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rsadelleThe story behind this story is that I really want someone to write a (subtle!) exploration of the ways in which Sid protects his private life/self. This was sort of a stab at that story. I could never figure out the first section, wasn't sure Iginla was right for the fourth, and completely gave up when Claude not going to the Olympics jossed it. It also turned out to have something of an element of choose your own sexuality, which was not what I meant to do. The summary for this would have been something like, "Five people who saw Sid from the outside, plus one view from the inside." (I could never come up with an easy, catchy summary either.) Fair warning that this still has all of my [SOMEONE] sort of placeholders.
You are what you love
Not who loves you
- Fall Out Boy, "Save Rock and Roll"
1. Colby Armstrong
[I never wrote this section because I couldn't figure out what it would be about.]
2. Dan Bylsma
Dan's been promising Bryan he can come skate with him at Consol, but it takes a little ways into the season before he can make it happen.
Mary Beth comes in with Bryan, right at the end of practice. Dan sees them come in, but he keeps his attention on his players. There are only ten minutes left, and he needs them to focus for the entirety of those ten minutes.
Most of them leave when he dismisses them. Sid skates over to the bench for a water bottle, but doesn't leave the ice. Dan lets it go. One of the assistant coaches will work with him, and he and Dan have an agreement that Dan won't interfere in his extra work unless he has things he wants Sid to work on, which he doesn't today.
Dan skates to where Mary Beth and Bryan are, and leans over the boards to kiss Mary Beth hello. He opens the door to let Bryan onto the ice.
"Get warmed up," he says to Bryan, letting him go skate around to get a feel for Consol's ice. "You don't have to stay down here," he says to Mary Beth. "You can go up to my office, or I can bring him home later."
"I've been running around all morning," Mary Beth says. "I don't mind sitting for an hour." She does look like she's having a long day.
Dan leans across the boards to kiss her again before he grabs a puck and skates out to where Bryan is turning lazy circles around their half of the rink.
This is for Bryan, so they do what he wants to do. They start out with some easy passing drills before Bryan gets bored with that and excited about being in Consol and insists on trying to deke around Dan.
Dan doesn't go that easy on him, but he keeps it at Bryan's skill level. He tries to poke check, forces Bryan to play smart to keep the puck. Bryan manages to outplay him once, keeping the puck and getting around him to shoot straight into the back of the net.
Bryan yells, Mary Beth claps from the bench, and Dan grins at Bryan even as he groans at having lost.
In all of that, Dan doesn't register the sound of skates coming toward them until Sid asks, "Can I play?"
Bryan turns a wide-eyed pleading look on Dan.
"Sid, this is my son Bryan. Bryan, this is Sid."
Sid pulls off one of his gloves so he can shake Bryan's hand.
"Hi," Bryan says, eyes still a little wide.
"Hi." Sid smiles at Bryan. "Can I play?"
"Yes! You can be on my team."
Sid grins, and pulls Bryan a little ways away from Dan for a strategy meeting. Dan uses the opportunity to wave [ASSISTANT COACH] over and ask him if he minds dropping the puck for their faceoffs.
[ASSISTANT COACH] grins at him. "I'd do it just to see you go up against Sid."
Dan made his playing career out of being a defensive forward, and he can hold his own against Bryan. But there's a reason Sid is who he is, and even with him slowing his game down to work with Bryan, they get around Dan more easily than he would like.
Sid whoops like they just won a playoff game and lifts Bryan off the ice with the force of his hug. Bryan's grin is wide enough to split his face.
Dan lets them have their moment before they face off again. Dan manages a couple of takeaways, but he can't win against Sid.
"Let's switch teams," he says after Sid and Bryan score a couple more goals.
Bryan's face falls, but Sid nudges him and says, "You can help me work on getting through two defenders, or being the defender in a two on one."
Bryan cheers up, and [ASSISTANT COACH] drops the puck for them. Dan and Bryan do a little better at shutting Sid down than Dan did on his own, but Sid still gets through them a couple of times.
They're all sweaty and breathing hard by the time Dan calls a halt.
Bryan beams at Sid. "Thank you for playing with us. That was so cool."
Sid grins back at him. "Thank you for letting me." He squeezes Bryan's shoulder. "We'll have to play again."
Sid stays on the ice to talk to [ASSISTANT COACH] while Dan skates Bryan over to where Mary Beth is waiting for them.
"Mom," Bryan says, "did you see that? I got to play with Sidney Crosby."
"I saw." Mary Beth smiles and opens the door for Bryan to come through. "Change out of your skates so we can go home."
Bryan sits down on the floor to do just that.
"That was sweet of him," Mary Beth says, nodding to where Sid is working on [SOMETHING] with [ASSISTANT COACH].
"He's a good kid."
3. Taylor Crosby
Taylor's spent her whole life being Sidney Crosby's little sister, and that's fine. Sidney Crosby is something special, once in a lifetime, and even if she didn't always care about that when something they had to do for him meant they didn't get to do something for her, she does, mostly, understand it. The thing is that she's also Sid's little sister, and that's the part she really missed out on when he was at Shattuck, in Rimouski, in Pittsburgh.
She's expecting Mom, but she's not expecting for Sid to be with her when she comes to pick Taylor up for dinner.
"Sid!" Taylor shrieks, and she launches herself at him.
He grins and catches her.
"I can't believe you're here. You didn't tell me you were coming." She leans around him to look at Mom. "You didn't tell me he was coming."
"I wanted it to be a surprise." Sid tightens his arms around her, then lets go so she can go hug Mom.
Taylor doesn't hear the whispered hush until she's hugging Mom and none of the three of them are talking. Then she can hear how quiet the lobby is, someone's voice saying, "Sidney Crosby," rising above it.
"Let's go," Mom says. "You must be hungry."
"Yeah," Taylor says. She lets go of Mom and hooks her arm through Sid's. "I call shotgun."
"You can't call shotgun," Sid says. "We're not even outside."
"I can do anything I want," Taylor says, but once they're in the parking lot, she lets go of him and gets a head start on racing to where Mom always parks the rental when she comes to visit.
Sid goes chasing after her, but she beats him by a bare centimeter and turns, leaning against the door, to stick her tongue out at him.
He says, "Brat," with a grin, and gets into the back when Mom unlocks the doors.
Shattuck means Faribault is hockey aware enough that people recognize Sid. He takes the seat at the table that puts his back to the room, and Mom moves around to the other side without pausing.
Taylor sits next to Mom, across from Sid. They mostly talk about Taylor's school and hockey, and Mom tells them all the family gossip. Taylor asks about the lockout, but Sid lifts one shoulder in a shrug and doesn't seem to want to talk about it.
Sid leans across the table when Mom leaves to go to the bathroom. "Do you still like it here?"
"Yes," Taylor says. "I have a lot of friends here, and we're playing good hockey."
"That's good," Sid says. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to." He's such a dork.
"I miss Mom and Dad and my friends from home, but I like it here. Just because you couldn't hack it for more than a year."
Sid laughs, that stupid honk they both share. It's too much for Taylor to resist, and they both end up giggling like a couple of dorks.
"Thanks for coming," Taylor says when they settle down a little. "You never get to see me play." She rolls her eyes when Sid immediately looks guilty. "I didn't mean it like that. I know you can't."
"I would if I could."
"I know," Taylor says. "You're a good brother."
4. Jarome Iginla
[Jarome notices Sid never picks up when they go out and asks someone about it.]
"Is he gay?"
[WHOEVER] tips his head like he's thinking about it. "No," he says, "I don't think so, but it's Sid, so," he shrugs, "who knows what goes on in his head."
[I don't know what else would have happened in this scene.]
5. Claude Giroux
Because they're Canadian, there's a patch of concrete in the midst of the Village that they've managed to keep reserved for street hockey. Claude's played once, but most of the time it's not the hockey players using it. That doesn't mean he doesn't stop to watch when he comes across a game being played; it's still hockey.
There are a bunch of people in a mix of Team Canada windbreakers and other jackets playing, and a bunch more standing around the edges watching. Claude gets as close to the edge of the makeshift rink as he can.
The game's not as fast as it could be, given that Crosby's in the middle of it, but Claude had slowed things down a bit when he was playing too, so it would be fun for everyone.
It doesn't take long for Claude to figure out who's on which team. Crosby's in the defensive end. [WHOEVER] brings the puck in toward the net. Crosby goes hard against her, harder than he probably needs to for a pick-up game with non-hockey players. It's not quite a check, but he does get into her space and steal the puck. His team isn't quite prepared for it, but Crosby carries it out of the zone on his own, and holds onto it until he can pass to someone else on his team.
It's a good play, and it results in a goal for Crosby's team.
Crosby goes over to [WHOEVER] after he celebrates with his team. Claude's close enough to hear Crosby say, "Sorry if that was too rough. I can get carried away."
"I got muscled off the puck by Sidney Crosby," she says with a grin. "That's a story I can tell my grandchildren."
Claude blinks, because there's a slight stiffening to Crosby's shoulders that [WHOEVER] doesn't seem to notice.
[WHOEVER] grins. "Let's see if you can do it again."
Crosby relaxes, and the [SOMETHING] who appears to be acting as a ref steps in to do the puck drop. The two teams work their way back and forth across the concrete until the other team scores.
Crosby shakes his head and steps away to the edge of the court to grab one of the water bottles. He catches Claude's eye when he sets it down and calls, "Giroux, get out here."
The people between Claude and the court give way for Claude, and he grabs a stick out of the pile of extras on the side of the court.
[WHOEVER] says, "You're on our team."
Claude exchanges a glance with Crosby and lets Crosby say, "It's not really a good idea for us to play against each other."
"So not fair for us."
"We'll give you the man advantage," Crosby says. He glances at the rest of his team. "Or the woman advantage, whatever."
They reshuffle the teams, and Crosby takes the faceoff and puts Claude and [SOMEONE], one of the [WHATEVERS], on the wing.
They go back and forth for a bit, racing up and down the court. They're in the offensive zone, the other team playing good defense, and Crosby yells, "Giroux!"
Claude reacts on instinct - Crosby's his teammate for now, even if they're not usually playing on the same line, and he knows how Crosby plays - darting around one of the defenders and getting free just as Crosby passes to him. [SOMEONE] is right in front of the net. Claude passes to her, and she tips it in.
"Yes!" Crosby yells. He sweeps past the other team to gather [SOMEONE] up into an exuberant hug that he cheerfully includes Claude in when he reaches them.
Crosby taps Claude's shoe with his stick. "Nice pass."
Claude taps Crosby's shoe. "Nice play."
Crosby grins at him and they line up for the faceoff.
+1. Sidney Crosby
By the third kid, the first skate is almost a routine. More of a ritual, one he chose carefully. He could let the kids skate first on the rink at home in Pittsburgh. He could have done it at Consol, and the Pens would have made at least a little bit of big deal out of it. He could have done it at one of the other rinks around Pittsburgh, and someone would have taken pictures of it. He could have made it part of the minor hockey outreach program he's second in command of these days, and it would have been good publicity.
Instead, he does this. He rents out a couple of hours of ice time while he's up in Cole Harbour the summer Kyle's two, while Taylor and Austin and their kids are there too. In Cole Harbour, there's a chance the rink employees will leak pictures of them, but it's not a guarantee, and in the meantime, Sid can pay to have the place emptied enough so it's only family anywhere near the ice.
Andrew and Jocelyn are old enough to put on their own skates and helmets, and it's just Kyle's Sid has to help with. Kyle's been watching them all skate for long enough that he's eager to get onto the ice, and he tries to move as soon as Sid puts him down on it.
Andrew and Jocelyn are already gliding a lap around the rink with their cousins, Andrew steady and Jocelyn just a little less smooth, both of them barely trailing the older kids. Sid doesn't care if they don't want to play hockey - they all do, now, but later, if they don't want to, they don't have to - but he does care that they love the ice, at least a little bit, at least a fraction of the way he does.
Kyle falls, more than once, and Taylor and Austin join them and race around outskating the kids. Dad joins them, and patiently, so much more patiently as a grandfather than as a father, works on skating backwards with the little kids. Sid holds Kyle's hands, helps him stand up every time he falls, talks to him calmly and encouragingly.
Mom stays on the other side of the boards, taking pictures and keeping an eye on Melanie in her car seat. Andrew was the one who cried all the time, Jocelyn was calmer but chatty, Kyle's full of energy, and Melanie's the one content to lie in her car seat and wave her feet around.
Before their time is up, Sid goes over to pick up Melanie and Mom walks carefully out onto the ice.
"Come on over here," Sid calls to the other kids. "Grandma's going to take pictures."
They don't manage a lot of pictures, too many small children unwilling to stay still for long, but Sid makes sure they get the most important one, the one where he takes a knee, Melanie in one arm and the other around Kyle, Andrew and Jocelyn behind them.
He could do this differently, have professionals around to document it, get better pictures for the walls of the living room in Pittsburgh, corral the kids into staying still for longer. But it's not about that, not really. He just wants the one, imperfect as it may be, so he can look at it and point back to these milestones in his children's lives.
You are what you love
Not who loves you
- Fall Out Boy, "Save Rock and Roll"
1. Colby Armstrong
[I never wrote this section because I couldn't figure out what it would be about.]
2. Dan Bylsma
Dan's been promising Bryan he can come skate with him at Consol, but it takes a little ways into the season before he can make it happen.
Mary Beth comes in with Bryan, right at the end of practice. Dan sees them come in, but he keeps his attention on his players. There are only ten minutes left, and he needs them to focus for the entirety of those ten minutes.
Most of them leave when he dismisses them. Sid skates over to the bench for a water bottle, but doesn't leave the ice. Dan lets it go. One of the assistant coaches will work with him, and he and Dan have an agreement that Dan won't interfere in his extra work unless he has things he wants Sid to work on, which he doesn't today.
Dan skates to where Mary Beth and Bryan are, and leans over the boards to kiss Mary Beth hello. He opens the door to let Bryan onto the ice.
"Get warmed up," he says to Bryan, letting him go skate around to get a feel for Consol's ice. "You don't have to stay down here," he says to Mary Beth. "You can go up to my office, or I can bring him home later."
"I've been running around all morning," Mary Beth says. "I don't mind sitting for an hour." She does look like she's having a long day.
Dan leans across the boards to kiss her again before he grabs a puck and skates out to where Bryan is turning lazy circles around their half of the rink.
This is for Bryan, so they do what he wants to do. They start out with some easy passing drills before Bryan gets bored with that and excited about being in Consol and insists on trying to deke around Dan.
Dan doesn't go that easy on him, but he keeps it at Bryan's skill level. He tries to poke check, forces Bryan to play smart to keep the puck. Bryan manages to outplay him once, keeping the puck and getting around him to shoot straight into the back of the net.
Bryan yells, Mary Beth claps from the bench, and Dan grins at Bryan even as he groans at having lost.
In all of that, Dan doesn't register the sound of skates coming toward them until Sid asks, "Can I play?"
Bryan turns a wide-eyed pleading look on Dan.
"Sid, this is my son Bryan. Bryan, this is Sid."
Sid pulls off one of his gloves so he can shake Bryan's hand.
"Hi," Bryan says, eyes still a little wide.
"Hi." Sid smiles at Bryan. "Can I play?"
"Yes! You can be on my team."
Sid grins, and pulls Bryan a little ways away from Dan for a strategy meeting. Dan uses the opportunity to wave [ASSISTANT COACH] over and ask him if he minds dropping the puck for their faceoffs.
[ASSISTANT COACH] grins at him. "I'd do it just to see you go up against Sid."
Dan made his playing career out of being a defensive forward, and he can hold his own against Bryan. But there's a reason Sid is who he is, and even with him slowing his game down to work with Bryan, they get around Dan more easily than he would like.
Sid whoops like they just won a playoff game and lifts Bryan off the ice with the force of his hug. Bryan's grin is wide enough to split his face.
Dan lets them have their moment before they face off again. Dan manages a couple of takeaways, but he can't win against Sid.
"Let's switch teams," he says after Sid and Bryan score a couple more goals.
Bryan's face falls, but Sid nudges him and says, "You can help me work on getting through two defenders, or being the defender in a two on one."
Bryan cheers up, and [ASSISTANT COACH] drops the puck for them. Dan and Bryan do a little better at shutting Sid down than Dan did on his own, but Sid still gets through them a couple of times.
They're all sweaty and breathing hard by the time Dan calls a halt.
Bryan beams at Sid. "Thank you for playing with us. That was so cool."
Sid grins back at him. "Thank you for letting me." He squeezes Bryan's shoulder. "We'll have to play again."
Sid stays on the ice to talk to [ASSISTANT COACH] while Dan skates Bryan over to where Mary Beth is waiting for them.
"Mom," Bryan says, "did you see that? I got to play with Sidney Crosby."
"I saw." Mary Beth smiles and opens the door for Bryan to come through. "Change out of your skates so we can go home."
Bryan sits down on the floor to do just that.
"That was sweet of him," Mary Beth says, nodding to where Sid is working on [SOMETHING] with [ASSISTANT COACH].
"He's a good kid."
3. Taylor Crosby
Taylor's spent her whole life being Sidney Crosby's little sister, and that's fine. Sidney Crosby is something special, once in a lifetime, and even if she didn't always care about that when something they had to do for him meant they didn't get to do something for her, she does, mostly, understand it. The thing is that she's also Sid's little sister, and that's the part she really missed out on when he was at Shattuck, in Rimouski, in Pittsburgh.
She's expecting Mom, but she's not expecting for Sid to be with her when she comes to pick Taylor up for dinner.
"Sid!" Taylor shrieks, and she launches herself at him.
He grins and catches her.
"I can't believe you're here. You didn't tell me you were coming." She leans around him to look at Mom. "You didn't tell me he was coming."
"I wanted it to be a surprise." Sid tightens his arms around her, then lets go so she can go hug Mom.
Taylor doesn't hear the whispered hush until she's hugging Mom and none of the three of them are talking. Then she can hear how quiet the lobby is, someone's voice saying, "Sidney Crosby," rising above it.
"Let's go," Mom says. "You must be hungry."
"Yeah," Taylor says. She lets go of Mom and hooks her arm through Sid's. "I call shotgun."
"You can't call shotgun," Sid says. "We're not even outside."
"I can do anything I want," Taylor says, but once they're in the parking lot, she lets go of him and gets a head start on racing to where Mom always parks the rental when she comes to visit.
Sid goes chasing after her, but she beats him by a bare centimeter and turns, leaning against the door, to stick her tongue out at him.
He says, "Brat," with a grin, and gets into the back when Mom unlocks the doors.
Shattuck means Faribault is hockey aware enough that people recognize Sid. He takes the seat at the table that puts his back to the room, and Mom moves around to the other side without pausing.
Taylor sits next to Mom, across from Sid. They mostly talk about Taylor's school and hockey, and Mom tells them all the family gossip. Taylor asks about the lockout, but Sid lifts one shoulder in a shrug and doesn't seem to want to talk about it.
Sid leans across the table when Mom leaves to go to the bathroom. "Do you still like it here?"
"Yes," Taylor says. "I have a lot of friends here, and we're playing good hockey."
"That's good," Sid says. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to." He's such a dork.
"I miss Mom and Dad and my friends from home, but I like it here. Just because you couldn't hack it for more than a year."
Sid laughs, that stupid honk they both share. It's too much for Taylor to resist, and they both end up giggling like a couple of dorks.
"Thanks for coming," Taylor says when they settle down a little. "You never get to see me play." She rolls her eyes when Sid immediately looks guilty. "I didn't mean it like that. I know you can't."
"I would if I could."
"I know," Taylor says. "You're a good brother."
4. Jarome Iginla
[Jarome notices Sid never picks up when they go out and asks someone about it.]
"Is he gay?"
[WHOEVER] tips his head like he's thinking about it. "No," he says, "I don't think so, but it's Sid, so," he shrugs, "who knows what goes on in his head."
[I don't know what else would have happened in this scene.]
5. Claude Giroux
Because they're Canadian, there's a patch of concrete in the midst of the Village that they've managed to keep reserved for street hockey. Claude's played once, but most of the time it's not the hockey players using it. That doesn't mean he doesn't stop to watch when he comes across a game being played; it's still hockey.
There are a bunch of people in a mix of Team Canada windbreakers and other jackets playing, and a bunch more standing around the edges watching. Claude gets as close to the edge of the makeshift rink as he can.
The game's not as fast as it could be, given that Crosby's in the middle of it, but Claude had slowed things down a bit when he was playing too, so it would be fun for everyone.
It doesn't take long for Claude to figure out who's on which team. Crosby's in the defensive end. [WHOEVER] brings the puck in toward the net. Crosby goes hard against her, harder than he probably needs to for a pick-up game with non-hockey players. It's not quite a check, but he does get into her space and steal the puck. His team isn't quite prepared for it, but Crosby carries it out of the zone on his own, and holds onto it until he can pass to someone else on his team.
It's a good play, and it results in a goal for Crosby's team.
Crosby goes over to [WHOEVER] after he celebrates with his team. Claude's close enough to hear Crosby say, "Sorry if that was too rough. I can get carried away."
"I got muscled off the puck by Sidney Crosby," she says with a grin. "That's a story I can tell my grandchildren."
Claude blinks, because there's a slight stiffening to Crosby's shoulders that [WHOEVER] doesn't seem to notice.
[WHOEVER] grins. "Let's see if you can do it again."
Crosby relaxes, and the [SOMETHING] who appears to be acting as a ref steps in to do the puck drop. The two teams work their way back and forth across the concrete until the other team scores.
Crosby shakes his head and steps away to the edge of the court to grab one of the water bottles. He catches Claude's eye when he sets it down and calls, "Giroux, get out here."
The people between Claude and the court give way for Claude, and he grabs a stick out of the pile of extras on the side of the court.
[WHOEVER] says, "You're on our team."
Claude exchanges a glance with Crosby and lets Crosby say, "It's not really a good idea for us to play against each other."
"So not fair for us."
"We'll give you the man advantage," Crosby says. He glances at the rest of his team. "Or the woman advantage, whatever."
They reshuffle the teams, and Crosby takes the faceoff and puts Claude and [SOMEONE], one of the [WHATEVERS], on the wing.
They go back and forth for a bit, racing up and down the court. They're in the offensive zone, the other team playing good defense, and Crosby yells, "Giroux!"
Claude reacts on instinct - Crosby's his teammate for now, even if they're not usually playing on the same line, and he knows how Crosby plays - darting around one of the defenders and getting free just as Crosby passes to him. [SOMEONE] is right in front of the net. Claude passes to her, and she tips it in.
"Yes!" Crosby yells. He sweeps past the other team to gather [SOMEONE] up into an exuberant hug that he cheerfully includes Claude in when he reaches them.
Crosby taps Claude's shoe with his stick. "Nice pass."
Claude taps Crosby's shoe. "Nice play."
Crosby grins at him and they line up for the faceoff.
+1. Sidney Crosby
By the third kid, the first skate is almost a routine. More of a ritual, one he chose carefully. He could let the kids skate first on the rink at home in Pittsburgh. He could have done it at Consol, and the Pens would have made at least a little bit of big deal out of it. He could have done it at one of the other rinks around Pittsburgh, and someone would have taken pictures of it. He could have made it part of the minor hockey outreach program he's second in command of these days, and it would have been good publicity.
Instead, he does this. He rents out a couple of hours of ice time while he's up in Cole Harbour the summer Kyle's two, while Taylor and Austin and their kids are there too. In Cole Harbour, there's a chance the rink employees will leak pictures of them, but it's not a guarantee, and in the meantime, Sid can pay to have the place emptied enough so it's only family anywhere near the ice.
Andrew and Jocelyn are old enough to put on their own skates and helmets, and it's just Kyle's Sid has to help with. Kyle's been watching them all skate for long enough that he's eager to get onto the ice, and he tries to move as soon as Sid puts him down on it.
Andrew and Jocelyn are already gliding a lap around the rink with their cousins, Andrew steady and Jocelyn just a little less smooth, both of them barely trailing the older kids. Sid doesn't care if they don't want to play hockey - they all do, now, but later, if they don't want to, they don't have to - but he does care that they love the ice, at least a little bit, at least a fraction of the way he does.
Kyle falls, more than once, and Taylor and Austin join them and race around outskating the kids. Dad joins them, and patiently, so much more patiently as a grandfather than as a father, works on skating backwards with the little kids. Sid holds Kyle's hands, helps him stand up every time he falls, talks to him calmly and encouragingly.
Mom stays on the other side of the boards, taking pictures and keeping an eye on Melanie in her car seat. Andrew was the one who cried all the time, Jocelyn was calmer but chatty, Kyle's full of energy, and Melanie's the one content to lie in her car seat and wave her feet around.
Before their time is up, Sid goes over to pick up Melanie and Mom walks carefully out onto the ice.
"Come on over here," Sid calls to the other kids. "Grandma's going to take pictures."
They don't manage a lot of pictures, too many small children unwilling to stay still for long, but Sid makes sure they get the most important one, the one where he takes a knee, Melanie in one arm and the other around Kyle, Andrew and Jocelyn behind them.
He could do this differently, have professionals around to document it, get better pictures for the walls of the living room in Pittsburgh, corral the kids into staying still for longer. But it's not about that, not really. He just wants the one, imperfect as it may be, so he can look at it and point back to these milestones in his children's lives.