Chapter 47

*AN - tissue alert, at least near the end, its all I'm saying *



Karen was taken back by the box. She kind of hoped it wasn't what she thought it was. Not that she wouldn't have minded but she didn't want to ask a lot of questions about what it meant.

"Aren't you going to open it baby?"

"Yeah, sorry. I guess I got lost in thought." Karen opened the box and saw a beautiful solitaire pendant. "Sid, it's beautiful."

"Do you know what stone that is?"

"It's my birthstone, Alexandrite. When did you get this?"

"When I left you today, I called to see who was left in town to come over tonight. After that, I made my way to a jewelry store to see if they carried any Alexandrite pieces and after going to three, I finally found one that sold some. I saw a couple rings and earrings, but when I saw this I could actually picture you wearing it. The saleswoman even took it outside to show me how it changed from the deep purple inside to different shades of greens outside. I just figured you needed something pretty to wear everyday and hopefully think of me while you did."

Karen couldn't speak but the tears that flowed down her cheeks said it all to Sidney. She leaned in and kissed him "thank you."

Sidney wiped away her tears "your welcome baby." He took the necklace out of the box "let me put it on you." Karen moved her hair out of the way and Sidney got it hooked. "Looks exactly how I pictured it." They kissed again before laying down. Karen curled up to Sidney, holding her necklace before she drifted off.

The next morning, Karen woke up to see Sidney still asleep. She got up and walked to the bathroom. When she came back out she looked at Sidney and realized she only had a few hours left with him. She crawled back into bed and faced him.

"Why are you staring at me?" Sidney said with his eyes still closed.

"How would you know that I'm staring at you if your eyes are still closed? Maybe I'm staring at the ceiling."

Sidney opened his eyes and looked right at Karen who just smiled at him "see, I knew you were staring at me."

Karen moved closer to him as Sidney turned to face her, not leaving an inch between them "I can't help but stare, you're just so damn sexy."

"Must be the reason why I can't stop looking at you. Of course I'm not the only one apparently."

"What are you talking about?"

"Care to tell me what Geno was doing with his hand on your ass."

"Did I forget to mention that?"

"Yeah you did. When and why?"

"It was when we were at Marc's after you guys beat Philly. Well when I went to go get another drink, I felt someone touch my ass and I thought it was you, but when I turned around it was Geno."

"Do I dare ask what he said to you?"

"All that happened was I asked if I could help him, he asked if I was offering, I said no and for him to remove his hand, he said I might actually enjoy it, then I told him that I was sorry to disappoint him and it wasn't going to happen, he said we'd see and then left."

"So, it didn't turn you on then?"

"Well when I thought it was you at first, I started to get turned on. But when I saw it was him, no not so much."

Sidney put his hand on Karen's ass lightly rubbing it "how about now? Are you getting turned on?"

"More than you know. Care to help me curb these feelings?" she said as she felt Sidney growing against her thigh.

"I thought you'd never ask." Sidney took Karen's leg and wrapped it around his hip, entering her as she brought herself closer to him. Sidney kept his hand on her ass and pushed her onto him as he pumped into her. Soon his lips found hers as they poured every intense feeling into the kiss. Sidney rolled them over so Karen was on her back. She wrapped her other leg around him to give him more access to her. Sidney left her lips to find his spot on her neck. "Harder Sid" Karen said breathless to which Sidney obliged. He kept pounding into her until he brought her over the edge. Karen's orgasm erupted through her body as her head went back into the pillow, letting a moan escape her lips. Sidney soon followed as his own orgasm hit him and he came inside her, collapsing on top of her.

"So how do I curb these feeling when you leave today?"

"You could always fly up for the weekends."

"That would be one expensive weekend booty call."

"Well, I think I could make it worth your while."

"I have no doubt you could stud. I guess I'll just have to find a way until I come see you."

"I'm sure you could find a way, it just better be something and not someone."

"Would you like to see my collection and pick out what matches you?"

"Are you serious?"

"No, you nutball" Karen said laughing at him. "That collection is private."

"Yeah, and I'm the nutball."

"I love you" Karen said smiling.

"I love you too baby" Sidney said kissing her.

"So what are we going to do for the next few hours before you leave?"

"Would you mind if we spent an hour or so at Mario's? I really didn't get a chance to spend time with the kids and would like to for a little bit."

"I wouldn't mind at all. I would love to see Lauren anyway. How about I make you some breakfast and then we could head over?"

"Sounds perfect. I am going to grab a shower then I will meet you downstairs."

"Ok."

Sidney rolled off of her and walked to the bathroom. Karen laid there and wished she had a camera to take a picture of his fine, tight ass for a keepsake. She laughed to herself and got up, getting dressed and heading downstairs. When Karen got down to the kitchen and started making breakfast, she thought how this would be the last breakfast she would make for Sidney. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and knew today would be hard, especially at the airport. Karen blinked away the tears and finished breakfast.

About 20 minutes later, Karen had the food done and Sidney was coming into the kitchen. He grabbed Karen and kissed her before sitting down to eat. As they were eating, Diane came into the kitchen with Sheril lagging behind.

"Oo, food." Sheril sat down and started digging into it.

"Help yourself there girl. No need to make with the formalities of asking" Karen said laughing at her stuffing her face.

"Were you guys going to eat it all?"

"Well I might since I am a growing boy" Sidney said with a smile.

"Don't even think about it Sheril" Karen said stopping her friend from making a comment.

"What? I was not even going to say anything."

"Sid, we may want to move cause lightning will be striking at any moment."

"Alright fine, I will keep all comments to myself...or I will just say them when the intended party isn't here."

"You're going to miss this aren't you?" Karen asked Sidney

"Yeah, I definitely will miss this" he said laughing.

"Are you going to eat anything Diane?"

"Yeah in a minute. I'm just looking through the pictures from Pops the other night. Want to see them?"

"I'll look at them later. I need to go get a shower and get ready." Karen got up and put her dish in the sink. She came back to the table and kissed Sidney before heading upstairs.

"Can I take a look at them?" Sidney asked.

"Sure. There's a couple cute ones of Karen and I think I got one or two of her with you after you got there. They turned out pretty good" Diane said getting up to get a plate.

Sidney flipped through them and smiled at the ones where Karen was being rather silly with her friends. Then he got to the one where she was getting ready to blow out the candles and he was behind her with his arms around her. Sidney looked through a couple more and saw them sitting in the booth. They were looking into each other's eyes and Sidney smiled at the picture. "Diane, do you mind if I take a couple of these back home with me? I don't have a picture of Karen to take with me."

"No go ahead, I can get other ones made. You're going to miss her huh?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"If it was nothing, you wouldn't have that look in your eyes when you look at her...whether it was at a picture or Karen herself."

"This is going to be so hard on her when I leave."

"Don't worry Sid, she has us to help her through this until you guys see each other again. But I need to ask...will it be equally hard on you to leave her?"

Sidney looked at Diane as his eyes began to tear up "you have no idea how much."

"I think I do, we all do."

"Do you know where she keeps some paper?"

"Yeah, in the living room and in the second drawer on the left side."

"Thanks." Sidney cleaned up his mess and went to find the paper. He sat down on the couch and stared at the picture of the two of them. He smiled then put them down writing a letter to her. Sidney knew he wouldn't be able to tell her everything before he left so this was the best thing.

Ten minutes later, Karen was coming downstairs as Sidney put the letter and the pictures in his pocket. She told him she was ready and he told her he needed his shoes that were upstairs. Sidney ran to get them. He put the pictures in his bag and decided to bring it with him. He placed the letter on her bed by the pillows, knowing she would find it there when she got home. Sidney smiled looking around the room before going back downstairs.

"Why did you get your bag?"

"I figured if we lost track of time, I would already have it with me. You ready to go?"

"Yeah."

They left and headed to Mario's. The kids were happy to see Sidney and Karen loved seeing Lauren again. Sidney and Austin played some video games as Karen and the girls watched a movie together. After Austin beat Sidney, they joined the girls to finish the movie. When it was over, Sidney suggested they all go out for lunch and Karen laughed at the kids' excitedness. They told Nathalie where they were headed and got in the car to leave. Sidney took them to a little pizza place that had some arcade games for the kids to play. They ordered and Sidney gave them a few quarters to keep them busy until the pizza came.

"Sorry if this is taking up a lot of time. After we eat, we're going to have to head to the airport."

"Its ok Sid. They adore you and you needed time to say goodbye to them."

Sidney caressed her cheek "I need time to say goodbye to you too baby."

"You will" she whispered before kissing him.

Before long the pizzas came and they all ate. Karen sat back and watched how Sidney acted with them like he was infact their older brother. She loved how he had many personalities to him. One that was professional to deal with the media, one that was respectful towards others as he always treated everyone like he'd want to be treated, and one that was just being him. Karen had seen every side to Sidney and fell in love with all of them. She was brought out of her daze with Sidney telling her that they needed to get the kids back and go to the airport.

After dropping the kids off and saying goodbye to them, with Karen promising to come see Lauren every chance she got, they headed to the airport after getting Karen's car. She asked about what he did with his and Sidney told her that he has someone drive it up for him. Karen laughed knowing he did that as they continued to the airport.

Once they parked the car, they got out and Sidney grabbed his bag. He went to check in and was told that someone from security would get him to his gate without any problems. Karen stood back and didn't hear the whole conversation but could figure what was going on. Like the city of Pittsburgh would let their hockey god leave and have a chance to get mobbed in the airport. When Sidney was done, he walked over to Karen and soon someone from security came over to them.

"Is he going to let me say goodbye to you in private before you leave?"

"Actually, I asked if you could accompany me to the gate and they said as long as you had your driver's license with you, they would let you."

"I don't think I want to. Saying goodbye here was all I could do to keep myself from breaking down. Actually seeing you get on the plane will be too much. I can't watch you do that." Karen said as the tears began to fall.

Sidney looked to the guard "could we have a minute?" He saw the him nod and led Karen to a quiet corner "this is hard on both of us. The gate was not where I wanted to leave you either, but I have an hour before the we board, they said there was an office we could wait in all the way up to final boarding. Don't make me wait by myself baby. Please come with me?"

"Ok" she said in barely a whisper but loud enough for Sidney to hear her.

They walked back over to the guard and headed to the security line. They went straight through and Karen had no problem getting through. After riding the tram to the terminal, the guard led them to their gate and showed them where the unused office was. Sidney found someone at the gate and was told they would get him by final boarding.

Sidney led Karen into the office. He put his bag down before wrapping his arms around her and holding her. Karen instantly melted into his arms and couldn't stop the tears that fell freely.

"Ssh, baby. You need to stop crying."

"I can't" she said looking up at him "I can't say goodbye to you."

Sidney held her closer to his body "I know baby, I can't say it to you either." He found a chair and sat down, bringing Karen down to his lap.

"I didn't expect that after these two months we were going to be this involved. Part of me kept looking at this like it was a fling then when I knew you'd be leaving after the playoffs it wouldn't have been this hard. But you made me fall for you, damn it."

Sidney smiled "like it was really that hard. Besides, you were the one that captivated me."

"I don't think so."

"You knew what you were doing that day you came to the arena."

"I knew I was there to play around with my friends, I had no idea you and the others would still be around. It was fun scoring on you though."

"I knew it" he said laughing. Sidney turned her head so they could lock eyes "that's what got me hooked. No girl has ever beaten me at my own game."

"See that's where you underestimated me it wasn't a girl, it was a woman that beat you."

"And I knew I needed to do something that night or that woman was going to walk out of my life forever. I couldn't let that happen and I'm glad that I didn't." When Sidney saw Karen smile, he brought her to him and let their lips connect in a heated kiss. Their kiss lasted until there was a knock on the door. Karen got off of Sidney's lap and let him answer the door. When he turned back around Karen knew that he needed to go.

"They're calling for final boarding. I need to go baby." Karen couldn't speak so all she could do was nod her head in agreement. "Just know that I love you and these two months will fly by, I promise."

Karen kissed him one last time before whispering "I love you too. You need to go."

"Walk me out?" Sidney said as his own tears fell.

"I can't" she saw the sadness in his eyes "please just go Sid."

He kissed her lips then her forehead. He grabbed his bag and walked out of the office. Karen fell into the chair and put her head in her hands, crying. After a few minutes, she composed herself enough to go to the bathroom so she could look presentable enough to leave.

The whole way home, Karen cursed herself for falling apart like she did. She kept telling herself to be strong and wait until she got home to cry. But she couldn't hold any of it in. She loved him and it broke her heart not having him around her for two months. Karen pulled into her driveway and walked inside being met by her friends. All three of them went to hug her and let her cry.

"Thanks guys, I needed that" Karen said breaking away and wiping her eyes. "I thought you guys would've headed back by now."

"We needed to make sure you were ok."

"I appreciate that, really. Let me go get my things and we can head out." Karen walked upstairs and got her bags packed. She got everything done and looked around the room to see if she forgot anything. Karen looked towards the bed and saw the piece of paper on the pillow. When she saw Sidney's handwriting, Karen had to close her eyes and not let the tears fall again. She picked up the paper and opened her bag, putting it inside. Karen wanted Sidney's words to be the last things she read before going to bed tonight. She headed downstairs and they all left after Karen locked up the house.

An hour later, Karen dropped off Sheril at her house. Since they came up for her birthday party, Diane had driven them up. They decided that Karen shouldn't have driven by herself and Sheril opted to go with her. She tried to get Karen to open up but she told her that she just needed to go to bed and remember today.

Karen got to Maggie's house and just went to her room. She got a shower hoping it would make her feel better. She went to the kitchen to find something to snack on then went to bed. She got herself comfortable and held Sidney's letter in her hand. Karen took a deep breath and opened up the paper, reading it.

Hey baby,
Saying today was hard is an understatement. I guess leaving you didn't really hit me until this morning. Diane showed me pictures from the party at Pops and there was this one of us sitting in the booth. Just by looking at it, I think anyone could tell how we felt about each other. You literally turned my world upside down these last two months and I loved that. You showed me that there was a life outside of hockey that could include someone special. I'm glad it was you that I found to show me that. The way I feel about you could be simply put as this...I love you! No matter what happens in these next two months, nothing will take that away from me or from you. We fell in love with each other Karen and I will not let anyone take that feeling away from me. You'll probably wait to read this before you go to bed, so let me close by saying sweet dreams baby. I am only a plane ride or a phone call away but mostly...I LOVE YOU!!!!!
All my love,
Sidney

Karen reached over and turned off the bedside lamp. She rolled over and cried herself to sleep, clutching the note from Sidney.