#46 - A Father’s Love

Never Never - Kina Grannis


“Sidney, I’m sorry.” I said quickly as he walked in through my door. I was sitting at the kitchen table, fully expecting my dad to follow in after him; but Sidney shut the door behind him.

He stared at me hard for a minute as I wrapped my fingers around the bottle of Coke I was drinking. “Ok.” He said finally, walking over to my fridge and pulling the door open.

“… what?” I asked, my mouth dropping as I stared at his back.

“You said sorry, I said ok. You’re forgiven.” His face reappeared a second later, grinning, as he clutched a plate of left-overs. “Are you gonna eat this?”

I shook my head as he placed the dish in the microwave. We both waited in silence until the dinger went off and he carried it back over towards me; taking the seat next to me and digging in. “So… just like that, we’re ok?”

He shrugged as he shovelled forkful after forkful into his mouth. “Obviously, I would rather you date someone other than Ovechkin but… there’s no reason why we wouldn’t be ok.”

“Oh.” I said softly, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Are you positive? Cause I did go behind your back and-”

“Jes! I’m not mad. I still like you, I still want you to be happy and… I guess I’ll just… wait and hope that things don’t work out. In a non-asshole way, I didn’t mean for that to sound like that.” I shook my head, waving away his concern as happiness and relief flooded my face.

“Thank you…” I sighed, throwing my arms around his neck as I giggled excitedly. I pulled back and looked up at him, he looked confused. I laughed a bit as I sat back down. “I just… I thought you hated me and, I haven’t talked to dad yet and Alex isn’t speaking to me so-”

“Ovechkin’s not talking to you?” Sidney asked, grunting as a grin crossed his face. “Why?”

“Because I lied to him… he didn’t know anything about you or Mario and, I don’t know, he’s mad at me.”

“Well, you kinda lied to me too and I’m not mad at you. Clearly, we get along better.” I bit my tongue at that remark, not wanting to fight with him so soon after he’d forgiven me.
I had a feeling that Sidney would be making remarks like that for a long time, but that was ok. He wasn’t mad at me, and judging by the way things were; Alex wouldn’t be around for much longer anyway.


“So where’s my dad?” I asked as Sidney and I sat on my couch watching highlights from yesterdays’ final game of the Pen/Capital series.

“Umm… he went back to Pittsburgh with your mom earlier, she wanted to get back to make sure that the kids were ok.” I nodded slowly as he spoke, wondering just how upset dad was. “He’s not mad at you either… by the way.” He added as he saw the pain cross my face.

“How could he not be…” I said slowly, shaking my head. “I totally disrespected him Sidney.”

“I think he gets it. I mean, at least he seemed like he did. He doesn’t think that you’re ashamed of him or anything, he just…” Sidney shrugged, giving me a reassuring smile. “Seriously Jes, it’s ok.”

I sighed deeply, closing my eyes as I rested my back on the couch. “I need to see him…”

“Then let’s go.” He said simply, causing me to look up.

“What?”

“You wanna see him. You’re done of school. The Capitals are done - thanks to yours truly - and, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t just come home with me!” Sid grinned, pushing himself off the couch and grabbing for me. “Come on!”

“I can’t just take off Sidney!” I groaned, glancing around my apartment.

He rolled his eyes, tugging on my arm still. “I don’t mean for good but, come on… celebrate with me!”


I couldn’t believe that I had let him talk me into this. I suppose in a way it was good, I needed to get out of Washington for a bit; go back home and try to find some way to make things up to my parents.
I watched the lights of the city disappear behind me as Sidney drove slowly through the darkening night.

It would only take us a few hours to get home; and I was both excited and anxious at the same time.
It’d be nice to get away from things for a while, but I was worried about the reception I would get. What if they didn’t want to see me? What if they kicked me out?

I couldn’t believe that I had lied about my dad now that I thought back on it. It wasn’t like I had done it was malicious intent, or with the purpose of hurting him; but that’s what I had done - no matter what Sidney said.
My parents had never been anything but wonderful to me, and they didn’t deserve to be hurt.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Lost - Michael Buble


I sat beside Nathalie, my arm resting around her shoulders as we watched another episode of Hoarders. “Mario, maybe we should call her?” She asked softly, gazing up at me as I raised my eyebrows at her.

“I thought you had the utmost faith in Sidney.” I chuckled as my scrunched up her face at me. “Those were your words after all… they’ll be fine babe. Sidney said he’d call when he left.”

“And he should have left hours ago! He’s going to be driving back in the dark Mario, go call him and make sure everything‘s ok. What if he hit a moose?”

“A moose?“ I sighed rolling my eyes as she pouted up at me. I unwound myself from around her and groaned as I pushed my body off the couch.

“Geezer.” She quipped as I rubbed my back, heading into the kitchen.

I snorted “Geezer… I’m not the one with grey hair.” I laughed as she yelped behind me. “Don’t worry about it… you’re still fairly attractive for being seventy-something.”

She muttered something behind me, but I couldn't make it out as I headed off the landing; I stopped in my tracks as car headlights flashed in through the window. “He’s home babe!” I called, turning around and heading towards the front door.
I pulled it open, surprised to see Jespin’s car parked in my driveway. She got out of the passenger seat, and even in the dark I could see how flushed her face was. I gave her a small smirk as I walked out on to the porch, watching her walk towards me slowly; her steps, small and timid.

My smile widened and I tried not to laugh as a look of complete shame and sadness spread across her face. “Jessie.” I cooed, reaching out for her.
She fell into my arms and began to sob, her apology almost indistinguishable as she pressed her face into my chest.
I laughed heartily before kissing the top of her head and steering her towards the front door.

I turned around as I felt Sidney move behind us; thanking him with my smile as he nodded in return, his eyes never leaving Jespin.
Poor kid… I sighed, recognizing the tenderness in his gaze. He was in love, completely; and there was nothing I could do to ease his pain.
As much as I would love for things to work out between the two of them, Jespin needed to find her own way.
I knew that that didn’t make it any easier though; and if Alexander Ovechkin was really what she wanted, then we were in for the battle of the century. Once the press got a hold of this, it was going to be everywhere.

“Jessie, it’s ok.” I sighed, leading her towards the couch as Nat glanced over her shoulder.

“JESPIN!” She screamed, jumping up and pulling our daughter away. They embraced warmly before they both plunked down on the couch.

“Mom… I’m sorry.” She sighed, finally getting her emotions in check. “I should have… I didn’t mean… It’s not…” She sputtered, unable to find the right words to say what we already knew.

“It’s ok Jespin, we know.” I grinned, sinking down on the cushion beside her. “It’s ok.”



“Hey dad, what are you doing?” Jespin asked softly, walking into my office, a cup of coffee clutched in her hand.
She was still wearing her PJs as she headed towards me, her hair dishevelled from tossing and turning the night before.

“Austin got me that facepage thing a few days ago. I’m ‘liking’ things…” I explained as I clicked around the page.

“You’re what?” She giggled, coming to stand beside me.

“Ummm here look…” I said, pointing to the screen. “Maxime updated his status to say ‘Is a superstar’… Jordan commented on it and said ‘you suck’. So… I agree with Jordan, and then all I have to do is hit this little link here… and now Max knows how I feel about him.”

She shook her head at me, her eyes still focused on the screen. “Why don’t you just tell him?”

I sighed, laughing slightly. “It’s technology Jespin… it’s what all the cool kids are doing! Anyway, what can I do for you this morning?”

She bit her lip, moving around to the front of the desk to sit down in one of the empty, leather chairs. “Umm… I just wanted to tell you that I was sorry… again.” She sighed, glancing up at me. “I didn’t lie to hurt you I just… I don’t know. I felt so alone the past couple days… like everyone hates me.”

“No one hates you Jes, and you’re never alone.” I reached out across the desk to squeeze her hand. “Baby, there is nothing in this world you could do that would ever make me love you less. Except date a Flyer, that I couldn’t tolerate.” I smirked, causing her to grin back. “So… do I get to officially meet your boyfriend now?”

She groaned, leaning back in the chair. “We’re not… he’s still not talking to me. It’s probably better this way anyway, I mean, it wouldn’t have worked out.”

“I don’t believe that.” I said quietly, causing her head to snap back up.

“Why?” She asked incredulity, tilting her head to the side.

I exhaled loudly, glancing around my desk at all the pictures of her on it. “You’ve never been that kid Jespin. You were never the one to give up or stop trying. If you wanted something bad enough, you worked until you got it… why would this be any different?”

“Mike Green says that Alex is planning on going back to Russia soon… there’s not a lot I can do to stop that.”

“Stop it, no. But he can’t stop you from going…” I said simply, smiling at my logic.

“Dad! Are you trying to encourage me to chase after a boy into a foreign country?” She laughed, her eyes full of disbelief.

“I am suggesting nothing of the sort…” I said slowly, trying to hide the grin on my face. “But you aren’t going to stop until you get what you want Jespin, and as long as that continues to be him then, you need to do what it takes to be happy.” I watched her for a long minute as she stared off into space, debating in her mind. “Besides, whatever happens, you have a family to come home to… that’s all that really matters.”