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Do you hear me, I'm talking to you. Across the water, across the deep blue ocean. Under the open sky, oh my, baby I'm trying. Boy I hear you in my dreams, I feel you whisper across the sea, I keep you with me in my heart, you make things easier when life gets hard. Waking up to Jason Mraz in the morning always made mornings feel really good. I crawled over Sidney and turned the alarm clock off. "How you feeling?" I asked him as I laid my head down on his chest. "Tired, someone kept me up until 4 AM and considering it's 7 AM right now, I'm tired," he laughed and I could only smirk. There was no way he was going to leave me anytime soon after what I did to him last night. "I might need your help standing up, I feel like my legs are going to give out on me." "You always know the right things to say," he laughed as he sat up on the bed. I crawled over him and sat on the edge of the bed. I took a deep breath and stood up. Oh those morning after legs, I've missed those. My legs were shaking as I made my way to the bathroom. "Fucking amazing!!" I yelled from the bathroom and I could hear Sidney burst out into laughter.

A few hours later, after Sidney had left for the rink, my parents came and picked me up. I crawled into the back seat and a big smile came over my face. "Sidney and I talked about things last night, and the brewery is my life, and I really don't want to be a doctor, so I'm going for it. Let's do this," I explained to them only to hear silence on their part. Go figure. After about ten minutes, my dad finally spoke up, "well Avery, you really never had a choice, we're opening a brewery here and I don't trust anyone else to run it. This business needs to stay in our family, and I've been wanting to expand for awhile now. In a few months you will give birth to Red Hook Pittsburgh and it's going to be a beautiful thing, I have complete faith in you Avery." No choice? Wow, that was nice of them to let me in on that. "Okay here we are," my dad said as we pulled up to an empty warehouse in an up and coming neighborhood in downtown. "I think I already love it," I smiled as I stepped out of the car. I admired all of the wood work and it almost looked like it had a Native American theme going on with the outside. We went on a tour through the inside and I was completely sold, I could see how everything would look inside there. It was then that I became very excited about bringing Red Hook to Pittsburgh. "Okay, from the look on your face, I think we're sold. This place has everything I'm looking for, and I can see you're already setting the floor plan out," my dad laughed as we left the building. "Dad are you sure you want to convert a warehouse instead of building a new facility?" I asked still starring up at the warehouse. "I think this will be perfect, shall we go fill out some paperwork, get this thing rolling?" That's when I knew it was only a matter of time before my baby was born. My Red Hook brewery.

When I walked through the front door I saw Sidney relaxing on the couch. I shut the door, locked it and then leaped onto Sidney. Straddling him between my legs. "Good day?" "My dad put an offer on this beautiful warehouse in the Strip district. You know I can't believe I was confused about this, but seeing that warehouse today, this feels so right. That brewery back in Washington was my life and I want it back, but I get to bring up my own. This is so exciting Sidney," I smiled as I began to kiss him all over. "So does that mean free beer for life?" "For life eh? You plan on sticking around with me for that long?" "As long as you let me, I'm not going anywhere." Oh wow. I couldn't stop myself from kissing him but he finally pulled away. "My parents are coming to town tomorrow for the game, they just want to check up on me after, well you know." Don't get sad, and don't start blaming yourself. His parents probably hate you for what happened to him. "Do they know that you're kind of living with me?" I asked with a little hint of a chuckle in my voice. "Yeah, I told them that I wanted to stay with you and not Mario after I was released from the hospital. They're not happy, they think I am going to get distracted, well I guess I should say my dad is, my mom could care less. I'm happy though, that should be all that matters." "I'm happy too. Thanks Sidney for making all my worries go away," I smiled and then began to kiss him again.

My body was going to crumble into the sheets below me. I could hear every bone cracking as I woke up. "That's gross," Sidney laughed as he turned over to look at me. "Well shit, when you throw me around like a rag doll, that's what happens the next morning," I laughed and then kissed him on the nose. "Today's the big day eh? I get to meet your parents, your parents get to meet my parents, oh boy. I think I'm more nervous about that than anything else." "There's nothing to worry about, my parents are very laid back. Well let me take that back, my mom is very laid back, my dad on the other hand. . . well he's very controlling but once you get to know him, he's pretty cool." He threw the blankets off of him and sat on the edge of the bed. "Have you seen my underwear?" I looked around for a bit and then lost my composure when they came into sight. "What's so funny?" he asked and I could only point up to the ceiling fan. "How the hell did they get up there?"

Once again I found myself in front of my closet. I have to make a good first impression, and I have to look young. Well not slutty young, but twenty-year-old young. Not almost twenty-five-year-old old. My train of thought was broken as my cell phone began to ring. "Hi dad," I smiled. "Well the warehouse is ours, it's been sitting on the market for a very long time, so they were very happy to see an offer. I'll be lending you James for a few months to get everything going, the whole place needs to be gutted and reworked, and James knows exactly how to do that." I was jumping up and down in excitement. "Oh this is so exciting dad, we will talk more about it tonight okay? I really have to finish getting ready, Sidney's parents are in town, so behave yourself tonight okay?" I laughed. "Sure thing hun, see you soon." My excitement quickly wore off as my attention grew back to my closet. Well it's a hockey game, but I'm also meeting my boyfriend's parents. This is frustrating. "Wear that black dress," I heard Sidney say from behind me. "To a hockey game?" I wasn't sure if that was really appropriate. "Yeah, with that grey pea coat you have. It will look really good," I couldn't say no to that smile he was shooting at me. I pulled the dress out and quickly slipped into it. "Wow." Every time he says that to me, I think I'm going to lose it. I looked at myself in the mirror. It wasn't a fancy dress, it was just a simple cotton black dress, kind of looked like a kimono dress, with a very deep v-neck and fell just above my knees. "Okay," I smiled and then went into the bathroom to finish getting ready.

My legs were still very sore and tender from the bedroom madness that took place in my house the past two nights, but I managed to walk down a very long hall in my black pumps. After we made our way up to the owners suite, Sidney stopped before opening the door. "You ready?" he asked. Why did he have to ask me that, I was, now I don't think I am. "Um, yes," I said with a smile and some uncertainty in my voice. He leaned down and gave me a kiss and for a second I forgot where we were and what we were doing. He opened the door and standing right there was Nathalie and Sidney's mom. I smiled to Nathalie and then directed all of my attention to Sidney's mom. "Mom this is Avery, Avery this is my mom Trina," he introduced us and she pulled me into a hug. "Avery it is so good to meet you, it's nice to finally put a face to the name. We can't get Sidney to shut up about you when he calls." "Mom," Sidney grumbled and there I stood blushing yet again. "It's very nice to meet you as well Mrs. Crosby." "Please, call me Trina. Troy, get over here!" She shouted toward Sidney's dad who turned his head and got up from his seat and approached us. "Troy Crosby, nice to meet you Avery," he said with no emotion what so ever in his voice. "Sidney, how are you feeling?" he immediately asked Sidney after we shook hands. "I feel fine," Sidney smiled and then Troy grabbed onto his arm and dragged him away. I couldn't help but over hear them. "You could be playing right now Sid, what were you doing at her house anyways and why did you go in?" See it is your fault! "Her window was busted, I wasn't going to let her go in alone. I love her dad, I wasn't going to put her into danger." "Boy, you don't know what love is." Don't cry, don't do it! "Avery darling, would you like something to drink?" Nathalie asked as she dragged me to the front of the suite.

I wasn't trying to chug on my beer, but I couldn't help it. I was trying my hardest not to spill the beer all over my dress due to my shaky hands. "Are you okay?" Sidney asked as he sat down next to me. "Your dad hates me, so no I'm not really okay," I kind of snapped at him immediately regretting it. "He doesn't hate you, I told you he's very possessive, and I'm living his dream, he wants me to do things the way he wants to do them, and I can't always do that. I'm more pissed off than anything right now, I can't even look at him," he whispered to me starring out onto the ice. Just as I was reaching for his hands I heard my dad shout from the door. "Mario, how the hell are you?" Yeah, dad's in love with Mario Lemieux. Sidney and I both turned around to look at him and we both began to laugh. "Okay first off, your dad looks like Larry King tonight, and second off that's a real manly hug they have going on right now," Sidney laughed as he stood up. We walked over to my parents, as did Trina and Troy. "Mom, Dad this is Trina and Troy Crosby, Sid's parents. Trina, Troy these are my parents Jack and Mira Winters," I smiled introducing them. It was nice to see Troy lighten up a little bit and the three men took seats at the bar in the suite and began to talk hockey. Old friends, that feels good. "Avery darling, where can I get a glass of wine around here?" Mom, please don't drink tonight. Don't drink. "Avery?" Damnit she caught me trying to ignore her. "Trina would you like anything?" I asked as I made my way towards the door. "Wine sounds fabulous," she smiled. "Did I just hear our mom's order drinks?" Sidney whispered into my ear from behind me. "Yes, is this going to be a bad idea?" I asked laughing. "I guess we will have to wait and see."