Life's Full of Little Surprises

Disclaimer: I own absolutely none of the 'Mighty Duck' characters or the rights to the "Mighty Duck" franchise, that honor belongs to Disney. So I would appreciate that I wouldn't get sued over something I don't own.

Summary: Dani's life couldn't be going better. She has finally made it to the Olympics, doing the sport she loves the most. But... after arriving in Minneapolis, Minnesota things change. First she is constantly badgered by her brother, then she falls for one of his friends, and, of course, there is always a stalker!

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mdgirl18- I'm glad that you loved Charlie in the last chapter. And at least you're being honest about waiting for this story (or lack thereof). But I have one question, you said that you watched MD 3 and it reminded you of this story, does that mean that it's a forgettable story? Just asking. Thanks for reviewing.

Thank you Tinkerbell821 and PrincessH!

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This was it... The time had finally come... Today was the day... The 2006 Olympics. Dani sighed as she waited for her time to skate. She was the second to last person to skate and it sucked to wait. Tammy was currently in position for silver and Gala was in gold, but it was only the short skate. Tomorrow would be more training and then the day after was the long program. Trying to keep her mind off of being up next was much harder then some people would think.

The only thing that occupied her mind was skating, and not just hers. The men's skate had been a week and a half before. Mathieu had placed silver behind a Russian named Evgeni Plushenko (A/N: did actually win the gold... He was awesome), that no one could touch if their lives depended on it. Joey and her partner, Blaise Reynaud, had gained the bronze in pairs skating, but not after a tumultuous battle that brought Joey to the brink.

It began during the short program and went downhill from there. During one of the lifts, Blaise almost dropped Joey and could have broken her arm and leg had he done so. And if that wasn't enough, it was as if he completely blanked during half of the foot work and almost threw Joey into the boards on two of the throws. After the show it was clear to anyone that had eyeballs that Joey was pissed beyond measure. As she skated to find out their scores, she threw up her hands and mumbled angrily while Mathieu was clearly battling amusement at Blaise's mistakes (he had always hated his sister's partner) and anger that Joey might lose her last chance at an Olympic metal. While waiting for the scores, Joey sat as far away from Blaise as possible. Luckily, he had gotten his act back together for the long program and they had scrapped up the bronze. But just as their program finished, Blaise whispered something into Joey's ear that caused her to slap him so hard that he almost fell on the ice.

The Ice Dancers were a little less exciting to watch, but one of the Italian couples were a little steamed when they left the ice for some discrepancy or another. Dani couldn't really remember. And for the first time in many years, an American couple metaled, taking silver.

Dani felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. Her coach was standing above her with a smile on his face. Luckily he was healed from the attack and could attend, "How are you feeling?"

Dani sighed, "Like I want to puke."

"Don't do that on the ice, okay?" Eric Orion replied.

Chuckling, Dani shrugged, "I think I can hold it in for now." Although she wasn't really sure that she could. She knew that all of the Ducks were in the stands and she had a sneaking suspicion that Ash was there as well. And he more then likely had brought Silver with him which didn't help Dani's nerves any.

"Don't worry, you'll do great."

"Sure." Dani said, not really feeling any emotion that she could put into her skating. It was as if she had been drained the night before as she slept. The scores for the skater before her, a young women from the Ukraine, had been put up and she did very well if the cheers were any indication. That meant that it was her turn.

"Good Luck, Dani." Eric whispered, "You'll do great." Dani smiled as she and her coach walked to the ice for her performance. She looked around the crowd as she skated towards the center of the ice. The Ducks were sitting together and began cheering madly while she was announced. Joey, Mathieu, and his girlfriend Trina, who had dark red hair and a distinct punk rock look about her, were sitting on the third row and Joey blew her a kiss as she made her way into position. Just as Dani had suspected, Ash was about halfway up the stands and he had a beautiful young women with black hair and a lip piercing, clearly his girlfriend.

"Shit." Dani mumbled to herself. Her feeling of wanting to puke was coming on stronger then ever. Taking a deep breath, Dani turned her head and wrapped her arms around her and waited for her music to start.

The music started slow, as most do, and she stood in her position until a low drum rumbled lightly through the various string instruments. As the drums got louder, Dani spun slightly and skated off towards the left (her left) side of the rink. She was always confident in her footwork, and this time was no exception. As she skated, her feet went every which way as quickly as possible and Dani knew that she was getting points for it. What scared her was what was coming up next.

Slowing down her footwork, Dani readied herself for a triple toe loop/double axle combination. On cue with crescendo the music, Dani spun herself into the air for her triple toe loop, which she landed superbly, and immediately went into the double axle, which also went very well. Internally sighing, Dani kept a straight face as she skated towards the center of the ice and bent her left knee, placed her right foot on her left knee and bent her back over as she spun on her left foot.

Gracefully lifting herself upright, Dani continued to spin. Once she stopped herself, she skated on, mentally preparing herself for a double Salchow, which was normally somewhat easy for Dani to accomplish. Gaining her cue from the music, Dani lifted herself into the air with grace. Her landing, unfortunately, left a little more to be desired. The moment her skate touched the ice, Dani lost her balance and fell flat on her stomach. She kept her face blank as she stood back up, not wanting to show her disappointment, and continued with the few things she had left to do.

Smiling, Dani willed herself to gain the momentum for another spin. This time, Dani latched her arms around her and tucked her left foot behind the right, spinning herself as she did so. As her spin slowed down, Dani relaxed her arms and lifted them so that she looked like a ballerina. Turning just a little more, Dani was relieved to remember that she only had a few more things to do. As she skated, Dani lifted her leg and stretched it out over her head.

As the finale came into her sights, Dani prepared herself for what had always been one of her biggest finishers, a triple toe loop/double Lutz/axle combination. Taking a deep breath, Dani cut her toe pick into the ice. The Triple toe loop went as well as planned, but when she got to the Lutz, the odds were not in her favor once again. She fell and landed on her rear end.

Needless to say, Dani was not having the best performance of her life. She was so confused as to why. She had worked so hard on this show for so long and now it was all going down the drain. Keeping up her pace, Dani stood back up and went back to all she had left to do, dazzle them all with her footwork. Going faster and faster, smiling all the while to keep up pretenses, Dani floated around like nothing had happened. To end what had been a very bad night, Dani abruptly stopped all movement, just as planned, with no problems at all. Her left toe was pointing towards the ice, her knee bent, while the other foot was flat. Her torso was turned at the hips so that it all was facing one side of the rink. Her face was serious and her arm hung tensely at her sides.

Leaving her position, Dani dropped the serious expression on her face and replaced it with a look a major disappointment. What had she done wrong that she would have messed up as much as she did? It took every ounce of self control that Dani could had to make sure that her tears of anger didn't drip out of her eyes, not in front of the world. There was no way that she would be able to handle that.

Skating over to her coach, Dani ignored the cheers and calls from the crowd. All she wanted to do was get away as soon as possible. Her coach smiled as she passed him and he hugged her before she sat down to get her scores. What was actually only about 2 minutes took hours to Dani. She sighed when she saw her scores. Tied with a women from Spain in 4th place.

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For the thousandth time in the past 3 hours, Adam turned over in bed. It had killed him to watch Dani fall and look so completely miserable when she got her score. 4th place wasn't too bad, but it wasn't a metal and it defiantly wasn't what Dani wanted. She was as competitive as Dean and she meant to get a metal at the very least, gold would be preferable.

It was 5:00 in the morning and Adam figured that he should get out of bed because he wasn't going to get any more sleep. He got dressed and looked at his snoring roommate and chuckled. Charlie always looked like he was a caterpillar in a cocoon the way that he wrapped himself up with his arms and legs sticking out.

Adam made his way towards the Ice Rink, thinking that this would be the best time to get some exercise to wake himself up more then he was. With his skates over his shoulder, Adam walked out into the snow towards the Ice Rink. Once he made it there, he was surprised to hear classical music playing near the ice. That could only mean one thing.

"What's an Olympian like yourself doing up this early?" He asked as he walked down the stairs towards the ice.

"What do you think?" Dani asked back sourly. Her face was streaked with tears and she was obviously upset, "I royally screwed up this afternoon and I have today and tomorrow morning to rectify the situation." She turned around and muttered to herself what she should do with the next move that she was planning.

Sighing, Adam placed his skates on the ground and walked up behind Dani and placed his arms around Dani's waist and pulled her towards him, "Dani, you need to take a breath." He said, "This is getting ridiculous, you're getting obsessed."

"Obsessed?" Dani asked, her voice breaking, "Adam, this has been my dream since I was five. Forgive me for wanted to accomplish the goals that I have set for myself."

"There's nothing wrong with that, Dan." Adam replied, "But your are going to end up being disappointed and hurting yourself." Adam lifted his left arm and began stroking Dani's, "You're a fantastic skater. All you have to do is remember you're own little world and get lost in it." Dani sobbed as she became dangerously close to spinning around and kissing Adam as passionately as possible, "You can have what ever you want."

Dani chuckled and turned, "What ever I want?" She asked.

"Of course." Adam replied.

"Well then, I guess I have to take advantage of that." With that said, Dani leaned forward and kissed Adam gently on the lips.

Adam pulled back reluctantly, "Dani, I thought we agreed..."

"I didn't agree to anything." Dani interrupted, "I remember it being you that did all of the talking." Adam smiled slightly and nodded, she was right, "What if I want is you. Then can I have it?"

Adam smiled and placed his hand under Dani's chin, "Guess." He said before gently pulling her up and kissing her.

This time it was Dani who pulled away, "You're really good at that." She said, "Did you know?" Adam smiled again and Dani stepped over off of the ice and placed her arms around him. He did the same, but was caught immensely off guard when Dani began to passionately kiss him. But, in all honesty, he wasn't going to complain.