NellieBly413672: Thanks so much for your review! I'm glad you liked the chapter. You'll get answers to all of your questions soon enough!

A/N: Sorry this was sort of delayed… enjoy and pretty please review when you're done! Oh yeah, I couldn't find much information on OC's injury (like what period it happened and who actually injured him), so if you know the accurate information and I got it wrong, sorry.

Chapter 33: Smoke on the Water

When the guys arrived in New York it was mid afternoon but looked like nighttime. It was a really gloomy day with dark, dense clouds filling the sky and a cold chill in the air with a biting wind.

"The sky is crazy looking. It's so ominous – I just hope it isn't a bad premonition," OC said as the team took a bus to their hotel.

"I still can't believe we're playing the Soviets tomorrow," Phil said. "What was Herb thinking?" he wondered aloud.

"Probably that it'll be good practice," Mark offered.

"Or to scare the shit out of us," Bah said.

"I think scaring the shit out of us has been his strategy for the last seven months," Mac said. "Now it'll just get reinforced."

The team arrived at the hotel and waited in the bus for a few minutes while Walter and Herb took care of checking the team in. After they came back with room assignments, the guys got their room keys and were ready to head upstairs.

"Hey OC, I think the room is this way," Mac told his road roommate when they got to the fifth floor.

"No, five twenty is this way," OC told Mac and pointed to a sign as evidence.

"My key says five-oh-five."

After the other guys compared their keys too, they realized Herb mixed up the normal road pairs. Mac was with Rizzo instead of OC, OC was with Phil, Bah was with Silky, and the mix ups went on.

"Well, that's okay," Bah said. Bah motioned between himself and Silky and said, "We were roommates in Europe before we got switched up the first time." After Europe, Herb switched many of the guys around but no one cared because it was so early on they weren't accustomed to their rooming situations yet.

"No, this is not okay," Mac said. "He can't switch it up now. I need to room with OC."

"Yeah, there's no way we're tipping the balance now," OC said in agreement.

"So you superstitious hockey players figured it out then?" Riley asked, just having arrived on the floor.

"Herb can't do this to us," Buzz said. "I say we all switch rooms so we're in our normal pairs."

"Well, Silky has to keep whatever room he was given. If not he'll complain about getting switched," Pav said.

"I'm right here you know," Silky reminded him. "And I will not complain. What on earth would I have to complain about?"

"Getting a 'worse' room," Pav said and rolled his eyes, as if no rooms were really better or worse than others.

"Look, I like my bed facing a certain way, alright!" Silky half shouted, as if he had to defend himself every single time they checked into a hotel.

"And you have to have the bed closer to the window," Pav added laughing.

"I wouldn't be talking Pavy," Silky said. "If I remember correctly, you're the one who has a night light in the bathroom."

"Shut up, Silk," Pav said, shoving his teammate hard against the wall. "You know I only turn it on when I'm drunk."

"You're scared of the dark when you're drunk?" Rizzo asked. "How come this isn't common knowledge on the team? I feel like there have been many times this should have come out already."

"I'm not scared of the dark when I'm drunk. One time in college I was drunk and couldn't see from the combination of it being dark and having blurry vision, and I almost got a concussion tripping over my roommates fricken' hockey bag and almost hitting my head on the sink."

"Sorry," Bah said, taking the hint when Pav stressed 'roommate'. Pav and Bah were roommates in college.

"Riley, are you on this floor?" Bah then asked, noticing Riley was walking toward a room with a key.

Riley nodded.

"Ugh," Phil said. "That means Herb is on this floor too?"

"Yep, we all are," Riley said. Sometimes Riley hated being the only girl, because she was usually stuck in her uncle's room on road trips. It wasn't a big deal, but Riley liked having her own room whenever possible.

"Just wonderful," Bah said sarcastically. "That means we might not be able to switch rooms."

"You can still switch," Riley told them. "It's not like Herb'll check each room individually."

"Are you sure about that?" Mac asked.

"No," Riley laughed.

The next night was the big pre-Olympic game against the Soviets. The team went through their pregame rituals being careful not to mess any of their routines up. A lot of nervous energy could also be felt in the locker room. Everyone was tense and on edge. Riley tried to remind them that it was only a 'warm-up' game and that it didn't really mean anything, but it didn't help their nerves much, and besides that, it wasn't completely true.

Hearing Herb and Walter discuss things, Riley knew that this game was bigger than her uncle was letting on, and she figured the guys knew it too. According to Herb, the reason the USOC agreed to schedule the game was for an Olympic promotion. Fans were getting revved up for the Olympics and a preview to the biggest potential match up of the games was sure to increase the enthusiasm. People wanted to see a good contest though, not a blow out.

Further, although Riley herself down played the game for the guy's sake, she was also nervous. She tried her best not to show it because she wanted the guys to see that someone felt calm, confident, and not so jittery. Riley's biggest concern was that the guys didn't lose confidence by playing the Soviets now. The US team had come such a long way together and built their confidence throughout their exhibition schedule, but a bad game as dictated by the final score had the potential to set them back.

The first period began with the Soviets scoring a go ahead goal early on. It was on a breakaway, and one that shouldn't have happened. After the first goal, things continued going downhill. By the time the third period came around, they were finishing the game just as a technicality. The score was eight to two, and for all intents and purposes, the game was over. The two goals the team scored so far were just a matter of chance and basically pure luck. One was on a power play and the other was on a freak breakaway that happened only because the Soviets were in the middle of a line change.

Riley was watching the game intensely from her spot on the bench. She was happy to be on the bench, because sometimes she was required to sit in the stands. If there wasn't enough room, she was always the first to get booted. Tonight, Herb had her watching the Soviet team and paying attention to their 'weaknesses'. Riley was beginning to think his request was a rhetorical one, because throughout the game so far, Riley realized the Soviet team really didn't have any weaknesses.

Riley began looking around at the crowd now, taking it all in. With each addition to the Soviet goal tally, the crowd became more and more apathetic. At least they were into the game for the first period, Riley thought.

Riley looked back to the ice just in time to see OC get hit and knocked down to the ice. The team had been getting pushed around quite a bit that night, and there were a lot of falls, so at first, neither Riley nor anyone else gave the hit a second thought. When OC didn't get up, everyone on the team, including Riley and the coaching staff, started to worry.

An icing call soon followed the hit, and once play was stopped, the guys on the ice skated over to check on OC.

"You okay, man?" Rammer asked.

"I need Doc," OC responded, pain evident in his voice.

"Doc," Rammer called and waved over to the bench. Doc hurried onto the ice, leaving everyone wondering how bad the injury was.

Although it took several minutes to get OC off the ice and for play to start up again, time passed in a blur. Riley was sent to the locker room to get ice and the rest of the medical equipment set up, so she didn't even get the chance to see whether OC was okay or not. On the bench, the guys were all talking about OC and trying to speculate on the extent of the injury. Herb remained as composed as ever, almost as if it didn't phase him. Applause rang through the arena once OC was being helped to the bench and down the hallway to head into the locker room.

Riley got back to the bench after she finished in the locker without getting to see OC at all or hearing anything about his condition. She wasn't of much help to his inquiring teammates when she returned to the bench.

"Sorry," she told Rizzo, who was the only to actually voice his concern. Everyone else was just looking at Riley with an expected look, as if she would just offer information. "I don't know anything," she added, wishing she could have given the guy's good news.

After the game, Riley immediately went back to see how OC was doing. At this point, he was alone in the room with ice on his knee. Riley figured Doc had gone to take care of things concerning the hockey player.

"Hey," Riley said, poking her head in the room, almost like she was afraid to come in all the way.

OC didn't respond, but looked over at Riley and nodded a silent hi.

"How's the knee?"

"Hurts like hell," OC grimaced.

Riley walked over to the table where OC was laying and stood next to it. "Doc know what's wrong with it?"

"No," OC said. "I think it's bad though. He wouldn't tell me much. Only said that it's better if we wait for the x-rays to make any diagnosis."

"I'm sure it'll be okay, OC."

"I don't know about that," he replied, sounding as unhopeful as ever.

"Well, it doesn't look too bad," Riley said, trying to sound optimistic.

"Of course it doesn't look bad. You can't see the ligaments and tendons, and whatever else… it hurts like a mother fucker though."

Riley just smiled a weak smile at OC's comment. She didn't realize he was being sarcastic with the first part of his statement. "I'm gonna go see if Herb needs anything. I'll be back soon," Riley said, and patted OC's shoulder.

After Riley found out that Doc was heading to a local hospital with OC, Riley begged to go.

"Please Uncle Herb. I really want to go with him. He needs someone there for support."

"That's why Doc is going, Riley."

"But Herb," Riley said, abandoning the use of 'Uncle'. "I think he really needs me there."

Riley sensed that Herb didn't feel like arguing, because he sighed and said, "Alright, fine, you can go," almost immediately.

"Thank you!" Riley said. She wanted OC to have someone to talk to, and she knew Doc just wouldn't cut it. Besides, Riley figured Doc would need to be making arrangements and talking to the doctors, and OC would be alone for the most part if Riley wasn't there.

Riley then ran back to the room OC was still in and bounded inside excitedly.

"Guess what?"

OC just looked at Riley with a straight face, wondering what on earth she was so happy about right then. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing to be excited about.

"I get to keep you company at the hospital tonight."

"Wonderful," OC said sarcastically. He wasn't in the mood to share in Riley's excitement. Honestly, he didn't care who was at the hospital. He could be alone and it would make no difference to him. The only thing that mattered was hearing that he would be able to play in the Olympics.

"Well, I thought you'd be a little happier," Riley responded, this time noticing OC's sarcastic tone.

"Look Riley, I'm sorry if I'm not happy enough for you, but I'm not going to pretend everything will be okay, because I don't know that yet!" OC yelled.

"Jack, I'm just trying to help," Riley said, sounding defeated. "And you have to think positively. Everything will be okay," she stressed, trying to show some optimism in her voice.

"How the hell do you know that?" OC spat.

"I'm sorry Jack," Riley said, realizing she was making the already upset hockey player ever angrier.

"Don't be sorry, just stop," he said, sounding frustrated.

After a minute of silence, Riley spoke up again. "Does your knee feel any better than it did before?" She was just asking because he wasn't crying anymore, and he didn't look like he was in as much pain. She was also trying to make small talk and thereby gauge if he was still upset.

"Yeah, it does," OC answered, with an exasperated sigh.

"Did Doc say what he thought might be wrong?"

"No, Riley, he didn't!" OC yelled. Then, he went on, "Jesus, I thought we've already been over this! Would you just leave me the fuck alone? I don't want to talk to you right now."

"I'm just trying to help," Riley said softly.

"You. Can't. Help!" OC shouted. "You're NOT making me feel better. You're so God damned annoying and just making everything worse. So for the love of God, shut the fuck up and leave me the hell alone!" Then OC muttered, "And she wonders why no one on this team liked her."

Riley heard everything, including the comment OC didn't really mean for her to her, and she was hurt. She glared at OC, and then stormed out of the room, not wanting to deal with him.

I don't have to deal with his crap, Riley thought angrily. I was trying to be nice. Instead he screams at me and treats me like he still hates me. I'm not that annoying, the teen thought sadly. She was still angry, but at the same time, she was also upset. What OC said had really hurt her. She hoped the guys didn't see her as annoying. Do they all think I should just leave them alone?

"Riley, Doc's about ready to go," Herb said, pulling his niece from her thoughts.

"I think I'd rather go with the team. OC doesn't need me," Riley said sadly.

"Okay Riley, you can head to the bus then," Herb replied casually. Riley knew he was clearly too dense to tell she was upset.

A sulky Riley climb on the bus and took the empty aisle seat next to Mac. Rizzo and Buzz were sitting on the opposite side of the aisle, the three guys all talking to one another.

"I thought you were going with OC?" Mac questioned.

"Yeah, not anymore," Riley answered.

"What's wrong?" Mac asked, sounding concerned.

"Nothing," Riley responded.

"You can't fool me," Mac told her. He thought she looked like she was ready to cry.

"Am I annoying?" Riley asked. "Please be honest."

"No," Mac answered.

"OC seems to think so," Riley said, now holding back tears.

Mac didn't know what to say, so he looked across the aisle at Rizzo and Buzz. Not that they would know what to say either, but he hoped they would.

Rizzo sighed. Dealing with Riley was not something he enjoyed, but he knew OC really well, so he actually knew he could help.

Rizzo leaned across the aisle and put his hand on Riley's shoulder.

"OC's just upset. Don't let what he says get to you."

"But he was really mad. I've never seen him so upset unless he's on the ice. Even when we fought constantly, he was never that angry."

"Have you ever heard the expression that people take things out on the ones they care about the most?" Rizzo asked.

"Dude, that's not an expression," Mac said with a laugh.

"Does it matter?" Rizzo asked. "It's the point. People still say something like that," Rizzo said.

"But that doesn't make it an expression," Mac argued. He noticed that he got a smile out of Riley at his arguing with Rizzo.

"It's still true," Rizzo said, getting frustrated and not realizing Mac was just teasing him to make Riley smile. "Anyway Riley, you and OC have a special sort of relationship. I don't understand it at all," Rizzo said, and tried to flash Riley an encouraging smile, "but you do. And I think he was just taking it all out on you. He couldn't take it out on any of us," Rizzo said, meaning the team, "because we weren't in there. And he knew better than to take it out on Herb, or Doc, or Coach Patrick. You were the only one available."

"I'm sure he would have like to take it out on that ass that hit him," Buzz said, referring to the Soviet player that caused the injury.

Riley smiled. "I'm sure he would have. Then she added, "I just hope he gets the chance." The guys knew by this Riley meant she hoped OC would be able to play in the games.

"We all do, Riley," Rizzo said.

"I sure hope it's a sunny and bright when we play the Soviets again," Mac said. "OC was right about the sky yesterday morning being a bad premonition."