Disclaimer: I don't own the Mighty Ducks, especially Fulton. He, and the rest of the Ducks, belong to Disney. Enjoy :0)

Author's Note: Thoughts and flashbacks will be in italics.

Between the River and Me – Chapter One

The people gathered in the cemetery on a summer afternoon. A tall boy with dark brown hair and deep chocolate eyes stood stoically holding his mother to his chest. She had been crying non-stop. She had been doing that for days now.

At one point he had cried to, but he did it in private. Men weren't supposed to cry. It was a sign of weakness.

'C'mon Reed. Toughen up. You gotta be strong for her.'

"…as I walk in the valley of the shadow of death…"

He tuned out the preacher. He tuned out his friends that were giving him comfort. He tuned out the whole thing.

"Fulton honey. It's time to go."

"Okay Mom." He bent down and gathered some dirt in his hands and let it fall into the grave. "Bye Pop. We'll miss you."

He whispered something to his mother before leading his mother away down the path to the car where a couple of his friends were waiting for them.

"I'll be back."

He walked back to his father's tomb alone.

"I'll do my best to take care of her. I love ya old man."

A single tear slipped as he turned the other way.

Later at the house, people were coming up to them with sympathetic looks and kind words. The three young girls, two blonde and one brunette, were hovering over the older woman.

"Mrs. Reed, is there anything you need?" Julie Gaffney spoke up.

"You look tired. Maybe you should lie down."

She, along with Connie Moreau, had helped her up from her seat on the couch and led her to her room for some much needed rest. Tammy Duncan stayed behind.

"Hey, how you holding up?" she asked the young boy sitting next to the spot vacated by his mother. "Have you eaten today?"

She held a plate of food in her hand, which she placed down on the coffee table. It was meant for his mother. There was a concerned look plastered on her face.

"Fulton,"

There was no chance she could finish what she wanted to say. He buried his face in her shoulder and wept like he hadn't in years.

"Shush baby. It's okay." She stroked his hair. "Just let it out Fulton. I'm here baby."

After a while the tears stopped long enough for Fulton to compose himself. He looked up into Tammy's eyes. There was something that he didn't recognize. Was it pity?

"Can we take a walk?"

She nodded and they left the house.

"Thanks. For that back there."

"It's okay. You've been through a lot. The both of you have."

'Way to go Duncan! Put your foot in your mouth!'

"I'm sorry. I should just stop talking. If you want, we can just sit down somewhere and you don't have to talk if you don't want to."

He gave her a small sad smile.

"It's okay Tam. You didn't mean to put your foot in your mouth. You were just stating the obvious."

'If anyone knows what me and Ma went through, it would be her.'

Fulton just stared into the distance and Tammy was there to hold his hand through it.

The rink was quiet. Practice wouldn't be starting for an hour or two. There was a lone figure in the middle of the ice. She was messing around, practicing some figure skating moves. Then the doors opened and the person she was waiting for came into the rink.

"Hey you. My brother gave me the message. What's up?"

A tall boy sat on a bench near the ice. The blonde came to sit next to him.

"I needed someone to talk to. I didn't know who else to go to."

His hands were shaking. She knew something had to be wrong because his hands only did this when he was worried or scared.

"Whatever it is, you can tell me." she said stroking the side of his face. "Just let it out."

"He's dying Tam. My old man is sick with cancer and I'm gonna lose him."

Tears started running down his face. It hurt Tammy to see the boy she loved look so broken.

"It'll be okay Fulton. You have to believe that. Okay? Even when it looks like it won't."

She held him until his sobbing stopped and he fell asleep in her embrace.The two teenagers sat in silence for awhile, both with unshed tears. His were for his father. Hers were for him and the pain that was trying like Hell to kill his spirit.

"It's okay to cry Fulton. You don't have to hide the tears. I'm sure that if the shoe was on the other foot then I'm pretty sure your dad would be crying buckets by now."

This brought a smile to his lips.

"See, that's why I love you Tams. Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being here and for helping me make him happy. He told me one night that you took a load off his shoulders."

It was now her turn to smile. The memory was bittersweet but Tammy knew what Fulton meant by his statement.

"He was worried that the day wouldn't come where he could see you loved by someone who wasn't your mom. He wanted to make sure you had someone that you could have a future with."

The hospital room looked sad. The situation looked sad. One of her best friends was here day in and day out because they wanted to spend as much time as possible with one of the people they loved most. How could she not be here to support him and his family? But was it just out of friendship that she was here? Or was it something more?

"Tamara? Is that you sweetheart?"

The voice sounded so weak, so helpless. Tammy had to restrain herself from breaking down in front of the person sitting n bed.

"Yeah mister Reed. It's me. How are you feeling today?"

She placed the flowers on the bedside table. The chair by the bed was empty although it was usually occupied by either Mrs. Reed or Fulton himself.

"I can't complain. Today's a good day."

"That's good news right? Maybe that's a sign that the medicine's doing what it's supposed to do."

Tamara Duncan was an optimistically hopeful girl.

"Tammy, I have to ask you something."

"Go ahead. I'll try and give you the best answer depending on the question."

"Are you in love with my boy?"

"I…I am Very much so."

This brought peace of mind to the ailing man.

"Do you think that he might be in love with you?"

The young girl blushed.

"I don't know."

"I'm worried that he won't have anyone to look after him. I know that he'll have his mother. But motherly affection will only take him so far." He paused to take in more oxygen from the respirator. "I want to make sure that if I don't make it, if I don't beat this damned cancer, that Fulton will have someone that he can hope to grow old with. Someone that he'll spend the rest of his life with. Children, grandchildren. My boy deserves to have a good family with the woman he loves."

"Every parent wants that for their kids."

"But I have a feeling that I won't live to see it. I know the doctors are hopeful about my prognosis. But I want to put things in order just in case. You know?" She nodded in acknowledgment. "So tell him how you feel. And if he feels the same way, make the most of it.""I miss him so much. It hasn't even been a whole week. But it just hurts so much."

He laid his head in her lap and pulled up his feet so that he was laying semi-fetal position.

"It's okay to miss him. It's just one more way of showing how much you loved you dad." She said while running her fingers through his hair. "I'm gonna miss him too. Too bad he won't get to meet his grandkids."

"He told me that he dreamed with them the other night. The docs said that it was the morphine but I know he was all there when he said it."

The tears came falling again. And they never stopped.

Author's Note: I was originally going to make this a one-shot but since this story is based on a particular song there has to be more. And besides, this chapter took on a life of its own from what I originally planned. Hope you all liked it. I'll try to update as soon as possible.