NellieBly413672: Glad you liked it and thanks for the review! It's funny because for a while I wasn't sure myself if and who Kelly would end up with, but I always came back to the Mac idea. I'm not saying they'll definitely end up together though... and I'm not even sure I totally know for sure myself, lol. Enjoy the chapter!

meadow567: Thanks for the review and your insight! ) I won't make any promises, but I think you'll be happy with the way I think things play out. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

A/N: Here's another chapter, sorry it took so long to post. School's been so busy. Whenever I think I'll have time to write, I end up having some more work to do. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys and please review!!

The guys made it through the week after Christmas, all having loved their few days off. The majority of guys went home, and they all liked spending a little time with their families. That week, they had two games, and they ended up winning the first and tying the second. By the end of the week, the guys were glad for another day off. They needed the break. With the Olympics in less than two months, they still had a lot of work to do. Luckily, it was New Year's Eve and the team was all celebrating and going out somewhere. They had practiced that morning, and if it wasn't for New Year's Day being a Saturday, Herb would have had them practice the next morning as well.

"What do you guys want to do tonight?" Verchota asked the group as the guys were cleaning up after practice.

"Sleep," Bah commented dryly. Though it hadn't sounded like it, he had been joking. "I'm exhausted. I thought practices were hard enough before. Who would've guessed they could still get harder?"

"We could go downtown," Mac suggested. "There are lots of parties there."

"Or we could what Jimmy's suggested several times and go to that party at Jenny's," OC said. Jenny, or OC's Jenny, as some of the guys called her, was having a New Year's Eve Party. OC wasn't sure why Jimmy was the first to find out about it, but that really didn't matter. The party was actually at her sister's house. According to Jenny, her sister, Missy, lived in a mansion with her heart surgeon husband. The only three conditions for Jenny to have a party there was that she would clean up, Missy could have a few of her own friends come too, and it could be somewhat 'kid friendly'. Missy had two kids, and her friends had a few between them too.

"That's boring," Mac commented about the party.

"Then you can stay in the dorms by yourself. I think it sounds fun."

"You would," Mac said, knowing OC wanted to go because Jenny was going to be there. "You wanna get laid."

"Yeah," OC said, not afraid to admit the obvious.

"And if we go the party, Lexi can go," Jimmy pointed out. "That's part of the reason I've been suggesting it.

"Exactly," Mac stated. Another reason Mac didn't want to go. It wasn't a party if kids were going to be running all over. Jimmy rolled his eyes.

"Magic, are you bringing Lexi? Won't she be really tired?" asked Silky.

"Yeah. But if you all want to party at a bar or something, I can stick around here with Hannah. It's no big deal."

"No, we'll do something that she can do. Maybe if you bring her she'll sleep all day tomorrow," Verchota said.

"That's what I'm hoping," said Mark.

After a little more discussion, the guys decided to go Jenny's party. Just before seven, everyone was ready to go to the party. Mark didn't know how they did it, but everyone ended up cramming into three cars to get there. Needless to say, it was a tight squeeze. Mark had ridden over with Bah, OC, Mac, Jimmy, Verchota, and Lexi.

Bah, who had been in the passenger seat, jumped out of the car right away.

"Jeeze, that car ride wasn't at all quick enough."

"Well, I'm sorry I couldn't go 30 miles over the speed limit for you. Twenty was enough to get me a ticket two months ago," Mac said.

"Well, maybe if Verchota hadn't practically been on top of me, I would have been okay," Bah said.

"I couldn't sit any closer to Mac. He was driving. I didn't want to be in his way… or his elbows way for that matter."

"At least we'll have a few less people on the way home," Mac said.

"Why' s that?" asked Jimmy. Mac looked over to Mark and OC.

"I'll probably go to Hannah's for a while. And Lexi, obviously," Mark said.

"And of course I'll be going to Jenny's," OC said.

"You hope," was all Mark said in return.

"Yeah, I hope," OC said, correcting himself, with a cocky smile on his face, knowing that he didn't have to hope.

Mark was really glad that there were a few kids for Lexi to play with at the party. The kids all kept themselves occupied upstairs in one of Missy's kid's rooms, and Mark was enjoying himself at the party with Hannah, her friends, and his friends.

At that point, Mark, Mac, Hannah, Bah, Jenny, and OC were sitting in the living room, tuned into the Times Square New Year's Eve celebration with Dick Clark. Since New York was an hour ahead of them, it was already 11:30 there.

"Does anyone know why they drop a ball?" Mac asked. "I never really got that."

"Because of this passage of time thing. They drop to signal certain times of day for ships and stuff, and they were used long before in New York City on New Year's Eve," Bah said, knowingly.

"How the hell do you know that?" asked OC in disbelief.

"I saw this historical thing a few years ago on Rockin' New Year's Eve," he answered. That was what they were all watching then.

"Well Boston has a big party downtown too. A couple years ago they started this First Night thing. I guess it's pretty cool. They have music and fireworks and stuff."

"That's cool. There's nothing like that here," Mark said. "People just either have parties at their houses, or go out and get completely smashed at bars. New Year's Eve really isn't my favorite holiday. Personally I think it's another stupid excuse to get smashed and sleep with whoever someone wants."

"I like the sound of that," OC said joking.

"What's so bad about sleeping with whoever you want? Especially if that someone is your amazing girlfriend," Hannah said seductively, in a low voice so only Mark could hear her. OC heard too though, and shot Mark a glance asking if he was getting lucky tonight.

"Well, that wouldn't be so bad," Mark replied with a smile.

At a couple minutes to midnight, almost everyone was downstairs, getting ready to start the countdown. Even the kids came downstairs at that point. They would have all been extremely tired, but they were too excited, especially Lexi. This year was the first that Lexi was awake and she thought staying up until midnight was a big deal.

"Guys, thirty seconds until 1980," Verchota announced, watching the clock. The second hand moved to ten seconds left and everyone began counting down. When the clock struck midnight, couples kissed and shouts of "Happy New Year" were heard.

Hannah and Mark pulled away after a few seconds, breathless. Mark kept his forehead pressed against Hannah's. "No better way to start off the new year," he said.

"Well, that's debatable," Hannah said back, in a flirty tone, hinting the debatable part was what exactly they were doing. "But no matter what I'm doing, there's nobody better to spend it with than you." They kissed again in agreement.

After the party, Mark, Hannah, and Lexi all went to Hannah's house. Mark was spending the night there since he didn't have to be at practice the next morning or anything. Lexi was so tired she fell asleep in the car and barely stirred when Mark carried her inside and laid her on the couch. After covering her and kissing her goodnight, Mark followed Hannah into her room.

"I had a great New Year's Hannah," Mark said.

"Me too. And it's not over yet."

"It's not?" Mark asked, walking over to her and pulling Hannah into his arms. "What do you have in mind?" he asked suggestively.

Before either got around to answering that, they began kissing and seconds later Hannah pulled Mark onto her bed. As they were making out, with things getting really heated, Hannah pulled Mark's shirt off and ran her hands over his toned, muscular chest. Minutes later, Hannah's shirt was on the floor as well, and Mark stopped himself before unclasping her bra. Although he thought Hannah might want to have sex, he didn't want to pressure her if she in fact didn't.

As if silently speaking her wishes, Hannah began working at the button on Mark's jeans. He pulled away slightly and looked at Hannah.

"Are you sure?" he asked, needing confirmation.

Hannah nodded vigorously, then pulled him close and kissed him fiercely. "I want you so bad," she breathed.

Mark was about to argue with that. He reached around his girlfriend once again, and just as his hands were on her bra clasp, they both heard a voice from outside the room.

"Daddy!" they heard a tired and confused sounding Lexi call.

Mark rolled off of Hannah and they both sighed. Mark was more upset about their interruption than Hannah.

"Well doesn't she just have perfect timing?" Mark said sarcastically, still laying on the bed, and looking unwilling to get up. "That totally ruined the moment.

Hannah already pulled the sheet around her, in case Lexi decided to walk in.

"Daddy!" Lexi called again, now sounding upset and almost scared.

"I'm coming," Mark muttered, climbing out of bed and putting his shirt back on. Before walking out the door, Hannah stopped him.

"I'll be waiting right here for you," she said with a playful smile.

"I'll try to be quick," he said, though unsure of what exactly it was that Lexi needed and how long it would take.

"What do you want, Lexi?" Mark asked, making his way to the couch.

"I had a bad dream." Lexi went on to her dad about the dream, though he wasn't paying much attention. He had too many other things on his mind, like Hannah in the next room. After zoning for a couple minutes, Mark tuned back in.

"And then I woke up and it was really dark. You never put a little light on. And I didn't know where I was," she said.

"We're at Hannah's," Mark said.

"Well, it's dark, Daddy," Lexi said in a whiny voice. Usually Mark had a little night light on for Lexi in the dorms. She hated when it was totally dark. "And you never tucked me in," Lexi whined again.

"Stop that whining!" Mark told her. "And yes I did tuck you in. You were asleep."

"Oh," Lexi said.

"But since I'm here, I'll tuck you in again."

"Can you stay here until I fall asleep? I don't like the dark."

Mark sighed softly, but agreed.

Not too much later, Lexi was asleep and Mark went back into Hannah's room, ready to pick up where they left off. He knew they could easily get back into the moment again. Unfortunately for him though, Hannah was fast asleep.

Although he was a little disappointed, Mark thought Hannah looked incredibly cute and peaceful sleeping there. He crawled into bed next to her, and pulled the covers around them before cuddling right up next to Hannah. She stirred a little and mumbled something Mark couldn't quite make out. Hannah had a little smile on her face though, so Mark just kissed her and smiled back.

"I love you, Hannah," he said, and fell asleep moments later.

The next week was incredibly busy, and making things worse, Mark barely saw Hannah at all. She had to go back to work, and had meetings a lot that week after school. Mark had games at night, so although they saw each other, it wasn't for very long at a time.

Mark also had to see Becky again. That was one thing he really wasn't looking forward to. Lexi would actually be around this time, and Mark hoped to tell his daughter about Becky gradually, easing her into it.

Friday afternoon, Mark was expecting a phone call from Hannah. They were either going to do something together Friday night, Saturday night, or both. To Mark's disappointment though, it had turned out to be Becky on the phone. She wanted to come over that night to see Lexi.

Right after making plans with her, Hannah called.

"Why couldn't you have call five minutes sooner?" Mark groaned into the phone.

"Well I'm glad to hear from you too," Hannah teased.

"Becky called. She's coming over to see Lexi tonight. I couldn't say no, because after all, I had no set plans, and she's going to end up seeing her eventually."

"That's okay. We can spend tomorrow together. After practice we'll do something, and tomorrow night too."

"I don't know if I'll be able to get someone to watch Lexi though."

"We'll do something with her too then," Hannah said easily.

"But Hannah-" Mark began to protest.

"We'll find time alone soon, I promise," Hannah said. After being interrupted on New Year's, they mutually decided to not try having sex for the first time with Lexi in the other room again. Actually, it was more Hannah's decision, which Mark just agreed upon. If Mark had known they would have a tough time finding alone time, he would have never agreed though. Hannah took being interrupted as a sign that they should be really alone. At least for their first time together. Having Lexi in an adjacent room, and only a few steps away made Hannah uneasy.

After hanging up with Hannah, Mark went to find Mac or someone else on the team that he could beg to come over while Becky was there. Mark found Mac and Verchota down the hall.

"Mac, I have a huge favor to ask," Mark said.

"Oh no," Mac said. "I'm not watching Lexi tonight. Sorry. I have important plans."

"You do not!" Mark said. "And I don't want you to watch Lexi. I need company while Becky's over. I don't think I can handle being alone with her."

"Didn't you just say Lexi would be there?" Verchota asked, being smart. "You won't be alone with Lexi there too." Mark just gave Verchota an evil glance. "I'll come over," Verchota then offered.

Mark looked back at Mac, his eyes pleading Mac to stay in the room that night.

"Verchota just offered," Mac said.

"But I need someone who has no interest in dating Becky," Mark said.

"I don't have an interest in dating Becky," Verchota said immediately.

"Sleeping with, whatever," Mark said, correcting himself.

"I don't want to sleep with her either," Verchota said.

"Verchota, she's a member of the opposite sex in the age range of 16 to 40," Mac said laughing, having picked up on Mark's hesitancy. "Of course you'll try to sleep with her."

"I take offense to that!" Verchota said. "I do not try to sleep with every girl between 16 and 40."

"Sixteen and 30 then, whatever," Mac said, teasing him some more.

"More like 18 and 25," Verchota said, now joking back.

"Well, Becky's in that range," Mark said.

"I have limits and boundaries though," Verchota said.

"I'll stay with you," Mac finally offered, being a good friend. "Besides, I don't especially want to pick up any girls tonight anyway. I'm in no mood."

"Does he have a girlfriend?" Verchota asked Mark. "He's been acting really strange lately. He never wants to talk about girls anymore, or go out and pick girls up. I'm beginning to think he's hiding a girl from us."

Mark didn't want to say anything about Kelly, because aside from the fact that Mac and Kelly weren't dating, it wasn't his place to say anything anyway, but Mark figured Mac's strange behavior had something to do with Kelly.

"Why would I know anything if Mac's keeping a secret?" Mark asked to sidestep the question.

"You're roommates and pretty much best friends. Of course he would tell you things he doesn't tell anyone else."

"Well I don't know anything," Mark said.

Later on, while waiting for Becky to come over, Mark went over everything with Lexi. He knew he had to tell Lexi that her mother was coming over. Not only would Lexi have figured it out if not, being a smart girl and having had seen pictures of Becky, but Becky was bound to call Lexi her daughter at some point in the evening.

Mark also expected Lexi to be a bit shaken or surprised, some form of emotion showing when he told her, but he got nothing. Lexi took it really maturely for only being four.

"Why is she coming here?" Lexi asked.

"She hasn't seen you in a long time and wants to see you."

"You won't make me leave with her, will you?"

"No, you're staying right here." Mark didn't want to scare Lexi by telling her that he didn't trust Becky enough to be left alone with Lexi for five minutes, let alone take her anyplace. As long as Becky was around, Lexi wasn't leaving his sight. He had heard about too many kidnappings involving separated parents.

Mark knew in order to make Mac's plan work, he would have to tell Lexi part of the truth though, so he did, sugar coated how things really worked.

They were still waiting and Mac took the opportunity to thank Mark for not saying anything about Kelly.

"I just don't want to make it some big thing that it's not," Mac said. "I mean, we're not dating, and probably never will. I just feel like I don't want to see anyone else right now though. It's complicated."

"I understand," Mark said. A knock at the door interrupted their conversation.

Lexi went on playing with her Barbie's while Mark answered the door. Becky greeted Mark and walked in to see Lexi sitting on the floor. If she was at all upset about Mac's presence, she didn't show it.

"Oh my God, she's getting so big!" Becky gasped. "How's my little baby?" Becky asked Lexi, in a baby voice. Mark and Mac glanced at each other, both wondering how old Becky thought Lexi was. She acted like Lexi was no more than a year or so old. When Lexi responded, Mark and Mac almost laughed out loud.

"I am not a baby. I'm four," Lexi said in the most mature voice possible. "And why is your voice so weird?" Lexi asked. Becky shrunk away from Lexi, taking the hit.

All night, Lexi's performance was more than impressive. Like the guys told her earlier, she always called Becky, "Becky" and never "Mommy" and she was more than misbehaved.

"I said I wanted ice cream!" Lexi yelled when Mark brought a package of Oreos for everyone to share.

"Well, sweetie, I don't have any ice cream," Mark told her sweetly.

"Dammit Daddy – I want ice cream," she yelled again.

"Does she always do this?" Becky asked Mac quietly.

"Oh no, usually she's a lot worse. Mark told her to try to be good for you tonight."

"She's being good?" Becky wondered, her eyes wide in fear.

A few minutes later, Lexi pulled out her "Don't Break the Ice" game. "I want to play this," she announced. "Becky, set this up for me."

Becky set it up and they were ready to play. Before Becky could even reach for one of the mallets, Lexi began smashing the ice down. In less than two seconds, the game was over.

"Lexi, why did you do that?" Becky asked.

"Because I was playing the game."

"But we're supposed to take turns. If you knock the Iceman down, you lose," Becky told her.

"Well, I won," Lexi said.

"No," Becky told her.

"Yes I did, stupid! I won. Set it up again!" Lexi commanded her.

"Are you going to play right this time?" Becky asked.

"Yeah," Lexi said.

After doing the exact same thing again, Becky asked Mark to interfere.

"That's how she plays the game, Becky. I'm not going to make her angry." The whole time, Mac was doing everything he could to keep from laughing. He knew laughing could blow it all. Lexi was having a blast being a brat, and Mark was thrilled that she was pulling it off. With the way Becky was looking, it also looked like Lexi's act was working.

A while later, after a few more outbursts from Lexi, Becky got ready to leave. As soon as she did, Lexi turned back into sweet Lexi.

"Did I do a good job, Daddy?" she asked as sweet as ever.

"If you ask me, you did better than a five dollar job," Mac said.

"She didn't ask you, Mac," Mark said, through gritted teeth.

"How much do I get then?" Lexi asked, excited.

"How about ten?" Mac asked.

"Excuse me!" Mark said. "You aren't my agent. I'll make the negotiations." He turned to Lexi. "How about ten?"

Lexi held out her hand and Mark handed her two five dollar bills.

"Hey! Daddy, you said ten," Lexi said in protest.

"And I gave you two fives. Two fives make ten."

"Are you sure?" Lexi asked.

"Yeah," Mark said. "I know how to add."

"Okay. Thank you."

"Hey Lexi," Mark said, as an afterthought. "How did you think of all of that?"

"All what?" she asked.

"Everything that you did I mean, you were really bad, and mean. Was it hard to be that mean?"

Lexi shrugged. "No, I didn't like her anyways. She treated me like a baby."

"But she's your real mother," Mac interjected, thinking Lexi must have felt something for Becky.

Lexi shook her head, obviously not understanding the meaning of a biological mother. "Real mommies play with kids, teach kids stuff, and love them and things. Like what Hannah does. She's like a real mommy. But that lady was pretending to love me. She didn't even know that this Barbie's name is Megan, and this one is Caroline. Hannah knows that. We made up their names together. That lady kept calling them both Barbie. She was not my mommy," Lexi concluded assertively.

Although Mark and Mac didn't entirely get the whole thing about the Barbie's having all different names -Barbie's were another world to them - they understood what Lexi was trying to get at.

"But you don't call Hannah Mommy," Mac said.

"I know. Because her name's Hannah. And she's not married. Mommy's have to be married to the Daddy's. Then they're Mommies," Lexi explained, as if it were the most simple thing in the world. Mark only wished things were as simple as they were from a four year olds perspective.

After Mark put Lexi to bed, he talked to Mac about how Mac's plan had gone.

"I almost feel a little guilty, playing Becky like that," Mark admitted.

"Why? After everything she did to you, you actually feel sorry about it. I wouldn't."

"I don't give a rat's ass how Becky feels or what I do to her, it's Lexi I'm hurting too though. When she's older, she'll blame me for her mother never wanting to see her."

"But you have Hannah. Lexi doesn't need her real mother."

"What happens if I don't' always have Hannah?" Mark wondered, though hating to admit the thought of ever not being together. It wasn't that he couldn't see a future with Hannah, but the fact was was that people broke up. Sometimes things didn't work out. Mark wasn't going to fool himself.

"Stop being so pessimistic," was Mac's only reply.

A while later, Mark went to bed, and was able to sleep pretty good that night. Although he was unsure exactly how things went with Becky, he had a good feeling that they went okay and that she wouldn't being coming around to see Lexi again anytime soon. Mac was right when he said that Lexi be extremely bad and misbehaved would scare Becky into not wanting to have anything to do with Lexi. And now he felt better about that. No matter what, Mark and Lexi were definitely better off without Becky in their lives anyway.