Steal Bases, Not Hearts (A Chicago Cubs Story)

Chapter 2

After losing our game against the Cardinals and dealing with the loss of a key player to our lineup, we all hung our heads in the locker room. I decided I was heading straight to the emergency room to see Schwarbs and then asked around if anyone was going to come with. A few of the guys did end up coming and we waited for him to get out of an emergency reconstructive surgery to his leg. 

When the doctors came out and told us we could go in to see him, the four of us went in and texted the other guys about his condition. The coaches were there with us in the waiting room but wanted us to go in to see him first so he wouldn't be too overwhelmed. 

He was still seemingly out of it from being under an anesthetic but we all sat and talked with him for a while and then the guys let me speak to him alone before we would all take off to get some rest. I couldn't help but feel terrible that just like that Schwarbs is now done for the season after all he went through to make the roster and prove himself to the team. 

"Sorry we didn't win for you man." I said after the other guys walked out.

"Don't  sweat it. All that matters to me was seeing you guys afterwards. Thanks for coming man," he gave me a fist bump.

Then there was a knock at the door.  

"Sorry to interrupt, guys. I just wanted to come in and check on you, Kyle," Alex said. Her hair was now down and it fell to the middle of her back and she was now wearing a NIU sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. She was off-duty Alex. I watched her enter slowly as she looked worried about Kyle.

"Alex," I said smiling up at her from my seat next to Kyle, "your first day was eventful, huh."  

"Yes. It was. Kyle, you gave me a scare out there. I know you were just trying to see if I was as trained for the situation as I said I would be. Thanks for that," she laughed.

"You betcha," Kyle laughed through the obvious sadness that he was feeling towards his career ender.

"You seem to have a great teammate here," she touched his good leg and gave him a smile, "have a good night guys."

With that she was out of the room and I too said goodnight to Schwarbs before leaving to get some rest before our game tomorrow. I followed Alex down the hallway towards the waiting room I had been in for the last couple hours to tell the coaches that he was all their's before leaving. I saw Alex instead turn the opposite way down a corridor toward a nurses station and hug a man in a white lab coat. He looked kinda young, maybe in his 40's. I wondered if he was her "heart surgeon" father that she was referring to in her speech she gave this morning. I shrugged my shoulders as I turned toward the waiting room and then felt that same pain in the right shoulder that has been giving me trouble. I was reminded today that having an injury, even one as minor as what I am dealing with, can put an end to any one of our dreams.

The rest of the week I sucked up the pain and finished out our home stand with all consecutive wins. I had no reason to speak to Alex again after seeing her in the hospital because I didn't want anyone to know about my shoulder. The pain wasn't getting any worse so I figured that I would be able to get away with it for a bit longer. 

On our off day before having to get on a plane out to Philly, I went to the batting cage that was in our clubhouse and practiced as hard as I could while I was able to be alone. I wanted to push my limits and see how much pain I could take before it would become unbearable. When it did feel too painful I decided I should go home and get some rest for tomorrow night. I went to my locker and took my shirt off and then heard Alex's voice from behind me.

"Kris?" she asked, "What are you doing down here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," I said to her, "I was just about to change, you could have saw something," I winked at her. 

"Funny" she said not falling for my charming act. Then I saw her looking at the back of my shoulder.

"Kris, are you feeling any pain in your shoulder?" She asked and I looked down at it unable to see what she was seeing.

"No," I said completely lying to her. How did she know, was it that obvious or was there a bruise or something that I really couldn't see. 

Then she was right next to me touching the back of my shoulder. I winced in pain and she stared straight into my eyes. Something a lot of people have trouble doing, especially women who find me attractive. Apparently my eyes look like the ocean and make girls heart's melt. I returned her glare as she sat down at Rizzo's locker next to mine and began to give me a pep talk. 

"Kris. You are exerting to much force on yourself. Why haven't you come to me about this? You have the skills to play this game, you don't have anything to prove to anyone so why are you trying so hard? Let it come naturally. Just be you. The less stubborn version of you, actually. The one that I saw out there helping Kyle fight through his pain. You saw what an injury can do to your game. Possibly forever. So please believe me when I tell you that I am here to help you."

I just stared at her and put on a shirt to cover up my shoulder so that she wouldn't keep staring at it. 

"So what did you say you were down here for?" I turned the questions onto her.

"Getting some files from Maddon's office, actually," she said disappearing around the corner looking slightly annoyed. By the time she returned I finished changing and had all my things ready to take with me. 

"This problem has been going on for some time now," I admitted to her, "Only Maddon expects so much from me as do the fans and I was afraid to go to Ray with it for fear that he would want me to sit out."

"So you were afraid to find out why your shoulder was in pain and decided to just continue to exert force on it?" she said amused.

"I didn't ask for your opinion," I said to her and I couldn't help but smile as she gave me a look like 'yeah right.'

"Come with me to my office, and I will feel around to see whats causing the pain. Will you be able to hold back the tears or will you need to hold my hand?" She winked back at me returning my wink from earlier.

"You are something else," I said to her as she led me to her office. 

I sat up on the table and she pressed down on my shoulder and rubbed the muscle. I took the pain but as she rubbed it it almost felt relieving. I even let out a groan to which she began to laugh. 

"Whats the damage?" I asked her.

"Looks like you are going to be just fine, but I will have to tell Maddon about this because it is my recommendation that you don't play tomorrow," she looked me in the eyes, "and before you fight me on this I will look into your eyes and promise you that missing one game in order to ice and heal this shoulder will not make you lose your spot in the rotation. You are Maddon's leader and need to start acting like one. I advise you to call him and speak with him about this before tomorrow morning when I do." 

I got up and grabbed my things without another word and went home. I sat there with my phone in my hands before deciding to call her bluff. I would wait and see if she spoke to Maddon or not or if she was just trying to teach me a lesson and get me to turn myself in. I took her advice and kept ice on it and when I went in the next morning to get on the bus to the airport, Maddon stopped me. 

"You are sitting on the bench tonight in Philly," he said giving me a look of disappointment, "You need to start taking care of yourself, KB."