Ruth Sadelle Alderson

♥ Finding a picture of a door has become part of the fun!

Also on AO3


"Thank you so much for doing this," Sid says when he opens the door to Alex and the Malkin kids. The kids yell a quick hello at him as they go racing into the house to find Riley and Carter.

"Spend the night in Sidney Crosby's house," Alex says with a grin. "No problem."

Sid suppresses the urge to roll his eyes at the way Alex says his name, like he's an overwhelmed fan. Alex is not overwhelmed and he often roots for whoever the Pens are playing against, mostly, Sid thinks, to rile up the kids.

"Thank you anyway," Sid says. They're just back in town, the nanny won't be back for another week, Sid's usual secondary babysitter canceled on them at the last minute, and Mario and Nathalie are going to the event so he couldn't ask them to watch the kids. It's not the first time Sid's borrowed Geno's nanny, but he feels guilty every time.

"This good for me," Geno said earlier, when Sid asked if Alex could possibly watch his kids too while they go to a pre-season charity event. "Kids and Sanja stay with you, Nastia and I have house to ourselves after charity dinner."

"Are you sure that's going to be okay with Alex?"

"Yes," Geno said firmly, and the next thing Sid knew, Geno had a plan for him and Sid was checking to make sure he had enough cash to leave for Alex in case the kids talked him into pizza for dinner.

"Three kids, five kids," Alex says with a shrug now. "All the same thing."

It's not the same thing at all, but Sid knows what kind of argument he'll get into with Alex if he tries to say that, and he doesn't have that much time to burn before he leaves the house.

"There's a list of emergency numbers on the fridge," Sid says, skipping it. "Here's money in case they talk you into pizza or whatever. I know it's a sleepover, but try to get them to bed on time, and make sure they brush their teeth."

"Yes, Sid," Alex says, looking amused. "I am a nanny. I know about kids."

"I know, I know," Sid says. "Okay. And if they go on the rink, everyone wears helmets, even you. And anyone in goal has to wear full pads."

"Yes," Alex says. "I know. I skate on your rink before." He pulls out his phone. "Going to be late." He turns it around so Sid doesn't have to look for a clock or pull out his own phone to see how close he's cutting it.

"I'm not going to be late," Sid says, but he will if he hangs around arguing with Alex anymore. "You can pick whichever guest room you want. I'll have my phone, and I'll check messages if I can't answer it, so call me if anything happens."

"Nothing happen," Alex says. "Say goodbye to the kids, go to your fancy dinner."

The kids are all in an excited jumble in the living room, with Ksenia apparently in charge. Sid interrupts them enough to get hugs from Riley and Carter.

"Be good," he says. "Listen to Alex."

"Dad," Riley says, "you have to say it right."

Sid always knew adopting kids just after Geno and Anastasia had kids and then letting them all be friends was going to have lasting consequences. The kids deciding he needs to use a formal version of Alex's name sometimes is one of those.

"Listen to Alexander Mikhailovich," Sid says. He kisses the kids goodbye, reminds Alex again that he'll have his phone on, and goes to support Pittsburgh's disadvantaged children with the Malkins and the Lemieuxs.