Sid’s gotten pretty used to total strangers asking him what he’s trying to prove, or telling him he wasn’t raised right, and they always expect it to bother him. He doesn’t tell them he hears much, much worse on the ice. When shit gets even worse than usual—when a ref calls him a brat when he’s arguing a call, when another team’s goon tries to put him on his knees five times a game—he sits on the bench and presses down on his chest protector, feeling the shape of the captain’s ring on its chain around his neck, until he doesn’t feel like throwing up anymore. Sid’s never had a dom, not even for a night, but he has his team, and that’s enough. That’s more than enough.

“Sid, need you to pay attention to me,” Alex says firmly. “You have bond crisis. You sick, Sid. Very sick. Need somebody to touch you to stop you being sick.” “I didn’t know you could get sick from being lonely,” Crosby mumbles. Zhenya makes a noise that sounds like he’s been punched. “I guess it makes sense, though.”

In 2002, Sydney Crosby plays hockey at Shattuck St. Mary’s. In 2003, she signs with Dynamo Moscow and begins her professional hockey career. In 2004, there’s a NHL lockout. In 2005, the NHL grudgingly opens its League up to women. They’ll have to do better than that if they want Sydney to play for them.

A viral pandemic takes the world by storm, transforming the infected with new anatomy and instincts and forcing Sid and Ovi together -- even though Sid's in love with and committed to Geno. Needless to say, it gets complicated.