O Captain, My Captain.

"What can I do for you today, Mr. Crosby?" Aubrey asked as she watched Sidney walk into the room, holding a firm grip on his right wrist.

Practice had just ended for the day and he looked slightly winded. His jet black hair was a sweaty mess, plastered to one side of his forehead and most of his gear had already been removed. He stood before her in nothing but his thermal-wear and knee-high white socks.

"It's my wrist. I think I tweaked it a bit at practice when Tanger accidentally ran me into the boards," he said releasing his grip to let Aubrey examine it.

"Okay," Aubrey said grabbing ahold of his hand.

His hand was big, like most men's she'd ever seen, but Sid's was different. It was callused and strong, like he put in a hard days work with it every day.

"Tell me if this hurts," she said pressing down on certain spots until she found where the pain was.

"Fuck," he grunted under his breath.

"Yep. There it is. Sit tight for a minute while I grab an ice pack and a bandage and we should have you good to go in a couple minutes," she stood up and walked towards a connecting room that contained most of their medical equipment.

"So what's wrong with it?" he asked, his body looked less tense letting his muscles relax. "Nothing too serious I assume?"

"Nope," she walked back toward him motioning for him to hold out his wrist. "Just a minor sprain. Ice this for 15 minutes, twice an hour, and it should be feeling fine by tonight. And next time remind Tanger it's his job to fight for the captain, not run him into the boards."

Sidney let out a little laugh and gave her a tight-lipped smirk. "I'm sure he'd love for me to tell him how to do his job."

"He'd be absolutely thrilled," Aubrey rolled her eyes.

"You know it's a good thing it's just a minor sprain. I was gonna freak out if it were something more serious," he said, the tenseness returning to his face.

"Big game tonight?" Aubrey questioned.

"Every game's a big game," Sidney replied matter-of-factly.

"Well I know that. I just meant is it a big game like is someone gonna be there that you're trying to impress tonight? Like parents, siblings...girlfriend," she paused right before she said girlfriend.

It was none of her business to know the details about the players love lives let alone their lives in general. She was there to tend to them when they were injured and to make sure they were cleared to play come game time.

He pondered her question before he finally gave her a response. "Let's go with 'girlfriend'."

"You say that so confidently," she joked.

"Well...I don't know what to exactly call her. A girl that I've kind of been keeping in touch with?" he looked confused.

"'Keeping in touch with'?" she laughed. "You're so polite!"

"I don't really know what else to call it," he said fidgeting with the ice pack that was wrapped around his wrist. "I mean it's nothing too serious. A few drinks here and there but nothing real spontaneous."

"So you decided to bring her to a game to speed the process along?" she questioned.

"It wasn't really my idea. She called me yesterday and said she and a friend got tickets and that she'd be here tonight so I needed to play my best as to 'impress her friend'," he made air quotes around 'impress her friend'. "To be honest I don't even know why I'm all freaked out, I don't really even like her all that much."

"You know, Sid, I'm not really supposed to intervene on your guys's lives but I have to ask...have you fucked her yet?" Aubrey asked with a straight face.

His face turned bright red and he let out a small laugh. "Do you have a filter and no. She's been chomping at the bit to but I've been putting it off."

"It's a gift," she smiled. "But why have you been putting it off?"

"Because that kind of thing is special and I don't wanna do it with just anyone. If I'm gonna be intimate with someone I wanna make sure that it's someone I really care about and actually have a real relationship with," he said shyly. "Sometimes I think the only reason she even talks to me is because of my profession and my paycheck."

"Wow," Aubrey placed her hand on his knee and looked deep into his eyes. "I guess it's really true what they say about you Mr. Crosby...you're a true gentleman and you deserve someone who's gonna be with you for you, not for what you do."

The tenseness in his face vanished and she could tell he was starting to relax and he flashed her a genuine smile. "Thanks, Aubrey. You're more than welcome to intervene in my personal life whenever you want...as long as it's within reason."

She laughed. "You've got jokes, Sid. But really, anytime you ever need to talk, whether it be about girls or Tanger running you into the boards again, I'm your girl."

Sidney hopped down from the trainer's table he had been sitting on, gingerly grabbing at his wrist, and turned towards the doorway before he stopped and turned around.

"You deserve someone really special too, Aubrey," he winked.

"Well thanks, Sid. That means a lot," she said semi-sarcastically, placing her right hand over her heart.

"I'm serious! Gorgeous girl like you it amazes me how you're still single. You're smart, have a great job, somewhat sarcastic. Surprises me how most guys don't dig your subtle sarcasm," he laughed.

Aubrey rolled her eyes. Since becoming a physical therapist for the Penguins, she hadn't had much time for a love life, and frankly wasn't really looking for one. She knew her job could go either one of two ways with guys she dated: they'd either think it was awesome that their girlfriend worked for one of the most highly recognized teams in the National Hockey League and ask to get up close and personal with the players or they wouldn't trust her being one of the few females being on a team that was predominantly men.

She'd also never thought she'd have this intimate of a conversation with the captain. He typically kept to himself and only talked to her about medical-related things. Always keeping things on the private side, no one really knew what his relationship status was and she felt she'd made a breakthrough. Something must have bitten him in the ass this morning that made him slightly less anti-social.

"Again what can I say? It's a gift," she smiled. "You better head home for your pre-game nap or you may just end up staying this social for quite some time."

"HA HA. Now who has jokes?" he flashed her a toothy grin. "See you tonight?"

"Nap time!" she called after him as he walked out the door.

As soon as he was some distance down the hallway, Aubrey let out a loud sigh. Did she really just have a conversation with Sidney Crosby about his love life? Had she really just asked him if he'd fucked a girl yet? Did he really just wink and say 'see you tonight'? Her mind raced. When she signed on to work for the Penguins, she agreed to take care of their medical needs, not to become intimately acquainted with their captain, and for now, it was going to stay that way.