by Mnemosyne
DISCLAIMER: None of these characters are mine. I just wanted to play with them a bit. ;-)
RATING: PG-13, with implied sexual situations and one use of vulgarity (nothing harsh in either case)
SUMMARY: A sweet morning interlude between Julie and Adam. Pure foof! :-)
NOTE: This is my very first "Mighty Ducks" fic. My main fandom is "Roswell" (http://www.geocities.com/memoryvixen), where I write primarily Michael and Maria fan fiction. But recently, I've been possessed with the urge to write "MD" fic, especially Julie/Adam, since they're my token couple from the films. :-D So please keep all that in mind as you read the following piece, and be gentle if you choose to review! LOL! If you like it, please do let me know - reader reaction is the primary way I'll decide whether or not I should write any more. *giggle* If I were braver with first stories, and it wasn't 4am, I might make this smut. But for the time being, I think foof will do. LOL!
ADDENDUM: This takes place a number of years after "D3," in the Ducks' senior year of college. //indicate thoughts//
for giving me the best day of my life;
Oh, just to be with you
is having the best day of my life…
- Dido, "Thank You"
It was morning. Julie "The Cat" Gaffney, star goalie of the Wisconsin State University women's hockey team, knew it was morning. She knew that morning meant she should pull herself out of bed, make her way to the shower, wash, dress, brush her teeth, and go to class. That was how it had been for four years of college, and 18 years before that. It was the way the world worked.
That didn't mean she had to like it. Especially not when morning came, and the first thing she felt was Adam's warm breath on the back of her neck.
Cooing, Julie snuggled deeper under her blankets. Adam mumbled something in his sleep, tightening his arms around her waist and spooning closer. His boxers rubbed against her bare thighs below the panty line, and she grinned. The rest of the girls on the team envied her for scoring the star player of the men's hockey team. "It's not fair!" Emily Jameson whined at least once a practice. "Just because you met him years ago, and won the Goodwill Games together, and went to high school together, and chose the same university… It's just not fair! None of us got a chance at him!"
"Exactly," Julie delighted in reminding her. "He's a one woman man."
//Thank goodness,// she thought dreamily, letting her eyes drift shut so she could fully enjoy the sensation of his arms around her middle and his strong chest against her back. Even through her camisole, she could feel his muscles twitch as he dreamed. Sometimes she wondered if he was dreaming about her; so she'd ask him the next day, and he'd say (with a secret smile), "You'd rather I dreamt about someone else?" He only goaded her like that so that she'd laugh and shut him up with a kiss, and she always obliged him. But he never did answer the question. //He's probably dreaming about making the goal of the century,// she thought with a soft laugh, rubbing his arm tenderly as her eyes drifted open and she gazed over her shoulder at him. "Hockey nut," she murmured affectionately, watching him sleep.
He mumbled something else, and stirred against her back. Adam was a light sleeper at the best of times, but especially when warm spring sunlight was streaming through the apartment window and warming his back. "Hmm…," he crooned against her hair, and Julie chuckled. "Julie…? 'Sthat you…?"
"No, it's your hooker," she replied with a grin. "The one you hired last night after your drunken binge. You owe me $50."
Banks laughed softly, then yawned as he woke fully. "Why didn't you take it outta my pants?" he mumbled with a sleepy smile.
Julie grinned and rubbed his arm again. "Oh, right. Whoops. My bad." Her eyes sparkled.
Adam chuckled again, and pulled back a little so she could turn easily in his arms. "You're underestimating yourself, Cat Lady," he said with a grin, rubbing her back as she snuggled against his chest. "You're worth way more than $50."
"Yeah?" She reached up to ruffle his tousled hair. "How much then?"
"Oh, at least $75."
Laughing, Julie pushed him gently onto his back, climbing onto his body and straddling his torso with her knees, so she could sit on his stomach. "Cheapskate," she said with a grin.
"No way," he retorted. "Only the best for a Banks." He smiled and rested his palms on her thighs, rubbing gently.
Julie sighed happily. It was ridiculous, really, how happy he made her, just with stupid little comments like that one. Only the best for a Banks. He had no right being so warm and sweet and…perfect! Certainly not this early in the morning. "Well, cats are finicky by nature," she said, resting her palms on the backs of his hands as she smiled. "They don't bond with just anyone."
"I know." He grinned. "I'm pretty doggone lucky."
"But doggone implies there's a dog involved, and dogs and cats are mortal enemies," Julie reminded him. "Although…" She tilted forward, so her hands were planted on either side of his head and she could look straight down into his eyes. "Goalies and top scorers aren't supposed to be best buddies, either." Her eyes twinkled. "But we do all right for ourselves."
"That we do," Adam agreed sagely. "Does that mean we're breaking some cardinal law of nature?"
"Well, I don't know about cardinal law," she purred, leaning further forward and nuzzling his hairline. "But CARNAL law… that's a different story…"
"Mmm… Yeah, I can agree with that," Adam murmured, and Julie shivered happily as she felt his lips press gently against her throat.
"We graduate in two weeks, Adam," she cooed as he rolled them to the side again, cradling her against his chest and kissing down her neck. Julie closed her eyes and rubbed his arm gently, enjoying the feel of his mouth.
"Mm-hmm…" he murmured, sucking gently on her pulse point. Julie exhaled shakily, sliding one hand into his hair.
"What are we going to do afterwards?" she asked softly.
"You know what," Adam replied, his voice muffled by her neck. One of his long-fingered hands slid down her side, edging under the hem of her camisole and squeezing her hip. "I'm signed with the Red Wings, you're going to be on the next Olympic team -"
"Maybe on the next team," Julie corrected him with a chuckle.
"Definitely on the next team," Adam insisted, pulling back a little to look into her eyes. "Everything's going to be great, Julie." He paused. "Don't you think so?"
Julie gazed into his face, then sighed and looked away. "Yeah…" she said softly. "Yeah, I think it will be, Adam."
He shook his head, concerned. "Julie… What's wrong, Jules?"
Dammit. It was a beautiful day, and she was being morose. "It's nothing, Adam," she said, but didn't mean it; she knew he'd catch that.
"No, it's definitely something." He sat up slowly, and she sighed as his body heat seeped away into the air. "Tell me?"
Julie shook her head, gazing down her body at his hand on her hip. "I just… You have a path, Adam. You know exactly where you're going, who you're going to be with, what you'll be doing. But I don't." Sighing, she looked up into his face. "I just feel… Ever since I was a little girl, I've had something to keep me busy. Give me purpose. Usually hockey, but other things too, like school. But now… There're no big pro teams for women like there are for men, Adam. There are things out there, but… It's just not the same." She ran her fingertips over his knuckles. "And school's going to be over soon." She shrugged helplessly, looking away. "I just feel… useless."
"Don't say that, Julie," Adam said softly, moving his hand up to cup her cheek. "You're not useless. Never."
"It doesn't feel that way sometimes."
"Hey. Come here." Julie let him pull her up into a sitting position, and he tilted her face up to look at him, a smile on his face. "If it wasn't for you, Julie Gaffney, I'd have flunked out of school years ago."
She laughed. "Oh, shut up, Adam. You're an A student, and you know it."
"Yeah, but do you think that's because I'm good at doing my work? No, it's because of YOU." He wrapped his arms around her waist, grinning. "Who taught me time management, huh? Who dragged me in off the rink after I'd been running stick drills for GOD awful amounts of time? Who lectured me like a prairie schoolmarm to make sure I wrote my papers and did my arithmetic, so I could still play?" He nuzzled her nose. "That was you, Julie."
She blushed. "Shhh…"
He shook his head. "I won't shh, Jules." Smiling, he kissed the corner of her mouth gently. "You know what's even more amazing to me than that? Not only did you take the time to remind me to do my work, but you did all your own as well, without needing to be reminded. You knew how to balance life, and hockey, and school… It's like you've got this incredible scale in your gut, and it tells you exactly how much time to spend on everything." He poked her gently in the belly, and she laughed, batting his hand away. "You're a wonder, Julie Gaffney. Can I be you when I grow up?"
Laughing more, Julie wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him tightly. "Adam, how do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Make me feel better! It's uncanny - you always know what to say!" She kissed him firmly, and ruffled his hair. "And you know, even with morning breath, your kisses are sweet."
He blushed a little, chuckling. "I'm not the only one with morning breath, Cat Lady."
"Shush. I have sweet breath."
Adam chuckled and leaned backward, fishing over the side of the bed for his pants. Julie took the opportunity to rub his stomach playfully. "What're you looking for?" she asked.
"Tic-Tacs."
She laughed again, and he sat up, holding a container of the breath mints. "You like orange?" he asked, holding them out to her as he popped a couple in his own mouth.
"Well, I prefer the green ones, since they spark and all, but I'll take orange if I must." Her eyes sparkled and she held her hand out for some. Adam obliged her and tapped a few of the mints into her palm, along with something heavier that took her by surprise.
A cluster of three diamonds on a smooth gold band.
Julie gaped.
"Oops," Adam said softly, as Julie stared in shock at her palm. "Looks like Tic-Tacs are giving away Cracker Jack prizes now."
"A…Adam… This is a… A ri-…a ring…" Julie stammered, still staring at the band.
"It's nice to know four years of college haven't gone to waste."
She ignored his playful teasing. "What's it for!" she squeaked, though she knew full well what the answer was. If she'd had any doubts, a look into his twinkling eyes banished them.
"You need me to tell you?" He smiled gently, taking the ring from her hand and rolling it absently between his fingers. "I didn't want to do the down-on-one-knee thing like everyone else. It's tired. You deserve something more special."
Julie didn't know what to say, and said so. "I…Adam, I don't know what to say."
He gave her a soft, hopeful smile. "There's always 'Yes.'," he suggested.
"What? Oh! Oh, God, yes, Adam!" She threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly and rocking back and forth with him, overcome with excitement. "Oh my God! I can't… Oh WOW!"
He laughed, hugging her warmly. "Thank you," he murmured against her hair, and only now did she feel the tension ebbing from his body; tension she hadn't even noticed, because it was there even in sleep. "I was so scared you'd say no."
"Are you kidding me? And give Emily Jameson the chance to snatch you up while you're on the rebound? Not a chance, rookie!"
Adam laughed again and pulled back. When he lifted her hand, she saw that his fingers were shaking just as much as hers as he slid the ring onto her finger, then kissed her knuckles. Looking up at her, he grinned. "There. That's the hard part."
She beamed at him. "There's an easy?"
"Absolutely."
"What's that?"
"The part where I pounce on you and we make the neighbors hit their walls with books to shut us up."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Asking permission to pet the kitty, Cat Lady."
Julie just purred in response.
THE END