Discovering...Love?

Yeah, I still have the jeep, but it's served me well. I set the box down near the door inside. I look around the house. It's big, it's not a mansion, but it's just big enough for me and my pack. The door opens up to a living room and to the right is a staircase that goes upstairs to the master bedroom and bath, a laundry room, and a guest room. After going through the living room you come across a rather large kitchen/dining room. There is also a bathroom, another room which will house my business stuff and books, and a den, which will be were the dogs sleep, sometimes. They're already checking out their new domain.

"Maggie, can't you wait until I unwrap it first?" I ask the greyhound laying on the new couch that still has it's protective plastic covering around it.

She just stares at me as if to say, 'why?'

I look at my watch and to my surprise it's already 9:00. Good Lord, no wonder I'm hungry, I haven't eaten dinner yet. I make myself a quick pasta dinner and feed the dogs when I'm after I'm finished. I first go up and put sheets on my new bed, and then spread the dog beds out in the den. I smile knowing that everyone but Bran and I will start off down in the den, and then one by one they'll wonder up to my room and hop in bed with me. Then I'll wake up in the morning sharing the bed with five dogs, which is exactly why I got the King size bed to replace my queen.

After I'm finished, I make my way through the maze of boxes in the living room. After telling Maggie to get off the couch, I unwrap it. I sink down into it's overstuffed cushions and Maggie hops up next to me putting her head on my lap, Flash hops up in his usual place on the back of the couch, Bran gets the old overstuffed lazy boy, Hawkeye comes up on the other side of me, and finally Koda claims the love seat next to the TV.

After we all secure our comfy spots in the new house, I turn on the TV and flip through until I find FSN, I find that the Penguins game on that I thought I would have to miss. Down 2 -0 going into the third,

"come on boys you can do better than that." I tell the TV. Yeah, I'm one of those annoying people who yells at the TV when I watch hockey.

I watch as Malkin passes the puck to Sykora, who shoots. I hold my breath, willing it to go in.

"Tink!"

"Ah, shit off the cross bar." I say rather loudly. I yawn sleep catching up to me as a commercial comes on.

The next thing I know something is nudging my arm. I open my eyes to find Flash trying to wake me up.

"Alright Flash I'm up." He wags his tail in response and looks right into my eyes trying to communicate with me. I look at the clock, 12:07. Uh, bed time.

"Okay," I say getting up, "Everybody out."

I open the door and five dogs go bolting out to take care of some business. I don't have a fence but I know they'll all stay in the yard, it's big enough for them and Bran keeps everyone in check for me. After checking on my computer for what the final score was, a disgusting 3-0, I go upstairs to my room and rummage through a box marked clothing. I pull out an over sized T-shirt, and a pair of boxers, my usual sleep wear. After washing my face and brushing my teeth I make my way down stairs and open the door. I step out onto the porch feeling the cold concrete beneath my feet. I breath in cool crisp scent deeply. The forecast calls for snow.

"Nope not yet," I whisper. I love the smell of the cold. I sigh, and then whistle for the dogs. Maggie comes first, happy to get in the warm house. Bran is next but he waits on the porch next to me. Flash and Hawkeye race up the steps and into the house, fallowed by Koda lumbering behind. After the last dog is in, Bran walks in ahead of me. I look back out into the night and take another deep breath, but something catches my eye. A man walks up the steps belonging to the house beside mine and fiddles with something in his hand, which I suppose are his keys. I catch a glimpse of what appears to be a very toned body and broad shoulders. I remember back to Sidney's broad shoulders and how the muscles in his back felt when my hands,

'No!' I think to myself, 'don't go there.'

I go inside cursing myself for thinking about him, again. I turn to go into the house, glancing back one more time, and I swear he turns to look at me before I slip into the house. I sigh and start thinking of Sidney again. Even though its been over 4 years since I was with him, he's never very far from my mind. I never stopped watching hockey because of him, I was too much of a hockey fan to do that. But sometimes my Aunt would bring up how hot Sidney Crosby was looking on the cover of Men's Health, or something to that effect, and I would just have to laugh along with her. But the truth was I never really got over him, and I don't think I ever will. I put all the dogs to bed and Bran and I go upstairs.

I crawl into bed and pat the space next to me for Bran to hop in. Even though I would never admit it I felt lonely sometimes. I love my life, so much, but sometimes I just wished I had a human partner, and it didn't help any that my mom keeps reminding me that she met my dad when she was 22 and they got married when she was 23, and now I'm 24, I should be getting married too. I sighed thinking back to all my memories with Sidney, letting a few tears hit the pillow before drifting off to sleep.


Sid's POV

"Ugh, 3-0, that game was horrible," I say out loud.

Immediately I think of ways we can be improving. If I had done this, or just turned my stick a little to the left. I could have had the puck more, I had too many turn overs. I hated losing. People told me I wasn't as snappy as I used to be when we lost, but that didn't really matter, we still lost. I pull into my driveway and look over at the house next to mine.

"Finally that damn moving truck is gone," I murmur.

Okay so maybe I was a tad cranky. I hop out of the car, 'wonder what the people next door are like?' I look at a green four-door jeep wrangler parked in the driveway.

'That's the car she used to drive,' I begin to think and then I quickly push her out of my mind, but I can't. I still think about her 4 years later.

'I should have went after her, but I had no way of knowing who she was. I shouldn't have yelled at her, if I would have told her who I was in the first place she may still be with me,' I think looking at the stars on the cool clear night, remembering when she fell asleep next to me on the beach. The way she smelled, her smooth skin, those dark chocolate brown eyes. I sigh and look down, and almost cry out in surprise. A black wolf stands staring up at me.

'Stop it Crosby there are no wolves in Pittsburgh,' I think to myself. I rub my eyes to make the thing vanish but to my surprise it's still there along with four other dogs. I look back to the wolf and I find myself looking into piercing blue eyes that look familiar.

Suddenly, I hear a loud, sharp whistle and all the dogs bolt to the house where the sound is coming from. I look up and into the doorway. There stands a very attractive looking woman, from what I can see from the distance anyway. She has an hourglass figure, with long legs, clad in a big t-shirt and shorts. I shake my head trying to clear my brain and head to the door, trying to find the key. I unlock the door and turn back to look at her. I swear she looks back at me before going inside, I see muscle play beneath the skin of smooth long legs as she walks through the door frame shutting the it behind her.

'Those legs. It can't be', I think to myself. 'She has the legs, the jeep, the whistle, and the dog just like Caitlin. Caitlin's my new neighbor?'I think to myself.

Pull yourself together Crosby, you lost a game and now your mind is playing tricks on you. Or is it?