Chapter Text
Ilya didn't fall asleep straight away like Shane did. He floated around in between realities. He wanted sleep, but as he laid there holding Shanes deadweight on top of him, listening to the snores that came with every breath, that deep dark dreamlessness didn't find him, only soft half dreams. He saw his mother. He couldn't tell it was her but he knew. It was dark in the room but he could feel it in the way her fingers brushed against his forehead, cool and gentle. He felt so safe. But when she opened her mouth the wrong words came out.
"I need you and Shane to wake up, sweetheart," she said, a voice that was not how he remembered his mothers voice to be, but still warm all the same. His eyebrows furrowed and he blinked at her, tightening his grip on Shane protectively lest anyone try to take him from his arms. He blinked again when she reached out to brush a curl from his eyes. Yuna. Yuna was here in their bedroom, not Irina, and not a dream. Still his mother.
As reality hit him he glanced down suddenly in a panic before realizing they'd pulled their blankets up high enough to hide their nakedness. They hadn't had sex, but most nights didn't bother wearing clothes in the summer.
Ilya loosened his grip on Shane only a little.
"He is drunk," Ilya mumbled.
"What?" Yuna asked, suddenly looking even more worried than she had before. "He never gets drunk," she said to herself. When Ilya truly blinked the remaining sleep from his eyes he could see she was in a clear amount of distress. He never got drunk in front of her anyways, but lately Shane was loosening up.
"Boods barbeque got out of hand, I dared him..." Ilya started to sit up, or tried to without waking Shane. "Is my fault. But he is very drunk right now." His throat was so dry.
Ilya had a pretty decent buzz going earlier in the night, might have even called himself drunk too at one point, but that had tapered off a while ago and by the time they'd come home he was feeling lightheaded and buzzy, and had even wanted to smoke a joint on the porch while Shane tumbled into the shower. When Ilya had come to their room he'd found Shane naked as the day he was born and sprawled across their bed. Ilya had stripped and climbed in next to him, lying on his back, and Shane had crawled over and laid himself out on top of him like a weighted blanket, and with a muffled and unfinished "ya tebya," before passing out for good.
That had been around 11:30 PM, and the clock was now showing the time as 1:15 AM.
"Please tell me what is wrong, why do you need Shane?" Ilya struggled with repositioning Shane without letting the blankets slip. "Is Papa..." his eyes went wide when he registered the possibility. But why would she be here and not with him? Had she not tried calling them first?
"David is okay," she put a hand on Ilyas arm in reassurance and the lick of panic he'd had died down a fair bit, but only for a moment. "It's Hayden, he's been in a pretty bad accident," she said. At first it didn't register in his mind that anything happened to Hayden. "He crashed his car into a tree, he's pretty hurt." Hurt? Again the word just didn't make sense. Didn't match Hayden. They had just seen Hayden at Boods not even five hours ago. He and the girls had-
"The girls?" Ilya choked. They'd been at the barbeque too, playing with the other players kids. Jackie, Arthur, and Amber had stayed home. Even though he wasn't on their team Shane still invited him every time, and the Centaurs collectively loved Hayden and Jackie, and all of their kids. They had all been laughing and having a great time. Ruby had told Shane he was acting "silly", which he of course was.
The look on Yunas face didn't change, and she hesitated. Ilyas heart was hammering in his chest, water sloshed around in his head and wave after wave of terrible thoughts crashed around his mind, and he felt like if Shane wasn't crushing him, wasn't radiating heat, he'd feel entirely disconnected from reality. The same way he felt when he realized his mother wasn't breathing.
"Tell me," he said, his voice small. Yuna tightened her grip on Ilyas arm slightly.
"Ruby is in the hospital with Hayden, she is in surgery right now, I think she has some broken ribs but I'm not sure how bad it is," she paused and Ilyas heart sank in his chest in a way it hadn't when he'd heard about Hayden. Shane still oblivious to all of this.
"Jade is missing," Yuna finally said. Ilya was up. He'd somehow managed to extract himself from under Shane and nearly launch himself from the bed before remembering he was still naked.
"I will get dressed, then we will wake up Shane." Ilya said, his blood thrumming in his ears, fingers shaking as they clutched the blanket. Yuna nodded and placed a heartbreakingly sweet kiss to Shanes head before letting Ilya get dressed. Her heart no doubt breaking for the pain this would cause her son, and the pain it's already causing Ilya.
The next few minutes pass by in a hazy blur not unlike the dreams he'd been having. He let his body go into auto-pilot mode as he hurriedly grabbed his hiking bag from the closet and dumped the various bits of hiking gear onto the floor. Shane didn't stir. God what Jackie must be going through right now, Ilya thought. He considered that when he woke up Shane he'd likely be disoriented and still slurring his words, and less help to Jackie than he would be staying home and sobering up. Ilya knew he wasn't at risk of asphyxiating on his own vomit, he could be left alone.
He tried to focus as he stuffed the bag with a blanket, a pair of sweatpants with an adjustable band, and a large Centaurs sweatshirt. An extra pair of socks too. He thought better of it and put the rope back in too, and the clips. What if he had to rappel? He put the hiking boots on. He knew the area they were going to search if it was near Boods. He opened the door and entered the dimly lit hallway and moved through the house. He found Yuna standing by the kitchen island talking to someone lowly on her phone, her other hand scratching Anyas ears. She abandons Yuna and scampers over to Ilya.
Look! Grandma is here! She is excited to see him awake at this hour before immediately picking up on his demeanor. While still excited she seems wary, her perked up ears twitch and lower slightly and she sniffs at his leg in question. What is happening? She says.
"Jade needs our help," Ilya retrieved the flashlight from the gear closet by the front door, as well as a first aid kit, and various necessities he usually took when he'd take day long hikes with Anya and Shane. He even packed a flare gun. He had never searched for someone who'd gone missing before, but if Hayden had crashed his car on the way back home from the barbeque and that was where Jade had gone missing then she was likely somewhere in the woods nearby, or pray she's walking down the road looking for other cars. Oh god, what if the people in the other cars aren't good people? What if they-? No. Ilya forced himself to stop thinking that thought. He couldn't bear the possibility of that being real. So he went back into the kitchen and took three water bottles from the fridge, and then some apples and uncrustables that Shane loved to tease him for buying. He put the food in a separate plastic bag and shoved that in a corner of the bag. He still had room in it and it wasn't very heavy.
"I have a blanket, clothes, flashlight, first aid kit, food and water...what am I missing?" he asks Yuna when she hangs up the phone. She considers for a moment and Ilya takes a beat to actually look at her. She's in jeans and a sweatshirt, and her hair is up in a messy bun that'd been quickly assembled, and she wore her glasses over sleepy looking eyes. He's never seen her in this kitchen at this hour, and not in this mood. It's jarring.
"Is your phone charged?" she asked "Jackie and I couldn't get ahold of either of you." Shit. It must be dead. Shanes phone was on vibrate, but who even knew where it was at this point. He chided himself for getting Shane drunk and not taking better care of keeping track of his things for him. He was notorious for losing things when he drank. Ilya had seen him leave his drink unattended at a party or concert more than once and every time he would roll his eyes and scoop up the drink before anyone else could.
Ilya headed back to their room to find Shane only barely moved, but quickly repositioned the blanket before Yuna followed him in. His phone was sitting on the nightstand, dead. He grabbed it and his charger cable and turned.
"I will charge it in the car. Where are we going?" Ilya said as he headed back towards the door.
"To the hospital to rendezvous with Jackie. I can drop Anya off with David, he's already out looking for Jade near where they crashed." Something in Ilyas heart cracked open at the thought of David Hollander in the woods in the middle of the night looking for a missing child, and one that wasn't even family. "What about Shane, are we going to wake him up?" They both looked at him with a contemplation in their eyes, and love. He just snored and sniffled in his sleep, freckles scrunching up.
"No. He needs to sleep, and he would be a mess if he knew Hayden was," Ilya cut off. "How bad is it?" he asked, for the first time being awake and concerned enough to ask the specifics. She looked even more tired.
"I'll tell you in the car," she said softly, looking again at Shane as if even hearing it in his sleep would cause him grief. Better to let him rest and break it to him when he wakes naturally. He will call the entire team and the ones still awake will come out to look with him and David.
Ilya retrieved a notepad they had lying around for quick thoughts, reminders, and passwords they needed to remember. He tore out a blank page and wrote as neatly and calmly as he could in Russian call me when you wake up love. Shane would see it immediately and he wouldn't panic, he'd just call Ilya and that'd be that. Unless he saw the numerous missed calls from Jackie and Yuna and probably David, and then woke up to an empty bed and a note...
Ilya tried to remind himself that letting Shane sleep was the best option for him. And like Yuna, he knelt on the bed and kissed Shanes head lovingly. He left the paper on the other pillow and turned, gesturing to Yuna that he was ready to go now.
Once in the car the tension seemed to dissolve a bit. Ilya was fully awake and involved, his phone was plugged into the console and charging, and he ran through a mental list of what he might need.
"Do you have anything for Jackie? Like clothes or," Ilya paused not knowing what to say, "I don't know." He took in a deep breath and rolled down the window, the tangy summer air and warm blue glow of the car were soothing as he tried to calm his nerves. Ruby was having surgery done on her little body, and Ilya knew what broken ribs felt like. She was hurting. She was only ten years old. She and Jade both were, and Jade was somewhere out there-
"Until we get there I don't know," she says as she turns a corner, "I talked to her while you were packing and she said that Ruby was still in surgery, and they were getting ready to take Hayden to get a head CT."
"What is that?" Ilya asked.
"They're going to look at his brain and make sure there isn't any damage they missed," she says, and from the tone of her voice, the way she speaks to him, levelheaded and rational and calm, he is so immensely grateful in this moment that Yuna Hollander is the other person in the car right now. "He has a fracture in his neck, internal bleeding, and it's touch and go right now. He might not make it. But he was conscious long enough to describe what'd happened before they took him for the CT."
Ilya lowered the window further and tried to breathe in the fresh air, trying to center himself like a hurricane wasn't whipping his emotions around in a violent circle. Shane is going to be devastated, and that made him want to weep. Hayden was annoying sometimes, yes, but he did not want the man to die. The idea of that scared him.
"They were on their way home from your teammates get together and apparently Hayden says they saw a wolf in the road. He honked his horn and when that didn't work, the wolf froze, and then one of the girls screamed not to hit it, and he veered, hitting a tree he hadn't seen." Yuna paused, exhausted and focused and engaged on all accounts. "He feels so terrible," she added, and then seemingly couldn't finish her thought, just shaking her head.
There are not supposed to be wolves in this area. That was one of the first things Ilya took upon himself to learn when he moved to Canada- where the wolves lived. And the difference between a loon call and a wolf call.
Anyone listening to this would've agreed he should've hit the wolf. But Ilya knew if Hayden had both of those girls would've carried that with them for the rest of their lives. He glanced back at Anya it the backseat, panting and curious, but behaved as she lay there. Ruby and Jade were the most empathic and loving and caring children he'd ever met. The sound the wolf would've made as it was struck would've haunted them. But the alternative cost them something far steeper. Something still to be determined. Where is Jade?
After dropping Anya off to David the duo made their way to the hospital. It was nearing 2 AM and Ilya was fully awake and wired. He'd drank a Redbull on the way and thankfully Yuna had gotten out of the car and taken Anya to David without needing Ilya yet. He couldn't talk. He could only sit there in the passenger seat and bounce his leg, try to suppress the invasive thoughts racing through his mind. He stomped on the worse case scenarios as he shifted his focus to what Jackie was going to need when they got to the hospital. He watched Yuna and David share a few words over the exchanging of Anyas leash in the side mirror for a couple of minutes before Yuna returned to the car.
"Okay, let's go," she said. And Ilya realized it was more for her than for him.
"Jackie called you?" Ilya finally asks. Yuna sighs as she buckles her seatbelt and backs out of the cop hole David was parked in to look for Jade. He was joined by at least five other uniformed officers, Ilya was relieved to see. And there were more people scattered about. He'd sent a mass text to the group chat and had already had three replies. Troy and Harris were already on their way to the hospital to meet them. Wyatt was heading straight to David. Ilya suspects Troy would've preferred the same, but Harris would want to see Jackie first. So they went together. He feels a twinge of guilt for not waking Shane, but he was the drunkest he has been in years. He'd have been a mess. It was best he rested.
"She couldn't reach you, and she only had the numbers of other Montreal players. Hayden was the one who kept Bood and the other Centaurs in his phone. She's kicking herself."
"That's not fair," Ilya huffed, his body wired and heavy at the same time, his heart having never slowed. He wanted to move, to take action, to find Jade. He wanted prevent another unnecessary death. He would not find another body. But he needed the full story, needed to be there for Jackie. Shane was who she had tried to call and he was not here.
"Yuna Hollander for Jacqueline Pike," Yuna told the front desk, but she hadn't stopped walking, all business, as if already familiar with the route.
"Oh, uh," the nurse stationed there typed furiously, and just before Ilya followed Yuna into the elevator the nurse squeaked, "Okay, you're good!" The doors started closing, "It's room one two-"
Ilya felt bad for the nurse. He knows how hard they work. But Yuna was on a mission and so was he, so he made a mental note to send flowers to them when this was all over.
"Did Jackie tell you the room number already?" Ilya asks softly, as if pointing out the rudeness would be rude. Yuna sighed and closed her eyes, tipping her head back as the elevator inclined. It felt like for a moment the Pikes were family, and this would be the exact level of distress she'd be in if this were Shane and Ilyas own children.
"Yes, she called me when she couldn't get ahold of Haydens parents," she breathed evenly and fully, counting. "Thank you for being here with me," she added, opening her eyes and leveling him with her.
"Thank you," he said in earnest. "I don't know what I'd do," he couldn't even continue the thought. This wasn't even his child. And yet he felt like his heart was missing somewhere, cold and hungry and scared.
When the elevator doors opened it was as if they hadn't changed floors. It was the same hustle and bustle, phones ringing and being answered, and people being wheeled and pushed around. It was a hospital. Yuna was eyeing the numbers by the room doors and leading Ilya through like she'd spoken the language of hospital navigation for years before they rounded one final corner and saw Jackie, pacing.
Her arms were open immediately, and when Jackie saw her she tore the thumb she'd been chewing on from her mouth and fell into Yunas arms, sobbing. A golf ball sized lump bobbed in Ilyas throat.
"...my mom and dad still have to fly in...Hayden's still asleep...I had no one else to call..." she was hysteric, and Ilya felt tears well up in his eyes at the sight. Jackie was so kind and thoughtful, she didn't deserve any of this pain. "I don't know anyone's number but I had Shanes and Ilyas and yours," she couldn't breath around her sobs now, and Yuna took her gently by the shoulders. Ilya stood there watching as this person he adored so much fell apart in the arms of his second mother, and it was so new and disorienting, but at the same time he had the overwhelming urge to help. He was not going to do nothing this time.
"Breathe for me," Yuna encouraged, "you've got two babies needing you right now, let's keep breathing for them," Yuna encouraged. "We can panic later. But right now we breathe, okay?"
"Now is the perfect time to panic," Jackie argued, a face in Yunas neck. "They may lose their father."
"Listen to me, their father is not lost," Yuna rubs her hand up and down Jackies back, "we are not panicking."
Ilya feels out place but wants to help.
"Tell me what happened," Yuna says, voice calm, instructive. Jackie tries to catch her breath and lets herself be guided to the chairs lining the hallway. Ilya follows silently. When Jackie has control of her voice she finally starts to speak.
"He told me he was leaving and it was only a half hour drive so when he wasn't home by nine, and he wasn't answering when I called," she took a breath, "Ruby had brought her iPad like she always does to show her off her sims and it has life360 on it so I checked their location," she resumed crying softly, "and her pin wasn't moving, it was just here in the middle of Tierney road, and that's when I called the police and they found Hayden and Ruby, but Jades door was open and she was just gone." Jackie stopped peaking for a moment, and Ilya had to stand up and turn around.
"There were at least twenty people out searching for her when I saw David, we're going to bring her home," Yuna said, sounding absolutely sure. It actually seemed to calm Jackie down, and Ilya wished it'd worked on him. That itch to go search for her reignited. Fuck, he wished Shane were here.
"They're saying Hayden might not wake up, and that Ruby will be in surgery for like hours and hours, they're telling me to go home and sleep but how am I supposed to leave them here?"
"We don't have to leave them," Yuna says, pulling her close. "We can stay right here." Jackies breathing starts to even out, and Ilya stays standing, having heard enough. Yuna meets his eyes and nods, and he wonders if he should say something.
"I am going to go look," he says, squeezing her shoulder before turning to go, and as he did he was met with the faces of Troy and Harris, and for the first time since he'd met him Harris looked devastated.
"Thank you," he hears her say, probably to all of them.