I'd Do Anything

“So, what exactly happened?” Max asked.

He, Lars and Brendan were all in their practice gear, stinking to high heavens. Even after a shower, there was something about the smell of hockey player. Max had been driving everyone home when Annalise had called Lars in a panic.

Olivia was in the hospital.

“I can’t leave right now!” Annalise dithered as Max turned the car around. “I’m pouring media plates and it’s really time sensitive and there isn’t anyone else here. I’ll be there as soon as I can! But can you guys go and check on her?”

Olivia shrugged and touched the bandage around her head. “I don’t know, honestly. I just passed out and hit my head on the floor. Of course I was at school so they called a goddamn ambulance. But I’m fine. Really.”

Brendan sat on the edge of her bed. “You look like shit.”

“Such a charmer, Gallagher.”

A nurse came in. “Athena Richards?”

Max and Brendan looked at each other, and burst out laughing. Even Lars couldn’t hold in a chuckle, even though he had heard her full name before. Olivia scowled. “I told you, vous m’appellez Olivia, s’il vous plait.”

The nurse looked at the hockey players. “Oh…uhm…” she blushed. “Are you with Miss Richards?”

Lars stepped forward. “I’m dating her sister, we’re here until she can get here. Can you tell us what’s going on? I’ll need to call her.”

“I’m sorry, since you’re not family…honestly we don’t know yet, we wanted to do a blood test…”

Brendan was playing with Olivia’s shoelace.

“What are you going to tie them together or something?” she snapped.

“No.” he moved his hands into his lap.

“This is stupid.” She grumbled. “Brendan, hand me my book bag.”

“No.”

“What do you mean, no?”

“Studying is probably what got you into this in the first place!”

“What am I? A Japanese school kid?”

“I’m going to go get a coffee.” Max said, seeing no place for him in the room. “Anyone want anything?”

But Lars was still talking to the nurse, and Brendan and Olivia were still bickering, so he didn’t get a response. With a sigh he turned and walked out of the room.

Max didn’t like hospitals, though he had been in them more than enough times. They were often mazes, and the hallways seemed to go on forever. That was why he wasn’t very surprised when trying to get back to the ER he somehow ended up in the hospice wing. It was still frustrating, though.

With a sigh he started down the hall. There had to be a desk around somewhere, and then he could ask how to get back.

There was an open door, and he heard two women speaking in French. Both the voices sounded familiar. He stopped and tried to look in without being noticed. A head of big curly hair faced away from him, and he could only see the torso of the patient.

<<Quelqu’un est a la porte.>>

The curly hair turned, and Max stepped back. Trisha stared at him in surprise.

“Max.” she said softly. “Come in.”

He slowly stepped into the small private room, and immediately felt pins in his heart.

The patient was the shell of a woman he had known. Her blonde hair was now thin and graying and her face, which had been round and full like Trisha’s, was thin and gaunt. But her eyes were still bright. She came to Connecticut every Christmas with the best presents for him and Trisha. During summers he and Trisha would always go and stay for a week or two at her shore house in New Jersey. She never had children of her own, and after three marriages had decided to just spoil Trisha, and by extension Max, whenever she could. He’d never forget how kind and thoughtful she was.

And now she was in Montreal General, wasting away.

“Aunt Brigitte.” He said.

She smiled and stretched out her arms. “Maximillian. Don’t just stand there!”

Max took a few steps forward and leaned down to embrace her, careful of the tubes and wires she was hooked to. She felt so fragile.

“Trisha was just telling me that she had seen you again.” Brigitte said happily. Unlike her brother, after years of working abroad she didn't have much of an accent. “I’m so happy. I was sad when Stefan moved her up here, away from you. You kids were like two halves of a person.”

“Papa needed to open his restaurant.” Trisha said quietly. “He hated working in the city.”

“He’s a better chef for it.” Brigitte reminded.

“Je sais. I’ve heard it before.”

Brigitte smiled at Max. “So, big shot hockey player, huh?”

He laughed. “Yeah. Sort of.”

“Sort of? Please.” She shifted herself upwards. “I remember watching your first game with Montreal! And I said, I know him! He was that goofy kid always pulling pranks with my niece!” She beamed. “I’m so proud. Of both of you.”

Trisha slowly stood. “I’m gonna grab a snack from the vending machine. You need me to smuggle you anything?”

Brigitte smiled. “Another cute young hockey player?”

Max laughed. “A few of my teammates are downstairs.”

Trisha left the room and Max took her seat, pulling it closer to Brigitte. “I had no idea – “

She shook her head. “Max, don’t. What’s done is done. I’d rather talk about Trisha.”

“Alright.”

“This upsets her.” She said, gesturing at herself with thin hands. “Last time around, she refused to come here to see me. Said she’d see me when I was better. But I think that tactless brother of mine said something to her.”

Max nodded. “I know. She’s good at keeping a straight face, but that’s about it.”

Brigitte closed her eyes and reached for his hand. “Such a good boy. I’m happy she has you again. You take care of her.”

“Okay.”

“I’m tired. Can you tell her I’m going to sleep? I’ll see her next time.”

“Yes.”

She squeezed his hand as best she could. “Thank you, Max. You’ll visit again, right?”

“Of course.”

She closed her eyes and was asleep in minutes. Max watched her sadly. Aunt Brigitte. Cancer. He had no idea. This must be why Trisha was watching Slap Shot the other day.

He gently pulled his hand away and stood, careful not to wake her. He stepped out of the room and looked up and down the hall. There wasn’t a vending machine. A nurse and a doctor walked past him. It was a very quiet area of the hospital.

Someone coughed. And there was a sniffle. Finally, he heard it. A hiccup. A sob. He turned towards it and walked down the hall, finally finding a small alcove. Trisha was facing the wall, pressing herself into the space.

“Trish?” he asked softly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“I’m fine.” She sniffled. “Gimme a sec.”

“It’s okay.”

She turned around. Her face was red and wet. “They’re giving her three months. They aren’t even bothering with chemo this time. It’s not okay, Max.”

“I meant, it’s okay to cry.” He said.

Without warning, she stepped forward and threw her arms around him, burying her face in his sweat-shirt. He still smelled awful from practice, but she didn’t care. And as he hugged her back, as if he was holding the pieces of her together, she couldn’t be happier to have him back.

~*~

“It started as breast cancer.” Trish said.

She and Max had stood in the hallway until Trisha managed to pull herself back together. Then she gathered her things, kissed her sleeping aunt’s cheek, and they went outside and sat on a bench.

“They caught it fairly quickly, treated her and she went into remission. But it just…kept coming back. Now she has tumors in her lungs and bones, as well. And now I’m going to lose her for real and I just don’t know what to do anymore.”

They watched the street.

“You try to plan for everything, you know? And then something like this happens, and it all comes out from under you. And even when you know what’s coming, it’s just so hard to think about.”

“I don’t even know what to say.” Max said. “She was…she is the best.”

Trisha nodded. “It’s hard to remember that, though. Things like this…sickness…it’s hard to remember that she was once healthy, you know? And I try really hard to. but some days are better than others.”

They sat silently.

“Why are you here?” she finally asked.

“Hm?”

“At the hospital? Why are you here?”

Max blinked, then pulled out his phone. He had eight unread text messages. “Jesus, I totally forgot. Olivia passed out in class and hit her head. Annalise couldn’t leave work, and I was driving Lars and Brendan home so we came to check on her. I went to get coffee and got lost.”

“Is she okay?”

“Trust me, if anything goes wrong it will be because her and Brendan hurt each other’s feelings.”

Trisha snorted and he put his phone to his ear. Lars picked up after a couple of rings.

“Max? Where are you?”

“I’m, uh, outside.” Max said. “How’s Olivia?”

“She’s fine. Annalise is signing her out now. They’re saying she just overworked herself. Annalise is having a fit. What happened to you?”

“I went to get coffee and got lost on the way back, then I ran into Trish.”

“Trisha? She’s here? Is she hurt too?”

“No, no, she’s fine. Look, just come meet us outside, alright?”

“Yeah.”

He hung up and looked at Trisha, who had pulled a compact mirror out of her purse and was trying her best to make it look like nothing was wrong.

“You alright?” Max asked her.

She looked at him, and he could tell that she was considering lying to him. Finally, she said, “No. But I think I will be. Eventually.”

Soon, their friends appeared. Olivia looked absolutely miserable, being pushed in a wheel chair by Brendan. Annalise was bitching at her sister, and Lars was shaking his head as he walked behind them.

“I’ve been eating and sleeping!” Olivia was protesting. “Really!”

“Be careful with that!” Annalise snapped at her. “They told me that either you worked yourself to this state, or you have a form of epilepsy, in which case there will be more tests. And you wouldn't be allowed to party with your friends, or go to the gym, and you'd probably have to go home to Mom and Dad. So, you want to continue lying to me?”

Olivia scowled and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Everything alright?” Max asked.

“Well, aside from an unhappy goddess…” Brendan sighed, popping the brake on Olivia’s chair. Olivia looked murderous. “What are you doing here, Trisha?”

“Just visiting a patient.” Trisha said easily. “I should actually get back to the store.”

“Yeah, let’s go home.” Annalise said, looking at her sister. “Olivia, you should ask to push back your exams a day or two.”

“Yeah. Hey, can you guys drop me off at the gym?”

“NO!”

“If anything got you here, it’s the damn gym!” Annalise snapped. “I told you, you can’t fight until finals are over. It’s too much stress!”

“Fight?” Lars repeated, but Annalise didn’t hear him.

“I haven’t been in two weeks!” Olivia begged. “Believe me, Paul wouldn’t let me in anyway.”