"How do you know Josh Meyers?" Taylor asks excitedly.

"Taylor, this is Kate," Sidney ignores her question and introduces us, but she is firmly focused on one thing.

"We've met a few times, but I wouldn't say I know him," I tell her with a smile. Okay, so far not bad. "I'm so excited that you're here Taylor." I extend my hand to her, but she wraps her arms around me instead, and I feel a lot of my anxiety fade.

"Sid said you were nervous," she shoots him a skeptical look.

"He said that?" I play dumb, desperately trying not to blush ten shades of pink. Sid grins and shakes his head, obviously holding back when he could be teasing me mercilessly. "How was supper?"

"Great, did you eat?" Sid asks, pulling out my chair for me to sit.

"I did," I reply easily.

"So we're not getting dessert?" Taylor frowns with disappointment.

"Oh we're getting dessert," I chime in confidently, making her smile. We both pour over the dessert menu until the waiter arrives, neither of us great at making small talk I suppose. I order the sorbet, Taylor gets the chocolate-peanut-pretzel candy bar and Sidney decides to pass on sweets.

"Ugh, have fun for once in your life." Taylor rolls her eyes at him.

"Playoffs," he shrugs. It's a common theme these days. So many things he can't do during playoffs. "What's this project you're taking on?" Sid asks sweetly, but I can tell there's a touch of jealousy there. If I have to get used to him being around willing female fans for his job, he'll have to get used to me dealing with handsome actors for mine.

"It's a series he's flushing out. Still really early though, there's not even development money attached," I say evenly.

"What's he like?" Taylor asks interestedly, making Sidney roll his eyes.

"Hmm," I consider my words carefully. I want to indulge Taylor a little bit, but I don't want to annoy Sid too much in the process. "He's a nice guy, very confident, but not really arrogant. He's pretty interesting, and seems quite smart."

"Is he as good looking in person as he is on tv?" Taylor presses me, and I giggle.

"Yeah, he's very handsome," I tell her. I glance at Sid and his lips are pressed in a tight line.

"Okay, enough about that," he announces.

"Oh Sid, don't get so jealous," Taylor scolds him and immediately returns her attention to me. What else can I tell her?

"He was really interested in you," I tell Sidney, and this seems to perk him up a bit.

"You told him about me?" he asks seriously.

"He said he's heard a rumor and I confirmed it," I shrug easily, not wanting to make a bigger deal of this than necessary. "Anyway, Josh said he might check out a game if he's still in town. If you want to meet him I'm sure I could..."

"Oh my god," Taylor interrupts.

"Don't you have a boyfriend?" Sidney asks her with a laugh.

"You can meet him too Sid," I offer with a giggle.

"Well that changes everything," he laughs, wrapping his arm around me. Taylor has noticed this small PDA, and grins to herself. I suddenly feel a little self-conscious, not wanting to make her uncomfortable, but Sidney either hasn't noticed or ignores it. Instead, he takes my spoon from my hand and helps himself to some of my sorbet.

"What do you think?" I ask him sweetly.

"Pretty good," he winks at me, and I steal my spoon back. "Hey!"

"Sorry babe, playoffs," I pat his belly and earn a hearty laugh from Taylor and a scowl from Sid.

I think teasing Sidney has won me some points with Taylor, and he doesn't mind the innocent ribbing. Sid excuses himself to take a call just before the cheque arrives and I jump at the chance to pay. He never lets me pay for anything. Of course, he's annoyed when he returns and finds out what I've done, but Taylor just teases him about bailing on the bill and his sense of humor returns. The drive home gives me the chance to see Sidney in a whole new light. Sidney Crosby - big brother. "So Taylor, how do you like boarding school?" I ask curiously.

"I love it," she confesses.

"What's the best part?" I press her for more details.

"I guess, being around my friends all the time."

"Does your boyfriend go to school with you?" I ask, and this question has drawn Sidney into our conversation.

"He does," she giggles sweetly. Ah, young love!

"I bet you get to see more of him at school than you would if you lived at home," I giggle.

"Definitely," she laughs.

"What does that mean?" Sid asks suspiciously.

"I just get to see him more," she answers defensively.

"Taylor..." Sid gives her an unspoken warning.

"What?" she hisses.

"Sid..." I coax him, but he's not in the mood.

"You're too young for a serious boyfriend," Sid tells her matter-of-factly. "Focus on school and hockey." Wow, super serious Sid has arrived and is settling in for the evening.

"Yes sir!" Taylor mocks him and I stifle a laugh.

"I'm serious Taylor," he says sternly.

"Sid, she's seventeen," I start.

"Eighteen," Taylor is quick to correct me.

"She's eighteen, it's normal to have a boyfriend at eighteen," I say gently, but he's stubborn and his thin-lipped stone face won't budge. Taylor and I both wait for him to concede, but he doesn't.

"Sid's never been normal," is all Taylor says and the topic is closed. He would never have let a girl distract him from hockey.

"So Taylor, what are your plans while you're in town?" I ask brightly, hoping to lift the mood.

"I don't know, I was kind of hoping to watch Sid's practice tomorrow," she says hopefully.

"Closed practice," he huffs. I glare at him and he rolls his eyes.

"Well, maybe you and I could grab lunch?" I offer.

"Sure," she agrees easily.

"Kate has to work," Sid interjects. I reach across and pinch him hard on the leg.

"Just in the morning," I tell Taylor. I think I can sneak away...better text Carter. I pull out my phone and type frantically.

"That's why you're texting Carter?" Sid hisses. Man this guy is in a mood.

"Anywhere you'd like to go?" I ask sweetly.

"It doesn't matter," Taylor says automatically.

"There's nowhere you'd like to try?" I press her.

"Meat and Potatoes?" she asks shyly.

"Sounds great!"

"Kate is a veg..."

"Maybe we can hit a few stores downtown after?" I interrupt Sidney. Why is he being such a brat? He knows this is important to me, but he just can't let go of Taylor's earlier comment. Taylor and I chat back and forth while Sid pouts in the drivers' seat. By the time we get home, he's been ignoring us both for almost half an hour. "Have you seen the house before?" I ask Taylor.

"She was here this afternoon Kate," Sid snaps at me.

"Oh right," I mutter, feeling very much scolded and put in my place. Once inside, Taylor disappears into her room with her iPad, presumably to chat with her boyfriend. Sidney goes straight to our bedroom to change for his evening run, and I head into my office, careful not to burst into tears in front of him. He was actually mean tonight. That's so unlike him. I try to distract myself by unpacking some of my things into the spacious new office, but it's hard not to think about earlier. I think Taylor and I could be buddies, she's sweet and has a good sense of humor. At the same time it almost felt like Sid didn't want us to get along. I'm so caught up in my own thoughts that I don't hear him enter the room.

"Hey," he startles me back into the present. "I'm going for a run."

"Have fun," I say neutrally.

"You okay?" he asks, and as much as I'd love to unload on him right now, I don't.

"Great," I smile, and it seems to satisfy him. "Your sister is lovely," I tell him sincerely.

"She's something," he huffs.

"She loves you, anyone can see that."

"So it was just my imagination that she was being a huge brat tonight?" he asks seriously.

"Yes, Sid. It was. She's sweet," I reluctantly put my arms around his shoulders. As angry as I am with him, he needs me more right now. "It bothered you when she said you weren't normal," I say hesitantly, and I feel his muscles tense beneath me.

"I guess," he mutters.

"Well babe, you're not normal," I tell him. "And that's a good thing."

"Kate," he pouts.

"No, seriously. You're not, like, some super weird science experiment or anything, but you're also pretty far from average Sid. You know this. I love how driven you are, and I'm so proud of your successes. You work so hard, you deserve them. Why would you want to be normal? You're so much better than just normal." He pulls me close to his chest and I feel his body radiating tension.

"I was a dick tonight," he whispers.

"Yep," I agree easily.

"I'm sorry," he says guiltily.

"You're under a lot of pressure, don't worry about this too," I plead with him.

"Can we go to bed together tonight?" he begs. He's been going to sleep so early these days that I've been using the extra few hours to get some work done every night. If I'm going to take tomorrow afternoon off I really should work now, but Sid comes first. That's new. Work always came first, but I guess my priorities are shifting.

"Absolutely," I kiss him lightly on the cheek. He heads out the door to get in his final workout of the day. I use the precious minutes to frantically answer as many emails as possible and fire off some notes to department heads before I hear a timid knock at my door.

"Kate?" I look up and Taylor is waiting politely in the doorway.

"Hey, everything okay?" I ask eagerly.

"Yeah, yeah, everything is great with me, I just wanted to see if you were okay?"

"Me?" I say puzzled.

"I know how Sid can be this time of year and he was kind of..."

"A dick?" I blurt out, and a mortified look crosses my face. "His words, not mine." Taylor watches me closely and then an embarrassed smile spreads across her lips.

"Well, yeah," she admits.

"He's already apologized, and honestly, pressure is one thing I understand," as much as I would love to vent about Sid's mistreatment of me, there's no way I can do that with his sister.

"You kind of have a big job, huh?" she finally walks in and sits cross on the corner of my desk.

"Kind of, I don't know. Sometimes it feels too big, but most of the time I want to do it all myself. Make sense?" I ramble, and she nods.

"But you get to work with a lot of famous people," she grins.

"Sometimes," I laugh. "But that can kind of be shitty. You have an idea about what they're going to be like, and then they turn out to be real assholes...sorry for swearing," I grin embarrassed.

"I grew up around hockey, I've heard worse," she laughs loudly.

"So Sid's gone...tell me about your boyfriend!" something about Taylor has me feeling like a high school girl myself. Taylor blushes and covers her face with her hands, clearly embarrassed by my direct question. "Is it serious?" She nods slightly and can't conceal the huge smile on her lips. "L-word serious?"

"Ahhh," Taylor jumps up, her emotions too big to contain in a seated position.

"Ooh, it is serious," I grin, pulling her back to the desk.

"Yeah," she blushes.

Taylor settles in and for the first time in a long time, I enjoy a no-nonsense session of girl talk. Taylor tells me all about her steady, and he sounds pretty wonderful. It's no surprise that he plays hockey too, but Taylor admits he's probably not on the NHL-track. His interests are varied though, and his interest in her and not her brother gives her confidence.

"Yeah, that must make it tough to date when all the guys at your school adore your brother," I sympathize.

"Well, some guys do, others are from hockey families and it's no big deal, and some of the guys hate him," she sighs.

"They must be Flyers fans," I roll my eyes. Taylor laughs at my little joke, which endears her to me even more.

"I saw the video," she says quietly.

"That was brutal," I confess. "It was worse when they all thought I was too drunk to fly home."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," I tell her easily.

"It's kind of personal," she says anxiously.

"Go for it."

"When you and a guy start...well, if a relationship gets...let's say things..." she struggles to get the words out.

"Sex?" and the red streak across her cheeks tells me I've hit the mark.

"Can you ever go back to, well, not doing it?" she asks embarrassed.

"Absolutely!" I blurt out, taking us both by surprise. "Sometimes we make decisions in the heat of the moment, or we think we're ready and it turns out we're not."

"I thought I was, but..."

"You're not," I finish for her and she nods.

"Not what?" Sidney pants as he steps into the office, covered in sweat, a bottle of gatorade in one hand and a towel in the other. Taylor turns beet red and I can see her frantically looking for something to cover with.

"She's not tired," I say quickly. "I was just telling her how early you've been going to bed lately."

"Taylor gets it," Sid winks at her, and just like that all is forgiven and forgotten between siblings. "I'm hitting the shower and then you promised," he looks at me seriously.

"Oh my god! Gross!" Taylor squeals.

"Sleep, Taylor! She promised we'd go to sleep!" Sidney tells her horrified.

"Okay, whatever you say. Night Kate," she beams at me and makes her way across the room. "Night pervert," she teases Sid and he swats her away.

"You two looked pretty buddy-buddy," Sid grins.

"Yeah, I think we kind of are," I admit with a shy smile. And I didn't even need your help!