Discovering...Love?

** Remember, the epilogue will be up tomorrow. Hope you like it! **

I couldn’t take my eyes off her, her soft dark brown hair, her pink cheeks and chubby face. She was perfect. It still seemed unreal, the whole event coming and going before I could even blink an eye, and now here she was.

“Brenna Clare,” I murmur her name aloud, tracing her soft chubby cheek with a single finger, marveling at the baby sleeping soundly in my arms. My daughter. Her skin was the one of the softest things I had ever felt, and as I pressed my lips to her forehead I could smell that unique baby scent. She had a head full of dark brown hair and lips like mine, but her mother’s nose and ears. Her eyes were the grey color of most newborns, but I was placing my bets that they would change to a dark chocolate brown, just like her mom’s.

I smile as her pouty lips twitch and she begins to stir, her impossibly tiny arms moving as she begins to fuss.

“Shhh…” I murmur, “let Mommy sleep more, you wore her out.”

My little girl soon settles back down into her slumber, her tiny hand grasping my finger. I smile down at her, I had never felt this way. This was a whole different kind of love, different from how I loved her mother. I had helped to create this beautiful baby. Had you asked me a year ago what I would be doing on May 14, 2014, holding my baby daughter in my arms would not have been my answer. But here she was, after 8 hours of being in labor, she was ready for the world.

“Caitlin Shaw?” I ask the nurse at the other side of the desk.

She stares at me wide eyed for a moment, before snapping her attention back to her clipboard.

“Umm… yeah, room 114, Mr. Crosby,” she murmurs, apparently a little star struck.

“Thanks,” I manage to call back to her as I’m running down the hallway.

I stop in front of the room with the number 114 on the door and take a deep breath. This was it; there was no turning back now. I open the door to find the room dimly lit, with a bed in the middle. She was lying back against some pillows, in a blue hospital gown. Beth was next to her, telling her something and making her smile. Her head looks to the door upon hearing me open it and I’m greeted with a soft grin. Her eyes look to the clock, before going wide and gaping at me.

“I called you 15 minutes ago! Christ, Crosby how many laws did you break getting here?”

“Does it really matter? I’m here.” I smirk, walking over to her bedside.

“Good, cause the doctor said that the whole crossing my legs thing wouldn’t work,” she laughs.

As the hours ticked by her mood became more and more hostile. I was blamed a few times for putting her through the pain, but the Dr. Henderson assured me she was handling it better than some of the women she had encountered. Made me feel sorry for the dads going through that, because I was sure feeling the heat.

Luckily, her mood improved after she decided to go with the epidural. After that we could both watch her contractions on the computer screen, without me worrying about her injuring my hand. We watched as the guys beat the Bruins 4-2 without me, earning our advance into the next round. Bob and Steigy were ecstatic when they found out why I wasn’t on the ice. I’m sure the interenet was blowing up with the chatter of my daughter’s birth. We had yet to release her name to anyone, except for a few select people. Her parents and brother were up from Maryland and were currently out to breakfast with my parents and sister. Both families came rushing when they heard. And they had both played the dutiful grandparents role when they saw Brenna for the first time, even Dad cracked a smile and held her.

“Mom, Dad, Tay,” I say quietly with a smile, walking over to them with the newest addition to the family, “Meet Brenna.”

“Oh, Sidney! She’s absolutely perfect!” My mom gasps, tears in her eyes as they peer at the baby in my arms.

“She looks like the both of you,” Taylor says, “You two divide those genes pretty evenly.”

“We tried Tay,” I chuckle, rolling my eyes as Caitlin laughs loudly in the bed behind us.

“She’s adorable, just like her mother,” Mom smiles going over to greet Caitlin.

“Thanks Trina,” she smiles back weakly, she hadn’t gotten much sleep quite yet.

“Tiring process,eh?” my mom chuckles next to her, “Now Sidney let her Grandmother hold her,” she says reaching for Brenna.

I chuckle and dutifully hand over my daughter, realizing my mother was going to be the typical grandma that would spoil her granddaughter.

“Yeah, you can say that again. She pulled her daddy from the game and then made us wait 8 hours, but by 4:00 she was ready to come out. She had the nurses scrambling to get everything ready,” she chuckles, “Born at 4:14 AM.”

"What’s her length and weight?” My dad asks, finally piping up, causing Caitlin to break into laughter and me to chuckle. Everyone else looking at us like we’re crazy.

“8 pounds, 7 ounces,” I grin, remembering Caitlin and I crack up when we heard my number, “And 21 inches long.”

“A Daddy’s girl in the making,” Caitlin chuckles, looking at me with a grin, to which I answer with a sheepish smile, “She is going to have him wrapped around her little finger.”

“Well with those big eyes and pouty lips, I can see why,” Taylor giggles, as my mom hands her off to her, “Hi, Brenna,” she coos.

“And you two are all ready for her?” Dad asks, not taking his eyes of the baby.

“As ready as we’ll ever be,” I sigh, how ready were new parents really?

“Taylor, may I?” Dad asks, motioning to the pink bundle in her arms.

I smile; knowing that even with his rough and take-no-shit exterior, my dad really was a big softy when it came to kids. He would probably end up spoiling her more than my mom.

“What you thinking about over there Crosby?” I hear a voice ask, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“Just the day,” I reply with a smile, looking over at the woman that made this all possible. She had a sleepy and content look on her face, her brown eyes soft. She had done wonderfully through the whole process. Calm and collected when I first arrived, which was good, because I was so nervous I struggled to unbuckle my seatbelt.

“It has been quite a day hasn’t it,” she smiles, looking down to our daughter sleeping peacefully in my arms, “Have you slept at all?”

“No, too much has been happening,” I reply sheepishly, moving to sit in the bed next to her.

“You should go home, get some sleep,” she responds, “I’m sure you have to prepare for the next round.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I smile, getting out of my chair and sitting next to her on the hospital bed.

“She’ll still be here when you get back, Sidney,” Caitlin smiles up at me.

I smirk back and press a kiss to her temple. I wasn’t going anywhere.

“I love you,” I murmur, before leaning down to capture her lips with mine in a brief kiss. Those sparks still present. “Thank you, Caitlin.”

“For what?” she asks, her brows coming together in confusion.

“For everything. For telling me so that I could be here. For deciding to stick with me. For making me a Dad. For loving me back. Just… I can’t imagine this turning out more perfectly,” I smiles.

“Me either,” she smiles looking up from our daughter and her chocolate brown eyes looking into mine. I loved her eyes, her smile. Still as captivating as they were when I, literally, ran into at the beach.

I smile before bringing my lips back to hers. The fireworks were still as strong as they were 5 years ago when I first kissed her in the ocean. And look where we were now, together again and with our daughter in my arms. Now, all she had to do was say yes when I asked her the crucial question.

Caitlin’s POV

A knock on the door made us separate from the gentle kiss, one that still gave me butterflies.

“Come in,” I call softly, careful not to wake Brenna.

In walks a certain dark haired hockey player, looking very shy.

“Hey Tanger,” Sid greets quietly.

“Hey, congratulations,” he smiles meekly.

“Thanks, Kris,” I smile up at him, “For everything. I don’t know how this all would have ended up if it wasn’t for you.”

“No, it wasn’t me. You two would have worked things out eventually, I just pushed you along,” he smiles.

“Well thanks for the shove Tanger,” Sid chuckles.

“Sid, why don’t you let Tanger hold her and go tell the goons in the lobby that they can come in too,” I smile.

They both look at me unsure.

“I know they’re here. They wouldn’t have let Kris come to the hospital alone, they just sent him in to make sure they could come in… am I right?” I say looking over to Kris.

“Yeah, they’re raiding the gift shop,” he chuckles, running a hand through his hair to get it out of his face.

“That’s what I thought, Sidney go get them. We’ll be fine,” I smile up at him.

He let’s out a heavy sigh, “Fine. Kris, meet Brenna,” he smiles, placing the sleeping baby into Kris’s arms gently before kissing my forehead and hers and heading out the door.

“Brenna, eh? Sounds a lot like…” he asks cautiously.

“Yeah,” I smile sadly, wishing Bran was still alive to see her, “that was done on purpose. Brenna Clare Crosby. We finally decided on the name when we were waiting for her last night.”

He lets out a chuckle and looks down at her. “She is beautiful, just like her mom,” he says smiling up at me.

“Thanks Kris, really,” I smile up at him, “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

He just smiles shyly in return, making me wish I had a camera. My best friend holding my daughter was a sight to behold, it made me wonder how he was still single. If girls got a picture of what I was seeing now, they’d be lining up outside his door, offering to have his kids.

Before anything else can be said, the door swings open, and most of the team comes in. There were balloons galore and Max Talbot was wearing a shirt that said “I’m the BIG brother,” to which he earned a hearty laugh from me and a sigh from Sid, who grinned anyways.

“Hi Mom and Dad!” Colby says following the Superstar, “We have tons of stuff for Miss Brenna Crosby, a cigar for the new Daddy, and Chinese food and Starbucks for Mommy.”

“I knew I loved you guys for a reason,” I sigh dramatically as Jordan Staal hands me a tall hazelnut coffee from Starbucks and sets a Chinese takeout container on the table next to me, before kissing my cheek, “Good game last night boys! And congrats on the going to the next round!”

“Well it would have been better if we had a certain captain playing with us, but I guess we can let his absence slide just this once,” Jordan smiles as Sid takes Brenna from Kris.

"Yeah, well, he could have been out with you guys. She wasn't born until 4:14 this morning," I chuckle.

"No way, I wouldn't have missed any of that for the world! Even if you did almost break my hand," Sid grins from beside me.

“Born at 4:14 on May 14, 2014? Sounds like a number 14 will be on the back of her sweater," Jordan says from beside me.

"Knowing her Dad, I wouldn't doubt that," I giggle, to which Sid winks at me.

“Well, are you going to introduce us or not, Sid?” Talbot speaks up with a grin.

“Guys, this is Brenna. Brenna, these are the guys that you have to put up with, I’m sorry” he grins standing up to show off his daughter to his teammates.

All the boys crowd around Sid, as the proud father grins and shows off his little girl. I sip on my coffee as I watch the big tough hockey players turn to goo when introduced to the baby girl.

“Don’t listen to your daddy, Brenna, we’re way more fun than him!” Marc Andre says, holding at least 8 balloons, with varying Congratulations on them. “Congratulations on your new Hip” was my favorite in the bunch.

I watch as they all take turns holding the tiny baby. I didn’t care how tough they were on the ice, the Pittsburgh Penguins were all a big bunch of softies.

* * * *

“We’re home!” Sid smiles softly, looking in the back of the car and frowning when he realizes that he’s just looking at the back of the car seat. “Maybe I’ll put a mirror back there so that it reflects off this mirror and…” he begins.

“Let’s just get her in the house Crosby, and then you can think about rearranging your car,” I smile patting his arm before getting out of the car and unbuckling my daughter from her carseat.

“Watch, the edge of the mat, it’s turned up…” he says as I approach the door.

“Honestly Sidney, just open the door for us,” I sigh, he was so protective of her. The poor girl was going to have a hard time dating when that time came around.

“Ok, ok. You think the dogs will be ok, right? Maybe I should take her, because they’ll be so excited to see you and…”

“Sid!”

“Ok, ok…” he smiles opening the door.

A flurry of fur passes in front of me as the dogs excitedly greet me; after all they hadn’t seen me in 2 days.

“Easy, easy…” I say calmly, making my dogs calm down a little more. I walk over to the couch and sit down, shifting Brenna in my arms.

“Alright kids, this is your new sister, you need to be very gentle with her,” I say firmly, letting the dogs smell the new comer.

I hold my breath and wait for the reaction, knowing they won’t hurt her but wondering what they will do. I can’t help but giggle as Finn comes over and submissively licks the side of her face, earning a small whine from the baby. The dogs perk up their ears at the sound and back away a little bit. But Finn stays put, next to her just watching as she settles down and her hand rests against his nose. I smile; we had one hell of a family.

After a few more minutes downstairs, I carry her up to the nursery, to put her in her crib while I spend some time with my pack, Sid walking up the stair behind me.

“Do you think she’ll let us sleep tonight? Or is she going to be one of those babies that never let her parents sleep?” I ask.

“Hopefully the first one, I know how cranky her mother gets if she doesn’t get the sleep she needs,” he chuckles.

“I wouldn’t talk if I were you!” I shoot back playfully, turning into the soft green painted nursery, the dim glow of a small lamp lighting the room in the corner.

I cross the room and place her in the white wooden crib watching as she slept.

“It really is amazing isn’t it?” I say aloud.

“What?” he whispers from beside me.

“That you and I could do that, without even planning to. Just like that creating something so beautiful and amazing,” I smirk, “It was worth not being able to drink coffee,”

“Mmm… but I’m glad you’ll be decently caffeinated again,” he chuckles, pulling me into him.

“What do you mean Crosby? You trying to tell me I’m cranky?” I smirk, poking a finger into his chest.

“Never dear,” he smiles before leaning down to kiss my lips lightly.

“Sure,” I chuckle turning away from him to walk out of the room, but something catches my eye on top of the dresser next to the crib.

Under the small lamp was a little black ring box. The lid was opened but there was nothing inside. My brows knit together in confusion.

“Sid, what’s with the….” I ask turning around and pointing to the box. But I find that he isn’t standing beside me anymore. Instead, he’s down on one knee, holding something sparkly in his hand looking very nervous. I gasp my hand covering my mouth in shock, “Oh my God,” I murmur.

“Just hear me out,” he starts shakily, “I knew from the first time I knocked you over in the sand, that you were different. You weren’t like any other girl, I had ever met. You were beautiful, independent, and funny. You got along with the guys and you were never afraid to show your true self.”

“I know that I’ve screwed up, big time,” he says breaking his gaze to shake his head before looking back up at me, his hazel eyes never leaving mine, “I’ve had so many close calls, thinking I was going to lose you forever. But somehow I always get another chance, and I think three is the limit. I need you in my life. When you were gone in the fall, I could hardly function without you, it was like a piece of me was missing. In a million years I would never have thought that I would find someone like you and fall in love. I never thought that I would live in a house full of dogs with a woman that cares as much about her work as I do about hockey. You put up with me, which is a big plus,” he grins, causing me to let out a rather watery chuckle.

“You handle everything so well, but that’s not all. It’s you. It’s your eyes and how they light up when you smile. How your laughter just rings out, untamed. How you aren’t afraid to be you. I still get the same chills I got at the beach the first time I kissed you, the same fireworks go off that were present under the mistletoe 2 years ago. I still get excited when you tell me that you love me. And I don’t think that will ever change,” He smiles up at me, causing me to bite my lip as a tear rolled down my cheek.

“I know that you wanted to wait. That you need to trust me before you can agree to spend forever with me. And I’m hoping you do. I want to be with you for the rest of my life, Caitlin Shaw, raise our daughter together, have more kids and raise a house full of kids and dogs. So… Caitlin,” he says taking a deep breath and holding what I now see to be a diamond ring up a little higher,

“Will you marry me?”