Status: I'll try and post as much as I can (:

O Captain, My Captain.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"ATTA BOY, SID!" Tom banged both his fists on the glass, causing a few guys on the bench in front of him to turn around and see what the commotion was. "NICE HIT!"

"DAD!" Chelsea snapped.

"What?" Tom asked innocently.

"Between you damn near distracting every player on the bench and mom reading, I can't take it anymore," Chelsea said bluntly.

"Oh, Chels, don't get your panties in a wad. Let me enjoy this," Tom shook his head.

The three of them were sitting in the best seats in the arena: first row behind the bench right on the glass. Tom was loving every minute of being up close and personal to the action. He listened intently as Coach Bylsma called plays, wanting to soak in every second of such a rare opportunity. Joyce had been buried in a fresh copy of 'Catcher in the Rye' compliments of Sidney as soon as they sat down in their seats. He thought it would be a clever way to start off on the right foot with her seeing as though the two didn't have much in common. And at this point, Chelsea was just surviving, doing her best to keep her cool while her father spazzed out beside her. Every so often Nealer would turn around and give her one of his infamous smirks that made her want to strip naked right then and there. But of course that would have to wait until later.

"Just quit hitting on the glass so hard," she continued. "I'm actually trying to pay attention."

"Since when do you care so much about hockey?" Tom pressed.

"I've always liked it," Chelsea hissed.

"No, you've always liked the players," he corrected her.

"You know that's no-," she was cut off by the booming voice of the announcer filling the arena.

"NUMBER EIGHTEEN JAMES NEAL WITH THE ONE-TIMER!"

"WOOOOOO!" Chelsea jumped out of her seat and started pounding on the glass. "WAY TO GO REAL DEAL!"

She was absolutely elated as she watched James celebrate with Geno, Juice, Nisky, and Olli out on the ice. When he skated back towards the bench to exchange a line of high-fives with the rest of his teammates, their eyes met and he gave her a small wink which set her heart into full-on overdrive.

"Ummmm," Tom cleared his throat. "And I'M the embarrassing one?"

***

"Way to go, Nealer," Aubrey congratulated him as he took his spot on the bench next to Geno. "I thought one-timer's were Nisky's thing?"

"I'm a very versatile player," he smirked sounding slightly winded.

"Among other aspects of your life," Aubrey scoffed.

"Well," he gave her a devilish grin. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't agree with you."

"So was that for her?" Aubrey asked out of curiosity.

"I don't know," he said turning around to give a slight head nod to Chelsea. "You tell me."

"Who would've thought?" Aubrey grinned. "You and my sister?"

"I could've even called that one," Sid interrupted their conversation giving his teammate a firm pat on the shoulder. "Hell of a shot, Nealer."

"Thanks man," Nealer smiled.

"Trying to make the most out of Chelsea's experience?" Sid said suggestively.

"Please," Nealer rolled his eyes. "I'm only getting started. But what about you, Cappy?"

"What about me?"

"I see you out there doing some fancy little moves trying to impress Little Miss Physical Therapist's folks back there," Nealer called him on his bluff.

"Fancy moves?" Sid scrunched his face in confusion. "Hardly."

"You know what would really be impressive?" Nealer asked.

"Huh?"

"Putting the puck in the back of the fucking net."

"You go sit at the top of the NHL leaderboards and then we'll talk," Sid rebuddled jokingly.

"Boys," Aubrey rolled her eyes.

"Don't get in the middle of this, Aubrey," Nealer teased.

"KETTERING!" Dirty Dan called from down the bench. Aubrey's head immediately snapped up at the sound of her last name. "Kuni's ankle's feelin a little tight. I need you to take him back to the trainer's room and check it out."

"You got it," Aubrey said as she tightened her ponytail and smoothed out her shirt. "Sid, I'll see you hopefully sometime before the game's over. Finger's crossed it's just a tweak."

"Go take care of the only other winger I have left," Sid half joked.

"Go score a fucking goal!" she called back to him as she trotted down to where Kuni was sitting gently massaging his left ankle.

"Can you stand?" Aubrey asked as she stood over the left-winger.

"Yeah," he grimaced attempting to stand on both skates. "I just can't put a whole lot of weight on it."

"Well let's hobble you down the runway and take a look," she smirked as she draped his arm around her shoulders for support.

Once they made it back to the trainer's room, she helped him hop up onto the examiner's table and began to un-tape his left pad, being careful to remove each piece of equipment ever so gently as not to irritate his already injured ankle.

"Jesus, Kuni, what the hell happened? First Duper and now you? Is Sid like secretly beating you guys up?" she joked.

"No," he winced as she began to apply pressure to certain parts of his ankle. "He was definitely involved in Duper's incident but this time it was all Winnipeg for me."

"Kane?"

"Big Buf. Dude's a monster."

"Yikes," Aubrey gritted her teeth not even wanting to fathom the thought of Dustin Byfuglien coming anywhere near her small 5'4 frame.

"Prognosis?" Kuni asked.

"Well it doesn't appear to be broken, just a minor sprain if that. He tripped you up pretty hard. I'm gonna ice it for the remainder of the period and then we can go from there."

"Oh good then we have time to talk."

"About?" Aubrey sounded skeptical. Shouldn't most players be chomping at the bit to get back on there on the ice?

"Cappy," Kuni rolled his eyes. "Duuuuuh."

"You're such a girl, Kuni," Chelsea rolled her eyes as she wrapped a large ice pack around his ankle. "Is my love life like your favorite topic?"

"As of right now? Yes. I've heard nothing but straight baby talk from Maureen for the past week, I need a change of scenery."

"Oh?" Aubrey raised her eyebrows. "And how is Maureen?"

"Pregnant," Kuni replied quickly. "Super pregnant."

"And you think talking about Sid will make her sound any less pregnant?"

"Anything's better than listening to her try and decide what color the nursery should be. We've had two kids already, you'd think she'd be an expert by now," Kuni pinched part of the ice pack.

"You're so supportive," Aubrey said sarcastically. "So what do you wanna talk about?"

"Well first off I can tell you what a relief tomorrow's gonna be for him," Kuni smiled. "He's been freaking out about this weekend ever since you said your family was coming into town."

"So he's panicked with you guys too?"

"How could he not? We spend almost every day together," he said matter-of-factly.

"True," Aubrey hopped up on the table next to him. "I think this weekend has actually gone really great. My parents love him."

"What about your sister?"

"She's been a little preoccupied with Nealer," she nodded her head.

"Wow," Kuni sounded stunned. "Good for him. About time he goes after someone his own age."

"You mean you weren't a fan of all the college girls he hits and quits?"

"Not at all," Kuni folded his arms and shook his head. "He can do so much better."

"He is," she corrected him. "They have plans to spend time together next weekend."

"No shit?" Kuni turned his head to look at her. "Nealer better not be getting soft on us all of a sudden."

"Jesus, Kuni, the man spends more time on his hair than every girl in the city of Pittsburgh combined. I think you all knew he was soft."

"Good point," he laughed. "But I am happy for him."

"Same," Aubrey smiled. "From what Chels has said, they're getting really serious really fast."

"Weird," Kuni smiled. "Well I'm glad to hear your parents approve of Cappy."

"They approved long before they even knew we were a thing."

"So what now?"

Aubrey paused for a minute until she turned and gave Kuni a devilish grin. Her eyes danced with pure lust. The gears were definitely turning in her brain, formulating a plan of how she could repay Sid for showing her parents one of the best weekends of their lives.

"I think it's time I show him how much I appreciate him for all he's done so far."

And with that, she hopped off the examiner's table and made her way back to the bench. She needed to find Sidney and find him fast.