Baggage Claim

It had been an extremely busy week for Brooke. She had been sitting in on a lot of consultations as well as visiting with patients whom had received surgeries and were still in the hospital. She had been allowed to watch the surgery of the young girl with the tumors from the gallery and was fascinated with the attention to detail that Dr. Leviey had. There had also been another doctor in the Otolaryngology unit that Brooke would sometimes mentor if Dr. Leviey had no patients or had been attending a meeting. She had loved every second of her week and couldn’t have been any happier to have come to UPMC.

When Saturday morning rolled around Brooke had slept in a lot later than she was used to and was a little panicked at first when she rolled over to see that her phone read 10:30am but remembered that it was a Saturday. She decided that she should call her mom since she hadn’t spoken to her since her first night in Pittsburgh and figured that she was itching to hear from her. She picked up on the fourth ring.

“Hello sweetie, I was hoping to hear from you,” Her mother’s cheerful voice boomed through the phone.

“Hey Mom. How are you?” Brooke asked.

“Oh, I’m good, busy preparing for the fall dinner and your brother and Father are being no help like usual but what else is new,” Her mother answered into the phone. “But enough about me, how was your first week? I want to hear all about it but I don’t want to hear about the car.”

Brooke rolled her eyes and went on to tell her mother all about the different patients she had seen and the surgery she had watched. She also described Dr. Leviey and how much she could learn from him and about how talented the other doctor, Dr. Patricia Welch, was from training under Dr. Leviey. Brooke had managed to walk downstairs to the kitchen while talking to her mom to get a cup of coffee. She noticed that the coffee hadn’t been brewed yet so either Sidney wasn’t up yet which she doubted or that he left early for a work out. Brooke turned on the coffee maker and went to stand by the back door looking out over Sidney’s gigantic back yard. “That’s wonderful honey, so you’re liking it obviously?” her mother asked.

“I love it, every aspect of it is so interesting and all the cases are different even if they’re the same, I don’t know if that really make sense but it’s hard to explain,” Brook said smiling to herself.

“No, it does, and how are you liking Pittsburgh?”

“It’s amazing. It’s so full of life and there are just so many people in the downtown area. I mean it was sort of like Baltimore but completely different. I love it here. I could really see myself coming here to do my residency,” Brooke said biting down on her thumbnail.

“And how’s Sidney, I hope you two are getting along alright,” her mother asked.

“Uhh, Sid is good. He’s just been getting ready for the season, so we really only see each other when I’m running out the door for work or at night but no one has died yet so that’s a plus I guess,” Brooke decided that she didn’t need to go into detail about how they had been acting with one another.

“I was telling Trina over the summer how much different he looks from when he was first drafted. He looks so much….older I guess you could say, older than how a 26 year old should look,” Brookes mother pointed out. Brooke couldn’t deny that he did look older but he looked good.

“He looks old because he’s not 18 anymore mom. He filled out a lot more, I mean his chest is a lot bigger and stronger looking than it used to be and as surprising as it is to say that his butt has gotten bigger too, but he still looks really good. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the way he looks,” Brooke said defending him to her mother.

“Wow Brooke, who knew you could actually say nice things about him,” Brookes mother said in a rather amused tone.

“What ever, he’s just not the same Sidney I had to grow up with. He doesn’t treat me like a four year old anymore so it’s kinda nice,” Brooke said blushing a little as she rested her head against the door. “Well I should get going, I have to get a few things done today I just wanted to give you a call to see how you were doing.”

“Well it was nice to hear from you and your father hopes you’re doing well also,” Brooke rolled her eyes and scoffed and little bit. “Brooke be nice, anyways tell Sidney we say hello and hope to hear from you soon sweetie. Love you.”

“Love you too mom,” Brooke said before hanging up the phone and turning back toward the coffee maker. Brooke froze when she turned around seeing Sidney leaned up against the wall with his hockey bag still on his shoulder and his arms crossed in front of him. “Hey,” Brooke said as she made a b-line toward the cupboard to grab herself a cup and offered Sidney one as well.

“No, I’m good thanks,” He said set his bag down and pulled out a chair from the island.

“So how much of the conversation did you hear,” Brooke asked with her back still turned to him.

“Uhm, not a lot, just that you had a few things to do today, that you loved your mom and that you think my butt was big,” Sid said letting her know that he heard everything she said about him. Her face immediately turned red and all she wanted to do was kick herself for saying those things but she couldn’t take them back now and she slowly turned around to face him. Sid had both his arms resting on the counter playing with a piece of paper in between his hands. Brooke took a sip of her coffee making eye contact with him and tried to think of a way to get herself out of the situation with out sounding like she had been checking him out.

“I think everyone who watches hockey knows that you have a pretty big butt,” she said trying to play it off. Sidney smiled to himself and got up from his chair walking over to the fridge.

“I think you also mentioned something about my chest looking bigger than is used to be,” He said grabbing a water bottle from inside the fridge and opening it to take a drink from it. Brooke looked down at his chest when he said it noticing how snug his shirt looked this morning. It was tight in all the right places and Brooke needed to take a sip from her coffee mug to get her attention off him.

She nodded her head in answer to his remark. “I did say something about that, because you’ve been working out a lot,” Brooke said crossing one foot over the other as she leaned against the counter. She was looking down at her feet until she realized Sidney had started to walk to towards her. She looked up making eye contact and Sid came to a stop right in front of her. There wasn’t much space in between the two and if Sidney bent his head down a little bit their lips would be only inches from one another.

“I also recall you saying something about thinking I look good,” Sid said in a hushed voice. Brooke could feel the butterflies in her stomach and she quickly looked away from him and stood up from the counter. She walked out of the kitchen as fast as possible and up the stairs into her room. Once the door was closed Brooke let out the breath she was holding in.

“Shit. Shit. Shit” Brooke said as she paced back and forth in her room. She couldn't have feelings for Sidney. It just wasn’t something that couldn't, nor would ever happen. But why was it happening now? She knew that he was an amazing guy, he hadn’t always been amazing to her but they had had their issues. They were teenagers who didn’t get along and knew how to push one another buttons. Now they were adults, who had adult lives, and adult feelings. They had both grown up out of their teenage days and seemed to both have matured past stuff. But Brooke didn’t know if she could let her feelings come to the surface. Let herself get close to him because she just couldn’t end up being disappointed by anyone, especially the person who knew so much about her and what had happened in her life. She had drawn a wall up against Sidney many years ago and she didn’t want to take it down because of a couple butterflies. Or did she?
…

“What the hell just happened,” Sidney said to himself as he rested his hands on the counter and let out a deep breath. He sat in the kitchen after Brooke had gone upstairs and though about what had happened. He didn’t mean to flirt with her or to come onto her but he liked that she had said those things to her mom. It made him smile knowing that she thought about him that way and looked at him the way that she had. He would be lying to himself if he said that he hadn’t been checking Brooke out from the minute he saw her in the airport. She was beautiful, more so than she was when they were kids. All of Sidney’s friends had anyways thought she was hot and Sidney would always play it off that he hadn’t noticed or didn’t care, because in those days, he really didn’t have time for girls or Brooke for that matter and he could pretend he didn’t have any feelings for her. But now, now he really couldn’t avoid his feelings and the things he thought about when he saw her.

It bothered him the other day when Geno made her blush, he wanted to be the reason for her blushing, but had never wanted to be that person before. He had never been jealous of other guys when it came to Brooke but now he just couldn’t help it. He didn’t know exactly what he wanted but he also didn’t know if had ruined any possible chance with her. Sidney probably knew more about Brooke than anyone else regarding her personal life.

Sid sat in the kitchen for a little bit longer devising a plan to start over with her before he headed up the stairs to her room. He stood outside her door for a minute really thinking if he wanted to do this. He shook his head deciding to take the chance and knocked. Brooke opened the door a few seconds later still in her sleeping shorts and t-shirt and looking a little surprised to see him there. “What are you doing today?” Sidney asked balling his hands up in front of him.

“Uhm, I was going to do some laundry and probably just relax, why?” Brooke asked crossing her arms across her body. Sidney smiled at her, which she reciprocated slightly.

“Get ready and be downstairs in half an hour, I want to take you out and show you something,” Sidney said before heading in the direction of his bedroom leaving Brooke standing in her doorways bewildered as to what was going on.

…

Sidney pulled up to what looked like a running path with a park just beyond it. “Sid, I’m not really dressed to go for a run,” Brooke said looking down at her ripped jean capris, white tank top and beige cardigan. Sidney turned to look at Brooke and smiled slightly as he opened his door and climbed out of the truck. Brooke shook her head and did the same coming around to the front to meet him.

"Do you trust me?" Sidney asked Brooke. She looked at him not really knowing how to answer and followed him as he started of in the direction of the running path. Sidney slowed down allowing for her to catch up and they continued on silently.

"When I first came here, I would go for long runs just to try and get to know the area a little better, and this was one of my favourite paths to run on," Sidney explained putting his hands in his pockets. "I still come here every so often when I wake up at four in the morning and can't get back to sleep. There aren't to many people on the path that early so it's nice to just be out here practically on your own," Sid said looking down at his feet. Brooke was looking ahead of them and saw a couple of girls running towards them, understanding why Sidney was trying to cover his face as much as possible. She sighed a bit again realizing how hard it must be for him to really go out into the public without getting noticed.

"They're gone," Brooke said once the girls were quite a distance behind them. Sidney looked up at her, realizing she understood what he had been doing and nodded his head in thanks.

"We're going just up here," Sid pointed to dirt path that lead off of the path they were on now and Brooke looked at him skeptically.

"You're not going to try and kill me are you?" Brooke asked placing a hand on Sidney's forearm, stopping him from going any further.

"No," Sidney said chuckling at Brooke, "Come on," He said grabbing Brooke's hand and leading her off to the right. Sidney let go of her hand once she had started walking again, and she felt a tiny bit upset. He shoved his hands back in his pockets out of habit and also keeping himself from grabbing her hand again.

They continued walking a little bit further and Sidney motioned for Brooke to go in front of him and he placed his hand on the small of her back guiding her towards what they had come here for. Once they were past the tree's Brooke's jaw dropped at what she was seeing. It was a small little pond with two run offs that looked almost like little waterfalls. There was a rather large white magnolia tree that still had quiet a few flowers left on it's branches with many of the flowers scattered all over the ground and in the water. It was almost like a like snow dusting and Brooke couldn't believe how beautiful it was. She could take her eyes off of the scenery in front of her and her smile was spread across her face. "This, this is..." she couldn't find the words to describe how beautiful it looked.

"I know," Sid said standing beside her again, looking over at her to see her reaction. "I found it a couple years ago and every so often I'll come here on a run just to look at it," Sidney said turning back to take in the scenery.

"Thank you for showing this to me," Brooke said turning to look at him.

Sid smiled at her knowing that she had enjoyed it just as mush as he had. "I'm glad you liked it," he said turning to face her.
Brooke looked back at the pond and it really reminded her of home. Though she got snow when she was in Baltimore, it just didn’t compare to home. “I makes me think about home.”

“Yeah, I guess it kind of does,” Sidney replied, still looking at her. “Look, Brooke I want to try and start over from the other night. I don’t want us to hate each other anymore and I don’t want you to feel like you need to tiptoe around the house because you have been spending way too much time in your room and the house is yours too. So I’m sorry about this stuff I’ve said and the way I’ve acted,” Sidney said in a very direct manner making it seem like he was talking to one of his teammates.

Brooke was a little shocked when she heard him say it. She looked at him and felt the butterflies stop knowing that he was being 100% serious, captain Sidney Crosby. “Okay,” Was all that Brooke got out and she turned to look back at the pond. “I’m sorry too.” And she turned to walk back in the direction they had come from. If he didn’t want her, than he didn’t want her. She still wanted to make things right between them but she would have to swallow her feelings and be his friend.
...

Sunday Brooke decided that she needed to do some laundry so while she was waiting for her first load to be finished washing she sat in the living room on her lap top trying to get her emails cleaned up. There had been a couple of cases that Dr. Leviey had sent to Brooke to look over and pull up some notes for the next week along with some emails from couple of her friends from John Hopkins that she ha don't had the time to respond to as well as a couple junk emails. Once she was done with those she resigned to dealing with the emails from Dr. Leviey tomorrow and closed her Mac. Brooke figured that her laundry should be done so she went to go throw in another load. Once she opened the laundry room door, Sidney was standing over the washer in only his shorts with his shirt in his hands.

"Hey, sorry, I spilt something on my shirt , is it okay if I throw it in with your clothes? I put your first load in the dryer," Sid explained nodding towards the machine. Sid noticed that Brooke seemed to shell up after he had apologized and he planed to show her that she meant more to him than she thought she did.

"Uhh, yeah," Brooke said walking further into the room, "What did you spill on it," Brooke asked taking his shirt out of his hands and looking it over.

"Oil," Sid said showing her where on his shirt he had spilt it. Sid looked down at Brooke realizing how close they were and had to fight the urge not to reach out and touch her.

"Hand me the spray," Brooke said pointing to the bottle that was sitting above the washer. Sid grabbed it and handed it to her allowing for their finger to graze slightly. It sent chills through both of them, Brooke trying to ignore it and igniting Sidney. She sprayed the shirt a couple times and put the bottle back on the shelf, having to reach over Sidney pulling her shirt up exposing some of her abdomen as she stretched. Brooke wanted to reach out run her hands up her bare chest, feeling all of the muscles he had been working to tone all summer. "There, should be as good as new," Brooke said tossing the shirt in the washing machine and closing the lid. She turned to look at Sindey and smiled before turning to head back out of the room.

Sid was moving before he even knew what he was doing. He grabbed Brooke's waist turning her back towards him and crashed his lip into her. Brooke was a little stunned at first but Sidney moved his tongue across her bottom urguing Brooke to give him entrance to her mouth. She allowed herself to get lost in what ever was happening and placed both of her hands on Sidney’s shoulders, steadying herself, which allowed him to pull her even closer to his body. Sid had both arms wrapped about her back holding as close as was possible and picked Brooke up to set her on top of the washer allowing for them to be at the same height. Brooke wove her hands into his hair grabbing a fist full causing a slight groan to escape for him. Sid ran his hands up Brooke's thighs painfully slow but with hunger allowing for Brooke to know that he wanted her. She moved her hands down over his shirtless torso feeling all of his muscles as she went, feeling how rock hard every inch of him seemed to be. Sidney continued moving his hands up Brookes legs over her shorts and attached his mouth to her neck causing her to moan knowing he had found a sensitive spot.

"Sid, where the hell are you?" They both heard someone call from the kitchen.

"Fuck it's Marc" Sid said leaning his head against Brooke's shoulder. Brooke let out a deep breath, trying to clear her head.

"You go out first," Brooke told Sidney as she slid off of the washer in front of him. He looked down into her eyes and nodded his head slightly. He walked towards the door and went out into the kitchen.

"You’re not tanned enough to be walking around with no shirt on my friend," Brooke could hear Marc tease Sidney once he had found him.

"I spilt something on it, I was just throwing it in the wash," the voices were becoming mumbled so Brooke assumed that they had either retreated outside or into the living room and Brooke sighed in relief. Brooke leaned against the washer and brought her hand up to her lips. They felt raw and Brooke smiled. Brooke wanted to finish what they had started, that much she knew but what she didn't know was what it all meant.

Notes