No Soul

Jasmine scooted around her little cottage quickly, cleaning up a few last minute things. Sidney and the twins were going to be there any moment and her parents shortly after. They were flying in from Denver for a small trip, visiting her for dinner and then she was spending the next day with her mother and Emma on a girl’s day to the spa.

“Knock, knock.” Jasmine jumped upon hearing Sidney at the front door. She smoothed out the white silk blouse she wore with her tweed dress pants.

“Jasmine!” Noah called excitedly, a red ring around his pink lips as he ran to her.

“Hey babe!” Jasmine laughed as she scooped him up, hugging him tightly and walking to the kitchen where she put a little warm water and just a touch of Dawn on a paper towel, wiping at his mouth where it had been stained by kool-aid.

“How much longer?” Sidney asked, walking in with Emma who was dressed in a pair of jeans and a pink cable-knit sweater, a glittery headband keeping her curls out of her face.

“Not much, you nervous?” She teased. The couple had been together for just about four months now and her mother had been anxious to meet the man that had been taking up a lot of her free time between dance and school.

“Parents I can do, brothers…” Sidney trailed, making her laugh as she leaned forward to kiss him gently. Jasmine’s two older brothers were not able to make the trip and Sidney wasn’t exactly disappointed about it.

“You’ll be fine, they’re going to love you.” Jasmine insisted as she led Emma and Noah out to the cozy family room where she had put out two new coloring books, Angelina Ballerina for Emma and Cars for Noah.

“Jasmine, I’m hungry.” Emma pouted softly.

“Em, it’s almost dinner time, okay? You can wait.” Sidney said, looking down at the little girl who knew that if she made big enough eyes at Jasmine, she could get what she wanted. Emma narrowed a look at Sidney, picking up her pack of crayons as Jasmine finally turned to Sidney who hugged her tightly, kissing her once more. “You seem a little tense.” He said, rubbing her shoulders softly.

“I… just want things to go well.” She said, exhaling a deep breath as Sidney’s phone chirped.

“Max is going to pick us up at ten-thirty.” Sidney informed his girlfriend. After a few of the tests Sidney had been taking to better understand his concussion, he had been advised to keep from driving. Max had stepped up and had been driving Sidney and the twins around Pittsburgh.

Jasmine nearly jumped out of her skin when her doorbell rang before the front entrance could swing open.

“Hello!” She recognized her mother’s voice. Jasmine quickly scuttled into the entryway with a big smile stretched across her face as she threw her arms around her mother. “Hi Mom.” She exhaled happily, Sidney watching from a few feet away with a smile on his face as well.

Jasmine hugged her father as well before stepping aside and presenting Sidney to the two of them.

“Mom, Dad, this is my boyfriend… Sidney.” She said as he stepped forward, putting on his best good-Canadian-kid smile and sticking out his hand for them to shake.

“So nice to meet you, sweetheart.” Jasmine’s mother gushed as she held Sidney’s hand in two of hers before he could then shake Jasmine’s father’s hand. His grip was a little firmer than the last as Emma came flouncing into the entryway, giving a little twirl as she looked up at the new guests.

“Hi there!” She chirped excitedly. Jasmine’s father’s eyes strained a bit as she looked down at the little girl, wondering for a brief moment what his daughter was getting herself into.

“This is Sidney’s daughter, Emma.” Jasmine explained as the little girl waltzed right up to the new gentleman, sticking out her hand.

“Enchanted.” She mimicked one of her favorite cartoons, Madeline. The adults in the room laughed at her choice of language as she effectively broke the light tension in the room.

“Jasmine and I picked a great steakhouse in the area for dinner, some of the best steak I’ve ever had.” Sidney spoke up as Emma raised his arms to him, causing him to lift her up onto his hip.

“Sounds great!” Jasmine’s mother smiled encouragingly, knowing that Sidney was probably nervous enough as it was. The group chatted for a moment, Jasmine’s mother watching keenly as Noah entered the room, going straight for his father’s girlfriend and snuggling into her neck as she introduced him to her parents. Jasmine looked to be a natural with the children, but the last thing her parents wanted was for her to be saddled down with two children before she hit twenty-five.

Sidney felt his spine relax as they got into Jasmine’s car, her parents would be following them to the restaurant seeing as they all couldn’t fit with the two booster seats in the back.

“Wasn’t so bad, right?” Jasmine asked, looking at her boyfriend from the driver’s seat.

“Not so bad, probably not my best ‘meet the parents’ but not bad.” Sidney nodded as Noah and Emma both busied themselves with the soft, toddler-friendly books that Jasmine kept in her car. As they neared the restaurant, Sidney knew that this wasn’t going to look good. They were going to be photographed going into the chophouse, all six of them. The social sites were going to explode.

He knew he’d have to call his agent to do some damage control – something his agent had been doing an awful lot lately. He had already gotten a warning about his image when he’d been photographed doing work across the US, going out with Jasmine and taking the twins around town when the media and his adoring public thought he ought to be cooped up in the house under constant care of his team of doctors.

But tonight he wanted to be like any other sucker who was going to try and do his best to impress his girlfriend’s parents. He was Sidney Crosby, after all.

•••

Two and a half weeks had passed. Sidney found himself calling Brianna and Vero to babysit now more than ever. For whatever reason, he could feel Jasmine distancing herself from him. The thing about being a single parent was, he didn’t have time to try and hunt her down and ask her what the problem was.

On the other hand, she was his first serious relationship in a number of years. So was something really up or was he just being paranoid?

Just as Sidney had expected, there was some minor backlash from his night out with Jasmine’s family. The fans didn’t know what to believe. He had been out for two months but he was still seeing around town acting as if nothing was wrong. The truth was, Sidney knew it would be a long time until he got to play hockey again – much longer than the Pens organization would have liked, but his health is what mattered the most.

It was an away game that night for the Penguins against the Predators. Neither Vero nor Brianna were accompanying the tem and Sidney had been cordially invited to Brianna’s home to watch the game with the girls.

Sidney arrived at the Letang home with a tray of sushi he picked up from one of his favorite Japanese restaurants. Emma and Noah held hands as they walked on the slippery sidewalk up to the front door.

“Daddy, we gonna eat the fishes?” Emma asked with a tilt of her head.

“Only if you want to, baby girl.” Sidney laughed as Vero swung the door wide open, Phoebe immediately collecting Noah into her arms and bringing him inside. The women cooed over the twins pink noses and rosy cheeks from the cool night weather. It comforted Sidney to know that he wouldn’t need to worry about the kids tonight. He could sit back, eat some good food and watch the game in near-peace.

Sidney took a secret photo of Noah in Phoebe’s lap, sending it off to Jordan right away. Phoebe was closer than ever to thinking about the possibility of children of her own. Before the game could start, Sidney picked out dinner from the homemade spread on the counters for Noah and Emma. The past few nights they had been eating pancakes and takeout, so the WAG’s dinner was going to be a nice change.

Sidney had just started to dig into his spinach dip when Vero spoke up from across the room, her hands full with Arianna Letang who was more than happy to receive the attention.

“Sidney, how is Jasmine? You haven’t said much about her since your dinner with her parents.” Sidney swallowed and took a drink of his beer before deciding what to say.

“We’ve both been really busy, she’s had a lot going on with school, so we haven’t been in contact much.” When the room grew quiet, he learned that he had probably chosen the wrong thing to say.

“Not in contact? Like… at all?” Brianna asked, ready to have her protective side rear it’s ugly head at the idea of a woman treating Sidney wrong.

“Not much I guess.” Sidney rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “But it’s really not a big deal, I can understand what her schedule is like. Her classes have her on campus all day and in the library all night.” He defended her, knowing how vicious these girls could be when they needed to.

Phoebe, Brianna and Vero exchanged subtle looks that Sidney pretended he didn’t see as he stuffed his mouth with cheesebread instead. Emma crawled into her father’s lap during the first commercial break, sniffling and whimpering over finger that she jammed between her seat table she had been set up at.

“And he worries about having a girlfriend.” Vero mumbled to Brianna as they watched the power-skater bounce his daughter in his arms, whispering to her gently as he kissed her finger.

“If I wasn’t already pregnant…” Phoebe fanned herself, causing every person in the room to go silent.

“Pregnant?” Brianna all but screamed, startling Noah who was half asleep on the couch between Matt Cooke’s wife and a plate full of chocolate chip cookies. Madness ensued as the women swarmed Phoebe who blushed under all the attention. She was just under her first trimester, but she and Jordan wanted to keep it a secret until she reached that point.

Sidney shook his head, feeling partially responsible for all the growing-up his teammates had been doing. First Max getting married then Phoebe getting pregnant, he knew it was only a matter of time until Vero was expecting as well. Sidney was thankful for Phoebe’s announcement, knowing that the attention about he and Jasmine’s relationship would cool off.

Deep in thought as he nursed a Sprite with Emma in his arms, he started to plan. Maybe next he could introduce Jasmine to his parents. Maybe they could get away on a short vacation for a bit – she could tag along on his upcoming trip to Europe for a few days. He wanted her to know how important she was to him and how much he appreciated her.

He was having a hard time balancing his relationship with Jasmine and his time with the twins. The last thing he wanted to do was make it seem as though his newfound love was more important than his own children.

Love.

Did Sidney love Jasmine? Could he see her spending the rest of his life with her? Having more kids and fielding his own hockey team?

“Daddy!” Emma’s giggles took him from his own thoughts. The last thing he wanted to do was start overthinking the situation – something that Sidney Crosby was very good at.

A few hours later and after a Penguins victory over the Predators, Sidney was glad to be back home in bed, Emma lazily playing with his iPad as she played her favorite painting app. It comforted her to sleep in Sidney’s bed, to have her warm father close to her.

Sidney picked up his phone as it shook with a new message.

From: Jasmine
hope you had a good day, can you meet for lunch tomorrow?

Sidney smiled as he typed back a response to the girl who plagued his mind – confirming that he would love to have lunch with her. He knew that Brianna would be able to watch the twins for an hour or two.

From: Jasmine
great, there are a few things i think we should talk about.

So much for thinking that everything was alright.