The Ice Life

The air rushed into Mallory's body like someone had punched her in the gut. The feeling felt like she was reliving the devastating accident all over again.

"Get off of me!"

Mallory thrashed her legs and bent her body in an attempt to escape the arms that were holding her down. The male members of the nurse staff were struggling to keep the brunette calm as other nurses scrambled around the room, reconnecting tubes that had disconnected in the process.

"Mallory!" Milan's voice rang out loudly in the hallway as dozens of footsteps stormed towards the room Mallory was located in.

Milan?! Mallory could recognize the voice yelling in the background, but was in too much pain to manage to open her eyes or cry out. The curtain to the room flew open and a flustered Milan pushed through nurses, ignoring their warnings. He pushed one of the male nurses roughly aside and looked down at a thrashing Mallory with wide eyes. He leaned down and grabbed her roughly into his arms, holding her thrashing form against his chest as the nurses continued to scold him. The rest of the group stood warily behind him, staring wide-eyed at the scene in front of them. Milan kept a firm hold on her, ignoring Mallory's fists that were swinging wildly and making contact with various parts of his body.

"Shh, shh, I'm here. Mallory, please calm down." Milan did his best to soothe his girlfriend, his eyes closed tightly as he ran a hand up her back. Mallory continued to thrash, slowing down as Milan continued to try and calm her. The nurses stared on in awe at what they saw, giving up on their attempt to get the group out of the room and accepting that Milan was the only one that could calm the patient down.

Milan opened his eyes and looked down at the top of Mallory's head, her body ceasing to struggle. He pulled her away from his chest and looked at her face, a tense look seemingly frozen there.

"Can you look at me?" Milan's eyes darted around her face, looking for any sign that she was okay but only seeing signs of pain.

"Please look at me." Milan's voice fell into a hushed whisper as Mallory continued to fight the severe pain surging through her body, her hands tightly fisting the material of Milan's t-shirt. Caitlin walked forward to where Milan now sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at Mallory and then placing a hand on her shoulder. "Mallory, we're all here for you."

As everyone in the room stared at Mallory waiting for any sign of movement, her eyes slowly cracked open, the light leaving her vision blurry.

"Milan-" Mallory's voice was a crack and then the pain took over again, forcing her eyes shut and her body to curl into Milan's chest again. Milan looked up helplessly at the nurses and they snapped out of their state, rushing over and pulling Mallory's body from Milan's arms. A male nurse quickly ushered the group from the room and then swiflty shut the curtain, leaving the group to stare at the material in disbelief.

"She was right here. I felt her." Milan stared down at his hands, his face holding a solemn expression. Kim walked over to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's going to be alright. She's just in a ton of pain. You'll get her back soon enough."

Milan slowly backed away from her all the way to a chair, falling heavily into the seat and continuing to stare down at his open palms. Kris looked to the room to the left of Mallory's and his heart rate picked up, knowing that Sam was behind the curtain, but not knowing what sort of state she was in.

"I think you should go in." Sidney stood next to him and looked at the room, shoving his hands into his pockets as Kris nodded his head. He took a few steps towards the room and took in a deep breath, reaching his hand out and gently pulling the curtain back. The room was dark and eerily quiet except for the beeping of some of the equipment. Kris squinted into the dark and could make out the form of a bed in the far corner.

"Is she in here?" Tyler stuck his head into the room beside Kris' body and earned a glare from the defenseman at how loud his voice sounded. Kris walked forward towards the bed, jumping when someone else's form moved next to the bed.

"She's out cold right now. Not in a coma, but somewhat close to it. She can still hear you if you would like to talk to her, but she just can't respond." The face of a petite, older nurse came into Kris' view and she smiled at him, sliding her clipboard into the case at the end of the bed before leaving the room and shutting the curtain behind her. Tyler looked over at Kris and saw him staring at the bed with his mouth agape. Kris jumped again when he felt Tyler's hand close over his shoulder, shooting his gaze to Tyler.

"Go to her." Tyler gave Kris a subtle smile before turning and walking out of the room. Kris watched him and then turned his gaze back to the bed, walking forward until he was standing right next to it and looking down at the sleeping, unmoving form of Sam.

"What happened to you guys?" Kris sat down in the chair that was located next to the bed and took Sam's hand in his. "Mallory's a violent zombie and you're not yet awakened."

Kris cracked a smile when he realized that statement would have made Sam laugh, dropping it when he saw her emotionless face. He sighed and laid his head on the edge of the bed, closing his eyes and hearing her heartbeat, showing she was still there.

~**~

"Why are you just standing there?!"

Kris' eyes fluttered open when he heard a loud voice echo through the hallways. He slowly lifted his head and looked around, realizing he was still in Sam's room. He looked at her and saw her body in the same state it had been before he fell asleep. He gave her a sad smile before turning his head towards the door when a loud crashed boomed in the hallways.

"Sir! I'm going to have to ask you to calm down-"

"I'm not going to calm the fuck down! She keeps going in and out of what some of you are calling a "somewhat coma" and you're sitting back and watching it happen instead of doing something-"

"Milan, calm down! Please!"

Kris looked back at Sam and squeezed her hand before quickly getting up from his seat and moving towards the curtain, pulling it back and looking out into the hallway. He saw Milan, Caitlin, and a small female nurse standing in a triangle in the hallway. Milan's chest was heaving violently up and down, his eyes narrowed at the stern nurse.

"We are doing as much as we possibly can, sir-"

"It obviously isn't enough!" If Milan was a cobra he would have been spitting as much venom as he could at the nurse, but instead was using his tone as mock venom. The nurse held the bridge of her nose as Caitlin hung to Milan's arm, attempting to pull his large form back. "Get back in there and-"

"Dude, stop!" Kris quickly made his way towards the three, pushing Caitlin gently out of the way and grabbing onto Milan's form. Kris' strength was enough to pull Milan back, wincing when the elbow of his thrashing arm knocked him in the side of the jaw.

"You need to help her!" Kris looked around Milan's form to see most of the hospital staff were now watching the commotion. He steadied himself and tightened his grip on the Boston forward as Geno and Sid came quickly down the hall.

"What the hell happened? We went to get coffee and now it sounds like someone got murdered." Sid whipped his head between Kris' struggling form and Caitlin's terrified one. Both of the Penguins walked forward and grabbed hold of Milan, attempting to pull him from the room. All three of them hauled his thrashing form into a waiting room, pushing him down onto a sofa as Geno slammed the door shut.

"Calm the fuck down, bro! We're all going to get kicked out!" Kris glared at Milan and punched him hard in the chest. Milan looked up at him and matched his glare.

"They're not doing anything to help Mallory! They're just standing around and letting the equipment go crazy as she slips into a coma again and again!" At this point Milan was beginning to lose it, leaning forward and placing his face in his hands. Kris' face softened and he sighed, reaching a hand forward and placing it on Milan's shoulder.

"They're doing the best they can for both of them. You just have to keep the hope that they'll make them better." Kris' words lingered in the room and Sidney walked forward with Geno, both of them sitting in the seats across from Milan.

"He's right. Sooner or later these two are going to be back to their psycho selves and we can leave this god awful place."

~

"You've been eerily quiet over there, Brian."

Kim took a sip of her drink and sent a smirk towards Brian who was sitting in a chair that was smashed against the side of Mallory's bed. He had his arm bent in front of him on the bed and had his chin lying on his forearm, his eyes staring intently at Mallory's sleeping form. "I want to be here when she finally becomes stable," He scrunched his face a bit and shrugged, "I don't know what it is, but for some reason I feel like I have some sort of connection with her."

Kim and Caitlin looked at each other with weary eyes, looking back at Brian. Kim shot him a worried look and wrung her hands around her cup of tea. "You'd better not say that to Milan. As much as I would love to see you two fight to the death, I don't want to see one of you die because the other was jealous."

Brian didn't answer her, but she took his silence as an acknowledgement. Loud beeping suddenly echoed through the hallway and everyone, including Brian, shot their gazes towards the door. Kim quickly got up and pulled the curtain back, sticking her head out into the hallway and seeing some nurses run towards the room next to theirs. "It's coming from Sam's room!"

Kim didn't wait for the others as she ran into the other room, leaving Caitlin to stare after her. She looked over at Brian and then back to the door. Brian's face fell into a look of worry and then he looked back at Mallory. "You go ahead. I'm going to just stay here."

"Are you sure?" Brian nodded at Caitlin and she quickly nodded back, walking swiftly towards Sam's room. When she walked into the room she saw the bed surrounded by three female nurses and Kim, all of them looking down at the form on the bed. Caitlin walked to Kim's side and looked at Sam, seeing her smiling up at her. "Long time no see, Caitlin."

"Oh, Sam." Caitlin smiled brightly at her and then looked around the room, her brow furrowing in confusion. "Where are Kris and the others?"

"They're in the waiting room trying to calm Milan down. Nealer and Flower came in here before and then went to get them." Kim moved around to the corner of the room to get out of the way of the nurses, folding her arms across her chest.

"Is Mallory okay?" Sam looked between the two girls as she attempted to sit up, immediately being pushed gently back down by one of the nurses.

"She's fine. In and out of consciousness--or a coma, they won't tell us--but when she wakes up she wakes up kicking and screaming." Kim smirked at her explanation and Sam laughed, clasping her hands together on her lap.

"That sounds like Mallory." Sam continued to smile until she moved her hand over her torso a bit too rough, wincing and lifting the material of the hospital gown up to reveal her torso tightly wrapped in bandages all the way up to her collarbone. "What the hell happened to me?"

Kim walked forward and swiped the medical board out of the shelf at the end of Sam's bed, flipping through it as Caitlin shot her a stern look for grabbing things she probably wasn't supposed to. "Let's see...three broken ribs, dislocated shoulder, broken wrist, and head trauma. Jesus, woman. Mallory got off easy with a broken arm and a little blood loss--and she was driving."

Sam's eyes cast downward and she scrunched her face in disgust at the spots of blood on her bandages from her head. "Geez...that is a lot-"

"Samantha!"

Everyone looked towards the door to see Kris charging into the room, stopping right next to the bed and scooping Sam up into a hug. "Oh, baby, thank God you're awake."

"Ow..uh, Kris? You're crushing my broken bones." Kris looked down at Sam and gave her a sheepish look, gently letting her lie back on the bed and then standing straight. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a bright smile.

"That's alright, as long as you'll never scare me like that again." Sam nodded at him as Sid poked his head into the room.

"Oh, good she's awake. You'll be happy to know that Mallory finally stabilized. Almost gave Brian a heart attack when she poked his arm while he was asleep. Pretty hilarious actually." He laughed before retreating back into the hallway, leaving everyone to look at each other with wide smiles. Kris beamed at Sam and then placed a hand on her shoulder, looking around thew room.

"Looks like we got our psycho's back."

~**~

"Goddam arm!"

Mallory cursed the cast that was restricting her left arm and kicked a chair, moaning in pain after she realized she only had socks on. Kim rolled her eyes from the living room where she was watching TV. "It would be a hell of a lot easier if you just stayed on bed rest like the doctor told you."

Mallory appeared behind the couch Kim was sitting on and glared, holding a large glass of water in her right hand. "I can't just sit in bed all day. I'll go nuts."

"Too late." Kim mumbled to herself as the front door to the apartment flew open and Brian Wilson came storming into the room. He spotted Mallory standing there glaring at him and jogged forward, pulling her into an embrace.

"What the hell are you doing?" Mallory mumbled into his chest, attempting to break free of the suffocating hug.

"I just came by to see how you were doing. I'm afraid if I'm gone too long you could go back into a coma again," Brian pushed Mallory back to arms length and gave her a smile. "I could also just stay here and be your personal male nurse."

Mallory stared at him and then slowly raised the glass of water to her mouth, sucking a mouthful through the straw and then lowering it back down slowly. "No."

Brian's face fell and he scrunched his face in confusion. "Why not?"

"Because she's got a bigass buffoon for a boyfriend who has some major jealousy issues and would love nothing more than to run you the hell over with his truck when he sees you here." Kim shrugged at him and then smirked, turning back to the TV and continuing to flip through channels.

Brian looked down to the ground. "That's true, but I'm not afraid of him."

Brian shrugged and Mallory rolled her eyes, shrugging out of Brian's grip and walking over to sit down on the large recliner. Sam came slowly down the stairs, moaning something about never getting in a car again. "Life sucks."

"No shit, shorty. Been telling all of you that for years." Kim smirked at her as she glared, turning her attention to Brian who was still standing behind the couch.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in San Fran?" Sam raised an eyebrow at the pitcher as she gingerly lowered herself onto the couch next to Kim, sighing in relief.

"It's the off season, and since I had surgery on my arm I'm just on rehab so I don't need to be there physically." Sam nodded at his explanation, poking the cast on her broken wrist.

"I still don't see why they didn't make you stay. Aren't you a free agent next season or something?" Mallory eyed Brian as she took another drink from her glass. He rolled his eyes and huffed in mock annoyance.

"Yes, but that doesn't start for another few months. Which means," He smirked and jogged over to the couch Mallory was sitting on, smashing his cheek into the side of her face and wrapping his arms around her shoulders. "You may be stuck with me for that long-"

"Hell no! There are enough loud-mouthed morons in this house." Kim slapped a hand to her forehead and groaned, Sam and Mallory glaring at her and screaming out a "hey!" in unison. Kim rolled her eyes as the door to the apartment opened once again with Sid, Geno, and a few of the other Pens' players filing in. "Oh, well, speaking of morons..."

Kim eyed Tyler as he walked in, oblivious to everything. Sid laughed and set down his hockey bag next to the island in the kitchen, beginning to search through the cabinets. "Where's Caitlin?"

"She went food shopping because you eat like a pregnant buffalo." Kim's blunt statement made everyone in the living room burst into laughter, Sid's face a harsh glare from the kitchen.

"Ha, ha, ha, Kim." He gave her another glare as he plopped down on the couch next to her with a bag of chips. All of the Pens took their seats around the living room as Sam scrolled through movies on the screen, arguing with each other over which movie to pick.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Mallory and Brian looked up to the solemn look of James, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. Mallory gave him a skeptical nod and shrugged out of Brian's grip. "Sure. It'll be quieter in my room."

She motioned for him to follow her as she shook her head at Tyler screaming his head off at Marc. Both made the short walk to Mallory's room and then closed the door, Mallory sitting at her desk chair. "What's up, Nealer?"

He stared at her for a few seconds before slowly pacing back and forth in front of the closed door, Mallory raising her eyebrow as he sighed. "Well, I heard a few things, but I don't know how true they are."

"Okay...what did you hear?" Mallory watched him as she placed her arms on the back of the chair, resting her chin on them. He sighed heavily again and placed a hand over his face.

"I don't want you to hate me for telling you this, and I don't want everyone else to hate me-"

"Nealer, what is it?" Mallory stopped him mid-sentence and he bit his lip. "Uh-"

"James tell me right now." At this point, Nealer knew she was serious. Mallory never called him by his first name; only when she was extremely angry or serious with him. He stopped pacing and stared straight at her.

"Milan may have been cheating on you."