NHL Imagines

Hospitalized (Mat Barzal x Reader)

Mat was in a game when it happened. He had no idea anything was wrong until after the game and he could check his phone for the first time.

(Y/N) one missed call.

Mat knew something was wrong as soon as he read it. You never called during a game. You knew he couldn't check his phone. If you had anything to say, you would just text him something like "call me after the game." But there was no text, just a missed call.

Mat swallowed and called you back. But you didn't answer. Another woman answered. "Hello?"

"Who is this?" Mat asked immediately.

"This is nurse Olivia." The woman answered.

"Um, okay, nurse Olivia, why do you have my girlfriend's phone?" Mat asked, his stomach twisting into knots.

"You were listed as Ms. (L/N)'s emergency contact on her phone, so we called you." She said.

"I don't understand...?" Mat trailed off.

"I work at Metro-General hospital. (Y/N) has been rushed into emergency surgery." Olivia explained.

Mat was glad he was already sitting down because if he had been standing, he would have fallen. "What?" He asked softly, his voice failing.

"I'd be happy to provide you with more information once you arrive." Oliva said and Mat nodded before remembering that she couldn't see him.

"Right, of course. I'll be right there."

"We'll be waiting."

Mat hung up the phone and just sat there for a moment trying to process everything.

"Are you okay?" Tito asked, coming to sit next to his friend.

Mat shook his head. "(Y/N) is in emergency surgery."

Tito's eyes immediately went wide. "What?"

Mat nodded.

"What happened?"

Mat shrugged. "I don't know. But I have get to get to Met-Gen." He said before standing.

Tito stood up too and put his hand on his friend's chest. "Woah, buddy. Let me drive."

Mat just nodded.

--

What had happened was your stomach had been bothering you all day, but you still went to work. But, the pain had steadily gotten worse all day. You were trying to work through it when it suddenly felt as if you were going to throw up. You pushed yourself up to go to the bathroom, but you didn't make it.

And it wasn't vomit. It was blood.

You don't remember much after that. You were throwing up a lot of blood. It hurt. You couldn't breathe. Your coworkers called 9-1-1. You were brought to the ER and they couldn't stop the bleeding so they had to bring you up to emergency surgery.

That's when Mat got the call.

--

Mat was sitting beside your bed when you woke up. He had been there since the doctor said he could see you since you were out of post-op. Mat held you hand and waited for you to wake up.

And since then, Mat had been extremely protective of you. You couldn't do anything without Mat trying to help, and you couldn't go anywhere without Mat going with you.

Mat had asked the doctor a bunch of question, then he asked them again, just to make sure.

When you were able to go home, no one was allowed to touch you but him. He didn't want people over either because you were still healing and he didn't want them to strain you. Tito wasn't even allowed to come over.

Mat would make you tea and soup and you had to stay in bed or on the couch. He didn't want you to exhaust yourself or tear something internally.

In the beginning Mat took you to practice so he could keep an eye on you. Which was fun at first because you got to see and talk to the guys, watch them goof around. But, slowly the other players would stop coming to talk to you because Mat asked them to.

You knew Mat meant well and you really did appreciate it, but it was getting annoying.

You just couldn't wait to get better. When you did, Mat slowly went back to normal. He was still more protective than he was before the incident happened, but you were okay with it. You liked that he cared enough to be protective.