Chapter 44: Take My Breath Away

Sid's POV

'Where is she? She should be here by now.' "Sara do you know where Caitlin is?"

"Nope, sorry Sid. She left us to come back here and change. I haven't seen her since."

I was starting to get nervous, where was she? I looked at my watch she should have been here 5 minutes ago. Colby looks over at me and notices my anxiousness. He leaves Sara's side after kissing her cheek, to come over to me.

"Stop worrying about her, Sid. You know Ace is always late,” he smiles at me.

"I know, I know. This just isn't her element and I'm afraid she is going to run," I sigh, finally telling someone the truth.

"If I know Caitlin, I know that once she says she's going to do something she does it. Just calm down."

I sigh, looking at my reflection in my shoes as he talks to me some more, trying to put my mind at ease.

Suddenly the room grows quiet.

"Sid," Colby whispers nudging me.

"Hmm?" I ask looking up at him.

He looks at the stairs with a shocked look on his face. I look around to see that everyone else has a similar look on their face. I follow everyone's gaze to the top of the steps.She stands there looking more beautiful than I had ever seen her, or anyone for that matter, absolutely taking my breath away.

The first thing I notice looking at her are those gorgeous chocolate eyes, they seem to stand out even more than usual. My gaze goes to her hair, pulled back loosely with a few stray wisps framing her face. In the light you can see her auburn highlights in the chestnut hair.Over every curve falls loose fitting green silk. The looseness masks how perfect those curve actually are, making her insanely attractive. The green seems to make her glow, and it was the perfect color for her. Hell the whole ensemble was her. She blows my mind.

I look back to her face and see the uneasiness. Now that I really look at her, I see that she is tense, questioning her presence here. I'm about to run after her, knowing that she may run. But Bran beats me to it and leans against her. She immediately calms, and smiles at him while she whispers something causing him to wag his tail. She looks out into the lobby again searching. Her eyes fall on my and a smile comes on her face. She walks down the steps and over to me, her hips with an extra swing in them probably from the heels she was wearing. I can't seem to find the oxygen to breathe as she comes before me.

"Hi," she replies with a smile.

“Hi,” I reply but it comes out as a whisper.

”Ready to go?” she asks, a grin on her face, she knew what she was doing to me.

"Um...yeah…yeah, let's go," I manage to get out. I put my hand on the small of her back as she leads me through the crowd and to the door. She stops and looks at me with a smile, I gaze back into eyes getting lost in their molten chocolate color.

"Umm…Sid, do you think I could have my coat?" she smiles at me.

'Coat?' I think. She grins at the confused look on my face before lightly touching the long coat draped over my left arm.

"Oh! Right sorry," I stammer quickly handing it over as I feel a blush creep into my cheeks. It surprised me that she actually made me blush, I haven't blushed when I was with a girl since... I don't even remember when. I grin as she fixes the collar on her coat, brushing some loose hair out of her face.

"You took my breath away tonight, you look so beautiful," I whisper in her ear before softly planting a kiss below it. She looks up at me and back down as I notice her cheeks turn a soft pink.

"Thank you," she whispers back with a smile, unable to meet my gaze.I laugh softly and gently pull her chin up so that she will meet my eyes.

"You really do look beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen the guys so stunned or silent," I smirk as I brush my lips against hers, "Let's go!"

We walk out to the waiting car, along with the rest of the team. While in the car she plays with the bracelet on her wrist nervously. Bran sits next to her doing his best to calm her down. A few minutes later the driver pulls up to where we are supposed to get out. Luckily the red carpet was inside a heated area so that we wouldn't turn to Popsicles in the freezing temperatures.

"Ready?" I ask her.



Caitlin's POV

"Ready?" I hear Sidney ask.

I look up to him, and I know he can see the fear on my face. I was scared as hell, of what I wasn't quite sure. It could of course be the possibility of falling, or the people not liking me, or the fans hating me for stealing the once single Sidney Crosby away. I couldn't pin point exactly what I was nervous about, but I was nervous.

Sidney pulled me close to him,

"You’re going to be great. Everyone is going to think you are beautiful, if they are still breathing," he whispers in my ear.

I smile meekly and nod my head, I was ready.Sid opens the door and helps me out with Bran following me. We walk the 2-yard distance to the red carpet where we hand our coats to some man dressed in uniform.

I take a deep breath as Sid grabs my hand kissing it before we begin our journey down the red carpet, Bran never leaving my side, thank God.

Flashes of light start to go off and I hear people yelling out Sid's name.

"Sidney, over here Sidney!"
"Sidney what will you do when you play the Flyers?"
"Sid who is the girl?"
"Sid are you two an item?"
"How are you handling life with out Victoria?"

‘Oh, Lord. Here we go,’ I think to myself, holding back an eye roll.
Sid keeps walking a little ways before a reporter calls him over.

“Sidney, how do you feel about attending this benefit, assuming that you have quite the busy schedule?” A reporter asks in a way that just rubbed me wrong.

“It’s quite an honor to be here!”

“How do you feel about the whole NHL being here?” the reporter continues. I seem him blatantly check me out, basically undressing me with his eyes. He was probably late 20s. I shift uncomfortably under his gaze, had there not been a camera on me, I might have glared at him, but I knew I had to smile.

“I think it’s great. But we all have to remember that it’s not really about us, it’s about the rescue workers. Kids look up to their favorite NHL stars, and I think that some of those stars end up getting lost in the spotlight and forgetting who they should be admiring. These rescuers put their lives on the line to save others, and I think that’s one of the most admirable qualities. I feel honored to be in their presence,” he replies, perfect as always. As he says the last part he gives my hand a gentle reassuring squeeze.

“Was this comment directed at any NHL star in particular? ”The reporter presses. Looking over at me yet again. ‘Just ask the damn question you want to ask!’ I think to myself.

“No.”

“Could you tell us who the girl is?” he asks finally. I suppress myself from rolling my eyes skyward and letting out an annoyed snort.

“This is Caitlin Shaw and the dog next to her is Bran. They are part of a search and rescue team.” Sid smiles at me. More reporters swarm around us to pick up the conversation.

“Are you two romantically involved?” he presses with a grin.

‘Wow, this guy really gets to the point.’ I think

“Ha, yeah. I guess you could say we are,” Sidney grins at me.

“How did you two meet, Miss Shaw, was it?” the reporter asks, with a smug smirk, as if challenging me to speak.

“Please, call me Caitlin. We met about 5 years ago at the beach on vacation, and lost contact for those 5 years. I moved to Pittsburgh to start my business and was asked to put on a show for the Children’s Hospital. Sid and the players just happened to be there, and we’re all pretty good friends now.”

“Would you agree with Sidney that you are romantically involved?” another reporter chimes in.

“Yeah, after a while we decided to try the whole dating thing again and it’s been working out really well so far.”

“Sidney what did Victoria think of you two being friends? Is that what pushed you apart?” the snobbish report asks with a grin. Ugh, I knew that question was coming.

“Victoria and I simply realized we didn’t want the same things in life, and I thought it was best to see other people. Caitlin has nothing to do with my relationship with Victoria,” he replies a little darkly. I wait for the wave of questions about Victoria to start now that she is brought up.

“Caitlin, you said that you started a business in the ‘burgh, what exactly is that?” I hear a familiar voice ask.

I look up to see Dan Potash, coming to our rescue once again.

“I own a dog training business.”

“Sidney said you are an SAR. Have you recently done any work?” another reporter asks.

‘THANK YOU DAN!’ I mentally praise him in my head.

“Yes, I work with 3 of my dogs, including Bran. Our most resent case was up in Newfoundland over New Years.”

“You said three of your dogs. How many do you have?”

“I own 5, and I am currently fostering another,” I smile. After all I love talking about dogs, especially mine. I glance over to see Sid talking to some hockey players down the carpet almost into the building. However, I can’t follow him because I’m being grilled with questions ranging from my hometown to work. Bran waits patiently at my feet, but I don’t want him to be near the flashing camera’s for too long. A reporter begins to ask a question but I stop her.

“Before you ask, if you’ll excuse me for a moment,” I say holding up my hand, “Bran, go with Sidney,” I say pointing to him. Bran looks at me once reluctantly but obeys and trots over to Sid.

“I’m about to go inside so I will only take a few more questions,” I say turning back to the cameras, even though I was ready to go inside, I felt as though I owed some explanation of being with Sid. It’s not like I was giving out my Social Security number.


Sid’s POV (again)

She was really picked up the answering question thing quickly,’ I think as I watch her talking to Dan Potash. ‘She’s the one,’ a voice says in the back of my head, causing a smile to play on my lips.

“Hey Sid!” I hear some one yell. I look to the end of the carpet to see Army with Staalzy, Geno, and Flower.

I give Caitlin’s hand one more squeeze before going over to see them.

“Hey, how’s it going?” I ask, only to receive a punch in the arm by Staalzy, “Ouch, what the hell?” I whisper.

“You lucky bastard,” he says with a grin, “She looks gorgeous and the reporters love her.”

I smile and look over to her, I was one lucky bastard, how did I get so lucky?She looks over at me then down to Bran. I see her hold up her hand to one of the reporters. She says something to Bran and then points to me. Bran looks at her hesitantly before trotting over to me and sitting by my feet. I look up and Caitlin is continuing the questions.
“Sid, she really looks good, tonight,” Flower says.

“Yeah, I know. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you guys so quiet when a woman walked in the
room,” I smirk.

“Oh, come on Sid. It wasn’t that bad,” Staalzy says rolling his eyes.

“Oh please, I thought I was going to have to get you all drool buckets,” I laugh.

“Hey, at least I could form a full sentence when I saw her,” Army shot at me.

I go to open my mouth, but close it. He was right; I couldn’t speak when I saw her. I look up to her again to see her walking toward me, again taking my breath away as she smiles at me.
She walks up to me linking her fingers in mine as she briefly leans against me. Her hand other hand ruffling the Bran’s fur.

“If your going to keep walking toward me like that, I’m going to need an oxygen tank,” I sigh, planting a kiss on her head.

“Sorry, but that’s the only way I know how to walk,” she laughs.

Caitlin’s POV

“Crosby, Malkin,” I hear a deep voice say approaching us. I feel Sid’s grip on my waist tighten and feel the boys suddenly tense up. I look up to find myself staring in a pair of dark blue eyes almost hidden under thick eyebrows and shaggy hair.

“Ovechkin,” Sid replies darkly, shaking his hand, as do the rest of the guys.

“And you are?” he asks, holding his hand out for me to shake.

I sigh inwardly, I was afraid he was going to talk to me. Personally, I didn’t like this guy. My brother always used to twist his nose so it was crooked and tell me he was Ovechkin, ha, good times. However, being where we are, and being that the poor guy didn’t know that I thought he was an arrogant… nevermind… I met his hand and took it in a firm handshake. He seemed surprise at my strength.

“Caitlin Shaw,” I smile, reminding myself to be polite.

“Alex Ovechkin, nice to meet you,” he grins at me.

“You too.” I force myself to say back. Sid’s grip on my waist seems to tighten, his fingertips digging into my hips painfully as Alex discreetly checks me out.

“Honey, sorry I’m late,” I hear an all to familiar voice say as a blond comes running up to Ovechkin, hanging on him and kissing him. I look up to see that as usual she looks very fashionable and stunning. She is dressed in an all white empire waist dress that floats elegantly to the floor. On her ears, neck, and left wrist dripping in diamonds. ‘It’s puck slut Barbie,’ I think to myself trying not to gag at the scene of them eating each other’s faces. She giggles and pulls away, wiping red lipstick off Alex’s mouth.

“Hi,” she grins at us wickedly, “Wow, you really clean up well,” she throws in a comment at me, making it sound like an insult.

“Thanks. You look stunning Victoria,” I say forcing a smile.

“Oh I know. Alex has really been spoiling me with all these diamonds,” She replies with a giggle as she looks over at Sid when she thinks I’m staring at her jewelry, too bad I’m not impressed,

“Oh that’s a cute bracelet you have on,” she smiles pointing to my own wrist.

“Thank you,” I force out.

“Well, we better get going, see you two around,” Sid says walking us all away from the two.



As soon as they are out of sight, Sidney takes me over to a secluded corner and pulls me into a hug.

“You did good,” he whispers in my ear.

“Ugh, do you know how much will power it took not to punch her in the face?!” I groan into his shoulder.

“Probably the same amount it took me not to punch Alex when he was basically undressing you
with his eyes,” he growls back.

“Too bad for him, he’s not the one who gets to help me unzip the dress when this is over,” I grin at Sid with a wink, making him groan quietly.

“Can we go back now?” he asks with a devilish grin.

January 02, 2009 at Friday, January 02, 2009

5 Comments to "Chapter 44: Take My Breath Away"

Posted by Anonymous ( January 2, 2009 at 1:33 PM )

Honestly I don't even know what to say. This story is amazing. You are doing a great job!

Awe this story is seriously one of my favorites! They are so cute together! More soon please!

Wow. That was perfect. I love how he was breathless when he saw her! Awe.

Please post more soon! :]

This was a really brilliant chapter! You really captured how much Sid loves her and made it so realistic.

I love this story so very much! Especially because of how much I love dogs too!

Cheers!

So, at the risk of sounding like a bore, I agree with all of these comments, and I loved, loved both of their POVS...and, how she handled the press...more soon, please!

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Discovering...Love? by AS is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.