Sky Full of Stars

Tyler wakes up with a crick in his neck and a tingly numbness in his fingers thanks to staying in the same position all night but the second his eyes survey his surroundings and he realizes where he is, he forgets all about the little twinges of pain. He looks down at the girl still sleeping against his shoulder and instantly he's reminded of all the bad things that he just learned happened to her. Every bit of the anger, sadness, and guilt surging through him as he listened to her talk last night hits him like a freight train all over again and he feels exhausted even though he's just slept for actually a pretty decent amount of time.

He carefully slips his hand over hers where it rests on his stomach, focusing on the two small silvery pink scars on top that he wonders how he never noticed before. There's another one, the same coloring but three or four inches long just on the inside of her wrist and then two more up on the top of her forearm that are identical to the ones on her hand. Now that he knows the story, he feels confident in guessing that the scars probably stemmed from some surgery she must have had to undergo thanks to that asshole breaking her wrist and he can't help wondering if there are more scars anywhere else that he hasn't seen or noticed yet.

She flinches when he gently smooths his thumb over the longest one and his eyes shift back to her face, finding her looking up at him with an unreadable expression. "Sorry," he mutters as he goes back to the safety of just holding her hand, thinking maybe she has a thing about her scars.

"It's okay," she whispers back, voice thick with sleep.

"How are you feeling? About, ya'know-....everything?"

"I'm fine," she says after a short pause. "I've kind of had a few years to absorb it. You on the other hand....Have I scared you off?"

"I don't scare easy."

"Because I'd understand. I know I have a lot of baggage and-"

"Hey," he interrupts, cutting her off and shaking his head. "It doesn't change anything for me. I'm not just gonna stop liking you because of something that happened to you three years ago that you had no control over. I'm okay. More than a little pissed off, but....I'm not goin' anywhere, Calista."

She blinks up at him in surprise and after a moment, she gives a weak nod and even smiles a little. "That's good to hear."

Tyler grins and presses a kiss to her forehead before he sits up to stretch his stiff muscles. "Man, when I get to the rink, I'm probably gonna regret sleeping in this chair. We should've gone to bed."

"This isn't the worst place you've ever slept the night before a game," she teases.

He laughs. "That's true. One time I woke up on the front lawn of some random house in North Cambridge."

"Mm, and the neighbors called the cops before they realized you were the great Tyler Seguin. You signed some autographs, posed for some photos, basically charmed your ass off to smooth things over, and then got a ride to the rink courtesy of the Cambridge PD."

"How'd you-"

"One of my internships was in media studies. My boss was in the same part of the offices as the PR team."

He lets out an involuntary noise of disapproval at the mention of the Bruins PR team. He had stupidly butted heads with them the entire time he spent with the organization and the fact that Calista knows about that incident means she probably heard about some of the other stupid shit he did. Looking back on his younger self is more embarrassing that he could have ever possibly imagined. "Oh, God," he groans, falling back into the chair dramatically.

Calista laughs and props herself up on one elbow, patting his chest sympathetically. "Look at it this way: I've already seen you at your worst. Anything after that can only be positive, right?"

"True," he allows.

"And I guess you've seen me at my worst too."

She plays with the buttons on his henley instead of looking him in the eye and he frowns, pulling her to lay back down with him, her head on his shoulder. "It's not even a fair trade," he mumbles poutily. "My worst is much worse than your worst." That gets a little giggle out of her and she turns her head to bury her face in his chest, letting the smell of his cologne take over her senses. "You wanna go get breakfast?"

"Not enough time," she says after grabbing his arm to check the expensive silver watch on his wrist. "I have to get up and go to work soon. We can get lunch after your skate?"

"Mm, kay," he agrees, but when she makes the move to get up, he wraps both arms around her and holds her there against him. "Do you have to go now?"

She laughs. "Unfortunately yes. But you only have like an hour before you have to leave to go to the rink anyway."

Tyler huffs and presses his face into the side of her neck, and she absentmindedly rubs her hand up and down the arm pinning her to the chair. "Is this what I have to look forward to every morning?" she asks without really thinking about how presumptuous it sounds and when Tyler pulls back to look down at her seeming surprised, she realizes her mistake.

She braces for it, the sting of the rejection of what she implied but it doesn't come. Instead, Tyler grins and shrugs his shoulders. "I'm a cuddler. That a problem?"

"That's the opposite of a problem."

"Excellent."

Calista leans up to peck his cheek so that she can get up and start getting ready for work but he turns his head at the last second and catches her lips with his, kissing her deeply instead. She smiles into it, raking her fingers through the back of his hair and tugging a little and he grunts in approval, his free hand sliding over her hip and gripping it tightly. She lets him kiss her for only a few moments before she presses her hand against his chest and begrudgingly pushes him back. "I really have to get up and go shower now," she says in response to his pouty face. "I'll be late for work if I don't."

He gives a sigh of resignation and rolls over onto his back to free her so that she can get up but once she's standing, she leans over the back of the chair just inches from his face and strokes the back of his neck with her fingertips. "Will you still be here when I get out?"

"I guess not. I should probably go eat something before skate."

"Kay. I'll see you at noon then."

She presses a kiss to the thick scruff along his jaw before letting him go completely to head down the hallway to her bathroom. She takes a quick shower, not even bothering to wash her hair since she doesn't have time to dry and style it, and she throws it up into a neat ponytail before heading across the hall to her bedroom to get dressed. When she finally emerges fifteen minutes later with her heels dangling from her finger, Tyler's of course already gone and she quickly slips her feet into her shoes before grabbing her purse and an apple from the kitchen counter on her way out the door.

-

Tyler's waiting for her when she gets to the diner, but in a small booth instead of their usual one because, sure, their usual waitress loves them but she's not about to give them the big corner booth in the back when it's the middle of the lunch rush and there are only two of them today. Her brows are arched in surprise and there's a teasing smile on her face when she brings their drinks to the table and Calista pretends not to notice it but Tyler just grins right back up at her, obviously very pleased with himself. She leaves them alone once they've ordered and Tyler's phone is inundated with text messages, beeping constantly where it sits on the table top next to him. He doesn't bother reaching for it to read them, instead glancing at the screen and rolling his eyes.

"Aren't you gonna get those?" she asks, sipping on her water. "Seems like it might be pretty important if there's that many."

"It's just Chubbs. I declined his lunch invite and he might be a little bitter about it."

"So needy," she chuckles at the same time her phone goes off. She digs it out of her purse to look at it and finds that Jamie has resorted to texting her since he didn't get any response from Tyler.

if you two ditching me is how its gonna be all the time then i take back my blessing

You're so dramatic. I'll see you tonight after the game. Love you!

yeah yeah. love you too

Tyler's actually reading his messages when she puts her phone down and looks up at him but he immediately turns his attention back to her and puts his down too. "He disowned me as a friend and said I can never be his liney again."

"I'm sure Lindy would love that. He also rescinded his blessing."

"Ehh, he'll get over it," Tyler shrugs. "But speaking of him...."

Calista quirks a brow at him. "Yeah?"

"Him and Jordie know now."

"They do," she nods. "And I've decided that I'm gonna let you handle telling the rest of the team on your own."

"Chicken," he teases, shaking his head in mock disappointment, and she just grins at him from across the table. "So you're okay with telling people now?"

"Pretty much. Why?"

"I just wanted to check and make sure it was okay before I said anything to my mom."

"You're-....you're gonna tell your mom?"

She's not very good at hiding the surprise on her face or the sudden nervousness overwhelming her and Tyler immediately worries that he's messed up. "Unless you don't want me to. I don't have to say anything, I can wait."

"No, it's just-....it's a big deal. I mean, it's your mom. She's like the most important person in your life. What if she doesn't approve? I've never had to-....Tyler, I've never dealt with parents before. What if she doesn't like me? I'm not exactly someone's ideal pick for their son and-"

"Whoa whoa, stop," he interrupts, holding his hands up and shaking his head. "Don't. Don't do that. Calista, if there's anybody who's not an ideal pick, it's me. I don't have a great track record or the best reputation. To be honest, my mom's probably gonna be more confused as to how I managed to convince a girl like you to go out with me in the first place. And there's no way she wouldn't love you."

She takes a deep breath and nods weakly. "I hope you're right."

"I am," he confirms with a smile. "Besides, she's not one of those severe, overly protective kind of moms. She's pretty laid back."

"If you say so."

"I'm the one who should be worried anyway. I've got your dad and an older brother to deal with. Plus, Jamie and Jordie. Not to mention the whole rest of the damn team. Jesus, you've got like twenty people right there."

Calista cracks a smile at that and the conversation is dropped as the waitress approaches the table with their plates. They move on to other topics of conversation as they eat their lunch, everything from what she's doing at work to the team Dallas is playing tonight and by the time they're finishing their meal, she's pretty much forgotten about her hesitance over the idea of telling families. That is, until her phone rings and she glances over at it only to be greeted with the picture of a familiar bearded face.

"Shit, it's my brother," she says as she picks it up, sliding her finger across the screen and pressing it to her ear. "Hey, Casey."

"So when were you gonna tell us you got a new boyfriend?" he asks, getting straight to the point instead of wasting any time returning her greeting.

"What-....Where did you hear that?"

"Talked to Jordie this morning."

Her eyes flutter closed and she allows herself a moment to groan inwardly. Of fucking course it was Jordie who just had to rush to tell her brother before she did. "Case, he's not-....It's really not a big deal."

"Not a big deal? Cali, the last time you had a boyfriend was-"

"Logan, yeah, I know," she sighs, and she notices Tyler's posture stiffen at the mention of him, a scowl overtaking his face. "But you don't have to worry about this one."

"Don't say that to me. I'm your big brother. You know I worry."

She shakes her head and smiles a little when she makes eye contact with Tyler across the table. "No, but this one's good. He's actually one of Jamie's best friends."

"You're dating one of Chubbs's friends?"

"Yes."

"And he's okay with it?"

"Yeah, he is."

"Well....I guess that does ease my mind a little."

"Enough for you to maybe chill the fuck out a little bit?"

"Maybe a little bit," he relents, and she can hear the smile in his voice. "But I still have to scope him out. Do my brotherly duties."

Calista rolls her eyes at him even though he can't actually see her do it. "You don't think Jamie and Jordie have done enough of that already?"

"I know they love you and look out for you, Cali, but it's not gonna sit well with me 'til I meet him myself. We can't be too careful. Not after what you've been through."

"Case," she starts, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with guilt that her brother spends so much time worrying about her, even three years later. She knows he puts a lot of blame on himself for what happened. He feels like he shirked his responsibilities of being an older brother by not knowing more about Logan at the time, not checking in with her more and making sure she was happy and safe. It doesn't matter to him that it's not at all his fault; he carries a lot of guilt over it and that only adds to hers.

"I'm coming down to visit," he interrupts, his voice firm and resolute, and she's not about to try and argue with him. "This weekend, if that works for you."

She sighs in resignation, ignoring Tyler's look of obvious concern across from her. "They'll be gone for most of it. Next weekend would be better if you're really insisting this has to be done."

"Okay. Next weekend then."

"Just send me your flight information when you book it and I'll be there to pick you up from the airport."

"Will do. And hey, Cali?"

"Yeah, Case?"

"Take care of yourself, okay? I love you. See you next week."

"Love you too," she mutters before they both hang up and as soon as she presses the end button, she lets out a heavy sigh, dropping her head into her hands.

"What's wrong?" Tyler asks worriedly.

"My brother's coming to visit. Jordie told him about you and now he's coming here next weekend." Calista exhales heavily and looks up at him, folding her hands in her lap and shaking her head. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Tyler replies, trying to sound nonchalant even though he might be panicking a little bit on the inside. "This is good. The sooner, the better, right? Going ahead and getting the brother out of the way. Maybe get him on my side for when it's your dad's turn?"

She bites back a smile on that one because she's not about to tell him that out of her brother and her dad, it's definitely not her dad Tyler should be worried about; he's a piece of cake compared to Casey. "I really didn't want to ambush you with him."

"It's not an ambush if I still have time to prepare. You said next weekend? That's plenty of time."

"How exactly does one prepare for that?"

Tyler pauses for a moment and then shakes his head, chuckling. "Honestly, I don't know. Never cared so much about meeting a girl's family before."

Calista bites down on her bottom lip and looks down from his gaze because holy shit is she in way deeper than she should be already. She probably shouldn't be having these feelings when they've only been officially dating for a week and she isn't even sure if she can call him her boyfriend yet, despite the fact that everyone else seems to already be on board that train. This is unexpected and definitely a bad thing because she shouldn't be so invested this early on and now she's worried that she's going to do something stupid and end up freaking Tyler out. He's probably freaking out already, if the look that crossed his face when she said her brother was coming to town is any indication. But then he says shit like that and that just confuses her.

"I'm sure Jamie will put in a good word," she finally says, and Tyler just grins at her before downing the rest of his drink.

-

She technically should have gone straight back to the office after lunch but since her schedule has a little flexibility, she decides it'll be fine if she goes and gets something off her chest first. Tyler goes home to his apartment to take his pregame nap and she doesn't tell him that she's also going back to their building to confront Jordie. She briefly considers the possibility of Bethany being there and she normally wouldn't want to bitch at him in front of her, but she's just annoyed enough with him that she honestly doesn't care today. She knocks on the door instead of using her key just in case and Jamie's the one who opens it, looking surprised to see her standing there and confused as to why she bothered knocking.

"Shouldn't you be at work?"

"Where's your brother?" she asks, pushing past him into the apartment instead of answering his question. Jordie is stretched out on the sofa, feet propped up on a pillow and the remote control in his hand as he watches what appears to be some game film and she goes right around the back of the sofa to stand in the living room between him and the television. "What the hell is your problem?"

Jordie straightens up a little, giving her a confused look. "What?"

"You told my brother about Tyler?"

He seems surprised that she's apparently so displeased about it. "I didn't know it was a secret. I mean, you told me and Chubbs."

"I only told you guys because you asked," she huffs in exasperation, throwing her hands up. "You know how Casey is. Why would you just tell him like that instead of giving me a chance to break the news to him gently?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't think-"

"He's coming here next weekend. Tyler looked like he was gonna throw up when I told him. So thanks for that."

"Lissy," Jamie says gently, and when she looks over at him, he's giving her those big dumb eyes that she hates because that's his reasonable, convincing, 'you know I'm right so agree with me' face. "It's gonna work out. You know how charming Tyler can be. Plus if Casey knows we already like him, then he's gonna like him too and they'll get along fine. He trusts us to take care of you; he probably just wants to meet him for his own peace of mind."

"Yeah," she sighs, reluctantly agreeing.

"That was a dick move though," Jamie adds, looking down at his brother on the sofa and landing a pretty mild punch right to his gut. Jordie folds up immediately, groaning in pain and cursing so it must not have been as mild as she thought. She sends Jamie an appreciative smile and he winks back at her, or at least tries to because he just can't seem to get the hang of closing one eye without closing the other and then he ends up just blinking like an idiot.

"Fuck you, that fuckin' hurt!" Jordie huffs and then he gets up from the sofa, still holding his stomach and stomps up the stairs to his bedroom, slamming the door behind him. An awkward silence settles over them then and Calista exhales heavily, running her hands down her face. "So your brother's coming to Dallas," Jamie says after a few moments, leaning against the back of the sofa.

"Next weekend," she supplies. "Jamie, you have to-....please don't let Casey freak him out. I feel like this could end badly, like he might scare Tyler off, and I don't-....I would really hate that."

Jamie gives her a sympathetic look, like he knows what exactly she means by that. "Does he know about Logan?" She nods but says nothing and he reaches up to lay a comforting hand on her shoulder, knowing how hard that must have been for her to talk about. "Then anything Casey might say to him, he can be prepared for it. All your brother really cares about is that you're happy and safe and that you're never gonna be hurt like that again. As long as he can be convinced you won't be, he'll be fine with Tyler. And if Tyler knows what you've been through, then he knows Casey's only trying to look out for you. He's got sisters, he'd do the same thing if it were them."

"Yeah," she agrees hesitantly. "I hope you're right."

"C'mere," he says, pulling her toward him, and he wraps her in a tight hug, keeping here there until she doesn't feel quite so tensed up and stressed. She eventually pulls away from him to reach down and pick up her purse from the floor, and he watches her with concern written all over his face. "You good?"

"I'm good," she confirms, slinging her purse over her shoulder, and then she squeezes his arm reassuringly. "Thank you."

"Anytime, you know that."

Calista smiles and stretches up on her tip toes to press a kiss to his cheek. "I'll see you after the game, okay? Good luck."

-

Not being a Stars employee anymore means her usual seats are no longer just hers and she doesn't always get to sit in that section. Tonight is one of those times. The seats she got herself and the Parker-Fosters for tonight's game are at center ice, right next to the aisle that separates sections 106 and 107 and a few rows back from the penalty boxes. Since she's never sat in this particular area of the arena, it definitely takes some getting used to. It's completely disorienting watching warm ups from this position when she's so used to being in a completely different spot and she notices that even Tyler glances up at her usual section, looking confused that he can't find her.

She takes Violet down to the glass by the penalty box and the little girl has no trouble getting the boys' attention even though she's not in the spot that they've come to expect her to be. Tyler and Jamie skate over to talk for a minute and a couple of the others make sure to shoot pucks at them or tap their sticks on the glass as they skate by. Roussel even tosses a puck to Violet over the glass but she sweetly gives it away to a little boy next to them because she can get one anytime and he was really upset about not getting one. As the team eventually leaves the ice, they make their way back up to their seats where Felicity is waiting and Nick is nowhere to be seen and Violet hops up into her mother's lap, telling her all about what just happened down at ice level.

Nick returns a few minutes later with a beer for each of the three of them and a hot dog for Violet and she immediately switches laps and climbs up into her dad's to tell him everything she's just told Felicity. While Nick's busy making the appropriate noises for every part of the kid's story, Felicity turns toward Calista to have her own conversation and of course it goes right to the one place their conversations always seem to end up at.

"Sooooo....how's it going with loverboy?"

Calista rolls her eyes at the nickname and takes a sip of her beer. "Well, Jordie told my brother about him so he's decided he needs to fly down and meet him. That's about how it's going."

"Jesus," Felicity groans, shaking her head. "That boy's get a serious fucking problem. D'you think he could keep his mouth shut if his life depended on it?"

"Doubt it," Calista mumbles bitterly. "At least I got Jamie to punch him for me."

"Face?"

"Gut."

"Too bad," Felicity sighs, sipping her own beer. "But everything's good with you two?"

"Well, I told him about Logan last night and he didn't run from the apartment so I guess that's a good sign?"

"You told him about Logan?"

"Mhmm."

"Wow."

"What?" Calista asks, automatically defensive.

"I''m just surprised is all. That's not really something you go around broadcasting so for you to tell him-.....You must really trust him."

"You know, it's weird, I actually kind of do but I don't know why. I mean, he's hurt me before. I should want to be even more careful than usual, but for some reason, I just-....I don't know, I can't really explain it."

Felicity just blinks at her in surprise before a smirk makes its way onto her face. "I can."

"No, don't," she warns, holding her hand up and shaking her head. "Shut up."

"Calista, you totally love him!"

"I do not!" she squawks in outrage, almost spilling her beer all over the dress she didn't have time to change out of after work before she came to the arena. Felicity only seems pleased by the reaction because she just sits there with a shit eating grin on her face, prompting Calista to roll her eyes at her friend. "It's not even been a fucking week, Fifi."

"But you've known him for three years, Calista. And you've known this him, the new and improved one, for months now. Just because he only officially asked you to date him last week doesn't mean these feelings haven't been developing for a long time, especially when you spent so much time together before that. You're not the only one who's got it bad, babe."

"You don't know how he feels," she protests. "And I do not love him."

"Okay," Felicity sighs, throwing her hands up in surrender. "You'll see."

Calista huffs in annoyance and sits back in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest like a petulant child as she waits for the pregame festivities to begin so she doesn't have to focus on that conversation anymore. Luckily, Violet is always one to entertain so she spends the next ten minutes talking about her grandmother's new kitten and how she learned the pledge of allegiance and how she can write her own name and by the time she's finished showing them on the back of an old Walgreens receipt, the anthem is ready to be sung and the game to get underway. Felicity starts up a conversation about someone in one of her classes when the puck drops and Calista couldn't be more thankful for the shift in direction. She keeps her eyes on the ice, periodically glancing over at her friend to make sure she knows she's still listening.

The Blue Jackets score a goal and Violet boos as loud as her little voice can, making everyone in their section laugh before she gets bashful, hiding her face in Nick's tee shirt. Calista turns back to the ice just as Tyler comes on for his shift and she can't help focusing solely on him the whole time instead of watching the puck like she usually does. That gets her back to thinking about what Felicity said just before the game started but she puts a pin in that worry for now as Felicity elbows her to get her attention then nods to her daughter, who's standing up in Nick's lap shouting 'Go Stars Go' at the top of her lungs. Calista laughs and shakes her head, turning her gaze back down to the ice.

"She's gonna be so much trouble for you down the line when-"

She stops talking in the middle of her sentence, her eyes immediately shifting over to the bench where there's some kind of commotion happening. There's gloves, towels, water bottles thrown out on the ice and everyone's yelling and jumping off the bench over the wall, slamming their sticks against the ice to get the attention of the linesmen. The play is whistled dead and everyone from both teams who's out there for their shift skates over too to see what's going on. Just looking at the guys' faces, she can tell that something is very wrong and they're all crowded around their bench, blocking whatever is happening over there. She can hear them yelling for paramedics and the whole crowd is on their feet all at once, trying to see what's going on.

The injured player is removed while her view is blocked and then the rest of the guys move back a little but now they're all just standing there, looking worried and upset. Even the Columbus players are mixing in with them, probably trying to learn what happened. Jamie is standing by the door to the tunnel, shuffling nervously from foot to foot. Tyler is talking to the linesmen. Eakin is sitting on the bench with his head down and face hidden and a little further down from him, Chiasson is doing the same. The rest of the boys are scattered about, some of them talking quietly to each other in small groups, some of them standing off on their own. The entire arena has grown silent as everyone waits to find out what's wrong, who's hurt, are they okay. Calista tries to figure it out herself, doing a quick run-through of green jerseys.

"I can't tell who it is," she whispers to Felicity, feeling panicked. "I can't tell who's missing."

Even though she has her three boys and she can see that they're all obviously okay, she pretty much loves every member of the team like they're her family and the thought of any of them being seriously hurt is unbearable. She glances at each one of them again, trying to go through the roster in her mind, but it's proving difficult when she can't even catch her breath properly. Her hands are shaking and she feels dizzy like she needs to sit down but she can't make herself do it until she figures out who's missing.

"Liss, calm down," Felicity soothes, her cool hand wrapping around Calista's wrist. "It's gonna be okay, just breathe."

Calista takes a few deep breaths, trying to get herself under control before she tries to go through the roster again and this time, as she looks out on the ice at each player, she realizes it almost immediately. "I know who it is. Oh my God," she gasps, breaking off into tears.

"What?"

"It's Peverley that's missing. He's got heart issues, Felicity."

The blonde's eyes widen, obviously alarmed, but then she switches back to calming mom mode, rubbing her hand over Calista's back. "I'm sure he's gonna be fine, sweetie. They're taking care of him."

She shakes her head but doesn't respond, feeling awful and worried and helpless. She can't imagine what the boys must be going through, especially Tyler who's known and played with Peverley his entire NHL career up to this point, a guy he won the Cup with and was traded to Dallas with. She finds him out on the ice, kneeling next to Jordie and Horcoff, and she can tell he's upset by the look on his face. Of course, most of the other boys have similar expressions and some even have reddened eyes to go along with them. Lindy finally emerges from the tunnel, looking like he's seen a ghost, and he goes over to talk to the linesmen but she can't tell what he's saying, only that he keeps shaking his head. He turns then to Jamie and both of them have these awful, grim looks on their faces as they talk and then the next thing she knows, a Columbus player is down at the end of the ice, standing at the door and motioning for his teammates to follow him.

"They're going off," she says, more to herself than to Felicity but Felicity looks anyway and they both watch as all the Dallas players follow the same way. The whole arena just sits in silence after the ice is empty, everyone wondering if the game is going to resume, but Calista knows Jamie and she knows all her boys and she's certain they won't be able to focus on a game anymore. Plus, it'd be pretty shitty of the league to make them get back out there on the ice after something like this just happened. Regardless of what happens with that, she can't just stay there totally clueless anymore. "I'm gonna run up to the family suite, see if they know anything."

"Okay," Felicity nods, pulling her friend into a tight hug. "Let us know."

"I will," she promises, and then she's out of her seat and hurrying up the stairs past the rows and rows of confused, worried fans.

The family suite is eerily quiet when she gently pushes the door open and steps inside. Most of the wives and girlfriends are huddled around in a circle talking softly and even the kids are unusually subdued, sitting quietly on the leather couches. Everyone looks up when she enters the suite and Daley's wife Kristy is the first one to acknowledge her, beckoning her over into the circle with wide eyes.

"Hey, have you heard anything?"

Calista shakes her head. "No, I actually came up here to see what you guys knew. I was out in the stands so I don't know anything except that it was Rich."

Everyone in the circle nods sadly and Brijet Whitney, who's standing to her left, nudges her arm. "It was his heart. He collapsed on the bench. Nathalie was in here with the kids when it happened and it was just awful. Amanda drove her to the hospital and Chrissy just left to take the kids home with her," she says, referring to Goligoski's and Fiddler's wives, whom Calista notices are also missing from the circle of ladies.

Her eyes well up with tears again but she's not about to let herself cry in front of all the kids who don't really know what happened, only that it's something bad. "Do you think she needs any help with them? Or-....or Nathalie, should we do something-....?"

"The kids are staying over at the Fiddlers' tonight. I don't think they know anything's wrong so they should be fine until Nathalie picks them up tomorrow. I texted her already and told her if she needs anything to call us but I think we should all pitch in and do something over the next few days at least. Maybe take turns doing dinner for them. We could make a schedule," Brijet suggests, and everyone agrees that that's a good idea so they all pull their phones out to look at their calendars and make a plan that works for everyone.

Once that's all figured out, Calista says her goodbyes and heads back out of the suite with the promise to talk to them soon. Some of the girls, mostly the ones without kids, follow behind her as she makes her way through the arena down to the locker room and as they get closer, it seems that the mood shifts even more. It's more somber here, if that's even possible, and there's no sound coming from behind the doors which is the complete opposite of the way it usually is. Calista crosses her arms over her chest and leans back against the wall to wait and some of the other girls do the same right there with her, but they don't speak anymore.

Finally, the door is shoved open and the guys slowly begin to emerge one by one wearing their suits, which means the rest of the game is canceled. They greet their wives and girlfriends there in the hall or head up to meet them in the family suite and Calista stays still, biting hard on her bottom lip to keep herself from getting choked up again because the look on every guy's face is the same and it's gut wrenching. Jamie follows Daley out the door and makes a beeline for her as soon as he spots her standing off to the side. He says nothing, just lets her throw her arms around his waist and hug him tightly, and when she eventually pulls back to look up at him, his face is all twisted up like he's in pain but he quickly tries to hide it, like he's trying to be strong for her.

"Jamie," she mumbles, a soft plea for him to stop trying to pretend he's fine, and he just shakes his head, dropping his eyes from hers.

"They just told us he's stable now. He's conscious, alert-...."

Calista lets out a heavy breath, the tight feeling in her chest lightening up, even if only slightly. "Good. That's good news."

"We're gonna go ahead and fly to St. Louis tonight," he tells her, clearing his throat to cover up the quaking in his voice. "Team just needs to be together right now."

"Of course," she agrees, gently laying her hand on his arm. "But you know if you wanna talk when you get to the hotel there, I don't care what time it is. Call me."

"Don't worry about me," he says, strategically scratching his face so that he can wipe his eyes at the same time. "Tyler's pretty messed up right now. He needs you more."

And as soon as he says the words, the heavy gray double doors open up again and this time it's Tyler slipping out of them, the look on his face absolutely heartbreaking. His suit is all wrinkled, his hair is a rumpled mess, and his eyes are bloodshot like he's been crying. Calista swallows down her own feelings at seeing him like this and holds her arms open to him as he moves toward her, walking right into them and letting her wrap him in a hug. He hugs her back just as tight, burying his face in the top of her shoulder, and when she hears him sniffle, she squeezes her eyes shut, willing herself not to lose it in front of them. She gently brushes her fingers through his hair with one hand and rubs slow circles on his back with the other until he finally pulls away a little to look down at her.

"I was sitting right next to him," he says, and even though he's speaking quietly, she can still hear his voice break. "He just-....slumped over and I didn't know-....They had to revive him in the hallway before they could even get him to an ambulance."

That's all it takes for the tears to start pooling in her eyes again and she places her hand against his cheek, gently brushing her thumb back and forth over his cheekbone until the tear track there is all dry. "He's gonna be fine, you know? He will. He's in good hands."

Tyler pushes out a heavy breath and nods weakly, looking down from her gaze. "We're leaving for St. Louis tonight."

"I know," she says softly, fingers idly playing with the collar of his shirt. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Gotta be, right?"

He smiles sadly and she just frowns in return, pulling him back down into another hug. He relaxes into it though, winding his arms around her and just letting himself be comforted. "If you wanna talk tonight, call."

"You need your sleep for work," he protests, but Calista immediately shakes her head.

"There's no way I'm gonna be able to sleep tonight anyway," she assures him, pulling back again to look up into his eyes. "Promise me if you need to, you will."

Tyler sighs at the determined look on her face and after only a moment, he gives in. "Yeah, okay," he agrees. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me, Tyler. That's what I'm here for."

He tells himself that the rush of feelings he gets from her words is just because he's already so emotional and he doesn't respond verbally, instead just pulling her back against him in a hug. She presses her face into his chest as she hugs him back but after a moment, she lifts her head to look over her shoulder, holding one hand out toward Jamie. "Get in here," she says, and then she tugs Jamie forward by his suit jacket until he's close enough that she can get an arm around each of them in one big group hug.