"Hey Ty" I greeted, upon opening the door. I gave him a strange look; it was unusual to see him at my apartment without Jamie around.

Adding to the weirdness was that it was four am. I knew their flight to St Louis left around 9 am; why was he up so early?

They had returned from St. Louis with a 1-1 series tie thanks to the amazing efforts from the captain himself. Last night, they had beaten them 2-1 in the second overtime to take the series lead. Tomorrow night, they aimed to win the series in St Louis, 4 games to 3.

"Hey, uh, can I come in for a minute?"

His words sort of surprised me. But, with a shrug, I allowed him entrance to my pretty messy apartment. Id been working a lot of late nights as of late; and the state of my apartment showed that. Typically I tried my best to keep the place clean; but I was so exhausted between late nights with Derek, work, and the playoff hockey I seemed to watch non stop it kind of got left on the back burner. Hopefully tyler didn't mind!

"What do I owe this pleasure?" I asked with a light laugh. "You look like you've seen a ghost" I commented, as we both took a seat on my living room couch. With every moment he stayed on the couch, in silence, I grew more and more worried. Despite being woken up from a dead sleep, I was all of a sudden wide awake.

"It's Jamie's grandmother" he finally blurted out, barely meeting my gaze. I felt my heart shatter; what about his grandmother? I stayed silent, in the hopes that he would continue. "She's in the hospital and- and they don't know if she's going to make it"

The more he spoke the more my heart broke for him.

"Where is he?" I asked, alarmed. I knew how much he cared for his family; how close he was with all of his family members. The thought of him hurting killed me; I needed to make sure he was okay.

"He's at home. I'm worried about him and I figured you'd be the one to help" he offered with a nervous shimmer in his eyes. I loved just how close he and jamie had become once he had moved here from Boston. He was rumoured to be a partying trouble maker; but I had never actually seen that side of him before. He was sweet, caring, and ultimately hilarious; I wouldn't pick better company for Jamie. Not to mention their chemistry on the ice was nothing short of amazing.

"Thanks, Ty. You look exhausted; you should get some rest before your fight"

"Are you sure?" He suppressed a yawn.

"Positive" I smiled, getting up from the couch and stretching. "I'm so glad you both live next door" I added suppressing a yawn of my own.

"Jamie's lucky to have you" tyler mumbled as we walked into the home of him and jamie. Before I could even reply, he was down the hall and in his bedroom.

"Jame?" I knocked on his door lightly. It opened a crack and I peered inside. I noticed a lump on the bed; lying still. Unsure if he was awake I approached the bed slowly, unsure if I would see his awake figure. He was facing the window, covers pulled up over his head. I crouched down to his level, noticing his eyes were very much awake.

"Hales" he croaked, a small smile managing to appear on his lips. "What are you doing here?"

"Tyler told me" I whispered sympathetically. He sighed heavily, closing his eyes. He sat up in bed, revealing his naked chest. I felt my heart rate increase a little bit; he was pretty fucking hot. What the hell? I thought to myself with a grimace; why was I all of a sudden ogling Jamie?

"She had a stroke last night" he sighed heavily. I sat on the edge of his bed, wrapping my arm around his waist and pulling him close to me. "She's not doing so great" he added softly, and I could tell he was trying so hard to hold back tears.

One thing I had never seen in the entire time of knowing Jamie was see him cry. As a tear slipped down his cheek I felt my heart break into more pieces than Id care to admit. I held him closely as small sobs escaped his lips, my heart breaking more and more with each tear he shed.

"I'm so sorry, Jame" I whispered finally, a tear of my own escaping. He sniffed a little bit, lifting his head up from my shoulder. He eyed me curiously, wiping away his tears before gently grazing his thumb over my face to wipe away mine.

"Why are you crying?" Jamie asked, the sadness being replaced with brief concern.

"I hate seeing people I love cry" I whispered, a little embarrassed. "Sorry" I wiped at my eyes, willing the dampness to go away; goddamn why was I such a sap?

"That's really sweet of you, thanks" Jamie smiled to me, the frown leaving his face for a moment.

"Are you tired? Your flight leaves in a few hours; you should get some rest" I told him worriedly; leave it to me to make me sound like his damn mother!

"Exhausted actually" he admitted sheepishly. "But- uh- can I ask a favour?" He avoided eye contact from me.

"Anything" I told him immediately.

"Can you stay with me?" He asked so innocently.

"Of course" I whispered. He scooted over to the other side of the bed, making room for me to climb in. He turned off the lamp he had had on the night table to his left, before settling down into bed a little uneasily.

"Thank you Hales" he murmured. I could tell by the way he spoke just how upset he still was. I reach over and grabbed his hand, holding it tightly in mine.

"I'm here for you Jame, always"

Notes