Give Into Me.

St. Patrick's Day is an odd holiday, if you're Irish you love it, it celebrates your heritage and I get that. But for everyone else it's just a free day to party in the middle of the week, which is all fine and dandy I'm young I get it. But where it becomes iffy to me is the amount of green involved, even the alcohol is green! Ever since I dyed my hair I've tried to avoid the hue, maroon and green? They only go together during the month of December. So when I became a frequent flier at the American Airlines Center victory green slowly trickled into my wardrobe. Or I guess Tyler forced in in there, first it was the jersey, then his sweatshirts, and now I have a whole collection of Dallas Stars apparel that looks slightly atrocious with my hair but it makes him happy so I sneak small doses of it in on game day.

Which is what brings us back to St. Patrick's Day, today is March 17th and not only is it one of the biggest drinking days of the year it's also game day. So here I sit with Hannah's big, Victory Green sweater wrapped around my shoulders a black t-shirt with scalloped edges underneath and leather leggings tightly hugging my legs. My toes tap the concrete in my new green Converse as I watch the game from a seat beside birthday girl Julie Hemsky and a few of the other wives. It was just like any other game but we were all ready to go out and celebrate our attention had faded from the game and shifted towards our cell phones.

As time ticked down I clicked off my iPhone and looked back down at the ice, 30 seconds left with an empty net and boom the Stars scored again. The players on the ice skated around celebrating and then lined up for another faceoff, 20 seconds and I saw Tyler take a hit into the boards it was light so I wasn't worried. Then I saw him stop at Jamie's side they were talking but they weren't smiling like usual, Vern Fiddler showed up and wrapped his arm around Tyler dragging him over to the bench. As I watched the scene go down on the ice my mouth gaped open as Tyler took off down the tunnel with the trainers, what the hell was happening?

"Oh my god," I mumbled covering my mouth, I looked down and saw Julie's hand squeeze my kneecap.

"Hey, he's okay probably just a tweak. He walked off, you'll see." I nodded my head and tried to sit out the rest of the game but I felt sick, something was wrong.

"I have to get down there, something is wrong I can feel it." I pushed off out of the chair and grabbed my purse from the floor half jogging down the stairs to the concourse as the players celebrated their win and the fans awaited the three stars of the game. As fast as my little legs would allow I bee lined for the elevator doing somewhat of the nervous potty-dance as I waited for the elevator to arrive.

Stan barely stepped out of the door as I hopped in, "Down please."

"Absolutely Miss," He pushed the bottom and we began moving as I leaned against the cold metal wall squeezing my eyes shut as tight as possible saying a silent prayer things downstairs weren't as bad as I felt they were going to be. "Good luck, I hope Mr. Seguin is well." Stan said with a pat on my shoulder as I exited the elevator, I gave him a weak smile and started looking for the trainer's room.

Wandering like a chicken with my head cut off I looked down 3 different hallways before I found it, the door was closed and I was too nervous to knock. Would those people even know who I am? I leaned against the brick wall across from the door and stared at the plaque that read "Training Room" for what felt like an eternity, I felt my phone going haywire in my purse as I waited.

36 text messages, each of them wondering if Tyler was okay.

"Are you Adleigh?" A deep voice I had never heard before asked, looking up I was met with a tall man with a bigger build I had seen him before but we'd never actually met.

"Uh, yeah, yes I am." I stuttered.

"I'm Tom Holy, PR for the Stars. You're Tyler's girlfriend, correct?"

I nodded, my heart thundering in my chest "Uh huh, is he okay?"

"I'm not at liberty to say, but he's asked for you, but he said to warn you that there's blood." Even in pain he was concerned for me that I'd get sick seeing the blood.

"Okay, umm am I good to go in there? That's where he is right?" I asked pointing at the door in front of us.

"Yes, go ahead I'm sure his teammates will be coming in for updates soon." Nodding along I leaned back against the wall again and continued staring at the door not moving an inch to let myself into the room, "Would you like me to go in with you?"

Lifting my head off the wall I unpursed my lips, "Yes, please."

Tom smiled lightly at me and knocked on the door before opening it, the lights were bright inside and a whole team of people were crowded around Tyler's lower body. I stood half behind Tom trying not to panic at the sight before me, if there were that many people looking at his injury it couldn’t be good. "I found her, Segs." Tom spoke drawing me out of my trance, Tyler's head popped up from the table pushing up on his forearms as he laid on his stomach.

Tyler's lips wrinkled like he was trying to smile but I knew he was hurting, "Hey," he groaned and I stepped further into the room. "C'mere, Ads just don't look down."

I mumbled a thank you to Tom and weaved my through the other empty training tables to get to Tyler, crouching down in front of his face I ran my fingers through his sweaty mop of hair. "What's with us and leg injuries?"

"Guess it was my turn, eh?" I laughed but it wasn't funny, this was his job and getting hurt was not what he needed right now, not this close to the playoffs.

Pushing up I looked down the table to see what the damage was, and Tom was right there was a lot of blood. I felt my head get lighter and my stomach churn, and I'm sure I was white as a ghost so I crouched back down and closed my eyes. "Have they said anything yet?" I asked flicking my eyes back up to Tyler's wrapping my hands around his balled up fists.

"Not a for sure thing yet but they think the blade cut my Achilles." At that my heart dropped, that was a BIG tendon, an important one too any athlete was afraid to damage it.

"Holy shit," I mumbled under my breath, this was a lot and it was going to be a long night. Silently we stared at each other as the team doctor and staff fussed around Tyler, I sat on the floor while the world spun around me.

Oh, how the tables had turned.

"Adi, hey, I didn't see you down there," I heard Jamie's voice from the other side of the table, so I smiled and pulled myself up dusting my butt off.

"Hey Jame, nice win."

He ran his hand through his sopping wet hair and looked down at his line mate, "Yeah, so uhh have they said anything yet?"

Just as I was about to tell him we knew nothing we finally knew everything, and it wasn't good news at all. 20 minutes later they had Tyler in the back of an ambulance headed for UT Southwestern while I had a gym bag full of his stuff slung over my shoulder and his keys in my hand, this night had gone nothing like I had planned. The lights flashed on Tyler's Jeep in the player's parking lot when I climbed inside and got the seat scooted up almost as far as it would go I leaned my head against the steering wheel and felt the first of many tears fall down my cheek.

I cried almost the entire way to the hospital, I was so scared for Tyler for his leg, for his career, for his season, for the way he was going to blame himself. Somehow I managed to pull myself together before I parked, wiped the stray mascara from under my eyes and gather the things I needed from the car, thank God Tyler had some clean workout clothes in his locker and I had worn Chucks instead of heels for the game. At least I'd be somewhat comfy while spending my night in the hospital because there was no way I was leaving him, over my dead body.

However the receptionist in the hospital had other ideas, as soon as I walked in she locked eyes on me and grinned just like her job entailed she greeted me bright eyed and bushy tailed, "Welcome to UT Southwestern Hospital, how can I help you ma'am?"

Adjusting the two bags on my shoulder I gave her a small smile, "Hi, my boyfriend was just brought in they said he was being directly admitted. Can you tell me where they took him?"

"Last name?"

"Seguin, Tyler Seguin."

Her brown eyes narrowed in on me like I was crazy before she sputtered a laugh, "Uh huh, I'm sorry Miss, but you'll have to wait to find out about his injuries just like the rest of the Stars fans."

"Let's try this again," I leaned down and laced my fingers on top of the counter in front of me, using a much more stern tone of voice this time, "You're going to tell me where they took my boyfriend right now, or I'll be speaking with your supervisor. Is that clear enough for you?"

"Can I see some ID? Last I heard Mr. Seguin was single."

Fishing through my purse I pulled out my Dallas Stars Friends & Family suite pass that read SEGUIN 91 in bold letters at the bottom sliding it towards her, and to really seal the deal I pressed the home button on my iPhone the screen lighting up with a photo of Tyler kissing my cheek in Nashville, "There, and to be clear they don't just hand these out at the AAC. Now can you please tell me where Tyler is?"

"I'm very sorry about that, Miss?" She paused reading my name off the ID, "Miss Reichman, wow like Reichman Motors?"

"Yes, and Reichman Law now can we get to where Tyler is please?" She nodded and began typing on her computer, I tapped my fingernails against the hard marble, amazed at how much I had just sounded like my mother until she found what she was looking for.

"Mr. Seguin is on the pre-op floor, room 714." Pre-op? Holy shit he needed surgery, I swallowed the new lump in my throat, hastily thanked the woman and rushed off to the elevator.

Upstairs I followed the blue dots on the floor until I reached the door that read 714, it was slightly opened so I rapped my knuckles on it and pushed it ajar. The team doctor and another wearing a white lab coat stood beside Tyler's bed, he had been hooked up to an IV and was now wearing a hospital gown. "Hey babe," Tyler said his tone a little giggly and I knew they had given him some of the good pain meds.

"Hi, I see you've gotten the good stuff." I looked to the two doctors who just nodded at me, the one in lab coat extended his hand out to me.

I shook his hand as he introduced himself, "Dr. Robertson, orthopedics. Tyler here has told us all about you, I hear you went to UT?"

"I did, Class of 2014. It's nice to meet you Dr. Robertson I'm Adleigh."

"You as well ma'am, now as you can tell he's a little drugged up right now so I'll tell you the game plan as well." I nodded setting our bags down in the chair beside Tyler's bed, "We've flushed and packed the wound for the night and out of precautions Tyler is being pumped with antibiotics to combat infection. Tomorrow morning I'll go in and repair the tendon, get in there and see what the real damage is. It's hard to tell right now, but I'll know more once I get in there. He'll be good to go home after the surgery if there are no complications, do you have any questions?"

I shook my head, "No, just a little déjà vu, I broke my ankle a few months ago so we were doing the same thing just the other way around. Funny how things work right?"

"Sounds like you two are quite the pair, if there are no questions I'll see you two in the morning for pre-op rounds." I shook his hand one last time as Tyler stared glossy eyed at the wall smiling at nothing.

I had forgotten the other doctor was in the room until he spoke, "Well, it's nice to finally meet you Adleigh I'm Rob, Tyler's talked a lot about you and that ankle of yours."

"Nice to meet you, are you the one who set up the ankle brace?" I asked extending my hand over Tyler's bed to shake Rob's.

"I am, I assume that went well?"

"It did, I'm no NHL player yet but he got me out on the ice." Rob laughed and Tyler mumbled something both of us looking down at the hockey player who was semi-conscious.

"You're good to stay with him if you'd like, or I can it's not a problem if you have things to take care of." The man wearing a Stars polo stated and I looked over at Tyler before shaking my head.

"You can go, he stayed with me it's my turn to make sure he's okay."

"Alright, call if you need anything the entire training staff should be in Tyler's phone. I'll see you in the morning," he squeezed my shoulder as he walked by stopping short of the door, "Hey Adleigh, it was really nice meeting you by the way, it's good to know Segs has someone like you in his corner."

"Thank you." I smiled at the man before me and waved at him one last time as the door behind him clicked shut leaving me in the room with a half-sedated Tyler and my recliner for the evening.

Pulling out my phone I checked my message count: 106, I guess it was time to tackle that shit storm.

I started with Tyler's mom after we started "officially" dating Jackie and his sisters and I had caught up via texts, so I answered her handful of texts as best I could she was his mom after all she deserved to know. When all the Seguin's were up to date I moved to my own parents, Shayla was a hot mess she wanted to know what hospital and if she should send in the troops for food and anything else I needed. I got her to back down but it was hard, Hannah was just as high-strung and by the time I responded to her messages she let me know she was half a bottle of wine in to calm herself down. Oh how I could go for a glass of wine right now I thought to myself as I drank a luke-warm bottle of water I had stowed in my purse.

The last person who I checked in with and kept in the most contact was Jamie, he went over to Tyler's to let the dogs out and offered to bring anything we needed too. But what a frenzy that would cause if the hospital had not one but two Stars players in it at once. As the downpour of messages dwindled I sat my phone down, pulled out a pair of black Stars shorts and one of Tyler's hoodies to change into; when I returned from the bathroom I dragged the chair I had been sitting in closer to Tyler's bed, reaching out for his hand that wasn’t hooked up to an IV. Tracing my thumb over the veins protruding from the back of his hand I pursed my lips and attempted to stop the tears from coming once more but it was no use, seeing him like this hurt like hell.

Tear drops landed on the white blanket and dribbled on his hand, between the dripping and the friction of my skin on his it drew Tyler out of his slumber, scaring me half to death as I leaned on my other hand not even looking at his face as it pained me too much. "Why are you crying?" Tyler croaked out startling me.

Wiping my eyes I sniffled and looked at him, "Because I'm scared, and I'm being a total wimp right now." I shook my head in disbelief of myself, I was supposed to be strong for him not cry every hour.

"Babe, I'm fine it's just a little cut."

"That is not a little cut, Tyler." I said bluntly, that was quite the hole that was NOT supposed to be there. Damn those knife shoes!

"Okay, so maybe it's medium sized. Ads, I'll be fine I promise."

"Medicine and promises don’t go well together, Ty. I watch a lot of Grey's Anatomy remember?"

"Look at me, I'm going to be fine. Just some stitches, inside and out." He squeezed my hand to gain my attention.

Wiping my face again I attempted to regain my composure, "Y'know what they say? Chicks dig scars."

"I've already got my chick, unless she digs scars." I stood up and sat on the edge of the tiny hospital bed wedging my butt inbetween Tyler and the bedrail.

"Your chick just digs you, I love you." I kissed his forehead, his cheek and his lips.

"I love you too, I'm glad you're here."

I smiled pressing my lips against his again, "How could I not be? We totally love having dates in the hospital, huh?"

"So you're saying your trip to the hospital was a date after all?"

I rolled my eyes, even under medication he was cocky, "Go back to sleep Tyler, you've got surgery in the morning."

I barely slept that night, between the beeps of Tyler's IV and the inflating of his blood pressure cuff every hour on the dot I was alert through most of the night. I sat curled up my knees tucked under my chin in the orange-ish "leather" recliner watching Tyler sleep, the rise and fall of his chest was comforting, aside from the slit in the back of his leg he was okay and I was thankful for that. The nurses made small talk with me when they checked on him and I caught a few of them peaking through the cracked open door in the middle of the night even, but for the most part I was locked away in silence just a small hum of the medical machinery.

When the sun came through the windows of the high-rise hospital the next morning I changed back into my leggings but left Tyler's hoodie on, it was barely 7:30 when the first nurse came in for pre-op checks. Tyler was groggy and slowly coming out of the fog only to be put into another one, Dr. Robertson came in an hour before the surgery to see if we had any questions but I was still question-less. He shook Tyler's hand and told him he'd see him the OR, gave me one last smile and went out the door, after he left I climbed back into bed with Tyler.

"Did you sleep at all?" He asked swinging his arm around my shoulder settling me into his side as if we were at home and not in a hospital.

"A little, but I'm fine."

"That's my line, and you're not fine your eyes look like you’re high as kite."

I rolled my eyes leaning my forehead in the crook of his neck, "Shut up, you're supposed to tell me I'm pretty not that I look like shit."

"You're always beautiful, babe. I just wish you weren't so worried about me, I'm f-"

"Tell me you're fine one more time Seguin, I dare you."

"And there's the gremlin that I love so very much," Tyler grinned pecking my forehead as I glared at him.

"Uh huh, you better love me." I looked up at the clock on the wall and saw that there were only a handful of minutes before Tyler was set to head down to the surgery suite.

"Of course," Tyler breathed against my lips and I kissed him back noting that I needed to dig some gum out of my purse or find a toothbrush of some sort for my hellacious case of morning breath.

Crawling out the bed I straightened the too large for me sweatshirt before reaching out for Tyler's hand giving it a squeeze as the door to the room popped open with a few nurses entering to take Tyler away, an older woman who had checked on him during the night grinned at me. "Good morning, you ready to head on down Mr. Seguin?"

Tyler nodded and looked over at me, "I'll see you in a little while, get some sleep while I'm in there. For me?"

"I'll try, I love you." Releasing his hand I leaned down pressing my lips to his forehead beneath the hairnet they had forced him to wear.

"Love you too, baby." That was the last thing he said before they wheeled him out of the room, after I gathered up all of our stuff another hospital representative came to get me taking me to a waiting room on the post-op floor. With the help of a blanket and a quiet room with no machinery I did catch a cat nap while Tyler was under the knife, it was small but needed to re-charge my battery. When I woke up I sat and stared at the beige walls waiting for someone to come and give me an update, which took way longer than it looks on Greys Anatomy.

Eventually a medical student came to tell me the surgery had gone well and Tyler would be waking up soon, I felt a wave of relief flush through my body sitting back on the itchy couch. I let his family know the procedure had gone well while I waited, not 20 minutes after I had heard that he was fine my phone buzzed with an update from the NHL app Tyler had put on my phone letting me know "Dallas Stars F Tyler Seguin out 3-4 weeks" and "Tyler Seguin suffered a cut Achilles".

News travels fast in the NHL I guess.

As I texted Hannah who was actually working in the basement of this very hospital in the lab the door handle turned and the Stars doctor appeared in the room, "Good morning, Adleigh."

"Morning Rob, do you know if he's awake yet?" I eagerly questioned.

Rob nodded, "He's in and out but I'm pretty sure he's mumbled something about you once or twice."

I felt my cheeks heat up, "Oh, uhh okay. Guess I should get up there?"

"I'll show you over, how was the night shift?"

I shrugged my shoulders picking up my purse and Tyler's Stars duffel, "Not bad, he was pretty drugged up they only had to wake him up once to change the packing at like 2 or 3."

"Good, and you? How're you dealing with this?" What did I have to do with any of this? Tyler was the injured one.

"Oh me? I'm fine, just being the worried girlfriend I guess."

"Well, he is going to need someone to lean on these next few weeks. And you know Tyler, he's going to be busting his ass to get back on the ice.. It's not going to be sunshine and daisies in this rehab process." Was he trying to scare me or prepare me?

"That's totally understandable and I'll be here for him as much as possible. My job's pretty flexible these days, I can work from home if needed." We stopped outside a room on the post-op floor, Rob staring at me deeply.

"That's what I wanted to hear, I don’t see you as the type to run and he's going to need that. He'll need someone to be strong with him, for him when or if things don't go as planned."

"I can do that, ask Tyler strong-willed is my middle name." I assured the man who only smiled and opened Tyler's door, the lights were dim and the beeping was back as we entered. Tyler laid in the bed eyes closed, hair a mess, with his leg wrapped up and propped up on a stack of pillows. Tossing our bags in the chair I reached out for his hand trying to bring him to the surface, I needed to see for myself that he was okay once more.

"Tyler…baby, can you hear me?" I asked staring at his sleeping face, "Ty, come on say something, anything? Hell just tell me to shut up, that's fine."

I laughed at my own stupidity looking over at Rob, "He'll come to, don't worry. The anesthetic has different holds on people, could be hours before it completely wears off."

As quietly as possible I slid the chair over to the side of Tyler's bed continuing my stare down, maybe if I used my Jedi powers it would wake him up.

Waiting for Tyler to completely wake up caused me to fall asleep myself, Rob had left after getting all the info he needed from Dr. Robertson and for once the beeps were sort of soothing. I fell asleep with my forehead leaning on the bedrail, it was no good for my neck and I totally felt it when I jolted awake after hearing Tyler cough followed by a chuckle as I jumped out of my napping position. "Morning sunshine." Tyler joked as I wiped my mouth and stretched my neck regretting that siesta in its entirety.

"Hey, how's your pain? You feel okay? Nauseous, cold, hot?" I bombarded instantly reminding myself of my mother, my God had I become Shayla?

"For the hundredth time, I am fine. Quit worrying babe, I just wanna go home." Yeah me too, I wanted to shower and sleep in a real bed.

"You have to see Dr. Robertson one more time and have the dressing changed, then we can go." He rolled his eyes and pouted, I pushed myself out of the chair causing it to squeak leaning over the railing to grab his face. "By the way you're so stuck with me for the next 3-4 weeks, I'm going to drive you nuts just like you did to me."

"Totally looking forward to that, we should get you a nurses costume."

"I like you better when you're unconscious." Letting go of his head I let it fall back onto the pillows.

"Whatever, you love me."

"You're right, I do. There must be something wrong with me, maybe I should have my head checked while I'm here?"

"Mhm, you've got jokes babe."

It took 2 more hours before we could get out of the hospital for real, even hockey stars don't get expedited service apparently. By the time I got Tyler checked out, loaded into the backseat of his Jeep and headed towards his house Jamie had called and said he would be waiting to help me out. I was incredibly thankful when I pulled into the driveway to see both Benn brothers standing on the front porch, getting a boy almost twice my size out of a vehicle was not going to be easy.

Jamie tore open the backseat greeted immediately by Tyler's legs, "Hey bud, how're you feelin'?"

Tyler scooted towards the door as I watched in the rearview mirror, "High on life, Benny, high on life."

Jamie held Tyler up as Jordie fetched the crutches from the trunk as I hopped down from the vehicle myself, circling around to where the Three Musketeers were trying to figure out the whole crutch situation. Not a semester of college between the three of them it took a moment before Tyler got a move on towards the door, I laughed to myself as I pulled the duffel bag from the trunk and followed the Stars into Tyler's house. Jamie had put the dogs in the backyard so Tyler could settle in without being attacked, which was perfect as it took all hands on deck to get the boy settled into the guest bed on the first floor. There was no way he was making it upstairs to the master bedroom in his state!

Jamie and Jordie distracted Tyler as I found some sort of food for the two of us but the brothers were gone by the time I returned from taking a shower upstairs. The two dogs were gated off from the hallway that lead to Tyler's new abode and the TV in the guest room was playing lowly as I entered, Tyler's eyes slanted open as he laid in bed with his arm behind his head. "I figured you'd be out by now?"

He patted the empty side of the bed so I crawled in, "Forced my eyes to stay open, I wanted to see you before I went out again."

"I'm here now, you can go to sleep. It's good for the wound, you fight infection more while you're sleeping."

"Thanks Dr. Adleigh," Tyler wrapped his arm around my shoulder scooping me into his side, laying my head on his chest I listened to his heartbeat thundering below my ear.

"You're welcome, don’t tell the others but you're my favorite patient." I joked kissing his chest.

"I better be," He yawned and I felt one coming as well, "Thank you for being here for me, I needed you y'know I've never really needed someone before but I just.. I need you and I love you, so much."

"You did this for me and I was being stubborn, it's the least I can do. I love you Tyler, you can't scare me off."

Tyler pressed his lips to the top of my head, "We make a pretty good team, huh?"

"We're the dream team, baby, just living the dream one leg injury at a time." I chuckled to myself before falling asleep, exhausted from the last 36 hours of life and even more exhausted thinking about how crazy things were about to get for the two of us, but this would be our first challenge as a couple and we needed it. Something to test our foundation, if we could make it through this we would survive anything.