Father Figure

Sidney's Point of View

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When I stopped by the school to pick up the boys, their teacher informed that they'd been picked up in the morning. As I left the school, I called Nathalie twice to see if she'd picked them up. She hadn't called me about it, so it seemed weird. We were always on the same page about the boys. 

When I walked into her place to see if the boys were there, everything was dead quiet. 

At that point my stomach was doing flips and I was starting to worry. Nathalie hadn't answered her phone still, too. 

I pushed open the door to the boys' room, but it was empty. I frowned further. The only other place they could be was Nathalie's room. 

I pushed open her door, holding my breath. A wave of pride and another wave of relief hit me at the same time. The boys and Nathalie were all curled up in the bed, sleeping soundly. Nat was laying on her stomach, showing off a bright 87 on the back of her jersey. Or mine, actually. I'd given it to her to wear when she'd gone to one of the games awhile back. She had told me it was one of the most comfortable items of clothing she owned, which I could believe. A worn jersey was pretty comfortable. I loved seeing her in it. 

To her right were three balls under the blanket. Spiderman's face greeted me from Beau's butt sticking out from the top of the blankets. Next to him I could see the top part of Gab's jersey peaking out from under the comforter. And last but not least, Kris was sprawled out, taking up as much room as possible. He, too, was wearing my jersey. 

I carefully walked over to Nathalie's side or the bed. Just as I got closer, her head popped up. She studied me with glazed over eyes. "Hi," she mumbled out. 

"You picked up the boys early?"

She dropped her head onto her pillow again. "Yeah... I got a call they were getting sick, so I picked them up and took them home. I wasn't feeling good, too, so we all curled up for a day in bed," she I formed me. 

I nodded my head. "How are you feeling now?" I asked. I brushed her hair away from her face. 

She simply groaned. "Ready to puke. They were kind enough to give me whatever they got," she mumbled into her pillow. 

I kicked off my shoes before carefully crawling onto the bed next to her. "If you stay in here, you might catch it," she warned quickly, her hand on my arm to stop me. 

I took her hand in mine before laying down beside her. "Oh well," I dismissed with a smile. She returned it before curling into my chest. I could feel the heat pouring off of her like a fountain. She had to be running a fever. I rubbed her back lightly, hoping it would lull her back to sleep. The news I had could wait. 

Once we both relaxed  into the bed, Beau suddenly began squirming around and fighting his way out from under the covers. Once he'd escaped, he frowned and plopped back onto the bed, his head on the pillow now. 

"What's wrong, buddy?" I asked. 

"Gab farted," he grumbled unhappily. 

It took everything in me to not laugh as hard as I wanted to at the fact that my son had just Dutch Ovened his brother pretty damn well. My eyes drifted down to the Penguin on the front of his jersey. It was like a mini army of sick fans in this room. I made the comment softly to Nat. 

She smiled against my chest. "They saw me wearing mine and decided they all needed to wear theirs." 

I grinned at that. It was hard to put into words the pride I felt when any of them wore my jersey. When they came to games and stood by the glass, cheering me on, I wanted to do the best I possibly could, just for them. 

"How was practice?" Nathalie asked after a few minutes. 

"Good... I talked to Doc and Coach afterwards," I started slowly. 

"How'd that go?" she asked. Her eyes opened now to look at me. A smile began to tug at her lips. 

I smiled widely. "We're looking at next week. I've been symptom free for long enough that they think it's safe. The inflammation is gone completely and we didn't have to use the shot today," I explained. 

Her arms wrapped tightly around me. "That's great! You'll be playing again soon!" she exclaimed. 

I nodded my head, my arms wrapping tighter around her. "It's all falling into place," I blurted out. I almost had a heart attack at what I'd said. I prayed to God she wouldn't pick up on everything I meant there. 

And thankfully she didn't. She pressed a kiss to my collar bone and mumbled a few things before I felt her starting to fall asleep again. I let out a sigh. 

I was falling for her harder than I ever could have imagined. She was all I'd ever wanted and needed. And then some. She stayed by my side with every appointment and made me smile even when I wanted to break down. She kept me level headed when I felt like pushing myself farther than my doctor recommended. And she brightened up my life. Every time I got to see her, my day got better instantly. And every kiss had me wanting to tie her to my side and never let her leave. I was in love with her. 

"Daddy?" Beau mumbled softly, sounding scared. 

"Yeah?" I asked. 

"I think I'm gonna be sick..." he told me sadly. 

I quickly slipped off the bed to get to his side. "Come on. Let's go to the bathroom," I told him. 

He took a hold of my hand and walked by me as I lead him to the bathroom. I opened the toilet lid for him. He stared down at the water, his eyes sad. He looked miserable. 

I took a seat on the side of the tub. He looked so much like I used to. His dark hair was a wild mess and even though he was so young, he was already getting the hockey player muscles in his legs. He suddenly wrapped his arms around my neck. "I don't like being sick," he cried. My heart ached as I hugged him. 

"I'm sorry... I wish I could make you feel better," I told him honestly. I rubber his back, honestly wishing I could make him better. 

Beau of the three of them was never so down and quiet. Seeing him kicked on his butt was almost painful. I had never felt something so strong as this. Maybe when they told us about Joseph cursing at them, though. It was a protective feeling. I wanted to keep them safe and healthy. 

Beau suddenly turned and threw up in the toilet. I rubbed his back as he kept heaving, emptying his nearly empty stomach. When he finished be started to move his arm to his mouth, to wipe off the remnants. I quickly stopped him. "Hang on, bud. Wipe your mouth with this," I told him as I handed him a wad of toilet paper. He did as I asked before throwing the toilet paper in the toilet. I closed the lid and flushed before moving him to the sink. I could hear him starting to cry because of his throat. 

"It'll be okay," I promised. I quickly plucked his tooth brush out of the tooth brush jar and handed it to him. I squirted on a bit of toothpaste with it. "It'll make it better," I promised him. 

He weakly nodded his head and began to brush his teeth and mouth. His movements were slow and forced. I could see all he wanted to do was crawl in bed and stay there. 

When he finished, I tucked him in next to his brother and went back to laying by Nat. She opened her eyes slightly and offered a small smile. "Thanks," she mumbled. 

"I'd do anything for them," I replied softly. She curled into my chest once more. 

As I watched the four of them sleep half-peacefully, I relaxed. This was what I wanted.

I wanted Nathalie to be right beside me, together through the hard times and the good. I wanted my sons around all the time. I wanted to be able to provide for them and always be around like a normal father. I wanted us all under one roof, like a normal family. 

"Hey, Nathalie?" I whispered several minutes later. 

"Hm?" she responded against my chest. 

"I'm playing against New York on Friday."

She snapped her eyes open to look up at me. "Seriously?" she asked, trying to keep her voice down. I smiled and nodded. Her grin expanded as wide as possible as she wrapped her arms around me tightly. "That's great! I wish we could be there..."

I knew the boys had school. I figured they wouldn't make it to the game when Dan and I finally settled on the for sure plan. But knowing they would be cheering me on at home, wearing my jersey, was better than nothing. 

"What time does the game start?" she asked. 

I shrugged. "About seven."

She was quiet for a moment. "What if I took them right from school to the airport... Do you think we could make it to the rink on time? They get out at two thirty..."

I looked down to meet her eyes. "You'd fly them over just for the game?"

She nodded her head with a smile. "You're my boyfriend. I'd try my hardest to see you come back to what you live for. And they're your sons. They'd die to be able to see you play, no matter when or where."

My smile broke out at her words. I hugged her close to me as I closed my eyes. "I think I love you, Nathalie..."

I felt her smile wider and hold on tighter after the words slipped out of my mouth. "I'm pretty sure I'm already in love with you, Sid..."