Reunited

"I mean just think about it. One week ago you found out Sidney was engaged, then he shows up, then his fiancé shows up, then she leaves, and now you're here, and so is he. So go talk to him."

"Kelsey this is absolutely pathetic and there is no way that I am participating in it," Shea was frustrated. It had only been a couple days since Shea had had the blowout with Sidney at the dock, but already she was missing him. She thought maybe, just maybe they could of gotten back to normal, to being friends. Then it wouldn't be awkward at the wedding at the end of the summer.

Who the hell was she kidding, the wedding was going to be more awkward than seeing the same ring she wore, on Brooke's ring finger.

But now Shea and Kelsey were at the local skating rink, watching Mike and some of his friends skate around with little tikes that they mentored. They had only been at the rink for twenty minutes before Mike's attention was caught by Sidney coming up to the glass. Shea hadn't been close enough to hear the conversation, but since they had "bro" hugged at the end of the conversation, Shea guessed Sidney had apologized for hurting her. Sidney disappeared and reappeared five minutes later, gracefully gliding across the ice.

Since Shea had never seen any of the Pittsburgh Penguins games she had't seen Sidney skate, or shoot since high school games. And even if you didn't know Sidney was the Captain of the Pens, you could tell the second he hit the ice. It was like something different came over him, he went from enjoying life, to loving life. It was his dream from the beginning to be a hockey player, but Shea had forgotten the look that she loved so much when Sidney hit the ice.

He glided, turned, shot, he even taught some of the kids some of his infamous tricks, even the older guys. They laughed and once the little kids had left, Mike and his friends teamed up and went against Sidney. Five against one and Sidney still held his own, but you could tell he was enjoying it.

"Hello earth to Shea," Kelsey was waving her hands in front of her friends face. Shea had zoned out for about five minutes and within those five minutes everybody had gotten off the ice except Sidney.

Kelsey had been planning this moment for four years. Shea and Sidney were like Cole Harbours own Romeo and Juliet, Adam and Eve, Joey and Pacey, Blair and Chuck. They, no matter what happened, were meant to end up together. After every fight, Kelsey remembered Sidney groveling because he could't lose Shea, or Shea crying until she realized that Sidney would always be there, just as she would always be there too. Kelsey had even thought about her own Prince Charming, but she had always been fine living vicariously through Shea and Sidney's relationship, "You zoned out and I'm going to leave you here just so that you'll go down to the rink and talk to Sidney. Ok bye."

Kelsey quickly ran down the bleachers before Shea could object. Leaving her stranded five miles from her house.

Well I guess I'm walking home.

But Shea didn't want to get home just yet, she wanted to watch Sidney skate. So she watched him shoot the puck around and whip it into the net, multiple times, before he looked up her way. Sidney didn't recognize her at first. It was almost too nostalgic for him seeing Shea watch him skate just like she had been doing before he got drafted into the NHL. Sidney smiled up at her and waved, and her, to his surprise waved back, before walking down the bleachers towards the ice.

"Hey Sid."

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Sidney asked skating over towards the bench she was now occupying.

"I was watching my brother teach little kids how to skate and then the next thing I knew my ride was leaving me here." Shea said watching Sidney sit up on the edge of the box she was sitting in. He was sweating, but Shea had always loved the way Sidney looked after a good workout.

Sidney smiled. "So you just decided to stay and watch me skate?"

Shea looked down at her hands before shrugging her shoulders, "I used to love to watch you skate." Sidney sighed. He used to love the thought of Shea in the stands, but now it just reminded him of what he hadn't come back to get. She would come to every game, and be waiting for him after every practice, in some ways Shea had been synonymous with Hockey.

"Well I never did teach you to skate."

Shea looked up at the guy who had made that promise, many promises actually but now he was making good on this one. Sidney swung his legs over the ledge and jumped into the box. He pulled open his bag revealing another pair of skates. Shea laughed, causing Sidney to look up and see her taking off her shoes. He grabbed the pair of skates and kneeled down in front of Shea.

"Deja vu huh?" Shea said lifting her foot into the skate, watching Sidney lace the first skate up. He laughed and looked into the brown eyes that he hadn't had a real chance to look into since he got back. They were mixed with hurt, they always had been, but finally Sidney could see the smile he had always seen when they were together. She wasn't just smiling with her mouth, but with her eyes too. He had missed it.

Once Sidney had laced up both of Shea's skates, he climbed back onto the ice and reached his hand out to help Shea. At first she was hesitant, she could picture herself slipping and then Sidney would grab her and then they would be caught up in a steamy moment and who knows what would happen. But then she remembered Brooke, and so she grabbed his large paws with her dainty little hands and hopped over onto the ice. She didn't slip, like she had pictured, but Sidney hadn't let go of her hand. She hoped he never would, he didn't plan on it.

So he used the whole "teaching her how to skate" excuse. He grabbed her other hand and started to skate in front of her. Shea didn't want to tell Sidney that a guy had already taught her how to skate, so she pretend to bump and bustle around, like she didn't know how to skate.

But thirty minutes later Sidney said, "You already know how to skate don't you?"

Busted.

"How did you know?" Shea said letting go of Sidney's hands. She automatically missed the warmth of them.

"We've been skating for thirty minutes, and even little kids aren't this bad after thirty minutes, so either you don't know how to balance and glide or you already know how to skate. Who taught you?"

Shea bit her bottom lip, before looking down at the ice. Sidney sighed.

"I thought so."

"Sidney look--"

"Shea it's fine. Can't blame another guy for figuring out how amazing you are," Sidney looked down at Shea. She avoided his gaze, but realized it was no use. She needed to ask the question.

"Why didn't you come back and get me before I graduated?"

Sidney sighed. He had thought about it himself, but every time he came up with the same answer. It was what was best for Shea, but there was no way she would believe that reasoning. She would just chalk it up to him being selfish or even to him never loving her. "You're too big for Pittsburgh Shea. You know, I know, hell all of Cole Harbour knows you're going to be something big and I couldn't let myself stand in the way of that. What kind of person would I be if I didn't let you go to your dream school or live your life. I didn't want you to be stuck living mine with me, you deserved better. That's why I didn't come back to get you. You're too big for Pittsburgh."

"You shouldn't of decided that for me Sidney. I know it's the past but I deserved the chance to see for myself….You know sometimes I wish we had just stayed friends. I know inevitably we would of ended up together, you always end up with your best friend, but don't you think it would have been so much easier?"

"No, nothing would of been easy Shea. Life isn't about being easy, it's about the memories and the people and I don't know about you but my favorite memories are some of the ones I had with you, not just at friends, but when we dated too."

Shea laughed, "Remember when we snuck out to the beach, because we just wanted to prove everybody wrong and be daring for a night--"

"But we ended up getting poison ivy and had to tell our parents we snuck out--"

"We were grounded for three weeks, and we were the laughing stock to our friends….I miss it, I really do. Not just us, but high school and the memories."

Sidney nodded his head. If he had a dollar for every time he thought about old high school memories he would be rich, or at least more rich than he already was.

It was quiet for a moment. But it wasn't one of those awkward quiets Shea and Sidney had been getting into as of recently. It was comfortable and almost welcoming. They were both reminiscing about the past, about each other.

And for a moment, they both forgot that Sidney had a fiancé and that Shea's heart had never healed from the last time she saw Sidney. It was just them in a place that had been the heart of their relationship, and what Shea hoped would be the heart of a friendship.

"It's almost six o'clock, when did it get so late?"

Sidney snapped out of his daze, Shea too. It was a moments thing, but Shea finally looked at her phone. She had been there since two o'clock, but she wasn't thinking about that at the moment. Sometime between talking about the past and zoning out, Shea and Sidney had gotten unnoticeably close. They were within kissing distance.

But Shea, against her beating heart, let her brain win and she started to skate away, not before turning around to look at Sid, "Care to take me home Captain?"

Sidney laughed.

"It would be my pleasure mate."

Notes