Dream On (Jonathan Toews)

Chapter Twenty-One| Accidents Happen

Jonathan

I'm awaken to immense screaming and turn to see Mary Kate yelling at her phone. Patrick comes barging into my room with a hockey stick looking for any danger, I'm almost certain the only people afraid of him are goalies, and I don't think Jonathan Quick is attacking Mary Kate right now. "Who's ass am I kicking" he asks waiving the stick around. "Patrick... put that thing down before the only person who gets hurt is you" I scoff. I turn to see it was 5:16 am and Mary Kate sat beside me with a wide smile across he face. "Is there a good reason you woke up the whole apartment building" I asks as she nods her head rapidly and pushes her phone in my face. "Congratulations Mary Kate Fletcher on making the woman's US hockey team. We will start practices in October and cut down from 30 to 21 until we reach a final set roster. We're excited to have you along with us on the journey. Good luck" I read out loud off her phone. "Oh my god MK I'm so proud of you" Patrick says giving her a hug. "Thanks Pat, hopefully we can both make our country proud" she says and he leaves to get his 'beauty' sleep. "I'm so proud of you" I say giving her a kiss. "Thanks, I can't believe this is really happening" she whispers. She had been working so hard for this, maybe not as long as everyone else but she won't be out worked. I can see it in her eyes that this means the world to her. Inside of every hockey player is the little kid that fell in love with the game. Even though she lost touch with that kid she found her again and the fire had been refueled. "Sorry I woke you" she giggles and I shrug. "I was going to wake up soon anyway. How does IHOP before morning skate sound" I ask and her eyes light up. "That sounds wonderful".

"Why do you put so much syrup on your pancakes" Mary Kate asks watching me drown my chocolate chip pancakes. "I'm Canadian, duh" I tease and she rolls her eyes. "Right, what was I thinking" she laughs. It was about 6:30 am now and no one was out, we enjoyed the early morning hours and peace. "So, you excited for the playoffs starting today" she asks shoveling eggs in her mouth. She defiantly ate like a hockey player. "Hell yeah, I'm ready to get this started. Stop talking about it and putting our money where our mouth is" I say with syrup getting everywhere. She licks her finger and wipes off the stray food. "So super star, what are you going to do now that you're a US Olympic hockey player" I ask wiggling my eyebrows. "Train that much harder" she laughs. I always knew I liked her. We finish up breakfast and wash up before morning skate.

We arrive on the UC ice where "Stanley Cup Playoffs" was freshly painted on the ice. I look around and smile to myself, this is going to be good. Coach Q never liked over working us, practices are always loose and personalized to whatever we needed to work on. Playoffs were no exceptions to that theory, we were all working on defense or board battles or faceoffs. Whatever our hearts desired. I watch as Shaw insisted on working board battles with Mary Kate where she was just destroying him and he was getting upset. "Don't hurt her, I'll kick your ass" I call out and he sticks his tongue out at me. Such a Mutt. I work faceoffs with Krugs before heading off on my own and working on stick handles. Not too long after I hear a loud crash and gasps sounds across the rink. I look around to see where the commotion was coming from to see someone laying perfectly still on the ice. I skate over to see who it was and make sure they were okay. I hate injuries and with it being so close to playoffs we couldn't afford any. As I get closer I see a bunch of light brown hair occupying the ice around the persons head and I feel like I was just punched in the chest. So many thoughts and worries course through my brain and I just hope she is okay.

"No one touch her" Sharpy demands and people start to back away. I rush to her side and see that she was still conscious, just not moving a whole lot. "I swear I didn't mean to hurt her" Shaw says backing away. I was very upset with him but had to deal with that later. "Mary Kate, can you hear me" I ask and she squeaks out a yes. "Can you move your fingers or toes" I ask. "I... I can't tell" she says barely above a whisper. With gloves and skates on I'm sure it would be difficult to determine. "What hurts" I ask as she lays there still. "I don't know" she says starting to cry. The medics rush onto the ice and get her onto a stretcher before taking her off the ice. "Jonny I swear I didn't mean to hurt her" he says again and I let out a sigh. "I know Mutt. I know" I say patting his shoulder pads. I quickly skate off the ice and change before heading to the hospital.

"Hello I'm here for Mary Kate Fletcher" I say to the woman at the front desk. A million situations were going through my head and not a single one was good. A nurse takes me to her room as she sat there staring out the door. She wasn't wearing anything but a doctors night gown and the locket necklace I gave her. Her normally bright blue eyes were stormy as she remained impossibly still. "I can smell you from here" she says and I let out a long breath. I'm glad to hear her joke like that. "You scared the shit out of me" I say taking a seat in the chair next to her. "Yeah, I wasn't exactly happy either" she says. "So... are you okay" I ask a little scared. "I hope so. It happened like 30 minutes ago. I'm not really sure what to expect" she admits. A doctor comes in with a clipboard and a nice smile. "Hello, I'm Dr. Smith and I'll be working with you guys" he says shaking mine and Mary Kate's hand. "Your x rays came back and it looks like some scar tissue is aggravated but nothing is broken. We want to do MRIs but don't suspect anything damaging. If you able to walk and move around then you can go home as soon as tonight" he says with a smile. "As far as playing hockey..." she trails off and his happy expression turned to a questionable one. "You know that answer to that Ms. Fletcher. You were in a terrible accident and should be thankful you can even walk again let play again. But I know you, I've seen you play and I'm not going to be the one keeping you from your dreams" he says and she nods. "Got it, thank you" she says before he leaves to set up the MRI. "I'm so sorry" I say and she sits herself up with a little struggle. "Why, you didn't do anything" she asks. "Because I know how Shawzy gets, I should have put a stop to it" I say putting my face in my hands. "Hey, you can't protect me from everything. As long as you're here to make me feel good after, that's all I ask for" she says rubbing my back. "Are you still going to play" I ask and her hand becomes heavy. "I don't know" she says and I look up to see her crying. "I know I pushed you hard for this but I understand if you back down" I say pulling her into a hug. I needed to feel her embrace. "I can't give up now though. I just can't" she sobs. "Then were going to get through this together. We'll get you stronger and you won't have to worry about anything anymore" I promise and she nods against my chest.

She gets her MRIs done and they come back negative. She's given pain relievers and told to watch the game from the boxes for tonight's game. She won't be able to skate for a month and has physical therapy with the Hawks but it's her body and they weren't going to stop her. We win against the Wild in OT and take the series lead into the next game.