Title: Familiar Faces: Realisation
Disclaimer: Just the usual, don't own anything that you recognise.
Feedback: Yes please, anything constructive would be really appreciated.
A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews and hope that you continue to like it.
Julie POV
As you can probably guess, only half the guys were at the top of the stairs at 6, so we spent 15 minutes going round the rest of the dorms. A few ducks got slightly wet, but it was their own fault, we shock them for a few minutes, well some of them anyway. By experience, it is safe to splash some from a distance, such as Portman and Fulton, Ken once got a black eye when he tried to shake them awake, no one has ever tried again, water all the way.
Anyway, we got to dinner at 6-30 and got through it without to much hassle, as the dinning room was half empty and we weren't disturbing many people. As dinner was finishing and we were discussing what to do, the main suggestion was can you guess, yep, hockey. Just a friendly game though, read: 'see how much testosterone I have'. We went to the dorms to get our hockey bags, seeing as we needed the equipment and it got it out of our rooms, it takes up so much space, so it is usually stored in our lockers. Meeting at the top of the stairs, we wandered over, being our normal, noisy selves.
Entering the foyer and going straight into our locker room, we got ready, just our skates and stick, though me and Goldberg put on a few pads, by experience, even in fun games, Fulton's slap shot and Russ's knuckle puck hurt.
"Alright, who took my skates?" I'm sure they were in my bag, I wouldn't have left them at home.
"No one, we all value our lives." joked Russ, but with a look from me he stopped.
"Just put on your old ones and we'll find them later." Voice of reason again, Captain Charlie, just cos he can't wait to get on the ice.
"Ok, I'll see you out there in a minute." I'm sure I packed them, where could they have gone? Oh well, best get out there, otherwise one team is gonna be short a goalie.
"Hey, what you think your doing on our ice?" Sounds interesting, wonder what is going on. Pushing tot he front, I recognised the heap on the other side of the ice, "Emma!" With that I skated over to her."
"You know her, well get her off the ice, she doesn't look like she can handle, time with us."
"Portman, shut up."
I reached Emma in seconds, bending down, I noticed tears streaming down her checks. "Sh, its alright, lets go back to the dorms, we can talk." At that point, Banks stopped by the boards behind Emma.
"Want some help taking her back?"
"If you could please." Out we went, me and Banks supporting Emma between us, she was still a mess, I don't think that she actually knows what was going on. When we walked past the team, they just watched us, knowing by the look that I gave them to leave it, not say anything just then. I nodded to Banks to pick up Emma's trainers, as we walked past them, and we continued into the locker room, so that we could change into our shoes and out of my pads. We got changed in silence, no one saying anything, just silent looks between me and Banksie, looks of worry, I had to get to the bottom of this tonight.
Arriving at our dorm, we put Emma on her bed, then I walked with Banksie to the dorm, "Thanks for the help, don't think I could have managed her on my own."
"It's fine, he can be thoughtless at times. Good luck, and see you tomorrow."
"Bye."
Emma POV
Somehow I managed to get from the ice to my bed, I think that Julie and one of her team helped me. I don't know, all I do know is that I felt safe, like I belonged for the first time in ages. When Julie sat next to me and hugged me, everything came out, how I had no mother, she had lied to me. I'm not sure how much Julie understood, cos I was rambling and crying hard. In the end, she told me to cry and then we would talk about it.
After an hour of crying, I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I know, I am lying on my bed, with my blanket over me. Sitting up, I looked around the room, it was 7am, I had slept for longer than I have ever done, but I felt so much better. I needed a shower, something to occupy my mind, so I went into the bathroom and stood under the stream of water for a while, coming back to earth when I heard Julie say she needed the loo. "Sorry, just coming out." Wrapping myself in a towel, I walked past Julie. I have to apologise for last night. I shouldn't have borrowed her skates, stopped her being with her friends, she is gonna be so angry.
I took out the photo from under my pillow, just sat there thinking. It doesn't matter how angry Julie is, I had got on the ice, I had done it for both of them. Just then Julie came out and sat next to me, "Ready to talk more?"
"Yeah, but I haven't got it straight in my head yet, what did you understand from last night?"
"Just start from the beginning, whatever you have to say, I'm listening."
"Well, Christmas wasn't really that great," I told her everything that had happened, how I felt and she sat there not saying anything.
"I can see why you needed my skates."
"Yeah I'm really sorry about that, I was gonna ask but you weren't there and it was something that I really needed to do, to feel closer to them." Looking down at the photo, a fresh stream of tears ran.
She pointed to the photo that was still in my hand, "Mind if I see?". The look on her face changed, like she recognised something, "You say that your mum said they both died?"
"No, she said my dad died, she never told me about my twin. Why? Do you know something?" She looked away, something told me she wasn't telling me something.
"Do you mind if I borrow the photo, I just want to see if I'm right."
"Right about what, do you know something?"
"I have to check, don't want to get your hopes up. Come to breakfast with me, sit with the team, you look hungry, did you have tea last night?"
"Come to think of it, no, I was a little preoccupied. But do I really have to sit with your team, they must really hate me."
"No they won't, and if any of them are nasty to you, they will have me to deal with." That brought a smile to my face, just imagine Julie beating up big tough hockey players. With that, we both got dressed and walked down to breakfast, collected our food, then the bit I was dreading. Approaching the table, I could sense that many eyes were on me, Julie pushed me over to some spare seats, and directed me to sit next to the only other girl on the table.
"Emma, this is Connie, Connie Emma." She introduced me to the girl and whispered in my ear that she just had to do something, she would be back in a minute.
I gave her a pleading look, "please don't leave me."
"It'll be fine, Connie will look after you, make sure they leave you alone, won't you?"
"Yeah, definitely, us girls have to stick together."
Julie POV
I know Connie would look after Emma, and everyone else knew that if they messed with her, then they would have me to deal with. Right now, I had to find out if my hunch was right. Looking round the room, I saw him over by the breakfast queue.
"Hi, how is your roommate now?"
"Yeah, she is better, thanks for helping last night."
"Its fine, anytime, did she talk to you?"
"Eventually. Adam, do you mind if we go outside, I've got something I need to ask you?"
"Sure, let me just take this out cos I'm starving." He picked up an orange and some toast and we walked out to the hall.
Stopping on the closest bench, I turned to Banks. "I was wondering if there was anything that you could tell me about this photo?"
Taking it out of my hand, he stared at it. "Where did you get this?"
"Doesn't matter right now, but do you recognise it?"
"Yes, its mine, I keep it where no one can find it. You see the boy, well that is me," I knew it, he still has those eyes. "And the man, well that's my Dad, and the girl, well she was my twin."
"What do you mean was?"
"Well, when we were about three, my mum and sister were both killed in a car accident." He looked so sad.
"Adam, this may be hard to hear, but this photo is Emma's, she says that she is the girl, and that the man and boy, were killed, something to do with hockey."
"She can't be though, she is dead." Suddenly he got up and stalked into the dinning room, and over to our table.
"Who do you think you are, how did you get this photo?" he was shouting at Emma and waving the photo at her.
"It was in my mum's cupboard." Emma was getting nervous, more so than she already was. Charlie was closest to Adam and took the photo off him.
"Why did she have a photo of Banks and his dad with a girl?" Trust Charlie to say something when he should have stayed quiet. Just then Emma started crying and ran off. Adam just stood there looking angry. I grabbed Connie and ran off after Emma, she would need me now, did I do the wrong thing? I'd deal with Adam later.
We found Emma in our room, curled up on her bed, just like she had last night. On the way over, I had given Connie the abridged story, hearing it again, it did seem slightly unbelievable, but as far as I know it is the truth. I sat on the edge of her bed and I stroked her back, trying to calm her down.
"I'm really sorry Emma, I thought that it would go better than that."
"It's not your fault, but are you saying that my brother isn't dead, I have been in the same place as him for 3 months?" She was starting to calm down, starting to try and make sense of it all.
"It would seem so." Connie had sat over on my bed, not wanting to interfer. On hearing her voice, Emma had sat up and looked over at her. Connie came and sat the other side of Emma and put her hand on her knee.
"Emma, there is something else you should know, your dad isn't dead either, and Adam seems to think that you are."
"What, he isn't dead? He thinks I'm dead? Why?"
"I'm guessing that is what he was told, you died in a car crash with your mum when you were three."
"But I didn't, I'm here, why did he freak at me?" Emma was getting upset again.
"Emma calm down, I'll talk to him again when he has calmed down, we have practice this afternoon. Maybe I can get him to talk to you afterwards."
"OK, you do believe me though, you don't think I stole the photo or something."
"After what you told me last night, that was no story, but it might be worth showing your birth certificate to him, just for some extra proof."
The room went silent, but Connie did the job that I brought her for, "I know what would cheer you up, lets go into town and shop, we have hours till practice, and we don't get to shop often."
"But I spent most of my money getting home and back. I need the rest for school supplies over the term."
"Who said we had to buy anything, have you never gone round the shops, going into the shops that you would never buy anything from and just try the clothes on for fun?"
"Never really had the courage to."
"Then it is our job to help you, I did this all the time back in Minnesota."
So that is what we spent the morning doing, trying on clothes, discussing what we would do if we had loads of money. We had lunch in McDonalds and then wondered back to school, we had to get back to practice.
"Do you mind if I walk back later, I just need to think about a few things. I'll be back in a couple of hours." I know she will be safe and it is true, after the last day, she has a shed load of stuff to think about.
"Sure, I'll see you in the dorms after practice, about 4ish?"
"Yeah, see you then, have fun at practice. Bye." Then she walked over to a park that we had just pasted and sat on a swing.
"You reckon she will be alright?" Connie was getting just as worried as I was.
"To be honest, I don't know, but she needs time on here own, to think."
Adam POV
After Emma ran off, I walked back to my dorm, well that was definitely an interesting start to the term. I don't know if she was telling the truth, but I don't know how she would have got hold of the photo, never mind know I had a twin, no one knew. That was a part of my life that was to hard to tell anyone about, a part that I had planned to never tell anyone. I had worked really hard at hockey, for her, Dad had said that, we had both really liked it as kids, we were both signed up for the local team, the Hawks. Dad pushed me so hard in hockey because he missed Mum and her, he was pushing me for them, I was pushing myself for them. Then I find out that they weren't dead, they never had been, Dad would never lie to me about that, not for so many years, would he?
I went to the one place that I always went to when I needed to think, the rink. Putting on skates and taking my stick and the puck bucket, I stepped onto the ice. The puck bucket on one of the team benches, I skated round the rink, I lost track of how many laps I did, just as I lost track of what my problems were, on the ice my mind cleared.
"Thought you might want someone to play against." How did he know that that was exactly all I needed right now. Charlie came onto the ice and over to me with a puck in hand. "Just some one-on-one. Nothing more, promise."
He deserved to be captain, he knew exactly what each of us needed at every point in time, knew when to push it, when to leave us alone and when to just be there. Now was one of those times, where I needed him to just be there. We played for a few hours and then my stomach started to rumble, Charlie heard as well, and so we stopped and got some lunch. Just a packet of crisps and a chocolate bar from the vending machines in the foyer. We sat on the steps in silence, just eating.
"What do you reckon I should do?" He was always the voice of reason.
"Talk to her, get her story without shouting at her. You really scared her this morning, and what if she was telling the truth. I cant tell you what to do, cos I don't know the full story, I only know what I have seen. That being, a girl with a photo of you, your dad and someone else, making you get really angry. Think about it, if you want to talk anymore, you know where I am, and if you need me for anything, let me know." Ending there, he walked into the locker room, just as Russ and Ken walked through the doors.
"Hey there Banks, time for play." Shaking my head, I walked with them onto the locker room and proceeded to get dressed, and walked out to the rink.
Coach gave us a tough practice, something about getting us back into shape, we had a game in a couple of weeks. I know we will be ready, we always are, I had other things on my mind, I could tell that Julie was waiting for the right time to talk to me, and I think I need to talk to her too. After practice, I got changed quickly and waited outside the girls room, I had to catch her.
As she and Connie came out of the room, they saw me and gave me a look, one that told me that I best have something good to say, cos they were not happy with me.
"Look, I know I was slightly out of line this morning."
"Slightly, understatement much!" Not the right time for sarcasm, and by the look I gave her, she got the hint.
"Alright, I'll see you at tea." Now it was just me and Julie, I had lost what I was going to say.
"I think that Emma needs to talk to you, she is in a right mess at the moment, she doesn't know what is going on at the moment."
"Well neither do I, I need to talk to her too. Do you reckon that she would though, I must have really upset her this morning?"
"more than you can realise. She will though, but only if you promise to be nice and let her give her side, she has had a really tough time this holiday, and right now the last thing she needs is you going skits at her."
"Why, what happened?" I may not be completely convinced that she is my sister, but that doesn't stop me being concerned.
"I think she needs to tell you that in her own time. How about talking to her tonight, during dinner?"
"If you think she will talk to me, I don't think I would sleep tonight with this hanging over me."
"I'll ask her, how 'bout the two of you sit on one of the other tables, away from the Ducks? It would give you some privacy, but if you need one of us, we are close enough to call."
"Sounds good to me, I'll see you in the dinning room at 6?"
"See you then, and remember what I said, listen to her." With that I was left to think about what I was gonna say at dinner, what did she need to know, well I suppose it would be everything, so I walked the long way back to my dorm, I had to think, and the cool air was always good for that.
When I got back, I went straight over to where I kept my secret box. It contained everything that I didn't want others to find, including the photos that I had of me and my twin. After so many years of thinking that she was dead, could she really be alive, had she been only a short way away for the last 3 months? After tonight, we should know, hopefully she will talk to me, I have never been as angry as this morning, it was more shock than anything else, though by the look on her face, she was shocked to. When I go to bed tonight, my whole life may be different.
A/N: I thought another POV was needed, I may do it from other peoples as well, see where the story takes me.
