The Final Goal

Game 4 against the capitals was the following day, but Skylar wasn't quite yet ready to face everyone. She was also scheduled to work, of course, since most of the staff wanted to be off for the game. Unfortunately, Letang was suspended for the hit, but as Skylar watched the game from the TV behind the checkout counter, she realized it didn't really matter. The Pens played surprisingly well without him, probably shocking everyone in attendance and those watching at home. Letang is such a critical part of the team that she truly believed they wouldn't be able to win without him. Somehow, the Penguins held on and managed to win 3-2.

"Quite a win for the Penguins tonight, yes?" a young man with a slight Russian accent said, eyes on the TV behind her. "Definitely! I'm sure they can't believe it. Who would've thought they could play this well against the Caps," Skylar replied, smiling at the man. She rung out his purchases, carefully putting everything in a bag. "Have a wonderful evening," she said, smiling as she handed him his purchases. Skylar watched him leave the store and sighed, her shift was thankfully almost over and soon she could collapse in her bed.

Rachel picked her up right on time, but they made little small talk in the car. Skylar was drained of all energy and desperately needed to recharge if she was going to talk to Fleury at some point in the next week.

Tuesday rolled around quickly. The Penguins lost the 5th game in the series at Washington, so they were back in Pittsburgh for game 6. Skylar made sure to buy her ticket early, since she no longer had Patric to secure tickets for her. She could've asked Brian or Tommy, but she didn't want to be more of a burden to them. They had already done so much to help her when she needed it the most.

"You look cute," Rachel said, smiling mischievously as she looked Skylar up and down. Skylar shivered at her intense gaze. "Don't look at me like that. You're making me uncomfortable!" Rachel rolled her eyes, laughing at the embarrassed blush on Skylar's face. "C'mon I'll drive you to Consol," Rachel said, shoving Skylar out the door. The ride to Consol was relatively uneventful. The city was packed with people, as usual, making it extremely difficult to drive around. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Rachel was able to pull up on the side of the road to drop Skylar off. "Well have fun, my love. I'll see you later."

Skylar smiled and waved after she slammed he door shut, watching as Rachel sped off. Sighing she looked towards the front gates, stomach twisting at the thought of entering. Procrastination was no longer an option, so she threw her head back, feigning confidence, and walked inside.

Her seat was easy to find, since she always sat in the same spot. Skylar was fortunate she knew where she was going; sometimes the seat maps online can be so confusing. The Penguins were already on the ice warming up before the game. Murray was in goal when she sat down, but he was quickly replaced by Fleury since they alternated when taking shots in the warmups. At first, Fleury didn't see her sitting behind his goal, but when he left his net after stopping a few shots, he circled around the goal and inadvertently came face to face with her. It was awkward at first, Skylar staring out onto the ice, trying to understand how things went so horribly wrong, and Fleury staring back at her, probably trying to understand why she finally had the guts to show up. Skylar watched his facial expressions; first startled and dazed, which then turned into slight puzzlement. Nevertheless, Fleury gave her a soft smile, no doubt happy she was here, even if it was just as his friend.

When Patric saw her, the interaction was slightly less amicable. Fleury must've mentioned to a few people that she was there, because when she looked up from her phone, she noticed almost everyone on the team staring at her. It was certainly unnerving to look up and see so many people gazing at her in confusion, maybe some even with disgust. Hagelin in particular was standing with Patric, and both watched her, disgust evident on both their faces. Patric's eyes were cold and it made her shiver. The daggers he sent her way, although not real, were piercing her heart. Skylar truly believed if she was cut with a real knife, it would not hurt this bad. Emotional pain really is the worst kind of pain.

Tearing her gaze from the two men, Skylar settled back in her seat, more than ready to watch the game and get the whole thing over with. Once the game started, she was able to relax and focus on the players playing on the ice in front of her. Both teams came out strong; obviously the Caps wanted to stave off elimination, while the Pens wanted to finish the Caps off and move on to the next round. It was quite an interesting game to watch, especially at he end when the Penguins got three delay-of-game penalties in a row. The Caps were down by one, but were able to come back and tie it up at the end. The clock quickly wound down to zero and the teams left the ice, headed to the locker room, no doubt trying to spark something that could benefit them in the overtime period.

The overtime period started after a few minutes of Skylar impatiently waiting. Thankfully, she wasn't at the game much longer because Nick Bonino was able to plant the puck into the net behind Holtby, ending the Capitals great run. All of the Penguins' players on the bench jumped onto the ice, elated at the victory, while the Capitals' players stayed on the bench, obviously disappointed in themselves and the outcome of their outstanding, record setting season. The whole scene was highly entertaining from Skylar's point of view. Most of the Penguins' players were by her, arms tightly wrapped around each other with Bonino in the middle of the group, while Holtby was sprawled out on the ice, face down like he was doing an upside-down show angel. Skylar couldn't help but feel slightly bad for the Caps' netminder. He had quite the run this year, but the Penguins were just better.

Skylar stood up from her seat and walked to the Penguins locker room, having been let into the area by one of the staff members. She waited outside, standing off to the side so the media could interview all of the players. Fleury spotted her from the other end of the hallway and quickly made his way towards her. "Hey! You came," he said, smiling slightly. "Of course! I wouldn't miss it for anything," Skylar said, realizing that what she said was true. The game was fun, and the whole time she felt like this was where she needed to be. Fleury leaned up against the wall next to her and they watched people walk past them, busy doing their job. "Why aren't you in there?" Skylar asked, motioning towards the locker room in front of them. She saw Patric getting interviewed and turned her head back to Fleury, not wanting to look at her brother for fear her emotions would buildup. She couldn't let anyone here see her cry; she needs to be strong.

"Well since I'm the backup, I don't really get interviewed much. I wasn't the one in goal," Fleury said, looking at someone in the locker room. Skylar followed his gaze to find Matt Murray, talking to a reporter, eyes sparkling with excitement. "You'll play at some point in the playoffs though right?" Skylar asked, hoping for Fleury's sake he got to play. The look in his eyes was the same look she saw when he had his first concussion. He wanted to desperately wanted to play.

Fleury sighed. "I don't know," he said. "I'm hoping they put me in at some point, but I don't know if they will with how well Matty's been playing." Skylar nodded, trying to understand the predicament he was in. "Well it's nice that you're coaching him and helping him adjust to the playoffs," Skylar said, staring at the young goaltender as he talked to the reporters. He looked so calm and happy. It's hard to believe he's only 21. "Of course I would help him. If I was in his position, I'd want someone to do the same," Fleury said, smiling softly and nodding his head in greeting at someone that passed them.

Their conversation was cut short as Hornqvist walked up, obviously finished talking to the reporters. "Trying to scout out some more guys to sleep with?" Patric said angrily, voice soft like he didn't want anyone to hear. Skylar's face brightened slightly at the accusation, but she didn't let her emotions get the best of her, instead, she vehemently shook her head. "Actually as of late, I've been more into girls," she said nonchalantly, still trying to avoid Patric's gaze. Patric's face twisted in confusion and he looked at Fleury for any kind of information or any clues as to what was happening. Fleury's face expressed the same amount of confusion as Patric's, so he returned his gaze back to Skylar. "What do you mean?"

Skylar looked between them both and couldn't help but burst out laughing. "You seriously believed that?" Skylar asked, almost rolling on the floor since she was laughing so hard. Fleury, surprisingly, sent a smile in her direction. A real, genuine smile that sent the familiar butterflies fluttering up inside her body. Even Patric, who has remained stoic the entire time she was in his presence, cracked enough to show a small smirk that inadvertently crept onto his face.

The moment was one Skylar had been waiting for. Everything seemed like it had been, before things went wrong. Laughing at something someone said or did and joking around in the hallways. The usual things that occurred everyday when she was with them were the ones she missed the most. All of the little things she didn't seem to care a lot about until they were actually gone. Good moments always come to an end, however, and this moment was no exception. The smirk that had crept onto Patric's face quickly vanished, getting replaced by the scowl that he seemed to wear constantly nowadays. "I don't know why I was so willing to believe that. Obviously you're more into guys, with how much you like dick," Patric said, eyes cold and tone harsh, perhaps trying to get some sort of reaction from Skylar. Instead, she averted his gaze and turned back to Fleury, who seemed quite awkward, obviously uncomfortable getting caught in the middle of a fight between siblings. "I'll see you! Congrats on moving onto the next round, guys," Skylar said, addressing the both of them as she was genuinely happy for them. She couldn't imagine how exciting it would be to play in the playoffs, especially for the younger guys. It was amazing the younger players were given an opportunity and they were able to capitalize. Their excitement was reflected by their amazing, energized play.

She walked away, ignoring the feel of the two gazes on her back as she left the arena. Not wanting to wake up Rachel, Skylar snuck back into her friend's house and crept into her room, careful not to walk her up, and quickly fell asleep, exhausted from the emotionally taxing day.

She wasn't expecting to do anything like that again anytime soon. Skylar thought she would be taking everything one step at a time, definitely not wanting to rush anything. She thought this was the plan, so she was astonished when Rachel told Skylar about her plans to go to the first game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. "Why should I? I just went to the last game!" Skylar said, unsure if Rachel's idea was a good one. Rachel rolled her eyes. "I know, love, but life does not wait up. Do you want Fleury back or not?"

Groaning, Skylar got up to get a shower, not even giving Rachel a response. Her face was already smug, knowing she had won the argument, that is if you could call a one-sided conversation an argument. Rachel dropped Skylar off, same as before. The building was electric, no pun intended, but Consol was loud, to say the least. She was surprised at the amount of people that were surrounding the building. These are people that didn't even have tickets to the game, yet they were still standing outside of Consol, cheering for their beloved Penguins. The excitement surrounding the building only intensified as Skylar made her way inside and to her usual seat. She sat here so much, that she should have her name on it at this point.

Fleury made his usual circle around the net, smiling at her when he saw her sitting behind the glass. He even hit a puck over for the little girl that was sitting right next to her. The smile on the girl's face said it all; Fleury definitely just made her day. Skylar smiled back at Fleury as he skated past, moving on to stand by a teammate, probably Letang, but it was hard to tell from her position. From what she could tell so far, this time, the rest of the team wasn't as surprised to see her, and acted like it was a normal occurrence. Unfortunately, the luck she may have brought the team on Tuesday wasn't carried into the game on Friday. Skylar thought when Bishop went down, the Penguins would have a chance, but Andrei Vasilevskiy played absolutely outstanding as Bishop's backup. In a way, the situation reminded her of Fleury and Murray. When Fleury was hurt, Murray stepped up for the team and made some crucial saves in some need-to-win games. Even if Bishop was healthy, who knows if he would come back in given Vasilevskiy's stellar play. Taking out the goalie when he's on fire could be a detrimental decision for the team, so Skylar wasn't surprised at all when he stayed in for the rest of the series. The Penguins lost that first game, so Skylar didn't stick around to listen to the players mope. Patric in particular would've been increasingly hard to handle in such a bad mood.

When Skylar got home, Rachel asked for an update but Skylar shook her head. "They lost so I didn't stick around for Patric to take his frustration out on me," Skylar said, shrugging her shoulders in a disappointed way, almost giving up entirely on their plan. Rachel didn't know what to say, so instead of saying anything, she sat down on the couch next to Skylar and wrapped an arm around her, giving her the comfort she needed without speaking. Rachel didn't want to lie to Skylar; Patric may never be able to forgive her, so she wasn't going to make a promise to her friend when she knew there was no way of knowing if she could keep it. Only time would tell if Skylar and Patric's relationship could go back to the way it once was.

Unfortunately, Skylar was unable to go to the second game on Monday because she was working. The game was on the TV, of course, so she was able to watch the game in real time. Perhaps the Penguins won because she wasn't at the game and maybe she was bad luck, considering she already brings out the worst in Patric right now. These thoughts vanished fairly quickly as the Penguins lost games 4 and 5. She would have gone to game 5, but her work was having some sort of get together for the coworkers to get to know one another. Skylar thought the whole idea was absolutely ridiculous. They were supposed to go to some campsite for a whole week and were supposed to spend the time talked to each other without using social media because it was seen as "distracting".

The group from work left in the afternoon on Sunday night, May 22 and stayed at the campsite until Monday, May 30. The week involved multiple trust exercises to be performed between the coworkers and Skylar was slightly intimidated at first. She was the new girl, so everyone already knew each other while she was still struggling to remember everyone's name. Thankfully, she was able to stick close to Alice and spent most of the week practically glued to her side as they went through the different trust exercises. Surprisingly, by the end of the trip, Skylar felt better about herself. She was calmer and more at ease, the nature obviously helping to ease her nerves. She was also able to learn more about her coworkers; in particular, Kevin, a young man who was slightly younger than her at age 21. He was also passionate about art, unlike a few of the other coworkers who only worked there because no one else would hire them. Instead of drawing, Kevin works specifically with sculpture, particularly sculpting animals in different positions, while trying to give them some sort of personality.

Since Rachel still wasn't interested in going to a game with her, Skylar took Kevin to game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. He easily fit into Skylar and Rachel's group, both friends teasing Skylar when at all possible. She was honestly surprised the Penguins were able to make it this far, but nevertheless she still had a ton of faith in the team and was increasingly proud of what they have accomplished thus far. They definitely deserved to win the Cup with how hard they work every single day.

If anyone thought game 1 was intense, Skylar believed game 2 was even more intense. The Penguins were up 1-0 for most of the game, leaving Skylar and Kevin uneasily shifting in their seats as the game progressed. Of course, the moment they had been dreading came and the Sharks scored, tying the game 1-1. Unfortunately, the game went into overtime, so Skylar and Kevin talked over the action they had seen so far nervously, hoping the Penguins would be able to come out strong to end the game quickly. "Who do you want to score?" Kevin asked, looking out at the players that just came back onto the ice to get set for overtime. "Hornqvist," Skylar said, seeing number 72 on the ice to start the overtime session off with Crosby and Sheary. Kevin gave her a look. "Oooh got a crush?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively and smirking. Skylar laughed loudly, unable to hold it in. He gave her a weird look so she quickly explained. "Patric's my brother, Kevin," she said, still laughing slightly. "Why didn't you say anything?" he asked, face kind of red at misunderstanding her. "Well we haven't been speaking much lately," she said, "It's a long story."

Kevin simply nodded, not wanting to question her on such personal matters that she obviously didn't want to delve into at the moment. The Penguins won quickly and thanks to a goal by Conor Sheary, they were now up by two games. Skylar and Kevin jumped up in sync with the crowd around them and cheered when the puck went into the net right in front of them. The goal was quite the beauty.

They packed up at a leisurely pace since Skylar would have to wait in the hall to talk to any of the players anyways. They would be really busy with the media. "Where are we going?" Kevin asked, confused as he followed Skylar uncertainly into the hallway by the locker room. "Oh I just wanted to stop by and see someone quick," she said, already scouting the surrounding area for Fleury. Once she saw his familiar face, she motioned for him to come over. He nodded and made his way to the hall, struggling to get past all of the reporters surrounding Conor Sheary. "Hey! I'm glad you could come!" Fleury said, giving Skylar a slightly awkward hug, but Skylar was ecstatic nonetheless. Hopefully this meant he was getting more used to her presence and perhaps he could forgive her soon. Skylar smiled and pulled away. "Kevin, this is Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury, this is my friend and coworker, Kevin," she introduced the two, motioning to each one when she said their names. "Hi- it's a pleasure to meet you," Kevin said, slightly stumbling over his words as he shook Fleury's hand. "Nice to meet you too! I didn't know you got a job...?" Fleury said more like a question, looking back at Skylar. "Yeah we work at Pittsburgh Arts & Crafts. It's really nice because I can get a discount for all of my art materials," she said. "Well I know Skylar draws, but what about you, Kevin? What do you do?" Fleury asked, intrigued. "I'm a sculptor, so I use some of the equipment we have in the store to make my sculptures".

Fleury was about to respond when low and behold Patric comes over, conflicting emotions passing in his facial expressions. From what Skylar could tell, he was happy about winning, but obviously pissed she had shown up yet again to another one of their games. In particular, he seemed more interested in Kevin. "Who's this? Another boy toy for you to use?" Patric spat, glaring at Skylar. Her face flamed at his words; she didn't want to be embarrassed like this in front of her coworker and she was about to say something, but Kevin, surprisingly, beat her to it. "Actually I'm gay," Kevin said, glaring back at Patric, not caring who he was. Skylar, not at all surprised about Kevin's confession since she had already guessed as much, found her tongue and quickly spoke up. "Patric don't be such an asshole. I came to support you and your team when I didn't have to. I understand I did something wrong and yes, I do regret it, but pull your head out of your ass and start treating me like a person instead of the gum stuck on the bottom of your shoe."

Patric was speechless by her outburst and not knowing what to say, he quickly turned away and stalked back over to Carl's stall. "Jeez I know you said you guys weren't talking, but I didn't realize it was that bad," Kevin said, trying to understand a little bit more about what was going on between them. "Yeah well I messed up big time," Skylar said, talking to Kevin but meeting Fleury's when she spoke. His eyes, surprisingly, didn't give anything away and she struggled to figure out what he was thinking. His entire face was unreadable, so she changed the topic quickly, not wanting to dwell on it. "Kevin we're going to have to go back. I'm sure Rachel stayed up for us tonight since she's off tomorrow," Skylar said, cringing internally at the thought of Rachel asking her a million questions about what happened at the game and if she talked to Fleury or Patric. "Bye Fleury! I hope you guys win on Saturday too," Skylar said, giving him a soft smile that he returned with his own dazzling smile that still sent shivers down her body.

"What's up with you and Flower?" Kevin asked, probably picking up on the slight tension between the two. Skylar sighed. "It's a long story," she said, again. "That's a serious understatement," Kevin said, picking up on her reluctance. Skylar sighed again, head starting to hurt at the complexity of her issues. "Believe me I know".