Chapter 102

The next morning, Sidney woke up before the alarm rang. He reached over and shut it off so it wouldn't go off. As he laid there, Sidney replayed the night's events to figure out where it went wrong. He remembered when he first saw Alicia and thought how she looked but when she kissed him, he was brought back to his days in Juniors and then it hit him.....he did infact kiss her back briefly. Sidney closed his eyes and ran his hand through his hair remembering the kiss, ignoring Karen and everything else. He got out of bed quietly and grabbed his clothes, getting dressed. He took the key card off the dresser and left the room.

Karen heard the door click shut and opened her eyes. When she saw Sidney was gone, she let out the breath she was holding and turned onto her back. All she could do was pray to God that they could get past this. Karen reluctantly got up and went looking for what she wanted to wear today at the game. As she found what she was looking for, there was a knock at the door.

"Morning Geno" Karen said with a small smile as she opened the door.

"I came to check on you. You ok?" he said walking into the room.

"Yeah, I will be."

"Where's Sid?"

"I don't know" Karen saw the look on his face "he was with me last night and just left a few minutes ago."

"You two going to be alright?"

"I hope so. We just need to talk is all."

Just then Sidney came back into the room and Geno saw him with something for Karen "I think you two will be good" he said making Karen look at Sidney. "I will see you guys later" Geno kissed Karen's cheek and walked over to Sidney, patting him on the shoulder and leaving.

While Geno was leaving, Karen had turned around and finished getting her clothes from her suitcase "baby, will you please look at me?" he said his voice just barely audible.

Karen stopped digging in her case and looked at him. She saw the flowers in his hand and wanted to smile but her face wouldn't let her "those are pretty. Where did you find them?"

"There's a flower shop in the lobby and I was surprised to find it open. I also stopped by the front desk and ordered room service for us. It should be here in a little bit."

"Thanks, I didn't realize how hungry I was until you mentioned food" she said then turned back around.

"Please don't do this to me, to us."

"What exactly am I doing?"

"You're shutting me out. Yell at me, throw something at me...hell, hit me if you need to. Just talk to me and tell me what I need to do to make this right."

Karen slowly turned around and looked at him "I don't know what to tell you because I don't even know."

"Baby?" he started walking to her "I'm sorry and I will forever be sorry about what happened. I never meant to ignore you like that, I swear I didn't" he said lifting his hand up to caress her cheek.

Karen leaned into his touch as the tears fell "why did you kiss her?" she whispered as she looked up at hm.

Sidney's heart broke when he saw the tears but also hearing the words "I don't know why. She came up to me and when she kissed me, I was brought back to Juniors. I know it sounds like an excuse, but its not. Yes, I did kiss her back but it didn't mean anything. I need you to believe me."

Karen looked down at the flowers in his hand and then back up to him "if I believe you, do I still get the flowers?"

"Are you only going to believe me to get the flowers?"

"Maybe" Sidney handed her the flowers and Karen took them, smelling the aroma "I believe you but on one condition."

"Anything."

"That you don't EVER treat me like again or you've played your last game of hockey."

"I promise baby" he said leaning in and letting his lips lightly touch hers. When Karen didn't pull away, Sidney deepened the kiss and let it linger until there was a knock at the door. He reluctantly pulled away and placed a kiss to her forehead before going to open the door. Sidney opened the door wide for the food cart and signed for it as the guy set the plates on the table. After the guy left, Sidney snuck in one more kiss before they sat down to eat. "So are we going to be ok?"

"I honestly don't know."

"Look, I was wrong to handle last night the way that I did. I don't know if I could have stopped the kiss, but I should have acknowledged you when you came back and made room for you to sit with me. I should have also included you in the conversation somehow. You were right, last night and the night before with Mike, there was no comparison."

"You just made my worst fear become a reality Sid."

"I know and I'm sorry." Karen offered a smile to tell him that at least for right now they were ok but Sidney knew he had to do something to show and prove it to her. They finished eating and needed to get ready so Sidney could head to the arena. Karen got ready and was walking out of the bathroom when she saw Sidney reading the piece of paper from his pocket. Karen stood back into the doorway of the bathroom and watched. She saw a smile appear on his face and his hands come together to rip up the paper into little pieces. Karen leaned up against the door of the bathroom as her own smile came out. She made her way out of the doorway as he threw the bits of paper in the trash can.

"What was that?" Karen asked wondering if he would tell her.

"I guess Alicia put a piece of paper with her number in my pocket sometime last night."

"Sure you don't want to keep that for future reference?"

Sidney walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and looking her straight in the eyes "my future is with you." That was all he said before he pressed his lips to hers and kissed her with more passion then any previous kiss between them. He let her go and went to change and all Karen could do was sit down on the bed.

A half hour later, they were leaving and met up with his family downstairs. Troy was ready to go to the arena with Sidney and eventhough they both tried to put on a happy face, Trina picked up that something had to have happened between them.

"Karen, why don't you let Troy head over with Sid now and you can go with Taylor and I in a little bit?"

"Do you mind?" Karen asked turning to Sidney.

Sidney kissed her temple "not at all baby. I'll see you in awhile."

"Can't I go in with Sid and dad?" Taylor asked.

"It's up to your brother" her mom told her.

"Please Sid?" she said almost pleading.

Sidney contemplated for a minute before Karen elbowed him in the side and gave him a look "yes Tay, you can go with us now."

They all said goodbye but not before Sidney whispered 'I love you' to Karen and kissed her before meeting up with his dad and sister.

"I think we need to talk dear."

"About what?"

"Did something happen between you and Sid?" she asked as they headed to the lounge to sit and talk.

"We had a fight last night, well this morning really."

"What happened?"

"We went out to a club afterwards and everything was fine until this girl came up to Sid and kissed him."

"Oh no."

"Yeah. I saw her approach him and kiss him. I wouldn't have minded thinking a rare fan got to him but when I saw him kiss her back it hurt see that he would do that."

"Do you know who it was?"

"All I could piece together was her name is Alicia and they used to date when he was at Rimouski."

"I'm so sorry that happened. Sidney brought her home one time and I didn't like how she acted around him, let alone how he acted being with her. Did anything else happen?"

"When I got around them, Sidney literally ignore me the rest of the night. I was hurt and when I left, he followed me out but it was intense between us until this morning when we finally talked a little bit. I became invisible to him when someone his age made a play and since we've gotten together, I have been waiting for it to happen. I just hoped it wouldn't."

"Karen, when my son sees something he wants he goes full force until he gets it. I can see the love and dare I say, possession he has for you. Nothing stopped him from wanting to be with you and nothing ever will. I bet he was sorry for treating you like that."

"He was and I needed him to show me that I was what he wanted and he did. I guess Alicia put a piece of paper with her number in his pocket and when he found it this morning, he ripped it up and threw it away."

"Now that sounds like my son. You guys will be ok" Trina said with a hint of motherly love.

"I want us to be ok too." They continued to sit and talk for a little while longer until they needed to head to the arena. When they got there, Karen and Trina found Troy and he told them what was going on. They headed to the suite as Karen went in search of Sidney and Taylor. She got towards the locker room area and found Taylor standing outside talking to a couple of kids. When she saw Karen, she ran up to hug her and they both waited for Sidney. As Sidney made his way out, he saw them standing up against the wall waiting for him. He walked over and hugged Karen not caring at what cameras were going off.

"They want to introduce me to the crowd before they announce the starting line up" Sidney told them.

"So you're going to have to stay down here for awhile longer."

"I knew you'd understand. Why don't you take Tay and head up to the box and I will be up as soon as I can?"

"Ok" Karen gave him a kiss and then started to walk away only to take a step back to him "I love you."

Sidney couldn't stop the smile that crept across his face "I love you too." As Karen was walking away, she heard one of the members of the press ask Sidney who she was and heard his simple response "my girlfriend." Karen smiled to herself as her and Taylor went towards the suites.

After they got done announcing the Western All Stars, Karen looked to the opening and saw Sidney standing there. When they announced him as the fan favorite and the crowd cheered, Karen couldn't help but just stare at him and watched his every move, realizing how in love she was with him and losing him over something important but trivial wouldn't have been worth the heartache of completely losing him. Twenty minutes later, Sidney made his way to the suite and found Karen standing behind everyone. He walked up and put his arms around her waist and Karen leaned back towards him. Sidney kissed her head and they settled in to watch the All Star game.