted and bit out
”How you go that lucky I’ll never know.” Nate smirked over his drink and shot back
”We all know Greer got the luckiest, don’t even lie.” Dom sniggered and pulled out his phone, firing off a text before he cursed and added
”Dammit, Morgan and Gunner are busy.” Frank chuckled and tipped his glass to Greer before he told them
”That would actually be amazing guys.” He smiled through the chorus of ‘no-problem’, already planning how to make it go down.
-
Sylvie blinked at the email in her inbox. It was obviously a mass email, and there were documents that were probably an itinerary, etcetera, but the email itself was an invitation from Greer Rowan on behalf of the Rowan-Wentworths for her to attend a celebration of Frank’s promotion anniversary. They would be flown in by private jet on the Thursday, attend the Pirates Friday afternoon football game and the Saturday Seabirds hockey game and a specially hosted going away brunch at a restaurant called Bernardo’s. According to the email, not only would the Pirates be playing Chicago, but the Seabirds would play the Minnesota Northern Lights, which Frank’s nephew played for. Also his ‘Titan Run teammates and former hockey players’ Dominic Olson and Nate Partridge had agreed to commentate.
This was a lot. A lot of information she hadn’t had before for one. A lot of information she hadn’t had about Frank before for two. Something niggled at Sylvie, and she checked the other addresses on the email chain. Her jaw dropped when she realized Kelly, Matt and Nolan’s extended team were all invited. Picking up her phone, she jabbed at Frank’s number and demanded
”What the hell Frank?” The moment he picked up
”You got Greer’s email, then.” He sounded amused. Sylvie was not, and she gave it to him with both barrels
”Greer? You call one of the richest men in America Greer?” Frank laughed, and then he sobered and told her
”Sylvie, he was my college mentor as well as my Titan Run captain. He wouldn’t have put up with Mr. Rowan, but I can tease him about Rowan-Wentworth now.” She sputtered and Frank sounded tense when he continued
”I only have a few more minutes, so I’ll make this quick. Ryan’s wanted me at a game long enough to stay since he was a rookie and Greer knows that. Nate and Dom only got to see me for an hour at a time before they retired if we weren’t doing Titan Run crap. With Ry in Portland this was the best way to get us all together, and Greer’s husband wants a good look at my team anyway. Greer’s just also the kind of guy to take families into account, so he asked me how to get a hold of Matt and Kelly so Lily’s have people she’s comfortable with.”
Sylvie digested that for a moment, and when Frank signed off, she didn’t fuss. She had thinking to do.
-
Peter looked around the jet warily. It looked like a team jet, honestly, and even knowing it was the larger of two jets owned by a man who also owned a football team who was married to a man who co-owned a hockey team, it was intimidating. The only ones not unsettled by the massive jet, obviously, was Cosgrove, neck deep in a conversation with Dominic Olson and his boyfriend Shea Barnett. And then Nate Partridge escorted a vaguely familiar young man onboard, all five men becoming more engrossed in what appeared to be a discussion about Cosgrove’s nephew Ryan.
Making overwhelmed eyes at Liv and her team, Peter tried to settle in for the exhausting journey. Sam and Nolan were obviously overwhelmed, so when Lily bounced over after takeoff, Peter thought it would be a good thing.
He was wrong, because the first words out of her mouth were
”I hope we get to stop in Colorado on the way back, Uncle Moogs and Uncle Gunny are probably sad to miss Dad.” He gaped at her impolitely, and Lily waved a hand when Amanda asked about it
”Morgan Elsher, Captain of the Rocky Mountain Outlaws in Colorado Springs, and Gunner Ryan, the Alternate for the Denver Direwolves, they did Titan Run with Dad.”
When Noah asked
”What’s Titan Run?” Peter was relieved, because he wanted to know too. Lily smiled and answered
”It’s extreme trekking as a team. Dad and Uncle Greer retired and everyone else is paired, but in their day, Team Albatross traversed, bouldered, hiked, swam and surfed the most distance.” Kate asked why everyone being ‘paired’ mattered, and Lily blinked before she yelled
”Carter!” The youngest of the five men in the back of the plane looked at her and walked over, blushing faintly when the older man he’d been sitting with held onto his hand long enough to kiss his knuckles before he made his way over
”What is it, Lily?” He sounded kind of peeved, but he was still there, so Lily asked him
”Would Uncle Nate ever do Titan Run again?” Flopping down with an eye roll, Carter focused on her and pointed out
”You know he wouldn’t. It’s like they’re in a club or something, everyone Nate knows thinks that their lovers should be cherished beyond reason. Austin’s brother actually got divorced over it because he saw how Greer treated him versus how his wife was with him.” Lily snickered, eyes lighting up as she asked
”So, even Uncle Morgan is like that? Dad won’t tell me.” Carter flung his arm over his eyes and groaned
”The only one worse than Morgan is Saint. Every time I’ve seen them together Saint acts like Carmine is the most amazing person ever.”
”That would be because Carmine protects him on and off the ice, sweetheart.” Nate had been almost soundless when he came up behind Carter’s seat, grinning softly when Carter made grabby hands at the drink in his hand. Pecking a kiss on Carter’s forehead, Nate gave him the drink and headed back to the hockey conversation, where Shea and Dom were laughing at Frank.
It was nice to watch, but fucking strange.
-
Sylvie bounded onto the plane and realized Nolan felt out of his depth. She and Kelly sat with him until Lily wandered over from where she’d been chatting with her Dad.
”Sylvie!” She beamed and hugged the paramedic, snorting when Kelly asked her about how they knew Greer.
”Settle in because I have a story.” The teenager declared.
Everyone looked curious, so, grinning, Lily bounced in place before explaining
”Dad met Uncle Greer when Uncle Greer was doing his masters. They got everything up and running for Titan Run, and competed together until they handed leadership off and Uncle Dom took over. As everyone paired off, they stopped competing, but everyone stayed in touch because surly bastards or not, they were a team. And they all agreed that spouses and children come first, so, Uncle Nate didn’t even really have a life until Beck was an adult.” When Dominick enquired as to who ‘Beck’ was, Carter got up to stretch, and took his drink with him as he threw over his shoulder
”Nate’s nephew.” Lily shrugged, pulled out her phone and settled in.
-
Half an hour of processing later, Frank’s connections hadn’t really sunk in, but Lily jumped up with a squeal and started dancing around the plane. Her father shot her a look but stayed where he was, listening to whatever Nate was telling him.
Finally, Lily stopped dancing, and Olivia asked
”What’s got you so excited, honey?” Shaking her whole body happily, the teenager replied
”Jackson’s going to be playing! He was out with an injury and Uncle Ryan was worried but he’s playing! I’m so excited, Portland’s going to have a challenge with Jackson and Uncle Ryan playing.” Frank rolled his eyes and mouthed something at Nate, who nodded and pretended to wince when Carter smacked his chest.
Sylvie shook her head, bemusedly happy for Lily and hopeful they’d get to see Matt and the boys while they were in Portland.
-
The reception on the tarmac was unexpected, but maybe it shouldn’t have been. An older man with rumpled silver grey hair greeted Frank, Nate, Dominic, their boyfriends and Lily warmly, ‘oofing’ theatrically when Lily almost bowled him over. At his side, an alert, thirty-something man with sharp hazel eyes surveyed the members of the 2-7, SVU, OC and 51 with a scowl. The older man was introduced as Greer Rowan, the billionaire owner of the Portland Pirates, and the man at his side was Austin Wentworth, his husband, co-owner of the Portland Seabirds and a former Navy SEAL.
Even Elliot felt lacking under the former SEALs’ gaze, and when a few other men wandered over to be introduced- Austin’s coworkers at the security firm where he worked as well as former teammates- it was even harder not to feel inadequate to watch Frank’s back. Unlike Frank, who was the most formally dressed in a sweater and carried himself tensely, each of the security operatives and even Greer to an extent stood with a looseness of posture that hinted at training. Sharp eyes scanned surroundings, pausing only to meet Frank’s blued-steel gaze before moving on.
Jalen himself felt uneasy, with the way Austin and Greer situated Lily between them for the walk over to the SUVs they’d organized, because Frank hadn’t protested. Jesse Evans had tipped his head for Frank to precede them, and Frank had strode off, Jesse and Phantom flanking him. Dreamboat and the Commander had gestured for them to go first, and then they’d brought up the rear.
The SUVs had taken them to a massive house just outside the city, which Greer cheerfully explained was the team house for the Pirates. Those who preferred to live here could, though most of the team either bought, rented or were moved into team mates spare rooms over the course of the season, so they’d had no trouble relocating the handful of team members who’d lived here for them to use the place.
-
The scent of money wafting off their temporary home made Frank want to laugh. He already knew Dom and Nate were either staying with friends or at a preferred hotel, given they’d brought their lovers. And Matt and the Dardens were on their way, so he tucked into the buffet, stifling a laugh when Lily bounced downstairs from unpacking and informed him that she greatly preferred the tub at Uncle Ryan’s place in Minnesota because while it was big she wouldn’t drown in it.
She then proceeded to wrangle the Darden boys as well as the younger children and urging them to hustle, because ‘Uncle Greer’s players are super cool and had invited them to a pool party with the kids’
Stifling another laugh, Frank navigated to the group chat, and sure enough, Simon and Christian had texted to let him know that Parker and Zach had permission to invite Lily and her friends over because they wanted to introduce her to their prospective partners. He assured them they’d be there and settled in to watch his extended team wander around dazedly, taking in the expensive mansion, the professional cooks in the kitchen… It marveled him, really, that as long as it was just Greer and the others being generous, he could accept their wealth. but when they tried to coddle or overcompensate? He got uncomfortable.
-
The next morning, Frank narrowed his eyes at his phone but said nothing. They had Seabirds practice to get to before the Pirates took the field.