Baggage Claim

Sidney was taping his shin pads and getting ready to head out onto the ice for practice when Geno walked in the locker room. “Cutting it a little close there huh Geno?” Sid asked, finishing and standing up.

“Well when beautiful lady outside, must talk,” Geno said shrugging his shoulders and smirking.

“Geno’s bringing his dates to the practice with him now?” Letang chimed in causing the guys still in the room to laugh.

“No, no, not mine. Sids.” The guys all oohed and Sidney stopped before going out into the tunnel.

“What?” Sid asked, setting his stick down next to his stall. Geno nodded towards the door, and Sidney headed across the room. He opened the door and turned to see the one person he hadn’t expected to see again standing in front of him.

“Hey Sid.”

“Hey Kathy.”
….

“So you have a hot date or something tonight?” Brooke asked Kayla as she packed up her bag an dropped two Advil in her mouth.

“No, why do you ask?” Kayla asked laughing.

“Your hair is curled, your make-up if flawless and you’ve been walking around here humming all day. You’ve either got a date tonight or you got lucky last night,” Brooke said wiggling her eyebrows at Kayla with a smirk.

“Maybe I just wanted to look pretty for you today missy moo” Kayla said shrugging her coat on.

“Yeah, that’s it. Come on, spill it.” Brooke said as they walked out of the office to get the elevator. Kayla sighed and looked down at her feet.

“A doctor from peds asked me out for dinner last night. It was fun, it had a really good time,” Kayla explained, smiling as she told her. Brooke smiled knowing that Kayla was happy.

“And did Mr. Baby-doctor kiss you good night?” Brooke asked as they walked into the elevator.

“He did, and it was awesome. He asked me to go out again this weekend and I told him I would let him know. Didn’t want to seem to desperate or anything, you know?”

“Yeah, I get that, but let yourself be happy.”

“I will, thanks. So what do you have planned for tonight?” Kayla asked as the doors opened.

“I was thinking about making Sidney dinner, naked and then see where it goes from there but with this head ache, maybe just the naked part,” Brooke said winking at Kayla as she headed for the doors.

“You better give me details tomorrow,” Kayla called out as she headed down the hallway. Brooke shook her head and smiled at her friend. She was looking forward to having the details to share.
….

Brooke pulled her car up to the gate and put in the code to open it up. She pulled up the rest of the driveway and noticed a white BMW sitting her spot in the garage. She parked behind Sid’s range rover and walked in through the garage looking in the car as she passed by, noticing how clean it was. When Brooke entered the house she didn’t hear any voices, wondering if they were out in the back yard but when she looked out the deck doors, there was no one there.

“Sid?” Brooke called out but got no response. She figured she’d just take her stuff up to her room and get started on dinner. As she got closer to the top of the stairs Brooke heard a female laughing followed by Sid’s laugh. Brooke looked down the hall and saw the two walking out of Sidney’s room just as he was turning the bedroom light off. Brooke didn’t know where to look or what to do. She figured she should just head back down the stairs before they had seen her but the woman had locked eyes with Brooke before it was possible.

“Uh, hi,” the woman said, sounding alarmed. Brooke felt like she was the one intruding in the house like she didn’t belong there.

“Brooke, hey,” Sidney said, eyes going wide. They stood there looking at one another, not saying anything before the woman finally broke the silence.

“Hi, I’m Kathy, you’re obviously Brooke, which makes you…”

“A family friend,” Brooke said, not break eye contact with Sidney.

“Oh cool, are you just here visiting?” Kathy asked. She seemed really friendly and she was beautiful. Brooke could tell why Sidney had dated her.

“No, I’m actually here working at the hospital for the semester, I’m a doctor,” Brooke said smiling back at her.

“Wow, that’s awesome. What field are you in?”

“Ears, nose and throat specialty. Mainly surgeries.” Brooke explained, feeling Sidney’s eyes burning into her. She knew he wanted her to look his way but she found herself not wanting to look at him.

“I have a friend who’s working at a Naval hospital in North Carolina. He said he loves it but there are a lot of things he wishes he could un-see.”

“I can imagine. Well it was nice meeting you Kathy. I’ve got some work to do so I’m just going to head in.”

“It was really nice meeting you too, hopefully the next time I’m here we can talk some more,” Kathy said and she waved at Brooke heading into her room. Brooke nodded and looked at Sidney, seeing him still standing there looking at her still not having said anything.

She closed the door behind her and set her bags down on her bed. Brooke sat down, trying to talk herself out of the reasons why Kathy was up in Sidney’s room. She let out deep breath feeling exhausted and her head was pounding. Brooke never got sick, but this was starting to feel like a head cold she didn’t need.

She had been excited to come home and tell Sidney that she had gotten to stand in on a surgery. A surgery that had successfully removed a tumor from a man’s sinuses and left her feeling on top of the world because she had been the one to research and plan for the removal. Now she was feeling the complete opposite. Her plans for a romantic evening with Sidney had fallen through and Brooke just felt tired. She peeled her clothes off and pulled a large sweater over her head before stepping into her sleeping shorts. Brooke sat on her bed looking at her door waiting for Sidney to walk through it but gave up when her eyes started to grow tired. She got up and turned the light off, before she locked her door. She needed the night to herself. To think, to sleep, to just be alone again.
….

“No,” Brooke said for the third time.

“You didn’t come home for thanksgiving, you didn’t come home for your brothers birthday, it would be nice to see you for Christmas,” Brooke’s mom pleaded over the phone.

“Mom, I miss you, I really do but I have work to do at the hospital and I just don’t feel like traveling that much in a short period of time. I’m sorry.” Brooke said rubbing her forehead as she rested her elbows on the island counter.

“Well, maybe we can just come down there,”

“No!” Brooke said rather fast regretting is as soon as it was out of her mouth. “Mom, I didn’t mean..”

“It’s fine, you’re busy I understand. Well sweetie I’ll call you later,” Brooke heard the line disconnect before she was able to say anything and she felt like the worst daughter.

“Ugh,” Brooke said as she rested her head on her counter and wrapped her arms around herself. Brooke knew she was breaking her moms heart by not going home but she just couldn’t force herself to go back there. She wasn’t ready and she didn’t feel like it was home anymore. To be honest, she didn’t know where her home was but she wanted to find it. She thought she wanted to find it with Sidney.

Brooke sat up and felt her head swim again. She had woken up feeling much worse than she had the night before with a stuffy nose and a sore throat. She picked up her phone again and dialed the offices’ number hoping that Kayla was in already.


“Thank you for..” Kayla began to say before Brooke cut her off.

“Kayla, it’s me, Brooke.”

“Oh hey girl. You don’t sound very good”

“I just have a really bad head cold. I’m not going to come in today, is Dr. Leviey in yet?” Brooke asked, feeling like she was about to fall off her chair.

“He actually just came in let me grab him,” Kayla said before setting the phone down.

“Brooke, you better be telling me that you’re staying home, not that you’re going to be late” Dr. Leviey said in a stern voice. It made her smile knowing that he cared.

“I was actually just calling to let you know that I was planning on working from home today.”

“No, you’re not going to be working at all today, just take the day and feel better. I’m going to a conference this weekend in Michigan so I’m leaving tomorrow morning so I have all day Friday to get ready. Why don’t you take the rest of the week off, study up on those cases I gave you and have them ready for me Monday morning. We don’t you in here with that cold and after yesterday, you deserve some time off.”

“Are you sure?” Brooke asked not really wanting to turn it down.

“Feel better and enjoy your weekend Brooke, we have a busy week ahead. Talk to you Monday.” Dr. Leviey said before hanging up the phone. Brooke pulled her cell phone away from her ear and looked at the screen. That was twice today that she had been hung up on and she was starting to feel like she should avoid talking to anyone on the phone.

Brooke sat there trying to muster up enough energy to make it back up the stairs to her bedroom when she heard the garage door open up. She knew Sidney had an off day today but was a little relived when she came downstairs to find the house empty. She let out a deep breathing, feeling defeated for feeling as bad as she did and she knew she looked just as bad. Sidney opened up the door that lead into to kitchen and saw Brooke sitting on the kitchen stool.

“Hey, are you not going into the hospital today?” Sidney asked, setting some grocery bags on the counter. Brooke shook her head and rubbed her temples trying to relieve some stress from her head. Sid looked at her trying to gage her mood. After saying goodbye to Kathy he had come back upstairs to explain why she had been there but found Brookes door locked and didn’t want to knock if she was asleep.

“I’m not feeling very well, I think I’m just going to head back up stairs,” Brooke said hopping down off the stood and steadying herself. Sidney walked over to her side to try and help her but she pushed his arm away.

“I’m fine.”

“Brooke, you’re not fine, have you eaten anything yet today?” He said, stepping in front of her. He set her back on the stool and felt her head. “I guess I’m going to be the doctor today Ms. Blake,” Sidney said kissing her forehead and walking towards the fridge. He poured her a glass of apple juice and set it in front of her. “Drink.”

“Sidney, thank you, but I’m really not hungry. I’ll take the juice but I really just want to crawl into bed.”

“Just one scrambled egg is all I’m asking ,” Sidney said pulling the eggs out of the fridge.

“Sidney, no,” Brooke said as she got up and started to walk out of the kitchen. Sidney set the stuff on the counter and followed her out.

“Brooke, just take it slow,” Sidney said coming up behind her as she walked up the stairs.

“I’m not a two year old Sid, I can walk up the stairs on my own,” Brooke argued as she gripped the banister a little harder.

“Are you sure about that?” Sidney asked before picking her and carrying her the rest of the way up the stairs bridal style.

“Sidney, please, just put me down,” Brooke asked pushing at him. She was frustrated with him and she felt terrible. All she wanted to do was lay in bed and sleep.

“Brooke STOP,” Sidney said raising his voice causing her to stop fighting. Sidney got her into her room and set her down on her bed. She had never heard him raise his voice before, not even when they used to fight as kids and it made her feel small. “Just stop please, let me take care of you,” Sidney said pulling the covers up over her. Brooke looked up and him and said nothing. He walked out of the room and down stairs where she heard him talking on the phone. Brooke laid there staring up at the ceiling feeling her head throb along with her heart beat and let her eyes close out of desperation to make the pain go away.
….

“Brooke, wake up babe. Baby, wake up,” Sidney said as he moved the hair off of her forehead. She looked so cute laying all bundled in the comforter in her big baggy sweater. He almost didn’t want to wake her but she needed to eat. She pulled into the blanket and opened her eyes stretching slightly.

“I’m sorry,” Brooke said, pulling the blanket closer to her. She sounded stuffier than she had before she had woken up and her colour had drained more.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for, you just need to eat something and then you can go right back to sleep. I brought you up some soup,” Sidney said sitting down next to her on the bed and helping her to sit up. “Here,” Sid motioned for her to open her mouth as he brought the spoon up to her mouth. She took the spoonful and swallowed.

“You know can feed myself right?” Brooke said before taking the second spoonful.

“You would be doing the same thing for me,” he said bringing the spoon back up to her mouth.

“No more please,” Brooke said feeling like she was going to be sick to her stomach. Sidney set the bowl on her bedside table and helped her to lay back down.

“I’ll come back up in a bit to see if you’re hungry again,” Sidney said as he got up from the bed.

“Please stay,” Brooke said with wide eyes.

“Are you sure?” Brooke nodded her head and lifted up the comforter for Sidney to crawl in. Brooke snuggled up to him as he laid down beside her and pulled her in closer.

“You can put a movie on or something,” Brooke said wrapping her arm across his stomach. Sidney grabbed the remote sitting on the table and flicked the tv on, turning the volume down while he looked for something to watch. When he decided on an old Christmas movie he laid farther down in the bed wrapping his arms around Brooke. “I love you Brooke,” Sidney whispered in her ear. Brooke made a humming noise and Sidney smiled. He knew they had a lot to talk about, and he knew that she had been upset about the night before but if he could, Sidney would stay like this with her for as long as she wanted him to be there.

Notes