Master of Timing

Sam was on the board of directors for a children's cancer research program affiliated with the hospital. So Lyndsey knew that it was coming up but what she didn't expect was for Sam to ask her along as his date.

"Where's Dylan?" 

Sam had waved his hand without even looking up from the file he was writing notes in. "At that golf business thing in Florida."

Lyndsey remembered. "You got him the Rolex, didn't you?"

The doctor in front of her threw down his pen. "He didn't even appreciate it, the fucker! ‘Merry Christmas here's one of the most expensive watch brands in the world’ and not even a bj.” At least he had the common decency to whisper the last part.

"So didn't need to know that."

"Whatever, are you coming? Because it's my fucking program and even I don't want to go at this point."

"Jesus," Jackie rounded the corner, her eyes wide. "What crawled up your ass and died?"

"I hate all of you," came Sam's reply, Lyndsey and Jackie both laughing as he slammed the Manila file shut before storming away. "Tomorrow night, starts at 7. I'll get you at 6.30," he added before he rounded the corner to head back up the ward.

"Where are you going?"

Lyndsey sighed, taking the file Sam was working on to enter in the new data; unfortunately, she was the only one who really knew how to decider his scribble. "The cancer fund thing tomorrow."

Jackie made a non-descript noise of understanding before she busied herself with a patient who'd walked up to the desk with her wailing toddler. Lyndsey felt bad, they had been waiting for hours for a doctor, but it was another insane night in the ER and unfortunately they had no where to go. The young mother looked about ready to break but apart from offering blankets and some Gatorade, there wasn't much else they could do without the little boy being in a bed.

It had been 10 days. Not that Lyndsey was counting the hours or anything. It was like actually seeing him again had opened a can of worms- they'd had more in depth conversations about life since their date than the previous three months combined. She loved it.

Although, she hadn't really anticipated that she'd miss him as much as she had. Sidney had assured her that he was going just as crazy, she'd fallen asleep over a couple of nights to the sound of his voice in her ear. The more they talked, the less of a stranger he seemed to her- except she knew that there were two very different parts to his life and Lyndsey didn't quite know how to breach the subject of hockey. She knew that he knew she was a fan, not just of him but of the sport in general and she didn't want to abuse their friendship to know the ins and outs of what was happening down in Pittsburgh.

It was killing her that he wasn't playing though, just from a Pens' stand point. She had a inkling that he was coming back to play sooner than what the PR were letting on to the media, but she didn't want to ask. Didn't think she was in that position yet.

Plus, Lyndsey was convinced that hockey was probably the last thing he'd want to talk about still and she was determined to find other things that they were both interested in so that he wouldn't get bored.

("Oh my God, he flew all the way out here for a date! He's not getting bored."

Jackie had hit her over the back of the head with a file for that one.)

Lyndsey looked up from her desk when she heard extra voices in the office, the clock on the wall telling her that her shift was due to finish in ten minutes. She blushed a little when she realised it wasn't the first shift she'd daydreamt away thinking about him.

"You were in la la land for the better part of two hours." She shrugged, throwing her scrubs into the hamper on her way out the door. She didn't bother to stop to see Jackie's reaction.

’Morning! Finished yet?’

She laughed at the big smiley emoji's he'd attached. 

’On my way home now.'

'Stop texting and driving!'

'I'm not! I'm in the parking lot. I'll call you when I get home.’

That was another thing. She wasn't at all excited to see her phone bill at the end of the month. Maybe she'd pull some overtime to make up for it. It was worth it.

The first thing she noticed was a sad face. ’I’m on my way to training & then have a full day of sponsor meetings- I'll facetime you tonight?'

'Of course. Have a fun day’. And then, feeling brave, she added ’xx’ on the end.

’Sleep tight :)’ Then just as she started her car, ’I like the ‘xx’s.’



Looking in the mirror, Lyndsey was half contemplating calling Sam to cancel. He told her that the theme was 'red', so of course she only owned one red dress and it was bordering on inappropriate. She'd started drinking wine as she got ready to calm her nerves; most of the people there tonight probably wouldn't even recognise her out of scrubs and she didn't want to give the wrong impression.

’Help.’

Kate would know. If she was awake.

Lyndsey turned in the mirror once again and chewed on her lip, switched her shoes to another pair and looked again.

Nope. Didn't change a thing.

’I’m not certified to help people as crazy as you.'

'haha very funny. yes or no?’ She quickly took a photo and sent it to Australia, bouncing her cell in her hand as she waited for a reply.

’uhhhh, I thought Sidney was still in Pittsburgh?'

'Huh?’

The typing bubble appeared again. ’The answer is yes, btw. Where's he taking you?’

Lyndsey flushed. ’No you idiot, he's not here. It's a work thing and the theme is red and this is the only red dress I own. AND before you say anything, yes I'm aware of what's going on up top but it's the only bra I have that works and my BOSSES ARE GOING TO SEE ME WHAT DO I DO???’ Lyndsey knew she was probably over reacting, and under any normal circumstance she'd think that she looked good. Even if the dress was moderately low cut, her assets didn't exactly want to stay hidden. And the only other bra she had to wear was about as uncomfortable as a stick up her butt and she didn't want to spend the whole night trying to re-arrange everything in the bathroom.

’hubba hubba. Have you got a chunky necklace or a little shawl thing to wear maybe? Actually shawls are for grandma's, so necklace that shit up!'

'How is lover boy?’ Followed straight after. She took another gulp of wine and gave Kate the run down, filtering through her jewelry to find a necklace that would work. It was pointless though, she was a dainty necklace wearer, usually something that her grandmother used to own. ’…does Sid know you're going tonight?’

Fuck, Lyndsey's brain supplied. She hadn't told him. She scanned back through her messages and quickly typed out a ’going out tonight but can facetime for a couple of minutes now if you're free?’ because she didn't want to spend her night checking her phone for when he would eventually text her. She wasn't that rude.

Her computer was already turned on and instead of replying, a incoming call alert came up on the screen. She answered it with a smile, sending a ’he will in a minute’ to Kate before throwing her phone down on the desk next to her laptop. Sid looked up from whatever he was doing and froze, Lyndsey still too distracted by trying to pick a necklace to notice straight away. "Hi!" She giggled, settled on a tear drop emerald and reached around to secure the clasp around her neck. "Sorry, I only have five minutes before my ride gets here but I wanted to still talk to you." 

He seemed to shake himself out of whatever he was thinking and then sent her a smile. "Yeah, wow. You look...stunning."

Lyndsey could feel the blush rising in her cheeks and hoped that the lamp she had on hid it from him. "You think so?"

He cleared his throat, shifted a little on the sofa, the laptop swaying from side to side slightly. "Well-yeah. Yes. Actually, if I told you what I was actually thinking you'd run for the hills, so..." He shrugged with a grin and she laughed, her hand coming up to mindlessly fiddle with the gem against her neck.  She didn't miss his eyes following her movements for a brief second before he snapped them back to her face. "So, where are you going?"

"A cancer research benefit thing." Her hand waved noncommittally. "One of the doctors at work asked me to go. I figured I owed it to him, since he was there for me during December when we were... y'know."

Sid did know. But, he was a guy - a guy who was two thousand miles away from the girl he liked and she was wearing that dress - so the only part of what he heard Lyndsey say was the word 'him'. "Yeah. So, that's what you're gonna wear?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he cringed. That was about as stage five clinger as he could get.

"I'm-yeah. It's a red theme and this is the only red dress I own," She trailed off with a shrug. "I. It's okay, right? Not too inappropriate?" She stood up and moved back so he could see the full length of it. "I mean, you go to these kind of things way more than me, obviously and Sam got all angry when I said I wasn't sure if I wanted to go-"

"What you're wearing is fine," He answered. "I mean, you look amazing and that doctor is going to be lucky to have you on his arm tonight."

Lyndsey stopped, hearing the dogs bark from down the hall; Sam had arrived. "Uhm, well. Thank you? I- he's, well it's his charity that he's a director of and his partner couldn't make it so." She stopped at Sid's face, eyes downcast and a frown between his eyebrows. "You're okay with this, right? He's just a friend and it's just some charity thing. I don't usually go to things like-"

"It's fine. It's more than fine, I'm not there to take you out all the time so I hope you have fun." But his smile was tight, his monotone voice the same type he used on the media after a big loss. "Seriously," He added when she just stared at him. "You're not going to get auctioned off for some date or something, are you?" His face was beyond adorable and even though Lyndsey could tell that he was joking, she saw part of him worry it might actually be the truth.

She hmm'ed. "Not that I know of, but someone might think I'm worth something," She teased, trying to ease the tension. 

It didn't work.

"Sid..." Her mom's voice was on the outside of the door, after a quick knock. "I have to go. Sam's here."

"Yeah, yeah, of course." He nodded, sighing heavily but still watching her. "I hope you have a really good time tonight." Every fibre of her being felt like he didn't mean it. Even he didn't look like he meant it.

She nodded. This wasn't how she wanted this to go. "Maybe if I'm back early we could try this again?"

"Maybe," He agreed. "Enjoy your night."

"Thanks," She barely got out, before the call ended. Shit.



“Have you been to a charity benefit before?” Sam had left Lyndsey to talk to two of the wives of the heads of administration at the hospital and she was beginning to curse the day he’d ever been born. He knew that at the best of times she wasn’t the most outspoken person; but he’d thrown her into the deep end with people she had never met before at an event only rich or famous people went to. And he knew that she didn’t fit either of those categories.

“Is it that obvious?” She grimaced, her fingers tightening on the glass of champagne she had yet to take a sip of.

“No,” they both laughed. One of the women, Veronica, placed her hand on Lyndsey’s arm. “That’s not what I meant. I meant if you had been to a benefit for this research fund.”

“Oh,” She huffed out a laugh, although it held no merit. “No, never. Sam’s partner is out of town and I sort of went through a bit of a rough spot a few weeks back which he helped me out with, so I owed him really.”

“You know Sam well?”

She nodded, taking a sip of the champagne. It actually tasted better than she expected. “I’m a nurse with the hospital, I’ve been working mostly with him since he’s been transferred.”

“Oh that’s right. I bet he misses those kids.”

The two of the broke off in a discussion about how Sam Michael’s was probably the best pediatrician the hospital had and how stupid it was that he was now working as a temporary (though it had been months) fill in at the ER. Before he’d been sent down the ER, Lyndsey had only heard of his name twice; both occasions occurring when one of his patients had been brought in via an ambulance before being transferred up to oncology. Cancer was a horrible thing to witness anyway, but seeing kids half their size and lifeless for even a few hours was enough to make her heart break. He really was a stronger person than she was.

“Excuse me,” She nodded to Veronica and her friend, downing the rest of her drink as she made her way through the ballroom to the bathrooms. She spotted Sam on the way, deep in conversation with more people in suits so she kept going, breezing past the empty stalls to the last one in the room, locking the door and sitting down.

Pulling out her cell, she noticed two things; it was close to 10pm and that Sidney hadn’t tried to contact her. Her mind had replayed their Skype call all through dinner, enough that she wouldn’t even be able to tell you what they talked about at the table or what food was served. Maybe it had just been a weird night for him; she could admit that he didn’t really look like himself, and he had told her that he had a full day of press and meetings after training, that would be enough to tire anybody out.

But he always seemed to make time for her, no matter how tired or sick or frustrated he was feeling. Weren’t they past all this?

She pressed the icon on the screen and all of a sudden she was calling him, trying her hardest to not bite her nails as the dial tone continuously rang in her ear. “Hi, you’ve reached Sidney. Sorry I missed…”. She pulled the phone away to hang up with a sigh, hearing people enter the bathrooms.

’Hey, just wanted to check in - I forgot to ask how your day went, sorry I was a bit flustered tonight. I was nervous. I don’t know how you stand these things, I can’t remember anyone’s name who I’ve spoken to. Kinda wish you were here. xx’

Putting her phone away, she decided that if she was actually in the bathroom that she’d put it to use. Once she’d washed her hands and took another quick glance at her phone (even she knew it was a bit presumptuous to assume he’d text back so quickly, he was probably asleep), she headed back out to the room, taking another glass of champagne from a waiter nearby.

“…Well, your generosity means more than what I can say. Honestly, it’s been such a pleasure,” She heard Sam praise as she walked up beside him, bumping him slightly with her hip. “Oh, hey. Was wondering where you ran off to.”

“I was chatting to a few people.”

“Really?” He asked. She rolled her eyes.

“You know me, social butterfly.” They both laughed and Sam turned their attention back to the three guys standing before them. They were all older, in ridiculously nice suits because Lyndsey was sure that the night didn’t actually warrant a tuxedo, smiling at her and Sam.

“Gentlemen, this is Lyndsey.” She reached out to shake each of their hands as Sam continued to speak. “She’s probably one of the best night nurses you have down in ER.”

“And you gave up a night off to come hang around us old stuffy suits? Geez, you’re game.”

Lyndsey laughed a little along with them, but not too much because she wasn’t sure if by doing so she was insulting the people that might have something to do with her having a job. She hadn’t seen any of her direct managers, but that didn’t mean that there was a link somewhere.

“Well, Sam here is cashing in on a favour, so…” Trailing off, she took another sip of her champagne, the men around her laughing before breaking off into their separate groups. Sam turned to her, watching with a bemused expression as she tossed her head back and skulled more than what she probably should have.

“So. I’m pretty sure they think we’re dating.”

If only he’d held out for two more seconds, then Lyndsey wouldn’t be choking on the last part of her drink, narrowly avoiding spitting it back in the glass. Sam bit his lip to hide his laugh and petted her back gently, taking her glass to put it on a nearby table. “Not funny,” She growled, which only made him chuckle more.

“Sorry.”

“No you’re not.”

“No, I’m not.” He admitted it freely with a shrug of his shoulders. “Everything okay?”

Even though Sam seemed to be genuinely concerned, she knew that there was no point in bringing up her boy troubles. He’d only want to talk about it and where they were was neither the time or place. “Fine. Had a bit too much champagne.”

“Well,” He lead them both to a nearby table, holding out her chair. “That’s what happens when you skull it. Would you like the bottle and a straw?”

“Shut up,” She laughed. Taking a look around the room, she had noticed that many people had already left. Overall, Lyndsey assumed it had been a good night. People talked money in numbers she couldn’t even imagine, plenty of charitable gifts and donations and holidays to resorts and dinners and all other kinds of things were thrown around. All she did was clap; mostly to Sam’s speech once dinner had ended, thanking everyone for their kind generosity and how each little bit did wonders to change some kids life.

“I’m just going to say goodbye to a few people, then we can go?” She nodded as Sam walked away, smiling to a couple who walked past, hand in hand with smiles on their faces. She wished that Sidney was there, so that they could leave with the same looks on their faces, her hand safely tucked away in his his, or maybe at his side with his hand on the small of her back. She missed his warmth, his smile, his laugh. The way his eyes crinkled at the sides when he let out a tiny giggle at a ridiculous joke she made. Every part of her loved Edmonton, it was home, it was her life - but she sighed when she had a overwhelming wish to be in Pittsburgh instead.



Sidney hung up the video chat, throwing the laptop to the spare spot on the sofa beside him. He groaned, brushing his hands over his face, he took a deep breath to gather his thoughts.

Firstly; holyfuckingshit. She looked amazing. He did what he could to not stare at… everything on display but it was hard. He thought she was a knockout when they had gone to dinner but clearly he was wrong. It had been a long time since he thought a woman was impossibly beautiful (Jennifer Garner aside) and he didn’t know what to do with it.

He took one more glance at the laptop before he huffed, swiping up his phone from the coffee table and texting Duper. He needed advice.



He'd managed to occupy himself for another hour at home as Duper out (but heading home), going through some paperwork for the Little Penguins event he had coming up before he drove over to the Dupuis'. It was about as long as he could stand.

“Hey Uncle Sid!” Maeva grinned as she held the front door open, missing a top tooth.

“Hey sweetie,” He greeted her with a hug, squeezing her shoulders tightly. “Where’s Papa?”

“In the study.” Closing the door behind him, he laughed a little as she held her hands out for his coat. “Mommy says it’s polite,” She offered, standing on her tip toes to try and reach the hanger. Sid gave in and helped her reach the last two inches, winking as he slid off his shoes. “I’ll go get him.”

He laughed a little to himself at the “Papaaaaaaaaaa” that carried on down the hall and up the staircase, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of it before turning left through the foyer to the kitchen. He always decided to for-go his manners when he came to Pascal’s, since Duper was so good at ignoring formalities at his own house whenever he dropped by. He sat on the kitchen stool and sighed, leaning forward to rest his head on the cool tile, only turning slightly to the side when he heard footsteps.

“Comfortable?”

He cracked an eye open and focused on a smirking Pascal Dupuis, leaning oh-so casually against his refrigerator with his arms crossed. “Shut up,” he mumbled, sitting up just so he could ignore his team mates laughter face to face.

“Want a beer?”

He nodded, looking back down the hall as Mae came running in, slippers scuffing along the floor boards as her trailed behind her with the breeze. “What’s goin’ on, kid?”

“Look what I made at school!” Sid held his hand out, sending Pascal a quick smile as a Blue Moon appeared in front of him, taking the box from Maeva’s hands. “It’s a jewelry box! I worked on it all quarter in woodwork!”

“It’s amazing!” It really was, she was only twelve but it looked to be made with precision and care, not that he had come to expect any less from her. She was a perfectionist almost more than he was. “What’re you going to put it in?”

Maeva shrugged. “Prolly my earrings or something. Papa, can I have a pop?”

Pascal scoffed, bending down to pick her up, even though she was probably a little too big for cuddles. He couldn’t admit that to himself though. “You should be in bed, my sweet. Mom would be very angry with Papa if she knew I’d let you stay up.”

“But Uncle Sid’s here.” 

"So?"

"It's Uncle Sid." Clearly that was justification enough. Pascal and Sidney smirked at each other, the Captain shrugging. He didn't know what to do.

“He’s your favourite, huh?”

She nodded, giggling and squirming away from his tickles as she slid back down to the floor. “Only kidding Papa. You’re my favourite.”

“Sure.”

Sid watched the two of them back and forth, sipping on his beer and resting his arms on the bench. Mae came around to his side and wrapped her arms as best as she could around his middle, leaning into his arms. “You’re my second favourite.”

He chuckled. “Thanks sweetie.”

“Living room?”

“Yeah.”

“Can I come?!”

Pascal and Sid shared a glance, and honestly, Sid didn’t really mind. It wasn’t a school night and she would probably get bored of the adult conversation in two minutes anyway before she put herself to bed like always whenever Sid was over late. It didn’t happen often, but enough to know that the little girl he’d met when Pascal was traded was very quickly becoming a teenager. It made him feel old.

“Yeah, c’mon.”

“Yay!” She ran ahead, holding onto the corner of the wall as she sped around the corner, doing her best not to crash into the grandfather clock.

“One of these days she’s going to break a bone.”

“Well,” Pascal noted, pointing a finger at his Captain’s direction. “If you didn’t get her all excited, she wouldn’t be running around the house.”

“How did this become my fault?” They maturely pushed and shoved each other down the hallway, laughing a little as they stumbled into the living room, the TV on with what looked to be a boy in wolf make up and a girl with a bow & arrow. Maeva didn’t seem to notice the two of them sit down on the sectional, her feet up in the air as she faced forward.

“What’s the matter?” Straight to the point, as always. Sid didn’t feel any embarrassment or caution like he did when he told Kris about Lyndsey, so he decided just to jump right in. He figured the more he said, the easier it would be. Since him dating was such a rare occurrence anyway.

“I met someone.”

And again, the face he got in return clearly showed it was the last thing the other man expected to hear. Except he had more class than Letang and smirked a little, taking a sip of his beer with a nod that clearly indicated ‘go on’.

Sid sighed. “She doesn’t live here. And she’s out tonight with some doctor she works with and she’s wearing this ridiculously …ugh, I don’t know but this dress and I feel trapped. I feel trapped, in my own home,” He explained, although he really hadn’t explained anything at all.

“You like her?”

Sid felt himself nod before the question had even registered. Once he’d actually caught on though, he gave one firm bounce of his head, adjusting the beer bottle resting on his knee. His eyes flicked over to Maeva, who still obviously had no idea they were even there. “She’s great. Amazing, actually, I-“ He stopped himself before he starting singing Lyndsey's praises (not that she wasn't worth them, he just didn't need to give Duper anymore ammunition to chirp him with later). "Yes. I like her."

Pascal knew that eloquent and smooth talking as Sidney could be for the cameras, he was much more shy when just being himself. It was painful to watch in the beginning, until he realised that was just Sid. “So apart from her not living here, what’s the problem?”

When Sidney opened his mouth to reply, he was stumped. He didn’t even know anymore. The irrational irritation he felt when from their call earlier had gone and now he was more just missing Lyndsey than anything else. He’d had a couple of good days at practice, skating on his own, pushing himself a little harder. Some of the more complicated stick-handling drills gave him a headache after a while from focusing his eyes so much, but everything else was starting to fall into place. So he didn’t know why he still felt lost.

“What do you mean?”

He looked up. Maybe he’d said that last bit out loud.

“I dunno.” Sid shrugged, turning his attention to the TV for a second. “It’s not the fact that she’s out with someone else; because if it meant anything to her she obviously wouldn’t have told me about it.” The way he looked at Duper showed he needed someone to agree with him, so Pascal just nodded. “I just… I don’t know,” he sighed again, taking another pull of his drink. “I wish she was here so I could get to know her better. Instead of just texting all the time.”

“Maybe you should go see her?” With Duper’s eyebrows raised, looking over the neck of his bottle, Sid blushed a bit, looking down at his lap. “What? You already have?” Sid just nodded. “When?”

“A couple of weeks ago. When I took those two days off training.”

Pascal’s jaw dropped. Never in his life as a Penguin did Sidney skip training that wasn’t an optional skate. If he was allowed to tie skates to his feet, he was the first one out there and the last one to leave. From the first day of practice till probably the day he retired. Maybe not even then. “You sly S.O.B.”

That actually got Sid smiling, nodding along like ‘yeah. Look at me breaking all my own rules’. “It was worth it.”

“Oh yeah?”

Sid hurled the pillow by his side across the room. “Not like that, jerk.”

Pascal just laughed, placing his finished beer at his feet, pulling the tab on the recliner to kick back a little more. Sid followed suit, resting his near-empty beer on the table by his position. “What’s her name?”

Sid gave him the same run down he’d told Tanger; name, occupation, location. He explained about how they’d met, and that he and Lyndsey had kept talking all this time, building a friendship first before anything else. He thought that was important, and Duper understood when Sid explained that he didn’t want her to think he was just going out of his way in the beginning to get into her pants.

“So you went to Edmonton?”

“Yeah. I offered to take her out for dinner months ago, just as friends but when I got there and I saw her, I didn’t…” he trailed off, not knowing how to finish. He didn’t realise just how much he had missed her, even though they hadn’t gone longer than a week without talking since they met (including the terrible December phase). “I was thinking of asking her to come out here when I’m cleared to play, but I don’t know if she’ll want to.”

“How come?”

“Because,” He shrugged. “She can’t always get time off work and obviously I don’t want her to come down for my first game because the family will be in town.” Because if there was anything more awkward than bringing your maybe/kind of/I don’t actually know girlfriend to a game, it was bringing her to the first one back from injury when his parents were staying in his house.

Yeah, no.

“Is she pretty?”

Both of them snapped their eyes to Maeva, who was sitting up in a ball, looking at him bashfully from behind her knees like she was afraid of getting told off.

Sid nodded. “Yeah. She’s very pretty.”

“That’s good.”

“Mae,” Pascal opened up his arm and she caught on, jumping from one couch to another to land next to him, cuddling up close. “You’re getting too big. Started to pay too close attention to the adult stuff.”

She smiled, snuggling into her Papa’s chest more. “Does she like the Penguins?”

Both of them turned their attention to him. “Oh yeah, she loves us. Says we’re her favourite.”

“Good, because that would be bad if she didn’t like your team.” She giggled, as if it was the biggest deal breaker in the world.

“I know.”

“If she comes to watch you and Papa play, does that mean I can say hi?”

Pascal and Sid looked at each other, smirking a little. If there was one thing Maeve Dupuis wasn’t, it was shy. She made it her mission in life to be friends with as many people as possible, and she didn’t care if they were adults, kids, or puppies.

“You think she’d want to come watch us?”

“Yeah!”

Sid nodded. It took everything in him not to break out in a grin, because he wanted Lyndsey to come out to watch him play about as desperately as he wanted to be back on the ice. Although, her being there and not knowing anyone presented the biggest problem; he’d either have to give her tickets for seats (and if she came alone, that would be incredibly rude) or he could get her in the WAG box, which was not somewhere he wanted to leave her on her own for four hours, no matter how much he adored his team mates’ wives.

“I don’t know if she’d want to come out here if she didn’t know anyone but me.” And that right there was the root of his problem. He didn’t have much free time, not at this point of the season where everyone was playing playoff style hockey and the media amped up as the regular season passed the halfway point. Once he was cleared, there wasn’t going to be many opportunities to have nights off to go take her to dinner or to see the sights or even to meet some of the guys. He’d have to chose a time she had off work and he had a homestand.

“So fly her down a day or so before, a few of us can go out to dinner.” Pascal shrugged and Maeva nodded. “It might have to be just the adults, mon cher,” He muttered, kissing her forehead when she pouted. And when her Papa didn’t give in, just shaking his head with a chuckle she pushed off his chest and ran over to sidle up next to Sid, wrapping her hands around his arm.

“Pleeeeeeeease, Uncle Sid? I promise I’ll be really good and I won’t even let the babies be annoying or anything.”

He couldn’t do anything but laugh. “We’ll see. I haven’t even asked if she can come to Pittsburgh, yet.”

“So, ask! Right now!”

“Maeva Dupuis, where are your manners?”

She blushed. “Sorry.”

“I think it’s time for bed.”

“Nooooo, Papa. Can’t I wait until we ask if she can come visit?”

Sid raised an eyebrow. “Oh, it’s ‘we’ now?” When she nodded back at him, he sighed with a smile, grinning at her ‘yes!’ when he reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. His phone had been on silent so he’d had no idea that she had called him and he swiped open on her text, smiling to himself as he skimmed it.

“Uncle Sid’s going red!”

“No, I’m not!” He leant up to give her a little noogie, letting her push his hand away as she sat more comfortably against his shoulder. “Okay. Should I ask her?”

“Yeah! She’s going to say ‘yes’, I know it!” And when she bounced a little in her seat, he opened up a new message. He replied to her first, saying that he wished he could’ve been there too, if only to see her in that dress in person. “What’re you saying?”

“Maeva!”

“Okay,” Sid sighed. “I missed a message from her before, I was just replying. Now, what should I say?”

Maeva chewed on her lip for a second, Pascal watching the two of them with a look of exasperation that could only be directed at people he loved.

“Say ‘I think you should come watch a game and I’ll score lots of goals and I love you!’” And just like that, she peeled off into a fit of laughter, spurred on as Sid dropped his phone in his lap and started tickling her sides. “No, Uncle Sid! No!”

“That’s what I should say?”

“Yeah!” She squealed, doing her best to worm away from him but he was stronger, pulling her up until she was sitting again, begging him to stop. He finally did when she squealed ‘Mercy!’, short of breath and the world’s biggest smile on her face. He picked up his phone again, resting his head against hers as she cuddled up to his side like she had her father.

“I don’t think I can say all that,” He typed away at the screen anyway. “How about ‘Things are looking pretty good at training, maybe you could come down to watch a game once I’m back?’” He looked down and saw her smiling at him. “What about that?”

“And ‘I love you’.”

“Mae.” Pascal rolled his eyes.

“But you do!”

Sid’s eyes went comically wide. “How do you know? I don’t even know!”

The little girl shrugged. “Because you think that she’s pretty and you like her and Papa tells Mommy she's pretty all the time and they love each other.” Sid shared a glance with his liney, unsure of what to say. “And because you skipped training for the first time everrrrrr!” And she was off again, giggling away as Pascal stood up to scoop her into his arms, loudly announcing it was bed time and for her to give her Uncle a kiss. “Good night Uncle Sidneyyyyyyyyyy.”

“Goodnight, you crazy loon.” He kissed her forehead from where Duper held her upside down, sitting back as their voices carried on down the hall and up the stairs. Sid sighed again, rubbing his eyes tiredly before picking up his cell, the message still unsent. He hesitated a little. Maeva wasn’t one hundred percent correct; Sidney didn’t even think he’d really been in love before so he had no idea if that’s what it was, but he sure as hell knew not to say it over a text message. But he did like her. More than he’d let himself like anyone in a long time. So he bit the bullet and pressed the blue button, watching as it sat idly for a few seconds before ‘Delivered’ appeared underneath.

He heard Pascal’s footsteps on the stairs and bit his lip, fingers flying across the screen before he put it back in his pocket.

’We’ll figure out the details later. Just say yes. I miss you.’



She was finally home and showered. Sam had dropped her home just after 11pm and promised to drive safely and that he'd see her at work the next night. She made sure to take a couple of selfies for herself (since she was actually pretty impressed with how well her make up had stayed and thought she looked kind of pretty) before she rushed into the bathroom to decompress and soak under the hot water.

So it wasn't until she was back in her room, snuggling under the covers after changing into her pj's that she picked her phone back up to charge it; Sid's message bright on the screen.

Her heart pounded. She was halfway to turning off the lamp next to her desk. A small part of her wondered just how long he'd wanted to ask her to fly out.

’Can I call you?’

While she waited for his reply, she got up from her bed to grab her computer, switching it on and going to her emails to bring up her roster, then opening up the Pen's webpage to check their monthly schedule. Not for one second did she think that flying out to Pittsburgh was a crazy idea. She was actually kind of shaking with excitement.

’Always.’ And then she went to her contacts list.

"Hey," She heard him answer, the phone not even finishing it's first dial. "A bit abrupt, I know-"

"Of course I will." Lyndsey waited, biting her lip but not daring to say anything else. 

"...Really?"

"Yeah," She laughed at his excitement, leaning back against the pillows, her computer forgotten about momentarily. "What- who's with you?"

There was a scuffle in the background and she heard him laugh, loving how carefree he sounded; something she knew not a lot of people got to hear. "Would you just- shut up, go away." His voice suddenly became louder. "Sorry. I'm at Duper's."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah and I'm regretting it." There was an indignant 'Excuse me?' in the background but obviously Sid was ignoring it. "You just shoved me to the floor!"

There was more commotion in the background but she just sat there with her phone glued to her ear, laughing she she took it all in. She realised that Pascal must know about her, and she paused for a minute at the thought of having to meet the team. She knew that she might end up meeting them eventually, but if it was after one of Sid's first games back she knew they were possibly going to be rowdy. And also all up in their Captain's business about who she was and where she came from.

At least they didn't have a lame 'reached for the same loaf of bread at the store' meeting stories. Maybe they'd even like her for "saving his life", which she totally didn't and she needed to tell Kate to stop referring to it that way.

"Oh my God, I'm leaving... Obviously, I can't do that here... Well- you'll give me- I just need five minutes. Oh God, Lyndsey I'm so sorry. Hi." His sigh came through the receiver. "You still there?”

"Yes," She giggled, sitting up again, chewing on her nail. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah. He's actually a nut job. I'm just going to the study to borrow his computer. How was your thing? Sorry, by the way."

She frowned, reaching for her laptop. "Sorry about what?"

"For how I reacted. I was..." He trailed off, she could hear typing in the background. "I dunno. Envious I guess."

"You?" She sputtered. All class, she was. "You were envious of me?”

He chuckled. "More of the fact that I couldn't be there with you. You looked really pretty tonight. I didn't tell you before."

She could feel the blush rising in her cheeks, and she ducked down into the collar of her sweatshirt, as if her Mom would come in and see her blushing like a 15 year old with a crush. It had been a long time that a (straight) guy had told her she was pretty. And it meant even more coming from him. "Thank you," She murmured. "I felt pretty."

He made a noise of agreement before a 'bingo' made it past his lips, bringing Lyndsey back to the now. "What's your work schedule like?"

“Oh, uhm.” She pulled up her calendar. “Well, my roster works out that I have every second weekend off, so… I guess it depends on when you’re back?”
 
“Yeah, but we can still check.” Lyndsey sat and waited, listening as Sidney’s hummed and ahhed to himself, running all kinds of scenario’s through her head. Would he pick her up at the airport or would she get a cab? Or maybe he’d organise a car. Either way she’d end up back at his house. Where he lived. Alone.
 
Her cheeks flushed darker at the thought.
 
Not that she hadn’t imagined it. The last kiss he gave her left her mind reeling every day since then and no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t get the thought of how his lips tasted against hers out of her head. He was intoxicating. She had no idea how the hell she was going to survive 10 minutes in his house without trying to tear his clothes off.
 
“… last weekend in February?” She only caught the end of his question and shook her head to get back to their conversation.
 
“Uhhh,” She checked the roster. She wasn’t working. “Yeah, that works for me. If not, the next weekend I’m off is the one just after Saint Patrick’s day.” Lyndsey could hear him checking those dates too.
 
“So either way would you want to fly out on the Friday? Or just the morning of the game?”[i/]
 
“Oh. Well,” She huffed out a laugh. “I wouldn’t want to interrupt your precious game day schedule…”
 
He paused for a minute and Lyndsey knew that if he was in front of her, Sid would be glaring. “Are you teasing me?”
 
“Not at all, Mr Superstitious.”
 
He scoffed. “I’m not.”
 
“Yeah, okay.”
 
“Lyndsey Jennings.” She burst out laughing. “I’ll get you back.”
 
“Oh really?” She quipped, sliding down further into her bed, knocking her laptop off her lap and nearly the floor, had she not used her ninja reflexes to catch it in time. “And just how do you plan on doing that, Mister Crosby?” He didn’t answer for a moment, but Lyndsey could still hear him breathing, so she decided to wait too, chewing on the drawstring of her sweatshirt. And then she frowned when she heard a loud thud. “Sid?”
 
He groaned. “Why do you have to live so far away?”
 
The tiny giggle escaped before she could stop it. “What? I’m so confused.”
 
His grumbling made no sense to her, but she did catch a ‘not fair’ and then a ‘home’ come through before he cleared his throat and sighed. “Okay. I need to go, so that I can drive home and go to sleep and then wake up tomorrow morning and go to practice and make the doctors clear me for contact, if it’s the last thing I do.” She bit her lip at the steely determination in his voice. “I… uhm. My family will obviously want to be here for my first game back. But I don’t really want to throw you under a bus…” Lyndsey listened quietly as he trailed off and she stared at the wall across her room. “Not that I don’t want you to meet them or anything,” He rushed.
 
“No, I know what you mean. It’s okay,” She reassured him, adjusting the phone in her hands so that it was resting on the pillow under the head. “It’s a bit too much for your first game back. I get it.”
 
“Please don’t think I’m pushing you aside for them. It’s hockey, y’know. And my family, they just – we don’t get to see each other-”

“Sidney.” She cut him off. “It’s okay. I understand.”
 
He sighed. “Yeah?”
 
“Of course. It’s a big deal – to the team, to your family.” She bit her lip. “Shit, even to Pittsburgh. I’d rather see you when it’s not so crazy. I’m… I’m not all that good with attention-” Lyndsey broke off with a yawn, rubbing tiredly at her eyes. It was only then that she noticed how late it was, and he was still an hour and a half ahead of her. “Oh my God. Go to bed!”
 
His laughter in her ears eased whatever was left of the tension in her shoulders, letting her know without him even saying anything that they were okay. Even though they were taking the tiniest of baby steps, every day they seemed to be moving in a good direction. Of course, Lyndsey had no idea where that direction was actually heading, but it was pretty obvious. Maybe they were together and were both just too chicken shit to officially ask each other out.
 
Which meant that she was dating Sidney Crosby. Captain Canada himself.

“Are we-” She stopped herself luckily, biting her lip to stop the question from pouring out. She still had a pretty good buzz going from the champagne at the fundraiser and didn’t want to make a complete fool out of herself. It didn’t take much.

“Are we what?”

She paused. “Never mind.”

He chuckled into her ear. “No, c’mon. What were you going to say?”

The lip she was biting fell from her mouth but she didn’t say anything. It took her a few breaths to even figure out the question in her head. “Uhm. I’m not sure how to…” She huffed, moving onto her back. “Are we together?”

His silence on the other side of the line clearly suggested he wasn’t expecting to hear that. She slammed her eyes shut, silently cursing her stupidity as he took longer and longer to reply. This is it, I’ve ruined it. Why did I open my mouth? Whywhywhywhy-

“I’m, uh…” He cleared his throat. “Okay. I’m not- we.” He groaned. “I don’t want to make what this is between us serious over the phone,” He reasoned. Slowly, but surely, Lyndsey’s eyes opened, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “How about this: we can talk about this when you’re here and in the mean time you can relax in knowing that I wouldn’t even begin to think about focusing my attention anywhere else.”

She grinned so hard her cheeks began to hurt. “Yeah?”

He laughed. “Of course. Why, have I given you some kind of impression or something?”

“No!” She rushed, holding her hand up in the air as if he could actually see her protesting. “No, nothing like that. I was just curious.”

“And now?”

She took a deep breath. “And now… I’m happy.”