Chapter 144

A while later, the evening was over and Sidney was walking hand in hand with Karen back to their house.

"You ok? You seemed to get quiet towards the end of the night."

"Yeah, I guess the day's activities is starting to catch up to me. I need to get to bed for work in the morning."

"Well I can certainly help with the 'getting you in bed' part."

"And here I thought you would give me the night off."

"Let me think about that for a minute" Sidney said as he stopped and looked up towards the sky until Karen hit him in the stomach "nope, sorry. But at least I can really tire you out to help you fall asleep."

"That is true" she said smiling at him as they finished their walk to the house.

Monday went by in a flash and it was Tuesday. Karen had gone to bed a little earlier so she wouldn't be tired for the game that night. Of course when the alarm went off an hour early, Karen woke up with a jolt.

"It can't be 2:30 already."

"Its actually 1:30. I reset the alarm last night when I came to bed."

Karen laid back down "why?" Sidney didn't answer her, he just rolled on top of her and let his hands roam under her tank top, massaging her breasts as his lips found hers in the dark. When he brought his hands out, they went directly to her panties and pulled them off her hips. He removed his boxers as well before lining himself at her entrance. "You woke me up an hour early to have sex?" she said getting comfortable under him.

"Not just sex baby" he said entering her. Eventhough it was dark, the moonlight shining through the window showed a smile on her face. Their lips found each other's again and it lasted as long as their middle of the night romp did. Sidney held a steady pace bringing both of them over the edge together as their lips parted to allow the moans escape to show their satisfaction. "Happy birthday baby" he said letting his finger outline her face.

"Thank you stud, but you know this could have waited until I got home after 1p."

"I don't think I could have waited that long. You will have to wait until after work for your present though."

"You guys pulling out a win tonight is all the present I need Sid."

"It will be, but you need something else too."

"All I need is you."

"You already got me baby and I will forever spoil you so get use to it."

"I don't think I will ever get use to it. But I know if I don't get up, I will be late and then I will have to stay late to get my time in."

"And of course I don't want that" he said rolling off her "I want you home at your normal time."

Karen leaned over and kissed him "you know, if you could stay awake for another 15 minutes I would love some company in the shower" she said getting off the bed and walking into the bathroom. She started up the shower and got in hoping she would have a partner. A minute later, Sidney joined her making it a little longer than 15 minutes. Karen finally got ready and headed out to work.

After work, Karen headed home and was wondering what Sidney had planned for her. She got the car parked and went inside, going into the living room and seeing Sidney with his parents. Sidney got up and walked over to hug her, giving her a bouquet of roses.

"They're beautiful, thank you" she said kissing him.

"Is there some occasion we need to know about Sid?" Troy asked.

"It's Karen birthday."

"Happy birthday Karen" both Trina and Troy said at the same time.

"Thank you both, it means a lot."

"If we would have known, we could have gotten you something."

"That's ok, Sidney knows what I want."

"Which is what son?"

"A win tonight."

"I think we all want that Karen" Troy said. "Why don't we go out to an early dinner and celebrate before the game tonight?"

"I think I can swap my nap and dinner, baby?"

"Yeah that sounds wonderful. Let me go change real quick." Karen headed upstairs and Sidney excused himself, following her. "I don't think we have time for a quickie stud."

"I know we don't with my parents downstairs waiting, I just wanted to give you this" he said handing her a small box.

"Sid, I told you I don't need anything."

"I know you don't but I wanted you to have this."

Karen opened the box and was shocked "what's this?" she asked holding up a credit card.

"First of all, don't be mad at me" he said seeing the look on her face "I got that for you to use to get whatever you want....for the new house."

"Sidney" she said standing up "I thought we agreed that you would let me use my own money to help furnish the house since you wouldn't let me help buy it. This is still your money Sid."

"No its not."

"What? I'm confused."

"Like I said, don't be mad at me. I was looking for something in the den and stumbled acrossed your saving account book."

"You looked through my stuff?" she said getting angry.

"Baby wait, I went to your bank and asked them if they could move some of your savings to this credit card. I showed them we were married and told them about the house. I just figured it would be easier when you started to buy things for the house. It would all be in one place and you wouldn't have to keep getting money out to pay for things." Karen sat back down in disbelief "I thought it was a good idea and I'll go back to the bank tomorrow if you want and put it back into your savings."

"How much did you put on it?" she asked quietly.

"$15,000."

"Sid, that was a huge chunk of my savings."

"I only used $5,000 of your savings and I put the other $10,000 on there for you." Sidney saw her look down at the card "baby, please understand I did this for you. I know you want to put your money into the new house, but I don't think you know what all will go into furnishing a new house. I don't want you to spend all your money."

"I can understand why you did this and it's a sweet idea" she said looking up at him "can I buy other things with this too?"

"Like what?"

"A new pair of shoes, maybe a dress, or perhaps a spa day."

Sidney smiled at her "just make sure those all come out of my part of the money."

Karen looked into his eyes and saw the sincerity "it will only be used for the new house, I promise."

Sidney stood up and brought Karen with him, wrapping his arms around her and dipping his head down to kiss her. Karen dropped the credit card on the bed and brought her hands into his hair, crinkling her fingers around his curls as they deepened the kiss. They broke away breathless with their foreheads pressed together "thank you" he heard her whisper. Sidney smiled and placed a kiss to her forehead, letting her go to change her clothes. He walked out of the room and Karen stood there for a minute before getting ready. Since they would be coming back to the house, she settled for a pair of khaki cargo shorts and a nice top, meeting everyone downstairs.

With it being her birthday, Sidney told her to pick the restaurant and she of course picked the Olive Garden. She knew Sidney could get his pasta intake before the game. Karen did make a plea in the car to not tell them it was her birthday so they wouldn't sing to her and make a scene. Sidney just smiled and Karen shook her head knowing he probably would. When they got to the restaurant, they were thankful it wasn't crowded and was able to get a table near the door on the side not in use yet. By the time it would start to get busy, they would be heading out and being by the door would mean less people to go by.

"So will you be able to go to the game in Detroit on Friday Karen?" Trina asked in the middle of their dinner.

"Definitely. I should get done around 10a and Natalie doesn't have to work so we should get there in plenty of time."

"You're just so confident aren't you baby?"

"Can't help it, it's in your future to be a Stanley Cup champion."

"Apparently my future is at the end of the week then."

"Well I will definitely drink to that" Troy said raising his glass to his son.

"Thank you dad, but let's get through tonight first ok?" They all smiled and Karen snuck in a kiss to his cheek as they finished dinner. But before they could head home, Karen hid her behind Sidney's shoulder as a few waiters came over with a dessert and sang "Happy Birthday" to her. She smacked Sidney on the arm after they left and she shared her dessert with all of them.

"I can't believe you did that" she said as they walked out of the restaurant.

"You knew I was going to do it baby."

"I know but still, I hate being embarrassed like that."

"I'll make it up to you tonight after the game."

"I'm counting on it stud" she said quietly. Just as they approached Sidney's car, a family of four was getting out of the car beside them. Karen saw the little boy's face light up and saw the little Crosby jersey he had on knowing they were going to the game tonight. "Um, Sid...turn around" she whispered and pointed behind him.

Sidney saw the little boy standing there staring at him "hey buddy. Going to the game tonight?"

"Yeah. Are you guys going to win tonight?"

Sidney kneeled down to his level and Karen reached in the car for a piece of paper, walking it over to him "do you want us to win tonight?"

"Yeah. Can I have your autograph Sidney?"

"Sure thing buddy." Karen handed him the paper and sharpie and Sidney smiled at her "what's your name?"

"Johnny."

Sidney signed the paper and handed it to him "there you go Johnny. Have fun tonight ok?"

"I will. Good luck tonight Sidney."

"Thanks buddy." Sidney saw how excited he was when he went running over to his mom and dad and who Sidney thought could be the grandmother. They all thanked him before going into the restaurant and they got into the car heading home. When they got back to the house after Sidney had dropped off his parents at Mario's, Karen told him to go upstairs and take his nap. He pouted and tried to get Karen to join him, but she told him he was on his own and she laughed when he all but stomped up the steps.

Karen got her laptop and went to sit outside on the back patio. She looked up some sites for furniture to get some ideas of how she wanted to decorate each room and hoped Sidney liked her ideas too. She knew one room, maybe the den, would be the Sidney Shrine so he could bring some of his old hockey days memoriabilia down to have with him. She always felt bad that going from Mario's to her house, he really didn't have anything of his in Pittsburgh. Karen actually began to get excited about having a house that was going to be both of theirs. After a few more minutes of searching for household items, she decided to google wedding dresses. She needed any idea of a style for a dress that would knock Sidney off his feet. Karen didn't know after looking at all the different styles if she wanted a simple dress, a cinderella type ballgown, or an over the top prom dress. She kept looking for another hour and decided to give up, going back inside and making sure Sidney was up. When she got inside, she heard the shower going and knew he was up. Karen went to get her jersey and refresh her makeup before heading back downstairs to wait for him.

Twenty minutes later, Sidney came downstairs and saw Karen sitting on the couch watching the early news about the game "you ready baby?"

Karen grabbed her jersey and walked over to him "that should be my question to you."

"I have my beautiful wife going to the arena with me on the last home game of the season, I am definitely ready." He leaned down and kissed her before they headed out.

They got to the arena and headed in. Karen could feel the excitement of the crowd and hoped it did the trick for tonight. When they got inside, Karen went to the lounge while Sidney got a couple things done before joining her. She was talking with Natalie and Vero when he came in and sat down beside her. Karen had gotten a text a half hour later from Sheril and she got Natalie and headed up to go get them. Sidney had walked them to the door and held Karen back for a minute.

"I wish I could keep you until warm ups."

"You need to get your head into the game and off of me Sid."

"That's kind of hard to do baby" he said pulling her close "you and the game are to similiar."

"I'm afraid to ask how."

Sidney saw more people walking around and knew he couldn't get specific "let's just say I get the same euphoric rush playing as I do being around you. I don't think this series could have gone the way I wanted it to without you. Thank you for believing in me to get me this far."

"You got yourself this far stud. I was just the encouragement in the stands cheering you on."

"And at home, in the shower, in bed..."

"I think I get the point" she said smiling. "Go kick some ass tonight stud, I will be cheering all the way until the end." Sidney smiled and kissed her, letting her go to meet her friends. He took a deep breath and hoped she was right before running back to the locker room and getting ready for the game.