Anna

As I listen to the phone ringing, I begin to second guess my decision to call my mother. It's been on my mind since the Crosbys came to town and I spoke with Trina. They personify how important family is and, especially with my father gone, I want to have a closer relationship with my own. It can't be too late. Maybe we can use the opportunity of Sid and me getting back together and moving forward in our relationship to deepen the relationship I have with my mother and sister. Maybe seeing how close the Crosbys are will help my mother see the kind of relationship we could have if we both try.

"Hello?" my mother answers the phone.

"Mother, how are you?" I ask.

"I'm well Annabelle and how are you?" she answers formally.

"I'm well too."

Now what? I didn't think this through. Unless there's something to specifically discuss, my mother and I haven't spoken on the phone just to 'chat' ever.

I continue "I wanted to talk to you about Christmas mother. Have you made plans?"

"Of course I have" she responds. "I'm going to spend it with your aunts and their families. Your sister is flying in too. I'm so grateful that she's able to take time away from her very busy schedule."

I guess shopping in Europe can make someone very busy.

"I was hoping that you might consider coming to Pittsburgh this year" I tell her. "We only have a few days off for Christmas so Sid's family is coming here for the holidays. I thought it would a good opportunity for you to meet and get to know each other."

"Whatever for?" she asks.

I don't have an immediate response for her because I'm still processing her question. She's actually asking me why she should meet, and get to know, the Crosbys like it would never cross her mind to do so. It didn't escape me that she invited my sister for Christmas but didn't so much as tell me what they are doing never mind asking if I wanted to attend.

"Mother" I begin and take a quick breath to even out my tone. "Sid and I are planning a future together and we would like our families to meet."

"Annabelle, I can't keep up with the men in your life. You make your own decisions that suit you with no consideration of others. Why would I encourage this behaviour? This Christmas, I will be in Georgia with the family as I've planned. As you said, you only have a few days off so it makes sense for you to stay in Pittsburgh. Oh, dear, I need to go. Goodbye Annabelle."

The phone disconnects and I'm left staring at it in my hand while I sit at my desk shaking my head. After Trina was so kind and loving, I thought that I should give my mother a call and ask her to come to Christmas. I had thoughts of our families sitting in Sid's family room and sharing stories of little Sid and little Anna, embarrassing us both, and building a new relationship with my mother and sister.

It's in this exact moment, one that I'll always remember, that I figure it out. I may be successful and more confident but I'm still behaving like I did two years ago. I look for the solution that is the least disruptive to others. I take responsibility for things that I know logically aren't my fault. I try desperately to please a mother who will never approve of me. I keep trying to build a relationship with a woman who wants nothing to do with me. The definition of insanity comes to mind: doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. This must stop.

I'm with the man I love and doing a job that I love. The Crosby's have welcomed me into their family and I feel accepted by them. Taylor hasn't completely come around but she will. This is a happy time and I'm behaving like sky is falling and playing defense even when there is not offense coming at me. I'm done.

Earlier in the day, I told Sid that I would be working. He and his family were going to have dinner with the Lemieuxs so I said to go without me. My watch tells me that they probably haven't even sat down to dinner. Before I can reconsider my actions, I text Sid.

'Can you come to Consol?'

A few seconds later he responds.

'Is everything ok?'

Oops 'yes, everything is fine, I have a surprise. Can you come? It's important.'

There's a brief pause then he responds.

'I'll be there in thirty minutes.'

That doesn't give me much time. Shit, I wore a skirt today too. I move quickly and get to ice level in record time where I search for the equipment guys. There's usually one of them around.

"Anna?"

I hear my name and turn to find Dana. Thank God.

"Dana, I'm so glad you're here. Can you help me with something please?"

I explain my plan and Dana progressively smiles more broadly as I lay it out. He agrees to help me and we go to the storage room first. Dana finds me one of Sid's tee-shirts and warm up jackets. He also finds a pair of the pants Sid wears under his uniform. He wears them tight so I should be able to roll the bottoms and they'll fit. I change and have just finished when my phone buzzes.

'I'm in your office. Where are you?' reads Sid's text.

'Sorry, meet me in the locker room.'

'Ok'

I run there to make sure everything is set up and Dana is at Sid's stall.

"I've got them both here" he says and points to the floor. "Do you need anything else?"

"Um, I don't think so."

"Ok. Oh, I had them turn the lights on for you too" he tells me.

"Thanks, I didn't think about that."

"I'll be leaving in about ten minutes. You guys can just leave everything here and I'll take care of it in the morning."

I take Dana by surprise when I give him a quick hug and kiss his cheek.

"Thank you Dana."

"You trying to move in on my girl?" Sid says from the doorway.

"Ha, be glad I'm taken or I'd give you a run for your money with this one" Dana says back. "Have fun" he tells me and then leaves Sid and I alone.

As Sid walks toward me, he says "nice outfit. Ok, what's going on here."

"I'm sorry I pulled you away from dinner."

"She made her famous roast beef too."

"I'll make it up to you" I tell him and wink.

"So what am I doing here?"

"We haven't had our date this week."

"Our date?"

"Yes, our skating date" I tell him.

Slowly, Sid smiles and pulls me to him for a quick kiss.

"You want to have a date tonight?" he asks.

I point to our skates.

"Yep."

Sid chuckles and says "ok then. Let's skate."

I sit and Sid helps put my skates on and rolls up my pants. When I'm ready, Sid pulls on his own skates and then we walk hand in hand to the ice.

"Let me try it" I say before he can help me onto the ice.

"Ok but let me get on first." He steps onto the ice and then turns a few feet away from me. "Alright now you but slowly."

I step onto the ice while holding the boards and don't let go until both of my feet are firmly on the slippery surface. I know I'm grinning like an idiot for not falling but it's the first time I've been able to do it by myself.

"Good job. Now take a stride towards me" Sid says. "Just like we did last time."

I let go of the boards and glide towards Sid as he taught me; right foot first and the left until I reach Sid and grab his arms.

"I did it!" I say and celebrate a little too much.

Sid grabs me before I can tumble to the ice.

"Oops, sorry" I tell him.

"That was good, the first two steps at least, so let's try more."

When I'm steady on my feet, Sid skates to centre ice and stops directly on the dot. Oh oh, I've never skated that far without his help.

"You can do it" Sid encourages me as if he's reading my mind.

Buoyed by Sid's confidence, I hold my arms out for balance and then push off with my right foot, then my left, right and left. I hold my celebration in check until I'm completely stopped in front of Sid.

"I did it!" I throw my arms around his neck and Sid twirls me around.

"You did great" he says and puts me back onto the ice slowly. "Let's do it again."

This time Sid skates to where the net usually is and stops in the crease. Wow, he thinks I can skate that far. Is he serious? If he thinks I can do it then I guess I can. Slowly, I push off with my right foot and then carefully alternate between left and right until I run directly into Sid who catches me.

"You're a natural" he tells me.

Sid takes my hand in his and turns.

"Let's go around" he tells me.

Before I can argue, he's pulling me with him around the edge of the ice. At first I focus on staying upright while Sid pulls me. I'm surprised that I can do it much easier than the first time we skated and it gives me confidence. Soon I'm skating beside him without needing his help. It's nice to simply hold his hand as we skate around together. It gets a little dicey as we turn but Sid helps me and pulls me around the corners.

"We'll learn how to cross over another day" he tells me.

I nod even though I have no idea what a crossover is and I don't ask because I'm focused on staying on my feet; left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot. After a few times around, Sid stops us by the Pen's bench.

"Want to learn how to stop?" he asks.

"You mean I can't just keep running into you?" I ask.

Sid rolls his eyes and pulls me into his arms. I sink slowly into the kiss when our lips meet. This is what we need, more fun in our lives, and I'm determined that this is our future. When we pull away from each other, Sid looks down at me quizzically.

"I can almost hear you thinking" he tells me.

"Yeah" I reply and try to gather my thoughts to explain my earlier revelation to him. "Sid, I talked to my mother earlier and it was predictably a disaster."

"I'm so sorry babe" he says and strokes my cheek.

"I'm not, really, because I had a revelation. I realized that I'm tired of making decisions and acting so that everyone else is ok. I can't live for my mother or continually seek her approval. I can't sit back and wait to see what someone else might do so that I can figure out how to make it all better. It's not my responsivity to make everything better for everyone. I mean, it kind of is for work, but I'm not talking about my job. I'm talking about my life, our life, together. I'm so tired of the drama and downers that seem to come at us left and right. I've decided that I'm done. The decisions I've made in the past are just that, in the past, and I can't keep trying to make amends for them. The only person I needed understanding and even forgiveness from is you and we've worked that out. Even your parents have accepted everything. It's time to stop it and live the life we want. I want to be happy so I've decided to be."

When I look up, I realize that I've skated slightly away from Sid while I've been talking, so I glide closer. Of course I only stop when I bump into him. I'm surprised to see Sid smile widely at me.

"What?" I ask.

"I've been thinking some of the same things only I wasn't sure how to say it. Oh, not about you but about me. I feel like I'm walking on eggshells being concerned all the time if I'm doing the right thing, saying the right thing, it's exhausting. It's part of our job of course but that doesn't mean we have to carry that over into our personal life. The past few days have been brutal. I wonder if I'm doing enough to support you but I don't want to do too much because that led to me decking Rossi last time. I don't want to put more pressure on you but I want to help. It's exhausting and very negative, you're right. We could do with a little more happy."

I pull his face down to kiss me. The kiss immediately heats and Sid lifts me so that I'm sitting on the boards and he's nestled between my legs. We're both lost in our kiss and focused only on each other. When we finally do pull apart, we're both left trying to catch our breath and slow our heartbeat. Sid kisses the tip of my nose and then pulls back so that we can look at each other.

"Was it horrible with your mom?" he asks.

"Yeah" I admit. "I asked her to come here for Christmas and she didn't understand why I would ask. 'Whatever for Annabelle' were her exact words. She didn't understand why I'd want her to meet your parents and get to know all of you better. It's finally over. I don't owe her anything more. She doesn't need me to take care of her because there is a lot of family around that she feels more comfortable with. There is never going to be any pleasing her so I'm done trying."

"Ok" he says softly. "Is that why you wanted our date tonight?"

"Partly" I tell him. "I'm also tired of feeling shitty. I worry and lament and feel bad all the damn time. It's crazy. I'm with the man I love doing a job that I love. This is the best time of my life so why am I letting anyone take that away from me."

"Makes sense to me" he replies and kisses me again.

"Good. So, um, what do we do next?"

He pauses for a moment and looks unsure.

After taking a deep breath, Sid says "you come home."

It takes me a moment but I realize that he wants me to move back into the house. A million thoughts flash through my head. The overwhelming one being that we've done this before, too quickly, and it broke apart. That thought is quickly followed by one that tells me that everything is different and I've decided to be happy.

"Nothing would make me happier Sidney."

Sid smiles widely and kisses me before pulling me into his arms and twirling us around the ice.

"Put me down you crazy man" I yell at him.

He does but pulls me back into his arms and kisses me until I'm breathless.

"I love you" he says and I watch his eyes soften.

"I love you" I reply and peck at his lips. "Come on, I'm not done with you yet. I need to learn how to stop."

"Ok."

Sid demonstrates how to stop and it looks the same as when you ski; but, it looks nothing like how he stops.

"How come that's not how you stop?" I ask.

Sid chuckles "let's try this first. When you're more experienced then we'll do the way I stop." I pout. "Do you want to stop or fall on your gorgeous ass?"

"I've noticed that you're rather fond of that part of my anatomy."

"Especially in those tight skirts. Oh, and jeans too. Hey, you haven't worn jeans in a while."

"Funny man."

"I'm not being funny, I'm serious. You really should wear jeans more often."

"Sid, focus, please. Even if I'm using the easy way to stop, you need to pay attention so that I don't land on the ass you love so much."

"Ok, ok." He skates away from me. "Let's go."

I crash directly into Sid the first time I try it.

"Try it a little sooner this time" Sid tells me.

"Ok."

Sid skates away and I try it again. This time I'm able to stop but I lose my balance at the last minute and tumble into Sid's arms.

"Better" he tells me and moves away for me to try it again.

We do this a few more times and I get better and better each time.

"You're doing great babe" Sid says when I finally do it perfectly.

"Ok, I think that's enough for the day. It definitely takes different muscles to skate than it does to run and they're telling me loudly that they aren't used to it."

Sid laughs "ok. Come on, let's grab some dinner and then go home. What?"

He must notice the look on my face.

"Your parents are at the house" I tell him.

"Yes."

"And you want me to stay there while your parents are there?"

"Yes" he says. "I think they are very aware that we sleep together."

I chuckle.

"Ok, I get it; but, I want to make sure that they won't think, I don't know" I say.

How do I tell Sid that I don't want his parents to think that I'm a slut?

"Anna, they know that we're together. It may be odd but it will be ok."

"Ok."

We walk back to the locker room and Sid kneels in front of me to unlace my skates.

"I love how you do that" I tell him.

"Do what?"

"Take care of me."

"I thought that was what drove you crazy. In fact, didn't we fight over that once upon a time?"

"There's a difference between thinking that I can't do my job and taking off my skates."

I stroke his cheek and then lean down to kiss him softly.

"Ok" he says and continues.

"I should get changed" I tell him.

I'm still in his rolled up warm up pants, tee shirt and jacket.

"No, you look good. We'll get take out."

"Ok."

Sid takes his vibrating phone out of his jacket and frowns.

"Mom?" he answers.

He listens for a little while.

"Ok. We're at Consol now so we can be there in about twenty five minutes."

He listens again.

"Ok, bye."

"Is everything ok?" I ask when he disconnects.

"Yeah but she's asked for you and I to go over to Mario's. During dinner they figured out what to do about Rossi and the articles."

"Oh, ok. Let's go."

We stop at my office to pick up my purse and then we leave for the Lemieuxs.

Half way there, I look down at myself.

"Shit! I didn't change" I say.

"You look fine. Don't worry."

I'm about to ask him to turn around so I can go to the hotel when I stop. This is part of my problem. I'm always trying to put on the best image to control what people think of me and I need to stop this too.

"Ok" I tell him.

We arrive quickly and walk hand in hand into the Lemieux's home. I'm reminded that Sid lived here for years when he first came to Pittsburgh and he's still comfortable to go directly in. Even in my parent's home, where I lived, I would still ring the doorbell.

When we walk into the kitchen, I see the Crosby's, the Lemieux's and Pat Brisson. I guess everyone is here.

Sidney

Spending the evening with Anna skating at Consol was a huge surprise. Hearing her revelation and the decision she's made was even more surprising but definitely one that I agree with. We should both focus on the positive and being happy and the first step is Anna moving back in with me.

"Hi" I say as Anna and I walk into the kitchen.

Anna grips my hand a little tighter and greets the room too. My mom walks directly to Anna and gives her a hug.

"Glad you could come dear" she says to Anna.

Anna returns her hug and smiles.

Nathalie walks to the table with two plates full of food.

"You must be starving. Here, I reheated some dinner for you. Wine?" Nathalie asks.

Anna and I sit while Mario pours us both a glass of wine.

When he hands Anna hers, he says "nice outfit."

I expect Anna to apologize for wearing the Pen's gear. No one is supposed to wear a player's clothes except the player.

"Thanks" is all she says and smiles.

Wow.

We both dig into our dinner, I guess Anna is as hungry as I am, and everyone turns to Pat. I guess he's leading this plan.

"We've been talking about the situation with Rossi and the articles. The first article could be easily absorbed and didn't have suable material in it. We most likely won't be able to sue over anything that Rossi writes because he may be an asshole but he isn't stupid" Pat says. "He's written some rotten articles in the past, especially during Sid's concussion, and we've done nothing. At least he was writing about the game; but, this is personal and bordering on slander. The sole purpose is to sensationalize a personal matter of the Pen's employee and player. As long as what he says is true and vague, or can't be proven untrue, then there is nothing we can do legally to stop it."

Mario takes over from that point.

"Tomorrow morning, I'm having breakfast with Scaife, the publisher of the Trib, and we're going to discuss the repercussions of any further personal articles about Anna being written" Mario says.

Mario says it in a mild tone but I know he's pissed and Scaife is in for a rough breakfast meeting.

Pat continues.

"That only takes care of Rossi. If the content is coming from that girl you suspect, then she could simply go to another reporter or directly to the internet herself. I suspect she'll want to leak the information so that it doesn't point back to her. She's rising quickly in the Ranger's organization and she'd be fired immediately if it became public that she was gossiping in this way."

"Is she doing anything in conflict with the NDA she signed two years ago?" I ask.

"No" Mario says. "I had legal review it."

"The best solution with this girl is to convince her not to make any more accusations or allegations about Anna or you" Pat tells me. "Some might call it blackmail. We're going to call it 'convincing'."

"If she makes anything public then she'll lose her job?" I ask.

"Her entire career in PR" Pat replies. "It's a very small world and my agency has contacts in every industry in the US. Outside too. If it doesn't happen organically then I'll make sure it happens."

"Who is going to do this convincing?" I ask.

"I am."

We all look at Anna. It's the first thing that she's said since we sat down.

"No" I reply quickly.

Anna puts down her utensils and takes my hand.

"Sid, it has to be me."

"Um, no and why?"

"It can't be you or Mario or Pat. You're all too high profile and if it ever gets traced back to you then there could be legal repercussions. Your parents don't even know her. Plus, I think that I need to do it. Maybe it will be closure or maybe I just want to skewer the bitch. Regardless, I need to do it myself. Ok?"

I can see how important this is to her and, given our earlier conversation, I understand why.

"Ok" I agree.

Anna strokes my cheek and kisses me. We both turn red when we remember the others in the room.

"That was actually going to be our suggestion" Pat says. "It makes sense for it to be you Anna. Anyone seeing you would think that it's two friends getting together."

"Even if it makes sense, you need to be ok with doing it dear. No one will hold it against you if you don't want to" mom says to Anna.

Anna sits up straighter and turns to mom.

"Thank you Trina but I'm ok. In fact, I look forward to the conversation."

Mom smiles and we all turn back to Pat.

"We play the Rangers in two days so that gives you the opportunity while they're here" Pat tells Anna.

"Ok" Anna agrees and starts eating again.

Pat talks about more of the details and some of the options should the approach not work. We don't want to put all of our eggs in one basket so we need to have options.

"Are you ok?" I whisper in Anna's ear.

She turns, smiles and kisses me softly. That tells me everything I need to know.

"We need to get going" my dad says.

They took my car here so they can get themselves home.

He continues "would you like us to drop you off Pat?"

"That's so far out of your way" Pat answers.

"I can drop you Pat" I tell him. "I need to drive Anna back to the hotel too."

We all say goodbye and soon I'm at the hotel.

When Anna opens the car door, she turns back to me and says "I'll be five minutes." Then Anna and Pat disappear into the hotel.

I scroll through my phone and see a text from Tanger asking me to call him immediately. He sent it three minutes ago.

"Sid, where are you? How long will it take you to get to my house?" is how Tanger answers the phone.

He sounds panicked.

"I can be there in twenty minutes" I tell him. "Why?"

"Ok, I need to take Cath to the hospital. She's bleeding and might be losing the baby."

They've already had a miscarriage, years ago, so I know immediately why he's panicking.

"Oh God Tanger. Why don't I meet you at the hospital to save time? Then I'll take Alex back to your house."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. Ok, I'll text you the info."

He disconnects before I can respond. I dial Anna.

"I said five minutes" she laughs as she answers.

"I need you down ASAP. Tanger has to take Catherine to the hospital and they need us to get Alex and look after him."

"On my way" she says and disconnects.

I start the car so that I'm ready to go when Anna gets here and she doesn't make me wait long. When we're under way, Anna asks me what's going on.

"Tanger said that he has to get her to the hospital because she's bleeding and might be losing the baby" I tell her.

"I hope that they are only being cautious. I know they've already had a miscarriage and it was a horrible time for them. I can't image what they're going through right now" Anna says.

My phone vibrates so I hand it to Anna.

"That's probably Tanger with the hospital details" I tell her.

Anna gives me the hospital information and it's fifteen minutes away. I speed hoping that I can make it in less time.

I get us there in record time and park in the emergency lot. As we walk into the hospital, I text Tanger and let him know that we're here. I'm surprised when I don't get a response but then Tanger is walking towards us with Alex in his arms.

Anna gives Tanger a kiss and then Alex, giving him a tickle too. Alex gives her a sleepy laugh. He probably doesn't understand what's going on.

I want to ask Tanger what's going on but I'm hesitant in front of Alex. Anna is quick to act and asks Alex if he'd like some apple juice. Alex looks at his dad, who tells him it's ok, and then explains that we'll be staying with Alex and he'll see him in the morning. After their goodbyes, Anna takes him in her arms and they go down the hall.

"How is she?" I ask when Anna and Alex are out of earshot.

"The technician will be in soon to give her an ultrasound. We just got here."

Tanger rubs his hand over his face and I can tell he's frustrated. There can be little more frustrating than feeling helpless to help those you love; especially your wife.

"What can I do?" I ask.

Tanger gives me a small smile.

"Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do here. If you can take Alex home, even your place, then I know that we don't have to worry about him. That will help Cath a lot especially."

"We can take him to your place Tanger. He'll feel better in his own routine, right?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind."

"Then that's where we'll go. My folks are still in town and they can look after him tomorrow during practice so you don't have to worry about anything, ok?"

"Alright, thanks man."

We do the handshake-half hug as men do and he gives me his house keys and gate code. He returns to Cath and I walk down the hall to find Anna and Alex. I find them in the kid's waiting area where Alex is sitting on her lap drinking apple juice. Anna looks up at me with a forced smile which I easily recognize because I have the same one on my face.

"Ok kid" I say to Alex. "I have daddy's keys so we're going to your house. Anna and I will stay with you, ok?"

"Where's mommy?" he asks with a quiver in his voice.

I don't know how to answer his question or what is even appropriate for a kid to know. Thankfully Anna steps in.

"Mommy is seeing a doctor with daddy" Anna tells him. "The doctor will give mommy some medicine so that she can get better. Daddy is staying to keep her company and Uncle Sid and I are going to keep you company."

"But I want to stay will mommy and daddy!" he gets more distressed.

Anna strokes his hair and kisses his forehead.

"They would love for you to stay but little boys like you need sleep. This way you can sleep tonight and then see mommy and daddy tomorrow" she tells him.

I watch as Alex considers what Anna's said.

"But I want mommy" Alex says in a small voice.

Anna cuddles him to her, strokes his back and kisses the top of his head.

"I know you do" she says softly then pulls him away from her so that she can see his face. "But isn't it exciting to have a sleepover with Uncle Sid? I mean, when have you ever had a sleepover with Uncle Sid?"

Alex looks at Anna and then at me. Shit.

"Yeah, kid, we're going to have a sleepover" I tell him and smile.

"You're going to sleep over?" he asks.

"Yep" I tell him.

"In my bed?"

Ah, um.

"Sure" I tell him.

"Awesome" he smiles at me and then Anna.

"Then let's go" Anna tells him.

The three of us walk out hand in hand with Alex between us. I glance at Anna and she's trying to hold her laughter in. Yes, I'm sleeping with a six year old tonight rather than having sex with my very hot girlfriend. Not exactly how I thought the evening would go.

Alex quickly falls asleep in the back seat as we drive to the Letang's home.

"I'm going to call your parents" Anna tells me.

"Yeah, good idea. Let mom know we might need them tomorrow to watch Alex."

"Ok."

I listen while Anna explains the situation when my mom answers the phone. The conversation doesn't take long because we don't know much about how Catherine is doing.

When Anna disconnections, she says to me "your mom says she'll talk to us in the morning and see what the plan is for the day."

"Ok, good, he looked so helpless" I say softly.

Anna knows that I'm talking about Tanger. She takes my free hand in hers.

"I can't imagine how helpless he feels. I'm glad he called you so that they don't have to worry about Alex. Has he called her parents? His?"

"I don't know" I tell her. "I didn't get a lot of time to talk to him before he needed to get back to Cath."

We're silent the rest of the drive both lost in our own thoughts about the Letangs. When we arrive, I park in the driveway, hand the house keys to Anna and carry Alex inside. He stays asleep the whole way to his bedroom and even as I take off his shoes and tuck him into bed. He cuddles directly into his pillow and stays asleep.

Should I stay with him? I said that I'd sleep here with him. Shit. I know nothing about kids so I go to find Anna. The light spills out of what must be the master bedroom so I head there first. I find Anna stripping the bed lines.

"What are you doing?" I ask her.

"I figured she must have bled in bed since Kris said that she was bleeding. She might have been tired and already in bed, I wanted to check the sheets. After a long night at the hospital, they definitely won't want to come home and have to change the sheets. God forbid she should lose the baby, I really don't want her to come home to see this in her bed."

Of course Anna would think that logically and be that compassionate. I walk over to the bed, kiss her quickly and then help her with the linens. When we're done, we go downstairs and Anna goes to the laundry room while I go to the kitchen. I look in the fridge and find a good bottle of white wine chilling. Ah, you can always count on Tanger. I'm pouring us each a glass as Anna walks into the room.

We both take a long drink and then sit at the breakfast bar.

"At least he doesn't have school tomorrow" Anna says. "I'm sure he has a regular routine but I have no idea how to send a kid to school."

Shit, I never even thought about school.

"You'd never know that you don't have kids" I tell her. "You were so good with him."

Anna just shrugs and takes another sip of wine.

"How many kids do you want?" I ask her.

I don't know who's more stunned at my question; Anna or me.

"Um, I don't know" she replies.

That gives me a very uneasy feeling.

"You do want kids, right?" I ask her.

"Oh, of course, yes Sid" she says and I relax again. "I have never thought about how many. How about you?"

"I want at least two" I tell her. "Maybe more if you're up for it."

Anna laughs and says "if I'm up for it huh? Why don't we start with one and see how that goes?"

Then it hits me: we're not just talking about having a future together; we're talking about the details of our life. Mmmm, maybe I should start looking at rings. Ok, no, I need to slow the fuck down. She's just agreed to move back in and we still have shit to figure out.

"There's a guest room beside Alex's" Anna says. "I'll sleep there and, if you're ok with it, I think you should sleep with Alex. This way, if he wakes, he'll see you there. I don't want him to wander down to his parent's bedroom and find it empty and I'm not comfortable sleeping in their room."

Sleeping with a six year old does not have much appeal; but, at least he has a queen bed so there's room for me.

"It's a good idea" I agree. "You know, I had other ideas for how this evening was going to end."

"If any of those ideas included sex while your parents were in the house, well, those ideas were never going to happen anyway."

I chuckle.

"Did you text Kris?" she asks.

"About what?"

"To tell him that we're at his place and Alex is asleep."

"Oh" I respond.

I didn't think of that so I send the text.

' home Alex asleep' I send

His response is immediate.

'great, thanks, he's ok?'

'yeah, fell asleep in car, didn't wake up'

'great'

'how's Cath?'

'ultrasound done, saw doctor, they're trying to stop labour, need to watch her tonight'

'so you're waiting' I text him.

'yeah, I guess, they're admitting her'

'can we do anything for you?'

'no, watching Alex is huge'

'ok, I'll text when we're up in the morning and we can plan for the day then' I text him.

'thanks Sid'

'welcome'

"Is he ok? How's Cath?" Anna asks.

"They did an ultrasound and she's definitely in labour although I don't know why an ultrasound would need to tell them that. Anyway, they're going to watch her overnight and reassess in the morning. I told him we'd connect in the morning about next steps and not to worry about Alex."

"He has enough to worry about" she says. "He's lucky to have such a good friend as you."

I shrug.

"He could have called Flower or Duper too."

"But he called you Sid. He knew that he could count on you."

"You too" I tell her. "I don't know what I would have said to the kid if you weren't there."

"You would have been fine."

"I would have had my mom with me" I laugh.

"And you would have been fine."

Anna yawns which has me yawning too.

"Time for bed I think" I tell her.

"At least I have my bag with me" she says.

"I guess you do. I have my stuff at the rink so I'll just shower and dress there."

We turn off the lights as walk upstairs together.

Anna stops and quietly opens Alex's bedroom door. The hall light falls over his face and I can see that he's fast asleep and still in the position I left him in. That gives me an idea.

Using my phone, I zoom in and take a picture of a sleeping Alex then send it to Tanger. He texts back a thank you.

"That was very sweet" Anna says as we enter the guest room.

I shrug.

We both undress. Anna has my Pens shirt with her to sleep in and I leave on my tee shirt and shorts. If I'm sleeping with Alex then I should probably keep more clothes on I guess. What the hell do I know about sleepovers with six year olds?

Anna uses the en suite bath and I use the one in the hall. When I'm finished, I wait for Anna on the bed scrolling through my phone. Pat copied me on an email to Anna asking to meet with her and discuss some details. He doesn't say details to what but we all know to what he's referring.

"I think you're supposed to be in the next room" Anna says as she comes back in the room.

She looks gorgeous and much younger. She's wearing only a tee shirt, hair in a ponytail and no make-up.

"You're so beautiful" I tell her.

I love watching her eyes soften as they do right now. It enhances her beauty and I can see how much she loves me.

Anna crawls up onto the bed and lies beside me with her head and hand on my chest.

"I love you" she says.

"I love you."

"Tomorrow morning, I'll wait until we know how Catherine is and what we're doing before I go into work. I sent Adam a message to go in a little earlier in case anything is needed. He can handle it."

"Oh, ok" I say.

She tilts her head so that she can look at me and says "is that ok?"

"Yeah, of course, I'm just surprised. I thought you'd still go in at your usual time."

It really didn't occur to me that Anna would change her schedule tomorrow morning. I thought that I'd be with Alex by myself and was even planning on taking him to my place so that mom can make us breakfast.

"Of course I'm staying Sid. Kris and Cath need us right now. Until we know how she's doing and when their families are coming in, if they are, then we're looking after Alex. Maybe they want him to go to the Fleury's or Dupuis' so that he has kids to play with and keep his mind occupied. Anyway, we'll figure it all out in the morning. Ok?"

"Ok" I reply and kiss her lips softly.

Anna shifts so that she can deepen the kiss and quickly she's on top of me and we're frantic. I can never have enough of this woman.

I think we both realize where we are and what we're doing so we pull away at the same time. Anna shifts and lowers her head so that it lies on my chest. She's so small I barely feel her weight on top of me.

"I think I better go into the other room" I say.

"Yeah, I think you better" Anna replies.

Neither of us move.

I chuckle and say "ok, shift, I really need to go."

Anna sighs and slides to lie at my side. I get up and then turn back to look at her. Fuck, she looks so fucking sexy lying on her side, my shirt hitched up so that her panties are visible and her long, shapely legs are bare.

"Goodnight" I say and get out of the room quickly hearing Anna chuckle after me.

I quietly slip into Alex's room and then into bed. The queen size gives me lots of room. Alex looks so small on one side of the bed clutching the pillow. He really is cute.

I must be more tired than I thought because I quickly fall asleep.

The next thing I'm aware of is have a warm breath breathing on my face. When I open my eyes, I see that Alex is sharing my pillow, still fast asleep, with his face only an inch from mine. I guess the kid travels in his sleep.

I shift slowly, as not to wake him, and grab my phone beside the bed. Its 7am. Anna will definitely be awake by now so I slip out of bed and go to the guest room. The bed is made and my clothes are folded. I dress and go downstairs.

"Good morning" Anna says as she's pouring herself a cup of coffee. "Here's a shake. I used Kris' protein stuff and some fruit I found in the fridge."

"Thanks babe" I take the shake and a long drink.

"I talked to Kris and Cath lost the baby. They couldn't stop her labour so they had to deliver the baby and they couldn't revive her."

"Cath?"

"Sorry, no, the baby was a girl. They couldn't revive the baby."

"Oh God" is all I can say.

'Yeah. Both of their parents are flying in this afternoon."

"How are they?" I ask.

"Catherine is healthy physically but a mess of course. Kris sounded like he was trying to keep it together and barely managing it. I wish there was something that I could do for them."

I feel equally useless so I walk over and pull Anna into my arms. We stand like that for a long while. Anna breaks the silence.

"At least four."

"Four what" I ask.

"Kids. I want at least four kids."

Oh, she's answering my question from last night.

"Let's start with one and see how we do" I repeat her words.

Anna chuckles.

"I peeked in on you guys when I woke up. I guess some time during the night Alex must have cuddled up beside you" Anna says.

"Yeah, I woke up with his hot breath in my face."

"It was cute."

"Yeah, well, I'm glad we have a California king here and in Cole Harbour."

"Too fit all of our kids?" she asks.

"Where are mommy and daddy?"

We both turn and see Alex standing the doorway in his pajamas and holding a stuffed penguin. Shit, I have no idea what to say to the kid.

"Good morning Alex" Anna says and slips out of my arms. "Can I have a morning hug?"

Alex gives her a shy smile and moves into her arms for a hug. When he moves back, Anna crouches so that they are eye to eye.

"Mommy and daddy are still at the hospital but they'll be home today for sure" Anna tells him. She must have spoken to Kris about it. "We're going to have breakfast together, you, me and Uncle Sid, and then we're going to take you to the Dupuis' so that you can play with Kody. I think he has a new game for his X-box and you can help him break it in, ok?"

"Wow, yeah" he says. "Can we go now?"

"We need to have breakfast first silly" Anna tells him.

"I'm not silly" he says and points to Anna. "You're silly."

"I'm not silly" Anna teases him and then points at me. "Maybe it's Uncle Sid who's silly."

Alex giggles "yeah, Uncle Sid, you're so silly."

Just like that we're all giggling and then making breakfast together. It's a preview for me of how life will be when Anna and I have a family of our own. It feels good.

My phone rings and it's Pat.

"Hey Pat" I answer.

"Hi, I haven't heard from Anna about meeting with me today and she's not here yet, which is really unlike her. Everything ok?" he asks.

"You're at Consol?"

"Yeah, Anna's always here by 7am and I thought we could connect before the world descends."

"She's here with me" I tell him. "One second."

I move down the hall so that Alex can't hear me talking. Anna nods as I leave knowing why I'm leaving the room and she diverts Alex so that he doesn't follow me.

"Ok" I tell Pat. "I just needed to get alone."

I tell Pat about Cath and Tanger going to the hospital and Anna and I staying with Alex. Pat also represents Tanger, and they're really close, so I also tell him that Cath lost the baby. We talk for a few more minutes before Pat brings the conversation back to the 'issue.'

"Would you tell Anna that we can catch up at some point today? I'm here all day" Pat tells me.

"Yeah, sure, I'll let her know. I want to be in on that conversation Pat. Anna and I are doing everything together as it relates to this Rossi bullshit. It saves a lot of updating later and allows us to support each other."

"Sounds like you guys are doing really well" Pat says.

"Yeah, we really are."

"I'm happy for you Sid. You deserve it."

"Thanks."

We talk about the schedule for practice and video today and then end our call.

When I enter the kitchen, Anna has Alex sitting at the breakfast bar eating eggs, toast and a mountain of fruit. I snatch strawberry from his plate.

"Hey, Uncle Sid, stop being so silly" he tells me.

"I can't help it" I say and sit beside him.

Anna places a plate of eggs and turkey bacon in front of me. Usually I only have my shake when I wake up and then I eat eggs before practice at the rink. She must think that we won't have time for me to eat before practice and she's probably right.

Anna walks around me so that she can sit in the empty chair beside Alex and I grab her for a quick kiss.

"Thank you" I whisper and kiss her again.

"Yucky!" Alex pronounces.

"You don't like kisses?" Anna asks as she sits beside him.

"No way, they're yucky" he tells her.

I see the gleam in her eye before she places kisses over Alex's cheek and neck. He giggles and tries to move away from her which puts him on my lap. This goes on for a few moments before Anna's phone rings. She gives me an 'I have to take this' look and leaves the room.

I remember what Tanger and Cath are going through and it sobers me quickly. Thankfully Alex doesn't notice because he's back in his own chair eating his eggs so I work on my own.

Anna comes back in shortly.

"It was your mom" she says. "I filled her in on the plan for the day. She's going to call Carole-Lyne to see if she wants some reinforcements having that many kids in the house."

"Good idea. I assume dad will come to the rink."

"Yeah, he'll be there after he drops off your mom."

This must be what it's like to have a family and play hockey; there are so many things to do and plan. It will be different and maybe difficult but so many of the guys do it. Look at Duper with four kids and how well he's managed.

"Sid, where did you go?"

I look at Anna "sorry. Thinking."

"Ok, can you take Alex upstairs to dress and brush his teeth? I'll clean up down here."

I look down and both Alex and I have finished our food. I must have been daydreaming longer than I thought.

"Ok, let's go kid" I tell him and then I chase him up the stairs.

Yeah, this is definitely what I want.