A/N: Okay so this one is a bit longer, but not much. There's the game and a some info on Trevor and Riley's parents. I've figured out how I want this to end so now I'm working on getting there. Hope you guys like it. R & R please.
Disclaimer: Don't own The Covenant.
A guy named Paul finally joined them. Riley had been so stunned by Nic and Reid being in the same area again and Reid's comments that she had failed to realize that there was one person missing; that was the reason they had an odd number at first. Paul was as tall as Trevor and had closely cropped brown hair. He was built and Derek informed her he was a personal trainer. The teams were made and everyone lined up. Trevor took his position behind Paul. Riley and Pogue were to his left side while Caleb and Nic were to his right. Positioned opposite of them were Tom, Tyler, Reid, Kyle, Mark, and Derek.
"Two, set, hike!" Paul hiked the ball to Trevor and the game was in motion. Riley took off as did Caleb and Nic. Pogue was locked up with Tom. Tyler was going for Riley, Derek was on Caleb, and Reid was after Nic. Trevor pulled back as Kyle came at him. Paul managed to block him in time, but Mark took this opportunity to go at him. Trevor threw the ball to Nic before Mark took him down. Nic easily caught it and took off. He was quite a bit ahead, but then Reid suddenly picked up speed out of nowhere and hit him hard. Riley could hear the hit and watched as the ball tumbled from Nic's hands. Tyler stood next to her shaking his head at Reid. Caleb was going to be pissed. Reid quickly got off of Nic and secured the ball.
The opposing team cheered, all except Tyler, and everyone moved into position again. Riley noticed Caleb and Pogue glaring at Reid. The ball was snapped and Mark pitched it to Derek, who managed to score. Reid looked at Riley with a smug smile and kissed the air. He then smirked at Nic and Riley watched as Nic's jaw tensed. Riley had a feeling that these two were going to try and kill each other before the game was over. The ball was snapped and Tom pitched the ball to Tyler. Riley took out after him and had him down before he made it halfway to the goal.
"Damn Baby Boy. You're letting a girl take you out."
"Shut up Reid," Tyler said glaring as the blonde smirked. On the next play Reid got the ball. Nic was on him in an instant and Reid was eating dirt. This went on for the next few plays, each one taking the other down as hard as they could. It wasn't long before Trevor's friends started to notice. After the latest tackle, both boys laid on the ground in obvious pain, even though they tried to hide it. Derek stood beside Trevor shaking his head and holding back his laughter.
"Dude, they're about to kill each other trying to impress her." Trevor wanted to say that they were being stupid, but he knew he had probably done the same thing to impress a beautiful girl. It was natural of any male. Even animals did it. Right now Reid and Nic were head butting each other like two bucks during mating season.
"Oh she's not impressed," he said smirking at his friend. They watched as Riley walked over to the boys and grabbed the ball.
"Grow up," she said and stomped off. Both boys looked at her shocked and then turned to glare at each other. Trevor couldn't hold back the laughter anymore. When Reid and Nic's gaze turned to him he shook his head.
"You boys are going about it all wrong." With that he and Derek walked off and lined up to continue the game. Tyler once again got the ball and Riley took him down. Riley's team now had possession of the ball. While her team was in a huddle, Reid walked over to Tyler.
"Trade with me Baby Boy." Tyler stared at his best friend. It wasn't a question it was a statement.
"If you're trying to cop a feel I'm sure Trevor will beat your ass after Riley's finished." Reid rolled his eyes.
"Shut up Baby Boy. We stop them and we win the game. You haven't been able to tackle her all day." Reid held up his hands to stop Tyler from protesting. "It's alright man. I know you don't like being physically forceful with girls, but they know that now and they're going to use it."
"And you have no problem taking her down?" Tyler crossed his arms and stared at Reid.
"I'm not going to be hard on her, but I am going to stop her from scoring, unless of course she wants to score with me." Reid waggled his eyebrows and Tyler rocked his eyes.
"Whatever man," he said as he moved into his new position and the other team lined up. Reid took his position in front of Riley. Needless to say she was shocked, but she quickly schooled her face when he smirked and winked at her. Riley threw a sideways glance at Trevor. He nodded letting her know he knew, but when he called out he didn't drop their code word, which meant she was still getting the ball. She got ready to run. She was going to show Reid that she was not some weak little girl. The ball was snapped and she took off, Reid on her heels. She managed to out maneuver him and turned to catch the ball. As soon as it landed in her arms she was hit.
Reid had tried to keep up with her, but she would twist and turn ending up just outside his grasp. Man, what he would give to see how she moved in bed. He saw her turn to catch the ball. He was so caught up in watching her that he tripped himself. He started falling forward and hit Riley, taking her down with him. He landed on top of her hard. He stilled as he heard her cry out in pain. Oh God, what had he done?
"Riley!!" She faintly heard Trevor shout as Reid quickly rolled off of her. Her whole knee was in pain. Through squinted eyes she could see Reid staring at her in complete shock. Another wave of pain had her closing her eyes and letting out a whimper. Suddenly she was surrounded by everyone. Trevor knelt next to her and brushed the hair out of her face.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take her down that hard. I…I tripped." Reid was lucky that his main focus was on Riley because he was ready to kill him. Right now he just needed him to shut up.
"Will you shut the fuck up!!" He was tired of listening to him. He needed to get Riley to the hospital. He moved to scoop her up when Nic called out.
"Don't move her. You might cause more damage if she tore anything."
"I've got to get her to the hospital." Nic kneeled down on Riley's other side.
"I'm not a doctor yet, but I am studying for it. I know that you can't make it to your car with out causing her more pain and making the injury possibly worse." He turned to Tom. "Go get the car and bring it over. We can move her without aggravating it to much then." Tom nodded and took off to the parking lot. A small crowd had gathered around the group gawking, but Riley couldn't sense much past the pain.
"Riley, this might hurt, but I need to remove your brace to see how bad the swelling is." Nic turned to Trevor. "You might want to tighten your hold. Trevor nodded his head and maneuvered himself so that he sat with her between his legs. His arms came around just below her ribs, her back resting against his chest.
"You're going o be okay Riles. You're going to be okay." He kept murmuring the words over and over into her hair and kissing her head. He prayed that nothing had been seriously damaged. He didn't think she could handle that again. Not to mention that he would have to find a way to dispose of Garwin's body. His hold tightened as she bucked a little in his arms when Nic began to remove the brace. Thank God it was a Velcro one and not one she had to slide on.
"How long ago did she have surgery?" Nic asked looking at the scars on her knee.
"About a year and a half ago." With that Nic knew they had to get her to a hospital. The swelling wasn't too bad, but the brace had probably prevented some of it. She needed an MRI to assess the damage and make sure she didn't tear anything again. The sound of a horn and roar of an engine caused everybody to look up. Tom honked the horn to clear people out of the way. It came to a quick stop in front of the group.
"Let's go," Nic said. Tyler rushed over to the car and opened the backdoor while Nic gently took Riley's legs and Trevor held her upper body and moved her into the vehicle. She cried out in pain as they jostled her a little. Derek came over and held her while Trevor climbed in the backseat. They then slowly moved her in and Trevor braced her back against his chest once again. The door closed and the passenger door opened as Nic climbed in. Tom then hit the gas and floored it out of the park and to the nearest hospital.
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Trevor sat in the waiting room. They had gotten to the hospital about twenty minutes ago. As soon as they got there the doctors carted Riley off. The nurse had guided him to the nurse's station so he could fill out the insurance forms. It was a slight misguided attempt to distract him from his worry about his sister. Ten minutes after they got there Derek showed up. Derek knew his friend would be blaming himself.
"You know it's not your fault man." Trevor shook his head.
"I should have never let her play. She wasn't ready yet. If she tore her knee up again…." He shook his head and dropped it into his hands. Derek placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Tom and Nic were sitting across from them. Trevor had told them they could leave, but they refused. Someone cleared their throat and all four sets of eyes shifted to the door.
"Are you all here for Riley Galloway?," asked the doctor. All four shot up. The doctor's eyebrows rose to his hairline. He was around his mid-forties with salt and pepper hair. He had some stubble around his jaw and upper lip. He was short so the towering young men scared him just a little, but he knew how to school his features. He had been doing this for many years and had dealt with many aggressive patients as well as family and friends.
"Is my sister okay?," Trevor asked quickly stepping forward. The doctor could see the fear, pain, and guilt etched all over his face and the sadness reflected in his eye. He smiled softly.
"Your sister is resting. We sedated her and gave her some pain medicine. Unfortunately I won't be able to get her an MRI until around seven. The machine is booked and that's the earliest availability."
"Can you guess the severity of the injury?," Nic asked stepping forward. He felt horrible. He knew it wasn't his fault, but he should've switched positions with Riley when he saw Reid take Tyler's spot. He knew Reid hadn't meant to hit Riley that hard. Nic had watched as Reid tripped, sending his body full force into her.
"I'm not a liberty to say. Due to the fact that she has had knee surgery within the last two years and only got out of physical therapy a little while ago, I want to be sure before I give you a diagnosis." Trevor hung his head. That wasn't what he wanted to hear. He wanted to hear that she was going to be fine and that there was no serious damage. Trevor swallowed the lump in his throat.
"Is she going to have to stay the night?"
"Yes. Once we get the MRI done we'll be able to make a better assessment of the injury. Even if it's nothing requiring surgery I would like to keep her for observation tonight. She will more than likely have to be on crutches for a while as well." Trevor nodded his head. He knew that would probably be a condition.
"Can I see her?" The doctor nodded.
"Right this way." Trevor followed him out the door, leaving the other three men to stare after them. They wandered down the hall until they came to an elevator. "She's on the third floor. She has a private room as per your request." The doors closed and the elevator started to rise. The ding let him know he was on the third floor and that much closer to his sister. They walked down the hall until they reached room 315. The doctor opened the door and Trevor walked in. He stopped and shuddered. The memories of the last time he saw her in a hospital bed assaulting his mind. He took a deep breath and looked back at the bed. It wasn't as bad this time. There weren't as many wires and machines. She had and an IV stand with two bags hooked up and the heart monitor.
"We'll remove the heart monitor once she wakes up. It's just precautionary when we sedate patients. Just to let us know if they have any sort of reaction to anything since they're not fully conscious." Trevor just nodded his head, unable to tear his eyes away from the scene. He never wanted to see her in another hospital bed. He moved over to her side.
"What's in the bags?"
"One is just a saline solution to keep her hydrated and the other is her pain medicine. We already gave her a dose. She has a little controller," the doctor lifted the small little controller, "so if she's in pain when she wakes up she just has to press this button and it will dispense the set amount of medicine." Trevor nodded his head and looked at her sleeping form. She looked so peaceful and helpless. His eyes traveled to her leg that was elevated and had a bandage wrapped around the knee area. "We placed some ice to help take down the swelling. It will help with the MRI."
"Thank you Doctor…?" Trevor realized he had never gotten the man's name.
"Buckner."
"Thank you Doctor Buckner. Do you know how long she'll be out?"
"It's hard to say. Each patient is different, but I'd have to guess she'll be out for the next hour, maybe two."
"Okay." He placed a kiss to her forehead. "I'll be back shortly," he whispered and turned towards the door, Dr. Buckner following behind. "Just so you know Doc I will be staying here with her tonight. She has a thing about hospitals ever since the accident."
"I had a feeling that would be the case. Normally we don't allow anyone past visiting hours, but I'll make an exception in this case." Trevor didn't care if he made and exception or not. He was going to stay with her and that was that. He got back down to the waiting room and gave the guys an update. He asked Derek to take him back to get his vehicle and told Tom and Nic they could take off. He thought about calling his father as Derek drove them back, but he knew it wouldn't matter. Chances are the hospital had already called him since he was the main contact on the insurance forms. If he hadn't shown up yet, he wouldn't show up at all. They made it to the park and Trevor headed back to the apartment to change. As the elevator doors started to close someone called out.
"Can you hold the elevator please?" His arm quickly shot out stopping the door. When it slid back open he was face to face with Madison. "Trevor!," she said happily. She was juggling some grocery bags. He quickly reached out and grabbed some of the bags. "Thank you so much."
"It's not a problem." She got into the elevator and pressed the button to her floor. They rode in silence for a bit.
"So how is Riley adjusting to Boston?" She turned to Trevor and saw the look on his face. "Trevor is everything okay?"
"Riley's….ah….she's in the hospital." Madison's eyes widened.
"Oh my God, what happened?"
"We were playing football and one of the guys took her down too hard. She had an ac…accident a couple of years back." He took a deep breath before he continued. "They have to do an MRI to make sure she didn't tear anything up again."
"Trevor I'm so sorry." Trevor just nodded.
"I came back to change. I'm heading over and staying the night. Ever since the accident she has a thing about hospitals."
"I can imagine so." The elevator dinged and the door opened. Trevor followed Madison to her apartment. She unlocked the door and they went inside. Her apartment was laid out just like his. The main difference was the decorations. Where all his things were very modern, hers had a homey quality. It reminded him of the ranch. He sat the bags down on the counter with her other ones. "Well I let you get going. I hope everything will be okay."
"Me too." He wanted to stay and talk to her. He had never gotten the courage to talk to her except when they were on the elevator. Now he was in her apartment, but he had to go. He had to get back to the hospital before Riley woke up and panicked. He quickly walked out the door and decided to take the stairs, knowing the elevator would take too long now. He was changed and out the door in record time. In twenty minutes he was back at the hospital and walking towards Riley's room. He stopped as he saw someone standing at her door. He registered the light blonde hair under the black beanie and knew instantly who it was.
"Garwin?" He tried to control his temper. Nic had vouched for Reid saying that he saw him trip. That he hadn't intentionally meant to take Riley down like that. "What are you doing here?," he asked as he came closer. He looked into the room and saw that she was still sleeping.
"I found out from Kyle which hospital you went to. I had to see how she was. Is she going to be okay?" Trevor watched as Reid swallowed hard.
"I don't know yet. They have to run an MRI later tonight. We'll know more than." Reid nodded his head. Trevor noticed something in his hands. "What's that?"
"Hmm?" Reid looked at him and then down to his hands. "Oh. I…uh…I stopped at the gift shop and got her this." He held it out to him and Trevor took it.
"How did you know she liked wolves?" Trevor looked at him curiously.
"I didn't. I just saw it and for some reason I thought it just fit her." Trevor nodded. It was a bit creepy that Reid had managed to pick out a stuffed animal that happened to be his sister's favorite, but he brushed it off as a coincidence. Reid took one last look at Riley. Before turning and walking away.
Trevor wasn't really sure what to make of this. The Reid Garwin he had always known was a cocky little bastard. He had heard from a few of the Spencer graduates about the rumors of him having a different girl in his bed every night. He had made sure to warn him against doing hat to Riley, but now he was wondering if all of that was truly just talk. This side of Reid Garwin was something new to Trevor. He looked to Riley and wondered which Reid was the real Reid and, most importantly, which one would make the moves on his sister.
"Hey." He turned his attention from the stuffed animal back to the figure in the bed. Riley looked at him with sleep filled eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief. He knew she would wake up, but the waiting had been killing him. It was bringing back to many memories that he preferred to keep buried.
"Hey Riles," he said as he walked in. He placed a kiss on her forehead. He could tell that the pain meds where still having their effect. Her eyes reflected her doped up state.
"Is that for me?," she asked pointing down at the wolf. Trevor nodded and handed it to her. "You remembered." She smiled sweetly up at him.
"Actually, I didn't get it for you." She looked at him with shocked eyes.
"Did dad…"
"No, I didn't even waste time calling him. I know you wish he would change Riles, but it has been far too long. He's too set in his ways."
"Why did he close his heart off when mom died?" He saw the tears gathering in her eyes. He sat down on the bed beside her. Gently taking her face in his hands, he wiped them away.
"I don't know Riles. I don't know."
"Then he had to go marry the Wicked Witch of the East and bring Satan's spawn into our family," she bit out. "Why has he acted more like a father to her than us?"
"I don't think he has." She looked up at him confused. "Scoot over." She moved to the side and he lay out next to her. It was like when they were younger. When their mom had gotten sick, Riley had a hard time sleeping at night. She kept having nightmares, so Trevor would let her sleep with him in his room and chase the nightmares away. It had been a long time since they had done this. "I think the only reason he has done anything for the Brat is because of Tanya. She probably manipulated him to."
"Yeah, like she manipulated him to forget about us." Trevor sighed. The thing Riley didn't know was that their father was still heartbroken over the loss of their mother. He had loved her dearly. Maxwell Galloway had met Clarissa Johns when they had been in Dallas. He had been there for a business meeting with his father and she had come down for her best friend's wedding. They had met at a bar and, the way their mother had told it, it was love at first sight. A year later they were married and three years later Trevor came on the scene, followed by Riley. They had been a happy loving family., picture perfect.
Then Clarissa had been diagnosed with cancer. She slowly withered away. Trevor remembered the many times they had gone to see her in the hospital. He figured Riley remembered them vaguely, but whatever she did remember had been buried deep to avoid the pain. As their mother got worse, their father became more and more distant to his children.
When she passed away, he sent them to live with their grandfather. His excuse was that it would be better for them, since he was starting to get a larger clientele and was a work more and more. Trevor remembered his mother refused to get a nanny for them. She sent them to a normal daycare. She didn't want them to grow up being high society snots. She wanted them to be generous, loving, and kind. Part of Trevor wanted to believe that their father had sent them to Oklahoma so that their mother's wishes would be carried out. Another part of him knew it was too hard for their father to look at his two children and not think of the love of his life. It was especially hard to not do that when he looked at Riley. She was the spiting image of their mother and had her spirit through and through.
About a month after the news that Riley was moving to Boston, Trevor had gone to talk to his father about one of the files he was working on. The door to the office had been left cracked open which was unusual for his father, but it was late and he probably didn't think anybody was around. He raised his hand to knock when he heard a light sob come from inside. He pushed the door open a little more and saw his father sitting at his desk. His back was to the door and Trevor could just make out a picture in his hand. It was the one fro Riley's third birthday. They had gone to the zoo and celebrated. It was the last family picture they had taken before his mother got sick. Trevor silently closed the door and walked away. Everything he had thought about his father had just changed.
"Trev?" Her voice broke him out of his memory. "You okay?"
"I'm fine Riles." She didn't believe him, but she knew not to push it. He would talk to her when he was ready.
"So how long am I stuck here for?" Trevor looked at his watch.
"Well your MRI is set for seven, but you know it could end up being later." She scoffed and rolled her eyes. Oh she knew when a doctor said a certain time it had to be taken with a grain of salt. "So if everything checks out, I'm sure you'll be out of here tomorrow."
"Good," she said and settled down. Trevor grabbed the remote on the side of the bed and turned on the TV. He flipped through the channels until he came to Scooby Doo.
"Scooby Doo, seriously? Aren't we too old for this?"
"Shut up. You're never too old for Scooby Doo," he said smiling down at her. She tried to fight it, but couldn't. Her lips curved up giving him a smile of her own. They sat there and watched Scooby Doo for a bit. Then Riley remembered something.
"Hey Trev."
"Hmm?" He didn't take his attention away from the screen.
"If you and dad didn't get this for me, who did?" He looked down to her.
"Reid." She looked at him shocked.
"Reid? Reid Garwin?" The corner of his mouth quirked up. That was exactly what he thought. He nodded his head.
"Reid Garwin."