Title: Familiar Faces: Pieces of a Puzzle

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.

 This one is a little crazy with the view points, I couldn't' decide whose to do it from, and didn't think that it was worth doing it twice, so you got it as follows with no particular POV. Sorry, hope I don't confuse you to much. If you like it better this way let me know.

            "No"

            "What do you mean, no?"

            "I can't do it."

            "Yes you can, your nearly there anyway, you need to do this."

            "I'm sure I'll cope without doing it, I've lived this long without a brother, sure I can live a while longer." By this stage Emma was shaking so much that she had stopped shaking, "Anyway, he hates me, probably only agreed to talk to me so he could shout some more."

            "Don't be silly," walking over to the dinning room door, Julie looked through. Sat at a table in the corner was Adam, he was looking really nervous, more than she had ever seen him, even before matches. " Believe me, he looks to be in the same state as you, what you saw this morning was not a normal Adam. He was in shock, someone he thought was dead, wasn't, takes a little while to get your head round, don't you reckon?"

            "Ok, fine, but I can't do it alone. I wouldn't be able to handle it if he did start shouting. Please can you come with me? I really need you there, I know it is a lot to ask, but you being there would mean so much to me."

            "I would love to be there for you, but I think that one of us should make sure that Adam doesn't mind, it is gonna be hard for him to. Do you want me to go and ask him?"

            "Would you please?" I wouldn't be able to face him alone, if he said no, then I can't do it.

            Julie walked through the dinning room and over to the table that Adam was sat on. "Please don't tell me she isn't coming? I didn't mean to shout at her, I need to tell her I'm sorry. I need to talk to her!"

            "It's ok, calm down, she is coming, but she wanted me to ask if you would mind if I sat with you as well. She is really nervous and scared, but if you don't want me to be here then I won't as long as you promise to be nice to her."

            "Was that all, you would not believe what was going through my mind as you walked over alone. Yes please do join us," just as Julie was gonna walk away, he continued, "but can I get someone else to sit with us to?"

            "Well it is only fair, she has me."

            "You sure she won't mind?"

            "I'll check, but I'm sure it'll be fine. I'll go and get her."

            Back in the hallway, Emma was sat on the floor chewing on her fingers, as the door opened for the 3rd time, she faced Julie and looked eagerly at her to get the answer.

            "It's fine with him, but he did ask if he could have someone as well."

            "It's not gonna be that big nasty one is it?"

            "Not likely, probably Charlie, our captain."

            "I can handle that, as long as you promise not to go anywhere."

            "I promise. Shall we go then?"

            "I suppose so, I'm gonna have to face him at some stage, might as well be now."

            Walking over to the main Duck table, as it was called by everyone in the school now, Adam was amazed at how calm everyone seemed to be, like they didn't have a care in the world, though none of them actually knew what was going on with him, apart from Connie, but she only knew Emma's story.

            "You finally decide to join us?" Luis asked as he spotted Adam walking over.

            " Er, no there is something I need to do." he hesitated a minute then looked ove at Charlie, "Charlie, can I talk to you for a minute?"

            "Sure, let me just grab my food and I'll come and sit with you over there?"

            "That would be great. Thanks."

            No one knew how, but Charlie always understood the subtle things and knew what was needed, and now he sensed that Adam needed him to sit with him. "You know you said on the ice that if I needed anything then to just ask?" Off Charlie's nod he continued, "well I need you, I'm gonna talk to her, but I can't do it alone, can you just sit with us?  Don't worry, Julie is gonna be there to."

            "Yeah sure,  like I said, all you had to do was ask." Charlie was just relieved that Adam was gonna be going through this alone.

            When Emma was calm enough and had got her courage back, she and Julie walked through the doors and got their dinner. Then walked over to the table where Adam had been sat. In his place was Charlie.

            "He just went to get his food, hi, I'm Charlie, do you mind if I join you?"

            "No, it's fine." whispered Emma, the floor was suddenly very interesting for her. 'Anything so long as Adam is comfortable, well as either of us could be'

            The three of them sat there quietly, Julie and Charlie started to eat their food, but Emma just pushed it around her plate, she couldn't quite face eating at the moment. It felt like she would be seeing it again if she ate now.  Emma was brought out of her thoughts as a tray was set down opposite her. Knowing who it was, she stopped playing, took a deep breath and looked at him.

            "I'm sorry" Both had said it as the same time, looking away Adam continued, "you go."

            "Ok, well, I'm sorry for running off this morning."

            "No, it was my fault, I'm sorry for shouting at you, it was just a bit of a shock. To be honest with you, I'm still unsure as to whether I believe you, but it is only fair that I give you a chance."

            "Well, I understand where you're coming from, it was a real shock for me when I found out I had a brother, never mind that he was still alive."

            "You mean, you never knew?" Charlie blurted out.

            "Charlie, shut up." Julie glared at him, she knew the whole of Emma's story and knew how hard this would be on her, she didn't need Charlie interrupting all the time.

            "Sorry, I'll be quiet."

            "Well, not until Christmas, then I found out, but I don't know many details."

            "What happened?"

            "Can we leave that for a bit please?"

            "Yeah," he didn't know how to ask, but he needed some more proof, finally he couldn't think of any other way than to ask. "Have you got anything other than the photo?"

            "Yeah, my birth certificate. Here." Emma passed the paper over to him and he stared at the writing.

            "Emma Jane Banks. Date of Birth: 27th November 1982. Mother: Joyce Banks. Father: Philip Banks." At that he stopped, there couldn't really be another Philip Banks that had a child on the same date, no way. There was no there explaination, Emma had to be his sister. "But why did Dad lie to me, he said that you and mum died when we were 3."

            "Believe me Mum is definitely alive, she never told me about you, but said that dad had died when I was younger, something to do with Hockey."

            "Is that why you hate it so much?"

            "Yeah, because it took my dad away from me, or so I thought."

            "Dad told me that for our 3rd birthday, he had signed us up for the local hockey team."

            "Why would they both lie to us? Why keep us apart?"

            "I don't know, but it doesn't really make much sense. The only way that we are gonna get a chance to find out is if we ask them."

            "Well, you could try asking your Dad, but it is definitely a no go with Mum."

            "Why, what happened?"

            "Let's just say that she doesn't think she has a daughter anymore."

            "Why? Is that what happened at Christmas?"

            "Partly." They both became quiet now, Emma was thinking about Christmas and Adam wasn't sure what to say next.

            Breaking the awkwardness, Julie said "This food was great, I'm gonna go and get pudding, Charlie, you gonna join me?" Charlie didn't respond, so Julie kicked him hard under the table, once she had his attention she gave him a 'give them some space' look.

            "Yeah, I would love to join you." So the two left them alone, playing with there food. Once they had their pudding, they went to the Duck table, rather than going back with to Emma and Adam.

            "How did it go?" Connie asked as the two of them sat down

            "Its gone ok so far, they aren't talking much at the moment, I thought that they would be ok on their own now though."

            "Yeah, but you could have nudged me a bit gentler, I'm gonna have a bruise for ages now."

            "Serves you right for not getting the hint."

            "Talking about not getting it, is someone gonna tell us what is going on?" Portman always felt that he should know what was going on.

            "No, they will tell you when they are ready, until then, just don't be to hard on either of them. I think that Emma might be joining us a bit more, if all goes well."

            "They getting together? After this morning's display, it would be a quick turn around." Dating, the only thing on Luis' mind.

            "No way, you will so laugh when you actually find out what is going on, I am gonna remind you of that comment." Connie, trying to change the topic then continued to ask everyone how they thought the next game would go. The conversation on the table continued on like this for a long time, and only Julie and Charlie noticed when Adam and Emma got up and left the room, with a conversation in looks, they decided they would be alright on there own now.

            Once Julie and Charlie had left Emma and Adam alone, they sat there staring at their food and eventually eating some. "This food really does taste awful." Way to go for conversation Adam, well done.

            "It isn't the worst, you should have seen it at my old school." Smiling, Emma remembered the slop that they got fed.

            "I'm not really hungry anyway, I have some crisps and stuff back in my room, and some things that you might want to see."

            "Really, what?"

            "Well, some photos and other bits, plus I can tell you what has been going on in my life a lot easier if you see some of the bits in my room."

            "Ok then, crisps sounds good, do you think we should tell Julie and Charlie where we are going?"

            Looking over at the table, they could see that they were deep in conversation. "Probably wouldn't realise if we go, they left us anyway."

            "Cool, lets go then." She may only really know Adam for  little while, but she felt safe with him, like she had know him for ages. And so they dumped their trays in the pile and walked out of the room.

            They didn't talk as they walked over to the dorms and didn't even notice as Cole came round the corner in front of them.

            "What you doing with him, you do realise that he is a hockey player?"

            "Just leave me alone, we don't have another session until the end of the week."

            "I thought you said that you don't date hockey players. You don't do hockey."

            "I didn't, please leave me alone." Emma was becoming real uneasy and Adam could tell.

"Leave my sister alone." Instinct took over, he hadn't spoken to anyone on the Varsity team since he went back to JV but now he had to defend Emma, defend his sister.

"Your what?"

"Sister, now go back to you little friends and leave us alone."

Cole had no come back for that, he was in shock. He stared after them as they rounded the corner. "His sister, now that is news."

"What did you call me?" It wasn't just Cole that was in shock, but Emma was for another reason. Adam had called her his sister and defended her. Like a big brother was supposed to.

"My sister, well you are, sorry if you didn't want me to." Adam's sureness had disappeared, now he wasn't sure if he had done the right thing.

"No, it was lovely, thank you so much, no one has ever done something like that before."

"Saves us the job of actually telling other people, you do realise that he will be going straight to the dinning room and shouting it from the door.

"Let him, I don't have anyone to tell, but will your team mind finding out like that?"

"Maybe, but they will get over it." And with that, they walked the rest of the way to Adam's dorm with smiles on their faces, as long as they stuck together, they would be alright. Both of them felt complete now, like a part of them had been missing that they didn't realise.