Chapter 12

Okay, so for the purpose of this story heading in the right direction, from now on, everything will be taking place years into the future. In the last chapter, Sidney and Emma were finally getting to be friends and they've stayed friends...until now.

Emma's POV:

I groaned watching the puck slide right under Sidney's nose for the umpteenth time that night. Even from my seats up in the owner's box, I could see Geno's confused facial expression and Sidney's mouth moving furiously in anger. For whatever reason the Pens were actually letting the Flyer's get to them tonight and I didn't understand it. It was the Flyers for god's sake. They were practically the designated goons of the NHL and since winning the Stanley Cup two years ago, the Pens were, well they definitely weren't like the Flyers.

We were better than that. Hell, usually Sidney was better than this.

"What is wrong with that boy?" Nathalie said gripping my hand tightly. I shrugged and shook my head knowing that there could only be one thing that got under Sidney's skin enough to distract him from a game lately.

Christine.

I watched another miserable period of the Pens getting their asses collectively handed to them before the game was over racking up another loss for the season.

"I take it he'll want to talk to you" Mario said passing me on his way out of the box to go down and talk to the boys.

"He may not want to talk to anyone" I said honestly. After witnessing how Sidney handled losses up close and personal for the past two years, I knew the routine by now. He literally shut down for hours after a loss and barely spoke. It was a miracle that he was able to even drive himself home sometimes and me being the good friend that I am, occasionally handled that for him.

"You coming?" Mario asked  pausing to look back at me. I followed him out and we silently made the descent to the locker room using the private elevators. Part of me was afraid to even go down there. I hated seeing the guys that I knew and loved so much looking so miserable and pissed off after nights like this.

Instead of going in, I opted to wait outside in the hallway and lean back to close my eyes for awhile. After a long day at work, it was hard to stay at the Mellon for more than 16 hours a day. I was in and out of a dozing state when I felt  someone trying to pull me to my feet.

"Emma. Em?" I willed my eyes to open and saw Sid standing very seriously in front of me. "Come on, I'll drive you. You haven't been here all day, have you?" He said this in his very serious, concerned voice that usually I laughed at but was currently just too tired to argue and let him practically drag me out of the arena and through the players parking lot. No more fans were lingering around meaning that it was really late. Pens fans were pretty devoted about seeing the guys leave most of the time.

"What time is it?" I asked fumbling around for my phone.

"After 1. I can't believe no one woke you up in the hallway" he said shaking his head. I didn't mention that I had been waiting for him. I guess it was pretty obvious by now.

"Just stay with me tonight, okay? I don't want you driving this late and I'll drive you to your place in the morning."

I yawned and hopped into the car to settle myself in the passenger seat almost falling back asleep again.

"Wait, I can't. I have to be here early tomorrow to finalize plans for the CPP banquet next week." I sat up straighter willing my eyes to open and stay focused. I had to drive home tonight and make sure I looked presentable in the morning for my meeting.

"I don't trust you driving" Sidney stated starting the car up. I rolled my eyes about how protective he could be about certain things.

"Drive me to my car? Please?" I tried to give him the best, sad and helpless look that I could and he caved giving me another penetrating stare as if he was trying to discern whether I really could drive or not but driving over to where I normally parked my car.

"Are you okay?" I asked pausing outside of car window. I had to stand on my tippy toes a little bit to meet his eyelevel in his ridiculously big Range Rover but I wanted to make sure that he was okay.

"Yeah" he said sighing and rubbing one hand over his face.
"Did something happen earlier or was it just an off night for the entire team?" I knew that it probably had something to do with his witchy, awful girlfriend of 4 months but I decided to keep my mouth shut. He had met her over the summer back in Nova Scotia and I had disliked her immediately when he made me go out to lunch with them to meet her. Since Sidney and I had become closer, I had gotten to know the sides of him that were never available to me before when he ignored that I existed and I pretended that I wasn't infatuated with him. Now that he was a real, constant force in my life, it was easier for me to really care about him and his well-being. Sometimes, this included worrying about his personal life or lack of one.

The Pens had won the Stanley Cup both in the 2008-2009 and 2010-2011 seasons but were experiencing their first major slump this season. When Sidney had first told me that he was seeing someone, I thought that maybe it would be good for him to have a distraction. Afterall, he was 24 years old. It was normal for people to start to think about maybe settling down, thinking about the future, etc.

That was all well and fine unless the person he was distracting himself with was Christine. Secretly I thought of her as the Viper in my head. After a couple of drinks and bitching with the girls, I let this slip while we were out at the bar the other night and now Vero and Eliza referred to her as that also. No one really liked her except for a few rookies on the team that didn't know any better than when to spot a deranged puck bunny and run. Although, apparently Sidney had never learned to spot these either.

"Christine wants to move in with me" Sidney stated quietly like he was hoping I wouldn't hear him. Wasn't it a little soon for them to be moving in together? Besides, Sidney didn't seem very excited about this but Christine was so scary he probably didn't know what to do with himself. Idiot.

Instead of yelling at him like I wanted to, I tried to keep my face completely passive so that we wouldn't get into an argument right now. It was the middle of the night and I had a big day tomorrow at the office. I couldn't deal with Sidney drama right now.

"Can we talk tomorrow? You guys are off for the night, right?" He nodded and I told him I would text him tomorrow.

"Let me know how the meeting goes. Did all of the players from the other teams confirm?" I nodded and he grinned slightly, excited for me.

"Bye Sidney" I said backing away from his car and turning to unlock mine.

"Drive safe" he said sternly to me one last time before waiting until I was in my car with the doors locked and driving away.