O Captain, My Captain.

"Okay, so my parents will be in town tomorrow but Chelsea's driving in tonight," Aubrey refreshed Sidney's memory.

"Oh god! Is that this weekend!?" he looked moderately horrified.

"SID!" she raised her voice.

"Got ya!" he pointed at her and laughed.

"I was about to say," she breathed a sigh of relief. "This is a big step for us. You're meeting my parents for the first time and I want it all to go smoothly."

In reality, she had absolutely no reason to worry. She already knew her family was going to love him because in all honesty, who wouldn't? He was as close to a gentleman as you could get in this day and age he treated her with the utmost respect.

"Relax. Everything is gonna be fine and we're gonna have a great weekend," he calmed her down. "Besides, I feel like I should be the one freaking out, not you."

"Babe," she grabbed his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You have nothing to freak out about. They're gonna love you."

"Yeah, but what if they don't? What if they think you'd be better off with someone with more reasonable lifestyle?"

"Seriously?" she raised an eyebrow. "If you think about it, you and I both have similar lifestyles. That's not gonna be an issue. If anything, you're gonna be a breath of fresh air from Nick."

"You're right, you're right," he sighed. "Remind me again what they're like."

"Well, for starters, you and my dad are gonna get along great. He's a huge sports buff so you guys will have lots to talk about. He may fangirl a little so don't be too freaked out, but he'll get over it after like the first five minutes," she said.

"Fangirl?" he smirked.

"Yes," she giggled. "My dad's a huge fangirl when it comes to all professional athletes, especially captains of his favorite hockey team. My mom's a different story though."

"How so?"

"She doesn't understand the concept of sports and why they're so important so she won't know a thing about hockey if it's ever brought up in conversation. Frankly, she'll probably bring a book to read at the game Sunday, so it's nothing personal, she's just weird."

"A book?" he laughed.

"Yeah," she smiled. "Chelsea would force her to come to her track meets in middle school and my mom would literally sit there the whole time and read. And speaking of my sister, if you can tolerate her, my parents should be a cakewalk, not that they're difficult to get along with or anything, Chelsea's just crazy."

"Crazy as in...?" he questioned.

"She's a good crazy, no worries, just a bit of a handful. She knows what she wants and will do just about anything it takes to get it, which is why I wanna set her up with Nealer," she grinned.

"You were serious about that?" he sounded surprised.

"Wellll I talked to Nealer earlier and he seemed down so why not?" she shrugged. "He sounds like he's tired of the same old, same old, so Chelsea will be a nice wake up call for him."

"So should I invited him to dinner with us then?" Sid sounded hesitant.

"I was just about to ask you if you minded," she said.

"Are you kidding me?" he smirked. "I've been waiting years to see Nealer finally meet his match."

"Well then you're in for a show, babe," she squeezed his hand again and checked the time on her phone. "Shit. She should be here within the next half hour or so, so I should get going if I wanna get home before she arrives."

"Okay," he said. "I'll shoot Nealer a text to see if he wants to join the three of us for dinner and I'll see you tonight around seven?"

"Fabulous," she released his hand and leaned up to give him a quick kiss on the lips. "Lemme know what Nealer says."

"Will do!" he called heading towards his car on the opposite side of the parking garage.

***

"AUBS!" Chelsea screamed dropping her overnight bags to pull her younger sister into a tight embrace.

"CHELS!" Aubrey shouted, equally excited, and hugged her big sister back. "I've missed yoooooou!"

"UGH. Who are you tellin?" Chelsea pulled away to take a good, hard look at her sister. "Wow."

"What?" Aubrey blushed.

"I'm here in Pittsburgh, first off, which is a great change of scenery from back home. AND I'm here with my baby sister who's dating fucking SIDNEY CROSBY," she clapped with joy. "Who I get to meet this weekend!"

"Shhhh!" Aubrey scolded. "Our relationship is still really hush-hush right now so I don't need everyone in my apartment complex knowing who I date. Like he just told everyone on the team yesterday."

"Sorry," she cupped her hand over her mouth. "I didn't know y'all were still being lowkey about it."

"You're fine," Aubrey reassured her. "Aaaaand you'll get to meet him and a very special guest a lot sooner than this weekend. We're meeting them for dinner later tonight."

Aubrey pulled out her phone to double-check the text she got from Sid on her drive home stating that Nealer was in for dinner this evening.

"Seriously!?" Chelsea's eyes danced with excitement. "And a special guest!?"

"Yes," Aubrey smiled. She loved seeing her always-confident big sister freak out every once in awhile.

"Oh my god, so tell me everything!" Chelsea exclaimed, bending down to scoop up her belongings as she followed Aubrey inside her apartment.

"Well what do you wanna know?" Aubrey closed the door behind her.

"EVERYTHING!" Chelsea exclaimed again. "How you guys started talking, how he asked you out, your guys's sex life, EVERYTHING. I wanna know EVERYTHING!"

"Calm down, calm down," Aubrey plopped down on the sofa and started in on all the details her sister was hungry for.

Chelsea just sat there, wide-eyed and awe-struck, as she listened to her baby sister explain how it all began with a minor wrist injury all thanks to Tanger. She was in amazement that Aubrey was living the dream every girl in the city of Pittsburgh wished that they could fulfill. When Aubrey de-briefed her about their private "lesson" at Consol again, Chelsea couldn't help but comment how lucky she was and how it sounded like she was finally moving on from her ex.

"But is the sex good?" Chelsea questioned as soon as Aubrey concluded.

"Chels!" Aubrey playfully smacked her sister on the knee.

"Aubs, it has been my dream ever since you told me that you'd be working for the Pens, that you would somehow end up with one and now look at where you are; you're dating the fucking captain. And as your big sister, it's my right to know if the sex is everything it's hyped up to be," Chelsea explained.

"TBD," Aubrey took a deep breath in.

"WHAT?" Chelsea spat.

"TBD," Aubrey repeated.

"Please tell me this is some sort of sick joke and you've hit that by now," Chelsea sounded serious.

"When I said we were taking things slow, I meant exactly what I said," Aubrey sighed.

"I get wanting to take things slow but Jesus Christ, Aubs, he's a man and men have needs!"

"He was the one who mentioned it in the first place!" Aubrey argued. "We really wanna get to know each other before we bone!"

"It's been two fucking months already, how long does it take to get to know one another!? You're constantly with him!" Chelsea rebuddled.

"Look," Aubrey shot her an icy glare. "It's our sex life and we'll take things at our own speed."

"You're right," Chelsea backed off. "But please tell me you guys have at least done other stuff."

"CHELS!" Aubrey snapped.

"Fine, fine," Chelsea put her hands up in protest. "So what was this you mentioned earlier about a special guest?"

"It's a surprise," Aubrey smirked.

"Can you at least give me an inkling of detail?"

"Nope," Aubrey said checking the time on her phone. "You'll find out soon enough. But for right now we need to get ready because we only have an hour and a half to make it into the city if we wanna get there on time."

"Oooooh we're eating downtown?" Chelsea sounded amused. "Should I dress nice then?"

"Yep," Aubrey smiled "We're going to one of Sid's favorite restaurants."

"SID!" Chelsea clapped. "I get to meet Sidney Crosby in less than two hours!"

"Uhhh weren't you the one not too long ago who told me that he was just a regular guy who just wanted to be treated like one?" Aubrey questioned.

"Just let me have my moment. I promise I won't be like this at dinner!"

"Fine," Aubrey rolled her eyes.

"Now go change into something pretty that'll blow Sid away," Chelsea shooed her off.

Aubrey let out a quiet giggle and retreated to her room to find something nice to wear. Chelsea didn't have a clue as to who the "special guest" was but Aubrey couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she found out it's James.

Tonight was going to be an entertaining night. She could feel it.