Scared of His Happy Place
By: ebb in and away
Spoilers: Not that many that I can think of. This takes place before the third movie but after the second. If you've seen the first and second, there shouldn't be any spoilers.
Rating: T, due to mentions of injury and a car accident. There also may be some swearing on occasion. If this will bother you, please avoid reading the story.
Disclaimer: I most definitely do NOT own any of the characters/settings/plotlines/etc. from the "Mighty Ducks". I am not making any money from this story. I also do NOT own the names or their meanings. Basically, if you recognize it, it does NOT belong to me!
Adam and Charlie were in Adam's room, goofing off and talking about hockey. Adam's mom called him downstairs to help her with something, which gave Charlie some time to look around. Looking over at the desk, he noticed a collage hanging on the wall. He wandered over to study it, smiling when he saw pictures of the Ducks. Then he saw a picture with someone he didn't recognize. A young Adam had his arm slung over a young girl's shoulders, and both were grinning at the camera. I wonder who she is, Adam doesn't have a sister... Adam came back into the room and Charlie looked over at him.
"Hey, who is this?"
Adam walked over to look at the picture.
"You know, I don't remember her first name. I always called her by a nickname, and I just forgot over the years."
"What was the nickname?"
Adam turned pink.
"Princess."
Charlie burst into laughter.
"Look, I was only 5 when I met her. The nickname just kind of, stuck."
Charlie had calmed down somewhat by this point.
"I thought you said that you've lived in this house your entire life?"
"Yeah."
"Then how is it that none of us have met her?"
"She moved away right after I turned 7. I don't really have a way to find her since I only remember her initials. She was the first friend I ever had, and when she moved away, my dad started teaching me to play hockey. It was the only thing that could distract me from her not being there, and then I joined the Hawks."
Charlie spoke up.
"And then you joined the Ducks."
Adam smiled at Charlie's enthusiasm.
"Anyways, you'd better get packed, cake-eater. We go back for another Goodwill games adventure the day after tomorrow. See ya."
"See ya."
Adam watched as Charlie shut the door behind him, then looked back at the picture. I miss you, Princess. I wonder what you would think of me if you could see me now.
RING
Gordon Bombay cracked open one eye to glare at his phone.
RING
He cracked open the other eye and glared even more fiercely at the phone, daring it to ring again.
RING
Gordon sat up and answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Gordon, it's James. How's my little brother doing?"
"I was doing fine before my big brother woke me up. What's going on?"
"I know that you're going to the Goodwill games again, and I know that you'll be busy, but I've run into a bit of a problem."
"What is it?"
"I have a tournament that starts the day after you leave, and I can't find anyone to watch Christine."
Gordon groaned.
"I already talked to Mr. Tibbles, and he got her a seat on the plane that you're going on, as well as set up for her to room in the same suite as you, so will you watch her? Please? You know that she stays out of trouble."
"Alright. You have to get her to the airport though."
"Thanks, Gordon. I really appreciate this. Love ya, little brother. See you at the airport."
"Love you too. See you there."
Gordon hung up the phone and laid back down. He then sat bolt upright as he realized what he had just agreed to.
"Crap."
The Ducks that lived in Minnesota got through airport security without any problems, surprisingly. Gordon was keeping an eye on his team while watching for his brother and niece. He soon found them walking towards him, Christine carrying a book with her. He hugged both of them, just as the Ducks boarded their flight. Christine hugged her dad multiple times before taking Gordon's hand and following him onto the plane. She sat down beside him, buckled her seat belt, and immediately became absorbed in her book again. Gordon made sure that all of the Ducks who were supposed to be there were on the plane, then fastened his seat belt and pulled a magazine out of his Gordon and Christine were reading, the Ducks were trying to figure out who she was.
"New player?"
Charlie shook his head.
"Coach would've mentioned getting someone new."
"It seems like she knows him fairly well. I mean, he hugged her, and someone who looked like he was her dad, then was holding her hand when they got on the plane. Maybe they're related."
The Ducks considered that for a moment. Gordon, who had listened to this conversation, leaned across the aisle.
"She's my niece. My brother needed me to watch her since he has a tournament to deal with."
Christine didn't notice anything.
They met the remaining Ducks at the airport and headed straight for the bus, chatting happily with their friends. Christine sat down in the front of the bus. Gordon took roll call, then sat down beside her. The bus ride was loud, and Gordon didn't really mind, especially since Christine was always so quiet unless something upset her. Gordon remembered his brother mentioning that she once had a friend that she would talk to for hours, but that was before they moved away from Minnesota. She hadn't made any friends after that. Gordon wondered if she might talk to Connie or Julie, then shook his head. It might be worth a try, but it isn't likely. Besides, we need to focus on hockey.
The team barely had time to drop off their luggage in their rooms before they were hurried out to an interview. Christine had a pass that allowed her to go anywhere that the team, or Gordon, went, so she sat down with her book, trying to ignore the large crowd of reporters. She was doing fairly well, and the team didn't have any issues until they were going back to their rooms. Gordon had been held up by another team's coach, and Christine had simply followed the Ducks, still not talking to any of them. They ran into another team, they weren't really sure which one, and the team started picking at them. The Ducks were trying to ignore them, but Portman finally cracked and was about to leap towards the other team when Christine stepped in front of him. She gazed at the captain of the other team, unblinkingly. He was confused by her silence, then unnerved by the way she simply kept staring. The rest of his team started to get creeped out, finally hurrying away. Christine walked off down the hall towards the team's rooms, the team following her in a state of confusion.
Well, Christine seems thrilled.
Gordon was watching as his niece unpacked his clothes, refusing to let him do so himself. He decided that calling James would be a good idea.
"Hello?"
"Hey, James. It's Gordon. Just wanted to tell you that we're getting settled in. I also have a question for you..."
"What is it?"
"Why is Christine unpacking my bag?"
A muffled laugh crackled through the line.
"She's used to us moving, so she has a system that makes it easy to unpack and repack quickly. Is she bobbing her head like she hears music?"
Gordon looked over at his niece. Sure enough, her head was bobbing.
"Yeah."
"Tell her I'm on the phone."
"Christine, your dad is on the phone."
Christine ran over to the phone. Gordon handed it to her, and she yelled through it.
"Daddy!"
"Hey, how's my ball of sunshine?"
"Happy. I miss you though."
"I miss you too. We'll see each other soon though. You can tell me all about your trip when we get back to Minnesota."
"Okay, Daddy. I love you."
"I love you too, Christine."
They both hung up, and Christine went back to unpacking Gordon's stuff. Gordon sat on his bed, watching Christine move quickly around the room. He couldn't help seeing how much like her mother she was. Long, mousy brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, brown eyes sheltered behind reading glasses more often than not. What would have happened if Diana hadn't gotten into that accident? Would Christine be talkative? Would she be able to go out on the ice without being scared? Gordon looked up to find Christine sitting next to him, her nose shoved in a book yet again.
"Come on Christine, let's go get the team and get something to eat."
Christine obediently climbed off of the bed and grabbed her room key, shoving it into her pocket next to her wallet. Gordon watched in amusement as she walked down the hall, still reading, and paused periodically to pound on a door. She may look like her mother, but she has her father's memory for detail. She had knocked on all of the correct doors, and Gordon smiled as his team popped their heads out into the hallway to see what was going on.
"Dinner time, you guys."
The team had found a decent restaurant near the hotel, and were eating and chatting happily, but they couldn't help wondering what was going on with Bombay's niece. She hadn't said a word to any of them, and, as Gordon finally realized, none of them knew her name.
"Team."
They turned to look at him.
"This is my niece, Christine."
They all greeted her, but she simply waved without looking at them, too absorbed in her book, and too shy, to do much else. Charlie looked over at his coach.
"She helped us out earlier."
Gordon was confused.
"How did she help? I barely left you guys alone for 5 minutes before you were in your rooms."
"One of the teams started mocking us and she got them to back off."
"How?"
"She just stared at them. Kind of creeped them out."
The team chuckled at the memory. As they went back to eating, only Adam noticed that Christine's mouth had turned up in a small smile.
The team won the first game that they played, putting them in rather high spirits. Gordon decided to let them have some fun on the ice instead of holding practice. Christine had been going to all of their practices, and had gone to their game, but never set foot on the ice. The entire group wondered why, and Portman took the opportunity to find out. Christine was reading while the team had fun, then Bombay had to talk with Mr. Tibbles about something. They left the team to talk in a quieter area, and Portman skated over to the box where Christine was seated. He didn't ask her why she wouldn't go out on the ice, simply took her book and tossed it onto the bench before picking her up. He skated out to the middle of the rink with her and set her down. No one had realized what he was doing, but they did when they started hearing sobbing instead of laughter. Portman moved to pick her up to take her back to the box so she would calm down, but she moved away from him. Connie and Julie approached, figuring that she might be more comfortable around girls. They met the same result as Portman. The team was contemplating what to do when Adam skated forward, slowly. He moved towards her at an incredibly slow pace, almost unnoticeable, and talked as he did so.
"Hey, I'm Adam. I'm on your Uncle Gordon's hockey team. Sorry about Portman, he didn't know that you would be upset if he brought you out here."
Brown eyes met blue and held them.
Easy does it, moving too quickly will just scare her more...
Adam slowly held out his hand to her, coming to a stop near her.
"Do you want some help getting back to the box?"
Christine nodded, then whispered one word.
"Please?"
Adam nodded, moving a little bit closer. Christine hesitantly wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight as Adam picked her up carefully. He skated over to the box and set her down inside, then skated back to the team. Charlie approached Adam, but he shook his head.
"Later."
Bombay and Tibbles walked back in right then, so Charlie didn't press the issue.
A mass of brown hair moved in the breeze as the younger girl ran in front of him. Laughter rang out as he caught her and started tickling her.
"Ad-Am! Stop!"
"It's Adam, not 'Ad-Am.'"
Adam sat up suddenly in his bed.
"Adam? What's going on?"
He shook his head.
"Nothing. Just, strange dream."
Charlie sat up too, peering at the alarm clock.
"Time to get up anyways, we have to be ready for a day of interviews."
He didn't even bother faking enthusiasm, deciding that it would take far too much effort this early in the morning. The two boys got up and dressed, neither of them looking forward to the day that was planned for them.
Christine was wide awake, and currently hiding in the bathroom.
Maybe getting room service for breakfast wasn't such a good idea.
Gordon thought about this as he took the tray of food from the hotel staff member. He shut the door with his foot, then set the tray down on the table.
"Christine, it's alright to come out now."
Christine poked her head around the door to the bathroom, only leaving her safe haven once she had seen that only her uncle was in the room. They sat down across from each other at the table and started eating.
"Christine, do you want to come with me today, or do you want to stay in the room? I should be able to make it back for lunch."
"Stay here. I do better without crowds."
"That's settled then."
They finished up their breakfast and Christine hugged Gordon before he left, making sure the door locked behind him.
Christine had been fine for a while. She had been reading and watching TV, and nobody had bothered her. When noon rolled around and Gordon didn't come back, she simply distracted herself with more reading, too shy to order room service. She jumped when she heard a knock on the door, then ran as it slowly started to open, diving under her bed. A maid started cleaning, and Christine curled up under her bed, as far from the door as she could get. The maid finished cleaning and left, shutting the door behind her, but Christine still didn't move, not wanting to take the chance of someone else coming in. She stayed under the bed for 5 hours, tears streaming down her face, unable to relax in the slightest.
Gordon was in a foul mood by the time he was done with the interviews for that day, and his team wasn't faring much better. They had gotten a lunch break before being dragged off to yet another interview, and all of them were hungry. Gordon opened the door to his room, the team discussed where they were going to eat, then Gordon realized someone was missing.
"Christine? Christine, where are you?!"
The team split up to look through the suite, looking in closets and under Gordon's bed. They skipped Christine's bed since they didn't think anyone would fit under Bombay's, and there were sheets and blankets hanging across the side, nearly touching the floor. The team gathered back in the living room, and started to give their coach the results, but Adam grabbed Charlie's arm and pulled him into Christine's room, shutting the door behind them.
"Adam? What's going on?"
Adam didn't answer, instead easing himself onto the floor next to the bed. He slowly moved the sheets and blankets that were in his way. He felt his heart twist at what he saw. Christine was still curled up in a ball, staring wide-eyed at the intruder who had found her. Adam noticed the tear tracks down her cheeks and swallowed.
Nice and easy. Better if I don't frighten her more.
"Christine? Do you remember me? I'm Adam, the guy who helped you off the ice the other day."
Christine stared at him before slowly starting to relax.
"What happened that you wound up under here?"
"Maid."
Adam nodded, after all, if she didn't trust the Ducks, she probably didn't want to deal with adults who were strangers.
"Charlie."
Adam nudged his friend with his foot.
"Come here."
Charlie laid down next to Adam, peering under the bed. Christine started to tense up again.
"Christine, this is my friend, Charlie Conway. He's the captain of the Ducks."
She relaxed slightly at the mention of Charlie being Adam's friend. She beckoned to the 2 boys, and they crawled half way under the bed. Christine slowly scooted towards Adam, finally resting her head on his back. They heard a loud growl.
"Christine?"
"Yeah?"
"When did you last eat?"
"Before Uncle Gordon left."
Adam sighed.
"Come on, you need some food in you, and we do too. Let's go join the team and go out to eat, alright?"
Christine nodded before removing her head from Adam's back. Adam and Charlie moved out from under the bed, then stood to wait for her. She soon crawled out, standing next to Adam while staring at Charlie. Charlie waved at her, drawing a small smile. She stepped towards him, then hugged him cautiously, not sure if he would be as lenient as Adam. He hugged back gently, and Christine relaxed. She stepped back and grabbed both Adam and Charlie's hands, and Adam opened the door. The team was still gathered in the living room, Coach Bombay looking rather worried. Charlie cleared his throat.
"Look who we found."
Gordon jumped to his feet and pulled Christine into a hug.
"Where were you? What happened?"
"I was under my bed. The maid came, so I hid, but then I kept thinking that someone else would come in, so I stayed there..."
Her stomach growled again.
"Time to find a place to eat, you guys. She hasn't had anything to eat for a while."
Goldberg spoke up.
"Neither have we."
Adam took a deep breath before facing him.
"None of us missed lunch."
He turned around and went back to his spot beside Charlie. Gordon was more than a little surprised when Christine went to stand with them, taking their hands. The group went to eat supper, glad that the long day was over.
The time flew by, filled with practices and games. Adam was hanging out with Christine in his free time, talking quietly with her about hockey and anything else they could think of. The team lost a couple of games, but made it to the finals. They weren't going up against Iceland again, thankfully, but the other team would still be hard to beat. Adam continued to have strange dreams, all flashbacks to his childhood and his first ever friend. He kept these dreams to himself.
Christine had slowly gotten used to the other team members, even Portman, and was fiercely loyal to her friends. What no one could ignore was the fact that, while she liked all of the Ducks, she was closer to Charlie, and Adam was the only one who could have a lengthy conversation with her.
The final game was brutal, and Christine was in the stands, flinching at each hit the Ducks took. The teams were tied in the last few seconds of the game, and Adam had the puck. He glided forward, watching for his chance. He shot, and scored the winning goal. The stands went wild, and the Ducks did too, but no one noticed when one of the other team's members slammed Adam into the wall, knocking him out. No one, except for Christine.
"AD-AM!"
She flung open the door leading out onto the rink and ran towards him, dodging the opposing team. Charlie heard her scream over the crowd and turned, then grabbed a ref and hurried over to his friend. Christine was kneeling next to Adam, leaning over to listen to his heart beat. The emergency crew moved in quickly, but Adam hadn't regained consciousness. Christine leaned in closer, tears streaming down her face. Gordon started to pull her away, so she screamed again, louder this time.
"AD-AM!"
The crowd went silent at the terrified scream. Adam slowly opened his eyes as he was put on a stretcher. Charlie had to grab Christine to prevent her from following the stretcher, especially since she had managed to fight Gordon off.
"He's going to be alright, you just have to let the doctors do their job. I'll take you to see him in the hospital as soon as we can, but you have to calm down."
She went limp in his arms, a sign of agreement that she would stay calm as long as he took her to visit Adam later on. She grabbed onto Charlie's arm, trying to both give, and receive, comfort. It had taken her this long to realize that Adam was her old friend, the one person her age who would let her talk without insulting her. Christine waited impatiently for her uncle to take her to the hospital, and nearly knocked over a nurse when they got there. She reached his room, Charlie and the rest of the team on her heels.
Adam was sitting up, wide awake, and smiled when they came in. Christine crawled onto the bed beside him, taking comfort in knowing that her best friend was alive. Adam had realized that Christine was his 'Princess' from so many years ago when he regained consciousness to hear her screaming 'Ad-Am', which was how she had been convinced his name should be pronounced. He smiled when he saw the recognition in her eyes, nudging her gently. Christine pulled something from her wallet, a smaller version of the picture that was hanging in his room at home, as well as a letter. He could still recall what he had written.
'Dearest Princess,
I know that you don't want to move, and I don't want you to move, but you have to. I will always be your friend though.
Love,
A.B.'
Adam smiled softly at Christine then looked around the room at his friends. His eyes met Charlie's, and he nodded his thanks. He had just been aware enough to realize how hard Charlie had to fight to keep Christine under control. He joked with the team for a little bit, but soon they had to leave. Christine stayed by him as the team said good-bye, then turned to him when only Charlie was left waiting by the door.
"We're going to have to talk about this. I still can't believe you went out on the ice."
Christine shrugged.
"I had to get to you somehow. Love you."
She gave him one last hug before walking towards the door.
"I love you too, Princess."
Charlie gently grabbed her hand and led her out of the hospital while Adam leaned back on the bed and thought.
How exactly am I going to explain this to the other Ducks?