O Captain, My Captain.

"Your drink, miss," the flight attendant waved the tiny cup of water in Aubrey's direction.

"Fabulous. Thank you," Aubrey smiled taking the cup from the woman's outstretched arm and took a small sip.

The team was about a half hour into their short flight to Detroit and the guys were pretty restless. Nine times out of ten the majority of them would pass out as soon as they took their seats but they all knew what was ahead of them. Playing the Wings was never an easy feat, especially since this time it was on their home territory at The Joe. Detroit in general was never a fun city to visit. The fans were always rude and they always seemed to make endless ignorant remarks about "Sidney Crysby". Those comments never really offended Aubrey before but now that she and Sid were closer, they were going to sting a little deeper.

"Mind if I sit?" her thoughts were interrupted.

"Of course!" her face lit up when she saw Kuni standing at the end of her row of seats. "Something I can do for ya?"

"No, no," he took the seat next to her. "Just wanted to come over and say hi. See how you were."

"Oh," she looked confused. "Well I'm good. Just trying to finish up Glasser's paperwork. He's been bugging me all day about it."

"I don't blame him. There's honestly nothing more frustrating than being sidelined so close to returning," he said. "Is he finally cleared to play?"

"That's TBD," she shuffled through the papers. "Everyone's compiled their feedback and I'm just trying to make sure I'm on the same page. I just wanna make sure he's 100% healthy before we stick him back on the ice and he potentially injures his wrist further."

"Glasser's a big boy. He's been fine at practice. I think it would take a lot to re-injure it."

"Yeah, well let's say he does re-injure it and has to get surgery. That liability doesn't fall on your shoulders," she said matter-of-factly.

"Oh come on, Aubrey," Kuni jolted her shoulders. "Let him play. He's been driving himself crazy lately just itching to get back out there."

"Is this why you came over here, Kuni?" she giggled. "To hound me about clearing Glasser to play?"

"Actually no," he smiled. "The real reason I came over here was to talk to you about Sid. What the fuck have you done to him?"

Aubrey felt her heart drop when Kuni mentioned Sidney's named. Had Sidney been acting differently around the guys since they started dating? She thought they had agreed to keep their relationship under wraps until it really blossomed.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean he's like a whole new person. I've never seen him this happy before."

"Oh," she shifted in her seat. "Then I don't really know. We've hung out a bit but that's really it. Has he been acting differently?"

"Acting differently?" he exclaimed. "Aubrey, it's like the guy's in love and it's just weird. I've never seen him this way."

'In love?' she thought. Surely to god he wasn't in love with her. They'd only hung out once and had hardly done anything that would lead to those types of feelings.

"Ummm I don't really know what to say Kuni," she stammered. "I guess it's a good thing he's happy right?"

"Not when he's skating around with a permanent hard on and his head in the clouds," Kuni spat.

"Kuni, I really don't think I'm the right person to talk to about this. Have you talked to Duper? Y'all are on the same line. What does he have to say?"

"Relax, Aubrey. I'm just giving you a hard time," his face softened and he patted her knee. "Sid told me everything."

'That fucker,' she thought. Aubrey knew Kuni and Sid were close but didn't know if Sid was willing to share the details of his interworking love life with him. She didn't know exactly what Sid had told his line mate either, but judging by the devilish grin on Kuni's face, it was evident that he knew a lot.

"Oh yeah?" she raised an eyebrow. "And what have you heard?"

"That you guys are trying to take it slow for now. Don't wanna rush into anything."

"Anything else?"

"Nope. That's it," he smirked. She could tell by the shit-eating grin that was still plastered to his face that that's not all he knew and it was driving her crazy.

"You sure?"

"Yep," he sat back in his seat.

"You're so full of shit," her tone turned serious.

"How so? Thought you guys had only 'hung out a bit'," he mocked. "Is there something else that I should know about?"

Busted.

"Nope," she folded her arms across her chest.

"Now you're full of shit," Kuni laughed. "Sid already told me everything so you might as well fess up."

"I don't know what you're talking about," her gaze now turned to look out the window. It was a beautiful sunny day, not a cloud in the sky.

She sat there for a minute and pondered Kuni's offer. Should she take the bait and tell him about their "lesson" at Consol the other morning or keep her mouth shut in case Kuni was just trying to get details?

"So you wouldn't happen to know anything about a private skate that went on the other morning?" he asked.

'Nope. Sid pretty much covered everything with him,' she thought.

"Fiiiiine," Aubrey sighed. "He surprised me and I had no idea."

"Aubrey, don't sound so guilty. I'm not gonna rat ya out to anyone. Personally, I think it's great."

"What's great?" she asked.

"You and Sid. Together. In the five years I've known him, I've never seen him fall this hard for anyone. Normally he's so detached, ya know?" he said.

"He doesn't really allow himself to get close to anyone, does he?" she bit her lip.

"Ding ding ding," Kuni waved his index finger in the air.

"Why is that?"

"I don't know. I think he's so used to people using him because of who he is, that he has this whole mindset that everyone's like that. Believe it or not, he used to be worse. He used to not even be close to us."

"But all you guys are like family," Aubrey pressed.

"Exactly but I don't think Sid had a firm grip on that. Sid's always been a routine kinda guy. He'd come in, get his work done, and leave. Never let himself chat it up with us much, never went out with us, he was just kind of in his own little world," Kuni zoned in on the seat in front him where Suttsy was currently passed out. "But fortunately that's all changed and now we can't get him to shut up. I think Bylsma coming in and taking over made a world of difference for him."

"Dan's an amazing guy," Aubrey gushed.

"Yeah he is," he said. "But that's not the point. Sid may be closer with us but when it comes to women, there's no hope for him. I mean I guess he's doing okay now...obviously."

"Thanks, Kuni," Aubrey giggled.

"I'm serious! When we finally were able to drag him out to the bars with us, he just sat there being the antisocial little fucker he is. Women would literally be throwing themselves at him and he never took the hint," he laughed.

"It's because he's so career-driven," she defended Sidney.

"Whatever. Career-driven, blind? Who am I to judge? Again, that's not the point. I guess what I'm trying to say is thank you."

"Thank you for what?" Aubrey shot him a confused look. This conversation was going a whole new direction.

"For breaking him out of his shell a little. It's about time he found a decent girl he can get serious with. I mean my god he's 26 years old. He can't stay single forever. How else is he gonna have little baby prodigies?" Kuni joked.

"Oh my god, Kuni!" she playfully slapped his arm. "Whatever happened to he and I taking things slow?"

"You guys'll get there," he winked.

Aubrey rolled her eyes. She and Kuni had become exceptionally close from the get-go. He had a broken ankle when she first got on board with the team so she was mainly responsible for rehabilitating him. They were friends and she took comfort in knowing that she could confide in him with just about anything but talking about her sex-life was pushing the envelope. Noticing how red her face was becoming, Kuni patted Aubrey's knee.

"Relax. I'm just messin with ya."

"I know, I know," Aubrey blushed. "It's just...I can't believe this is all really happening."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I took this job with the intention that I would be helping people recover from their injuries and that's it. Just helping heal you guys, not dating Sidney Crosby. It's just scary. I don't want word getting out because that would make me look like I was here for all the wrong reasons and I love my job too much to risk losing it," she sighed.

"Whoa, whoa whoa. You think there's a chance you could lose your job because you're dating one of us?" he spat.

"Well yeah..."

"You and Sid are two grown ass adults who are capable of making those kinds of decisions on your own. No one's gonna judge you two if they find out. I don't know who all Sid's told, but I can tell you that we're all pretty much in the same boat. We just wanna see him happy. Which he is."

Aubrey sighed. She knew it wasn't fair to Kuni to be unloading all of her pent up guilt on him but she trusted him and didn't know who else to turn to. No doubt the past few days with Sid had been great. Frankly she wished she could've spent more time with him but the more she thought about it, the more she looked at it from a logical standpoint. What was she doing messing around with the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins? How unprofessional. But on the other hand, her feelings were starting to grow for him more and more and based on the information Kuni was giving her, Sidney was feeling the same way...by a long shot.

"Well thank you, Kuni. I'm glad you like the thought of us being together," she smiled.

"Who wouldn't? Two of my favorite people on the team goin out? It's perfect," he reassured her. "But if you end up breaking his heart, it's gonna be me and you, Kettering."

"I wouldn't dare!" she slapped her hand over her heart.

Just as he was about to get up from the seat next to her, the pilot came over the intercom system to inform everyone to please remain seated that they'd be landing in Detroit soon. 'Perfect,' she thought. She needed to get off the tension-filled aircraft with everyone worrying about tonights game and out into the fresh air to clear her head.

As soon as the wheels hit the tarmac and cell phone service was restored, Aubrey shot a quick text to her sister informing her that she'd be calling her as soon as she was alone. If anyone could help her get through her hazy emotions, it was Chelsea.