Disclaimer: Story idea is mine, clearly, but I did make use of my favorite childhood characters from the Mighty Ducks.
**Just want to state a quick thank you to my beta Lady Crack. Lady, you have no idea how much I value your critique, writer's ethic, and opinions. I've already learned a lot from you and am looking forward to working with you again in the future!**
D2.5: The Mighty Vikings
Staring out of the window, Julie "The Cat" Gaffney was mentally preparing herself for the USA Ducks second appearance at the Junior Goodwill Games. Her keen blue eyes took in the vast expanse of rolling hills and winding streets with houses dotted along the country-side as the plane passed swiftly by. Cars traveling to and fro seemed like ants compared to the height of the plane. It was all a familiar sight to her by now as she had become accustomed to flying across the country in the past couple years.
Once again she was alone with only her thoughts to keep her company. Part of her was thrilled to be called upon to represent her country in the games. A whole other part of her dreaded it, and for more than one reason. First, she didn't like dropping her team in the middle of the season last year and she didn't much like the feeling it caused this year either. Of course her teammates were excited for her, but she felt the guilt of leaving them with a not so great back-up goaltender. Her leaving them last year to go win gold for USA meant her home team lost all chance at their own success. And it had stung when her longtime coach was angered by the fact she was only allotted two appearances throughout the whole tournament. Another reason why she was partly dreading returning to Los Angeles to compete was the fact that he would be there, and he would most certainly be looking for revenge of the goal she had robbed from him.
She was apart of the games last year in only two instances. And both of those times she managed to royally piss off the star player of USA's rival team Iceland. So no, she was most definitely not looking forward to that. The only thing that kept her confidence going was that maybe he was too old to participate in the Junior games. After all, a whole year had passed and surely he had already been at the age limit before. He was tall enough to suggest so anyway.
It was the one negative part of the wonderful experience of taking gold last year in that final game that stuck with her. How many times had she closed her eyes at night to fall asleep only to see shock-filled bluish-grey eyes filling with disappointment? And why it seemed to bother her even so long after the tournament was concluded she had no clue.
Her thoughts were cut off by the announcement to refasten seatbelts as her flight was about to land. Julie pulled her gaze from the small window beside her and with a sigh she did as told by the attendant. The landing was smooth and soon she was pulling down her carry-on bag and quickly made her way through the exit.
The lobby was crowded, who knew that many people from Maine wanted to travel to Minnesota?
"Julie!"
Her smile was earnest as she caught the familiar sight, "Coach Bombay," he pulled her into a one-armed hug and quickly grabbed her bag, "thanks for meeting me here."
"Of course," Gordon Bombay grinned back at her, "how was your flight?"
"It was fine, am I the last to arrive?"
He shook his head and quickly led her towards the baggage claim area, "We both know it will be either Wu or Portman that is last to show up."
Julie shook her head and continued to make small talk with her coach as they waited for her luggage to make its way towards them. Gordon handed her carry-on back to her and took both large bags himself. Julie smiled at him in thanks and followed him through the large airport and out into the parking lot towards his vehicle.
The ride to the hotel was comfortably quiet. That is until Coach Bombay eyed her from the side and cleared his throat, "Julie, I wanted to talk to you about your play-time last year," his voice lowered to say, "or lacking play-time that is."
Taking in a deep breath Julie was glad to get this conversation cleared with. There were still some bitter feelings on her end, despite her being the winning factor in the championship game last year. "I'm sorry about what happened in the first game against the Vikings," she cringed at the memory of her actions towards the two enemy players last year, there was no reason for her to lose her cool like that. It wasn't as though it was the first time a couple of boys gave her a hard time for playing a 'manly' sport. Her attack on them made her feel better in the moment, but in reality all she did was climb down to their level, "It won't happen again."
Gordon sent her a fond smile before returning his gaze back to the road, "Tensions were high in both games against Iceland, but there is still no excuse for not letting you see any action in the net. With Goldberg," he lightly shrugged and cautiously admitted, "he was running a hot-streak. But I should have benched him after that loss against the Vikings."
She got it. Really she did, she completely understood why her coach did what he did last year. He knew Goldberg; he was familiar with him and knew what he was capable of. Even after training for a full three months before the tournament, her coach still didn't feel comfortable with her. Hence the bitterness on her part, she had thought she'd done all she could to prove herself and still she wasn't given a fair chance. "None of our heads were in the right place after that loss."
Gordon could admit that much was true, hell he wasn't even there for the start of the next game. "You know Julie I think you are an incredible goaltender, and I promise that you will see your fair share of games at the tournament."
She smiled in satisfaction in her seat, "And I'll prove that I'll be worthy of the chance given."
And finally, she felt that she and her coach were on the same page. It had hurt, because she knew she had so much to offer and had been denied a real opportunity to actually start a game and show the world all she had to offer. But if Coach Bombay kept his word and she worked hard enough, maybe this year she could finally show them all her worth.
Gordon pulled the car to a stop and gathered up her bags. When they entered the hotel lobby Julie caught her first glance of a few of her USA teammates. Charlie, Adam, and Dwayne were quick to notice her and called out her name loudly as they raced over.
The Cowboy was first to pull her into a hug and refused to release her for a good long moment, "Why it sure is good to see you Cat!"
"Same here Robertson," she told him just as she tried to pry herself away from his grip on her shoulder, "how's your mom doing with her treatment?"
She had, naturally, kept in contact with most of the Ducks while back at home. They had all grown so much as teams and as friends for them to ever lose that close connection. Everyone on the team had been praying and wishing that Robertson's mother's breast cancer could be treated. Dwayne's eyes lit up with pure happiness and he hugged her all over again, "Doing just fine, she goes in two weeks to find out if it's all gone."
"That's great Robertson," Charlie told him as he helped Julie get free, "but you can't hog-tie our goalie and keep her to yourself."
Julie laughed as the team captain engulfed her with a hug, she really did miss them all. And soon enough Adam had her in his arms as well and was pulled tightly against him, he held her a bit longer than what might be called normal but she let it pass. She didn't even bat an eye when she felt him place a quick kiss to her cheek before pulling away. To be honest Adam; along with Connie, were two of her teammates that she had talked to the most while being away from each other.
"Alright Julie," Coach Bombay approached the reunited Ducks, "you are all settled in. The boys know where you are rooming with Connie and can show you around. I gotta go meet up with Miss McKay."
Dwayne and Charlie both made kissy faces behind their coach's back. Adam rolled his eyes just as Julie laughed and shook her head at them. As she peered up at the three of them she realized that they had really changed in the past year. They were all taller and their faces were more mature, she felt like a midget standing here next to them.
"Come on Cat," Charlie nudged her in the side with his elbow, "let's take you to your room."
She nodded and allowed him to take her carry-on bag even as Dwayne and Adam took one each of her large luggage bags (one for hockey and the other for everything else) and they headed for the elevators. Admittedly she was rather tired, though the flight wasn't even that long.
When they dropped her off at her room she was surprised to find that Connie had already claimed the bed closest to the door. That was just fine with her as she preferred to be by the window anyway. Dwayne and Charlie excused themselves and Adam remained behind with her.
Now that they were alone, he pulled her into another long hug and whispered in her ear, "Are you really okay Julie?"
She closed her eyes as the sad memory came, being brought on by his question, "I will be, what about you?"
He let her go and took a seat on her bed, "Fine I guess, they are making a big deal out of everything and I just want it to all be over with."
"Adam have you," she sat next to him, "have you told anyone else?"
"Charlie knows," he admitted. And it made sense, they were best friends after all, "Julie do your parents," he struggled with what he wanted to say, "do they keep insisting that it's not your fault? My mom is obsessed with telling me I'm not to blame, I just don't get why she worries I would even think that."
"Yeah," she sighed out, "my dad is doing the same thing to me. No matter how many times I tell him that I'm fine with their divorce, he keeps trying to reassure me."
"Almost to the point of distraction, right?"
She nodded her head, "Exactly. If anything I'm glad they are divorcing so they will just stop all the arguing and fighting."
"Me to," he commiserated.
Two months after they had won gold last year she called Adam to check up on him. She could tell something was wrong just by his voice alone and finally dragged what was going on out of him. To her surprise he was going through the same thing that she was. Their parents were splitting up and it somehow brought the two of them closer together as friends. They could understand and talk without the worry of upsetting their parents.
"Well hey I better let you rest up," he stood and she followed him to the door, "but it is good to see you."
"See ya later Banks," she grinned up at him.
He tugged at the end of her hair playfully and told her, "We're all meeting in the lobby at 7 tonight. Coach is taking us out to dinner."
She nodded and closed the door behind him.
Yes. A lot has changed in one year. She let out a long sigh and smiled to herself. Some of the things that changed weren't so good while others were great. Glancing around her room she wondered just where Connie had gotten off to. Probably out somewhere with Guy Germaine, now that they were finally a couple they were inseparable.
Deciding to put her stuff away later, she flopped down onto her bed with full intention of getting a solid nap in. The bed itself was comfortable enough and she was confident that her team wouldn't leave her behind before their reunion dinner tonight. Or at least, she hoped not.
Closing her eyes her vision soon became filled with the memory of him shaking her hand at the end of last year's championship game. His grey eyes were darkened with regret yet there was also a new kind of acceptance and respect as he gazed at her. And even as she moved on down the line to shake the hands of his teammates, and long after the two teams went their separate ways, she could feel his cool eyes on her back, watching her the whole time.
Well…so much for getting a nap in.