The Next Year

I called Sid as we made our way to the Hospital. "Hey babe. Yeah we just got on to the 376. Since breakfast? I had some of my mix, but nothing substantial yet. I don't know, we could get something in the Hospital before we go up. Ok that sounds good, I'll call Mrs. Zeigler and Mrs. Kunicky after I get off the phone with you. I'm sure she won't have a problem. Who all is joining us?" Yeah I wanted to know who would be with us for the celebration this afternoon. "Oh wow that's great. No I'll let them know. OK we'll see you there." I hung up the phone and happily sighed.

"Good news I take it?" Phil asked. I nodded. "Just remember you're the current Champ here. You get to carry him through the Hospital." I looked out and saw that we were close to 279.

"Yes sir. I have a couple more calls to make, we're planning on having lunch in the Hospital so you know and a few of the guys will be joining us and Pens TV too." Phil just laughed and smiled. I made both phone calls to the Hospital, letting them know that I was on my way and would have several people with me. After that was squared away, I called Tiffany's mother. "Hello Mrs. Ross, it's Aleks. I'm sure you're getting ready to head out but I wanted to let you know that it won't be just me showing up. Apparently a good portion of the guys want to make this day awesome for the kids. We're taking over. I wanted to double check when Tiffany's appointment was set for." Mrs. Ross was laughing at my teammates enthusiasm. She then reminded me that Tiffany was already in the Hospital for her tests but that the doctor was supposed to be in her room at 11:30 am. "That sounds perfect. We'll be up at about noon if that's ok? It'll give us all a chance to have lunch."

As I hung up we were pulling onto the 40th street bridge. We were minutes away from the second part of my day. I couldn't stop smiling, this _almost_ meant more to me than bringing Stanley to SSM. I had been keeping up with Tiffany through the summer, she had been getting stronger and stronger. This would hopefully be the last time she would have to stay the night at Children's Hospital for her. "What has you so happy?"

I chuckled. "Back in July, I came here with Development Camp and met a young lady by the name of Tiffany Ross. She was about to have surgery for Pilocytic Astrocytoma, it's a tumor in her brain. We've stayed in touch and I got word from her mom that she was being observed overnight last night and she should get a clean bill of health this afternoon. She played hockey and fell down during a game, that's how they found it. I told her that if she gets back on her feet and beats it I'd see if I could get some ice time at the CEC or Southpointe with the guys. When I found out that she would be here today I arraigned for certain to come here with our friend. I mean what could be better than beating that _and_ getting some pictures taken with The Cup?" He smiled at me as we pulled up in front.

"Your day with the oldest trophy in all of sports and you bring it to inspire the girls from your Alma Mater and to perk up someone getting good news? What is tonight's plan dinner with the queen of the city?" He was teasing me by his tone.

I laughed loudly as the door was opened by the driver. "No, just a party with friends and family." I got out and carefully took The Cup out after me. Phil was out soon after with a smile on his face. There, waiting for us was half of the guys who were in town, Pens TV and Andrea Kunicky from the Hospital. "Hey gang! Shall we get something to eat before we get this show on the road?" The guys all laughed. "Oh and before I forget, Mrs. Kunicky I told one of the paitents' mother, Mrs. Ross, that at least myself and my friend here would be up to see Tiffany at noon."

She nodded. "Yes, she told me when she got here. Tiffany is a remarkable girl." She led us into the Hospital and got us all signed in with the proper badges. Unlike normally we all got green badges, when I asked what it meant she smiled. "It means that you are temporary hospital staff. It's only good for today, I thought they would be good souvenirs as well for you all."

We went into the cafeteria and got some lunch after that, the guys all asking me how the first part of the trip had gone so far. "Well I _still_ don't like getting up at 4:30 am, but it's gone great so far." I told them some of what had happened. They all roared with laughter as I told them about putting both little boys in their places.

Soon enough we were done with lunch and autographs, it was time to go surprise Tiffany. The guys closed ranks around me, even though is was difficult with our friend in my arms. It was easier once we got into the elevator as I could hand him off for a moment. There were smiles all around as we rode up, who couldn't be happy when you had friends as good as ours? We hit the 6th floor and exited. Stopping at the nurses' station, I asked what room Tiffany Ross was in. We were happily given directions by her doctor. "She will be thrilled to see you all."

I chuckled. "That _is_ the point Doctor. To make this day epic for her." He laughed and brought us to her door.

"Tiffany, you have some visitors. I think you're going to like this even more than the news I just gave you." She laughed loudly and sounded very happy. Sid squeezed my elbow.

"Doc, _nothing_ could be better than the news you gave me! Oh man I gotta tell Aleks!" That was my cue. Nodding my head I started for her door.

"Don't bother Tiff, you're laughing and happy. I can tell that it's good news." She gasped as I came in followed by the guys. Unable to speak she just pointed, I was guessing to The Cup. "Oh this old thing?" I set him on the table. "Yeah sometimes I gotta take him out and show him off or people just don't believe that he's a friend." I turned the engraving to face her. "See, we might be new friends but we're officially friends." I winked at her and she laughed.

She reached out a hand and brushed her fingers over the engraving. I looked for my dad's name from the 1997 Wings win. "Here, this is the first time I met my friend here." I turned it so she could see it. "This is my dad right here. I was 11 this year."

She was silently looking at all of the engravings. Sid nudged me carefully and then spoke. "Hey Tiff, how'd you and your family like to crash the _most_ exclusive party today?" She gasped and darted a look to her mom, who just put the question back on her. "Tell you what, we're having a party to celebrate Aleks' day. Well really Mario is hosting but the guys will all be there and Aleks' family too. Her grandfather was a superstar in Russia during the cold war."

Her eyes got huge as she looked at me, Sid and then to her mom. "Please." Mom held up a hand and picked up the phone. After a few minutes, she hung up the phone and sighed.

"You are a very spoiled young lady. Let us know when we can be there and our family would be more than happy to join you." Tiffany squealed and hugged her mom.

Sid pulled me back and the guys came closer. "Ok this was a hit and it's a go. Before you ask, inviting them was _Mario's_ idea. Now let's go make other kids happy in the building." The guys all nodded and began spreading out through the floor. Sid kissed my cheek, making James gag as a joke. We both threw him a nasty look, which he just grinned off. "Come on, let's take Tiffany and have her show us off."

After spending hours in Children's Hospital cheering up as many kids as we were allowed to see with pictures, stories and autographs we finally found out that Tiffany was about to be released. As a group we decided that she would get an escort out to her mom's car. As her mother signed out Tiffany; we lined up outside her room. The nurse came in with a wheelchair and Tiffany was put into it. She laughed as she saw us waiting for her. "Here, make sure he doesn't fall." I said as I put Stanley in her lap. She tried balking but I hushed her. "This is _my_ day with him, and I think that someone getting out of the Hospital deserves to hold him on her way to the car."

Phil laughed as he steadied the cup in her lap. "She _is_ right. As long as you don't hoist it over your head and are respectful I have no problem with it. In fact you _might_ be the first discharged patient to hold him as they exit the hospital." We all escorted her to the main entrance and while the nurse was making sure she was settled in the car safely, Sid gave her mother an envelope with directions to Mario's' home.

We all split off to go our separate ways; Phil went with us which was fine by me. Once we were in the car, Sid drove towards home and spoke. "I have something I need to show you. You mind?" I shook my head, why would I mind, I got to do the two things I _really_ wanted to do today. "Good cause I'm hoping you won't get mad about this and I'm kind of afraid you will."

That boded ill, rarely did I get angry with something Sid did. If he thought I'd be angry about this, it was a big thing. We all made small talk on our way home. We pulled into Mario's driveway and Sid turned off the car. Austin and Alexa came out of the house grinning. "Phil, we'll be in shortly, Austin and Alexa will help you." He took my hand and lead me away from the house.

We went across the street and standing there was the foreman overseeing the remodel. "Good afternoon, are you ready?" I was about to ask ready for what when Sid handed me a hard hat. I put it on and let them lead me into whatever it was we were doing.

We were led into the shell of a house beginning to take real shape across from Mario's. "So everything is going wonderfully. We got that special item you asked for and the people installed it last week." Shortly we began descending a set of stairs to what I hoped was the basement. I was proven right as we went further down. "I'll give you a better tour in a few minutes, I know you're anxious to see this though." We were led to underneath where the garage would be. He opened a door and in front of us was a rink.

I looked at Sid who was beaming. "Come on!" he tugged me to the boards. "It's not _quite_ ¼ scale of an NHL rink but it's 100% skateable." I looked, shocked that he would put a rink; even one that's this small, in the house; then I remembered whom I was thinking about. He hesitated as I slowed down. "Daphe?"

I sighed. "Babe just because you found out that Mario's neighbors have a rink under their garage doesn't mean you can co-opt it." He looked at me oddly and then burst out laughing like an idiot. When he finally was able to look at me without laughing I asked the next, dumb, question. "What the _fuck_ is so funny Crosby?"

Giggling like our niece Anna, he was look at me and with as straight a face as he could muster right now, spoke. "Babe, this is _our_ house. Now before you ask any _more_ dumb questions let me explain. Yes, our stuff is in a different place. No, we don't actually own that house. Your folks found out that I was planning on asking you if we wanted to build a house for us and then said that they were looking at a new place. When I found that place, I made sure that they saw it. They loved the location and the house and bought it. The paperwork you signed was for _this_ place. Your folks are fine with us living there until this one is done, sometime in February or March I think is the plan." He looked at our foreman who nodded. Your grandfather and they were talking during everything last season and he and one of your dad's sisters are coming here to live. That's why they need a bigger house."

As things sunk in, I saw the reason he was laughing. "Wait, you... You put a synthetic ice rink in our house. Do you know the words attractive nuisance? The guys won't ever let you live this down and the ones with kids will be over all the time to use it." He smiled and nodded. "So just _how_ tough is this stuff?" I move over to the edge and looked at it. It was completely enclosed with boards and where there was room to sit, cause of course there were benches too, Plexiglas.

Sid opened the door and took a step out onto it. Running a foot back and forth he grinned. "I knew that we'd have extra company and stuff so I got the 1 inch thick stuff. Yeah it cost more but it can hold up to the punishment of being used often. I did the research and went with Kwik Rink as they've been around the longest and everyone I talked to said that they were the best. It needs monthly maintenance of putting the solution on it but that's it. When we have kids, eventually, they can learn here without everyone staring at them because of us. It won't matter if it's 100 outside or below freezing, in here we'll always be ready for a skate." He had that hopeful look in his eyes, he wanted me to be as thrilled about this as he was.

I stepped onto the surface and took a few tentative steps. It wasn't _exactly_ like ice but it was _really_ close. I had to work a little harder to move, but as I got used to it moving was easier. "This isn't too bad. I think the problem will be when and if one of us gets hurt. The temptation to get on here before we should will be huge."

He grinned. "Yeah that will be a problem, but think about it. Your own surface to keep in shape on once we have kids." He was now officially overselling this. I moved over to him and glared.

"That won't be for _at_ _least_ 2 years, probably more. Stop overselling and let," I looked at our foreman quizzically.

"Dave, ma'am. If you're ready we can go look at the rest of what's planned. If you want to make changes your architect is here today as well." I smiled.

Coming off the ice I sighed as well. "Let's find out if there _is_ anything I want to change. Lead the way Dave." We went back out into the open space in the main area.

Dave used his radio to call upstairs and ask Charlie to come down here. Someone came down right away and lit up when he saw Sidney. "Mr. Crosby hello again." He saw me and grinned even bigger. "And you must be Aleks. How much have you seen and what do you think? I know that he was _very_ concerned that you love this design as much as he does."

"Well to be honest the first thing Sid had to show me, and oversell," I looked over my shoulder at Sid who shrugged and looked apologetic, "was the synthetic rink. You're the architect right?" Charlie nodded. "Good, so now you guys can all sell me on this place and why I shouldn't hurt one of you."

Charlie laughed at the threat, it was empty anyway I couldn't hurt Sid on purpose. "Well let's start right where we are then. This is of course the basement, the main room will be open down here and there will be a wet bar over one wall near the rink. We're currently in a debate on if there should be a fireplace down here as well as in the Great Room. We can stack them and have a single chimney extend on both floors." He was looking at both Sid and I to get our opinions.

"We only had one at my folks place, but then again it wasn't as large as this one is. What do you think babe?" Oh thanks Sid, now the decision was on me. Fortunately I knew what my answer was going to be.

"Heat rises, if the unthinkable happens and we're without power having 2 fireplaces might come in handy. If nothing else we could gather with friends and all stay warm." Dave sighed happily. "I take it that you were Pro-dual fireplaces?" I asked.

"Yes I was and not just because it means more work for my guys. There's just something about a fireplace that makes everything nicer." There was wistfulness in his voice.

I had to smile. "I can think of another reason too." Sid looked at me oddly. "Think about it, if we want a romantic evening and don't want the guys to interrupt we can come down here and have the fire. They won't see the light and so we can safely ignore the doorbell." I sidled up to Sid and toyed with the collar of his shirt to prove my point. He swallowed a bit harder than normal and I smiled. I then turned to Charlie and moved on. "Ok So that's a go, What else is going to go down here?"

Charlie laughed. "Ok then, we haven't started framing down here yet but so far the plans are like this." He lead us to the corner that was shaped like an octagon. "This will be a bedroom, in fact the one underneath the Master, there will be a sitting area in it as well as the Master."

Sid spoke up as he paced the marked edges. "Maybe this can be my folks room when they are here." I looked at him sharply. "What?"

I looked at the ceiling and asked what I thought would be a simple question. "Can we put sound dampening in the ceiling of this room?" Dave and Charlie looked at me oddly. "You said this room has the Master above it right? Well I don't really want my in-laws hearing certain things that consenting adults do." They obviously got it but Sid didn't.

"What does consenting adults have to do with my folks?" God bless him but he could be _so_ clueless.

"Sidney what is the one thing that we do that there is _no_ _way_ you want your folks overhearing us do?" He looked at me like I was nuts. "This will be Taylor's room and I still want sound dampening stuff in the ceiling. My sister hearing us have sex possibly I can deal with, _not_ my in-laws." That's when Sid got it.

"Oh Yeah, that wouldn't be good. Tay isn't here as often. Maybe at her fall break we can bring her here to help decorate." I noticed Charlie making some notes.

We moved into what would be the home gym. This is where I questioned if we really needed 7 bedrooms. "It would be nice to have a bigger home gym with maybe a sauna in it." Charlie drew a draft quickly and then laid a piece of thin paper over it. "Like maybe this." I extended the bedroom at the front of the house and re-arraigned the bathroom. It left this bedroom without a closet but I knew that wouldn't matter much. "What do you guys think?"

Charlie took the pencil and refined my idea a little bit. "It wouldn't be a big sauna, maybe fit 4 if they were friendly. It could be done though. Do you mind losing the closet though?" We both shook our heads in the negative. "Ok, I'll re-work this and anything else you want to change tonight."

We continued through to the media room, which just had me sighing. I didn't want a room for the TV and all that. I wanted those in the main room so that we could all enjoy them without being too far apart. Then I got hit with an idea. "Could we maybe give us a small locker room down here some where near the rink? It would be a big help."

Again Charlie sketched out where we were and then handed over the pencil. I took it and just put a wall where there was a ridge beam. "Even if it's only 4 lockers it should be enough room for our needs. Maybe we can eventually turn this into our wine cellar. I know we have a small one right now, but this is the one hobby we share so far. Knowing us, our collection will grow."

Charlie looked over at Sid and smirked. "You weren't kidding, she's full of all sorts of good ideas. What else down here would you like to change? This was the reason we hadn't gotten much done, we were hoping you would have ideas to help make this place your perfect home." I studied the preliminary plans and smiled. Everything else looked good to me.

"I think that's it. I notice that the Master bathroom bumps out a bit further than the specs here would suggest. Is there a reason?" I heard Sid chuckle dryly and knew he had something to do with that.

Charlie just beamed. "Yes it turns out that a 2 person whirlpool tub is bigger than we thought. So between that and the 2 person shower the bathroom got a little bigger. It translates down here as well, it might end up making your sauna a bit bigger than I think right now. I'm hoping that won't be a problem." We both laughed loudly.

We all then moved to the main floor. "As you can see this is more complete than downstairs right now. This main room is your Great Room, off of which is the breakfast nook and kitchen." Charlie moved us into what would be our kitchen. "I know it's not much to look at but it will be incredible. You have two pantries off of the kitchen," he showed us the placement of both, "Here and here, this one will also be a butler's pantry between the kitchen and dining room as well. Behind us will be the mud room and further back the laundry room. You have 2 powder rooms in addition to the Master bathroom on this level." He showed us one set of plumbing for the powder room near the kitchen.

"So, if the downstairs has a distinct jog in the media/wine room, what would it be up here?" I was curious. I walked to that portion of the house and noticed another fireplace, but this one was a complete built in. The jog made the dining room an interesting shape. It would help at Thanksgiving and Christmas I was sure.

"Well we aren't sure just what that will be yet, Sidney was thinking maybe a formal sitting area for those occasions you need something like that." I thought about it, he was right. We did occasionally need a more formal space, but not a lot. "We thought it would work best with the dining room as, if I recall correctly, you have inherited a table that will fill this space nicely."

"You recall correctly. It was my maternal grandmother's table and so on back for several generations. It's well loved." I chuckled at the thought of having my own dinner parties around it.

Sid moved us towards the Master Suite. "Take a look in here babe. Our room." Of course right now it was bare studs but I could kind of see it. "I thought you might like a reading nook so that's why we have the sitting area." I smiled at him. Unlike most of our friends I did love to read. "To keep the books safe from sun damage we'll have to put the shelves somewhere else but I don't think that will be much of a problem."

I wandered into the Master Bathroom and began poking around. Dual sinks, a whirlpool tub for two and what looked like a freshly installed dual shower. I couldn't find the toilet until Charlie coughed and pointed it out. It had it's own room with a pocket door. Imade my way through to what would be the Master Closet. It was a nice size and should fit us well for years. Behind the closet was another room at the front of the house. "What's this room?" I asked as I crossed through the studs.

Dave chuckled. "This is the den officially, I'm sure you can make it into anything you need though." I shook my head. I didn't need any office space at home and if we ended up needing some I was sure we could find some.

"Nah, Sid can have this room for all of his male stuff that I won't want in other parts of the house." Both Dave and Charlie chuckled at that. Sid tried balking but it was difficult when he couldn't get through the studs. "Oh come on don'e you want a space where you can play cards and stuff with the boys and _not_ have me complain about it? Especially once we _do_ have kids. Think of it as a space to encourage other hobbies."

"I have hobbies." Sid said hotly as he made his way around.

"Hon, your hobbies are not many but we can discuss that later. Let's finish the tour so we can get back to the party." I was trying to placate him but his narrowed eyes told me that this discussion wasn't over.

As a group we ascended the stairs to the top floor. "This is a lot smaller than I expected." I said as we got up there.

"There are 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and this area here that can be a play room. Two of the bedrooms are rather large and the third is more of a normal size that you would see in a typical home." Dave directed us to the largest bedroom. "This bedroom doesn't have a bathtub but it does have a shower. It _is_ the largest bedroom up here and one I'm sure that you two will find a use for soon enough." He turned us around. "This is the smallest of the three here, pretty typical overall. Both of these rooms have window seats in them." He moved us through the bathroom adjoining the other bedroom. "This room may have a funky design to it, but that gets made up for when you turn the corner." I went and did so, there was a door and a very small balcony. I must have gasped as Sid joined me quickly.

I put a hand on his arm and looked at him. "I can see her in this room. Just think, a couch here in this space along with a TV set up so when she has sleepovers she doesn't have to keep the whole house up. Some small planters on the balcony when she's old enough so that she can learn how things grow and need care to thrive." I looked around and could _see our daughter's bedroom. I had never been sure until this moment that we would have a girl.

Sid came over and hugged me from behind. "If you can see that it won't sound so odd that I saw our son's room in the biggest one then. He gets the shower cause he'll need it more often." I started to giggle. We were seeing our future taking shape before us.

Sid looked at Charlie and Dave. "So how long do you think you'll need to make the changes she suggested downstairs and get that framed in?" A warm spot grew in my chest. He was learning new things by building this house.

Dave answered. "If Charlie can get it to us tomorrow, it should be framed then and then we can get the subs in and get the rough-ins completed. We aren't behind by any means." We began leaving the house; after all we had a party to get to. "We'll keep you updated of course. Thank you for letting me know you were available today, your timing was great."

We all walked out of the house leaving our hard hats behind. Charlie stopped by his car before heading out. "Can I call you guys tonight if I have questions?"

We stopped partway into the street and Sid turned. "Um… I'm not we'll be able to hear our phones honestly. We're about to step into Aleks' Cup Party I don't know how much Mario has added to it. When he offered to host he said that he would get to add a few people. You don't argue with the boss." Charlie laughed.

"More like you never argue with god, but yeah I get it. Well if I do call I'll leave a message. Just try and get back to me asap." We both nodded. "Other than that, it's time to start talking to an interior decorator."

Sid looked at me like a deer caught in the headlights. He hadn't thought that far I think. I looked over at Charlie. "By the look on his face, we don't have one yet. We'll find someone in the next day or two and let you know." Charlie nodded and wished us a good evening.

Coming back across the street I was amazed as the amount of cars that were now in the courtyard. I recognized most of them as we wound our way through to the front doors. When we got in the house, Nathalie met us. "Darlings, t'ere you are!" She warmly embraced us both. "Were you showing off to ‘er Sidney?" He blushed hard, proving her correct. I just rolled my eyes as she caught him.

"He hadn't told me at all until today. I might hurt him for it, I haven't decided yet." Nathalie's face went from bright and happy to serious but no less happy. "Fortunately his life looks to be safe for now. The architect was on site and was willing to make a couple changes I suggested."

Nathalie beamed. "Yes he is a good architect. Very willing to work wit' ‘is clients. W'at is next?" We were slowly moving further into the house, I wasn't really paying too much attention, as I was engrossed in the conversation we were having.

"We get to find an Interior Designer in the next couple days and start on that. If you know of anyone who is discreet and willing to work with us please let us know. We have a lot of furniture that we love and works well for us but walls and floors and all that… I would prefer to have someone to help us navigate all of that." She smiled at me and nodded. That was a relief I loved how Nathalie had decorated their home. It had both formal and informal spaces and was completely welcoming.

"I ‘ave a few people I know who might be good for you to work wit'. I will call t'em tomorrow and find out who ‘as time. But now, let us go and celebrate wit' friends and family and ‘ope t'at we get to do it again soon." She opened the doors to the balcony fully and we went through them.

Stepping outside I was shocked. There were many more people than I expected. "What?"

That's when Mario noticed us. "Aleks!" That made everyone turn and cheer. He made his way up the stairs to the patio and hugged me tightly. "Forgive me, I could not help but expand your get together."

As I looked around the guests, I saw friends and family from several teams. I glanced over at Sidney and noticed that he looked stricken. I placed a hand on his arm. "Hey, it's ok. Mario had every right to expand this, I mean it _is_ his home." Mario chuckled. "That's also part of the reason I originally made this a small get together. If he wanted to invite more friends and family, cause I see no one who isn't one of those, it's up to him and Nathalie."

Mario kissed my forehead. "Thank you. I offered to host because I knew your circumstances. When we saw how few you were inviting, we knew we had to make it bigger. If you notice, we did make sure t'e kids were here too." I had seen the kids playing tag between the fence and the edge of the party. "Go, enjoy your day without the pressure of being in t'e public eye anymore. We _did_ invite t'e neighbors as well so you could get to know them too. Not to mention it makes it easier with possibly noise complaints."

I laughed. Trust Mario and Nathalie to use this for other purposes as well. I happily descended the stairs off the patio and went to join our friends and family in one of the best days in my life. As I did so, everyone began applauding which embarrassed me. Then I heard Ovi laughing. Trust him to find humor in ambushing me.

I began circulating around to touch base with everyone. Everyone seemed really happy to be here and having such a great day to share with me. There were a few missing who I would have loved to have seen but overall I was thrilled with who was here. "There she is!" Oh I knew that voice. Turning I quickly found myself embrace by the handful of Caps who were here. "Hey guys! Thanks for coming over and sharing this with me."

They laughed. "Like we could turn down an invitation to come _here_. Summer was good?" I nodded as Nicky asked.

"Too short with everything I had to do, but it was good. I'm looking forward to getting back into it and ripping things up." Yes, I knew that the CBA negotiations weren't going well, but I was trying to remain positive. "After all I have to prove to everyone that I'm not just a playoff wonder." That got them laughing.

As were laughing Anna came running over and hugged me. "Auntie!" She said loudly as she tackled me. I found that she had grown quite a lot over the summer. "We're home Auntie and our house is almost done!" Trust her to be _very_ happy about that.

"I know you're home Anna, remember where you're sleeping right now." That got some odd looks from the gang around me. "Anna and her family are staying at the same place we are until their house is done, soon now it sounds like too." She nodded quickly. "In fact, they'll be over the fence over there. Have you seen your room yet Anns?" She laughed and vigorously nodded.

Ovi stopped and looked. "Wait, you and Crosby on one side and Zhenya and his family on the other? I thought you liked Mario." That cracked up the Caps for sure. Mr. L was nowhere as personally involved with the team like Mario and Nathalie were.

That's when Alexa and Austin came running over to find Anna. "Sanya, Mario is _not_ Mr. L. He and his family like having the team over. There's a lot of young guys on the team, but we still have a family atmosphere. All of the kids know that as long as they behave, they are welcome anywhere we are. That extends to Austin and Alexa here too. Don't forget just _how_ much Mario has done for this city and the team. It's not just tolerating the Owner's kids when they are around. It's welcoming our little brother and sister or nieces and nephews in the case of the guys. We're all Aunts and Uncles, which sometimes gets fun to explain to outsiders who aren't sure just who Tante Aleks is. Right gang?"

By now all of the kids who were there had found me and heard what I just said. Reece spoke up for them all. "Tante, we know how much you love us. You always try and spend special time with us, even last year when you weren't here a lot. You even had some of us in your wedding which was _so_ much fun!" All of the kids who had been there were nodding frantically.

Courtney laughed. "Now I_am_ sorry I missed it. You really had the kids in important roles in your wedding Aleks?" She was Greenie's girlfriend and we had spent quite a bit of time together over last year.

"Yeah, I can't have my nieces and nephews upset that they weren't important. We even had a special menu for them at the reception and babysitting there too so that everyone could have fun." All of the kids were nodding now. "We're all far from blood family for so much of the year that we make our own family with the team. I just happened to start with the kids and _then_ move to their folks." That reminded me, I wanted to find Tanger and Catherine to see how she was doing, after all they were going to add to the family.

After hugging every one of the kids, they scampered off to play some more. I made my excuses to the guys and began moving around again. I grabbed a light snack and a water to keep me hydrated and happy as I moved through everyone. I met several of our soon-to-be neighbors who were happy that they were invited. "Well it's a lot more fun to _know_ what the noise is than to get upset that it's too loud and call the cops." I joked.

Cookie had put an arm around me and hugged me. "Are you kidding, wait until June when we do this up right! Our own win of that Cup and the party here." I heard a few groans from the neighbors, which Cookie just grinned at. "Oh come on we weren't _that_ bad the last time."

Josh, who was directly across the street from Mario and _our_ direct neighbor just groaned. "You didn't have to navigate the street or prove to the cops that you really did live here to get down it. That was kind of a pain. Not to mention Old Man Mason who not only always called the cops on everyone but tried pressing charges on the whole neighborhood. Let's just say none of us were too unhappy that his house was torn down. We just hope that whoever is moving in gets that we're a close neighborhood, even with Nathalie and Mario."

I flat out laughed at that. "Mar! Get your butt over here!" I shouted to her. I saw her roll her eyes and bring Geno with her. "Mar, G you guys are going to love this. The neighborhood wants whoever is moving in to the house across the fence there." I pointed to their house. "To know that they are a close neighborhood and won't tolerating them calling the cops on everyone."

Mari just smiled and chuckled. "I'm _positive_ that the family moving in there won't be calling the cops on anyone unless they hear a _good_ reason to."

Josh looked at us carefully. "How do you know that?" He asked, they were wary now.

"Mama! Papa!" Anna came running over and into Mar and G. "Can I show my room off now?"

I couldn’t keep a straight face anymore. I laughed. "Because Josh, _they_ are that family." They now looked gob smacked. "I hope you can deal with having one of the Assistants, the Capitan and the majority owner living within 2 block of each other. Oh, not to mention the most sought after rookie since Sid." Pat had finally broken a few weeks ago when we were in L.A. and told us that _every_ team in the league had called him about getting me."

He held up a hand. "Wait, what do you mean by that?" He was echoed by others.

I sighed. "Mari is my best friend and sister of my heart. She and Geno got married in April because of family reasons. They bought the house over the fence and will be moving into their _new_ place in a few weeks. Mario and Nathalie live here and Sid and I are building across the street, which I just found out about today. So in short the command structure of the Pens has moved into Sewickley."

He shook his head. "No that's not what I meant. Who's the rookie?" Mari put her head on Geno's shoulder and laughed.

I couldn't help but join her. "Josh, _I'm_ the rookie." They all gaped at me. "This is _my_ Cup party. I won it with the Caps a few months ago. July 1st, I signed with the Pens, as everyone who was anyone already knew but apparently the League as a whole thought they could prevent. I had a special and _very_ rare Playoff Only contract with the Caps. When the CBA is finalized and we get to playing I'll be a Pens rookie."

"Wait, you're telling me that the _only_ woman to have earned the Cup with her own blood, sweat and tears will be not only moving into the neighborhood soon enough but also tearing up the ice?” I nodded while Mari just laughed. She nudged me and nodded towards Sid, I shook my head. It was one of those silent conversations we were good at. A reminder to her that not everyone here knew about the wedding, she nodded back carefully.

I said my excuses and kept on moving around. By now I had said hello to almost everyone. I had finally found the last couple people I hadn’t said hi to yet and was working on getting over to them. That’s when I starting feeling the tension between them. Something was up. “Kris! Catherine! Merci d'être venu. (Kris! Catherine! Thank you for coming.)” They looked at me and smiled, on Catherine it did not meet her eyes, that worried me but I shoved that off for another day.

Kris hugged me. “Like we could miss t’is. Mario throws good parties, and hey the guest list is not so bad their.” He waved a hand around. I laughed, Catherine was now looking quite pregnant unlike July when we saw her last. “I am ‘oping t’at we can get people to stop rubbing Cath’s belly. It is annoying ‘er.”

I smiled. “Well Joey and Brianna are at the same stage so maybe that will help. So many Pens babies getting ready to join the family.” I could wait to add our own, Auntie was about all I could handle emotionally right now. I had done a few Skype sessions with Dr. Hahn over the summer, both with and without Sid, to help finish moving on from our tragedy.

“T’ey are ‘ere? T’at would be good, two of us fending off belly touchers. W’at do you think mon amour? (my love)” Kris had turned to Catherine who sighed and nodded. They both had non-alcoholic drinks, which I thought was a great way to support her.

Soon enough Tiffany and her family arrived. I met them with big hugs all around. Getting people’s attention I introduced them and without fail the guys began coming over to get some time with her. She was happily overwhelmed. Her mom took pictures while she chatted with everyone. I grabbed Mario. “I want Tiff to skate with us someday soon. She’s just gotten a clean bill of health after a big scare.”

He smiled. “Let’s hope that we can avert a lockout then. Otherwise I can’t help you.” Yeah that was the down side of what had also been going on all summer. Bettman had decided that if we hadn’t agreed by September 15th that there would be a lockout, his third work stoppage in his tenure. That was the downside of being so close to our owner, if this happened we wouldn’t be allowed to talk to him or anyone who worked for the Pens other than each other. The prospect boded ill for me on a personal level.

We were able to keep things lighter than the heavy probability that loomed above us. The party continued until 8 pm that night when we had agreed to stop it in favor of letting Phil get a good night’s sleep in his own bed. Sid and I drove him and the Cup back to the airport and helped him get inside. Because of his “extra passenger” he had to go through a special screening process, which took a lot longer. Before they left to begin he turned to me. “I truly hope that things can be averted and your rookie year can be a great one. I look forward to your next day Aleks, I had a lot of fun.”

On our way back to what I now knew was my folks’ place, I sighed. “We have to do what we can to avoid a lockout. You, me, everyone. Fuck Bettman.”

Sid chuckled. “Amen to that. We _will_ do everything we can, I know we will. For now let’s work on being ready for whichever way this goes. Especially after such a great day.” I hummed in agreement. It had been a great day, I wasn’t going to let the looming clouds threaten my happiness.