Whatever it takes

Charlie walked through the front door, arms laden with grocery bags. She managed to get her way to the kitchen without tripping over the large German Sheppard barking at her feet. She put the bags down on the counter and looked around, the house unnervingly quiet. She quickly put away the perishables before calling out for Alex, getting no answer in return.

Following the faint sound of the tv into the living room she found her charge passed out in front of the television, some Russian soap opera playing in the background. Sighing she nudged the man on the couch, getting nothing but a grunt in return. She was able to shake him awake only for him to glare at her and turn his back, burying himself into the couch and away from her.

“Alex, get up. Have you done your exercises today?”
He mumbled something at her in Russian that she didn’t understand, burrowing further into the leather couch.

“Oh that’s mature. Come on Ovechkin get your ass off up the couch.”
He rolled over and glared at her.

“Oh is that supposed to intimidate me? Because you seriously need to work on your game.”

“Charlie, go away.”

“No chance. Get up and tell me what crawled up your ass and died.”
He groaned and pushed himself up, glaring at the woman to his right as she plopped down on the couch next to him.

“So rude.”

She simply grinned at him and curled her feet up underneath her, gesturing at him to tell him what was on his mind. He sighed and ran his hand through his shaggy hair, his fingers automatically feeling out the small scar from his surgery.

“I think, I not play hockey again.”
The smile fell from her face and she sat straighter, looking straight into his eyes as her jaw clenched.

“Why do you think that?”
He sighed and gestured to his body.

“Look at this. I work hard, all day for month but no result! How I ever get back to be on ice?”

“Alex, you had a serious injury, you were lucky to escape it with minimal damage. Your body just needs to relearn what comes naturally to everyone else but I promise you it’s doable. I don’t know if you remember but when we first started you couldn’t even walk down a flight of stairs. You are improving every day and, if you continue to work with me, I have full confidence that you will be back on the ice eventually. It’s going to take time and a lot of hard work though.”

“You promise?”

She sighed and looked at him, looking like a hopeful little puppy. She never made promises to patients, it was the number one rule of working in the medical field.

“I promise that I will do everything I can to get you back on that ice.”
He sighed and she placed a comforting hand on his knee giving it a friendly squeeze.

“Do you trust me?”

He met her eyes and thought back to the months that she had spent with him. She always knew just how far to push him to get the best results out of him, knowing when to hold back and when to push him to the point that he thought he’d break, only to realize that he wouldn’t.

“Yes.”

“Then trust that I will do everything in my power to make sure you have your old life back.”
He nodded and placed his hand on top of hers, giving it a small squeeze and a smile. But regardless of her words that life seemed so far out of reach.

~~~


The tension in the house had been palpable from the moment Maria and Alex walked into the kitchen. Mikhail and Tatyana had flown back to Russia the previous week, which left only Maria, Alex, Charlie and Ghera the German Sheppard in the house. Charlie had watched over her cereal bowl as the couple gave each other a wide berth, awkwardly making their own breakfasts. She quickly placed her bowl in the sink and hightailed it out of the kitchen, not wanting any part in whatever feud the lovers had with each other, couples therapy was most definitely not in her contract. She made her way to her room, well more like suite and flicked on the television, pulling up HBOgo and catching up on the newest episode of Game of Thrones when a knock game from her door. She called the person in and was only partially surprised to see Maria.

“Hello Charlie. I just wanted to come say goodbye.”

“Oh that’s right! Are you so excited for the tour?”
Maria gave a tight smile and shrugged.

“I guess. I just wanted to thank you for looking after him while I’m gone.”
Charlie smiled sympathetically and nodded her head.

“Of course, it’s my job. Good luck in the tournament make sure to keep me updated.”

She smiled and said her last goodbye before shutting the door. She could hear Alex and Maria talking in rapid fire Russian before the front door was slammed shut. She gave it a couple minutes to make sure the coast was clear before heading back towards the living room, not expecting to find Alex sitting on the couch, hands on his knees and head in his hands, tears running down his face.

She quietly walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder causing him to flinch and pull away from her, hastily wiping the tears from his eyes as he turned around. He yelled something at her in Russian that she didn’t understand before fleeing to his room, the echo of his door slamming reverberating throughout the colossal house.

It wasn’t the first time that Alex wondered why whatever god was out there sought him fit to take this punishment. To torment him by taking away control of his own body. Before the accident he had everything, and now, it felt as if it was all slipping away like sand through his fingers.

When he had finally gotten his memory back one of the strongest memories had been that of Maria, of him getting down onto his knee and asking her to spend the rest of her life with him. He had felt like the luckiest man in the world, and now it was like some cruel joke, giving him happiness only to take it away.

It had been four months since he came home from the hospital, six months since he had been put into it. His therapy couldn’t have been going better, he could feel his body getting stronger everyday, he could see the definition in his muscles when he looked in the mirror after a shower, feel the power that he once had behind them returning slowly but surely.

When Charlie had cleared him for rigorous exercise he had taken that as a green light that he could resume his nightly duties as a fiancé and get back to pleasuring his woman. Maria had been hot and soft underneath him, her wicked tongue driving him crazy as his hands shook while they relearned the soft contours of her body. He had missed this, missed her, and had quickly stripped her of her clothing, her lithe body underneath his causing him to groan as she struggled to get him out of his pants.

He had been so ready for her, so ready to reclaim what was his, only when the time came he wasn’t, or rather his body wasn’t. He had flushed red when her hand curled around his limp dick, mortified that it hadn’t even taken a little interest in what was going on, even after some coaxing on Maria’s part. He had hidden his shame by going down on her, devouring her and making her scream his name with his mouth and hands.

He had blamed it on the medication they had him on, or that it was still too close to the injury and she had nodded along, agreeing with him.

He didn’t have any medication to blame it on when it happened the second time.

Or the third time.
Or the fourth time.

By the fifth time he barely responded to her kisses, leaning away from her as she tried to deepen them and claiming he was tired. He pretended not to hear her disappointed sigh as she rolled over and turned off her light. His heart was beating wildly in his chest and he was certain that he was broken.

The last time had been the night before Maria was going to leave for her three month long tournament tour. She had surprised him with sexy lingerie and a strip tease before climbing onto his lap, grinding down and making a frustrated noise when she didn’t get any reaction out of him. She had tried using her hand, and eventually her mouth and he was so mad, at himself, that he pulled her off and told her just to stop. That had lead to a yelling match about marriage and babies, and how could they get married if they couldn’t even consummate it. She had said some hurtful things and he said even worse right back to her. He ended up spending the night on the couch, hoping that Charlie hadn’t heard any of their arguing from her room in the guest wing.

It hadn’t been fair to yell at her the next morning after Maria had left but he had been so done, so insanely fed up with everything, mostly himself, that he didn’t want to be around anyone. He heard the doorbell but ignored it, listening for the sound of voices as Charlie answered it.

He groaned as someone knocked on his door and Charlie’s head poked in.

“Hey Mr. Grumpy, you have a visitor.”
He scowled at her and shook his head.

“Not here.”

“Too late. Get your ass out here.”

Alex cursed in Russian and threw a sock at her which she skillfully avoided, waiting for him to get off his bed and follow her down the hallway to the family room and his mystery guest.

“Well, well, well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

Alex couldn’t help the grin as he looked at the man in front of him, stepping up to him and getting pulled into a tight hug.

“Zheyna.”
Geno laughed and took a step back looking his friend up and down.

“Looking good, skinny, but good.”
Alex scowled at him and punched him in the shoulder, shrugging his hands off of his shoulders.

“You’re just jealous cause you’re always skinny.”
Geno let out a laugh and Charlie cleared her throat.

“Well, looks like you too have some catching up to do. I’ll be in my room if you need me. It was nice to meet you Geno.”

“Yes, Charlie. You too.”

She grinned and waved at them before walking towards her part of the house. Geno waggled his eyebrows at his friend as she walked away.

“She’s cute.”

Alex snorted and shook his head, there were many words he could use to describe Charlie but cute would definitely not be among them. Stubborn, bullheaded, kind, smart, athletic, and a bit nerdy but definitely not cute.

“She is! You’re just too blind to see what’s right in front of you Sasha.”

“What would Maria think of your opinions Zhenya?”

“Ah, how is the fiancé?”
Alex huffed and sat down on the couch.

“Trust me when I tell you, I really don’t want to talk about it.”

His visit with Geno had put him in high spirits. The Pens were in town taking on the Capitals the following night and Geno had urged him to attend the game. Since his injury Alex had avoided most things hockey related, the sting of not being able to play too much for him and his injured brain. But, as usual, the stubborn Penguin refused to take no for an answer, even calling Charlie out of the comforts of her room to ask if it would be okay, like she was his keeper or something.

Charlie had grinned at Geno and nodded her head, even going so far as to elude to what a great idea it was. Geno had given him a shit eating grin speaking to him in rapid fire Russian as Alex thought of every excuse in the book not to go.

“See even your sexy babysitter says it’s okay.”

Alex glared at his friend, firing back in Russian.

“She’s not my babysitter.”

“But she is sexy,” Geno waggled his eyebrows and Alex growled at him causing Charlie to laugh and shake her head at them.

“I don’t know what you two are talking about but I think it will be good for you Alex. We can get you in a suite so that the noise isn’t too much and you can have a private entrance so you don’t have to deal with any unwanted publicity. It’ll do you some good to finally get out of this house.”

Alex glared at her and muttered ‘traitor’ under his breath which caused both Geno and Charlie to laugh at him.

“I even get you Malkin jersey to wear Sasha! One for Charlie too!”

Charlie laughed even harder and Alex growled at his friend and went to hit him, which Geno easily avoided.

Later that night he was sitting in a private box, complete with privacy glass watching as his team took a sound beating at the hands of the Pens. He could feel the telltale signs of a headache coming on and debated with himself about whether or not he should venture into the locker room, if his team even wanted to see him. Finally deciding against it he glanced to where Charlie sat to his left, eyes alight in excitement regardless of the fact that his team lost.

“You never been to hockey game before?”

Charlie blushed for the first time since he had met her and tried to curb her excitement, shaking her head.

“No. I’ve never been before.”

“But you say you big hockey fan, always wear hideous Islander orange and blue.”
Charlie smacked him playfully and rolled her eyes.

“It’s not hideous, and I was the only one in my family and friends that really gave a shit about hockey so I never had anyone to go with. Then during college and med school I was just too busy.”

Alex’s eyes widened, impressed.

“Med school? You never say you a doctor.”

Her cheeks flooded with heat again in a way that caused Alex’s breath to catch a little bit.

“Um well, you never really asked.”

Alex cocked a grin, raising his eyebrows.

“Impressive. I call you Dr. McGovern now.”

She groaned and shook her head.

“Don’t you dare!”

“Sure, sure doctor.”

“You are seriously, the worst.”

“I best! Ovie always best!”

“Whatever you say, Ovie , are you going to go meet any of your teammates?”

He hesitated, his decision from before already on the tip of his tongue. He doubted any of his teammates wanted to see their absentee captain, especially after a loss, but he couldn’t help but want to impress Charlie with a tour of the very first hockey arena she’d ever been in.

“Sure, you come and I show you how much better Verizon Center is then Coliseum. First off, no asbestos here!”

Charlie laughed and nodded her head, taking Alex’s hand after he pushed himself up on steady legs and following him to the private elevator that would bring them to the locker rooms of the Verizon Center.
He could feel his palms start to sweat as the elevator descended, nervous as how his team would react to seeing the captain for the first time in half a year. Charlie could sense his uncertainty and turned to tell him they didn’t need to go when the elevator doors opened and they came face to face with Brooks Laich, the older man’s face lit up in surprise at seeing his captain and a wide grin spread over his face.

“Ovechkin, you dirty bastard, where’ve you been all my life?”

Alex let out a relieved laugh and was pulled into his alternate captains arms, the man giving him a tight squeeze before letting go and looking him up and down.

“How’s the head, man?”

“Better every day, thanks to Charlie,” he motioned to the woman at his side and Brooks got that look that Alex had seen at many a bar as his gaze roamed over Charlie’s body.

“Eye’s are up here buddy.”

Brooks’ eyes snapped to her amused ones and he let out a laugh, extending his hand in greetings.

“Oh I like this one. Brooks Laich, and you are?”

“Charlie McGovern, I’m Alex’s neurorehabilitation specialist and physical therapist.”

“Well that’s quite a mouthful. So are you the person we should thank for finally getting his ass down here?”

Alex punched his arm in jest, grinning as Brooks smiled at Charlie.

“I just didn’t want to see your ugly faces, make my head hurt even more.”

He let out a laugh and they turned to walk back towards the locker room.

“The guys are going to be happy to see you man, especially after a loss like that. We miss you around here.”

A wave of guilt flooded Alex and he nodded along, walking the familiar route to the locker room, hoping that the rest of the team would be as accepting as Brooks.

“I think all the media have cleared out but do you want me to double check?”

Alex shook his head no, he was going to have to deal with them eventually and apparently today was a day he was up for anything.

They came to the double doors and he felt Charlie squeeze his arm in reassurance, turning to face her he found a small encouraging smile on her face.

“It’ll be okay.”

He nodded, took a deep breath, and pushed through the doors. The chatter in the locker room came to a screeching halt for a split second and he instantly regretted his decision, wondering if he could make a hasty retreat without everyone noticing. Before he could even move the silence was broken as cheers went up around the locker room, Backstrom almost tackling him to the ground in a hug. He let out a sigh of relief and a little laugh as he fielded questions left and right from his teammates about his condition, how he was feeling and if he was going to get back on the ice anytime soon. Alex deflected the questions to Charlie, which she returned with a glare, giving his teammates a round about answer that didn’t really answer any of their questions.

Orlov grinned at her and quickly told Alex that his new babysitter was hot, in Russian, causing Kuznetsov to burst out laughing and Alex to glare at his fellow Russians. They hung around the locker room for a while, talking and laughing with his teammates. Only a few of his closer friends asked anything about Maria and his tight half smile when he answered that she was on tour gave them all that they needed to know.

He had forgotten how much he missed this, missed his team, and by the time him and Charlie were heading out, he vowed to himself to make it to more games and be the supportive captain that he knew he could be.

He finished showing Charlie the rest of the arena, loving the way her eyes lit up as she took it all in. The place had already emptied out, the two of them standing side by side in the tunnel overlooking the ice, she was laughing at something stupid he said and when she turned to look at him his breath caught in his throat. The light coming through the tunnel hitting her eyes in such a way that the blue in them sparkled and for the first time since he had met her he realized that what all of his friends and teammates had been teasing him about was true, she really was undeniably beautiful.

After that night at the arena it was like a switch turned on in Alex, he pushed himself harder and further every day, working with Charlie to push his limits and get him back into skating shape. Unfortunately another switch had been turned on and he started noticing things about his therapist that he hadn’t before. He looked forward to waking up before her, just to see her sleepily stumble her way out of her room, dressed in rumpled sweatpants and a baggy tshirt, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she yawned and stretched. He was entranced by her laugh, the way she threw her head back and her eyes squeezed shut in mirth as she let out a loud belly laugh, his gaze followed the long line of her neck and he caught himself thinking about what the delicate skin there would taste like underneath his lips. He found her absolute obsession with the Hobbit and Lord of the Ring trilogies endearing and even sat through marathons of the movies on rainy days with her, just to see her light up and hear here talk about all the ins and out of filming and the hidden context behind Tolkien’s writing.

It wasn’t until he got a phone call from Maria that he realized he was in some deep shit. He hadn’t talked to his finance since she left, their argument falling to the wayside as Alex struggled to control himself and his newfound obsession with the woman living in his house. But when he heard her voice on the phone, guilt flooded him, his conscious screaming at him that he had put a ring on her finger and he needed to buckle down and work it out.

She sounded tired, no doubt the tour taking a lot out of her, and they made idle chit chat for a couple of minutes until Maria let out a deep sigh and Alex felt dread settle in his stomach.

“Sasha, we need – I need a break.”

His blood ran like ice through his veins, his hand squeezing his cell phone so tight he thought it would break.

“What?”

He could hear the tears in her voice as she continued.

“I think it’s obvious, we just aren’t right for each other anymore. We haven’t even spoke in a month and whenever we talk all we do is fight.”

“Masha, if this is about what happened-“

“It’s not, I just think that we need to be honest with ourselves-“

“Because I can get help for that. There are doctors and-“

“Alex, I met someone.”

The sentence knocked the breath out of him, her voice ringing in his ears as he forced oxygen back into his lungs.

“I’m sorry,” her voice hiccupped as she went on, “I met someone else and we are in love. I didn’t mean for this-“

“You didn’t mean for it to happen? No? You just tripped and fell onto some other guys dick with my ring on your finger?”

“Sasha please!”

“Save it Maria. I’ll send your things to your mother’s house. Don’t contact me again.”

He hung up on her protests, his hand shaking as he stared at the phone clenched in it. Letting out a yell he threw the phone at the wall as hard as he could, getting little satisfaction when it shattered into pieces.
‹ Chapter 1

Notes