045

I ran my fingers through his hair and couldn't help the tears falling from my eyes. I hadn't been this happy in a very, very long time. Oh Sidney, how I love thee so. His already big lips were pouted out and his nostrils would occasionally flare out. He brought his arm up, hooking his elbow around my knee, resting his fingers underneath his chin. I love it when he falls asleep on my lap. It was moments like this that I would picture myself with Sidney five, ten, twenty years from now, and the images were so clear. Oh look at little Sidney Jr. I chuckled a little to myself and Sidney straightened his legs out. "What are you laughing about?" he moaned turning onto his back so that he was looking up at me. "I was just picturing us a few years from now," I smiled dragging my finger over his lips. "And it was humorous to you?" he laughed. "Kind of. You ready to go home in the morning?" "No, but we have to go back at some point, can't stay cooped up in here all year long," he smiled rolling back over onto his side. I continued to run my fingers through his hair than it hit me. Oh shit, what am I going to get him for his birthday??

My legs were bouncing up and down and I knew that I was about to put Sidney through five hours of hell. "Here, try playing a game," Sidney suggested handing me his PSP. "I don't play video games Sid, you know that," the words coming out of my mouth were very shaky and broken. "I put the hockey game in for you, so you can act like you're Marty Turco for awhile," he laughed. I took the game in my hands and looked down at the screen. I scrolled through the teams and landed on Pittsburgh. A big smile came over my face and I selected Colby's name. I started playing and I surprised myself at how fast I picked up playing the game. Just as I was about to win the Stanley Cup and Colby was to be named the MVP the PSP died. "Are you kidding me?" I shouted looking down at it. My face quickly turned red as a few people turned to look at me. "It's about time that thing died, we're almost to Pittsburgh," Sidney laughed taking it from me. "Are you serious? I've been playing that thing for how many hours?" "A lot better than Valium huh? We will have to get you one of your own, then we can play against each other," he smiled grabbing hold of my hand as we started our decent into Pittsburgh.

I was happy to be home, but a big part of me wished we were still in the cabin. As we pulled down the street Max's car came into view and I became a little bit nervous. What's it going to be like with the three of us together? I helped Sidney pull our luggage out of the back, and we headed into the house. "Holy crap Max, what happened to you?" Sidney shouted as we walked in. I stepped around Sidney to see a very broken Max standing in our kitchen holding ice to his nose. "It's nothing, how come you guys didn't call to say you were coming home?" he asked. "That's not nothing Max, what happened to you?" I asked pulling the ice away from his nose to see that it was probably broken. Two black eyes, a swollen upper lip and a large cut on his chin wasn't 'nothing' in my eyes. Max stayed quiet and went and sat down at the kitchen table. Sidney sat down next to him, and I stood between them. "That asshole ex-boyfriend of yours was here last night. He knocked on the door and I answered, he asked where you were and I told him you were out of town. He got this look in his eyes like that's what he was hoping to hear and he just stormed right in the house, pushing me out of the way. He went straight to your closet and started throwing shit around. I wasn't thinking, I should have called the cops right then, but instead I had to do the man thing and go beat the crap out of him. Boy was I wrong." I clinched my fists and could feel my jaw lock, I was ready to kill him. "Wait, he was going through my closet? He's probably the asshole that put Sid in the hospital back in November. What is he looking for?" What do I have that he so badly needs?

"Sidney, I don't think I feel safe staying here," I told him after we said goodbye to Max. "Yeah, I'm thinking we should stay at the Lemieux's tonight, then figure all of this shit out in the morning. Let me call Mario," he pulled out his phone and walked into the bedroom. I sat in the kitchen and was trying to piece things together, nothing was making sense. What does he want? "Av, can you come get what you need," Sidney shouted to me. I slowly got up and made my way into the bedroom. I threw a bunch of things into a duffel bag and followed Sidney out to the car. We made the ten minute drive to Mario's house and walked inside. "Sidney, you guys look exhausted, go ahead and go to bed, I will take care of some things tonight then we will worry about everything else in the morning, okay?" Mario said as he ushered us upstairs to Sidney's old room. "Thank you Mario," I smiled pulling him into a hug before walking into the room and throwing myself onto the bed. "This is such bullshit Sid, what the hell does he want? I can't think of anything that he could be looking for." Sidney sat down on the bed and looked over at me. "Hey, let's not worry about it tonight, try and get some sleep and then we will worry about it in the morning, okay?"

Sleep? Who sleeps now a days? It's overrated! I starred at the same spot in the ceiling for most of the night, my mind was racing and there was no way I was going to fall asleep. Sidney rolled over and threw his arm around my waist, like he knew I had yet to fall asleep. "It's 5 AM, have you slept at all?" "No, I'm too pissed off to sleep," I replied wrapping my fingers into his. "Well we can't do anything at this hour, but I know of something we can do to pass time." "Oh really and what's that Crosby?" "Come on a jog with me, it will clear your head." "Jog? You want me to go on a jog? I don't jog," I laughed. He climbed out of bed pulling me with him. He threw some clothes at me and I changed into them. "I can't run in the shoes I have," I said sitting back down on the bed. "Size seven yeah? Here," he smiled pulling a Reebok box out from underneath the bed. "You're sneaky." We went on a jog and Sidney was right, it did clear my mind a bit. "Want to race back?" he asked after we stopped for a breather. "Hell no. I haven't ran like this since high school," I laughed than drank some water. "You have better stamina in bed," he joked slapping my butt. "It's gave seven every night when I have you in my bed."

When we got back to the Lemieux's we cooked up some breakfast and all of the kids slowly made their way down to the kitchen. "Sidney! What are you doing here? Are you moving back?" Mario's youngest shrieked as she wrapped her arms around his waist squeezing onto him as hard as she could. "Hi Alexa, no I'm not moving back I'm sorry. Avery and I just spent the night here last night. Have you gone to the zoo yet this summer?" "No! Mom said you won't forget and that you will take me. Is Avery still here?" Sidney pointed to me and Alexa turned around and ran up to me. "Good morning Alexa," I smiled hugging her. "I like you Avery, but you keep Sidney away from me!" She stuck out her bottom lip, crossing her arms. "Well I will make sure he takes you to the zoo okay? I'm sorry I've kept him away from you." "You guys are up early," Mario smiled as he walked into the kitchen. He poured himself some coffee and sat down at the kitchen table next to Sidney. "Max has a broken nose, four stitches in his chin and the cops are working on what happened. They need to know everything about this guy Avery, so if you could go down to the police station today that would help, and if you have any pictures of this guy that would be really helpful," Mario explained and I could feel myself tensing up again. I nodded my head and headed back up to Sidney's room to get ready.

"Are you sure you want to go alone?" Sidney asked as I got ready in our bathroom. "Yeah, you look tired, just try and get some sleep. Afterwards Colby and I are going birthday shopping. I'm not going to let this asshole ruin your birthday," I smiled looking over at him. "You're the one that should be sleeping, and don't worry about my birthday we need to figure out what the hell this guy wants first." "I'm fine really and I'm sure everything will work itself out, Scott's not the smartest guy in the world, I'm sure it won't be hard to find him," I laughed walking over to him. I wrapped my arms around his waist and stood on my tip toes and gave him a kiss. "I might be gone awhile though, I have no idea what to get you for your birthday," I laughed before walking out of the room. "Just get me beer," he laughed and kissed me once more before I walked out the door.

I told the police everything I knew, which wasn't a whole lot. I gave them some pictures and they thanked me for coming down to the station. Is this going to get pushed aside just like last time? Or will something actually happen? I was still very pissed off, but I tried to clear my head as I drove to Colby's apartment. "Hi Mel! How are you?" I asked pulling her into a hug as I walked into the apartment. "I'm doing good, busy packing though. How are you though? Everything between you and Sidney okay?" "Yeah things are good, getting away was a smart idea," I smiled as Colby walked in. "Hey doc! Ready to go?" I laughed at him and nodded my head. We got into my car and I started driving, not knowing where we were going. "You look terrible, are you sure things between Sidney and you are okay?" he asked turning in his seat to look at me. "Yeah things between us are good. You know Max stayed at the house while we were gone, and Scott my ex came by and just beat the crap out of Max. Broken nose, stitches, black eyes. I'm just really pissed off and didn't get much sleep last night. I'm pretty sure it was Scott who put Sidney in the hospital back in November. It just doesn't make sense," I explained to him. "What the hell!? This guy sounds like a complete jack off. You sure do know how to pick them huh?" he laughed. "Sid is turning out alright," I laughed with him.

We drove around for what felt like hours and no ideas were coming to my mind as to what to get Sidney for his birthday. "Honestly, what do you get someone that can have anything?" I asked laughing. "If I had enough money I would buy him a Tim Horton's franchise," Colby laughed and I thought about it for a minute. No that's ridiculous! I stopped at a red light and a very nice Jaguar pulled up next to me. Now there's something he might like. "Have you ever seen those Super Sweet Sixteen shows on MTV?" I asked and Colby looked at me very confused but nodded his head. "There's the big party and then the dad brings everybody out front and the big gift is a new car. I have an idea," I smiled then drove my way down to the auto mall. "He already has a car Avery," Colby laughed. "He was trying to get me to buy a Jaguar so he could drive it. What if I got him one?" I laughed pulling into the Jaguar lot. "You know my birthday is coming up too!" We got out of my car and walked around the lot when my eyes fell on a beautiful silver XJR, just like the one I had taken on a test drive. "You're being serious right now aren't you? You're going to get him a car," Colby said looking at me with wide eyes in complete shock. "Yeah, I think I am," I laughed as I sat inside the car. It sure was nice, not my style, but Sidney would look really good driving around in it. Okay, I could see myself driving this too!

"I can't believe you just dropped ninety grand on a birthday present," Colby laughed as I drove him back to his apartment. "I can't either, I just hope he likes it." "He'll be so stupid if he doesn't." I usually never spent money like that, but it felt good considering for once in my life this was my own money, not my fathers. I dropped Colby off and headed home. "Hey babe," I smiled crashing on the couch next to him. "You're in a good mood, everything go okay?" he asked wrapping his arm around my shoulders. "Yeah, I told the cops everything I knew, wasn't a whole lot, but they are investigating. I got you the best present," I smiled kissing him on the cheek. "My own keg?" he asked laughing. "Oh, so much better," I laughed. Where can you buy those gigantic red bows? "So I thought we could just hang out at the bar on my birthday, get some of the boys together, keep it simple. My family is coming down the next day, so I don't want to be hung over." "We can do that," I smiled and the excitement was getting to me, I couldn't wait.