Chapter 146

Before Karen left for work Friday morning, she got a few things together so she wouldn't have to worry about it when she got home. She felt nervous all morning because it was a definitely do or die game tonight at the Joe. She didn't know what could be going through Sidney's mind but hoped he would be good to go at game time.

Karen had gotten home and Natalie was already there waiting for her on the porch.

"Um, why didn't you just let yourself in?"

"I forgot where the hide-a-key is."

"Its where it always is."

"No it's not. I looked and figured you moved it around. If you told me, I must have fogotten."

"I didn't move it. Maybe Sidney did and didn't tell me."

"Well it doesn't matter. I was only here for twenty mnutes before you showed up."

"Ok. I just need to go to the bathroom and get something to eat real quick. I am starving since I didn't eat anything during break."

"Well say no more, stopped and grabbed a couple sandwiches at Subway before heading over."

"Ah, you are a lifesaver." They headed inside and ate before needing to meet everyone up at Mario's.

"What do you think their chances are for tonight?"

"I hope the momentum is still there for them from Tuesday. I won't be able to stand seeing Sid like he was last year again. They deserve this and I hope it happens for them."

"I know what you mean. With dating Max and knowing a lot of the guys, I don't think I can see them go through it either. Maybe this year is different, just wish Diane and Sheril could have came too."

"I asked them but with Sheril's husband out of town and Di couldn't get off work for Saturday morning, they weren't able to come."

"We'll just have to invite them to all the parties when we get back."

"That we will" she said as they finished eating then got ready to head to Mario's.

Once everyone was together, they headed to the airport and then to Detroit. Karen hoped they would get there before the guys took their naps and got to spend some time with Sidney before the game. Not that she cared if anything happened to pump him up before the game, but she wanted to see what frame of mind he was in. When the plane landed, they found out that the guys were at the hotel and Karen told Mario that she and Natalie would take a cab there since everyone was headed to the arena. He just smiled and told her it was fine, giving them their tickets and passes for when they got to the arena later.

In the cab ride to the hotel, Karen had sent a text to Sidney to ask him what room he was in. He sent a message back telling her what room he was in and also what room Max was in so Natalie would know. The got to the hotel and went directly to the elevator. Once it stopped on the floor, Natalie went to Max's room and Karen walked a few doors away to Sidney's. She knocked on the door and waited for him to answer. As soon as the door opened, Sidney wrapped his arms around her and picked her up bringing her inside the room.

"It's about damn time you got here baby" he said kissing her.

"Well a plane will only go so fast stud. Were you getting ready for your nap?"

"Let's see, I was laying down and thinking of you was keeping me from sleep so I'm wide awake now."

Karen saw the look in his eyes "Sid, you need to be focused and ready for the game tonight."

Sidney began to peel off her clothes and followed with his shorts and t-shirt "there is only one way I can get focused and ready" he said walking her to the bed and having her crawl up onto to it with him getting behind her "care to help me?"

Karen sat up on her knees and turned her head kissing him "well, it does appear that I am available to do that." Sidney had her fall back onto her hands so he could enter her from behind. He got a rhythm going before bringing her back up to his chest. Karen moved one of his hands from her hip to her mound and if on instinct Sidney began to rub over her clit. Karen's orgasm began to rise within her and she grabbed the sheets around her as she came with a fury of passion. Sidney held onto her hips tighter, making her come down on him harder until he unleashed his own. They sat there for a few minutes before laying down and Sidney curled up behind her. Karen turned her head to offer her lips to him in a heated kiss. She broke the kiss and let Sidney get some sleep.

An hour later, the alram went off and Sidney turned it off and rolled back over to Karen who was lying there looking at him. "Mmm, hey baby."

"Hey. Get enough sleep for tonight?"

"Yeah I did. How about you?"

"I really wasn't that tired, just watched you sleep instead."

"I guess I didn't do my job then."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm suppose to tire you out baby."

"You usually do stud, but I just wasn't tired since I fell asleep on the plane ride here."

"Well I need to get my shower, care to join me again?"

"I would love to, but I'm going to say no this time. Go get ready stud."

"I guess it's going to be a cold shower" he said mumbling his way to the bathroom to make Karen laugh. She got up and got dressed, waiting for him to come out. When he was done, Sidney came out and got dressed. "Ready to go get some dinner with your handsome husband?"

"I would love to, is he here?" she said as they walked out the door.

"You know, it's a good thing that I love you so much" he said closing the door behind them and walking towards the elevator. Karen just smiled and kissed him getting a smile from his lips. They went downstairs and met up with the rest of the guys for dinner.

A half hour later, Sidney and Karen were making their way back up to the room so Sidney could finish getting ready to head to the arena. He was getting his tie on and Karen went to sit infront of him to tie it for him.

"This is the last time you'll be doing this baby."

"Not really. I'm sure there will be other events that I will have the pleasure of doing this. I kind of enjoy it" she said pulling the knot closer to his neck and straightening the tie.

"I kind of enjoy how close you are to me. If I didn't need to go play hockey right now, we'd be taking the tie back off."

"Well you still had it on in the suite on Tuesday and I think that was a little bit of a turn on that I didn't take it off you."

"Just like when I kept the jersey on you...so sexy if I do say so myself."

"Is this preparing you for the game at all?" she said smiling.

"Any feeling of nerves that I had are gone if that's what you mean."

"How are you nervous Sid? You've played this game for practically all your life."

"I know and it's not so much the game I'm nervous about."

"It's what this game represents huh?"

Sidney walked over to the bed and sat down "I could lose it all tonight Karen."

Karen got off the dresser and went to kneel infront of him "and you could win everything you've dreamed about since you were 3. No one knows how this game will end until the final buzzer sounds."

"And you'll still be cheering for me no matter how it does?"

"Haven't you learned that by now? Even when we were apart, I still cheered for you and that will never change."

"Tell me" he said looking into her eyes and Karen knew exactly what he needed to hear.

"This is your game Sid. Whether you score all the goals or none of them...this is your dream. Go get it."

Sidney brought his hand up and caressed her cheek "I love you."

"I love you too" she said leaning up to kiss him "Come on stud, go make me proud."

Karen stood up and brought Sidney with her "forever and always baby." They shared another kiss and headed to the arena.

As the game started, everyone was up in a suite watching the game unfold. The first period came and went with no goals from either team. As the second period started and with more than a minute into the period Max shot the puck and scored. Karen and Natalie erupted with happiness. But for Karen, that happiness dulled when four minutes later Sidney got pressed into the boards and got hurt. Karen watched with pain in her heart as he limped off the ice. As Mario and Troy turned to see if she was ok, Karen was out of the suite and heading down to the locker room. She ran passed everyone, flashing her pass and headed to the trainer's room when she didn't see him in the locker room. Sidney was sitting on the table and saw her come in.

"How did I know you'd be down here?"

"Because we think too much alike. How bad is it?"

"I don't know if I'll be able to finish the game. They're numbing it now so we'll see for the third, but I'm definitely done for the rest of the second." And if on cue, half the crowd erupted as they heard that Max had scored again to give the Pens the lead at 2-0. "Baby, I'm ok. Go back up and watch the rest of the game."

"I'm not going back up until the second period is over and I know for sure you're ok."

"Wow, she's a determined one" the trainer said.

"Yeah she is" Sidney said taking her hand in his, letting her stay with him for a while longer. When the trainer was done, Karen helped Sidney into the locker room and back to his stall.

"So what happened?"

"I was going for the puck to take it down ice and Franzen came with a check. I tried to jump out of the hit and his body caught my leg against the top on the boards. They said it could be a deep bruise."

"Let's hope it's not more serious then that and you can finish the game."

"That's all I want right now baby" he said kissing her cheek. Just then, someone came in and told them that the second period was about over and Karen knew she needed to leave. "I'll be alright baby, go watch the rest of the game."

"Ok, but if you do try and there's too much pain, don't push it."

"Famous last words from someone who did the opposite in the Olympics."

"I'm stubborn and didn't have another twenty years of hockey to play. Just becareful, that's all I'm asking."

"I will baby. See you when it's over." Karen just nodded and kissed him before she left the locker room. She got through the crowd and back to the suite a few minutes later.

"Is it bad?" Troy asked.

"Right now they seem to think it's just a deep bruise in the lower thigh muscle. They won't know until Sidney gets it checked but they don't think its his knee or anything too drastic."

"So Sidney's going to try and play on it?" Mario asked.

"You know Sid but yeah, he'll try a shift and see after that."

"He'll be ok Troy" Trina said "if Sid is really hurt, he would've told Karen the truth to not make her worry."

"Or do something to jeopardize his hockey career" Karen added and they all nodded in agreement. Karen excused herself and got something to drink, going back over to Natalie and waited for the third period to begin.

As the third period was about to start, Karen saw Sidney skate around testing his leg. She saw him move it around and she kind of knew he wouldn't be playing much. He didn't start the third and waited a couple shifts before going out. Karen watched him more than the play and could see he was having trouble turning. When he skated to the bench after the shift, she knew he was done.

"You ok?" Natalie asked her.

"He's done for the game Nat, his leg must be hurting."

"He'll be ok."

"I know he'll be fine but this is going to kill him sitting on the bench with 3/4 of the game remaining." Natalie gave her friend a reassuring hug as they continued watching the game.

The Pens were able to hold off the Red Wings until there was about 6 minutes left when they scored to cut their lead in half. Everyone in the suite looked at each other and prayed that another one wouldn't follow. As the time ticked down, Karen and Natalie felt a little more nervous as the Wngs were putting a surge of shots towards Marc-Andre. Karen would watch the numbers fall off and when there was close to a second left, she saw the puck go to Lidstrom. She held onto Natalie as her breath caught in her throat as he took a hard wrist shot towards the net....