But Loving Him Was Red...

Three Days Later

The Classic. They were holding it outside at Heinz Field, and it was buzzing here with almost 70,000 people filling the stands. I walked through the parking lot to get to the seating, from the ticket Sidney gave me. We talked yesterday, when he asked if I was still coming.

I promised him and I wasn’t about to break it, so here I was. A toque on my head, and the jersey Sidney gave me two years ago. Still massive on me, but I loved it anyway.

I got into the building and made my way for the stands, passing the hall for the locker rooms.

They were playing the Capitals, and that’s been my favorite team since I was a little girl, and Sidney knew I’d be for the Capitals, he knew it. Even though I was wearing his jersey, I was rooting for the Capitals.

“Hey Emily,” Geno’s voice purred into my ear. I spun around and smiled widely. “It’s so good to see you,” He hugged me tightly, almost squishing Lucia who was in my arms.

He was leaving the locker room, dressed in the hockey pants with sandals on and his under armour. Weren’t they supposed to be having warm-ups right now?

“Hey baby,” I tried my best to hug him back. Why was he hugging me? I thought he was still mad at me. “You ready for the game?” I set Lucia down and she grabbed onto my leg, a trick I taught her when I wasn’t carrying her. It was so I could do what I needed to do without her running off.

“Hopefully my knees hold out,” He pulled from me and smiled, grabbing my hands in his. “I want to apologize to you, Emily; I was such an asshole when you showed up at my house after Layla died. I was in a state where I was mad at everything, and I want to apologize,”

I held his face in my hands. “Baby, its’ fine,” I pushed our forheads together. “You don’t need to apologize, I know you were mad because of what I did and if anything, I should be apologizing,”

“No, I feel bad for what I said,” He countered. “I want you to know that I still care about you,”

“I know, I’ve always known,” I put my arms around him and gave him a proper hug. “I hope you guys kick ass today,”

“We will, just for you,” He kissed my cheek and dug something out of the front of his pants. “Here, I noticed Loosh isn’t wearing a jersey, and I think she should be,” He handed it to me. I smiled brightly at the Malkin jersey in my hands. Of course it was toddler sized.

“Thanks babe,” I gave him another hug as he turned and walked away. Finally, everything was okay between us. I knew things would work themselves out. I knelt down and pulled the jersey over Lucia’s head and grabbed her up, as we hurried to our seats.

= = =

Sidney got us seats at ice level, but I still felt like we were 50 yards from the ice. Good seats, but if you have shitty vision, then it’s definitely not a good idea to be here.

The end of the second period was upon us, less than two minutes to go. Geno scored the first goal for the Penguins at the start of the second, he was so excited. I could see the goonish grin on his face.

The Capitals scored their first a few minutes later, by Mike Knuble. My eyes never left that of Alexander Semin, a RW for the Washington Capitals. He has been my all time favorite hockey player since he got drafted. I was so taken by him and I cried when he got drafted for my favorite team.

I looked down at Lucia, who was cheering at all the sounds and horns and people talking around her. The hockey game atmosphere was where I felt she was growing up in, just like myself.

When I finally looked back up, I saw Sidney laying on the ice. What the fuck? I felt my heart clench up in my chest as I stood up, with everyone else, holding Lucia tightly in my arms.

When the horn went, he was just getting to the bench. Was he okay? Ohmygod. I couldn’t breathe.

Everyone around me was shouting that David Steckel was a prick and he should be banned for what he did. He hit him? I looked up at the replay, seeing David’s shoulder hitting him in the side of the head, knocking him to the ice.

Sure, he hit him, but I don’t think it should go that far. What I was madder at, was that the play wasn’t stopped when he was down behind it, or the fact that David didn’t look back. What kind of an asshole doesn’t look back?

I startled when my phone vibrated. All the players had cleared the ice and had gone down the tunnels. It was a text from Geno.

- Sidney is okay, in case you were worried. He is a little shaken up, but he’s adamant about going back out.

I wasn’t so sure. I wouldn’t believe anything until I could see him for myself and talk to him and know that he’s okay. Of course he’d be a guy and cover it up.

For the rest of the game, he seemed okay, was skating fine and moving the puck, but something just wasn’t right.

The Capitals ended up winning it 3-1, with two superb goals by Eric Fehr.

I gathered Lucia and we headed out into the parking lot, to get into my Jeep. Sidney said he’d meet me out here so he can give me her stuff.

I was counting down the seconds anticipating him, so I could look into his eyes and know he’s fine. As I removed my jersey, I saw him shutting the door to his Evoque and he started over with her bag. He wasn’t walking weird.

I knew if I got hit at that speed that I’d probably be mangled into a billion pieces, but he’s a lot stronger than I am.

“Hey, it’s nice to see you,” Sidney smiled, passing her bag in my window to me. “I left Beans on my couch, so I’ll stop by tomorrow after practice and give it to you,” My eyes never left his. They were the same. Everything was the same, no red mark, no nothing. Was he fine?

He stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, waiting my answer. I couldn’t stop looking at him. I knew something wasn’t right. “Emily? Oh, are we not talking? Are you still mad about Christmas… look-“ I cut him off.

“No, I am not mad anymore,” I cleared up, shaking my head. “Yeah if you want to stop by with Beans, we’ll be there,” I smiled. He was looking at me, trying to see why I was all of a sudden okay with us hooking up. I thought a lot about it, and realized I was a willing partner in this, I can’t blame him for something I took part in. “So, I saw the hit, are you okay?” I regretted asking him this question, but I wanted to know the answer. I had to know from him that he was fine and even then I probably wouldn’t believe him.

He touched the side of his head and smiled. “Yeah, it’s a little tender, it knocked the wind out of me, but I am fine,” He assured me. “Trust me,”

“I wont’ until you go see a doctor, that hit looked horrible,” I felt my lip tremble, playing it over like a tape in my head. Play, pause, rewind, stop. Continuously. “Promise me you’ll go see a doctor,”

“Emily,” He argued with me. “Why should I? I am fine,”

“Fine, I am not your mother,” I growled. “But I care about you,” He looked at the floor, his cheeks a slight pink color. “If not for me, do it for your daughter,” His eyes met with mine again.

He sighed heavily. “If I wake up with something odd, or whatever then I’ll go okay?”

“I’m coming over tomorrow morning before your skate to make sure you’re not lying to me,” I pointed a harsh finger at him. “You bet your ass I will check on you,”

“Hey, I heard that Tyler asked my sister to move in with him,” Sidney asked like he ‘suddenly’ remembered, it was probably his way of changing the subject. “And you said you were okay with it,”

“If you heard what he said about her, you would’ve hugged him,” I assured him. I was still is disbelief that Tyler was actually asking me what I thought. Probably because he knew that Sidney would punch his lights out if he asked him. “It was the sweetest thing,”

He showed a stern face. “I'm sure, what did he say?” I was trying to hide the smile. He was so protective over her, it was the cutest thing.

“He said he thinks he loves her and gave me this speech about how he wants to be around her all the time and feels like he has to step up and take care of her and Landon because Claude is a jerk,” I smiled widely, showing my teeth. Sidneys face remained stern. “I thought it was cute and he said he wants to ask her to move in,”

“He asked me this morning if it was okay with me, I held back from punching him in the jaw, again,” He rolled his eyes. “But my sister said he’s nice to her, for his sake he better fucking be nice to her,”

I patted his hand. “He is Sid, trust me, they are so adorable together,” I beamed, hoping my awkwardly large smile would convince him. “Wait, you punched Tyler before?”

Instantly his face dropped and he started looking around. “No. Why would I punch him? That’s ridiculous,” He picked up his jacket. “I’m up for 7, just come around then, skates at 8,” He hurried over to his Evoque and climbed inside. I think he’s punched him before. But why?

I turned on the engine and steered out of the parking lot, to head back home. I would have to be the one to check on him, because only I could trust what I seen with him. I wanted to make sure he was okay.