Chapter 81

After an hour and a half, Karen got Sidney up so they could get ready to head to his parent's house. While they were getting ready, Sidney tried and tried to throw Karen off track but she would slap his hands away. She even locked the door when she got her shower so he wouldn't join her. She just kissed him when he said she would pay for that. They got ready and headed out. Sidney had already had his presents to his family at his mom and dad's house so he wouldn't have to bring them. Karen still felt bad that she didn't have anything for anyone but Taylor and hoped his mom or dad understood.

"Hey, you don't mind that I decided not to where the ring today are you?"

"No baby I'm not. I don't think I want a replay from summer with the lectures. Let them get used to us being back together and then if you have it on after that and they see it, maybe they'll understand better."

"Thanks stud" she said as he kissed her hand.

They got to the house and Karen was surprised that even Troy had a happy greeting for her. Karen laughed at how Sidney and Taylor got all childlike and went towards the tree.

"Sorry you had to see that Karen" Trina said.

"It's ok, I already dealt with it this morning. Must be like old times when they were young?"

"Yeah it is" she said looking back to Karen and noticing her necklace "that's pretty" she said pointing to it.

"Thanks. Sidney gave it to me as one of my presents" Karen said as she reached up and held it.

"But you got some Reebok things as well?" she smiled.

"Yeah, but that's ok. I don't mind since I'm not committed to one brand like he is. He did make me get rid of all my Adidas clothes though."

Trina just laughed knowing her son "Why doesn't that surprise me."

"Um, I did want to apologize for not having anything for you or Troy. Sidney stopped to let me get something for Taylor, but I feel bad being here and nothing to give you."

"That's alright dear. When we get older, just being around family is best. Let's go join the others."

Karen stood there as Trina went into the living room. She was confused that she might have hinted that Karen could fit in as one of the family. Sidney soon came over and smiled before dragging her in to sit around the tree with him. Karen sat back and watched how Sidney and his family were when they opened their presents to each other. They would always bring up past Christmases and told stories, mainly about Sidney. Karen got a little sad watching them, thinking about her parents and how they would act just like them. She got up and quietly left the room, going to the bathroom. After a few minutes, Sidney noticed Karen was gone and went to check on her. He caught her as she was coming out.

"You ok baby?" he said noticing her sad eyes.

"Yeah. Just watching you guys made me remember my parents and I got a little emotional is all. Its funny, when you're young your parents mean the world to you. As you get older, you establish your independence and feel like every day is a battle with them. After a certain point, you wish you could go back and find that feeling from when you were younger and want to spend every minute with them before they're gone. It gets harder to miss them from Thanksgiving to New Years."

"I wish I could understand what you're going through."

"No you don't Sid. What you have in there is special and you know that. If you woke up tomorrow and all of this was gone..."

"I don't think I'd know what to do. But baby, you're not without some sort of family. The guys on the team, your friends, even Mario, Nat and the kids have been a family to you. Most importantly, you don't really have to look any further than in front of you. I want to be part of your family too baby."

"You are Sid" she said as a single tear fell and Sidney reaching up to wipe it away. He leaned down and kissed her, only to interrupted by Taylor.

"Come on Sid, there's still a couple more presents to open and Karen hasn't opened hers yet."

Karen looked at Taylor then Sidney "I have a present?"

"I don't know anything about it baby. Why don't we go find out."

They got back into the living room and sat down on the couch. Taylor brought over a box and handed it to Karen. She looked at Sidney before she opened it. When she did, Karen saw a photo album and took it out of the box. She opened it and looked at the pictures of a young Sidney. Karen smiled as she looked at all the old pictures then looked at Sidney.

"I thought you would want a keepsake of Sidney" Taylor said.

"Thank you, it's great seeing all these."

"Well there have been so many that mom had kept from when he started playing and I just took out the duplicates and made a new book. Mom didn't mind and she liked the idea of giving it to you."

Karen looked at Trina who just smiled before getting up and going into the kitchen.

"Well I appreciate the thought of you wanting to make this for me to have. It was really sweet of you." Karen leaned over and hugged Taylor.

"Sid, could we talk for a minute before lunch?" Troy asked interrupting the three of them.

"Sure" Sidney kissed Karen's cheek then got up to follow his dad.

"Before I forget" Karen got the envelope from her purse "I did get you something" she said handing her the envelope.

"You didn't have to" Taylor said taking it from her and opening it. "Oh wow, a gift card" she said happily.

"Sid said it was your favorite store."

"It is. Thank you so much" she said hugging Karen.

"Your welcome."

"Your not like Sid's other girlfriends."

"Is that bad?"

"Actually just the opposite. A couple couldn't handle him always playing or practicing and the others only cared about where his hockey would take them."

"Well he could play for two hours or two days and I wouldn't care. Watching him do what he loves just makes me love him more."

"I can tell you love him and I can see how much he loves you. I saw it when you were here during the summer."

"There's just something special about him, it's hard to explain. But you'll understand when your older and you start dating."

"I hope so."

"Alright, I've got what we need to take to mom's so if everyone is ready?" Trina said coming from the kitchen.

"Do I have time to go to the bathroom real quick?" Karen asked.

"Sure, go ahead. Why don't you use the one upstairs."

Karen went upstairs and found the bathroom. When she was done and she was leaving, she walked past a room which had to have been Sidney's when he was younger. She walked in and saw all the hockey and smiled, looking around at everything.

A few minutes later, Karen hadn't come back down and Sidney asked where she went. His mom told him and he went to check on her. When he got upstairs, he saw her in his room and went in.

"Hey, we were waiting for you" Sidney said putting his arms around her.

"Sorry, I got distracted when I walked past here. I had to come in look around."

"Its ok. I should have shown you last time."

Karen picked up a picture in a frame "how old were you here?"

"Probably 6 or 7. That's when my ability really came to me."

"Do you ever regret not being able to just be a kid?"

"Sometimes I did, but I wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't enjoy it enough to give up being a kid."

Karen turned around in his arms "are you happy Sid?"

"With the way my career turned out, yes. With having you in my life, yes. But the question is...are you happy?"

"Oh I don't know. I could use a change here and there."

"You seriously need to stop that."

"Yes, I am happy. Happier now that found love again...with you."

"Good, that is what I wanted to hear" Sidney kissed her "we better go."

Karen smiled and leaned up to kiss him again before they left the room and went downstairs to meet everyone to leave. They headed to Sidney's grandmother's house and more relatives. Karen recognized a lot of them from his birthday. She got a sick feeling in her stomach not knowing if it was going to be another repeat of stares. Sidney saw her look and squeezed her hand to let her know it would be ok. They sat around and the family opened a few more presents before they ate. Karen pretty much stayed quiet and to herself unless someone asked her a question. She didn't want to push herself on to strong and give everyone another reason to not like her. They stayed another hour before they left, knowing they needed to pack and head to the airport.

Sidney noticed Karen was still being quiet as she changed and was packing her suitcase "you ok baby? You've been really quiet since we got to my grandmother's house."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I didn't want to do or say anything to get the same reaction from your family that I got in August" she said not really looking at him.

"If my mom and dad can change after 4 months, I'm sure the rest of them did too."

"Maybe. It was hard to tell so I didn't push it."

Sidney stopped her from packing and made her look at him "what's going on? We had an amazing two days and now there's this mood change."

"There's no mood change Sid. I'm just tired and we still have a flight ahead of us."

He tired to read her eyes but couldn't see what he wanted "alright baby. You can get some sleep on the plane" he said kissing her before finishing his own packing.

When they got done, Sidney took the bags to his dad's car and came back to get things locked up. He watched Karen clean up a little mess that was left around the tree and he had to smile watching her. She walked past him to throw the trash away, but Sidney caught her and gave her a kiss then let her go. Karen just smiled at him and went to the trash can, throwing the things away. They headed out and Sidney locked up the house before getting in the car. Karen sat quietly in the back listening to Sidney and his dad talk. After reaching the airport, they got out and went inside. Karen told Troy goodbye and waited until Sidney was done to go to check in and head to the gate.

Once they were on the plane, Karen put her head on Sidney's shoulder "um baby, I need to tell you something."

"What?" she asked not opening her eyes.

"After the next few games, my dad might be coming to a couple of games. Then he'll go with me for the annual dad's trip until the 10th of January."

"Ok, so what's that got to do with me?"

"I'm not going to be staying with you at the house. I think it'll be best if I stay at Mario's until he goes back home after that."

Karen kept her head on his shoulder but opened her eyes "since you don't want them to know you basically moved in with me, it's fine."

"Are you sure? I don't want this to come between us."

Karen lifted her head to look at him "it's not going to come between us Sid. When you're ready to tell them, you'll tell them. They'll react one way or the other but it's up to you when you want to tell them."

"Are you disappointed that I'm keeping parts of my life with you a secret?"

"Maybe a little, but you are in the public's eyes more than I am and if they get too much information about you, you'll never have your privacy. The media would have a field day if they found out we met in April, got together very quickly after that and then you moved in 8-9 months later and knew about it before your parents. I would not want to be on the receiving end of that lecture."

"You possibly cannot be this understanding."

"Sorry stud but I am. But you'll get a fight out of me sooner or later."

"Let's keep it for later. Thanks baby."

"We could play it like before and see each other on the weekends. He wouldn't be suspecting then."

"I like the way you think baby" he said kissing her head "get some rest." Karen laid her head back down on his shoulder and closed her eyes again for the rest of the flight.

When the plane landed and they got their bags, they headed to the house. It was nearing 8:30p and since Karen had to work on Friday and Sidney needed to get up early for the trip to New Jersey with the team, they both decided to just head to bed.