Tough Love

Chapter 25 - All Stars Skill Competition

The All Stars Skill Competition took place in Chicago, at the United Center, home of the Chicago Blackhawks, and of course Brooke was there with Sid, Geno, Kris and Fleury, as all of them had been picked for the competition. Sid was the captain of one of the teams, as well as Jamie Benn as the other captain. Brooke's belly was fully showing now, as she was almost five months' along, and there was no denying it anymore. They had arrived at the hotel a bit earlier than most of the other players, because as usual, Sid had tried to make it as comfortable as possible for Brooke. He'd been protective over her at the start of her pregnancy, but now that she was five months pregnant, he had almost turned into a mother hen. After they had told their parents and the rest of the team that twins were on their way, everyone was looking out for Brooke even more. Trina and Nathalie called her regularly to check up on her, and the wives of Sid's teammates had also congratulated her and offered her their help and advice, which Brooke had thankfully accepted. The guys on the team were taking care of her as well whenever Sid wasn't close, and at the moment, she felt like she had four bodyguards or babysitters, depending on whom she was talking about. "You good, Brooks?" Geno asked her when they were checking in and Brooke just nodded with an amused smile. "I am, don't worry Geno," she told him and he nodded with a satisfied smile. Sid had finished checking all them in after a few minutes and they all went to their rooms. "How's the program?" Brooke asked when they were in their room, with her stretched out on the bed and Sid unpacking a few things. He straightened up and looked at her, thinking shortly. "We're having a dinner all together today, when everyone has arrived. Tomorrow is the main part with all the competitions, and the day after is the All Star Game, and that's about it," he said and Brooke nodded and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "Wake me up when we have to go down for dinner," she asked Sid, falling asleep pretty soon after.

A few hours later, Brooke was awoken by a hand on her shoulder. "It's time to go down, Brookie," Sid said softly and Brooke carefully sat up and nodded, running her fingers through her hair. "All right, let me just change into some other clothes," she stated and Sid nodded. Brooke took some jeans and a striped shirt out of her suitcase and changed into them, as well as putting on a dark blue cardigan. Veronique and her had gone shopping for maternity clothes a bit earlier, since her belly was too big to fit into her normal clothes anymore. "You look beautiful," Sid stated when she was combing through her hair and Brooke turned towards him with a soft smile. "Thank you," she then mumbled. A loud knock on their door brought their attention back to the upcoming dinner, and when they stepped outside, Geno was already waiting for them next to Letang and Fleury. "You look very much pregnant, Brooks," Fleury stated with a grin and Brooke just rolled her eyes. "That's because I am, genius. Let's go now, I'm in desperate need of food," she stated and everyone chuckled. While they were walking down to the hall where all the players and their wives and girlfriends or whoever they had brought with them would eat, Brooke just listened to the guys talk about the different players that would be there. When they entered the hall, most of the players were already there, and Sid led them to a mostly empty table, where Brooke just sat down and leaned back. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks were also sitting at their table with their girlfriends Amanda and Lindsey, and they all turned towards Sid and Brooke when they sat down. Brooke saw their mouths' drop open at the sight of her giant belly. "Congratulations Sid!" Toews then spoke up and Sid nodded with an amused smile, placing his arm around Brooke's shoulder, while Geno, Tanger and Fleury went to the buffet to get food for themselves. "How far along are you?" Amanda asked Brooke over the table and Brooke just smiled. She'd met both Amanda and Lindsey at the NHL awards, and they were both very nice girls. "Five months now," she then stated and Amandas' eyes went wider. "Isn't your belly too big for only five months?" she then asked and Brooke grinned slightly. "Yeah, but there's two of them inside," she admitted and the two girls smiled at her and started asking her questions. Sid eventually got up to get them something to eat, and Geno, who had returned and was sitting on Brooke's other side, looked at her and asked her if she was all right.

Many of the other players came by to talk to them and congratulate them, and Brooke knew that it would spread around and soon everyone would know about it, but she didn't mind, and Sid seemed to be extremely proud. While he talked to the players, Brooke just talked with their wives or girlfriends, and all in all it was a very comfortable dinner. After the dinner, they went straight to bed, and Sid spent some time talking to their babies, which he often did. Brooke just let him do what he wanted, leaning back and resting, since it was pretty exhausting to walk around with that large belly.

Sid woke Brooke up pretty late the next day, because she hadn't been sleeping too well, so he always let her sleep a bit longer and didn't wake her up too early, and breakfast had already been brought by the room service by the time Brooke was fully awake. She got dressed in a Crosby jersey to show that she belonged with him. It stretched a bit over her belly, but other than that, it was pretty comfortable. After they had eaten breakfast, they went down to the lobby. A bus was waiting for them to take them to the United Center. Everyone got in and they left the hotel, all of the players talking to each other all the while. At the United Center, Sid had to go and change, and Brooke pressed a kiss to his lips before going to the owners' lounge with the other wives and girlfriends. They talked about all the competitions and other stuff until their men came onto the ice, and the crowd was going crazy when the players were introduced. Brooke just smiled and leaned against the railing when the competition started. All the players were having fun on the ice, as well as the fans, and it was really amazing to watch it. They all cheered for the players and Brooke followed the play as good as she could. From time to time, she went to sit down, talking to the other women there, but most of the time she was leaning against the railing and watching the game. She also made a few new friends and they exchanged numbers between each other, promising to meet up whenever their guys were playing against each other.

Close to the end of the game, Brooke and a few other ladies went down to the ice, standing near the bench and watching the last competition on the ice. Sid, who was already done with everything, skated over to Brooke when he spotted her, leaning against the boards next to her and grinning at her. "How are you feeling?" he then asked and Brooke nodded. "I'm good. I do feel like a whale, but that's pretty normal about now," she stated with an amused grin and Sid laughed and shook his head. "No, you're beautiful. Everyone told me so earlier when we were getting ready," he said softly and Brooke just smiled and watched the last competition with Sid. "All right, I should get back to my team now," Sid eventually said and Brooke nodded, pressing a kiss to his lips and then watching him skate over to his teammates. She heard the people around her talk about her belly, and the fans were getting louder as well, but she just carefully placed a hand on her belly and continued watching the game. When the last competition was over and Team Crosby had been declared the winner over Team Benn, she cheered for all of them and smiled at Geno, who had skated by for a high-five. Sid was taken aside to give an interview that was shown on the big screen, and so Brooke looked up and watched with an amused smile. First, he was congratulated for the win and a few questions were asked about the whole competition and the game the next day, until eventually the inevitable question about Brooke came up. "So we saw your girlfriend Brooke Lemieux is here to support you, and of course we also noticed something else about her," the interviewer from TSN stated and Sid chuckled slightly. "Yeah, Brooke's pregnant. We're going to be parents around May," he said proudly and the interviewer congratulated him once again, while Sid turned to look at Brooke shortly. The camera was on her for a seconds and she just smiled, her gaze staying on Sid, who had now finished the interview and was skating over to her. He got off the ice and walked towards her on his skates, bending down and pressing a soft kiss to her lips before taking her hand. "Come on, I'll just change and then we can go back to the hotel. You should rest a bit," he stated and Brooke just smiled and followed him.

The next day was the All Star Game, where the both teams played a hockey game against each other. Brooke was once again wearing a Crosby jersey and sat in the owner's lounge with her new friends while they were watching the game. She had promised Sid not to stand against the railing for too long and rest enough, so she was sitting in the front row and watched it from there. It was a very interesting game, with lots of good hockey, and when Sid's team won with 13 to 11, she stood up and cheered for them with a soft smile, before going down to the locker room. When she got there, reporters were already waiting, and a few of them shouted questions at her about her pregnancy, but she just stepped into the locker room and sat down on Sid's place to wait for him there. Her pregnancy had been announced everywhere, and it had even been in the news that day, because Sid was such a famous player, and now everyone wanted to know everything about it, but Brooke and Sid kept quiet.