Baggage Claim

Brooke lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling with her cellphone lying on her stomach. She was so perplexed as to what had just happened that she didn’t know whether to laugh at the stupidity of it or cry from frustration. Everything between her and Sid had been going way better than what she could have ever believed and in the matter of two minutes it seemed to have completely changed. She threw her hands over her eyes and groaned. At this point Brooke didn’t know whether or to go to his game or not. She didn’t know whether Sid was testing her or whether he really didn’t care one way or another but the vibrating of her phone pulled her back into the real world temporarily.

Vero: Hey Girl!!! Marc mentioned that you were coming to the game tonight. You should come up and sit in the box with the little one and I.

There really wasn’t an excuse Brooke could use to get out of going now so she figured she might as well try to enjoy the game a little bit with Vero.

Brooke: Yeah I am, that sounds like fun, I’ll give you a text when I get to the arena.

She decided to get up and take a long hot shower, hopefully it would help her to figure out what was going on with Sidney and possibly allow her to enjoy the rest of her birthday.
….

“Why do you look like shit man?” Marc asked as he closed his car door. Sid had been sitting in his truck for the past five minutes with his phone in his hands trying to figure out what he could say to Brooke to try and smooth things over as quickly as possible. When Marc pulled up, he knew that he couldn’t hide away for very long. Sid shut his door, and leaned against the truck. “This looks like it’s going to be a serious conversation that I don’t really know if I'm prepared for or not,” Marc said, trying to get Sidney to lighten up a bit. Sid shook his head and shoved his hands in his pockets, looking around to see if any one else was within ear shot of their about-to-be conversation.

“I’m going to tell you something because I know you can keep your mouth shut to everyone except Vero,” Sidney said, getting a head nod from Marc as he leaned against his own car placing his arms on the roof. “Brooke and I are together, but, we aren’t telling anyone because…”

“Because you’re Sidney Crosby,” Marc said interrupting him. “Go on.”

“I just keep worrying about people finding out and then today she came home from the hospital with flowers from a guy at work and I was pissed, probably about as pissed as I was when we played Philly last year,” Sid said, balling his fists up in his pockets. “And I just wanted to punch the guy and let him know that she’s mine, but I don’t want her life to go up in flames because people know we’re together.”

“Did you tell her this man,” Marc asked, looking a little concerned about what his answer was going to be.

“No,” Sid said shaking his head,” I was angry and just told her that I really didn’t care if she came tonight or not.”

Marc blew some air out and looked up at a couple of the guys walking from their cars into the arena. “Well it obvious that you really like her dude but you’re an idiot and I don’t think that you need me to explain that to you,” Marc said looking up at his best friend. He had never seen Sid get so emotionally involved while talking about something other than hockey and it was a nice change.

“That’s not where it ends though, it’s her birthday today and not only was I an ass to her but I also completely forgot,” Sidney explained feeling a million times worse about it.

“Wow,” Marc said rubbing his chin and standing up from his car. “Well here’s my advice for you. You need to make sure that you don’t act as cold and concealed as you do with everyone else about your personal life with her. You need to show her that you care Sid because it’s pretty fucking obvious that you don’t want to mess this up but at this point you can’t really help it because of who you are. Also you’re really going to have to kiss her ass because besides calling her fat, forgetting something like her birthday is probably the worst thing you could ever do,” Marc said as he walked over and placed and hand on Sid’s shoulder. Sid laughed slightly, knowing how right he was and was thankful that he had talked to Marc about it. “And your secret is safe with me, I wont even tell Vero this one, but enough about chicks, we’ve got some hawks to beat,” Marc said slapping his shoulder and heading in the direction of the doors. Sid laughed at him and followed him towards the entrance. He pulled out his phone and pulled up Brooke’s contact name before pressing the messaging icon.
….

Brooke walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head and one around her body while she opened her closet in search of an outfit to wear. She had decided to go with a pair of black jeans and a tight grey sweater. It had been rather cold lately and Brooke figured that she would probably be cold in the CONSOL so she figured the sweater would be a good choice. She was going to match the outfit with a pair of tall brown leather boots and just use her side leather purse rather than her everyday bulky one. Brooke sat on her bed, still wrapped in her towel and picked up her phone to look for the best possible route to take to avoid the traffic of fans going to the game. When she unlocked her phone she had an alert for a text message and Brooke went into her mailbox to see that the text was from Sidney. She didn’t know if she really wanted to open it or not but figured that it would be better off if she did.

Sidney: When you get to the arena, go to the south parking lot and tell them your name, they’ll give you a VIP parking pass and then let you into the parking garage. I can’t wait to see you after the game.

Brooke was confused and it wasn’t the sorry that she was expecting but she was pleased that he hadn’t decided to text her an apology, and that she was going to be getting one in person. It made her stomach flutter with butterflies when she read the text. She smiled as she shot up from her bed and headed to the bathroom to start her make-up.
…

“You look amazing oh my goodness,” Vero said as she stood up to give Brooke a half hug. She had the baby in her arms trying to keep her calm with all the noise and action going on around them.

“Thank you, so do you, I need to get a jersey to wear for the games like this beautiful little girl's,” Brooke said pulling at the side of Estelle’s little jersey.

“She rocks it better than anyone I know,” Vero said proudly before kissing the top of her daughter’s head. “Come, sit,” she said walking towards the seats she had reserved for them.

“This suite is really nice,” Brooke said looking around at all the women and kids hanging around talking and playing with one another. Brooke recognized some of the women from the BBQ and smiled at a few of them.

“Yeah, it’s nice to see the game from the actual seats though, but it’s a little hard with her now,” Vero explained putting Estelle in her car seat facing them.

“Do you come to every home game?” Brooke asked looking down at the ice taking in the Arena.

“I try to, but sometimes it’s just nice to lounge around the house and watch them on TV and drink a bottle of wine in the process,” Vero said turning to smile at Brooke. Brooke laughed knowing that she had done the same thing a couple nights prior when Sidney was on the road.

“So I just have to ask because I know all of these woman are going to come and bombard me with a million questions after you leave me tonight, not that I’m going to give them any answers, but are you and Sidney a thing?” Vero asked, lowering her voice slightly as to not be heard by anyone around them.

“That’s a question that honestly I don’t even have the answer too,” Brooke said looking back down at the ice. “we’re not telling anyone, but after today, I don’t know if there is going to be anything to tell,” Brooke said turning back to Vero. She had sympathy in her eyes and Brooke smiled slightly.

“Secrets safe with me, but with the way that he was looking at you the other night, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.” Brooke blushed and smiled at Vero. She really liked her and was hoping that they could hang out more often. They continued to talk about what had been going on in their lives; Brooke about the hospital and Vero about moving back into the house and getting used to everything with the baby. Both teams had gone out onto the ice for warm up and Brooke couldn’t help but get butterflies in her stomach when she saw Sidney out on the ice. She hadn’t seen him play in Pittsburgh in almost a year and she was excited to she him on home ice.
…

The game came down to a shoot out where the Penguins came out on top winning 3-2. Sid scored the second attempt in the shoot out to end the game and the guys looked tired.

“Are you coming down to the family and friends room?” Vero asked as they headed out of the suite.

“Uhmm yeah I guess so,” Brooke said agreeing to go down with her. Sidney had played well and Brooke was hoping that he would be in a better mood than he was before leaving the house. When they made it down to the room they sat around and chatted with some of the other women. Vero had introduced Brooke to some of the wives and girlfriends she hadn’t met at the BBQ and explained who they were with. Slowly the players came out into the room after showering and talking to the press and finally Marc had emerged from the locker room.

“Hey,” He said before giving Vero a kiss and looking down to see Estelle asleep in her car seat. “Hey Brooke, happy birthday,” He said pulling her in for a hug.

“It’s your birthday??” Vero asked surprised.

“Thank you and yeah,” Brooke said blushing slightly, she really didn’t want anyone to make a scene about it.

“Why didn’t you tell me,” Vero said pulling her in for another hug, “and why didn’t you tell me,” Vero said to Marc swatting his arm.

“I didn’t find out until I got to the arena, Sid told me.”

“He did?” Brooke asked surprised that he had mentioned it. She was sure that he had forgotten it but now she was even more upset that he hadn’t said anything at all. “Well do you know how much longer he may be?” Brooke asked, feeling her cheeks starting to get hot and her eyes starting to fill.

“He told me to tell you not to wait for him, that he was going to be a while,” Marc explained.

“Well I’m going to head home, I have to go into the hospital early tomorrow morning, but it was really nice to see you both and Vero we should get together next week for lunch or something,” Brooke said hurriedly before walking out of the room and in the direction of the parking garage. Brooke didn’t really know where she was heading but she saw a player walking infront of her and figured that it was probably best to follow him.

Once she made it out to the parking garage she made a b-line to her car and got in before anyone could see her fall apart. She was more angry with herself than upset with Sidney. She was mad that she had allowed herself to get close enough to him to allow for his actions to have an effect on her. Brooke took a few deep breathes before she started her car. She heard the ping of a new message on her phone and pulled it out of her purse. She had two messages, one that she had received during the game and one that she had just gotten. The first one was from Jake wishing her happy birthday one more time and the other was from Sidney.

Sidney: Hey, sorry I missed you after the game, text me when you’re home so I know you got there okay, I’ll see you when I get home if you’re still awake.

Brooke threw her phone back into her purse, not wanting to talk to him. She pulled out of the parking garage and out into the street and decided to drive to the closest store to buy herself a tub of heavenly hash ice cream.

…

When Brooke pulled up to the house, Sidney’s truck was sitting in the driveway. She was surprised to see it since she figured that he was have been a little while longer talking to the press after she left. Brooke didn’t really know what to expect when she walked into the house but what she was met with, definatley wasn’t anywhere close to what she could have guessed. The was a large gift bag sitting on the counter next to a cake and bottle of wine. Brooke was speechless as she walked farther into the kitchen closing the door behind her. Sid walked into the kitchen as Brooke made her way to the counter and he was holding a bouquet of her favourite Gerbera Daisy’s. “Happy Birthday Brooke,” Sidney said, handing her the flowers and bending down to give her a kiss. Brooke was still so stunned that she barely kissed him back and Sidney stood up a little defeated.

“How did you get home so fast, I thought you were going to take a while,” Brooke asked setting the flowers down on the counter and crossing her arms in front of her.

“I got Marc to lie to you so I could surprise you,” Sidney said nodding towards the stuff on the counter.

“Oh,” Brooke said turning to look at her cake. Sidney could tell that she was still upset and he owed it to her to apologize.

“Brooke listen,” Sidney said taking her hands in his and pulling out a chair from the island to sit on to be eye level with her. “I was a complete Jerk today and I’m sorry. I got jealous about the guy getting you flowers because I want to be the only guy getting you flowers. I wanted to beat the crap out of him for getting them for you. I want to be the only guy who makes your dimple show from your beautiful smile. I want to be able to tell everyone that you’re mine and no one else’s but I care about you too much to expose you to that kind of publicity. I’m just really sorry for acting the way that I did today,” Sidney said looking defeated.

Brooke put her hands on either side of Sidney’s face and kissed him deeply. “Sid, I need you to talk to me about these things, because ever since you left the house this afternoon I have done nothing but worried about what I had done to screw this up and it’s been exhausting. I really want this to work but for it to work I need you to talk to me about how you’re feeling and what’s going on in there,” Brooke said pointing a finger at his heart. Sid nodded his head and pulled her hand up to his mouth to kiss it.

“I promise I will try harder, but I am sorry about today and I’m really sorry about forgetting your birthday but I am going to do everything in my power to make it up to you,” Sidney said kissing her forhead.

“Sid, I think this just about covers it,” Brooke said gesturing towards all of the stuff sitting on the counter. Sid shook his head.

“No, not even close,” He said kissing her temple before handing her her present. “Here, open it.” Sidney said as he placed it in his lap to hold it while she removed the contents. “Now just a fair warning, this was short notice shopping and you’re going to be receiving another present that you are not allowed to fight me on.” Brooke rolled her eyes as she reached in the bag to pull out the first item which was a jersey with Crosby on the back of it.

“Sid,” Brooke said taking it out to look at it.

“It’s one of my actual jerseys, it’s been washed of course but I figured that you would rather a game worn one than just a regular one.” Brooke brought it up to her nose to inhale His scent, smelling his cologne. She rested the jersey on the counter and looked inside the bag to see what was left. Brooke let out a chuckle as she pulled a stuffed penguin from the bag.

“I’m pretty sure that this is the cutest present I have ever received in my whole life,” Brooke said hugging the stuffed animal.

“That’s for when you can’t hug a real Pittsburgh Penguin at night, you have a stand in till I get home,” Sid said setting the empty bag on the counter and pulling Brooke in closer to him.

“That was smooth Mr. Crosby, I’ll give you that,” Brooke said wrapping her arms around his neck. “Thank you for my birthday gifts,” She said leaning in to give him a kiss.

“Happy birthday babe.”

Notes