The Hockey Life - A Patrick Kane Fanfic

Part Eighty-Two - Just A Little Headache

PART EIGHTY-TWO: JUST A LITTLE HEADACHE

Lena's P.O.V.

Darkness. All I could see was darkness. Everything was pitch black and silent. But slowly, I began to hear what sounded like voices. They were muffled at first, and quiet. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but they gradually got clearer and louder. Wait...they were familiar. As they adjusted to a normal volume and clarity, I slowly forced my eyes open, and the contrast between the darkness behind my eyelids and the real world was harsh. Now I could see white, and it was brighter than I had anticipated. I realized I was laying down, so I propped myself up. As I scanned my surroundings, I realized that I was in a hospital room. In a hospital bed. What...?

"Lena! You're awake!" Patrick, who was sitting in a chair to my left, got up and rushed to my side

"Why am I here? What happened?" I asked.

"You don't remember?" he questioned me, concerned.

"I know I was playing hockey...did I get hurt?"

"Yeah, you got slammed into the boards pretty hard. It knocked you out, actually. You've been unconscious for a few hours," he explained.

"Do you know who did it?" I wondered. 

"Number nine - I don't remember her name...but don't worry about that. Tess beat the crap out of her as soon as she had the chance." I got a good chuckle out of that. I didn't expect anything less from her.

Soon a doctor came in and began asking me questions and explaining the situation. I had to take a few tests. They were pretty sure I had a concussion, but they wanted to be absolutely positive. 

Oh, the joys of concussion tests. I had to take one two different times during high school - not because of suspicions, but just because it was mandatory for all players. It was the same both times, and I remember passing it but thinking how tricky it would probably be for someone who wasn't healthy. I was right. I was getting a lot more questions wrong than I had in the past, and many of the questions seemed like tricks to me. I was just happy when it was over with.

The results came back quickly and the doctors confirmed that I definitely had a concussion from my nasty head collision. I wasn't allowed to play hockey for a while, not that it mattered - I never played anyways, other than the reunion game. I was supposed to get a lot of rest too. My job could complicate that a bit, but hopefully not too much.

"So, who won the game, in the end?" I wondered when I left the hospital with Tess, Jonathan, and Patrick.

"We did. It was really weird to play without you, especially when we didn't even know if you were okay, but we wanted to try our hardest to win it for you. I guess you could say we succeeded," Tess assured me.

"Good," I decided. "It would have been really depressing to hear that I have a concussion AND we lost that game."

After a few days of rest, I went back to work. I wanted to go back the next day, but since I had never had a concussion before and Patrick wanted to make sure I healed in a decent amount of time, he made me stay home for a while. It felt good to go back, though. What was a day without a little bit of teasing from Patrick Sharp?"

"Thanks for abandoning us, Lena," he harassed me as I entered the locker room once they had changed for practice.

"Wow, I'm so sorry that I accidentally got a concussion!" I retorted sarcastically.

"Oh, come on. It's just a little headache, you'll be fine," he laughed.

"Alright, well, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again," I said, shaking my head at him.