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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AznIntega- Yes, it is good to see Adam and Dani back together. I thought that it would be a perfect time for them to do so. I know plenty of people who are exactly like Gala's father, that's why I wanted to put him in there. Dean's acceptance might come later when he finds out, but as I said before, he can be a pain in the ass about that kind of thing. Yes, Dani's better performance was helped by Adam. He's just a great guy like that! Thanks!

Bad Best Friend- As I said before, I know plenty of people like Gala and Gunnar's father who, angry enough, would hit someone in public. None of them are parents, but I was just thinking into the future... Anyway with the Olympics over, yes the story will be slowing down, but it's not over yet! We still have a few very important things to fix. I hope that it won't get too boring or anything as we go on, because I am trying to make it that it isn't! Thank you as well!

Many thanks to PrincessH and mdgirl18!

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Sitting on a stainless steel counter with her legs crossed and leaning against the window, Dani smiled as she read a letter from 7 year old twins from Ottawa, Illinois who had, like everyone else, heard about the incident after the Metal Ceremony, and had written with their congratulations for winning and their support after what had happened. The way that the two little girls wrote to her was so innocent and sweet, she couldn't help but smile... The problem was that when she smiled her broken nose and bruising didn't feel all that great. Flinching, Dani placed the letter down and picked up the small mirror up from next to her and pouted as she looked at herself in the mirror.

"Knock, knock." A voice said at the front door, "Doesn't pouting make it hurt more?"

Dani shook her head, "Leave me alone, I look like a raccoon... And I don't even bruise all that easily." Hoping down from the counter top, Dani continued, "Shouldn't you be doing homework or something, Adam?"

Adam sighed, "I finished early and no one else was so I figured that this would be the best time to get away."

"That's very sweet."

"I thought you would say that." Adam replied as he pulled a small box out of his pocket, "And I hope that what I imagined you would say when you got this is what you will actually say when you open it." Dani furrowed her eyebrows and took the box from his hand. Pulling off the top, Dani felt her eyes pop out, "I noticed that you have a lot of infinity symbols all over the place... So I wanted to get that for you."

Dani picked the necklace out of the box and stared at the infinity pendent, "Um... How expensive was this? Because I've never really gotten this kind of thing before." Adam just stayed quiet, "Mind helping me put it on?" Adam smiled as Dani turned and handed him the clasp. After securing the clasp, Adam couldn't stop himself from from letting his hands rest on her shoulders. Dani reached up and held onto his hand that was resting on her left shoulder, "I never got a chance to thank you."

"For what?"

Dani turned and sighed, "You were the one that reminded me what I skated for. I was never the kind of girl who skated for the metals or the glory of saying that I had won. Throughout this whole ordeal of being America's Next Big Thing and dealing with my psycho stalker, I forgot that. After the Short Program, you reminded me that I skated because it was something that I loved, not something that I did for everyone else."

"You're welcome." Adam replied, "It hurt to see you so conflicted." Dani smiled and she and Adam leaned in to kiss each other... Then they remembered that she had a broken nose and they backed up a little and settled on a hug. Without Adam noticing, Dani rolled her eyes. She loved the smell of what ever shampoo it was that he used and now she couldn't even smell it because of her broken nose! Damn it!

"Spero che non stia interrompendo nulla." (Italian: I hope that I'm not interrupting anything.) An irritated male voice said from the doorway. They both had been so preoccupied that they hadn't heard a knock or the door open, nor had the felt the cold of the February air enter the building.

Pulling away quickly, Dani managed to sputter, "Nonno, che cosa state facendo qui?" (Italian: Grandfather, what are you doing here?). Adam felt his body stiffen in shock and fear as he looked at the man. He must have been in his late sixties, a fact shown by his gray hair, and somewhere around 6 feet 6 inches tall. His body was a solid wall of huge muscle and his cold face and critical eyes made him even more terrifying.

"Signora giovane." (Italian: Young lady.). Adam stood in terrified silence as the man walked over to him, looked him over, and poked him in the shoulder "Chi è questo?" (Italian: Who is this?).

"Un amico…" Dani replied (Italian: A friend...).

"Friend?" The man asked, his thick accented voice was tinted with disbelief, "It seemed more then that." Dani bit her lip, thinking what to say. She really didn't want anyone to figure out that she and Adam had gotten back together... Much less her grandfather. He could be very picky about who 'his girls' (meaning her, her mother, and Sage, being the only women in the family) found attractive.

After not being able to stand in silence any longer, Adam tried to speak, "Um... You two obviously have a lot to talk about... And I have to go... Bye." Adam exited the building and rubbed his pained shoulder. For an old guy, that man was really strong and poked really hard.

Back in the building, Dani sighed, "Nonno, what are you doing here?"

"I heard about what happened and I wanted to see one of my two favorite granddaughters." Giuseppe replied, "Although I see now that I should have come later."

"Nonno, I'm one of the only two granddaughters that you have... And you don't need to sound like that." Dani replied, "Nothing is going on."

"I'm sure." He said, "Who is he?"

Dani took a deep breath, "You remember when Dean came back from the Junior Goodwill Games and all he could talk about was the Ducks?" He nodded, "And you remember when he mentioned the preppy?" Another nod, "Well... That's him. Adam, Adam Banks."

Thinking for a moment, Giuseppe came to a conclusion, "Well, I can't say that I ever expected to you marry someone like your brothers."

"Marry?" Dani asked, "Huh?"

"I'm not saying that you are going to marry him, but I wouldn't expect you to marry someone like your brothers. Unfortunately."

"Uh-huh." Dani replied, her eyes narrowed in suspicion as her hair fell over her left eye.

Careful to not touch Dani's bruises or her nose, Giuseppe placed her hair back behind her ears, "You look so much like your Nonna when you have the look on your face... She was always suspicious of everything. Did I ever tell you that it took three time before she agreed to marry me?"

"No, you didn't." Dani said, "I guess that you've always been persistent."

"Bianca always said that it was my worst feature..." He replied, "But I think that she secretly liked it." Dani chuckled thinking of what it would have been like to meet her grandmother. Dani knew that her grandmother had been very revered in Italy and it seemed very unfair that perfect strangers got to know more about Bianca then her own daughter. That was the way that the ball rolled sometimes and Dani hoped that one day she could actually be able to talk to her grandfather about her grandmother without having the fear of being offensive or insensitive because her grandfather, though large and intimidating, was very touchy and sensitive about the subject of his late wife.

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Adam sat silently down at the Ducks normal table for dinner still trying to work out the pain in his shoulder, "Jeez, Banksie, what took you so long?" Charlie asked as he took a bite of spaghetti.

"What to you mean?" Adam asked back.

"He means, the second you finished with practice, you shot out of sight faster then then a calf that had spotted a brandin' iron." Dwayne replied for Charlie, "And ya just got back."

"It was nothing." Adam said.

Guy furrowed his eyebrows, "And what's wrong with your shoulder? You haven't stopped messing with it."

"A gorilla." Adam replied, while not meaning to actually say what he thought.

"A gorilla?" Dwayne asked, "There ain't any gorillas in Minnesota, they're indigenous to Africa."

Connie sighed, "What he meant was that the person he was talking about looked a lot like a gorilla." Then she looked to Adam, "And now he's going to tell us who the person is and why they were like a gorilla."

"It's nothing." Adam insisted, "And Portman, just out of curiosity, what does 'Nonno' mean?"

Dean swallowed a huge gulp of bottled water and nonchalantly replied, "It's Italian for Grandfather... Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Adam said, though he knew that Dean saw through exactly what he was doing.

"Um-hum." Dean responded skeptically, "Let me guess, the gorilla was my grandfather."

"To put it lightly." Adam replied... What, what the hell was he saying? If he kept going on, then Portman was sure to find out that he and Dani were back together which would, in turn, get him shoved up against a wall again! Then the whole thing would be back at square one!

"What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Adam exclaimed, "I was talking to Dani."

"Okay, Preppy, if you thought I was bad, then when it comes to my grandfather you should go home to you mansion and hid under your bed." Adam rolled his eyes, Dani had mentioned that she and her family lived in Morgan Park and had a large house... But Dean didn't know that he knew, "But you have nothing to worry about, you and Dani aren't an item."

"Nope." Adam lied in reply, taking a bite of his own spaghetti.

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Lying in bed, Corrine Banks stared into the darkness. She had so many things going on inside her head that she couldn't even comprehend the little thing that people called 'sleep'. Sitting up slightly, she listened to the sounds of her husband. He was breathing lightly, blissfully unaware of the torment that was ripping is wife to shreds.

Corrine sat up more and placed her hand on Philip's shoulder, "Philip? Honey?"

"Um?" Was Philip's response.

Corrine thought for a second, "Nothing, dear. I'm sorry that I woke you."

"It's okay." Philip mumbled, shifting slightly so that he could get more comfortable.

Corrine sighed at her terrible inability to talk to her husband... When did that come about? When they were younger, they could talk until the sun rose... And set again! Getting out of bed, she scolded herself as she walked to the bathroom and let water run from the faucet. She cupped her hands and let the water flow into them, splashing the water onto her face. Drying off her hands and face, Corrine picked up the small glass cup that she had next to the sink and filled it with water. She took a small sip from the almost completely full before holding it up to her eyes and staring at it.

She just couldn't take it anymore...

Without making any conscious decisions, Corrine raised the glass and threw it against the tile wall. Shattered glass and water went everywhere as Corrine slid down the wall to the floor, sobbing. At the sound of shattering glass, Philip had come running and he flung the door open and tread carefully over the glass.

Kneeling down next to his wife, Philip placed his hands on her shoulders, "Corrine? Dear, what's wrong?"

Though the sobs, Corrine managed to speak, "I'm losing you." She whispered, "I'm losing my whole family."

"Corrine, you're not losing anybody." Philip insisted, stroking her cheek.

"You just can't see it." Corrine pressed on, "Everyone's blind to what's happening." Tears rolled down her face as her breath became harsh and ragged.

Philip's eyes widened in horror, "No, Corrine, calm down. Please, everything is fine, there's no need to get upset." His attempts were in vain as Corrine began to tremor slightly from lack of oxygen and she stopped responding, "Corrine." Philip whispered in terror. He raced as fast as he could out of the bathroom, not bothering to worry about the glass, and he picked his cellphone off of his bedside table and dialed 9-1-1 as he raced back into the bathroom to give Corrine CPR... Hopefully he wouldn't be too late like he had almost been several times before.