Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
JP ended the call with his agent and stared at his phone. Well. He had some stuff to think about, didn’t he?
They wanted him back in Florida. Not to play, but to coach.
Fuck.
Ian was out with the kids at the park, and he wished his husband was here to talk to, to hold.
To distract him.
It was a way to stay in the game. But it was Florida, and he already knew Ian didn’t want to go to Florida, and he wasn’t going anywhere that he couldn’t have his family with him. Hell, even without that caveat, he didn’t particularly want to go to Florida again either.
He wanted to be able to pace in the worst way. He grabbed his walker and slowly made his way around the ground floor. It wasn’t quite the pacing he wanted to do but he needed to walk around for a few laps anyway…
His phone rang again, Ian’s face popping up.
He answered on the first ring. “Hey, Chou.”
“JP! Tori fell off the monkey bars. Her arm is broken. I’m heading home to bring her to the ER!”
Damn. It had been bound to happen at some point as hard as she threw herself into everything, but that didn’t make it easier. “Okay, Chou. She’s going to be fine. Why don’t you call 911, and I’ll get an Uber to the hospital to meet you there?”
“We’re almost home. I need you. Help me.”
“I’ll meet you in the garage.” He took the walker over to the door, then flung it aside and worked his way down the stairs, a little less careful than he should have been, but speed was of the essence.
He grabbed the keys to the SUV and opened up the garage door so Ian could come right in.
JP saw Ian running, both kids in his arms, and he was so proud. His lover was so surprisingly strong.
He grabbed Peter from Ian and got him in the car seat, letting Ian deal with Tori, who surprisingly, was not crying.
She was the color of ash, though, and she looked like she was a little zombie.
He swallowed hard and told himself to hold it together. Because if he panicked, Ian might panic, and then Tori would panic. He took a deep breath and squeezed Tori’s leg.
“You’re being very brave, Tori. We’ll get you to the hospital soon.” Then he handed Ian the keys. “I’m sorry I can’t drive.”
“I know, but there’s a ton you can do, and I need you.” Ian pulled out as soon as they were both belted in and squealed out toward the hospital. “Keep an eye on her.”
“You know it.” He reached back toward Tori. “You want to hold my hand, honey?”
She blinked at him. “I want to go home.”
“We need to have the doctor look at your arm, okay?”
“I WANT TO GO HOME!” That was like the dam breaking, and the screams started — more furious and scared than hurt.
Shit, he wished he was in the back with her, but he wasn’t and he wasn’t sure how to diffuse it.
“Can you drive with her shouting like that?” he asked Ian.
“I’m fine. You just focus on the kids.” Ian’s lips were in a tight line.
“You got it.” He twisted as best he could in his seat. “Tori, honey. You need to see the doctor. It’s important when you’re hurt to get the right people to help you.”
“Is her broked? Is her broked like you?” Peter was staring, sniffling, but staying mostly calm.
“It’s her arm rather than her leg, but yeah, I think she’s broken her arm. It happens sometimes when you play hard, you know?” He kept his own voice calm, pretending everything was easy breezy.
“Oh, my poor, poor sisser.” Peter sniffled.
“She’ll be fine,” Ian said from the driver’s seat.
“I broke my arm roller blading when I was six. I was in a cast for six weeks, and it’s all fine.
” Ian smiled and held one arm up. “See? Perfect. And look at my leg – look at how much better it is than when I first got here. Broken bones heal, and they heal fast when you’re little.
Everyone is going to be just fine. All of us. Especially Tori.”
Peter turned back to his sister. “See, Tori? You be fine. I promises.”
They pulled up at the emergency entrance. “I’ll take her in,” JP offered. “You can park and bring Pete?” He knew Ian wanted to be with Tory, but he sure as hell couldn’t drive the SUV himself.
“All right. We’ll be right in. Can you carry her without falling?”
“Yes.” Because he had to so he would.
He got out and opened the back door to undo Tori’s seatbelt. “Come on, Tori.”
“Dad. Dad, help me. I want to go home!”
“As soon as we have the doctor check you out, okay? Your Daddy is worried, so we need to do this.” He limped into Emergency and went right up to the window. “Excuse me, my daughter’s broken her arm.”
“Oh no. Okay, come to the triage area, through those doors.”
“My husband and our son are parking the car.”
The woman at the desk nodded and ushered them into an area with a vitals machine and a nurse at a desk.
“I hear someone broke her arm?” The nurse behind the desk asked. “Curtain three. I’ll be there in a moment to get your information. In the meantime, I’ll take her health card.”
“Uh, I don’t have it. My husband is parking the car and will be here soon. Is that okay?”
She nodded and he headed for curtain three where he sat with Tori still in his arms.
“Dad. Dad, please. Please, I want to go home to my toys. I want to go home.” She was breaking his heart.
“Soon, baby girl. Okay?” He rocked her, feeling like shit that he couldn’t give her what she wanted.
“Promise. No shots, okay? No shots?”
Fuck a doodle goddamn doo.
“I’m not a doctor, honey…” He couldn’t promise her that.
The nurse came back with a couple of doctors, a tech, and a portable x-ray machine. “We’re going to take pictures. It won’t hurt. Can I give her some juice with ibuprofen in it, just to ease things?”
“Yes. I just want her to stop hurting.” He’d take it for her if he could.
“This will help a lot.” She handed over a sippy cup filled orange juice.
“Have some juice, Tori.” He held the cup up to her lips.
“Is it posin?”
“No, honey. It’s orange juice.”
“It’s not poison.” The doctor — who was young, a gentle smile on her face, heavy black braid over her shoulder – was the one who answered. “It is juice with medicine. It will make your arm feel better.”
“Dad? Do you say yes? Daddy says only if hims says yes.”
“I say yes, honey. These people are here to help you.”
She blinked at him, but took the drink and sucked it down, gaze holding his.
“It’s going to be okay.” That he could promise.
She let them do the x-rays, and it was just minutes before they came back with the results.
Thank God that Ian and Peter came in at the same time. “What did they say?”
It was a huge relief to have Ian with them again. “They’ve given her some ibuprofen and taken x-rays. Doc said he’d be here in a moment with the results.”
Ian sat and held Peter in his lap. “Good deal. That ibuprofen should help a ton.”
“Yeah, it seems to have eased her. Oh. Here’s the doc.”
She introduced herself to Ian, then addressed them all. “The arm is indeed broken, but it’s a clean break. We’re going to put a light cast on it and give her a sling. Ibuprofen for pain. And please keep her calm and quiet for the next few weeks.”
JP snorted. He didn’t mean to, it just kind of came out.
Ian smiled and nodded. “Will do. How long before she can S-K-A-T-E.”
“Give it three weeks at least, okay? See her pediatrician in a week to ten days to check.”
“That quick, eh? It’s good to be four.” He rubbed his leg ruefully. It was aching fairly badly from all the walking while carrying her.
“It is. Much easier than when you’ve been playing hockey for a while.” The doctor winked at him.
“True that.” He smiled at Tori. “You hear that, sweetie. You’re going to get a cast!”
“Is it going to hurt?” Her little eyes filled with tears.
“No, it’s going to make it so your bone can heal and not have any movement. And it’s not for very long. Maybe you can even get everyone to draw on the cast. That would be fun, eh?”
Ian nodded. “You can have a colored one too, right?”
The nurse nodded. “Absolutely. You want pink? Purple?”
“Blue.” Tori rolled her eyes.
JP hid his grin. She was coming back to herself pretty quickly. And he imagined it was going to be hell on earth keeping her from being too wild.
“Blue it is.”
“Gonna have blue on my hockey pucking ufinorm.”
“Yeah? What team are you gonna play for?” JP asked.
“Same as you, Dad. Gon’ make all the puckings.”
How did he tell her she couldn’t be on the teams he’d been on?
“I bet you will be amazing. You’re very brave.”
Peter watched his sister with worried eyes. “Her is brave.”
“She really is Peter, isn’t she? You’re both brave.” And he really believed that. Peter was scared of skating, but he’d gone out and done it anyway.
Peter nodded. “Poor, poor arm. Poor poor poor.”
She sniffled and sighed. “I falled. Next time I will not.”
JP loved that she wasn’t saying she’d never climb the monkey bars again, just that she wouldn’t fall again. “That’s my girl.”
She nodded to him. “I am, Dad. I am yours.”
“You so are.” He gave her a careful hug. She was such a stud.
“Okay. I’m going to put this soft cast on, then the hard stuff after. You’ll need to stay still. Is everyone comfortable where they’re at?”
“You ready, sweetie?” JP asked Tori who was sitting next to him on the bed, clinging to his hand with her good one.
“I be brave, Dad,” she declared. “Hold my hand.”
Ian’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’ve got it, and I won’t let go,” he promised.
She nodded and squeezed his hand, staring into him, eyes burning. He didn’t break that gaze, letting her use him to help her be strong.
“This shouldn’t hurt at all. Are you ready?”
“Uh-huh. I gotted this.”
“My so very brave girl.” He squeezed her hand.
“After, we’ll order a pizza at home if you want to.” Ian smiled at her.
“Do you want pizza, Dad?”
“I want whatever you want, sweetie.”
“I want a hug and to go home.” She was beginning to panic, he could see it in her face.
“We’re almost there. The doctor just needs to finish that cast. And then me and Daddy will take you and Petey home, and we can sit and watch a movie together and maybe have ice cream before we have pizza?”
The tears were starting. “I wanna go home now. Please Dad. Daddy. Please.”
He wanted to just get up and carry her home, but he knew she needed the cast. “Soon, sweetie. The doctors won’t be much longer.”
“Please don’t cry, sister. Please. Daddy, make it better.”
Ian smiled, the expression watery. “That’s what we’re doing. Making it better.”
JP nodded and squeezed Tori’s hand. “You’ve got this.
I promise you do. And once the cast is on, Daddy is going to drive us home, and you can just be you, only with a cast.” She could melt down, or cry, or be not brave as much as she wanted.
She just needed to muscle through for a little bit longer.
“Forever?”
“No, baby.” Ian shook his head. “Six weeks. It will be off before you start school.”
Her little body relaxed. “And hockeying?”
“And hockey classes, yes.” Ian sighed.
JP bit back his chuckle, because he didn’t think that Ian would appreciate it right now.
“There we go. You’re all set now.” The doctor looked her right in the eye. “No running for at least three weeks now, okay? You have to let it heal.”
“Three whole days?” Her eyes went wide.
“Weeks, honey. Three weeks. That’s twenty-one days.” She looked at Ian and at him. “How possible is this going to be?”
“Im—. Don’t you think?” JP asked Ian.
“I’m completely going with ‘im’ as the answer, but we’ll attempt low key.”
“Especially the first few days, yeah? And if she runs into any problems, come right back, okay?” She waited for him and Ian to nod before continuing.
“The nurse will be by with a sheet of discharge instructions. I’m not giving you any prescriptions, so that’s all you’ll need.
Children’s Tylenol for pain, and if that’s not enough, bring her back in because it means something else is going on. Okay?”
“No problem. Thank you.” Ian nodded and rocked Peter. “You did so good, ladybug.”
“I am the bravest.”
“You are.” JP had been a baby – a grumpy baby – when he’d gotten hit. His little girl was stunning.
“I love you, Dad. I want to go home and sit with you and Daddy and Petey. Now.”
“Yeah, I want that, too, sweetie.” He hugged her carefully.
“The nurse will be along soon to discharge you. It was nice to meet you. Hopefully I won’t see you again.” She gave them a smile before heading off.
“Do you want me to carry you, baby?” Ian asked her. “Dad needs his cane.”
Ian handed his cane over, kissed his cheek.
“Oh, thank you.” He hadn’t even given it any thought yet, but now that he had the cane, it made him realize that his leg was aching.
The nurse came in, bustling and busy, getting Ian to sign the discharge papers and giving them a handful of instruction papers.
“You take care of your little girl now.”
“So we can go?” JP just wanted to get Tori home, almost as much as she did.
“You can go.”
“Let’s go. You can sit out front, and I’ll grab the car, okay?” Ian took Tori, and Peter walked with JP.
JP sat on a bench outside of the hospital, Peter sitting next to him. “How are you doing, son?”
“That was scary.” Peter glanced back in through the doors. “They helped her. I like that.”
“That’s what hospitals are for – helping people.” He hugged Peter to him. “It was scary, but we made it through, didn’t we?”
Peter nodded. “Doc McStuffins helps toys.”
He blinked a couple times before he realized it had to be a cartoon. He hadn’t seen that one yet. “That’s good.”
“Uh-huh. I fix things too.” The urge to warn Peter not to touch his sister’s cast was huge.
“I know you do. You’re very smart, and you’ve got good hands.”
“Uh-huh. I am smart.” His son glanced up at him, worried. “I am.”
“Yes, you definitely are.” He tried to figure out why Peter was worried about this.
His little lips pursed. “So, I will fix sister when she’s a hockey pucker. I will learn how.”
“Oh…” Wow, that was big. Was it fair to Peter to have his sister’s needs dictate what his future was going to hold. “Do you want to be a doctor?”
“I want to fix sister. Her falls down all the time.” Peter beamed at him. “There’s the Daddy car!”
She did fall down all the time. Of course that was because she threw herself into everything. She also always got back up again.
“There it is indeed. Come on.” Using his cane, he hauled himself up again and took Peter’s hand. Shit, he still hadn’t talked to Ian about his offer.
His head was going to explode.
“Let’s go home.”