Worth The Wait

ONE WEEK LATER-

“I’m still trying to let the fact that we’re married absorb in my head,” Phoebe squealed to her new husband as they sat down in her apartment. “After everything we’ve been through with the circumstances we had to overcome when we first met, who would have ever thought it?”

“I would,” Sidney answered as he grabbed her legs and rested them across him on the couch. They had just gotten back from Florida after celebrating their wedding and honeymoon. The league had been generous on granting Sidney a leave of absence, but he also lucked out that the schedule was on his side. It turned out he only ended up missing two games. “I knew from that first night. I told you that,” he smiled.

“Well now that you’re off the market what do you plan on doing?” Phoebe teased.

“Honestly?” Sid’s tone was not as playful, more sincere. “Move. We’re married now. There’s no need to live apart. Or in a stupid apartment. Pittsburgh is my home, and now it’s yours- not stupid Philadelphia- so let’s make it ours.”

“So what do you want to do?” Phoebe looked at him.

“Look for a nice house that we can bank on living in for a long time. A house we can have a family in.”

“I can get on board with that,” she smirked. “Can we look for one that’s kinda out of the public eye?”

“Oh don’t even worry about that,” Sid said matter-of-factly. “That’s a given.”

“I’m really happy Sid. I’m just…everything about this is so perfect. I know its only been like, what? A week? But I love being married to you. I’m so excited about opening this new chapter of our lives together. Do you think it will take a while to find a place? What are you thinking, a couple months? What?”

“Nah, I already have a good idea of where I want to look, and like I’ve said before, money isn’t an issue. Once we find a house together that’s perfect for us, it’s ours.”

Phoebe smiled, “I like the sound of that. Ours,” she repeated as she exhaled. She slid closer to Sidney on the couch and nuzzled into him. “Hey, speaking of family, when are we going to get little Patrick from Jordan?” When Sidney planned the trip from the beginning he knew that Patrick wouldn’t fit into their travel plans so he had arranged for Jordan to look after him while they were gone. When Sid called halfway through the trip and asked if he wouldn’t mind keeping Patrick for a few days longer, Jordan didn’t understand why the sitting had to be prolonged. Sidney knew when he found out he would be pretty pissed.

Sid smiled and kissed the side of her head. “We’ll get him tomorrow. I have to figure out a way to break it to Jordo that we got married and he wasn’t invited,” he laughed.

“Whatever you do, make sure he isn’t upset at your new Mrs. I mean, if he gets mad at me, who else am I going to have my hot affair with?” Phoebe teased.

“Hilarrrrious. Real funny. Great. I’m glad my wife is already planning on cheating on me with my friend. No, not only my friend, my teammate!” he knew she was kidding and he was glad to play along with her.

“Oh don’t get your panties in a twist,” she laughed.

“That makes me realize something,” Sid said with an interesting tone.

“Hey, I was kidding,” Phoebe playfully blurted out. “No need to go make me think you’ll actually-“

“Oh quiet it isn’t about that,” Sid hushed her amused. “Speaking of family…we need to tell ours.”

“Ohhh. Yeah. That. How about we just send them a Christmas card with a picture of us and Patrick and sign it from the Crosby’s. This way they’ll know and we won’t have to see them. And we’d be wishing them a Merry Christmas so, if you think about it, everybody wins.”

Sidney looked down at his new bride and tried to contain his laughter. “You know that isn’t going to work. I just married you, I don’t want to be a widower already!”

“Oh fine,” Phoebe pouted begrudgingly. “Your family is going to-“

“Love you,” Sidney interrupted and finished her sentence. “They know all about you. Just because they haven’t met you doesn’t mean they haven’t fallen in love with you already. They love me, obviously,” Sid said with a cocky grin. “And they’ll always be my family, no matter what. But like I told you, I was kinda an asshole before I met you,” he laughed. “Seriously. They’re thrilled I fell in love with you. They’re dying to meet you. So I think it’s you that needs to keep your panties untwisted.” He leaned down and gave Phoebe a quick peck on the lips.

She smiled into him. “You don’t know how relieved I am to hear that!”

“What about your family?” he probed.

“We can send them the Christmas card!”

“Baby. Seriously.”

“I don’t know. I guess we can visit them. I don’t know. I’d like to just call them but if we’re going to do the right thing we better do it all the way.”

“Good idea. I don’t think it’s going to be as horrible as you think it’s going to be.”

“You’ve met my mother,” she glared at him. “She’s not exactly a mold out of the Brady Brunch.”

“I’m not worried. We’re married. What are they going to do? Not see us? That won’t last long because eventually we’re going to have kids and they’re going to want to see them.”

“I love the way you think Crosby,” Phoebe gushed as she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

Sidney rested his head on the back of the couch, closed his eyes and let out a content breath. “Mmm. Good. You’re stuck with me for quite a while.”

*****

Sidney had to go to practice early, which was the first time since he and Phoebe had said ‘I do’ on the crystal beaches in Florida that they had been apart. He got in touch with Jordan who had to be at practice as well and arranged for him to leave a key so that Phoebe could pick up Patrick on her way back from grocery shopping and running other errands she had to do.

Sidney got a good workout in and made sure his legs were comfortable being on the ice again. He felt the burn in his chest and pushed himself so that he knew he was ready for the game that night. When he was sitting on his bench in front of his locker, putting on his pads and getting everything he needed to get done before the game when Jordan came and sat next to him.

“Hey man!” Jordan patted Sid on the back. “Good to see you. Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”

“You took a leave of absence. You never miss anything; I just wanted to make sure everything was cool. I figured if it wasn’t you would have told me but I’m asking anyway.”

“Everything’s wonderful. I just had family stuff I had to take care of. I hope Patrick wasn’t too much of a pain,” Sid replied trying to be as nonchalant as possible.

“Oh he was a fun little dude,” Jordan laughed. “I liked having him around.” He paused for a brief moment. “Seriously though, what’s going on. Why were you gone for a week? Did something happen with Phoebe, is she-“

Sid stopped the question before it could get too out of hand. “She’s fine man. I promise you.” He was uncomfortable lying to his friend and as a sign of guilt he lifted his arm and began to nervously rub the back of his neck.”

“Wait a second,” Jordan’s eyes grew large. “What the hell is that!”

Sid swallowed and felt his stomach tighten. “Wh-what are you talking about?”

“Oh my God! Crosby you fucking bastard,” Jordan grabbed Sid’s arm. “Is that a fucking wedding band?”

Sidney looked at Jordan with all-telling eyes. “I can’t believe I forgot to take it off,” he joked.

“Dude! What the fuck! You and Phoebe went and got married and didn’t tell anyone! I wasn’t invited! That’s fucking bullshit!”

“I’m sorry man. It just kinda happened. If it makes you feel any better I knew you were going to be pissed.”

“No, this is bullshit, I’m sorry. Damnit Crosby. You suck!”

“Staal, seriously, I’m sorry you didn’t get to be there, but can you overlook that for five minutes and be happy for us? I love her and it was just the perfect time to do it, I didn’t plan on leaving you out. I know how important it was to you.” Sidney thought it was rather humorous how much Jordan cared about their wedding.

Jordan stared at him for a few seconds, obviously pissed off. “Oh fine,” he sighed. “You could have at least taken the ring off though if you didn’t want me to know dude. You think if I noticed other people won’t?”

“I don’t care who knows. I don’t want to take it off. She’s my wife now; she’s the most important person in my life.”

“Did you tell your parents yet?”

“Ahhh no…”

“Then I’d recommend not wearing that ring in public until they know, or you might be out a few more games because they will kill you. I’m pissed I wasn’t invited; that I didn’t know. I highly doubt they’ll be much happier,” Jordan laughed. “So,” he changed the subject and looked at his newly married friend. “How was it? How do you like married life old man?”