Vocal Rest

By: Riley

Summary – After Kendall is put on vocal rest, Riley can't help but take advantage of the situation the best way she knows how.

"I don't know what to say, Mr. Knight, other than I'm going to have to put you on vocal rest."

Kendall stared at his doctor with suspicious disinterest up until he heard the verdict of a sore throat that had been plaguing him for days. His mind was too preoccupied with how much flack he was going to get for missing hockey practice because of it. There were lesser things he and his teammates ribbed each other about, but because of a small doctor's appointment when there was nothing visibly wrong with him—like the broken pinkie one of the alternate goalies had—he was probably going to be targeted for a while. Then the words registered with him and he snapped to attention much like James would when the words 'Barracuda product' or 'free headshots' were mentioned.

No. That couldn't be right. He must have heard wrong. Vocal rest? Really?

"Vocal rest?" He managed to repeat as calmly as he could. He could feel a sting in the back of his throat, the kind that he tried to hide from his mother when he was sick. She babied him so much that his desperate attempts to get away from her eventually rubbed off on Katie. He seemed to remember one instance where she was found hiding in the closet when she had so much as a sniffle.

Not to mention when she faked sick just so their mother wouldn't feel like she was losing her children when he and his friends house sat Gustavo's mansion. But then again he also tried to stop thinking about that night in general, considering how much grief they went through that night just for a little bit of fun. If he ever heard the words 'house sitting', 'Frederico Benini', or 'hairless cat' ever again.

"Yes," Dr. Hewitt said with a nod. "For about a week. Maybe longer."

"A week?" he repeated, struggling to keep his voice from croaking. His eyes narrowed into a glare when muffled giggles reached his ears and he turned towards his girlfriend, who had a hand pressed to her mouth. "It's not funny," he growled, voice cracking like glass.

"Clearly you can't hear yourself, Hockey-Head," Riley commented. "Because it's hysterical." She ran her fingers through his hair before starting to absentmindedly stroke his neck to comfort him. "What exactly is wrong with him? I've lost my voice a couple of times and have been suggested to go on vocal rest, but the only time I've heard of it was when someone had nodules and you said you didn't see anything."

"And you'd be correct," Dr. Hewitt agreed. "I didn't see any nodules or anything of the sort, not even swelling of his tonsils. But, vocal rest can come from a lot of things along with nodules on the vocal cords; illnesses like a common cold or laryngitis, excessive singing, raising your voice or shouting on more than one occasion." The doctor glanced at Kendall for a second. "His singing past aside he's a healthy young man and I believe I can't put the rising of his voice out as a reason for his throat irritation. Having to yell across a rink filled with thousands of fans as well as trying to be heard through a mouth guard can't be easy. And from what I know about the junior hockey league here in St. Paul, they take it very seriously. How many times do you practice a day?"

"Work-out in the morning and on ice practice in the afternoon," Kendall explained.

"And what do you do between those times?"

A frustrated sigh escaped Kendall's lips. "I work at a grocery store, take some classes online, play the guitar…." The last thing he had expected when going back to Minnesota to play for the junior hockey league had to go back to the minimum wage job he had before going out to Minnesota. But that was the way the schedule was set up, they worked out in the early morning, had time for those that attended college to go to class, then had on ice practice in the late afternoon. Those that weren't going to school covered the time with as much as they possibly could to keep from allowing the free time to get to them

"Do you ever get much time to rest?"

"Not really."

"Well that explains it," Dr. Hewitt said, crossing his arms. "Stress does take on many forms and considering how rigorous the hockey team is….I have a lot of hockey players in my office and this isn't the first time I've had to have someone go on vocal rest."

"What does that mean for my practices though?"

"Well, depending on what your coaches say, you may have to take some time off of practice. The strain from trying to yell to your teammates won't be helpful not to mention being in such close proximity."

Riley's eyebrows furrowed. "But you said he wasn't contagious," she reminded him.

"He's not, but he's running the risk of damaging his voice when he tries to speak or yell. He needs as much rest as he can get. No matter what, he has to minimize his speaking as much as possible."

Placing his hands over his face, Kendall groaned and leaned back against the examining table. He could feel and hear his voice cracking again as he did so and closed his eyes. He couldn't afford to be out of hockey that long. Not when things were already going so well for him.

"I'm assuming that you'll make sure he doesn't talk?"

Lowering his hands from his face, Kendall sat up and looked over at his doctor, wondering what he had done to deserve such injustice in his life. Especially with the way he saw his girlfriend's eyes gleam as she smiled innocently, vowing that she would 'take good care of him'.

He had to be cursed.

With a heavy sigh, Kendall opened the door to his apartment and dropped his gym bag to the ground. Instead of hearing his ice skates flop around as they struck the hard wood floor there was a dull thump. Nothing in the world frustrated him more than not being able to practice. Especially when he had to put in long hours at the grocery store to make up for the time he would have been practicing. Bagging groceries over and over again while trying to doge fans got to be tiring. Not that he didn't enjoy being able to speak to his fans that supported him with everything he decided to do with his life—despite the odd question of when Big Time Rush were going to get back together—but having his manager continue to mention it was hard.

Kicking off his shoes, Kendall stretched his arms over his head and walked towards the bedroom with slow, heavy steps. He wanted nothing to do more than to stretch out and get some sleep and something good to eat. For a moment he missed having his mother around more than usual; not only would she had forced him to take a few days off and do nothing but sit on the couch and watch TV while she fussed over him, she knew what to do without him even having to mention it. Frowning, Kendall stopped in the doorway of the bedroom and looked back at the front door where his shoes still lay haphazardly.

Riley's shoes were sitting on the ground, signifying she was home and yet he didn't hear her at all. She's probably doing some laundry. Shaking his head, he turned his thoughts back to getting some sleep. He pushed open the door to the bedroom and smiled when he spotted his pet pig Yuma and Riley's dog Spencer sitting quietly in the corner of the room.

"Hey guys," he greeted them in almost a whisper. He paused long enough to rub their heads then turned to walk to his side of the bed. He made it as far as the closet when the doors burst open and he heard a loud scream. Kendall reacted on pure instinct, letting out what should have been a loud yell, which sounded more like a wounded, wheezing yelp and he fell to the floor, scrambling backwards at the same time.

As his back hit the side of the bed, he registered Riley's laughter and looked into the closet to find her crouched down, an arm wrapped around her stomach and the other directly pointed at him as she laughed hysterically. Tracks of mascara ran down her cheeks and she hastily wiped them away before she started in on another round of laughter.

Finally she caught her breath long enough to lean forward, gently patting the ground with her palms. "I'm sorry, I couldn't resist."

Kendall opened his mouth to retort, then closet it again, letting a growl rise up in his throat. Instead, he pointed his finger at her and watched with a smile of amusement as she wrapped her arms around her stomach and fell onto her side, enveloped in laughter once more.

Kendall kept his eyes glued to the TV as the LA Kings and Toronto Maple Leafs continued to battle it out for the win. The score had been tied for the last period, having gone into overtime once already and they were closing in on going into a shootout. He hadn't seen a game played that well in a long time. He would have called his best friends, James, Logan, and Carlos to talk about it; knowing they were glued to their seats no matter where they were at the moment, but not being able to speak was hard. He had to physically restrain himself from screaming, yelling, or making some sound of cheering as the Maple Leafs made a good play. (He couldn't help it, the Minnesota Wild and the Maple Leafs were still his two options for his future NHL career).

As the game went on he had already managed to bruise his shin from kicking it into the coffee table in an excited leap upwards, punch the stuffing out of the pillow next to him to the point that it went from plump to a flattened pancake, to making strange guttural noises as he wasn't allowed to let any of it come from his mouth. This was worse than being told that he wasn't allowed to say anything. Not being able to actually do it. It was as if he had been told to stop playing hockey or not breathe for the next week.

His blood pressure was already high while he watched the game, not being able to release any of that tension made it skyrocket even further. Finally, the period ended in the declaration of a shootout and it went to a commercial. Dropping onto the couch, Kendall brought his hands up to his hair, breathing heavily through his nose. Being a spectator was just as much of a workout as actually playing the sport sometimes.

"Hey Hockey-Head," Riley greeted as she dropped onto the couch next to him, resting her feet in his lap. "Watcha doing?"

Reaching to the side, Kendall grabbed his phone and bypassed the excited messages that James, Logan, and Carlos had sent him—also ignoring the teasing ones of his not being able to talk like: 'Finally, we won't be brought into any more schemes and plans', 'Looks like I don't need to get new friends', and 'Ha ha, Kendall can't talk'—and quickly composed a message, turning it around so that she could see.

LA Kings v. Maple Leafs. Tie game. Going into a shootout.

"Ace! You should've let me know," she said, leaning back into the couch.

Thumbs moving quickly, he composed another message: I wanted to let you sleep. Popping out to scare me must be making you exhausted. He turned the phone to her, lowering an eyebrow as he stared pointedly at her.

With that, Riley leaned up and grabbed Kendall's jaw with her left hand, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "I promised I'd stop after the fifth time. I keep my promises, yeah?" With that, she leaned over and discreetly grabbed the remote from beside him. "But you have to admit the Jason mask was a good one."

Ha ha.

Kendall put his phone back and turned back to the TV. He frowned when he noticed there was a sudden promo for a reality show. That wasn't what typically came on ESPN. Twisting to the side, he searched for the remote, and then lifted the pillows, tossing them aside. Leaning forward, he searched through the cushions, frustrated grunts escaping his lips. He turned in the other direction and his eyes zeroed in on the remote that sat clutched in Riley's hands.

"Sorry, does that bother you?" She asked innocently. "I just wanted to see a documentary for a tick." She motioned to the TV. "Did you know that Travis Barker hates flying? The bloke has to leave for tour stops days in advance because he won't get on a plane."

You're dead. Kendall hoped the message was able to come from his eyes and body posture as he crouched on the cushions, reaching for the phone. Riley leaned out of the way, holding the television device in the hand furthest away from him. Give it back! He turned his head out of the way, lunging forward once more as Riley lifted her foot and placed it against his chest to hold him back.

In retaliation, he grabbed onto her foot and pulled hard, giving himself enough space to move his fingers over the bottom of her heel. She started to laugh, twisting away as he turned his attention to her stomach and started to torture her there, making her laugh even harder, and shrieking loudly every now and then when she caught her breath.

Then the sound of his phone blowing up caught his attention and his eyes widened. The game! He had to keep watching the game! Letting go of his girlfriend, he sat up and pressed his hands together, widening his eyes in a pleading position before gesturing wildly at the TV.

"Oh, did you want to watch What's Your Number? Instead?" Riley changed the channel. "I didn't think you were such a fan of Chris Evans, but if you insist…"

Kendall saw red. He knew she was doing this to annoy him on purpose but now it was starting to cross into a dangerous territory. No one changed the channel when he was watching hockey and got away with it. He let out a dangerous growl and leapt forward, trying to grab the remote from her. Riley, quickly recognizing the expression on his face, scrambled off of the couch just as Kendall reached over and grabbed her foot, pulling her to the floor. She kicked her foot free, crawled on her hands and knees, and got to her feet in a run. Kendall rolled off the couch and raced after her, doing a few laps around the couch.

"Change it back!" Kendall cried, his voice coming out raspy. "Change it back!"

"Sorry!" Riley cried as she continued to run away. "I can't hear you!" She leapt over the couch, bouncing over the cushions, and landed on the floor in a sprint as Kendall continued to chase after her.

As the week went on there were a few days where he was given time off and their routine was very normal. Not that he didn't enjoy it in some aspect when she teased him; as a matter of fact their relationship started because she focused her playful attention towards him. The days where they lay in bed or on the couch cuddling in complete silence he enjoyed just as much, but that didn't mean there were days where Riley didn't take advantage of his lack of speech to irritate him a little. He thought the hockey game thing was bad—which ended up being all for nothing as she changed it back right when it came back from commercial—the only thing that was worse was when she pretended to ignore his options for his meals and made him things he didn't particularly like.

At least she had stuck with her promise not to pop out of hiding places anymore. He didn't think his heart could take it let alone his voice.

Then came the glorious morning that he had finally gotten his voice back. When he woke up he felt different; there was no scratchiness to his throat and it didn't sting when he swallowed. Turning to face the other side of the bed he found it empty before zeroing in on the sound of pots and pans clanging in the sink and running water. She was making breakfast. Perfect. Pulling back the covers, Kendall tiptoed into the bathroom and flipped on the light. Leaning forward he opened his mouth, stuck his tongue out, and angled his head to the side to catch the light, giving him a glimpse of the back of his throat.

The redness was gone; it wasn't as tight as it was before. He tested it out with a low hum and smiled, then he went as far as to sing a little bit, loud enough to prove that had his voice back, but not enough so that Riley could hear. He glanced at his expression in the mirror, finding that it was already twisted into an evil expression, ready to exact his revenge.

Leaving the bathroom, he went to the closet and picked up the plastic tub that sat in the corner, filled with his sports gear. Lifting the top, he rooted inside and found the megaphone he had inherited from one of the numerous plans he and the other boys had back at the Palm Woods. Smiling to himself, he packed everything back up and walked out into the kitchen. He watched as Riley stood at the sink, rubbing a sponge over the surface of a skillet.

Clearing his throat quietly, Kendall lifted the megaphone to his mouth and practically yelled, "You missed a spot!"

The reaction he got was not what he had expected but was still glorious. At the sudden sound of his voice Riley screamed so loudly and high pitched he was surprised the glasses sitting next to her didn't crack. She jumped and whirled around at the same time, causing water to splash up in an arc and soak her skin, splashing the floor. Feet falling out from underneath her, Riley dropped to the ground, landing hard on her butt and the skillet crashed after her. Her hands moved to cover her mouth as Kendall burst out laughing.

He laughed and laughed even continuing as Riley scowled,—realizing what had happened—pouted,-realizing she had been scared so badly—and finally smiled when she realized what his shout had meant. "You got your voice back!" She rolled her eyes as Kendall caught his breath and continued to giggle every now and then, wiping at his eyes. "You can stop now, mate."

"Sorry, Ruby." He gave her a smug smile, repeating her words back to her, "I couldn't resist."

"I'm sure you couldn't," she murmured. Kendall reached over and grabbed a dish towel off the handle of a drawer and dropped it to the floor, pressing his foot atop it and ran it across the floor to mop up the mess. Spencer, who had appeared out of nowhere at the sound of the commotion, chased after the movements of his foot, nipping at his toes. "When did you get your voice back?"

"Just this morning, I guess," Kendall replied. He couldn't help but grin. It felt good to have it back. The best part was that he could finally go back to playing hockey. That was the first thing he thought of right after getting his girlfriend back for everything she had done to him for the past week. It was too bad she was going back to California soon; he had too many ideas and too little time to get them out. "I have to tell the coach that I can go back to practice tonight." He snickered as Riley took another dish towel and started to dry off her arms. "Unless I have to take you to the doctor to see if you broke your tailbone. Are you okay? You hit the ground, big time."

At his choice of words, Riley stopped her movements and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "I think I liked it better when you were quiet."

"Ha ha." He leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek, causing her to smile again. She turned her head and looked up at him through her raven fringe that fell into her blue eyes.

"Sucks that you got your voice back already," Riley commented, her tone dropping to a lower, mischievous one as she wiped her neck with the dish towel. "I had one more idea of how to torture you with it."

Kendall matched her smirk with one of his own. "Oh, don't worry about that." He reached into the pocket of his sweatpants and pulled out a gag, twirling it around his finger. "I'm one step ahead of you."