Ice Might Be Nice

A couple days after Staalys’ run in with his own locker I was outside the room in the morning setting things up as Jim asked me to. I’d just finished setting up the ladder when I just couldn’t help myself, I began running my own drills. As much as I disliked the ladder drills, I knew they were good for movement and trust me I still needed to be able to move. I don’t know how long I’d been doing them when I heard someone chuckled. Instantly my head jerked up and there before me was someone I hadn’t met yet, Henrik Lundqvist. “Never seen you before, let alone a trainer doing drills.”

I flushed; I couldn’t help it. I stood there and caught my breath for a second. “I’m Krys, the new girl.” I held out my hand and he shook it.

“Nice to meet you, Krys the new girl.” He stepped to the side and looked at the ladder on the floor. “I hate this dry land drill. Never feels right.”

It was my turn to chuckle. “Then you don’t do it enough. There _are_ worse drills out there for lateral movement. This is easy comparatively.” I saw Jim sneak a peek outside and see us talking. He just shook his head and went back in the room. “I mean I wouldn’t want to do any diving on this surface. Would hurt _way_ too much.” I quickly double-checked that I had everything else ready before moving towards the room again.

“Diving? Why would you want to practice that?” He hoisted his gear again and began walking for the room.

“Cause that’s how I stop the ball?” I said half in shock. “They aren’t all gentle roll-ins, you gotta get it any way you can some games.” We walked into the room where he moved to his stall and set his gear down.

Turning he cocked his head and looked at me. “Oh my god, you don’t mean to tell me that you’re a soccer goalie?” He leaned back and laughed heartily. “Oh wait until the guys hear. The chirping. Oh! The chirping.”

Jim came in then and bumped my shoulder a bit. “You aren’t going to tell them Hank. She’s got enough hurdles without that one.”

Hank looked at Jim as if he couldn’t quite believe him. “You can’t tell me that they don’t know yet. Did anyone know?” I was getting sick and tired of blushing so much this early.

Fortunately Jim had my back. “I knew, and yes it’s quite funny a star soccer goalkeeper now tending the bench of a hockey team. However, the first time one of the guys gets hurt and she’s the first one out there, you _won’t_ be laughing. Hold on, I’ll be right back.” He left the room and Hank was just staring at me.

“What?” I asked kind of pettily as he was staring. I know I’m not overly tall, I fight with my weight at times, and my hair has been compared to Princess Merida’s from Brave although mine’s brown not red. That didn’t mean I liked people staring at me.

“I just can’t imagine one of us trying to keep it a secret.” What did he mean ‘one of us’? Before I could ask Jim came back in with his laptop.

“Take a look at this Hank.” Jim plugged in his laptop to the screen in the room and cued up an injury I’d treated on the ice. I watched again as Wolfie stayed down. That was a horrible thing to have happen. He’s been tripped and then been skated over and cut. I watched as blood began to pool under his arm, then I saw someone familiar running out over the ice with towels and gloves to his side. That someone was me.

Jim turned the replay off as soon as I’d gotten him off the ice and heading for the locker room. “That was Greg Wolfe that got sliced. Larry was there taking video to see if we were interested in anyone there and got this instead. This is how we found her. This is also how I knew she’d make a top-notch trainer. She didn’t hesitate, didn’t flinch, didn’t even turn green at the sight of the blood. Just went in and did her job without anyone telling her she had to.”

I was standing there almost reliving Wolfie’s injury. That had been a blow to the team, although he had come back in less time than people thought he would. I didn’t really hear Hank’s whistle at what Jim had said. Then Jim jerked me out of my reverie with another video, this one from a much happier time. We were playing Michigan at home in the DeMartin Soccer Complex. It was the final minute of a 1-0 game. The Wolverines were on the attack and my defenders weren’t gonna catch them in time. It was all up to me. I was about 2 yards back form the edge of the goal box and they were coming in left to right. Remaining light on the balls of my feet I kept my eyes not only on the ball itself but the player controlling it as well.

I saw the fake before it happened and stayed with the ball. Shuffling right in the box, every so slightly I _knew_ I had it. Gloves up for the save and there went the kick. I dove right as the ball came hurdling towards me. It hit me in the chest and I cradled it close. Then the gun went off signaling the end of the game. I’d done it. I’d gotten a shutout against our biggest rival. My teammates stormed the field and then mobbed me. It was a great day.

I was chuckling as I watched, remembering how I felt those last few moments. “That, I found on You Tube at first and then contacted the school about her specifically after I saw it. I figured anyone with brains enough to handle the first and balls enough to handle the second without twitching would work _very_ well here.” Jim said plainly to Hank. “She belongs Hank, let the boys find out about her skills like you did. One goalie to another you owe her that.”

He picked up his laptop and left the room. “You’re really good.” I blushed at the compliment and turned to make sure all the tape was in order to get my face back under control. “No I mean it. The way you were tracking… You were tracking just like I would. Not _just_ the puck but the player too.” I heard him get up and move over to me. “One goalie to another, anytime you want to run drills or need someone who understands. Let me know. I won’t tell the guys, although Jim should show them those clips if and when they _do_ find out. They’d see the work and dedication I see in you on them, they’d respect you for both.” I couldn’t turn and face him, and that probably was a good thing. He left the room to go get changed before the rest of the guys showed up.

I left the locker room for my medical one soon after. I knew that there would be some guys who wanted ankles and other parts taped before practice, I had better make sure I was ready. Jim came in and watched me lay out the supplies I would need for now. “I’m sorry if that embarrassed you Krys. I figured if anyone would understand that you _do_ belong here with those two it would be Hank, Marty too but I thought of Hank first.”

“It didn’t embarrass me. _I_ embarrassed me by him catching me, but the video didn’t.” I leaned against the counter as I turned to face him. “At one point I wanted to be the next Hope Solo. Then I found out how good I was at this too.” I picked up a roll of tape and began playing with it. “Don’t get me wrong, I love soccer but this means a lot to me too. More than just a livelihood; it’s friendships and people I know I can count on other than my family who I miss like crazy right now. I’m kinda hoping you guys become like family too. Does that sound crazy?” I looked over at him.

“It sounds like I found the exact right person for this job.” He glanced at the clock as he heard more of the guys arriving. “The guys are starting to really fill in now so let’s drop this. Hey Staalsy.”

Marc kind of shuffled his way in. “I’m not intruding am I?” He was holding his head where he’d smacked it. “My head’s killing me.”

“It’s fine, hop up and I’ll take a look.” I said as I got out what I’d need. I moved the stool over so I wouldn’t have to have him lay down for this. As I looked over his head wound, I found it was mildly infected. “I’m gonna have to open this and clean it out again. It’s a bit infected.” I looked him in the eye as I spoke to him.

He sighed. “Damn, I thought so. Can we get this done before skate? I’ve had a headache all night.” I hopped down from the stool and went to get some drapes.

“Yeah I can do that. Do you have anyone who can help you keep an eye on it? It really needs to be kept clean if you can.” I also pulled out the Hydrogen Peroxide and some cotton. I waved at Bruce as he came in to tape up Taylor Pyatt’s knee. Meanwhile Marc had moved so I could reach his head without the need for the stool. I set everything out so I could grab it easily and began snipping the stitches he had put in.

“Gee Staalsy talk about doing anything to get a girl’s hands on you.” Pyatt began chirping as I worked. I just rolled my eyes and kept on working. This was going to be easy but I had to be careful so that I didn’t debride any healthy flesh.

“Fuck you Pie. My cut got infected, she’s got gentle hands.” He hissed as I began cleaning out the cut.

About halfway through my cleaning Dr. Maddalo came in. He took a look at what I was doing and went to get gloves on. He came back with gloves on and gently prodded where I had just finished cleaning. “How did this happen?”

“I fell into my locker and cut myself a couple days ago. Krys says it’s infected now.” Marc said through semi-clenched teeth. I was in the heart of the infection so I understood why he was trying not to bitch too much.

“Let me finish this while you go get some silk for me.” The doc said. I moved the tray for him and let him take over. “We’re gonna need some local too to be safe.” I went over and got out what we’d need for this.

Coming back with what was asked for, I set it all out for him on another tray. I put clean gloves on and had a pair for the doc as well. He quickly injected the site and waited for it to take effect. He stitched up the cut neatly with 2 stitches. “Ok, you should be good now. Be careful with these for today though, no hits to the head.”

By now the locker room was loud with nearly everyone in the room. Marc grinned as Dr. Maddalo left the room to chat with Jim. He looked around and seeing there was no one else around, planted a quick kiss on my cheek. “Thanks. I meant what I said; you really do have soft hands. I’ll see you later.” He left the room and I just stood there for a moment with my hand over where he’d kissed me.

Eventually I cleaned up the medical room and went out to watch the guys skate. As it went on I was glad I was watching. I watched; as Marc seemed to be shaking his head a lot, something wasn’t right. I moved to the door to the ice without even realizing it. When he went down hard for no apparent reason I was dashing across to the far side hashes without a second thought.

We got him back into the medical room and the Doc took a second look at him. They did some baseline concussion testing on him to rule that out. He passed most of those. Then the doc got to thinking about what he could be having a reaction to, turns out it was the local. Marc had double and blurred vision and was dizzy. Seeing that the baseline was passed it was decided that someone would have to go home with him to keep an eye on him until this passed. “Can Krys take me? She’s got soft hands.” He sounded kind of out of it.

Jim and the doc looked at me. “I can do it. I didn’t have much to do after this anyway. I can stop by my place and grab some stuff, it’s no bother.” Jim nodded and then helped Marc out of his gear and into the shower.

Once we were ready to go, not a single one for the guys were chirping Marc for this. They knew how serious anything having to do with the head could be. I got to my place and told Marc to stay put, I ran up the stairs, grateful for staying with my conditioning. I quickly grabbed some things I’d need for however long I’d be with him tonight and headed back down to the car.

With the help of his GPS I got back to his place without a problem. I got him in the apartment and on the couch and then settled in to keep track of him. I just didn’t intend what happened, we fell asleep.