Last Chance

I watched as she stepped out onto the ice, full of confidence as if nothing had happened the night before. She circled the net and took a few easy shots on Charline Labonte, then stopped near the bench to stretch. My face was peeled to the ice, to watching her. This was her big moment, this is what she had waited her whole life for and I was almost more excited for her than she was. This game was going to be part of her healing process and I knew she would put her whole heart into it.

-----February 2002-----

"That's going to be us one day Sid."
"I hope so."
"No, I know so. You and I will both play in the Olympics. And I hope we can both play for a gold medal. I can feel it in my bones. It's what we are meant to do."
"You have a lot of faith in me Kel."
"I'll always have faith in you Sid. You're my bestie with testies." She laughed
I laughed back. "And you're my bestie with breasties. Do you know how lame we are?"
"We're the lamest, and that's why we get along so well. Now shut up, they're about to drop the puck."

-----

We had spent early parts of the morning in bed, talking about what had happened. It was the first time that she had opened up to me about Kevin and what had transpired. By the end of it she was in tears again, but she refused to let the experience ruin her. It took all my strength to not just wrap her in my arms and kiss away her fears, her pain. I was cautious with my touches, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. I was willing to wait forever for her to be ready again. She ran a soft hand over my shoulder. "Thank You. Thank you for being here." I smiled and embraced her touch.
"There isn't anywhere else I would want to be." She leaned over and kiseed my forehead. "I've gotta get ready. Breakfast starts in fifteen minutes, plus I've got to work up my nerves and talk to Andrea about what happened. As much as I don't want it getting around, she needs to know."
"I agree, she needs to know. But Kel, don't feel pressured into telling her today. It's a lot to bring up and you've already put yourself through a lot emotionally this morning." She looked over her shoulder at me as she walked towards the bathroom."
"Sid, it's okay. The more I talk about it, the easier it will be to deal with. You're coming to the game right?" She was trying to change the subject.
"Of course, I wouldn't miss this for the world. I'm going to sit up in the box with some of the executives and my eyes will be on you the whole game. I however, don't need to be there for another hour, so I'm going to try and sleep." I rolled back over and put the pillow over my head to block out the morning light. It wasn't a second later that I heard her giggle. The giggle that I loved so much. I didn't have time to take the pillow away before she jumped on me playfully. "No fair Crosby! If I have to suffer through this god awful early morning game, so do you! Get your ass out of bed right now!" She started to tickle me, reaching for my abs which she knew where my weak spot. I couldn't hold back the laughter that escaped my mouth and I started to tickle her back. She was laughing hysterically with me, until she stopped abruptly and her face went blank. I realized that I was grabbing her wrists and I knew I had crossed the line. "Shit. Kelly, I'm so sorry. I didn't me-"
"Don't be silly Sid, you didn't do anything wrong. I can't help it. I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry about Kel, I should have been more careful. Now go and get ready. I'll see you after the game okay?" She smiled a shy smile a me. "Okay. I love you. And I know you didn't mean it Sid. I'm really going to try and make it better okay?"
"I know you Baby."
She gave my hand a squeeze and threw me a soft smile as she headed down to the lobby for breakfast.

I took my seat in the box, breakfast wrap in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. I had to try and keep myself occupied, otherwise I would end up analyzing the shit out of the game. I just wanted to enjoy it, and enjoy watching her play.

The puck dropped and watched in awe how flawlessly she skated. It was a hard fought and intense period and after twenty minutes there was no score. I couldn't sit still and I was yelling at the refs for nothing. I knew now, after only one period of watching, exactly how my parents must have felt every time they watched me play. The butterflies in my stomach were so intense that I actually thought I might throw up.

I had time during intermission to catch up with some of the board members of Hockey Canada and to check my email. I saw one from Taylor that made me laugh. It was a picture of her and Sam out on the dock with the caption. "The dog's alive and the house hasn't burnt down. Hope you come home soon." Man I missed my kid sister. I couldn't wait to go home and show Kelly my house and to welcome her back to the family. I typied out a quick reply stating I would be home next week and that Kelly was coming with me. I was able to pass the last few minutes texting Pat and trying to clear my schedule, and I was happen when the period started and I could turn my phone off. Pat could be overwhelming sometimes.

The second period picked up where the first had left off. Team USA opened the scoring in the third minute when Kel's check out skated her. I knew she wasn't going to be happy with that and the look on her face when she got to the bench confirmed my thoughts. During her next shift she cross checked the USA's goalie and was given a four minute minor. She hit her stick on the penalty door as it shut and yelled profanities that I could hear from the box. That wasn't like her, she was an agressive player normally but not like this. Four minutes in the Sin Bin would give her some time to calm down. By the end of the period the score was tied one and one and the atmosphere in the arena was instense.

As I had hoped, the visit to the penalty box and some words from Coach had gotten her in the right place. The team pulled out all the stops during the third and with four minutes left Kelly feathered a perfect pass to Andrea who let go of a wicked slap shot from the blueline. The goalie was screened and didn't have a chance at stopping it. Now that was the Kelly I knew. She had gone through a whole range of emotions in sixty minutes and somehow I knew, it was all going to be okay.

I waited for her outside the locker room, trying to keep a low profile as people buzzed by me. She was the last one out and I couldn't stop the smile that spread across my face when I saw her. "Hey you! Congratulations!" I wrapped my arms around her and she giggled.
"Thank you, started off rough, but we pulled out the win."
"You played great Kel. How do you feel?"
"Better, really. It's like I could get really mad and let it go, but still keep my cool. It was nice to just let go for sixty minutes. Pretend nothing happened."
"I'm so proud of you. There isn't anyone in this world who could have handled the past two days as well as you have. You know that right. I know it's going to take a bit of time, but I know we're going to get through this."
She smiled back at me. "I know, I feel the same way too. Now I'm starving, how about some lunch?"