Tough Love

Chapter 15 - A day with Lord Stanley

It was tradition that every player from the winning team was able to spend a day with the Stanley Cup and do whatever he wanted with it, and as Coach Johnston had told them at the day of the parade, Sid would be the first and afterwards, Fleury would have it and then all the other guys. Sid had decided to take the cup back to his hometown once again, and he had invited Brooke to join him, and of course, she had agreed.

So now, about a week after the parade, Sid had his day with the Stanley Cup, and Brooke was right beside him the entire time. She was really curious to see the place he'd grown up and she knew that Sid was excited as well, because he'd been smiling ever since he had picked her up at her apartment in the morning. They left for Halifax pretty early in the morning, and the Cup would be getting there at around eleven, and their flight landed at ten. Brooke cuddled onto Sid in the plane to catch up on some sleep and he placed an arm around her, letting her rest on his shoulder. Brooke was awoken by a hand carefully shifting her, and when she opened her eyes and blinked sleepily, Sid was undoing his seatbelt. "Hi sleepyhead. It's time to get up, we're here," he said softly and Brooke nodded, stretching and undoing her seatbelt as well before following Sid out of the plane. His parents were picking them up at the airport, and because they hadn't taken much luggage with them, they were by the exit pretty soon, and before Brooke had realized it, Trina had embraced her in a warm hug. "Come on, we don't want to loose time. The whole city is waiting," Trina stated, pulling Brooke with her and Brooke looked at Sid, who just grinned at her and walked behind her with his dad. When they were in the car, driving towards Sid's home, Trina told Brooke about the relatives that would be there later to have a barbeque with them, and Brooke just tried to remember all the names and people, while Sid had his arm around her and squeezed her shoulder softly from time to time. They arrived at Sid's old home a bit later and Trina led them inside, telling Sid the little parade for him would start soon and Sid just nodded before taking Brooke's hand and leading her to his old room. When they got there, Brooke turned around her shoulder and looked around, smiled at everything. "Just like I imagined your room to be," she eventually stated and Sid just chuckled and pulled her closer to him. "Thanks for coming along. Having you here, having you with me in general just feels right," he told her and Brooke smiled and placed her arms around his neck before leaning up a bit and pressing her lips to his in a soft kiss. "We need to go now, you two!" Troy's voice interrupted them and they broke apart, smiling at each other softly before going downstairs again, where Sid's parents were already waiting for them. "Let's go then," Sid agreed, following them out with Brooke by his side.

They drove to the nearby helipad, where a helicopter would be bringing the Stanley Cup, and about ten minutes after they had gotten there, the helicopter landed as well, and the keeper of the cup got out of the helicopter, carrying the prized trophy over to them. Sid and Brooke greeted him with a smile and Sid turned towards Brooke, tilting his head. "Do you want to lift the cup up?" he asked her and Brooke laughed. "Isn't it too heavy?" she asked, and when Sid told her he'd help her if needed, she nodded and gave him her phone to take a picture afterwards. The cup definitely wasn't light, but not as heavy as she'd expected it to be, so she lifted it up with a grin and let Sid take a picture, before carefully setting it down on the ground again. "We should go to the parade, the people will already be waiting," Troy said afterwards and Sid nodded, carrying the cup to the convertible and getting inside, helping Brooke next to him and lacing their fingers together while holding the cup with the other hand. While they were driving through Halifax, Brooke looked around in awe. She'd known that Sid was a hero for the people in Pittsburgh, but he also seemed to be a hero to the people in his hometown, and many of them had shown up and were waving at Sid, who was sitting there, holding onto the cup and stroking over the back of Brooke's hand with his thumb. Sid presented the cup to everyone in the center of Halifax before they went to a military base, a school, a hospital and eventually moving on to a sports center, where he played a game of street-hockey with his friends. Brooke watched from the sidelines next to the cup, and Sid - in his most favourite position as goaltender - looked at her with a grin from time to time.

Sid's team lost the little game they had played, but Sid just laughed and shrugged when his friends made fun of him, and after taking the last pictures with fans and the cup, they moved back to his childhood home, where Sid and Brooke cleaned the cup together. Brooke let Sid have his own moment with the cup in the end and left to go and help Trina in the kitchen, where she had been preparing the barbeque for the last hour. "Do you want to see some old pictures of Sid later?" Trina asked her and Brooke nodded with a smile, already curious about Sid as a kid. Sid came back to them twenty minutes later with the keeper of the cup, who said his goodbye and then let Sid drive him to the helipad, to fly the cup to the next player. Brooke and Trina finished preparing and went to the living room, where Trina took an old album out of the shelf and then sat down next to Brooke. She then showed her pictures from Sid, from he he was almost a baby to his late teenager years, and Brooke just couldn't help but coo at how cute Sid had been - and how handsome he'd turned. "Do you want kids, Brooke?" Trina suddenly asked and Brooke looked up from a pictue of Sid on his first day of school, blushing slightly. "Uh...yeah, when the time is right," she stated thoughtfully, nodding and Trina just smiled. "Could you see yourself having kids with Sid?" Trina asked and Brooke bit her lip softly, thinking about it for a moment. It definitely was a very intimate question, and Sid and her hadn't been together for too long, so she hadn't really thought about that. "I think so, yeah. I really love him, and I can imagine myself staying with him...for the rest of my life, and I'm a 100 percent sure he'll make a great father," she then said and Trina looked at her with a genuine smile. "You two just belong together. You're an amazing woman, Brooke, and I'm happy my son has found you," Trina said, and Brooke hugged her thankfully before turning around when she heard the front door open. "Mum? The first guests are here," Sid's voice sounded through the house and Trina got up and smiled at Brooke. "If you want you can look at the rest of the pictures," she offered and Brooke nodded, pulling the album closer to herself and turning the page. "Oh god, please tell me she hasn't shown you the picture where I've got my face full of chocolate," Sid said, sitting down next to Brooke and she just laughed. "She has. But it's really cute. I think mum has a similar one of me somewhere at home," she stated and Sid grinned and placed an arm around her while also looking at the pictures.

"Let's go outside, I want to introduce you to all of them," Sid eventually said and Brooke nodded and put the album back to it's place before taking Sid's hand and following him outside. He proudly introduced her to everyone as his girlfriend and Brooke just smiled at all of them. After introducing her to everyone, Sid sat down with a group of close friends and pulled Brooke onto his lap, because there wasn't anymore space. Brooke just leaned back against his chest and listened to his friends and him talk, throwing something in from time to time and just observing them. It was nice to see Sid so relaxed and happy, and it made her fall in love with him even more. Eventually, she wandered off and started talking to a few relatives, answering questions about Sid and her mostly or getting told funny stories about him. Sid had the tendency to be slightly awkward, and it always made for a funny story, but Brooke thought it was adorable when he didn't really know what to do with himself, and she loved him just the way he was. They all ate together, and Sid had once again found Brooke, sitting down next to her and holding her hand under the table while she was talking with some relatives of him. At the end of the evening, they all just got comfortable in the garden, where they had spent most of the evening, and Brooke once again took her place on Sid's lap and cuddled onto him, and he wrapped his arms around her and looked at her with a fond smile. "This has been the best day of my life," he then whispered into her ear and Brooke looked at him with a loving smile before pressing a kiss to his cheek. Late into the evening, their guests started to leave, and Brooke once again shook everyone's hand and hugged them, before helping Trina and Troy clean everything up with Sid and Taylor after the last guests had left. When everything was clean again, Brooke hugged everyone good night and then followed Sid upstairs into his room, where she changed into her favourite shirt of his, which she always wore to sleep, and then crawled into his bed next to him. It wasn't like the king-sized bed in his house, so they had to sleep pressed up against each other, but neither of them really minded. "Your mother asked me if I can imagine myself having kids with you one day," Brooke mumbled when they were laying next to each other and Sid's hand, which had been combing through her hair, stopped moving. "Oh god, I need to tell her not to pester you that much. What did you say?" he said and Brooke lifted her head a bit to look at him. "I told her that I definitely can see myself having children with you, as I don't plan on letting you go anytime soon, And that you're going to be a great father one day," she stated softly, and a wide grin appeared on Sid's face before he leaned down and pressed his lips onto hers. "I'm not going anywhere. I love you, Brookie," he mumbled and Brooke smiled and placed her head back on his chest, closing her eyes contentedly. "Love you too. Night, Sid," she mumbled and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head before pulling the comforter up a bit.