Baggage Claim

Brooke heard the front door open and close and then footsteps heading towards the kitchen. She had been sitting there nursing a cup of tea, not really wanting to drink it but instead having something to warm her hands. When the door to the kitchen opened she wasn’t surprised to see Brendan walking in wearing his dirty baseball pants and an ond work out shirt. “Hey Brookie,” he said with a smile as he headed to the refrigerator.

“Hey, how was practice?” She asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

“It was alright. My hitting is way up and coach is going to put me in as a take home hitter at the game next week so that’s pretty exciting,” he said shrugging his shoulders. It didn’t surprise her that he had been hitting better especially with everything he was holding in. He needed to get it out some how. But tonight, she was hoping that she was going to be able to get him to talk a bit.

“That awesome Bren, I can’t wait to watch.”

“You’re coming to the game?” He asked, his face lighting up.

“Yeah, it’s your last season of summer ball before you go off to college, it's going to be an exciting season. I've also missed a lot of game so it'll be nice to watch you play again,” She said smiling at him as he walked around the island and sat across from her with some left over food. He was smiling as he started to wolf down his food and Brooke started to debate whether or not to leave this conversation for tomorrow but Brendan surprised her by asking her a question.

“Can we maybe go see him tomorrow?” He asked, not looking up from his food. Brooke knew this was hard for him and was a little taken aback when he asked.

“Yeah, of course, when did you want to go?” He shrugged his shoulders and looked up at her.

“The morning I guess, I don’t really know when the best time to go would be.”

“Wanna go around eleven?” she asked getting up to pour the remainder of her tea down the sink. He nodded his head and went back to his food, not saying another thing. Brooke smiled and walked over to him pulling him into a hug much like the one he had given her the day before. She didn’t want to linger to long, making him feel weird so she squeezed him before saying good night.

“It’s only seven,” he brother said chuckling at her, looking a the clock.

“The jet lag is kicking my butt,” she explained before walking out of the kitchen. Her mom still wasn’t home from the hospital and Brooke assumed that she was either spending the night or coming home shortly so she left the front door unlocked before heading upstairs. Once in her room she caught sight of her suitcases that she still had yet to unpack. She knew there was a lot of laundry that she was going to need to do and they were both so jam-packed that once they were open, they were going to explode. She sighed and walked past them to sit on the bed. She was tired but she knew that if she went to sleep now, she would wake up throughout the night and didn’t really feel like tossing and turning. She grabbed her phone and pressed the home button, seeing that Kayla had texted her back after Brooke informed her about the situation with her dad. They had texted almost daily after she left for Switzerland and Skyped whenever they could. Brooke had gone to Kayla’s house the night she left Sid’s and stayed with her over Christmas before leaving. They had spent the week drinking and eating as much food as the could and watching enough TV to last a life time but it was what Brooke needed while she was hurting.

There was a light knock on her door and she was surprised that Brendan didn’t just barge in like he used too but she got up from the bed to answer it. “Bren, you could have just come in,” She said as she pulled the door opened but was greeted by someone who wasn’t her brother. “Oh,” she said seeing Sidney standing in front of her. He looked nervous and extremely out of place but at the same time, he looked like he had belonged there all along. Brooke was feeling all sorts of emotions but she was surprised that she wasn’t feeling an overwhelming feeling of anger.

“Hey,” he said bringing the water bottle he had been holding in front of him and twisting the cap nervously.

“Hi,” she said back. He was looking down at her chest and smiled slightly causing for her to look down as well. She was wearing one of his Canada long sleeve shirts that she had accidentally taken before leaving. She blushed and looked back up.

“Can I?” he said motioning to her room. She had been standing in the space that was open, blocking him from entering and she slowly lower her hand from the door and walked back in. She looked down, cursing herself for wearing the shirt but was happy that she hadn’t changed out of her running tights that hugged her in all the right places. She stopped at the foot of her bed, turning to look at him as she wrapped her arms around herself. Sid had shut the door behind him and she felt butterflies knowing that they were pretty much alone in the house. “Uh your brother let me, I didn’t just walk in if you were wondering,” she explained motioning behind him in the direction of the door.

“I figured,” she said nodding at him. There was silence and Brooke really didn’t know how to break it because he was the one who had showed up here.

“You still haven’t unpacked,” Sidney said motioning to her bags while looking anywhere but at her.

“No,” she said quietly. “Sidney, why are you here?” she asked bluntly. His eyes snapped up at her, almost shocked that she had asked him obviously hoping to ease into what ever he wanted to talk about.

“I wanted to apologize for this morning,” he said looking at her, deadpan in the face. There were no emotions, just media Sidney not expressing anything. Brooke rolled her eyes and sat back on the end of her bed and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Are you really sorry or did you just come here to say it so you felt like your conscious was cleared?” Brooke asked tilting her head to the side slightly.

“I’m really sorry,” he said still standing there with nothing.

“Why are you acting like I’m just another person, no better yet, why are you acting like I’m someone who never mattered to you. Do you not feel anything at all anymore? Sad, mad, angry even?” she asked starting to get angry. She was ready to get everything out right now and she wasn’t going to hold anything back.

“Brooke, I’m so mad right now. I so mad that I can’t be there for you to help you through this because you standing in front of me in ripping me apart,” he said, almost shouting. “I can’t stand that I can’t touch you or hold you because you left for Switzerland and left me in Pittsburgh wonder what the fuck I did for you to want to just up and leave me with out even talking to me about it. I loved you so much Brooke and I thought that you loved me too but after you told me you were leaving I felt like you never even cared. Like I was just some guy that you enjoyed for a little bit and had no problem saying goodbye to. I felt like you were just like every other girl I had ever been with, someone who wanted Sidney Crosby the Hockey Player and not Sidney Crosby, the guy who grew up in Cole Harbour and loved you even when I hated you.” That last part felt like a punch to Brooke’s stomach. She could feel the tears streaming down her cheeks and she felt like she was going to be sick.

“Sid,” she said barley making a sound.

“Was I really nothing to you Brooke? Was it easy for you to not even think about me when choosing to go?”

“Are you kidding me, you were all I though about while making this decision,” she said standing up to face him. “It kept me up at night because I couldn’t bare to think about not being with you and you not wanting me to do this. As soon as I found out I had been accepted I was ready to say no because I want to be with you. That’s all I wanted in that moment; you. And when I continued to think about it I couldn’t believe that I had ever been considered, let alone accepted into the program and that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity that would open so many doors for my career. I figured that you would be the one person who would completely understand and support me no matter what because of what you’ve had to do and where you’ve had to go in order to do what you love. And you didn’t,” Brooke said full on sobbing now. Sidney’s eyes were glossy and she had never seen him this vulnerable before. He shook his head and walked past her to sit on her bed. He let out a deep breath and ran a hand over his eyes. Brooke stood there trying to calm down her crying and was able to control her breathing but the tears kept falling.

Sidney stood up and wrapped his arms around her trying to pull her in to comfort her. She pushed on his chest, not wanting to touch him but he wouldn’t let go. “Brooke,” he said trying to calm her down.

“No,” she yelled trying to get out of his embrace. He held her tighter and tried to stop her from pushing away.

“Brooke stop, it’s okay.”

“No, I hate you Sidney, I hate you so much,” she said still trying to push away but could feel herself starting to lose her energy and could feel him crushing her body tighter into him.

“Brooke just listen to me, okay? Just stop,” he said bringing a hand to the back of her head and brought her head down to his shoulder. She stopped pushing and stopped resisting and just stood there and cried while Sidney held onto her and stroked her hair. He pressed his lips against her temple and whispered in her ear. “I’m sorry, okay?” he said kissing her again. “I’m so sorry.”
….

“I called my dad,” Brooke said causing Sidney to turn and look at her. They were both lying on her bed, Brooke on her side and Sidney on his back. They had laid apart from one another once Sid had gotten her to stop crying and they had been silent for what felt like hours.

“Hmmm,” he said laying on his stomach and propping a pillow up to lay on.

“I called my dad when I didn’t know what decision to make. I figured he’d give me the most unbiased opinion. He was the only one who knew other than my professors and Dr. Leivey,” Brooke explained, pick at a piece of fluff on the comforter.

“He told you to go obviously,” Sidney said adjusting the pillow a little bit. Brooke nodded her head and let out a sigh.

“He was proud but he asked me what it was that was keeping me from making the decision on my own, and I told him it was you,” she said looking up at him this time. She had asked her dad not to say anything to anyone about it and he had told her wouldn’t but she figured that if she was asking him for his help that she needed to be honest with him.

“You know he’s always been proud of you Brooke, you may not think it and he may not show it very well but he was and still is.” Brooke just shrugged and flipped onto her back feeling tired think about her dad.

“Can I tell you something?” Brooke asked, staring at her ceiling. He didn’t speak, only nodding his head waiting for her to continue. “I don’t think he’s going to wake up,” she said very mater of factly. She had been thinking this since her mother had called her letting her know what had happened. She was just preparing herself at this point for what was going to come afterwards.

“Are you saying this as a doctor or as a daughter?” he said.

“Both, to be honest. As a doctor, I wasn’t expecting him to have made it this far and looking at how he’s been decreasing it’s only a matter of time but as his daughter, I don’t think he has much fight left in him,” she said letting out a deep breath. Sidney nodded, understanding where she was coming from but knew that there really wasn’t any way to respond to that. “I’m really sorry for everything Sid. I’m sorry for not talking to you, for not really taking your feelings into consideration. I’m just sorry about everything and if I could go back, I would have handled things so much differently but I’m glad that I went,” she said quietly, apologizing for what had happened. She had wanted to say those things so many times over the past five months but she was so hurt and mad about how he had acted that she felt she had to stand her ground. But she was done fighting and done being heart broken about it. They both needed closure over it to move on and they both had their reasons to be upset, but they were also both wrong in the situation.

“I’m glad you went too, Brooke. And I want to hear about it, I want to hear everything about your trip but I feel like we both just need some time away from it,” he said looking up at her head board. Brooke nodded agreeing that they needed to be done with this and she let out a yawn. It was close to eleven o’clock and Brooke felt like she could probably sleep for days.

“I should probably let you sleep,” Sidney said sitting up on the bed. He looked down at her and saw her sleepy eyes, wanting nothing more than to kiss her and hold her until she was sound asleep but again, they weren’t ready for that.

“Hmm, okay,” Brooke said before rolling onto her side and snuggling into the bed. Her eyes were drifting shut and she was falling quickly. Sidney grabbed the blanket at the end of her bed and draped it over top of her before leaning down and kissing her gently on top of her head.

“Good night Brooke,” Sidney said softly, not getting a response knowing that she was already asleep and he smiled to himself as he walked to turn out her light and closed the door behind him.

Notes

Thank you all so much for your comments and support!!! It means a lot to me!! I wasn't feeling very good about the story a couple chapters back and was ready to end it all but the reaction I've been getting and all of you staying with the story has made me want to write more and I want to thank you all for that!!!

Hope you all had an amazing weekend and have an amazing week ahead! xoxoxox :)