Injured - Paige Bueckers

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   It's like it happens in slow motion. One second paige has the ball and she's headed down the court, the next she's on the ground. Instantly I'm on my feet and it feels like my heart is beating out of my chest.

"Get up, get up paige. You have to get up, you're fine, come on baby. Get up." I'm talking to myself or at least I hope I am.

   The other team's guard came out of nowhere. Nika had came up to set a screen and right as paige went to shoot the ball the guard slammed into her making her hit the ground, head first. The gym went silent and all you could hear is the refs whistle calling an intentional foul and ejecting the guard. She'd had it out for paige the whole game, and it was bound to get nasty at some point.

   "She has to get up, I have to help her." I can't breathe, why isn't she getting up? Someone grabs me around the waist and stops me from walking out onto the court. I watch as geno and our team medic rushes out to the court to check on her. She's rolling around now so I know she's alive but something is obviously wrong if she's not getting up.

   "You can't. They're helping her, you have to trust them. They've got this, okay? You have to breathe, she'll be okay." Azzi whispers in my ear, her arms tight around me to stop me from walking any further.

I watch as they finally get her to stand, but she has to wrap her arms around the medics shoulder and nika on the other side of her. Even from here I can tell she's struggling to catch her breath and walks with a limp. Oh god, I think, please don't let her knee be messed up. The gym erupts in cheers as they finally get her to start walking our way but I tune them out, my focused locked on her.

Her gaze locks on mine and finally Azzi lets me go. I'm at her side in an instant taking the weight of her off of nika, as she needs to get back to the game and I don't want to be anywhere else but right beside Paige. She tucks her head into my neck as we continue walking, I can feel her heavy breathing, which matches mine at this point.

"Y/N, you help them get paige checked out, we still have a quarter and a half to finish this game but you come out and give me an update as soon as possible, got it kid?" Geno asks me with a serious look on his face. He has to be worried, one of his best players just got taken out by the opponent and we have no idea what's wrong with her yet.

Paige never takes her head out of the crook of my neck as we walk towards the tunnel away from the game. The noise from the game finally fades the further we get from the court.

"Paige? Talk to me baby, what's wrong? What hurts?" I whisper towards her, the medic looks my way but keeps walking down the tunnel.

She lets out a groan before responding, "I think I hit my head , it hurts, Y/N. It's pounding and all that noise and the lights were making it ten times worse."

"What about your knee? You were limping." If her knee really was injured she'd be devastated, especially after all the work she did to get back to where she was now. I'd be devastated for her.

"No my knee is okay, I think anyways. I just hit it hard against the court when I went down." She lifts her head as we come to a stop at the med bay door. The medic opens the door and ushers her on to the exam table. I use my hands to steady her as she gets up and scoots back to rest against the wall and stretch her knees out on the bed in front of her, but when I got to pull away she reaches out and grabs my hand, squeezing tight. "Will you stay with me please? Just until they tell me everything's okay."

"Of course I will, I wasn't planning on going anywhere. You gave me a fucking heart attack by the way." My hand squeezes hers as I try to make light of the situation and finally she cracks a smile at my antics. Her smile fades as the doctor comes over to check her out. He prods at her knee and asks paige a few questions about it but I don't hear her answers. All I can think about is how scared I was when she didn't immediately get up. My eyes roam her face and really take in that she seems okay. She catches me watching and gives me a small smile before paying attention to the doctor again and answering his questions.

He runs through a few more tests with her before saying, "As far as I can tell everything seems okay for the most part. You have a minor concussion so you're out for the rest of the game and we'll go ahead and get an ice pack on that knee. After a little rest you should be good to go for your next game." He gives her some medicine for her head before taking the ice pack his assistant made and wrapping it around her knee.

The relief I feel is instant, knowing ultimately she's okay. She won't be happy about missing the rest of this game but she'll do it if it means she'll still get to play next game. I give her hand a squeeze before grabbing her face and laying a kiss to the side of her head. "That's great news baby."

She wraps her arms around my waist and rests her head on my chest. "I guess so. It sucks I can't finish this game tho."

   "I know but you'll be back for the next one. The girls have this one in the bag." My hand plays with her ponytail and I take the time to just feel her next to me for a few seconds. "I need to go to tell Geno what's going on, will you be okay here without me for a few minutes?"

   She pulls away and adjusts the bag of ice on her knee. "Yeah I'll be alright. Make sure you tell him they said I'll be fine for next game, I'll be pissed if he makes me sit out." I laugh and she shoots me one of her serious faces before breaking out in a smile. God, I love that smile.

   I press a kiss against her lips, "Got it, I'll be right back." I run my hand down her ponytail one more time before turning to head out of the med bay but I only get a few steps away before turning back around. "I'm really glad you're okay, Paige."

   "Me too, baby, me too." With that said, I make my way back to the court to talk to Coach. This could've been so much worse and I'm so thankful it wasn't. All I can think is how much I'm falling in love with that girl in there.







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Kind of a long one, I hope yall liked it!  Ngl I didn't really edit it so if it stinks, I'm sorry! (That's probably how most of these stories will go lol)

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