Baggage Claim

Brooke opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling in her room, listening as the phone downstairs continued to ring. It was Sunday morning and when she reached over for her phone sitting on the bedside table, she found that it was only ten after six. No one calls that early on the weekend and Brooke closed her eyes again figuring she knew who was calling.

Her and Brendan had gone to see her dad three days earlier where he was still motionless and unresponsive in his bed. Brendan had a hard time going to the hospital and it took a lot of support and patience from Brooke to get him to go in and say hello. Their mom had stayed the night again in the extra bed that the hospital staff had put in the room for her and Brooke guessed that she had gotten next to no sleep. Liz had been surprised when Brendan made his way into the private room, not expecting him to come a visit but threw her arms around him once she saw him. “Mom, just stop,” He said pushing her away slightly. He walked over to stand next to the bed and Brooke put her arm over her mothers shoulder trying to console her somewhat from Brendan’s mood.

He just stood their looking down at his dad for a bit. Not reaching out to touch him or saying anything. He looked angry, like he wanted to yell or cry, but he just stood there with his jaw clenched and fists balled up. “I’ll be outside,” He said turning to walked past them and out of the room.

“Brendan,” their mother said to his retreating back but Brooke put her hand up as if to tell her it was no use.

“Just let him do his own thing right now, he’s dealing with it…..differently, and we just have to go along with it,” Brooke said letting out a deep breath. She walked to sit down on the extra bed and looked at her father noticing the hair that had grown on his face and the weight he had dropped since seeing him a few days earlier. Her mother stood and reached out for his hand taking it in both of hers. Brooke could tell she had tears in her eyes and wished she could take the pain away from her.

“I just wish I knew how to be there for him, to help him through this but I don’t even know how to help myself through this,” she said looking up and out the window as she took a seat on the edge of her husband’s bed.

“Well there really isn’t a manual on how to deal with this stuff mom, but let me deal with Bren. Just worry about you and dad right now. I’ve got everything else under control,” Brooke said trying to make it sound as believable as possible. Her mother gave her a small smile and Brooke gave her one back.

“Thank you for being her Brooke, I know everything hasn’t been easy between you two in the past but it really means a lot to me and it will to your father too when he wakes up,” her mom said walking towards her to push a strand of hair away from her daughter faces. Brooke smiled but it didn’t reach all the way up to her eyes. Her mother was still hopeful that everything was going to be okay and Brooke didn’t want to take that away from her. She just wanted to see her mother happy and not having to go through this.

“Don’t worry about it mom, I’m not going anywhere.”

Brooke heard the phone ringing again downstairs and felt her stomach sinking further. She couldn’t will herself to get out of bed because once she was up and heading down stairs she had to deal with what ever was news came from the phone call. She had spent most of her day yesterday at the hospital so her mom could go home and take a shower and just get a way for a bit. Brooke had talked with Lucas and knew that her dad was continuing to get worse. She could tell by just looking at him and skimming over his charts but she was still holding onto that little bit of hope that he would make it out for her mom and brothers sake.

She heard footsteps going past her door and heading down the stairs, knowing that Brendan was going down to get the phone. Brooke lay there still not wanting to move. She didn’t really know how she was going to deal with everything if her assumption was right. How was Brendan going to react? How was her mom going to deal with this? What were the plans for everything? There were just a lot of questions that Brooke didn’t want to know the answers too let and she was scared. She didn’t want to deal with them alone. She wanted someone to be there with her, telling her what to do and letting her know that everything was going to be all right. She wanted Sidney. She wanted him to protect her from all the bad things in the world and she wanted him to help her through this.

She heard the phone ringing again but this time it only rang once before she heard her brothers deep voice answering. She had only heard him say a few words before there was silence. She heard his footsteps on the stairs and then leading up to in front of her door where they stopped and a knock on her door replaced them. “Brooke?” he said opening the door a bit.

“Yeah,” she said not looking up at him and her voice little.

“Dad’s gone.”
….

“Keep pushing, keep pushing Sid, keep going,” Sid heard as his lungs began to burn. He let out a huge breath after exploding to the finish and kneeled over to put his hand on his knees. He had just finished his three-hour work out of with sprints and was feeling thoroughly exhausted after that last one. His trainer, Andy came over to him and handed Sid his water bottle that he quickly downed in a few gulps. “Good job Sid,” he said patting him on the back. They were out on a track at one of the university facilities in Denver and for early June it was pretty hot out causing for Sidney’s shirt to be drenched by the time they were done.

“Thanks,” he said, still trying to get his breathing under control. They started to walk toward the bench where they had set their stuff by the side of the track and Sid grabbed a towel from his bag.

“How are you feeling after that?” Andy asked taking a seat and grabbing a water of his own. Sid nodded his head as he wiped the sweat from his face.

“Good, I feel really good, getting over that little bit of soreness from yesterday,” he said sitting down to undo his shoes. Sid had been in Denver since Saturday afternoon, making this his fourth day. He was staying in a rented house while he was there, not to far away from the university. He was working with Andy for the week before heading home for the rest of the month and then returning back in July for a little while. He was getting used to getting back in the swing of things, adjusting to the difference in the altitude but was happy with how hard Andy was pushing him and how easily he was keeping up with it.

“You’re looking good, not much to tweak, just consistency to work on probably for the rest of the week,” Sid nodded understanding what he meant. Coming off an Olympic season was always a bit easier for training come the summer due the maintenance Sid had upheld the entire season.

“What are we doing tomorrow?” Sid asked getting a chuckle from him.

“That’s going to be a surprise my friend,” He said giving Sidney a smirk. Sid laughed and shook his head at him. He knew what ever it was, it was going to be a hard one but he was looking forward to it. It was nice getting back to focusing on hockey, especially after the failed playoff run. It was time to put everything behind him and work toward the cup next season. Sid stood up after throwing everything in his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

“Need any help with this stuff,” Sidney motioned to the work out gear sitting on the ground that they had used.

“Nah, I got a couple of the football kids coming in a bit to do some conditioning so I’ll get them to lug it in,” Andy said standing up and sticking his hand out for Sid.

“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow then,” Sid said taking his hand before walking towards the tunnel out to the parking lot. It was nice being here in the summer especially when there weren’t a lot of student around so he could go around practically unnoticed. This week was almost like a holiday for him in the sense that he got to relax and enjoy his workouts and then do what ever for the rest of the day. He didn’t have meetings to go to or people he needed to talk with. He passed one on the football players in the parking lot that he had met a couple days prior and waved in greeting.

He climbed into his rental turning it on and sat there as he allowed for the air to cool down a bit in the truck, reaching into his bag for his phone only to realize that it wasn’t in there. He remembered putting it on the counter yesterday morning or maybe even before then to let it charge and he must have left it there since. He pulled out of the parking lot shaking his head at himself.

When he pulled into the driveway of the house he was staying at he jumped out and headed inside. He normally stayed here with some of the other guys when they were training with Andy, but this session had only been for Sid and he didn’t mind being alone. He had become used to being alone again after Brooke had left as much as it sucked not having her around. He missed hearing her voice every day and getting to see her smile whenever he could. He found that after she had left, that when he would be doing something around the house he would sometimes catch a whiff of her perfume or shampoo and he would feel a rush of emotions and get excited but then remember she wasn’t there. He figured he would call her once he got inside and showered since he hadn’t talked to her since he left for Denver.

Sid quickly ran upstairs to the bathroom after dropping his stuff off at the door and hopped in the shower. When he came out he made his way down stairs with a towel wrapped around his waist and saw his phone sitting right where he had left it. He unplugged and saw that he had a mass of messages and missed calls waiting for him. He went to the messages first and saw that some of his friends had messaged him. He saw that Nate had texted him telling him to give him a call and decided he would call him after. He moved on to see that Taylor had sent him about seven messages and opened up their conversation.

Taylor: Call me please!!
Taylor: Sid pick up your phone!

His heart started racing realizing something was wrong.

Taylor:I going to kick your ass the next time I see you. Can you call me or mom or any one back!

He immediately disregarded the rest of her messages and went into his missed calls. He had a whole bunch from Taylor from today and the day before. Nate had called him a twice yesterday and his mom had tried to call him on Sunday night and again this morning. He Saw Brooke’s name under theirs a saw that he had one missed call from her from Sunday morning, realizing that he really hadn’t looked at his phone since being here and quickly pressed on his mom’s name. He went straight through to her voicemail and went to Taylor’s next and waited for her to answer. “Thank god, where the hell have you been?” Taylor asked, anger evident in her voice. Sidney shook his head at her and ignored her question.

“Is that why everyone called me an unnecessary amount of times?” Sidney asked walking into the living room and turned on the TV. “Are you okay? Your texts seemed like something was wrong,” he said taking a seat as he muted the sound to what ever was on. He was completely oblivious to every thing happening back home.

“No I’m not okay, Craig Blake died,” She said with bitterness in her voice. Sidney’s heart stopped and immediately starting thinking about Brooke.

“When?” he asked rubbing a hand over his face. He was trying to figure out when he could back home, thinking about his training and his schedule.

“Sunday, mom tried to call you and tell you but she’s been busy with Liz and trying to help Brooke with everything so I tried calling you all day Monday,” she explain while Sidney sat there feeling like an asshole.

“Fuck,” he said out of anger. “Sorry, when’s the funeral?” He asked heading to the kitchen where his laptop was sitting on the counter. He pulled up an airline’s website to see when the next flight was to get him back the Nova Scotia in time.

“Tomorrow morning,” Taylor said letting out a sigh. “There’s no way you’re getting here Sid,” She said sounding almost annoyed.

“I’m coming home tomorrow,” He said putting in his information and grabbing his wallet off the counter to get his credit card out. “How is she Tay?” Sidney asked setting the card down and focusing on his sister.

“I don’t really know,” Taylor said letting out a sigh.

“What do you mean? You haven’t seen her or what?” Sidney asked, irritated with her answer.

“Okay well first off, cool it with your tone, and second she’s not really saying much. She’s just been planning and taking care of Liz and Brendan and helping mom with things. She’s practically taken over everything and gone on autopilot. It’s almost like she’s a ghost,” Taylor explained.

“I’m going to call her,” He said before going back to pay for the ticket.

“I don’t think that’s the best idea right now Sid, she’s-” Taylor started to say before Sidney cut her off.

“Taylor, I don’t need you acting like you’re the older sibling here and telling me what I should and shouldn’t do. I’ll see you tomorrow night,” He said before hanging up the phone. He slammed it down on the counter and shut his laptop with more force than he need too and stood against the counter. “Fuck,” he said realizing what an ass he just was. Taylor didn’t deserve that and he was taking out his frustration with himself and the situation on her. He shook his head and picked up his phone before setting it down again and heading upstairs to get dressed. He’d apologize to her later but right now he needed to calm down and figure out what he was going to say to Brooke before he called her and made and even bigger ass out of himself.
….

Brooke stood at the kitchen sink looking out into the back yard lost in thought. Their property went on and on until you reached a wooded area that was normally crawling with deer and other animals, and more often than not you would see them walking on the edge of the tree line. As she stood there, she remembered back to the summer before she left for university how she had been out running the property and had had a deer walk out of the trees about fifty feet ahead of her. Brooke had stood there staring at it and it staring back at her and she thought it was one of the most beautiful creatures she had ever come across. She had taken a couple steps towards it and it never moved or retreated back into the trees out of fear of her. After a couple minutes of their stare down the deer casually walked back into the trees and Brooke continued on her run. She had never experienced something like that in all of the time growing up there and would probably remember it for the rest of her life.

She heard someone walk into the kitchen behind her but she didn’t turn to see who it was. If they needed her, they would talk first. She wasn’t in the mood to talk with anyone right and was trying to avoid dealing with anyone if at all possible.

“Brooke?” Her grandmother said trying to get her attention and Brooke let out a deep breath before turning to look at her and putting on a smile.

“Hey, sorry I was just washing my hands and I thought I saw something out in the back field,” She said lying. Her grandmother had flown in from Ottawa the day before to help her mom out. She was Brooke and Brendan’s only grandparent alive, Brooke’s dad’s parents having passed away when she was little and her mother’s father having died when she was twelve, so it was nice to have her in the house since they did get to see her much.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, I was just coming in to see if you needed help with anything.” Brooke shook her head no and smiled trying to end the conversation. She had taken on all the responsibility of getting the funeral plans set and making arrangements with the hospital. Her mother was dealing with it a lot better than Brooke had expected but she knew that trying to deal with everything would cause her a lot of emotional stress she didn’t need. Brooke knew everyone wanted to help and know how she was doing with everything but she didn’t want to answer their questions and she just wanted everything to go back to normal. She wanted to go back to working in a hospital and treating people with illnesses and making everyone better. She didn’t want to deal with the death of her dad and she was getting good at lying about how she was doing and she didn’t want to have to lie anymore.

“I’m good. I was just going to grab something to nibble on,” she said pointing to the fridge. Her grand mother smiled and walked farther into the kitchen to pull Brooke into a hug.

“I’m glad you’re eating dear, I know it’s difficult to find an appetite in situations like thing,” she said rubbing a hand up and down Brooke’s back. When she pulled away she kissed Brooke on the cheek and left her in the kitchen by herself. Brooke went to open the fridge to look at it’s contents. Trina and some of her mom’s friends had been bring food by the house non-stop so the fridge was full of Tupperware container but Brooke wasn’t interested in eating anything in there. She closed the door and grabbed an apple form the basket on the island that Brendan’s school had sent over and walked out of the kitchen up the stairs.

Once in her room, Brooke sat down on the side of her bed and stretched her legs out in front of her, picking at the stem on her apple. She really wasn’t hungry but knew that she should eat something since forgoing eating anything at all that day. She took a bite and chewed it slowly looking over at her bedside table where she saw her phone lighting up. She knew a call was coming through and reached over to grab it. She looked down to see Kayla’s picture smiling back at her and for the first time in three day’s Brooke actually smiled. “Hey,” Brooke said sighing into the phone.

“Hey, this is going to be super short but do you think you could possibly give me your address?” Kayla said sounding out of breath.

“What? Why?” she asked a little puzzled.

“Can you just give it to me silly,” Kayla asked saying thank you to someone in the background.

“Kayla, if you’re sending me something you really don’t have to,” feeling bad the she felt the need to do that.

“Okay, listen up Blake. Even if I were sending you something, there would be no way in hell that you would be preventing me from sending it to you. But for your information, I’m standing next to a taxi at the Halifax airport and need to tell the cab driver where he needs to go,” She said trying to sound stern but Brooke could hear the smile in her voice.

“What, oh my god you’re here,” She said jumping up off her bed. “But how, when did you…. How did you…. Oh my god you’re here!”

“BROOKE,” She said laughing now.

“Oh sorry,” Brooke said before rattling off the home address to her.

“I’ll see you in a bit, okay?” Kayla said, sounding almost a bit worried to Brooke’s ear.

“Yes, okay, I’ll see you when you get here.” Broke heard the phone disconnect and she sat back down on her bed. She felt relieved that Kayla was going to be there for her and she would have some there she could lean on tomorrow when everyone else was watching to see how she would react.

Notes

Hey everyone, just wanted to thank you all soon much for your support!!!! It means the world to me :)

Also, sorry about the chapter uploading twice. When ever I would go to delete it the screen would freeze and I completely forgot about it after the night I uploaded it. So sorry about that!!!!

But a pretty heavy chapter and the next one will bring a lot of stuff to life!!! I'm getting excited writing it and hope you're just as exciting reading it!!! xoxoxoxoxo