The Crosby Life

“No!” I screamed, leaning over the wall. “No no no no no! SIDNEY!”
Johnny placed his arm around my waist to keep me from hopping out onto the ice over to my brother. “SIDNEY!” I screamed and then snarled at the Bolts’ winger, Downie, who took Sidney down. “How dare you son of a~” Brent placed his hand over my mouth. Downie looked at me in shock and when Brent took his hand from my mouth, I only snarled again. “How dare you!”
“Sierra, enough.” Dan said and I sat down on the bench in defeat and placed my head in my hands. I wasn’t allowed to play today, my Achilles was too painful. So painful that I was actually on crutches in order to keep my weight off of it, but I was allowed to be with my team, as always.
“He’s fine Sierra.” Brent whispered in my ear.
“How?” I mumbled in return. As I looked up, tears shown in my eyes. “He won’t put any weight on that leg.”
Sid made it to the bench and sat next to me as our team doctor checked him over. I took his hand and squeezed it.
After a few shifts and a whistle, Sidney tested his leg out on the ice by skating a figure eight. I leaned over the wall to watch him, my right leg resting on the bench behind me. He skated up with a smile. “It feels fine. It was more of a stinger than anything else.”
I heaved a huge sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.” I grabbed his stick and handed it to him. “Don’t push yourself, Sid.”
He grinned at me and skated backwards. “No worries.” And he went on to play the rest of the game, perfectly ok.
Of course, if only Geno ended up the same way. I nodded to Marc-Andre to wish him good luck, but I ended up staying with Evgeni down in the locker room for the final period. He took Kris’ slap shot to his foot, and we all feared that he had broken it.
His head rested in my lap as we watched the rest of the game from the TV in the locker room. I played with his hair and he almost got up to cheer when Pascal scored the goal to win it, but thought better of it and laid back down.
“Are you feeling ok?” I asked him, concerned when he turned down a Russian treat that he kept with him.
He nodded his head and turned his dark eyes onto me. I looked down at him. “Yeah, it just hurts.” I could hear the pain in his voice.
I looked at him, concerned, but he just smiled and turned his eyes back on the TV as we took the lead in the game. He flashed his crooked smile. “I’m fine.”
I closed my eyes and smiled back. “If you say so.” I replied, playing with his hair once again.
Our team held the lead and ended up winning the game, giving us some momentum, but sorrowful for our loss of a player. Geno limped to the bus as we left to head to the airport, and I walked uncomfortably with my crutches. Marc-Andre had to help me, because I pretty much sucked using them because they hurt my underarms too much.
We were all happy that we would be returning to Pittsburgh for the day. Geno would be getting an x-ray and I would be looked over to see the severity of my heel.
Marc and I gave up using the crutches, and he just carried me out of the airport and to the Escalade as Sidney and Jordan carried our things. “Thanks Siddy.” I said to him through the open window of the car.
“Anytime. Get some rest tomorrow. Call me when you find anything out.” He said and I nodded. “I’ll be keeping in touch about Geno too.”
“Ok, goodnight.” I said to him as Jordan hopped into the back of the car.

“Oh no!” I gasped, collapsing onto the stool in the kitchen. “Bri? And Getz too?” I asked my brother over the phone.
“Yeah, Ovetchkin pushed Campbell into the boards and he suffered a broken collar bone and a few broken ribs. Getz suffered yet another sprained ankle.”
I put my head in my hand I wasn’t using to hold the phone. “Is Bri going to be ok?”
I could hear Sidney’s intake of breath. “He won’t be playing for the rest of the season, or the playoffs.”
“For God’s sakes.” I said, standing up and limping to the counter. “That man… That man deserves so much more than just a two game suspension.” I growled.
“Who deserves what for which reasons and why?” Marc-Andre said, appearing from around the corner.
I told him everything, and the cold look I received back made me shiver. “Yesterday was a bad day.” He said, picking my up and sitting me on top of the counter.
Sidney heard Marc and I placed him on speaker phone. “You’re telling me.” Sidney grumbled. “At least Geno wasn’t severely hurt.”
“Day-to-day?” Marc asked.
“Yes.” Sid confirmed. “He’s resting now. I was thinking about taking something over to his place later.”
“I’ll pick up some Russian treats from Gonch.” I suggested. “His wife usually always has something, and I’m sure she won’t mind.”
“Alright. I’ll leave you to that then. I was thinking of calling a place in Chicago to deliver something to Campbell.”
Marc chuckled. “How about some soup?”
I laughed and pushed him at his hip playfully with my good foot. “That isn’t very nice.”
“Jenna told it to me.”
I raised an eyebrow at him while Sidney laughed. “Yeah, she calls him a bunch of different nicknames.”
“Oh.” Was all I could bring myself to say.
Marc-Andre turned around and grabbed an icepack from the freezer, taking my ankle in hand and holding the icepack to it. “Why not send him some chocolate?” I suggested. “They have some good chocolate places in Chicago, and I’m sure they deliver.”
Marc-Andre nodded his head. “And he’s a hockey player. He loves chocolate.”
Sidney stifled laughter. “I’m pretty sure most people love chocolate.”
“Oh, shut up.” Marc said and I laughed.
“Ok, enough.” I finally said. “Sid, find a place in Chicago that delivers and said some chocolate to Bri. Marcy, we get to drive to Gonch’s place. And by we, I mean you since I can’t drive.” He smiled and picked me up from the counter and set me carefully on the ground as I hung up with Sidney.
I limped my way to the closet to grab a sweater to throw on and put on some shoes as Marc got the keys. “Jordan!” I yelled and he peered down the railing from upstairs. “We are going to Gonch’s to pick up something Russian for Evgeni. Want to come?”
He shook his head and Marc opened the door and waited for me. “No thanks. I have a house I want to look at this afternoon.”
I shrugged and limped over to the door where Marc-Andre took my arm for support. “Alright, remember to lock up.” I said and we left the house.
“How are you feeling?” Marc-Andre asked as he helped me into the car. He got into the driver’s seat and we were on our way to Sergei’s.
I looked at him. “Ok.” I replied to him. “I’ve felt better.” I grinned at him.
He met my eyes for a moment and smiled before turning back to the road. He held my hand and I called Sergei’s house, just to make sure they had something we could take to Geno.
Sergei’s wife said that we were just in time, because she just made something that I couldn’t pronounce, so I’ll just keep calling it a ‘treat’.
We arrived at the Gonchar household not long after, and Sergei’s daughter answered the door. “Hi, Marc-Andre and Sierra.” She said happily, beckoning us.
“Hey, sweetie.” I said as Mrs. Gonchar came out of their kitchen.
“Hello you two.” She said with a big smile. “It is good to see you. I haven’t seen you guys in so long.” She hugged me and then handed a tin filled with the treats. “I hope he likes him. And I hope you feel better too.”
I thanked her. “I’m sure he will. He’s Geno; he will pretty much eat anything.” We chuckled. “Thank you again for sparing them.”
She smiled. “Anytime, dear. I can always make more.” She beckoned to the doorway. “I know you guys can’t stay, but please come by just to say hello sometime.”
Marc-Andre smiled. “We will. See you later.” And back to the car we go.
I messed around with the music in the car and accidentally ended up on a “scream-o” channel. I shrieked and quickly turned it over as Marc-Andre laughed. “Good choice of music, sweetheart.”
I shook my head at him. “It wasn’t my fault. You should have had a good channel in the first place.” I teased.
He looked over at me quickly and smiled.
We made it to Geno’s place and Marc-Andre helped me out of the huge Escalade as I held the tin close to me. We walked, well, I limped, up to the door and I used my key to open the door. I have a key to everyone’s house. Don’t ask me why, I just seem to be the one everyone trusts to have a key.
“Evgeni?” I asked as I poked my head into his house. I wrinkled my nose at the smell of smoke and spotted my Russian teammate lying on the couch. “Geno?”
He looked at me. “Remind me never try to cook something that involves a long recipe by myself ever again.”
I laughed and walked inside, with Marc following behind me. “Alright, I will.” I held the tin up. “It’s a good thing we brought you something then, isn’t it.”
Geno’s brown eyes lit up. I handed the tin to Marc-Andre who went over and sat next to Geno, who peaked curiously inside. “Mmmm.” He said happily, taking a taste. “Gonchar cooking.” He stated, not asked.
Marc-Andre nodded and I made my way into the kitchen, determined to clean this place up a bit. “They just made some and let us take some to you.” Marc said. “Sierra, what are you doing?” Both of them looked at me as I limped by, holding a basket of laundry.
I met both of their eyes. “Hey, somebody has to clean up around here.” I said with a smile.
The two of them laughed. “What would I do without you?” Evgeni asked playfully as I started to laundry and went to the kitchen to clean up.
“All of you crazy Penguins would be lost without me.” I walked by the two of them with a scrubber in hand, and tossed it at Geno. He blinked in surprise, and Marc-Andre reached out and grabbed me by my waist, pulling me against him as I squealed and was careful to keep my weight off of my food.
“We would totally be lost without you.” Geno said, laughing as I got Marc-Andre a tad bit wet.
A soft kiss came suddenly from my Marc. “I would definitely be lost without you.” He said quietly and I smiled up at him with pure love.