The Hockey Life - A Patrick Kane Fanfic

Part Ninety-Three - Hope

PART NINETY-THREE: HOPE

PATRICK’S POV

I hated not being able to play hockey. It was the worst punishment in the world for me. Honestly, not being able to do what I love always hurt a lot more than any injuries I had ever gotten. Of course, with my messed up clavicle, I was very restricted on what I could and couldn’t do for a while - hockey wasn’t the only thing I was temporarily banned from. But the day I got to get out on the ice again was definitely one of the best days I had in a while.

I still had to be careful, and I couldn’t actually play, but I was finally allowed to skate again. I went in before practice one day, and Coach wasn’t the least bit surprised. It was the very first day I could possibly get back into skates, and I was there.

“I see you’re doing better,” Q chuckled. Despite the things people say about him, he does laugh and smile. Sometimes.

“Yeah, it’s improving. I wish I could actually play, though. I always do,” I replied, gliding carefully across the smooth surface.

“Nine more weeks, and you’ll be playing again. We miss having you at practice and at games for sure, but rest can be a good thing. I’m sure Lena’s whipping you into shape at home, anyways.”

“Oh yeah. She holds me to my exercises.”

While skating I also spoke to Brad and of course, Tazer, when he arrived early for practice like always. 

“Aw, you guys are too cute,” Lena laughed when Johnny said everyone was missing me. That was his way of saying that he missed me being active on the team.

“I don’t make fun of you and Tess every time you say something nice to each other!” I told her.

“Yeah, well, we aren’t involved in a bromance,” she retorted.

“Who even uses that term anymore?” I mocked her.

“Well, Tess and I, for starters. And probably anyone who’s seen the two of you interact with each other.”

“Whatever,” I shrugged.

Practice started soon after that, and I stayed to watch while Lena worked and my teammates did drills. It seemed to drag on forever when I wasn’t actually playing.

“I miss it,” I told Lena as we cleaned up the kitchen from lunch.

“I know you do, but you have to be patient. You’re nowhere near being completely healed yet. If you want to avoid problems with your clavicle in the future, you have to wait the nine weeks,” she lectured me.

“Alright, doc,” I laughed.

“Hey, you knew my profession when you decided to marry and live with me,” she reminded me.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can we watch Netflix or something?”

“All we ever do is watch Netflix!” she whined. I was shocked.

“Are you complaining about Netflix? Are you actually tired of it?” I asked.

“I’m never tired of Netflix, but I just feel like we should do something else for a change, especially now that you’re not so restricted in what you can do,” she explained.

“What do you suggest, then?”

“Well…” she hesitated. She started to turn slightly pink and I knew exactly what was going on. We hadn't been all that intimate since my injury - as a trainer she wanted me to be really careful about every single little thing I did while I was still hurting a lot. But now that I was feeling a little better…