Chapter Six- An Accident and...a Kiss?

Kelsey stared at the ringing telephone, willing it to either be her dad or to be someone calling with the wrong number.

" Please, oh please don't be hurt." she begged at the phone, wanting beyond all hope for it to listen to her.

Portman jerkily picked the phone up, realizing that Kelsey just could not will herself to do it.

" Hello?" he supplied as he looked over the shaking girl's shoulder.

" I'm Nurse Wright from Minneapolis General Hospital. Is Miss Kelsey Paris at this residence?" the nurse asked.

" She's not up to answering the phone at the moment." Portman replied into the receiver, perhaps more harshly than he had meant to.

" Could you inform Miss Paris that her father was in a car accident, and that he really needs to speak to her? He has surgery in about 30 minutes, so please relay this to her quickly."

" Uh, of course." he answered, already knowing how badly this was going to turn out when he had to tell the scared young lady in front of him

" Thank you." the nurse ended the call before the teenager could utter another word.

Portman placed the phone back onto the receiver, and pushed back his large shoulders. " Kels-"

" He's hurt, isn't he?" Kelsey blurted out before he could even say anything. She had a look in her eyes begging it to be untrue.

" I have to call my mom." Portman said quickly. He just couldn't bring himself to tell her, and he knew that his mom could help him with this emergency situation.

" Tell me!" Kelsey practically screamed.

Portman dialed the phone number at his house in Chicago. " Mom, I know it's really short notice, but I need you here quick. Yeah, I know, but it's Kelsey's pops..." he trailed off as he listened to his mother. "Thanks. I'll call you as soon as we get there."

" How bad was it?" Kelsey said through tears.

She had quickly inferred from the brief conversation that her father was indeed injured and that the situation was not looking too well.

" He has to have a surgery." Portman said, while helping Kelsey to the sofa. " Just keep cool and I'll get us a ride there."

" He's going to die." Kelsey wailed as her companion picked the phone up again and cradled it between his shoulder and chin.

" It's going to be okay." Portman said while patting her shoulder. " Hey, man, do ya think your mom could give Kels and me a ride to the hospital? It's kinda an emergency."

" It will not. Nothings okay. Why do you always have to tell me that?" Kelsey said through sobs.

Portman sighed before quickly explaining to Fulton where exactly Kelsey lived. As soon as he finished, he placed the phone back into its proper place and grabbed his leather jacket and both his and Kelsey's bags. " Babe, lets lock up and wait for Ms. Reed to get here."

He grabbed the keys to the house that Kelsey carried with her, and helped her out the front door. She sat onto the stoop and cried loudly as he locked up.

" Why do bad things always happen to me?" she sobbed as he sat down beside her.

Not wanting to upset her further, he settled for putting an arm around her waist and allowed her to cry onto his shoulder. The pair had barely been on the stoop for five minutes when a car came to a screeching halt in front of the apartment building.

" Get her to the car." Ms. Reed exclaimed through a window that Fulton had furiously rolled down.

Portman scooped Kelsey up quickly along with their belongings and placed them all unceremoniously into the vehicle.

" I want to see him now." Kelsey said, tears still streaming down her face.

" Well, if my mom would hurry up, we could be there by now." Fulton said rather impatiently.

Ms. Fulton glared at her son before putting the car back into drive. " How bad is it?"

" He has to be in surgery in about 20 minutes." Portman told his best friend's mother.

After breaking every speed limit in town, they managed to get there in seven minutes. Dean quickly thanked Ms. Reed for her help and ushered the emotional girl into the large hospital. Taking a few moments to pause at the information desk to ask a nurse where Caleb was, the hulking teen hurriedly took Kelsey to see her father.

" Daddy!" Kelsey exclaimed as she burst into the room and ran directly to him.

" Hey, how's my girl?" her father asked, cuts marring his handsome face.

" What happened?" Kelsey pleaded, resisting the urge to throw her arms around her battered dad.

" Let's just say, it involved our jeep and a van. It wouldn't have been so bad if the person weren't under the influence of alcohol." Caleb said through a weak smile.

" Daddy, I love you." Kelsey kissed her father.

" I love you, too. Now, don't be scared." Caleb knew that his daughter was about to breakdown. " I'm not hurt as bad as your mom."

" Okay, honey, it's time to leave." a nurse said kindly as she came into the room with some other medical staff. " The surgery shouldn't take more than a couple hours."

Kelsey walked out of the room with some help from Portman. No sooner had they made it to the waiting room, than a doctor was joining them. After explaining that the surgery was a precaution to remove Caleb's badly injured spleen that had the potential to burst at any moment, the teenager calmed down somewhat. She turned in her chair to face Portman, who turned at that moment to look at her.

Dean wiped the tears from her eyes and cupped her face in his hand. " He's going to be fine, Kels, I mean it. And, I will stay here the entire night just so you won't be here all by yourself."

" You really don't have to do that, Dean." she said, placing a hand on his knee. " I will be-"

" Nope, not getting rid of me." he said with a smirk. " But, seriously, babe, I need to call my mom to see when she can get here. So, stay put."

" Yes, master." she said, sticking out her tongue.

" Want anything from the snack bar?" he asked as he got up from the uncomfortable gray chair.

He took off his leather jacket and placed it onto the chair that their book bags were occupying.

" No thanks." the young lady replied as she slouched back into her chair, trying to block out the blandness of the white and gray waiting area. It was devoid of other fretfully waiting families, and the only sound apart from their voices was the television.

" A soda and a bag of chips it is." he said, grinning as she rolled her eyes.

Two and a half hours later, the pair of teenagers were still sitting in the completely empty waiting area. While Kelsey was dozing in the chair next to the left of Portman, her head on his shoulder, the darker teen was anxiously awaiting the arrival of his mother. Though he had finally convinced his fairer companion to eat the bag of cheese curls he had bought her, he was not having any luck on dispelling her worries. Thankfully, she had dozed off half an hour ago, allowing him to contemplate new things he could say as she woke up. A figure moving into the area startled him, but the excited leap his stomach gave instead turned into a lurch as he realized the woman slinking gracefully into the room was not his mom. The jerk he gave as the lady walked into the room caused Kelsey to wake up, but her small smile quickly faded into a stern frown. She furrowed her eyebrows as she gave her stepmother a look of complete disgust.

" How is he?" Marion asked in a voice as warm as a summer breeze, which almost made Kelsey get up to slap her.

Matters were not helped at all that Marion looked like she had just came back from a dinner party, a smile of contentment gracing her delicate round face.

" He was in a car accident. What do you think?" Kelsey snapped, making a move to get up from the chair.

Portman managed to stop her from vacating the seat, but the angered girl still had her right fist clenched.

" Take that tone with me again, and you'll be wishing you were in it." Marion threatened.

" Why, hello, Marion. How have you been?" Gina Portman said purposefully as she entered the room.

Her son bore a striking resemblance to her, but the much shorter woman had a more feminine look about her. Luckily for her, she had managed to catch a flight out of Chicago within twenty minutes of her son's frantic phone call. After sequestering a vehicle from the airport and obtaining directions, she had made a mad dash for the hospital. Her black hair was completely disheveled and she was in sweat pants and a sweater that clearly supported her son's previous hockey team. The look of contempt that she leveled Marion could not any more clearly relate to the other woman how much she disliked her.

" Busy. You can leave now. I'm sure Kelsey would like to spend some quality time with me." Marion said through a fake smile.

" I would rather not, but if that is what Kelsey wants, I'll honor her request." Gina said with narrow eyes.

Kelsey heaved a great sigh as she looked between the two women. " Um, I think it wouldn't hurt for you guys to leave."

Portman opened his mouth to protest, but his mother shot him a look that made him close it again.

" But," Kelsey continued, " if it is all right with you, Mama P., I would like to talk to Dean for a couple of minutes."

" Of course. Be in the car in 10 minutes." Gina told Portman. She hugged Kelsey, murmuring, " If you need me back here, don't you hesitate to give me a call."

She slipped Kelsey a paper with her cellphone number as she walked out to the elevator.

Kelsey nodded her head towards the door as she placed the note into her pocket. She watched as Portman pulled his worn black leather jacket over his arms before shouldering his bag. After a withering look at Marion, who was sitting in a chair paging through a magazine, she left the area. She walked silently beside of Portman down the clean hallway and stopped in front of the elevator. Luckily, there was not a nurses' station on the floor, due to it being just a waiting area and food court that was empty at the moment. Kelsey looked at the clock above the food court and realized that it was well after midnight.

" I'm sorry for-"

" It's okay." he interrupted her as he pushed the down button on the panel. " Mom's probably got a hotel rented in the city, so they can't catch me breaking curfew. And, you know it isn't a problem staying with you."

" But, it isn't fair t-"

" Shh." he said as he cupped her face in his hand, again. " Call me in the morning."

Kelsey could feel her heart flutter as she closed her sapphire eyes and felt him tip her oval face upwards. The kiss lasted for only a few moments, leaving her in a state of confusion and longing for more. Instead, Portman released her as the doors dinged open, and moments later he was gone.

Kelsey stood stunned, staring disbelievingly at the place that he had just left her. She realized her mouth was slightly opened, so she quickly closed it, despite there not being a single person on the floor besides herself and her wicked stepmother.

" Kelsey Alexandria Paris. What took you so long?" Marion raged as the surprised teenager came back into the room.

" Take a chill pill, Marion. Since I'm sure you haven't, I'm calling Aunt Rosa. She is my dad's only sibling, after all." Kelsey said as she turned heel and left the area in search of a pay-phone.

Diverting her gaze from the mocking elevator, she found the pay-phones on the other side of the massive deserted food court. Tucking the phone under her chin, she pushed two quarters into the slot for a long distance call. She just hoped Aunt Rose would answer the phone because she was very much sick of her stepmother already. After several rings, the line was finally picked up.

" Hello, who is this?" Rosa asked into the phone, sounding very groggy.

" Aunt Rosa, this is Kelsey. Um, Daddy was in a accident, and-"

" I'll catch the next flight out, hon." Kelsey could hear her aunt rummaging through a dresser. " Take care until I get there. I love you, sweetheart."

" I will. Love you. " Kelsey hung up the phone, sighing with dread. It would be a few hours until her aunt could rescue her from the evil clutches of her nefarious stepmother. Where on earth was her knight in shining armor?

" Having mommy take care of him, no doubt." she muttered under her breath as she went back into the depressing waiting room.

" Did you call her?" Marion asked. She was still looking at a fashion magazine.

" Yes. She'll be here as soon as possible." Kelsey replied, glad that her stepmother had not even looked up from her enthralling magazine.

" That's great." Marion said sarcastically, turning the page.

Kelsey wasn't paying attention. Her mind was a jumble of thoughts concerning how her dad was doing, how terribly this school year had started, and why Portman had kissed her and left without a second thought.

A.N.-A.N.- Thank you, everyone, for your continued support :-) I have went back and changed some things dealing with my mistakes with some character's names. It took me a good portion of time, but I finally found a very nice website that has the Mighty Ducks novels uploaded to it. This gave me the ability to correctly name Riley and Cole. Anyway, the next chapter will be one of the last chapters to contain information from the original fan fiction. Also, I would like to apologize if this story does seem a little less than real at times. I know how hard it would be to get a flight short notice at such an early time in the morning, but really, it does not take more than two hours to fly from Chicago to Minneapolis. So, I'll leave you guys to judge how realistic this could be. As always, any questions, comments, or criticisms are extremely helpful :-)