Summary: A tale of our favorite Ducks and where their lives take them, beginning Senior Year at Eden Hall. Focuses on Adam, Charlie, Julie, Dean, Connie, Guy…and more to come!
Disclaimer: The Mighty Ducks and all its characters belong to Disney. I do not own any of it!
Flying Together
By Rebecca
Chapter 1: Resignation
Julie hadn't just walked for ages. The winter chill was refreshing against her icy cheeks and she needed a chill right now…she needed to cool down. The emotions inside her head were spinning out of control. Over the last month and a half she had grown really attached to Dean Portman and had all but convinced herself that whatever was going on between her and Adam was strictly her imagination. Now?…well now she didn't know what to believe. Charlie was right. They had excused Dean's wild behavior far too often in the past, Julie especially in the last few months, and now he'd dragged Adam down with him. Adam, she thought. She whispered it aloud, "Adam." She watched as a puff of cool air blew from her mouth as she said it again, "Adam I'm sorry."
She walked for several more minutes…maybe even hours before she hopped a bus and rode back to the dorm. As she had feared, Dean was there waiting for her, hidden around the dark corner of the building, obviously protecting himself from a number of angry ducks. Julie found him though. She thought briefly of turning back and heading straight for her room to lock the door. But she couldn't do that. Half of her wanted desperately to believe that Dean hadn't been at fault at all. She approached him.
"Hey," she said softly.
He nodded, "How is he?"
"He's hurt Dean. Really bad."
He nodded again, "I didn't think uh…you know with everyone there…figured I should take off."
"I know."
An awkward silence and then he spoke again, "Will he heal?"
Julie sighed. God that's right…he doesn't know, "Eventually. But the Cyclones…"
Dean's head shot up in terror. She'd confirmed his worst fears. He'd damaged Banks's career. "God Julie, I swear I didn't see that thing coming."
"I know," she answered. She didn't have the energy, or the heart to argue with him.
"I just…wanted to get him there faster. I know he's like, your best friend. I just wanted…"
"Wanted what Dean? To let me know that you could care about my friends? This is my fault now?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"No!" he shouted, "That's not what I said."
"Then what are you saying? Dean don't try to make excuses here. When it all boils down to it, you made a simple error. You drove too fast. Don't add cheap sentiment to it!"
Dean looked down. Any other day he would've argued until he was blue in the face…and Julie knew that too. In fact she'd prepared herself for a fight and she was getting nothing. The accident had all but destroyed him. The Dean Portman she'd known only a few hours earlier had seemed to disappear.
"Julie?"
She sighed, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell-"
"I'm quitting the team."
She stopped short, "What?"
"I'm quitting. I'm going back to Chicago. I can't stay here with…everyone…oh man everything is so screwed up."
"Yeah it is!" she shouted, "And your solution is 'run away?'"
"It's not running away," he said quietly. "I'm running home. I don't belong here. I never did."
She was shocked into silence. Where had that come from?
"A month and a half ago I couldn't wait to get out of here. I've always hated it here and treated everyone like crap to prove that. Charlie was right. I've done a lot a pretty stupid things but this…" He trailed off and began again, "When you ended up in my arms that night, I thought that I'd been wrong. That I finally had a place to belong to here. But that's not true is it?"
Julie still had no words.
"I moved in on a weak moment. Simple as that. We're not kidding ourselves Cat Lady. You were never supposed to be with me."
An empty hole formed in the pit of her stomach. Of all the people in the entire world, Dean was the least likely to be insightful. And now here he was practically talking about her fate? It was completely out of character! What in the hell is going on with my life?! "Dean-"
But he held his hand up to stop her. "You were the only thing keeping me here, Julie. But you're never gonna feel for me what I feel for you. We both know it isn't right."
Julie looked to the ground. Too much of what he was saying was making sense…and all at once too. She breathed deeply as he stepped forward and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
"I'm gonna say g'bye to Banks on my way out. I'm leaving tonight."
"Dean come on. This is crazy," she stammered. "We can work on this. We have to talk about this."
He shook his head, "I'm tired of talking." He added a classic Portman grin, "Waste of perfectly good oxygen."
"You can't just leave."
"I've got to."
And he did. That night on the steps of her dorm, Julie watched Portman walk out of her life.
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