Father Figure

"What do you think about everyone wanting paternity tests?"

I cleared my throat, my hands folded tightly in my lap. "I think it's unnecessary. If they knew me back then, they'd realize that, too. Also, the boys are basically clones of Sidney. It's hard to think they're anyone else's," I told him. 

A rush of words flew at me after that. I tried to focus on just one, but it was impossible. How did Sidney do this all the time? I'd been questioning that for the last hour. 

A piercing cry caught my attention. I stood up right away, panicked. Everyone else in the room looked around while Sidney stood up, too. 

Kris barreled through the hallway and entered the back corner of the room. Tears were streaming down his cheeks as he backed away from all of the cameras and up against the wall. I didn't think before I was running across the room to him, panicked. 

"What's wrong, sweetie?" I asked as I wiped away his years. 

He curled up into my chest, sobbing away. My heart broke at the sight of it. I quickly picked him up to take him away from the cameras. Beau and Gab ran into the room shortly afterwards. 

"Maman! Il y a-"

Gab stopped instantly when he noticed all the cameras flashing at him. "Boys!" Sidney called out as he walked around me. 

Their eyes landed on him. They rushed forward to the table, studying the buzzing media. "Who are they?" Beau whispered loudly. 

"Media," I answered. 

Sidney moved back to his seat. "Sorry to cut this short, but I hope you all understand," he began. 

His other two sons ran over to sit on his legs, watching as people took pictures of them. As I hushed Kris, I watched Beau begin to warm up to the people frenzying over him. He smiled widely, showing off all his teeth. Witnessing his brother's confidence, Gab joined it. 

Sid looked to me, unsure as to what he should do. I shrugged my shoulder. 

Kris's tears began to slow down. "Maman?" he asked, his breathing shaky. 

"Yeah, sweetie?" I whispered before pressing a kiss to his temple. 

He sniffed. "They chased me with a camera," he cried. 

I frowned as I rubber his back. "I'm so sorry, honey. That was very mean of them."

"Marc and Miss Vero said bad words at them," he informed me. "What does connard mean?"

I bit my lips together. "You should never say that word. That's a word only adults use."

"Oh. What is shit?" he questioned. 

"That's another adult word," I informed him. 

"Oh..." He sniffed one last time. 

I turned my attention to Sidney. He was answering questions quickly, hoping to finish as soon as possible. "Do they stay with you?"

Sidney cleared his throat. "Housing arrangements are not exactly public information. We prefer to keep it-"

"We live with Mama when we have school," Beau informed the reporter happily. "But sometimes if Daddy is in town and it's the weekend, we get to have sleep overs at Daddy's!"

"And and and he has a swimming pool! He says we're gonna swim in it in the summer time!" Gab added excitedly from his seat on Sid's left knee. 

"And he comes to our hockey games!" Beau almost yelled out. 

The media began buzzing again. "They play hockey, too?"

"Yeah! I'm like Kris Letang! I play defense!" Gab told the man excitedly. "I'mma be just as good as him one day!"

"And-and I play forward like my daddy! And Kris is a goalie like Marc-André Fleury! He loves Miss Vero just like him, too. But Kris loves Miss Vero more," Beau informed everyone. 

Kris's head popped up at the mention of Vero's name. I glanced around, wondering where they were at now. Standing at the back was a pissed off looking Vero. She nodded to Kris, wondering if I wanted her to take him. 

I waved it off, he seemed to be doing better now. As he watched his brothers, he squirmed out of my arms. His little hand found mine while he slid behind me just slightly. 

"Was your son Gab speaking French earlier?" a female reporter questioned in interest. 

Sidney grinned. "Yes. Nathalie grew up speaking French to her mother and so she passed down the language to our sons. They are fluent in both French and English, though I'd say their French is a little more fluid than their English," he answered proudly. "We are trying to keep them connected to their heritage, therefore we do speak French with them at times."

"Sidney, do you think you five will be moving to Quebec during the summer?" 

Sidney shrugged his shoulders. "We haven't talked about the summer plans much. Normally I go home to Nova Scotia, but Nathalie has a full time job here. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Beau tugged at his father's suit jacket. "Is Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Taylor gonna come visit soon?" he asked curiously. 

"How did your family react to the news?"

"Have they gotten to meet the boys yet?"

"What do they think?"

Sidney offered a polite smile. "My sister knew first. She'd seen the boys a few times back when they were really little. My mother and father almost died at first, like all parents would. Mom got over that pretty quickly, though, when I told her who the mother was. My parents like Nathalie a lot, which helped everything."

I could hold back my smile at his words. "We all spent Christmas together here in Pittsburgh. My sister adores them and they adore her back-"

"Is your sister Auntie Taylor?" Gab asked curiously. Sidney nodded his head with a smile. "Oh."

"Anyways, my mother was elated to meet them. She treats them like the stereotypical grandchildren, spoils them rotten and loves them unconditionally. Even after a few make-up adventures," he told them reporters. 

Kris tugged my hand towards Sidney, his eyes trained on his father. I walked over with him, careful not to do anything too quickly in case the cameras frightened him again.

"Why is Kris so scared of this?" a lady asked. 

Sidney looked over as his son approached him carefully. He held out his hand, to which Kris held onto as he curled into his dad's side. Beau looked behind him before wrapping his arms around Kris's face in a hug. 

"The boys all had a very hard time with the media. Kris had the hardest time. He usually hides away from them or runs crying. I mean, you can't blame him. At five, it would be hard to get used to," he said. 

I took my seat beside my best friend once more. Gab scooted off Sid's lap and crawled onto my own. Kris wasted no time in stealing his spot. 

I couldn't help but think we probably looked like a family at that moment. With our arms around our sons and smiles on our faces, we looked right. 

"Are you and Nathalie planning on getting married?"

I almost choked on my spit. Marriage was the furthest thing from my mind a that point. I was just settling into a comfortable pattern with my sons and best friend. I didn't need to uproot everything so drastically so suddenly. 

"No, we are not. We are simply friends, no dating or anything else," Sidney told them comfortably. I couldn't even see if his mind had sputtered at the question or if it made him nervous. He was as well reserved and contained as any person that had to deal with media a lot. 

-----

The ride home was silent. The boys were all asleep in the back while I was half asleep in the passenger seat. "I think it went well except for the crying episode," I mumbled. 

"Yeah, me, too."

A silence fell between us as the car traveled the winding roads to get us all home. My eyes slid shut when the clock finally ticked 9:30. 

"Hey, Nathalie?" Sidney began slowly. 

I didn't open my eyes as I responded. "Yeah?"

"What are you thinking for the summer? What do you want to do?"

My eyes peaked open. I had thought only a little bit on the subject, but didn't have a very good idea. "Well, I have to stay here for work... I, uh..." I swallowed hard. "You could take the boys up north for awhile if you wanted to... I'm sure they'd love that. It'd give you guys some serious time together, too. And they haven't gotten to see much of Canada since they were two..."

He glanced over at me. "Would you be okay with me taking them up there alone?" he asked warily. 

I forced myself to nod. "Of course. It's good for them to see they can be just as dependent on you as they are with me. Father-sons bonding time couldn't hurt, too."

"Maybe just a few weeks... Then we could come back down here and spend the rest of the summer in Pittsburgh," he suggested. 

The thought of not having my boys around for weeks made me feel panicky. It wasn't normal for me. I'd been with them all the time since they were born. I trusted Sidney completely, but I was nervous about what I'd do without them around. 

I nodded my head. "Yeah. That sounds good."

Sidney didn't say anything more as he focused on driving. The soft snores of the boys filled the car along with the hum of tires. Yet again, when I was almost completely relaxed, Sidney spoke. 

"Nat?"

I let out a sigh. "Yeah?" I asked tiredly. 

"Sorry... Nevermind," he mumbled quickly. 

I opened my eyes and sat up straight. "No, what is it?" I asked. Might as well ask now anyways. 

His eyes flickered to me. "How do you feel about the whole... Relationship thing?"

I squinted against the lights of the city. "What relationship?" I questioned. 

"I mean, um... Us. They brought that up and I was just-"

I looked over at him, surprised he was bringing it up. "What do you think about it?" I asked slowly, measuring my words. 

He shifted in seat. "Well... I guess..." His licked over his thick lips I had always been jealous of as a teenaged girl. "I guess it could be better for the boys... Having their parents together, you know? Even if it's not marriage or anything, maybe it'd, uh... Be good for them?"

I frowned in confusion. "Sidney... Are you asking me out?" I finally asked. 

He cleared his throat, squirming in his seat again. "If you want to... We could go out for dinner some night, maybe. But you don't have to or anything. It's just a-"

I cut him off quickly. My lips were pulled up in a smile I couldn't restrain nor had I expected. "I'd like that," I told him simply. 

He glanced over at me before smiling back. "Okay. Um, maybe next Friday? We could go out to dinner?" he suggested. 

I thought about it for a second. "Why don't we go see a movie other than something animated and made for little kids? I haven't gone to one in years," I admitted. 

He smiled widely. "I like the sound of that. We could sneak Blizzards in again like we used to, too," he added on. 

My eyes widened as I heard the giggle that escaped my lips. "So Friday movie date it is."

"Friday movie date it is," he agreed happily.