Long Live

"There's one last thing left in the box dad." Lauren said pulling out a thumb drive. The kids decided to plug it into the TV hoping that whatever was on the thumb drive would show up and it did. The only file on the drive was a video of Emma, a video Sidney saw countless times.

"It's just a video of her at my games and us like hanging out." Sidney said not in the mood to hear her voice again. It's been years since Sidney watched this video because hearing her made her seem so far away.

The videos were various games that Emma had attended and videos of adventures that her and Sidney went on. Her reactions during the games was the best part of the video, you could hear her swearing and screaming at the refs or cheering when Sidney did something amazing.

"That's the end." Sidney said standing up to retrieve the thumb drive from the TV when Lauren shouted, "Wait dad, theres more to the video." And sure enough there was another video and this time it was of Emma in Sidney's room. This was before her cancer came back since her hair was long and beautiful.

Video:
Hey Sid, if you're watching this then I guess I died. That sounds so weird, saying that I'm going to die. I haven't told you yet about my cancer and I don't really know how to tell you about it. I figured telling you on the ice during our scrimmages might be scarring and you won't want to play hockey again. And we can't have golden boy not play, all of Canada would hate me. I'm sure I'll find some way to eventually tell you. Anyway I made this portion of the video to give you some advice for when I'm gone:
Don't tell other girls about me on the first date. They won't find it attractive that you're talking about your dead friend whom you shacked up with.
Say the right name at the wedding. Don't be like Ross.
Don't forget to have fun
Tell your kids of all the great things you did. I'm sure you're going to be the lamest dad EVER. So you have to tell them how the crowds went wild and all of that stuff. That way they'll think you're not THAT lame.
Don't miss out of your kids lives. Be there for them, be there for all the scraped knees, broken hearts, graduations, weddings. Don't miss out Sid.
Don't let your kids get into hockey so they can have a childhood. Seriously, we've missed out so much.
Don't marry a puck bunny, I will literally haunt you.
And lastly, move on Sidney. I know we've had this weird relationship thing going on for as long as I can remember. But I'm going to be gone way before you Sid. So you have to move on, find yourself a nice girl, marry her and have kids. I know theres the box of all my accomplishment, throw everything away in there except for maybe like the tiara and the Olympic medal. You don't need that in your life Sid, those things will be holding you back. When you fall in love with this new girl, you have to fully fall in love with her Sid.
Oh, you just came home! I have to go now Sid. I will always love you. Vivre Longtemps (long live) Sidney.

And with that the video ended. It was so quiet no one knew what to say after all of that. The guys especially they knew how long Sidney held onto Emma's things and for her to just tell him to let it go must be hard.

"Tell your mother that I'm going home for about a week. And tell her don't come." Sidney said telling his kids before putting everything back in the box and going to his car. Sidney booked the next flight to Nova Scotia which wasn't hard since he was Sidney Crosby. He needed to get out of town, to get away from all those sympathetic faces in the room. He just needed to go home to Canada.

The whole week he was there he stayed at Emma's childhood home. He couldn't go to the house he owned or his parent's house knowing his wife would be blowing up the phone trying to reach him. After Emma had died Sidney would still visit her parents whenever he was in town. Of course this was hidden from his wife since she would go into a fit of rage since he never liked visiting her parents.

On the final day of his trip Sidney drove to lake behind his house. After Emma had died they divided up her ashes. Half of it went to into the lake behind Sid's house and the other half went to Canada's national cemetery where Sidney is to be buried as well.

Sitting on the dock Sidney started to talk to Emma; "I'm here listening to your wise advice. Nothing much has changed since I was here besides the fact that I finally told my kids about you and I watched the rest of your video. Em, I don't know how much longer I can wait to see you again. Watching the video made me realize how much I missed you, but I know better than to go against your advice. I'll keep you waiting as long as possible but don't forget to meet me in the middle now. Well here are all of your things back."

And with that said Sidney dumped everything from the box into the lake, all the newspaper clippings, photographs. The only thing he kept was the tiara and gold medal just like how she wanted.

"I'll always love you Em, vivre longtemps."