O Captain, My Captain.

"It's easy I promise," he held out his hand. "Once you get the hang of it, it'll come naturally."

Sidney had already skated around the arena a bit, testing to make sure the ice was smooth of any notches and roughness that could potentially be hazardous to a novice skater. He was used to them, having been trained to skate on any type of ice conditions, but since she barely knew how to walk on it, it was important to take the necessary precautions.

"Easy for you to say," her feet stayed firmly planted on the ice, gripping the boards beside her. "You practically skated out of the womb."

"See that's where you're wrong," he laughed. "Believe it or not I was a horrible skater when I first started out. I almost quit because my ass was permanently numb from falling on it all the time."

"I actually find that really hard to believe, Mr. Child Prodigy," she said.

"There's that sarcasm," he smirked.

"You know me you love me," she smiled, one hand on the boards, the other reaching out for Sidney.

Their hands intertwined together as he skated backwards and pulled her away from the boards. Her knees buckled a bit beneath her, putting her at an awkward stance as they skated out to center ice.

"Straighten your legs," he instructed. "You don't wanna hurt yourself."

"You got it, Captain," she said attempting to straighten up her knees a bit.

"There you go," he smiled.

They skated around like this for a few minutes. Both hands interlocked with each other, him cautiously skating backwards guiding her along with him. She'd been in the arena plenty of times but never got a view of it quite like this. Being in the middle of the ice with 18,000 empty seats surrounding them made it seem so much bigger.

She had to admit that it was pretty relaxing and mentally scolded herself for putting up such a fuss. There was just something about gliding around Consol with the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins that made her feel on top of the world. Maybe it was because she was doing something so many girls fantasized about but would never have the opportunity to actually do. Or maybe it was the slight feeling of adrenaline pumping inside her that they could get caught at any moment. She shook the thoughts from her head and tried to clear her mind. She just wanted to enjoy the moment.

"Wanna try skating backwards?" he asked coming to a halt.

"Like by myself?" her eyes got wide.

"No, silly. Like this."

He pulled her closer to him until there was only a couple inches of space in between them. He slowly released his grip from both her hands and grabbed onto the sides of her waist. He carefully twisted her around until the backside of her body was pressed tightly against his. Their fingers interlaced again as he hugged her from behind. They stood there for what felt like an eternity taking in the spacious sight around them, neither one of them wanting to move.

"This is nice," he whispered into her hair, kissing the top of her head.

"Who would've thought I'd ever be doing this kind of thing?" she twisted her head around to smile up at him. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me. It's the least I could do," he said kissing the top of her head again.

"I really did mean what I said earlier."

"About?"

"That this is the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me," she said still looking up at him.

"Well I'm glad I could make this happen," he smiled.

"Me too," she gave his hands a gentle squeeze and wrapped his arms around her tighter. "It's so weird seeing the arena like this."

"Empty?" he questioned.

"No, from the ice. I've always been stationed on the bench and it's cool to get a different view. You're so lucky you get to be out here all the time."

"To be honest with you I've never really taken the time to take in its beauty. I'm always so focused on making sure I know where the puck is at all times that I never really get a chance to look around," he said eyeing the stands. "And now that I have, I can say I've never noticed just how massive this place is."

"Seems smaller when there's a sellout crowd doesn't it?" she asked.

"Yeah," he agreed. "It sure does."

They stood there for a few more minutes, hands interlocked as he held her close taking in the stands surrounding them, before he leaned down and whispered in her ear. "You ready to start moving?"

"Let's do it," she said giving his hands a firm squeeze again.

As they began to move, he could feel her body starting to tense up as they picked up pace. He pulled her closer into him, silently urging her to relax. And she did. After making it around halfway of the arena, she finally began to feel more comfortable and eased the grip on his hands. 'How many girls would kill to be doing this?' she thought.

"See this isn't so bad," she could practically feel him smiling behind her.

"Yeah once you get past the agony of trying to lace up," she giggled. "And trying to find your balance."

"But?" he pressed.

"Buuuuut," she sighed. "This actually isn't half as bad as I thought it was gonna be."

"That's my girl," she could feel him smiling again.

"I thought I was gonna totally fall on my ass."

"You actually have to try skating on your own in order to fall on your ass," he teased.

"Baby steps," she said ignoring his jab. "After a couple skating lessons from you, I'll probably be able to skate better than half the team. Or at least better than Duper that's for sure. He's always falling."

"Oh, is that what we're calling this? A skating lesson?" he laughed. "And as true as that may be, don't make fun of my line mate. I take offense to that."

"I only speak nothing but the truth, babe."

"Babe?" they stopped abruptly and he swiftly twisted her around so that she was now facing him.

"Oh god," she slapped a hand over her mouth. "I didn't mean to call you that."

"No, no," he grinned. "I loved it. No one's ever called me that before."

"No one's ever called you 'babe'?" she knit her eyebrows.

"Like I said I've never really let myself get to this point with anyone so no one's ever called me it," he looked down at the ice.

"Well this is just a day of firsts then," her lips twisted into an adorable grin. "Babe."

His smile was brighter than the lights that lit up the arena and his eyes danced with pleasure . He was loving every minute of this. Just calling him one simple word made him the happiest man in Pittsburgh. 'Who would've thought I'd be out here doing this with this amazing girl?' he thought.

He looked down at her only to find her gazing up deep into his eyes and without a moment's noticed, she leaned up and planted a long, insatiable kiss right on his lips.

"Well that was a sweet surprise," he said when their mouths finally parted.

This whole morning had been one sweet surprise.