Chapter 132: Mimi XVIII—Shell Shocked
"Are you OK Mimi? Oh God you’re bleeding, please be OK!"
"Oui," Michele said. She could hear Elena screaming she could hear Jonathan screaming, she could hear Jana screaming, and she could hear Patrick screaming. The audience was in a loud murmuring state that sounded like distant ocean waves. Drury was brushing the glass off her and he couldn’t seem to do it fast enough. At least Mitchell seemed calm, not a scratch on him.
"I think it’s off," Drury said.
"Merci," Michele said patting Chris briefly on his cheek, his chubby little cheek. His blue eyes were glistening and worried.
Holding Mitchell tightly to her, she turned around to see the damage and what she saw sliced through her heart. The first thing was the blood everywhere. "Mitchell," she whispered pressing his face to her breast, "Close your eyes, don’t look."
Mitchell wrapped his arms around her neck and obeyed.
"MOMMY!"
Jana was at her waist, sobbing and hicupping, and Michele could see the blood on her little palm that she was holding up for her to see. A jagged shard of glass was sticking out of it. "Mommy!"
"Mon Dieu!" Michele exclaimed and she put her arm over Jana’s shoulders, "We need a medic!" she cried. "Someone please!"
"Mimi come on, over here!"
Michele looked at the partition to the glass and saw Pat Karns reaching out to her. She looked around behind her but saw no medical help coming and where was the boys?
"Take Jana," she said pushing the girl towards him, "Her hand has glass in it."
Pat reached for her and Jana wailed. "I want my Daddy!"
"Go on," Michele said, "Daddy’s over there."
Jana squealed like a puppy when Karns picked her up and handed her to Patrick.
"Shhh little one," Patrick murmured in French to Jana as he hugged her. "You’ll be OK." Holding her close he skated with her to down the ice to the locker rooms. Michele watched him as he left, feeling some weight of her chest. But where were the boys?
"You too," Pat said reaching for Michele, "You’re cut."
Michele shook her head, "The boys? Where are my babies?"
"Jonathan and the other girl they’re in the locker room I don’t know where Freddy is," Pat said, "I’m sure Freddy is OK."
"Non!" Michele snapped and looked back into the crowd. "Freddy! Where are you! Freddy!" Now her heart was beginning to beat fast, the first featherings of panic were inside her. "Frederick!" All she could think of were his soft eyes, his messy hair...
"Mimi," Michele looked back. It was Joe. His face tight and pale. "Give him to me."
"Daddy!" Mitchell exclaimed as Michele leaned forward and slid him into Joe’s arms.
"He isn’t hurt," Michele said quickly. She couldn’t bring herself to look into his eyes and see accusation or anger. She couldn’t take it from Joe. "I made sure he was under me."
"I know," Joe said curtly. Mitchell buried his face in Joe’s neck as he skated away with him. What a disaster! Was all Michele could think. How could something like this have happened? What could have caused this?
"Frederick!" Michele yelled now that she was free.
She couldn’t see him but then she heard it. "Mommy! I’m OK!"
"I can’t see you bebe!" Michele cried feeling the tears in her eyes. If she couldn’t see him then it wasn’t real, it was only a dream....
"Mimi," it was Pat again.
Michele rolled her eyes. "Leave me alone!"
"I got her," she heard Drury’s voice and she felt his arm around her waist. "Come on Meems, I’ll get Freddy."
"Oof!" Michele gasped as Drury lifted her easily and handed her to Karns as if she were a sack of kittens. She held onto Pat’s shoulders and looked over him to see Patrick appearing from the locker rooms, his eyes sparkling with emotion. He met glances with her.
"Michele!" he barked. "You’re hurt!"
"Put me down Pat," she whispered.
"But Mimi..."
"I’ll kick you I swear!" she snapped not in the mood to be impeded at this point by ANYONE!
Pat put her down and kept his arm around her. "It’s real slippery."
Michele decided not to reply to that. She could see a throng of Red Wings to her right clustered around a prone body and medics with a stretcher. It was hard to see who it was, and she squinted. Chris Chelios was pressing a wad of crimson gauze to his wrist and Michele looked quickly away from him when he noticed her.
"Hey!" he barked his skates scraping loudly as he skated to her. "Look what your brat did! He fucking killed Maltby!"
"Piss off," Michele snapped. Oh Jonathan what have you done? She thought as she noticed the puddles of blood being tracked all over the ice. What could you have done?
"Chris," Yzerman said putting his hand on his shoulder. "Drop it right now, we don’t need anymore of this."
Michele closed her eyes this was too much. It had to be a nightmare; she was feeling nauseated, damp, scared, and weak. The world was beginning to rush and whirl through her ears and the pain in her scalp was becoming a throbbing intense high. "Pat," she whispered.
"Yup," Karns said and she felt the air rush over her face as he lifted her off her feet again and she was handed to someone else. She could feel the sweat of a jersey drenching through her clothes immediately and she could smell the sharp pungency of hockey equipment. She couldn’t open her eyes.
"Where’s Freddy?" she whispered.
"Dru is handing him to Footer, my love," Patrick answered. "What did Chris say to you? I saw him just now."
"Nothing important," Michele replied. "He’s just angry."
When they got to the locker room, Patrick lowered her to the ground and she could hear Jana still crying. "Owie that STINGS! I want DADDY!"
The assistant trainer had Jana’s little hand in his own and he had just injected it with painkiller and was cleaning the cut out. Jonathan had his arms around Jana and her face was buried in his chest. Elena was on the other side of her, running her fingers through her blond hair and braiding it.
"I have to be back on the ice," Patrick whispered in Michele’s ear. "Forgive me."
"Go, is OK." Michele replied.
Elena saw them first and she said loudly in a doting voice. "Look Jana, your mommy’s here! See it’s alright."
Jana peeked her head from Jonathan, pink faced and trembling. "MOMMY!"
"Oooh," Michele sighed, her breast hurting for everyone and she ran to Jana kissing her. "They’re fixing you baby, don’t cry. It won’t take long."
"Mimi," Karns said from behind her, "Let me look at that cut."
Jonathan scooted over and Michele sat in-between him and Jana, patting Jonathan on the thigh as he leaned on her shoulder. "Elena, Jonathan are you hurt?" she asked as Karns tilted her face up to him and began dabbing at the wound on the fringe of her scalp.
She could see that both of the children had blood smudged on them.
"No," Elena said, "I got a couple scratches is all, Mrs. Roy I’m soooooo sorry that Jana got cut I had her under me but then somehow she got away and..."
"Is alright," Michele said as soothingly as she could, "It could have been much worse yes?"
Karns released her as he began digging for gauze and other necessities and Michele looked at Jonathan, kissing him too. "And you? What has happened with you?"
"I’m not cut," Jonathan said numbly. "But I think I killed Maltby... I didn’t mean to! Mom I’m a murderer!"
"I don’t want Jonathan to go to jail!" Jana cried. "I love him!"
"Shh, no one is going to jail," Michele sighed. "Jonathan what happened?"
Jonathan’s eyes filled with tears and he opened his mouth to say something when there was a loud pulse of applause from the crowd. Someone yelled into the locker room, "Maltby’s up! He’s standing! They’re walking him off the ice!"
Jonathan sighed and buried his face into Michele’s shoulder; she almost wanted to cry too. She saw Freddy run into the room, a Pepsi Center plastic bag in his hand. "Jonathan!" he exclaimed. "I saved the jersey!"
Jonathan lifted his face off Michele’s shoulder and she felt the tears drop from her eyes when he hopped off the bench and grabbed Freddy in a huge hug. "You’re the best," he murmured.
"There you go," Karns said standing back. "Just a butterfly bandage and you’re almost good as new."
"Merci," Michele replied. She wanted to close her eyes, fall asleep, and forget all of today. "Where’s Mitchell?"
"He’s with me," Michele heard Debbie’s voice and her heart stopped. She saw Debbie walking in with Mitchell clinging to her like a koala baby.
"Debbie!" she gasped. "Mon Dieu I am so sorry, please forgive me I didn’t think that this would..."
"Nooo!" Debbie said in a gasp as she put Mitchell down and squeezed her in a hug and kiss. "How are you? Mitchell is just fine."
Michele closed her eyes and then she heard Joe’s voice. "Is everyone OK?" he asked. Michele opened her eyes to see Joe waddling into the room on his skates.
"Yes we are fine, Jana has the worst of it it seems." she replied.
"I’m fine Daddy!" Mitchell exclaimed in a bright voice as he hugged him around the legs.
"Oh yeah?" Joe said with a grin. "Honest?"
"Mmmmhmm," Mitchell said and as he spoke he waved his chubby little hand in the air in an arc, "Because Mimi protected me with her scented bosom!"
Michele coughed, she could hear some laughs, and when she looked at Debbie she saw some worried amusement there.
"Oh she did, did she?" Debbie said thinly.
Michele smiled nervously. "Mitchell honey, where did you learn that phrase?"
Mitchell was still smiling and he said. "I heard Pascal say it before. He said you ‘have a scented bosom!’"
Michele dropped her face into her hands. Why did she even ask?!
Links to other sites on the Web