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“Hey. Sam.” Sam looked up bleary-eyed at Brady’s voice. “Come on, dude, you really need to come see this.”
“Okay, fine, whatever.” Sam stretched and got to his feet, not bothering to hide the yawn. If whatever this was really was important enough to wake Sam up over, then he could deal with the impoliteness. If it wasn’t, then he deserved it. He followed Brady to the TV in the break room. It was paused on a hockey game, Golden Knights against the Buffalo Sabres. “Dude, you know I don’t watch hockey when I’ve gotta deal. I need the sleep!”
“Crowley should be texting you any minute telling you you’re not dealing tonight. Trust me, man, this is important. It’s gonna be hard to watch, but you need to know and this is the fastest way to explain.” Brady hit play.
Sam’s eyes immediately sought out 37 for the Knights. Raphael Onasi played left wing. He was also Sam’s boyfriend. Sam watched as he got a breakaway, heading for the goal. He missed the shot, but that was okay. On the way back, however, he collided with a Sabres player. That led to a pileup, and when the pile cleared, Raphael was down holding both hands to his neck and the ice was turning crimson. Brady shut the TV off. “I’ll spare you watching the endless replays and angles and stuff. Get to the hospital.”
Sam had just pulled into the parking lot when his phone indicated a text from Crowley. When he checked it, he had to shake his head. Crowley was such an ass about being an awesome boss. He had the next week off, since his hotshot lover was going to need babysitting and the giant moose wouldn’t be paying enough attention to the cards to catch cheaters.
He went to the front desk, ID and next-of-kin paperwork at the ready. After their relationship became serious, they’d had trouble with Raphael’s brother Michael keeping Sam from being able to see him. As soon as he was better, Raphael was in contact with a lawyer getting paperwork drawn up to prevent that from ever happening again. They still had trouble with people not believing that a hockey player might be dating someone like Sam, but the paperwork was hard to argue with.
He was directed to the waiting room for Raphael to come out of surgery. Sam got himself a cup of coffee and settled in to wait. This would likely take a while. Sam had been in enough waiting rooms to know that things took as long as they took and there was nothing he could do to hurry that up. Pestering the staff for an explanation would only slow things down, if it affected anything at all. He’d just have to wait.
Of course, that was the hardest part of all of this. Once he knew how Raphael was, he could start handling everything else. Michael would already be on his way to Vegas, as would Gabriel, and potentially Luke. Dean might be, too, but there was no guarantee he’d been watching the game.
After a quick break to text Dean about the accident, Sam had managed to doze off by the time the doctor came out. “Mr. Winchester?”
Sam jerked awake and jumped to his feet. When he recognized the doctor, a rush of gratitude and relief washed over him. Ephraim Ritz knew him and Raphael. “Oh thank god, it’s you. No idiocy about yes I’m allowed to hear what’s going on.” The relief fled when Ephraim didn’t smile at the joke. “What’s going on?”
“Raphael was involved in a very gruesome accident. I’m not sure how, exactly, but a skate caught his neck. The bad news – it cut his carotid artery.”
Sam went ghost white. That explained all the blood on the ice. “Is he… did you save him?”
“I wouldn’t go that far. Cut, not severed. The wound wasn’t bad enough to be life-threatening, not with good training and medical staff on hand. He’s lost quite a bit of blood, naturally, but I expect he’ll make a full recovery. He had a few other minor injuries, but the only other concerning one is we suspect a concussion from his head hitting the ice. With his history…”
Sam flinched. That was definitely a cause for concern. Probably not life-threatening, but he would probably be out of it for a while. “I’ll make sure to take good care of him when he’s released. Keep him from pushing himself too hard to get back on the ice.”
“You do that. He should be awake soon, and I’ll make sure the nurses all know that until you or Raphael say otherwise, you’re the only one allowed access. He doesn’t need his coach pushing him to get back on the ice too quickly, and he definitely doesn’t need that asshole brother causing problems.”
Sam had once again dozed off while waiting. A soft voice jerked him out of it. “Sam?”
“Raph! Oh thank god. You scared the crap out of me!” Sam extended a hand, letting it hover above Raphael’s. When Raphael reached up to take it, Sam said a quick prayer of thanks. “How do you feel?”
“That depends. How many brothers am I going to have to deal with?”
“Dean was in Colorado on a hunting trip, so he’ll be here soonish. I haven’t heard from any of yours, so you’ve got a little while.” The sound of a commotion outside caused Sam to groan. “I may have spoken too soon.”
“Ugh. If it’s Gabriel, I don’t mind seeing him, but I cannot deal with Michael right now.” Raphael dropped Sam’s hand. “I love you so much.”
“Love you too, babe.” Sam stood up, stretching his back after so long in the cramped chairs, and headed outside.
Following the sounds of the commotion led Sam to where two nurses were trying to keep Michael from charging back. He braced himself for the fight and headed over. “Hello, Michael. Thanks for coming all this way to support your brother and let him get the peaceful rest he needs to recover from his injuries.”
“He’s my brother! You can’t keep me out!” Michael snapped. “You did tell them to get him the best care available, regardless of the cost?”
“The Golden Knights and the NHL have that covered.” Sam took a step closer. “I can and will keep you out. Raphael’s awake and specifically said he does not want to see you at this time.”
“He’s concussed. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”
“Unfortunately, Mr. Onasi, you don’t get to decide that,” one of the nurses interrupted. “If Raphael’s capable of expressing his wishes, we listen to the patient first, and if he’s too concussed to be competent, Mr. Winchester is the one listed as the decision-maker. As they both say the same thing, you can’t go back there.”
“Do you know who I am?!” Michael shouted.
“Yes, I do. You’re the guy who’s one more raised voice away from having security called on him for the good of our patient. Calm down and let Mr. Winchester tell you what’s happening with your brother, or get out of the hospital.” The nurse crossed her arms. Sam checked the nametag. Meg Masters was going to get a glowing compliment sent to her supervisor next chance he got.
Michael sputtered a bit, but eventually deflated. “Fine. I’ll humor my little brother’s charity project’s nonsense. What’s wrong with Raphael?” Sam passed along the diagnosis. “Are you sure we shouldn’t move him closer to home, so he can be more comfortable while he recovers?”
“Vegas is home for him now. His job is here, his friends and teammates are here, I’m here. I can’t leave, and once he’s cleared to get back to work, he’ll want to be at the Knights’ facilities. I’ll let him know you’re worried, but I don’t think you’re going to get the answer you want.” Sam turned and headed back to Raphael.
Dean showed up later that night. Sam happened to be on a bathroom break when he heard Meg saying, “I’m sorry. I can’t let you back there unless I get authorization.”
“Then get authorization. I’ll wait here. No way Sam doesn’t at least come talk to me.”
Sam smiled, the first completely genuine smile since the accident, and headed back to Raphael. “Dean’s here. It okay to let him in to talk, or should I stay out there?”
“Stay out there,” Raphael murmured. “I’m kinda sleepy, you should take Dean and go home. Get some sleep yourself. I know this is normally the middle of your workday, but it’s sleep time for most people.”
“All right.” Sam carefully kissed Raphael’s forehead and headed back out, to find that Gabriel had joined Dean in waiting. “Hey, guys. Raphael’s sleeping, he told me to go get some myself, so let’s go find some food. Gabriel, have you talked to Michael?”
“Yeah, dear biggest brother is still fuming over the jerks who are keeping him from taking care of his own brother. I know you and I aren’t exactly each other’s favorite people, but I can at least admit that you’re gonna do a better job than Mike would. You actually care about what Raphael wants.” Gabriel glanced back at the room. “If I come back tomorrow, will he be willing to see me?”
“Yeah, he said you were okay. Let me just get you two cleared with the nurses.”
Sam got back the next morning just in time to see Gabriel and Michael fighting outside. Gabriel had his fists clenched as he informed Michael, “If the doctors are sending him home, they clearly don’t think he’s too concussed to know what’s going on and what he wants! If Raphael says he’s staying here until Sam comes for him, then that’s what’s happening. I don’t blame him, either, you’re being a great big bag of dicks!”
Thanks to the distraction, Sam was able to make it back to Raphael without being seen. He was sitting up, looking much more alert than the day before. “Hey. How do you feel?”
“Coach called again this morning wanting an update. The doctors want me ruled out at least until playoffs, preferably for the season. Coach is arguing that Malarchuk was back in the game ten days after getting his carotid severed.” He chuckled. “Malarchuk didn’t have the concussion, and that was thirty years ago. Things have changed.”
“Oof, yeah. Out for the season sounds like a good idea, but I know you’ll want to play in the playoffs. Promise me you’ll listen to the guys who know what they’re talking about and not force things?”
“I promise, love. The guys will let me come to the party when we win the Stanley Cup no matter what, I’m sure. Playoff parties are the best.” Raphael winked at Sam. “The one last year with the Knights wasn’t quite as good as the one with the Blue Jackets, even celebrating making Finals. No wild flings with hot casino employees.”
“There better not have been!” Sam had been the wild fling with the Blue Jackets. They’d come to Vegas to celebrate making the playoffs, Raphael had spent the entire first night at Sam’s poker table, where the two fell in lust at first sight. They’d both expected that when Raphael went back to Columbus, that would be it, great memories but nothing else.
Then Raphael got drafted by the Golden Knights in the expansion draft. The first thing he did when he was notified was call the number that was still in his phone as a sort of trophy. Sam agreed that the universe – or at least the NHL – was trying to tell them something, and agreed to try a real relationship. Raphael’s brothers being jerks about it had only driven the two closer together. Gabriel, it seemed, was starting to come around to at least be accepting if not supportive.
“Oh, thank god,” Meg said when she poked her head in. “Sam, you’re here, you can get Raphael out of here and Idiot Brother Drama can be someone else’s problem. Doc Ritz has some aftercare instructions, not that you need them, but we gotta cover our butts somehow, right?” She took off without waiting for a reply, returning quickly with Ephraim. He went through the instructions quickly.
Once he was done, Meg helped Raphael into a wheelchair. “I know, I know, you feel fine, you wanna walk, but liability issues. Just shut up and get taken care of, at least for a while, huh? Sam doesn’t need the stress of you complaining and dealing with World’s Best Brother out there.”