Precious Love

Waking up early was something Sidney had become used to. He was normally the first one to the rink and the last one to leave. His world revolved around hockey and he was okay with that, well until Sutton had told him about their little mistake. After that it was as if things had changed and he wasn't sure how it would all work out. Looking over on the other side of the bed, he watched as Sutton slept. Last night showed him that she would be the one out of the two of them that knew what they were doing when it came to their kid. She was a natural with her nephew and he just knew that when it was time for their little one she would be just as good with them.

Running his hand through his hair, Sidney wasn't sure what was going to happen today. He knew he had to talk to Mario and tell him what they had decided on. Technically they hadn't decided on all that much just the fact that he would be there for Sutton and their baby. Hiding from the media, at first he thought that maybe she would want to hide, not to let others know about what happened, but it seemed that he was wrong. She was fine with everyone knowing that they were expecting a child together as long as he promised to be there for her and he wanted to be.

When she told him that she was moving back into Craig's home, he wanted to just let her come and live with him, but it wasn't his home so he really couldn't do that. But perhaps it was time to speed up getting his house ready. It would be nice to come home from those long road trips to hear little feet pounding on the floor as they ran towards him. Sidney knew that he was getting ahead of himself with his thoughts, but he couldn't help himself about it.

Glancing over at Sutton, he watched as she pulled the covers over her head to block out the sun. Trying to keep from laughing so he didn't wake her, Sidney moved down the bed so he was laying down once again. Reaching over, he placed his hand over her flat stomach before she turned to face him. Keeping the covers over her body, Sutton looked into Sidney's eyes that showed he wasn't tired in the least. “I'm ditching school today.”

Sidney laughed, not even trying to hold any of it back this time. “You have to go to school.”

“Craig won't let me have coffee anymore and I'm exhausted,” Sutton said as she shut her eyes and sighed as she felt Sidney wrap his arm around her. “I'd just fall asleep. It isn't even a class I care about. No one cares for statistics.”

“Your brother would kill me if he knew I let you ditch class.”

“No he wouldn't,” Sutton laughed. “Because he knows on occasion I do it. Like the day after I told him I was pregnant, I ditched the whole day and he never said anything about it. That day I took the whole day off, I'm just taking the morning off.”

“I still have practice.”

“Is it mandatory?”

“Yes,” Sidney smiled at her. “You never told me what you want to do about media and stuff.”

“I think that we shouldn't hide what we did, but at the same time I don't want to flaunt it in people's faces. I know by letting people know that means my privacy will no longer be mine.”

“Unfortunately for you, when you found out that you were pregnant with my baby your privacy started to dwindle.”

“I figured that when I kissed you at the club that night.”

“A kiss that ended up leading to a life changing night.”

“I know people think that we should regret it,” Sutton said. “But I don't. Well not that way. I wish it would have happened differently. I wanted to be married and out of school before starting a family.”

“Sometimes things happen for a reason.”

“I know they do,” Sutton said. “I had plans and now I don't know where I'm gonna be when the baby is born or if you are gonna be around, stuff like that.”

“I will be there when you have the baby,” Sidney promised her. “And we'll figure everything out along the way. We have time before she gets here.”

“She?” Sutton questioned him.

“It would be nice to have a girl,” Sidney smiled. “Don't you think?”

“Girls are so much drama and trouble though.” Sutton told him as she sat up in the bed.

Before Sidney could say anything, there was a short knock on the door and Craig stuck his head into the room.

“Sutton, you realize you are gonna be late for class, right?”

“No I'm not.”

“It takes you at least forty minutes to get there and it starts in twenty.”

“I'm not gonna be late,” Sutton said as she flopped back into her bed. “To be late you have to go and I'm skipping my morning class.”

“Are you going to your afternoon ones?” Craig asked, watching her pull the covers over her head to go back to sleep.

“Possibly.”

“Possibly?” Craig asked. “What does that mean?”

“It means if I don't feel sick again like I did the last time then yes I'll be going.”

“Okay,” Craig said before turning his attention to the man next to his sister in her bed. “You going to practice today Sid?”

“Yeah,” Sidney said. “Lots to do today.”

“Yeah, like telling everyone that you knocked up my sister.”

“So I get to be locker room gossip?” Sutton asked. “So glad I'm not gonna be there for that!”

“You'll be hearing it forever,” Craig laughed. “Anyways, do you want a ride Sid?”

“Nah, I'm okay,” Sidney told him. “I have to go pick up my hockey bag at Mario's place before going over to the arena.”

“Alright,” Craig said. “I'll see you there and Sutton start going to your statistics class. You're gonna need it to graduate.”

“Blah, blah, blah.” Sutton said.

“Sutton...”

“I'll go to the next one,” Sutton sighed. “I'm just too tired right now. And you took away my coffee stash and Anne won't give it to me.”

“It'll be better for you in the long run.” Craig smiled before leaving and closing the door to her room.

“I really should get going,” Sidney said as he tossed the covers off his body and got off the bed. “I need to get to the arena.”

“Are you really gonna tell all the guys?” Sutton asked as she sat up, but kept the blanket wrapped around her body. “About the baby?”

“This is huge deal Sutton and I won't let the media be the one to tell them.”

“And they are family,” she said. “A family that watches your back.”

“They'll watch yours too,” Sidney said. “Especially what you are carrying.”

Placing her hand on her stomach, she looked down at it. “I don't want you to marry me.”

“What?”

“I don't want you to marry me,” Sutton repeated herself. “Let me explain. I'm not just being crazy.”

“Sutton...”

“Please?” she asked. “I need you to know where I'm coming from.”

“Okay,” Sidney said as he watched her. “Tell me why you don't want to marry me right now.”

“I've seen people get married, just because someone is having a baby, but I don't want that.” Sutton said. “I do want you to be there for the baby and even me if you want, but I need to know that you can do that before anything else happens.”

“Anything else like what?”

“The world is full of possibilities, Sidney,” Sutton smiled. “So don't let Craig or anyone get into your head that you have to marry me because of this kid.”

“So if I ask at a different time,” Sidney asked. “That is when you'll take me seriously?”

“Maybe if we fall in love along the way...”

“Then we are on the same page.”

“Really?” Sutton asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” Sidney laughed. “I mean we could get married and what not first, but we don't know each other that well and we don't want to make a mistake that could do some sort of damage to our baby.”

“So you don't think I’m some kind of nutcase?”

“No more than I am,” Sidney told her. “Do me a favor though.”

“What's that?”

“If you need anything, don't hesitate to call me,” he told her. “And make sure you get to class today.”

“Okay, but you should know that I've been relying on my brother for a long time and he is going to be one of the first people that I call.”

“And with time, you'll maybe learn to call me first.”

“Only time will tell.”

After her English class, Sutton stuck around campus to meet up and have lunch with Bianca. Since her brother got her chinese yesterday afternoon, that was one thing Sutton didn't want to have. So instead they went to a cafe not too far away since Bianca still had a few more classes after lunch.

“So Sidney came over last night.”

“Yeah?” Bianca asked. “The two of you talk?”

“We did,” Sutton said as she pushed around the mushrooms that were in her pasta. “He stayed at Craig's last night with me. In my room.”

“Does your brother know this?” Bianca asked, shocked.

“He came into my room this morning to tell me that I was going to be late to class if I didn't get going and then I told him I wasn't going to class. And then he offered Sid a ride into practice.”

“Wow,” Bianca said. “I figured Craig would have had a fit seeing Sid in your bed.”

“Yeah, I thought for sure that there would have been screaming and yelling.”

“Maybe since you are pregnant,” Bianca said before taking a bite of her salad. “He figures the two of you can't get into any more trouble. Plus you are an adult.”

“This is true,” Sutton said. “So I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“Like how you are carrying the next NHL superstar?”

“Like how our lease in the apartment comes up in about five months or so.”

“Yeah,” Bianca said. “About that. Jordan and I have been talking and we were thinking that the timing is right for us to move in together.”

“When?” Sutton asked. “I mean are you gonna just go now or just wait until the lease is up and then move in with him?”

“I'm gonna keep paying my part of the rent until the lease is up, but I think Jordan wants to start looking at moving me in soon.”

“Things are getting pretty grown up, aren't they?” Sutton asked as she put her fork down.

“What do you mean?”

“You are moving in with a guy you love,” Sutton smiled. “And I'm gonna have a baby.”

“A hockey prodigy.”

Rolling her eyes, Sutton ran a hand through her hair. “I think I'm gonna stay in the apartment until the lease is up.”

“And after?”

“Craig and Anne have offered me the guest room along with a room for the baby that I can tell him how to decorate and I won't have to do anything.”

“What about Sid?” Bianca asked.

“What about him?” Sutton asked. “He can stay over and what not, but I'm not gonna be able to get around when I look like a whale.”

“You probably aren't gonna get that big,” Bianca said. “Everyone is different. At least that's what I read.”

“You read?” Sutton asked. “About pregnancies?”

“If I'm gonna be a good aunt to this kid,” Bianca laughed. “I'll need to know what the hell I'm doing.”

“Only you, B, only you.”

“Does Sidney want to be a part of everything?”

“He seems to,” Sutton told her. “But this is only the beginning. I still have a few months to go before I screw everything up.”

“Oh stop it,” Bianca told her. “Is he going to tell anyone?”

“He already told Mario, but I believe he's telling the team today.”

“That's a big step,” Bianca noted. “I mean the guys know him pretty well. And a lot of them know you since you watch their kids. Pascal loves you, so you know he'll either be calling you or stopping by. And then there is Matt Cooke. That man may be married, but he will protect you until you tell him to stop.”

“The guys have been good to me since I moved out here.”

“And they think of you as family and it has nothing to do with the fact that Craig is your brother.”

“Only by birth.”

The girls laughed as they took their separate checks and went to go pay for lunch.

Leaving the ice after practice Sidney couldn't keep the smile off his face as he thought about what Sutton had told him this morning. She really wasn't like the girls around the rink. He didn't want to hear that she thought it was a good idea to get married because of the baby, but it seemed he didn't have to worry about it. Sutton was going to definitely keep him on his toes.

“You seem to be all smiles today.”

“Yeah,” Sidney said looking at Jordan before looking around the locker room to make sure that the press was gone. “Found out something and it wasn't something that I wasn't expecting.”

“Yeah?” Jordan asked. “Figure out how to get Sutton to go out with your sorry ass?”

“More like she's pregnant,” Sidney said. “With my kid.”

“Are you serious?” Jordan asked. “Does Bianca know? Are you gonna tell everyone?”

“I was planning on telling everyone, but...”

“Allow me,” Jordan smirked. “Attention! Hey assholes, give me your attention. I've got an announcement to make here!”

“Did Bianca finally smarten up and leave your ass?” Matt Cooke called from where he was sitting in front of his locker.

“Like that would ever happen,” Jordan grinned. “This announcement isn't about my love life.”

“Then why are you talking?”

“Shut up and let me speak!” Jordan shouted. When he was met with silence then he looked at Sid before continuing what he was about to say.

“Jordan...”

“Guess who is about to be a dad?” slapping Sidney on the back, he grinned at the team. “Our captain!”

Looking into the faces of his teammates that were like a second family to him, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know their reaction. As he glanced towards Craig Adams and saw him nodding his head, it gave him a boost of confidence.

“You been seeing someone and didn't tell us?” Tyler Kennedy asked.

“Sutton Adams.” Sidney said.

“Wait!” Matt Cooke said standing up. “Sutton as in, Craig's baby sister? You knocked her up?”

“Yeah...”

Craig and Sidney both knew Cookie had a soft spot for Sutton since she was always willing to watch his kids so that he could take his wife out even when she had to work on some kind of school project.

“Should we worry about Craig killing you?” Pascal asked. “I ask so we can find a new captain.”

“Sidney and Sutton will figure out what they want to do,” Craig spoke up. “As long as he treats my sister in the right way, we won't have a problem.”

“You make her cry and I'll make you cry.” Cooke told him.

Looking at the older man, Sidney knew better than to say anything about the protective note he heard in his teammate's voice.

“Sidney?” Craig said, getting his attention. “I have to go pick up Rhys and Sutton's car won't start. She's at a cafe near campus, would you mind picking her up?”

“Yeah, no problem.”

Putting on his jeans and a Penguins hockey shirt, Sidney grabbed his bag and headed towards the parking lot. He wasn't sure how Sutton was going to react to seeing him pick her up but he hoped that it would be a good reaction.

Waiting in the parking lot while sitting inside her car with the driver's side door open, Sutton couldn't believe her luck. First she got really sick after Sidney and Craig left for practice, but thankfully Anne was around and helped her out and now her car wouldn't start. She wasn't sure what she would do without a car to get to and from school and work. There was no way she could afford another car with what money she was making from her job.

Grabbing the water bottle out of the center console, Sutton just wanted to go home and get some sleep, but she had to wait for her brother to get to her first so she could leave the damn parking lot. It was starting to feel like hours and hours before she looked at the time on her cell phone. Technically it had only been fifteen minutes since she called and talked to Craig about the small situation.

Letting out another sigh, she saw a black SUV pull up next to her car. Getting out of it, she watched at the driver also got out his their vehicle. Looking at the man behind the sunglasses and dirty hat, Sutton knew this man was not her brother, not by a long shot.

“Hi.” Sidney said giving her a small smile.

“Hey,” Sutton said. “What are you doing here?”

“Craig told me that your car was being difficult,” Sidney said. “So I thought that I could...”

“Come and get me and what? Ruin your game routine?” Sutton asked. “There is no way I can let you do that. I'm not taking the blame if someone finds out and everything goes to hell in a handbag.”

“So I'm not allowed to help you out?”

“I didn't say that.”

“But you aren't denying it either.”