Date sent: Sun, 22 Feb 1998 14:55:25 -0500 From: Calypso Body check Calypso PG-13 S None Pre-X-Files Dana's brothers and their friends play a game of ice hockey. Although they say it's no sport for girls, Dana wants to join in, but - will they let her? This one is, like actually *all* my other childhood stories, mean towards Dana. But I really can't stand the Fox-was-beaten-by-his-mean-dad-and-Dana-was-loved- by-her-kind-dad stories. That's why I'm writing ones like this. So, if you think that it is true that Fox' parents where the worst all over the earth, or he had no friends and stuff, don't read further. You might be upset by the way Dana is treated here, though her parents aren't bad in this piece. For all the ones that are still with me - enjoy it! Please write me your comments and any other feedback at: linuschulz@sprintmail.com Flames, however, will be used to burn my Geometry grades! Disclaimers: I think you know them already: These characters in there belong to CC, 10-13 and Fox Broadcasting. They are not mine and I make no money with them. The other guys, however, belong to me, that means all the ones you don't know. Rating: I think I put some cursing in it, but otherwise, it's not violent. Kind of PG-13 Category: S Spoilers: Main Spoiler are the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano. And the ice hockey games there. Keywords: PRE-X-Files Summary: Dana's brothers and their friends play a game of ice hockey. Although they say it's no sport for girls, Dana wants to join in, but - will they let her? I wrote this in five hours. I wrote all the time, so I think it might be boring at some points. Don't sue me for the medical things, I really have no clue about english medical words! This piece is dedicated to all my ice skating friends in icy Germany. Without them, this never would have been written, cause I never would have known how to ice skate and play ice hockey. It's also dedicated to all the German medal winners Body check (c) 1998 by Calypso 1:32 pm 2 - 8 - 1969 A small town near Portland, Oregon She sat on the tree stump and watched them. She couldn't hurry enough to tie her skates. She couldn't do it by herself, so her brother Billy was tieing them for her. "Bill! Hurry up! I wanna play!" Her brother sighed and tightened her skates with his frozen fingers. "Jeez, Day! I can't tie em that fast with frozen fingers!" But nevertheless Dana couldn't sit still. Why had she taken the boy's hockey skates, anyway? Why couldn't she take the normal girl's ones, which you don't need to tie. Melissa had them, and she could skate really good with them. So, why did Dana need boy's ice hockey skates? Billy sighed again and finished tieing his sisters shoes. Melissa, who was already finished and had started skating long ago, stopped sharp in front of Dana, and splashed ice all over her little sister. "Thanks Melissa!" Billy said, "I just got her all tied up and half way still warm. You know what mom said. She shouldn't be here anyway, or she'll get a pneumonia, and so don't splash ice on her!" He was angry. Not only with Melissa, but with Dana, because he had to look after her. He was the oldest of the kids, eleven, and so he had to look after his sisters and brothers. Well, actually only after Dana and Charles, Melissa was already ten and didn't need his help. Billy lifted Dana up and put her down on the ice. She immediately started shaking around, not of the cold, but of the slippy ice. He took her hand in his and started skating, pulling her after him. Actually Dana could skate really good, but she had been ill, and was still weak, and their mom had told him not to let her overstrain herself. They stopped at the spot where they all had put down their stuff. Billy took his hockey stick in one hand and handed Dana hers. It was much more smaller than his. She smiled at him and nodded towards the bag. "Billy, the puck! Don't forget it!" He nodded and threw it onto the ice. They only had two pucks, one was his and one was Charlie's. Dana wanted one too, but they didn't have that much money. She actually should get the stick for her birthday, but then she wouldn't have one for now, so their parents gave it to her already. Billy tried his stick on the ice. It was good and he immediately 'dribbled' with the puck around. Dana was quick and stole it from him, skating fast away. He grinned and went after her, liftin her stick up with his and shooting the puck away. They both were after the black 'plate`, a run for the 'ball`. Billy was there first, but got trapped by his little sister. She grinned at him and pushed the puck away from him. But he got it again and shot it far away. Too lazy to get it, he let Dana fetch the puck and waited for her. It was cold outside, the clear air and sky, snow all around the little lake, which was frozen and full with skaters. Snow glittered on treetops and a slow brize of wind was blowing around them. It was quiet, except the high child voices screaming around. Although it was a lake, the ice field had a cushion all around it. Like an ice hall. The town was small, so all the ice hockey games the teams played, had to be played here. Also the adult ice hockey of the town, but also the kids. Billy stood near the cushion and looked out of the window, that was installed for the safeness of the spectators outside. He didn't see Dana coming, who rushed into him, her stick rosen. He was pushed against the cushion, what reminded him of the NHL-games. He gasped for breath, and pushed Dana away. When he was 'free` again, Dana looked up at him. "Body check!" she said and he widened his eyes. How did a small girl like Dana check him like that? He shook his head and leaned down to her. "Listen Dana, do never ever body check someone, except you are in the NHL, or town league! Don't do it, you could hurt someone seriously! No one here will body check you, so don't you do it either. Got it?" Her mouth was opened, when she nodded and he could see her eyes filling. Jeez, she only had wanted to show him how good she could play, and he had told her not to do anything, like their dad. He felt bad. "But, however," Billy smiled at her, "it was really, really good!" Her face lit up and she smiled back. He placed his hand onto her shoulder. "Let's play Day!" he said and stole her the puck. They were sweating already, but they couldn't take off their clothes. Dana's long, red hair was wet against her forhead. Billy was breathing heavily, and shot the puck all to the other end of the field. When they got there, the puck had been stopped by Ryan. Ryan was the most famous boy in town, the one everyone wanted to have as a friend. Billy wanted to be Ryan's friend, since they just moved here and didn't know anyone. Behind Ryan stood his friends, all the guys Ryan had choosen to be his friends. Billy hoped that he would stand there with Ryan one day. Dana hid behind her brother, cause Ryan frightened her. "Hi!" Billy said and smiled at them. Ryan didn't respond. He turned round and looked at his best friend, Kevin, who nodded. "Wanna play a game? We still need some players. Your little brother already joined us!" Ryan said without expression on his face. They knew they were the clique every boy in town wanted to be in. They had to be carefully to choose new members, but Billy and Charlie seemed pretty okay. But first he wanted to test them, to see if they were cowards. Billy hesitated and nodded towards Dana, who was still behind him. "What's about her?" Billy asked Ryan. "What is with her? She is a girl, she can't play with us! But if you want rather be with her, you just need to say it and we'll look for someone else! I guess there are a bunch of guys who would love to play with us!" This time Ryan smiled, but it was an evil grin. Billy turned round to Dana. "Dana, would you mind if I play with the guys? We can play later!" he asked, as quiet as possible, but obviously Ryan heard it, what cause some giggles. "Just leave her alone!" Ryan said. " But Billy! You promised me that you would only play with me today! You promised me!" Her voice started shaking, and she probabyl was near to cry. Billy knew he had promised her not to play with someone else today. But it was his only chance to get into Ryan's clique. "So, what is now?" Ryan said, his voice sounded bord, although he wasn't. It was too interesting, to see what Billy would do. "I want to play with you!" Dana said to Ryan. He started laughing. "You are a girl!" Her eyes narrowed. No one could take Billy away from her, and if they tried to, she would show them what she was ready to do. "So?" Ryan's face became grave. "So, you can't play with us!" She still looked through him, that confused Ryan. Those icy blue eyes. "Why?" He was more confused. "Because,...you're...a girl! That's why!" Glad to have said something really smart, he breathed out. "What's the difference between boys and girls?" Dana wanted to know. Ryan stopped dead in his tracks. How could she suppose that he would know that? He had no clue. "Boys are...they...they are stronger than girls!" He smiled, again glad to have said something that should satiesfy the girl. But it didn't. "I'm stronger than Charlie, and you let him play! And I've even real ice hockey skates! I can skate faster than Bil He turned round to his friends and they whispered. Billy knew that Dana always got her will, she was as stubborn as a fly that won't get away. But it could also mean trouble, and he knew that Ryan and his friends never would hesitate to beat up a girl. Even if she was only five. Ryan turned to Dana. "Okay, you can play!" he said. Dana grinned and started skating in circles, banging her stick onto the cold ice. Ryan raised his brows, but said nothing. It wasn't unusal to do it, but actually no girl knew it. "Okay, I play with Kevin, Billy, Charlie and Will. Leo, Kyle, Mike and the little girl are on the other team. Brad is ref! Let's start!" Billy was woried that Dana wasn't in his team. Leo, Kyle and Mike were known as the worst guys of the whole town. There were always injured after playing a game of hockey, and now they were Dana's team. He smiled to her, but it wasn't real. Brad threw the puck onto the ice and immediately Ryan and Kyle were fighting about it, until Kyle pushed his friend and got the puck. The team rushed to the goal, while Kyle was setting to shot. Dana was in a right angle towards the goal, and totally open, but Kyle ignored her and shot, certainly missing the shot. "You could've passed to me! I was open!" Kyle shook his head. "No, you weren't! Now, get the puck!" he said to her and Dana stuck out her tongue. The next time Ryan came towards their goal with the puck, Dana rushed straight towards him, stopped in the last moment and rushed away under his legs, but not without stealing the puck from him. After she had it, she was skating as fast as she could to Will, the goalkeeper of the other team. Dana drove to the right, raising her stick to shot, while Will rushed to the right to get the puck. But in the last moment Dana started skating again and skated to the left, where she shot the puck, even before Will had noticed she wasn't shooting fom the right side. The puck went straight into the goal. Ryan starred at her, the little girl that was steeling his show. If she had been a boy, he would have told her it was a good goal. It was, but she was a girl. Kyle's face also was full of anger, that Dana had made the first goal. Ryan nodded towards Kevin and Kyle, who immediately knew what they had to do. Kyle had the puck and Dana was standing near the cushion. He struck it and it flew over to Dana. She was surprised that Kyle had passed to her, but didn't think about it much. Suddenly she saw Kevin skating straight towards her, but thought he was stopping like she had before. But that was wrong. Really wrong, like she would know in a short time. While Kevin came from the front, Ryan took the back. Both of them were heading towards Dana, with the same speed. She was waiting for Kevin to come, so that she could easily get away. Dana was standing about a feet away from the hard cushion. Suddenly Kevin was nearer to her she had thought he would come. She screamed, when both of the eleven year old boys, who each weight about 110 lbs and who were driving with a speed at about 35 mph, slammed her into the cushion, pushing her body with all their strenghth, both their bodies covering hers, forming a deadly press, which easily broke her bones, since they all had no hockey cushion on. When Kevin and Ryan pushed away from the cushion, which was the only thing that hold Dana onto her feet, their bodies and the cushion, Dana fell onto the ice. At first Ryan smiled, and thought she was playing, but when Dana didn't move, they started worrying. Billy had been frozen to death, when he had seen both of the boys slamming his sister deadly into the cushion. Now he was coming near them, screaming at Ryan. "What have you done? What have you done? You killed her! You goddamn bastards, you killed her!" Although their mother had told him not to curse, and especially not about God, he didn't worry about that now. All he worried about was Dana, and her lifeless frame on the cold ice, her face pale, bloodless. He kneeled down next to her, taking off his gloves. "Don't stand there like sheeps! Get help! Move!" But Ryan and his friends were too shocked to do anything. Ryan couldn't believe he had done this. What if she was dead? When they had slammed into her, he believed he had heard a cracking. Her bones? Ryan's eyes filled. He hadn't wanted *that*, they had just wanted to frighten her a little. His view became blurry, and all the voice were slow and deep for him. Meanwhile, a lot of people were around them, who had wondered why the boys were sceaming and all in a group around something-or someone. Some of them were asking themselves if the ice had broken, like last year, when a little girl drowned in the ice cold water. Melissa heard her brother screaming and turned around, to see both her brothers with Ryan and the other boys from the town, standing in group around something- or someone. Her friends were looking too, now. "What happened over there?" her best friend Kelly asked. "I don't know, but let's go there!" Melissa suggested and they slowly skated over to the guys. If she had known what had happened, she would have hurried. But no one called for help. When they arrived at the scene, Melissa spotted a blue anorak, the same Dana was wearing, on the ice. That was when she started to worry. The girls were the first, who were there. When Melissa saw her little sister on the floor, her face as pale as the ice, not moving and Ryan-Ryan the coolest guy of the whole town crying, she was shocked. Kelly was right behind her, and so were the other girls. "What did they do this time? I knew that Ryan and his clique would kill someone sometime, but a little girl! Who is she?" Melissa swallowed hard. "My...sister!" she barely whisperd, but the others understood. Kelly's mouth dropped open, as she starred at the lifeless body. When they asked Will what happened, he told them everything, what caused Melissa to grab Ryan's jacket and scream at him. He was even more shocked after Melissa let out her anger at him. A girl was kneeling next to Billy. "Hi, I'm Annie, I'm the doctor's daughter. My dad's here, I can get him?" Billy didn't really hear her, but nodded, smiled back and she hurried to get her dad. Billy was holding Dana's hand, it was ice cold. Melissa was kneeling next to Dana too. She looked at him, at his wet eyes. She knew he was thinking it was all his fault, but after what she'd heard from Will, she knew it wasn't. "Bill! Don't worry, she'll be okay! It isn't your fault!" He shook his head. After a while a man came to them. Billy knew him, it was the doctor who had been at their house, when Dana had the flu last week. He nodded towards him and made space for the doctor. "Hello Billy! Can you tell me what happened?" Billy nodded and told the doctor about the incident. Sometimes the man nodded and sometimes he made a wry face. Especially at the part where Ryan and Kevin slammed into her. He turned around to the boys. "Ryan! What did I tell you all the time, every time someone gets hurt at your games? No body checks if you have no protections! All the other time you were lucky and the victim was a s big as you, but this time, she is only five! So, how much do you weight?" Ryan looked stunned. "What?" "How much do you weight?" Ryan still didn't understand, but answered. "About 120 lbs. Why?" But Dr. Marshall didn't answer. "Kevin, how much do *you* weigh?" Kevin shrugged. "Her clothes are wet, we need to take them off!" Marshall said. Billy looked at him. "Wait, but then she'll get a pneumonia!" he said, starring at the doctor. Marshall nodded. "Yeah, but I need to see if she has broken ribs, or any internal injuries. i guess she will get a pneumonia anyway, but you are right!" he took out his car keys and gave them to his daughter. "Annie, get the blankets and my bag from the car! And hurry up!" She nodded and was off after a moment. Marshall opened her anorak and pulled it off her shoulders. So he revealed a red sweater, which was also soaking wet. "She can have my anorak!" Billy said and Marshall looked at him. "No, Billy! We don't want you to get pneumonia too! Leave it on, Annie will be right back with the blankets." He opened her eyelashes. "She didn't open her eyes since then? No good sign!" he said when Billy shook his head. Meanwhile Melissa had gone to tell their mom and Charlie had gone with her. They really didn't need more trouble, if Charlie somehow disappeared or something else. Actually Melissa had wanted to stay with Dana, too, but she was more help if she cared about Charles, so that their mom could be with Dana. When Annie came back, she handed her dad the bag and the blankets. Doctor Marshall had ordered someone to phone an ambulance. He lay one of the blankest on the floor, and rolled Dana onto it. He was a bit worried about that, because he didn't know exactly if she had internal injuries, but if she kept laying on the cold ice, she could get a deadly pneumonia. The other two blankets were lay over her fragile frame, while they used her anorak has head cushion for her. She still was pale, and didn't look alive. But Marshall had told them all over again that she was alive. After he had examined her, he was rather sure that she had internal bleedings, and a mild concussion, but he wasn't sure. He knew he mustn't move her. Then, suddenly she opened her eyes and starred at the doctor. She opened her mouth to say something, but Marshall shook his head. "Hey Dana! I'm glad you're back, but don't speak right now! The ambulance is on it's way! Everything is gonna be alright!" he whispered to her. She couldn't even nod. Her whole body was hurting. "My mommy!" she mouthed. Marshall smiled. "She's on her way!" That satisfied her for a moment. "' Billy okay?" she mouthed again, and Marshall was surprised by the little girl. It was usual for kids to ask for their parents first and then they say they are hurting, but Dana was asking if her brother was alright. "She must be in terrible pain, but nevertheless she's worried about the others." Marshall thought. That was what had made the little girl special for him, the first time he had talked to her. Last week, when she had caught the flu, she hadn't been worried "He's right here! He is okay, but he is as worried about you as I am, so please just rest and don't move!" She looked at his face, those beautiful hazel eyes and then closed her eyes, the last thing she heard were the sirens. Maggie Scully rushed to the ice field as fast as possible. After Melissa had told her what had happened, she almost had broken down. But she knew that her baby girl needed her right now. When she came to the field, the ambulance had just arrived and she also saw doctor Marshall. She walked over to the circle of people, where she knew was her daughter. The ice was slippy and she almost fell. When Maggie caught sight of her daughter, she gasped. She was as pale as the snow, and didn't move. She rushed to the strechter, on which they tried to lift the fragile frame of Dana's. When doctor Marshall spotted her, he knew it must be quite a shock for her and tried to calm her down. "Mrs. Scully!" he called her and she came nearer. "Oh my God! Dana!" she whispered, her eyes were filling. "Mrs. Scully! Don't worry. She will be okay! She has a mild concussion and internal bleedings, but that's all I can say at the moment. And it isn't really sure, so we need to wait for the results. And she probably has a pneumonia, what could be bad for the treating, but I can't say that at the moment.But she was awake and she asked for you." She nodded and walked over to Dana. "They can't move her like they would do if she wasn't injured within her, so they need to stabilize her body." One of t When they rolled the strechter to the ambulance, her mom was holding Dana's hand. When Dana opened her eyes, she could hear familiar voices around her, but everything was blurry. Her back was hurting terribly and she moaned, quietly, but obvioulsy loud enough for the ambulance men to hear. "Hey Dana!" one of them said. "I know you are in pain, but we can't give you anything right now, later, okay? We need to know about your condition, but it could worsen if we give you the wrong thing right now. Do you understand me?" he said, but then realized she couldn't speak and move. "For 'yes` blink once and for 'no` blink twice, okay?" She blinked once. Then she realized her mom next to her side, and was relieved. "Does your back hurt?" the man asked again, while they were putting the strechter into the back of the ambulance. She blinked once. He nodded. "Don't worry, we'll get that fixed!" 6:45 pm Two weeks later Near Portland, Oregon Dana was laying in her bed, the pillow pushed up, so she could sit. A glass of orange juice next to her bed. Billy was sitting in her comfortable chair, his legs resting on her bed. They had pulled the TV in Dana and Melissa's room, since Dana wasn't allowed to get out of bed, yet. She still was too weak to walk, but luckily, the pneumonia hadn't been too bad and her other injuries had healed fast. She had been lucky, that Ryan and Kevin had hit a dead angle and so she hadn't been hurt that bad. Only the mild concussion had turned out to be a serious concussion, which was caused first by the slamm into the the cushion of the ice field and then when she hit the ice with her head. The doctors had been worried about her, but they had known she would make it, even if her body was also shaken by pneumonia. They were watching a NHL-game. The rest of the family had gone out to dinner, since Bill Sr. had returned from his journey. When he had heard about the 'accident`, he was furious, but had been really worried about his baby daughter in hospital. Billy had stayed with her, although Dana had told him to go. She had said that he didn't need to stay with her, he could go and have fun on his own, but he had refused to go. And actually she was glad. "Billy?" He didn't turn away from the screen. "Mh?" "Thank you!" Now he turned and looked in her face. "For what?" She shrugged. "Being there for me. Being my brother." He smiled and she smiled back. "Well, then thank you too Day, for being my little sis, and the best ice hockey player I know!" She smiled at him and looked at the screen, where one of the players got slammed into the cushion. "Ouch! That hurts!" she said and Billy grinned. "Well, he is only half as good as you!" he grinned and earned a pillow with that. 4:23pm 2 - 15 - 1998 Annapolis, Maryland Fox Mulder put the paper down. He swallowed. He barely could believe that that really had happened. He again looked at the report, which was marked with big letters: Scully, Dana Katharine In the folder were all files about the incident, almost twenty years ago. Reports from doctors, and police, witnesses, but the most sensitive was written by Bill Scully, Jr. A school essay. He had sent his sister this file, after finding it in his dad's drawer. With all this files, Mulder could imagine really good what had happened. She never had told him about that. He had come over this night to watch the Olympics with her. She had told him that she loved ice hockey and so he had suggested to watch the ice hockey game Team USA against Canada today. When he had arrived, she had went to change to comfortable clothes, so he had sat down. When he had found the folder and read the title, he had read it. When Scully came in, he smiled at her. She was wearing a red sweater and blue jeans. She sat down next to him, and immediately realized that he had found the folder. "You found the folder?" He nodded. "I'm sorry, Mulder. I shouldn't have left it here!" He raised his brows. "Well, I think it isn't your fault actually. Do you allow me to kill this Ryan-guy?" Scully rolled her eyes. "Mulderrr! He apologized! And he even had a crsuh on me in high school, and I ditched him. That was probably the worst for him." Mulder nodded. "But then I'm wondering why you still like ice hockey?" She shrugged. "After that incident I was allowed to play with everyone, and they all were afraid they could do the same to me. They all were boys, always and they always were Billy's age. I scored the most goals, cause no one wanted to touch me." Mulder grinned. "Oh, the games!" he suddenly said and switched on "Mulder?" He didn't turn his gaze from the screen. "Mh?" "Thank you!" Now he turned to her. Her head rested against his shoulder, her eyes almost closed. He had his arm around her waist. "For what?" She shrugged. "For being there for me, being my partner!" He grinned. "Wow!" "What?" "I always wanted you to say that!" She punched him. "No, really! But thank you, too. For being my friend and the best non-believer I've ever known!" He got another pillow for that. "Hey, if you don't stop that, I gotta go! I don't want to be hurt by a pillow!" She leaned again against him. "I'll stop it. Just stay here!" she mumbled, half asleep. He drew her closer to him. "All what you want, Dana!" finish =====================------------------------------------------------------- so, what'd ya think? Please write me at. linuschulz@sprintmail.com