"Finally."

"So who's the girl?"

There was enough commotion in the visiting locker room that no one else seemed to hear the question, but James did. He kept his head down, pretending not to hear, but he knew Sid was too sharp to fall for him pretending not to hear. "What girl?"

Sid smiled crookedly. "The one that sat behind the bench the other night, back home." He folded his arms over his broad chest and waited for an answer. "Wearing your jersey."

"Newsflash, Crosby - your sweater isn't the only one chicks wear." James shot him a smirk as he lifted his helmet from the top shelf of his stall. "Sorry to break the news."

"I don't forget a face like that."

James raised his eyebrows at his teammate, whose brown eyes were boring into him. And I wonder why this is?

"I remember her from Denver. Or am I wrong?"

You're never wrong, James wanted to reply, but he bit his tongue. "Everyone always said you had good eyes..." He palmed the top of his helmet, settling it onto his head as he looked at him. "Just didn't know it extended beyond the ice."

"Look." Sid sighed just as his gaze softened. "If that's why you weren't at practice last week--"

"--I told you, I was sick" James lied.

"Really?" The sharp lines of Sid's jaw firmed. "If you're worried I'm upset, I'm here to tell you I'm not."

With a snap of his chin strap, James was ready to leave the locker room and head out onto the ice for practice, but Sid was insistent on asking about Ali. The only problem was...James wasn't sure how much he wanted to tell everyone about her. Ali was different from other girls, and that would be tricky for James when it came to introducing her. A regular puckslut would already know how the scene worked, and would know how to work the scene. This.....this was different. Ali was different. She was worlds apart from the the typical crowd that surrounded them. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her off.

Behind them, Kunitz waddled by and slapped James on his back pads. "Hurry up, you two. I need the rest of my unit out there or else I really will be the only one who scores on the power plays."

It was followed by a good-natured chuckle as he passed, but James waited until he was out of earshot before turning back to Sid. "So you don't forget a face like that, eh?"

Sid's eyes were once again inspecting him. "At least admit she's the girl from the hotel in Denver. The one who caught your eye in the lobby."

How the fuck does he know everything. James rested a hand on his hip and looked at the floor, debating if he should just admit everything or just continue to lie. She's gotta meet these guys sooner or later.

"Or don't" Sid said, making the decision for him. He shrugged casually. "But it's not every day that James Neal doesn't brag about a girl he brings to a game."

"Her name is Allison" James replied, a bite in his tone that surprised even him. "And she'll be at more of our games, if I have anything to do with it."

Sid and James stared at one another, and very slowly, Sid began to nod as a smile crept across his face. "Nice, Nealer. Good for you."

Yeah, good for me, he thought silently. Sid grabbed his gloves from the bench nearby and nodded towards the door. "See you out there."

James watched as he headed down the hall towards the ice for practice. Pausing a moment longer alone in the locker room, he couldn't get a particular phrase out of his mind: I don't forget a face like that. He wondered what Sid meant by that, if he meant anything at all.

Already defensive of her, James thought with a shake of his head. This girl really will be the end of me.

* * *

That was the Pen's first night on the road, and James had four more days on the road that week. It would total three games, all of which took the Penguins across the west coast from Canada to California. Back in Pittsburgh, Ali watched her new boyfriend and his team go through two losses in a row, with tonight's game determining whether they would continue that streak or break it before returning east.

Ali worked earlier that morning at the hotel and then did some serious grocery shopping. Her day-to-day errands had been taking a backseat considering all her free time lately had been spent in bed or on the couch with James. Now, with him on the road and some free time to herself, Ali could finally do laundry, clean a little, restock the kitchen, and even sleep in if she wanted to. And while her old routine felt good to get back to, she missed James quite a bit more than she expected. Seeing him on tv wasn't anything like seeing him in real life...then again, Ali realized she may never get used to seeing him on tv.

So by the time the game came on later that night, Ali was already positioned on her couch to watch the third of the Pens' three games play out. The Pens started strong and seemed to have a little bounce back in their step, but with three minutes to go in the second period they were quickly topped and remained down by one point for the rest of the game. When the final goal horn sounded, the Pens lost their third of three road games.

Ali chewed her fingernail and watched the RootSports interviews of various players following the disappointing loss. She wondered if she'd see James; he played a good game despite the outcome, claiming one assist and the bulk of the shots-on-goal. As she waited through the interviews, she spun the remote in her hand nervously and listened to a very distraught Sidney Crosby explain their loss for the third time that week, his large caramel-colored eyes looking more tired than they out of any of his interviews. When the cameras cut away from Sid, they went straight to James. He sat shirtless at his stall bench, black waist pads sticking up along his cut obliques, his chest and singular inked shoulder visible below the mess of hair and a face full of stubble.

"I don't know....uh.....you just get into these ruts sometimes, and um...as a team, you have to find a way around it." James kept his head bent as a host of microphones remained positioned close to his face. His blue eyes looked up despondently as another reporter asked him a question.

Ali couldn't hear what the question was, but she didn't care either way. She could tell by the way James was sitting that all he wanted to do was be anywhere but in front of the camera; his confidence that he normally carried was now bent by the three losses.

She listened as another media member asked a question and James facially shrugged. "Not sure how many more shots I could've taken" he replied with a bit of an edge in his tone. "They just didn't go in." He glanced between the reporters, his lips pursed as he wiped sweat from his nose.

As he answered a slew of questions, all of which were exactly the same as they asked Crosby, Ali sat wondering what she could do for him from there. She wasn't used to this, sure....seeing her boyfriend on tv and all....but she also wasn't used to seeing James look this down.

When they finally finished, the interview cut back to the two main announcers in Pittsburgh and Ali clicked the tv off. She slid down the couch so that her legs were wide in front of her, slumped and tired and feeling a similar heaviness to what James must have been feeling. She would wait up for him to call, as he usually did after games whenever he had the chance, but she didn't know what to say. She had zero experience with this at all; she didn't know what it was like being him, doing what he did, or what losses meant now compared to the beginning of the season. With her extensive background in watching hockey, Ali understood a little...but she didn't play, and she'd never dated a player before...so she was as new to this as someone who may have never watched a game their entire life. She'd do whatever she could, because NHL title or not, James was a just another normal guy with feelings. She'd just have to do her best to be there for him and learn her way through this lifestyle as she went.

After waiting for thirty minutes on the couch, Ali wasn't sure she could last much longer. Slowly and heavily she took the steps up to the second floor of her condo to get ready for bed. She brushed her teeth, checked her phone, washed her face, checked her phone, changed and slipped into bed, and checked her phone. Nothing.

Maybe he's just tired and wants to sleep it off, she considered. Deciding to initiate first, she drafted up a text and sent it off to James: Hey babe. Missed talking tonight, but understand if you weren't feeling up to it. Let me know if I can make you smile in some way. :-) Ttys.

Hooking her phone up to her charger, Ali set it under her pillow just incase he did call. She was so tired, especially after the long morning she had followed by the late end to the west coast game James had just played in. Luckily for her, it only took a whole two minutes before she was fast asleep.

*

James lay awake in San Jose while Matt snored in the bed next to his. He lay with his arms stretched behind his head and stuffed under his pillow, legs and torso stretched out tight and long. He should have been asleep already for how tired and weary he felt, but his mind was racing. For all the years James played hockey his entire life, he understood that after hard losses this late in the season, he almost always got like this. It was already March, and a few weeks from now they'd be entering the playoffs...his second chance to win the Cup with his new team. He wanted it worse than he knew the others on the team guessed, and the fire he played with every night was a testament to that desire.

Yet, despite knowing his mood would end up this way after three disappointing losses in a row, James was even more confused by the other emotions he was feeling. There was an odd sense of avoidance occurring, like he was running from something that he didn't really want to run from. His proverbial 'running' began when he decided not to call Ali after the game. The past week had been rough enough talking to her; whenever James would call and talk to her, he feared there was pity in her voice. He knew she wasn't pitying him, of course, but he also couldn't bear to think this girl thought anything other than pride in being with him now that they were officially together.

The sense of avoidance continued when James avoided responding to Ali's text message that night. Now, lying awake in bed, he stared at the ceiling and regretted those decisions. He just didn't want her thinking of him as a failure. Assist or not, he felt he had to do more for the team. They all had to work harder together and be hungrier for the wins that would hopefully take them into the playoffs. All this considered, James didn't like knowing Ali was watching him fail. He wanted to show her he could be consistent. He wanted to score for her every game and he wanted her to be proud of him. Every hockey player had their nights, but James wanted to be that player, night in and night out. Allison wasn't the type who cared about stats and nothing else, but that didn't mean he didn't feel a tremendous pressure to impress her.

He got her, yes - but now he had to keep her.

What would she tell her friends tonight, after 3 losses and only one goal? James wondered to himself. Would she be proud to tell anyone I'm hers? That #18 was all hers, even though he didn't show up for his team all week?

He had to do more. He would work harder, stay longer at practice, be different than how he used to be. He wasn't going to let his performance on the ice be a reason for Ali to be disappointed in him.

But you know she isn't, Neal. She's not like that. She's not like the others.

It brought just a hint of a smile to his drawn face. James wasn't used to any of this. He wasn't used to women like Ali, and that's what it always came down to. Something just felt different with her. She made him feel a way he never felt before, and it scared him and thrilled him all the same.

Wish I was there with her right now.

James rubbed his eyes and his face, sighing heavily.

The minute we get back, I'm going over to her place.

It gave him something to look forward to as he passed out.

*

The next morning, Ali woke up to birds chirping outside her window. Even through her pale lilac curtains, the sun was bright and shining over her. She remained buried under the covers, and with very drowsy eyes, she rolled over and dug for her phone under her stack of pillows. When she clicked her phone and the lock screen came up, there wasn't a single message or missed call from anyone. A puzzled, hurt look came to her face.

What the hell?

After getting calls all week, every day that James had been gone, she wasn't exactly used to waking up and not seeing at least a text message from him.

It must be bad, she thought with some concern.

And so Ali went on about her morning, and by noon she still hadn't heard a thing. She wasn't going to push James to talk, and she didn't need him to contact her...she was just confused as to what she should do to help.

What do professional athletes do in this situation? Do they want sympathy?

What does James want?

It frustrated her. Ali found herself caring about him more and more every day; her thoughts always turning to James when she least expected and always with the same outcome: her heart fluttered harder every time she saw him or heard his voice, and her body craved his touch. James was, in every sense, becoming a fixed part of her life. At least mentally, if not always physically.

So after a quiet afternoon with no word from him, Ali took her friends up on a dinner invite later that evening. She joined some of her coworkers, the ones she considered fairly good friends in addition to mere individuals she had to work odd hours with, and all things considered, it was a night out like any other night, save for one thing....

"Earth to Ali!"

Ali glanced up from her glass where she'd been idly staring. "Hmm?"

Becky, one of the first people she met while working at the Hyatt and one of her closest friends, smiled at her from across the table. "Find something interesting in your glass? You've been staring into it for the past five minutes." Her warm expression meant no harm, but there was definitely curiosity in her blue eyes. In addition to curiosity, Ali knew Becky knew her mind was elsewhere. Not only was Becky nearly 10 years older than her, she was 10 years wiser.

Ali ended up shrugging and stirring her margarita with the tiny lime garnish that rested against her glass. "Just tired."

This time, her sassy coworker John noted the distant look in her eyes. "What gives, girl?"

With a sigh, Ali placed both hands on the table and tried to smile. "Honestly, nothing - really. You know my shifts have been all over the place lately."

"You aren't taking classes at U.P. and not telling us, are you?" Becky wiggled an eyebrow at her. "Because if you're going for your Masters and keeping that from us - I'll spank you."

A round of flirty Ooos could be heard across the table of their small group, the loudest of all coming from John. "I heard your husband liked those sorts of nights, hun" he teased Becky, which got John a very sassy slap from Becky.

While the rest of the gang laughed, Ali quickly got lost in her thoughts all over again. She drained the remainder of her margarita and glanced at her phone as politely and discreetly as she could. Still no word from James, but she did notice the time. "Speaking of dumb shifts" she said, digging around in her purse. "I'm gonna have to bolt. Gotta wake up early and work for YOUR ass" she teased, dark eyes narrowed playfully on John. She tossed some cash on the table and gave her friend a sympathetic smile. "But I still love you."

"Love you too." John pursed-lip smile grew. He gave her an air kiss as she leaned in to give him one as well.

After a round of goodbyes and a few more apologies for being lost in her own thoughts, Ali found herself outside in the cool, late winter air. After a few minutes of walking to the parking garage not far from the bar, Ali climbed into her SUV and pulled out onto the parkway. Even for 10 pm, Pittsburgh was alive with college kids wandering around, plus the usual crowd of civilians arriving home after working late shifts.

Golden lights flickered over the rivers that hugged the downtown area where Ali drove from, crossing lanes that would take her out of the heart of the city and towards her neighborhood. In the time it took to drive home, she felt the weariness of the day settle over her, tiring her out. After parking in front of her tiny condo, she hugged herself against the cold that followed her as she let herself inside. Her heels clicking against the hardwood floors was the only sound in the empty space as she stepped into her kitchen. She removed her peacoat and purse, dropping both with a heavythump on her table before heading upstairs.

I want out of these clothes now she thought, slipping into a simple white t-shirt and her favorite pair of sleep shorts. As she slid on top of her still-messy sheets she didn't bother to make that morning, it smelled of one thing: James' cologne. It made her close her eyes and smile, wishing he could be beside her right then.

In thinking of him, she realized how ridiculous she must have been acting in front of the crew at the bar. It made her wonder if she should just tell them. She had all this amazing news, that she might be a relationship with this guy she met in Denver, and she was withholding it from people she was around and talked to every day.

No, not just any guy. And I didn't just meet him.

Ali smiled again.

He waited for me.

With a tired sigh, she glanced down at her phone and read the time on the screen, since there was nothing else there waiting for her: 10:45 pm. A soft groan escaped from her mouth. It was late, she was tired, and the small amount of alcohol had done nothing to make her feel less tired. She did have to work the next morning, and as tired as she felt, she didn't want to sleep.

I'm all over the place anymore, she thought with a small grin. Thanks a lot, James.

And then a sound pulled her from her thoughts.

Knock-knock-knock.

With her breath halted momentarily, Ali waited and listened, brows bent in question, wondering if she heard something downstairs.

Knock-knock-knock.

"No way" she said quietly, jumping from her bed. "Could it be--"

Knock-knock-knock-knock-knock----

"Hang on!" she giggled, rushing down the steps. She didn't know for sure, but something told her it was him. She hoped it was; she wished it was. The sound of knocking kept coming even as she descending the stairs, still giggling, her smile still growing. When she flung open the door, that giant grin she hoped she'd see was right there, Pens hat on backwards, tufts of hair sticking out from behind his ears, blue eyes shining bright as ever. James' grin was warm, and just a bit bashful when he saw her. A heaviness was evident in his face, as though he hadn't slept in days.

"Hi" he said.

Ali bit her bottom lip. "Hi."

James didn't say anything else, he simply stepped forward and into her arms, which she opened to accept his tall frame. She hugged him tight, the familiar scent of his cologne filling her nose and her mind. She wrapped her arms about his torso, encircling the black hoodie he wore, her face buried against his chest. James never said a word, but he didn't have to; it was all spoken through his hug.

* * *

"So this is why you came?"

He shifted his eyes to find Ali staring at him, a hint of knowledge in her gaze. "What?"

Her smile never faltered. "So you could get handsy with me?"

"After what we've done - you call this handsy?"

She giggled. "Sounds like you think we've done all there is to do."

I know for a fact it isn't James thought to himself. Instead of saying this, he smirked and brought Ali's hand to his mouth to kiss it. "No, I don't."

"Good."

James hesitated in another quick-witted reply, wondering if he should just admit why he'd come over. Maybe it's obvious why I'm here, he wondered. He dropped his eyes again to his chest where Ali was lightly dragging her nails over his bare pecs. The sensation was enough to put him to sleep, but he wanted to spend every waking moment with her. "Sorry I came over so late..." He watched her calm face and eyes as she stared at his chest. He hoped she liked what she saw.

"No apologies, okay?" Ali glanced up, the corner of her mouth forming a slight dimple in her cheek. "I'm glad you're here."

James felt a part of him relax. Lying on his side facing her, they were positioned closely to one another, but James wanted to see all of Ali's face. He'd been on the road for almost a week, and hadn't gotten an eyeful of the beautiful girl lying beside him, facing him, her hands touching his body the way he craved while he'd been gone. "Hey Ali?"

"Hmm?" She didn't lift her eyes up, but her fingers continued to play over his chest, along his bicep and down his forearm, then back up again.

The light feeling caused James to struggle with sleep even more. "I came over tonight because I couldn't sleep without you." He grabbed her hand gently, pulling her eyes upwards so that they met his. "The second I got into town, I came over here. There's a reason for it."

Ali didn't know what to say, not that she could say much thanks to the feeling of her heart sliding up into her throat. James was looking at her so intensely, but his touch was softer than the look in his eyes.

"I need you, Allison."

The admission was followed by a look he sometimes wore that confused her. It was the look that Ali wasn't used to decoding yet: the one where she wasn't able to tell if James was about to say something funny or if he was about to tell her something that would rock her foundation.

James slid his hand along Ali's shoulder to her neck, holding firmly. He smiled, eyes lowering to her bottom lip he desperately wanted to nibble. "I thought about you all week." He watched as Ali licked her lip subconsciously. "This week was shitty beyond all belief..."

"I know" she said finally, her voice getting even quieter. "I'm sor--"

"--Don't." James stopped her before she had a chance to finish. "Every team has shitty weeks. It's fine."

"I thought you played really well."

James rolled his eyes. "You don't have to lie."

"I'm not."

He saw the sparkle return to her espresso eyes and it made him feel incredible. Those eyes would become eyes he'd need to see more often...he just didn't know it yet. He didn't know much, really.

James knew one thing, however: he wouldn't tell her right then how badly he needed her after the week he'd had, or how afraid he was that he would let her down by not being the man on the ice he wanted to be for her. Maybe he'd save that for another time.

First things were first, after all.

Pulling Ali's mouth closer to his own, James finally felt her soft lips brush along his, and he finally felt that his body and mind were able to relax. After a week without tasting her mouth, James swore he'd never go that long ever again.

* * *

Notes

A shorter chapter, I know, but hopefully still enjoyable :)