The Final Goal

The remaining weeks of the season passed by in a blur. While the Penguins battled the Rangers in the first round of the playoffs, Skylar was constantly working, desperate to drown out her sorrows by putting herself to work. She first had to go through the training, which wasn't that difficult once she figured out how to use the cash register. When the Penguins beat the Rangers in game 5, she was working at the register, checking people out. The game was streaming on the TV that was situated on the wall behind the counter, so she was able to watch the game when she had some down time. Skylar liked watching the game like this. It was the best she could do, since she hadn't been to a game since her and Fleury broke up. The absence of Fleury and Patric in her life, left an empty feeling that she couldn't yet fix.

Skylar was worried when Malkin returned. She often wondered to herself if he would even fit in. Surprisingly, his line with Fehr and Kunitz has played fairly well for the most part, and the power play has definitely improved because of Malkin's return to the lineup.

After the Penguins beat the Rangers, the whole city was elated. Everyone and their brother was talking about the amazing victory against their hated rivals. Skylar had texted Fleury immediately, wanting to let him now how happy she was for him and the team. She knew he wasn't quite yet ready to play, but he was still a huge part of the team, preparing Murray to play by boosting his confidence level.

The Penguins had a few days off, but were quickly heading into the second round against the dreaded Washington Capitals. The headlines said it all, "The Great 8 VS. Sid The Kid!" and "Captain Vs. Captain: Who Do You Think Will Win?". Skylar couldn't begin to imagine the amount of pressure this would place on Sidney Crosby. He was already ridiculed early this season for not scoring enough, so what would happen if he was average? Below average? The fans would surely blame him if the Penguins had an early exit, and Skylar prayed this would not happen. After everything the Penguins went through this season, they deserved to make it to the Stanley Cup Final. The acquisition of Carl Hagelin certainly improved their game. The Bonino line has been nothing short of stellar the past few weeks and it was because of the chemistry between the three men.

"Thank you! Have a nice day!" Skylar said, smiling at the old lady that had just purchased some paint supplies. She leaned back and sighed. It had been a long day. There hadn't been a lot of customers, so Skylar had a ton of down time. The TV blared behind her, reminding her of the possible suspension. In the previous game, Game 3 against the Capitals, Kris Letang had a hard hit on Capitals' Marcus Johansson. Apparently, there was "significant head contact", so Letang was suspended one game. Skylar groaned at the news, and shook her head in annoyance. Letang was a major part of the team and would be severely missed. His time on ice alone was a big challenge for most players. She couldn't thing of anyone that could easily fill in for him and take on his huge workload.

Skylar looked at the clock and almost jumped with happiness. It was finally 5:00 pm. She had been at the store since 8:00 AM and was getting antsy. "Hey Alice? I'm gonna head out!" she called to the back of the store, knowing Alice was back there somewhere. "Okay see you later, Sky!"

She sat outside for a few minutes, waiting for her ride to get there. "Hey Skylar! You ready?" Rachel asked, pulling to a stop in the parking lot. Skylar smiled and nodded, quickly getting into the car. After her breakup with Fleury, Skylar decided to ask Rachel if she could stay with her instead. She didn't want to put Brian in a bad place with his teammates by letting her stay there longer. Skylar still talked to him; in fact, he had been extremely understanding about everything and gave her some friendly advice. He had completely agreed with her decision to stay with Rachel, knowing it was the first step to getting Fleury back.

"How was work?" Rachel asked, bringing Skylar back to the present. "It wasn't too bad, but there weren't a lot of people there today." Rachel nodded, understanding that Skylar went to work to forget about her current situation. The ride back to her house was interesting, with both of them singing at the top of their lungs to the radio. Once inside, they jumped on the couch and Rachel flipped on the TV and put on Law and Order SVU. "Yes!" Skylar said, when she saw what show was on.

"Did Patric text you today?" Rachel asked, green eyes boring into Skylar as she waited for a response. Skylar sighed. "No he hasn't said anything to me at all since Brian's house". Rachel narrowed he eyes and said, "He is going to have to get over it eventually. You're his sister and yes, I realize what you did was wrong, but he needs to understand that you're suffering too". At Skylar's confused look she continued. "You haven't gone out or done anything since! You just sit on the couch, watching Law and Order SVU all the time. You act like you're going to wake up one day and poof! He will suddenly be your boyfriend again. That's not going to happen, Sky! I'm sorry but it's just not realistic."

Skylar groaned, not wanting to accept the reality. Unfortunately, she knew she had to do something to earn his trust back. "What should I do, then? If you're such an expert," Skylar said sarcastically. "Well, first you are going to need to go to the games and support not only him, but his teammates too. He can't push you out when you are trying to be supportive of everyone. Plus, this is a very exciting and happy time for the team!" Skylar thought for a moment at what Rachel said. She reluctantly agreed. Skylar couldn't just walk back into his life as his girlfriend; she needed to first re-earn his trust by being a good friend.

"Okay well I can't go anywhere right now. They don't have a game yet," Skylar said, unsure of what she should be doing with herself at this point in time. Suddenly Rachel got an idea and smiled, and Skylar instantly got an uneasy feeling. "What?" she asked uneasily, starting to get freaked out by her evil smile. "We are going to go shopping!" Rachel yelled enthusiastically, turning off the TV quickly jumping up from the couch.

"Hey! I was watching that!" Skylar yelled, annoyed she was going to be missing half of the episode. "Not anymore you're not!" Rachel said triumphantly, as she dragged Skylar out of the room. "Rachel!" Skylar yelled, as she was roughly thrown into the car. She landed with a loud 'thump' and grimaced at the force of the impact, rubbing her butt in annoyance. "Okay you didn't have to do that," Skylar said, shooting Rachel daggers as she got in the driver's seat. Rachel just shrugged. "How else was I going to get you into the car?" she asked innocently, like she did nothing wrong. "I don't know. Maybe asking nicely?" Skylar said, sitting back in her seat and crossing her arms. "Aw don't act like that. We'll be there soon," Rachel said.

They soon arrived at the mall and Rachel instantly pulled Skylar into a store, wanting her to try on a boatload of outfits she picked out. Skylar groaned, but reluctantly went into a changing room and put on a few outfits. She pulled on the outfits and opened the door to show Rachel each one. For one of the outfits, she even twirled around a little bit! "I like that one," Rachel said, stopping Skylar's spinning short. The bottom of the dress stopped swishing as she came to an abrupt halt. "You like this?" she asked, gesturing to the black dress she was wearing. She checked the tag and groaned. "What?" Rachel asked. "The 'Lira Rhapsody Dress' is $60! I still need to buy shoes for it if I intend on wearing it!" Skylar exclaimed. Rachel rolled her eyes. "It's fine! I got you covered! I'm sure Buckle has some shoes that can match," she said, walking around the store.

Towards the back, Skylar found a pair of high heeled sandals. They were black and had gold buckles on the side to keep them securely on her foot. The heel had little lines and triangle patterns all over it and she instantly fell in love. Shoes were kind of her weakness. After showing Rachel, they quickly got in line so they could leave as soon as possible. On the way out of the mall, Rachel said, "Hopefully this works. When Fleury sees you there in a few nice outfits, I'm sure he's going to want you back. He doesn't know what he is missing out on". Skylar smiled at her comment and hoped with all her heart that she was right and Fleury would come back to her.