"Pick up the pace, Averman!" Russ called, flinging a shovel-full of snow behind him into the ever building pile they'd accumulated thus far. "The rest of us will be done and you'll still be going!"

"I'm trying," Averman was struggling. He got winded easily and kept having to momentarily pause, leaning against the shovel, looking exhausted. "It's heavy."

"Then don't take as much," Connie advised. Her path she'd done was far neater than the rest of theirs. She made precise, clean lines from the top of the driveway all the way to the bottom where it was the most thick at.

"Man, why does Coach have to have such a big driveway?" Jesse complained.

"It's not that much bigger than most," Julie said. "Mine's about this size."

"Mine too," Charlie nodded, shivering when a particularly harsh gust of wind flew past him.

Coach Bombay was away for a couple days. He had to travel for a case; he couldn't say too much about it, for privacy reasons and all, but it was definitely important. The days leading up to his departure, he'd seemed a bit on edge, though he tried not to let it affect him during practice.

The day after he'd left, there was a big snow storm that came through the area. It started during the morning and was still going on. The roads were horrible, piles upon piles of snow were everywhere and it also meant that quite a number of places were being closed due to the weather. Their ice rink, being one of them. They certainly couldn't practice outside in these conditions so originally, Charlie hadn't thought about doing much today beyond staying inside.

But then he'd gotten an idea while shoveling his own driveway so his mom could get out for work.

Bombay would be tired by the time he came back. He usually was after dealing with difficult cases, let alone ones that involve travel. He wouldn't feel like doing it right away, which would only lead to it worsening by the time he was feeling up to doing it. He'd phoned everyone right away, asking them to meet up at Bombay's house if they could.

Not everyone could make it, or rather, they weren't allowed to, but Charlie was glad many of them could. They'd agreed on cleaning up his driveway, his portion of the sidewalk and that immediate area where his front door was. So far, they had worked for an hour or something like that. Charlie hadn't checked his watch much, wanting to keep the sleeves of his hoodie down as much as possible so the cold didn't seep in and numb his arms. Especially since they couldn't just go inside for warmth. It would require a bit of a walk to a gas station for that or longer if he wanted to wait until he got to his house.

Peter's arm was shaking as he lifted the shovel, hissing at what Charlie presumed to be pain. Even at sixteen, he was still shorter than the other guys, namely because he was only an average height while the others were above that. Suddenly, he swore, dropping the shovel onto the ground, clenching his wrist.

"Guess Averman's not the only one who needs help," Russ remarked.

"Screw you," Peter glared.

"I could think of better things to screw."

"Focus," Charlie stressed. He really wanted to get this done before Bombay came back. Now, when that would be, he didn't know.

"I'm surprised Banksy came," Peter jerked a thumb in the blonde's direction.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Adam frowned.

"Don't you have 'people'-" Peter used finger quotes, "to shovel for you? Didn't think you knew how."

Adam rolled his eyes. Charlie knew he wasn't offended. None of them were whenever it came to Peter. That was just how he was. And Charlie knew he would do anything in a heartbeat for anyone, although he skillfully hid it behind his snarky exterior. "I've shoveled before."

"What, you weren't afraid of getting your shoes all wet?" Peter said sarcastically.

Adam narrowed his eyes and without warning, he slammed a generous amount of snow onto Peter's hat-less head, rubbing it into his hair.

"You jerk!" Peter's jaw dropped and then a mischievous gleam came into his eyes. "That's it!" He threw a snowball that was supposed to be aimed at Adam, but he ducked and it ended up hitting Russ on the back of his neck.

Russ smirked.

Peter crossed his arms. "What?"

"Oh, you're in for it now, tiny."

This riled Peter up. "Don't call me that!"

"I can't help it if it's true."

Peter scowled, even so when Russ' grin turned more soft to indicate that he was merely joking.

Charlie rubbed his gloved hands together to warm them up somewhat. It was a tad bit colder than he anticipated. Somehow, it must have dropped in temperature in the time it took to get over to Bombay's house.

"I'm cold," Greg voiced what Charlie was thinking. This caused a chorus of me too's from the others.

"We're almost done," Connie tried to be the positive one.

"Almost?" Peter said in disbelief. He gestured wildly to everything that still needed to be taken care of. "You call this 'almost done'?"

"It's not that bad," Connie rolled her eyes. "It could be worse."

Right as she said that, a snow plow came down the street, pushing a ton more snow at the end of the driveway. Peter, Russ, Greg and Adam groaned.

Connie grimaced and sighed. "Like that."

"Great," Greg said. "Now we have more to do."

"Don't give up now," Charlie told them.

"Charlie's right," Adam agreed. "We should do that part before another plow comes through."

"If another one comes through, I'm smashing their window," Peter said, irritably.

"You will not," Julie raised her eyebrows.

"Watch me."

"Hey, I think I'm getting the hang of this!" Averman was beaming. "See, if I just-" He let out a shriek. He'd stepped wrong, flipping on the slick surface and ended up landing flat on his back. "Ow..."

"Averman!"

Peter and Charlie rushed over, still minding the ice, pulling him to his feet. Averman was still obviously dizzy, murmuring nonsense to himself.

"He's acting weird," Charlie observed.

Peter gave him a look. "How can you tell?"

Charlie gave him a look and Peter grinned shamelessly. "He could have a concussion." He turned his attention back onto their injured teammate. "You okay, Averman?"

"Stop shouting, Mom..."

"I'll take that as a no," Peter said.

"Let's sit him down," Charlie said and they guided him over to Bombay's front porch where he could sit down on the step. "Just sit here and...don't do anything else."

Russ wiped at his forehead. "You think we'll finish in time?"

"When's he supposed to get back?" Julie wondered.

"I don't know," Charlie admitted.

"Which is why we should work a little faster and stop standing around," Connie's last few words were directed at Peter, who was leaning lazily against his shovel. He put his hands up in a surrender position, then got back to work.

"Boy, is he gonna be surprised," Russ was smiling.

"I can't wait to see the look on his face," Greg chimed in.

It was nice to have a chance to do something for Bombay. He was always doing something for them. Their relationship, which was non-existent in the beginning, had come a long way. He was like a combination of a friend, mentor and father figure. He used to grumble and scowl a lot, hating that he even had to be around them but then over time, things changed.

And became much better as a result.

For all of them.

They worked well into the evening. Eventually, Averman seemed to snap out of it and was able to help again. By the time they finished, feeling cold and starving because they hadn't eaten since earlier that afternoon, the sun had all but set. The only light that was around to give them a way of seeing what they were doing was the street lamp. Charlie didn't know about anyone else, but he'd told his Mom he might be out for a while. She was probably still working, though. Her shift wouldn't end for another few hours, not until it was time to close.

Charlie's sleeve was suddenly being tugged on. "I think it's Coach!" Adam said urgently.

Sure enough, a car pulled up on the side of the road. The door slammed shut and Bombay came into view. Unlike them, he was wearing one of those fancy looking long coats. Snowflakes fell into his hair as he came to a dead stop, looking positively stunned. His eyes roved over where they'd shoveled.

"Did you all do this?" He sounded breathless.

They nodded.

"Surprise, Coach!" Charlie beamed.

"We wanted to do it so you didn't have to," Connie said.

'We figured you'd be tired," Adam added.

"It was all Charlie's idea," Julie told him.

"Yeah, he called all of us up," Russ said.

"The others wanted to come but couldn't," Peter said.

"Just be careful," Averman said and made a face, "it's really slippery..."

Charlie and his friends exchanged a look, suppressing a snicker. Upon closer inspection, he could immediately tell that Bombay was tired. The older man had dark bags under his eyes, looking ready to collapse on his bed at any moment.

Bombay ran a hand through his hair. "Thank you," he said earnestly, giving each one of them a hug and clasp on the back, "thank you guys so much. Did you guys just finish?"

They all nodded.

"It kinda took longer than we thought it would," Connie said.

"Yeah, after that snow plow came through...twice," Peter grumbled.

"But we don't mind," Adam said quickly.

"Yeah, we were happy to do it," Russ said.

Bombay's smile was soft and gracious. "Are you kids hungry? How about I treat you to some pizza?'

They immediately agreed.

"I'm starving," Greg moaned. "I didn't know how much longer I could go on."

"Goldberg, you basically just skipped lunch," Russ rolled his eyes.

"Feels like I skipped more than that!"

Bombay laughed, taking a key out of his pocket and unlocking his front door. "Come inside, all of you."

They did and without being prompted, they took off their wet shoes and left them by the door. One by one, they went inside Coach's home, relishing in the warmth. Bombay flipped on some light switches, nodding to them.

"You can leave your coats wherever. I don't care."

He also told them to help themselves to the fridge for a drink or the bathroom. Connie excused herself to the bathroom; Julie, Adam, Peter and Russ headed off towards the kitchen while Charlie, Greg and Averman settled into the living room. Bombay shrugged off his own coat and sat on the couch, his arm on the back of it.

"Long day?" Greg asked.

"You could say that," Bombay chuckled.

"Do you want us to leave?" Charlie frowned.

"No, no. It's fine, Charlie. I promised you guys pizza," Bombay stretched his legs. He pulled out his cell phone. He also tossed Charlie his keys, which made his eyes widen a little. "Here. I'll call it in and you can go get it. I've had to drive too much today"

"We'd get to use your car?" Greg was in awe.

"I'm trusting you guys this once," Bombay smiled wryly.

"Sweet!" Averman exclaimed.

"What?" Peter came into the living room, having heard Averman. Greg filled him in. "Dude! I'm going!"

"You better be careful," Bombay told them sternly. " Or I will skin you all alive. And turn down the radio if you use it."

"We will," Charlie promised. "Thanks Coach."

"Yeah, whatever," Bombay murmured with a hint of a smile.

/

"Coach?" Peter spoke up.

They were all huddled in the living room, some on the furniture, others on the floor. They ate, talked and laughed together.

"Hmm?" Bombay was in the midst of chewing.

"Do you ever listen to the radio?" At Bombay's perplexed expression, he elaborated. "The station's on that oldie channel that my Grandmother listens to."

A wave of laughter went through the room. Bombay rolled his eyes.

"No, I don't."

"Man, you should have seen that girl," Averman said dreamily.

"She was gorgeous," Greg agreed.

"She smiled at me," Peter told the group.

Charlie rolled his eyes. "She was smiling at me."

"How would you know? Should've kept your eyes on the road, Spazway," Peter mock-scolded him.

"We were stopped at a light," Charlie assured Bombay.

"Coach's car is a total babe magnet," Greg grinned.

Julie and Connie rolled their eyes.

Bombay looked amused. "The answer's no," He said when Peter opened his mouth.

Peter pouted.

"How'd you know what I was gonna say?"

Bombay looked flatly at him. "Unfortunately, I know you kids well enough by now."

Connie swallowed her soda. "Coach? Can I ask you a personal question?"

Bombay gave an exaggerated sigh. "Sure."

"Do you want kids of your own?"

This caused Bombay to look at her, slightly surprised. "I've never really thought about it. But I guess it doesn't matter now. I've got all you kids now and some of you-" His gaze flickered over to Peter, Greg and Averman, "are a handful."

"Does that mean you have a favorite?" Averman said.

"He definitely does," Russ said.

"I bet it's Charlie," Adam piped up, grinning at Charlie.

"I don't have any favorites," Bombay denied.

"Oh, please," Peter scoffed. "That's what they all say. You definitely have one."

"Well, if I do, it's not you," Bombay retorted.

"Yeah, I'm real crushed about that."

"Who is it?" Connie wanted to know.

"Yeah, who is it?" Julie pressed.

Bombay took a long, slow drink of his beverage. He was deliberately stalling. "Myself," he ended up saying
They gawked at him.

"What?" Russ said incredulously.

"You can't say yourself," Adam protested.

"Why not? I check off all the boxes," Bombay shrugged, smirking. He checked his wristwatch and sighed. "Crap, it's late."

"Is it?" Charlie looked at his own watch and was astounded to see that it was after eight, nearing nine. He hadn't realized that much time had passed already. "Oh."

"Sorry, kids," Bombay got to his feet, "I have to cut this short. I've got to be at the office early tomorrow."

"But you just got back," Connie frowned. "Don't you get, like, time to recuperate or something?"

"Not always," Bombay said in dismay.

"That sucks," Averman muttered.

"It does, but hey, thank you guys again for this," Bombay said sincerely. "I really do appreciate it."

"We appreciate you, too, Coach!" Connie said brightly and the rest of the team agreed.

"I'm going in for another one!" Greg cried, lunging himself at Bombay.

"You kids made me soft," Bombay grumbled good-naturedly, though he didn't hesitate to hug him back.