Tough Love

Chapter 21 - The accident

The next season started pretty soon and everyone was hyped up for the first game, which would be against the San Jose Sharks, at the SAP center in San Jose. Brooke wasn't feeling too well, but she'd of course done her job and taken care of all the guys during warm ups and the game, which they won with 3 to 1, due to goals from Geno, Kris and Beau. Sid had assisted two of the goals, and as usual, everyone was in a good mood afterwards. Brooke just stayed on the side and watched the guys give interviews and two hours after the game, they were on their way back to Pittsburgh, as they had a game the next late afternoon against the Chicago Blackhawks. On the plane, Brooke snuggled back in her seat and turned her head towards Sid, who was sitting over the aisle, next to Fleury. As usual, Kris was besides her, engaged in another game on his game boy, and Brooke had played as well, but eventually stopped to sleep a bit. Back in Pittsburgh, Sid brought her to her own apartment because he had to get up early the next day and Brooke hadn't felt too well in the mornings, so they decided to let her catch up on sleep a bit and that they would see each other before the game.

Everyone was a bit tired the next morning at practice, but they all gave their best and listened to whatever Coach Johnston had to say. When he was just explaining a new play to them, Mario stormed onto the ice, holding his phone in his hand. "Sid!" he shouted and Sid had a bad feeling in his gut already, immediately turning towards Mario, who reached them without falling a bit later. "Brooke's in the hospital. She had an accident," Mario stated and that was all Sid needed to hear. He skated off the ice and rushed into the locker room, pulling off all the guards and everything else and putting on his street clothes. Mario appeared in the door a bit later, running his fingers through his hair nervously. "What happened?" Sid asked him when they were rushing outside towards Mario's car and Mario just sighed. "I don't know everything...Nathalie and Brooke had made plans to brunch together, but then Nathalie called me and said that Brooke had been hit by a car and an ambulance had brought her to the hospital. I came here to get you straight after," the elder stated and Sid cursed quietly and looked out of Mario's car. They arrived at the hospital a bit later and went inside. Mario's wife was already waiting for them, sitting on a chair on the side. She got up when they arrived there, and Sid watched Mario wrap his arms around his wife. "How is she? Do you have any news?" Sid asked and Nathalie turned towards him and placed her hand on his arms. "They didn't tell me much. She apparently broke her leg and they are in the operating room, but they told me it's nothing too serious," Nathalie stated and Sid let out the breath he had been holding in. They all sat down on the chairs and waited, sometimes getting up and walking around a bit. Around two hours later, a doctor came towards them. "Mister and Misses Lemieux?" she asked and they all got up at the same time. "Miss Lemieux' condition is stable. She broke her leg and banged her head pretty bad, but apart from a few nasty scratches and bruises, she's okay. We brought her to her room and she has to stay for at least two weeks until she can go home, and even then it would be good if she wasn't alone because she will most likely need some help," the doctor said and Sid swallowed hard. "I believe you are Mister Crosby? Miss Lemieux' has been asking about you. Her room number is 357. You shouldn't stay for too long though, she needs a lot of rest now," the doctor added with a friendly smile and they thanked the lady before going to Brooke's room. The big hospital bed almost swallowed her up, and she did look a bit bruised, but the soft smile on her face when she saw Sid and her parents come in relieved everyone. "Oh god, I was so scared, Brookie," Sid stated quietly, taking a chair and pulling it up to her bed and Brooke reached out and softly stroked his cheek. "It's not too bad though, the worst thing is the broken leg, and other than that, I'm fine," she mumbled, still a bit tired and Sid nodded and grabbed her hand in his, pressing soft kisses to the back of it as if to ensure himself that Brooke was there and alive. Brooke talked with her parents for a bit, but eventually Nathalie excused herself to go and drink something, and Mario went with her.

"Don't do this ever again, Brookie," Sid mumbled when her parents were out of the room, letting his head rest on their hands and Brooke reached out with her free hand and stroked through his hair. "I'll try. Don't worry, they are taking good care of me here. And I get to come home, soon. The only bad thing is that you're going to have to find a replacement for me at work," Brooke stated quietly and Sid just shook his head. "That doesn't even matter, Brooke. Your health is way more important than something like that," Sid stated and Brooke couldn't help but smile. "Shouldn't you be going soon? You're going to be late for the game if not," she stated after they had sat there in silence for a while and Sid looked up at her. "I'm not playing, I won't leave you alone here," he told her. Brooke just snorted and shook her head. "Oh hell no. You are going to play. The visiting hours will be over soon anyways, and they need you. The hawks aren't an easy opponent, and they need their captain," she told Sid, who looked at her and shook his head. "I don't care, Brookie. You are hurt, so I'm going to stay here and make sure everything is good" "Everything will be good. The only thing I want is for you not to miss the game. I'll watch it from here and Mum can stay with me, all right? And I'll call you during the intermissions," Brooke offered and Sid looked at her quietly for a moment before sighing and nodding. "All right. Thank god you're alive, Brookie. I don't know what I would've done if something worse had happened to you," Sid said and the next second, Mario and Nathalie stepped inside again. They told them about their agreement and Mario nodded, telling Sid he'd come with him so in case anything did happen, he would be able to tell Sid right away. Sid got up and leaned down, carefully pressing a kiss to Brooke's lips and then leaving the room with her father.

When he stepped into the locker room of the Consol Energy Center, all the guys and Coach Johnston turned towards him. "How is she?" Geno then spoke up and Sid ran his fingers through his hair and told them everything he knew before going to his place and starting to chance. "Nathalie just texted me. Brooke wants you all to go kick some ass out there, and she'll be watching," Mario said from where he was standing next to Coach Johnston. Sid just shook his head with an amused grin and then followed everyone out onto the ice for warm ups. He was still worried about Brooke, but he knew that her mother was with her, and that calmed him down a bit. "Don't worry, Sid. Brooke's strong, she'll get through this," Kris said, skating up to him and patting his shoulder, and he nodded and took a deep breath, concentrating on the upcoming game. The Blackhawks were a very strong opponent, so they had to be on top of their game against them, and Sid called Brooke during every intermission before giving any interviews, and to his relief, Brooke always sounded happy. She seemed to be pretty tired, but when he told her to get some rest, she just stated that she wanted to see if they won, because after two periods, it was 2 to 2. The game went into overtime after a scoreless last period, and when no goal was made during overtime, a shootout took place. The Blackhawks won the shootout and Sid just shook his head with a sigh and skated to the side, tapping Fleury on his helmet and telling him he'd done a good job.

Back in the locker room, he gave a short interview and then took out his phone. Brooke had texted him that they had been awesome and she would be going to sleep now, adding the visiting hours of the hospital, and he just smiled to himself before going to the showers. It was strange not having Brooke there, because everyone had gotten used to her presence in the locker room and on the bench, but all the guys had told Sid to bring her the best wishes. After taking a relaxing shower, he left the building with a few of the guys, driving towards his home and thinking about Brooke all the time.