Summary: SEQUEL TO FLYING TOGETHER…a continuation of the life and times of the mighty ducks…Focus on Dean, Charlie, Connie, Guy, Adam and Julie…again. What can I say, they're my 6 favorite characters!

Disclaimer: The Mighty Ducks and all its characters belong to Disney. I do not own any of it!

Grown-ups

By Rebecca

Chapter 20: The Pond I was this close!

            "What are you doing here?" she asked, frozen like the ice beneath her.

            "I uh, just out…driving. What about you?"

            "Um…uh. Needed some air."

This is where I fell in love with you.

            Guy raised an eye-brow and glared around her as if to say, 'you needed 15 degree air?' But he remained silent. After all…he was standing in the middle of a Minneapolis pond too.

            "How are you?" Connie struggled, pulling her coat up tightly around her neck. She didn't know much about weather, but it seemed to have gotten even colder all of a sudden.

            Guy shrugged, "Moved back a couple weeks ago. They uh-"

            "Traded you. I know. Charlie told me."

            Guy nodded.

            "Started playing yet?"

            "Couple practices," Guy shoved his hands in his pockets. "Not a bad club." The last time he'd been her with Connie, he was clasping a small velvet box in his hand and proclaiming his love. Now he was clutching a crumpled up scrap of paper and talking about hockey?

And all I can think about is how much I miss you.

            Connie stared into pools of hazel, swimming in an emotion she couldn't identify. Was he happy to see her? Upset? Disgusted?

            God, how could she look so beautiful…and so terrified at the same time?

            What was he thinking?

            What was she feeling? And how in the hell had they both ended up here?

            Moments turned to minutes and minutes turned into silence as the hope that had welled in the pit of her stomach at the first sight of him now faded away. Say something! she said to herself, but she couldn't tell if she wished it of him or of her. They stood, stuck in a stalemate of stares as each realized that maybe…there was nothing either of them could say.

            Eventually, Connie broke the connection and sighed in an effort to choke back tears, keeping her eyes upon the ice, the tips of his tennis-shoes barely visible. "Well uh, I better get back…getting cold out here."

            She could feel him nod. That non-challant nod that drove her crazy in the ending months of their disastrous marriage. That nod that said, "whatever," as he would walk out the door or poor himself a drink. She felt herself getting angry, frustrated. Why wouldn't he say something?!

            "See ya around Guy," she muttered as she continually kept her focus upon the ground, rushing past him to reach her car. Her mind flashed back to that night in the hospital parking lot. The night of Adam's accident senior year when she'd told him she still loved him. That she missed him. She'd scurried past him even then, convinced she'd made a terrible mistake and then all of a sudden, he was at her car. Holding her. Kissing her. Telling her everything would be ok. Any minute now, he'd be there again. Any minute now she thought desperately as she fumbled for her keys. Any minute now as she unlocked the door and jiggled the handle. Any minute now… she looked behind her, at the sillouette of a man still standing in the ice, his back to her, staring at the falling snow. Connie's tears streaked icicles down her cheeks as she lowered herself into the car and sped away.

            Guy's heart lurched into his throat. She hated him. She couldn't stand being near him. He'd abandoned her…he blew it. He cringed as he heard the engine rev and slowly disappear, all the while clutching that scrap of paper tight in his fist.

            Several minutes later, Connie was back in her house, shaking violently. But it was no longer from the outside cold. They'd been standing right there! Right in the middle of a pond that had once meant so much to both of them. Neither of them could speak, as if they were complete strangers! How could this have happened? Even when he'd come to the house in Miami to pick up his stuff it hadn't been like this…it was never like this between Connie and Guy…never! They'd been the high school sweethearts…king and queen of pee-wee hockey! Destined for love, marriage, children!

            Connie struggled to suppress those old emotions she felt welling inside of her. No she thought. I can't let this happen again. Those emotions that made her push him away in the first place. Those feelings of regret, depression, remorse that nearly cost her Julie too. Why did he have to come back? Why-

            Suddenly she shrieked as a loud thumping startled her out of her fit. Someone was pounding at the door, and hard. She stood in the middle of her living room, almost frightened to move. The thumping started again and she shook her head, trying to gain enough of her composure to tell whoever it was to go away as she approached the door. She opened it and gasped at the dusty blonde standing on her tiny porch.

            Guy didn't even wait for her to invite him in. He threw open the screen door and stepped inside, closing the door behind him. All the while, his eyes bored into hers, as if daring her to drop his gaze. Connie barely had time to think before Guy's arms were around her waist, pulling her towards his snow covered parka. The cold seeped through the open screen, but his hands were warm as he cupped her face. Connie's eyes flew open in a panic as his head darted down, his mouth inches away from her own. She braced herself for the near ferocity of what he'd wordlessly demonstrated so far. But as his lips touched her own, it was anything but fierce. He was tender with her…gentle, as if kissing her for the very first time, almost afraid she'd push him away. His hands sifted through her hair, massaging the back of her neck as he deepened the kiss, his mouth fully covering hers. And if it was still snowing outside…Connie didn't notice.

            Still holding her dumfounded stance, Guy felt her finally relax as she moved closer, afraid that if she reached for him, he would disappear. But her hand touched his cheek and slid out of habit into waves of dusty blonde. Absently, he shrugged off his coat and encircled her completely, running his hands over her back, touching feather light kisses to her forehead and temples before he kissed her fully again.

            Connie's stomach tied in knots in nervous expectation. This was a man who hated her. She'd driven him away. And yet here he was, in her house, the taste of passion on his lips, the warmth of love in his arms.

            After an eternity, they finally pulled apart, but his arms remained steadily around her which was good because Connie's knees were about to crumble. Guy's eyes, despite the uncoiling of emotion they'd shared, were full of caution.

            "I can't live without you Con," he said, his voice breaking, "God help me I tried, and it didn't work. Please give me another chance."

            Connie felt like a guest on a TV talk show who had no idea what was about to happen to her. He wanted another chance? They'd barely spoken a word to each other for over a year and now he was begging. Her head was reeling. It was simply too much. Only 20 minutes ago, Connie was preparing herself to once and for all, accept a life without Guy. Now a life with him was staring at her with an intensity that made her cry.

            Guy brushed aside her freely falling tears, "I was an idiot Connie. I left you. There's no reason for you to take me back, I know. But I swear-"

            Connie shook free of his grasp and hastily moved to the kitchen, "No…Guy, what are you talking about? I drove you away!"

            "And why shouldn't you?" Guy followed her, not letting her look away, "I left you when you needed me the most. I let you down-"

            "No," she shook her head, "No you didn't. I-"

            "Connie, listen to me," Guy's voice grew softer as he cupped her hands in his. She stared at him as he went on, just above a whisper, "You bore your soul to me once. Took a risk in the parking lot of a hospital. I'd be a fool if I didn't do the same."

            "But-"

            "Roles are reversed here, Con," he squeezed her hands, "I left you this time…and I hurt you much more. I have no right to come back into your life…I had every intention of staying away but it didn't work …I found you again. Despite all my efforts I found you again at our pond…where I told you I fell in love with you." He took a step forward and lifted her chin up to meet his own moist gaze. "I'm still in love with you Connie. I never stopped. Just ask the Consierge at the Miami Marriot hotel!…I'm nothing without you."

            "Oh Guy," she cried, breaking down. She could barely handle the words she'd dreamed of hearing for so long as she buried her head in his shoulder. "I love you too," she whispered. And she cried again.

            Guy held her for long minutes, feeling as if he'd woken up from a very long sleep. He was alive now…the only way he ever really could be…with her in his arms. There was still so much to talk about. So much more he wanted to say…to tell her. To think he'd gotten in his car intent on turning back. But that small piece of paper weighed heavier in his pocket after she'd left…practically begging for him to use it. Woodward Avenue…just 5 blocks from his new apartment…how can they have been so close and yet so separate for so long?

            He sighed as he kissed the top of her head, feeling like a completely different man than the one he'd been not even a half hour before. There was no question in his mind anymore. He'd spend the rest of his life trying to make up for the pain he'd caused her in the past year… and he planned on starting tonight.

            A long while later, Guy drove Connie back up to their pond and asked him to marry him again.

THE END

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Well there you go. Happy ending like I promised…but don't worry, I'll probably get even sappier and write an epilogue. Hope you enjoyed. R&R!…J