Pain of a Crush ~Cale Makar 4+1
Summary: The 4 times physical therapy brought you together, and the one time away from it. After Cale hurts his wrist, the last thing he expected was to run into an injured figure skater at physical therapy, then keep showing up when he didn't have to anymore just to see her.
Warnings: None
Author's note*: I have now ruptured both my Achille's tendons. I have been through intense physical therapy for it, and have not been able to jump on the ice since my first surgery. What the reader goes through is from my own experience with the injury.
Enjoy!
Master List
Cale hated it there. He knew he had to go, but that still didn’t mean he had to like it. After taking a particularly bad slash to his right wrist, Cale ended up in physical therapy while he worked his way back to playing condition. His injured wrist already had him out for three weeks, and he was just looking to get stronger and get back to his team. The physical therapy office he went to was one that all the athletes in Denver frequented at one point or another in their careers. Mostly everyone kept to themselves; working out their injuries to get back to their team. He did not know what to make of this one girl though who seemed to sweep in and catch his eye…or hand when he accidently tripped her because of her crutches.
1.
You looked up at the building, having just been dropped off by your uber. This injury just came with pleasant inconveniences, like not being able to drive yourself anywhere. That was what physical therapy is for though, as you were constantly reminded by your mom every time you text her upset about your current situation. Physical therapy was so much more than that though; it’s a way for you to get back on the ice. You felt like such an idiot when it all happened at first. You were an Olympic figure skater, how could you forget to jump out of an off ice training jump, snapping your Achilles tendon completely in half? You had done the move about a thousand times, why now?
It’s not like you were missing competitions at least, having retired from the circuit two years prior with an Olympic medal. Unfortunately now though, you were touring with Stars on Ice when it happened, and had to have surgery. Returning to your hometown of Denver, Colorado wasn’t what you had in mind when you were asked to tour around the country with all your friends. Here you were though, ready to start your recovery process so you could get back on the ice. “Ah, Miss Y/L/N! Welcome. I’m Gerald Jones and I will be handling your P.T. How are you doing today?” an elderly yet very physically fit man approached you with a caring smile.
“I’m good, thanks. How are you?” you asked, letting go of your crutch to shake his hand.
“Great, thanks for asking. Let's get you over to the exam room so I can see what we’re working with and get you started on a regiment. Right this way,” he motioned for you to follow as he held open another set of doors for you. Stepping further inside the building, you noticed the gym set up, with crazy work out machines you would never know how to use. There was a side that also seemed a little tamer, with what looked like leg exercise machines and equipment; you figured you would be there mostly. There were also a few other professional athletes milling about, some with trainers, others doing their own exercises. Gerald noticed you taking in your surroundings. “We like to keep spaces open for our past clients, in case they feel like something is wrong or need an adjustment to a workout. Which is something you will also have access to once we feel you have completed your therapy.” he said.
“That’s awesome. It’s hard to come back from some injuries,” you said softly, knowing yours was one of those. Your surgeon had told you it was possible that you would never skate again, and you were determined to prove him wrong. Gerald led you into a side room and asked for you to take off your walking boot…that you haven’t actually been able to walk in yet. He examined your ankle and made you feel positive about your recovery time.
“Your surgeon did a great job. We’ll have you walking and running in no time!”
“What about skating?” you asked, and he gave you a kind smile.
“We’re going to do our best to get you back out there,” he said, and you nodded, knowing he couldn’t promise you a full recovery. “Alright Y/N, ready to begin?” this time you smiled, looking forward to ditching the crutches and having two feet on the ground. As you crutched your way toward a more open area of floor, you were busy intently listening to Gerald explain what you would be working on when your right crutch seemed to snag on something and throw you off balance. You automatically reached out with your arm, grabbing the nearest object to you as Gerald turned around to try to balance you. You hadn’t put any real pressure on your ankle yet, and you didn’t want to set it down with all your momentum going forward. Another hand grasped your forearm while an arm caught around your waist.
“I am so sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” a voice spoke up next to you as Gerald gathered your fallen crutch. Looking toward the voice, you were met with an awkward smile and bright red cheeks.
“Nice reflexes Makar. That wrist feeling better?” Gerald asked as he handed you back your crutch. The guy who had caught you helped you straighten back up.
“It is, ya,” he responded, rolling the wrist you had just been holding on to.
“Oh my God. Did I hurt you?!” you rushed out, now concerned that your near death moment caused him pain.
“I tripped you and you’re the one on crutches, and you’re asking if I’m okay?” he chuckled, and his question made you blush. You shrugged. “I’m fine. I hope you’re okay.” You nodded. Gerald cleared his throat softly, and you could have died of embarrassment, realizing you’ve been staring at this beautiful stranger.
“Y/N Y/L/N, this is Cale Makar. He’s actually a hockey player on the Avs,” Gerald introduced you. Of course you knew who he was now. You may have been traveling for skating, but you didn’t live under a rock. “Cale, Y/N is a figure skater.”
“You competed in the Olympics right?” Cale asked, smiling at you.
“Guilty,” you said in a small voice.
“That’s awesome! Well you’re in good hands with Mr. Jones, he knows what he’s doing,” Cale said, then lowered his voice dramatically. “Just don’t tell him that cause it’ll go to his head.” You giggled.
“Okay kid, get back to work. Let’s get you walking Y/N.” Both you and Cale smiled at each other, and you may have slightly admired how his cheeks were a bit rosy.
2.
The following week you were back at physical therapy, slowly walking on a treadmill. Gerald was adjusting your foot every other second, as you kept wanting to step on the outside of your foot instead of laying your foot flat when you stepped. “Y/N, you really need to stop shifting the way you're stepping. You’re too young to not correct this,” he said kindly, though you knew from the poke he gave your ankle that he was really trying not to sound aggravated.
“It just hurts still. It’s not comfortable,” you tried to explain, still keeping a lot of tension in your upper body as you tried to hold a majority of your wait up on the arms of the treadmill.
“I know it does, but you need to learn again. Trust that I wouldn’t have you doing this if your tendon couldn’t take it,” he said sympathetically.
“I do trust you,” you said with a sigh as he corrected your foot placement yet again.
“Good. Now show me you know how to walk,” he said, standing up in front of your machine and looking over your shoulder. You rolled your eyes slightly, though you were trying to keep your foot in the correct position. Glancing at Gerald, you saw him smirk for a moment, then he looked at you with a smile too big for you to trust.
“Should I be scared?” you asked, earning a chuckle from the elder man.
“No. I do need to help someone for a moment though. I’m going to send someone over here to keep you in line,” he winked, then was off. ‘Ok, weird,’ you thought, but kept on trying to walk correctly.
“Doesn’t that hurt worse?” a deep voice came from behind you, and you almost twisted your good ankle to see if it was who you thought it was. Cale was watching your foot, though he smiled shyly up at you when he noticed you turned.
“Everything kinda hurts right now,” you spoke softly, feeling your cheeks heat up. “Shouldn’t you be focused on your own recovery?”
“Gerald asked me to come over here and make sure you weren’t cheating,” he smiled at you, sitting in front of you while he did his own exercises for his wrist. Gerald had gone over to Cale, telling him to go talk to you. When Cale asked why, Gerald had just winked and said you needed some motivation to walk correctly again.
“I’m not cheating. This just sucks,” you pointed to your foot that was back to rolling on the side.
“That seems highly uncomfortable,” he chuckled, though stopped when you grimaced while trying to fix it.
“You have no clue,” you smiled at him, though he could see the exhaustion and wear on you from therapy. “How’s your wrist?”
“Better everyday. I got the okay to practice with the team next week,” he smiled.
“That’s great, congrats!” you said, though a little sad that might mean you wouldn’t see him around anymore. Cale nodded, then asked the question that left a pit in your stomach the moment you injured yourself.
“When do you get to return to skating?” he asked, sincerely curious. Your face fell for a second as you stumbled on the treadmill, your ankle not fully cooperating. Cale looked at you with concern in his eyes, his question almost being answered by the action.
“They don’t know if I’ll be able to,” you said, your voice barely above a whisper. “At least not jump again.” you added, trying to hold back the tears. When the doctors told you that you may never skate again, you balled but then became oddly defiant. Who were they to say what you could or couldn’t do. But as time passed, and you couldn’t even keep your foot flat on the ground when you walked, the more you kept dreading that they were right. Cale could see your eyes become watery, and he felt horrible for being the one who asked the question.
“I’m sorry I asked…” he started apologizing, but you cut him off with a shake of your head.
“No, no, it wasn’t you. I’m just a little emotional over it. I’m sorry, you were asking an honest question,” you tried to smile at him and Cale sent you a small smile back.
“Well, we can’t have that,” Cale sighed dramatically, causing you to giggle. “You walk normal and…” he trailed off as he looked around, spotting a coffee cup by your water. “And I’ll bring you a cup of coffee next week,” he beamed at you.
“That’s not necessary,” you couldn’t help the smile on your face.
“I almost made you cry, I think it is,” he chuckled and you laughed with him. Over the next ten minutes as the two of you continued to talk, you were slowly able to get your foot flat on the ground.
“Looking great Y/L/N! Why don’t you go over to the table and we’ll finish out your stretches before you go,” Gerald said as he walked back over and stopped the treadmill. You nodded.
“Thanks for the motivation Cale,” you smiled and waved as you walked off.
“One coffee coming up,” he replied as Gerald eyed him comically.
“You’re done after today son,” the older man said with a raised eyebrow, causing Cale’s cheeks to flush.
“Um ya…I, um, I thought you said I could still come though,” he struggled, rubbing the back of his neck.
“She’ll be back on Monday at 10am,” Gerald said with a wink and starting to make his way to you. “I would also like a coffee” he yelled over his shoulder.
3.
Cale had just finished up practice Monday, more than thankful to be back on the ice with the team. Checking his phone, he saw it was 9am and quickly showered and changed so he could go get the coffee he owed you…and Gerald. As he called out his goodbyes to the men left in the locker room, JT got his attention. “Lunch?” the ginger asked, and Cale shook his head.
“I have to get to PT,” he said, not thinking.
“I thought you were done with that?” Gabe asked. Cale opened his mouth to answer, but no words came out, his flushed cheeks growing a bit more red.
“Ya, I did but…”
“But there’s a different reason you’re going, isn’t there?” The captain pried as Cale awkwardly waved off his comment and tried to bolt for the door.
“Aw, young love at the physical therapist’s office,” he heard EJ shout as the door closed behind him.
Cale picked up three coffees and made his way to the PT office. He arrived a little after 10, immediately spotting you and Gerald. You were back on the treadmill with Gerald having to tap your foot every so often so it would be flat again, but this time you were walking without hanging on to the sides of the treadmill. “No crutches today?” Cale asked as he approached. You turned to smile at him, stumbling a bit in the process but Gerald held out his arm for you to lean on.
“She’s getting there,” Gerald answered with a chuckle, taking his coffee from Cale. He stopped your machine and helped you off and over to a seat for a quick break.
“As promised,” Cale smiled at you.
“Thank you,” you whispered, taking a small sip.
“Okay Y/L/N, I think it’s time,” Gerald spoke up as he wrapped your ankle in a supportive brace and put your shoe back on.
“Time for what?” you asked, furrowing your eyebrows.
“No more treadmill. You’re going to walk around the track without your crutches,” he said, patting your foot as if to say ‘off you go.’
“Really? By myself?” you asked, excited though slightly nervous. Gerald smiled and motioned to Cale.
“I’m sure Makar wouldn’t mind keeping you company. Just take your time and walk slowly. When it starts to hurt, sit for a second. I think we’ll start with 4 laps today since you’ve been doing about a mile on the treadmill anyways,” the older man said, and Cale stood to help you up. He set his coffee down and took yours, then held out his hands for you with an encouraging smile. You gently place your hands in his and let him pull you up, steading yourself in his grip. “Remember your foot placement. Slow and steady,” Gerald said and you nodded. Walking on the treadmill was one thing, but now being without your crutches off of it felt weird. You took a few steps, smiling to yourself at your progress and turned to Cale.
“Can we take the coffee?” you whispered and he chuckled, grabbing both your coffees and slowly walking by your side.
“How is it? Without your crutches,” Cale asked as you got to the indoor track.
“I feel like I’m missing something,” you giggled, taking a sip of your coffee and trying not to concentrate on the burn in your calf from the tendon.
“Well, you seem to be doing great,” Cale smiled at you. You could feel yourself flush a bit under his gaze.
“Don’t you have your own workouts to do?” you asked, and it was Cale’s turn to flush.
“I can do them later,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“I don’t want to keep you from them though,” you said with a slight frown.
“You aren’t!” Cale said a little too quickly and you raised an eyebrow at him. “I did it mostly this morning at the rink,” he tried to cover.
“And you still came here?” you questioned.
“I owed you coffee,” you shyly smiled, Cale hoping it would come out more as a joke and you would stop asking before he had to admit he was only there to see you.
“We could have gotten coffee after,” you said softly, diverting your gaze from him as you came up on your second lap around the track.
“Yeah?” Cale didn’t really know what else to say. Were you saying you would want to see him outside of physical therapy?
“Yeah,” you nodded, taking a sip to hide your blush while Cale couldn’t stop beaming.
4.
Two weeks later, you were on your last day of PT! You were walking, jogging, and jumping on your leg again. The tendon felt strong and both your doctor and Gerald agreed you were done with therapy. You were so excited that the second you noticed Cale had come in, you ran and jumped on him. “We’re feeling better, eh?” he laughed as he easily caught you in a hug.
“I’m done!” you squealed as he set you back down. Though you had mentioned to Cale about seeing him outside of PT, nothing ever came of it. He still showed up at some point during every one of your sessions though, so you weren’t sure where you stood.
“That’s awesome! Congrats Y/N!” he said, though now wondering when he would get to see you again.
“And guess what!” you said with such excitement that he couldn’t help but laugh at you. He hummed for you to continue. “I get to skate again!”
“That’s great,” Cale pulled you into another hug, as he knew that had been something you had been worried about.
“Well kind of,” you said, your smile falling. Cale looked at you in concern. “They said I can’t jump anymore. It’s too much strain on the tendon and it could potentially snap again.” you explained, trying to hold back the tears you could feel forming. If you couldn’t jump anymore, there was no more touring. Was it even worth getting back on the ice at this point?
“It’ll be alright,” Cale said, though a tear finally escaped your eyes. He wiped it away with his thumb. “I know it isn’t the exact outcome you wanted, but you’ve been working so hard and at least you can get on the ice again,” he tried to soothe you, and you nodded, pulling yourself back together.
“I still have to finish today out. Want to jog with me?” you dried your other eye and motioned toward the track.
“Of course.” Without thinking, Cale grabbed hold of your hand and led you to the track. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see Gerald smirking, though you chose to ignore him. You jogged with Cale around the track a few times, him telling you about practice earlier that day. When you were done and doing your cool down stretches, Gerald came over and said his goodbyes to both of you, since he figured with you gone he wouldn’t be seeing Cale anymore either.
“You two be good! Know you can always come back if something feels off okay,” he smiled kindly, and you hugged the older gentleman.
“Thank you for everything,” you said. Cale shook his hand and the two of you walked out together. You both stopped outside the building, knowing this was where you had to part ways. Standing around awkwardly, you spoke up first. “Um, I guess I’ll see you…”
“Can I get your number?” Cale asked in a rush, cheeks flushing. You giggled and nodded your head, putting your number into his phone.
“Don’t wait forever to text me,” you said, lightly biting your lip.
“Not a chance,” Cale grinned, planting a kiss on your cheek as you both said goodbye. Cale kept his word, not even an hour later he was texting you, and two hours later you had dinner plans for the following evening.
+1
“I don’t know about this Cale. I’m kind of nervous,” you said, getting out of the car and looking at the large building in front of you.
“No one is here Y/N, it’ll be fine. And I’ll be right next to you,” Cale said, grabbing both your skate bags and walking around to you. You and Cale had been dating for a month now, and you just told him yesterday that you wanted to get back on the ice. You knew your balance would need some work, and were a little bummed you couldn’t jump, but getting back out there would be the best thing for you after dealing with your injury. When you told Cale, he immediately got with the rink manager at the practice rink so it could be just the two of you while you got comfortable on the ice again.
After lacing up your skates, you walked to the opening with Cale, him stepping onto the ice first. He turned and held out his hand for you and you gently took it. You stepped out with your good ankle first, smiling at the feeling of the ice beneath you again. When your speed started to slow, you glanced up at Cale. “I got you,” he nodded. You gently placed your foot down and pushed off, laughing when your ankle automatically turned in and curved your projection.
“I swear, if I have to learn how to skate again I am going to hurt someone,” you let go of Cale’s hand and kept gliding.
“I don’t think that’s necessary sweetheart,” Cale chuckled, making sure he was within reach of you.
“I can do this, I don’t know what the doctors were oh crap!” you stumbled, Cale catching you by the waist.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” he kissed your cheek and you leaned back into him.
“I really can’t jump anymore can I?” you asked softly, staring down at your skates.
“Maybe in time. But let’s just focus on you balancing today. One worry at a time,” Cale soothed you, and you smiled up at him. Steading yourself on his arms that were around you, you turned so you could face him.
“Though I hate that this happened, I’m glad I met you in the process,” you whispered, Cale smiling down at you.
“Me too,” he whispered back, lowering his head to give you a gentle kiss that still made all the butterflies in your stomach erupt.
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