Father Figure

"Dad, want to color in my tiger?"

"Daddy, you want to help me color my boat?"

I was fairly sure the boys just loved saying the word dad. After so long of not having him around, they were all about it. Sidney seemed to love it, too. He was so proud of them. Every time they came home with news about something good they'd done, he beamed.

Sidney looked between their coloring pages. "Why don't you guys help me color my fairy?" he asked.

Kris and Beau looked at each other before moving on to color their father's picture of a pretty fairy that I'd grabbed for him. Gab sat beside me, playing angry birds on Sidney's phone. Getting to the pizza parlor hadn't been a big deal. People occasionally waved at Sid or said hello, but no one mentioned anything about the boys.

Back before Christmas he had released a press statement saying that he did have sons. He gave them a short story on how he had never known about them and they turned up suddenly. When paternity tests were asked about, he said they weren't needed since the boys were exact copies of him. Every now and then the press asked questions, but it was getting rare.

We were still waiting a little longer to actually introduce them to the media. For now it was only random sightings of the four together. The boys seemed to not care at all. Once Kris had been freaked out and cried all the way home, but that was the only incident so far.

A waitress walked over and placed our pizza down in front of us. She gave a wide smile to Sidney before leaving us. "Someone likes you," I mumbled teasingly.

Sidney laughed as he pushed aside all of the coloring pages to make room for the food. "Whatever," he responded.

He gave each of us a plate before helping Beau and Kris get pizza. I put a slice on Gab's plate after he gave Sid his phone back. Once we all began eating, the boys started babbling.

"Mama, we saw Miss Vero at the arena yesterday!" Kris exclaimed after he took his first bite.

"Really?" I asked, smiling at him.

He grinned up at me. "Yeah! She was so pretty!" he told me.

I looked to Sidney. "I bet she was. Did you tell her that?" I asked him.

He nodded his head happily. "Yup! And she gave me a kiss on the cheek and told me I was sweet," he mumbled.

"Such a charmer," I told him. Sidney smiled to himself.

"She had such a pretty shirt, mama!" he continued on.

"Oh yeah?" I asked.

He nodded his head quickly. "I was black and it had a penguin on it!" he told me.

I rolled my eyes. "We heard about her the whole way home," Sidney told me.

"And I met Kris Letang again!" Gab exclaimed around a mouth full of food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," I reminded him.

He quickly swallowed his food. "He skated with me after their practice! He told me I was going to be as good as him one day!" he told me.

Sidney watched his son light up as he talked about the defender. He didn't seem to mind that his son was such a big fan of another player other than him. Honestly, I think he thought it was adorable. Seeing as he knew Kris pretty well, seeing a little boy adore him must have been amusing.

"And Miss Vero skated with me!" Kris almost exploded.

I looked back at my son. "Oh, yeah? That's pretty cool," I commented.

He shot off into the story about how she held his hand while they skated and he had to push Marc-Andre away from her several times. Marc may have been his favorite goalie, but he was not about to share Vero with him.

As Beau launched into his own tale of skating with some of the Penguins after their practice, a flash of light caught my eye. I glanced over to the right to find a few people huddled together, two cameras pointed at Sidney. I quickly looked back at Sid. His eyes caught mine and I nodded to the side. He looked over before looking back at the boys.

None of us were close to finishing our dinner. It would take forever to get it all to go and get the boys out of the restaurant. I could see the wheels in Sidney's head turning as he debated the same thing.

"Who's that man taking pictures of us?" Gab asked me as he pulled on my sleeve and pointed to the people with cameras.

All of the boys looked over now. "They're taking pictures of your dad," I told them.

"Why?" Beau asked with a frown as one of the camera went off with a bright flash again.

"They like taking pictures of people," Sidney explained.

The boys continued to stare at the photographers. "Eat your pizza, guys," I reminded them, hoping they'd finish up quickly so we could leave. I felt uncomfortable having people I didn't know take pictures of me. I didn't know what they'd do with those photos. For all I knew, they'd be plastered around the city the next day.

The boys all slowly sunk back into their chairs and began eating their pizza again. Sidney looked up at me. "You okay?" he asked softly.

I nodded, pushing my pizza away form me. I no longer felt hungry. "Yeah, I'm fine," I responded.

He frowned, picking up on my off mood. "I'll go get a box," I mumbled and quickly stood up.

"Can I come?" Gab asked quickly before I could leave.

I looked at the people taking pictures and back at his pleading face. "Sure. Come on," I told him, holding out my hand. Gab grinned and rushed over to hold onto my hand. He walked with me past the photographers. They were smirking to themselves as they snapped photos of us. Gab frowned and leaned closer into my side. He glared at them as we passed.

I smiled to the girl behind the counter. "Can I get a to go box?" I asked politely.

She forced a smile to her lips. "Yeah, sure," she mumbled. She dug under the counter before lifting up a box and handing it over. I took the box and walked Gab back to the table.

"I don't like those guys," Gab whined softly as he climbed up into his chair again.

I let out a sigh and looked to Sidney. He was already frowning, his food pushed away from him. Kris and Beau were sitting closely next to him, practically in his lap. They were sneaking wary glances at the men that were still taking pictures of them. "Daddy, will you tell them to go away?" Beau begged.

He gave me a look, wondering if he should or not. I shrugged my shoulders. "You can always try," I offered.

He nodded his head before pushing his chair back and walking over to the men. They all spoke quickly, but too quiet that I couldn't pick anything up. "Finish your pizza," I told them. "We need to get you guys home and in bed early tonight. You have school tomorrow," I reminded them.

The boys let out a collective groan and began picking at their food again. I let out a sigh and looked back at Sidney. He was frowning as he talked to the people. They obviously seemed completely opposed to leaving us alone for dinner, no matter how crappy of a dinner it was.

He turned back to me and walked over, shaking his head. I could feel a small headache coming on. "They told me to forget about it, though with a few choice words added in," he explained when he sat back down.

"Why won't they leave us alone?" Kris asked, looking like he was ready to cry.

Sidney gave him a reassuring smile. "It's okay, bud. Don't worry about them," he told him.

Kris glanced at the men again. "I don't like them," he mumbled.

"It'll be fine, buddy. We're going to leave as soon as we finish dinner," I told him.

That seemed to get all of them eating faster. Once they each decided they were done, we hurried to get them dressed up in their coats and scarves again. I avoided eye contact with the photographers as I walked Gab out of the pizza parlor. Sidney gave them a look of displeasure when he passed with his whimpering son in one had and Beau in the other.

The men didn't seem to care, though. once we were outside, I stopped to walk beside Sid. "Maybe I should've cooked dinner tonight," I suggested, trying to lighten the mood.

He cracked a smile. "Yeah, maybe so," he agreed.

We loaded the boys into his car again before getting in ourselves. He started his car and headed towards Mario's house. The boys rested silently in the back. Every now and then, one would mumbled something and the other two would reply.

"I'm sorry about that," Sidney told me as he came up to a stop light. His brown eyes met mine. "That ruined our family time..."

I shrugged my shoulders. "You couldn't stop it. Besides, we knew that was a risk when we decided to tell people about the boys," I reminded him.

He let out a sigh. "I just wish it was easier on them... Kris is starting to worry about them all the time when we go out..."

I nodded my head. I'd noticed the same change in our son. It killed me to see him with that fear in him. No child needed that. "I wish it was easier on them..." I mumbled.

"Me, too," he agreed. I stared out the window at the passing city. It bothered me a lot whenever I saw any of the boys get scared about something like that. At five years old, photographers should be one of the last of their worries.

Sidney's hand slipped into mine. "It'll be okay. Things will work out," he assured me. He gave me a reassuring smile. I laced my fingers with his and returned the smile.