Katie and Cara were dancing in the middle of the dance floor. Everybody around them had someone to dance with. Soon a few people around them stopped dancing and craned their necks to look behind Katie and Cara.

Cara turned around to see what everyone was looking at while Katie continued to dance, hammered.

"Holy shit," Katie heard Cara mutter.

"What is it?"

"Those are Bruins. That's Tuukka Rask and Tyler Seguin, holy shit. They're walking towards us!"

Katie turned around to see Tuukka and Tyler sliding in their direction through the bunches of dancing couples.

---

Tyler walked right up to Cara and asked her if she wanted to dance, Cara obliged and they began grinding.

Tuukka stood there for a second, then turned at Katie and muttered, "Hi, I'm Tuukka..," not really trying to make eye contact.

Shit. Well, she obviously knows who I am so whatever. She'll dance with me. Got my puck slut already, let's just get out of here.

"Do you want to dance?" he asked.

"No, no thank you."

"I... uhm-- what? ...You know who I am, right?"

"Yes, you're Tuukka and I'm Katie. And I said no thank you. I'm not a puck slut, sorry." She smiled to him, patted his arm, then whispered in Cara's ear that she was leaving and turned away. Cara clearly wanted to fuck Seguin and, well, Katie wasn't going to take that opportunity away from her.

---

What the fuck? Who the hell does this girl think she is? She knows who I am, Tuukka thought.

Tuukka had never been turned down that bluntly. He stood there for a second, squinted, and stared at her as she walked away.

He didn't really know what to do, but he wasn't going to go down that lightly. Something about this girl he knew, and he was going to figure it out.

As she was walking out the door, Tuukka ran up to her and asked, "Where are you going?" He'd realized it sounded a little creepy after he'd said it.

"Um, home."

"How are you getting home?"

"I'm walking. I'm 6 blocks away."

"You're walking alone? At 2 a.m?"

"I can take care of myself, thanks though" Katie muttered as she slipped her thin wrist through Tuukka's big hand.

"Please let me walk you home."

"No, I'll be okay." Katie started to walk away, but he trailed behind her. Katie thought she knew exactly what Tuukka wanted to do, and she didn't want any part of it. She didn't want to be another puck bunny to the Infamous Tuukka Rask, who had girls fighting over him left and right.

"I'm sorry to be so forward, but I'm not letting you walk home alone. Not this late. Not by yourself."

Katie rolled here eyes and started walking while Tuukka stood there. "Well, are you coming or not?" She asked after a few steps.

Tuukka gulped and nodded and started walking to the left side of Katie. Both of them tripped once or twice, they weren't completely sober.

---

When they were 3 blocks away from Katie's apartment, Katie tripped over a rock and fell on her right leg.

"Shit," she muttered, embarrassed of falling in front of a guy she barely knew.

"Are you alright?" Tuukka asked, walking over to where she was, and kneeled beside her. He looked at her right thigh and saw a few faint white scars, but thought nothing of them.

She'd probably got them in sports or something, Tuukka thought. But it was inappropriate of him to ask.

Thank God he didn't notice me hit my head, she thought. I don't need this guy's pity.

He looked at her right knee and saw that it was banged up and began to bleed. He'd felt bad, this poor girl was walking home with a guy she barely knew and had just embarrassed herself.

Katie put her hand to her forehead and shut her eyes. She then got up and simply said "yeah."

They began to walk again, about a foot away from each other. Tuukka looked to his right in the dim light and saw that she was limping a little.

"Do you need help? Are you sure you can walk? I can carry you, I can help you. Please let me help you," Tuukka asked, his eyes full of worry. The street was barely lit, but in his eyes she was glowing. This girl was something different.

"I'll-- I'll be, fine," Katie muttered before her eyelids began to flutter.

Tuukka saw that she began to sway and knew she couldn't walk any more. He didn't listen to her protests as he hoisted her up and held her. He began to walk in the same direction they were walking before.

After a few protests Katie finally gave up and drunkenly put her head against Tuukka's upper chest. At least he smells good, she thought.

Tuukka looked down when she put her head against his chest. He'd felt bad for the circumstance she was in, but smiled a bit to himself. It was nice to feel like he was helping someone out other than himself.

This reminded him of the feeling he felt a few weeks ago at the Marathon.

Suddenly Tuukka looked down at Katie again. Something about this was very familiar. Too familiar. He'd only carried a girl this way one other time, and then Tuukka knew.

He knew exactly who this girl was. He knew how he recognized her, he knew why the scars on her leg were there and immediately widened his eyes.

This girl, this "Katie", was the girl he'd saved at the Boston Marathon... and he was carrying her in his arms for the second time.

---

Notes

new chapter before friday night!