Oh Captain, My Captain

Chapter Forty Seven
Finally Alex’s father walked back out into the waiting room and we all stood up. He was attacked with questions with people wondering if Alex was all right.

“I don’t think she’ll be able to skate for a while,” he said and I looked at him confused, “The doctors had to put her in a medically induced coma because her body was in such bad shape, it needed time to heal.”

My eyes widened and I walked over towards the window and stared out at the street.

‘…I should have never let her out on that ice…’

-Brandon-
Uncle Randy told me that my cousin was in coma and it was all because of Milan Lucic. I ran my fingers through my hair and felt my brother put his hand on my arm.

“Can we see her?” I asked and he nodded his head.

“Just a few at a time though,” he said and we nodded our heads and then my parents.

When I walked into the room I thought that I was going to be sick. Alex was hooked up to a monitor and she had a breathing mask on. I walked over towards her and placed my hand on her arm. My Mom and Dad stood across from me while Logan stood at my side. Amanda and Addison walked in and Addison started to cry because she wanted Alex to wake up and hold her.

One by one Alex's teammates came in to see her and each other them didn't say a word, they just stayed in the room and looked at her. Alex's friends, Sam and Mel were crying and I pulled a chair over and sat next to her. I looked around to see that Crosby was still not in the room and I wondered why now.

-Sidney-
It was late and visiting hours were over, the guys had gone home, and Alex's family left with Mel and Sam. Geno and James had offered to stay, but I told them to go home with their girlfriends to keep them company. I still hadn't gone in to see Alex, I didn't know what she looked at but the guys were telling me that it wasn't good.

"There you are!" I looked up and saw Brandon standing in front of me, "I was wondering if you went home or not. How come you didn't see Alex?"

"I don't know if I can. I should have done something more to keep her safe. I should have told Coach that she had a bounty on her head, forced her to stay off the ice-"

" 'I should have' isn't going to change the past, Crosby. Alex is in critical condition, it happened and it's finished. She needs you more than ever because I leave in," he looked at his watch, "seven hours. I don't want her alone," I nodded my head and then sighed, "Go see her."

I stood up and then followed Brandon over towards Alex's room. He waited out in the hallway as I walked in, even though it was after hours, and we weren't suppose to be here, I wanted to see her. I closed my eyes and bit the inside of my lip, shaking my head, not wanting to believe what was in front of my.

"Alex," I said as I walked up to her and placed my hands on her arm, "I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm so sorry. I should have done more to keep you off of the ice. This is all my fault."

I held her hand and kissed her knuckles as I took the seat next to her bed and just watched her. I rubbed my eyes because I could feel them getting teary.

-Geno-
James and I were heading over towards the hospital with Mel and Sam in the backseat. I knew that Sidney didn't come home last night, and Mel told me this morning that both Brandon and his family had already left, making sure to see Alex before they went to the airport.

I parked the car and the four of us walking into the hospital to head towards Alex's room. It was about eleven in the morning, and things were already a little nuts, even for a Monday morning. When we walked into Alex's room we saw that Sidney was sitting in the chair next her bed, holding her hand, and his head was laying on the bed. I sighed as I looked over towards James and asked him to get this guy some coffee, James agreed and then he and Sam walked out. I walked over towards Sidney and placed my hand on his shoulder and shook him a little.

"Hey Man, wake up," I said and Sidney groaned and then sat up and looked at us, "You've been here all night, haven't you?"

"Yeah," he said and I sighed and Mel drug another chair and I sat down, and she sat on my lap, "She's gunna be all right, Sid."

"I hope you're right," he said and I knew that he was upset.

"Here man," James said as he walked into the room and handed Sidney a cup of coffee.

"Thanks."

"So what made Lucic freak out like that and want to hurt Alex?" James asked and I glared at him for bringing it up.

"He put a bounty on her head," Sidney answered and James and I looked at him shocked.

"Are you serious? Why?"

"Because she pissed him off."

"I'm sorry, what's a bounty?" Sam asked and James explained it to her and she gasped, "That's horrible!"

"Brandon said that his Coach was really pissed. I know the league isn't going to stand for this," Sidney said and we nodded our heads.

I grabbed the remote and turned on the TV to see that it was on ESPN. They were showing clips of last night's games, one by one they showed the highlights and when they got to our game, I had to shut it off. I was disgusted when they started to talk about Alex. Just reliving that moment of seeing her go through the glass made me sick. I looked over towards Sidney and saw that his knuckles were white from clutching onto the chair.

"Sid, let's take a walk," I said trying to make Sidney go and get some air. He nodded his head and then the two of us stood up and walked out of the room.

-James-
Geno and Sidney left and Sam was leaning against me. My arm wrapped around her waist and we were just staring at Alex. We heard a knock on the door and looked up to see Marc and his wife Veronique walk in. When Vero saw what Alex looked like, she gasped and then held onto Marc and started to cry. Marc and I nodded heads towards each other, acknowledging each other's presences and then he looked back towards Alex, rubbing Vero's back as she grabbed Alex's hand and held it.

"Where's Sidney?" Vero asked and I looked up to see her and Marc looking at me.

"Geno took him to get some air, he was here all night," I answered and she nodded her head.

"How you doing Mel?" Marc asked as he rubbed Mel's arm and she nodded her head towards him.

"I've been better," she said and then walked over towards Sam and I and leaned against Sam.

There was another knock on the door and we looked up to see Coach walk in.

"Ladies, do you mind if I have a word with my team, please?" he asked and Sam, Mel and Vero nodded their heads and walked out the door.

"What's up Coach?" Marc asked.

"Where's Crosby? Thought he would be here."

"Geno took him for a walk, he needed air," I answered and Coach nodded his head.

"I just came from a meeting," Coach said and he sighed, "It wasn't good," I stood up straight and looked at him. Marc stood by me and we waited for Coach to go on, "They wanna cut Alex from the team."

"What?! They can't! It's not her fault that she's in here! It's all that damn Lucic's fault! What's happening to him?!" I yelled upset and Marc placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Milan Lucic has been benched for two weeks."

"Are you serious?! That's all!" I yelled and then started cursing, Marc's pressure on my shoulder tightened.

The door opened and Sidney and Geno walked in. They looked at me and then looked at Coach.

"What's going on?" Geno asked.

"The league wants to cut Alex from the team," Marc said and Sidney and Geno were upset.

"Why? Because she's a girl? Coach, when I was out with my concussion, you still wanted me!" Sidney yelled and I nodded my head.

"Crosby, it-" Coach sighed, "It has everything to do with that. It's not her fault, it's just how a woman's body is built. They're not built to deal with this kind of intense sport."

"But the doctor said-"

"It's not about with this doctor says, it's about what ours says," he answered and I saw both Geno and Sidney looked mad, hell even Marc and I were mad.

"They can't do this, Coach, she's gunna be all right! She's gunna be back on the ice before you know it!" Geno yelled and Coach sighed.

"If it was up to me, I would take her, but it's not and I can't. Her contract is being canceled when she wakes up. I'm sorry," he said and then left.