usually played at. On game morning, a Saturday, Kevin and Rikko were called in at the newspaper due to a breaking story that needed to be covered. But it was quick, and they were back home by noon. Mika, meanwhile, had gone out for some practice wearing his gray sweatshirt and sweatpants. He came back in after his roommates got home.
Rikko was the first to answer the door when he came back in.
"Hey, there. We wondering where you were," she said.
"Just getting some practice shots in before game time," Mika explained.
The two then kissed briefly.
"Mmm, I can tell what you've been having," said Mika after detecting a familiar taste on Rikko's lips during the course of that kiss.
"Yeah, I know," Rikko said shyly as she held up her left hand. She was clutching a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that had a few bites taken out of it. Rikko had just taken a bite out of it before answering the door to let Mika and Karelia back in and she had obviously taken it to the door with her.
Sure enough, on the table in the kitchen was the plate that held Rikko's sandwich, a glass of milk - which was her favorite drink to have with PB&J - and an orange already cut up with the skin off.
"You gonna want anything to eat before you go play?" Rikko asked.
"Yeah, probably," Mika replied. "In fact, what you got looks pretty good right now."
"Get your own," Rikko said as she put her hands on top of her lunch, "because this is all mine."
"I was," Mika responded in a firm, but nice tone.
Sure enough, Mika did indeed have what Rikko was having, albeit his own.
Game time eventually came, and Mika was off to the b-ball court. As was the case last time, Karelia came along. This time, however, Rikko and Kevin also came along to see how their roommate would fair at a sport he had never played competitively before. Mika didn't set his own expectations very high, like he did the first time he played hockey in a competitive situation. This would indeed prove to be very interesting.
"Hey, hey, look who's here!" Jamal called out upon seeing Mika. "Hi Mika!"
"Hi there, Jamal!" the Finn called back.
"Ready to play?!" Jamal asked.
"Why, yes I am!" Mika replied enthusiastically. He then proceeded to shed his outer sweats, revealing a sleeveless shirt and loose shorts. Instead of hiking boots, the running shoes that he used for running and other forms of training adorned his feet.
Jamal and Mika would both end up playing on the same team, with Jamal offering a few pointers to his rookie teammate. They seemed to help, as Mika would eventually score some points. He didn't take two many shots on net, so his scoring chances proved to be scant. Still, his supporters on the sideline showed their support whenever he did well.
The game would go on for about one hour. Fate seemed to repeat itself at one point when the ball bounced out of bounds right to where Karelia, Kevin, and Rikko were seated. Sure enough, while the ball was up in the air, Karelia jumped up and bumped the ball back in with his nose. Everyone froze in shock at the sight.
"No way!" Mika said in surprise.
"Did he just do what I thought I saw him do?" Rikko asked. She was in a daze by now, and it showed all over her face.
"Uh, yeah!" said Kevin in response. "I saw it, too."
Rikko had been told about what Karelia did that one time when he and Mika were just spectators watching the kids play. Now she saw it for herself and was now fully convinced.
At game's end, Jamal would end up making the winning basket for his team. Mika pumped his fist in delight when the ball went "swish!". Kevin and Rikko cheered from the sideline.
After all the celebrating and congratulating took place, eventually it was time to head home. It was late afternoon by now, so it was closing in on dinner time for most of the kids. Mika was feeling really good for the first time since before his shoulder injury. To take on largely unfamiliar sport and do as well as he did fresh off recovery from an injury would have felt like a win even if he hadn't actually won. To actually win was the icing on the victory cake. And on top of all that, he made some new friends in the process. All and all, it was very much a great day for the Finn.

That evening after dinner, the threesome had gone out for dinner to the very place where Kevin had gone for that one business meeting the day after Mika came home from the hospital in Boston. After hearing Kevin described the place, Mika and Rikko wanted to check it out themselves. Kevin, of course, was doing the treating. It was a pizza place that served many different styles. The favorite of the three was, undoubtedly, Chicago-style deep dish with pepperoni.
"I can't believe how good the food is here," said Rikko after finishing off her first slice.
"Oh, it's definitely good," said Kevin.
"As good as when I first ate here," Mika added.
"You've been here before?" Rikko asked.
"Why, yes I have," Mika responded. "When I first came here to Detroit, it was Kevin that showed me around. And this was one of the places he showed me."
In fact, it was the first place Kevin showed Mika after the Finn first came to Detroit. And he was unreserved in his praise about the place, as he was with every other worthy place in the D. You see, Kevin was a Detroit man, through and through.
"Well, I can definitely say that I have officially found a favorite restaurant here," said Rikko.
"I had a hunch you would like it," Kevin replied.
"As did I," Mika added.
He then got up to go to the bathroom, having already eaten his second slice. Rikko couldn't keep from staring at him - as usual - as he headed off.
"So, Rikko, what was it you were saying about...." said Kevin. He stopped when he noticed Rikko still eye-balling Mika on his way to the john.
"Rikko? Rikko!" Kevin finally raised his voice and snapping his fingers in her line of sight.
"What, what?" Rikko said in a confused tone as she snapped out of her apparent trance.
"What were you doing?" Kevin asked."
"Uh, admiring the scenery," Rikko replied, obviously trying to play down that she had been staring at Mika the whole time. Kevin, of course, didn't believe her.
"Oh, please," Kevin said in a tone that clearly conveyed his disbelief in what she had to say. "You really think I'm that stupid? You were staring holes through Mika as he was off to the can!"
"Well, excuse me!" Rikko snapped. "I can't help it!"
"Meaning?" Kevin asked as he tapped the table with his right hand.
"Well," Rikko replied, "you probably already know about my early days with Mika back home in Kokkola. Ever since I came here, I feel like I'm reliving all those good times I had with him all over again."
"Girl, I can already tell that if nostalgia were a food, you'd never go hungry," Kevin put in. Rikko chuckled at the remark.
"Yeah, I admit, I'm a sucker for that," Rikko said, still grinning from Kevin's remark. "But I tell you, whenever I'm with him, or even think about him, I feel my heartbeat going, 'Mi-ka. Mi-ka. Mi-ka. Mi-ka.'" As Rikko did this, she put her right hand over her chest and thumped it in a simulated heartbeat thumping out Mika's name.
"Gracious, Rikko Jehkinen," Kevin said as he shook his head in both amusement and disbelief, "what an enchanted world you live in!"
Rikko didn't bother to dignify that with any kind of response at first. But that was because she couldn't come up with one.
"What?" she asked quizzically. "Kevin, are you trying to tell me that there's no one who holds a special place in your heart?"
"No," Kevin replied. "Not for a long time."
Kevin was not dating anyone at the time and hadn't done so in about two years. His last relationship did not end very well.
Eventually, Mika came back, not knowing what happened while he was away and they eventually finished up their meal and went home.

Later that very evening, Mika was standing in front of the mantle looking over the photos that were lining it. Among them were some pictures he took while up in Nome, including some photos of himself, his younger brother Kaj, and other assorted pictures of the town. But the one he couldn't take his eyes off of was one of himself with Nome's canine hero, Balto, who had not only been a part of Mika's life during his last few months in Nome, but on more than one occasion, had actually saved it. The first one was when Mika had taken a nasty fall off of a cliff near the town of Wales -also in Alaska - after the Finn had fled Nome after saving Kaj's life after he had gotten attacked in an alley, only to be faced with death threats having inadvertently killed one of Kaj's attackers and wounded the other two with a revolver. The second time, of course, came during the siege of Nome by the Soviet extremists, whom Mika followed back to Nome after they had destroyed Wales, along with a few other towns along the way. Also in the picture was Balto's beloved mate, Jenna, and her owner, Rosy. Kaj had taken that picture just minutes before Mika left for Detroit aboard brother Mikko's airplane. It was a rather bittersweet moment for Mika, because after saving Nome from the extremists, he had gone from loner with few friends to the town's bipedal hero. It wasn't an easy decision to make, and he did miss those days to some extent. But he would never forget the good times he