Chapter 39

"...doing here?" Sidney said finishing her sentence.

"Um, yeah" Karen pulled back to look at Sidney. She saw the uncertainty in his eyes and put her hand on his cheek "what's going on baby?"

"I just needed to get away from the arena, my dad, to just step away and regroup for a minute at least."

"So you decided to break our pact and come see me?" Karen said with a smile.

"Are you going to kick me out?" Sidney said smiling back at her.

"I should"

"But....." He said with hopefulness.

"But I can't."

Sidney leans down and kisses her before taking her hand and walking over to the couch. He sits down and pulls Karen on his lap.

"What's really going on Sid? I can see if your dad is getting on you to need space from him, but you've never needed space away from the ice. Something else is going on."

"Are we being a therapist now?"

"If it's going to get you to open up and get your head clear, then yeah...the doctor is in."

"What's your rate doc?" Sidney ask with a smirk. Karen brought her lips to his and kissed him with a very slow and passionate kiss. She felt his grip on her waist get tighter as the kiss deepened. "Hmm, I might be able to afford that" Sidney went for his spot on her neck "do you have a payment plan?"

Karen pushed him away from her "come on, talk to me."

"I don't know, maybe it's not our time or at least mine to win it this yet?"

Karen didn't know how to respond to that "how do you know this isn't your time yet? It's not that impossible to be down two games and come back to win it. Teams have done it."

"I know it's not impossible but nothing is happening. We are getting chances, it's not that we aren't just nothing is going in." Karen just sat and watch his face and expressions, mainly his eyes. She could tell he was effective by the losses but there was nothing she could do and didn't want to say the wrong things. "I just don't know what I'm going to do."

"Baby? You are not going to be able to win this on your own. You put every game on your shoulders when the team loses. If your not scoring, you're not the only one on the team that isn't scoring. If you give up the puck, there are other guys doing the same thing."

"I know, but I am the Captain of this team. I need to lead by examples and get the guys going in the right direction. How can I do that if I'm not going in the right direction?"

Karen brought her hand up and raised his chin to look at her "yes, you are the Captain. But you can not carry this team all by yourself. If you or Geno or even Jordan isn't scoring, then the goals are going to come from someone else. I'm not saying this to hurt you more, but Sid, you need to learn to look at all the angles why the team isn't performing, not just you. If it was easy to score a goal on every shift in every period in every game, the game totals would be in the triple digits. I know the frustration is setting in, but tomorrow night you guys are playing in front of 17,000+ fans that are standing behind this team no matter what."

"And where will you be?" Sidney choked out after her speech. "Where will you be if we lose these next two at home? Where will you be if the fans boo us out of our own building?"

"I will be where I have been since we started dating...standing and cheering for you. I have been in those seats for more than a decade and I have seen it all. Whatever happens, yes the fans will be disappointed and every media person is going to ask 'how did this happen'. But we will get over it and concentrate on next year just like you guys. If this isn't your year, so what. Baby, you're 20 years old. You have already accomplished more in your life that most hockey greats had to wait until they got to the NHL to do."

"True, but..."

"No more buts. Did Mario win a cup in any of his first three seasons? What about Gretzky? Or even Yzerman? No, they didn't. I'm sorry but nobody is that good. I love you and I am telling you this because I love you. Look deep inside Sid, your intensity for the rest of the playoffs is in there and it is waiting for you to let it out."

Sidney sat there and just looked at Karen. She tried to read his eyes to see if he was upset at her for saying all this to him or something else.

"I don't think anyone else would put it that way, so straight forward." Sidney looked at her and smiled "thank you baby. That is exactly what I needed to hear." He leaned in and kissed her "so what do I owe you?"

"We'll talk about that later."

"Later as in after we go to your room and you really make me feel better or..."

"Later as in after this series is over. You broke the pact and came to see me but I am invoking the no sex clause of the pact."

"You never said there was a no sex clause."

"Um, if we made a pact to not see each other until after this round, a no sex clause is pretty much understood."

"I think we need to change the pact. I mean I already broke it coming here, why can't we break another part of it?"

"Oh baby" Karen laughed before kissing him.

"Is that a yes?"

She stopped laughing and got real serious "no. I'm sorry Sid, as much as I would love to drag you to my room and have you make me scream like a cat in heat I am not giving in to you."

"As much as I hate that you won't give in, I love you for sticking to this. I better go though."

"Wow, you've been here for 2 hours." They got up and headed to the door "feel any better?"

Sidney held her tightly in his arms "so much better that you have no idea. Thank you for being straight with me, I do appreciate it. My dad, my agent, even Mario would have just sugar coated it but you don't hold back do you."

"Why should I? You deserve to hear the truth Sid, always. If I jeopardize what we have because I'm being honest, I'll live with the consequences. But I think you'd rather have the truth more than anything."

"I know I keep telling you this, but you are amazing and smart and beautiful and...and..."

"Need a thesaurus?"

"No, I think those three suit you well. I love you baby." Sidney kissed her not wanting to let her go.

"I love you too Sid. You better go. I'll see you tomorrow night at the arena."

"You better be there. I need my personal cheerleader there."

"I have nowhere else I need to be."

They kissed each other one more time before Sidney finally let go of Karen and walked out to his car. Karen stood in the doorway and watched as he drove away.

"He makes you scream like a cat in heat?" Maggie said startling her as she came out of the kitchen.

Karen leaned up against the closed door "most definitely. You want to go get an early dinner?"

"Kind of broke right now, maybe next week."

"Come on, my treat. I just feel like going out."

"Alright, let me go change."

Maggie went to her room to change and Karen went and sat down on the couch to wait for her. She hoped that what she told Sidney got his head right for the game tomorrow night. Soon Maggie came back out and they headed off to dinner.