My prince in shining hockey armor

The rest of December and January passed by like a blast and I managed to fall back into a pattern of normalcy. The holidays and the Winter Classic kept us all excited, but it was also a period of bonding. The staff and the players got closer, in fact, we all really became a big family. In retrospect, it was exactly what we needed to overcome what fate had in store for us.

Meanwhile, I stopped fighting my feelings and blocking the thoughts of Geno. In fact I started enjoying more our little outings and conversations, I looked at him in a completely different light and it was quite intoxicating. If I couldn’t have him at least I could make the best of our time together, and it was a lot of time.

Then the bad news started with Sid concussion. It wasn’t only that the team was losing one of the star players but we were all seriously concerned for his health. It was strange to see someone so determined and strong be in such a vulnerable position.

What had happened to the team captain became the center of my attention, I was flooded with question from sponsors and media and for days it was all people would talk to me about. And honestly it was the last thing I wanted to be discussing, all I cared about was erasing the dejected look that I had to see everyday on Sid’s face.

It never occurred to me that there was another crisis coming my way.

I rarely ever missed a home game, mainly because monitoring the media that attended was part of my job. But I skipped the game against Buffalo; I had to concentrate on the upcoming match against the Capitals and all the attention those games usually got.

I’d planned on getting as much work done as possible until the game was over; I was going out for a little while with the boys after that. It was a Friday night, so it seemed promising, and Geno was going to be there without his girlfriend who’d gone back to Russia.

Thirty minutes after the game ended I went to the players lounge to wait for the guys. But as I made my way through the arena I realized that something was wrong. The team had won by a goal and I was hoping to see cheery faces but all I could see in the expressions of the staff was worried looks.

“Hey Jen,” I said to one of my co-workers, the girl that had been handling the media that day.

“How did it go?”

“Okay,” she answered, “Except for the Geno situation.”

“What Geno situation?” I asked already knowing that there was no possible way I would get a good answer.

“You don’t know?” She replied disbelievingly and I just shook my head prompting her to continue. “He left the game injured.”

“Fuck,” I hissed. I knew there was a reason for all the long faces; I just couldn’t have imagined it was about my Russian. “Upper of lower body?”

“It’s his knee again, but we are not telling the media yet because the trainers are not sure how much damage there is.”

“Thanks Jen,” I quickly said before rushing to try and see Geno.

The doctor was still examining him when I got there so I had to wait outside for a while.

Jordan came looking for me to tell me that they were leaving but I told him I wanted to stay and talk to Geno first. I couldn’t picture myself at some bar while he was in pain.

When I finally got to see him he was sporting the saddest looking eyes I had seen in a long time.

“I’m so sorry Geno,” was all I could say.

I talked to the doctor for a little bit, I wanted to know how bad the injury was and how long he’d be away from the ice. The news weren’t good at al,l he needed surgery and would probably be out for the rest of the season. My heart ached for him; I knew how difficult it was going to be for him.

I offered to drive him home and he accepted with just a nod.

It was a difficult situation and I was honestly out of words. I knew that nothing that I said or did could make him feel better. So we just drove listening to a CD of Russian music he’d given once playing.

“Stay with me?” He pleaded once we'd reached his house. I was a little stunned but I end up agreeing.

I helped him get to his room and made sure that he was comfortable enough. I could tell he was still in pain even after the pills the doctor had given him and that made me feel incredibly useless.

“Are you hungry? Do you want me to cook you something?” I asked trying to be helpful in some way.

“No, I okay,” he said as if trying to convince himself.

“Let’s make deal,” I said, “You let me make you something to eat and I promise to keep you company this weekend while the team is away.”

I actually managed to make him smile.

“Fine, but just because I like you,” he said.

I’m a pretty good cook so I was able to make a quick and healthy dinner in no time. We ate with a much lighter mood around us and we even talked as if nothing had happened that night. I told him about what I would like to be doing if I wasn’t working for the penguins and in return he imagined were he would be if he wasn’t playing hockey. He would’ve like to be painter, I found strange how different that was from hockey but how well it would’ve fitted him.

After the pills finally kicked in and knocked him out I left. It was late, but didn’t really feel tired which wasn’t a good thing, it meant that I had the energy to think about stuff that I simply didn’t want to analyze.

Next morning I showed up at his house with breakfast and a stash of movies to keep us entrained. It turned out to be one of the best Saturdays I'd had in a long time.

His injury ended up making us closer friends. Without his family in town I was the one person he turned to for help and that made me happier than it probably should’ve.

We really did become inseparable.