Dangeruss & Tazer

With minutes to spare and Patrick still thrashing about in horror, the group launched into the hospital wing, zooming into the room beside Jermaine’s. Jonathan still gripped tightly to Patrick’s hand, but was shoved away by the medical staff.

“That’s my friend in there! He needs me!” the captain shouted, trying to push past a trio of nurses, who blocked his path.

“He’ll be fine.”

“But--” Jonathan broke off as he heard the ear-splitting screech come from Patrick, before a thunderous thudding noise was heard. Jonathan peered between two of the nurses and saw his best friend, lying unconscious on the stretcher. The lead doctor had a syringe in his hand and the Blackhawk leader deduced that he had “put Patrick out.” He set the syringe to the side and ordered his aid to move the limp man onto the bed and get him set up.

Jonathan backed away and Russell grabbed his new hockey friend, pulling him to the seats. They sat down, spotting the equally nervous pair of Patrick Sharp and Mike Rob, who came over.

“You found him!?” Mike remarked.

“Yeah.” It was Russell who responded.

“Is he okay? Is he gonna make it?” Patrick, the prankster, demanded to know.

“I don’t know. He’s pretty weak and emotionally and mentally scarred from his traumatic experience with Avery and Crabtree.”

“The Blood Brothers,” Russell tacked on.

“Well, he’d better survive and be okay….otherwise, who am I going to pick on for the goal lead in Chicago?”

Jonathan gave him a look. Patrick Sharp was seriously fretting. He began to pull at his luscious dark brown curls on his head. The model-like man was actually really upset and depressed.

“Who will I not stick my hand out for, when they score a really important goal just to one-up me?” He continued on, “And whose merchandise will I be able to feast on?”

“Sharpie, Kaner’s going to be fine,” Russell spoke. “I know he will.”

Jonathan shook his head. Doubt was creeping into his mind and he wasn’t so sure. He kept tossing glances to the ER room, where his best friend lay. He sighed heavily and then muttered, mostly to himself, “Please me okay, Peekaboo, Chicago needs you and I refuse to play hockey alone.”

After several minutes of uneasiness, the doctor came out of the room and walked over to them. His facial expression didn’t reassure the quartet of anything, until he spoke, “Thank you for waiting. Patrick Kane lost a lot of blood, even though we found no traces of any wounds on him. There were a bunch of red marks and damaged tissues, but the good news is he will live. The bad news, may be that the old Patrick Kane is no more.”

Jonathan jumped to his feet. “What does that mean?”

“I mean, he’s been through a traumatic event, so he may be prone to night-terrors and occasionally mental slip-ups on the ice, but I believe he will be okay. It really just depends on him.”

“Can-can I s-see him?”

The doctor grinned. “Of course.”

Jonathan started to walk forward, only taking two steps, when he halted in place. The doctor had stepped to the side out of the way and Patrick Kane, in one piece, stood in the doorway. He had bandages covering his wrists and ankles, where the scratchy ropes had binded him and had stitches on his face, but he looked normal. He was beaming as he stood there.

“Peeksy?” Jonathan slowly smiled, laughing out of relief. He dashed forward and wrapped his arms around his friend.

Patrick returned the gesture, gentler. “I’m so happy to see you, Tazer. The whole time I was held captive, I never once lost hope. I knew you would come and save me.”

“I’ll always be here for you, buddy. You are my best friend and I never want anything to happen to you. We are in this thing together, Peeks.”

The two men broke apart from each other and locked eyes. Jonathan could tell that Patrick was grateful to have him as a friend. It had never been as more evident to him, as it was at that moment. Sure they were friends and acted almost like brothers. Sure they were close and had been roommates and were mirror images of each other. And sure they often hung out and expressed how much they were proud to be playing on the same wonderful team. But it was never this magnitude of gratefulness that shined in the blue eyes of Chicago’s blonde superstar winger.

Patrick’s eyes twinkled, as he dipped his head and spoke with maturity and wisdom, “We started this journey together and we will end this journey together...in Chicago.”

Jonathan smiled and put his arm around Patrick. They walked back over to the group. Patrick eyed his prankster friend, who had found himself another of the protein bars and was munching on it.

“Hey, Sharpie, is that MY merchandise?” the blonde man asked the brunette with a slight scolding edge to his voice.

“Okay, okay, it is, you got me!”

“He’s been indulging himself with them, since your disappearance, man.”

Patrick cocked his head and struck a rather cute pose, as he reached out and patted his friend on the shoulder. “Aww, thanks Sharpie that speaks volumes to me.”

“Whatever.” The prankster took another bite of the bar and moaned with pleasure.

They all laughed.

Russell looked to his teammate, “How’s Chop Chop?”

Mike gazed distantly at the room next door. Patrick’s eyes shimmered with hope, as he remembered the man who had laid down his life, wanting to help him out, back at the warehouse. The man who had been shot in the leg and then stabbed.

“Jermaine’s gonna be fine, they finished dressing his wounds and removing the bullet from his leg. He’s just sleeping right now.”

Patrick looked the football players in their eyes. “I would like to see him. I probably wouldn’t be standing here if not for him.”

“Of course, Patrick,” Mike said and led the blue-eyed hockey player into Jermaine’s room.

The wide receiver blinked awake and sat up, as they entered. He smiled as he saw Patrick. “Well, well, well, they managed to save you! I hoped that they would.”

Patrick closed the door, behind him, letting Mike know it was okay. The bald man turned and went back to the others. The blonde man spun back to his NFL double and slowly made his way up to the bed.

“I hoped that you had escaped and made it. I wasn’t so sure given the amount of blood you had lost. But I’m glad you were able to find Tazer.”

“Not just Tazer. It was Dangeruss who found me in the woods.”

“Dangeruss?” Patrick cocked his head and raised an eyebrow in bewilderment.

“Russell Wilson.” Jermaine heaved himself up more, wincing slightly in pain.

“Oh, the quarterback. Yeah, he and Tazer make a great cop duo, don’t they?”

“I heard they called themselves Dangeruss and Tazer.”

“Dangeruss and Tazer...that’s pretty catchy.”

“It is. But once I recover here, we - unfortunately - have to split ways. Football players have their season coming up here soon and the doctor said as long as I get rest, my body is pretty quick at recovery, so I should be ready to go by the start of the season.”

Patrick patted him on the arm, gently. “That’s great news!”

“Yeah. It was great getting to know you, Patrick Kane. I’ll be sure to look for you in hockey games and root you on!”

“You do that and I’ll make sure to root for you and the Seahawks. I chose the wrong team to cheer for in the SuperBowl apparently, but I suppose we ‘Hawks teams gotta stick together, eh?”

“Yeah.”

The door to the room creaked open and Jonathan stuck his head in. “Wrap it up, Peeks, we got to go let Coach Q know you are okay. I can’t imagine what that poor old man is experiencing right now.”

“Right, Tazer. Give me a second!”

“Okay. But make it fast!”

Patrick watched his friend close the door once more. The blonde hockey player turned back and bid farewell to his new football friend, with a secret handshake. “Be safe, Jermaine and thank you again!”

“Same to you, Peekaboo.” Jermaine winked, as Patrick whirled around and walked out of the room.

Mike and Russell bid farewell to their better halves as well. The prankster was still nibbling on his energy bar, as he hugged Mike.

“We make a great team, you and I, Jonathan Toews.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Russell Wilson, but feel free to stop by Chicago anytime. Peeks and I will always be here!”

“Right!” Patrick exclaimed, as his friend pulled him in for a hug once more, almost ripping his arm out of his socket. “Easy there Johnny.”

“For now Dangeruss and Tazer are done, but should the need come to save you again, Patrick, I won’t hesitate to jump on a plane and come back to help out!” Russell stated, winking at the younger man.

“Who said I’ll need to be saved again?”

And with that, good-byes were said and the Blackhawks left the emergency wing of the hospital. The Seahawks eventually collected Jermaine and left for the airport.

It was back to normal….except it wasn’t….

Notes

And everyone take a deep breath, through the nose....ready....
Here comes the final chapter of D&T. Thank you to all of my readers and "fans" I really appreciate you reading this and baring with me though this lengthy tale.
I also hope you managed to not lose hope with Kaner....poor guy.
I remember first getting this idea and now it has come full circle.
Here is the last and final chapter of this story...

There is an Epilogue, but this is the end. :D