Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with the movie or the real story, I'm just celebrating their achievement in my own way.

AN: Hi, Thank you for reading and reviewing. Sorry for the delay in posting this, but Happy New Year to all.

Chapter 11 – Facing our challenges

Ellie

I knew the guys pulled some stunt to distract me as I got on the plane, whether it was planned or not I didn't care, they were trying to help, although I'm not sure how much Jack and Jimmy thought it worked when I practically broke their hands during takeoff, that and almost passing out from holding my breath, I'm not sure which scared them the most. Once the flight had levelled out the attendants served dinner, which didn't help my already delicate stomach, I got one whiff of the smell and bolted for the nearest toilet and when I wasn't in there throwing up, Jack was trying to persuade me that I had to eat. Jimmy had moved a few rows back to join a card game some of the guys were getting into.

Jack was debating something with a few of the guys sat across the aisle as I returned to my seat from the latest trip to the toilet. I didn't actually sit down, but leant against the cabin wall and sipped a can of soda, taking in the mixture of activity going on around me, wishing I felt better enough to at least sit and have a conversation, but I was thankful that I had made it about halfway through the flight without completely freaking out.

I know that what happened to my Dad was a rare occurrence and that statistically flying was about the safest mode of transport, but with everything being so recent I was still coming to terms with the fact that I would never see him again.

Suddenly the plane shuddered as we hit turbulence, enough to throw me a little off balance and churn up my still queasy stomach. I think I would have actually ended on the floor if Jack hadn't have had such lightning reflexes. His hands caught my elbows and steadied me, I must have dropped the soda because I was gripping his arms with both my hands in response, tight enough for my fingernails to leave marks on his skin.

"Ell, I got you, its just some turbulence, we're fine." I could hear him talking, but my heart was pounding in my chest and blood was rushing through my ears, I felt dizzy. Jack looked concerned, "Ellie, are you okay?"

I forced myself to nod my head, but immediately shook it as well when my stomach churned again, forcing me back to the tiny airplane bathroom. I think I must have lived in there for about half hour while the turbulence continued. When I finally made it back to my seat Doc was waiting for me, he offered to give me a jab of something, to help me relax or stop feeling sick or something, I declined.

"Ell? I talked to the Captain, I know you said you took some flying lessons, did you want to go sit up front?" Jack announced too brightly as I pressed my hand against my stomach as if doing so would top the nausea. Any other time I would have jumped at the chance to go to the flight deck, but not this time. I shook my head.

"I can't, will you just sit here with me?"

"Sure." He lay back in his seat, the chatter from the plane mostly having died down as the guys tried to sleep. The few that were still awake were reading or watching the in-flight movie. Doc assured me he was nearby if I changed my mind about the shot and then returned to his seat in the forward section with the rest of the team managers.

I curled up in my seat and Jack wrapped his arm around me, letting me rest my head on his chest. I must have dozed off for a while as his heartbeat lulled me. I was jolted awake by another brief bout of turbulence. Sitting up I was able to extract myself without disturbing him as he slept. I pulled out the package of photos I'd picked up earlier and started to go through them, it took a while as there were about 3 rolls of film, including my pictures from the weekend at the lake. I lost myself in the memories as I worked through them, trying to formulate a plan about what to do with them.

I sorted them into three piles, the ones of the hockey players, the ones I'd taken at the lake and the ones Mac had taken, some of the latter in particular caught my attention and I wondered if he was awake, I wanted to show them to him.

...

Mac

I'd gathered from some of the guys earlier that Ellie was having a pretty rough flight, but it seemed she was being looked after, with Jack, Jimmy and Doc hovering around her, so I left her in peace and settled down to watch the movie. She didn't need all of us crowding her.

I must have got pretty involved with the movie because I was surprised when she dropped into the seat next to me. I pulled out the uncomfortable earphones as I glanced at her.

"Hey, you alright?" I asked only to hear her groan.

"I've never been so sick in my life. ... I think it's settling down now."

"You eaten anything yet?" I asked, more for something to say than because I was really expecting an answer.

"Not really, Jack tried to insist I ate dinner, but that's when it all started,"

"Here, you should try something light," I offered handing her the packet of cheese biscuits from my dinner tray.

"Thanks," she tore open the packet and started nibbling on one of the crackers. We lapsed into a companionable silence for a moment, then my curiosity got the better of me and I had to ask.

"So you and Jack? You kept that pretty quiet, that why he was so mad when you left?"

"I have no idea why Jack was so uptight about me leaving, nothing was going on. I'm actually not sure it is now, I think he's doing it to get me through the flight," from her answer it didn't sound like she was sure about what was going on.

"So you're not dating?"

"Not exactly, there hasn't really been time, ... it all started right before we left the motel, when he came to find me."

Some people might think it strange that we were sitting talking about her relationship with a former adversary and now team mate of mine, but the weekend at the lake and the conversations we shared had established a level of trust between us and if she needed to talk about Jack, I was an outsider, Jimmy and the others couldn't offer that objectivity and right now she had no female company to confide in. That would probably change when we got home as Gayle and Barbara Morrow would be around, but for now I was happy to be her sounding board.

"I've got something to show you," she offered drawing me back from my thoughts and for the first time I noticed the package sitting on her lap. She handed it to me I opened it and looked inside to see a bunch of photos. "pictures from the lake, " she said and I pulled them out and started to flick through them.

"Black and White?" I questioned.

"That was earlier, before you arrived, I was experimenting."

I held up one photo, the lake looked glassy, it was still, and standing on the shore was a male deer, it was one of those shots that just took your breath away and the fact that it was in black and white seemed to make it all the more breathtaking. The beast was impressive, majestic one would probably call it, one whose antlers any hunter would love to have mounted on a wall.

"Wow, this is good." I told her holding up the photo.

"It was worth waiting for, I got a couple of others with it a bit further away, but this one was worth getting cramp for. I can't believe it came out that well."

I flicked through a few others until I came to the ones we had taken after I arrived, these were mostly in colour but my favourite one had to be the ones at the bottom of the pile, I sensed she'd put them there for a reason.

"Maybe I should change career after the Olympics and go into business with you, think you could take up modelling?" I asked grinning at her holding one of the pictures between us.

"And give up the NHL?"

"Who knows, maybe they'll change their minds and won't want me when we fail at Lake Placid." Hardly anyone understood what Herb was talking about during his training sessions or why we kept running those drills, we just did it and tried to play along, hoping things would eventually stick and make sense.

"You won't fail, you might not win when you face the Russians, but you should do okay against the rest, that's why we're going to all this trouble booking these games, so you get lots of practice."

"You changed the subject," I teased, looking at the photo in my hand again, "can I keep this?"

"I'm not sure why you want to, but you took it." She answered, she sounded a little nervous.

"It'll remind me of the weekend we all spent up at the lake." I replied, still looking at the photo, I'd never thought of Ellie as beautiful until that moment at the lake and this photo captured it.

"So will the others, you don't need a picture of me." She challenged.

"Ah, that's where you're wrong. This is my inspiration, you're already facing your challenges, I need to face mine and do the best that I can to bring home a gold medal." I told her, believing for the first time that we were on a mission and I had a part to play.

"You think that's possible? I know you'll have to face the Russians and haven't they won everything for the last 20 years?"

"I know, pretty tough road, I just hope we don't show ourselves up."

"I'm sure –" She suddenly stopped and the colour drained from her face.

"Ellie?"

"I'm fine, we're starting to descend." I hadn't noticed anything different and looked at her curiously. "... we should be landing in about half hour." She offered weakly.

"How do you know?"

"Years of experience I guess. ... I'd better go back to my seat. Thanks for the company."

She stood up and walked away taking the package of photos with her, except for the few she'd let me keep. I looked at them again and thought back to the night at the lake where we'd sat and watched the sun set.

...

Jack

After effectively a 15 hour journey we had arrived; we'd made it through the flight and were all exhausted by the time we reached the hotel. Once out of the airport Ellie had settled down and dozed for a while on the bus transfer, but by the time we reached the outskirts of the city she was awake and taking in the sights. I was relieved to see some colour returning to her face, even if she still looked a little tense. The landing had been only marginally better than take off, but at least my hands were intact.

Arriving at the hotel, she was first off the bus to begin the check-in process, her head clearly back on her work. We were the last to check in as she waited for everyone else to get sorted. I walked her to her room and waited as she dropped her coat and bag on a chair.

"You didn't have to do this Jack."

"I know, but I wanted to make sure you're okay."

"I'm fine, I'm going to go to bed for a few hours, my head's pounding and my shoulder aches. You probably should rest yourself."

"I could just stay and we curl up on your bed." I whispered, wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her closer.

"Jack, I can't." She pressed her hand against my chest and fingered the collar of my shirt and I noticed the hesitancy in her eyes and wondered what was going through her mind. I felt her shift in my arms and I tightened my hold, my hand supporting her neck as I brushed my lips across hers.

"We don't have to do anything, I just figured you'd like the company." I had no idea where those words came from, I'd never said anything like that before to any girl I'd dated, but it had never crossed my mind until that moment that I hadn't even thought about sleeping with her. I guess you could say I had a reputation. I'd had several girlfriends and slept with most of them, but none of them were anything like the girl I now had wrapped in my arms.

"I'll be fine, I made it through the flight thanks to you, Jimmy and Mac, I need time to recover now."

"You sure? I'll sleep on the floor if you'd still like company."

That made her smile, "It's a sweet offer but I'll be fine."

I kissed her again, "you know where I am if you need anything?"

"I do," She stopped for a moment, something else clearly on her mind. "Can I ask you a question?" I watched the pink tinge flush her cheeks, I nodded. "Are you doing this to distract me from flying?"

"Hell no way!" I exclaimed, but then thought for a second and smiled at her, "it's just a bonus. ... Ell, I swear what happened back at Lake Placid wasn't planned, it's not some game."

"Good, now you'd better go find Dave before he locks you out and you end up sleeping in the hallway." She insisted, pulling out of my arms then yawning. "I'll catch up with you later."

Seemed like I had my orders and she was looking practically asleep on her feet so I stepped closer once more, caressed her cheek and pressed a kiss to her lips, "sweet dreams dahlin'" I whispered before leaving her and heading in search of my own room down the hall.

Judging by the room assignments we'd been paired up again, we had bunked together a few times on road trips with the team so it wouldn't be too bad; I only hoped Silky didn't want to bring a girl back to the room though or I would be begging Ellie to sleep on her floor. The other downside was the list of twenty questions or more he'd ask the minute I stepped through the door.

"She kick you out already?" He asked as I tossed my bag on the unoccupied bed, ignoring the question. "You and her? She's not your usual type Jack, what came over you? I figured her more Jimmy's type, quiet and broody, she's way outta your league."

"I like her alright?" I snapped heading for the bathroom and closed the door, wondering if he was right. Was she out of my league?

...

Jimmy

We were on our final leg of the European trip, two games in Holland and six in Finland were already behind us and we'd won six of the eight games we'd played, not bad for a rookie team, and when you consider that it was the Dutch national team and Finland's equivalent of the NHL it wasn't a bad record. We had covered nearly 3000 miles, mostly by train in just over 2 weeks, but with such a punishing schedule we had barely had time to register where we were let alone enjoy the sites. We had arrived in Oslo yesterday and gained our first free hours, making the most of the opportunity the whole team headed into town, the coaches doing the cultural tour while we went to find the hot spots. Ellie had even persuaded Jack that she'd be fine alone for a few hours and that he should go with us. None of us knew what her plans were and she never revealed them; it was great for all of us to have a morning off without drills and practice.

The team was coming together more and everyone was a little more relaxed, which we were to discover later was not a good thing to be in front of Herb. I hadn't got a clue what was going on at the end of the game when he insisted we stayed on the ice after our first game, tying 3-3 with Norway. I soon found out he was royally pissed at our performance, but more so the attitude of the guys not playing whose minds were occupied with thoughts other than the game.

His punishment as he lectured us were the dreaded Herbies, no fun for Jannie and I in full keepers gear at any time, but especially that night when he pushed us beyond our normal tolerances and didn't even stop when the rink manager killed the lights. The only person not skating with us was Buzzy since he'd been kicked out of the game earlier. Everyone else had long gone, but Herb pushed us on. A number of the guys, including me and Jannie hit the ice more than once as we fought to breath and struggled to hold ourselves upright. Everything hurt by the time Rizzo made a stand, introducing himself, as Herb had us all do the first day, except this time when asked who he played for, the regional bias was gone, he played for the USA. With that Herb dismissed us.

We all practically crawled off the ice. Buzz and Ellie looked concerned as they spoke to Doc as we filed past, taking notes Ellie nodded to Doc and walked away, I only hoped Doc was having them do something to help us out.

Arriving back at the hotel without showers or the normal post match physio all we wanted to do was fall into bed, but Buzzy met us and directed us to the hotel conference room. Everyone protested, but went anyway, unwilling to fall any further into Herb's bad books.

Ellie still looked concerned as we filed into the room, where she handed us ice packs and bottles of water. She tried to greet us all with a smile, but no one had the energy to smile back. We entered the room further and found Doc and Craig and another couple of young men so we wondered what was going on.

"Alright boys come on in and settle down so we can check you out and get you back to your rooms and the showers as fast as we can."Craig announced. Thankfully we had been able to leave our gear in the locker room at the arena, so it was one less thing to worry about.

"Jimmy, Jannie, you're up first, these guys will take care of you while Doc checks over the rest," Craig informed us with a sympathetic eye. I was glad I wouldn't have to wait the thought of a hot shower and a soft bed the only thing keeping me going.

"Mika and Otto will give each of you a 10 minute massage, a couple of others will arrive shortly to help out. When you're done, straight to your rooms warm showers, and bed. Make sure you collect another bottle of water from Ellie and drink it before you turn in." Doc instructed, trying to eye each of us so we knew he was serious.

No one raised any complaints as Jannie and I almost limped to the makeshift massage tables. I glanced around and noticed Ellie had disappeared, and that Jack still had to make an appearance, I guessed she may have gone to track him down as he was the only one not present. Even Buzz had returned and was helping Doc. As the trip had progressed Ellie became a little more confident around Jack and had certainly started to respond to his teasing, but it was more than the friendly banter. The nights when we had been able to go out, which weren't many, Jack was often absent and when he did go he stayed with the group, apparently oblivious to the girls flaunting themselves at us. Silky had badgered him several times, but he'd remained quiet about whether anything was happening. No one had seen anything particular, but a few of us just had a feeling something was happening that meant they were more than just friends. Whatever it was I was thankful for the distraction it gave her from the times when we had to fly, and now in a few days we were going to have to go home.

...

Jack

When we had our little incident on the runway coming home from Norway I was glad Ellie hadn't been with us. Her brother had been in London on business and detoured via Oslo to take her home, they needed some time together and she needed to be back in Minnesota ahead of us to work out a few things so it was a good plan for her to travel with him. She left right after our second Norway game, so I never really got to see her before she left, then by the time she made it home and had a chance to call we were on a rickety plane heading for Newfoundland.

Anyway Newfoundland, it would have freaked her out, I just hoped she hadn't talked to Patti Brooks and heard what had happened. Bad weather started a whole chain of events, a severe rainstorm dropped the pilots visibility and as we taxied out to the runway after refuelling we managed to hit a moose. It was an airport for Christ sake, why weren't the animals kept away from the planes? I digress, we hit the moose, that meant the plane had to be returned to the hanger for a maintenance check, and as there were no drivers for those trucks they use to move the planes around Herb volunteered our services, so there we were out in the driving rain pushing the plane back to the hanger. We all looked like drowned rats after, not to mention felt like it too probably, that's if anyone knows how a drowned rat feels.

So because of the weather and the moose we were delayed landing in Minnesota by about 5 hours, but one thing was certain we were all looking forward to getting to the dorms and being able to crash. Talking was limited as we moved through the airport like zombies, I was so tired I didn't even know what I was thinking as I hauled my hockey bag off the conveyor belt.

We dragged ourselves through the arrivals gate on autopilot, waiting for someone to tell us where to go so we could all follow like lemmings, well I was until Mac nudged my arm half way across the concourse and pointed to the figure standing in the doorway a bus behind her in the loading zone. I moved forward feeling more enthused. It was nearly 3am and she was the best thing I'd seen in days, I dropped my bag at her feet and swept her into my arms.

"Hey dahlin' what are you doin' here? I didn't expect to see you until tomorrow." I greeted her, the waft of her perfume working like a caffeine fix to wake me up.

"Jack it is tomorrow," she chided, "besides who else is there to keep you in order?" Maybe I hadn't woken up enough and was dreaming about her cracking jokes. On the other hand maybe not. "Why were you so late?" The frown appeared on her forehead and I ran my fingers across it hoping to smooth it out. It was the one question I had been dreading and hoped to explain once we'd all had some sleep, I also didn't relish the thought of explaining everything with the guys around. "Jack?" I hadn't answered and the longer I waited the worse she was going to think it was.

"I'm sorry Ell, I'm just tired. Bad weather and a queue for fuel in Newfoundland." I left out the part about the moose and hoped that the boys would keep it quiet. I'd tell her the rest tomorrow, later, whatever; the long journey and exhaustion were hampering my brain cells. I hoped it was enough to end this conversation for a while.

"You sure?" She looked hesitant, but there was no way I was going to lay our near miss on her standing outside the airport and I hoped the guys would have the sense not to say anything either.

"I'm sure ... I promise Ell, no one was hurt." She looked at me confused, but never got to say anything as Coach Patrick joined us and I let her go so that I could stow my bags on the bus.

As always looking forward to any comments.