Always

Be safe. It was what she told him before every game, practice, road trip, anything. But now she sat, the day before valentines day, in the cold, harshly lit waiting room of Mass General waiting for any news on him. She sighed and ran her hand over her tired face. She hadn't went to the game that night because of a long day at the hospital, deciding it was better for her to just go home, have a shower and head straight to bed. That all changed when she got the knock on the door from Katie telling her Adam was hit from behind head first into the boards and was on his way to Mass General as they spoke. She barely comprehended what was happening as she was hurriedly sliding on sweat pants and pulling her oversized Bruins sweatshirt over her head. Katie was standing in the doorway making sure she was okay before driving them both to the hospital. She started bouncing her leg, getting more nervous the longer time went by.
"They're taking good care of him." Katie said as she rested her hand on Liz's bouncing knee. "They always take good care of the boys."
"I know, I just wish they would tell us something already."
Katie gave her a sad smile, knowing that nothing she could say right now would ease the worry that Liz had running through her head. She had seen guys get hit like this before, and from what she had heard from Ty, not all of them came back the same. She felt the tears well up in her eyes as she thought about the fact that Adam might not come back to her the way she last saw him. As the tears threatened to fall she felt the pang in her stomach she was so used to feeling by now. She closed her eyes and placed a hand over the area as the baby kicked again.
'It's okay sweetie.' she thought to herself, 'daddy's gonna be fine.'
Katie noticed her move her hand to her stomach and looked at her worriedly. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, she's just kicking."
A small smile formed on the blonde's face, "She's just making sure her momma knows she's in there."
"Exactly. And reminding me I need to stay calm for her."
"True," Katie stared at the spot on Liz's stomach and she moved her hand away looking up at her.
"Do you wanna feel? She's quite the little kicker."
Her face lit up as she moved her hand to cover the spot that Liz's just held. Her eyes brightened as she felt the pang of little feet against her hand.
"She is pretty strong isn't she? Well I mean of course she is, look at her parents." She chuckled.
"Yeah, she's gonna be something."
The girls were so focused on Liz's stomach that they didn't notice the doctor standing across from them.
"I'm guessing you're the girls here for Adam?"
Liz's head whipped forward and suddenly all her worry came back. She stood, extending her hand towards the taller man.
"Yes, Liz. Adam's girlfriend."
"Just the girl I wanted to see then. He's been asking about you, but let me warn you he's pretty spacey right now. He took a hard hit to the head and has a pretty good concussion, nothing he can't come back from though. He's just going to be kind of off for the night until it shakes off. We're probably going to keep him overnight, just to watch him, but you should be able to take him home tomorrow."
She sighed, feeling relieved that he was going to be okay. She brought her hand back up to the same spot their little girl had been kicking earlier and rubbed it lightly.
'See, he's okay.'
"Everything alright?"
She looked back up at the doctor and chuckled, "everyone seems to be asking me that tonight. But yeah, she's just been feisty since we got here."
"Oh, congratulations then! How far along?"
"Five months next week."
"Very nice, I guess we should have kept an eye on you too." He chuckled and started to head towards the double doors. "Follow me and we can go see him."
She turned and looked at Katie who was still sitting in the same spot. "Go, I'll wait for the guys and let them know he's okay."
Before running to follow the doctor, Liz leaned down and gave Katie a hug. "Thank you. For everything tonight."
"Anytime, I mean it."
She smiled at her once more before turning and following the doctor through the doors and down the hallway to the room where they were keeping him. They stopped at the doorway and the doctor turned to look at her.
"It's going to be a little dark in there, but it's better for right now if there's not a lot of stimulation around. Just until the initial shake up passes."
She nodded and followed him in, her heart sinking at the sight of Adam on the hospital bed. She walked over to the side of the bed and immediately slid her hand into his.
"Baby." She brushed her thumb across the top of his knuckles as his eyes flitted open and looked in her direction.
"Hey, you're here." His voice was soft and his eyes looked hazy.
"Where else would I be?"
"Home. In bed. Where you should be."
"Yeah, well I told you to be safe and look how well that worked." She chuckled lightly.
"I'm sorry."
She slid the chair beside the bed closer to the edge with her foot and sat down in it gently brushing the curls back from his forehead.
"You have absolutely nothing to be sorry about. I'm just glad you're okay." She felt a harsh kick at her words. "I've been corrected, we're glad you're okay."
He smiled slightly and looked down at her stomach before closing his eyes. She brushed her fingers over his forehead again and he sighed at the contact.
"I'm tired." He mumbled, eyes still closed.
Liz looked up at the doctor who was still in the room, "It's okay if he sleeps?"
"Oh yeah, but there's going to be a nurse in and out periodically to wake him up every once and a while. Like I said, just to be safe."
She nodded and sat up to press a kiss on his forehead.
"Then sleep hotshot, I'll be right here."
"But you should sleep too." He said turning his head and opening his eyes to look at her as sternly as he could.
"Don't worry about me. Just sleep."
He sighed, closing his eyes again as she pressed another kiss to his temple.
"I love you." She whispered softly against his skin.
"Love you." He mumbled softly as he fell asleep.
She sat back down on the chair, her hand still in his and her fingers still gently caressing his forehead. She said silent prayers of gratitude that it was just a mild concussion and nothing more serious as her hands went through the mindless motions. Staring as his sleeping face she realized she never really thought about the consequences of the game and that she needed him with her. Forever. The second the words came out of Katie's mouth she didn't believe them. She knew that these things happened to hockey players but she never wanted to accept that they would happen to hers, her Adam. She needed him, their little girl needed him. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't hear the door quietly open and close. A hand on her shoulder startled her out of her headspace and she looked up to see the warm, kind face of Patrice smiling down at her.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said quietly, his slight accent popping out.
"It's okay, I was caught up in my thoughts."
"How's he doing?"
"They say he should be fine. They wanted him here overnight just so the initial shake would pass, then he can go home tomorrow."
Patrice nodded, having been in this situation before.
"He's a tough guy, he'll pull through."
She smiled up at him and ran her thumb over his knuckles again. "He is."
"Plus, he's gotta start getting ready for that baby. Congrats by the way, I don't think I ever told you that."
"Thanks. She's been letting me know she's worried about her dad all night."
"Well you tell her that uncle Pat says he's going to be just fine, in fact he'll come back even better."
She chuckled as she felt a tiny kick in her stomach. "She heard you loud and clear."
A smile spread across his dark features and he looked back over at Adam once more before looking back at Liz.
"Well I should head out, just wanted to come make sure you were doing okay. Do you need anything before I go?"
"No, thanks, I should be good."
He nodded and smiled turning and heading towards the door.
"Oh, Patrice?"
"Hmm?" He turned back facing her, his eyebrows slightly risen.
"Is Katie still out there?"
"Yeah, you want me to send her back?"
"No, no. It's okay, can you just tell her to go and get some sleep and I'll call her in the morning?"
He nodded. "Of course."
"Thank you Patrice."
"Anytime Liz." He smiled at her once more before exiting the room.
Liz sat back in the chair thinking about what Patrice had said. It was not the first time since finding out she was pregnant that she had heard one of the team members or their wives tell her anytime she needed anything they were there. And she had already heard it several times tonight. She smiled at the obvious bond there was between this group. When you were part of the team, no man got left behind, and that stood for their girls as well. A massive yawn rippled its way through her body and she realized she was finally relaxed enough to let the exhaustion overtake her once more. She closed her eyes and moved her hand from Adam's forehead, and placed that arm on the bed beside his hand. Closing her eyes she rested her head on her arm, hand still in his, and let herself drift off to sleep.


The next morning Liz woke up to the feeling of fingers running through her hair and sighed contently, enjoying the feeling, before her eyes popped open and she sat straight up looking at the man responsible.
"Morning." He smiled at her
"Morning," She raised her hand and brushed the curls away from his forehead just as she had done the night before. "You look better this morning, less dopey."
"I feel less dopey. Bitch of a headache though."
She smiled sadly and leaned in kissing the centre of his forehead.
"Lower."
She chuckled and moved down to press a kiss to his nose.
"Little lower. Almost there."
She slid down the extra few centimetres and smiled before pressing her lips against his.
"There we go, that's much better."
"Well you're back to normal."
"Have to be. Someone's gotta keep you entertained."
She chuckled as they heard the door open, seeing the doctor from the night before walking in.
"Good morning. You're awake, I like that."
"My headache doesn't like it."
"We'll give you something for that, don't worry. Other than the headache how are you feeling this morning?"
"Better. Less hazy."
"All things I like to hear. So how about I do a few quick tests on you and send you on your way?"
"That sounds like the best plan I've heard all day."
Liz rolled her eyes at his corny joke and grabbed her bag off the chair starting towards the door.
"I just have to call for someone to come pick us up, be right back."
She popped out into the hallway and pulled out her phone seeing it was 8:30 in the morning and headed to her contacts to find Katie, feeling slightly better about calling her at this hour than any earlier.
The phone rang twice before she picked it up, "Liz?"
"Hey Katie."
"Everything okay? How's he doing?"
"He's good actually. Says his head's killing him, but other than that he's good."
She heard her mumbling something, presumably to Greg, and then she was back, "That's fantastic! So are they still sending him home this morning?"
"That's actually exactly what I was calling about. Would you mind coming to get us? You drove me last night and his car's still at the Garden."
"Of course! That's not even a question. Are they letting him out soon?"
"Yeah, doctor said he just needed to check a couple things and then we could head out."
"Perfect! We'll head right over then. I'll text you when we get there?"
"Sounds good. Thank you so much, you have no idea."
"Don't even mention it. See you soon!"
She smiled as she hung up the phone and opened the door again heading back into the room. She saw Adam standing in front of the doctor and frowned as he wobbled slightly on his feet. The doctor looked up and saw her standing there and took in the look on her face.
"Don't worry, some balance issues are quite normal for the first few days after a concussion."
"Oh great, so he's going to be worse than a bull in a china shop?" She quirked an eye brow as Adam turned to look at her.
"Hardy har har."
The sassy look on her face quickly turned to a smile as he rolled his eyes at her and made his way, shakily, back to the bed.
"Well other than the balance stuff and the headache, he seems good to go. Just make sure that there's someone with him at all times for the first 48 hours and come back if you notice anything abnormal about his behaviour, okay?"
Liz nodded at the doctor.
"Alright then! You, young man, are free to go."
"Thanks doc. See ya next time."
The doctor chuckled and made his way out of the room and Liz proceeded to slap him on the arm. Adam looked at her with furrowed brows.
"See ya next time? Really?"
"It's inevitable, Liz."
"Yeah well how about we don't think like that, yeah?"
She wasn't happy that he was so okay with the fact that he knew this would happen again, especially when it all but turned her world upside down just hours before. She pulled out the sweat pants and shirt that she had stuffed in her bag before leaving the apartment and tossed them on the bed beside him. Adam took in the look on her face and grabbed her arm, pulling her closer to him.
"Hey."
She avoided his eyes.
"Hey, look at me."
She finally looked at him, her eyes sad.
"I'm sorry. I guess I'm just used to these things. And I am kinda accident prone, so it's nothing new to me."
"Well it's new to me. I was scared shitless when Katie was standing in my door telling me that you were on your way here last night. I had no idea what to do."
He reached out and pulled her into his chest, pressing his lips to her temple.
"I'm sorry."
"You don't have to be sorry, I just don't like the fact that this is part of your job. All I could think about was how many times Ty told me about the guys who never came back the same after shit like that."
"I'm exactly the way I was before, just maybe a little wobblier for a few days." He chuckled softly trying to lighten the mood.
"Yeah? And what if you hadn't? I would kinda like our daughter to know this you and not some fucked up you that would be around after another head injury."
He could feel her starting to shake and pulled her in tighter.
"I'll be more careful from now on, okay? I don't want that to happen either."
She sighed and relaxed herself into his arms. She felt him slide one of his arms down to rest his hand on her stomach that was hiding under the Bruins sweatshirt she was wearing.
"Sorry, you're stuck with your crazy dad, kid."
Liz closed her eyes and smiled softly, "I think she's gonna like him."
After a few minutes of them standing like this, Liz heard her phone go off from her bag on the chair.
"Oh, that's probably Katie. Her and Greg are coming to pick us up."
He dropped his arms from her as she walked over to her bag to check the phone.
"Yep. So unless you want to head out there in that beautiful hospital gown, we should probably get those clothes on you."
She grabbed the sweat pants and helped him with those as he pulled his shirt on over his head, careful not to cause himself anymore pain than he was already in. Once he was dressed she grabbed her bag and the bag of the few belongings he had with him when he got to the hospital and walked back over to him, letting Adam use her shoulder as his balancing point. They headed out of the room and he winced as soon as his eyes hit the light.
"Geesh. When did it get so bright?"
She frowned up at him. "I'm sorry, I don't even have sunglasses.."
"I'll live babe, don't worry."
The exit was just down the hall, through a set of double doors and Liz could already see Katie and Greg waiting by the doors. As soon as Liz opened the first set of doors Katie and Greg were on their way over to them, both with half happy half worried looks on their faces.
"Hey guys."
"Someone's looking better than they did last night."
"Wish I could say I felt better Soup." Adam chuckled and Greg silently offered to take over Liz's spot beside Adam balancing him. She quickly stepped aside and let the older man take over, knowing that he had more experience in this area than she did.
"Lights killing you? Feel like you're drunk walking the straight line?"
"Hell yes."
Greg chuckled lightly.
"It's great isn't it? Throw up yet?"
"Thank God I haven't."
"Wow. You're lucky! I couldn't stop throwing up, I did end up having the best abs of my live though."
The girls were walking in front of them, shaking their head at the conversation the two men were having behind them. When they reached the car Liz opened the back door and tossed the bags in the middle of the seat before stepping back so Adam could get in. She scurried around the other side and got in closing her door as they started to pull away. She looked over at Adam who had his head held in his hands as he bent forward. Reaching over, she started lightly rubbing his shoulder trying to make him feel somewhat better, but after a minute he pulled away. She brought her hand back to sit in her lap and diverted her eyes away as he groaned lightly. The ride was relatively silent on the way back to Adam and Dougie's apartment, the only words being said were a few questions Katie had for Liz that were simply answered and returned back to silence.


Half an hour later and they were back in the apartment and Liz was running around trying to make sure that Adam was completely comfortable. Blinds were closed, pillows were fluffed, you name it she had done it. Adam groaned from his spot on the bed.
"Babe, can you please stop running? You're making me dizzy."
She stopped half way across the bedroom and stopped, turning to look at him with an apologetic face.
"I'm sorry. I'm just trying to make everything comfortable."
"It's not going to happen." There was a slight tinge of annoyance in his voice, but she let it pass turning back in the direction she was originally headed. She heard him sigh from the bed. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I get it."
He slung his arm across the lonely pillow beside him, "You getting over here would be comfortable though."
She smiled at him and chuckled. "I might be able to do that, let me grab some clean clothes first."
She headed to his closet, hoping to find one of his many pairs of sweat pants waiting for her. As she pulled the door open she heart him shout from the bed. She turned, a concerned look on her face, "What?"
"Just come cuddle."
"I will, just let me grab some clean sweats."
Before he could protest again, she turned facing the closet and froze. A small gasp emitted from her lips and she stared into the closet before looking back at Adam laying on the bed. The closet was packed to the brim with heart balloons, a couple vases of red roses, and a pile of deep red pillows.
"What's all this?"
She turned back around to him and walked over to the bed forgetting about grabbing the sweat pants.
He groaned, "this isn't how I wanted to spend our first valentines day, I hope you know."
She chuckled and climbed onto the bed, snuggling up into his side. "I didn't think it was."
"I had it all planned out. A surprise dinner, all alone, flower, balloons, pillow fort in the middle of the living room."
"Baby." She leaned up and pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw.
"Of course that fuckhead had to go and ruin everything, god damn cheap shot-"
Before he could get any further on his rant, he felt her lips against his. He sighed into her kiss and relaxed.
"Today's perfect. Because I'm with you., you're here, you're okay. That's all I could ask for."
Adam smiled at her and chuckled. "That was cute, but corny. And I'm going to make it up to you one day."
"Okay, hotshot." She leaned up and pressed her lips to his again, feeling his hand snake up her back pressing her closer to him and deepening the kiss. Liz slightly shifted her position, getting closer to him, if that was even possible when suddenly they heard a noise from the doorway.
"Shit. Sorry."
Liz chuckled as she pulled away from Adam.
"I really need to stop doing that to you guys. But uh, glad to see you're okay Quaider."
Adam rolled his eyes. "Thanks Doug."
"So uh, you gonna be okay with him by yourself? Or do you want some backup?"
"Nah, I should be good. Why, you have some big V-day plans?"
"Not really, just going out."
"Just going out on valentines day is code for picking up desperate single chicks."
The blush on his face appeared almost immediately, accompanied by a hand placed on the back of his neck.
"It's okay Dougie. Just don't be too loud when you bring her home, okay?"
"I'm, I'm not-"
Liz cut him off, laughing as she did, "Dougie, I'm just joking. Calm down kid!"
Adam chuckled and shook his head at the mischievous girl beside him. "Just go Dougie. She's only going to get worse the longer you stand here."
"Okay. Well see you guys later. Again, glad to see you're okay."
"Thanks man. Have a good night."
He waved to the both of them, but Liz couldn't resist getting one more shot in.
"Don't forget to use protection!"
Adam pinched her side and she burst into a fit of giggles, causing the bed to bounce and Adam's eyes to pinch shut.
"Sorry. Sorry sorry." Liz apologized as she quickly brought her hand up to the curls framing his forehead. "Hopefully Dougie get's enough for both of you tonight, cause it seems like only one of you is getting V-Day sex."
He opened his eyes and quirked a brow at her. "I'm concussed, not impotent."
"Oh yeah? Big talk coming from the man who almost lost it at the bed bouncing a bit." She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his chin. "Don't worry. I'll make it up to you when your eggs aren't half scrambled."
"Good. You better."
She chuckled as she felt her stomach grumble. "Speaking of eggs, this little girl's hungry." She rubbed her rounded belly. "How about I go make some breakfast?"
Adam groaned. "I don't want you to leave. But if she's hungry, I guess you better."
"Man, you're needy when you're injured!" She threw a wink over her shoulder on her way out the door.

Notes

Alright, there's another one!

YAY FOR BRUINS WINNING GAMES. :)

So I hope you enjoyed that one, added some injured Adam because really, what else is there? :(

I'm thinking I'm going to start speeding stuff up, I'm kinda short on ideas. WITH THAT BEING SAID. If any of you lovelies have an idea of something you want to see, let me know! PLEASE!

As always, vote, comment, all that good stuff!