He knew that something wasn’t right when he woke up and breathing in was painful. Viktor Stalberg tried to open his eyes, but wasn’t very successful. Something was definitely wrong. He tried again and managed to open his eyes a tiny bit, but everything was blurry. He could only make out that everything around him must have been white or at least in light colors. Where the hell was he?
Instead of trying to open his eyes again, he put down his hands on the mattress to push himself up Pain shot through his body, making him wince. That was when he felt hands on his shoulders that gingerly pushed him back down.
“You have to take it easy, buddy.” The person said while they took their hands off him again. “I’ll get the doctor.”
He knew who that voice belonged to. Patrick Sharp, one of his teammates. But what the hell was Patrick doing here? And why was he going to get a doctor? This couldn’t be good.
When he heard footsteps, Viktor tried opening his eyes again and finally succeeded. It was blurry until he carefully rubbed a hand over his eyes. Now he could see Patrick Sharp with a worried expression on his face, as well as the doctor. He was able to concentrate now, and so he realized that his left foot was in a cast. Oh no…
“Good Morning Mr Stalberg, my name is Dr Charles Trenton. How are you feeling?” The doctor looked down at his chart, before he raised his eyes to meet Viktor’s and gave him a reassuring smile.
“To be honest, it hurts when I breathe. What the fuck happened?” He tried to sit up straighter again, but it hurt too much. The doctor stepped closer to the bed and adjusted it, so that Viktor was now sitting in his bed, leaning back, still comfortable. Thank God for these hospital beds.
“You were in a car accident this morning. You’re lucky to be alive to be honest.” The serious look on the doctor’s face told Viktor that he wasn’t joking. “You got off easy. Two ribs are broken, hence the pain while breathing. Your left foot is broken the ligaments in your left knee are overstretched. You’re a really lucky guy. Do you remember what happened or how it happened?”
Up until then he didn’t, but all of a sudden it all came back to him. He’d been awake so early that he thought he should go out and grab some breakfast instead of staying home all by himself. He knew a nice little café where he could get a great coffee as well as breakfast. He’d have time to go back home and get his stuff before training started. He’d fallen asleep very quickly the night before, which had been one of the reasons he’d been awake that early.
When the traffic lights turned green for him, he started the car. When he was in the middle of the intersection, he looked left and saw the car coming that hit him. He remembered glass shattering before he passed out.
With a sigh he raised his hand to his face and touched the small cuts in his left cheek. When he looked down he saw that his left arm was bruised and sported some cuts as well. His right side was nearly untouched except for the cut just above his eyebrow.
“Shit,” he mumbled to himself and closed his eyes. With his foot, he wouldn’t be allowed to play for at least four weeks. More like six, but he’d try to talk them into letting him play. He’d just have to show them that he could do it. The broken ribs were probably the bigger problem. Breathing hurt and ever movement would hurt as well. There was nothing they could do to tend to these wounds. Fuck.
“I’ll come back in a few hours to check on you. If there’s anything you need, just let one of the nurses know.” With that the doctor left the room. Now Viktor was alone with Patrick, who was staring at him.
“Look, it wasn’t my fault! That person ran a red light and crashed right into me.”
“Stop!” Patrick said, before Viktor could say anything more. “I know all this. I’m just glad that you’re okay. So much could have happened and you get away with a few broken bones. That’s amazing. The whole team freaked out when they heard about the accident.”
“Oh.” They would have heard sooner or later. And Patrick was probably here because he was Viktor’s emergency contact. “How long have you been here now?”
“About two hours. I got the phone call right before training, so I talked to the coach and to Jonny. Together we told the others. And then I drove here to be there when you woke up. And to find out what really happened. They only told me that you got into a car accident and that you’re stable on the phone, so I had to report back.”
“One good thing came from this. You didn’t have to endure training.” Viktor broke out in a smile, but that vanished immediately, because the cuts in his cheeks broke open again from this.
“Idiot.” Patrick shook his head, but had a grin on his lips, when he did so. It was good to see that Viktor could still make the same stupid comments. He might have been under the influence of painkillers, but he was still himself. “Jonathan wants to come by after training to see for himself that you are okay.”
“You can go ahead and say that he’s a control freak.”
“He’s just a good and concerned captain.”
“True.” He definitely was. He knew that the accident wasn’t his own fault, but he still felt responsible for it. He wouldn’t be able to play for some time. They’d have to get someone else on his line for the time being. Damn, he’d have to get back as fast as possible.
“Listen,” Patrick said to get his attention again. “I called a friend who’ll take care of you. I know we have capable guys on the team and whatnot, but we both know that you’ll be a pain in the ass, because you can’t move properly. You’ll need help around your apartment with reaching stuff, cleaning and especially driving somewhere. You basically need someone who’ll be with you most of the time. You can’t drive yourself because of your choice of car. And you need someone to watch over you so you won’t overdo it. We need you back as soon as possible.”
That sounded plausible, but it made him sound like a disobedient child at the same time. But Patrick was right. He would at least need someone who could drive him around for the time being. Of course, he could go by taxi, but having someone drive you everywhere you wanted, was much better. In the end, he wouldn’t get a say in this anyway.
“Who is it then and when will I get to meet him?” He was positive that he’d meet that person the same day, but he still wanted to make sure.
“It’s a physiotherapist I’ve known for years. Her name is Jane and we’ve been friends since she first helped me with an injury.” She? Had he heard that right?
Viktor stared at his friend in disbelief. Having someone around all the time was one thing, and it was a good thing that this person was a physiotherapist, so they could do most of the things at his apartment to get him back into shape, but the fact that it was a woman, was something completely different. He was used to working with male physiotherapists.
“A woman?” He finally managed to say, his eyes fixed on Patrick, who rolled his eyes at this reaction.
“Yes, a woman. Do you have a problem with that?” Patrick crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. “Look, she’s great at her job and doesn’t take shit from anyone. No matter how badly you’ll behave, she’ll stay. She’s very determined and the only person who wants to do this job, so suck it up and be grateful that someone will actually help you. You might not realize it right now, but you’ll definitely need her help.”
Even though he wouldn’t admit it out loud, Viktor knew that Patrick was right. And the fact that someone would take care of him at his apartment would probably lead to him being released from the hospital sooner.
Boy, what a mess.

Notes

Hey guys
Since I'm finished with my Toews stoy, I thought I'd start a new one. You will encounter my characters from "Cover Me" and "Just A Little Longer" here as well, but it's not necessary to have read these stories to understand what's happening here.
I think this will be a bit more dramatic than the one's I've published here previously. I hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think :)