Chapter 63

So, the picture doesn't really have anything to do with this chapter, but I really like it so I thought I'd share it with all of you. :)

Chapter 63

When she woke up, the kids were all gone and the TV had been turned off. “Where is everyone?” Lauren asked, looking around. She craned her neck to see Sidney watching her.

“They didn’t want to wake you up, so they took the DVD downstairs.” He said with a smile.

“Are you hungry? Nathalie’s making dinner now I think.” Sidney said.

“Yeah, food sounds good.” Lauren said with a grin.

“Do you want to eat down here or go back upstairs? I can bring your dinner up for you if you want.”

“No, let’s eat down here with everyone. It’s good for me to be around people.”

Lauren enjoyed eating dinner with the Lemieux’s and the Crosby’s. It was such a rare moment that they got to spend time with all of Sidney’s family, or all of the Lemieux family at once, and it nearly never happened that all of them were in the same room at the same time.

Towards the end of the meal, Lauren’s phone rang. “It’s the police.” She said, swallowing hard.

“Why don’t we go in the other room?” Troy suggested, standing up and putting his arm out to help Lauren up. Troy and Sidney led Lauren into the living room and she answered the call.

“Hello?” she said timidly.

“Miss Somers? We’re calling to inform you that we have received a lead on the suspect. We have officers investigating now. I will call you when we know more.”

“Oh, thank you.” Lauren said before hanging up.

“What is it, babe?” Sidney asked, his eyes searching hers.

She filled them in on the details of the brief conversation and they both let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good, right?” Sidney asked.

“Yeah, that’s good. I hope it’s the right guy.” Lauren said. She let out a long sigh.

“Are you okay?” Sidney asked.

“Yeah, I’m just worn out. And I didn’t even do anything today.”

“Babe, it’s okay. The pain medicine is going to make you a little drowsy. And you need to rest. Let’s get you back upstairs.” Sidney said, wrapping his arm around her waist.

Lauren tossed and turned most of the night. She tried not to wake Sidney up – she knew how exhausted he was too. She watched his steady breathing, hoping it would lull her to sleep like it usually did. Suddenly, Lauren sneezed and Sidney’s head jerked and his eyes opened.

“Lauren?” he said groggily, wiping the sleep from his eyes with his fists like a little boy would.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. Go back to sleep.” She whispered, rubbing his chest.

“Having trouble sleeping?” he asked her. She nodded her head. “I’ll stay up with you then.” He said, pulling her against his chest and kissing her temple. “Want to talk about what’s on your mind?” Sidney asked quietly.

“I guess I’m just anxious about my parents coming tomorrow. I mean, I know they’re going to freak out, and they’re going to be upset, and it’s going to make me upset, and I’ll have to go through all those emotions again. And I’m just fretting about it.”

“I wish I could make this easier. But you’re right – they’re gonna freak out. And unfortunately, we sort of have to let them. They need to deal with this too.”

“Ugh. I hate it when you’re right. When did you get to be so smart?” she said, chuckling.

Sidney smiled. “I learned from the best.” He winked. “Maybe it won’t be so bad. Maybe they already freaked out, and they’ll be calm tomorrow.”

“Yeah, maybe…”

“I’m going to be right by your side. The whole time. I’ll hold your hand and you can squeeze my hand as hard as you want while they’re freaking out.”

“Thanks. Sidney?”

“Hmm…”

“Will you tell me a story?”

“A story? What kind of story?”

“Any kind of story. Something about you, something I don’t know…I just want to listen to your voice.”

“Okay, let me think…okay, I think I got one. Did I ever tell you about the Christmas we spent at my aunt’s house? I was only ten or so…Taylor was just a baby and my mom’s whole family was there. Anyways, some of my uncles and I were playing around with those mini hockey sticks – you know what I’m talking about? Well, we were using them to pass a puck back and forth to each other. Well, yours truly got a little too excited and hit the puck a little too hard. My uncle missed it and it went soaring right past his head. The next thing I know, Taylor is screaming bloody murder. And I mean screaming – that little girl has quite the set of lungs. I thought for sure I killed her or something. So then I started screaming. Turns out, the puck had gone past her, but her binky had fallen out of her mouth at the same time…My mom had been holding her and when she realized what happened, she burst out laughing at the sight of us, both screaming and crying. I must have kissed Taylor’s head every ten minutes for the rest of the night, still convinced I had killed her…”

Sidney glanced down and saw that Lauren’s eyes were closed. He kissed her forehead softly before going back to sleep.

(AN: I made that story up – but it’s still really cute to think about Sid doing that, eh?)