after emma was cleared, she rejoined the penguins, quickly becoming one of the leaders in the three years she was there. during the 2023-2024 stanley cup playoffs, they beat the islanders, the bruins, and the canes. finally the penguins were facing vegas. the current playoff score was three to one and the pens were confident they would win.
emma was feeling off that day and she feared the worst. she ordered a bunch of pregnancy tests on doordash and distracted herself with an episode of keeping up with the kardashians as she drank three bottles of water. she didn't want to think about the fact that if she was actually pregnant, her career would almost definitely be over.
a doordasher knocked on her door and left the bag of tests on the ground. her hands shook as she took the bag into the bathroom and opened four boxes. she took a plastic cup and peed into it, dipping the tips of the tests in the light yellow liquid and setting them down on the counter.
emma sat down on the floor as the realization finally hit her, "it's over. my career is just.. gone."
she knew she had been feeling sick and she just told herself it was her nerves. she grabbed her phone, seeing that sidney had sent her a message asking if she wanted to come to his hotel room and eat lunch with him. she ignored it as she opened safari and searched how effective the birth control shot was. she was stupid to believe that there was no way she could get pregnant after taking birth control.
she had fooled herself into a false sense of security and now it felt as if the ground was crumbling underneath her. she tapped her feet against the tiled bathroom floor as she waited for the tests to tell her if she was carrying sidney's baby or not.
emma stood up after five minutes of waiting and closed her eyes, trying to gain the confidence to even glance at the tests. she took a shaky breath and looked at the tests.
she felt tears start sliding down her face after she read the tests. all four of them said positive and she felt like fainting. she slid her back down the wall as she sobbed. she started to gag and she went to the toilet and threw up from the stress.
then she realized that she absolutely could not tell sidney until after the game. that added stress made her feel even worse as she stood up and put the tests into one box. she closed it before shoving it into her backpack.
emma sat on the edge of her bed and put her head in her hands, continuing to cry until her phones alarm alerted her that the bus was going to be at the hotel in an hour. she gasped for air as she tried to calm herself down but it just got worse. there was a knock on her door and she froze.
she got up and looked in the peep hole, seeing kris letang. she opened the door and he stepped into her hotel room. he noticed that she was crying and frowned, "oh my god, emma. what happened?"
"i can't talk about it." she spoke between gasps. she shook and kris hugged her tightly.
"do you want me to go get sid?" he asked and she shook her head quickly.
"that is just about the last thing i want." emma's lip quivered, "i need to get ready."
"i know. that's why i came here. don't wear any mascara."
"why would you say that? is sidney breaking up with me???" she wailed.
"of course not! it's just that when we win tonight, we're gonna be opening champagne bottles and i don't think you'd like if mascara was running down your face." he lied to her face.
she caught her breath, "ok, i won't. thank you for warning me."
"are you sure you're ok?"
"yeah i'll be fine."
