DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything, except for the girls.

Author's Note: I had written a lot of these Chapter's before even posting this on here, so a lot of your suggestions aren't really coming out yet. IE: Part of this Chapter has a scene from the movie, and I know it's boring to read something you've seen a million times, but the thing is it's more descriptive and shone from Riley's point of view.

As always, suggestions are welcomed and shout outs are at the bottom.

Chapter 5

Dismounting off the bars, she landed on her feet but couldn't stick it which cause Riley to fall back on her butt. She stayed there, her hands coming up to hold her head slightly. No doubt she was probably smearing more chalk all over her face. Turning her head to the side, she glanced at the clock. She was done for the day as far as she was concerned.

Riley pushed herself up off the mat, pulling her grips off her hands as she made her way across the springy floor. Approaching her coach, she watched as Chas worked out on the Vault. She smiled lightly before letting out a small sigh in Maryann's direction.

"You're getting closer and close each time." She said, immediately. "You're going to have to force your body forward more." Maryann explained.

Riley nodded, "I know, I know. I'm going to cut out for the day." She paused. "Are you going to be around later, cause I'll come back after Hockey." She explained.

Flipping her wrist up, Maryann looked at her watch. "We've been at this since early this morning, it's about time you got over to Herb." She gave her a small smile.

She glanced down at her leotard and chalk-covered body and shook her head a bit. "I'm sure they're managing fine without me." Her tongue ran out over her lips. "I should go get cleaned up before heading to the rink."

Maryann patted the side of her arm gently. "We'll work at that landing more tomorrow. Good night, dear." She moved passed her, heading back towards her office.

Watching her walk off, it took Riley a minute to turn her attention away from her coach. Maryann was an amazing coach, and so was Herb. The difference was the sport. Gymnastics wasn't a team effort. They stuck a bunch of individual athletes on a team and gave them a title. In the end, the girls were always there for each other just as much as any other sports team, but there was still a definite difference. Hockey wasn't based on individual talent. It was all about each and every player meshing all of their talents together to become one. As for being on team USA, All Riley had to do was set aside a few hours of her day to be in her gymnast mindset and then give the rest of her time to Herb and her other team.

She had devout most of her life to doing gymnastics, just as Mac had done for Hockey, but the overall truth was that she wanted to be with him ultimately. Doing gymnastics would only get her so far in life, but in her mind Mac was forever. …Until of course she showed up at the rink, doing the exact opposite of what he had told her to do.

It had only taken about 45 minutes for Riley to get cleaned up and head out and over to the rink. Leaving all of her gymnastics stuff in the back seat, she pulled out her other bag. The other bag was filled with her hockey stuff. She obviously wouldn't be playing, but her skates would come in handy.

Entering the arena, she made her way through the front doors and down toward the rink. She could already hear the meshed voices of Craig Patrick and Herb, ordering the players on the ice. They were certainly loud. Stepping through the door way she made her way down the stairs of the bleachers to the bottom by the ice. Setting her bag to the side, she grinned at Doc who stood only a few inches from her.

"I'm here, sorry I'm so late." She told him.

Doc shook his head, waving his hand. "It's perfectly alright. Herb of course has everything under control." He gave her a gracious smile as he watched her slip on her ice skates.

She was pretty sure the guys hadn't known she had walked in. Mac most importantly. After finishing putting on her skates, she glanced up looking on the ice. He must have been sitting in the box as they ran this play. Standing up, she made her way out to the ice where she stood and watched. Clearly being blocked from Mac's eye sight by the two coaches and the wall.

"That's it, keep it up!" Herb shouted out to Johnson who skated across the ice, not seeing Riley make her appearance.

"Kick it out!" Craig cupped his hands over his mouth as he put in his two cents. His head turned to the side, spotting Riley. Giving her a small smile, he backed up towards her still watching the action on the ice. "Give Herb a minute."

Her eyes were glued to Johnson's fast footwork for the moment, but she nodded. "It's fine." She smiled.

"Look for the pass. Come on, hit him with the pass. Go, Johnson. Outside!" He exclaimed. "Alright Johnson, hit him on the other side." Herb croaked out when Johnson hadn't acknowledged his original call. "Come on look for him. Move and hit him, Johnson." His arm gestured forward.

"He's open! Center! Center!" Riley called out, and skated on the side towards Herb. She was never one to keep her mouth shut when she wanted to get something out there.

Johnson continued and shot the puck into the net, not having listened to Herb telling him to pass it. He skated around behind the back of the net. The players had all slowed down, some of them peeking over to see where the new voice had come from. The boys in the box standing to their feet to peek over as well.

"Hello, Riley, now excuse me while I chew out my player." Herb skated forward. "Johnson! That coast to coast stuff may work here, but it won't against the teams we'll be playing." He looked back towards Riley and gestured her to skate over. "Boys, this is Riley she's your everything in between girl. Helping Doc check you guys out, to imputing her coaching skills to use with me and Craig." He yelled out.

Biting on her lip, Riley gave a small wave. "Nice to meet you guys, although I do know some of you." She waved at a few of the Minnesotans. Catching Mac's eye, she could see how annoyed he was. He slammed his stick forward to bang it against the glass and she turned away.

"Alright." Herb clapped. "Next line up, let's go. Let's run it again." He clapped his hands a few more times.

A few of the guys, including Johnson skated to the side to sit back in the box, while Mac and Morrow hopped up and over the wall. Immediately, OC jumped over as well putting his hand on Morrow's shoulder to slow him up. "Morror. Let me take this one."

Before Morror could answer, OC skated off in front of him. Morror glanced back, his eyebrow raising slightly knowing that this wasn't going to be good. He climbed back over the side into the box.

Mac and OC skated out, taking their positions. Riley watched as Herb skated out slightly with the puck at the end of his own stick. Her eyes glanced at Mac, and followed his eyes to the puck. She was grateful that with her there he still concentrated on hockey, but she was also worried at how pissed he'd be after practice.

"This is a breakout play, gentlemen. So please let's get rid of the puck early. Alright, let's go!" He yelled, bringing his stick back to smack the puck into action.

Immediately the players began to fly around the rink, going in all sorts of directions. However, one player in particular caught Riley's eye. It wasn't Mac, it was Jack O'Callahan. Her brow furrowed as he flew across the ice, not exactly in the direction of the ice.

"Hey, hey!" Mac called out, slapping his stick to the ground trying to get Verchota's attention. Verchota looked up, but before he could pass it OC slammed full force into Mac sending him to the ground hard.

"Oh!" Riley exclaimed, her hands flying to cover her mouth.

Gasps erupted from the other players, and the ones on the side stood up to look and see if he was ok. "Oh, my god."

Riley bit her tongue from saying anything that would pinpoint her as more concerned about him then anyone else on the team. Her eyes drifted towards Buzz and Johnson, who had hopped over the sides. "What's OC doing?" Buzzy asked.

"That was cheap." Bah murmured from the side of Mac. He was bent over slightly, but Mac was hurled over, no doubt in pain.

"He didn't even have the puck." Verchota looked up from Mac and at OC. "What are you hitting like that for?" He asked, seemingly annoyed.

Pavalich had skated over towards where Mac was on the ground, looking at OC as well. "That's the bush league, OC." He commended.

Silk, who had stayed in the box gave a small smirk. "Nice hit, OC." Not that he had much of a grudge against Minnesota much anymore, he still would be there to back up his buddy.

OC lingered in front of them, just a few steps away, grinning feeling pleased with his revenge. "Tell your boy to keep his head up and he won't have to worry about it." His thick Boston accent coming out as he spoke.

Riley's hand rested on her forehead, her face dripping with concern. She wasn't sure what to do, but she knew OC taunting him wasn't going to make anything better. "Oh, man." She breathed lightly, looking over to Craig.

Within a second of OC's last words, Mac pushed himself back up flinging his gloves off. He whirled around an angry gleam in his eyes as he fixated on OC. "Let's go!" He shouted at him, pushing him.

OC immediately responded, shoving him back before the two engaged in the fist fight. In Riley's opinion it looked more like they were trying to hug each other at first, until their fists started flying at each other's faces.

"Craig, let them go." Riley looked back, a worried look planed on her face as she watched Herb hold Craig back from breaking up the fight. Her attention turned back to the fight, and she watched as Mac threw a couple of punches at his face. The helmet was still firmly planted on OC's head, which prevented him from getting any hits to the face.

Mac's helmet on the other hand had gotten tossed off when OC had checked him. She couldn't help but suddenly feel very angry towards OC at that point in time. Not only was the check uncalled for, but now he was kicking her boyfriends ass. She held her tongue and kept her ground, however. Even if she had wanted to make it clear that they were together, Mac wouldn't have ever forgave her if she stepped in at all. The last thing a boyfriend wanted was to hide behind his girlfriend.

"Stay out of it, Buzzy!" Johnson pulled him back.

Rizzo pulled Bill Baker away, as well. "Stay out of it, Baker." He chorused.

"Come on, give it to him!" Bah called out, encouraging Mac.

Verchota clapped. "Alright, Mac!"

"Come on, Mac, take him down!" Pav followed up with.

Silk banged his hands on the side of the wall. "Come on, OC, let him have it!" He yelled out.

At that point in time, OC's fist caught Mac square in the face and he fell backwards on the ice, OC going down with him. They continued to throw punches, rolling around on the ice.

She skated forward, not wanting to take anymore. "Pull them apart!" She called out, looking at Verchota and Pav. After a minute, Rizzo glanced at Riley before lounging forward to grab on to OC's jersey." Riley helped out by reaching down with him and pulling OC up and off of him. Pav and Verchota finally moved forward to help pull Mac away as well, and help him off the ground. They skated towards opposite sides and Riley dropped her hold on OC letting Rizzo take full control over him.

"Well how bout it boys?" Herb spoke up, skating over towards them. "Look like hockey to you?" He skated around them before coming to a halt across from Riley. "Looks like a couple of monkeys trying to hump a football to me. I don't know, what do you think Craig? Riley?" He arched back to look at Craig.

His answer caught in his throat, unsure of what he wanted to say. His arms folded across his chest. "Yeah." He finally said.

Herb looked at Riley, who simply nodded, knowing that it was best just to agree with him. Then again, when they fell to the ground it really did look like a couple of monkey's trying to hump a football. To be completely honest what bothered her most right now was the blood flowing from Mac's nose, that had smeared to his cheek. No one else seemed too concerned about it, not even Mac.

"You wanna settle old scores, you're on the wrong team." Herb glanced from Mac to OC. "We move forward starting right NOW. We start becoming a team RIGHT NOW." He slapped his stick hard down on the ice. Looking at all the players faces, he continued, "Skating. Passing. Flow. Creativity. That is what this team is all about, gentlemen. Not OLD rivalries." He skated around in a small circle as he talked. "So, wht don't we start with some introductions? You know, get to know each other a little better." He paused. "Where you're from, who you are. Go ahead." Herb leaned on his stick, and nodded his head at Mac.

Mac's brow furrowed, and he scoffed lightly before shrugging his arms out. "Rob McClanahan. St. Paul, Minnesota."

"Who do you play for?" Herb retorted.

"…For you, here at the U." Mac took a deep breath.

Nodding slightly, Herb's head shot to the other side. "Jack?"

He had a sour look printed across his face. "Jack O'Callahan. Charlestown, Mass." He paused. "Boston University."

"Over here." Herb looked back to the other side, picking out a player that was standoffish and towards the back.

He shifted uneasily at being called on. "I'm Ralph Cox." He answered, then smiling a bit. "And I'm from wherever's not gonna get me hit." He chuckled lightly.

A few laughs erupted all around, glad that he was able to lighten the mood a bit. Even Herb cracked a slightly amused smile. "Very good. Get on the line." He called out to all of the players.

The players still remaining in the box, hopped out and they all listened by skating their way out to the line. Herb skated more towards Riley. "Can you take Mac, get him cleaned up, make sure nothing's broken?" He didn't wait for a response, but patted her shoulder as he moved passed her, looking at the line. "Mac, Riley's gonna get you cleaned up." He called over to him.

Mac hesitated before skating away from the line. He tossed a glance over his shoulder at the rest of his teammates. Gliding to the side, he picked his helmet off the ice as he passed it and turned his body to the side to come to a halt in front of his girlfriend.

Looking down at her legs, she noticed a few ice shards had collected on to her pants from him skid-stopping in front of her. She eyed him, before skating away. "Come on." She said lightly, and he obeyed.

Once in the locker room, she took him off to the room on the side where he plopped up on one of the tables. She headed over towards the sink and grabbed a rag, then running it under warm water. Neither one saying anything to each other, she turned the faucet off the proceeded to ring out the rag before moving back towards him.

"I told you not to come." He said quietly.

"I didn't listen." She retorted. Turning around she walked back over to him and reached her hands up to place the rag on his nose.

His hands gripped on to hers, stopping her. "I can do it myself." He said, and his hands went to grab at the rag.

She pulled back, protectively. "This is my job." She told him. "Just let me do it, ok?"

"No. You're job is to be back at your gym, doing your gymnastics thing." Mac immediately spat back, anger filtering his eyes.

Riley didn't respond. She knew if she did, he would just have another comment back to her. Riley was stubborn, but not nearly as stubborn as he was. She reached her hands up, with the rag once more. She was surprised when he didn't push her away again, or say anything to stop her. She whipped the access blood off his cheek before moving it gently over to dab at his nose gently.

Mac sat back, enjoying the feeling of her hands on him. He didn't want to push her away, although he wasn't too happy with her right then and there. His hands came up once more to grab on to her hand that continued to whip his nose. Riley's eyes picked up to look into his, and she was surprised at his next move. He pulled her hand gently to his lips, and placed a small peck on it.

Riley smiled at him and used her free hand to brush a piece of hair behind her ear and his grip on her other hand lessened. "How did you smear the blood across your face anyway?" She asked him quietly, dropping her hand when she was finished cleaning.

His shoulders shrugged slightly, suddenly aware that she had just witnessed him getting his ass kicked. He glanced off to the side at the hand that supported him leaning back. He sat up straight and showed his hand to her. "I nicked my knuckles on his helmet." He said sheepishly. "I think the blood on my cheek was from my hand."

She looked down, seeing the cuts on his knuckles and she sighed out. "God, I already don't like him and I haven't even formally met him." Riley placed the warm rag to his knuckles.

Mac gave a small wry smiled and watched her covered his hand. Thoughts from the argument from last night flooded through his brain. "You know, this argument isn't over yet." He told her quietly, leaning down to get her to look up at him.

Her eyes glanced upward, catching his eyes. "I know. But it's over for now."

Lia06: It seems as if everyone is enjoying it, so therefore I'm keeping it up. I probably would have kept posting it anyway just because this is the first time in a long time I've gotten so far in a story. I used to write A LOT when I was younger and then I stopped for about 2 years and I'm finally getting back into the swing of it. I'm so glad you're enjoying it! And if you ever have a particular story you want me to read, please feel free to throw it out at me!

Kalibelle: I'm glad you're enjoying it, thank you so much for the review! One of the main reasons it turned out the way it did was because I was trying to make it so different. Every Miracle fanfic I've read has had amazing writing and I've loved every single one of them, but I didn't want to have any of the girls be related to Herb – so I went a different route! Thank you so much for your review, and please let me know if there's a story of yours you'd like me to read.

BellaLou: First off, I'm so glad you came and checked out my story! I completely understand and agree with you 100 which is why that I decided that I was unreasonable about that whole subject. I want honest opinions and that's exactly what I've been given, so I should just shut my big mouth! No one's aiming to be cruel and I'm going to respect the people who give me reviews now! Even the not so good ones. And don't worry about it being too long, I think I wrote epics in my reviews to you. I'm glad you're enjoying it and I'm waiting for your next chapter as well!

Miss Kitten: I had a note up that actually wasn't directed at you, but I deleted it because I realized that I was just being stupid. Honestly, I want constructive criticism and it's not as if anyone's out to attack me personally. Since you've decided to still read (which by the way I didn't expect you to let me off that easy ;) ) please, please continue to criticize me wherever you feel necessary. Because I really could use help and believe it or not your review made me think hard about where I was going in this story and it helped me figure out a few things. So, thank you so much and I'm sorry if I offended you in any way by being upset about something you were just trying to help me with – if that made any sense at all. But once again thank you and I'm sorry for being unreasonable!

Klinoa: It happens, I know I've gotten that way before about something that I really love. And I don't want to offend anyone by having my story be completely unbelievable. So any of you can be as mean as you want as long as you have a legit reason. And I've realized that you're all just trying to help me, so it's all good! I'm glad you liked the Chapter, Riley lightens up a bit in this one as you see! Thank you again for your review!

Vaughnloveralwaysandforev: Glad you enjoyed the chapter! As for the fight, not every relationship is rainbows and butterflies, right? Conflicts is always what makes a story so interesting. Thank you for your review!