Our Goodbyes

Determined, Ella walked into the orphanage with confident steps. Sid's voice kept replaying in her head telling her that she would find her son, it kept her going and it gave her courage. She'd spent the last two hours freshening up, so that she didn't look like a walking mess, before making her way to the building.

She greeted a couple of the employees there and headed straight for the nursery to look for her son. She vowed that she wasn't going to leave until she saw Wyatt or at least found out what happened to him.

The room was still quiet and the nurse that was in the nursery earlier was still there holding and feeding another baby, this time wrapped in a pink blanket. The old nurse smiled at Ella and continued to feed and rock the baby.

"I see you're back. It's good to see you again," she said kindly and nodded at Ella.

Ella smiled shyly. "Thank you. I just needed a bit of moral support from a good friend," she replied back.

"Well, he must have been a good friend if he got you smiling like that, you were pretty sad when you left," she pointed out, making Ella blush. "One of the nurses brought back one of the babies after you left," the old nurse said and pointed at the crib nearest to the window.

Nodding, Ella walked slowly to the crib. She was scared. Scared of being disappointed again, scared of finding out that it might not be her baby and scared that she'll never see her son ever.

The moment she peered into the tiny glassy light blue eyes of the baby something washed over her that she couldn't put into words. Relief, excitement, sadness and most of all pure happiness all mixed together. It was like she was looking into her own eyes, he looked beautiful.

The innocent baby was exactly like Ella in every single way. Same eyes, same long and slender nose, thin lips and dirty blonde, almost brunette, hair. There were no traces of his father, except the chubby cheeks that Ella knew didn't belong to anyone in her family.

She put her hands over her mouth, feeling the tears that she didn't even know she had shed. It was her son, she just knew it. At that moment, she now understood what mothers meant about motherly instinct.

The voice inside her head telling her that it was her son, the beating in her hear even told her it was her son. There was no mistaking it; Ella was now face to face with Wyatt Francis James, the child she had lost months ago.

"Something wrong sweetheart?" the old nurse asked, putting a comforting hand on Ella's shoulder when she noticed that Ella wasn't moving.

Slowly, her head turned to the nurse's worried face and shook her head. "He's my son, I jut know it. He's beautiful," she gushed and cupped the baby's soft and chubby cheek.

His cheeks were soft. Wyatt blinked innocently at his long lost mother and then tiled his head cutely. As if he knew that he was in the presence of his mother, he smiled showing his gums and giggled.

More tears spilled down Ella's blue eyes. She really couldn't believe that Wyatt was right in front of her. For a long time, Ella was convinced that she would never get to see her son, but he was right in front of her. He was real.

"I think he knows you're his mother," the nurse said happily. "Would you like to hold him?" she asked.

Ella nodded enthusiastically. She watched the nurse like a hawk as she picked up her son and handed him to Ella. "Hi baby," she cooed softly and laughed when he grabbed her blonde hair. "Yes, we have the same hair."

"I'll leave you too alone."

"I'm so sorry, baby. Mommy never meant to let you go, but she had too," she explained to the baby as she ran her hand through his thin dirty blonde hair. Her phone rang, making her jump a little bit. "Hello?"

"Ella?"

"Sid!" she greeted Sidney Crosby happily, and then furrowed her eyebrows when she noticed his tired and strained voice. "Are you okay? You seem tired."

"Yeah, I just can't sleep," he explained and rubbed his eyes.

Ella looked up at the window beside her son's crib. "I didn't even realize it's so late. Sid he's beautiful," she said fondly of her son. "He's here Sid. He's real and he's beautiful."

Just from the sound of her voice, Sid knew that Ella was happy. It made him happy to know that he some how made her happy by getting her to New York. He listened patiently as Ella described her son to him. Sidney had this image of him already. Dirty blonde hair, blue eyes like his mother and the most innocent face. They way he described Wyatt, it made him want to meet the special little boy.

"I'm glad that you found him."

"Now that I have him, I never want to leave him," she explained.

Sid drew out a breath, his chest tightened. The thought of Ella never going back to Pittsburgh scared him. He knew that he was being self for wanting Ella to come back to Pittsburgh, when really, her whole life was in New York. Her son was there and he knew that was all that mattered. He wanted to remind her that he was in Pittsburgh and wondered if she wanted to leave him.

"He's here," she gushed. "I-I want to adopt him," she announced with a determined voice. "I want to bring him home to Pittsburgh."

Sid's chest soared when he heard Ella call Pittsburgh home. He was glad that she considered Pittsburgh home. He grew excited at the prospect of Ella starting her life in Pittsburgh with her son and he hopped that he'd be a part of that life.

"If that's what you want, you know I'm here for you 100% of the way. Do you know what you need to do?" he asked her and tried to stifle a yawn.

Ella shook her head even though Sid couldn't see her. "Not really. I'm going to see Anna tomorrow morning and I'm going to ask about the process. It's probably going to be harder for me, since I gave him up in the first place," she explained sadly.

"Like I said, I'll do anything to make sure you get your son back."

Smiling happily, Ella cooed at her baby. "Why are you so sweet to me? I don't deserve you."

"I love you El, you mean a lot to me," Sidney said truthfully. Sid decided that he was going to let her know his feelings (without being too forward); he wasn't going to hide them anymore. And he was going to wait until Ella reciprocated them.

Ella's mouth gaped open, sure Sidney had said that he loved her about a thousand times, but this time it sounded different. It didn't sound friendly, more romantic and intimate. She didn't know how to respond to it, so she just ignored it.

"Oh! Do you want to talk to him? I'm sure Wy wants to meet the man that's going to teach him hockey one day," she said happily.

Despite Ella not responding back to him, Sid couldn't help but smile. With her track record with men, he was ecstatic that she easily let him in hers and her son's life. He liked the idea of being the one to teach Wyatt hockey.

Sidney never thought about it before (until now), but he liked the idea of being Wyatt's father. Being the one to share his joy for hockey with the infant, being the one that Wyatt goes to when he needed help with homework. Having that white picket fence and Ella by his side.

"Say something to him," Ella commanded Sidney softly and pressed her cell phone on her son's ear.

Sidney cleared his throat awkwardly and spoke. "Hey, Wyatt. How are you? It's nice to meet you. Your mom's been looking for you for a long time. What do you think about moving to Pittsburgh with me and your mom?"

Ella smiled, hearing Sidney talk to her son made her heart flutter. She'd never met a man so amazingly kind and sweet as Sidney Crosby. "He's smiling! I think he knows who you are," she pointed out. "I'm going to let you sleep. Besides, I think I have to leave soon."

"Alright. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Goodnight Sid, I love you."