Chapter 104

The next morning, Karen woke up and looked around the room. Sidney was already awake and watching her.

"What's wrong baby?"

"This is not the room we fell asleep in."

"I woke up to the fire going out and carried you up here. Do you mind?"

"Not at all. The floor was making it hard to get comfortable anyway."

"I'm always comfortable when I'm wrapped up with you" he said pulling her tighter to his body.

"Most days I wish we could just stay like this."

Sidney pulled back to look at her "what are you saying?"

"Just that I wish some days we could make work and hockey disappear."

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

"No, I miss this. Staying in bed with no real reason to get up, holding each other until we can't stand it any longer. Either I have to go to work or when I'm not working you need to leave early for practice or a game. Its a no win situation during the season."

"Yeah and in the off season I'm here and you're still in Pittsburgh. We'll get it figured out baby, I promise." Just then Sidney's phone rang and he let go of Karen and got up to find it. "Hey mom."

"Hi honey. I just called to see if you and Karen want to come over for lunch today before you guys head back."

"Yeah mom, sounds great. What time?"

"Noon?"

"Ok, we'll be there. See you soon." He hung up and crawled back into bed "it looks like we have another couple of hours to spend in bed before we head to mom and dad's for lunch."

Karen snuggled back into the nook "mmm, good." Sidney kissed her head and let her fall asleep before letting the tiredness take him with her.

They had gotten up an hour before needing to go to his parent's house for lunch. Both got their showers and headed out just in time. When they got to the house, lunch was ready and they sat down to eat within a few minutes. The atmosphere was nice and it seemed like Trina was making it 'family-like'. Karen thought back to the conversation with Max and wondered if what Sidney was plotting involved his mom. Of course his dad would not be involved in it, which didn't surprise her at all. They finished eating and hung out for a little bit before going back to Sidney's house and got ready to go to the airport.

While at the airport, they had a couple hours to wait before boarding and Karen thought it was time to get a straight answer from Sidney.

"I need to know something" she said quietly to him.

"I will tell you whatever you want to know, what is it?"

"Do you want to get married....to me?"

Sidney thought for a second of how he wanted to answer this and not give any of his plans away "of course I want to get married someday and I would more than love it if it was to you. Why do you ask?"

"Just from a conversation with Max and then your mom making lunch out to be all 'family-like'. I don't know, maybe I'm just reading into things too deep."

Sidney smiled on the inside "baby, I know your feelings and if it happens for us while we're together then great but I am not going to pressure you into anything you may or may not want."

"Are you avoiding the question?" she asked with a smile.

"I am not avoiding the question. You know how much I love you and yes, one day I want to get married....to you. But it will happen when we're both ready, ok?"

"Ok. I'm going to run to the bathroom real quick." Karen kissed him and walked off. Sidney sat there and hoped he didn't give away what he had planned. With their anniversary coming up, he had all the details laid out, he just needed to make sure it would go off as he hoped it would. Meanwhile, when Karen was done in the bathroom she stood at the sink washing her hands and looking at herself in the mirror "he's gonna marry me" she smiled as she said it quietly to herself. Karen dried her hands with the paper towel and went back out to wait to board the plane back to Pittsburgh. An hour later, they were on their way back. Karen laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes until they landed.

The next few weeks passed and the Pens were still winning one and losing the next one. Karen knew something was going to be happening because the trade deadline was fast approaching. She knew Sidney didn't have any idea about what would be going on and who could be leaving. There had been the talk on the internet that it could possibly be Whit or Staalsy. Karen couldn't believe that the organization would get rid of either but since Ryan had gotten back, he really wasn't at his best and wondered how long it would take him to hit his stride. Jordan has his good nights and bad nights, but that could be said for any of the players...even Sidney. It was just a waiting game.

It was the last week of February and after most of the season of playing back to back games and home for a few, on the road for a couple the team was finally going on an 11 day road trip. Karen came home from work on Tuesday with news of a road trip of her own.

"Sidney?" she yelled as she walked in the house.

"Yeah baby" he said coming from the kitchen "what's the matter?"

"Nothing's really the matter. Today at work, I was picked to go help out a couple other stores and will be gone for a couple weeks."

"Well I'll be gone until March 9th, so it's works out perfectly. When do you leave?"

"Tomorrow."

"What?"

"Yeah, instead of going to work for my shift I will meet up with two others going with me and then we'll leave from there."

"Where are you going, what stores?"

"We won't know until we get there. We may stay at one store for a week and then head home or it may be three or four different stores."

"What am I going to do without having you there to cheer for me tomorrow night?" he asked hugging her.

"You've been able to play before stud. Just pretend I'm there."

"But it's not the same."

Karen pouted at him "oh poor baby. You still have me for tonight though."

"And I guess I need to make it a good one."

"I guess you do" she said kissing him "what smells so good?"

"Well me of course."

"Besides you, did you make dinner?"

"Why yes I did" he said taking her hand and leading her into the kitchen. "I bought a chicken and it's roasting it in the oven, a couple baked potatoes, some stuffing and green beans" Sidney said pointing in the oven and taking off the lids on the stove.

"I am very impressed. Who did you get to help you?"

"That is so cruel baby. I know my cooking skills need work but I can still try."

"Well it smells wonderful and you are even more wonderful for making me dinner."

"If you think I'm wonderful right now" he said pulling her close "wait until after dinner." Karen leaned up and kissed his lips, which of course Sidney took further. They stood in the kitchen kissing for a few more minutes until the oven timer dinged. They both laughed and pulled apart to get dinner on the table.

Karen took a bite "wow, the boy wonder CAN cook."

"Don't sound too surprised there baby. I just had to wait to bring it out."

"What do you mean you had to wait?"

"To see if you were really worthy of my dinner making abilities."

Karen just shook her head laughing and continued eating. They talked about the upcoming road trip and hopes that they can pull off some wins. When they got done eating, Karen helped clean up before going into the living room to sit, with Sidney joining her. Karen got comfortable and laid down on Sidney's lap as his hand stroked her hair.

"Mmm, that feels nice. Makes me want to go to sleep right here."

"Well then I am going to stop because I want you wide awake."

"But we just ate. Having sex is like swimming...you need to wait at least an hour before diving in."

Sidney sat there laughing "I never thought about it that way."

"When do guys ever think before having sex?"

"Hey now, I think I have established myself to not be like all those other guys."

"Yeah you have, I will give you that." Karen sat up and looked at him "I'm glad your like that though."

"Me too" Sidney said leaning in to kiss her "I know it hasn't quite been an hour but you know, foreplay can cut into that."

Karen stood up and brought Sidney with her "I like you're way of thinking Crosby." They headed upstairs for their night before they each went separate ways for a couple weeks.

Lying in bed, Karen was curled up against Sidney's chest and just listened to his heart beating, feeling content with her life until Sidney's question brought it all crashing down.

"Baby, what do you think about maybe getting a bigger house?"

"Why? This house is plenty big for the two of us."

"I know, but I think we need a house that's ours."

Karen sat up and looked at him "so you still think of it as my house?"

"Well it is baby. I just thought that we could find one that was us."

"If you want to make this house more us, then bring more of your things here or we can redecorate and refurnish the whole house."

"We could do all of that but why not do it in a new house too."

Karen got out of bed and put some clothes on. She never said anything else as she walked out of the room. Sidney wanted to go after her, but from previous fights he knew to let her cool off. Karen went to the guest room and laid down on the bed. She looked at the clock and saw she had 3 hours before she needed to get up. After setting the alarm, Karen tried to get some sleep.

At 2:30a, the alarm rang and Karen got up. She went into her room quietly and got her clothes then went to the guest bathroom to get her shower. About 20 minutes later, she came back into the room and got the last minute things packed into her bag.

"Can we talk before you leave?" Sidney asked softly sitting up in bed.

"I don't think we have anything to talk about. If you want a new house feel free to get one, but I won't be in it with you" she said walking out of the room and downstairs.

Sidney got up, putting on his boxers and going downstairs to talk to Karen "baby listen to me" he said walking into the kitchen "you are blowing all of this out of proportion."

"No I'm not Sid. Do you seriously know what you're asking me? You are asking me to get rid of my house....MY PARENT'S HOUSE. This is the only thing I have left of them, the only physical memory of them and you want me to get rid of that." Sidney stood there with a blank look on his face not knowing what to say "They are not in another state or 4 blocks away Sid, they are gone from my life for good. I can't call or see them whenever I want to, but I can look around this house and feel them with me."

"I'm sorry, I guess I didn't think about it."

"No you didn't think Sid" Karen said walking passed him and getting her bag, opening the door "good luck on your road trip." With that said, she left Sidney standing there in shock about what just happened. He had the best interest at heart but didn't take into consideration her feelings. Sidney ran his hand through his hair and went back upstairs.

Karen couldn't stop the tears from falling as she drove to the store. She didn't mind the half hour drive because it gave her a chance to clear her head. She loved Sidney more than anything, but this really hurt her. As she got to the store, she saw Diane walking in and yelled for her.

"Diane, wait up."

"Morning Kiki" she said hugging her.

"What are you doing here so early?" she said hugging her back.

"The wanted me to go on the trip to some of the other stores."

"You've got to be kidding me, they picked me to go too. Thank god I will have you with me."

"Me too. I hate it when they stick us with people we don't know. Did they tell you anything about this trip?"

"Nope, but I'm sure we'll find out before we leave." They headed inside and got some other things done before knowing the details of their trip.

Around 7am Karen, Diane and two guys made their way to the airport. They found out they would be going to the Louisiana store. After they got through security and rode the tram to the gates, Karen saw a familiar face walking to a gate in her same terminal. She told Diane she would be back and went to see if she was right.

"Whit?" Karen said coming up to him.

"Karen? What are you doing here?"

"I need to go to a couple stores to help out for work. Don't you have a game tonight?"

"Um, I'm heading home. My mom is having surgery and I told the team I needed to be with my family. I'll meet back up with them on Friday in Chicago."

"What kind of surgery, if you don't mind me asking."

"No. you're fine. She has a tumor and they're going to remove it."

"I'm so sorry Ryan. You ok?"

"Yeah, my mom's tough so she'll be ok."

"Well if you need to talk or anything, call me on my cell ok?"

"Thanks I appreciate it."

"I better get back to my gate, we're going to start boarding soon." She stood up and Ryan got up with her so he could hug her "My thoughts are with you and your family."

"Thanks and I will see you after the road trip." Ryan let go of her and watched her walk a few gates away after saying goodbye. He was glad to have seen her but wished it was under difference circumstances. He sat back down and waited to board.

A few minutes later, Karen and the others boarded their plane. When they got seated Karen decided to ask Diane if maybe she had overreacted with what Sidney said.

"Di, can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Last night Sidney asked me about fnding a bigger house to live in and I got upset about it."

"Well you have every right to be upset, how can he ask you to get rid of your parent's house?"

"That's exactly what my reaction was. I told him he could move more of his things in or we could redecorate to make it more 'us'."

"What did he say to that?"

"I ddn't give him a chance to answer since I stormed out. I hate this, we get back on track after a fight and then this just puts us on edge again. Why can't I let the little things go and quit fighting him on every little thing?"

"Because you love him and every relationship can't be that perfect." Karen shot Diane a look "please girl, you two get sickening at times with all the love you guys have. Maybe he just wants your life to get to the next level and starting it in a new house might not be so bad. You can still keep mom and dad's house."

"Maybe if he didn't wait until I had to leave to bring this up we could have talked about it a little more."

"Look, you're gone for awhile and he's on a road trip for 11 days. You'll both think about it and when you guys see each other it'll be ok."

"Thanks for the motherly advice."

"Anytime girl." They smiled at each other and enjoyed the rest of the flight.