Still Loving You

In love with the maiden, the flower of winter
Lowbrow children in grove of the inland
How many times heart's gone through the grinder
Wherever you look there's a painful reminder

~ Sonata Arctica
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Once again her eyes swept over the crowd of parents around her and came up empty handed. To admit the truth, Caroline had gotten used to it but Jamie hadn't, and she hoped he wouldn't have to. With an angry sigh she looked back at the ice, her eyes following the tiny jersey with the number 87 printed on the back even though it only sent another stab of irritation through her chest.

"What'd we miss?! What'd we miss?!" Vero asked hurriedly when she and Marc-André joined Caroline, Marc carrying a bag of popcorn in one big hand.

"Nothing yet, we're only seven minutes in," Caroline answered, her earlier bad mood melting slightly at how seriously Vero took her role as Jamie's Godmother.

When the two women met, Caroline was new to Pittsburgh and in the early stages of her pregnancy with Jamie, and they hit it off right away. And when only a few weeks had past, Vero had appointed herself as 'Godmother-to-be'.

Marc leaned over Vero to make sure that Caroline could hear him, all the while ignoring Vero's whines about him blocking her sight. "Is he here yet?"

And just like that, Caroline's bad mood was back. The way her eyes darkened was enough of an answer for Flower and he leaned back again. Vero then started jumping up and down in her seat while screaming something unintelligible, making both Caroline and Marc direct their attention to the ice.

Jamie had the puck and was skating as fast as his little legs would take him toward the opposing goal.

"That's it, baby! Come on, sweetie! You can do it!" Caroline yelled as she jumped to her feet, her friends doing the same. And when the puck sailed into the back of the net, they were the ones cheering the loudest, not caring about the looks some parents sent them.

With an uncontrollable grin spreading across her face, Caroline watched as her son was swarmed by his teammates, his big smile visible to the the stands.

No more goals were scored for either team before the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the first period. Jamie looked over at the stands and grinned as he locked eyes with his mother who smiled back with a wave. When the whole team was back in the lockerroom, Vero leaned back in her seat with a sigh.

"Watching Jamie play is almost harder than watching you guys," she told her husband.

"Are you kidding me?" Caroline laughed. "This is so much harder! Sometimes I have to remind myself that I actually need to breathe."

Marc and Vero shared a look and she then turned to Caroline. "Do you think he will be here?"

Again, Caroline's face darkened and she glared out on the ice as if it'd done something to her personally. "I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up in the last minutes of the third period and then blames it on practice," she scoffed. "It wouldn't be the first time."

Not wanting to piss her off even more, Vero quickly changed the subject to Jamie's upcoming birthday. This served as a good enough distraction until the tiny players returned to the ice and it was time for the second period to start. Since this was mite hockey, the periods weren't longer than ten minutes, but as a mother, Caroline felt that it was longer than enough since there was always something to worry about.

The second period ended goalless but the third was the most eventful one. Only a few minutes in, the opposing team scored their first goal.

When half the time had passed, Marc nudged Vero who whispered in Caroline's ear: "He's here now."

Tearing her eyes away from her son, Caroline looked to her right where, as she predicted earlier, Jamie's father came walking in during the last minutes of the game. The two barely acknowledged eachother as he sat down next to her.

"Caroline."

"Sidney."

You could cut the awkward tension between them with a knife before Vero broke it by once again bouncing in her seat. Jamie had been passed the puck and was skating toward the goal. Before he could get intercepted, Jamie passed the puck along to one of his teammates, another small boy with the number 5 on his back, who put the puck past the goalie's left hand side.
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It was a very happy Jamie that came running out of the lockerrroom and into his mother's arms.

"Did you see me, Mom?! Did you see my goal?!"

"Of course, baby. You did so good!" Caroline answered, kissing the top of his head, and was secretly happy that he was still young, meaning that his gear still hadn't caught on the odour that came with older hockey players. When Jamie lifted his head from Caroline's stomach, his eyes lit up as he caught sight of his father.

"Dad!"

Sid barely had any time to react before Jamie threw himself at him, wrapping his short arms around his neck.

"Did you see my goal?! I helped Milo score too! Did you see that?!"

Caroline might have still been pissed at her ex, but the scene both warmed and tugged at her heart. Jamie didn't get to spend nearly enough time with his dad, but that seemed to be forgotten by the soon-to-be six year old every time they met.

When Jamie had spent five minutes constantly talking, he suddenly noticed Flower and Vero, and climbed out of Sid's arms.

"Hi, Auntie Vero," Jamie smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Bonjour, ma chérie. Have you practised your french?"

Vero had been trying to teach her Godson French for over a year and even though he wasn't fluent yet, he was making progress. Vero's excuse for teaching him had been that: a) both of his parents were Canadian and b) because Caroline's mother was French-Canadian, and therefore it could come in use.

"Oui, Tante Vero," Jamie answered before he was picked up and placed on Marc's shoulders, giggling the entire time.

"Good game, Jamie! You sure you don't wanna be a goalie?"

As Marc started walking down the hallway with Jamie, Caroline turned to Vero and held out her keys. "Could you two go ahead of us and put Jamie in my car?" She asked.

Vero sent a sympathetic looke to Sid, who'd kept quiet since Jamie got out of his arms, and then hurried to catch up with the other two after taking the keys.

Caroline started walking toward the door as well with Sid following. Once again the silence between them became awkward and Sid knew that he would most likely get his ass handed to him verbally.

"I got a job offer."

Sid looked over at her, wondering why Caroline was sharing this with him. "That's grea-"

"It's in Toronto."

Now he didn't have to wonder anymore. Caroline continued before Sid could say anything else. "And I'm thinking about accepting it."