Someone To Save Me

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2 months later

“Happy birthday Katie, I‘m sorry I‘m a day late with the official call” Sid said through the phone as I sat in my office going through photos for the next spread I had to turn in.

“Thanks” I said with a smile. “I wish you could have been here, but I know that you had a game.”

“A game that I won, for you.”

“An amazing birthday present. But what would have been better is getting to see you.”

“I know. Soon, I promise” he said quietly in his deep sexy voice. “I can’t wait to see you again.”

“Same here” I said sending in my photos before shutting down my computer. “Summer will be easier right?”

“Yea, just a few more months and it will be easier.”

“I wish the season was over . . .” I said walking out of the office and into the surprisingly warm air for Chicago in February.

“Me too.”

“What! You want to be done with Hockey for the season already? Crazy.”

“If it means I get to spend more time with you then yes.”

“Oh, that was cheesy and adorable.”

“You love it.”

“I do.”

“What are you doing tonight?”

“I’m just heading back to my apartment right now, going to make dinner and curl up to watch the game.”

“Even though I’m not playing?”

“Yea, how are you feeling?”

“Still a bit off but I’ll be fine.”

“I wish I could help you.”

“There really isn’t anything you can do for a concussion.”

“I know but still. I don’t like you hurting” I said pouting slightly. “What are you going to do since you’re not playing?”

“I’ll watch the game, I have to root on the guys.”

“Captainly duties.”

“You could call it that. . .”

“Or an obsession.”

“That’s more like it. Hey, the guys wanted to send you something for your birthday and I couldn’t remember you address.”

“I’ll send it to you in a text when we get off the phone.”

“Perfect. Actually I have to go.”

“Alright, Love you Sid. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Love you too Katie.”

~Sid’s POV~

I had just gotten to Chicago when I had called her. If I wasn’t playing for a while I was going to spend time with my girlfriend. I got in the cab and gave him the address that she sent me. The ride took longer than I wanted but I couldn’t tell if it was because of traffic or because I was anxious to see Katie.

We were close when I got a message from her.

New Message- Kate: call cops

That’s all it said, I began to panic as I frantically waited for us to get to her building. She was in trouble, she didn’t know I was in town and probably just sent the message to whoever she could manage.

As the cab came to a stop I handed the driver a few bills not looking at how much they were and hopped out as fast as I could taking my bag with me as I sprinted into the lobby. I yelled for the doorman to call the police that they needed to get here right away. The elevator took too long getting to her floor, the intense feeling building in the pit of my stomach as each floor passed before I got to hers and the door slid open.

“No, get off of me” I heard her yell.

“Shut up you know you want me.” I ran down the hall to her unit and saw the door cracked open.

“NO!” she cried before I heard a hard thud. I raced through her apartment find her unconscious on the bed a man with almost black hair on top of her. I ran over and pulled him off of her and threw him to the ground.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked.

“Her boyfriend” I said punching him in the jaw.

“I should have known she’d go for a hockey player. She always did like it when I was rough with her” he laughed standing up taking a swing at me. I dodged it before slamming my fist into his gut and then to his face making sure that he couldn‘t retaliate. He fell to the floor clutching his stomach unable to move.

“I hope you enjoy prison” I said walking over to where she laid on the bed. I wrapped a blanket around her covering her up as the cops came in. “We need an ambulance she won’t wake up” I choked out as one officer hand cuffed the piece of scum that was on the floor.

“There is one on the way” he said walking over to us. I held her body to mine as a tear slid down my face. If only I had gotten there a few minutes earlier, or if I told her that I was coming she would have picked me up from the airport and this would have never happened. I shouldn’t have taken the elevator, but the stairs would have taken just as long. “Sir, you’re going to have to let her go.”

“Not until the paramedics get up here” I said shaking my head. I looked down at her face, a bruise was starting to form on her left cheek and there was blood on the sheet where her head had been lying.

“Mr. Crosby you have to step away” he said again as two more men came in with a gurney. “We need to talk to you about what happened.”

“At the hospital, I have to go with her.” I kept my eyes on her face looking for a sign that she would be alright.

“Alright.”

I followed her as they loaded her into the ambulance grabbing her purse and my bag as we left and climbed in when they motioned for me. She looked pale, and weak - a huge contrast to her normal strong a vibrant demeanor. I held onto her hand after they took all her vitals.

“Sid” she whispered.

“Katie, I’m here. You’re safe now baby.”

“My head hurts.”

“I know we’re on the way to the hospital they’ll make you all better.”

“Sid, I’m scared.” her voice sounding fragile, like a child who doesn’t understand.

“It’s alright, I’m here now. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

“Don’t go away” she pleaded.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

When we go to the hospital they brought her into a small room, a nurse came in with a gown and helped her into it. I told her that I would wait out side but Katie wouldn’t let me leave. A doctor came in and put 10 stitches on the gash that was hidden in her hair before filling out some paperwork.

“We’re going to do some x-rays, alright sweetie” the nurse said in a motherly tone. “Then we have to do an exam. We’ll try to get this all over with as soon as possible.”

“Ok” she replied in a small voice. “Can he come too?”

“Not into the room for the x-rays but he can stay with you other than that” the nurse said with a smile. “I’ll be right back with a wheel chair ok?” Katie nodded.

“Sid” she said turning towards me. I stepped towards her instantly wrapping my arms around her.

“I should have been there earlier Katie I’m so sorry.”

“You were there though. I don’t know how or why but you were” she said her voice heavy with grief. “I don’t think I can go back there.”

“You don’t have to.”

“No I mean ever.”

“Come to Pittsburgh then. Jane, Meg and Al are there.”

“Ok.”

“I’ll go pack a bag of clothes and essentials then hire someone to pack and ship the rest of your things to my place.”

“Just call Sharp he’ll pack my bag. I don’t want you to be away from me right now Sidney.”

“Ok” I said knowing that she meant it, she needed me. “I’m probably going to have to tell him what happened.”

“It’s ok.”

“I’ll call him while you’re in x-ray.”

“I can’t believe he found me Sid.”

“Who baby?”

“That was Brice. He pushed the door open and threw me against the counter. I hit my head on the corner of the granite. He was drunk Sid. He always got a bit rough when he’d been drinking but never to the point where he would force himself on me” she said crying on my shoulder. “Sid, I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry.”

“Shhh it’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong” I said rubbing her back trying to comfort her. “It’s not your fault.”

“Katie, you ready?” the nurse said looking at us with a sad smile.

“I’ll be right here waiting for you to be done, I promise” I said placing a kiss on the top of her head before helping her into the wheel chair.

“Hello Ms. O’Callaghan.”

“Actually no, Sidney Crosby.”

“Oh, why are you calling me from her phone? Why are you calling me in general?”

“Well. Shit I don’t know how the hell to say this.”

“What? Just spit it out Crosby” he said earning a jumbled mess of people asking why I was calling him. “If you did something to hurt her . . .”

“No geesh! Why would I hurt her you dumbass? I love her.”

“Then what is going on?”

“Can you go to her place and pack up her clothes and stuff that she’ll need for the next week or so?”

“Sure, but why?”

“I came to Chicago for the weekend to visit her for her birthday and when I got to her place . . . Fuck this is hard to say” I said running my hand through my hair. “Some guy, she said it was her ex, was . . . He raped her.”

“What the fuck. . . Is she ok? Where are you guys? Did they get the bastard?”

“She’s shaken up, apparently he threw her into the kitchen counter and caused a gash on her scalp, she had to get stitches. We’re at the hospital right now she has to get checked out and have x-rays taken. They arrested him as soon as they got to the apartment.”

“Fuck.”

“Exactly.”

“Well give me some time and I’ll pack some stuff and I’ll call you and see where you are.”

“Thanks Sharp.”

“No problem Crosby.”

As soon as I hung up the officer from her apartment walked in and ask to get my statement, I told him everything that I could, telling him that she would be going back to Pittsburgh with me and that they could reach her there if needed. She was wheeled back into the room just as I was finishing up with the cops and they were about to leave, having gotten her statement when I was filling out her paperwork.

“Hey” I said walking back into the room and over to her side.

“Hi” she replied resting her head on my chest. “They gave me drugs for my head but I still feel all woozy.”

“Yea?”

“Yep” she said as the doctor walked in with her x-rays. He was an older man, old enough to be both or our dads, he gave off that fatherly vibe.

“Other than some pretty intense bruising and a mild concussion you’re going to be fine, nothings broken” he said. “You’ll have to go to your family doctor to get the stitches out in a few weeks, and check with them on the concussion as well.”

“Alright” she said quietly.

“In the mean time just rest and let your body do the healing” he said looking down at the chart. “I see that you got some pain medicine and something to prevent a pregnancy.”

“Yea” she replied with a slight nod.

“You are a brave girl, you know that” he said going from professional to parent-like in a flash. “You’re going to be just fine sweetie.”

“Thank you” she smiled as he put her chart back on the foot of the bed.

“We’ll release you in about an hour just to make sure that everything is alright with the noggin.”

“Alright” she said before he walked out of the room. “Sid.”

“Yea?” I said looking down at her.

“I’m really glad that you’re here.”

“Me too Katie. Sharp is on his way here with clothes, then he’s going to take us to the hotel since I could only get flights out for the morning.”

“Ok.” She moved over on the bed and pulled me gently down to sit by her. “We have his and hers concussions” she chuckled slightly.

“Yeah I guess we do” I replied. She was quiet after that for a while until I heard her breath catch. Looking down at her I saw tears rolling down her face, instinctively I pulled her closer to my chest, the tears instantly soaking my shirt. We sat like that for a while until I heard a knock at the door.

“It’s probably Sharp” I said before walking to the door to let him in.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Is she . . .”

“She’s alright . . .”

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here” she said looking at the both of us with a pained face.

“Hey there O’Callaghan.”

“Hey Sharp.”

“How you feeling?”

“Like shit.”

“Understandable. I didn’t know what clothes to pack for you so . . . I packed it all.”

“Thank you” she said looking like she was going to cry again. I sat back down on the bed beside her.

“You’re really leaving?” he asked. She just nodded before resting her head back onto my shoulder. “We’re going to miss you.”

“I’ll miss you guys too. But I can’t stay here.”

“I know” he said nodding slightly.

“I’ll miss you guys ” she replied softly before falling asleep tucked into my side.

“What did the doctors say?”

“She has a concussion but nothings broken, just some nasty bruising.”

“I saw the face, damn. I could kill the bastard.”

“Same here. I probably would have if I wasn’t worried about her. She was passed out when I go to her” I said tucking her hair behind her ear. “They’re going to release her anytime now.”

“No rush, we don’t play tonight.” I nodded. “I brought in one of her bags, there should be something for her to wear out of here at least.”

“Thanks Sharp.”

“No problem. The guys are going to be mad at me when they find out where I ran off to in the middle of dinner. Especially when I tell them she’s going to Pittsburgh.”

“They’ll understand.”

“Yea I’m sure they will.”

We sat in silence for a while before the doctor came back to check her head out. Both Sharp and I stepped out of the room so she could put on some clothes with the help of a nurse. Sharp went down to pull his car up to the exit we were going to and I walked with Katie and the nurse that was pushing her in the wheel chair.

“I’m going to miss you Katie O’Callaghan” Sharp said giving her a hug before we went into the hotel.

“I’m going to miss you too Patrick Sharp. I’ll see you when you come to Pitt.”

“You better” he said with a smile.

“Thanks for everything” I said shaking his hand.

“No problem. You better take care of her. She’s like an adopted sister at this point.”

“Yeah yeah. You’re the brother that nobody wanted.”

“Ouch Katie. Promise to call me to make fun of me?”

“Meh, we’ll see” she said before walking into the hotel building with me behind her with our bags, well my one bag and her 3. She took a hold of my waist once we got in the elevator holding tight onto me.

“I think I’m going to take a shower, try to get the blood out of my hair” she said once we got into our room.

“Ok, be careful with the stitches.”

“I know” she said with a weak smile before grabbing a few things from her bag.

“Are you hungry? I can order room service.”

“Yes actually.”

“What do you want?”

“A burger” she replied before walking into the bathroom.

When she finally stepped back into the room to food was here and I had already started eating. She had her hair wrapped up in the towel and was wearing some gray capri sweats, with a black Pens shirt.

“Hungry Sid?” She said eyeballing my half eaten plate.

“Yes, yes I am.” She let out a soft giggle before sitting in the chair beside me to eat her food.

“What are people going to think when you show up at the airport with me? And once they realize that I’m moving in with you?”

“That we’re dating. Which is true” I said taking a hold of her hand. “Katie, I don’t care what people think. For once in my life I don’t care what other people think. We’ve been together for 3 months now, and we’ve done that with you half-way across the country.”

“500 miles.”

“Exactly. I think almost 3 months of 500 miles is plenty of time to spend apart for each other. So screw them, all that matters is that we’ll be together and I can watch out for you.”

“Screw them huh” she said with a smile. “I love you Sidney Crosby.”

“I love you too” I replied before returning to my dinner.