Epilogue

I told myself I wasn't going to write anything past part 45, but I felt like the story needed something else. Surprise, I guess.
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“Call me as soon as you’re at the arena,” Sidney instructed me, speaking loudly so I could hear him over all of the background noise.

“If you don’t let me hang up the phone and leave, I’ll never get to the arena,” I told him, searching through my purse to find my car keys. “I’ll see you in about an hour.”

“An hour!” He yelled, making me move the phone away from my ear. “Hanna, come on, it does not take an hour to get from the school to the arena.”

“It does when your class ends at five fifteen, it’s rush hour and the Pittsburgh Penguins are in town to play a game at GM Place.”

“Those Penguins, they just go and mess everything up,” he joked, letting out a loud sigh. “Fine, you’ll just get here when I’m already on the ice and I won’t be able to see you before the game. That’s fine. I’m not going to cry about it… that much.”

I rolled my eyes, walking out to my car. “I’ll see as soon as I can, alright?”

“Alright, I guess I can hold myself together until then,” he joked. “I’ll let you go so you can actually drive to me.”

I smiled, pulling the car door shut and tossing my purse onto the passenger seat. “If I take the back roads, I might manage to get there just before the game.”

“Really? Okay, I’m going to wait in the hall as long as I can, just in case. I hope you aren’t teasing me.”

“Goodbye, Sidney,” I laughed, flipping my phone shut and starting up my car, tugging my seat belt on as I left the parking lot.

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Sidney was waiting just outside of the Penguins locker room, already in all of his gear, jersey including. His stick was leaning against the wall behind him, his helmet resting on top of the sticks knob. He took a few steps towards me when I first rounded the corner, being careful as he was in his skates and there were cables from all of the cameras scattered around the floor.

I shook my head at him, laughing at him as he had to crouch down to be able to hug me properly, lifting me up as he did so. “I can’t believe you made your dad come pick me up.”

“I missed you,” he said, mumbling into my neck, finally setting me back down on my feet.

“It’s only been three days,” I reminded him, grinning.

He shrugged, his hands resting on my waist. “I don’t care, I still missed you. Are you done school now?”

I nodded, placing my hands on top of his and letting out a small sigh. “Don’t you have a game to go play?”

Sidney nodded, leaning down to place a quick kiss on my lips before stepping away from me. “Yeah, I should probably do that. Apparently they need me or something,” he said, rolling his eyes before sending me a playful wink, popping his helmet onto his head and grabbing his stick. “The rest of the guys are already out there warming up, so I should probably go.”

“I’ll be up in the booth with all the other not as important people.” I gave him a wave, turning and trying not to walk into any of the news crew waiting back there.

Peyton was already sitting with a full plate of food when I stepped into the booth, waving at me. “Glad you could make it.”

“You’re eating that much?” I asked, waving to the familiar faces up in the booth. “Wow.”

“This is the first day I haven’t been too nervous to eat in about two weeks,” she told me, her mouth half full of some kind of artichoke dip. “Did you go see your little pookie? He was driving me crazy all afternoon, asking if you’d make it in time.”

I smiled, unzipping my hoodie. “I did, for a minute. He seems excited, which is good. How’s Kris?”

Peyton laughed, setting down the drumstick she had been about to take a bite of. “A nervous wreck. I’m surprised they’re letting him play, he can hardly think straight. I thought it was the girl who was supposed to get all worked up about the wedding?”

“Kris is a pretty feminine guy,” I reminded her.

“Right. The one dating a I]Sidney[/I] is mocking my man’s level of manliness,” Peyton said, rolling her eyes at me.

“Sid has to be a total man because of his girl name, okay?” I defended. “I’m going to grab some food before the game officially starts,” I decided out loud, standing up and shrugging off my hoodie as I made my towards the small table of food.

Sidney’s parents, Troy and Trina, stepped into the booth, having just left an interview. “Hanna!” Trina greeted, coming over to wrap me in a hug. “Sidney wasn’t sure that you’d make it in time.”

“Well, I may have broken a few laws, but I managed to get here,” I told her, smiling as I picked up a plate. “Troy, good to see you.”

He shook his head at me, glancing at my shirt. “I can’t believe you. You’re in the visitor’s suite box, with the owners of the team, dating the star player, and you’re wearing a Canucks shirt.”

“Not just a Canucks shirt,” I corrected, turning around so they could see the back. “A Mason Raymond player shirt.” I grabbed a spoonful of spinach dip, smirking at him. “As much as I love your son, I’ve got to stay loyal to my home team.”

Troy sighed, picking up a plate of his own. “Sometimes I wonder what that boy sees in you,” he told me, grinning afterwards.

I returned to my seat beside Peyton, noticing that the anthem singer had made his way out onto the ice, coaxing all of us stand up, even though he probably couldn’t see so far up from where he was on the ice.

When the game finally started, Peyton and I were lost in it. The last three time the Canucks and Penguins had met, the Canucks had managed to take the win. This time, it looked like the Pens were in control of the game. Five minutes into the first period, Malkin carried the puck down the ice, hollering over to Jordan, faking a pass to him and then dropping the puck behind him for Kris to pick up. Without a second of hesitation, Kris shot the puck, catching Luongo by surprise as he was halfway into position, having believed that Jordan would end up with the puck. It was one noting for the Pens, and Peyton and I stood up and cheered before groaning. It was complicated to date someone on one team and secretly be rooting against them.

By the end of the second period, the Pens were up 3-1, and GM Place was buzzing. It was a mixed crowd, half of them there to catch Sidney Crosby in all of his glory, and the other half die-hard Canuck fans who had been hoping for a repeat of the last time the Penguins were in town and the Canucks took the game 6-2.

Peyton let out a long sigh, turning to face me. “Well, Kris should be so tired he won’t have the energy to fret over the wedding tonight.”

I grinned, a wave of excitement hitting me as I thought about Peyton and Kris becoming Mr and Mrs Letang. “I can’t believe it’s tomorrow.”

She made a face, “I can’t either. I feel like there’s five million things I haven’t done yet, and I’m still convinced that someone else should do my make-up. My hands will be shaking too bad to properly apply eyeliner.”

I laughed, “Peyton, you went to school for cosmetology, why would you way someone to do what you’re already really good at? And as for the shaky hands, we’ll give you a little rum and that should calm you right down.”

She laughed, nudging me. “Sid got his tux fitted, right?”

“I told him too, so he should have. If not, I’m sorry that your wedding party pictures will be ruined by the guy in his boxers.”

“I could make so much money off Sidney Crosby in his boxers,” she muttered, taking a bite out of the Nanaimo bar she was eating.

I gave my head a light shake, glancing back down at the ice as the teams skated back on for the third period. Sidney had been trying desperately to score a goal all game. He had hit two posts, and Luongo had managed to make three saves on him. I could see, even from as high up as I was, that there was that determined glint in his eye. Just the way he glanced back towards the defenceman before taking his spot in the face off circle, I knew that he was out to blood. I had known it since Kris had scored that goal early in the first. Sidney Crosby did not like to be shown up, especially in a city where pictures of him scoring the “Golden goal” two years ago were still hung up.

His determination paid off with three minutes left in the third period. The Canucks had managed to come within one goal, thanks to Mason Raymond, but a bad turnover at the blue line by Shane O’Brien set Sidney on a break away, O’Brien and Ballard chasing after him to try and stop what the entire Canuck team had been determined to prevent from the start; Crosby scoring a goal.

I already knew that Sidney would try and go short side, as that was Luongo’s weakest spot. He faked him out, moving the puck to his left before using his skate to kick it back onto his stick, scoop it up and shoot at the side of the net, pumping his arms into the air as the goal light flashed behind him, Luongo’s head falling backwards in disappointment while the Penguins bench jumped up and down. Half of the arena cheered and the other half groaned, their heads falling forwards as they realized that the game was now out of reach.

I could only grin, Peyton and I high-fiving while the boys celebrated on the ice.

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I didn’t get to sleep that night. With their wedding the next day, Peyton spent the evening pacing the apartment, walking into my room to ask me if I was sure that she should leave her hair down, or if lipstick would be too much. Once the clock hit four in the morning, I gave up and got out of bed, joining her in the living to drink some coffee and go over the plans for the day. I spent most of the morning talking her out of approaching panic attacks, and any free moments that I had were spent sending text messages to Sidney to let him know that Peyton hadn’t completely lost her mind yet.

I could hardly believe it when I finally found myself waiting at the altar, watching Kris’ nervous face as the doors at the end of the church were pulled open and Peyton emerged, every one of the guests standing up and staring at her in awe. I had always known that Peyton was beautiful, and I had also secretly resented her for that fact, but the way her entire face glowed as she made her down the aisle to stand beside Kris was a whole different level of beauty. Even glancing over at Kris, who was fighting back the tears that were welling in his eyes at he looked at her, I was taken aback by how beautiful the two of them looked. Kris had even gone out and cut his hair for the big day.

“Did you cry?” Sidney asked me, taking a sip of his juice as we watched Kris and Peyton take their first dance together.

I smirked at him. “I teared up a bit, but I didn’t actually cry. You?”

“Me?” He scoffed, “Hanna, I’m a man. We only cry over two things; Football and baby girls.” He frowned, scratching the back of his neck before quickly adding, “Our own baby girls, I mean. We don’t just cry when we see a little girl or anything, I mean-”

“I know what you mean,” I interrupted, laughing at him. “Do you have a daughter you haven’t told me about?” I asked jokingly, earning an eyebrow wag from him.

The DJ announced that other couples could join in on the dance floor, causing Sidney to promptly push his chair and extend a hand to me, a sly grin on his face.

I eyed his hand for a moment, moving my eyes back up to his face. “You want to dance? Are you drunk?”

He laughed, helping me up from my chair. “No, I’m just in the mood to dance. It is one of my best friend’s wedding, after all,” he reminded me, walking me out to the dance floor and wrapping his arms around me. “And you do look very lovely in that green dress,” he added, smiling at me.

I thanked him, glancing over at the other couples who had made their way out onto the floor. Jordan was already being asked to dance with some of Kris’ younger cousins, causing the giant to lean down and pick up one of the tiny girls, making her blush as he held her up so they could dance. “Kris and Peyton are married.”

Sidney nodded, his chin resting on top of my head. “It’s crazy, right?”

“I feel like just yesterday she was asking me how hockey worked, and now, she’s married to a hockey player,” I said, sighing. “Where does the time go?”

Sidney let out a small chuckle, lifting his chin off of my head so he could lean back and look at me. “I don’t know, baby.”

I looked over at Kris and Peyton, not able to contain the grin that broke out at the two of them as he spun Peyton around, laughing when she nearly tripped over the fabric of her dress. “This is a really beautiful wedding,” I said quietly, my eyes wondering around the room to take in all of the flowers, the candles, the white rose pedals scattered across part of the floor.

“Yeah,” Sidney agreed, his own eyes surveying the room before a smirk appeared across his face and he glanced down at me. “Ours will be nicer.”

I felt my eyes widen for a second before I looked up at him, a smirk appearing on my face as well. “Oh, you think you’re going to marry me, eh, Crosby?”

He let out a soft laugh, shrugging his shoulders. “Well, you know. I think it’d be nice.”

My own reply was interrupted by Peyton clearing her throat, smiling the two of us. “Mind if I cut in?” She asked.

I nodded, stepping away from Sidney. “Go for it, Mrs. Letang.”

Peyton rolled her eyes, swatting away Sidney’s hands. “Not with him, silly. I want to dance with my best friend. Is that okay, Sid?”

Sidney laughed. “As long as I don’t have to dance with Kris.”

“You want to dance with me?” I asked, almost pouting as Sidney walked back over to the table before I looked at her again, “That’s kind of odd.”

“Hanna, it is my wedding day. I can do odd things,” She frowned, “That was a bad choice of words.”

I grinned at her. “You’re someone’s wife now, Peyton. How does that feel?”

“I think you should ask me that in a month or so,” she answered, her free hand reaching up to play with one of her curls. “I feel kind of old, to be honest.”

“Old? Pey, you’re 23,” I reminded her, laughing.

Peyton smiled, her hand falling to her side. “I know. I just… I didn’t think I’d ever get married, so this is so odd for me. I always figured I’d be at your wedding before you’d be at mine, you know?”

I shrugged, my eyes moving just past her to see Kris talking with one of his friends, a grin still on his face. “Maybe. I think that when you find the one, it doesn’t really matter when you get married, you know? I mean, it’s fairly obvious that you’re meant to be with Kris, and you’ve got things figured out. You’re not worried it’s too soon, are you? Because, I hate to say it, but it’s a little too late.”

Peyton shook her head, the smiling returning to her face. “No, I’m not thinking that at all. I’m just surprised that someone can actually put up with me.”

I chuckled at her. “There’s someone out there for everyone, right?”

She shrugged, glancing back as Kris called her. “I guess. Have fun tonight, alright?” She said.

I nodded, “You too,” I added, winking at her and laughing as she groaned, turning around to try and spot Sidney again.

He was over by the cake table, not eating a piece, but talking quietly with my brother, Cameron. The two had finally met just a few months ago, and even though I was still worried that Cameron wouldn’t approve of my dating a hockey player, especially a hockey player that I had once dated and been dumped by, the two seemed to hit off. They went fishing together in the summer, and Cameron had flown out to see a few games throughout the season. The fact that Elizabeth approved of Sidney, and that little baby Alison had become Sidney’s favourite person in the entire world didn’t hurt, either.

I waited a moment before finally walking over to the two, making sure to make enough noise that they heard me and smiling at them as they turned to face me. “Sorry, I was just lonely.”

Cameron grinned at me. “No worries at all, Hanna. Sidney was just telling me about how he went on the Canucks for you,” he said, grinning at Sidney.

Sidney laughed. “Yeah, that’s totally what we were talking about,” he agreed, reaching an arm out to tug me closer to him. “Actually, Cameron was proposing that we come out and visit him and Liz sometime,” he told me, planting a kiss on my forehead.

“Oh really?” I asked, looking to Cameron. “You just want to brag about knowing Sidney Crosby.”

Cameron laughed. “That’s definitely my only motive,” he agreed. “You two should talk it over and let me know when you’re free.” He pointed a finger at me, his face growing serious, “But you won’t be sharing a room.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at him, nodding instead. “Understood. We will sleep in separate rooms.”

He nodded, glancing at Sidney, who was awkwardly looking anywhere but at Cameron. “Well, I should go find my wife, congratulate Peyton and head on home to put my little girl to bed,” he told me. “You have to come see her before Liz and I fly back home, Hanna. She’s gotten so big.”

I nodded, “I want to see her. Elizabeth told me that she’s talking now and it made me feel really out of the loop.”

Cameron nodded, reaching out to pat Sidney’s shoulder. “I’ll talk to the two of you later. Have a good night,” He said, leaning down to give me a hug before he headed off in search of his wife.

I let my head fall to rest against Sidney’s shoulder, yawning. “What time is it?”

“It’s only eight o’clock,” he said, laughing at my obvious fatigue. “You going to make it?”

I nodded, smiling up at him. “I’m sure a piece of cake will make me feel more energized,” I told him, moving away from his embrace to grab a piece off of the table.

Sidney sighed. “I miss cake.”

“You could have a piece. It’s not like it’ll kill you,” I reminded him, waving the plate in front of his face.

“I can’t. I ate a piece at the rehearsal dinner, and I only allow myself three pieces of cake a year.” He reminded me, watching the plate as I teased him with it.

“You’re just holding out in case there’s better cake somewhere down the line this year?” I asked, taking a bite of the cake.

He shrugged. “You never know.” He let out a long sigh. “You’re going to watch hockey with me tomorrow right? I fly out late in the night, so we could watch most of the Canucks versus the Sharks.”

I nodded, chewing on the bite of cake before answering, “Of course. I never pass up the chance to oggle at both Mason Raymond and Joe Thornton, Sid. You should know that by now.”

Sidney smiled, reaching out to pull me back towards him once more.

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“Hanna, come on, the game is starting!” Sidney yelled at me.

I groaned, pulling my hair up into a ponytail as I made my way out of my room and into the living room where Sidney was, sighing as I plopped down on the couch beside him. “It’s weird to be in here without Peyton,” I told him.

He nodded, moving his hand to brush my bangs out of my eyes. “I know. You’re going to get so lonely, way out here in Vancouver while everyone else is in Pittsburgh.” He shot me a look.

I shook my head at him. “Come on, Sid. You know how I feel about the living together thing. I don’t want to move everything into your place and then have us break-up, not that I think we’re going to break up.”

He sighed, nodding his head and pulling his blackberry out of his pocket. “I know, but that’s not going to stop me from bugging you about it,” he reminded me, glancing up from his phone to shoot me a smile before he texted something, shoving the phone back into his pocket. “I mean, it’s been two years now, and you finish your photography course in a month” he reminded me.

I reached a hand up to playfully thwack his nose, making him laugh. He hushed me before I could say anything back, pressing his fingers to my lips with a playful smirk .”Now, now, my buddy Roberto is being interviewed and I want to hear what he has to say. He might talk about me,” he pointed out.

“Wow, you just think everyone is talking about you, don’t you?” I asked, grinning at him as he shook his head at me, my attention falling back to the TV while Sidney squirmed a bit beside me, apologizing when I glanced at him.

Roberto Luongo appeared on screen alongside Dan Murphy, half dressed in his uniform, not wearing his actual jersey yet, and his green Canucks hat resting on his mess of curls. Just as Sidney has joked, he was asked about the game against the Penguins just two nights ago, admitting that he believe Sidney was going easy on him, too. “Ever since the Olympics, Sid has been more of a friend then a hockey rival,” he explained with a small smile. “He definitely had me beat at one point, but he passed it off to Kris Letang. I guess he was trying to help Tangers show off to his lady, since he was getting married the next night,” he joked.

“I love that people just can’t believe that sometimes you’re just off your game,” I muttered at Sidney, making him chuckle at me.

Dan Murphy brought up the possibility of a Canucks versus Penguins Cup final, making Luongo laugh. “That’s a long way away, that’s for sure, and we’ve got a lot of work to put in before we can even really think about the Playoffs. But, it would be interesting. I know Sid’s weaknesses, and he knows mine. It could make things interesting,” he admitted.

Dan Murphy went on a semi long speech about the Olympics, about the upcoming 2014 ones and whether Luongo thought he had a chance at earning the start in those competitions. His answer was drowned out by Sidney turning to me and asking, “What do you think of Kris and Peyton’s agreement?”

I looked away from the TV and back at him. “The wedding one?”

He laughed, “No. Their decision that if they got married out here, where all of Peyton’s family and friends were, she’d move to Pittsburgh without any complaints. What do you think of that?”

I shrugged. “I guess it’s fair. She’s leaving everything here to go and follow him around, right?” I asked, watching as Sidney nodded. “I mean, if she was going to make him play for the Canucks or move out of Pittsburgh, that would be ridiculous. Why? You disagree?”

He shook his head, his attention moving back to the TV. “No, I just hadn’t asked you about it and I was curious, that’s all.” His hand moved up to twirl a piece of my hair absentmindedly as he watched the last bit of Luongo’s interview.

I didn’t manage to catch whatever Dan Murphy had asked, but Luongo grinned, nodding his head. “I do talk to him, actually. I just talked to him, funny enough.” He bit his lip, turning his attention away from Dan Murphy and to the camera. “Actually, the best part of being kind of friends with a guy like Crosby is that he asks you for favours occasionally. I told him if he didn’t show me up in our game, I’d do this one little thing for him.” Luongo seemed to pause just for dramatic effect, long enough for me to frown as I realized that Sidney actually [I]had[/I] gone easy on the Canucks net minder, and that I was completely confused as to why he would do that.

I could see Sidney shift a bit out of the corner of my eye, but before I could fully move my attention from the TV to him, Luongo spoke again. “Sidney asked if I’d hold this up for him.” Luongo stepped off camera for a moment, leaving a grinning Dan Murphy before he re-appeared with a sign, winking at the camera. “Hanna, I hope you’re watching.” Without another second of hesitation, he flipped the sign over, leaving me to stare at the words [b]Hanna, will you marry me?[/b] written across it.

The camera cut back to the TSN studio, causing me to shake myself out of my shock and turn to Sidney, about to ask him whether I had just hallucinated or not.

My answer came in the form of Sidney holding out a velvet box with a ring in it, a nervous look on his face as he stared at me. “Hanna, I think I’ve been in love with you since that day, two years ago, when we first talked and you treated me like an actual person. I spent more time wondering it would be like to kiss you then I did working on my face-offs, or on my skating. I spent months agonizing over the best way to actually ask you out, and then you kissed me, and it just felt like everything in my life was okay.” He paused, swallowing hard before continuing. “I know that the start of our relationship had it’s hard times. When you moved out of Pittsburgh and back out here, and we weren’t really speaking, I felt like I had lost everything. I felt like I had lost my world and myself while you were gone, and, to be honest, when I’m out on the road and think about how you’re in a different country and so far away from me, I feel like I’m losing myself again. I don’t know who I am without you by my side, and I don’t want to know who I’d be without you. So, I guess what I’m trying to ask you is,” he stopped, taking in a deep breath before he asked, “Will you marry me?”

My eyes had been on his face the entire time, taking in every detail of his beautiful features as he spoke, every word that he had said sinking into my sink and becoming a part of me. I didn’t notice that I had actually done the typical girl thing and teared up until I blinked and one of the tears cascaded over the bottom of my eye and rolled gently down my cheeks, only making it halfway before Sidney’s free hand reached out to brush it away. I had to inhale deeply to find my voice, closing my eyes as I did so before opening them once more. “Yes.”

It was a simple answer, not nearly as breathtaking as his speech to me had been, but the way Sidney’s entire face seemed to lift up into this radiant joy was enough to let me know that I didn’t have to say anything more. He leaned in to kiss me, softly on the lips before his own lips moved up to my nose, and then to each cheek, then back to my lips. He moved back long enough to pull the ring out of the box, allowing me to actually get a look at it.

It was a beautiful ring, really. I didn’t know a lot about jewellery, but the thin silver band held one rather large diamond, along with two smaller ones, one on each side, and it was the most perfect piece of jewellery I had ever laid eyes on. He slid the ring onto my finger without a second thought before he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me towards him, pulling me into a kiss as the now empty box landed on the floor. He broke the kiss for a moment, apologizing to me as he grabbed his Blackberry once more, sending off another text and letting the phone drop to the ground as he leaned down to me again.

In the background, barely heard over the sound of my own heartbeat echoing in my head as Sidney planted kisses all over my face and I stared down at the ring on my hand, I heard Dan Murphy announce that Sidney Crosby was officially off the market, making me laugh. “I can’t believe how cheesy you are,” I mumbled to Sidney, making him stop his kissing parade and grin at me.

“That’s why you love me though, right? Because I’m cheesy and make you look good?”

I reached a hand up to run it through his dark hair before letting it rest against his cheek. I could only sigh, taking in his face once more. “I love you.”

He grinned, taking my hand and moving it to his mouth so he could kiss the palm of it. “I love you, too.”