AN: I don't own LWD or Queen's University/their team

#26 Heart Stopping Moment

Ten minutes left. There were only ten minutes left in the game, but it still happened. Casey was sitting in the stands as usual, watching her boyfriend completely killing it out on the ice. Queen's (don't own the college obviously) team was on fire tonight, especially thanks to Derek who had score 10 out of the 15 goals they had so far. However the opposing team was pretty good, though nobody could touch Derek tonight, or so Casey thought.

There were ten minutes left in the game, and Derek currently had the puck. All the Queen's fans were cheering, especially Casey who was screaming her head off like crazy. All of the sudden, an offense man, came up behind Derek and slammed him hard into the boards. Derek collapsed to the ground, and the whole rink went silent, as everyone had her the crunching of Derek's body against the hard sides of the rink. Get up Derek, get up! Casey thought, as she started to get worried. She ran down the steps to the rink, and all of Derek's teammates and coaches ran over to him. "Someone call the EMT!" One of the coaches called, and the referee went to call them.

By the time Casey reached the rink, the EMTs were running on the ice over to Derek's limp body. Casey was ready to run on the rink too, when Sam caught her and held her. "Casey, it's going to be okay, just let them get him on the stretcher." Sam said, trying to calm her although, he was obviously freaked out himself. They rolled the stretched past Casey, and she just broke down and started crying. "Derek! she sobbed, running to catch up with them. She explained her relation to Derek, and they allowed her into the ambulance with him, and she then called the family.

When they arrived at the hospital, they quickly wheeled him to the Intensive Care Unit. "Ma'am you're going to have to wait out her for now." One of the EMTs informed her. "But, that's my boyfriend!" She exclaimed hysterically. "Hospital policy, and this is the most efficient way to care for him." He told her before heading into the ICU himself. Casey walked over to the waiting area, and slumped herself into a hard, plastic chair.

About an hour later, the Venturi-McDonald family all rushed in, with worried expressions. "How is he? What happened?" George asked immediately. "I don't know they wouldn't let me into the ICU with him, and no one's told me anything yet. H-he was just playing, and there was ten minutes left, when this huge player from the other team went up and checked him incredibly hard into the boards. You could hear him getting smacked to the boards, and he dropped limp." At this point, the tears had started falling again, down her face, and the family all embraced her into a long hug. "Shh, it's going to be okay Casey." Nora whispered into her ear, petting her hair. After they all broke away, George said, "We will all wait, let's go sit." After a few minutes of nervous silence, George grabbed Casey's hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Casey smiled, and rested her head on his shoulder.

After what seemed like an eternity, a doctor finally came out of the ICU and talked to them. "Hello, I have good news and bad news. The good news is Derek is awake, and he will be fine. However, Derek has a severely sprained vertebral disc, three broken ribs, a broken patella and a sprained ankle." The family was silent, all trying to process this information. Finally Edwin piped up, "What does this mean for his hockey?" The doctor ran his fingers through his hair and replied, "This means that Derek's hockey career is essentially over." The family was distraught over this; they all understood how important this sport was to him. "Derek has requested that Casey come in and see him, and then we can get the others in." Casey nodded, stood up and gathered her things, following the doctor into the ICU.

After a few turns and some long hallways, they finally reached Derek's room. As Casey entered his room, Derek's face lit up, and Casey could feel the tears again. "Case," Derek started. "I'm sorry, I was just so scared that I was going to lose you." She wailed. He patted a spot next to him on his bed, insinuating her to sit down. Casey sat down slowly and carefully, scared of hurting him. "Don't worry I wont break." He said lighting. "Yeah because you are already broken." Casey joked, and Derek laughed. "Ow laughing hurts." He said good naturedly. "Sorry." She said looking down at her hands. "Don't be. I'm glad that you are okay," He said seriously. Casey was shocked, he was broken ad done with hockey, and he was worried about her? "I'm okay? Derek don't worry about me, let's just worry about you." She said. "Case, you are more important to me than anything else in the world, more than me especially. You are important, and I want to make sure that you are okay with what happened." Derek replied somberly. "So are you okay?" He asked. She nodded silently, with tears brimming on her eyes, threatening to come down. Derek leaned up and kissed her on the cheek tenderly.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Casey just had to ask, "So what now?" Derek smiled and replied sadly, "I really don't know. I'm devastated that I never made it professional, but I guess things happen for a reason." Now it was Casey's turn to comfort Derek. She kissed his temple and replied, "I'm so sorry Derek, I can only imagine how hard this is. But just because you can't actually play anymore doesn't mean you can't still have a career in the hockey industry." Derek thought silently, and finally replied, "Yeah you're right. Maybe I could be a sports agent, or a team owner, or coach, or something like that. My business professor does say that I have a knack for it, maybe I could take my knowledge of hockey and my business skills and turn it into something." For the first time since beside seeing Casey, Derek smiled a true, genuine smile.

Ten Years Later

"Uh-huh, yes a $10 Million deal with Nike (DON'T OWN) sounds great." Derek replied to a business associate on the phone, before hanging up. After his injury, Derek thought his life was over, but thanks to his girlfriend, now wife, Derek still went for a career with hockey and business. Derek now owned three NHL (don't own) Teams, as well as was a very successful sports agent.

Some days his injures, specifically his back, still hurt him, but most days he was almost grateful for that injury and that night, as it led him to a career that made him happier than playing on any team could have.