Home.

They say history tends to repeat itself and after seven long years of waiting, heartbreak, and injury one of the most memorable events of Sidney Crosby's life was finally happening again.

Seven years ago on June 12, 2009 he won his first ever Stanley Cup in Detroit, Michigan. Now, once again on June the twelfth, this time in San Jose, California he was about to become a two-time Stanley Cup Champion.

As the clock ticked down on the SAP Center's jumbotron Mollie Holden bounced on her heels in front her seat high in the stands. Her cold fingers were laced between Taylor Crosby's and the two were squeezing one another tight reassuring the other that they were not dreaming, this was really happening again.

"I can't believe it, he did it, again." Taylor cheered for her older brother as the final seconds played out on the ice below them.

Mollie smiled large and proud, her green eyes clouding over with a fresh wave of tears "He deserves this, they all do."

As her words vaporized the loud buzzer rang out, it was over, the season was over and for the second time in their decade together Mollie watched as Sidney embraced his teammates. A shower of gloves and helmets rained down upon the rink and Mollie couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. As she watched Geno plow into Sidney in a tight hug memories of their first cup came flooding back in waves as salt water streamed down her cheeks.

Seven years ago Mollie had sat in the Joe Louis Arena dead tired and having changed into her Crosby jersey in the back of a Yellow Cab. She was a first year medical student and had left the hospital in Pittsburgh and gotten onto a crowded plane full of hockey fans a mere five hours before puck drop. Once she landed Mollie went straight for the arena wasting no time and sparing no energy even though she was practically running on empty.

During that game she drank cup after cup of crappy stadium coffee trying to stay focused on the game. She attempted to take a nap during the first intermission but by then the caffeine and her adrenaline had kicked in and it had finally hit her.

Sidney, the dorky Canadian she had grown to love over the past four years, had a real chance at becoming a Stanley Cup Champion. His childhood dream had a 50% chance of coming true, and she was going to be there to witness it if it were to happen.

Despite being tired, her feet hurting, and feeling like she needed to bathe in bleach Mollie was also so excited, and so proud of Sidney that by the moment the final horn had sounded all of the bad things had flown out the window.

Quietly, as to not draw attention to herself, Mollie followed Sidney's parent's lead as they made their way down to the ice through the depths of the arena. She carefully walked out onto the cliché red carpet and waited shyly, more than halfway hidden behind Troy Crosby.

Observantly as ever Mollie watched as Sidney held the shiny, large, silver trophy above his head for the first time as if it were light as a feather. The large, bright smile on his face was one she had never seen before, he was finally proud of himself.

And rightfully so.

Fiddling with the sleeves of her jersey, as she did when she was nervous, Mollie looked around; she saw Geno with his parents who had flown in from Russia, Pascal hugging his wife who had a baby on her hip, and Marc-Andre kissing Veronique who looked beautiful as ever.

Movement in front of her vision drew Mollie's attention back in. As the Crosby family stepped closer to the ice Mollie followed suit catching the eye of Sidney as he skated closer. Once he stopped in front of their share of the carpet Trina threw herself at her son, her waterworks were flowing once again.

"Congratulations, sweetheart," She cooed through her sobs as she squeezed his shoulders, Sidney hugged her tight and thanked his mother for all she down to help him get to this moment. When Sidney saw Mollie standing behind her that new smile of his was back on his face.

Sidney hugged his father quickly and his little sister before finally getting to Mollie. In her head as she watched the Crosby's embrace one by one Mollie had played out a few scenarios on how their own hug would go.

It could be,

Just a quick "you did good, bud." squeeze and pat on the back.
A good old fashion arms around the waist squeeze where Sid would dig his chin into her scalp because he knew it drove her nuts.
Or all of the awkward, pent-up sexual tension that had been building between the two of them for the past few months would erupt, and he'd finally kiss her.
Number one was lame, number two pissed her off, and right then and there probably wasn't the best place for number three to go down even if Mollie was internally begging for it.

So thankfully, Sidney threw in another option.

In a swift motion his large arms were wrapped around Mollie's waist hiking her up off the carpet in a split second. He began spinning them both around in quick circles a moment later as Mollie squealed at the sudden loss of footing.

Soaking in the sound of her laugh Sidney cheered in her ear, "WE DID IT!!"

Mollie continued to giggle as he put her back down on the carpet keeping her arms around linked his shoulders, "You did it! I am so proud of you, Squid."

Sidney rolled his eyes at her nickname for him but tugged her back into his chest anyway, quickly leaning down he pressed a quick kiss to the crown of her head as he mumbled, "Thank you, Squirt."

In that moment his signature greeting and goodbye to Mollie was born.

Thinking back to that moment Mollie smiled to herself as a flutter of nervous butterflies rose deep in her stomach. Once again, many years later she followed the Crosby family down to the ice, this time with her own parents in tow, and much comfortable with the media and limelight.

Mollie's parents, who had watched Sidney win his first Cup from the comfort of their living room, were in awe of what was happening around them. Renee clung onto her husband's hand for dear life as swarms of people rushed around them. Her eyes were locked on her daughter, who moved skillfully through the packs looking for the love of her life.

Once the group arrived at the barricade where a guard was checking for wristbands Sidney locked in on his group. Handing the Cup off to one of his teammates Sidney made a beeline for his family. When Mollie heard a familiar voice calling her name she stopped dead in her tracks, "Wait right here," she told the group as she looked around for Sid.

They locked eyes and Mollie waved both hands like she was trying to land a plane, "SIDNEY! Babe!!" she screamed watching as a lopsided grin spread across his face.

When his skates came to a screeching halt in front of the group this time Mollie threw herself at him with zero reservation. A stream of new tears ran down her cheeks as she clung to him like a koala, "Baby, you did it! You won the Cup!!"

Sidney chuckled pressing kisses into her dark hair as he held her close, "YEAH!!! Baby we did it, we fucking did it."

Pulling her face back Mollie sucked in the last of her happy tears, taking one hand off of Sid's neck to wipe her face. "I'm so proud of you, Captain, and this time, I can do this."

Not caring that there were hundreds of cameras around them and thousands of eyes watching, Mollie smashed her lips into Sidney's with a passion fueled kiss that left them both gasping for air. As they pulled apart giggling Sid leaned his forehead against hers, "Damn, I wish you would have done that seven years ago."

Blushing Mollie bit her lip, "Secretly I had hoped you would. But I like where we're at now, so no harm done."

"I agree." Sidney said before kissing her once more and placing her back down on the carpet.

Not a moment later Sidney was called away for some interviews and the presentation of the Conn Smythe trophy. As he was presented with the large award Mollie couldn’t take her eyes off of her fiancé. In seven years so much had changed, they had fallen in love, fallen apart, risen back up stronger than ever, and made it back here victorious once again.

Their life together was a one for the record books and to think it was just truly getting started.

"I have Sidney Crosby, two-time Stanley Cup Champion and Conn Smythe winner here with Kathryn Tappen, Sidney how does it feel?" The blonde woman who was standing off to the side of the ice asked.

Sidney shrugged his shoulders, "You know, it feels surreal right now? We worked really hard this year and I can't believe the season is over, honestly. But uhh, all of our work paid off and I can't wait to take The Stanley Cup back home to Pittsburgh, the city deserves this."

"Captain, your team fought through a lot of adversity this season but you yourself had one of your best seasons in years. Did you make any changes to your routine?" Sidney smiled as she asked if he had any life changes looking through the crowd for the woman who changed his life daily.

"No changes really on the ice but personally yeah, I'm just happier now that's for sure, I felt great all season, no injuries luckily. Everything just clicked together this season, I am very proud of this group of men."

The reporter smiled as she transitioned into talking about Sidney's personal life something he was typically hard pressed to talk about, "So this off-season, do you have any big plans for the Stanley Cup?"

"Well, I am getting married as everyone I'm sure knows by now. So maybe the Cup will be my best man if Flower doesn't mind sharing his title." Sidney chuckled as he spoke, "Just kidding, but the Cup will be at our wedding and I can't wait to marry Mollie, she's been a huge part of my career and it's about time I lock her down."

"Well, there you have it folks, Sidney Crosby's officially off the market and the Stanley Cup needs a date to the wedding of the summer. Thank you so much for your time Sidney, congratulations to you on your season, and to you and your fiancé Mollie on your upcoming wedding."

Two hours later Mollie stood beside Taylor Crosby on top of a locker stall trying to gain a better vantage point of the beer bottle karaoke that was taking place across the dressing room. Their new Stanley Cup Champion shirts were damp with champagne, their hair was sticky, and their breath could stop a truck from all the beer they had inhaled. But their smiles? Those smiles could light up New York City. Mollie wrapped her arm around the blonde girl clinking her blue bottle of Bud Light with Taylor's, "Can you believe this?"

"No, oh my God this is so much more fun than when I was 15." Taylor giggled taking a sip of her beer, "I can only imagine how bad, but incredible this will be when we get back to Pittsburgh."

"You have no idea. Oh no, our poor house," Mollie exclaimed, as the Captain's "wife" she was destined to throw a party when they returned home and now she realized just how scary that truly was. "I guess we should just be glad we don't have a pool."

Taylor looked at her confused, "Do I even want to know what happened with a pool?"

"If you don't know by now, girl, you don't need to know." With the last chug of her bottle Mollie jumped down from her perch and took off across the room to Sidney's open arms.

"Baby," he growled scooping her into his chest, "how are you?"

Mollie giggled, drunker than she had been in ages as she raked her fingers through the patchy, sticky facial hair on Sidney's face, "Oh good, I am so good. How are you Captain?"

"I'm ready to go home, take this party back to the 'Burgh. " Sidney's eyes were heavy as he looked down at Mollie, soaking in how beautiful she was despite being covered in alcohol, wearing a ballcap, and t-shirt that was two sizes too big for her.

"Say the word Captain, the plane is ready whenever to take us all home."

After sleeping off a decent amount of the alcohol that was consumed the Penguins and their families loaded up on a 747 headed back to Pittsburgh the next day. The party reconvened in the clouds and once they landed in the city the Pens faithful fans greeted the team by lining the streets from the airport to the rink cheering loudly as the charter buses drove through the city.

In the days that followed the win Pittsburgh all but imploded on itself. There were parties every day and every night, parades, media obligations, and photoshoots for the team members and their significant others. Mollie spent her days, well most mornings at her office fielding more questions about hockey than medicine, and her nights by Sidney's side as the Captain's girl.

By early July Sidney and Mollie were both exhausted, feeling as if they had run a marathon each day for weeks. They had celebrated Canada day with some of Sidney's friends just across the border in Toronto, flown right back into America to celebrate the Fourth of July with Mollie's family at a rental in the Hampton's and they were now officially out of gas.

Finally having a night to themselves with no real plans, the future bride and groom found themselves lying in bed at 7 PM on a Friday night. As Mollie ran her finger down the track-pad of her MacBook scanning patient charts, Sidney flipped through the channels on the flat screen TV at the foot of their bed. "I think I'm ready to go home."

Sidney's voice startles Mollie, her eyes leaving the screen to look to her left. "Oh, uhm, okay."

"That's it? Just okay?" He questions and Mollie shrugs, what else is she supposed to say? He always goes home to Canada in the summer, usually earlier than this.

"You always go home in the summer, Sid. It's not a big deal." Sidney grumbles and Mollie slowly closes her laptop knowing this conversation isn't going to end so easily, "Or maybe it is. What would you like me to say, babe?"

"I want to go home with you, Molls. Say you want to go home with me too."

Mollie softens, "Oh honey, you know I would love to go spend the whole summer in Cole Harbour but I can't close the office on such short notice. And I'm already going to be gone for close to a month for the wedding, it's just not fair to my patients or my partners."

Sidney knew this already. He knew she was already so stressed about getting her practice covered for three weeks so that they could prepare for wedding together and eventually head off on their honeymoon to Italy. He knew that her career didn’t just pause from June to September, but he so wished that it did. "I know, but I just want to spend all the time I have this summer with you. Just like old times."

At that Mollie wanted to melt into a puddle, but things would never work like that, not anymore.

In their previous summers together Mollie would be bouncing off the walls waiting for hockey season to be over so that she could go to Canada with Sid for a few months. Each summer after they had met in 2005 Mollie had spent at least a week or two in Nova Scotia with Sidney and his family. Even during Medical School when her life was crazy Mollie had looked forward to those easy summer days out on the water, she had even enjoyed the few internships she had with the hospitals in Cole Harbour.

Those summers had been perfect, but things wouldn't be like that anymore, not unless she gave up her practice or Sidney became accustomed to spending his summers in Pennsylvania. Now they would forever spend time apart when hockey season was over.

And to be brutally honest that scared the crap out of Mollie. But how could she tell him he couldn’t go home? And they both knew how well things had gone the last time Sidney tried to get Mollie to change her dreams for him. So here they were, stuck with no clue what to do.

"I wish we could too Sid, but will you settle for three weeks? And every other weekend, I'll rack up all the SkyMiles for you babe."

He half-heartedly smiles at that reaching his hand over to cover her much smaller one, "I'll take it, and forever, future Mrs. Crosby, don't forget about forever."

"Hey, it's Dr. Crosby, get it right." Mollie shoots him a wink leaning over the fluffy white pillows to kiss her fiancé. Sidney chuckles as he pulls the laptop out of Mollie's hands before grabbing her waist pulling her over straddling his thighs. "Oooh, smooth, Captain."

"I'm always smooth, Dr. Crosby what are you talking about?"

"Right, right, silky smooth on and off the ice, Captain." Mollie pokes pressing a chaste kiss to Sidney's awaiting lips.

From her perch upon Sid's thunderous thighs Mollie gazes down into caramel eyes, with her forehead pressed against his and her voice just above a whisper she tells him, "I can't wait to marry you, Sidney."

Sensing something in the tone of her voice and look on her face Sidney slides a warm hand up to Mollie's face cupping her cheek, "Why do I feel like there's a huge "but" attached to that statement?"

She huffs, he always knows when there is something on her mind. "But, one day we're going to have kids and this whole split summer thing isn't going to work. What are we going to do Sid?" Mollie surrendered spilling all that she had been considering in her mind over the past few weeks.

"Locum Tenens."

One hundred percent certain the only languages Sidney was fluent in were English, profanity, and hockey Mollie shot him an inquisitive look, "Excuse me?"

"You're not the only one who can Google, babe. I did a little research and apparently there are like these rentable doctors? They'll fill in at practices for months at a time. Or you can get a PA? Whatever that is, Google says that could help too."

Mollie giggled feeling a sting of tears at the corner of her eyes, "Oh Sid, do you know how much that would cost the practice and me? Oh my God, I would lose so much money. And a PA, is a physician's assistant, I can't just leave them by themselves for three months every year."

"Cost is not an issue, Mollie. We're good with the whole money thing in case you hadn't noticed, what's mine is yours now, so this, this could be our answer. We can have both of our dreams with this."

Mollie knew that their were traveling doctors, but she had never once considered letting a stranger into her practice, into her baby. No, no because that would involve letting go and if Mollie knew anything about herself it was she was a tad bit of a control freak. "It's not that simple, Sid. That's a lot of instability, for me and my partners? And what if my patient's are uncomfortable? Or they leave? I don't know if I can risk this, risk my practice? It's so new, and Sid this is my dream."

How had this happened? Things had been so calm and serene 20 minutes ago and now Mollie was nearly in tears, straddling Sidney's lap as ESPN played softly in the background.

"Baby, hey calm down, it's just an option, and we’ve got a year right? Next summer, sure something has to change." Calm as ever and always with the right words to talk her down, Sidney smiled at Mollie as he smoothed strands of wet hair behind her ear. "But for now, Mols? Let's just table it, and hey how about we go get married first, eh?"

Sniffling back the few stray tears threatening to spill out of her eyes Mollie tries to smile back at him but all she can give him a deep exhale, "Yeah, okay let's get married first."

"19 days." Sidney whispered kissing her on the forehead as Mollie slid down laying on his chest.

Mollie smiled to herself reiterating what Sidney had said, "19 days."