Chapter 13 #2
But he was also stressed out and in pain. That, and there was a difference between fluent in English and fluent in medical English; I’d played with a Quebecois guy who was as fluent as they came, but he’d had to take a translator to any medical appointments.
At least I knew Vasily wouldn’t be alone.
We were taken in separate directions as soon as we got to the ER.
Ryan went with Vasily. Though language barriers weren’t an issue and I could understand what anyone said to me, I could barely speak.
That had me worried about being here alone, but that worry didn’t last long; maybe fifteen minutes after I’d arrived, one of the assistant coaches, Coach Bower, showed up.
“How you feeling, kid?” From the slight grimace, he wasn’t expecting me to tell him I was fine.
I gestured at my face, then waved my hand as if to ask, what can you do?
Bower nodded, gently squeezed my shoulder, and sat down.
The next few hours were a little blurry.
I was lucid, but it was hard to concentrate on anything besides how fucking much my face hurt.
At some point, they made some noise about twilight anesthesia, and they told me exactly what that was and what they were going to do, but…
my face hurt. So… not much else registered.
Then I was blacking out, and a second later, I opened my eyes to a different room, a different nurse, and a different kind of pain. Everything from my nose to my chin felt weird—sore, but also like it was encased in ice. Or something? I couldn’t quite describe it.
It all made sense when the nurse showed me a mirror. My face was swollen all to shit, especially my jaw. When I parted my lips a little, it was like I had on some industrial grade braces.
“It’ll be wired shut for the next eight to twelve weeks,” the nurse explained.
“And you’ll need to keep these with you at all times.
” She handed me a pair of wire cutters, and my head swam as I listened to her explain all the situations when I might need them.
I could only imagine being sick to my stomach and racing the clock to cut all the wires before I threw up, but I just hoped that was a bridge I wouldn’t need to cross.
At least I hadn’t required surgery. She explained that they’d put me under long enough to stabilize my jaw, and then immobilize it, and apparently there were only so many ways to immobilize a jaw. Hooray.
Then she put something into my IV, and all I caught was “steroids and something for the pain.” Fine by me—load me the fuck up.
I was hazy for a while after that for obvious reasons. My head was starting to clear when, at around three or four in the morning, Ryan came in. “Hey, kid. How are you doing?”
I gestured at my face and managed, “One step closer to being a cyborg.”
He chuckled. “Still have your sense of humor.”
I grunted and shrugged. “What about Vas…” I paused. “Vasily?” His wasn’t easy to say with my damn mouth wired shut.
Ryan frowned. “Well, I think his return to the Rainiers is going to be delayed again. But… longer this time.”
I tensed as a ball of lead formed in my stomach. “How bad?”
The frown became a grimace. “He’s going to need surgery after we get back to Seattle.”
“Are they going to do anything to the asshole who slew-footed him?” I growled. “Because I think I didn’t beat him down hard enough.”
Ryan gave a dry chuckle. “Oh, I think you beat him plenty. He didn’t have to come to the hospital, but he’s down a couple of teeth.”
“Good.”
“He’s also got a hearing with Player Safety tomorrow. It sounds like this isn’t his first intent-to-injure offense, and I don’t think they’re going to let him off this time.”
Well, there was that. It wouldn’t help Vasily, but it would take a reckless thug off the ice, at least temporarily.
“Can I see Vasily?”
Ryan blinked. “What?”
I glared at him and, despite the wiring and pain, carefully enunciated, “Can. I. See. Him?”
He stared at me, but then shook his head. “Probably won’t be until later this morning. They’re discharging him now, and I’m taking him back to the hotel to get some sleep. You’ll be coming back too once they let you out.”
I wanted to argue. I really, really did. But my face felt like someone had slammed it into the ice a few dozen times, and even with my jaw immobilized, it hurt to talk.
“Listen, kid,” Ryan said. “We’re going to hunker down in a hotel for a couple of nights. Let the two of you recover a little and rest. Then we’ll head back to Seattle.”
I nodded slowly. Wasn’t much I could say. I didn’t even know if I wanted to argue or protest, or why I would have, only that I was in too much pain and on too many drugs to say anything. So, I didn’t.
Ryan came and went. So did Bower. Nurses and doctors wandered in and out.
People poked and prodded my face, and some very, very nice people gave me drugs.
How long I was there, I had no idea. I slept a little, but the pain kept waking me up, not to mention the lights and the constant stream of people moving in and out of my room.
I wanted to sleep for real. Like, pass the hell out and wake up wondering what day it was. It had been a long day and a longer night, and I was weighed down by drugs, anesthesia, and probably a hell of an adrenaline crash.
At some point, the door opened yet again, and I blinked my eyes into focus in the same moment I sent up a quick prayer that I was finally being discharged.
It wasn’t a nurse, though. It wasn’t any hospital staff at all.
“Vasily?” I managed despite my broken facehole.
Ryan gave an exasperated sigh and said, “He’s discharged, but he’s been asking to see you as much as you’ve been asking to see him. So…”
“Thanks,” I said, still dazed to see Vasily.
The man in question offered a tight smile as Ryan pushed the wheelchair closer to my bed. “You look like shit.”
It hurt too much to laugh, but I could give him the finger easily enough.
Ryan locked the brake on the wheelchair. Once Vasily was situated, Ryan cleared his throat. “I’ll, uh, go check on your discharge papers.” He nodded at Bower, who’d been sitting in one of the chairs, and they both left the room.
I peered at the door, then at Vasily. “Does he know about us?”
Vasily chuckled, lacing his fingers between mine. “Yeah.”
“Did you tell him?” I wasn’t mad, just curious.
“No. You did.”
I blinked. “I did?”
“Mmhmm. When you beat the shit out of that guy for dropping me.” A blush rose in his cheeks as he sheepishly added, “Annnd he said he’s noticed us looking at each other, so… maybe we haven’t been so subtle.”
“Oh.”
He laughed softly, but then he sobered. “Taylor. You didn’t have to…” He gestured at his face and grimaced.
“Yeah, I did.” I squeezed his hand weakly. “He fucking slew-footed you. I wasn’t letting that go unanswered.” I paused. “Probably good I didn’t know how bad it was—I might’ve fucked him up.”
Vasily laughed soundlessly. “No need for that.” He brought my hand up and kissed my palm.
“I think you made your point.” From the mischievous sparkle in his eyes, I wondered if he meant that the point I made was that I felt something for him that made me want to throw down with anyone who hurt him.
Not just because he was my teammate, but because he was my boyfriend. Lover? Something.
Or maybe I was just high as balls.
My mind cleared enough to remember again how we’d ended up here, and the mental image of Vasily going down sent a shudder through me. “How bad is your leg?”
His grimace made my heart sink. “Torn ACL.”
I closed my eyes and pushed out a breath. “Jesus.”
“They said I’ll be out the rest of the season. Probably part of next season too.”
“Fuck. That sucks.”
“It does. But… I guess we’ll have downtime. To be together.”
“We will, but it sucks that neither of us can play hockey.”
Vasily nodded. “There isn’t much to be done about it, though.” He paused, and when he spoke again, he sounded a little shy. “Maybe we can take care of each other. It won’t be the most romantic time together, and everything from last night will probably be on hold for a while, but…”
“I don’t know,” I slurred. “Sounds pretty romantic to me.”
His eyebrows rose. “How many drugs are you on?”
I let my eyelids slide closed. “Not nearly enough.”
Vasily laughed and patted my hand. “Get some rest, baby.”
“Will you be here when I wake up?”
“They’d have to drag me out.”
I believed him.
And I finally slipped off to sleep.