The Guy Named Harrison: Book One

49

After Harrison fell asleep, Carrie continued to research concussions and their long term effects. What she found changed her perception on the game of football.

First, there were 244 concussions reported last year in the NFL, Harrison's first included in that number. She read that even more players experienced the symptoms of a concussion, but didn't say anything because they wanted to play.

Sure the league had rules about leading with the helmet, but that didn't stop players from doing it. It still happened. Quite often. And sometimes they happened accidentally, just like Harrison's.

The scary part was when she learned of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It was a degenerative disease that effected former football players not 5 years after they retired from football. The only diagnosis was an autopsy. And there was no cure. It occurred after concussions or due to hard blows to the head as many players suffer in the NFL. The fact that scared her the most was a study done in early July. It showed that out of 111 brains examined of former football players, 110 had signs of CTE.

Now she really began to worry about Harrison. This was his second concussion in almost a years time. What if he suffered another one? And what if he continued to play football for a while longer? That would certainly increase his risk of developing CTE.

She couldn't help but wonder, was the sport he loved slowly taking his life?

Carrie shut off her laptop for the night. It was more due to the fact she couldn't continue to read about this, than it was exhaustion. She looked over at him well into his third hour of sleep. It was the middle of the night and Carrie couldn't bring herself to get some rest. She had to check on him every hour.

Gary woke after hearing her sigh. He carefully crawled over Harrison and over to her before laying his head on her lap. "Hi buddy."

His stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth, getting Carrie to smile. Then he climbed up onto her lap. "I'm sorry I woke you."

He sprawled out on her lap as she began to pet him. "Gary, you're something else, just like Harrison."

While petting her French bulldog, Carrie once again let her wandering mind settle on Harrison and his concussion. No matter how hard she tried to push the thoughts away, the image of him contracting CTE wouldn't leave her alone.

Eventually, she lost it. The sound of her crying was enough to wake Harrison. He slowly sat up. "Another nightmare?"

Carrie shook her head, while wiping the tears off her cheeks. She shouldn't be all worked up because he was going to be fine. But she just couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Then what's wrong?"

"I'm fine. You need your rest." He didn't need to be worrying about it right now.

"Even with a concussion I can still tell there's something bothering you. Tell me. Let me help."

Carrie took a deep breath and began to explain everything to him. "I did some research about concussions in you football players. Then I came across a disease called CTE. Have you ever heard of it?"

"Yeah, they're required to educate us about it before each season."

"What do you think about it?"

"It's scary."

That was another troubling fact. Lots of players sued the league, protesting that they weren't properly educated about concussions and other head related injuries that could lead to severe brain damage and CTE. It was first discovered in 2002, but the NFL didn't put rules and procedures in place until a few years later.

"I found a study. 110 of 111 former football players were found to have symptoms of CTE. What's to say you won't be one of them?"

He slowly moved closer to her. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "They won't find out until after I'm dead."

She tipped on her side to face him. "Don't talk like that."

"Sorry."

Carrie took a deep breath. "No, I'm sorry for waking you up to this."

Harrison laced his fingers with hers. "It's something that has to be discussed between us anyways. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to-"

"I figured that out."

"What?"

She pointed to his nightstand where the small black box sat. "You found it?"

"Yeah."

He cussed. "I was going to ask you in Chicago after we met my parents on the sky deck all the way above the city. But-" he got up for the first time on his own and came around her side of the bed and slowly knelt on one knee.

Harrison opened the box, revealing a beautiful diamond ring. It blew her away.

"Carrie Fisher, will you marry me?"

She now stood in front of him with more tears glistening in her eyes. "Yes."

After sliding the ring on her finger and with her help, he stood back up and kissed her passionately. Mid kiss, he picked her up.

"Harrison don't. You have a concussion."

He took a few steps forward and gently set her down on their bed. He hovered above her for a few moments longer, pressing another kiss to her lips.

"I want you now."

She smiled. "Too bad you're concussed."

He playfully rolled his eyes and gently eased himself back to his feet where he walked over to his side of the bed and slowly slid under the covers beside her.

Carrie set an alarm for an hours time. Then she laid right next to him. "Come here."

"You're hurt," she protested.

"My head is hurt. Not the rest of my body so I can still hold you. And besides, it might help me sleep better."

She gave in and rested her head on his chest with her hand holding his. "I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too."

The proposal was not supposed to happen in this chapter. At all. But it just kinda did. And compared to my original plan, I really like the way it happened.