It's finally time for the first game! Hope you enjoy :) friendly reminder to comment and vote!!

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To her surprise, Brady showed up at the next session.

Was it the most productive day she had?

God no.

But did she manage to make him do some exercises and stretches?

Finally... finally she did.

Did they end up fighting?

Don't be ridiculous, of course they did.

But overall, Tatum considered it a success. It wasn't hard to tell they both had to bite their tongues a few times, but at least there was improvement. Doctor Evans had even pointed out that she was pleased to see some progress. Tatum felt a surge of relief at the positive reinforcement. It felt worth it.

Tatum couldn't help but be concerned with the state of Brady's knee. It was really in no shape to for a game tonight. They hadn't had enough time to properly work on it. But she wanted to make progress with his trust for her. If she pulled him from the game, Brady would probably never speak to her again. But if she let him play, he could do more damage to his knee. And not to mention, it was the first game of the season. She knew that nothing was stopping Brady from getting on that ice. Tatum really wished they had more time, but the game was tonight whether she liked it or not.

Brady was doing some reps with a resistance band below her on a mat. She managed to convince him to stop by her office prior to the game to warm up a bit. His face was stiff with concentration, his refusal to show pain continuing to win over his need for him. She watched him carefully, noticing the slight twitch as he attempted to move with ease.

"Are you okay to play today?" Tatum checked quietly, crossing her arms as she hovered over him. "We've only had one session where you sort of let me help you."

"I'm fine, all right?" Brady snipped shortly, glancing at her briefly. She held her hands up, a bit taken aback.

"All right, my bad for asking. Not like it's my job." Tatum started back in the direction of where she was setting up the leg press for him to switch to, but he sat up.

He looked disgruntled as he drawled out, "Wait."

Pausing in her step, she turned around. She flicked her eyebrows up, waiting for him to speak. He sighed out, head dropping as he shoved his hand through his hair. "I'm just... I haven't played in a game since last Spring."

"Don't tell me you're nervous, Parker," Tatum quipped in amusement.

Brady scoffed. "You could try and be nice."

"I'm all set," Tatum responded sweetly. In all honesty, she was hoping the jabs would cheer him up. But it didn't seem to help. She huffed out a breath before following with, "Look, you... you're not the worst player ever, Parker. You'll be fine out there."

This time, she got a smile from him. "Is that a compliment I hear, Hartley?"

Her eyes narrowed to slits, throwing a glare his way that didn't hold much weight to it. "As long as you take it easy tonight, you'll be just fine."

"Right, cause hockey players are known for going easy on each other," Brady grumbled out, tugging the resistance band off his leg and tossing it to the side.

Tatum gave him a pointed look. "Do I need to reconsider giving the go-ahead?"

"You wanna be the reason we lose?" Brady challenged as if that question would change everything.

"I literally do not care," Tatum said with earnest, her voice flat.

"That's the spirit," he commented with a snort.

"Just... if it starts hurting during the game, tell me and I can help," Tatum requested. She knew that even though she was saying this, he probably wouldn't do as she asked.

"Yeah, sure," he agreed, nodding once.

Tatum couldn't help but not believe him.

●・○・♥︎・○・●

The score was 1-2.

The Holloway Falcons were losing.

Even worse, they were losing on their home turf.

They were playing well from what Tatum could tell, but the other team was just playing better.

Not to mention, they were targeting Brady heavily. Whenever Brady had the puck, they were going for his leg. It didn't even seem like they knew which one to aim for, either one was fine with them. But he wouldn't be deterred. He fought back against them, shoving them roughly into the boards. Finally, he was able to get the puck to another player who Tatum recognized to be Theo Landry.

She had done some exercises for him before last season. He never talked much during their sessions. Theo was one of the more reserved players on the team. She didn't see him with the team very often outside of practices. But to be fair, she really only saw Isaac outside of all of her work. And since Isaac was Brady's best friend, Theo was not someone to be hanging out with.

Theo and Brady had a long standing feud ever since the two got to Holloway. They were two of the top players in the country. They had both fought hard for the title of captain, but Brady was the one to secure it. And since Brady earned that title far earlier than he should have to begin with, Theo's hatred was solidified for him. The two detested each other off the ice. But for as long as they were playing, all was put behind them. At least long enough to win the game.

Theo snapped the puck back to Brady, bringing Tatum's attention back to the ice. Brady swept the puck in, but fell in the process due to the roughness of the other team. He landed directly on his knee and he immediately bowed his head. The crowd lost it with their cheering. The announcer confirming the goal along with ridiculous voiceovers to rile the spectators up. Tatum jolted at the sight of Brady falling. She leaned forward, trying to get a glimpse at his face to assess the pain. She could barely even hear herself think over the sound of the crowd, though.

The score was 2-2.

No one seemed to notice Brady lean against the railing on the side of the rink, putting his weight into it to give his leg some relief. A tight groan filled the air and Tatum was quick to make her way over to him. She weaved in between players on the bench, eyes staying on him. He didn't seem to notice her at first, too focused on the pain. She planted herself in front of him, crouching slightly to let him know she was there.

"Brady," Tatum barked plainly over the sound of the crowd, knowing she didn't need to say anything else.

"I'm fine," he gritted between his teeth. His eyes were locked ahead and he refused to look at her.

"No, you're not," she corrected fiercely without missing a beat, leaning down a bit to meet his gaze. "Get off the ice, now."

His eyes flashed defiantly. "No."

With that, Brady skated away, but she could still see the grimace even under his mask. She huffed out angrily, muttering, "Idiot."

It was clear that Brady was favoring one of his legs as he skated. She wanted to scream at Coach Mercer to pull him, but she couldn't take her eyes off the ice. One particularly large player was targeting Brady. Specifically his leg. He must have noticed Brady favoring his left leg since the right was injured. Everyone knew about the incident, it wasn't exactly a surprise that they had decided to play dirty.

At first, Tatum thought it would just be a few occasional hits that Brady would have to take. But this player was relentless. It was painfully obvious that he was aiming solely for Brady's leg. Coach Mercer was shouting at the referees that the other team wasn't being fair, but nothing was working. The player just continued to slam into Brady's knee. Slam. And slam. And slam. Tatum winced with every hit, eyes widening as it unraveled.

But Brady would not be deterred. Tatum could see a look of determination flash over his face beneath the mask. He shook the player off roughly, checking them into the side of the rink. He turned sharply on the ice, scanning around to see who was around him. Brady quickly flicked the puck towards Isaac, who accepted it with ease. Brady darted for the net, swiftly weaving around other players. It was like they had some sort of telepathy going on. Their ability to communicate without speaking on the ice was incredible.

Isaac swept the puck towards Brady as he skated towards the net, who quickly shot it in the net just as the buzzer went off. The crowd erupted once more. Tatum winced slightly at the sheer intensity of the cheering. It always surprised her how much everyone cared about the sport. But since they were one of the best college teams in the country, she couldn't be that surprised.

3-2.

The Holloway Falcons won their first game.

But Tatum couldn't give a shit less... because Brady could hardly stand.

Isaac must have noticed, hiking an arm under Brady's and hoisting him up. It could pass as two players celebrating their win together, but Tatum knew better. Isaac glanced around hastily before his gaze found Tatum. He nodded over to the side of the rink, a worried expression on his face. She nodded in understanding, starting to push through people to get to them.

Tatum hustled over to where the two were exiting, but got intercepted by the other team trudging past her. She started to move past them before having a thought pass through her head. Once again, biting her tongue wasn't exactly her forte. Her eyes immediately began to scan the crowd, looking for one player in particular. When her eyes landed on the smug looking player, she stuck her arm out to pause him in his step.

"You're a piece of shit, you know that?" Tatum commented snidely to the player who was targeting Brady.

The guy gave her an infuriating smirk. "No idea what you're talking about."

"Are you not embarrassed that you did all of that and still lost?" she asked in a sardonic tone, her face filled with amusement. "I mean, if you're gonna play dirty, at least win."

"You haven't seen me play dirty yet," the player retorted, eyes darting up and down her figure.

Before she could give a retort harsh enough to reduce him to tears, a voice piped in. "You should know by now that scoring isn't really your thing, Greene."

Brady waltzed over, to Tatum's surprise. He had a loose smile on his face, as if entertained by the idea of dealing with this player. It was a harsh shift from earlier when he could barely speak from the pain. She was pleasantly surprised to see him so at ease. But after a moment, she noticed the slight limp as he walked. Flashing him a concerned look, he gave her glance back that seemed to be a look of acknowledgment. Like he knew he would need help this time.

"You okay there, Parker? Those were some nasty hits you took," the player, Greene, asked in faux concern, eyes gleaming happily.

Brady let out a demeaning chuckle. "I took worse hits in middle school, man. You may wanna hit the weights."

"Right," Greene said easily. "That's why you were favoring your left all game."

"At least I'm able to still play with just one good leg," Brady retorted instantly, gesturing to Greene's legs. "While you can hardly play with two."

"All right, that's enough you two," Coach Mercer interjected, noticing the scene get increasingly heated. "Parker, want you to get that leg looked at."

"I can check him," Tatum offered, lifting a hand. "I'm doing his plan now."

Coach Mercer nodded. "You can use the locker room."

Tatum waited for Brady to move first. He didn't hesitate to start towards the doors. It wasn't completely noticeable, but Tatum could see him leaning more on his left side as he moved. It could be seen just as a hockey player trying to move around while lugging around all of his equipment, but she knew better. This was expected considering he hadn't accepted anybody's help over these last few months.

They headed towards a more secluded area of the locker room where the others weren't. She could hear the excited chatter and occasional cheer from the players in the other room. She was sure she could hear Isaac over the others, which was anything but surprising. But her focus remained on the player in front of her, whose limp was getting more and more apparent with each step he took. They reached the room at the end of the hallway, staggering through the door.

As soon as the door shut behind the two, Brady was down.

He fell against the bench, clutching at his knee. "Fuck, fuck."

"You're an idiot," she scolded as she kneeled down next to him. It only took one glance to notice how swollen his knee was. "You shouldn't have played."

"We won, didn't we?" Brady asked pointedly as he pushed himself up to sit on the bench.

Tatum ignored him, sighing out in frustration. "There's not much I can do besides give you ice right now. But if you actually let me help and do the plan, maybe your knee wouldn't look like it's about to explode whenever you use it."

"Do you ever stop talking?" he quipped shortly.

"Nope," Tatum deadpanned, handing him an ice pack and feeling incredibly helpless.

Brady locked eyes with her, holding the ice pack up loosely with a look of challenging disbelief on his face. "This is all you got?"

"You've got to be kidding!" she cried out, anger flashing through her. "You're actually complaining that that's it? I've told you a million times how I can help!"

"Doing some fucking yoga stretches isn't what's gonna solve anything," Brady shouted in frustration, tossing the ice pack to the ground.

"And how would you know? All you ever do is pout and shout at me like that's what'll make a difference," Tatum retorted as she shot up to her feet.

"And what do you do that's so different?" he retorted from the bench. "All you ever do is scream at me!"

Tatum gave him a challenging look. "Then give me a reason not to."

"You like this with all your patients?" Brady scoffed out.

She opened her mouth to retort, but stopped herself. This was getting them nowhere. Obviously, her tactic of fighting back wasn't getting her anywhere. This wasn't working, and she didn't see that changing. She sucked in a deep breath, trying to calm her mind before she continued speaking. Brady waited for her, eyeing her carefully.

"Look, Brady," Tatum sighed out, sitting next to him on the bench. She hadn't thought it through before sitting, really. But the bench was small for two people. Her leg was pressed against his, and she didn't have any space to move over. She didn't just want to just dart back up, that wouldn't exactly be a kind thing to do. She swallowed and stayed seated, turning her head to face him. His eyes were already on her, waiting for her to continue. "You need help. You're in pain when you don't have to be."

He leaned forward, his forearms resting on his knees with his hands clasped together loosely. His head turned slightly to the side, but he didn't meet her eyes. "I can handle it."

Tatum shifted her body to mirror his in attempt to make eye contact. "But you don't have to, it's... it's okay to say you need help sometimes."

Brady turned to meet her gaze. "And what about you?

She gave him a bemused look. "What about me?"

"Why do you want to fix my leg so badly?" Brady asked her curiously, eyes narrowed slightly in confusion.

Tatum debated it at first. She could tell him that the only reason she felt so strongly about this was because she didn't like to see people in pain. Of course, that was part of it. But she didn't usually beg patients to let her help. She would've given up by now. Opting for honesty, she told him, "Doctor Evans has a connection to a doctor that could help my career. Said she'd help me out if I fixed your knee."

He raised his eyebrows at her honesty. "You mean to tell me this doesn't just come from a place of caring?"

"My mother told me to never lie," Tatum quipped sweetly, giving him a teasing smile.

Brady chuckled out, rubbing his hands together. He paused for a moment, thinking. "Let's make a deal, yeah?"

"Sounds dangerous."

"I let you do the plan, if you loosen up a little," he proposed slowly. A twist shot at her chest. She hadn't expected him to come at her right now, not when it seemed like they were having a genuine conversation. Brady seemed to notice her reaction, and was quick to explain himself. "No, shit. I just mean if I let you fix my knee, you'll let me help you live a little outside of work."

She narrowed her eyes at the proposition. "What do you care if I have a life or not?"

Brady didn't say anything for few seconds. He cleared his throat, saying, "Just think if you lived a bit, these sessions would feel less like a funeral."

She let out a sound that was a bit of a mix of a scoff and a laugh, swatting at his shoulder. "You're an ass."

He didn't bother to deny it. "So, what do you say?"

Tatum considered it. This could be it. The way in that she was looking for to finally get this to work. He was quite literally handing it to her on a silver platter. She would be a fool to not at least try this. And besides... it wouldn't be the worst thing to have some fun.

"You have yourself a deal, Parker."

Tatum had no idea what she just agreed to.

●・○・♥︎・○・●

Tatum and Brady losing it over an ice pack is the most unserious thing they've ever done.