Beside You

Just a few days after Madison was moved to New York, the Rangers were hosting the Penguins. The hospital room that housed the youngest Staal at the moment had seen a few visitors already and cards and little presents were piling up quickly. Next to Madison’s parents Marc was the most frequent visitor, he made sure that he came by even if just for half an hour every day. Sometimes a teammate or two came with him.

With a day between the Islanders and the Rangers game, Jordan made sure to spend some time at the hospital as well. He, too, brought a few teammates.

“Hey Mom,” the blonde giant said quietly, not wanting to disturb his mother, who looked quite worn.

“Hello Jordan,” Linda smiled softly and stood up to give him a hug.

“Is it okay if they go in for a few?” he asked, nodding towards Kris, Max, Sidney and Marc, who were waiting a little further away.

“Of course,” Linda nodded. “But I need to tell you something first.” That sentence made Jordan’s heart drop, but his mother kept the smile on her face.

“What?”

“She’s starting to wake up.” That sentence jumpstarted Jordan’s heart and made it hammer faster in his chest.

“Really?” he said hopefully and she nodded. For a moment he was overwhelmed by all the emotions he felt, but then he grinned. Maddie was starting to wake up, just like he had known she would. Staals always got up once more than they got knocked down.

“She’s starting to wake up,” he told his teammates happily, who all shared his sudden cheer. One by one each of them went in and spent a few minutes with Madison. Marc would later find quite a bit of Penguins memorabilia scattered around the room...

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“Wohooooooooooo!” with the loudest scream, or should we say war cry, that Maddie and Taylor could possibly produce they ran down the dock and jumped into the water, producing a huge splash. The two girls laughed loudly when Sam, Sidney’s dog, jumped in as well, swimming around them.

“C’mon, Sid, don’t be boring!” Maddie called out her brother’s teammate. Since the first time the two girls had met at a game their big brothers had played in Pittsburgh, they had gotten along great and used some time of the summer break to visit each other and hang out whenever possible.

“Maybe later,” Sidney called back to them, laughing, and disappeared back into his house.

“Oh well,” Maddie shrugged. “It’s more fun without him anyway.” Taylor laughed and for quite a while the two swam and had fun in the water.

“Look at you two, your lips are all blue,” Sidney shook his head as the two came back inside to get changed. “No, Sam, outside!” he said to the dog sternly, as it went to trot inside, following the girls.

There was only an age difference between Taylor and Madison of two years and the girls got along great. Coming to Cole Harbour was a great time for Maddie, escaping her brothers who were all home for summer. The year before Abby had come with as well, but this year the Cole Harbour visit had coincided with Abby’s family vacation and Madison had come alone.

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“And she buries it! Staal wins by three points as the time runs out!” Maddie shouted, raising her arms and her stick above her head as she ran a victory circle around the net that one of Sidney’s buddies had tended to. “Only takes the little sisters of NHLers to bet cha, Kid,” she grinned at the brunette and bumped fists with Taylor.

“Nice shot, Mads,” Taylor congratulated her temporary teammate in their game of street hockey. “Which one of your brothers taught you that?”

“Psh, please, I’m a Staal, I’m a natural,” Maddie joked in her most stuck up voice. “I dunno, I just shot, didn’t really think about it.”

“You should be playing, Maddie,” Sidney commented, leaning on his stick. “Think you’d be pretty good.”

“Are you kidding me? My Mom would have died if I’d started, never mind my Dad. His little girl playing hockey, yeah, right. Nah, I’ve always enjoyed watching more than playing. I think I’ve only really played with my brothers a handful of times during winter before everyone went away and stuff,” Maddie shrugged. “Besides, horse riding is more fun.”

Taylor laughed. “You should see him on a horse, like a bag of potatoes.”

“Hey,” her brother protested.

“I know, mine are the same,” Maddie grinned and then put her stick back down to the ground. “Okay, who’s up for another round? If I’m beating him, I’m beating him until he begs for mercy.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Taylor agreed and went back into her goal.

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Madison waking up wasn’t something that happened from one moment to the other, it was a process. It had started out with her hands twitching a little, some movement from her limbs, then she began moving her head a little and her eyelids fluttered like she wanted to open them but was too tired. Within a few days she would hopefully open her eyes and respond to the voices of her family or to the doctors’ questions. All of these were good signs and the hope grew.

Madison’s parents barely left the hospital, not wanting to miss the moment she did wake up and Marc spent as much time there as he possibly could. They were all on first name basis with the nurses and especially the younger ones didn’t mind seeing so many of the players around their ward.

It was hard to say what was worse, the waiting to find out if Maddie would wake up or the waiting to be there when she really did. The tests the doctors did all came back generally positive, she was improving and on the best way to in fact waking up. Now it all depended on her body and how much more time it needed to heal.

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“I feel like shit,” Maddie groaned, laying her head on the table.

“Then go back to bed,” Jordan gave back dryly. “Seriously, don’t puke all over my kitchen.”

“Thanks for your heartwarming concern, brother,” she sighed and carefully slipped off the chair at the breakfast bar. “I’ll just be puking my guts out in the bathroom, don’t worry about me.” She waved a hand in the air as she slowly made her way back to the guest bathroom.

Jordan let out a deep sigh. Having Maddie in Pittsburgh for a weekend was okay, but now that she was sick, he was annoyed. It was a game day, they would face the Devils later tonight and he did not have the time or will to dote on her right now. Still, she was awfully pale and as she’d told him she had barely slept in favor of throwing up everything they had eaten yesterday. Which was a shame, because they’d gone to a really good restaurant the night before.

Popping two slices of toast into the toaster Jordan searched his kitchen cupboards for anything that resembled tea. Surprisingly there still seemed to be some leftover from another visit, so he made a pot of that. He was running close to the time he needed to leave for morning skate, but now that he’d started on this, he was going to finish it.

“Mads?” He came into the room slowly, seeing a lump under the covers on the bed.

“I don’t think I’ll make it to lunch with everyone,” she told him in a small, hoarse voice.

“No shit,” Jordan chuckled and put the plate with the dry toast and the cup of tea he’d been holding onto the nightstand. “I made some toast and tea, you should have a lot of fluids and eat something when you feel a little better...”

Madison pushed the covers off her shoulders to look at him. “Thanks,” she said, giving him a look mixed of surprise and gratefulness.

“If you need something while I’m gone, just call Vero. I’ll give her a heads up. If you want me to bring anything back, text me, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed and held still as he surprised her even more by leaning over and kissing her forehead.

“Feel better soon, okay? Gonna need you to cheer us on tonight.”

“I’ll do my best,” she smiled shyly. “Say hi to the guys for me?”

“Will do, now get some sleep, Mads.”

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“You can’t touch it, but I can,” Madison teased in a singy-song voice into Jared’s ear.

“You can’t win it, but I can,” he gave back with a grin and she laughed.

“Who knows? Maybe I’ll be the first girl in the NHL, you never know. I’m a Staal, dude.”

“If you wanted that, you should have started playing years ago,” Jared shrugged and slung his arm around his sister’s shoulders.

“True. I wanted Theo and Lady to have some treats out of the bowl, but Jordan said no,” she pouted then.

“Are you kidding me? Horse slobber all over the Stanley Cup? What kind of dreamland do you live in?!” Jordan huffed, having walked up to them.

“The dreamland where little sisters get their big brothers to do anything for them,” she grinned sweetly. “Please, Jordan.” Jared laughed as Maddie stuck out her bottom lip and made the face he knew none of the brothers could resist, not even Jordan. “Pleaaasssseeeee.”

“Ugh,” Jordan grunted and Maddie jumped up, cheering.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She threw her arms around his neck in a hug and then skipped away, probably to tell their Mom and somehow organize to get her horses and the Stanley Cup together.

“I hate that face,” Jordan sighed, sitting on Maddie’s spot. “You can’t say no, it’s impossible.”

“You’re telling me, man,” Jared agreed. “It’s awful.”

“What’s awful? You two? Definitely.”

“Shut up,” Jordan rolled his eyes at the oldest brother. “Maddie’s pout.”

“Don’t get me started,” Eric groaned. “She can get you to do anything.”

“Yeah, like she got Jordan to allow her to let Theo and Lady have treats from the Cup,” Jared smirked and Eric laughed loudly.

“Sucks to be you, bro.”

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“Mr. and Mrs. Staal?”

After a handful days in New York things were slowly becoming a routine. Linda and Henry would get up, have a quick breakfast and go to the hospital, where they’d spend most of the day with their daughter. Marc would be there when he could, same with his teammates. Now it was a new morning and just as they were about to head to Madison’s room, one of her doctors stopped them.

“Is something wrong?” Linda asked immediately, worry and fear showing on her face. Whenever one of the doctors came to talk to them, she always feared for the worst.

“Not at all, I just wanted to give you a little heads up before you head inside,” the doctor gave a warm smile. “Maddie opened her eyes this morning and as we did a few checks on her she was able to squeeze my hand. She’s conscious.”