Tough Love

Chapter 23 - Telling him

A few days later, Brooke was sitting on their couch in the living room, waiting for Sid to return from morning practice. Veronique had come over earlier with Estelle and something from the pharmacy, and now the only thing she could do was wait. Her heartbeat quickened when she heard the door, and a bit later, Sid stepped into the living room. He bent down to kiss her and placed his bag on the side before looking at her. "What's wrong, Brookie? You clearly have something on your mind. Did something happen while I was away? Is your leg hurting? Did you fall?" he asked and Brooke shook her head and couldn't help the smile that spread on her face. Sid was the perfect boyfriend, always making sure everything was all right with her, very attentive as well. "No, everything's good with my leg, don't worry," she said and Sid let out a breath of relief. "Thank god. I was already worried I needed to put mattresses everywhere to make it safe," he stated and Brooke took a deep breath. "You may need to do that...in around eight months," she then stated and Sid stared at her wordlessly for a few seconds. "Do you mean what I think you mean?" he asked slowly, and Brooke nodded and showed him the two pregnancy tests she had made before. "I didn't want to tell you before I'm a 100 percent sure, but I had to puke almost every morning. Veronique brought them over. And we went to the doctor, I had made an appointment there," Brooke admitted and Sid sat down next to her and grabbed onto her hands. "You are going to be a father, Sid," Brooke said and a wide smile spread on Sid's face. Just seconds later, Brooke was wrapped up in his arms, and almost couldn't breathe anymore. "We're going to be parents, Brookie! Oh god, you make me so incredibly happy!" he stated and Brooke just smiled and returned the hug. "So you're not mad at me?" she asked him and Sid leaned back and looked at her, shaking his head. "Never. I've always wanted a family, with the right woman, of course. You're the one for me, Brookie. I want to spend the rest of my life with you," he said softly and Brooke couldn't help but smile. She then leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss onto Sid's lips. "How far along are you?" Sid then asked her and Brooke tilted her head. "I think 'it' happened on your birthday, so I guess I'm around 6 weeks," she stated. They talked about everything afterwards: From names, to when and how they should tell everyone, and even how they wanted the room to look like.

In the evening, Sid helped Brooke into his car, because she would be watching the game from the owner's lounge with her father and the wives and girlfriends. She had to promise him to take care of herself - and their unborn child - before he'd even thought about allowing her to come to the game. Now, she was wearing her 'LEMIEUX' jersey, and both of them had matching smiles on their faces. "Don't forget that you can't tell anyone," Brooke told him with a grin when they arrived at the Consol Energy Center and Sid grumbled quietly, but nodded. He did want to share his happiness with everyone, but they had decided to tell their families first. Mario was already waiting for them in the garage, and when Brooke got out of the car, he hugged her carefully. "I want to go to the locker room first, dad. Wish them luck and kick Kris' ass. He cheated during our war yesterday," Brooke stated and Mario bit his lip. "Are you sure? That's a lot of stairs," he asked and Brooke just shrugged. "That's why I have a strong man by my side," she stated and Sid laughed, carefully wrapping his arms around his girlfriend. He then stepped in front of her and bent down, and she climbed onto his back carefully. Sid then gave her a piggyback ride to the locker room, where a few reporters were already waiting outside. He greeted them with a nod and then stepped into the locker room, where he set Brooke down again. Mario handed Sid his bag while Brooke took her crutches and went towards Kris, hitting him with her hand. "You, Kris Letang, are a cheater. I declare war," she stated seriously and Kris started laughing, shaking his head all the while. "Game on, Brooks. But I won't take it easy on you just because you're hurt," he stated and Brooke grinned. "You'll loose anyway, Letang. Just admit that I'm better than you," Brooke stated, but their friendly bickering was interrupted when her father stepped up. "We should go up now, Brooke," he told and Brooke nodded. "Good luck guys. I'm going to cross my fingers for you up there," she said before going over to Sid and pressing a kiss to his lips. "See you later, take care of yourself out there," she mumbled and then followed her father.

Veronique was already waiting for them, and when Brooke sat down next to her, she nudged her in the side. "And, how did he react?" she whispered and Brooke grinned. Veronique was the only one that knew, because she'd gotten her the test and had went to her doctor with her, but she had had to promise not to tell anyone. "He's extremely happy. But please keep it a secret for a bit longer, we want to tell our parents first," she asked and Veronique nodded. "Of course!" When the players came onto the ice for warm ups, they both got up and leaned against the railing. Brooke followed Sid with her gaze, and when he looked up at the lounge, she waved at him. He waved back but then pointed at his leg, and Brooke didn't need to hear him to know what he wanted to tell her: Go sit down and let your leg rest. Sticking out her tongue, she headed back to the seats, leaning forward so she could still see the ice, and when she looked up at the giant screen, it replayed the scene from before. She couldn't help but laugh and shake her head, and when the game started about fifteen minutes later, her father sat down next to her and handed her a water. Brooke thanked him and then took a sip, her eyes never leaving the play on the ice. It was a hard game, against the Philadelphia Flyers, who were the biggest rival of the Penguins, and as usual, they were almost fighting the whole game. Brooke just bit her lip and watched the game, groaning whenever a shot was blocked by the Flyers' goaltender. Three minutes before the end of the first period, Sid made an awesome pass to Geno, who used his chance and sent the puck flying past the goaltender into the back of the net with a slapshot. Brooke cheered for them and high-fived the ones sitting around her, and the period ended without another goal, even though the Flyers had tried to step up.

The second period was violent, so to say. The Flyers were obviously trying to provoke the Penguins, and it seemed like it worked, because they got idiotic penalties that could have been prevented. At the end of period two, it was 3 to 1 for the Flyers. Brooke went down to the locker room with her fathers help, where she sat down in Sid's place and just listened to Coach giving a speech. "Anyone want to add anything?" he said when he ended and Brooke spoke up. "Stop being idiots and letting them provoke you. Half of those penalties were idiotic, and not needed. You're playing better than them, but they got more goals because half of the time you all are in the penalty box," she said and Coach nodded in agreement. Sid laughed quietly and shook his head, but Brooke lifted an eyebrow. "I was talking about you too, Sid. You can be better than that, and we both know it. I need to go back up now, but good luck and don't give up," she said, pressing a kiss to his cheek before leaving the locker room on her crutches. Thankfully, the guys caught themselves in the third period, and the dream team consisting of Geno and Sid seemed to find each other. In the fifth minute of that period, Sid scored a beautiful goal after a pass from Geno, and Brooke cheered loudly. After Giroux had taken a bad hit on Kris Letang, he was given a penalty shot, and he once again showed that he wasn't just a great defenseman but also a talented scorer when he sent the puck into the net without any problems. It was 3 to 3, and only four and a half minutes were left to the game before it would go into overtime, and Brooke bit her lip and stared at the puck. Hornqvist got it from Sid after he'd stolen it from a Flyers forward, and when he took off with the puck, Brooke couldn't stay in her seat anymore, so she got up and leaned against the railing. Hornqvist passed it back to Sid in front of the goal, and Sid turned and gave it back to him with a sharp shot, and Hornqvist only had to tip it in. With that goal, the Penguins were leading again, and Brooke stayed at the railing for the last few minutes of the game, until the loud buzzer informed everyone that the game was over, securing the win for the Penguins. Brooke hugged Veronique and her father with a grin and they waited for a bit when all the players had filed off the ice. Eventually, they went down to the locker room, where a few reporters where still there. Brooke went over to Sid on her crutches and sat down on the side so he could finish his interview in peace, and he turned towards her with a smile afterwards. "And, did we meet your expectations in the last period?" he asked her, reaching put and pulling her closer to himself carefully. Brooke leaned against him and nodded with a grin. "Yeah, you definitely did," she responded and Sid just grinned and got up. "I'll go take a quick shower, I'll be back in a minute," he promised and Brooke nodded, leaning back and taking put her phone. As Sid had promised, he only needed a few minutes, and when he was dressed again, they left the Consol Energy Center to go home.