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Penguins lost game four in a heart breaker, the puck rolled along the blue line, but never made it into the net, and just like that the game was over. The image of the puck rolling was stuck in my head for the rest of the night, just an inch, one inch and the game would have been in overtime. Sidney didn't say a single word to me after the game, he simply gave me a kiss. Once we were in bed, I could feel his body relax and I wanted to cry for him. "You have to come to Detroit," he stated very firmly all while lying on his back. "I'm going to try, I really want to be there for you, I really, really do, but you know how much work I have," I whispered as a tear rolled down my cheek. Why am I crying? This isn't life or death. "We have won every single road game with you there." "So I'm your lucky charm, is that all I am to you?" What did you just say? "Avery, what the hell," he sat up on the bed and starred down at me. "Don't make me explain myself over and over again, you know how superstitious I am. I look back at every road win we've had this season and I try to bring all the elements together, and you are one of those elements. Is it wrong of me to have the love of my life there supporting me, and because of this fucked up mind I have that I know if you're there we are going to win. And when we do win, I want you there to jump into my arms and celebrate with me. It sounds crazy, I know! If you're there, we're going to win this game, if you're not there it could go either way. I need you there Avery, I need you there for me." I felt like such a bitch. "When do you leave?" "We have a morning skate tomorrow and then we're flying out around two, then we will be back late Monday night, early Tuesday morning. Will you come?" I could see a few tears finally fall down his face. He was frustrated, I knew that, and I felt terrible for making everything worse. "I'm so sorry Sid. I'll head into work early tomorrow and I'll be home by noon, okay?" He threw his body on top of me, "you need to stop saying sorry so much, I might have to ban that word from this house too."

The sun wasn't even up yet when I woke up but I knew I had to get going pretty early if I wanted to get things done at the brewery. 5:15? Are you serious? The cold water hitting my skin immediately woke me up, and I stood there for a bit before I began to shiver. I needed to get all of the negative energy out of me. What happens if they lose when I'm there? I dried myself off and crept into the bedroom to put some underwear on. "Damnit, where are all of my bras?" I whispered to myself as I began to empty my underwear drawer. I slipped into my brand new sexy red underwear and continued to look for a bra, just any bra. "Oh yeah the dryer," whispering to myself made me feel better about being up so early, it meant I was still alive and my voice was back. I walked out of my room and quickly made my way to the garage but was stopped dead in my tracks in the living room. I stood in shock for a bit before quickly wrapping my arms around my chest and crept over to the front door to pull on my jacket. "Maxime Talbot what the hell are you doing in my living room, watching TV at 5:30 in the morning?" His eyes were wide and his mouth was opened a bit. "I never thought it would happen, I always thought it would be our little inside joke, but it just happened. Avery, it happened," a huge goofy grin came over his face and I picked up a shoe and threw it at his head. "You, stay right there, I will be right back, and your eyes better not follow me." I said very sternly but kept it quiet not to wake Sidney. I went out to the garage and pulled a bra out of the dryer and quickly put it on, along with a pair of Sidney's sweats that were in there too. When I walked back into the living room, Max looked like I was going to murder him. "Okay, I will ask again, what are you doing in my living room watching TV at 5:30 in the morning, and how did you get in?" "You know how I am with girls, I have fun with them, nothing serious though, I'm not ready for 'serious'," he brought his fingers up quoting 'serious', I nodded. "This chick, I met her two weeks ago and she moved herself in, I got home from the game, we had a little fun, I told her she needed to go home, and she wouldn't, so I left. I called Sid he said to come over, and now I'm here. I've only been here for like a hour now, but it all works out, now I don't have to drive out of my way to pick Sid up for morning skate, I'm right here." I didn't know what to say to him, I was somewhat pissed off at him because he saw my boobs, but then I could only laugh. "I'd really like to sit down with you right now and laugh about this, because I've known how badly you've wanted to see my boobs, but I really have to get to work," I smiled before walking away. I turned back around and looked at Max, "they didn't disappoint did they?" "Oh hell no. See you can't even tell I have an erection because it's tucked up under my underwear band," he said with a huge smile. "Disgusting Talbot, disgusting."

Sunshine began to fill the city as I pulled up in front of the brewery. I stood in the bar and looked around, imagining all the events that were to take place there in the upcoming weeks, months and years. When and if I have kids, this is where their 1st birthdays would take place, just as mine did back in Seattle. The parties, the celebrations and the sorrows. I had to snap myself out of my trance and drag myself up to my office. What is priority? I shuffled through a very large stack of papers and didn't know where to begin. I decided to start replying to hoards of emails that I've neglectfully thrown aside. The first one going to James, informing him I would be in Detroit for the next 36 to 48 hours. Not even ten minutes later he emailed me back, "Avery, what the hell are you doing at the office at 6:30 in the morning? You're over working yourself, let Carrie deal with all of the media, that's what we hired her for. As for everything else that needs to be taken care of before the opening, we've hired people to take care of all of that. I know how you have to be there every step of the way, but you've been logging more hours than should legally be allowed. Don't cause any more stress on your personal relationships. Go home, take a nap, go to Detroit, enjoy the game, come back and everything that you've been stressing about will be done. You've done an amazing thing here in Pittsburgh, we're all very proud of you." I leaned back in my chair and smiled a bit. James is right, I am allowed to relax for at least a day or two. I locked up the brewery and headed home.

I snuck my way inside of the house to see Max passed out on the couch in his underwear with the TV still on. I turned the TV off and crept my way into the bedroom. I looked at Sidney sleeping, who was clutching onto my pillow. I stripped out of my clothes and tried my best to crawl in without waking him, but I failed. "What are you doing home? Why aren't you at work?" he moaned into my neck as he pulled me into him. "James told me I needed to relax a bit and stop stressing out. Hey I need to tell you something, are you fully awake or just slightly, this might be a dream, I won't know until later awake?" He brought his head up and looked me in the eyes, "I'm awake, what's on your mind?" "Well I walked out into the living room this morning in just my undies, I had to go out to the garage to get a bra out of the dryer, because I washed all of them last night. Well anyways, Max was wide awake and saw my boobies, I wanted to tell you before he did," I said and then began to laugh. Sidney sat up and looked at me with wide eyes. "You mean he saw these?" he asked asked he grabbed onto my boobs. I continued to laugh and could only nod my head. He crawled on top of me and began kissing me. "Babe, these walls are thin, Max is in the living room," I laughed as he hands roamed over my body. "That makes it so much better."

The guys who were already on the plane began whistling when they saw Sidney and I walk in. "What's that about?" Sidney asked to no one in particular. "Sounded like Max had an exciting morning. 'Oh Sidney, yeah Sid, yeah Sid'," Bugsy said in his best feminine voice. My face turned bright red and I tried to hide behind my purse. When I go to the back of the plane I was shocked to see Sidney's parents sitting with the Lemeuix's, they rarely flew with the team. "Hi Avery, how are you?" Trina asked with a huge smile on her face. "I'm doing good, how are you guys?" I noticed Troy wouldn't even look at me. Yeah, he hates me. "Nervous, very, very nervous. Sid said he had to force you to come on this trip," the smile never leaving her face. "The grand opening for the brewery is two weeks away so I've been pretty stressed out. James, who you've met, gave me a little pep talk through an email this morning and it really calmed me down. He was right, I really need to stop stressing so much and enjoy what's at hand right now, and that's Sid's hockey. I really shouldn't be worried, we've hired the best staff in the business to really kick things off." There was a moment of silence before Mario chirped in, "that article in the Gazette will do wonders for you Avery, it really made you look like a very smart, mature and focused business woman. Congrats." I blushed a little bit more, "thanks Mario, you know I still haven't read it. I keep forgetting that it's out there." I couldn't help but notice that not once did Troy look over at me, he was either in conversation with Mario or would look out the window.

Sidney made his way back to us mid-flight and once again crawled over me to take the seat next to the window. I hate flying, why would I want to be by the window? "How's it going back here?" Sidney whispered into my ear. "Good, but your dad has yet to even acknowledge me, see Sid, I've been right. I've corrupted his boy, I'm your distraction and he likes none of it," I whispered back. He stood very tall in his seat and I had a feeling that might have pissed him off. "Hey dad, you're coming to Avery's opening right?" he shouted over to his dad who finally looked my way. "If we're still in town son, I can't guarantee anything," he said with no emotion whatsoever in his voice. "It would really mean a lot for us if you guys could make it, Avery is a part of my life now, and that means the brewery is as well, I want you there to support her just like you would for me." Wow Crosby. My eyes grew wide and I didn't dare look up from the table in front of me. "We'll see what we could do," Troy seemed a little thrown off by the way Sidney was talking to him. He leaned over and placed his lips right next to my ear, I could tell he was searching for the right words to say. "My father doesn't hate you, but I can tell there is definitely something up, so I will talk to him, okay?" I nodded my head still starring down at the table.

Ah Detroit, another hockey town that I hated just as much as Toronto. The Detroit Red Wings were the equivalent of the New York Yankees and LA Lakers, you were either a die hard fan or you hated them with every bone in your body. There really was no grey area. Oh yeah, no Red Hook either. "Hey Avery, guess who's moving to Atlanta with me?" Colby asked as he sat down next to me in the suite. "You're not taking my boyfriend, so don't even go there," I said with a very stern look pointing my finger to him. "Damnit. Sid and I will never be together will we?" The frown on his face quickly turned to a smile when I pulled him into a hug. "Congrats Colby, I'm very happy for you guys." He tightened his grip around me before letting go to look at me. "Thank you Avery, I hope you know when I get married you'll be my best woooo-man," he laughed. "Well if Sid and I get married, it's going to be a blood bath between him and I to see who gets to claim you. I think you would look fabulous in a dress though, really. I've seen the videos, you looked amazing as a cheerleader, so I'm sure you'll look even better as a maid of honor." He batted his eyes at me and our attention was directed to the ice as the game was about to begin.

I couldn't stop my legs from bouncing up and down, it was a nervous habit of mine and it was uncontrollable. The clock was ticking down and we were down by a goal. I didn't want to watch, but I had to as if it was a train wreck. With an empty net we had the extra attacker on the ice. Sidney passed the puck to Marion in the corner who quickly passed it to Max who was next to the net. Two hacks at the puck and it made it pass Chris Osgood for the tying goal. "Oh my god!" I screamed as I jumped up and pulled the closest person to me into a hug, which happened to be Riley. He wasn't nearly as excited as I was, but I could care less, our dreams were still alive, we were given a second chance. The game was heading to overtime and I paced back and forth in the back of the suite. "Avery, you're a wreck," Troy said firmly as he stood by the door. I laughed a little and flashed a smile. Wow he's talking to me. "I always get like this when it comes to really close hockey games, and considering the Stanley Cup is on the line, it makes things worse," I continued to laugh. He didn't say anything else.

Every time Detroit brought the puck into our zone I would close my eyes and dread the noise of the arena erupting in victory, yet it never happened. I looked down at my phone and noticed it was 12:01 AM. We were heading to the third overtime and no one in that building was tired, each team was hungry and the fans were all on their feet. I could tell that Riley was really getting into the game and Colby had a look of sadness in his eyes. He really wanted to be out there with them, this was his team, these were his boys. So sad. I watched the third period standing behind Mario and Nathalie, and I began to pace around. Nine and a half minutes into the third overtime Hudler from Detroit was sent to the penalty box with a double minor for high sticking. This was a break for Pittsburgh, a four minute power play. Mario stood up next to me and we watch the play unfold. Gonchar to Malkin, Malkin to Sykora, Sykora slaps a shot through traffic and makes it way to the back of the net. "He was right, we would win if you were here," Mario smiled before giving me a hug. He kept so calm, yet I wanted to jump out of my skin I was so excited.