The Compromise

Sidney would be lying if he said he wasn't having a good time in Toronto. The meetings weren't going well, but he had the evenings to hang out with some of the guys he never really saw unless they were facing each other on the ice. Jonathan Toews and Craig Adams managed to keep him entertained while they were all in town. They were sitting at some upscale restaurant that had specialty beers to try from around the world when Jonathan pulled out his phone to check a message he just received.

"Hey Sid, isn't this your girl?" Jonathan asked as he handed his phone over to Sid. He looked confused for a minute until he realized he was looking at a photo of Jessica standing in a crowded parking lot with James.

"Where did you get this?" Sid asked as he pulled the phone closer to his face to look further. Craig strained his neck to look at the photo as well.

"Buddy of mine texted it to me. Said he knew you were with me. He said it's all over twitter and thought it was funny that James was getting yelled at in public. Said his player lifestyle caught up to him." He grabbed his phone back from Sid and waited to hear what Sid had to say.

He looked at his own phone, checking to see if Jess called or texted him, but put it back in his pocket when nothing appeared on screen. "Yeah, Jess looks pissed in that photo. I wonder why they were together though?"

Craig was sitting back silently taking everything in when he piped in, "I just found some ridiculous blog saying she was screaming at him and stormed off to get into your SUV. The caption under the photo says, 'When the captain is away the wifey will play.' Oh....man they are not being nice towards Jess."

"What are they saying?" Sid was curious, but he couldn't expect their relationship to go under the radar. The true fans were the ones who mattered and really valued their privacy. He also didn't want Jess to find out about this, but hoped she would tell him what happened between her and James when he called her later.

"Called her a puck slut. That she is just working through the team. This blog knows nothing about your girl."

"Ugh, this is why I stick to stupid phones. I'm less tempted by the whole social media garbage."

"Jessica doesn't get on social media does she?" Jonathan asked.

"Facebook, but that's to stay in touch with the girls she went to college with. Other than that, no. She wouldn't be fazed by those snarky comments either, she let's things like that roll off her back."

"Wow, sounds like she fits right into your crazy world," Jonathan commented. Craig chuckled because he knew Jess and Sid as a couple and as individual people. She was definitely Sid's companion, but between the two Sid was the calm one. She tended to bring the craziness that has been part of Sid's life as of late, not that there was anything wrong with that. It was nice to see his captain let loose and think of something other than hockey.

"What's so funny Adams?" Sid asked.

"What Jon just said. Your life has never been crazier and it's all because of that girl! I mean that honestly. But it's a good thing. I've been around you for years and in the last year Jess has been around you've been more relaxed and go with the flow."

Sid laughed at his teammate and shrugged his shoulders. He knew what Craig said was true. He found it comforting that everyone around him saw Jess as a positive change in his life. Even if the off ice drama got to be too much. He wasn't going to let people he didn't know bother him. He was happy and looking forward to going back home to Jess tomorrow.

But he couldn't help but have a nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew Jess wouldn't intentionally seek James out while he was gone. For a moment he thought that she wanted him gone to see James, but quickly brushed that away. But he was getting worried that he hadn't heard from her yet.

*********

Jess moved around the house in a fury. She was still fuming that James had the gull to try to say his cheating was because she did the same. But she was getting worked up even more because she lost her phone and couldn't remember Sid's number by heart. He had to have called her numerous times by now. And whoever found her phone was going to have a field day when they see the calls and texts were from him. She was sure of it.

She finally gave up searching, found an emergency numbers paper Sid kept in drawer in the kitchen and dialed the international number.

"Hello?"

"Hi! Mrs. Crosby, it's Jess," she began.

"Oh sweetheart you always call me Trina."

'Damn,' Jess thought. She had been doing so well too. "Trina, I'm sorry to be calling you like this."

"Is something wrong?"

"No! No...well I lost my phone. And I wanted to call Sid but I don't remember his phone number."

"But you remembered ours?" Trina sounded skeptical.

"Uh, no. Sid had some sort of information sheet in the kitchen." She studied the sheet closely and realized that her parents' home number was listed as well as their siblings' numbers. He must have done that recently in case Jess found herself in a situation just like today.

Trina voiced her understanding, rattled off Sidney's cell number, and chatted for a few briefs minutes with Jess. When the women finally said their goodbyes, Jess noticed they had been on the phone for nearly an hour. It was nice chatting with Trina and by the end of the conversation his mother and Jess had arranged a trip to Pittsburgh at the end of the month.

Jess quickly dialed the number she scribbled underneath the neatly written numbers on the page and waited for Sid to pick up. After three rings it went to voicemail, so she left a message asking for him to call the land line and continued with the rest of her evening. She was mad she didn't have her book to read since she never got the opportunity to buy it, so she settled for watching television and surfing the web on her iPad.

She didn't even realize she fell asleep until the phone ringing next to her woke her up. She straightened up, yawned then answered the call.

"Hey! I didn't recognize the number earlier,"'Sid explained when Jess answered.

"That makes two of us," Jess replied. She stretched out on the couch and muted the television.

"Why did you call from the land line anyways?"

"I lost my phone. It's nowhere in my car or in this mansion!"

"Do you want me to call it?"

"No, I'm pretty certain it is in the Barnes and Noble parking lot."

"It fall out of your pocket during your tirade on Nealer?"

"How do you know about that?" Jess felt her blood boil just thinking about it.

"It's online babe," Sid said.

"Of course it is. I swear I wasn't out with him. He saw me at Settlers' Ridge, he pissed me off, and I was yelling at him."

"I know, you looked pretty pissed off. You okay now?" Jess was relieved Sid wasn't mad or jealous like he would get before.

"No! But I'd rather not think about it now. Let me cool down and then I'll tell you about it tomorrow. I miss you babe!"

"Alright, alright. I miss you too. My flight lands at 6 pm. Will you pick me up?"

"I'll be there!"

"Go back to sleep, we will be together soon."

"Love you Sid," Jess yawned.

"Love you beautiful."

********

Jess walked through the sliding glass doors and immediately went to the large computer board relaying where flight baggage claims were. She found Sid's flight, saw it would be at baggage claim B and headed in the direction Sid would be. She checked her watch and realized she was about ten minutes early, so she sat and waited for him.

She was so lost in watching passersby that she was surprised when she felt a pair of hands wrap around her head and cover her eyes. She panicked at first, unsure of how to react. She reached for the culprit's hands and started to tug, but they wouldn't budge.

"Guess who?" Sid whispered in her ear. He uncovered her eyes and spun Jess around in his arms. She looked genuinely surprised and excited that it was him. She threw her arms around his waist and buried her head against his neck.

"Welcome home!!" Jess said when she finally looked up at him. He pressed a kiss to her lips, not caring how public they were being, and squeezed her tightly to him.

"Sorry I frightened you. You were zoned out when I walked right by," Sid explained with a slight chuckle in his voice.

"I was looking for you. Every guy with a hat pulled over dark hair I was staring down from a distance. I can't believe I missed you," she said as they ventured towards the luggage belt to retrieve Sid's suitcase. The luggage had started coming through and they found Sid's bag quickly without being spotted and wandered towards the parking lot hand in hand.

At Sid's car, Sid claimed his key back and opened the back hatch to place his bag in then opened the passenger door for Jess. She climbed in and waited for Sid to get in and start up so they could go home.

"You hungry?" Sid asked when he was pulling out of the lot.

"A little, we can go home first if you would rather," Jess said. She gripped Sid's free hand tightly as a wave of nerves came over her. Very rarely did it happen, but Sid could sense when it did. The sooner they stop, the better she would feel.

"No, let's stop in Robinson. You need a phone anyways and I want to get that for you." Jess appreciated Sid's compassion and knew he was making the quick stop on her behalf. She was still without her phone and was even more convinced that it was dropped outside of the book store. But more importantly she just saw a car coming towards her right side that made her heart race and body tense.

They drove in silence, only chatting quietly about how Sid remained frustrated with the league.

"Did you see Mario?" Jess asked as she studied Sid's profile. He kept his eyes on the road.

"Yeah, but I didn't talk to him. I spent the two days with Adams and Jonathan Toews. Outside of those meetings we had a good time catching up." He needed to keep her distracted. He could feel the pressure on his hand from her grip. "Hey, it's okay."

"That car just got really close," Jess said. She released her hold a degree and turned to look at Sid as he focused on the road. "You don't have to get me a phone. I can get one myself."

"I am adding you to my plan. It will be more cost effective than being on separate accounts. And you are getting an international plan so when I'm out of the country your bill isn't triple what you normally pay."

"Sid," Jess started to protest. But Sid wouldn't hear of it.

"Jess, I want to do this. Please just let me. You get so uncomfortable with me spending money on you. You need to get used to this because we aren't going to want for nothing. Ever. Unless your card shark mentality slips and you gamble everything away." He glanced over at her with a smirk on his face.

She looked slightly confused. "How do you know I am good at card games?"

"We played before, I lost all my clothes over it. Don't remember?" Jess dropped her head against the headrest in frustration.

"I was doing so well! Little things like that are still foggy if not there. I called your mom Mrs. Crosby. She had to explain to me that I call her Trina. I was embarrassed and I was on the phone!"

"Don't be embarrassed baby. We all know you're still getting things straight. We could always play poker again to refresh your memory." Sid wiggled his eyebrows at Jess suggestively making her laugh and forget entirely that she started to get nervous in the car.

"Or we could just forego the card playing and just have sex," Jess suggested bluntly.

"That works too. I mean it has been several days," Sid stuttered, not expecting Jess to say that. She leaned against his arm and squeezed his hand.

"Well, you're gonna have to wait a few more. Sorry," she lifted her head from his shoulder as he pulled into a parking spot several rows away from other cars in the lot nearest the Verizon store.

"Eh, I'm just happy to be home with you," Sid recovered not wanting to sound disappointed by Jess's revelation. He knew their relationship was more than the physical acts and he had the whole weekend with just her again to prove that.

He hopped out of the car and hurried around to meet her at her door, holding the door as she climbed out. Closing the door, he reached for her hand and grasped it tightly before moving in the direction of their destination.

"We should check at Barnes and Noble to see if anyone turned in your phone first," Sid suggested. He pulled Jess closer to his side and slung his arm across her shoulders.

"That works, but I'm sure it's gone." Sid shrugged and said it’s worth a shot. They wandered into the store, went straight to the customer service desk and asked the associate if a phone had been turned in. The young man's eyes bugged out of his head when he noticed it was Sidney Crosby asking.

"Let me check with the manager sir." The kid left the counter in a hurry in search of his boss and Jess refrained from laughing loudly in the quiet store.

"He was floored when he realized it was you!" Jess exclaimed. Sid rolled his eyes at Jess and pinched her side affectionately to get her to stop from giggling.

"Mr. Crosby? Sir, my manager said she is checking but doesn't remember seeing a phone."

"No worries man, and please Mr. Crosby is my dad." An older woman approached the desk and looked as awestruck as her associate.

"I'm so sorry, but there is no phone in the lost and found."

"It's fine. I'm pretty sure I dropped it in the lot last night," Jess explained.

"We thought we would check before we went to replace it."

"I completely understand. It's great seeing you in the city with the lockout and all."

Sid smiled appreciatively at the woman whose name tag read Linda, "It's my home. I don't want to be anywhere else." He looked at Jess affectionately to make his point. The manager smiled in understanding and wished them a good rest of their evening.

"I'm paying for the phone, you just work your magic to get me on the plan," Jess said as they walked out the door and in the direction of Verizon.

"We aren't back to this again are we? I'm getting it and you can't stop me," Sid said as he pulled Jess along with him. He was determined to ignore her and get her set so that he would be able to reach her when he wasn't around.

"You didn't have anything on there that could be incriminating?" Sid half joked. Jess rolled her eyes dramatically at him.

"Even if I did I had a pass code on it," Jess said seriously.

"Eh you and your fancy phone! Smartass," he said as he opened the door for Jess. She walked in and waited for him to follow her before proceeding further into the store. The store was relatively quiet for a Friday night, so they were helped quickly and without fuss considering the employees all recognized Sid immediately.

"Now don't go throwing your phone around random parking lots," Thomas, the guy helping them said to Jess.

"Ha ha, I'll be back and looking for you next time. This one needs to get out of the Stone Age and embrace technology," Jess said pointing at Sid.

"One day the smartphones will be your only option," Thomas said.

"And I am dreading that day." They laughed, said their goodbyes and headed out towards Sid's car.

"Hungry yet?" Sid asked casually as he walked slightly ahead of Jess. He figured she was playing with her new gadget and not paying close attention to him.

"James tried to say I cheated on him which is why he cheated on me," Jess blurted out in the middle of the lot stopping Sid dead in his tracks. He turned to face Jess and noticed how distraught she looked. "Which I guess in some sense I did, emotionally anyways."

"Stop. First of all let's get in the car so we can talk, alright?" Jess agreed and followed him into the vehicle where she turned to look at him.

"So now you want to talk about what happened yesterday?" Sid asked cautiously. He didn't care one way or the other what happened. He trusted her and didn't want to have drama in their life.

"I feel as though you just dropped all this money on me because I had a run in with James and now I feel really guilty." She looked at her phone in disgust.

"That's ridiculous, stop messing around. I bought you the phone because I love you and I want you to have nice things. And fuck him. He's pathetic and needs to drop this bullshit. I am sick of it!"

"I didn't want to tell you because I know he is still your teammate and you have to play with him."

"I know, doesn't mean I have to like him," Sid fumed, "He really tried to say you cheated?"

"Well at first he tried to say you made him say he did. Which I called him out on. And I know how your mind is working, he has a no trade clause."

"It doesn't take effect until the 2015-2016 season."

"Sid no, he may be a complete dick but he is a good hockey player. And he plays well here."

"Dammit you're right."

"Are you going to feed me then?" Jess asked trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, where do you want to go?" Jess smiled at Sid and waited to see if he would figure out what she wanted without having to say it. "I know that look, you want chipotle don't you?"

Jess leaned over and kissed Sid excitedly. He laughed but accepted the kiss willingly. He started the car and moved in the direction of Jess' choice restaurant. "You're gonna turn into a burrito one of these days."

Notes