Chapter 17

When they got to the arena, Sidney all but bounced out of the car. Karen couldn't hide her smile watching him.

"Can I maybe ask you to not tell too many people yet?"

"Baby why? We're having a baby, I want to scream it from the top of the Igloo."

"I know you do, but if you tell the whole team then that's just more people to tell if something goes wrong."

"Karen, we're going to be fine and in 8 months we will have a new member of our family to complete it."

"I'll make you a deal."

"At this point, anything."

"I'll let you tell the team since I need to tell Ray anyway, but no publicity to the press until I am safely in my second trimester."

"Not to sound too much like a man that doesn't know what you mean...but how long is that?"

"When I hit 4 months. Every three months is a trimester and when I get through the first one and safely into my second, you can proudly tell the press you're going to be a daddy."

"So, in about two months" he said seeing her nod "I think the press can wait until then, I just don't think my parents can."

"When they come down for the playoffs, we'll tell them and not a moment before ok?"

"Ok. I understand why you want to wait, but this is happening for us."

"I know I just don't want to disappoint a lot of people, especially you."

Sidney put his hand over Karen's stomach "Peanut won't disappoint either of us."

"Um, Peanut?"

"Well for now anyway, I thought it had a cute ring to it since that's what he looks like."

"Now we're talking about the baby being a boy? I wanted a girl first and Peanut could be a she."

"The next one will be a girl" he said kissing her and leading her inside "I want my own little protege first." Karen just laughed at him as he took her to the locker room first. The guys were still on the ice and Sidney brought Karen with him. Coach Dan skated over and watched as Sidney brought out a carpet by the door. He asked if the guys could come over to them and Coach Dan blew the whistle and waved them over.

"Apparently your captain wants to explain why he skipped out on practice today" Dan told the guys.

"Yeah Sid, what's going on?" Max yelled from behind everyone.

Sidney looked at Karen and then back to the guys "I needed to skip practice to go find out that....we're going to have a baby."

Karen heard all the guys hoot and holler, coming over to congratulate both of them. She saw Jordan shy away at first then come over to hug her. She sensed it was hard on him to come over but hid his feelings well enough. After they got done offering their congratulations, Sidney helped Karen off the ice and she told him goodbye as she headed to Ray's office while he got changed for practice.

A few minutes later, Karen walked into the office and found Ray at his desk. She knocked on the door frame and was gestured in.

"It's good to see you Karen. Are you feeling better?"

"I am and I needed to talk to you about something."

"Sure, what's going on?"

"Well, I found out this morning that I'm pregnant."

Ray smiled and got up to hug her "congratulations. How far along?"

"Just 5 weeks, so fairly new. I need to talk to you about this though."

"Something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong. Um, I was pregnant twice before and lost both of them."

"I'm so sorry Karen."

"Thanks."

"What can I do for you?"

"I want to know if I could take a break from work for a few months. These next couple months are crucial since I lost my other two early in the pregnancy and I thought maybe staying home and not running around to and from work could help. I know with the playoffs starting and then the draft and signing guys in the off season it's a bad time to ask for this but..."

"Karen stop. I want you and your child safe and if you need time, you know you have it. Your job will always be here and I don't think I could get all of it done without your help. Maybe you could do some work from home for me and we can email back and forth."

"That could keep me from going insane with sitting around and doing nothing."

"Then it's settled. How's Sidney handling it?" Ray said with a smile.

"If he doesn't climb to the top of the arena and shout that he's going to be a father, then he's handling it well."

"Being a father for the first time is exciting."

"I can imagine but with the way history has been with this, I don't want to disappoint him if I lose this baby."

"Karen let me tell you something I learned...history has a way of changing itself to make the future a lot brighter."

"Hadn't thought about it that way. I just want Sid to have everything he wants."

"Well from what I've heard, after he found you he did get everything he wanted."

"Thanks Ray, I appreciate that." Karen hugged him again and before she left to go find Sidney, Ray gave her some paperwork to work on for him while she was home. Karen went and found Sidney, telling him she was ready when he was. He told her he would be a little longer, so she sat in one of the seats and watched him practice. Karen hadn't watched Sidney practice in a while and loved watching his intensity, especially for the playoffs. Sidney got her attention and gestured that he was done and going to shower. She just smiled and stayed in the seats for a little while longer.

"Hey Karen."

She looked up to the voice and saw Jordan standing behind her "hey Jordan. I thought everyone else left."

He took a seat behind her "I was working out with the weights for a little bit and heard you were watching Sid. You've been avoiding me."

"I haven't been avoiding you Jordan but that could be said about you too."

"I figured if I kept my distance it would be better for everyone."

"Keeping your distance is also keeping you from your friend. We all got things worked out that night at the hospital. Sidney and Brit don't hate me or you so why can't we go back to being friends?"

"Probably because I haven't lost feelings towards you yet?"

"Jordan?"

"Don't worry, I'm not about to act on them but until I can think of you as just a friend, I need to keep my distance. I just wanted you to know that." Jordan got up and left as Karen sat there for a few more minutes before getting up to meet Sidney.

They left and got home 20 minutes later. Sidney help Karen inside and made sure she got comfortable. Karen tried to get up to get something to eat, but Sidney told her to stay and he would get it for her. She knew what he was doing and wondered how long she would be able to handle it. The rest of the day, no matter where Sidney was, he managed to always know when Karen was about to get up and came swarming into the living room.

"Ok, are you going to be like this for the next two months? Because I will tell you rght now I can not wait for you to leave for a couple of games."

"Baby, if you need anything I will get it for you. You are the one who wants to be cautious, I'm just helping with that."

"Sid, there's helping and then there's driving me insane. There are some things I can do on my own like get something to eat or go to the bathroom, like where I need to go now. I love that you are taking care of me but this is what I didn't want."

"What am I doing that's so wrong?"

"You're making me feel like I'm not capable to do anything. I asked Ray for this time off so I wasn't always running around until I knew things were safe. Staying home and doing things at my own pace will help that. I love you for being cautious with me but you still need to let me do things. If I can't do something I will ask for help, I promise."

"I'm just worried about all this. I want the end result to be a happy one too you know. But you do know your limits and as long as you do ask for help I won't hover as much."

"Well you don't have to completely stop the hovering" she said smiling "I kind of miss when we get the chance to just be together."

Sidney gently put his arms around her "Yeah me too." He looked into her eyes and let their lips meet in a kiss. They both felt what arose within them and Karen pulled away "sorry, I know that's going to need to wait for awhile too."

"We'll see. I don't have to completely stop doing everything but maybe after a week of taking it easy we can get back into our normal routine and just see what happens."

"That and alternative ways" he said kissing her again before letting her go. Karen walked to the bathroom and thought about his 'alternative ways' and wondered if that meant what she thought it did. Sidney was never the one to really spice things up in bed, their lovemaking was always so straightforward and romantic but with her being pregnant, it might open it up to a whole other level.