Becoming Mrs. Seguin

"Holy shit, those guys are not giving Seguin any space," Andrew commented during the third period.

It was true. Ever since Tyler scored the Bruins' their third goal during a power play in the second period, the Avalanche defense made sure that he was guarded at all times. The puck hadn't been passed to him ever since the start of the period, and boy was he mad.

Landeskog, a left winger for the Avalanche, currently had possession of the puck, making his way down towards the goal. He passed it to his teammate, McGinn, who was wide open. Out of nowhere, Tyler came speeding towards the both of them, attempting to steal the puck. Once he finally had possession of it, he skated the opposite direction towards the Avalanche's goal.

Immediately, three defenders from the opposing team came charging after him at lightning speed. The next thing I heard was the loud, rattling bang of the glass board. Everyone was instantly up on their feet, with looks of shock and horror on their face. What on earth was going on?

The game stopped and I stood up, looking towards the right where all the players were currently gathered. I couldn't see them very well since we were seated near the bottom, but judging from the sudden silence of the fans, something bad had occurred. Apparently, there was a player down. And he happened to be Tyler Seguin.

It felt as if time froze. My heart pounded in my chest as I took in the scene. Chara was arguing with the three defenders that had chased Tyler down. No doubt the sound of the glass board banging came from him being shoved into it. Coach Julien looked absolutely furious, along with the other Bruins. The referee quickly ordered the medical staff out to attend to Tyler.

The minute he was able to get back up, I gasped in horror at the sight of him. His nose was severely bleeding, and there were several cuts and bruises on his face. The worst was the one on his bottom lip. Marchand and Boychuk had to hold Tyler up since he could barely even stand.

Anger fueled inside of me as I glared at the Avalanche players that had caused him this. How could they be so violent and aggressive? The thought of three, huge hockey players slamming
Tyler into the board made me feel sick. Dear god, I hoped he was ok.

Do you know what it feels like to see someone you care so much about getting hurt but not be able to do anything about it? Believe me, it's the worst feeling in the world.

I looked over at Savannah, who was standing there, nervously biting her lip. My eyes went back towards the ice and a wave of relief rushed over me when I saw Tyler heading back to sit on the bench. The blood had been wiped from his face, but the cuts were still very noticeable.

The Avalanche were given a penalty, which gave us an advantage for the rest of the period since there were only a few minutes left. Tyler never came back onto the ice, being that he had just gotten injured. In the end, the Bruins won with a score of 4-2, and I couldn't have been more proud of them.

"Hey, you ready to go?", Andrew asked me as people were starting to leave a while later.

"Well Tyler wanted me to come home with him tonight, but he's injured right now. So I don't know what I'm supposed to do," I replied.

At that moment, I heard someone calling my name. I turned my head towards the ice to see Coach Julien standing there. Was something wrong? Savannah and Andrew said that they'd wait for me and then I headed over to him.

"You must be Tyler's girlfriend," Coach Julien said with a warm smile. He seemed like a really nice man.

"Yes I am. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Coach," I replied, shaking his hand.

"You're probably wondering why I called you over here. I told Tyler to go see a doctor as soon as possible, but he keeps insisting that he's fine. But for sure the cuts on his face need to be stitched up. Maybe he'll listen to you since you're his girlfriend. Can you make sure he does?"

"I will." I quickly turned to Savannah and told her that she and Andrew could leave.

Coach Julien nodded then led me towards the outside of the locker room so I could wait for Tyler.

***

I finished brushing my teeth then put on a tshirt of Tyler's that he had given me to wear. After we had left TD Garden earlier, he drove us straight to Winchester. It was nearly midnight now and we were both dead tired. Tyler was lying in bed when I got to his room.

"I sure wasn't planning on having us spend our Saturday night like this," he remarked with disappointment as I climbed under the covers and lay down next to him.

"Tyler, what's important now is that you recover from that injury of yours. We're going to the doctor's the first thing tomorrow morning," I said. Tyler slowly turned his body around to face me, which caused him to wince in pain. And let me tell you, being his girlfriend, it hurt me to see him like this.

"But there's nothing wrong with me," he protested.

"Yes there is. You can't even move your body properly because you're so sore. If you want to play at your next game, then you need to see a doctor," I told him sternly.

"Alright, I'll go," he replied with an exhausted sigh.

Tyler wrapped his arm around me and I buried my face in his chest. He still managed to look so handsome, even with all those cuts he had on his face. I didn't care if we weren't able to go anywhere after the game. Being with Tyler was all that mattered to me.

"You have no idea how worried I was when I found out that you had gotten hurt," I said to him, my voice muffled against his chest.

"But I'm still here," he replied, grinning.

Tyler slipped his hand under my tshirt, rubbing circles on my back, and eventually, I fell asleep in the comfort of his arms for the first time in months, and nothing in this world could've made me any happier.

When I woke up the following morning, my right hand accidentally jabbed Tyler in the ribs as I stretched both of my arms. A look of guilt instantly formed on my face as I heard him groan in response. He slowly stirred awake then turned to face me.

"I'm so sorry, Ty. Did I hurt you?", I apologized.

"No, I'm fine," he reassured, even though I highly doubted it.

Tyler attempted to sit up, which resulted in the sound of several bones cracking in his body. Yup, something was definitely wrong with him. I propped myself up on one elbow and glanced up at Tyler, who had an evident smirk growing on his face as he stared at me.

"What?", I asked him with a bemused expression.

"God, you look so sexy in my tshirt. You have no idea how bad I want you right now," he said in a husky voice, his brown eyes suddenly darkening with lust.

"You've got to be kidding me. We are not having sex if that's what you're thinking," I scolded him.

"Come on, babe. It's been months already," he whined, moving his hand to the hem of my tshirt. I immediately slapped it away then looked up at him with disapproval.

"Tyler, stop. Do I need to remind you about what happened yesterday night? For god's sake, you're injured!", I exclaimed, raising my voice. Was he for real?

"I'm a guy, I can't help it," he remarked, looking absolutely frustrated with himself. My face softened and I let out a deep sigh.

"Believe me Ty, I want you too. But we can't today. Next time, ok? When your body completely heals," I said gently, taking his hand in mine and interlacing our fingers.

"It better," he replied grumpily. I kissed him on the forehead and then we both got up.

***

After grabbing a quick breakfast at Starbucks, Tyler drove us straight to the Boston Medical Center. While he was getting examined, I sat in the waiting room, anticipating to hear what the doctor had to say about his injuries. A nurse came out a while later to tell me that I could go in to see Tyler. He had gotten stitches for the cuts on his face, but apart from that, he looked fine. Or at least that's what I thought.

"What did the doctor say?", I asked, pulling out a chair to sit down next to him.

"Apparently, my spine and left ribcage got slightly bruised from the impact of hitting the board," Tyler said dejectedly. At that moment, the doctor came back in.

"He has a small crack in his right ribcage, too," she added, putting away Tyler's x-rays. I quickly turned to face him with a shocked look on my face.

"What?! Why didn't you tell me you were in all this pain? We could've brought you to the hospital last night instead of waiting until today," I exclaimed.

"I didn't want you to get all worried about me. Nothing this serious has ever happened to me before, you know? I guess I was just in denial about the whole incident," he explained, resting his hands on his knees.

"Tyler, when injuries happen, you just have to accept them. People won't think that you're weak because you got hurt. Believe me, in their eyes, you were the strongest and bravest player out there on the ice yesterday," I told him. The doctor walked over to us, her eyes gleaming with amusement.

"I couldn't have said that any better myself. Tyler, you sure are lucky to have such a caring girlfriend like her," she remarked.

"I know, she means everything to me," he replied, giving my hand a squeeze.

"The bad news is, you won't be able to play at your next game."

The doctor's words hit Tyler like a rock. He had never been this depressed, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. After all, his life revolved around hockey. He was prescribed some medication from the doctor to help with the pain. His ribs would take longer to heal, though.

"Make sure you get plenty of rest, ok? And don't go lifting any heavy objects," I said to Tyler when he dropped me off at my dorm later that day.

"Yes, doctor," Tyler teased, pulling me into his chest as he brushed the snow from my face. We kissed and once he left, I headed inside, the taste of peppermint lingering on my lips.