Walk in the Sun

After a nice long spa day with Kaitlyn and then getting our hair and make-up done with Natalie, we waited with Mario for the boys to arrive. I guess Sid had got bored and went to Kris’ place. That made it a little better, though, because that way both boys showed up on time. The boys pulled up in Sid’s Range Rover and we saw them get out. Sid was looking sharp in his suit. I gave myself one last look at my [url= http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=53393086]dress[/url] and I walked back over to Kaitlyn and Natalie. We were laughing about what the boys had been up to during the day, when Mario came in with Sid and Kris. My eyes met Sid’s and I beamed. I walked up to him and laced my fingers through his. He beamed down at me.

“You look incredible.” He whispered as he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my lips.

I smiled. “You don’t look too shabby yourself there, Cap’n.”

We left Mario’s house and got into the car that was waiting outside for the 6 of us. Once we all piled in the car, we took off towards the party.

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Sid's POV

We entered the party and Steph’s hand gripped mine. I looked down at her and saw that she had a nervous look on her face. I leaned down an whispered in her ear.

“Relax. You’ve met most of them before.”

She looked up and gave me a small smile.

“I’m sorry, this is just a little intimidating, y’know?”

I chuckled lightly. “You’ll be fine. Look, Kaitlyn and Kris are over there. Let’s go.”

She smiled and her grip on my hand loosened slightly, but her hand didn’t leave mine. We walked over to our friends, and by the time we got there, we were met by Jordan and Max.

“Damn, Cap’n. You get the ‘C’ on your jersey and the hottest girl on your arm? Jeez.”

I smirked at Max. “Jealous, Talbo?”

He nodded. “Hell yes, I am.”

He walked closer to Steph and took her hand and brought it up to his lips.

“Cherie, since I don’t get to take you home, can you at least save me a dance?”

I rolled my eyes at Max’s attempt to charm my girlfriend.

“Well, I don’t know, Max. Will I catch anything by being that close to you?”

The whole group erupted with laughter. I was happy to see Steph beginning to relax.

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Steph's POV

I could feel the tension that built up when we walked through the front door begin to fade. After standing by and talking to Kaitlyn and Jordan’s date, Heather, we were told that it was time to go to our tables. Sid put a hand on my lower back and guided me over to our table. Sid pulled out my chair and we sat down.

After finishing a lovely meal, the dance began. After a few slow dances with Sid, I walked over to Max. He raised his eyebrow and smirked as I walked closer to him.

“I put on some repellent, so I’m able to give you that dance.”

He smiled as he took my hand and led me to the middle of the dance floor. I looked over at Sid and smiled. He gladly returned it, knowing that I was only doing this for a friend. My dance with Max didn’t last all that long. I looked over to see where Sid was and he was engulfed in a conversation with Kaitlyn. I figured since he was busy, I would keep dancing. Max and I walked off the dance floor and I found Kris talking to Mario. I looked between the two men before looking over at Mario.

“Do you mind if I steal him for a dance?”

The older Frenchman shook his head and smiled.

“By all means.”

I smiled at Kris and he extended his hand out to me. We walked out onto the dance floor. As we began to dance, we looked over at our “other halves” talking.

“So, what do you think is going on over there?” Kris asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Don’t know. Better not be some master plan for world domination. We need to be involved in that.”

Kris chuckled. We continued dancing, and when I heard the song coming to an end, someone came up and tapped Kris on the shoulder. It was Sid.

“May I?”

Kris looked over and smiled at me.

“She’s all yours, captain.”

I smiled at Kris as he stepped out of the way and Sid took his place. As soon as that song ended, another on began. Sid smiled and leaned down and whispered in my ear.

“So, you and Max, huh?”

I leaned back a little bit and saw that he was smirking. I leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips.

“Damn, I was hoping I could sneak out with him and you wouldn’t notice?” I smirked.

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Sid’s POV

The morning after the party was an early one. I got up before Steph and tip toed my way downstairs to make a call. I wanted to see if Steph’s family had arrived in Pittsburgh okay. My family had arrived while we were at the party, and my mom had offered to pick up Steph’s family. When I realized everything was set and okay, I went back upstairs and woke up Steph. When I arrived back into the bedroom, she was laying on her back and looked over at me. She gave me a slight pout.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, raising my eyebrow.

“Well, it is Christmas Eve, I thought my amazing boyfriend crawled out of bed to make me breakfast in bed.”

My face almost fell. That was until I saw the smirk appear on her face. I walked over beside the bed and leaned down, capturing her lips in a long, soft kiss.

“Good morning.” I smiled as I pulled away.

“Good morning. So, when can we expect your parents and Taylor?”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Seriously? That’s the first thing you think of when you get up on Christmas Eve? When my family is going to get here?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Well, I’m just curious, seeing as it is almost 9:30. Are they coming for lunch? If so, I should get out of bed now, have a shower and tidy up a little bit.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit. “You’re so weird, you know that?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Yep. But, you love me anyways.”

I placed a soft kiss on the tip of her nose.

“Well, you better get up then. They’re going to be here around 1.”

She lightly pushed me with wide eyes and hopped out of bed.

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Steph’s POV

After I was finished with my shower, I got dressed and walked downstairs. I walked into the kitchen and saw Sid wiping down the counter. He looked over at me and smiled. Stepping towards me, he placed a soft kiss on my lips.

“I know you said you wanted to tidy up, but you took a little long in the shower.”

I smirked. I did have a habit for taking a long time in the shower.

“Well, I’m sorry if I’m cautious of my hygiene.”

He smirked and placed his hands on my hips. I looked up at him and smiled.

“So, what do you say we finish tidying up before my family gets here?”

I nodded and that’s exactly what we did. By the time we had the house tidied to my liking, we had about a half an hour before Sid’s parents and sister were scheduled to arrive. So we decided to curl up on the couch and we watched some tv to pass the time.

My focus was indulged in the movie that was on the tv when the door bell went off. I hopped off the couch and made my way towards the door. Before I could reach the door, Sid stopped me.

“Hey, I forgot to grab the gifts for my family, could you go get them? They’re in my closet in the bedroom.”

I raised my eyebrow at him, thinking maybe there was a reason why he didn’t let me open the door for his family. But nevertheless, I walked upstairs. I made it to the bedroom and walked over to Sid’s closet. I saw two bags of presents, and didn’t know which one was which. I began to dig through one of the bags when a voice startled me.

“You know, you always were a little snoop.”

I stood up and looked towards the doorway. A smile broke out on my face.

“Derrick?! What are you doing here?!” I asked as I wrapped my brother in a huge hug.

“Well, I was invited, why else?” I raised an eyebrow at him. I walked passed him and ran down the stairs. The smile I had on my face just seconds before re-appeared on my face as I spotted the one woman I was most worried about leaving for the holidays.

“Mom!” I ran into her arms and met her with a warm embrace.

She smiled at me as she pulled away. I raised an eyebrow at her. She could see the question in my eyes and pointed behind her. I looked over my shoulder and saw my boyfriend smiling like crazy. I beamed as I walked over to him. I placed a small kiss on his cheek.

“You’re amazing, you know that?”

He just smiled at me. I turned my head and said hello to his parents and Taylor. I also found my brother’s girlfriend, Tab. After everyone got settled in, we all decided to sit in the living room and watched A Christmas Story. I leaned back into Sid as we were curled under a throw blanket on the couch. This was indeed, the best Christmas ever and I hadn’t even given Sid his gift yet.

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later that day…

After the movie had finished and the whole lot of us had practically crawled out of the living room, we had separated into “groups”. I had stayed in the living room with Taylor and Tab, while the boys went into the basement and the two moms went into the kitchen. Taylor had a huge smile on her face, excited to see my face when I opened the gift she had picked out for me. I was happy that both of our families were here. Sid knew how much my family meant to me and how sad I was to leave them behind for the holidays. When I asked both of them about their flights, they both answered with the same response.

“Busy.”

I smirked, knowing that the airports would be crazy busy during the holidays. I saw Tab yawn and told her that she could go up into the guest room and take a nap if she wanted. She nodded and I gave her the directions. That left me and Taylor. She jumped over onto the couch and sat beside me.

“So,” she whispered. “What did you get Sid?”

I rolled my eyes with a smile on my face.

“I’m not telling you.”

She pouted and stuck out her bottom lip. I smirked.

“The puppy face isn’t going to work, Tay.”

She sighed and leaned back into the couch.

“Why won’t you tell me?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “’Cause you won’t have to wait long to see it. Besides, it’s not the biggest or most extravagant thing.”

She smiled. “That’s good. Sid’s not really a flashy guy, but, I’m guessing you have already figured that out.”

I nodded, remembering a conversation that Sid and I had on the phone. He said that he didn’t care about materialistic things, but I had already guessed that about him. He didn’t seem like the type to care more about quantity rather than quality. I smiled at the memory. I was brought back from my thoughts by a tap on my shoulder. I looked up and saw my mom.

“Sorry to interrupt, but Trina and I were wondering if you two girls wanted to help up bake the cookies in the kitchen.”

My eyes lit up and I looked over to Taylor, who eagerly nodded. Baking cookies on Christmas Eve was a tradition my mom and I had and I was happy to share that with Sid’s mom and sister. Taylor and I followed my mom into the kitchen and she asked me where Tab had gone off to. I told her she was a little tired and understood right away. Apparently, her and Derrick were up late, having Christmas with Tab’s family the night before. As I looked around the kitchen, I saw all of the ingredients laid out for cookies, just the way my mom and I had always done. I smiled over at her.

“So, what to do first?”

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Sid’s POV

Downstairs, we could smell something baking upstairs. I heard Derrick chuckle.

“I see the tradition is still standing.”

My dad and I raised his eyebrow at him.

“What tradition?” My dad asked.

“Steph and our mom would always bake cookies on Christmas Eve. It’s kinda their thing.”

I smiled, happy that Steph was bringing old Christmas traditions into my home. While we sat down and began to talk about hockey and our plans for the holidays, I heard the familiar laughter of my sister, bringing another smile to my face. We heard the basement door open and footsteps coming down the stairs. Turning our heads we saw my mom standing at the foot of the stairs with a smile on her face.

“The cookies are done, if you guys want some.”

We all shrugged our shoulders and followed her upstairs. I walked into the kitchen to see Steph laughing with Taylor, both of them with flower in their hair. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and snapped a photo. I walked over and grabbed a cookie off the plate on the counter. I looked up and my eyes met Steph’s. Taylor looked between the two of us and smiled.

“I’m going to leave you two alone.”

She left the kitchen and I placed my hands on Steph’s waist. She smiled up at me and brought her hands up and wrapped them around my neck.

“So, were you surprised?” I asked.

She placed a soft kiss on the tip of my nose.

“Incredibly.”

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Steph's POV

The first day with the families was great, and after a nice dinner full of laughter and holiday talk, our families went back to their hotel for the night. Of course, that wasn’t before my mom and I shared one last tradition with my brother. My mom gave me one gift to open. I knew what it was, but I still loved getting my Christmas pajamas every year. After I opened them, and put them on, my mom, Derrick and Tab left. Sid and I allowed Taylor to spend the night with us, seeing as Sid only booked one room for his family at the hotel. After the families left, it didn’t take the three of us long before we called it a night and went to bed.

The next morning, I woke up to a smiling Taylor looking over me. I slowly sat up and rubbed my eyes.

“What’s up, Tay?”

She smiled and then jumped on me.

“Merry Christmas!” She screamed.

I had to laugh. “Merry Christmas to you, too.”

She hopped off of the bed.

“Come on,” She pulled on my arm. “It’s present time.”

I let her pull me up into a sitting position, then got out of bed on my own. I walked over to my closet and slipped the house coat that Sid had bought for me before I got to Pittsburgh on.

“Is everyone else here?” I asked Taylor.

She nodded her head. “Yepp. They just got here. We’re all waiting on you.”

“Well, why didn’t Sid wake me up when he knew everyone was on their way?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not sure, but let’s go. I wanna see this gift you got Sid.”

I rolled my eyes and followed her downstairs. When I saw everyone sitting in the living room, I waved.

“Hey guys, sorry I’m not dressed. Someone,” I looked over at Taylor. “didn’t give me a whole lot of time.”

Taylor rolled her eyes and we both found a spot to sit. I found myself sitting on the couch between my mom and Sid.

“Okay, so now that we’re all here… present time!” Taylor yelled and walked over to the tree. She bent down and picked up the first gift. It was to Derrick from me. Clearly my mom had found my gifts and brought them with her. We were supposed to have Christmas before I left. Derrick took the wrapped gift from Taylor and smiled over at me as he opened it.

The gift opening lasted almost 2 hours. Taylor was more than happy to be our Santa the entire time, but I didn’t want her to miss out on the fun of opening gifts, so I took over. It became a trend and everyone had a chance to be Santa.

“Okay, there’s only 2 gifts left.” Troy said. He looked at them and then looked over at me and Sid. “Do you guys want us to leave while you open these or…?”

I shook my head. “No, not at all.”

Troy handed us our gifts. Mine was from Sid and his was from me. Obviously they were the last gifts because they were the first under the tree. Sid looked over at me with a smile and urged me to open mine first. I was going to retort and ask him to open his first, but my thought were interrupted.

“Come on, someone open something already. This is torture!”

I laughed as I looked over at Taylor. I stuck my tongue out at her as I began to rip the wrapping paper. After the paper was removed, I saw a rectangle velvet jewelry box in my hands.

“Sid..” I sighed. He urged me to continue. I opened the box and saw that it was a gold chain with one single charm on it, the number ’87.’ I looked over the charm and then looked over at Sid.

“So you always have a piece of me when you go back home.” He smiled. I reached up and noticed I couldn’t feel the chain around his neck. I pulled away and raised my eyebrow at him.

“Sid? Is this…?” He nodded.

“I didn’t have a whole lot of time, but I wanted to get you something special. What better than one of my most prize possessions?”

I smiled as tears began to well up in my eyes. I leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his lips. I shook my head, and wiped my eyes.

“Okay, your turn. Not that it will top this.”

Sid lightly chuckled and began to open his gift. When he got the paper removed, I saw the smile grow on his face. He looked over at me.

“Where did you get this?”

I smiled. “Carmel emailed me all of the pictures that she and the twins took. That was my favourite.”

He smiled and showed everyone what it was. It was a picture of us at Carmel and Gary’s in New Brunswick. I wanted to get him something to show him where it all began. It wasn’t the greatest gift, but after talking to Natalie about the idea that floated through my head, she helped me pick out the perfect picture frame. After placing the picture on the end-table, Sid leaned back on the couch.

“Well, I’d say this was another successful Christmas.”

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Sid's POV

After we opened gifts, we enjoyed a lovely Christmas brunch. My mom asked what Steph and I had planned for the rest of the day. I shrugged my shoulders and looked over at Steph.

“I didn’t really make plans other than phoning Kaitlyn and wishing her a Merry Christmas and see how her morning with Kris and Luc went.”

“Did her family come to Pittsburgh?” Steph’s mom asked.

I shook my head. “No, Kris told me that they have strict Christmas plans, but they allowed Kaitlyn to come here for the holidays.”

Sandy smiled. “Yes, that’s right. I remember hearing about their Christmases when Kaitlyn would come over to the house. I’m glad that Stephanie didn’t come here alone, though.”

I smiled. My dad looked over at me.

“So, Kris’ family is back home in Quebec?”

I shook my head. “No, they’re actually on vacation right now. So, Kris, other than Kaitlyn, is by himself for the holidays. Luc showed up yesterday.”

“Well, why don’t you invite them here?” My mom piped up.

“Well, only if it’s okay with everyone else? I mean, I’m sure they wouldn’t want to intrude.”

I looked around the table and didn’t see anyone look liked they disapproved. My eyes met Steph’s and I smiled.

“Okay, well when I call Kaitlyn, I’ll ask what they’re up to and see if they want to come over.”

We finished up brunch and the moms cleaned the table. Derrick and I went into the living room and plated some NHL 07. My dad and Taylor were cleaning up the living room, while Tab and Steph went upstairs to change.

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Steph’s POV

I went upstairs and changed and called Kaitlyn. She answered after the first ring and screamed a holiday greeting in my ear. I laughed and asked her how her morning went.

“It was great. Kris loved his gift, and I cannot wait to show you what he got me.”

“Well, how about the three of you come over here?” I asked.

“Isn’t it family time over there?”

My eyes widened. I totally forgot that she didn’t know my family was here too.

“Yeah, but it’s okay. You were invited by Sid’s mom. All three of you.”

“Well, can I ask Kris and Luc what the plans are for the day and get back to you?”

“Sure. Sorry to spring this on you, I just mentioned that I was going to call you during brunch.”

“No biggie. I’ll call you right back, okay?”

I agreed and hung up the phone. I left the bedroom and was met by Tab in the hallway. She looked a little queasy. I put a hand on her arm.

“Hey, you okay?”

She shook her head.

“I don’t know. I’m just a lot more tired than normal and I’m eating things I don’t normally eat and…”

“…and you could be pregnant.” I cut her off. She looked up at me with wide eyes. I put a hand over my mouth. “Oh my, you are.”

I saw tears beginning to well up into her eyes. “Please. Please don’t tell Derrick.”

“Why the hell not? It is his, isn’t it?”

She sighed. “Of course it is, but I don’t know if he’s ready for this.” Tears began to run down her face. “I don’t want him to leave me because of this.”

I grabbed her hands and made her look at me.

“Tab, my brother loves you. This baby could only make him love you more. Trust me when I tell you, he’s not going to leave you. He’ll be thrilled.” I helped her wipe her tears and pulled her in for a hug. “You do realize that this kid is going to get spoiled by their favourite auntie, right?” I whispered. I pulled away and saw that a small smile broke out on her face. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and once she regained her composure, we walked back downstairs. I let Tab go over to Derrick as I sat down beside Sid. I leaned back and locked eyes with Tab behind both of the backs of our boyfriends. We shared a smile then I saw Tab whisper something in Derrick’s ear. He smiled and paused the game.

“Hey, what the heck, man?” Sid asked as Derrick stood up from the couch.

Derrick shrugged his shoulders. “Well, my girl wants to tell me a Christmas surprise. So, if you’ll excuse us.”

“Hey, not in my house, bud.” Sid yelled, jokingly. He turned his head back to look at me. “They’re not going to, are they?”

I shook my head with a chuckle. ‘No, Sid. They’re not. Our mom is here.”