Our Goodbyes

Sidney Crosby rushed into the locker room trying to get ready and out of the place in ten short minutes. His friends and team mates watched with amusement as their young captain made a fool of himself. They'd never seen Sidney this much in a hurry since they set his alarm clock an hour late before a charity event.

"Hey Sid, we're going to the bar tonight, you wanna come?" Max offered as he walked over to Sidney.

Taking a moment to pause and look at Max, Sid shook his head and continued to stuff his things into his duffle bag. "I can't, Ella's coming home today and I got to pick her up," he said with a sigh.

After Ella's first visit to New York to look for her son, she had been making more frequent visits to go over adoption procedures. Sometimes she'd be gone for a week, no more than two weeks at a time. It was her fourth time in New York and Sidney had yet to see Wyatt.

Ella refused to show Sid pictures of him, because she wanted to meet him in person and see him for the first time in person. It bugged him a little that he was the only one, who knew about Wyatt's existence, that hadn't seen him in person or a picture of him.

Norma and Frank had visited Ella in New York, and met Wyatt then went back with Ella to Pittsburgh gushing about how beautiful he looked. Sid envied them for getting to see the special little baby that stole Ella's heart and attention.

Max groaned and looked at his team mates who were hoping that Sidney would join them. "Are you serious? You've been staying at home for the past couple of days like a pussy waiting for her to call you," he argued. "She wasn't even there for our first game!"

Sidney looked at Max surprised. He had a feeling that none of his team mates were rather fond of Ella, because they thought that she was using him. They were upset that he was spending more time with her and less with them. That Sid pretty much pays for everything, rent, furniture and appliances, while Ella doesn't even have a job.

Max had told the team that Ella and Sid had met over the summer and they instantly thought that she some gold digger for moving out with Sidney to Pittsburgh after only knowing him for two months. Also being absent for Sid's day with the Cup didn't help her case either.

He wanted to defend Ella and say that she had gone through a lot and was trying to recover from it, that she wasn't there for Sid because she had her demons to take care of. Ella was trying to get her life together again

"What about the time when you got injured? Where was she?" Max argued again. "And all the times she goes to New York, you don't even know what she does there. For all you know, she could be cheating on you!"

Because they were living together, Sidney's team mates were under the impression that they were together and neither of them made an effort to clear the air. They just thought it would be easier to let people assume that instead of going through the trouble of explaining that they were just friends.

Sidney wanted to yell at Max and tell him that Ella was in fact I New York visiting and taking care of her son, not screwing someone behind his back, but he couldn't. He wanted to, but Ella wanted to keep it a secret in case the adoption fell through and he respected Ella's wishes. He knew that Max and the team meant well wanting to just protect Sidney.

"She isn't like that. Ella's in New York taking care of family business," he defended her and put the last of his things in the duffle bag.

Max scoffed. "Yeah right. Can't you see we're just trying to help you?"

Sidney shook his head and walked out of the locker room. The whole room was in silence as they just watched their captain and friend walk away.

"Maybe we should just let Sid handle this himself," Jordan Staal spoke after a little while. The rest of the team looked at him. "I mean, we've done everything we can. We've tried to tell him that Ella's just using him, what more can we do?"

"We can do more! I'm sure we can!" Max argued and snapped his fingers. "I know! We'll set him up with a prettier and better girl, maybe then he'll see what he's missing," he said and Kris, Geno, and Tyler nodded.

"Or, you can just let Sid handle his own personal life and not interfere with it," Bill Guerin offered as he passed by his scheming friend. "I really don't think Sid would appreciate a bunch of goons meddling with his love life.

*

"Sid!" Ella screamed excitedly when she caught sight of him amongst the crowd. She quickly ran to him had jumped into his awaiting arms. "I missed you so much!"

Sidney laughed and squeezed her tightly. "I missed you too," he responded lovingly. "How's my favourite boy doing?" he asked, breaking the hug and got her things form her.

"He's doing well. He's already gotten so big, you should see him!" she said proudly.

Sid looked at Ella. Every time she talked about her son, he noticed that her eyes would be brighter, her voice would become happier and her general mood would pick up. He could see how much she loved her son just by the way Ella talked about him.

"I would love to see him, but a certain mother won't let me," he teased making her blush.

"Next week when you go to New York for your game, I want you to meet him in person just so you know how special he is."

"I already know how special he is, by the way you, Norma and Frank talk about him."

Ella smiled and held on to Sidney's free hand affectionately. "Well, aren't you a charmer," she teased him.

"Only for you," he teased back with a smirk. "Are you going to watch my game tomorrow? Or are you job hunting?"

"I think I'm going to watch your game. Besides, Taylor has been bugging me about going."

Over the past two months since Ella's arrival in Pittsburgh, Ella and Taylor had grown a quick and close friendship. Often, Ella found herself dumping her problems on Taylor because she didn't want Sidney to worry too much about her.

Taylor was easy to talk too and always offered realistic advice. It was no bullshit, straight up honest answers with her. She also knew about Ella being raped, having a child and trying to readopt him. Ella had confessed to her one night when she was faced with the possibility that they might not let her adopt him and Ella couldn't talk to Sidney about it.

"You should take her to the locker room after the game. Geno has some weird crush on her," he commented and loaded her things into the car.

Ella's eyes widened. "So it isn't just me thinking that they have some sort of sexual tension going on?" she asked excitedly.

Sidney laughed and shook his head. "It's kind of obvious when all they do is argue with each other. We all know that behind all that hate is sexual tension."

Ella laughed gloriously and got into the car. She kissed his cheek when he entered the car and smiled at him. "I can't wait until you meet him. I think you're going to love him."

"If he's anything like his mother, I think I already love him."