Love Never Felt So Good

“Baby, time to get up.” Bailey crooned, tangling her hands into Sidney’s hair as he slept soundly on her chest. She marveled in his long lashes, thick lips, and unfortunately, the devastating moustache on his upper lip. He just could not grow a respectably moustache, and while she was fine with that, she hated to see his attempts. “Sidney, wakey wakey.” She kissed his head.

“No.” Sidney was rather content wrapped around his girlfriend, head resting on her breasts and buried under their small mountain of blankets.

“How is it that I started waking up earlier instead of you sleeping in later?” She sighed, running a hand down his back.

“Shh, sleep.” She let him get away with it. He had been under an immense amount of pressure since playoffs had started two weeks ago, and the Penguins would be starting their series against the Columbus Blue Jackets in two days’ time.

“One more hour, then we’re meeting James and Missy for brunch.” She informed.

“Kay.” Sidney mumbled, snuggling in a little bit tighter and letting himself succumb to sleep once again. After about half an hour, Bailey managed to wiggle her way out of his grasp and into the bathroom, showering quickly and changing into a pair of jeans and a pink chiffon top before picking out an outfit for Sidney. She knew he’d at least brush his teeth when he woke up, but she wasn’t pulling for a shower. This way, he’d have a little more time to move around when he woke up.

“Baby boy, come on, wake up.” She gave him a little shake. “You got to sleep another hour, but we have to meet our friends in half an hour.” She insisted. Sidney peeled himself out the bed, bleary-eyed and exhausted as he brushed his teeth and used the toilet without even closing the door to the bathroom. After, he wandered back into the bedroom and rolled onto the bed, patting his chest for Belle, who wiggled her way up to the mattress.

“See, you love Daddy, don’t you, Belle?” Sidney cooed at the pug as she reveled in the attention, snuggling right up to his chest.

“You know I love you, too, and don’t use my own pug against me.” She wagged a finger at him.

“Belle, you want a baby sister, don’t you? Baby sister? Huh, Belle?” He baby-talked her, watching as her tiny, curly-cue tail wiggled uncontrollably. She mostly just adored his tone of voice.

Sidney had been talking about getting a dog for the past few weeks, wanting to train it over the summer. Bailey was not ready to be taking care of two dogs, especially with the amount of time Sidney would be gone in the fall.

“Sid.” She warned, “get that bubble butt out of bed and change, I’m leaving in ten minutes with or without you.” She gave a final warning.

“So mean.” He said to Belle before setting her on the bed beside him and dropping his shorts, stepping into a new pair of underwear and the outfit Bailey had tossed at him. When he was finally dressed, he found Bailey in the kitchen, drinking out of her waterbottle with her back facing the entrance from the main hallway. Sidney surprised her, picking her up around the waist and setting on the counter where he wound her legs around his waist. “Let’s get a puppy.” He insisted, his bright eyes and cute smile almost too much for her to handle.

“No.” She replied, taking another drink of her water, thankful that they could roll to brunch with Missy and James in causal clothes.

“Let’s have a baby.” He tried, quirking an eyebrow.

“Double no.” She countered, not even phased by his suggestion.

“So then, a puppy, right?” He asked. She swatted him on his butt.

“We can talk about a puppy this summer.” She told him the same thing she’d been telling him for weeks. “Now give me a kiss.” She demanded, puckering her lips up at him. Sidney was happy to comply, pressing his lips to hers.

Half an hour later, they had plates set down in front of them at Queen Café, one of Bailey and Missy’s favorite breakfast places they had been to a few times with the WAGs. Bailey envied Missy in the fact that her boyfriend actually looked relatively normal with facial hair instead of her 70’s pornstar-looking boyfriend.

“So we actually had ulterior motives in asking you guys to brunch.” Missy grinned, holding James’ hand under the table.

“Uh oh.” Sidney joked, earning an eye roll from his girlfriend.

“We wanted to see if, Bails, you would be one ofmy bridesmads?” Missy began, causing Bailey to split open in a beaming smile.

“And Sid, if you’d be a groomsmen.” James laughed.

“Of course we will!” Bailey squealed, jumping up to hug, Missy and James. Sidney followed suit, excited to be a part of his good friend’s big day.

“I was kind of expecting best man, but I’ll take it.” Sidney joked.

“Geno was heartbroken enough.” James replied with a laugh. The Russian forward had an ugly jealousy streak when it came to his best friend, but understood that James’ brother would be his best man at the wedding.

“So then, did you two set a date?” Bailey asked as they took their seats again, lacing her fingers with Sidney’s under the table.

“Next June.” Missy said, looking to James happily.

“I can’t wait.” Bailey replied, squeezing his hand. They talked about everything but hockey and Bailey occasionally stole potatoes from Sidney’s plate, fighting a grin when he would squeeze her knee under the table.

“I need those.” He whispered.

“I need them more.” She countered, popping another home fry in her mouth. Sidney countered, snatching a blackberry from her plate and tossing it between his thick lips.

“Jerk.”

- - -

Sidney felt defeated, and on top of that, sick. This Penguins had made it to the conference final before being knocked out, leaving a Stanley Cup Final for the Columbus Blue Jackets and the San Jose Sharks. He had moved his equipment from the locker room the previous day, and now, had successfully caught the flu.

“Sid?” Bailey stuck her head into the bedroom to find her boyfriend asleep. She wasn’t exactly sure how to handle a disappointed athlete, seeing as she had barely needed to be around one this past season. The Penguins had a great regular season and an incredible playoff run, but their time to play hockey was over for that summer.

The night after their game seven, she drove him home from the arena, untied his tie and snuggled in close as he slept soundly. To make matter worse, he had caught the flu, likely from Beau, who had been sick going into the series against the Blue Jackets.

“I’m awake.” He groaned, popping his eyes open.

“Want some vapor rub?” She asked quietly, also carrying in a mug of tea. Thankfully, it seemed he had gotten over his stomach sickness, but was still pretty congested and sniffly.

Sidney nodded pathetically folding the comforter away from this chest and down over his lap as he laid on his back.

“How ya feelin’ today, babe?” She asked, sitting on the edge of the mattress beside him and reaching for the little pot of scented Vaseline.

“Better.” He mumbled.

“I can’t wait for you to feel better. We’re going to have so much fun this summer.” She smiled, rubbing the solution over his skin, giggling as his nipples hardened. “We can go to the beach, you’re going to teach me how to play golf, we can go to Nova Scotia and in three weeks we get to go to Las Vegas.” She listed off, hoping to bring up his spirits.

“Yeah.” He muttered, eyes closed as he enjoyed her touch.

“What’s something else you want to do this summer?” She prompted, still massaging in the rub into his skin.

“Eat cake.” He began, making her laugh and a little grin appear on his face. “Get my puppy, golf more, play some black jack in Vegas, work up the balls to ask your Dad to marry me.” He muttered.

“Aww babe, you’re going to marry my Dad? That’s sweet.” She teased him, cheeks flushing.

“Ugh, you know what I mean, don’t make me spank you.” He threatened, making her giggle even more knowing he was definitely under the influence of a few over-the-counter medicines.

“I wouldn’t be against that entirely.” She took to massaging his neck, knowing he carried a lot of tension there.

“Don’t tease me while I’m sick.” He groaned. They fell into a comfortable silence as she rubbed his neck, relaxing him entirely.

“And how exactly are you going to convince my Dad to let you marry me?” She asked with a small smile. Sidney was quiet for a moment as he collected his thoughts.

“I’m going to tell him how much I love you, and care for you, and that I support you in everything you do, and I don’t complain when you pick up one morning and tell me you’re going to Argentina for a few days.” He opened his eyes to glare at her. She had been asked at very short notice a week earlier to substitute for Mia Michaels at the World of Dance tour stop in Argentina for four days. “I’m going to tell him that even though you don’t need me to, I’m going to take care of you for the rest of my life and I’m going to spoil you with nice things whether you like it or not.” He grinned.

“These all seem like excellent points in your case.” She grinned, squeaking when he grabbed her at the waist and pulled her down on top of him.

“And if he says no, I’m going to tell him ‘tough shit’ and I’m going to marry you anyway.” He finished, making her crack up.

“I would give it a little more time, we haven’t even been together a year yet.” She pointed out.

“I knew I was going to marry you after a month.” He said quietly, making her swoon. Sidney wasn’t exactly an outwardly romantic man, but sometimes he did things that made her heart swell.

“Stop being so cute when I can’t kiss you.” She mocked him, snuggling further into his chest. “And I think it’s cute when you think I would say yes if my Daddy said no.” She added, making him roll his eyes. After an hour-long nap, Sidney was feeling up to getting out bed for the first time that day, carefully moving under a sleeping Bailey to make his way down to the kitchen. He zapped a mug of water in the microwave, feeling up to another helping of tea and looked for something they could make for dinner.

It was always a comfort that Bailey obviously took care of little things like groceries and keeping the house together when he didn’t. It wasn’t that Sidney ever felt like was above it, he enjoyed the satisfaction of a well maintained home, but it just wasn’t something he could keep up with during the playoffs. Upon seeing two seasoned steaks sitting on a platter in the fridge, he walked out to the patio, firing up the grill before returning to the kitchen to grab his mug before the microwave began to beep.

He leaned back against the counter, blowing on the hot water and letting Bailey’s words settle over him. Would she really not marry him if her Dad didn’t approve? Was he moving too fast? Would she turn him down if he asked her tomorrow? Next week? Next month?