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When Geno came back from running Bear around the block, Sidney was still sitting at the kitchen table with papers spread around and a pencil holding her hair up in a bun. Geno sighed a little, getting a bottle of water for himself. Bear was already demolishing his water bowl.
“Any luck on first round?”
Sidney turned to look at him, frowning a little. “How pissed do you think Claude would be if I drafted Cameron?”
“Depends. Are you just drafting him to keep him from going to Flyers?”
“Do you think Claude really wants to play with his step-son?” asked Sidney. “I get that Claude is a Flyer for life and wants his family nearby, but he’s known Cameron since he was eight. Wouldn’t that be weird?”
Geno shrugged. “Cameron is entering the draft late because of ACL injury. He won’t be first round pick. You be reaching."
“He’s still good.” Sidney shuffled the papers back into a pile before getting to her feet, stretching her arms high above her head. Geno’s gaze followed the tan skin revealed, grinning the whole time. Sidney caught him staring and started to laugh. “You’ve been watching me do that for ten years now. It still can’t be that exciting.”
“Everything about you exciting,” Geno proclaimed, wrapping her in his arms and kissing her.
Sidney pushed back against him, hissing a little. “Ow.”
“Sorry,” Geno said immediately, reaching a hand up to gently touch her breast. “Still sore?”
“Yeah,” Sidney frowned. “It’s the hormones.”
Geno rubbed gently at the sides of her breasts. She was completely unbothered about Geno touching them pretty much anytime and sometimes actually searched him out to touch them when they were sore.
"They lovely breasts," Geno said. He leaned in, his hands still on Sidney’s breasts, to kiss her softly. “Quite fond of them.”
Sidney laughed and kissed him back. “Me too. Should I call Claude or Danny?”
Geno shook his head, kissing Sidney’s nose before pulling back. “Danny. Claude too emotional.”
Sidney looked at the clock. “It’s kind of late to call. Claude is most likely napping which means Danny probably is too. And that means you should be napping.”
“Nap with me?” asked Geno hopefully.
“Sure,” Sidney said, reaching up and pulling the pencil from her hair, causing it to fall down over her shoulders. Geno reached up, finger brushing the waves to untangle them.
Geno looked at her for a long time, taking in the changes to her face, the new sharpness to her cheekbones and the arch of her eyebrows. He knew there were tiny scars under her lip from barely noticable cheek implants, giving her just a bit more roundness to counteract the strong shape of her jaw. The facial surgery she had was subtle for now, just refining her features.
She was still Sidney, especially now wearing little makeup and her hair falling messy around her face. Her eyes were different, a lightness there that had been hidden by the weariness of hiding for so long. Her lips were the same, no need for surgical improvement there, and Geno was happy about that. He trailed a fingertip along her jaw, before rubbing gently behind her ear.
Her body was different, not just the breasts, but she had lost weight and stopped focusing on building muscle mass. The two of them did yoga in the morning and she ran five miles every day with Bear. Geno’s hands settled on her hips. They were the same as was her ass. Still wide and curvy and full. If anything the hormones had made her hips curvier.
“Hey,” Sidney said softly, staring back at him with equal intensity. “Everything okay?”
Geno swallowed thickly, feeling oddly choked up. “Yes. Just thinking about how far you've come.”
Sidney smiled, leaning up to kiss him. "Not quite the scared guy you interrupted putting on nail polish.”
“So glad I interrupted,” Geno said, grinning. He took Sidney’s hand in his own. “Come. Time to nap.”
Bear was up and on his feet, pushing past them to bound up the stairs to the bedroom. Sidney sighed and shook her head. “He’s going to be in the bed before us now.”
“Your fault. You let him in bed when he a puppy. Jeffrey never try to get in bed with us,” Geno said proudly.
“That is such a lie! Jeffrey always slept in bed with me,” Sidney laughed. “Whenever it was just the two of us, he’d be in bed in a flash. He never did it when you were home.”
“I tell Jeffrey to keep an eye on you.” Geno looked at Bear who was happily flopped on Sidney’s pillow, taking up the whole side of the bed. “We have to cuddle.”
“We need a bigger bed,” Sidney said as she slipped off her pants, climbing into bed in just her panties and a t-shirt. She leaned over to give Bear a hug, scratching his belly as Geno got in bed behind her. Bear’s tail thumped against the mattress and he turned his head to give Sidney’s a wet kiss on the face. “Ugh. Salmon breath.”
Geno laughed and curled up, his knees behind Sidney’s and his arm across her waist. Sidney sighed happily and snuggled back into Geno’s embrace. Napping in the middle of the day was so ingrained in both of them after years and years of games and practices. Even though Sidney wasn’t playing, she would nap when Geno was napping as often as she could.
It was Bear jumping out of the bed and barking that woke them up. Sidney groaned and looked at the clock. Geno pushed himself up on his elbows, looking groggy. “Сколько времени?”
“Not time to get up,” Sidney said. “I’ll go check.”
Geno mumbled something and buried his face in the pillow. Sidney pulled her pants back on and headed downstairs, scratching her fingers through her hair as she went. Bear was at the front door, his tail wagging furiously.
Sidney looked through the peephole. Reporters had gotten rather bold on occasion and snuck into their Sewickley neighborhood and rang the doorbell to try and catch Sidney off-guard. And Bear, like Jeffrey and Sam before him, was not exactly a good watchdog. It was Alexa, who Sidney didn’t even know was home right now.
Sidney unlocked the door, opening. “Hey Alexa.”
“Kathy broke up with me,” Alexa blurted out before bursting into tears and wrapping her arms around Sidney and hiding her face against Sidney’s shoulder.
Sidney patted her back awkwardly, trying to adjust Alexa so she wasn’t pressing so hard against her right breast. Emotional outbursts were not her strong suit. Taylor said that she was emotionally stunted and Geno was really better at handling tears.
“Hey come inside,” Sidney said gently, guiding Alexa into the house without letting her go. She kicked the door shut and walked them towards the living room. Once they were sitting down, Alexa pulled back to look at Sidney, her face streaked with tears. “What happened?”
“She said that she was sick of us being apart all the time and that I prioritize getting back to Pittsburgh over coming to see her in Seattle.”
“She does realize that Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are in the same state, right?” asked Sidney. “And not a five hour flight?”
Alexa looked at Sidney in disgust. “My girlfriend is not an idiot. Where’s Geno? You’re awful at this.”
“He’s sleeping,” Sidney said with a frown. “It’s game day. And I’m not awful at this. Don’t believe Taylor.”
“Stephanie and Lauren both said you’re awful at feelings too,” Alexa sniffled. “Can’t you just tell me that she’s an idiot and she’s giving up something awesome?”
“She’s a complete idiot for breaking up with you. Doesn’t she know how awesome you are?” Sidney repeated, handing Alexa some tissues.
Alexa sighed. “Just get the vodka.”
“That I can do,” Sidney said easily, getting up and heading into the kitchen. She pulled out one of the bottles of vodka in the freezer and grabbed a shot glass before heading back out to Alexa. “I think everyone comes to me and Geno for advice because we have the good vodka.”
“We come to Geno because he’s good at this because he’s been handling you for years. We come to you for the vodka,” Alexa said, pouring herself a shot.
“I’ve gotten better since I’ve been on hormones,” Sidney protested.
“You’ve been on hormones for less than a year,” Alexa pointed out. “He’s been handling you since he came to this country.”
Sidney pursed her lips but nodded. “Fair enough. Need anything other than vodka?”
“Chinese food, Annie Hall, and ice cream.” Alexa poured herself another shot. “Were you going to the game tonight?”
Sidney nodded. “You need me here?”
Alexa thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. “I’ll call Mom. She can come here and drink with me.”
Sidney grabbed the phone and pulled up the local Chinese place they always order from before handing it to Alexa. “Pick whatever you want. Put a comment in that it’s for Sidney and Geno and tell them you want ice cream as well. They’ll pick it up for you on the way.”
“How often do you order from them?”
“A couple of times a month during the season for the last fourteen years,” Sidney said easily. “They take good care of us. Once they even picked up dog food on the way over.”
Alexa shook her head. “Only you.”
Geno shuffled into the living room, still half-asleep to sit next to Sidney. He rested his head on her shoulder, looking blearily at the vodka.
“водка?”
“Kathy broke up with Alexa,” Sidney said, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “English.”
Geno shifted and leaned forward to look across Sidney to Alexa. “She not good enough for you anyway. You can do much better. Find pretty girl in Philadelphia to date who won’t complain about you visiting family.”
Geno reached for the remote for the television, turning it on and going directly to the movies. “I forget. You Notebook and Thai or Annie Hall and Chinese? I know Stephanie Evil Dead and wings.”
“Annie Hall and Chinese food. Lauren is The Notebook and Thai.” Alexa looked at Sidney, an eyebrow raised. “See?”
Sidney gaped at Geno. “How do you remember all this?”
Geno shrugged. “Is easy. You Die Hard and chocolate cake. I know most of team as well.”
“Oh,” Sidney frowned. “So I guess you’re old Steelers games and shchi that your Mom made.”
Geno smiled at her, patting Sidney’s leg. “See. You pay attention.”
“If you find a pretty girl to date in Philadelphia, I’m going to make Claude threaten her,” Sidney said as Annie Hall started to play. “He would do that.”
“You’d have to call him to do that.” Alexa waved her hand. “Be quiet. The movie is starting.”
Geno put an arm around Sidney’s shoulders, settling her back against the couch. “Yeah. Movie starting.”
Sidney rolled her eyes and elbowed Geno in the stomach. “I have to go get ready for the game. You sit with Alexa and watch the movie. I take longer anyway.”
Geno kissed her absently before scooting over to sit next to Alexa. She curled into Geno’s side, sipping at her vodka now. Sidney watched them with a smile before heading upstairs to go get dressed.