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grapefruit-personified · 2 days

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Puck Drop - A Hilary Knight Imagine

Request: Hilary and R are married with kids and R comes to the first Boston game to support Hilary and the PWHL

we are so back, I'm so back in the writing game I mean it this time it's not like the other times I said that then disappeared for months I really mean it the woho girlies have got me I can't them down

About 1000 words of pure fluff enjoy

Y/N pulls the end of the jersey her son was wearing out of his mouth. She smooths out his hair, wipes a bit of dirt off his cheek. He squirms away from her, like any four-year-old would, but she gives him a look that says stay still for one second. She adjusts her nine-month-old daughter’s jersey as well, making sure Knight on the back is visible.

“Do you remember what I told you?” Y/N asks her son. Noah nods.

“Stay with you, drop the puck to Mama and smile for the picture.”

“Good,” Y/N says, “We have to wait until they tell us to go out.”

“Mama is going to be so surprised,” Noah says.

“Ma!” Luna babbles.

“That’s right baby, are you excited to see Mama?” Y/N says. Luna starts squirming in Y/N’s arm, clearly excited.

A stadium employee steps into the room they’re waiting in.

“We’re about to get started.”

“Thanks,” Y/N says, “Okay lets go.”

Y/N adjusts her grip on Luna and takes Noah’s hand. She follows the employee and watches the opening ceremony. She cheers when the names are announced and she can hear Noah cheering too. When Hilary’s name is called Noah cheers louder.

“Go Mama!” He yells. Luna shrieks in agreement.

An employee hands them each a puck. Noah takes his and holds it very seriously. Luna puts her right into her mouth. Y/N can’t help but laugh. The PA announcer announces the ceremonial puck drop and Y/N keeps her eyes on Hilary as he announces their names. The three of them step onto the carpet and Y/N watches the shock and delighted surprise on Hilary’s face. Hilary skates over for the puck drop, a huge grin on her face.

“Okay, are you ready?” Y/N asks. Noah nods. The two of them drop their pucks on the ice. Luna keeps her in her mouth. Y/N tries to pull it out but Luna pushes her hands away. Hilary laughs and tickles Luna’s belly. Luna laughs.

“Can I have this?” Hilary asks. Luna gives Hilary the puck, almost smacking her in the face with it. “Thank you,” Hilary says. Y/N laughs as Luna tries to climb into Hilary’s arms.

“No baby, Mama has to play hockey now, you can see her later.”

Hilary drops her gloves on the ice and hands her stick to Noah. She pulls Luna into her arms.

“Hi baby,” Hilary coos, “You surprised me, you sneaky girl.”

Luna gurgles in Hilary’s arms. They all turn to the photographer who has been taking pictures of this conversation. They get a picture before Kendall backs away.

“Get one of just the family,” She says.

Hilary starts protesting, saying Kendall is basically part of the family, but Y/N pulls her attention away.

“Just take the picture, my love.”

They do, and Y/N goes to take Luna back, but Hilary ducks her head down before she can and kisses her. Y/N blushes. She would think, after years of dating and marriage that she would stop turning red every time Hilary kissed her, but alas. Hilary grins then hands Luna back. She kneels down to give Noah a hug before Y/N and the kids walk off the ice. Y/N heads up to the box her and the other families members were given to watch the game. During the game, Luna pays no attention to the ice, and instead gets passed around and entertained by the other occupants of the box. Noah splits his time between playing with the toys Y/N brought for him and watching the game.

“Which one is Mama?” Noah asks.

“She’s right there,” Y/N points, “Number 21.”

Minnesota wins, 3-2, and Y/N knows Hilary will be disappointed. She always is after a loss, and Y/N understands. Hilary always wants the best from herself and when she loses she always picks apart everything she thinks she should have done better. Y/N and the kids head downstairs and wait for Hilary outside the players area. Y/N says hi and makes conversation with Hilary’s teammates as they head out. Hilary is the last one to leave the locker room, as usual. She’s freshy showered, her hair still dripping on her shoulders, and she smiles when she sees them, but Y/N can see the disappointment underneath.

“Mama, were you surprised?” Noah jumps into Hilary’s arms before Y/N can tell him not to. Hilary groans as she lifts him up, no doubt sore from the game.

“I was very surprised,” Hilary says, “I was told you were just going to watch the game from the box.”

“And we did,” Y/N says. She leans up and gives Hilary a kiss. “We also did some other stuff too.”

“Uh-huh,” Hilary says.

Hilary puts Noah down so she can carry her bag. The ride home is filled with Noah chattering excitedly about the game, with Luna piping in with unintelligible sounds. Hilary matches Noah’s enthusiasm, and Y/N is struck again by Hilary’s character. No matter how she feels about the game, she never lets the kids know. She never sulks or snaps or acts upset, even though Y/N knows she is.

By the time they get home, Luna is asleep in her car seat and Noah is halfway there. Y/N sends Noah inside to change into his pjs, and Hilary gets Luna out of her car seat. Y/N stop Hilary before she can head inside. She cups Hilary’s cheek and leans up and kisses her.

“I’m sorry about the game,” Y/N says, “I know you wanted to win. You’ll get them next time.”

“I know,” Hilary says.

Y/N wraps her arm around Hilary’s waist and puts the other on Luna’s back where she’s curled up on Hilary’s chest. The three of them sway together in the garage, Hilary’s cheek resting on Y/N’s head.

“Thank you,” Hilary says quietly, “For coming to the game. For surprising me. For marrying me. Having kids with me.”

“You don’t have to thank me for that,” Y/N answers just as quiet, “I would do it again. I would go back and do it all over again in a heartbeat.”

“We should go inside before Noah gets bored and demolishes the house.”

Y/N laughs. “He is your son.”

“He is just as much yours as he is mine,” Hilary says, “Whatever mischief he gets into is both of our faults."

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grapefruit-personified · 3 days

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Sleeping With the Enemy - A Marie-Philip Poulin Imagine

Requested by @simp4panos (sorry idk why the tag isn't working): R is Hilary's younger sister and dating MPP and Hilary isn't happy when she finds out and tries to fight MPP on the ice but MPP won't because she knows it's R's sister

This is neither of the fics I’ve been working on because I’m physically incapable of finishing what I started so I decided to start and finish something completely new so sorry to those waiting on another Hilary fic I’m fighting a war against my own brain rn

I don't speak french so I googled translated stuff so I hope it's not too bad, I also tried to look up like specific Quebecois phrases and things so hopefully the quebecois who see this don't hate me for it

When Hilary enters her little sister’s apartment, she expected a lot of things. She expected to be tackled with a hug. She expected to have silly string sprayed in her face. Hell, she half expected her sister to be sleeping, having forgotten Hilary was coming.

She didn’t expect to see her sister wearing a BU sweater with Poulin stitched across the back. Or Marie-Philp Poulin in her sister’s kitchen. Or Marie-Philip Poulin kissing her sister.

“What the hell?!”

“Hil!” Y/N snaps around.

“Hilary, que faites-vous ici?”

When Hilary signed with Boston, she knew it wasn’t a guarantee that Y/N would get drafted by them too. She thought there was a good chance. After all, who didn’t want both Knight sisters on their team? They were an unbelievable pair, their chemistry on the ice coming naturally after growing up playing hockey together. They went to Wisconsin together, albeit, different years, but they’ve been on teams together both national and not for their whole lives.

It didn’t pan out, and it was disappointing, but not the end of the world. Y/N ended up in Montreal, and Hilary was kind of exciting to play out the Boston-Montreal rivalry with her sister.

Hilary came up to Montreal to help Y/N unpack and get settled. They got to explore Montreal a bit together before Hilary had to head back to Boston. Before Hilary left, Y/N gave her a key to her place, for whenever she was in the city. That was the way things were with them, they had keys to each other places and an open invitation to come over and stay whenever. Hilary is staying at the team hotel technically, but everyone knows she’s going to spend most of her time that she’s not with her team with Y/N.

Which is why she’s here. She dropped her stuff off at the hotel and grabbed an overnight bag to come stay at Y/N’s. They play later tonight, so Hilary is going to drop her bag off and spend some time with Y/N before they’re both required at the rink and then head back with Y/N after the game. And now she’s face to face with Marie fucking Philip Poulin.

“What the fuck is this? What the fuck is going on?”

“Hil, I thought… I thought you weren’t getting in until later,” Y/N says.

Hilary looks between Y/N and Poulin. Y/N looks shocked, nervous almost. Poulin looks fucking guilty.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing with my sister?” Hilary says. She focuses all her energy on Poulin. “What the fuck are you doing here? Get the fuck out, stay away from my sister.”

“Hilary,” Y/N says, a hint of desperation in her voice, “I wanted to tell you, I swear I was going to, I just… Let’s talk about this.”

“Je devrais partir,” Poulin says quietly, “Tu devrais parler à ta sœur seule.”

“What?” Y/N turns to Poulin and touches her arm. It takes everything in Hilary not to storm over there and put herself in between Poulin and her sister. “No. It’s alright, it’s alright, you don’t have to go.”

Hilary didn’t even know her sister knew French.

“J'aggrave les choses,” Poulin says, “Je te verrai ce soir. À bientôt, ma petite blonde.”

Poulin leaves without a word to Hilary. Hilary’s stare follows her out the door, then stays staring at the closed door Poulin just left out of.

“Please don’t be mad,” Y/N says, “I was going to tell you, I just… I didn’t want to tell you over the phone.”

“What are you doing?” Hilary turns to face Y/N. “Are you crazy? You could date anyone and you pick her?”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“God, Y/N,” Hilary rubs her temples, her frustration growing steadily since she walked in the room, “Captain Canada. Unbelievable,” Hilary scoffs, “Is this why you’re in Montreal? Did your girlfriend pull some strings and get you drafted here? You’d rather play here with her than in Boston right? It’s not enough for you to play for my rival team you have to sleep with them too?”

“Hilary!” Y/N cries, “It’s not like that!”

“Whatever,” Hilary shoulders her bag and heads for the door, “I’m not doing this.”

Hilary leaves, ignoring Y/N’s yells after her. Hilary heads back to the hotel, to the dismay of her roommate, Hannah Brandt, who thought she had the room to herself for the night. Hilary throws her bag on the ground and throws herself onto the closest bed.

“You good?” Brandt asks. Hilary huffs in response. “You get in a fight with her or something? I thought I wasn’t going to see you until game time.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Hilary snaps. A beat. And then: “I walked in on her and Poulin. I can’t fucking believe it! Why couldn’t she pick anyone else? Why does it have to be fucking Poulin? It’s bad enough she’s fucking here when she should be in Boston, but now I find out she’s bedding the Canadian team behind my back! And who does Poulin think she is? She thinks she can just… just… date my sister? She’s Canada’s fucking captain, she fucking embarrasses us at every tournament, isn’t that enough for her?”

“I thought we weren’t talking about it,” Brandt says, “But seriously Knight, what’s wrong with Poulin? Sure she’s Canadian, but she’s not evil. And don’t you want your sister to be happy?”

“Not with her!”

“I don’t know what to say Hil,” Brandt says, “You can skulk about it all you want but you better be ready to play tonight.”

***

During warmups, Hilary can sense Y/N’s eyes on her. Y/N has been trying to get her attention ever since Hilary got to the rink and Hilary won’t give it to her. Hilary’s pissed. She’s not going to let it go that easy. Everyone can tell she’s in a mood. She’s whipping shots at Frankel, jabbing her stick at teammates in 2-on-1s. They give her a wide berth in the locker room and Hilary knows it’s not how she should act as a captain, but she doesn’t care and honestly, if she has a fire game because she’s pissed then that’s all that matters.

The game starts and Hilary zones in on Poulin. She doesn’t give her an inch of space or time. Every time Poulin is on the ice, Hilary is too. She watches Poulin jump on the ice and she screams at her teammates to change so she can get on. She presses Poulin up against the boards, she bodies her out of the faceoff circle, even though Poulin wins most of the draws. It all comes to a head when Poulin goes in for a shot and Frankel stops it and Poulin jabs at her to try and knock the puck loose.

Hilary doesn’t think. She has no idea what she’s going to do until she’s on Poulin and she’s grabbing her by the neck and pulling her back. Poulin wrests herself loose and Hilary keeps going. She charges at Poulin, shoves her, gets up in her face, and if the refs weren’t there to pull her back, Hilary thinks she might’ve actually thrown a punch. Poulin skates towards her as the refs pull her back and Hilary tries to reach over the refs to get her, until she realizes Poulin isn’t going for her. Poulin is pushing her own teammates back, putting herself in between them and Hilary.

She’s protecting Hilary.

“Arrêt, arrêt,” Hilary can hear Poulin saying. Hilary knows enough French to know what that means. The refs pull her away and towards the penalty box. Hilary pulls her eyes away from Poulin and catches the heartbroken look on her sister’s face.

“This is why I didn’t want to tell you,” Y/N says, “You always do this.”

“Wait, Y/N,” Hilary tries to follow her, but the refs stop her.

“Let’s go Knight, any more of this and we’ll give you a game misconduct.”

Hilary watches from the penalty box as her sister and Poulin talk on the ice. She watches her teammates watch her. She watches two minutes of play go by before she’s let back on the ice. For the rest of the game, Hilary tries to behave. She stops going after Poulin. She wants to, but she knows her sister will never forgive her. She can’t get the way Y/N looked out of her head. The last thing Hilary wants to do is hurt her sister.

After the game, the players shake hands and normally Hilary and Y/N would hug, but Y/N just pats Hilary on the shoulder and keeps skating. Hilary skates off the ice and goes into the locker room. Boston won in OT and Hilary should be happy. She should be celebrating with her team, but she’s not feeling it. She changes out of her gear and leaves the locker room without showering. She’ll go back and shower but she needs a minute away from everyone’s cheers.

“Knight.”

Hilary wants to groan. Fucking Poulin.

“Your sister is very mad at you right now,” Poulin says.

“Gee thanks,” Hilary says, “Didn’t pick up on that.”

“She is mad because you fought me on the ice. She’s not very happy with me right now either.”

“You didn’t do anything,” Hilary mutters, “It was all me.”

“Oui, she knows this too. She wants us to get along and we’re not and it’s making her upset.”

“Why can’t you just be a bitch?” Hilary asks, “It’s a lot easier to hate you when you’re not being so nice to me.”

“Why do you want to hate me? Because I am dating your sister?”

“She didn’t even tell me!” Hilary snaps, “I thought we were closer than that. I thought she trusted me. I thought if anything was going on with her that she would tell me. I don’t even know what I did. I told her right away when things got serious with Britt. I tell her everything and I thought she did too. I don’t… Why didn’t she tell me?”

“You’re hurt that she kept it from you, non?”

“Yeah, whatever. How long has this been going on? Did you get her drafted here?”

“That was a, uh, how do you say, happy accident. We… We’ve been seeing each other since Worlds, but nothing very serious. She was in Minnesota and I was in Montreal and long distance is very hard. Things got a little more serious over the summer. Then the league was announced and things started moving and she did not want to start anything when we didn’t know where we would be playing or living. I did not ask for her to be drafted here, but she was and then we knew we were going to be in the same place and things got more serious. We’ve been officially dating since November. She wanted to tell you but she did not want to say it over the phone and she said it felt too soon to say anything over Christmas and to be honest you don’t handle news well.”

“Okay well how am I supposed to act when my little sister tells me she’s dating my enemy?”

Poulin laughs.

“We are not really enemies, you know that. I apologize for how you found out, and I hope you can forgive me for that. I love her, you understand, and I have not told her that, but you should know. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Do you really mean that?” Hilary asks, “You really love her?”

“I do.”

“Do you think she’ll ever forgive me?”

“Oui. Not a doubt in my mind. She loves you very much.”

“I think we should start this over again,” Hilary says. Poulin looks confused until Hilary holds out her hand. “Hi, I’m Hilary Knight, Y/N’s older, cooler, sister.” Poulin’s face lights up as she takes Hilary’s hand.

“Marie-Philip Poulin, Y/N’s girlfriend.”

“Can you tell her not to leave without me?” Hilary asks, “And maybe all three of us can grab dinner tonight? I… I want to get to know you, as my sister’s girlfriend, and not as someone I try to kill on the ice.”

“I would be very happy to.”

Hilary goes back into the locker room, showers, congratulates her team on the game and takes on the ‘Captain’ role she’s supposed to. She manages to convince Keller to bring her stuff to the hotel and take it up to her room. She waits outside the locker rooms for Y/N and Poulin. She hopes Y/N isn’t too mad. She hopes Y/N agrees to dinner and she hopes it won’t be awkward and stilted. Hilary watches Y/N approach.

When Y/N gets close enough she gives Hilary a good shove in the chest that makes Hilary stumble back a few steps.

“You’re a real ass, you know that?” Y/N says. Hilary doesn’t argue. “You’re buying,” Y/N says as she pokes her finger at Hilary’s chest where she just shoved.

“Seems fair to me,” Hilary says.

They head to a restaurant Hilary’s never heard of, but Y/N swears by, and the whole menu is in French and Hilary feels embarrassed to ask for an English one, so she tries to discreetly google translate the dishes. The waiter comes and Poulin speaks in rapid French to him and he returns with a bottle of wine. He pours them each a glass and Hilary takes a sip and realizes this dinner might cost her more than she bargained for. There’s no way this bottle is cheap.

He speaks in French again and Hilary has no idea what he says, and then Poulin says something and hands him her menu, then Y/N does the same, and he’s asking for her order, and Hilary has no idea what the menu says. When she hesitates, Poulin speaks to him again and then he takes her menu and leaves.

“Tell me she didn’t order me snails or something,” Hilary says to Y/N.

“You’re not in France Hilary,” Poulin says, “This is Montreal.”

“That doesn’t help,” Hilary turns back to Y/N, “You’re being mean, you know I can’t speak French.”

“She didn’t order snails,” Y/N says.

Hilary takes another sip of wine. Poulin says something to Y/N in French and if Hilary hasn’t been making an ass of herself all night she might’ve said something about it. Instead she stays quiet and hopes this isn’t how the rest of the night will go.

“Hil,” Y/N says. Hilary looks up and realizes Poulin isn’t at the table anymore. “Marie told me you guys talked, after the game. What the hell was that?”

“I…” Hilary feels herself flush with shame. “I shouldn’t have acted like that. I guess I just felt like… if you weren’t telling me about your life in Montreal, then maybe you didn’t need me to be your big sister anymore. And I convinced myself it was her fault so I took it out on her. It’s my fault. If I’ve done anything to drive you away–”

“I’ll always need my big sister,” Y/N says, “Yes, you can be annoying and overbearing and overprotective, but I love you. I didn’t tell you because when I first made the national team with you, you warned me not to get mixed up with the Canadians. And then I wasn’t going to tell you over the phone. And at Christmas, you were with Britt and I wasn’t ready to be open about it yet.”

“I thought you realized I was joking about the Canadian thing, given how many of us were shacking up with Canadians at that point.”

“I’m really happy here,” Y/N says, “I know you want me in Boston and I get that, but I’m really happy here. I love Montreal and the team and being with Marie is just… I can’t describe it.”

Y/N has a look on her face when she talks about Montreal. It’s the same one Hilary has when she talks about Boston. And the look Y/N has when she talks about Poulin, it’s the same one Hilary has when she talks about Britt.

“I’m happy for you,” Hilary says earnestly, “I’m really glad you found your place and your people.”

Poulin comes back and when Y/N catches her eye, she beams, and Hilary hides her smile behind her wine glass.

Hilary wanted to hate Poulin (–“You can call me Marie.” “I like Poulin better.” “Hilary!”–). She wanted to believe the Canadian could never be good enough for her sister. However, watching the two of them together, seeing how happy Y/N is, how happy Marie makes her, Hilary could never be mad at that.

***

French translations:

que faites-vous ici: What are you doing here

Je devrais partir: I should leave

Tu devrais parler à ta sœur seule: You should talk to your sister alone

J'aggrave les choses: I make things worse

Je te verrai ce soir: I’ll see you tonight

À bientôt, ma petite blonde: see you soon, my little girlfriend

Arrêt: stop

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grapefruit-personified · 3 days

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Baby on Ice - A Nicole Hensley Imagine

You finally find out what the goalie poll was for

@grapefruit-personified requested a fic based off this tiktok, hope you enjoy!

The title is a play on baby on board and Bambi on ice

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take her?” Y/N asks. Nic shakes her head.

“I can take her.”

“You’re trying to practice, you won’t be able to if she’s there, I can take her with me, it’s fine.”

“A bunch of the girls will be there, and they’ve been begging me to bring her to the ice,” Nic says, “We’ll all get a chance to hit the ice and still have enough people to watch her. Coyne’s gonna be there too, so you know she’ll be in good hands.”

“If you’re sure,” Y/N acquiesces.

Y/N gave birth to Ava five months ago. She decided before she gave birth that she would take a full year off from hockey regardless. She doesn’t want to rush her body back and set herself back even further, and she wants the chance to adjust to motherhood before she tries to get back on the ice. She’s training, still, but lightly and mostly just trying to keep herself healthy and fit. She got a scouting job with the Minnesota Wilds, so that’s what she’s doing now, staying with hockey even if she’s not playing. It means a lot of meetings and watching clips and going to local high schools and colleges to watch kids play and write reports on the stand outs.

Today, she has a few meetings and a lot of film to watch and while it’s hard to stay focused with a baby, she can make it work, and has been when Nic has practices or games. Nic insists on taking Ava today, and Y/N is a little grateful. She was sent a film of who is apparently “the next Sidney Crosby” and needs to finish a report on him by lunch, so not having a baby demanding her attention every five minutes would be beneficial to her work. And Nic is right, all the girls there will take turns watching Ava and hopefully the fun will tire her out so she sleeps through the night.

Y/N gathers her work bag and her travel mug, gives Nic a quick kiss and then gives Ava a kiss.

“You be good today, okay?” Y/N says. Ava slaps a hand in her cereal bowl in response. Y/N barely manages to escape the spray of milk.

“We’ll be fine, now go before you’re late,” Nic says.

Y/N gives them both another kiss and then heads to her car.

***

The girls are, naturally, incredibly excited when Nic gets to the rink.

It’s not an official practice today, so it’s not the whole team, but a good chunk. They have clearly been waiting for Nic since they’re all right by the front doors. Before she can even process, Ava is pulled from her arms and Grace Zumwinkle is cooing at her. Everyone now heads to the locker rooms, leaving Nic standing in the doorway.

“Oh I see how it is,” Nic calls out, “You only like me for my baby!”

“Yep,” Coyne pats Nic on the shoulder, “That’s the curse of being a hockey mom.”

All things considered, Nic isn’t too upset that her kid gets stolen away from her right away. Her and Y/N have been exhausted. Even though Ava is old enough not to wake up every hour, she still doesn’t sleep through the whole night and during the day, between training and Y/N’s work and everything else they have to do, Ava still demands most of their attention. Nic loves her, and loves her family and she wouldn’t trade it for anything, but it’s nice to get a break sometime.

Nic suits up for practice while the girls take turns holding Ava and getting ready themselves. Nic leaves them in the locker room while she goes out for a chance to skate around and do some warmups on her own. Maddie Rooney joins her after a few minutes.

“What? You don’t want to hang out with the baby?” Nic asks.

“I can see her any time I want and you know it,” Maddie says, “I wanted to talk to you.”

Maddie and Nic talk hockey while they warmup. They chat about different strategies they have on the ice and ways they could each improve and Nic is grateful that her and Maddie have been teammates and friends for so many years and that they can turn to each other if they have questions or if they notice something they can improve on.

The rest of the girls join them after they finish their warmup. Taylor Heise is carrying Ava. The impromptu practice goes the way Nic thought it would, everyone gets on the ice and runs drills while one person sits on the bench with Ava. That lasts for over an hour, before Ava starts getting fussy. They’re playing shooting drills and Nic and Maddie are taking turns in net, and when they go to switch, Maddie pushes Nic towards the bench.

“Your kid is about to rip Pannek’s ear off.”

Nic skates over to the bench and Kelly Pannek hands off Ava. Ava calms down once Nic has her.

“Your kid’s fucking Hulk or something,” Pannek mutters as she skates onto the ice.

“What’s your problem?” Nic asks, “Why are you fussing?”

Nic sits with Ava and entertains her. Ava’s an easy baby, all things considered. She’s happiest when she’s with Nic or Y/N, so whatever bad mood she was in ends when Nic holds her. She goes back to being the happy baby she normally is.

“How are we gonna practice with Nic if she has the baby?” Maddie asks.

“Well…” Heise and Zumwinkle look at each other and Nic knows whatever they’re thinking is either really good or really bad.

It’s not exactly a good idea, but it’s not exactly bad either. It involves a little bit of planning, a little bit of acting. Heise and Zumwinkle take Nic to the locker room to get the carrier and strap it to Nic’s chest over her pads and jersey. Pannek is in charge of distracting Coyne and Nic doesn’t know how she convinced Coyne to leave the ice, but somehow she manages.

Nic, Heise, and Zumwinkle head back out to the ice, now with Ava strapped to Nic’s chest. Ava, clueless to what’s going on, is just happy to have so many people looking at her. Nic steps onto the ice and skates around for a bit, making everyone laugh.

“I think’s that counts as too many men!” Heise yells out. Nic gets in front of the net and calls Heise out onto the ice.

“Take your best shot!” Nic says.

Heise grabs her stick and a puck and skates over. Nic gets into position, mindful of the baby on her chest, and she knows Heise isn’t going to really shoot it, that this is just for fun and it’s making everyone laugh and Ava loves it. Besides, Nic’s convinced Ava’s going to be a goalie like her, so might as well get her started early.

“What the hell is going on?”

Heise fumbles the puck as Coyne’s voice rings out. She comes to a stop sheepishly in front of the net, Nic beside her. Everyone’s gone quiet, the laughing stopped, and everyone shies away from Coyne’s disapproving glare.

“Nicole Hensley give me that baby right now.”

Nic gulps and skates over without a fight. There’s no chance Nic would win in a fight with Coyne and she hands over Ava.

“We were just joking around,” Nic says, “She wasn’t going to shoot it.” Coyne’s glare doesn’t lessen. “She likes being in front of the net. She’s got goalie genes in her.”

“You’re lucky I don’t call your wife right now,” Coyne says. She looks down at Ava in her arms and her face breaks out in a smile. “Besides, you’re going to be a forward, aren’t you?” Coyne tickles Ava’s belly and she giggles. “Yes you are!”

Coyne won’t let anyone hold Ava for the rest of practice, even Nic, which is fair. Nic is slightly convinced that Coyne won’t give her Ava when they all go to leave, but Coyne just gives Nic a stern look before handing Ava back. Nic straps Ava into her car seat.

“That was exciting,” Nic says, “Wasn’t it? But we’re not going to tell your mom about it or she’ll kill me and never let me take you to practice ever again.”

Nic drives home and Y/N isn’t home yet, so Nic gets Y/N something to eat then puts her down for a nap while she takes a quick shower. Nic entertains herself until Ava wakes up then she lays on the floor of Ava’s nursery with her and plays with her toys. That’s where Y/N finds her when she gets back.

“How was she?” Y/N asks, “I hope she didn’t distract you too much.”

“She was perfect,” Nic says, “Everyone loved having her there.”

Later that night, Y/N puts Ava to bed while Nic cleans up their dinner. Nic is elbow deep in soapy water as she washes dishes when Y/N’s voice yells out.

“Nicole Hensley what did you do?!”

Nic barely has time to dry her hands before Y/N’s in front of her and shoving her phone into face. It’s Maddie’s Instagram story, a video of Nic with Ava strapped to her chest skating on the ice. Nic stammers.

“She is never going to practice with you again!”

Oh, Nic was going to kill Maddie Rooney.

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grapefruit-personified · 3 days

Text

Torn - A Megan Keller Imagine

R is Canadian and gets hurt really bad in a rivalry series game, her and Megan try to cope

lowkey inspired by an actual real life person I know who had a torn labrum for almost 4 years because sports med refused to take her seriously

this was supposed to be short and quick but ended up being around 4k words..... enjoy!

Megan wishes she couldn’t remember what happened with such clarity. She wishes she was looking the other way, or was across the ice, or back in the locker room completely.

She teased Y/N for weeks leading up to the game. At every Boston practice she would ask to be on a different scrimmage team so she could get practice going against her. She would refuse to sit next to Y/N on the team bus so she could get her head in the rivalry. Y/N rolled her eyes and took everything Megan gave her and gave it right back.

The game was tense and physical right from the start. It always is and everyone’s prepared for it. It’s a close game, both teams pushing to pull ahead. It’s late in the second period and Y/N goes to dig the puck out from the boards behind the US’s net. Megan gets there before her teammates and she presses up against Y/N’s back and jams her stick at the puck.

“Give me the puck or I will dump you,” Keller says. Y/N snorts.

“At least try and chirp something believable at me.”

Y/N pokes the puck free and skates after it. Keller reacts a second too late, and Abby Roque skates up to Y/N from the other side. Keller watches it happen. She watches Abby drop her shoulder and watches her slam into Y/N. Y/N’s focused on the puck, she doesn’t see it coming. Keller watches as Roque slams Y/N into the boards and Keller knows it’s a pen right away when she saw Roque drop her shoulder, and then Y/N hits the boards, her stick and arm twisted up and then she screams.

Keller feels her blood run cold.

Y/N collapses on the ice, screaming, and she writhes on the ice clutching at her shoulder. The ref blows the whistle and points to Roque but Keller isn’t paying attention. Y/N won’t stop screaming. The crowd goes silent, not that Keller was paying any attention to them, but that means she can hear Y/N’s screams in more clarity.

Oh god, Megan’s never seen her in pain like this before.

Megan doesn’t move, doesn’t take her eyes off Y/N, even as the Canadian players go after Roque, even as Laura Stacey drops to her knees beside Y/N and tries to calm her down.

“I know,” Stacey says, “I know it hurts. Try to keep still. Stop screaming.” Stacey’s hands are everywhere, on Y/N’s shoulders, on her arms, her chest, pulling her helmet off.

“Please, stop screaming,” Stacey says, “I know it hurts.”

Y/N screams and cries so hard she gags.

“Stop screaming,” Stacey keeps saying.

She keeps saying it even when the medical staff comes out onto the ice. She keeps saying it when they assess Y/N. She keeps saying it when they help her up and start to lead her off the ice. Y/N’s stopped screaming so loud, but she keeps making pained sounds as they move her. Keller doesn’t even realize she’s following them until she gets to the Canada bench and Marie Philip Poulin stops her with a hand on her chest and a shove that feels rougher than it is.

“Go back to your bench Keller,” Poulin says.

In a daze, Keller skates to her bench. She can’t pay attention to anything her coach says. Her head feels underwater and her teammates all pat her on the back and try to comfort her, but she can’t hear it. All she can hear is Y/N’s screams.

***

It’s the worst pain Y/N’s ever felt.

She’s had shoulder problems for a while, but nothing she couldn’t play through. She’s been to physio and to sports med and they all tell her the same thing. It’s her posture, she’s too tense, she needs massages, or physio exercises, it’s nothing medically wrong. It’s frustrating having a constant dull ache in her shoulder that only gets worse when she moves it, but she can play hockey and she can get through it. Besides, if there’s nothing to be done, then what can she do?

The medical staff leads her back to the locker room and help her out of her jersey and her pads so they can assess her shoulder. She can’t move her shoulder at all, and screams in pain as they try to gently maneuver her pads off. Finally, she’s left in just her undershirt and sports bra. They determine that’s there more structural issues with her shoulder than they can handle (duh) and they decide she needs to go the hospital to get checked out.

“Wait,” Y/N speaks up for the first time since she hit the boards, “I wanna stay for the game.”

“We can’t medically clear you to get back on the ice,” One of the medics says, “I’m sorry, but you have to get x-rays and possibly an MRI. We need to take you to the hospital.”

“I just wanna stay for the end,” Y/N says, “I don’t wanna play. I’ll stay in here. I don’t wanna go alone. I don’t want to go to the hospital alone. Please. Let someone else come with me.”

Y/N knows they don’t want to, she knows they want her to go to the hospital right away, and Y/N knows she should, but she also knows she’s not in the mindset to be stuck in a hospital all night alone. She knows she won’t be able to pay attention to anything that the doctors tell her, and she won’t be able to ask the questions she knows she should ask. Finally, one of the medical staff sighs.

“Fine. We’ll talk to Troy at intermission.”

***

After the game, Y/N gets loaded into a non-emergency ambulance with Laura Stacey.

Her shoulder feels like it’s on fire and the makeshift sling she’s in doesn’t keep her shoulder from jostling. The medical staff are on her one side, Stacey on the other, and Y/N just wants to curl up in bed and cry. They’re walking from the locker rooms to the exit door and Y/N doesn’t react to the pounding footsteps behind them.

“Y/N!” Megan calls. Y/N’s foot falters, then keeps going. She knows she’ll fall apart if she looks at Megan right now. “Wait, wait, what’s wrong? How bad is it? Are you going back to the hotel?”

“Keller,” Stacey stops and puts her hands out, stopping Megan from getting any closer. “It’s okay, she’s okay. She’s going to get checked out. We’re not going to be back at the hotel until the morning probably. There’s nothing you can do right now, just give her some space. I’ll keep you updated.”

“Wait, wait, I can come with, I can…” Megan’s voice gets increasingly frantic, “Please, let me do something.”

“Let’s go Megs,” Now it’s Hilary’s Knight’s voice. She shepherds Megan away. Megan resists, but she leaves with Hilary.

Y/N wants to feel bad. She wants to feel bad that she didn’t turn around, that she didn’t look at Megan or talk to her or tell her everything’s going to be okay. She wants to be, but she’s not. She’s in too much pain to care about anything right now.

***

Megan stays up all night. She sits in the bathroom, staring at her phone in her hand and waiting for it to ring. Hilary’s her roommate for this camp and she banished Megan to the bathroom after her restless movements and phone light kept Hilary from sleeping.

She barely resists texting Y/N, knowing that she probably can’t answer. She doesn’t know how bad the damage is, but with how Y/N was screaming, it can’t be good.

Oh god.

Megan doesn’t think she’ll ever forget the sound of Y/N screaming.

She felt helpless on the ice, and she feels helpless now. Stacey is right. There’s nothing she can do, nothing any of them can do now. Megan itches to do something. Her knees bobs constantly, she picks at her fingernails, tries to google shoulder injuries and then closes Safari when she starts reading about the worst shoulder injuries athletes can get.

She texts Stacey again, having got her number from Hilary who got it from Poulin.

any updates?

how is she feeling? is it as bad as it looked?

Stacey doesn’t respond.

Megan stands up, paces the tiny bathroom, then sits down again.

***

“See this here?”

Y/N has done ultrasounds and x-rays and an MRI. She’s been passed around for test after test and none of them help make her feel better. Her shoulder hurts and she’s been crying since they left the rink. The nurses are nice, but it’s clear they know how bad things are, and they pity her. Stacey is with her when she can, but Y/N knows she knows it’s bad too.

The doctors came in and pulled up her scans on the screens. Y/N tries to look at them, but she doesn’t know anything about this medical stuff. She doesn’t know what a shoulder is supposed to look like.

“This is an old injury,” The doctor continues, “A torn labrum. It looks months old, which most likely contributed to your shoulder instability. Have you been in any pain? Have you gotten your shoulder checked out?" Y/N nods.

“Physio did an x-ray,” She says, “Said nothing was wrong.”

“Right, these types of injuries are very hard to spot on an x-ray. It’s why we recommend an MRI for shoulder injuries. As you can see…”

Y/N zones out as he talks. She doesn’t understand what he’s saying and all she knows is her shoulder hurts and she just wants to go home.

“What kind of timeline are we looking at?” Stacey asks. This is why Y/N wanted someone else here. She knew she wouldn’t be in the headspace to ask the doctors anything.

“Well, after the surgery, she’ll be at least six weeks in a sling. Then depending on how the shoulder’s recovered, there will be three, four months of physio to get mobility back and build her strength back. Probably another two, three months, before she can be cleared to get back on the ice.”

“But, she’ll come back? She’ll make a full recovery?”

“That’s the hope,” The doctor says, “Every injury is different and it’s hard to create an exact timeline at this stage. Physio will build strength and mobility and if all goes well, she’ll be perfectly fine to play; however, if the stability never recovers, I would say it’s unlikely she’ll get back on the ice. But, that’s worst case scenario. Surgery should repair the torn ligaments and muscle, and then if she keeps up with her physio and doesn’t push too hard and set herself back, I’d say she has a good chance of getting back on the ice.”

“Thanks doctor,” Stacey says.

The doctor leaves and Stacey sits on Y/N’s good side and takes her hand. Y/N doesn’t look over, just stares at the wall.

“You’re going to be fine,” Stacey says, “You’re in good hands. I have complete faith in you.”

The doctor is in the hall talking to the team medical staff, Y/N can hear their voices. She knows she’s not having surgery here. She doesn’t know where she’ll get it. She supposes it’s up to the medical staff. A nurse comes in and gives her a few pills. For the pain, she says. Y/N takes them without complaint.

“Megan wants to know what’s going on,” Stacey says, “What do you want me to tell her?”

“I want a new physio.”

***

on our way back to the hotel. looking at a six month recovery at least. she's in a lot of pain. I’m taking her to her room to get some rest. talk more in the morning

Megan reads Stacey’s text over and over again. She debates going down to the lobby to meet them. She debates going to Y/N’s room. She debates calling Stacey. She debates going to bed.

In the end, she decides to get some ice. She takes the ice bucket down the hall to the machine and fills it. She sits in the hallway and crunches on the ice cubes. She takes the bucket with her as she heads back to her room. She debates going downstairs and going out on the back patio, but she knows she’ll only end up in the lobby. She goes out onto the balcony. It’s chilly outside, but she grabbed a hoodie to wear before she went outside. Her room is at the back of the hotel, so she can’t even look out and see if she can see Y/N coming back.

She chews another ice cube.

***

In the morning, Knight finds her passed out on the balcony, the ice bucket just water. She tipped it over at some point during the night and the water seeped into her socks, making her grimace.

“Have you heard anything?” Knight asks as she tugs her wet socks off.

“It’s bad,” Keller says, “Stacey wouldn’t tell me details. Six month recovery, she said.”

“It’s not the end of the world,” Hilary says, “She’s tough as hell, she’ll be fine.”

Megan heads down for team breakfast and tries to see if she can spot any of the Canadian players. She sees Jamie Lee Rattray and beelines it for her. She puts up her hand before Megan makes it to her.

“I don’t know any more than you do,” Ratty says, “None of us have seen her yet and Stace isn’t saying anything.”

“Do you know where she is? I want to see her,” Megan says, “Can you tell her to find me or call me or something? She didn’t…” Megan swallows heavily, “She didn’t even look at me.”

Ratty puts her hand on Megan’s arm.

“I’ll let her know you’re looking for her when I see her.”

Megan doesn’t end up seeing Y/N. She does see Laura Stacey and follows her around the hotel while asking every question she can possibly think of. Stacey informs Megan of what the doctor said, what the extent of the injury is. Megan sees red when Stacey tells her Y/N’s been complaining about shoulder pain but her physio told her it was nothing.

“I’m going to kill him,” Megan seethes, “How can he just ignore a persistent problem? And now she’s hurt because he wouldn’t do anything!”

“You can’t do anything about it now,” Stacey says, “None of us can. It sucks and it’s frustrating but all we can do now is deal.”

“I need to see her,” Megan says, “I need to see if she’s okay.”

“She’s not up to seeing anyone right now,” Stacey says. She sighs. “I’ll talk to her, but she’s tired and she’s in pain and she’s upset and I think she needs some space right now. You have to let her come to you.”

***

Megan sees Y/N later that night. She’s in the lobby waiting for food her and Hilary ordered, when Y/N steps off the elevator. Her arm is in a sling and she looks exhausted. She has a group of Canadian players with her, and they’re talking loudly and joking around, but Y/N is quiet, walking a beat behind them. Megan puts her phone away, food delivery be damned, and she heads for the group.

“Y/N,” Megan says when she’s close enough. Y/N glances at her for a second then she looks away and walks quicker to catch up with the group.

Megan doesn’t react, in shock at the reaction, and then her phone starts ringing as her delivery driver arrives.

***

Megan keeps seeing Y/N. She’s never alone. Megan knows Y/N well enough to know that she would hole herself up in her hotel room if someone didn’t force her out, and on one hand Megan is glad that her teammates can get her out and hopefully keep her spirits up, but Megan also wishes she could be that. She wishes Y/N would let her help. Every time Megan sees her, Y/N avoids her. She turns the other way, or she clings to whoever is closest to her and refuses to even look at Megan.

She sees Y/N talking to Abby Roque, smiling, laughing, and Abby touches her good arm and Megan wants to scream.

Y/N flees before Megan can reach them.

***

Y/N can’t sleep.

Her shoulder hurts, but she can’t take her pain meds because she skipped dinner because eating makes her feel sick. And since she can only use one arm, eating is an ordeal and she’s tired of having to ask her teammates for help like a child.

She lays in bed, awake, for an hour before she sneaks out of bed. She doesn’t even bother changing, still in her pjs, ragged shorts and a faded tee shirt that used to belong to Megan. She walks up the two flights of stairs it takes to get to the USA floor and she stops in front of Megan’s door. It’s late and she doesn’t want to wake up Megan’s roommate. She doesn’t want to be a bother.

She pulls out her phone and texts Megan.

u up

at ur door

cnt sleep

wana c u

She doesn’t get a response, and she should’ve expected Megan would be asleep. It’s late and just because she can’t sleep doesn’t mean Megan can’t either. She slides down the wall until she’s sitting on the floor. She’s tired and hurting and she just wants to see Megan. She debates calling her, but that would wake up her roommate too. And she doesn’t think she should wake Megan either. She’s been a shit girlfriend lately.

She rests her head on her bent knees even though it makes her shoulder hurt. She should get up and go back to bed before anyone notices she’s out here. She shouldn’t be here, in this hotel, with her team. She should go home, she should get surgery, she should start her recovery, not sit on the hotel floor outside her girlfriend’s room. Outside of Megan who might not be her girlfriend anymore’s room.

The door opens.

“Y/N?”

It takes Megan a second to see her.

“Hey,” Y/N says, her voice rough. She tries to stand, but her shoulder hurts and she just ends up on her knees biting back a groan.

Megan steps out into the hallway and helps her up. Y/N doesn’t say anything else, just stares at Megan’s hand that stays on her elbow.

“Do you wanna come in?” Megan asks. Y/N shakes her head.

“Roommate.”

“Let’s go somewhere else.”

Y/N follows Megan through the hotel, not really sure where they’re going and not really paying attention. Eventually Megan leads Y/N to an empty conference room they’ve been having team meetings in.

“Are you okay?” Megan asks after she closes the door.

Y/N takes a step forward, and then another, until she can lean all her weight onto Megan. She shakes her head against Megan’s chest and lets out a sob, then a pained noise when it hurts her shoulder. Megan holds her, whispering softly to her, until Y/N’s sobs die down.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Megan asks. Y/N shakes her head.

“I just wanna go to sleep,” Y/N says, “But my shoulder hurts. I want… I just want to play hockey.”

“I’m sorry,” Megan says, “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve been a bad girlfriend.”

“It’s okay. You’re hurt.”

“I just wanted to keep it together. I just wanted to be strong and… and… I can’t do that with you. You’re… I don’t have to be anything else with you, so I can’t be. I knew I’d lose it if I saw you, or talked to you. And… I’m embarrassed.” Y/N’s mumbling by the end of her speech.

“Embarrassed about what?”

“I was screaming so loud,” Y/N whispers, “I could hear it but I didn’t realize it was me until Stace told me to stop. I’m embarrassed because I scared everyone. Because I knew I had shoulder problems and I played through them. Because I listened to my physio and I didn’t get a second opinion. Because I let him convince me it was my fault. That I avoided you. That I hurt you.”

“This wasn’t your fault,” Megan says decisively, “You are not a medical professional. You trusted your physio and sports med and they let you down. You did nothing wrong. It sucks that this happened but it was not your fault.”

“I hurt you.”

“It was hard being shut out. I can’t lie, it really sucked. I didn’t know what to do or how to fix it and you just looked so miserable every time I saw you and I just wanted to run to you and hold you and everyone just kept telling me to leave you alone. I just want to help.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I know. You got dealt a shit hand and you’re allowed to process any way you want to. I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now.”

Y/N sniffs, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

“I have to get surgery to reconstruct my whole shoulder,” She says, “It’ll be weeks before I can get out of the sling and then months to get mobility back and then months to build my strength and grip back and after all of that I might never play hockey again. I might never get full mobility back, or my shoulder might be too unstable still to play hockey. It might take years to get to 100% and by then…” Y/N trails off.

“You can’t focus on the future right now. Yes all of that sucks, but you have to focus on the next steps. You can’t look at the finish line, you just have to look at what’s next. That’s surgery. Don’t focus on anything after, just on that. And you have the best medical staff with you and you have a whole country behind you. And me. I’ll always be here rooting you on.”

“I just want to play hockey. I want to sleep so bad.”

“Let’s go to bed then.”

“My shoulder,” Y/N says, “I can’t take my pain meds on an empty stomach.”

“Good thing I have food in my room.”

“Megs,” Y/N says frustrated, “I can’t eat. I only have one fucking hand. I’m tired of being treated like a child.”

“It’s a sandwich,” Megan answers, “You can eat it one handed. And then pain meds and then sleep. Okay?”

Y/N sniffs, then agrees. Megan leads her up to her hotel room. Y/N doesn’t know how to act, and Megan keeps fidgeting and picking at her fingers, and it’s Y/N’s fault, that they don’t know what they’re allowed to do.

“We can sit on the balcony,” Megan says when they get close to the room, “If you’re worried about Hil waking up. I don’t care, she can deal. But if you’d rather not, we can sit on the balcony.”

“Okay.”

Y/N sits on the balcony while Megan gets the sandwiches. They eat in silence, which Y/N is grateful for, until she realizes that Megan might not be saying anything because she might not have anything to say to her.

“I really am sorry,” Y/N says, “For being shitty to you. I don’t know… I don’t…” Y/N was determined not to cry, but now she can feel her eyes watering and knows she can’t stop it. “I don’t know what I’d do without you. I love you, please don’t…” Y/N’s full on crying now, “Please don’t leave me.”

“I’m not leaving you,” Megan drops her sandwich and rushes to Y/N’s side. “I’m not breaking up with you. I love you too.”

“I’m so awful to you.”

“No,” Megan cups Y/N’s face and forces Y/N to look at her, “Something shitty happened to you and you coped with it the best you could. This… hiccup doesn’t ruin what we have and it doesn’t make me want to leave you. I don’t know what I’d do without you either and I was so scared that you would leave me that I tried to give you space and back off if you didn’t want me around so that you wouldn’t. We’ll get through this baby, I’m not leaving you.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

They finish their sandwiches, each eating one handed, Y/N with her one arm in a sling and Megan with one hand on Y/N’s knee. Megan helps Y/N take her pain meds and, despite Y/N’s protests, into Megan’s bed. They’re not technically allowed to do this, sleep in each other’s rooms, but Megan thinks no one will be upset at them this time. It takes a minute to find a comfortable position for Y/N to lay in, but once the meds kick in, she’s out like a light. Megan stays up for a little longer, looking at Y/N, and being grateful that they’re on the road to recovery and vowing to be by Y/N’s side every step of the way.

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