Hockey Baby 🏒

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Sophie

    My head hurt. I grimaced as I struggled to open my eyes and groaned slightly. "She's waking up!" I heard someone shout. I cracked one eyelid open only to be blinded by the bright fluorescent light. "Sophie? Can you hear me?" The same voice asked again. I turned my head slowly and blinked a couple of times to clear the blurriness from my eyes.

    Ashton Maverick's face came into view, and I blinked frantically, thinking I was hallucinating. But a wide smile appeared on his face as he placed his hand on my cheek. "Ashton?" I croaked out. His smile widened even more as he nodded eagerly and tears started to appear in his eyes.

  "Welcome back, Sophie-Lophie," He chuckled. I felt very confused as to why he was here and touching my cheek, but I wasn't complaining.

  "Oh, Sophie!" My mom exclaimed as she rushed into the room, followed by a group of doctors. She ran towards me and threw her arms around me. "My baby! Don't ever scare me like that again!" She scolded me as she kissed the top of my head, and I flinched at the pain I was feeling all over from how tightly she was squeezing me.

  "I didn't mean to scare you, Mom. But you're kinda hurting me," I whispered, and she instantly released me from her arms to study me worriedly.

  "Hi Sophie, I'm Doctor Montgomery. Do you know where you are?" The doctor asked, looking at the monitors and then down at me.

  "I'm guessing the hospital?" I said, but it sounded more like a question.

  "Do you know how you got here?" He asked. At that moment, my mind went blank. I scrunched my eyebrows together in frustration as I tried to think hard about how I ended up here, but the last thing I remembered was being in the car with Katie and our friends, driving home from school.

    I slowly looked up at him and shook my head. "That's okay, sometimes our brains make us forget traumatic events to protect us. You were in a car accident, but you are okay," He assured me. I took a slow deep breath as I nodded, happy to hear that nothing was wrong with me. "Can you tell me the last thing you do remember?"

  "Um, I was driving home from school with some friends. We were eating at some diner in Texas, and then I woke up here." I shrugged, and suddenly everyone around me grew incredibly quiet. I looked at my mom in confusion as she looked at Ashton with wide eyes, and I became worried by their reactions. "What? What happened?" I asked worriedly. Did we get in a car accident driving home? Were Katie and my friends okay? Questions started to flood my mind as they stared at each other in silence. Then Ashton stood up from the chair and walked away from my bed.

  "Sweetie, you got home from school over a year ago..." My mom answered. I stared at her in shock as I let her words sink in. I can't remember a whole year of my life.

"What do you mean that was over a year ago? Why can't I remember anything?" I asked, suddenly starting to panic. Everyone tried to calm me down, but I was beginning to hyperventilate.

  "Hey, hey, hey!" Ashton said quickly as he sat beside me again and grabbed my hand, focusing all my attention back on him. "I need you to breathe, Sophie. Come on, breathe with me." I took in deep shaky breaths as he breathed with me, and slowly I started to calm down. I hadn't realized I had started crying until he reached up and wiped away a tear that had fallen down my cheek.

    I stared at him in confusion, wondering why he was acting so sweet to me and why my mom wasn't freaking out about the way he was touching or looking at me. "Sophie, you had a pretty traumatic brain injury from the car accident," Dr. Montgomery said gently, causing me to look away from Ashton and at him. "You've been in a medically induced coma for the last three days, but you are healing very nicely, and sometimes with brain injuries, it unfortunately can cause memory loss. It might return as you heal, but I want you to prepare yourself that it might not." I slowly nodded my head as another tear escaped from my eye, and I tried to keep myself from freaking out like I so badly wanted to.

    I turned my attention back to Ashton, who was staring at me with so much worry. For some reason, seeing him this way made me want to throw my arms around him and comfort him which only confused me more. "Can I talk to Ashton in private?" I asked, looking over at my mom and Dr. Montgomery.

  "Sure, sweetie." My mom stood up and kissed my head once more. "I'll go tell your brother and everyone else that you're okay."

  "I really want you to get your rest though, Sophia. Resting can help some of your memory come back," Dr. Montgomery said, and I nodded as I watched them both leave. Then I slowly turned my attention back to Ashton.

  "Um..." I trailed off nervously as I looked away from his intense stare and down at our intertwined hands. The last time I remember holding hands with him was when we were kids, but he was holding my hand like he's been holding it forever. "Can I ask you something and you promise not to laugh or make fun of me?" I asked, looking back up at him. He chuckled as he nodded.

  "I promise."

  "Are we... um... together or something?" I asked. He smiled as he bit his lip. God, I had forgotten how beautiful he was up close. It was almost too distracting watching him bite his lip that I almost missed him saying the words "Yes, we are together."

  "We've been together basically ever since you got home from college," He informed me. I took a sharp intake of breath as I looked back down at our hands. So, not only was I dating my childhood crush, but we've been together for more than a year and I have no memory of it! This was so unbelievably unfair, I thought to myself.

  "And everyone's okay with it?" I asked, referring to my Mom and my brother. He chuckled as he let out a sigh and nodded.

  "Not at first, but everyone accepted us a while ago." I nodded slowly and looked around the room, too nervous to meet his eyes. That's when I noticed the bassinet and car seat in the corner of the room. "Um, why is there a car seat in here?" I asked. Ashton's eyes went wide as he looked nervously at me.

  "I-I think it's time for you to rest now, Sophie," Ashton said gently and started to pull his hand away, but I grabbed it firmly and shook my head.

  "No, answer my question, Ashton. Why is there a car seat in here?" I asked, wanting to know why he suddenly didn't want to answer my question. He stared at me intently as he slowly placed his hand on top of my stomach.

    My mind was racing as I stared at his hand on my stomach, then up at him, and I became even more confused. "What? Am I pregnant?" I demanded, fear filling my voice. Ashton shook his head.

  "Not anymore, babe. We... we have a daughter," he whispered. I felt my heart start to pound against my chest as I shook my head in disbelief.

  "I had a baby?! We had a baby?! And I don't fucking remember any of it?" I asked, almost screaming. Suddenly people rushed into the room.

  "Ashton, I think it's time we let Sophie get some rest," Dr. Montgomery said. Ashton shook his head as he tried to grab my hand again, but I pulled it away quickly. Hurt appeared on his face, but I couldn't speak. I was freaking out so badly that I couldn't even say a coherent sentence.

    I was dating Ashton. We have a child together. The nurses and doctors were trying to calm me down, but there was no use. I had missed so much and had no idea how to get my memory back. What in the fuck was I going to do?