Chapter Text
Ilya had met her when he visited the hospital.
She recognized him from the TV, but otherwise she didn’t seem to know much about hockey. She was very shy and didn't talk at first. But Ilya told her that he liked the color of her cast—it was purple—and offered to sign it, and she started to warm up to him.
“Do you want me to write anything?”
She shook her head.
“What’s your name?” He asked.
She looked down and then back up at him. She had big brown eyes framed by rectangular blue glasses that sat above a light bridge of freckles. She had curly brown hair a little past her shoulders that framed her little round face, and she would tangle her fingers in it occasionally. Like she was right now.
“Filomena.”
Ilya had never heard that name before, but he liked it. He smiled at her. “Nice to meet you, Filomena.”
He sighed his name on her cast, careful not to put too much pressure on the Sharpie so he didn’t hurt her. A broken bone was already painful enough.
“Do you mind if I ask how you broke your leg?”
She sighed and moved her eyes around the room before they settled back on him. “I fell over a rock on the playground. A boy was chasing me.”
“Why was he chasing you? He shouldn’t be doing that.”
“I don’t know,” she said as she continued twirling her hair. “Boys are weird.”
Ilya nodded back at her. “They are weird.”
“You’re a boy, though.”
“Yes, and that’s how I know they’re weird.”
Filomena chuckled at his remark. It was the first time he’d seen her smile, and it warmed his heart.
He looked around the room. It was around 3 pm, not lunchtime or anything, so most parents were usually with their kids at this time. But she had been alone in her room. Why would any parent leave their kids alone in a hospital if they could help it?
“Is anyone here with you, Filomena?”
She looked down and shook her head, curls moving with it. “No, they’re gone now.” She knew what he meant before he even had a chance to clarify. “And my grandparents can’t take care of me anymore, so no one knows where I’m going yet.”
He moved to the chair by her bed. “I am so sorry, Filomena.”
He knew what he wanted to say, but he wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear it. But this girl didn’t have anyone here with her. The least he could offer her was the ability to feel understood.
“My parents are gone too.” He was very proficient in English now, having spent nearly 15 years in North America, but topics like this still left him struggling at times. It wasn’t that he didn’t know the words, but he didn’t talk to children about these things ever. When he visited the hospital, the kids usually asked about hockey or hockey-adjacent things, and he would play video games with them and sign things for them and their parents.
He continued. “I still don’t know what to do without my mother, sometimes. I see something that she would like or something happens, and I want to tell her, and then I realize that I can’t.” He began to play with the chain around his necklace. “This was my mother’s,” he told her. “I wear it to keep her with me when I miss her.”
Filomena nodded her head. “Yeah,” she replied quietly before looking down at her cast. “My mom’s favorite color was purple.”
Ilya smiled sadly. “She would’ve liked that you chose that color.”
Her eyes welled up when he finished, and she turned her head to the TV. He couldn’t deduce what was going on, but this yellow triangle really delighted in terrorizing children.
“Do you want to talk about this more or not?”
She shook her head, eyes still laser-focused on the TV.
“That is okay.”
They sat in silence for a while as she watched TV. He figured he should go see some other people, but her eyes shot daggers as soon as Ilya stood up from the chair.
“Where are you going?” She asked, voice sharp.
“To play Mario Kart with the other kids on the floor,” he told her. “You can come along if you like.”
She looked down, almost ashamed. “I’ve never played Mario Kart before.”
Ilya gestured for her to follow along. “It is very fun. I will teach you, and I’m sure the other kids will be happy to help you.”
She considered the offer for a second, looking around the room and pursing her lips before she replied. “Okay, I’ll try it.”
—————
Safe to say, Mario Kart had been a fantastic experience for Filomena.
She was shy at first, like she usually was. And she was a little nervous because it was her first time playing. But once Ilya taught her what all the buttons did, she started to play. And with the help of the other kids, she started to get the hang of it.
Ilya also learned a lot about her while talking during the game session. She was seven years old, born in Toronto, but came to Ottawa when she was five to move in with her grandparents. She loved to read, and her favorite book was The Battle of the Labyrinth. Her favorite TV show was called Gravity Falls, which is what she’d been watching when they were sitting in her room. Her favorite color was teal. Her grandparents had a cat, but she had always wanted a dog, and her eyes lit up when he showed her pictures of Anya.
She asked who the other man was when he’d shown her a picture of Shane and Anya playing tug of war.
“That’s my husband Shane,” he said.
Her eyes went wide, and she smiled when he told her. “Boys can marry boys? That’s so cool!”
“Yes,” he told her enthusiastically. “It is.”
After multiple rounds of Mario Kart, she already had a lot of opinions. Her favorite character to play was Daisy. She got very mad when Goombas blocked her path. Her favorite track to play on was Twisted Mansion. Eventually, the conversation stopped, and she was laser-focused on the game. At the end of the last round, she ended in third place.
“Nice job, Filomena!” Ilya stood next to her wheelchair and offered her a fist bump. She paused for a moment before balling up her little hand and bumping it with Ilya’s.
“Thank you!” She smiled.
Eventually, the sun began to set, and Ilya had to go home. He said goodbye to all the kids, who went back to their rooms with their parents. Filomena was the last one. She just sat for a second before she looked up at him with big brown eyes.
“Are you going to come back?”
Ilya nodded and sat in the chair across the room. He wasn’t sure exactly when he would be back, or if she would be there when he visited again, but he did hope he’d see her again. “Yes, I will be back as soon as I can.”
He thought Filomena was just going to wave goodbye like the other kids. But instead, she put her hands on the wheels of her hair. When she had finally scooted over to him, she paused for a second, looking around the room through her glasses, before she wrapped her arms around him.
His eyes widened when her arms went around him. He didn’t want to startle her, so all he did was put a hand on her back and leave it there unmoving. She squeezed a little bit, her arms too short to actually encircle him.
After a few seconds, she let go of him, and he stood up. He smiled at her. “I will be back soon, don’t worry.” He waved a hand as he walked towards the door. “It was very nice to meet you, Filomena.”
She waved her little fingers back at him from the wheelchair. “Nice to meet you, too, Ilya.”
When Ilya walked out of the room, he was greeted by a young red-haired nurse in green scrubs. She tapped his shoulder and pulled him to the desk. She leaned in and began to whisper.
“Just so you know, I’ve never seen Filomena smile like she did today.”
Ilya smiled. “Really?”
“She talked to you more just today than she’s spoken to any of the nurses or doctors in her entire time here.”
“Really?” He was so happy to hear that she’d had a good day, and that he had been part of it. She was such a sweet little girl and didn’t deserve to be in the horrible situation she was in.
“Yeah, I’ve never seen her that happy before.”
This little girl had barely known who he was at the start of the day. And now they’d played Mario Kart, and she’d told him all about books and TV shows, and he’d bonded with her over the fact that they’d both lost their parents. Ilya didn’t know what to say. He’d been told he was good with kids, but not like this. He always had fun with the Pikes’ kids. But he’d never quite connected with a child as he had with Filomena today.
He would have to talk to Shane when he got home.