The Ice Queen and Her Three Captains.

Awake

Cole POV

My eyes suddenly opened, slowly. I was trying to figure out where I was. Everything felt heavy in my limbs, my eyelids, and even the air around me seemed to press down harder than it should.

"Megan," the name slid from my mouth before I even realized I'd said it.

"No, Cole, it's me, Victoria. You were knocked out last night."

A sharp pain crossed my forehead, and I quickly brought my hand up to support it, only to feel the pull of the IV taped to the back of my hand. I blinked against the harsh white light of the room, slowly making out the shapes around me, the steady beep of a monitor somewhere to my right, the stiff hospital sheets, the faint smell of antiseptic.

After hearing what Victoria said, my mind quickly moved back to the night before. The ice. The hit. And right before everything went black, Megan. I'd been looking right at her.

"Victoria," I called, my voice rough, like I hadn't used it in days. She held my hand tightly, both of hers wrapped around mine, her thumb brushing over my knuckles.

"I was so worried, Cole. When I watched what happened on TV, I had to rush over. Seeing you hurt like that... I realized you mean a lot to me, and that's why I'm here, baby. Don't worry, you'll be fine. I'll take care of you."

I squeezed her hand back, mostly out of reflex. "Thank you. I'm happy seeing... I'm happy you're the first person I saw when I woke up."

That wasn't entirely true. The first name that had come out of my mouth wasn't hers, and we both knew it, even if neither of us said it out loud. But at least I had someone here.

Victoria leaned in closer, brushing a strand of hair off my forehead. "Cole, I love you," she said.

I opened my mouth, and the words came out before I could stop them. "I love you too."

Victoria's face lit up, and she pressed a kiss to my forehead, careful to avoid the bandage. "The doctor said you have a mild concussion. They want to keep you overnight, maybe longer if the headaches don't ease up."

I nodded slowly, the motion sending a fresh wave of pain through my skull.

A soft knock came at the door, and a nurse stepped in, holding a tablet. "Sorry to interrupt, just need to check vitals." She moved efficiently around the bed, glancing at the monitor, then at me. "How's the pain on a scale of one to ten?"

"Maybe a five," I admitted.

"We'll get you something for that." She made a note, then hesitated, glancing toward the small TV mounted in the corner of the room. "Do you want this on? Might help pass the time. Though... fair warning, you're sort of the main story right now."

Victoria reached for the remote before I could answer. "Let's see what they're saying."

The screen flickered to life, already mid-segment. A sports anchor sat behind a desk, the Star Television logo in the corner, with a smaller box beside her showing looping footage of me, going down on the ice, the slow-motion replay capturing the exact moment of impact from three different angles.

"Remains hospitalized this morning after a brutal collision during last night's highly anticipated matchup. Sources close to the team say Winter is conscious and stable, though the extent of his injury hasn't been officially confirmed."

The anchor turned slightly toward her co-host. "This comes at a particularly tense moment for Winter, who was involved in an on-ice altercation with Theo Fisher earlier in the game, an altercation many are calling the most heated of the season."

"Absolutely," the co-host said, leaning forward. "And let's not forget, just two nights ago, Winter and girlfriend Victoria Monday appeared together on the Stella Show, announcing they're officially a couple. Quite a whirlwind few days for him."

Victoria's grip on my hand tightened slightly at the mention of her name, and I caught the faintest shift in her expression, something flickering across her face too quickly for me to name, before she smoothed it back into concern.

The segment cut to a clip of fan reaction outside the stadium, people holding up phones, a few visibly emotional. Then it cut again, this time to footage from the VIP section, a quick pan across worried faces in the crowd. And there she was.

Just for a second, Megan, standing, both hands pressed to her mouth, Kim beside her, gripping her arm, waited. Did they know each other? The camera moved on before I could process it fully, back to the anchor desk, but I felt my chest tighten in a way that had nothing to do with the concussion.

"Turn it off," I said quietly.

Victoria looked at me, surprised. "Are you sure? I thought you'd want to see"

"I just... my head's pounding. Can we turn it off?"

"Of course, baby." She clicked the remote, and the screen went black. She set it down and turned back to me, brushing my hair back again. "You should rest. I'll be right here."

I closed my eyes, but the image stayed burned behind my eyelids: Megan's face, the panic in it, her hands pressed to her mouth like she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

She'd been worried. Really worried, not just startled-stranger-in-a-crowd worried.

That shouldn't have meant anything to me. Not with Victoria sitting right here, holding my hand, having just told me she loved me, having just heard me say it back. But it did. It meant everything.

The nurse came back once more before leaving for the night, dimming the lights and reminding Victoria that visiting hours technically ended at nine, though nobody seemed in a hurry to enforce it. Victoria didn't move from her chair, didn't even glance at the clock, just kept holding my hand, occasionally checking her phone, occasionally glancing back at me like she was making sure I was still breathing.

I let her stay. It was easier than asking her to leave, easier than being alone with my own thoughts in a room this quiet. Somewhere outside the window, the city kept moving, lights and traffic and people who had no idea any of this had happened, and for a while I just listened to the hum of it, until sleep pulled me under again.