2minsforslashing | Fic: I will always be there for you, Memory 4 (Reply)

Fic:I will always be there for you
Prompt: 071--Broken for fanfic100
Pairing: Brenden Morrow/Marty Turco of the Dallas Stars
Rating: PG-13
Warning: swear words
Word Count: 1506
Summary: Brenden Morrow is devastated after finding out that he tore his ACL and Turco tries to find him to comfort him.
Author's Notes: This is my version on how Morrow’s season ended with a torn ACL. This is also based on the 2008-09 season.

November 28, 2008 before the San Jose Game started

Fuck, I can’t believe this happened to me. Why didn’t I move the fuck out of that Chicago player and not clip my skate against the boards? I can’t believe that my season ended because of an ACL tear. Here I am, at home with ice packs on my knee, watching Stars Live, and I can remember that one conversation I had with Marty on the bench, one that startled both of us.

***

November 20, 2008 vs. the Chicago Blackhawks - Late in the third period, during a timeout

I went over and hit a Blackhawk player. I can’t even remember which player I was aiming at, but when I clipped the board, I started skating to the bench. I felt something loose in my knee as I bended it back and forth. I decided to ignore it as I sat down and started drinking some Gatorade from the bottle before putting it away. I got up again as I bended my knee back and forth, before hopping back and forth, not feeling right.

Marty took his mask off as he wiped his face and took a drink of water. He was looking at me and saw me sitting down again before whispering to me, “You okay, Bren?”

“No…my knee feels loose, Marty,” I whispered.

A few minutes later I decided to skate again and didn’t feel right. I skated back to the bench and into the training room with the head trainer, Dave Zeis, not knowing right then and there that my season ended.

Marty looked back over to the bench and wondered where I went.

***

I remember that night but I never knew that one hit was going to end my season. The head athletic trainer, Dave Zeis told me to go to Dr. Cooper to get an MRI on my right knee. That next morning was the day that I was going to get the worse news of the season, yet.

I didn't want to believe in what the doctor told me. At first I thought he was kidding but that look on his face told me differently.

***

November 21, 2008 - The Next Morning at Doctor Cooper’s Office

A day after the loss against the Chicago Blachawks, six to three, I was waiting in his office and wanting to know the condition of my knee. I was praying to god that my knee was not that badly damaged. What the fuck is taking Doctor Cooper so long? I am tapping my left foot, nervously as I wait for Cooper to come in.

A few minutes later, Cooper comes in and shakes his head as he sits down.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I told you that an MRI was the best thing to check to see if your knee is damaged or not,” Dr. Cooper hesitated before showing me an MRI on my right knee. “That’s your ACL and it’s torn. I am sorry but your season is done and you are going to need reconstructive surgery on your knee. You’ll need extensive rehab if you want to get back into the season and playoffs."

“Oh my word,” I whispered, rubbing my face, not knowing what do.

My season was over. Fuck! I wouldn’t be able to help my lover, Marty Turco, and our team get through this shitty- ass season.

“So what’s going to happen right now?”

“I am going to do the surgery on December 2nd, so that the swelling goes down. Plus I don’t want you to be groggy for Thanksgiving and I want to give you some time to think about it.”

“Okay. Thanks, Dr. Cooper,” I whispered as I got up and walked out of his office.

I drove back to the Doctor Pepper Stars Center , not wanting to deal with the news and wanting to see the team. I really needed to think about this.

***

I was completely shocked after the news, and I didn’t even know how to break the news to my teammates after the game. I knew that I was not going to be playing but I had to be there for them and cheering them to make the playoffs, so I can be that strong captain like I was last year in the playoffs.

I remember that morning after I got the news, and my teammates didn’t know if something was wrong or if I was okay. How in the world was I going to fucking tell them that you are going to have to deal without me for the rest of the season? These next few words that I remember shocked my team and the whole coaching staff, but the look on Marty's face—that I would not be with him during the rest of the regular season—tore me more than I'll ever admit.

***

I enter the Stars locker room, coming from Dr. Cooper’s office, still trying to comprehend the info I got from Dr. Cooper and how I was going to have go through surgery, not to mention extensive rehab just get back into shape. My mind was so out of whack that I didn’t even notice that Tippett was talking to me.

“Brenden?” Tippett asked me, getting me out of my trance.

“Yeah, coach?” I answered, looking at my coach and then my teammates.

“Are you alright?”

“No, not really. I am out for the rest of the season with a torn ACL,” I said as my teammates stop what they were doing and looked at me.

Marty’s look especially was hurting me the most because of the way his expression was. He looked more devastated that anyone else was. I knew right there and then that he was blaming himself for my injury. He should know that it is not his fault. It’s not. It was my fault because I didn’t fucking watch where I was going.

“I am going home.”

“Okay and sorry about the news,” Tippett answered.

“It’s okay. I’ll get use to it,” I whispered as I looked at Marty before I walked away and out of the building.

I walked towards my car and drove the long way back home.

***

It was the look of Marty that really made me leave early. It wasn't the news that I gave my teammates, but that I couldn’t stand the fact that my lover of 8 years was blaming himself for my injury.

Fuck, I knew it wasn’t his fault and I ran away because I couldn’t bear to look at the guilt in his eyes. We have been through so much crap together. Marty was there for me when he knew I was blaming myself after the loss, but I can’t be there for him during one of the worst seasons I am having.

He would be there for me, and I am running away like I did when he first told me that he loved me during his rookie year and my second year in the league.

This conversation with Marty, that I remember was going to help me realize that I need to be strong for both us. I can remember this conversation as if it was here right now.

***

Marty had come home a few hours after I left and he saw me on the bed with my knee wrapped up in an ice pack to keep the swelling down. He got undressed as he came over and sat besides me. He rested his head on my shoulder, and soon I felt tears running down my shoulder.

I lifted Marty’s head off my shoulder and saw the tears running down his face, and I wiped them.

“Marty, it’s not your fault that I got hurt that game. I just didn’t watch where I was going. Please, don’t blame yourself.”

“I wish I can take this pain away and rewind that game so that we can play together through this rotten year. I want us to win that big one, together,” Marty whispered before pressing his lips against mine softly.

“I promise you, Marty that we will win a Stanley Cup, together. I will be back even stronger,” I whispered as I leaned my forehead against Marty’s.

“I know you will, babe,” Marty replied.

“You worry about leading this team and helping out of this funk, so I can help you guys out in the playoffs,” I replied.

“I will,” Marty reassured me.

“I know you will because you are strong,” I whispered.

***

The conversation reassured Marty that I was always going to be there for him, and that I don’t blame him for the season ending injury. I am not going to let Marty ever do that again. I am never going to let him take the blame of our relationship, because I am not willing to let that happen. Our relationship with one another is more important this.

I had to be strong for the both of us or our relationship may never last through this.