Every Second Counts

“Please?” I begged, looking up at Kris as he grabbed his coat off the couch and put it on, getting ready to go to morning practice before their game tonight. I had been sleeping at his condo since I had been released from the hospital, mainly because Kris was worried that I would get the urge to go to work in the middle of the night, and he wanted to be there to prevent me from doing so. In all honesty, I didn’t blame him too much. It sounded like something I would do.

“No,” Kris said, putting his hands on either side of my face and kissing me softly.

“Please?” I asked again, beginning to sound like a child asking her mother if she could get some candy. “Please? I just want to go to the lab. I won’t even go out to a crime scene,” I said, trying to convince Kris to let me go visit the crime lab. I was having some major withdrawal from the place, and I just needed to be there for a few hours.

“I’m sorry, Mar, but you heard the doctor. No work for a week. You’ve only got two more days left. Forty-eight hours. You can wait forty-eight hours,” he told me, walking towards the door, his hand on the doorknob.

“But,” I began.

“No,” Kris interrupted. “Oh, and I got tickets to tonight’s game. Were you wanting to come?” he asked me, opening the door but staying where he was standing, waiting on my answer.

“Are you kidding me?” I asked him. “Of course I want to go. I need to get out!” I exclaimed. “Do you think you could get one for Fi?” I asked hopefully. “She has tonight off, and you know how much she loves going to games, and she hasn’t been in a while,” I explained.

“Already got her one,” Kris smiled at me, and I smiled back, loving that he thought about Fiona. “And, no, you can’t go to the crime lab. But, Fiona can bring you up to date on all the cases tonight when you two go to the game, okay?” he asked me.

“Fine,” I pouted. “Bye,” I added as he shut the door behind him. I ran back to the bedroom, grabbing my cell phone off of the dresser next to the bed where I had placed it the night before to charge and walked back out to the living room, dialing Fiona’s number on the way, not caring that she was at work right now.

“Fiona Bellamont,” she answered.

“Hey, Fi, are you busy right now?” I asked her.

“I’m just looking at some pictures, but I’ve always got time for you, Mar,” she said, and I couldn’t help but smile. “What’s up? And, before you even ask, no you can’t come back to work yet, even though I miss you dearly.”

“You sound like Kris,” I muttered.

“You know, I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be mean or not, but I’m going to take that as a compliment,” she told me, and I laughed at her.

“Anyways, what I called about,” I said, getting back to the main point, and Fiona was quiet for a moment, waiting to hear what I had to say. “What are you doing tonight?” I asked, knowing she wouldn’t have any plans since Parker was working. I felt bad for those two when they were on opposite shifts like they were right now. The only time they saw each other was when one came into work, only to relieve the other one. Since I wasn’t able to work right now, everyone had to work a few more hours every day, meaning Fiona and Parker saw each other even less than before.

“Nothing,” she sighed. “Why? You want to do something? Want to come over and we can watch the Hawks game?” she suggested, and I couldn’t help but smile at my best friend’s love of the Blackhawks.

“Well, we could do that,” I said trailing off. “Or, we could go to the game,” I said, and I could hear her take a deep breath.

“Seriously?” she asked me excitedly.

“Yep, it’s part of the perks of having a player as my boyfriend. He got me a couple of tickets, and I thought maybe you’d want to go with me,” I told her.

“You, Mara, are my most favorite person in the whole entire world!” she exclaimed, and I laughed at her. “Seriously, I love you. And Kris. I love the both of you.”

“So, I can pick you up at your place at six then?” I asked her.

“Yeah, that sounds great. I get off of work at five, so that sounds good. As long as we don’t get a call at 4:55,” she added, and I knew there was a real possibility that that could happen. I had been called to a crime scene minutes before I was about out of there on countless occasions, and I only hoped that it wouldn’t happen to Fiona. She hadn’t been able to go to a game in a long time, and it was about time that she went.

“I’ll keep my fingers crossed,” I promised her before she told me she had to go. “I’ll pick you up at six,” I repeated before hanging up the phone.

I spent the rest of the day watching television, having nothing better to do with all the time I had on my hands. Kris came home and took his pre-game nap before he got dressed up in his suit and tie to head back to the rink. I jumped up from the couch when I saw him make his way into the living room, and I met him by the door, grabbing his tie in my hands. “Well don’t you look awfully handsome,” I smirked up at him.

“Thank you,” he said, leaning down and giving me a kiss before handing me an envelope. I looked down at it curiously, wondering what it was before he said, “Tickets.”

I nodded my head, opening it up to see the tickets, only to have my eyes widen and my jaw drop as my gaze went up to my boyfriend. “Kris, you realize these tickets are three rows from the glass, right?” I asked him, shoving the tickets in his face, wondering if he had given me the wrong tickets. He started laughing at me, and I looked up at him, wondering just what was so funny.

“Yes, Mar,” he said, pushing the tickets away from his face. “I’m well aware that these tickets are three rows from the glass. And, they’re yours and Fi’s. Enjoy,” he said, giving me one last kiss before stepping around me and out the door.

An hour and a half later, Fiona and I were making our way into the United Center with me leading the way. I hadn’t told Fiona where our seats were located, wanting her to be surprised when she finally learned just how close to the ice we were going to be. Sure, Fiona had been to plenty of hockey games in the past. But, she had always purchased her tickets, and never had she bought tickets this close, normally sticking with seats a lot further up.

“Mara, just how close are we?” Fiona asked as I began walking down the steps.

I turned around, just smiling at Fiona. “We’re almost there,” I told her, finally stopping three rows behind the glass. When I turned around again to look at Fiona, she had a shocked look on her face.

“Give me those tickets!” she exclaimed, snatching the two tickets out of my hand and looking at them. “Oh. My. God,” she spoke each word slowly. “You know, Mara, if you weren’t in love with Kris, and I wasn’t in love with Parker, I would so marry Kris right now. He is perfect.”

I started laughing at her. “He’s not perfect,” I told her, shaking my head. “But, he is pretty close,” I smiled. “Now sit down and get comfortable,” I said, pushing her down into the seat.

Two periods later, the Blackhawks were shutting out the Blues four to nothing, and I was getting irritated by two girls that were sitting on the other side of Fiona. They couldn’t have been older than eighteen, and they were talking about all the things they wanted to do to the Blackhawks players in the privacy of their own bedrooms. The one closest to Fiona began talking about Kris and of her plans to take him home and show him the time of his life, and Fiona was biting back her laughter as she saw me clench and unclench my fists multiple times, trying to restrain from saying anything to either of them.

I stared out at the ice, watching the game, when I heard Fiona say, “Just a word of advice. You might want to stop talking about what you’re going to do to Kris Versteeg when his girlfriend’s sitting right there.” I took my eyes away from the glass to see Fiona pointing to me, and I gave them a small wave, letting them know that Fiona was telling them the truth.

“Her?” the girl who had been talking about Kris questioned, looking me up and down as she flipped her dyed black hair behind her shoulder. She looked at her friend before looking back at me. “I could take the little shrimp.”

I saw Fiona bite her lip, knowing this girl had just pissed me off even more by commenting on my petite size and underestimating just how strong I am. “I have a place where I’d like to take you,” I began, reaching in my pocket.

“Oh, is that the best you can come up with?” the girl asked.

“This is the best I can come up with,” I retorted, flashing my police badge at her. At this point, Fiona was howling with laughter as the girl instantly quieted up and sunk back in her seat, keeping her comments to herself for the rest of the game.

When the game ended with the Blackhawks winning five to zero, I grabbed Fiona’s hand and navigated my way through the crowd towards the locker room. We were stopped by the security guard, and I told him my name, figuring Kris had added my name to the list of people allowed in. “There’s no Mara McNamara on the list,” the guard told me, and I tilted my head to the side.

“Are you sure?” I asked him. “I’m Kris Versteeg’s girlfriend,” I explained.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” he scoffed. “So are thirty of the people behind you,” he rolled his eyes.

“Fine, don’t believe me,” I sighed. “Maybe this will convince you to let me in, though,” I said, pulling my badge out for the second time tonight.

“Oh, go on in,” he said, and I did as he said, turning around, seeing him stopping Fiona. She followed my lead, grabbing her badge and showing it to him, and he immediately let her in, too.

“Mara,” I heard Kris call out, and I walked to his locker, Fiona following me.

“Hey,” I said, giving him a quick kiss. “Congrats on the win,” I smiled. “Oh, and thanks for putting me on the list to get in here,” I added sarcastically.

“Shit,” Kris muttered, realizing he had forgotten. “How’d you get in then?” he asked. I showed him my police badge, and he nodded his head. “Ohhhh,” he said, understanding.

“Yeah, I think you might want to take that thing away from her when she comes to games from now on,” I heard Fiona say from behind me. “She uses it much too much.”

“What?” Kris asked, looking at Fiona, who then launched into the story of the girl sitting next to Fiona during the game. “That’s my girl,” Kris said, kissing my temple.

“Don’t encourage her!” Fiona exclaimed.

“Oh, like you wouldn’t have done the same thing if some chick was talking about Parker like that. If some girl was talking about all the ways she was going to have sex with him, you wouldn’t have done the same thing?” I questioned, raising an eyebrow at her. Fiona didn’t say anything, and I smiled, knowing I had won the argument.

“You know, I kind of like this possessive side of you,” Kris joked.

“Please, don’t think it had anything to do with you. I just miss work and being able to flash my badge all the time,” I said with a straight face.

“Sadly, I think that’s a very good possibility,” Fiona said, and Kris nodded his head in agreement.