The following morning Jane made use of the key for the first time. She headed straight for the kitchen to put the croissants she’d bought on her way down. After taking off her coat and pushing up the sleeves of her cardigan, she walked to the living room, where she stopped dead in her tracks. Viktor was lying on the sofa wearing only his shirt and boxer briefs. The TV was running on mute. When she saw the bottle with painkillers on the table she could imagine what had happened.
With a sigh she kneeled down in front of him and gently shook his head. She didn’t want to shake his shoulder. “Viktor, wake up!”
“Just a few more minutes,” he mumbled in his sleep. Jane sighed. It was probably best to let him get more sleep and get the painkillers out of his system. She stood up again, covered him with a blanket and took the bottle. She wouldn’t leave the whole thing with him anymore. That was not going to happen.
Until he woke up, she busied herself with a book she’d brought. There wasn’t anything to do around the house so she used the time to read a couple of chapters after she’d had a croissant. The rest was for Viktor. When he finally woke up that was.
Disoriented he looked around, used all his strength to push himself up to a sitting position. His knee was throbbing as well as his foot. The good thing was that his upper body wasn’t feeling that bad.
“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty.”
By now he knew that voice. He looked around until he found Jane sitting at the table, book in front of her. How long had she been here? When he looked at the clock on the wall, he realized that it was already past one in the afternoon. He hadn’t been able to sleep half the night, so he’d decided to get up and watch TV. He’d taken a couple of pills to dull the pain and had apparently fallen asleep in front of the TV.
“Hej!”
“Just one thing. From now on I’ll give you your painkillers and I won’t leave them around your apartment somewhere.” Jane got up and walked towards the kitchen. “We don’t want you to get addicted to that stuff.” She returned with a plate, handed it to him and returned to her seat. Oh, she was in a bad mood, but she was right.
Jane didn’t say a word more to him until they had to leave for the game. When he’d asked her for a painkiller after his breakfast/lunch, she’d given him one without a word. Viktor had watched the news and some other stuff on the TV, because it had been too quiet. He wasn’t really interested in the show he was watching, but everything was better than sitting there in complete silence. Well, he could have talked to her, but he didn’t know what to say. He’d probably said the wrong thing, so it had been better to not say anything at all.
Only in the car did Jane open her mouth, since it was the first time she drove this thing. She told him to bear with her and give her some time to adjust. Viktor simply nodded and let her drive. And she did a good job. They were at the United Center in no time, so he only needed to instruct her on where to park her car.
When they entered the building, they were met by a couple people of the staff, who asked Viktor how he was doing. Jane hang back and followed them to stand aside during the little statement Viktor was about to give.
He quickly sat down and told them what they already knew. That he’d been in a car accident, and that he had some broken bones, but he’d work his ass off to get back in the game. He had enough support from the team, and even had someone who took care of him at home. When he said that, he glanced in Jane’s direction. In addition he said that he’d try to get to as many home games as possible, maybe even trainings. In the end he answered a couple of questions and left the room together with Jane to go up to the box and watch the game.
It was actually quite fun to watch the game together with Viktor. He nearly screamed at his teammates even though they couldn’t hear it. He swore so much that Jane had to bite her bottom lip to keep from chuckling. Of course she got frustrated as well, if something didn’t work out the way she hoped, but Viktor, as a hockey player, got so worked up that it was almost comical. And she didn’t want him to think she was laughing about him.
In the end the Blackhawks won after a shootout and Viktor was so exhausted that he nearly fell asleep in the car. Jane wanted to walk him up to his apartment, but he assured her that he’d be alright. He used his crutches and waved at her from the door before he vanished. That had been a long day for both of them even though he’d slept way longer than usual and Jane had spent a lot of time reading.
When Jane returned the next day a little later, Viktor was already awake and showered. He’d even had toast for breakfast and grinned at her from the sofa. He’d put on pants that were rolled up on his left leg, so the cast was sticking out. He wore a white button-down shirt with two buttons undone. It was the first time she saw him clean-shaven and she had to say, that she preferred the stubble. She didn’t even know why.
“It looks like you’re ready to go,” Jane remarked, still looking at him.
“I am.” With the help of one crutch he got up from the sofa and walked over to her. She wanted to tell him to use both, but he moved more easily with one than with two, that she kept her mouth shut. They’d try it this way and she’d ask him at the end of the day how he was feeling. Maybe it was better to just walk around with one crutch for him.
Their first stop was a Toy’’R’’Us, because they wanted to get something for the kid at the hospital. Jane was still impressed and touched that he wanted to do this. Nobody expected him to du such a thing. He hadn’t even promised the kid anything, yet he still wanted to go to the store himself and find something to make the time at the hospital for the little boy a little more endurable.
Finally they found a couple of things from The Avengers movie. Viktor reached for an action figure and took a closer look at it. There was a lot of stuff that came with Hulk that you could play with. Man, he would have loved one like this one as a kid. Nathan would probably like it as well. He looked over at Jane who was holding a little plush Hulk doll in her hands.
“How about we take them both?” Viktor said and took the plush doll from her with a grin on her face. “That way he has one to play with and one to cuddle with at night.”
“I was just thinking the same.” She gave him a kind smile before they moved on to the register. He could have spent hours there looking at toys and stuff, but they had to buy groceries and he shouldn’t be on his feet too much. It was important that he put his leg up and put ice packs on his knee to fight the swelling.
Jane took the bag. Viktor wanted to wrap the two things himself. Granted, he wasn’t very good at this kind of thing, but he still wanted to do it.
Their next stop was the supermarket. Jane took one of the carts and walked inside with Viktor by her side. She’d made a list previously so she knew what she would need. Viktor put a couple things in the cart as well, things he needed. Jane was mainly responsible for the food. Of course she couldn’t know what Viktor needed. They hadn’t talked about this.
They were on their way to the check-out when Jane noticed a man speaking very loudly. She turned around to see him nearly screaming at a young girl. She was maybe six or seven. The man’s face was red from scolding the child, probably his own daughter. The girl was crying and staring at the floor.
“You always have to make me angry,” the man said through clenched teeth.
“I’m sorry, Daddy.” Her voice was barely there, her whole body trembling. She flinched at the slightest movement from her father.
“You never learn, do you?”
When he raised his hand, Jane lunged forward and gripped his arm to keep him from hitting the girl. Red-faced and completely surprised he looked at her.
“You won’t hit this child. I don’t care if she’s your daughter, because there is no reason to hit a helpless child.” Jane’s heart was racing and she slowly let go of his arm, even though she wasn’t sure what he’d do now. Well, as long as he hit her instead of the kid now, she’d be fine with it. Suddenly she felt something wrap around her leg. When she looked down she saw the blond head of the little girl, that now clung to her leg.
“This is none of your business. Get away or I can’t promise not to hurt you, lady.”
She knew that he didn’t have any problem with hitting her, but she didn’t care. Someone had to protect the girl, who couldn’t defend herself because she was still too young. At least Jane could fight.
“How about you leave her alone.”
Jane looked up to see Viktor standing next to her. Meanwhile a couple of people had accumulated around them. She could see in their faces that they knew who Viktor was. Great, just what she’d wanted to prevent. She hadn’t thought before she’d stepped in, but sending Viktor back now wouldn’t accomplish anything. He held out his hand to the little girl and smiled at her.
“Come here, you’re safe with me. I‘ll protect you.” Something in his voice must have persuaded her to let go of Jane and grab Viktor’s hand. He looked up at Jane again and said: “Go to the check out and then the car. I’ll take care of this.”
“But-“
“Trust me, okay?” He didn’t let her finish. As much as she wanted to stay there and help, she knew that he was right.
Viktor watched her go before he returned his attention to the man in front of him. The store manager told him that he’d already called security and that they’d be there any minute. Viktor talked to the girl, whose name was Amy until they arrived. Her father was fuming, but two guys kept him where he was and made sure that he didn’t run away. Along with security came a young woman who would take care of Amy. Before he turned to go, though, Viktor gave the lady a piece of paper with his phone number, asking her to call and tell him what they’d do. And they should let him know if he could help in any way.
Now, Jane. With a sigh he hobbled to the car, realized that she’d already put everything in the trunk and got in. When he looked at her she quickly brushed away the tears. She was probably hoping that he hadn’t seen that.
Back in the supermarket she’d stunned him by reacting so quickly. And the determination in her eyes had shocked him even more. It was good that she’d stopped this man, but she could have gotten hurt herself.
“Are you okay, Jane?” He reached out to brush her hair aside and take a look at her face, but she just turned away from him. Okay, so she didn’t want him to see her face. Why was it such a big deal for her that she’d been crying? After seeing this it was only normal to be a bit shaken up. He had a feeling there was more to it.
“Yes.” She finally said quietly. “Is the girl okay?”
“They’re taking her with them and they’ll let me know what happens. I guess they’ll try to contact her mother and her father had been taken into custody.”
“Okay.” Jane started the car and backed out of the parking slot. Before she started to head to Viktor’s apartment, though, she turned around to face him for a brief moment. “Thanks for helping me.”
“Sure,” he said a little distracted. There was definitely more to this and he’d find out. Not because he had to know, but because he cared. He really wanted to know why she’d reacted that way, why she’d looked so aggressive, ready to rip that man’s arm off and was now crying. But he’d give her some time to calm down first.

Notes

This was a little tough to write, but I hope you still like it