Okay, so @calisport requested an imagine with Sidney Crosby a long time ago.  I appreciate the patience you all have given me (whether by choice or not) with catching up.  Once some of you reach college, you'll understand as well.  

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(Y/N's P.O.V.)

The sun rises over the Appalachian Trail.  I poke my head out of the trail shelter I stayed in for the night.  Each year, I decide to go hike a small portion of the trail in honor of my grandfather.  He loved to hike, because you never know what could be found on the trails.  The Appalachian Trail doesn't change a whole lot, but people notice when it does change.  

I pack up my backpack, put on my hiking boots, and walk out the shelter to face my last stretch of the AT today.  Today happened to also be my shortest day on the trail at about eight miles.  I am going from Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania to just outside of New Kingstown.  Then, I would hike the half mile to a motel in New Kingstown and probably fall asleep for the next couple of days.  

As I continue along the AT, I see a lot more....people than normal.  Sure, the AT is crowded with hikers, but not all the time like these folks!  People with cameras, regular clothing, regular everything line up on the trail as if it isn't a holy grail to hiking.  About a mile into my hike, I ask a woman in a Penguins' shirt what the occasion was for the major crowds on the AT.  

"Sidney Crosby's using his day with the Stanley Cup to bring it along the AT!  He always wanted to see the beauty other places in the nation offered, and what better way to do it with Lord Stanley?"

I reply, "And that day is today?"

"Yes, he's getting on near New Kingstown and heading down this way."

"Thank you," I tell her as I continue my hike towards the very location Sidney started off at.  

I shouldn't care about some hockey player, but I can't help it.  Sidney, well remember the many concussions he's had over the years?  Yeah, I am the nurse who he hired to keep an eye on him throughout the worse of them.  Some of the more major concussions he could barely walk down the stairs without falling flat on his face, which although funny, would make everything so much worse and he would be grumpy because he can't play hockey for longer and he's in pain.....you get the point.  

Even with some of the worse memories, there are always a few bright ones in there.  When the pain medicines were so strong those first couple of days, he told me something that I never thought was possible: he loved me.  

Yes, Sidney Crosby supposedly liked a no name, plain old Jane nurse that had no business interacting with him in the first place.  That's also why I do these hikes along the AT, they help me clear my mind.  Forget about all the woes I experience as a nurse, the people who are already too far gone to be saved, forget about him.  It was just me and the trail, no one else mattered or needed me.  

Three miles into my hike, I spot an overlook that opens up my normal view of luscious trees to a bird's eye view of the whole forest surrounding the AT.  I place my backpack down on a nearby rock, and decide to gaze over everything.  Closing my eyes, I could hear the wind blowing through the trees, water babbling on some rocks, birds chirping, mulch crunching beneath other hikers, and a morning in the forest just springing to life.  

"Isn't it pretty?  I could look at this forever," someone says as they put their hand on my shoulder.  

"I know," I reply as I look behind me.  

Speak of the devil....I mean Penguin....and he shall appear.  Sidney placed the Stanley Cup down right near my backpack and asked, "I didn't know you hiked Y/N."

"Yeah, I do.  My grandfather always told me if there is one thing that is going to be consistent about the world, it is going to be the trails that people hike on.  Everything else will eventually change over time," I tell him.  

Sidney looks at the Cup and back at me, "I meant it."

"Meant what?"

"What I said before you left my life.   I love you still to this day, Y/N."

"How could you like someone you barely know though?"

Sidney sighs, "Even when you left, it felt like I knew more about you than some of your co-workers.  For example, you like to dance around while you cook to songs from other countries, try new foods that I would adore, and you have the most loving spirit in the whole world."

"That's my job though: to take care of my patients...."

"That's all I was to you was a patient?  You didn't feel something more??"

I look right into his dark brown eyes, "I would be lying if I said no.  I did feel something more."

We walk over to the rock that protects Lord Stanley and (more importantly) my backpack and sit down.  I start to put my backpack on, but Sidney stops me, "So, you did feel something more?"

"Yes, I did okay!  I wanted to know that you needed me for something other than a caretaker, that you could care about someone or something as much as I did with you.  I just wanted to be with you more than a just business relationship."

"Really?" Sidney brings his hand closer to mine as the water continues to babble with the breeze blowing some loose leaves to the ground.  

"Yes, Sidney Crosby I did feel something more," I tell him as I start to gather my gear to get back to hiking.  

He was about to say one more thing, but I look at him and say, "I've got to get going.  Got five more miles today."

And my lonesome hike on the AT continues, mile by mile it slowly ticks by.  The trees, dirt, and the forest around start to blend together like one big story.  I am just happy to reach the last bit of the trail so I can get off of it and make my way to New Kingstown.  I want to forget everything that happened in the past day, but I won't let it ruin my experience overall on the AT.  

I hike into the small town of New Kingstown, and the sun is just setting.  I feel someone run up to me and lightly touch my shoulder, "Wait."

"Why Sid?"

"I need to do one last thing before I go back to Pittsburgh," he says as he grabs my hands.  

Sidney looks me straight in the eyes and moves closer to my face.  Our lips touch just as the sun sets on the horizon.  It felt like we were still at our overlook watching the forest doze off as our sparks fly.  

"I needed to let you know I love you more than you'll ever know.  Will you go on a date with me, Y/N?"

I laugh a little bit, "Yes, do you mean right now?"

"What, is the weight of the backpack too much?" Sidney teases me.  

"You try carrying it while hiking for a week straight!"

And from that day on, the AT gained something I never thought a trail could from me: honesty.  Since the day of his first major concussion, to now, I don't think I would have it any other way right now.  Maybe one day, something bigger will happen on the AT.  

No, something big already did happen: I found the love of my life.  

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