Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING!
A/N: Sorry it took me so long to get up the next post...it's the last chapter (unless I decide to write a sequel or something) and I was on vacation. Hope you enjoy!
"How is she?" Dean demanded, sitting up rigid in his bed.
"Geez, you've only been here for two days and you think you run the place," Averman said with a goofy grin.
"How IS SHE?!" he yelled this time.
"Okay, okay," Averman said sheepishly, putting up his hands in mock defeat. He sat down on the chair opposite the bed, "she's looking better, but not much. She just got back from surgery."
Dean stared at him, contemplating thoughts in his head. He stopped, "WHAT surgery?" he demanded again, a fist forming.
"Hold on, hold on," Averman repeated, scooting his chair back, in case that fist was meant for his nose. "She had to have a blood clot removed, but the doctors say she'll be better in no time," he assured him at a safe distance.
"A blood clot," Dean repeated, staring at him. "A freaking blood clot, she could have DIED from a freaking BLOOD CLOT!" he yelled at his friend.
"The doctors say she'll make a full recovery in a day," Averman said, concentrating on anything besides the fire flaming in Portman's eyes. "We'll all be able to see her tomorrow - if she's awake."
"What the hell do you mean IF?" Dean shouted at him again, more nervous than angry. What was going to happen to Julie?
Averman jumped back further, his back colliding with the wall, "Did I say if? I meant WHEN," he said, a note of panic in his voice.
Dean rolled his eyes and let himself flop back into his bed. He could get up tomorrow - he could move around tomorrow. Finally. He had been stuck in the same bed for over four days because of the effect of the cold had on his legs. But he didn't care - he spent most of his time staring at the ceiling replaying that night's events over and over in his head.
"I'm going to go and uh," Averman said quietly, "um, I'm just going to uh," he continued, inching toward the door. He kept stuttering until he reached the door and opened it. "Bye!" he called over his shoulder as he sprinted from the room.
Dean stared at the ceiling, trying to burn a hole in it. They promised him that Julie was going to be better yesterday; she was going to wake up yesterday. But no, no freaking way was anything going to go right today! He was just supposed to wait around in a freaking sick bed for the next week and just 'wait and see.'
"Portman?" a voice called from the doorway.
"What do you want," he answered lamely. He couldn't place a name with the voice just yet.
"Listen, I know how you feel about Julie and I wanted to say I'm sorry and we all miss you guys and..." the voice babbled on, a face coming into view. It was Connie - perfect timing.
Dean rolled his eyes and continued to half-listen to the one-sided conversation.
"Your doctor told me I could come in and tell you that you can get out of your bed any time now - your legs should be feeling better," Connie told him, a smile tugging at her lips.
"Finally," he grumbled, throwing back the sheets and searching for his chair. "Will you unfold that for me?" he asked gruffly, pointing to his chair in the corner.
Connie, feeling a little disappointed for not getting any praise for her news, did as she was asked and wheeled it over.
"Thanks," he said, struggling to lift himself out of the bed.
Once he had achieved success, he entertained himself by rolling up and down the hallways - driving the nurses mad and leaving Connie all alone in his empty room. He stared off into space, going down the kids' hall, only noticing the screening of "Snow White" in the playroom.
He thought about Julie - that was the only thing TO do. She had always been such a great friend - even when he was having a 'jerk' moment. She put up with all kinds of crap from him and the team and the other girls at school, how could she stand it? She didn't deserve anything that happened that night on the pond.
Now the emotions ran deeper. Julie wasn't just the goalie anymore - she was a beautiful person - Dean didn't know what to do. Just thinking about her then made him crazy, nervous, and lightheaded. He felt like he was going to lose it right there in the hospital - but he just kept rolling, making a sharp turn to jolt himself out of his trance.
His brain kept thinking about every bit of Julie as the night wore on, he climbed into bed, whishing himself to sleep, but it didn't come. Her laugh, her smile, everything kept flooding in - every memory he had of her.
"Portman! Portman!" someone yelled at him the next morning.
"Get away from me," he commanded groggily, swiping his fist out in front of him uselessly. It had been three o'clock in the morning when he had finally fallen asleep. He just wanted to be left alone - hadn't they figured that out by now?
"Portman! C'mon, wake up you big lump!" Fulton yelled at him, a wide grin on his face. He finally had good news.
"Get AWAY FROM ME!" Portman yelled furiously, refusing to open his eyes.
"PORTMAN! GET UP!" Fulton shouted playfully, shaking his best friend's shoulders.
"Fulton! Get OUT! JUST GET OUT!" Portman shouted back angrily, pointing at the door.
"Julie's awake!" Fulton told him excitedly, almost jumping at the sound of his own news.
"Reeds," Dean said, opening his eyes and grabbing his friend's shirt, bringing his face close to his, "if this is some kind of sick joke - I will hurt you until you bleed," he hissed.
"You," Fulton laughed, "need to calm down. I'm not joking."
"She is?" he breathed, letting go of the fabric clutched in his palm.
"Yeah - you want to go see her? She's alone right now," Fulton said with a grin, smoothing out the front of his 'Kiss' t-shirt.
"Julie?" Dean called weakly into the sterile-white room.
There were a few rustling sounds and grunt of pain and then a small voice called back, "Portman?"
"Hey, Jules," he said meekly, wheeling himself into the room, closer to her bed. She looked awful - dark circles under her eyes, a bruise on her left cheek, a turban of white gauze surrounded her head, and there were even cuts and bruises around her wrist and hands.
"Hey Portman," she sighed, smiling slightly. He looked exhausted - there were bandages wrapped around his forearms and neck and his mouth was crooked from a swollen lip. She felt sorry for him.
There was an awkward moment of silence - neither one of them knew where to begin.
"Julie, I've been thinking," Dean told her in all seriousness, rolling closer - right up to her bed. "You should tell someone - you need to press charges or something. What Adam did was wrong."
"Yeah, yeah - I know," Julie sighed, looking uncomfortable. "But I thought about it too - I'm not going to do anything. Adam has to live with it - I can get over it."
"No!" he yelled, getting angry. "Adam is a stupid bastard and deserves to be punished! Don't you think the doctors are going to ask you what happened? What are you going to tell them? The same lie you told me?" he shouted, his temper boiling.
"Dean, calm down," she sighed, looking quite sad. Her eyes drooped, "I had Fulton tell them I had an accident on the ice - I wasn't looking where I was going. No one is getting blamed - it was just an accident. If you think about it - it was an accident. Adam just flies off the handle sometimes - it's not his fault - he has a lot of pressure on him from his father and the scouts and the dean..." she babbled, trying to force herself to believe the lies that were spilling out of her mouth. Her insides were crumbling with every word.
He stared at her - she couldn't actually think that, could she? "Julie that's a whole bunch of bull and even you know that," he said absently -staring at her rigid face. He felt helpless.
"Dean, why were you there? Why did you try to walk?" Julie asked him, staring at a spot on the ceiling.
He shrugged - he had no idea either. "I had to help you - I mean, there was no way I was going to let anything happen to you. Looks like I failed," he said, staring at his bandages fingers - one of them had stitches on it and was leaking blood onto the band-aid again.
"You did that for me?" she asked weakly, turning her head painfully to look at him.
"Well yeah - I care about you," he stuttered - that wasn't something he said everyday.
"Really?" she asked, her face showing no emotion.
"Jules, I..., I..." he stuttered again, picking at his fingernail. He looked at her, "I mean, Jules, I love you," he told her, shaking his head.
"You what?" she whispered. Things were never going to be the same again. Now her decision was even harder to make.
"Julie, I love you," he said again, staring her in the eye with a small grin.
She didn't say anything - she didn't even smile.
He stiffly leaned forward, closer and closer until their noses almost touched. Julie didn't do anything - she just let him - she was too tired. He took the plunge and kissed her right there.
His pace quickened - was he actually doing what he thought he was doing? Was he kissing the team goalie? Yeah, yeah he was he assured himself.
"Dean," she said, pulling away and staring at the ceiling. She shook her head slightly.
"Sorry," he muttered, leaning back in his chair, embarrassment burning across his face.
She continued to stare at the ceiling with a stony expression. "I can't do this," she said.
"Can't do what?" he asked softly. He just wanted to leave.
"I'm leaving."
"You're WHAT?" he said, his eyes growing wide.
"I called my mom this morning - she's letting me come back home. I'm leaving to go back to Bangor as soon as I'm out of here," she said gravely, not daring to look him in the eye now.
"WHAT?" he shouted, narrowing his eyes. She couldn't just leave!
"I'm going away for the rest of the year - I'm going home to sort stuff out," she said, close to tears. She felt awful for keeping this from him and her teammates.
"Are you coming back?" he shouted, gripping his chair until his knuckles turned white.
She shrugged feebly, "I don't know," she answered.
"So, no one knows you're leaving?" he asked, rolling beside her through the airport doors.
She shook her head gently, "It'd be best not to tell them," she told herself. She took out her ticket - she had twenty minutes before she had to get on the plane back to Maine.
They walked silently to the terminal, keeping their eyes to anything but the other. "Guess I'll see you...later," he shrugged.
Julie nodded, "Yeah, I'll write to you guys - I'll give you a call," she promised.
Dean nodded, "I'll do the same," he assured, watching a plane take off through the window.
"Well, they're boarding now," Julie told him, her heart breaking as she spotted the door that led to the plane.
"Well," he said monotonously, "G' bye."
"Bye," she said, adjusting her shoulder strap. Julie waved to him as she walked slowly to the doors, her ticket in hand.
Dean watched his best friend give him one last smile before she stepped out of sight. He sighed - she was gone. He turned around slowly and started for the door once more.
"Portman!" a voice called behind him.
"Yeah?" he said, looking back expectantly.
Julie ran toward him, a painful smile on her face. "You've got to promise me one thing before I leave," she said, grabbing his hand.
"Anything," he shrugged, swallowing a lump in his throat. She hadn't come back - Julie hadn't changed her mind. She was leaving him after all she had put the whole team through.
"Don't beat Adam to a bloody pulp, okay?" she grinned.
His face fell, "Yeah, yeah," Dean muttered gruffly. Julie had foiled his plans. "Whatever. You know Adam deserves it though," he added.
"And promise me that you'll never change and never forget about me, okay?" Julie asked him, grasping his hand tighter. She felt like crying again.
"I'd never do that," he responded immediately. "You've saved my life more than one time - you rescued me from my dad and from Ohio and from every other damn thing I've been through since I've met you - there's no way anyone could forget you," Dean told her, shaking his head up at her.
"Thanks," she said with a grin. She leaned down and kissed him lightly on the lips. "I'll never forget you," she whispered, walking away.
Dean watched Julie's plane take off, he waved it away. "Good bye Jules," he called after it, placing his hand on the glass. It was over. Julie Gaffney was gone.