Bottle Rockets

TWO - Her Gender Has Nothing To Do With It

Tyler rocked her body back and forth on the balls of her toes as she stood before the entrance to the Penguins' locker room. She wasn't late but she wasn't early and knowing that several of her new teammates were milling around behind the doors stirred her stomach. She played with her fingers and nodded to herself, lips moving soundlessly as she struggled to think of things to say.

"What are you waiting for, pipsqueak?"

Tyler grunted as someone's body bumped into hers from behind, causing her shoulder to jerk and knocking her off her balance. Her eyes followed the back of Kris Letang's head while he disappeared into the locker room.

"The nerve," Tyler hissed to herself and stepped after him.

Several of her teammates were already dressed and hung around, waiting for friends to finish so they could walk out together. But all of them stopped what they were doing and turned their heads to greet Tyler. They looked her up and down and an awkward silence blanketed the room. Only Letang busied himself with getting ready.

"It's like you haven't seen a girl before, boys. Don't be shy and say I. I'm sure Tyler doesn't bite," Sidney Crosby's hand fell on top of Tyler's shoulder to comfort her, a big-toothed grin meeting her when she looked over at him.

The tension diffused and those who stared now crowded around Tyler to introduce themselves. With each handshake, Tyler felt more and more starstruck. She watched so many of these players on television while she grew up and to meet them and be able to play with them felt too surreal.

"Tyler, your stall is next to mine," Sidney lead Tyler across the room and gestured to the empty space beside his stall. Most of her stuff waited for her. "Do you have any problems with privacy?"

Tyler shook her head and combed a hand through her hair, "No. I've been getting dressed and undressed in front of guys since I was little."

"Good. I'll leave you to it and see you out on the ice," Sidney clapped her on the back with a gloved hand. He caught up with Geno and they disappeared from the room.

Tyler drew her fingertips across the plaque with her name on it, sucking in a deep sigh of relief. Her heart swelled in her chest and she fought to hold back the tears until a cough echoed throughout the room. She wasn't alone.

"Typical women. Emotional. Too emotional for the game," Letang's accent sizzled in her ears and she tensed her shoulders.

"Emotional? If you're saying hockey isn't an emotional game, you're playing a foreign sport, Tanger. You're forgetting about the fights and the chirping," Tyler muttered but didn't look at him. Instead, she bent over to slip off her shoes and then her pants.

Letang huffed and the dull thud of his skates announced his departure.

Tyler lasted ten minutes on the ice before she fell victim to Tanger's bullying. Johnston split up the Penguins into two different groups, attacking and defending, for a powerplay drill. Tanger was stuck defending Tyler and when she stick-handled smoothly around him, he hip-checked her hard. She lost balance, slipped out from under her feet, and soared face first into the ice.

Johnston's whistle halted the play and Tyler took a minute to turn over onto her back. As she peered up, she caught Letang's smug smirk before he skated away. Sidney, meanwhile, helped her back to her feet.

Tanger harassed Tyler every chance he could. He cornered her into the boards, poke-checked the puck out of her possession, and pushed on her constantly. When Johnston pulled her aside to discuss her lack of a performance, Tanger hung back against the bench and observed.

"Why are you doing this to her, Tanger? She did nothing to you."

Kris cast a glance over his shoulder to find the massive form of Marc-Andre Fleury beside him, a disappointed expression painted on his face. Tanger snorted and folded his arms over his chest in defense. He looked away.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Flower. I'm not doing anything," He mumbled.

Flower laughed and knocked his goalie stick against the toe of Tanger's skate. "Drop the act, Tanger. Everyone on the team knows you're being mean to her because you can. Why are you doing it?"

"She's a girl, Flower! She shouldn't be playing with us! She shouldn't be in the NHL! She should be playing with Hilary Knight, not Sidney Crosby," Letang snarled in protest.

Flower shook his head, "You and I both know that Hilary Knight is more a player than any of us ever will be. If you really feel that way, keep it to yourself. If you continue to mess with her, you'll get in trouble. You'll get scratched first game."

Another snort cascaded from Kris' throat. "Scratched? I'm too valuable to the defense to be scratched," He commented, turning his nose up to the air.

"Even the valuable players get scratched, Tanger. Remember when Seguin was scratched for missing breakfast? Or at the end of last season because he was late? Just watch yourself. I don't want my best friend in street clothes when he could be on skates," Flower tapped his stick against his toe for a second time before skating back to the net to take Greiss' place.

Tanger rolled his eyes and pushed off the boards to join the defense drill Johnston was setting up.

Tyler was one of the last players to leave the ice. Despite her seemingly prestige role on the Penguins, she wanted to prove herself to Johnston and her fellow teammates that she deserved to be here.

When she arrived in the locker room, she wasn't surprised to find Sidney wrapped up in a storm of media attention. She'd have to wait to get to her stall and undress but, for now, she listened in.

"Sidney, how do you feel about having a girl on your team?" A reported pressured.

Sidney's usual stone-face went sour. He pulled back, incredulous, before responding, "It's not my team. It's everyone's team, and it's her team, now, too. She's a girl, so what? She was drafted first overall for a reason and her gender has nothing to do with it."

Tyler swelled with happiness and affection for Sidney. He had been nothing but sweet to her since she arrived, even before then, and she felt incredibly grateful for it. After receiving few warm welcomes, Sidney was one of the only ones who valued her presence. She'd have to thank him later.

The minute the media dissolved from Sidney and Tyler sat down beside him, they pounced on her. She answered question after question about her first day with the team, her first training camp, her first practice in the NHL in general. When she felt she couldn't speak anymore, management intervened and pushed the media away.

"They're dogs, that's for sure. Leave you voiceless for a few days," Sidney mumbled next to her as he unlaced his skates.

She laughed and nodded, slipping her jersey off of her torso. She undid her pads, hung them up, and stopped when she felt eyes burning holes into her shoulders. She turned her chin to find Kris Letang eyeing her carefully and a deep blush fell across her cheeks.

Sidney seemed to notice as he chose to comment on it, "Tanger's a little...hard around the edges, Tyler. I saw how he was treating you today and Flower told me he talked to him but it's not you, I promise. He's just wary on the whole thing. It's something he's not used to."

Tyler nodded and continued to undress. When she was sitting down to unlace her skates, she allowed her mind to ramble.

She believed Sid when he said that it wasn't her fault but she wanted to know what it really was. She wanted to know why Tanger had such a problem with her and what she could do to fix it. She hadn't met him before today and even when she was on the phone with Sidney during the draft, he didn't say hi. His feelings went all the way back to July.

Tyler cast a quick look in Tanger's direction and sighed. She wanted to be friends with him, she really did. But if he was going to act like this, then he didn't deserve her best behavior. She'd try for Sidney's sake, for the team's sake, but if he didn't drop his attitude, she'd fight back. She'd prove to Tanger that she was here for a reason and it wasn't to be picked on.