Tough Love

Chapter 28 - Once again (Part 1)

The Penguins had reached the Playoff Finals once again, and Brooke was getting closer and closer to giving birth to their kids, so she hadn't been allowed to go with the guys for their games, but she was there for the first game against the St. Louis Blues, at the Penguins' home rink. Her belly was extremely big now, and she stayed back in their house for most of the time. Sid spent every free minute with her, and called her whenever he was away with the rest of the team. Now, she was sitting in the front row up at the owner's lounge, next to her parents, and Sid was on the ice, waiting for the puck to drop. Brooke waved at him with a smile when he looked up, and Sid looked at her with a smile for a few long seconds before turning back to his opponnent again and getting ready for the first period.

Everyone on the team was in top condition, and they all worked extremely well together, so the Blues had no chance against them during the first game. Geno scored twice, and Pascal scored a goal as well, while Fleury kept their net empty, making it a three to nothing win for the Penguins. Brooke cheered for them and waited a bit after the game had ended before walking down to the locker room with her father, who was watching out for her and watching her closely, just in case. She stepped into the locker room and waited on the side, but it didn't even take half a minute for Beau to notice her and offer her his seat. Brooke thankfully sat down and stretched out her legs a bit while she waited for Sid to finish his interviews, and Sid had noticed her as well, because he looked over shortly and then back at the cameras that were pointed at him. "All right, are we done? I would like to get over to my girlfriend now, if you don't mind," he stated and the reporters nodded, still filming him when he walked over to Brooke and pressed a kiss to her cheek. He carefully placed his hand on her stomach and she looked up at him with a soft smile. "You played really awesome, Sid. Now go shower and then we can go home, all right?" she asked him and he nodded and went towards the shower. Brooke talked to Kris while Sid was showering, and Kris told her a few new stories about Alexander. When Sid came back a bit later, she shouted a goodbye to the players before leaving the locker room with him, and they talked about the game on the way back home. The next game would be in St. Louis, and as much as Brooke wanted to keep him close to her, she knew that he had to go there.

Games two and three were won by the Penguins as well, and they were leading the series with three to nothing, but when they lost the fourth game - and their chance of winning the Stanley Cup without the Blues winning a game - everyone was brought back to the ground. Sid was unhappy with himself, because he felt like they hadn't helped Fleury enough, and Brooke tried to comfort him the best she could without being there. Sid arrived back home the next day, and Brooke greeted him with open arms and his favourite lunch. They talked about the game, and what had gone wrong, and Brooke just softly shook her head when Sid started to blame himself. "That's not true, and you know it, Sid," she stated with determination, but Sid just sighed, so Brooke carefully crawled onto his lap and placed her hands on both of his cheeks. "You are an amazing player, and the Penguins are an amazing team. All of you have played so well in this season. Yeah, yesterday was a bad game, but you've got the chance to make up for it tomorrow, and you can defend your title and win the Cup again tomorrow. Nobody blames you for losing, it's only human. You aren't a robot, Sid. You are the best player of this generation, and people tend to forget that you're a human as well. Don't worry too much about the loss, just think about the game tomorrow, all right?" she stated and Sid just looked at her. "But-" He couldn't say more than that, because Brooke very efficiently shut him up by pressing her lips onto his, and soon, Sid just returned the kiss and leaned back a bit, softly caressing Brooke's belly. When they broke apart a bit later, Brooke leaned her forehead against his and looked into his beautiful brown eyes. "There are no but's, Sid," she told him and he looked at her silently, until a soft smile spread on his face and he pulled her down once again for a short kiss. "I love you, Brookie," he then mumbled onto her lips, and Brooke couldn't help but smile. Sid told her he loved her almost daily, but his voice was so sincere every single time, and her heart jumped whenever he said those words, and it felt like heaven on earth every single time.

Of course, Brooke was at the Consol Energy Center for game five. It was an extremely important game for the Penguins, because they would win the Stanley Cup in front of their fans if they won today, and that was always a big plus. She knew Sid was nervous, he'd told her so himself when they had been on the way there, but Brooke was pretty positive. She was wearing her own jersey with the number 77, and some casual blue jeans and black sneakers, and she had stayed with Sid until he'd had to go on the ice for warm ups, and only then had she gone up to the owner's lounge, from where she would watch the game. The game started a bit later, and Brooke was still biting her lip and crossing her fingers for the guys, and her father next to her was holding onto his chair as well. The Penguins played very good, but the Blues were in a very good condition as well, and so both teams had to fight pretty hard to try and score a goal. Sid scored five minutes before the end of the first period, and Brooke jumped up and cheered, carefully hugging her father, who had jumped up as well. Sid looked up at the lounge when he was skating towards the bench, and Brooke just smiled widely and showed him a thumbs up before sitting down again and carefully patting her stomach. "Your daddy just scored, little ones," she mumbled softly with a fond smile, and when she looked up again, her father was already looking at her with an amused smile. "Are you going to tell us the names anytime soon?" he then asked, and Brooke shook her head with a grin. Sid and her knew the gender, and had already agreed on names, but they hadn't told anyone, and they wanted to keep it that way until they were born. They had also decided on godfathers and godmothers, but that was another secret that would be kept.

The second period was fast from the first second on, and Brooke groaned with the rest of the Penguins' fans when TJ Oshie scored a goal just three minutes into the period, tying the game. The Penguins stepped up again though, and Sid scored another goal with an awesome assist from Hornqvist and Dupuis, giving the Penguins a one point lead over the Blues. Fleury kept his net free for most of the period, but the Blues' Captain David Backes used a breakaway chance and tied the game once again. Brooke cursed silently and stared at the clock, and with only one minute left in the game, she could only hope for a good third period, but then Kris suddenly robbed the puck from Oshie and passed it up to Sid, who got a headstart. Everything happened fast after that. Right when Sid had wanted to shoot the puck, Ryan Reaves crosschecked him from behind and Sid literally flew head first into the boards and stayed down after that, and the whole CEC turned dead silent. Brooke stared at the figures on the ice in shock and held her breath, but let out a breath of relief when Sid got up on his own after a bit of time. He was a bit bloodied and unsteady on his legs, but at least he could stand. Geno and Pascal helped him off the ice, and he disappeared in the tunnel towards the locker room, and Brooke just stared at the ice, where the cleaning crew was working on cleaning off Sid's blood from the ice. After that, the final ten seconds of the game trickled down and Brooke just sat there in silence, still shocked, but her mind cleared up when she heard the buzzer, and the next second she was up and rushing out of the lounge. She needed to get to Sid and see if he was all right, or how bad he was hurt. "Brooke, wait. Be careful!" her father shouted, running after her, but Brooke didn't stop and made her way through the fans until she eventually arrived in front of the locker room. Geno, Kris and Fleury were standing in front of the team's doctors door, and Brooke walked up to them. When she wanted to get passed them, Kris reached out. "You shouldn't go in there, Brooke. They're still fixing him up, and it's not a sight to see," he stated and Brooke turned towards him and crossed her arms. "I will give you ten seconds to move out of my way, or I swear to god I will hit you were it really hurts, Tanger. I know you only mean well, and I may be pregnant, but I need to see Sid, and you're in my way," she stated and Kris looked at the others for a second before stepping aside and patting her shoulder when she walked passed him.