by Ellen Devlin
Paige got up and retrieved her sweatshirt from her bag, and Liz took the opportunity to encourage her to get some rest.
“This is going to be kind of a long haul, Paige. You should grab some sleep now, while you can.”
Paige sighed and responded, “I don’t think I can sleep. I would rather sit next to him, you know? I just want to be near him.”
She put the sweatshirt on and added, “Thank you for having me bring a bag. How did you know what…oh,” she interrupted herself. “Of course, your parents. I’m sorry, I should have remembered.”
Liz had lost both her parents, one to long term illness, the other to a heart attack. She had spent a large amount of time in hospital rooms as a result.
“Don’t apologize,” Liz responded. “It’s nice to be able to put that knowledge to some good use. I don’t know why, but I always seemed to get chilly in the hospital rooms. And it’s really quite amazing how far clean socks, underwear, and deodorant can go toward making you feel human again. Not to mention clean teeth.”
“Thank you.” Paige started to tear up.
“Don’t you start,” warned Liz, feeling her eyes prickle. “We’re both overtired, and if you start, then I’m going to. So cut it out.”
Paige laughed softly and rolled her eyes, then took her seat again next to the bed.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chris opened his eyes. He was groggy and confused and so very, very tired. Hospital room? He caught sight of brown hair. Someone had their head down on the side of the bed near his hand. He blinked his eyes, or thought he did, but there was more light coming in from the window when he opened them again.
He felt slightly clearer. Definitely a hospital room. What the hell happened?
He tried to sit up but felt a sharp pain in his right side and stopped.
The movement woke Paige. She squeezed his hand and raised her head from the bed. “Hey, you. How are you feeling?”
Chris just looked confused. “Paige?” His voice croaked and his throat hurt. Why does my throat hurt?
Liz stood up from the couch and walked over to him, saying, “Hi, Chris, nice to see you awake. I’ll let the nurse know.” She moved out of the doorway, heading to the nurse’s station.
Chris blinked and looked around more, coming out of the fog slightly. Paige talked softly to Chris, briefly explaining what happened. He simply said, “Okay,” and closed his eyes again. She was pretty sure he didn’t retain any of the information. She smiled and sat back down, still holding his hand.
He woke up again a few minutes later when the nurse came in to check on him.
“Good morning!” she said brightly. “Nice to see you awake, Mr. Beckman.”
“Chris.” His head was slowly clearing, but his voice was very rough. “Call me Chris.”
Paige got up and walked to the door as the nurse went through all the important rituals of hospital care, vital signs, pain levels, medications, etcetera.
The surgeon came by on his rounds while the nurse was there, so it was a good ten minutes before Paige and Liz went back into his room. The nurse had adjusted the bed, so Chris was sitting up, awake, but haggard.
He smiled when he saw Liz but was then visibly shaken when he caught sight of Paige.
“You’re here.” He shook his head slightly. “I thought I had dreamed that.”
“I’m here, Chris.” She took his hand and sat in the chair by the bed again. “I’m not going anywhere.” Her voice sounded a little rough, and her eyes were bright.
Liz quietly left the room to find Zee.
Chris felt his chest tighten and closed his hand around hers, pulling gently to urge her up out of her chair. She stroked his face, moving her fingers through his hair, and he pulled her hand to draw her closer still. She rested her cheek against his, kissed the tender skin at the corner of his eye, and then kissed his lips briefly.
Paige straightened up and looked at him, and he lifted his left arm slightly in an invitation to join him on the bed. She smiled and said, “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Chris replied, his voice a little stronger. “The IVs and stuff are on the other side, and you are tiny.” His eyes were getting heavy; they had given him another dose of pain medication, and he was going to fall asleep again soon. “Please, Paige.” It was a whispered plea.
Paige tucked herself up on the bed with him, her head on his chest and shoulder, his left arm around her. She closed her eyes, sighed, and felt him relax, resting his cheek on the top of her head.
***
Zee caught the nurse’s eye as she was about to enter the room and gestured in to where Paige was curled on the bed with Chris.
“Is it possible to let her stay that way?” he asked. “Because what you’re looking at right there will heal him faster than any medication.”
The nurse smiled. “I’ll see what I can do. I think I can manage what I need to without moving her.”
When Zee turned around, he saw Liz looking at him with a little smirky grin on her face.
“What?” he asked, smiling in return.
“You’re a closet romantic.” She was grinning broadly now, and Zee was shaking his head. “Don’t try to deny it. I saw that. You,” she poked him in the chest, “are all squishy inside.”
“Whatever, Williams.” But he grabbed her in a hug.
***
Before Chris even opened his eyes, he felt Paige next to him, tucked under his arm. He felt her breathing, the warmth of her body, the softness of her skin. His heart tightened in his chest, and he kissed her head, burying his nose in her hair for a long moment, breathing her in. God, I have missed her so much.
He was almost afraid to wake her, afraid that this was temporary. That when she awoke and found him coherent and stable, she would leave. The thought was enough to cause his arm to twitch in an instinctual, unconscious effort to hold her tighter.
As luck would have it, the movement woke her.
She pushed up from his chest to look at him, smiled, and then pushed away to try to stretch and get up.
He tried not to panic.
“Please, don’t get up,” he said, trying not to sound desperate, not certain that he succeeded. “I don’t want you to get up.”
“I need to stretch,” Paige replied, moving off the bed. As she stood up, she added, “And to pee. Yikes.” She scooted off to the in-room restroom and shut the door.
Chris put his head back and closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head.
“She’ll be back in a minute, Chris.”
It was Liz. He hadn’t noticed her sitting on the couch in the room. To be fair, he hadn’t noticed anything except Paige.
“Hey, Liz.”
“Hey, yourself. You gave us a scare. How are you feeling?”
He smiled a little. “Not too bad, considering I’m hooked up to all of this.” He looked at the monitor and IV stand. “So, things are still fuzzy, but if I remember correctly, the nurse said I had a ruptured appendix? Is that right?”
“Yes.” It was Paige who replied, coming out of the restroom drying her hands.
“The last thing I remember is being on the ice. Second period. Did we win?” He addressed this question to Liz.
“Yes, you guys won,” she replied. “Rockets are out of the playoffs. They were pissed.”
“You had appendicitis. The hit you took ruptured it.” Paige ignored the conversation about the game. She hadn’t moved her gaze from him since emerging from the restroom. “The pain was so bad you passed out. They took you off the ice on a gurney. You had emergency surgery. That’s why you don’t remember anything else.” Her voice sounded strained.
“Oh. I guess that makes sense.” Chris spoke cautiously, not sure what was happening between them. Or if anything was happening between them.
Liz took the opportunity to slip out of the room.
“No!” Paige’s response was sharp, and Chris flinched slightly. “No, it doesn’t make sense. You were sick. You had appendicitis, for God�
�s sake!” She gasped a little, and Chris realized with a start that she was fighting back tears. “Why did you play when you were sick?”
“I didn’t realize that I was.”
Paige gaped at him.
“I swear, Paige.”
She shook her head. There were definitely a few tears that were trying to sneak out. He held out his hand, and after a moment she walked to the side of the bed and took it.
“I didn’t realize I was sick,” he said softly. “I thought I was jet lagged from the trip and had pulled a muscle.” He grimaced for a moment and added, “Although I guess I should have questioned it more when I puked before the game. I haven’t done that since I was a rookie.”
“You could have died.” She barely whispered it, and Chris just stayed quiet. Paige took a ragged breath; she was losing composure. “I thought I had lost you.”
“Baby.” He pulled her close and held her in a hug, murmuring into her hair, “I’m okay. I’m going to be fine.”
“I thought I wouldn’t get the last line of our poem.” She whispered it almost too quietly for him to hear.
She called it “our” poem.
He felt her take a shuddering breath, and then she sobbed quietly against his chest for a few minutes as she gave in and allowed the feelings to overwhelm her.
She pulled back to look at him, eyes bright, but composed and stroked his hair gently.
“You can’t play sick, Chris.”
“I know, baby. It won’t happen again.”
“If I’m going to marry you, then you can’t play sick. Ever.”
“I know, baby, I swear…” He paused for a second while his brain caught up. “Wait, what?”
Paige smiled at him. “You heard me. You can’t ever play sick again.”
Chris was holding his breath.
She cupped his face in her hand. “Not if you still want me to marry you.”
He pulled her into him so quickly that he dislodged some of the sensors, setting off alarm sounds and bringing a nurse to check and see what was going on. The nurse walked in on a rather passionate kiss. Paige still had her hands cupping his face; Chris had his one unencumbered arm snug around her waist. Neither noticed the arrival of the nurse until she cleared her throat.
They separated, and Chris did his best to turn his attention to the nurse, but he couldn’t stop looking at Paige, and the nurse had to repeat things several times. Once she figured out that all was well and reattached all the sensors, she smiled and said, “As you were,” as she left the room.
Paige leaned her forehead against Chris’s and whispered, “I’ve missed you so much.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chris was pretty sure there was a permanent grin on his face. Paige was downstairs getting some good coffee, and Liz was hanging out with him in the room. He had spoken with his mom, and he thought he had managed to convince her that he would be fine and that she didn’t need to fly to DC. She might do it anyway.
Coach and the doctors had told him that he was out for the rest of the season, no matter how deep a playoff run they made. Even that frustrating bad news had to struggle to dim the joy that came from knowing that Paige was just downstairs and would be coming back to him soon. His face hurt from smiling.
Liz chuckled out loud, drawing his attention.
“What?”
“Really, Chris? You. And that grin.” She was smiling at him, her eyes bright, sharing his joy.
“Hey, Liz, can I ask you to do me a big favor?”
“Of course, sweetie. Anything.” Liz walked to his bedside. “What’s up?”
***
Liz located the desk in Chris’s apartment and opened the top drawer as instructed. He hadn’t told her what she was supposed to bring to him; he had simply said, “You’ll know it when you see it.”
Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw the small velvet box.
Peeking inside, she couldn’t help smiling—the ring set was perfect. Sparkly. Large, but not the least bit gaudy. It would look just right on Paige’s hand.
Elegant, with substance. Just like Paige.
***
Liz managed to hand the box off to Chris when Paige was otherwise occupied. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and whispered, “Welcome to the family, Chris,” before ducking back out of the room, where she met Zee on his way in.
Taking his elbow, she managed to maneuver them both so that they could watch through the doorway.
***
“Baby, I need to ask you something.” Chris was sitting on the edge of the bed, and Paige walked over to join him.
“What’s up?”
“I need to do this right.” He got up from the bed and settled carefully down on one knee.
Paige felt her heart start to race, and she whispered, “What are you doing?”
Opening the small box, Chris took her hand and said, “Paige Smith, will you marry me?”
She stared at him, wide-eyed, speechless.
After a moment, he said quietly, “Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.”
She sank down to her knees next to him, tears in her eyes, and said, “Yes. Yes, Chris. I will marry you.”
He took the engagement ring from the box and put it on her finger, and she just stared at it for a moment. Looking back up into his eyes, she asked, “When? When did you get this?”
Taking her face in his hands, he said, “Baby, you probably don’t want to know.”
Paige laughingly said, “You’re probably right,” and kissed him.
Liz, Zee, and the nurses who had gathered at the doorway cheered and clapped and filed into the room to congratulate them both. Holding Paige in a tight hug, Liz whispered, “I am so damn happy for you, Paige.”
She whispered back, “Thank you,” and gave Liz an extra squeeze. Pushing back, she said, “Oh my God, I’ve got to make some phone calls.” Looking wide-eyed at Liz, she whispered again, “Holy shit, this is really happening!” Liz just laughed at her and then headed out the door toward the garage, on her way home.
“Liz.” Zee hurried to catch up with her as she turned the corner of the hallway toward the elevators. “Liz!”
She turned and said, “Hey, what’s up?” but her voice and her face were a little strained. Zee put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye and saw her flinch slightly.
“Come here.” He simply pulled her into his chest, and after the briefest moment of trying to stay strong, Liz let go and sobbed against his shoulder. Zee held her, not saying anything, and in a few minutes she breathed easier and pushed away.
Sniffling and wiping her eyes, she said quietly, “Please don’t ever tell them.”
“I promise.”
“I love them both, and I am so happy for them.”
Kissing her forehead, Zee said, “I know.” Pushing her toward the elevator, he added, “Now get out of here. Go bring me a pizza or something.”
***
After four days in the hospital, Chris was going stir crazy, beyond ready to go home. And to play hockey again. The Guards had won their first game of the series against the Philadelphia Liberty, and they were hoping to be up two games to none before they traveled to Pennsylvania for games three and four. Zee had swung by to say hi—he probably wouldn’t be able to visit again until after they got back from the road trip.
They spent some time discussing the line changes that had been put in place to cover for Chris’s absence; one of the young players that had been called up from the AHL team in Hershey was getting a chance playing left wing on the third line, and Andre Shifflin, the usual third line left winger, had been moved up to play with Navee and Zee.
“Shiffy’s doing well. We’ve been taking some extra time in practice to work on our timing—I’ve gotten used to taking your slow-ass passes, so I’ve gotta adjust for his youth and speed.”
“You’re full of shit. And slow as fuck.” Chris was up and sitting on the couch in the room, finally able to wear sweatpants and a t-shirt
and walk around.
“Slower than you? I don’t think so, Shuffleboard.” He chuckled at his own joke. “So when are you getting out of here?”
“Today if I’m lucky,” Chris replied and then grimaced as he moved too quickly to get up. “But hopefully tomorrow at the latest. This fucking sucks. I’m not even allowed to start any kind of rehab for at least another week.”
Paige and Liz walked back into the room just then, and Paige said, “And so help me God, I will personally kill you if you start rehab even one day early.”
Zee laughed out loud, shaking his head. “Already. It’s started already.” In an exaggerated stage whisper, he added, “You’re so screwed, Becks.”
Chris couldn’t even hide the smile that happened when Paige walked into the room.
Zee moved toward the door, saying, “I need to get out of here. I’ve gotta get to the rink early.”
Chris immediately looked suspicious. “Early? Why?”
Zee got a look on his face and paused before answering. “There was…an incident.” The corner of his mouth twitched up. “I think it would be better to make sure I’m at the rink before anyone else.”
“Jesus, Zee, what the hell did you do this time?” Chris was shaking his head and rolling his eyes.
“Nothing that can be proven.”
No one responded; they all stared at Zee.
“What?”
The silence stretched, until he finally said, “Allegedly something happened involving Navee’s water bottle.” His eyes twinkled. “And a frog.”
Liz burst out laughing, and Paige quietly murmured, “What am I getting myself into?”
Chris was chuckling to himself, still shaking his head.
Taking a breath, Liz said, “Okay, but please tell me that no frogs were harmed in the execution of this prank.”
“Incident,” Zee corrected. “Alleged incident.”