More tears, this time a mixture of happiness and exhaustion, plus him being the one who caused the need, left Jordan to type out my letter of resignation. For being a 'big, dumb hockey player' he did a pretty good job despite not holding back his anger. My two weeks notice was to be paid out in sick leave and holidays, but that didn't worry me too much.

"You know, you are really lucky I couldn't wait the three months it takes to get a proper working visa so I got the travel and work visa instead, otherwise I'd be illegal now," I told Jordan as we left my cubicle empty. We'd stopped in on the way to Mellon where we'd meet the team and travel to the airport. I knew I looked like shit, eyes red and the occasional tear still falling, but thankfully my co-workers seemed too shocked by the fact that Jordan Staal was in their midst to notice my appearance.

Shrugging with a grin, all he could say was, "Not like you'll ever need to work, especially after we start having kids." That earned him a punch to the shoulder.

x

The Washington trip didn't go well, by any means. As soon as I saw Max my mind went to Lucy, which inevitably led me to the previous night's events, and once again the waterworks started. Kris forced the same response in effect, though I was already bawling so it wasn't particularly noticeable. I felt even worse for disrupting the guys' routines by being there, but they continued to insist that I was welcome.

Both games were tight, exciting and went down to the wire. Sid managed a hat trick in game 2, earning one hat making its way onto the ice, but Ovechkin had netted his own third goal earlier in the final period. Unfortunately, each encounter resulted in a one-point loss, giving the Capitals the upper hand heading back to the Burgh.

But of course, this Penguins team weren't to be taken lightly and thrived playing in front of their own fans. Yet another tight contest, game 3 went to overtime with Tanger potting the winning goal, while the fourth battle was a comfortable 5-3 win.

x

Three full days without tears or even the thought of a breakdown was enough to convince Jordan I could stay at home for his next trip. Lucy was back in the apartment now, and it was easy enough to persuade him that I was better off helping out my friend. The team only left the morning of the game, letting me joke with Jordan that Eric must've gotten all the scoring talent in the family since he'd scored himself two goals in the Hurricanes game against the Bruins the night before. All Jordan could do was promise that his goal was coming.

And come that goal did. After a scoreless first period, barely five minutes into the second Jordan picked up the puck behind the net, brought it around towards the front then passed off to Miro Satan (who'd become one of my favourite guys on the team thanks to his Slovakian accent and storytelling ability), receiving the black disk back immediately and the next thing we knew he'd wristed it into the back of the net. Lucy and I were jumping in excitement, while Jordan let out a visible breath of relief at making the score sheet, hugging his teammates but not getting too carried away with celebrating.

So proud of you! xxx

"Ahh I hate that Ovechkin guy," I complained to Lucy as the scores were once again tied with four minutes remaining. It had been bad enough seeing him score goals with apparent ease, but when he'd taken out Gonchar with a knee on knee hit in the previous game, then he earned my ire. I've never been the kind of fan to dislike an opponent because they were more skilled, but if you're going to hurt someone with no remorse you deserve every bad thing that comes your way. And in this case I was hoping karma would be dished out in the form of a series loss.

Lucy was quick to agree. "Don't worry, Ray, our boys have got this one. They're still playing for Gonch."

She turned out to be right, with Geno scoring on a power play in the fourth minute of overtime. He was understandably awarded the first star of the game, while my heart swelled at hearing Jordan's name announced as second star after also earning himself an assist on Cookie's goal.

x

With the chance to take the series at home, it was all business come game 6. The Penguins managed to come out with a draw at the end of regulation, despite having half the number of shots the Capitals had gotten through to Flower. Seeing everyone's heads drop when Steckel got one in was hard to see, and Jordan was almost caveman-like in his disappointment, down to one-word answers and sulking. I almost didn't want to put up with his mood for the night, but he'd done so much for me, put up with me when he didn't need the distraction, that it was only fair I helped him take his mind off the loss with our first uninterrupted attempt at sex.

The frustration, both from the loss and having waited so long, only added to the experience. We were rough with each other, playful at times, and just working off the passion and chemistry we shared made the experience something that should have happened as soon as we met. It wasn't just sex, fucking, or even making love. It was (as fluffy as it sounds) fully sharing ourselves with each other, good and bad.

After that, the floodgates were opened, both in regards to our sex life and in terms of goals against the Caps.

x

Game 7 was a fun night, sitting up in the stand with Anna beside me. Thankfully she didn't have to work that day so we hung out at the zoo while the team went through their game day routines. All day I'd had a good feeling about the game, and somewhat more importantly, that Jordan would score.

Sid and Craig Adams scoring two goals in eight seconds had us buzzing mid way through the first. The fans surrounding us weren't overly happy about our supporting the enemy, but they were a lot more pleasant than the Philly fans. A few beers added to the atmosphere and things only got better with Billy G and then Tanger taking advantage almost straight after the break.

My intuition proved true with Jordan scoring the fifth goal of the game while the locals were still scoreless. It was a little disheartening that he'd scored it against Jose Theodore who'd been brought in to replace Varlamov after Kris's goal, but there was also a strange regret that Flower would have to allow four goals past in order for it to be the series winner. Since when did I actually want to rush off to Vegas and get married?

The rest of the game was a bit of a blur, mostly being caught in my own thoughts when the puck wasn't in play. When Ovechkin scored an effective empty netter after Marc-Andre mishandled the puck in the trapezoid I almost wondered if Jordan had asked him to let a few in. Of course Marc had too much pride in his abilities to do that, but I still had to question it. I wouldn't put anything past Jordan.

Sid scored again at the top of the third, just to cement the win, with Brooks Laich scoring a consolation for his efforts a few minutes later. After that, it was clear the series was sealed but an impending marriage wasn't.