Worth The Wait

CH 9

Phoebe felt uneasy about watching Sidney play against Mike. She secretly wasn’t rooting for her fiancé but she didn’t want to make that obvious to her niece and nephew who were perched on the couch watching the coverage of the pre-game report, looking for Mike on the ice. Phoebe was trying her best to avoid going by the tv and found a good excuse by going to make them all a snack in the kitchen but she knew that when the puck dropped in about ten minutes she wasn’t going to be able to avoid it any longer.

“Aunt Phoebe, what’s wrong with Siddey’s face?” she heard her niece yell at her from the couch. Phoebe wasn’t sure how Rebecca could even tell Sidney was playing but what caught her attention more so than that, was the fact that she asked what happened to his face.

Phoebe ran into the room and looked at the tv which had Sidney plastered all over it, his face bruised and purple; evidence that he had been in some sort of fight. Phoebe quickly searched her brain and couldn’t recall any fights or hits that would result in something so damaging, but she wanted to find out if he was okay.

“Well?” her niece looked up at her expecting an answer.

“I-I don’t know Bec, I don’t know.”

“Did someone hit him?”

The idea that there could have possibly been a run-in between he and Mike lurked in the back of Phoebe’s mind, but she wouldn’t dare say those words out loud. ‘Impossible’ was all that kept coming to her brain, but deep down she had a bad feeling about it.

Seeing Sid’s face bruised and colorful saddened Phoebe beyond belief. She wished that she could hold him close to her and take care of him. She had no clue what caused the injury but it didn’t matter, she knew him and she knew that if he fought anyone there had to be a good reason for it. As the game started she sat down with the kids and watched intently. The kids pointed Mike out to her the first time they saw him but kept their focus on Sidney. She found it adorable how smitten they were with him. Then again Sidney could say the same thing about her.

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Sid’s anger towards Richards was increasing with every second that ticked off the clock. Richards hadn’t left him alone all night. He taunted him and ran into him and as much as Sid was trying to keep his cool he knew it wasn’t going to last very long.

“What’s the matter crybaby? You seem tense? Ohhh, it must be the thoughts of me fucking her. Not you.”

Sid looked at him in disgust. “You don’t know anything.”

“I know she’d never cheat on me. She’s too good of a girl.”

Sid looked at him. “That’s why you asked me that last night. You know you don’t deserve her you prick.”

“She’s still marrying me though.” He shoved Sid backwards.

“I have no idea why,” Sid pushed back. As Richards prepared to go after Sid again he was pushed from behind, his face smashing into the ice by Jordan. Mike stood up slowly and went to go after Jordan but the refs got in the way. He pushed passed them as he and Jordan attacked each other. Sid observed in shock, knowing that Phoebe had to have seen everything that just happened. He let his head fall at the thought of how her reaction would be, and as Jordan was escorted to the box-along with Richards- he knew that it was going to be obvious to her. Though his mind should’ve been on the remainder of the game, all he could think of was the fact that he had to go to Washington next and all he wanted to do was be with her.

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Phoebe went to bed with knots in her stomach. She’d seen everything and as much as she wanted to deny it she knew that Sidney and Mike’s fight was about her. Yes, they hated each other long before she was in the picture, but she knew both men and it was very clear to her that she was about to deal with more than she was ready for. She went to bed, choosing to sleep in a shirt that Sidney had left there, the scent of him comforting her since he wasn’t there.

Since her classed was cancelled the following day Phoebe decided to sleep in. The best way to not deal with things or think about stress is sleeping, at least for her anyway, and that was what she wanted more than anything. Besides, she’d been working her butt off in her classes and felt she deserved some much needed rest. She woke up around eleven and slowly flickered her eyes open. She knew she was alone but Sid was oozing off of her shirt and it made her smile. Her entire bed was reminiscent of him and somehow that made her feel slightly better. Her smile grew even larger when she heard her phone buzzing on her night-table, reached over to grab it and saw that it was Sid.

“Hello,” she smiled into the receiver.

“Hey Pheebs,” she could hear in his voice how uneasy he felt and how tired he was.

“Hey Sid, what’s the matter? You don’t sound like yourself.”

“Did you watch the game last night?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t have anything to say about it?”

“Sid.”

“Yeah?” he was nervous.

“I’m not mad at you,” she comforted him.

“You aren’t?”

“No. We’ll talk about it when you get back, good luck against the Caps tonight…even though you don’t need it. Just play the game and come home, okay? …I miss you.”

Sid got butterflies with each word she spoke, he couldn’t contain the grin that spread across his face. “You do?”

“Yeah,” she tilted her head feeling her cheeks getting red.

“What about Richards?”

“What about him? I’ll deal with him, I’m sure he’ll have something to say and when he does that’ll be between him and me.”

Sid’s morale fell just slightly. He didn’t expect her to tell him she was going to break it off, that she loved him and that they could be together, but that’s what he wanted. He wanted her to let him have all of her, not the bits and pieces she allowed him to have. “Oh, that’s cool. I should probably get going. I’ll be home tomorrow though so if you want I’ll come by.”

“I’d love that, I can’t wait.”

“Hey Pheebs?”

“Yeah?”

“I miss you too.” And with that let his head fall, closing his phone and holding it in his hand against his forehead. He took a deep breath and released it. This situation was driving him crazy.

Phoebe knew that she was more forward than she should have been, but seeing the hurt and resentment in Sid’s eyes when he was face to face with her fiancé, she knew that he was worth it. She hadn’t spoken to Mike in over a day and couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him. If he couldn’t make the effort to be a fiancé then she wasn’t going to make the effort to be one either. She crawled out of bed and started making preparations to get in the shower when she heard a faint knock on her front door. Part of her got excited because she secretly hoped it was Sidney, showing up early to surprise her but she knew it was impossible.

“Coming!” she yelled as she ran to the front door. She vaguely thought about being embarrassed about her appearance. Her hair was in a messy bun, she was in Sid’s shirt that was too big and a pair of Victoria’s Secret boxers that were borderline slutty. Then again, she didn’t really care. She flung open the door and immediately gasped, her eyes popping open and her heart falling down in her stomach.

“Hey princess.” She knew the man standing in front of her and couldn’t figure out why he was there.

“Mike,” she swallowed frozen in disbelief.