Opposites Attract
Game 7
Tuukka's POV
Everything was blurry. I was sprinting out of TD Garden. It was around 11:30. I needed to get out of here. Something had been itching in the back of my mind for the past few days that I had mentioned to no one.
I reached the garage and jumped in my car, turning it on and blasting out of the parking lot. I needed to drive. I needed to get away.
There was already a ton of traffic on the streets, but it gave me time to think. I stopped at a liquor store and then 15 minutes later I parked my car and got out with a 6 pack of Bud Light and a bottle of whisky.
Done.
I woke up to someone shaking my shoulder. I was on the plane.
"Tuukka, wake up. We're here." Lucic said. I stared at him blankly for a few seconds. "How long was I out?"
Lucic looked at his watch then said, "about an hour, we're just landing now." I nodded and looked ahead. And then it hit me.
"Oh shit. Oh shit! Katie's still in the hospital!" Looch nodded and said, "yeah... I'm sure she's fine. It won't be long now, you'll see her soon. Don't forget we have a game tonight, though. Don't work yourself up."
Don't work myself up? What? Does this guy have any idea what the fuck is going on? I shook my head and replied, "kind of hard not to."
He nodded and turned to face forward. Asshole.
We landed in about 5 minutes and I was the first one off the plane. I grabbed my bag and my suitcase and rushed to my car, throwing my shit in the back seat before heading to Mass General, where Katie would most likely be. While I was stuck at a red light I texted Katie's phone that I knew Cara would have:
just landed. where do i go?
My phone buzzed a minute later:
MGH. go thru main entrance, not emergency. i'll meet you there
I threw my phone down on my passenger seat and drove to Mass General, passing through a red light once or twice. I parked my car and ran into the main entrance and the clock on the wall read 3 am, great. I looked around for a minute, then I recognized Cara sitting over to my right in grey sweatpants and a Bruins sweatshirt, most likely Seguin's.
"Hey," I panted, walking over to her. "How is she?"
"She'll be alright. She got out of surgery about 2 hours ago. She got stabbed 3 times, one of them punctured her small intestine, another her spleen."
"WHAT!" I ran my hands through my hair. "Shit, oh my God. Oh my god. Can I go see her?"
"Yeah, but she's still out from the surgery. She'll be awake around 9, she's really knocked out."
We began to walk to the elevator.
"How long is it going to take for her to recover? Is she going to fully recover? How serious is it?"
"The doctor said she should be alright in about 2 weeks, but the scars from her surgery aren't gonna disappear for like 4 or 5 months... I'm not sure how serious it is." My right hand was on my forehead. We reached the 4th floor and walked down the hallway a bit before Cara stopped and went into a small room on the right.
"I'll leave you with her.." she trailed off. "Try to get some rest, Tuukka. Whatever it takes." I nodded and walked inside.
Katie was lying on a bed to the left, her eyes closed. She had her hair in a ponytail and an IV had been hooked up to her arm. She had bandages wrapped around her midsection and her bright pink sports bra still on, oddly enough. Her bandages had a bit of a red tint to them, probably from blood soaking through them. The blankets were up to her waist. I pulled up a chair and sat to the left side of her bed. I grabbed her left hand with both of mine. It was limp, but warm and something about just holding her made me feel a lot better. Her nails were still painted perfectly red but as I looked at her hand I realized she had blood stains on it. I looked at both of her arms and saw that they were tinted a light red... she must have clenched her stomach... that's a lot of blood. Jesus. I grabbed a few tissues, wet them with a glass of water that was on a stand next to the bed, and wiped all of the blood off. I felt so immensely bad for her, for all that she's been through.
None of it is her fault. She didn't deserve what happened at the Marathon, she didn't deserve hurting her knee when we were walking home from the club which seemed like such a long time ago. And she sure as hell didn't deserve this.
I just looked at her as she laid there. She looked so peaceful, breathing slowly, holding her hand in both of mine. All of this bullshit had happened to her, yet she still looked more beautiful every time I saw her. I looked at her for a few more minutes before I leaned back in my chair. I fell asleep holding her left hand in my right, thinking of this beautiful girl I was so extraordinarily lucky to call mine.
Katie's POV
I opened my eyes slowly to a bright room and a sharp pain in the lower left side of my torso. I turned my head to the left to see sunlight streaming in through a large window. I looked down at my hand and saw it was entwined with someone else's, and immediately knew it belonged to Tuukka. I smiled and moved my head up a little to look at him. He was asleep, and he looked so vulnerable and calm. It comforted me to know that he had been here long enough to fall asleep. I moved a bit in the bed and reached to my right to get a glass of water. As I was reaching, I moved my hand a bit and looked over at Tuukka, who had tightened the grip a bit as I moved. His eyelids opened and fluttered shut a few times before he looked over at me and his eyes went wide. He immediately pressed his lips to mine immediately for a good 5 seconds before blurting out, "You're awake! How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay.. it hurts," I croaked. It hurt like a bitch, but I didn't want to upset him.
A sympathetic look crossed his face. He lightly placed his left hand over the bandages on my waist and sighed a bit. "Yeah, I thought it would.." He looked back at me. "I was so worried, Kate. The guys are worried too. I thought I might've, that you could've..." his voice broke and he sighed, hanging his head. "Looch was about 2 seconds away from killing me with his bare hands."
I giggled. Poor Tuukka. I mean, even though I'm the one who got stabbed, it sucks to hear all the pain he went through too.
"I'm sorry Tuukka."
He immediately exclaimed, "No! NO! It's not your fault, I wasn't trying to make you feel bad Jesus I'm an idiot I--"
I nodded and put my finger to his lips. My poor goalie is a nervous wreck. "I know, I know. It just sucks."
We sat there for a few minutes before a nurse walked in. "Oh! It's good to see you're awake. I'll go get the doctor." A few minutes later the doctor walked in.
"Well Ms. Rose, how are you feeling?"
"There's a lot of pain. Did I get stabbed in my spleen? It feels like it's around that area." He forgot I'm trying to become a trauma surgeon too, judging by the surprised expression on his face. Ha.
"Yes, around there. Here's the deal: you're going to be fine. The surgery took a while, but we're satisfied and you should be alright in about 2 to 3 weeks. But, it left scars, which could last a while. We're going to keep you here overnight again, just to be safe."
I nodded. "Can I eat normally?" Tuukka tried to suppress his laughter over to my left but it didn't work very well.
"We recommend mostly liquids for a few days-- smoothies, ice cream, Gatorade, frappes- those are all fine, as long as they're not solid."
I nodded, a bit defeated. The doctor said a few more things, then left Tuukka and I sitting there as we were before.
"Well this sucks," I said after a few seconds of silence. Tuukka smiled weakly and pulled out his phone.
"The first thing you ask about is food. Typical," he said smiling, shaking his head. "I should probably text Cara and tell her you're awake." I nodded, poor Cara was probably a wreck.
Cara showed up in about 20 minutes and I was swarmed with questions, and she even brought me a bouquet of flowers. After I answered all of Cara's questions I turned to Tuukka.
"You should get some rest. You have a huge game tonight."
"I'll be alright. Do you mind if I go and get something to eat for breakfast, though? I'll bring you back a smoothie or something."
"Of course!" He got up and was almost out of the room before I added, "strawberry banana." He smiled and walked out, and I was alone with Cara.
"Katie, I know you just started dating this guy, but.. oh my God."
"What?"
"He's crazy about you. I've never seen anything like it."
I smiled before adding, "I doubt it."
Cara replied, "Katie, if you fuck this up with him I'm going to kill you. The expression on his face when he walked in, the look on his face when he saw you lying there, his reaction over the phone.. he's head over heels for you."
Tuukka came back with the smoothies and a bit of breakfast for himself. They ate together, (Tuukka ate, Katie had her smoothie), and talked. When the clock hit 12:30, Tuukka's face fell.
"I have to go soon," he said, defeated.
"I know." Katie simply said.
"We have pre-game practice, and I gotta shower and get my shit together.." he trailed on.
"I know, I know. Try to get some rest, Tuukka. I'm so sorry you had to go through this."
"I'd rather it be me than you," he said quietly, so quiet Katie couldn't hear.
"Huh?"
"Nothing. You gonna watch the game tonight?"
"Of course," Katie said, pointing to the tv that Tuukka hadn't noticed. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
He smiled and kissed her and just stayed there for a few minutes. She still smells like vanilla.
He got up to leave and Katie said, "good luck tonight."
"Thanks, sweets. I'll be seeing you," he said, winking as he walked out the door.
Tuukka's POV
The first thing I did when I got home was set my alarm for 3:45. I had to be at TD Garden at 4:30 for pregame skate and warmups. I jumped onto my bed and tried to take a nap and fall asleep in a desperate attempt to regain the rest I'd lost over the past day. I fell asleep and before I knew it my alarm was going off. I got my shit together and left for TD Garden at 4:05, perfect timing.
Once I had my car parked I walked inside with my duffel bag and headed to the locker room. When I walked in I was greeted by Chara, Lucic, Seguin, Bergeron, Thornton and Marchand.
"Hey Tuukka."
"Hey man, what's up?" I said to Chara.
"Nothing really. You get some rest?"
"I tried, enough I guess." I said, forcing a small smile.
"How is she?" Lucic asked as I put down my bag and began to get my stuff on.
"She'll be alright in a few weeks. Pretty bloody though."
Lucic nodded. "Give her our best. Good to hear she's alright."
I nodded and continued to put on my stuff, preparing for the most important game of the season that would start in about 3 hours.
The siren rang at the end of the second period. Game 7 and we were down 2-1. We skated off into the locker room, breathing heavily. I sat down on the bench and grabbed a water.
Coach Julien walked in, pissed. "Boys. This is game seven. GAME SEVEN! What are you playing for? You're playing for the Stanley Cup. We're down by ONE goal and you guys are treating it like we're up by 5. We are on the HOME ice. We! Have! The! Fucking! Advantage!" He shouted, pounding his fist on the table with each word. I tuned him out and decided not to bother listening. The last thing we needed right now was negativity. Soon enough the break was over and we were back out on the ice for the third period of game 7.
17:51 and Kessel had got another goal for the Leafs. "Shit!" I exclaimed, taking a swig of my water and spraying it on my face. Jesus Christ, we're down by 2 now.
14:31 and the fucking Leafs got another goal putting them ahead by 3 in the third period. See ya later, Stanley. Maybe next year. This is all my fucking fault.
10:42 and Horton scored a goal to bring it to 4-2. Maybe one goal is all we need. Come on boys.
2 minutes left and I'm leaving the ice so we can get another player on. Make it worth it. Come on boys. Empty net.
1:22 AND LUCIC SCORES! We call a time out. "Boys, this is our time. OUR time! We're down by one, we already came back. Tuukka I'm putting you back in. Bergeron I want you with Seguin and Marchand." Coach rambled on for a few more seconds, shouting orders and plays at the guys before we got back on the ice with less than 2 minutes to tie it up and go to OT.
Coach decided against putting me in and once again pulled me at 1:07 which was the right choice. Less than 20 seconds later Bergeron shoots and scores, tying it up and getting us to OT. I couldn't fucking believe it. Everybody in the building was ecstatic. The fans began to throw their towels on the ice so we had to wait before we could get back on. I go back in the net and we go to OT, nobody scoring a goal in the 50.2 seconds left in regulation time.
We reach OT and everyone's nerves are through the roof. Focus. Focus. Use the glove. Do your job. I pull myself together and let the boys do their job. The clock hits 13:55 and BERGERON SCORES! The entire stadium is screaming and jumping. We all jump and crowd around Bergeron, so fucking happy that we're moving along in the Stanley Cup Finals. See ya soon, Stanley.
Everything was blurry. I was sprinting out of TD Garden. It was around 11:30. I needed to get out of here. Something had been itching in the back of my mind for the past few days that I had mentioned to no one.
I reached the garage and jumped in my car, turning it on and blasting out of the parking lot. I needed to drive. I needed to get away.
There was already a ton of traffic on the streets, but it gave me time to think. I stopped at a liquor store and then 15 minutes later I parked my car and got out with a 6 pack of Bud Light and a bottle of whisky.
Done.
I woke up to someone shaking my shoulder. I was on the plane.
"Tuukka, wake up. We're here." Lucic said. I stared at him blankly for a few seconds. "How long was I out?"
Lucic looked at his watch then said, "about an hour, we're just landing now." I nodded and looked ahead. And then it hit me.
"Oh shit. Oh shit! Katie's still in the hospital!" Looch nodded and said, "yeah... I'm sure she's fine. It won't be long now, you'll see her soon. Don't forget we have a game tonight, though. Don't work yourself up."
Don't work myself up? What? Does this guy have any idea what the fuck is going on? I shook my head and replied, "kind of hard not to."
He nodded and turned to face forward. Asshole.
We landed in about 5 minutes and I was the first one off the plane. I grabbed my bag and my suitcase and rushed to my car, throwing my shit in the back seat before heading to Mass General, where Katie would most likely be. While I was stuck at a red light I texted Katie's phone that I knew Cara would have:
just landed. where do i go?
My phone buzzed a minute later:
MGH. go thru main entrance, not emergency. i'll meet you there
I threw my phone down on my passenger seat and drove to Mass General, passing through a red light once or twice. I parked my car and ran into the main entrance and the clock on the wall read 3 am, great. I looked around for a minute, then I recognized Cara sitting over to my right in grey sweatpants and a Bruins sweatshirt, most likely Seguin's.
"Hey," I panted, walking over to her. "How is she?"
"She'll be alright. She got out of surgery about 2 hours ago. She got stabbed 3 times, one of them punctured her small intestine, another her spleen."
"WHAT!" I ran my hands through my hair. "Shit, oh my God. Oh my god. Can I go see her?"
"Yeah, but she's still out from the surgery. She'll be awake around 9, she's really knocked out."
We began to walk to the elevator.
"How long is it going to take for her to recover? Is she going to fully recover? How serious is it?"
"The doctor said she should be alright in about 2 weeks, but the scars from her surgery aren't gonna disappear for like 4 or 5 months... I'm not sure how serious it is." My right hand was on my forehead. We reached the 4th floor and walked down the hallway a bit before Cara stopped and went into a small room on the right.
"I'll leave you with her.." she trailed off. "Try to get some rest, Tuukka. Whatever it takes." I nodded and walked inside.
Katie was lying on a bed to the left, her eyes closed. She had her hair in a ponytail and an IV had been hooked up to her arm. She had bandages wrapped around her midsection and her bright pink sports bra still on, oddly enough. Her bandages had a bit of a red tint to them, probably from blood soaking through them. The blankets were up to her waist. I pulled up a chair and sat to the left side of her bed. I grabbed her left hand with both of mine. It was limp, but warm and something about just holding her made me feel a lot better. Her nails were still painted perfectly red but as I looked at her hand I realized she had blood stains on it. I looked at both of her arms and saw that they were tinted a light red... she must have clenched her stomach... that's a lot of blood. Jesus. I grabbed a few tissues, wet them with a glass of water that was on a stand next to the bed, and wiped all of the blood off. I felt so immensely bad for her, for all that she's been through.
None of it is her fault. She didn't deserve what happened at the Marathon, she didn't deserve hurting her knee when we were walking home from the club which seemed like such a long time ago. And she sure as hell didn't deserve this.
I just looked at her as she laid there. She looked so peaceful, breathing slowly, holding her hand in both of mine. All of this bullshit had happened to her, yet she still looked more beautiful every time I saw her. I looked at her for a few more minutes before I leaned back in my chair. I fell asleep holding her left hand in my right, thinking of this beautiful girl I was so extraordinarily lucky to call mine.
Katie's POV
I opened my eyes slowly to a bright room and a sharp pain in the lower left side of my torso. I turned my head to the left to see sunlight streaming in through a large window. I looked down at my hand and saw it was entwined with someone else's, and immediately knew it belonged to Tuukka. I smiled and moved my head up a little to look at him. He was asleep, and he looked so vulnerable and calm. It comforted me to know that he had been here long enough to fall asleep. I moved a bit in the bed and reached to my right to get a glass of water. As I was reaching, I moved my hand a bit and looked over at Tuukka, who had tightened the grip a bit as I moved. His eyelids opened and fluttered shut a few times before he looked over at me and his eyes went wide. He immediately pressed his lips to mine immediately for a good 5 seconds before blurting out, "You're awake! How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay.. it hurts," I croaked. It hurt like a bitch, but I didn't want to upset him.
A sympathetic look crossed his face. He lightly placed his left hand over the bandages on my waist and sighed a bit. "Yeah, I thought it would.." He looked back at me. "I was so worried, Kate. The guys are worried too. I thought I might've, that you could've..." his voice broke and he sighed, hanging his head. "Looch was about 2 seconds away from killing me with his bare hands."
I giggled. Poor Tuukka. I mean, even though I'm the one who got stabbed, it sucks to hear all the pain he went through too.
"I'm sorry Tuukka."
He immediately exclaimed, "No! NO! It's not your fault, I wasn't trying to make you feel bad Jesus I'm an idiot I--"
I nodded and put my finger to his lips. My poor goalie is a nervous wreck. "I know, I know. It just sucks."
We sat there for a few minutes before a nurse walked in. "Oh! It's good to see you're awake. I'll go get the doctor." A few minutes later the doctor walked in.
"Well Ms. Rose, how are you feeling?"
"There's a lot of pain. Did I get stabbed in my spleen? It feels like it's around that area." He forgot I'm trying to become a trauma surgeon too, judging by the surprised expression on his face. Ha.
"Yes, around there. Here's the deal: you're going to be fine. The surgery took a while, but we're satisfied and you should be alright in about 2 to 3 weeks. But, it left scars, which could last a while. We're going to keep you here overnight again, just to be safe."
I nodded. "Can I eat normally?" Tuukka tried to suppress his laughter over to my left but it didn't work very well.
"We recommend mostly liquids for a few days-- smoothies, ice cream, Gatorade, frappes- those are all fine, as long as they're not solid."
I nodded, a bit defeated. The doctor said a few more things, then left Tuukka and I sitting there as we were before.
"Well this sucks," I said after a few seconds of silence. Tuukka smiled weakly and pulled out his phone.
"The first thing you ask about is food. Typical," he said smiling, shaking his head. "I should probably text Cara and tell her you're awake." I nodded, poor Cara was probably a wreck.
Cara showed up in about 20 minutes and I was swarmed with questions, and she even brought me a bouquet of flowers. After I answered all of Cara's questions I turned to Tuukka.
"You should get some rest. You have a huge game tonight."
"I'll be alright. Do you mind if I go and get something to eat for breakfast, though? I'll bring you back a smoothie or something."
"Of course!" He got up and was almost out of the room before I added, "strawberry banana." He smiled and walked out, and I was alone with Cara.
"Katie, I know you just started dating this guy, but.. oh my God."
"What?"
"He's crazy about you. I've never seen anything like it."
I smiled before adding, "I doubt it."
Cara replied, "Katie, if you fuck this up with him I'm going to kill you. The expression on his face when he walked in, the look on his face when he saw you lying there, his reaction over the phone.. he's head over heels for you."
Tuukka came back with the smoothies and a bit of breakfast for himself. They ate together, (Tuukka ate, Katie had her smoothie), and talked. When the clock hit 12:30, Tuukka's face fell.
"I have to go soon," he said, defeated.
"I know." Katie simply said.
"We have pre-game practice, and I gotta shower and get my shit together.." he trailed on.
"I know, I know. Try to get some rest, Tuukka. I'm so sorry you had to go through this."
"I'd rather it be me than you," he said quietly, so quiet Katie couldn't hear.
"Huh?"
"Nothing. You gonna watch the game tonight?"
"Of course," Katie said, pointing to the tv that Tuukka hadn't noticed. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
He smiled and kissed her and just stayed there for a few minutes. She still smells like vanilla.
He got up to leave and Katie said, "good luck tonight."
"Thanks, sweets. I'll be seeing you," he said, winking as he walked out the door.
Tuukka's POV
The first thing I did when I got home was set my alarm for 3:45. I had to be at TD Garden at 4:30 for pregame skate and warmups. I jumped onto my bed and tried to take a nap and fall asleep in a desperate attempt to regain the rest I'd lost over the past day. I fell asleep and before I knew it my alarm was going off. I got my shit together and left for TD Garden at 4:05, perfect timing.
Once I had my car parked I walked inside with my duffel bag and headed to the locker room. When I walked in I was greeted by Chara, Lucic, Seguin, Bergeron, Thornton and Marchand.
"Hey Tuukka."
"Hey man, what's up?" I said to Chara.
"Nothing really. You get some rest?"
"I tried, enough I guess." I said, forcing a small smile.
"How is she?" Lucic asked as I put down my bag and began to get my stuff on.
"She'll be alright in a few weeks. Pretty bloody though."
Lucic nodded. "Give her our best. Good to hear she's alright."
I nodded and continued to put on my stuff, preparing for the most important game of the season that would start in about 3 hours.
The siren rang at the end of the second period. Game 7 and we were down 2-1. We skated off into the locker room, breathing heavily. I sat down on the bench and grabbed a water.
Coach Julien walked in, pissed. "Boys. This is game seven. GAME SEVEN! What are you playing for? You're playing for the Stanley Cup. We're down by ONE goal and you guys are treating it like we're up by 5. We are on the HOME ice. We! Have! The! Fucking! Advantage!" He shouted, pounding his fist on the table with each word. I tuned him out and decided not to bother listening. The last thing we needed right now was negativity. Soon enough the break was over and we were back out on the ice for the third period of game 7.
17:51 and Kessel had got another goal for the Leafs. "Shit!" I exclaimed, taking a swig of my water and spraying it on my face. Jesus Christ, we're down by 2 now.
14:31 and the fucking Leafs got another goal putting them ahead by 3 in the third period. See ya later, Stanley. Maybe next year. This is all my fucking fault.
10:42 and Horton scored a goal to bring it to 4-2. Maybe one goal is all we need. Come on boys.
2 minutes left and I'm leaving the ice so we can get another player on. Make it worth it. Come on boys. Empty net.
1:22 AND LUCIC SCORES! We call a time out. "Boys, this is our time. OUR time! We're down by one, we already came back. Tuukka I'm putting you back in. Bergeron I want you with Seguin and Marchand." Coach rambled on for a few more seconds, shouting orders and plays at the guys before we got back on the ice with less than 2 minutes to tie it up and go to OT.
Coach decided against putting me in and once again pulled me at 1:07 which was the right choice. Less than 20 seconds later Bergeron shoots and scores, tying it up and getting us to OT. I couldn't fucking believe it. Everybody in the building was ecstatic. The fans began to throw their towels on the ice so we had to wait before we could get back on. I go back in the net and we go to OT, nobody scoring a goal in the 50.2 seconds left in regulation time.
We reach OT and everyone's nerves are through the roof. Focus. Focus. Use the glove. Do your job. I pull myself together and let the boys do their job. The clock hits 13:55 and BERGERON SCORES! The entire stadium is screaming and jumping. We all jump and crowd around Bergeron, so fucking happy that we're moving along in the Stanley Cup Finals. See ya soon, Stanley.
Notes
I GOT SO AMPED WATCHING GAME 7 AGAIN SO I COULD WRITE THIS. LIKE I WAS SO FUCKIN CLOSE TO TEARS, THE MEMORIES JUST CAME RUSHING BACK--my realization while writing the hospital scene:
Love this!!! Tuukka is super sexy.
4/26/14