Thank you as always to those who are reading! Just a heads up I will be heading up to see the Caps play the Panthers this weekend so I won't be writing any more until Monday. Enjoy! And LET'S GO CAPS!

"Hey it's the woman of the hour!" announced Perreault as Kristine walked through the front door of a local pub downtown.

The entire Capitals team was there celebrating their victory over the Penguins. They cheered and whistled loudly as Kristine made her entrance, blushing under all the attention and praise.

"Welcome to the party!" yelled Ovechkin over the pounding music, "Drinks are on the house!"

Kristine perked up at that and followed her captain over to the bar and ordered a beer.

"Do you guys do this every time you win?" she asked, eyes wide with astonishment as she watched her teammates dancing, drinking and being obnoxious.

Ovechkin laughed, "Nah just after the really big games! I'm gonna hit the dance floor with a couple of those lovely ladies over there…I'll catch you later!"

Kristine smirked in amusement as she watched Ovechkin make a bee-line for a pair of good-looking blondes. She glanced around the room, watching the spectacle and couldn't help but laugh to herself. Earlier at practice and before the game that night things had been incredibly tense, but now here they were, drinking and dancing the night away. This was much more Kristine's speed. It reminded her of her college days and all the long, wild nights where you drank your fears away and danced away the stress.

But as Kristine surveyed the room, she noticed Mike Green sitting by himself on the far side of the bar sipping on what looked like his third beer of the night. She frowned when she saw the same troubled look in his dark eyes. Despite the fact that the two had nearly come to blows before the game earlier, she felt a twinge of sympathy for the defenseman. He looked miserable and deeply troubled about something.

Squaring her shoulders, Kristine stood up from her bar stool and made her way around the throng of dancing players and girls and slid in next to Mike green. Mike looked up and blinked at her in surprise.

"Hey," he said after a long moment.

"Hi," replied Kristine, studying his face for a moment before she continued, "Um…about what happened before the game…"

"Don't apologize," he said, looking away, "I overreacted…don't worry about it."

Kristine frowned, "What's bothering you? I mean…you never talk to me, you always look stressed and worried…did I do something?"

Mike laughed darkly at that, "Uh, no not really…it's not you necessarily."

"Then what is it?" pressed Kristine, an annoyed edge to her voice, "Because it obviously has to do with me in some way. Is it because I'm a girl? Do you have an issue with a girl being in the NHL? If you do that's fine you aren't the first, believe me on that one."

"It was at first," said Green as he ordered another beer, "You're good I can't deny that much. I guess I was more concerned with our image and how the fans would react to you being on our team. I didn't think you were capable of holding your own out there but you did…so congratulations."

"Thanks," said Kristine, narrowing her eyes in confusion, "Okay so if it's not that then what is it? Is it Sidney Crosby? You act really weird whenever you're anywhere near him or if someone even mentions his name."

Mike instantly tensed up. His jaw clamped tight and his hand gripped the beer bottle so tight Kristine feared it would shatter. The anger that danced in Mike's eyes alarmed her and she felt herself swallowing nervously.

"Yes…it has to do with him," he said in a low, tense voice, "It has everything to do with him."

"What? What is it, Mike?" pressed Kristine as she leaned in close, "Please tell me…I need to know. If there's something about him that's off I need to know before I get any closer to him."

Mike looked up sharply at that, his eyes boring into hers, "Are you? Are you really going to pursue something with him?"

"Unless you give me a reason not to then yes I probably will," replied Kristine carefully, "He's a great guy Mike…he was so kind to me today and he wants to see me again."

Mike shook his head and muttered something unintelligible under his breath.

"So what is it?" asked Kristine as she reached out and touched Mike's arm, "What is it? Is he a druggie? An alcoholic? A womanizer? What?"

Mike shook his head again, "I can't tell you…all that I can tell you is that you shouldn't go anywhere near him, Kristine. Stay as far away from him as you can."

"Why can't you tell me?" asked Kristine, beginning to become annoyed with Mike, "If you can't give me one decent reason as to why I should stay away from him then I won't."

Mike shook his head again and stared down at the bar. Just then the door opened and they both looked up to see who it was. Green cursed loudly and slammed his bottle on the bar when he made eye-contact with Sidney Crosby.

"What the hell is he doing here?" he snarled.

"He said he wanted to see me later," answered Kristine, "I ran into him in the parking lot after the game and told him where I'd be so I guess he decided to show up. It's a public bar Mike, he can do what he wants."

Green muttered something about that as Kristine stood up to go meet Sidney. Mike reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Just…be careful," he said, his eyes pleading, "Okay? Just be careful."

Kristine felt a tremor of fear course through her as she saw the fear and uncertainty in Mike's eyes. She nodded and pulled away, making her way through the crowd over to where Crosby was standing. Ovechkin beat her to it and she froze, suddenly afraid of what her captain's reaction would be to seeing Sidney Crosby at their after party. She was pleasantly surprised to see them talk briefly before shaking hands and patting each other on the back. Ovechkin said something and Crosby laughed as he walked passed him and headed over to Kristine.

"Hey you," he said as he hugged her, "Great game tonight…you've got a lot of potential!"

Kristine beamed under his praise as she finally pulled away from his embrace, "Thank you…you aren't so bad yourself you know. You and Evengi Malkin timed that pass just right."

Crosby shrugged, "Nah it wasn't as good as your slick move in overtime."

Kristine smiled as she felt him reach down to take her hand and lead her to the center of the room where everyone was dancing.

Nicklas Backstrom froze when he saw Crosby leading Kristine out onto the dance floor. He immediately looked over to where Mike was sitting at the bar and the two friends exchanged knowing looks. Mike looked very agitated and nervous and now Backstrom understood why. Despite his claims to being a changed man, Nicklas was doubtful.

"Hey Nicklas," said Crosby as he and Kristine passed, "Good game tonight!"

Nicklas just nodded as he turned and headed toward the bar. He slid in next to Mike Green and ordered a beer, "I may need another here soon," he warned the bartender as he turned to face Mike, "So…what the hell do we do now?"

Mike shrugged, "What can we do? I mean look at them…she's literally falling in love with the guy on the dance floor. They barely know each other, hell she doesn't have a clue as to who he really is. He's gonna destroy her."

"And maybe the team," muttered Nicklas, "If he tries to use her I'm gonna go off."

"Not before I do," snarled Mike, "I'll rip his guts out and use them to oil the Zamboni."

Backstrom grimaced at that mental image as he took another sip of beer, "Well we all agreed after last season to put everything behind us and to keep what happened to ourselves so we're technically sworn to secrecy."

Mike rolled his eyes in exasperation, "Yeah I know…it's stupid. So basically we have to sit back and watch this disaster unfold in front of us and there's nothing we can do to stop it."

"It's like watching a car wreck," added Nicklas as he took a long swig of beer, "And I really don't want to stick around for the crash."

…

"It's getting late," said Crosby after a couple hours, "Wanna head back to my place for a bite to eat?"

Kristine felt her insides flutter at the thought of being alone with Sidney Crosby in his hotel room. She smiled excitedly and nodded in agreement. Sidney flashed her a dazzling smile as he lead her out of the crowded bar.

Mike Green and Nicklas Backstrom watched their departure with fear in their eyes. They exchanged knowing glances and ordered more alcohol.

Mike shook his head sadly as he downed another beer, "And so it begins…"

…

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