Chapter 34

True to Sid form he was 10 minutes early.
"Sid, you'll tell us where we're going won't you? Mom won't even give us a hint!" Alex could be so impatient!
Sid gave me a questioning look as he raised one eyebrow.
"For my own sanity," I explained. "I wouldn't hear the end of it if they knew before hand."
"Gotcha!" Sid winked at me. "Sorry bud, I'm with your mom on this one!"
Ah man! What happened to us guys sticking together?" Alex asked.
"You'll find out soon enough," I said. "Good things come to those who wait!"
"I couldn't agree more!" Sid said.

We went to a small cafe not far from the arena and had lunch. Thank god the boys were on their best behaviour and actually remembered their manners without me having to remind them. It was surprisingly comfortable. Jake was his usual quiet self just observing everything and everyone around him. Alex and Sid talked about Alex's hockey team and the upcoming tournament they had.

"It would be awesome if you could come to one of my games," Alex blurted out rather excited by the thought.
"Alex, Sidney just can't show up at your hockey game, he'd get mobbed! And besides, he has his own games to play."
"Right I forgot that you're famous. It still would be cool though!"
"Let me know when your games are and I'll see what I can do."
"Cool!"
When the boys left the table to wash their hands I gave Sid a 'parenting 101' lesson.
"You can't say things to kids that you aren't able to back up. That just gave Alex hope that you might be able to come to one of his games when we both know you can't. That's setting him up for disappointment."
"You don't know that I can't go. If I can I will," he said with a very determined tone.
"Come on Sid. Even if you have the time, we both know what kind of scene it would cause."
"Really? We've been here for almost an hour and I have yet to see any kind of scene!"
I hated when he was right! There were more than a few curious looks from people, and a few said hi on their way by, but everyone pretty much left us alone.
"Maybe today, but...
"Stop! What did I tell you about that?"
"Sorry. Today has been ok, however we're talking about an arena full of kids that adore you. You will not go unnoticed!"
"That was pretty clever! We'll have to see what happens!"


******************************************************


Once we pulled into the parking lot at the Igloo, I caved and told the boys what we were doing there. There was no containing their excitement! It was hard to tell who was more excited, the boys or Sid!
"It's so refreshing to be around that kind of innocent enthusiasm," Sid said grinning from ear to ear.
We took 'the route' to the locker room and Sid showed the boys around. Alex sat in front of Mario's locker in complete awe.
"I can't believe I'm sitting in the exact spot that Mario Lemieux sits in," Alex said shaking his head.
"Well, I don't sit there much anymore," a voice said from behind us.
We were all kind of in shock to turn around and see Mario standing there.
"He Sid, " he said. "Bekah, it's great to see you again. I'm so glad you could make it. And this must be Alex and Jake, " he said walking over to shake their hands.
"Mom, Mario Lemieux knows my name!" Alex whispered.
"Thank you so much for inviting us Mario. We are all extremely excited to be here as you can tell," I said.
"It's the least I could do for my favourite nurse!"
Just then the rest of the Lemieux clan came bursting into the room. "Sid!" all the kids exclaimed at the same time as they tackled him to the ground. I felt a tear come to my eye watching him interact with all the kids. He was so great with them, and they obviously adored him. He introduced Alex and Jake to everyone and the kids took off to check out the equipment room. Mario introduced me to Nathalie.
"So you're the famous Bekah? It's nice to finally meet you. You're all these boys have talked about the last little while!"
Sid's face was turning a slight shade of red.
"I should thank you for taking such good care of my boys."
"I really didn't do anything. I wasn't even one of Mario's nurses!"
"Well, whatever you did, it sure left an impression...on both of them!"
I couldn't help but smile.
"It certainly looks like our kids have become fast friends," Nathalie said as the six of them tore into the room sticks in hand shooting a puck back and forth.
"Whoa guys! Put that stuff back, it doesn't belong to you," I said wondering who's stuff they were playing with.
"It's fine Bekah. That's what the stuff is there for," Mario assured me.
I felt a strong grip on my hand and soft words being whispered in my ear. "Relax Beks. Just relax."
A shiver went through my entire body when I felt his warm breath on my neck. Up until now, I never realized how nervous I was. How was I supposed to relax? I was sooooooooooo out of my element here and it was only getting worse as more people starting filing in. I started to feel very uneasy.
"Sid, I really don't know about this. I think I should go. I don't belong here."
He held both my hands and looked into my eyes. "Yes you do. You belong here just as much as anyone else does. They are just like you and me, normal people. Take a deep breath and just be your charming self!"
A few minutes later I was with the likes of Mark Recchi, Sergei Gonchar, John LeClair, Brooks Orpik, Marc-Andre Fleury, Ryan Malone and their respective wives/significant others listening to Sidney tell his 'edited' version of how we met. Most of them seemed to buy his story and that made me feel a little more comfortable. That feeling was short lived when I saw a few of the women give each other looks of disbelief and start mumbling to each other under their breath. They were totally sizing me up and judging me before I even spoke two words. Sensing my discomfort, a very pretty brunette linked her arm with mine and said "Let's go see what those boys of yours are up to," as she dragged me away from the rest of the crowd.
"Thanks for the save," I said gratefully.
"No problem. It wasn't that long ago that I was in your position. The wives can be very harsh to 'newcomers' to the club."
"Club?" I asked.
"Yeah, you know, they have to deem a new girlfriend worthy before they grant her acceptance."
"I'm not a girlfriend. Sidney and I are just friends."
"Sure honey, that's what we all say in the beginning."
"No seriously! We are just friends."
"I'm usually pretty good at reading these things and I swear there is some major chemistry between you two. Just friends huh?"
"Yep, sorry!"
"If you say so girl! I'm Vero by the way. I'm Marc-Andre's girlfriend.
"Bekah," I said shaking hands with her.
"Well Bekah, stick with me and I'll teach you everything you need to know about surviving here! Let's go find those boys and have some fun!"