What Goes Around Comes Around

Marc-André Fleury sat at the long table, along with a large portion of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Dan Bylsma sat at the end, looking worried and confused. The team doctor, Ted, sat next to him.

"Okay," Dan began and Marc noticed how Dan's eyes lingered on him, "Do any of you know what's up with Sidney?" He glanced around the room and no one spoke up.

"No one? Come on, you spend more time with him than you do your own families. You're a team, you guys are friends. You've never questioned the way he's been acting the season?" His eyes were locked on number 29, knowing Marc knew something.

Kris Letang spoke up first. "Sure, he's been acting weird, but you know how serious he gets when it comes to hockey. When he gets hurt or doesn't think he's playing well enough, he freaks. That's just Sid." Kris concluded but he didn't believe what he was saying. He knew something was upsetting the Captain, something far more important than hockey. Kris just wanted Dan off Sid's case so the guys could deal with him, as friends.

Dan Bylsma didn't buy Kris' speech for a second. He knew he should've chased Sidney down after their parting words. Dan thought it was very obvious that Sidney Crosby was depressed and vulnerable. Sidney always seemed so happy, laughing with the guys, joking around.

But they were now realizing that they all missed something huge. The man, who seemingly had it all, was miserable. No one noticed before. Not his best friend, not his teammates, not his sister, not his coach.

The room was quiet. Marc-André Fleury felt ashamed for not knowing anything was wrong with his closest friend until a few days ago. Looking back, he can now see the empty smiles, the pained expressions.

"I'll call him." Marc offered, needing to check in on Sidney. Dan nodded.

"Tell him he's due for a doctors appointment. And he needs to come here for it. I sure as hell won't feel any better until I see him." Dan spoke as Marc pulled out his phone, standing up and preparing to step into the hall to make the call.

---•---

Sidney's POV:

I sat in Aurora's living room, across from Peyton as Aurora made coffee in the kitchen. The TV was on but Peyton was staring at me, a neutral expression on her face.

"Where do you live?" She asked, never taking her big blue eyes off of mine.

"I live in Pittsburgh, I just moved there." She raised an eyebrow. "I used to live in a suburb of Pittsburgh." I answered her silent question.

She nodded, as if accepting my answer. "Do you like it there?" Aurora had just walked in, handing me a cup of coffee and sitting next to Peyton, as Peyton asked her question.

I took a sip of the coffee. Two sugars and no cream. She remembered. "Thank you, Aurora. And no, not really. It's alright but..." I hadn't realized I didn't like Pittsburgh very much until now. I loved the team and the fans but something was missing.

Peyton didn't dwell on that question. "Do you like your team?" I nodded and smiled before answering.

"Yes, they're great. Do you like your team?" I asked her and she laughed. I felt my heart rate speed up. I made my child laugh for the first time. I looked over to Aurora and she was smiling, looking at the TV.

"I love my team. Hockey is the greatest sport on the planet." She paused. "One of my favorite players is Marc-André Fleury. Is he as awesome as he seems?"

I grinned in response, before leaning in. "He's even cooler." I whispered and she smiled slightly. She has her mothers sweet smile.

The moment was broken by the loud beep from my phone. I jumped and so did Peyton. I tried ignoring it but I could feel Aurora looking at me. I met her eyes.

"It's okay; answer it." She spoke softly and I shook my head. She gave me what can only be described as "the look".

I pulled out my phone and saw Marc's name on the screen. I sighed and pressed answer.

"Hello?" I said quietly, as they both watched me. I heard I sigh from the other end.

"Sidney? Hey. How are you?" He asked, speaking more quickly than he usually did. Taylor warned me about this.

"I'm good. Can I call you back later? I'm kind of busy." I knew I wasn't going to have answers to his questions. I was not expecting what I heard next.

"No, you can't call me back later because you won't. You know we just had a huge meeting about you? Not because of your concussion, but because we're all worried about you. I tried to be nice about whatever you're going through but you can't do everything by yourself. You have your foot so far up your ass that you're afraid to ask for help or talk about what's bothering you. Go ahead, call me a chick." His voice got louder and faster. I don't think I've ever heard Flower this upset.

"But something's wrong with you. Something's very wrong and you don't trust me enough to tell me? I thought we were closer than that. Whenever I need help, I talk to you. I talk to you because I trust you and you're the person I think to go to when I'm struggling." He took a deep breath before getting louder. I looked at Peyton and Aurora across from me, looking at me curiously.

"You know what?" He didn't wait for me to answer. "If you don't trust me for some reason or don't want to talk to me, fine. That's fine with me." He wasn't fine with it. "But please, talk to somebody." He stopped talking altogether.

I took a deep breath. "Listen, it's not that. I'm just going through some stuff right now and I need to do it alone." I tried to explain but I came up short.

Marc-André Fleury laughed, a surprisingly bitter sound from his usual happy laughter. "You really think cutting yourself off from the people who care about you is going to help you in any way? You do what you have to do: I'll see you in a few days."

"A few days?" I questioned, not sure what he was implying.

"Your check up with the doctor." He explained, the undertone of anger still in his voice.

"I can't do that, I won't do that. I'll have a doctor here check me out." I looked up to see Aurora looking at me with her gentle eyes concerned.

"If you're not here by Saturday, I'll be buying myself a plane ticket to Boston." He threatened and I clenched my jaw.

"You wouldn't dare, Flower." I spoke quietly but Peyton heard me anyway and gasped. I would've thought it was adorable and laughed if I wasn't so pissed off.

He laughed into the phone. "You wanna bet, Crosby?"

And then he hung up.