Oh Captain, My Captain

Chapter One Hundred Ten
-Sidney-
“You gunna ask her tonight?” Max asked while sitting next to me in the locker room and I nodded my head, “Whether we win or lose?”
“We’re gunna win,” I said and Max smirked.
“Sucks that she wasn’t cleared,” he said and I smirked, “What?”
“Wait for it,” I said and then finished up lacing my skated.
“Wait for what? Was she cleared?” he asked and I looked over towards him and nodded my head, “No way! That’s awesome!”
“She won’t be able to do much, and we definitely can’t let her get hit! But Doc finally gave in and cleared her,” I said and Max smiled, “Don’t tell anyone, they’ll find out after warm up.”
“All right,” he said and then finished putting his uniform on.
The team and I skated out onto the ice and we looked around to see all of the people cheering. I turned my head and saw that Boston was skating onto the ice and I smirked, this was it, the final game in the season, this was for the cup, and I planned on bringing it home. The game was at the Consol Center, and every seat was taken, every suite was taken, every TV in Pittsburgh and Boston was turned to this channel, this was huge.
We did our warm up, and skated back off the ice. I went last, knowing what was going to happen once we got back to the locker room. I smiled when I heard the guys cheering, knowing that they were seeing Alex in full gear and standing in the middle of the locker room. I stepped into the door and saw the guys smiling and crowding around her patting her head and back.
“You did it, Alex!” Kunitz yelled and she laughed and nodded her head.
“You crying?!” Geno said and I laughed when all the guys backed off, not knowing what to do with her tears.
“Stop, I’m happy! These are happy tears!” she yelled and then laughed and wiped them away.
“She has emotions!” Matt teased and I laughed and walked forward.
“She is a girl,” I said and then stood in front of her, “You ready for this?”
“Born ready,” she said and I pressed my lips against hers and heard the guys cheering and whistling.
The door opened and we turned to see Doc walking in with a smirk on his face and his head shaking. We laughed because we realized that Alex had kept pestering him in to agreeing to clear her. He walked over towards Rob Bortuzzo, Paul Martin, Deryk Engelland, Simon Despres, Matt Niskanen, Brooks Orpik and Kris LeTang, grabbing each of their jerseys and pulling them into a little group in the corner of the locker room.
“You boys stay on her ass all night!” Doc yelled at the seven defenseman and I smiled, “She is not to get hit, you protect her ass, understand.”
“Got it!” he said and Alex laughed.
“Because she has such a nice ass,” Alex commented and some of the guys laughed.
“Is that an invitation to see it?” Max asked and Alex scoffed and I heard a noise and turned around to see Max on the ground and the guys laughing.
“Don’t you worry Alex, we’ll be your white knights,” Kris said as he walked over and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
“Oh, yippie, I’m saved,” she muttered sarcastically and I snorted.
“That’s my girl.”

-Alex-
My old teammates, the Kings were here to watch the game, I was happy to inform them that I was going to be playing and they couldn’t wait to watch the game. My friends and family were here, the game was sold out, and the fans were just as ready for this game to start as we were.
The boys and I stood in line outside the hallway ready to head out to the ice; the announcers were calling of the Boston team first, and then started with the Penguins. I was going to be the last player to walk out. Sidney was in front of me, and it was down to the last five players.
“Nervous?” he asked and I nodded my head, “Me too.”
“We got this,” I said and he smirked and nodded his head and pounded his fist with mine.
“That’s my girl,” he said and I smirked.
“You’re up,” I said as I little pushed him forward and he skated out onto the ice.
“Alex!” I heard and turned around to see my Coach looking at me, “Kill it tonight.”
“Yes sir!” I smirked and then turned back out and started to walk out towards the ice because I was being announced.
I held up my hands as the fans placed their hands through the bars and I patted my hands with theirs. I laughed as one of my favorite songs, Bawitdaba by Kid Rock, was blasting through the speakers and I skated out onto the ice holding my stick in the air and smiling brightly as I heard the fans cheering loudly.
I stood in the line next to Sidney and smiled when the guys leaned over and smiled towards me, they were happy that I was here just as much as I was.
“Nice entrance,” Sidney said and I scoffed and nudged my shoulder with his arm, since he was taller than me.
“I wanted to make an impression since they haven’t seen me in almost four months,” I said and Sidney nodded his head.
“Well you definitely got through to them,” he laughed and I smirked and nodded my head.
I looked forward and saw that we were standing across from the Bruins and even I saw some of them smirking. Brandon winked towards me and I nodded my head. In the center of the ice on a red velvet carpet square, stood the prize tonight, the Stanley Cup, a cup that was going to belong to us by the time this game is over.
The first line, myself, Sidney, Pascal, Kris and Matt stood on the ice. I saw that Brandon was a part of his first line and he skated towards the middle of the ring and I soon followed.
“I’m happy you’re back, Alex.”
“You and me both,” I said as we patted our helmets together, something we did every time we played a game against each other, and something both of our teams were use to.
“Best of luck,” we said together and then I took my glove off and we shook hands.
“Love you, Brandon.”
“Love you too, Alex,” he said and we smiled brightly, “Just want to apologize for the fact that you’ll be losing tonight.”
“Funny, you took the words right out of my mouth,” I laughed and we nodded our heads and skated back towards our teams. Children from the local school sang the national anthem and then I face my teammates, “Let’s do this.”

-Sidney-
This was getting ridicules, it was the end of the second period and this game was intense. It was definitely one of the highest scoring games that I can remember. By the end of the second, the score was five to five, both teams playing very well tonight, and Alex had gotten our second goal.
It was the beginning of the third period; this was it, the final period. Alex was on the ice a lot more than I thought she would be tonight, and we all made sure that she had at least one defenseman by her side. However, none of the Bruins were even going after her, well at least not in a way to hurt her, and I was grateful for that. I don’t know if Brandon said something, or they finally found some sort of respect towards her.
Alex was on the ice with Geno, Kunitz, Brooks and Kris. Coach has tapped Max’s shoulder to go out there and replace Geno, while he tapped Craig’s shoulder to replace Alex. They both hopped over the boards and sat on the bench. I looked down to see that Alex had grabbed a towel and was cleaning her protector and she was breathing heavily.
I heard whistling and looked out onto the ice to see that Craig was fighting with Shawn Thornton. We tapped our sticks against the board to give him support as the refs pulled them off each other and had them skate towards the penalty box. I was actually a little surprised that that was the first fight tonight. I mean there were penalties for tripping and such, but none of fighting.
“Alex!” Coach said and I turned my head to see that he patted her shoulder and Alex and Kunitz were switching.
‘…Good luck…’ I thought as I looked up to the clock to see that it read less than ten minutes in the game, ‘…Plenty of time…’
From the moment that Alex was on the ice and won the face off against Milan Lucic, to the time that Craig came out of the penalty box, Alex was stalling. Constantly passing the puck to another teammate, or stealing it off of the Bruins if they had it, she was toying with them. Coach patted my shoulder as well as Kris’; we traded with Orpik and Max.
I had the puck for a second before it was stolen from me and shot towards Marc, saved. I sighed in relief and watched as Alex skated behind the net to take the puck. She might not be at top of her game, but she was still playing her heart out.
Alex had the punk, and she was gone, she skated down the ice and then stopped. The Bruins were right behind her and she just stopped, ‘…What the hell are you doing, Alex?!...’