The Ice Queen

Chapter Seventy Seven
“Doc, it’s been two weeks and she’s getting worse, she’s missed the whole conference, what’s wrong with her?” Coach asked as I saw in the Doc’s office at the arena.

“Honestly Coach, I don’t know,” he said and looked at her papers, “Bloods good, pregnancy test was negative, she’s just suffering from a bad case of food poisoning.”

“But for two weeks?” I asked and Doc sighed, “I’ve been through cat scanners, MRIs, that big donut thingy that you nearly knocked me on my ass when you gave me morphine. What’s wrong with me?”

“If I had to take a guess, I say something’s wrong with your gallbladder,” he said and sighed, “You might need it to be removed.”

“Fine, I’ll get it removed, but can it be after the season?”

“I want to do a few more tests, but if you play then you’ll be in pain,” he said and I sighed.

“I need to be out on the ice,” I said and Doc sighed.

“What can we do to get her back out there? We play Pittsburgh in a week, we’ll need her,” Coach said and Doc sighed.

“I can give you a prescription of Zofran, it’ll take away the nausea. It’ll also help you be able to eat,” he said and I nodded my head, “I know you haven’t been eating.”

“I try, but it just comes back up,” I said and Doc nodded his head.

“Stick to soup, white rice, plain toast and bananas. Your stomach’s been torn to shreds with the constant vomiting.”

“You’ll be back before you know it,” Coach said and I nodded my head and smiled towards him.

Throughout the week I followed what Doc told me to do, I ate what I could, took my medicine, had some more tests, started to work out and practice on the ice with and without the team. We had an away game against Pittsburgh this Saturday for the semifinals and we were excited to get this far.

It was Friday night, I was doing pretty well, still getting sick, but not as much as before. The team and I were on the plane heading for Pittsburgh, Milan was sitting next to me, my head was on his shoulder and I was starting to fall asleep.

-Milan-
“How’s she doing?” Coach asked as he looked back to see Alyssa asleep on my shoulder.

“I still hear her getting sick at night, but she seems to be doing better,” I said and Coach nodded his head.

“She still taking her meds?”

“Yeah, I saw her take one right before she got on the plane.”

“Good, good, take care of her Looch.”

“Always do,” I said and Coach patted my shoulder, stood up and headed towards the front of the plane.

We landed in Pittsburgh, I hated the fact that I had to wake Alyssa up. I smirked when she whined because she didn’t want to wake up. The past two weeks were hell for her and she just wanted to get back on the ice.

We got to our hotel and I found that Alyssa was rooming by herself, but she gave me her extra key, her room was in-between Brad and Tyler and Patrice and Krejci, Nathan and I were across the hall. I helped Alyssa to her room and watched as she collapsed onto her bed and started to fall asleep instantly.

I stayed with her, I’ve been staying with her for the last two weeks, or at least every chance I got, since we had to go on away trips, Alyssa stayed home and her sister watched over her. I heard Alyssa get up twice throughout the night, she was sick once and the other time her stomach must have hurt her because she was running a bath and lying in the water, she told me that it calmed her stomach down.

By morning I woke up to Alyssa cuddling into my side, she looked tired, I wish we didn’t have to wake up, but I looked at the clock and saw that we needed to get up in ten minutes for our morning skate.

-Alyssa-
“How are you feeling, Red?” Doc asked as I changed back into my jeans and t-shirt. We had just finished practice, I was still a little slow, but I was faster than before. I showered and changed, waiting on the others to head back to the hotel to mentally prepare us for our game tonight against Pittsburgh.

“I’m feeling all right,” I said and grabbed my things and headed out of the locker room and back to the bus. The guys were taking longer than I thought that they would.

“Red!” I heard and turned to see my old friend Sidney Crosby.

“Sid! Hey!” I smiled and placed my bag on the ground so that I could hug my friend.

“How are you feeling? I heard that you were pretty sick,” he said and looked at me, “You still look kind of bad.”

“Gee, thanks,” I said and gave him a small smile, “I’m doing better, it’s taking forever to get better. But how are you doing? Your jaw,” I said and placed my hand on his once broken jaw.

“It’s all right.”

“You finally lost some teeth,” I joked and Sidney smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

“RED!!!” I heard and turned to see Geno, Kris, James and Brandon Sutter.

“Hey!” I smiled and opened my arms to give them a small hug, but was very surprised when Geno, wrapped his arms around me, picked me up and hugged me tight.

“Easy there G, she’s still a little weak from being sick,” Sidney said and I smiled and felt better when he put me down.

“Thanks Geno,” I said and then hugged Kris and James.

“AJ!” I heard and looked to my side to see a bunch of my teammates looking like they wanted to go, Milan being one of them.

“I got to go guys,” I said and they smiled and nodded their heads, “Good luck tonight.”

“You’re not playing?” Sidney asked and I smirked.

“Oh no, I am, but good luck trying to win against me tonight,” I said as I smirked and walked backwards towards my team.

“Don’t be sad when we win!” Sidney yelled and I laughed and shrugged my shoulders.

I turned around and headed towards my team. Milan placed his hand on my lower back and walked with me back towards the bus. I looked towards him and saw that he was glaring towards the guys, I sighed and shook my head. We got on the bus and I sat next to him and kissed his cheek, he looked at me and smiled and then placed his hand on my thigh.

We went back to the hotel to eat our lunch and then to take our pregame naps. There was pressure in my stomach and every move that I made just gave me pain. I accidently woke Milan up when I climbed out of bed and wanted to walk around the room.

“You all right?”

“I’ll be fine, go back to bed,” I said and Milan groaned and sat up in bed, “Milan, please, baby go back to bed.”

“AJ,” he said as he got out of bed and walked over towards me, “Come here,” I sighed and walked into his arms and laid my head on his chest, “What’s up?”

“There’s like pressure in my stomach, it hurts standing, sitting, laying, everywhere.”

“Doc said it would, I really think you do have gallbladder issues,” Milan said and I sighed and nodded my head, “Maybe you should get that surgery.”

“But if I do it now, I’ll miss the rest of the season! What if we go all the way? What if we win the cup? I want to be a part of that!”

“Baby,” Milan breathed as he cupped my face and kissed my forehead, “No one’s going to be mad at you or say anything if you go for surgery and miss the rest of the season. You helped us get this far, get the surgery, we’ll take it from here.”

“But-“

“No buts, take the surgery,” Milan said and I sighed, “Please Alyssa, we’d rather see you healthy and on the ice than sick and in pain.”

“Doc doesn’t even know for sure if it’s my gallbladder,” I said and Milan sighed.

“Then take a test, find out what’s going on in here,” Milan said and then placed his hand on my stomach, “Alyssa.”

“Yeah.”

“Is there a chance that you might-“ Milan sighed and looked down, “I mean I wouldn’t care if you were.”

“Pregnant?” I asked and he looked at me and nodded his head.

“Yeah.”

“No, Doc took a test, I’m not pregnant,” I said and Milan looked towards the ground and nodded his
head, “Why do you look sad?”

“I’m not- I don’t know, it’s nothing,” he said and then turned around, but I placed my hand on his shoulder.

“Hey,” I called and Milan looked at me, “It’s not that I don’t want kids, I’m just not ready.”

“I know.”

“I just want a few more years in hockey before I retire to settle down,” I said and Milan looked at me, placed his hands on my hips and kissed my cheek.

“I love you Alyssa.”

“I love you too.”

“Find out what’s going on with your body.”