Game Over...

Dave was not awake when Sebastian reached his hospital room, but his husband was also not alone. Julian was sitting at his bedside, reading the newspaper, waiting for his younger brother to arrive. He put the paper down the moment that he heard his brother coming in. "He fell asleep about half an hour ago, Bazzy. I warn you know that he is on a lot of morphine, so when he does wake up, he will be groggy and incoherent. Of course, the doctors wouldn't tell me very much at all, because I am not an immediate family member, but one of the nurses told me quietly that they think he will need quite a few surgeries to sort things out. I mean… it was bad, really bad. I have seen the video of the moment that it happened, as the game was being televised, and you can hear him howling with pain above the roar of the crowd…"

"That's probably a little bit too much information, Jules," whispered Sebastian, his face draining of colour at the very thought. "I just wish that I had been told as soon as it happened; he is far more important to me than any show. I guess that I will have to remind him of that…"

"Well, go easy on him at first, okay. He was in a terrible state when I arrived, and had it not been for Santana having the sense to call me and tell me to get here, he'd have been on his own until you arrived. There was only one thing he did say over and over, and that was that I wasn't to call you, that Santana was en route. He made me promise and I respected his wishes…"

"I also told your brother that he wasn't to let Isabelle know what was going on, so that meant he couldn't get her to call the theatre and circumvent Dave's instructions," said Santana from the doorway, as she walked into the room, bearing a cup of coffee and a bag of chips, which she handed to Sebastian. "I know that hospital coffee is foul, and chips aren't exactly the healthiest of foodstuffs, but the canteen is on the other side of the building, and its reputation isn't brilliant anyway. You have to eat and drink something…"

"Yes, mom," said Sebastian with a little hint of his trademark snark.

Julian looked at the two of them, and shook his head whilst smiling a little. He knew that they were friends, united by so much in the way of attitude and humour, so he did not fear any hostilities. "Right, speaking of my wife, I guess I should call and let her know what is going on. She might not follow football, but by now someone that does might have told her that Dave has been hurt, and she will be worried."

Sebastian nodded, and watched silently as his brother left the room to make his call. He sipped the coffee, and grimaced. Then in a hushed voice he said, "I am guessing that I won't need to inform my circle of friends, as a lot of them do follow football. In fact, I would suggest that when I do actually switch my phone back on, it will start to buzz and vibrate like no-one's business. However, that fact is what is keeping me from turning it on; however well intentioned, I can't deal with all of that right now."

"How about I send a message to Thad, and ask him to get the word out? Everyone listens to him, and he will also ensure that they don't try and get in touch with you."

"Yeah, that's an idea, but could you call him instead of sending a message? That way you can answer any questions that he has straight off," replied Sebastian in the same small voice. Santana nodded, and after gently placing a supportive hand on his shoulder, she headed for the door to make the call. Just as she was going to walk out, she heard Sebastian say "Thanks, Satan, for all of this. I owe you…"

As the door closed behind her, Sebastian heard a moan from the bed, and he quickly set the coffee and chips to one side, taking his husband's hand in his own, and giving it a gentle, loving squeeze. Dave's eyes slowly opened, and the first thing Sebastian saw was how bloodshot and red rimmed they were. They focused on him, and his lips slowly parted, before he whispered the word "Sebby…"

"I am here my love. First off, I want you to know that I have arranged for the guy that hit you like that to get what he deserves…"

"It wasn't his fault…"

"Exactly, which is why I have arranged for him to have round the clock protection from an outraged latina that is rumoured to have razor blades secreted in her hair…"

That made Dave smile, but all too soon it vanished as he grimaced at a new bout of pain. "It's all over Sebby. With the best will in the world, this is the end of my playing career. Things like this have happened to other players, and well…. Once your knee is gone, you can't run as fast, and you daren't tackle so hard, and as a result, there isn't much point in you playing…"

"So you coach. You have done all of the courses, and are more than qualified. However, all of those discussions are for later; for now, we need to concentrate on your surgeries, and getting you fixed up so that you can walk the way you used to, even if you can't run. You can do this, because you are one of the strongest people that I know; plus you will not be fighting alone. You will have me, and our kids, and your dad in your corner as well."

At the mention of his dad, Dave's breath suddenly hitched. "Has anyone even told him?" he said, his voice filling with panic. "The last thing that I would want…"

The realisation dawned then for Sebastian without Dave needing to finish the sentence. Paul watched every single game that his son played live; not only would he know that his son was hurt, but unlike his husband, his father would have witnessed the whole thing in his living room in Ohio.

"Someone will have called him," said Sebastian, mentally crossing his fingers that someone would have had the sense to do it. He decided that he needed to break the rules then, and switched on his phone as it sat in his pocket. It was on silent mode, so it made no sound as it started to vibrate wildly against his hip…

He was about to take it out when the door opened to reveal a group of medical staff. Sebastian was equally pleased to see that Julian was with them, as it saved him having to introduce himself to all of them in the most awkward of ways. Those introductions made, he was reluctantly made to step outside, so that they could examine his husband again. He picked up his coffee and the chips, then followed his brother out into the hallway. The moment that the door was closed, he thrust both of them into the hands of his bemused brother, and dug out his phone. Checking it, he sighed with a little relief. All of the text messages he had expected were there, and amongst them several from his father-in-law. Then he saw that there were also three voicemails from Paul as well, and he clicked on the first one, hoping that he would know what was happening in his spoken message…

He dutifully listened to each of the three voicemails in turn. The first was his father-in-law's near hysterical reaction to what he had just witnessed on the television, and how he needed Sebastian to call him back as soon as possible; the second a calmer one, in which he apologised for his tone in the first, and said that he had just spoken to Julian, but he would still like Sebastian to call him very soon; and the final one, which he realised from the background noise had been made from an airport, to say that he had concluded that he needed to be there, and so he was boarding the next available flight to Newark. He continued by saying that had he not heard from Sebastian by the time that his flight arrived, he would call Julian to find out exactly where Dave was…

Sebastian was about to hang up, when the last message continued; in a quiet voice, Paul told him that he had received a text from his ex-wife; he was in a place where he could kill the woman in question right now, but he would explain why later. However, he needed Sebastian to check Dave's phone for messages, and more importantly, his personal Facebook page, as he would not put it past her to post something vile on there. Then the message ended, and for some reason, those final words left Sebastian feeling cold inside. He resolved to go and check his husband's phone, and then his Facebook profile at once. He checked his watch, and calculating from when the last message was left, he realised that Paul would probably be in town in an hour or so…

"Are you okay?" said Julian suddenly and his words made Sebastian jump, as they had come out of the blue.

"As good as I can be given the circumstances," he replied to his brother's question. "So Paul is en route as we speak; he will be arriving at Newark in around an hour by my calculations. Turns out he left me three separate voicemails…"

"He was pretty distraught when I called him; angry at first that you hadn't called him, until I told him everything that was happening, all of the circumstances. I think then he was a little annoyed with Dave to be honest… Would you like me to pick him up from the airport? Isabelle knows the truth now, and has told me I need to do everything I can for both of you. She also sends her love…"

"If you could pick him up, that would be great Jules. I can send him a text, tell him to look for you when he arrives."

"Then consider it done. By the way, I think that Santana is intending to hang around for a while, and keep you company. She's a good friend to you both…"

"She is one of the best friends that you can have; backs you up to the hilt. You know, when I first met her, I despised the very fact that she existed. Like any stupid prep school jerk, I called her so many names! The one that I am most ashamed of is Shaqueera…"

"Oh, don't worry Fivel, aka the Criminal Chipmunk, I forgave you for that one long ago. As for Dave, well I have a soft spot for him; I mean, technically, I am his ex…"

Julian had looked startled when Santana's voice had suddenly come, not having heard her creep up behind them, but her last words had just left his mouth hanging open in shock. He digested that news for a moment, then turning to his brother, said, "Criminal Chipmunk?"

"All water under the bridge now, Jules; I am glad however that they all decided to settle on Kurt's choice of Meerkat instead…" Julian looked at his brother, then at Santana, and seeing both of them smiling, he laughed, before turning to head away to the airport…

It was only a minute or so later that the door to Dave's room opened, and Sebastian was invited back in. He pulled Santana in with him, much to her shock, and that of Dave when he saw her. "Family friend," said Sebastian to the medical team as they also stared at her. "We have all known each other since high school, so she is ideal support for both of us."

"Very well," said the head doctor, before he told them all what they already knew. Sebastian took his husband's hand in his own as they were told that such was the damage to Dave's kneecap that it was impossible to facilitate any sort of repair, and the only option was to insert a replacement for both it, and his knee joint. His lower leg could be pinned back together, however; it would heal to a great degree, but it would take time. Physiotherapy and rehabilitation would be the order of the day for quite some time, as the surgery that they would have to undertake would be delicate; in fact, it was highly likely that more than one round of surgery might have to be undertaken.

"Of course," the doctor concluded, "although we will be able to ensure that you can walk unaided again, you will not be able to put the limb under anything like the degree of stress that you did before. As you have probably concluded yourself, I am afraid that your playing career is over, Mr Karofsky-Smythe. The strains of even the shortest of competitive matches would be too great, and even the slightest of knocks sustained could risk further damage, which might well not be repairable on a second occasion. I know that is not what you might want to hear, but I think that you are certainly smart enough to have deduced this for yourself anyway."

Dave nodded, but did not look up, which both Sebastian and Santana knew meant only one thing. "Right, so we will begin surgery first thing tomorrow; we could start tonight, but that would only serve to increase the number of surgeries that we would need to undertake, and that is something that we would all wish to avoid if we possibly can. I would suggest that you have something light to eat now, as you will be nil by mouth from 8pm. I am only sorry that the news could not have been better; you will be a great loss to the team…"

And then it was just the Sebastian in the room with his husband again, Santana following the medics out, muttering something about sorting out some food for Dave. Alone now, Sebastian lifted his husband's head up, and gently brushed away his tears. "I should do the same with yours," said Dave quietly, and Sebastian chuckled a little as he realised that his eyes were also moist.

"We will get through all of this, the two of us; you and I are invincible together. We managed to survive an armed robber, so this will be easy. Anyway, your dad is on his way here…"

"I kind of thought that he would be, the moment that he saw what had happened. At least he wasn't actually there, running onto the field…"

"If I had been in the crowd, I would have done that straight away… I just wish that I could have been here sooner. I think that I knew, somehow. Just before I stepped out onto the stage, I felt awful, like I did when the earthquake hit L.A. I guess that is what the whole soulmate thing is about…"

Dave gave his husband a smile, and said softly, "I love you too, Sebby… That is what is going to get me through all of this, knowing that you will have my back. I mean, this changes everything for both of us…"

"Well, it does, and it doesn't. We will still be madly in love with each other, just like before, and I will make it my mission to get you back on your feet. To that end, I am going to make all of the necessary calls tomorrow, and let everyone know that Waiting for Godot is off for the foreseeable future…"

"No, don't you dare!" exclaimed Dave, interrupting his husband. "My career path may have reached a crossroads, but that is absolutely no reason for your career to be put on the skids as well. I know how much you have wanted to perform the play, and I am not going to be the person that stops you from doing it. In fact, if you so much as hint that you are going to try and cancel it all again, then I will tell the medical team that it would be best to send me to a specialist sports rehabilitation clinic somewhere in the warm southern states. There is an excellent facility run by Matt Rutherford's team, way down in Texas, and I will go there if you do not carry on with the show. That is a promise, not a threat; I will not be the one to destroy your career, nor even just put it on hold."

"I understand that, and I am flattered, but I need to be able to help you through all of this, and I can't do that if I am travelling back and forth to Manhattan every day for rehearsals!"

"Sebby, let's be completely honest here. Most of the rehabilitation process will be lead by a trained physio, and all that you will be able to do is sit and watch from the sidelines as they boss me about. On top of that, I am likely to fail at things, at least at first, and you know how much that bothers me, and I would rather that you weren't sitting there watching me when I do. How about I request that all of my sessions be in the afternoon and evening, and then you and I can still have the mornings together? I am also certain that Mrs Carr will be only too happy to help take care of a third, much older kid, and as for my dad, he is unlikely to be heading back to Ohio very quickly. I am going to be a lot happier through all of this if I see you happy, and doing this play will make you happy…"

Sebastian sighed, but in his heart he knew that everything Dave had just said was true. There would be so much about the future that he would have to leave in the hands of other people, and as such, it would be so very easy for him to carry on as planned… "Okay, this time you win, but I am not going to do matinees when the production starts properly, at least not until you are better. I am sure that Russell will be only too happy to agree to that as well; after all, six shows a week is enough for anyone!"

"Well, I can't argue with that, so we have reached a happy compromise. Right, enough about me, tell me all about your last performance as Dr Frankenstein. How did it go?"

Sebastian was still talking animatedly about the show when they both heard footsteps coming quickly down the corridor, and then the door swung open to admit Paul Karofsky. There had been a bit of both of them that had secretly been fearing this moment, given how he had sounded in the voicemails, but either his flight or a chat in the car with Julian on the way from the airport had left him in a much calmer state of mind. Sebastian stood up and greeted his father-in-law, then excused himself for a moment so that father and son could talk in peace…

As he left, he discretely picked up Dave's cellphone from the shelf of the bedside locker, and as he stepped into the corridor, he unlocked it.

"Spying on your husband's phone, Bazzy? Frankly, I never saw you as that type…" said Julian, catching him in the act.

"Trust me, I am not normally, but something that Paul said to me in his voicemail has me concerned that his mother might have managed to get hold of his number, and sent him a nasty, vile, homophobic text, and that is the last thing that he needs to see right now." He quickly scanned through the list of unread texts, looking for a message from an unrecognised number, but he did not find any. All he could see was a whole list of messages of good will from their friends, Dave's teammates, and even a couple of the sports channels.

That done, he headed to Dave's private Facebook account, and sifted through all the messages that had been left on there for him by his adoring fans. He quickly found what he had feared, and was pleased to see that it had been highlighted, reported and criticised by so many others already. The moment that he read those words he had the urge to fly to Ohio, and strangle his so called mother-in-law. Her words were vile, cheap and nasty; not one ounce of maternal thought had been put into them. He deleted the message after reporting it; he then blocked her from seeing the account, and checked that all of the messages that mentioned it were hidden too. Then he placed a message of his own on the page, again hidden so that Dave would never see it, thanking all of them for their support, but asking that from now on, no-one mentioned the nasty post, as it was the last thing Dave needed at this time…

His task completed, he turned Dave's phone back off, and turned to face his brother again. "You should head home now, Jules. There is nothing else that you can do, and I am sure that your wife will be glad to see you. Thanks again for all that you have done today for both of us; I am so grateful."

"Well, if you are certain that you do not need me, I will head off. I saw Santana as I came in, and she was heading for home too, so it will just be the you and Paul now. Look, if you need anything, anytime, just call me, okay?"

"I will," said Sebastian, then allowed himself to be pulled into a tight hug by his older brother. As Julian walked away, he headed back into his husband's room, to find that he had fallen asleep once more.

"He told me what you had offered to do," said Paul quietly, " and I agree with him. You cannot give up your career to take care of him. I do not need to head back to Ohio right away, the business can take care of itself for a while. You will have another layer of support, so there is no reason for you to wreck your plans. When are you due to go into rehearsals?"

"Not for two weeks, so I will be able to be around full time for a good while."

"Right, so that gives us an opportunity to set up a rota, and get him through the initial surgery. On a different note, I think that we need to get the law involved when it comes to his mother…."

"You can count me in on that one! You were right; I just had to block her on his Facebook page, which is a start, but she needs to be shown that she cannot make the sort of statements that she is right now. For a start, it isn't exactly the behaviour of a so called good Christian woman…"

"Ironically, there are many instances of so called Christians acting in just the way that she did," said Paul with a sigh. "Well, to paraphrase words that she might use herself, it is high time for her to reap what she has sown…"

Sebastian was regarding his father-in-law with curiosity, so he continued, "Her vicious comments about how this accident was what he deserved for being a sinful homosexual man did attract a few supporters, but many, many more reported her hateful words. Those that are in charge of Facebook have to take note of this, and if what I am being told by my contacts is correct, my wife will find herself blocked from Facebook by the end of the day on the grounds of hate speech. Someone else might have reported her to the authorities in Ohio, again citing hate speech, and a friend of mine that works in the sheriff's department in Lima informed me that the police in the town in which she now resides have been in touch, asking for anything that they had on previous issues. It transpires that there were more than a few times that she had been reported, not least by the pastor of her former church. That is, however, another story for another day. It seems likely that on this occasion she will face the full force of the law, given the high profile nature of the incident. The drawback to the whole thing is that it will bring the whole sorry story into the media spotlight, and she will bring up Dave's suicide attempt just for spite, and that is the last thing he needs to see in the media."

"I daresay that the more decent media outlets will not run with such a story, but the more right wing ones will," said Sebastian quietly. "I say that once we are through the surgeries, we see if Dave feels able to tell his side of the story to a sympathetic journalist. He has actually talked about doing it one day before, and if he thinks that his words will help another young man in his own situation, that it will prevent another young man taking his life because of the stupid prejudices of those around him, then so much the better. The only thing that stopped him before were the concerns of some of his bosses at the team, but if it is all going to come out, then it is so much better if we control it."

"Steal her thunder so to speak," replied Paul thoughtfully. "Yes, you are probably right, but the final choice is up to Dave."

"I'll do it," came a drowsy voice, and they both spun round to see that Dave was now awake.

"How much did you hear, son?" asked Paul with concern.

"Enough to know that my mother is acting the way I would have expected about all of this. Sebby, tell them that I want to do an interview, but doing it once everything is sorted will be far too late. Get them in now, whilst I am a mess. It will make her seem all the more spiteful and vindictive."

"Well, I guess," his husband said softly, "but we will discuss this all again tomorrow, as just now you are making the decision when you are tired and angry. It might all seem like a terrible idea in the cold light of day…"

A nurse appeared at just that moment to check Dave's stats, and to suggest in as polite a way as possible that Sebastian and Paul should head home, and let Dave sleep, coming back in the morning. Dave agreed, and before his husband and father had any chance to argue, his eyes had closed again, and his breathing became rhythmic as he fell asleep. It was thus the perfect moment to depart, and having checked that the hospital had all of their details, they headed out to find a cab that would take them back to Maplewood.

When they arrived, Mrs Carr met them in the hallway, both of the children in bed asleep; she insisted on cooking them something, and Sebastian did not protest, as he suddenly realised how hungry and tired he was. He left Paul with her in the kitchen, knowing that he was also giving them a chance to talk in private, and be more intimate than they would have been with him in the room. He checked in on both of his children, and found them fast asleep.

Heading to his own bedroom, he finally got round to reading the wealth of text messages he had received that afternoon. The first was from Flint, who had been watching the game, and it was full of horror and concern, ending with an offer of any help he needed, and his warmest wishes. The next was from Thad, informing him that he had sent out a group text, so that everyone would know what had happened. Then came a string of texts in which his three fellow musketeers offered to drop everything to come and help him in any way, even if it was just to be a babysitter… It was those words that lead to him dialling a number, and speaking to Nick. He needed a little bit of advice over the situation with the former Mrs Karofsky, and Nick had a knowledge of all aspects of the law…

His call made, he changed into more comfortable clothes and headed back downstairs, where Mrs Carr was just serving up the quick meal that she had rustled up. It was no sooner on the plates than she was heading for the door, telling them both she would be back first thing in the morning, and that the guest bedroom was already made up. "She really is a remarkable woman," Paul said after she had left. "When you hired her as a nanny, you got lucky."

"Yes, she certainly is remarkable… Look, I was going to ask this at Christmas, but I decided not to then, and now certainly isn't the best time to bring it up either, but…"

"Yes, Sebastian, we like each other, and yes, I would like to take things to the next level with her," Paul replied with a smile. "She makes me laugh, she loves my family, she is everything I could ever want. She is the polar opposite to my ex-wife. She feels the same way that I do, but neither of us can see how we can make it work when I am in Ohio, and she is here. So for now, we are just friends. Once I retire, if we both still feel the same, then we are going to try."

"Well, you will do so with my blessing," said Sebastian. As he said those words, he still wasn't certain that Dave would see the development in the same way…