Reunited

Sidney sat looking at the arrivals board at Pittsburgh International Airport, waiting to see when he would get to see Shea again. He had red roses in one hand, and a coffee in the other since Sidney knew Shea would be exhausted from the flight. He could have sworn that Shea had said she would be arriving at 6:45 p.m. but he had yet to see her come through baggage claim.

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket, he hoped it was Shea confirming that she had landed and had just gone to the bathroom, opening the message, he didn't quite get what he wanted.

Flight's delayed. Sorry :/

It was quick and short and unlike Shea at all. She wouldn't text him just now when the flight was supposed to land, she would've texted the minute she found out, which would of been hours earlier. He quickly typed back a response and walked over to first board he could see.

He looked at the arrival time for a flight from Toronto, where her connecting flight was and could see that it said "At Gate."

Maybe she took a different connecting flight? Sidney pulled out his iPhone to the picture Shea had sent him of her boarding passes. The first said Halifax, Nova Scotia to Toronto, he swiped his finger to go to the next picture where it said Toronto to Pittsburgh.

She wouldn't have taken a different flight without telling me, Sidney thought, putting his phone back into his pocket, looking for an Information Desk. He found one just off of baggage claim four, walking fast with his head down so no one would notice him. He was already worried enough about Shea.

He walked up to the information desk to see a man and woman both looking down at their computers, he approached, making eye contact with both, "Hi I need some information on a passenger. Can you do that?"

The woman looked skeptically at Sidney then towards her computer to type some things, Sidney was going to say Shea's name when the man spoke, "I can help you here." Sidney nodded his head gratefully, before walking to the left side of the desk. "What's the passengers name?"

"Shea Anderson."

The man typed a few different things into his computer, the woman was still looking skeptically at Sidney.

Do you look sketchy? Sidney thought looking at himself in the reflection of a picture hanging next to the information desk, he looked worried, with tired eyes and a sad smile plastered on his face, but nothing along the lines of sketchy.

"Okay it looks here that she never got on her flight to Toronto, but instead cancelled the ticket and bought a new ticket for a plane to Boston." The man looked back up at Sidney to seeing his eyes wide and very confused.

"So the plane from Toronto landed and is at a gate right now, right?"

"That's correct." The man clicked a few more things. Sidney started to nod his head slowly.

Boston? What the hell is in Boston? Sidney brought his hands up to his forehead, he had a headache from all the confusion roaming through his body. He just wanted to know why Shea had cancelled her flight from Toronto to Pittsburgh.

"Can I help you with anything else, Mr. Crosby?" Sidney looked back up to see the man looking just as rattled as Sidney felt.

Sidney shook his head, "No no that's all I needed, thank you so much for your help." Sidney then realized that the TSA Agent had called him Mr. Crosby, which meant he followed hockey. Sidney reached into his back pants pocket, fumbling for his wallet. He pulled out two tickets to the upcoming Pens game against the Flyers, likely to be an intense one, and put them in front of the man. His eyes lit up the second he saw them, "Hope you like the Penguins, or the Flyers."

The agent nodded his heading mumbling Penguins, before grabbing the tickets, "Thank you so much Mr. Crosby."

Sidney nodded his head, "Thank YOU." He turned to walk away, quickly glancing at the woman sitting next to the man, jealousy written all over her face. Sidney chuckled, but was immediately brought back to Shea and the fact that she was now in Boston, instead of Pittsburgh.

Sidney grabbed his phone and texted Shea.

Call me the second you read this. I love you.

With all the hope in the world that Sidney would be hearing from Shea soon, he put his phone back in his pocket and went back to his seat, staring at the arrivals board yet again.

Except this time, he was looking at Boston.

----------

Shea read over the text. There was desperation and worry written in between the lines, but Shea slipped her phone back into her pocket and took another sip of the tea sitting in front of her. Kate was fumbling around in the kitchen, while Shea calmed her nerves down from her little outburst. She honestly hadn't been expecting to cancel her flight from Toronto to Pittsburgh, but all of a sudden she saw the gate next to her read Boston, MA and it looked more appealing that confronting her feelings for Sidney.

Kate came back from the kitchen with a few Oreos on a small dessert plate, setting them in front of Shea.

"Eat." Shea did as she was commanded and started to nibble on a cookie. "So big sis let me get this straight. You land a man that is head over heels, wedding stopping, in love with you and you're about five seconds from boarding a plane to see him when you get on a plane to see me instead. I am flattered and flabbergasted all at one time."

"When in the hell did you learn what flabbergasted meant. Do you even know what flattered means?" Shea chuckled, grabbing another cookie, taking a glance at her sister. She wore a very flabbergasted look on her face.

"Do not forget that you are in my apartment right now, I am missing out on a fraternity party to console you--"

Shea interrupted her sister, "Kate you and I both know my life is way more interesting that a frat party could ever be, ok? Besides I need your help, and when do I ever need your help."

"I see your point oh wise one, but you don't need my help. You need someone to tell you that its okay that Sidney is at the airport waiting for you when you aren't going to arrive, and you also want someone to tell you that you're moving too fast. But I will not be that person, because leaving Sidney worrying about you is going to put way too much strain on a new relationship and it is not too soon to move in with him, you dated for three years before this. You were each others firsts for many different things and I would be surprised if you weren't each others lasts. Okay? You've been through this already, sure you never lived with each other but you saw each other everyday anyways. Remember all those times you called me from California distraught and crying because you missed Sidney? Well heres your chance to stop missing him and you're sitting in my too small of a kitchen."

Shea saw Kate's point, even though she didn't want to, she did. She had already been through so much with Sidney that moving in with him should be easy, but it wasn't for Shea. She didn't want to have him wake up one day and lose interest in her, or realize that she's taking him away from hockey. She didn't want to put her heart on the line if it meant needing to stitch it up again, all alone. She wanted to keep it enclosed in a bulletproof box.

"You can't just shy away from love anymore Shea, you made all your relationships in college just sex because you couldn't handle feeling anything with anyone else, it was too much because the only person you wanted to love was Sidney and now here he is, so I am giving you tonight in my apartment and then I am kicking you out and I will not let you back in, okay? Do you understand?"

"I'm not stupid Kate."

"Well I mean since you're in my kitchen instead of Sidney's bed right now you must not be all together up there," Kate pointed towards Shea's head before getting up and walking away.

"Where are you going?"

"To bed. You can sleep on the couch or the floor I don't really care, but I am not going to be sympathetic anymore when all you want is excuses from me when you need reasoning about a bad decision. I love you Shea, but you need to stop pretending that you're happy with life without Sidney, because by now I'm pretty sure the whole country knows you aren't." Kate closed her bedroom door, leaving Shea with only one cookie left and a very uncomfortable couch. Kate had a point, she always did, but in the morning Shea had no idea what she was going to do.

She got off her chair, putting the last cookie in her mouth and grabbed her tea cup. She put everything in the sink for her sister to clean up as revenge and then went in search of some blankets and a pillow. With only a couple closets in the apartment, which only held clothes, Shea came back to the living room empty handed. She just sat on the couch and tried to hold back the tears that we're threatening to pour out.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. You are stupid. Why the hell did you come to Boston, why didn't you go to Pittsburgh like you planned too, like how deep down you wanted to. Because you are stupid, that is why. Shea realized that bagging on herself wasn't going to help anything, so she laid down and tried to get some shut eye, but after only five minutes Shea realized that the only thing she wanted was Sidney.

Kate woke up the next morning to see the dishes from last night in the sink, "Bitch," Kate called out hoping she would wake up Shea and make her clean the dishes. She walked over to the coffee pot and pushed start. She had an hour until she had to be at her 8:00 a.m. Friday class, and she was prepared to use that as an excuse to get Shea out of her apartment and on a flight to Pittsburgh

"Shea wake up I have to leave in an hour!" Kate got no response, which surprised her. Normally Shea was a very light sleeper, Kate could never pull any pranks on Shea when she was sleeping because just the sound of her door opening, woke her up. Kate walked from her spot in the kitchen to cross the threshold into the living room area where her couch was located. Shea wasn't there. Kate was starting to get worried when she saw a piece of paper on the tiny little table located in the corner of the living room, where they had drank tea and ate cookies last night. Kate walked towards the table, she could already tell it was Shea who had written it by the handwriting.

It read:

Kate,

I am very very stupid and I have no idea what I'm doing with my life, but if there is one thing I know it's that I love Sidney and the only thing I want right now are his arms around me. Thank you for opening my eyes to my very non problematic world. I love you doll.

S.

Kate looked up from the paper with a smile on her face.

The bitch finally admitted I helped her, I have been waiting for this day since I was born. Kate felt every proud of herself, and with feeling proud she walked over and ate an Oreo, just to congratulate herself on a job well done.

--------

Shea got off the red eye from Boston to Pittsburgh at around four in the morning. She was exhausted and about ready to let sleep take over when the feeling of seeing Sidney made her very happy and all of a sudden not tired at all. She trudged her way through the airport, having not checked a bag she skipped the whole baggage claim process and immediately tried to hail a taxi. Popping her bags in the trunk and telling the drivers Sidney's address, Shea took a huge deep breath, she was almost there. Letting the sound of the car on the dark road lull her to sleep. She didn't wake up when the driver told her they were there or when he got out of the truck and walked up the driveway with her baggage and rang the doorbell. Or when Sidney walked out his house in just sweatpants and reached into the back seat to pick her up and carry her into his house.

He paid the taxi driver, tipping him well for all the inconvenience of a sleeping Shea and walked up the steps to his house. Sidney debated on whether or not to wake Shea up and fuss about where she had been the last couple hours, but realized it didn't matter where she had been, but it mattered that she was here now. Sidney shut and locked the door behind him, walked up the steps and into his bedroom, setting Shea down on the half of the bed he had just been sleeping on.

He peeled off her jacket and shoes and then positioned her body underneath the covers. She turned a little and Sidney suddenly cursed to himself for waking her up, she looked so peaceful and he loved the sight of her in his bed, in his house, in his city. He didn't want the moment to end, but he was relieved when Shea just turned her body towards the side Sidney would be sleeping on. He tore off his sweatpants, going to bed in under armor shorts and walked around to the other side of the bed. He pulled the covers up and moved towards Shea, engulfing her small frame into his large body.

He sighed, a sweet and loving sigh at the fact that Shea was in his arms, exactly where she was supposed to be. He quickly kissed her on the head and breathed in the lilac smell of her hair, knowing that if he could have this for the rest of his life, he would be a happy man.

Notes

Sorry for the delay in updating, but hope you enjoy.