Father Figure

Stacey Parker spotted me from a few meters away. It took her two minutes to realize my sons weren't with me. 

Sidney Crosby arrived at they ice rink ten minutes before practice started. It took him a minute to get out of the car. 

Stacey Parker looked to the parking lot when I said their father was dropping them off. It took her half a minute to recognize who was with my sons walking into the rink. 

I could see the look of lust come over her as she looked him up and down. It took me only a fraction of a second to lose any trust I might have had in her. 

"Mama! Daddy picked us up from school!" Gab screamed as he ran to me with his bag of hockey gear. He dropped it as he reached up to hug me. 

I grinned and hugged him back. "Really? What'd you guys do?" I asked. 

Kris ran up to me next and hugged me. "We went to get dinner and we played and and and we we... We saw Miss Vero!" he suddenly burst out. 

I laughed and ruffled up his hair. "That's pretty special!" I told them. Sidney walked up hand in hand with Beau. Beau looked up to his father with a look of pure happiness. 

Sidney had the widest smile on his face. "Hey!" he greeted. 

I looked back at my sons. "Hey. Looks like you survived your first day with them," I commented. 

He ran a hand over his hair. "Yeah. I'm sure I'll get used to their insane amount of energy."

I laughed. "Nope. Never happens. They need to get their gear on, though. Practice starts soon," I said. 

"Well let's get ready!" Sid announced. "Go get on the bench. Let's get your stuff on."

Before he could go anywhere, Stacey stepped in front of him. "Hi. I'm one of Nathalie's friends. My son is on the team," she quickly said as she held her hand out. "My name's Stacey."

Sidney looked a little taken back. His eyes flickered to mine for a second. I quickly ignored her and walked with my sons to the bench to get their things on. I kept a wary eye on her as she spoke to Sidney. Her body language made it obvious she wanted him. I could only imagine what her words were implying. 

"Mama? Who was that creepy lady?" Beau asked as he glared at the woman talking to his father. 

I glanced over again. Sidney was trying to edge around her to join us, but she wasn't catching his hint. "You know Josiah?" I asked. 

"Yeah," he responded. 

"That's his mom," I finally answered. I finished helping him tug in his jersey before moving to Gab.

Gab had pulled on all of his pads already and was waiting patiently for my help to tug on his jersey. Except the pads for his right side were on his left and vice versa. I kneeled down and began tugging everything off. "I don't like her. She touches Daddy too much," Beau announced. 

"Why is she touching him so much?" Kris asked curiously as he turned to face them completely. 

I signed. "She just really likes him," I mumbled. 

"You like him a lot, too, right?" Gab asked as he tried to help me put his pads back on. 

"Yeah," I responded quickly. I glanced over at the two. His back was now facing us. 

"Then how come you don't touch him?" Kris followed up. 

I signed and sat back. "Boys, I'm going to tell you the truth. But this stays between us, okay?" I asked. They all nodded their heads. "She likes your dad in a different way. I care about him as a friend," I stated. 

"Ew! Like she wants to kiss him?" Beau exclaimed in a hushed whisper. 

I wrinkled up my nose to mimic all three of them. "Exactly," I confirmed. 

Sidney finally escaped and joined us. He took over Kris's gear, breezing through it like nothing at all. "Mama says that Josiah's mama wants to kiss you!" Gab declared to his father. 

I hung my head and groaned. So much for a secret. Sidney simply laughed. "Lots of ladies want to kiss me," he said teasingly. I knew the joke was pointed to me. 

I laughed as I picked up Gab's skates. "But Mama says she likes you just as a friend. She doesn't want to kiss you and be all touchy," Kris informed him with a nod of his head. 

I groaned louder. "How about you guys ask your dad when his next game is?" I suggested. 

I was completely ignored, though. "How come so many ladies wants to kiss you?" Beau asked as Sidney walked behind me to tie his skates. 

"Because ladies like it that I have money. They also think I'm pretty good looking," he told his son with a laugh. 

The boys all chorused Sidney's giggle almost exactly the same way. "Do you think Dad's good looking?" Gab asked me. 

I almost face palmed. "You bet she does!" Sidney commented. I glared at him while he smirked. The boys giggled in front of us. 

We finished up with getting them all ready before ushering them off to join their teammates on the ice. More like we were chasing after them trying to finish getting them ready as they ran to the ice. They were always eager to play hockey, just like Sidney had always been. 

We picked up their bags before moving to the parent benches. It felt nice having him around. Having him help me get the boys geared up and ready to go felt... Right. Things felt good this way. Even Joe helping out had never felt this good before. 

Sidney watched the ice excitedly as the boys started their practice. I could see all the memories it brought back for him. "We used to have a net set up in our garage for them," I mumbled suddenly. 

His head bent down to look at me. I could see the smirk out of the corner of my eye. "Yeah? How'd they like that?" he asked. 

I shook my head. "I don't know how a car can be mixed up with a net, in the first place. But aside from those few incidents, they loved it. They were pretty bummed when we didn't have a space to put a net at Mario's," I admitted. 

He nodded his head. "I'm sure I have a spot at my place for a net," he finally told me. I looked up to meet his eyes. 

"Do you think... I could, um... Maybe have them stay at my house some nights? I don't mean every night. I don't want to take them away from you or anything, but it'd be kind of nice to, you know... Have them around sometimes," he rushed out. His cheeks tinted pink as he rubbed the back of his neck. 

I forced a smile on to my lips. "We can work on setting up a room for them there when you're in town after your away games. Then they're more than welcome to stay the night."

I'd never thought about Sidney trying to take them from me. But now that he mentioned it, I panicked slightly. What if one day he decided he wanted to go to court to get them for a certain number of days each week and everything?

He grinned happily and looked back at the ice. "I have enough guest rooms that they can each have their own bedroom unless they want to share. I kind of looked a little bit at beds for them earlier today, but didn't really know what I was doing. I..." He stopped and looked at me. "I want them to feel welcome at my house just as much as your place..."

If anyone ever had any doubts about Sidney Crosby being a good father, that alone should have made them see how wrong they were. He was stepping up to this. He wanted to be in their lives. 

I gave him a smile and nodded my head before looking back to the ice. "We can start off with figuring out when they stay with you," I offered. 

"Okay. So..."

I laughed at his awkwardness. "How about we look at the dates when you stay in town for a game. We'll work around the nights when you don't have a game, seeing as those end pretty late and it'd be a hassle to have them fall asleep, wake up, move, and then fall asleep again."

He nodded his head. "Sounds good."

I chewed on my lip as I watched our sons skate around. Gab rammed his brother into the boards softly before stealing the puck and skating away. "Do you think that won't be stable enough for them, though?" I asked softly. "It's a lot of bouncing around..."

He signed heavily. "That's a good point... It probably isn't the best for them..." 

We sat in silence as we got lost in our own thoughts. It was hard to come up with something that might be regular enough to keep a pattern for the boys that was also possible. With the team's schedules, though, it felt impossible. 

Sidney let out a sigh. "I'll look over our schedules for games and everything on the plane ride tomorrow. Any chance I can get their schedule from you?" he asked. 

I nodded my head. "I'll copy our calendar and get it to you," I told him. 

He simply nodded his head. "What about media? People are sure to notice if I start spending more time with three five year olds that look like mini mes," he pointed out. 

I looked up at him. "What do you think is best for them? I don't want them put into anything that could harm them or influence them badly..."

He licked his lips and looked at the ice. "I think maybe during a press conference if it's brought up, just tell them true story. Don't hide it from them, cause less drama, you know? I'll ask Mario and Dan what they think regarding the boys. Hopefully we can figure out something so it won't be too big for the boys."

I smiled to myself. "Did Mario anything to you about them?" I asked. 

He chuckled and leaned back. "He just said he got rid of one Crosby only to gain three more."