Gamma

Alex was still reeling from the day. What had started out as a normal day with a sunrise photo shoot, ended with an engagement ring on her finger and her taking care of Tyler Seguin.

She felt someone reach out and link her hand with theirs from behind her. She didn’t need to turn around to know it was Jamie. “You know you don’t need to do all this for him,” Jamie said to her as she briefly stopped making a sandwich for Tyler. “He has a broken leg, not a hand.”

Alex rolled her eyes as she turned around. “You know Van would do the same thing for you if roles were reversed,” she pointed out. “Besides, what are you afraid of? That I’m going to leave you to take care of Segs permanently?” she joked.

His thumb moved to brush over her new engagement ring he had placed on her hand after surprising her with a proposal. She hadn’t been expecting him to propose at home before they went out for their planned lunch together. He had expected to catch her off guard, but he hadn’t expected the raw emotion he had seen when he had finally asked her to marry him.

“Nah, this thing means you’re mine forever,” he said against her ear with a smile on his face.

“Exactly,” Alex replied. “So let me take care of my best friend’s boyfriend while she’s at work,” she said, pushing him away so she could finish making the sandwich.

“Fine,” he groaned.

“I’m worried about Van,” she said suddenly.

“Why? Did you hear from her?” Tyler’s voice rang out from the kitchen doorway.

Alex didn’t know how she hadn’t heard him coming down the hallway with his crutches. “No,” Alex shook her head. “She’s just been through a lot today...as have you,” she waved towards him. “What are you doing walking around?” she chastised.

“Needed my pain meds,” he told her. Alex was impressed how coherent he was even on heavy pain killers. She wondered if his worrying about Savannah kept him sober.

“I’ve got them right here,” she motioned towards the kitchen counter next to the plate. “I was just finishing making a sandwich for you so you can eat before taking them,” she explained, remembering the instructions from Julie, the nurse at the hospital.

“So you haven’t heard from Savannah?” he asked.

“No,” Alex said softly. “I’m sure she’s still just doing her interrogation. You know she’s not going to make it easy on him.”

Tyler turned towards Jamie who was still standing by Alex. “What do you know about Conway and Tremblay?” he asked suddenly. “I know Savannah had asked you for help with the case, too.”

Alex’s head snapped up to look at Jamie. This was new information to her. “Van got you involved in the case?” she asked. She knew Savannah was protective of outsiders when it came to work. And while she knew she had talked to Jamie about scouts, she didn’t know she had directly asked for information on the case.

“She just asked me about Tremblay and Conway. But I don’t know much about either of them. You know that,” Jamie told Tyler. He then turned to look at Alex. “I wasn’t as involved as Tyler obviously,” he said. “I wasn’t chasing after Conway or anything. Though that bastard deserves what’s coming to him. Dealing drugs to these kids,” he muttered, shaking his head.

Alex looked at Tyler. “You need to get back to bed. Van would be pissed if she knew I let you get up and walk around,” she told him. “Here, I’ll help you,” she added as she walked over to him and handed him his crutches he had leaned against the wall. He groaned, but did as told.

“Alex, you’ll tell me if Savannah’s in trouble, right?” he asked her as he crutched down the hallway towards the guest bedroom, which was on the main floor compared to his room that was on the second. It was Alex’s idea to not have him try to crutch upstairs.

“Yes,” she told him, but it wasn’t trusting enough for Tyler’s liking.

“You know you’d want to know if Jamie was in trouble,” he pointed out, and she sighed, knowing he was right.

“Tyler, she is safe as far as I know,” she told him.

He nodded his head as he reached the bed in the guest bedroom, plopping down on it and letting his crutches fall against the bed. Alex took them and moved them to lean against the wall next to the bed. “I’m going to call my sisters,” he told her. She knew his mom had known he’d gone into surgery and was probably already on her way to Dallas right now.

“Okay, just yell for me if you need anything,” she told him. “And make sure you eat some of that sandwich before you take your meds,” she added, backing out of his bedroom.

She walked back out to the living room to see Jamie standing there. “Why are you worried about Van?” he asked, resuming their conversation from earlier.

Alex sighed. “I just think she’s too involved in this case. It’s been years in the making. She couldn’t catch Sonny Diego when she was in Chicago. And she put everything into catching him there. And now it’s trickled into the NHL and the Stars. And Tyler getting hurt. I just know she’s invested. And you’ve seen her, she just gets so into these cases and will do anything to capture the bad guys. She will do even more now that Tyler’s involved,” she ranted on and on.

Jamie put his hands on her shoulders. “I know you’re worried, but you know Van. She isn’t going to stop going full force. But hopefully this is the break she needs and can wrap this whole thing up.”

Alex buried her head in Jamie’s chest. “I know I’m worrying for nothing,” she mumbled.

“She’s your best friend. You’re allowed to worry,” he said, rubbing her back with his hands.

There was suddenly a knock on Tyler’s front door, and Alex looked up at Jamie curiously. “I’ll get it,” he said, moving to go see who it was.

Moments later, Shea was running inside. “How’s he doing? Van sounded like a mess on the phone earlier,” she told Alex.

“He’s in the guest bedroom,” Alex told her. “Van is at work still,” she added.

Shea moved down the hallway to the room Tyler was in, while Alex followed her. He was just hanging up with one of his sisters when he saw Shea. “Hey, what are you doing here?” he asked.

“For you, you idiot,” she said, gently hitting his arm. “Decided you wanted a little sympathy attention from Van? You know you could do a lot safer things for that,” she teased.

Tyler smiled at her. “When do I ever go for the easy way of things?” he replied.

“How are you feeling?” Shea asked sincerely.

“I’ve got Alex waiting on me hand and foot, what could be better?” he grinned at Alex. He leaned in towards Shea. “Between you and me, I think she may leave Benn for me before the night is over.”

Alex rolled her eyes but was happy that Tyler felt well enough to continue with his dumb jokes. “I’m pretty sure Van would kill anyone that even attempted to steal you away,” Alex told him.

“And that fiancé of yours wouldn’t allow it anyways,” Tyler said. “Good thing he finally bought you that ring and proposed to make it official or we’d be eloping tonight,” he winked at her.

Shea spun around and spotted the ring immediately. Her eyes went wide as she shrieked. “It’s about time!” she exclaimed.

“Hey can we remember the guy that just had surgery on his leg?” Tyler called out, bringing the attention back to him.

A phone started ringing, and Alex realized it was Jamie’s. He was pulling his phone out of his pocket and showed her the screen. “It’s our GM. I need to take this,” he told her. Alex simply nodded her head as he excused himself from the guest bedroom.

“Shit,” Tyler muttered from the bed. “He’s probably calling Jamie to get details about me and this damn surgery. I’m fucked.”

Alex felt sympathy for him. She knew he hadn’t intended on getting injured or needing surgery. “It’ll be fine,” she said as both hers and Shea’s phone buzzed at the same time so they knew it had to be Savannah texting them.

Tyler noticed them both going for their phones. “Is she okay? Why isn’t she texting me?” he demanded.

Alex read the text and then looked at Tyler. “She’s asking for an update on you,” she told him. “Want me to tell her you’re talking about eloping with me?” she teased. She knew Savannah would want a straight answer, already being worried enough about Tyler.

“Ask her for an update. If Conway is behind bars for good yet,” he told her. “Wait. I’ll just ask her myself,” he said, grabbing his phone and starting to text her.

Alex went back to the group conversation and quickly sent a response. He’s fine, worried about you.

Shea: Can we get an update?

Savannah: I just finished interrogating him. He’s waiting on his lawyer before he talks. I think he might take a plea deal. He knows he’s fucked.

Alex: When will you be coming back?

Alex: I love Segs and taking care of him but all he wants is you.

Savannah: I’m doing the paperwork now and then leaving. Liam and Mallory are going to help me and stay later.

Shea: Let us know if there’s anything we can do!

Savannah: Alex taking care of Tyler is more than enough. I’ll let you know when I’m leaving

Alex: Text Segs. Pretty sure he won’t sleep until you do.

Alex didn’t get a response and hoped she was just texting Tyler. Jamie quietly came back in and stood behind Alex. It didn’t take Tyler long to notice and question him. “So how bad is it?” he asked, keeping his phone in his hand.

“I tried to just say you fell and broke your leg, anyone can have an accident,” Jamie told his friend. “But there’s cameras in the rink so they saw exactly what happened.”

Tyler leaned his head back against his pillow and groaned. “Fuck. So what did they say?”

“They’re not happy, obviously. But after explaining to them about Conway, I think they’re more focused on figuring out PR-wise how to make that look better. A drug dealer on your staff isn’t exactly a PR dream,” Jamie said.

“So what does that mean for me?” Tyler asked.

“You’ll be getting a call from Nill. But in the end, a slap on the wrist and a small fine. They’re more just concerned you heal properly and quickly. And like I told them, you’re smart with your rehab and you do everything you can to get back on the ice as quickly as possible, no matter the timeline any doc gives you,” Jamie told him.

Tyler let out a sigh of relief. Alex could tell that really had been worrying him. “Thanks for sticking up for me,” he said to Jamie.

“I’ve always got your back,” Jamie replied. “You do need to get some sleep, though, buddy,” he told him. “Sleep is the best thing for recovery right now.”

Alex gave Jamie a small smile, happy for his help with Tyler. “I’ll be here until Van gets here. But Jamie’s right, you need to get some sleep. Did you take your meds?” she asked, looking next to him to see his sandwich and pills still sitting there.

“I will,” he said but made no move to grab them.

Shea helped him out, reaching over and handing it to him. “Here you go. And thank you.”

Tyler looked at her curiously. “For what?”

“For being so good to Van,” she told him sincerely. “I know she can be frustrating at times. And we all hate her job sometimes. But thank you for standing by her and being there for her. Even if you break your leg in the process,” she added.

“People are dumb when they’re in love. Ain’t that right, Jamie?” he said, looking up at him.

Jamie laughed. “For once, I think you’re right,” he admitted. “We do dumb things when we’re in love,” he agreed.

Shea suddenly looked over at Alex and Jamie. “Why don’t you two go home and celebrate the engagement?” she suggested, getting excited at the mere mention of them being engaged. “I’ll stay here with Segs until Van gets here.”

Alex shook her head. “No, I’m fine staying,” she told Shea.

“Ladies, no need to fight over me. I’m a taken man,” Tyler spoke up.

“Please get some sleep,” Alex pleaded. “I’ll wake you up when Van gets here,” she promised.

“Fine,” Tyler sighed. “Let me take the meds first. My leg hurts like a bitch,” he admitted, grabbing the sandwich Alex made and taking a bite. “This is good,” he commented with his mouth still full.

Alex chuckled while watching him. “Good,” she smiled at him. “Finish that and then take your pain meds and yell for me if you need anything.”

“Thanks, Alex,” Tyler said as she walked out of the room with Jamie and Shea.

As soon as they were in the hallway, Shea turned towards the newly engaged couple. “So do I get to hear the whole story of how he proposed!?” she asked excitedly.

Alex smiled. “When Van gets here,” she promised.

“Aww come on! Can you at least tell me if he was super romantic?” Shea requested, pretending that Jamie wasn’t standing right there.

“He was perfect,” Alex said simply, glancing at Jamie and giving him a small smile.

Jamie turned a light shade of red. “If you’re good here with Shea and Segs, I’m going to go and try to do some damage control with Coach,” he told Alex.

She looked at him curiously. “I thought you said he’d get a slap on the wrist.”

“He will,” Jamie replied. “But Coach is pissed right now and sometimes his temper gets the best of him. I’m just going to try to help Segs not get ripped a new one,” he explained.

“Okay, I’ll see you later,” Alex told him.

He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you at home. Call me if you need me to come back and help at all. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she said, watching him walk out of Tyler’s house.

“So how does it feel to be engaged after all this time?” Shea asked her.

Alex smiled. “Better than you could imagine. Now if Van can catch Sonny Diego and we can put all this behind us, maybe we can start planning a wedding,” she said. She couldn’t enjoy being engaged until she knew all the people closest to her were safe and sound. And until Sonny Diego and all his cronies were behind bars, no one was safe.

Notes