O Captain, My Captain.

Aubrey sat in the lone seat in the very last row on the plane to ensure that she wouldn't be bothered on the flight back to Pittsburgh. The back of the plane was like her security blanket. If she sat under the radar, she didn't run the risk of having Sid possibly sit next to her and question what had just happened back at the arena. Who was she kidding though? Sid breaking his eight-year streak of always sitting next to Flower? It was unheard of. No argument was worth breaking that superstition.

She slowly tilted her head back, letting it rest against the back of her seat as she watched the guys file in one by one, filling in all the empty spaces. She may not have wanted to have an awkward encounter with Sidney, but she was certainly open to seeing what post-game attire he was sporting, especially after a win like that. And just as she suspected, he looked handsome as always in his go-to simple black suit and nice white dress shirt accompanied by his usual black beanie. The beanie represented Sid's personal fashion touch to an otherwise plain old suit. She watched as he made his way to the middle of the plane, eyes wandering the seats around him probably trying to find her. He had a stern look on his face, like something was bothering him but he was trying his best to hide it. Just as she was about to close her eyes and attempt to drift off into a mind-boggling sleep, someone slapped the head of the seat in front her. She directed her eyes up towards Kuni who was sitting on his knees facing her. He looked like an excited little kid who was just about to experience his first ever flight.

"Jesus," Aubrey snapped. "Do you mind?"

"Whoa!" Kuni surrendered his hands. "This one bites, boys."

"I'm sorry, Chris," she buried her face in her hands. "I'm just not really in a talkative mood right now."

"Yeah what the hell, Aubrey?" Kuni crinkled his forehead. "Care to explain?"

"Sid and I kind of got into a little argument during the game and my mind just needs to process things."

"Must've been a big one then if you need to process some stuff," he said rocking back and forth.

"It wasn't anything, really," she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Then what happened?"

"He and I...we're both so...so stubborn," she looked up him desperately. "Like we're both so hard-headed that I just don't know."

"Sid? Hard-headed?" he raised an eyebrow. "Noooooo. Doesn't sound like him."

"Shut up, Kuni!" she playfully smacked his hand. "I'm serious. Like how is our relationship ever gonna work if he and I both don't get our ways?"

"Aubrey, before I can tell you not to give up on the guy, why don't you tell me what happened?"

"You know how Zetter-what's-his-face slew-footed him earlier in the second?" she couldn't even think straight.

"Yeah.." he said.

"Well I guess Sid landed on his wrist funny in the process and it was starting to give him some trouble."

"Okay. I saw that he landed funny but I didn't know he fell on his wrist."

"Well Dan called me over and had be take a look and when I started feeling around, I noticed that it was starting to swell up like it was broken," she continued.

"And was it?" he asked.

"I didn't have enough time to fully evaluate it. He was so anxious to get back on the ice with you guys, he was starting to get edgy with me. I told him that I recommended he have a second opinion before playing again but he insisted that he was fine," she sighed.

"And let me guess? He started saying things he probably didn't mean?"

"How did you know?" she peered up at him.

"Aubrey, I've played with him for nearly six years, I know him like the back of my hand. And I know how he gets when you tell him something he doesn't wanna hear. He starts getting fussy and unpleasant until you finally cave and let him do whatever he wants because he's Sidney fucking Crosby and you don't wanna upset him," he smirked. "How'd I do?"

"It's like you were part of the conversation," she giggled.

"What can I say? I know my teammate. And I know that whatever dick-things he said to you, he didn't really mean. Sometimes he gets so caught up in wanting to win, he forgets that some of the stuff he says to get there hurts the people around him."

"Whether he meant to say those things or not, he still said them and he still hasn't apologized," she folded her arms.

"Which is what I assume he's about to do now," Kuni nodded his head towards the front of the plane. Sure enough Sid was making his way back towards the two of them, adjusting his suit along the way.

"What? Are you and Kuni like best friends now?" Sid chuckled.

"We've always been best friends. Where have ya been, Sid?" Kuni shrugged.

"Can I help you?" Aubrey said harshly, breaking up their lighthearted banter.

"Aubs," he stopped himself. "Babe. I'm sorry. Disregard whatever I said back there. I was pissed because I hate watching. I always wanna be out there doing whatever I can to help us win."

"Stop," she put her hand up. "You called me babe?"

"Yeah? Is that not okay?" Sidney looked confused.

"Oh god," Kuni rolled his eyes and turned around to sit properly facing the front of the plane.

"No. It's fine. It just sounded weird. I haven't been called that since Nick and whatever. That's not the point. What you said back at the arena stung. It's like you didn't trust my judgment," her voice quivered.

"I do, I do," he said reaching for her hand. "I do trust your judgment and I hate that you were right because I have a throbbing hand that points to all signs saying yes of it being seriously injured. But I hate losing even more, especially to the fucking Wings. I love to show them up every opportunity I get and I can't do that if I'm not out on the ice playing."

And it was at that moment that she knew. She had never seen so much determination in someone before and she knew that it would've taken a lot more than an injured wrist to keep him off the ice. As much as she wanted him to apologize over and over again, hearing the passion and the drive in his tone made all her anger disappear. How could she be mad at a guy who just simply wanted to go out there and help his team win?

"Aubs?" he asked breaking her train of thought. "Say something. Please."

"I'm sorry, babe. I shouldn't have gotten so upset with you. You were just trying to do your job. It's just hard for me, coming from a physical therapists standpoint, to let you go out and do that when I know your wrist is more than just tweaked," she finally said.

"It's something we both need to work on," he said softly.

"What?"

"Letting each other do our respective jobs. That's where our relationship gets sticky I guess."

"Yeah," she looked at the ground. "So how are we gonna fix it?"

"I'm gonna do everything in my power to not get injured again so our paths don't cross like that again," he smiled.

"And what do you think the likelihood of that actually happening is?" she smirked. "You have like the worlds biggest target on your back. Other teams would loooove to see you out for the season."

"Have Brooksie and Tanger step up on their defense a little bit I guess," he said. "I know they're not afraid of taking the extra hits."

"Isn't Tanger the one who got you into this whole mess to begin with?" she laughed.

"You're right!" he whipped his head around trying to find Tanger. "I guess he did now didn't he? Where is that little French-Canadian fucker anyway?"

"Uhhh somewhere up there," she pointed ahead. "You can see that silky-smooth Pantene flow from a mile away."

"His hair is pretty shiny isn't it?" he agreed. "So are we good? It's not quite how I pictured us starting our relationship out but things can only go up from here, right?"

"Yeah. We're good," she smiled. "Just a little bump in the road but hey, we worked through it."

"That's exactly right," he leaned down to give her quick peck on the lips. "I should really get back to my seat now. I would sit back here with you but I don't want the plane to mysteriously crash because I threw off the aerodynamics of the cabin or some shit. Plus there's not exactly a seat to sit in. Now who's the antisocial one?"

"Shut up! Just because I sat in the very back doesn't mean I'm antisocial," she smirked. "And your ass would definitely be big enough to pull something like that off."

"How original," he started to head back to his seat but came to a halt when she latched onto his hand. "What?"

"So a broken foot, huh?" she smiled sweetly up at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"During our little love spat, you mentioned something about playing half a game on a broken foot. I'd love to hear THAT story."

"Oh did I say something about that?" he winked. "I'll have to tell you about it sometime."