Disclaimer: I do not own The Mighty Ducks. Charlie Conway and other canon characters belong to Disney Corporation.
Author's Note: Finally getting 'round to writing some more fanfiction. (: Maybe I'll finish the other stories on my account, too.

I'm falling even more in love with you
Letting go of all I've held onto
I'm standing here until you make me move
I'm hanging by a moment here with you
I'm living for the only thing I know
I'm running and not quite sure where to go
And I don't know what I'm diving into
Just hanging by a moment here with you
"Hanging By A Moment" - Lifehouse

TEN.

"The cheese bread here is magnificent," Skyler told her brother as she sat down in the booth that the lanky, raven-haired maitre d' directed them to. He was quite obviously staring at her chest, and if it was bothering Aaron, it was downright pissing off Charlie. Aaron sat down across from his sister, and Charlie sat next beside her nonchalantly.

"Your server will be back in just a moment," The man said in an almost unbearably fake accent before he stalked back to his podium to seat other customers.

Skyler stared at the brunette sitting beside her with a grin of amusement on her feminine features, "So, what are you? My knight in dented tin foil?"

"Huh?" Charlie asked, turning to stare at her, "What're you talking about?"

"The guy was a skeeze, you could have sat next to Aaron which would have been more appropriate, but you didn't." She replied, pointedly. She expected him to flush a bright red, but he didn't. He simply shrugged as he crossed his arms in front of him with his elbows set on the table. "You're going to take some getting used to, Conway."

"We're on a last name basis now?" He asked, raising a brow and giving her the most adorable facial expression that made her want to hug him. She resisted the urge and turned to look at her brother.

"So, jerk-face, what're you getting?"

"Jerk face?" He questioned. "You can take care of yourself, and I'm ordering the spaghetti."

"Sometimes it's nice to have someone to look out for you," she replied.

"You're older than I am, you should look out for me, and I didn't see you trying to save me from potential date rape when that cougar was trying to get into my pants."

Charlie couldn't help it, he laughed at the very thought of an older woman hitting on Aaron. Aaron, in turn, glared at Charlie and Halo was just thankful that he didn't have his spaghetti yet. If he would have, there would have been a full blown food fight. She sighed and finally, the server appeared (seemingly out of thin air!) and asked for their drink orders. They all got an alcoholic beverage of their own choosing (Charlie got beer, Halo got a rum and Pepsi, and Aaron found his poison in a glass of red wine), and went back to chatting about whatever.

They found themselves somewhat intoxicated as they headed out into the dark streets and hailed a cab back to Halo's. Before Skyler even knew what she was doing, she turned to Charlie, turned her face towards his slowly, and planted a long, full kiss on his lips. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer, and she leaned into him and against his well-muscled chest.

For the first time in years, Halo felt safe, and warm, and like she had someone she could count on. Of course, she took into consideration that she was more than a little drunk, and that such a state could alter her feelings. But, while she was there, Halo might as well enjoy the experience.

Charlie pulled away, laughing lightly, and kissed the top of Halo's head. She was too drunk to notice that she was cold, as well as shivering beneath his arms. When the cab pulled up to them, Charlie helped her to clamber into the back of the car and followed her in. It was a short drive to her flat, and by the time they got there they both knew that he would end up in her bed that night.

And he did.

"Halo? Hey Halo, you make it back home okay?" Aaron's voice echoed throughout the dead loft and reverberated into her bedroom a few seconds later. Halo groaned, rolled over, and proceeded to cuddle into the body beside her. "Halo… oh, well, that's interesting."

The phone began to ring almost simultaneously as Halo opened her eyes and looked up at her brother from the bed. She numbly fumbled to grasp it and lazily cradled it between her ear and chin. "Hello?"

"Skyler Lyons, ex-wife of Mets ballplayer Michael Lyons, was spotted late last night with professional Hockey sensation Charlie Conway. The two were outside of Antonio's when an unnamed source snapped this picture." Michael's voice came to greet her ears.

"Oh, blow me Mike," She responded and hung up. She heard Charlie laugh, felt the way his body moved under the weight of her head, and remembered that she had gone home with him the night before. It was a good thing that there was no love for Michael anymore, because if there had been, she would have no way to make up to him for something like this.

"Morning," He grumbled.

"Morning sunshines. Must say, I wasn't expecting you to be here Charlie," Aaron rambled. "Are you two naked under there?" He proceeded to lift up the covers, when both of them began to protest such action. Both of them were surprised to learn that neither of them had on less than underwear. Aaron left the room, his hands over his eyes in a 'see no evil' caricature of himself.

They lay there for a long time before either one of them made a move, and it was Charlie who rolled atop Halo and kissed her forehead. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him tenderly. She found that the safe warm feeling had not dissipated with her drunken state. This fact both worried and surprised her.

"Well, what did you do last night?" Halo asked as she sat across from her brother eating a serving of her his world famous Coq au Vin. She was not looking at him as she cut the chicken from the bone and stabbed the piece with her shiny fork.

Aaron smiled coyly, "Same thing you were, I suspect."

Halo looked up at her brother, and swallowed, without any enthusiasm, "Ha. Ha." She took a sip of the ice water that was in front of her, and continued to eat. Her brother smiled at her knowingly and went back to eating his own plate. Charlie had left hours before, for reasons unbeknownst to Skyler. She simply assumed that he was going to practice and did not particularly protest when he told her he had to go.

"Charlie's not like Michael," Aaron said seriously when he had finished his own plate of chicken, "He's not a dick, and I don't think he'd ever put himself before you if it came down to that."

"Aaron, why do you have to do that to me?" She asked, sullen, "I don't want to think about it. Besides, Dad's coming up. Do you really think he'd appreciate another professional athlete in my life at the moment?"

"Since when have I pretended to care what Dad thought?" Aaron retorted, smiling widely at his older sister.

She sighed, "Never?"

Aaron smiled, "Precisely, now let's get back to our Sega tournament. I'm leaving in a couple of days."

As they headed over to the couch, Halo couldn't help but feel her heart sink. Once Aaron was gone, she would be here all alone until their Dad came, and even then, her father was hardly the encouraging, warm kind of man. Her Dad would leave in two or three days, and she would fall back into her old habits of sleeping until mid-afternoon, completing a photo shoot in the city, and then making her way to Duff's for a few rounds.

Skyler did not suspect that anything would change between the times that her father left and at that current moment, but she was wrong – very wrong indeed.