‹ Prequel: Chances Taken
Sequel: The Three C's

Chances Risked

Chapter Twenty Two

-Sidney-
After that horrible period we headed angrily back towards the locker room. I walked in first and stopped when I saw Maggie sitting in front of her locker, her head in her hands and she was crying.

“Maggie?” I called and she didn’t look up. I looked towards Doc’s office and heard more crying, ‘…Oh no…’ I thought and felt someone push passed me and saw Jordan heading over towards her, he bent in front of her and I headed for my stall. We all took our gear off faster than we’ve probably ever did before. I walked into medic room and saw Emma standing next to Mike, he was lying on the table and she was holding his head and crying, ‘…Oh no…’ I looked towards Doc; he just looked at me and shook his head.

I walked back over towards Maggie; Jordan was the only one still in his gear. I came up next to Maggie, sitting on the bench next to her, one leg on each side of the bench and just pulled her in for a hug. She grabbed onto me and cried into my chest and I looked Jordan sadly and nudged him towards the medic office, where some of the guys were already looking in and fighting out what has Maggie so upset.

I bit my lip, feeling tears forming in my eyes for the loss of my teammate and my friend. I held Maggie, my head on top of hers as I held her close. I looked towards some of the guys to see that they were sitting in front of their stall, most of them were holding their faces, no doubt crying.

Coach walked into the locker room and looked at everyone, he heard Emma and Maggie crying, he saw most of his teammates tearing up or crying, I think he figured it out. There was a knock at the door and it opened to Max walking in. Even though he was on the Flyers team, he was still our friend, sort of.

He just looked at all of us, Maggie stood up and Geno came over towards her and hugged her. I sighed and stood up and walked over towards Max who looked, for the first time in his life, speechless, “You should probably go tell Kokorin what he’s done.”

“He didn’t-“ Max started and I nodded my head, “Mikey’s not- He’s not-“

“He is,” I said and Mike looked at me wide eyed and then looked towards Maggie, “She’s not going to be on the ice for the third period.”

“Neither is Kokorin,” Max said and I nodded my head, “I’m gunna-“

“Yeah,” I said and Max just looked towards all of us sadly and then left. When the door closed my hand was over my mouth and I clenched my eyes closed and tried to control myself.

-Max-
I left the Penguins locker room and clenched my fists, biting my lip and trying to control myself as I headed back to my own locker room. When I walked into the room, my new teammates were looking at me. I walked over towards my stall, grabbed my helmet and just threw it.

“Dude!” I heard but didn’t care.

I sat on the bench and held my face, moving my fingers through my hair and trying to process what had just happened in the last ten minutes of my first Flyers hockey game.

“Talbot, what happened?” my Captain, Claude Giroux asked, “You go over there?” I nodded my head, not looking up, “How banged up is Marshall?”

“Which one?” I asked and looked up and knew my eyes were red.

“Both.”

I looked at them and then looked towards Kokorin, who was just sitting in his stall, I glared at him, “Well Maggie’s isn’t doing well considering her brother’s dead.”

-Kris-
I couldn’t believe it when we found out what happened to Mike, I was sitting in my stall looking at Maggie. Geno was holding her when her legs collapsed and he was sitting on the ground just holding her. Marc was behind her rubbing her back and everyone else was either standing or sitting in front of their stalls, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.

Mario walked into the room quickly, Coach must have told him, Nathalie was right behind him, she saw Maggie on the ground and both of them stopped and looked at her sadly. I rubbed my face and then looked at the time to see that we were supposed to be getting dressed again to head onto the ice for third period. I was pretty sure that we were going to be late.

‘…Oh Maggie, I’m so sorry…’ I thought and then looked down and shook my head.

-Vero-
I was up in the suite with some of the other wives and girlfriends. Mario and Nathalie were there with us, we had watched the hit on Mike and Mario automatically said that he didn’t like how that looked. We all watched in horror as the all-out brawl happened on the ice. Heather was on one side of me on the couch and Kasey was on the other.

“Is that Maggie?” Kasey asked as the camera zoomed in on her throat punching Kokorin after she had gotten away from Marc.

“Yeah,” I said and was relieved to see Sidney come to Maggie when a Flyer pushed her into the boards and started throwing punches, but she was throwing them right back.

“Has there ever been this much fighting?” Kasey asked and I looked at her and shook my head, “I mean, I know I grew up a Flyer fan, and I still kind of like them- But I did not like Kokorin the second he put the sweater on.”

“I’m sure Maggie will appreciate you saying that,” I said and she looked at me, “She’s probably been ejected.”

“If she wasn’t, Dan’s not going to put her on the ice again, not with her wanting to go after Kokorin,” Nathalie said and I nodded my head.

It took a while for the fight to be calmed down and finally the game continued. After the end of the period everyone headed back to their locker rooms. It was halfway through the intermission when the door to the suite opened and Dan walked into the room quickly, looking upset. He rushed over towards Mario and muttered something in his ear and Mario looked at him shocked and then shot up and said something to Nathalie. Mario and Dan rushed out of the room and I looked at Nathalie that looked upset.

“What happened?” I asked worried.

“Mikey he’s-“ Nathalie covered her mouth and I saw her eyes water, “We have to be there for Maggie.”

“What happened?” Heather asked and I stood up and walked over towards her and knelt in front of her.

“You’re not saying that Mikey’s-“ I started and Nathalie choked out a cry and nodded her head, “Oh no.”

-Seguin-
“Well let’s see if we can get something out of the third period,” I said and took a swig of my beer. Third period was about to start, the players were coming onto the ice and I noticed two, well three, that weren’t there.

“Maggie isn’t on the bench,” Tuukka said and I nodded my head.

“Neither is Kokorin,” Chara said and I felt my phone go off in my pocket.

I grabbed it and saw that it was Kane texting me, I opened the phone and he was asking if I was still watching the game and if I saw the hit. I replied telling him I was and then looked up to watched the puck drop as I watched for his reply, which didn’t take long. I looked down at the text and my eyes widened.

Maggie’s brother died

“Oh fuck,” I said and the guys looked at me and I was still looking at my text wide eyed, “Shit,” I said and covered my face, shocked at what I was reading.

“What?” Tuukka asked and I handed him my phone and he took it and he looked at me, “Who sent you this?”

“Kane,” I said and he looked at me confused, “Pat Kane, guess he and Maggie are a thing or something.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Lucic asked.

“Kane just texted me,” I said and they looked at me to continue, “Mike Marshall died off of that hit.”

All of their eyes were wide and Tuukka handed me back my phone. Eyes wide, mouth gaped, yeah that was going to be the reaction to whole world when they announced it.

“That’s not going to go over well with the NHL,” Chara said and I shook my head.

“If he doesn’t get kicked off for this, there’s seriously gunna be some consequences,” Lucic said and I nodded my head.

‘…Poor Maggie…’

-Maggie-
I was in the medic room with Emma; she was still next to Mike, holding his hand. I was sitting in the chair in the corner of the room. The boys were back on the ice trying to pull a game out of them in the third period. I was just looking at the ground, my mind was blank, I didn’t know what to think. I was pretty sure that I had cried so much that I was fresh out of tears.

After I talked to Pat for a few minutes, I calling my parents, they were on their way up, probably would be here by late tomorrow. I had gotten off of the phone with them about a minute or so before the guys had come back to the locker room for the second intermission.

“Maggie,” I heard Emma breathe and I looked at her, she still wasn’t looking away from Mike, still holding his hand, still crying, “What am I going to do?”