Home.

Making due on her promise to the Lemieux's Mollie strolled into the Consol Energy Center the following night feeling all sorts of nostalgia. Everywhere she turned was another memory of another time, of another life.

She had watched the building itself rise from the ground, seen the Penguin's move in, and watched as Sidney and Mario were the first to skate on the new ice.

That very ice was the place Sidney had taken her on their second first date, the one that actually worked out. The two skated lap after lap just like kids, Mollie reminisced on her childhood that was spent figure skating while Sidney just watched her loving the smile on her face and the beauty in her laugh.

The penalty box a place that Sidney wasn't known for spending much time in was ironically the place where he had kissed her for the first time. It took him longer than Mollie wanted but eventually during that ice skating date he got up enough courage to grab the girl, push her up against the glass, and kiss her.

And she couldn't forget about the wives and girlfriends box, the place where some of her best friends once sat. But now, Mollie was sure they'd forgotten about her, or taken Sidney's side in things and would most likely cold shoulder her if she even tried to walk back into that room.

So she walked right past the door on her way to the owner's box where she was bound to only find Nathalie Lemieux. This close to puck drop Mario was sure to be downstairs speaking with the coaching staff or the players even, keeping his foot in the locker room as long as he could.

Showing the security guard her pass with a grin Mollie walked into the large and well stocked suite to find Nathalie and her youngest daughter Alexa sitting in large leather chairs. "Lexie, look who's here."

The teen dropped her iPhone straight onto the ground taking long strides until she could jump at Mollie wrapping herself around the older girl. "You're really home! For good?"

Mollie smiled down at the 16 year old, "For good."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so excited!!"

"Me too, kiddo." Mollie squeezed the teen one last time before letting her go and accepting the glass of wine Nathalie was offering her. "Thank you, is Mario downstairs?"

"Yes, he's usually down there until warmups are over."

The trio of ladies made their way out to the balcony overlooking the rink, Mollie looked around taking in the entire scene. The rows were filled with Penguin's fans dressed in black and gold with a few Canadien fans sprinkled in for good measure.

"Did you happen to see any of the girls are your way up?" Nathalie asked as Mollie was still surveying the crowd.

"No, but honestly I tried to avoid lurking in their area for too long." Admitting that she was trying to avoid her old stomping grounds was a bit awkward but Nathalie gave her an understanding look.

"They asked about you, y'know? The entire time you were gone, especially Veronique and Catherine. It may seem like they're on Sid's side honey but they were your friends to."

"We tried to stay in touch in the beginning, but he always came up and I just couldn't handle it. I, I guess it was my fault we drifted apart."

Patting Mollie's hand Nathalie tipped her wine glass in the direction of the WAGs box, "Oh dear, you're all adults these things can be mended. You're home now, things will fall back into place. Now, let's relax."

Taking her seat Mollie crossed her legs as they dangled off the high-rise chair her black jeans rising up as she tapped her foot anxiously. When the horn rang for the teams to take the ice her heart nearly skipped a beat, she had forgotten just how loud a hockey game was.

A sea of black and white jerseys circled the ice below, out of habit Mollie's green eyes searched until they found the number 87. Typical of Sidney he was standing in the corner with Evgeni Malkin both of them without their helmets. The longer Mollie looked at him she noticed that his hair was shorter than how he normally kept it, and cut in a more stylish way. It was different, but she liked it.

Not that her opinion mattered much to him anymore.

Eventually the game started and the battle between the Pens and Canadien's was intense. Every time Mollie thought that the Penguins lead was strong enough to secure a win the team from Montreal came back. The game went on and on, through three periods, overtime, and eventually came to a shootout.

Mollie hated shootouts.

Sidney hated them even more.

Except for when the Penguin's won them, then he was okay with it, always coming home with a smile on his face.

It was nearly 11 PM before the Penguins were declared the winners and Mollie was exhausted from her day at work and spending way longer at the game than she'd planned. But she had refused to leave early, even when Nathalie had left long ago with Alexis who had school in the morning Mollie had stayed put watching the entire game alongside Mario.

They had watched many a hockey game together and had similar rules for watching sports: be quiet and watch the game.

"Glad that's over." Mario stated jumping down from his chair before turning to Mollie who was covering her mouth as she yawned, "Sorry we kept you up so late, Dr. Holden."

"You knew I wasn't going to leave."

"That's my girl, are you up for going downstairs? I'm sure the team would like to see their good luck charm."

Mollie's face wrinkled, "Y'know, I should really head out? I have to be in the office at 8 and," before she could come up with anymore excuses to avoid Sidney and his team Mario nodded his head.

"It's okay, Mols. Whenever you're ready, okay?"

The girl nodded slipping on her leather jacket, "One day I'll face the music, I promise."

"Alright, I'll hold you to that, now give me a hug and get out of here."

Following the man's request Mollie hugged him tight, grabbed her purse and headed out of the box. As she walked she noticed women and children dressed in tiny jerseys just a few steps ahead of her.

The WAGs.

"Shit," Mollie mumbled under her breath looking behind her to find an empty hallway.

She could go back to the box and wait them out.

Or she could just do it, face them now and get it over with.

That was the adult thing to do, right? With a deep breath Mollie stood up straight and continued walking down the long hallway to the elevator.

As she approached the group of women she locked eyes with Carole Depuis, the blonde's hand shot up pointing at Mollie as she walked and soon heads were turning. By the time she was in earshot Veronique Fleury had stepped out of the crowd, Mollie stomach fluttered waiting for the brunette to speak up.

Or slap her, Mollie was sure the woman would still be furious with her for running out of the city without so much as a goodbye hug.

Instead of words Vero spoke in actions, grabbing the girl in front of her and pulling her in for a one-sided hug as Mollie was so in shock she couldn't reciprocate her arms trapped at her side as the French woman squeezed her. "Bienvenue maison, beau!"

Mollie smiled at the woman's use of French, the language Mollie's mother had grown up speaking and the one she had studied in high school and college. Her knowledge of the Fleury's native tongue brought the two women closer together back in the day. "Merci, amour."

"My turn, let me at her!!" Looking up from her embrace and foreign conversation Mollie saw Catherine Letang coming her way with her son, Alex on her hip.

"I guess I'll share." Vero said with a wink, backing away quick enough for Mollie to prepare herself for another bone crushing hug. This time by two people as Alexander, who had been just an infant when Mollie left joined in on the exchange.

"Alex, c'est Mollie. Ami de uncle Sid. Dis bonjour!" (Alex, this is Mollie. Uncle Sid's friend. Say, Hi.)

The three year old gave her a sleepy smile and wave, "Hi."

"Hi, Alex. You look so much like your daddy."

Catherine ruffled the boys hair as he laid his head on his mother's shoulder. "I carried him for 9 months and I got nothing."

"He's beautiful, Cath, just like you." As Mollie smiled at the gorgeous blonde the elevator door opened and the group piled in packed like sardines in a jar.

Leaning against the metal wall Catherine continued catching up with the long lost friend, "Thank you. So, we heard you were going to be home for a while , that must be nice?"

Where had she heard such information? It wasn't false but had it been Sidney? Mario? Nathalie?

"It is, I um, I bought my own practice so I'm back for good." At the mention of her work more women tuned into the conversation.

"Oh, Mollie that's fantastic!" Carole Depuis chimed in, "Are you taking new patients? I should switch our kids over to you."

The young doctor nodded, "Yeah, I am."

The chatter then erupted into other mom's wanted to switch their children over to Mollie's practice, asking for her office number and the hours of her practice. Overwhelmed the dark haired girl reached into her purse grabbing a handful of business cards, "Here are a few of my cards, I don't carry that many of them."

The black cards were snatched out of her extended hand in seconds as the elevator landed, when Mollie looked up she noticed that she had ridden all the way downstairs to the depths of the arena. The elevator door popped open and the women began to step out but Mollie remained still.

"Are you not coming, dear?" Carole asked her two of her four children surrounding her legs.

"Oh no, I'm heading to the parking lot."

The older woman adjusted the child on her hip, "I know Pascal would love to see you."

Truthfully, Mollie would love to see him too. She'd love to see most of the team actually, to joke around with Marc-Andre and Kris,  listen to them pick on their captain again. But seeing their captain was what was keeping her from exiting the elevator in the first place. "I don't think I belong in there anymore, we should do dinner sometime though."

"Don't belong? Whatever, get your ass out of that elevator."

Shocked at the woman's rise in tone Mollie did as she was told feeling like a child after being scolded by their parent. Her black booties moved slowly following the Dupuis clan down the hall towards the lounge where the families waited for their individual hockey players. Entering the room Mollie felt like a queen in a parade waving to people as they looked up at her in disbelief.

The prodigal daughter had returned.

Just as Carole had predicted Pascal was thrilled to see Mollie back in the room, his smile ear to ear as he held the girl under one of his huge arms. He told her over and over how much she was missed by he and all the players. (One most of all) She hugged and caught up with all four Dupuis children, who faintly remembered Mollie as the girl who always had her head in a giant textbook during hockey games long ago.

The groups conversation was cut short however when Mollie's cell began to ring, it was nearing 11:30 so it couldn't be good. "I'm sorry guys, it's a patient. I'll be in touch with you all."

Mollie was waved off exiting the room in a hurry pressing the green button on her iPhone's screen, "Hello, this is Dr. Holden?"

Pausing outside Mollie focused on the frantic mother on the other end of the line. The woman explained her son had a high fever and hadn't stopped crying for hours. Leaning her head back onto the cold brick wall the doctor ran through diagnoses in her head; the flu, an earache, colic, just teething? With kids it could be anything or nothing at all but parents were always worried and Mollie understood that. "Okay, Sarah I want you to give him some children's ibuprofen and a bath in cool but not cold water, okay? It's going to be a long night, but that should soothe him until the morning. Call my office at 8 when we open and I'll make sure to squeeze him in."

Ending the call Mollie ran her hand through her dark hair, she was now 110% exhausted. Pushing off the wall she began walking back towards the exit that lead to the VIP parking lot. She was just about there when she heard her name being called out like a question.

Looking over her shoulder she saw Sidney walking towards her in a suit a bag thrown over his shoulder, hair still wet from his shower. "Didn't expect to see you down here, Doc."

"Carole Depuis might have forced me."

"Ahh come on Molls, you know you missed it down here." Sidney had caught up to her now giving the girl a good look at him.

"Of course, I missed the smell of hockey equipment and sweaty men." She joked and Sidney chuckled pushing the door open the cold air hitting them both in the face. "Nice win by the way, nearly gave me a heart attack a few times."

With his hands stuffed in his pockets the man shrugged his broad shoulders, "Win's a win, I guess."

"You always hated shootouts."

"And so did you." Sidney knocked his shoulder into hers as they walked and Mollie smiled wondering if maybe, just maybe they could be friends after all. Moments like this where things were simple and friendly made her miss the Canadian.

"Still do. My car's over here," she nodded her head in to her left where she had left her black car, "I'll see you around, Sid."

"You can't get rid of me that easy, I'm parked over there too." Rolling her green eyes the pair continued walking their strides matching up as they headed in the direction of their respective vehicles.

Simultaneously they unlocked their cars the lights flaring up just a few spots away from one another. "Now can I get rid of you?" Mollie poked standing in the distance between the two cars watching as Sid continued towards his black Range Rover.

She watched him as he tossed the duffel bag he'd been carrying into his backseat shutting the door and leaning on the vehicle before looking back at the girl a lopsided grin on his face, "For now you can. Thanks for coming, Molls."

The girl nodded, "Anytime, goodnight Sidney."

Just one simple word made him smile even wider, for the first time in years she had said goodnight to him and not goodbye. "Goodnight, Dr. Holden."