One Last Time
Chapter 17: Goodbye
By aznJEDI13
Disclaimer: Disney owns the Mighty Ducks. I own the plot and any original characters in this series.
Notes: This was written as pure fun. I hope that this does not offend anyone and if it does I did not by any means do it on purpose. Sorry I didn't have time to fix the grammar and all that fun stuff! And by the way the italics now mean flashbacks. Its spring break and I finally wanted to finish this!!! Thank you so much to those loyal fans who have stuck through this dry period. It's over, done, and completed just for you! How come when I upload it, my structure gets all messed up?
Chapter 17:
'…It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday…'
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You would be proud of me, Dad."
A lonely echo cut through the silence, suffocating into the wind. It was cold and chilly as he wrapped his arms tighter around himself, shivering. The breeze was light, but heavy on this particular night. The stars shined brightly as an etheral afterglow lit his face. His handsome features, rigid to perfection, glowed in the twilight.
A strapping young man sat solemnly in front of a tombstone. His arms wrapped around his knees as goosebumps ran up them. Every time a breeze passed, he would gather his coat around him tighter and press his knees closer to his chest.
This wasn't the first time he had been here and he knew it wouldn't be his last.
Maybe it was a morbid, haunting idea to say he liked it here, but it was true. His father's presence, dead or alive, offered him solace and comfort in his darkest moments.
He had cried here, laughed here, even slept here before. When he was younger, he had packed his things and ran away, trying to find comfort in the invisible arms of his deceased parent. And he had found the comfort, one way or another, whether in the charming music of nature or the solitude of a graveyard.
He found that he loved it here.
"I'm graduating soon, in a few days. Mom's proud of me; she raised me well. Connie and Guy helped a lot too. You left me to some great people. But I'm afraid now…" He began, his voice cracking with his emotions.
"I'm afraid to leave all this, afraid to be away from my family, afraid that if I leave I'll lose them." His eyes closed for a second, "I wish you were here to see me walk down that aisle and collect my diploma."
He sighed, "I wish you could see it."
He felt the tears and blinked them back. At eighteen, Joshua Adam Banks stood the splitting image on his father, tall, strapping, brawn. However, he didn't know that, he didn't know that everytime his mother looked at him she was remind of his father.
He never knew his dad. He had a father, but he didn't have a father.
He had Guy, for a while that is.
Guy was his "father", when he was around that is. He was often away playing professional hockey or years later, taking care of his own kids. Guy was a good Godfather, no doubt about it, and he was thoroughly spoiled, but he never felt like Guy was his father.
He hated that.
He felt like there was always something holding Guy back from loving him completely. He knew what it was. It was Adam – his real dad.
He missed him a lot. Even if he had never known him. He missed him.
Most boys grow up playing catch with their dad, going on fishing trips, or playing flag football. But not him. He never had a father to give him advice about girls, or the birds and the bees, or be there to share about his first date, his first girlfriend or his first kiss.
"Mom?" He glanced up at her, from his toy cars and ramps.
His mother smiled down at him, from her seat on the couch, pulling away from her book. "Yes, Josh?"
He struggled for a moment and then looked away and back again, "Tell me about my daddy, please…"
He had been eight then. It was when he first realized he didn't have the average, ordinary life. The first father-son picnic had been held at his new school and Guy was out of town. He didn't go with his dad. He didn't go.
It hurt him, even being age eight. Having to listen to the teacher talk about the day afterwards or his friends laugh about the funny things that had happened. Everything hurt him. But he learned to adapt.
By junior high he had learned it was okay that he didn't have a father. He compensated mostly through friends and rebellious behavior. People shook off the detentions and the defficency notices as "his way of finally coping".
Once he had started high school, he became more ambitious and grew out of torturing teachers and annoying classmates. He took up football and girls and life was better then. He didn't mention to anyone that he didn't have a daddy. He didn't want to hear the ridicules or the nicknames like bastard or the unknown labels behind his back like illegitimate.
When people found out he didn't have a daddy, they automatically assumed the worst.
So here he was days from graduating, from leaving life behind and for some strange reason he didn't want to leave.
His phone rang, interrupting silence and thoughts and the inevitable overwhelming tears. He was glad. It Guy there had been an accident hours before.
Metal hit metal as screams paralyzed people with fear. The trembling of the news hit his nerves and his body began to shake. Tires had screeched as cars swerved, brakes broken and horns were honked. He began to cry, to sob uncontrollably.
His mom was in the hospital.
The most important woman in his life…could she die too? And be taken away from him just like his dad.
No, she couldn't die. She just couldn't.
"Guy?" He asked. The older man turned from his desk, glancing over at the growing boy.
"What is it Josh?" he asked. "Sit here." He motioned.
The young boy came over quickly, sitting silently in the offered chair. He looked at Guy, "What happened to my dad? My mom won't tell me. It's like she doesn't want me to know. I just want to know. The other boys get to play with their dad. I'm stuck knitting with my mom."
Guy laughed. Josh was ten then, already developing a sense of humor; something his father had marginally lacked. He was built like Adam though and seemed he would be the splitting image of his father.
"I don't think your mom doesn't want you to know. I think she's afraid to forget, or to realize how much she's forgotten. She loved your father very much, almost as much as she loves you. Give it time, ok?"
Josh nodded, "Time heals all wounds."
"Exactly," he laughed, "You're pretty smart for a slacker. Wanna go shoot some hoops?"
Maybe he never needed a father. Guy spoiled him like crazy. Now a forward for the Anahiem mighty Ducks, he would tag along with Guy to the rink and be able to sit in the locker room and help the team get ready. He was everybody's favorite kid.
At time he even had 18 dads.
He had learned the ropes from Guy, played catch with him, skated with him. Everything a boy dreams in an uncle, a mentor Guy was. And that's what made Guy great. So maybe he didn't really need a dad.
But he needed his mother.
When he reached the hospital, Guy and Connie were watching for him outside. Everything became a blur; he was ushered into the hospital and to his mother's door.
But he couldn't go in.
Guy, with his arm draped around his shoulder, explained to him what had happened, but he didn't hear any of it. It all became music in the background. His mother, she just couldn't die.
He shivered, his heart growing heavy, until he collasped from the rush of blood to his head. They hurried him to a chair, told him to breathe in and out, and silently he obeyed. He just couldn't lose his mother.
The one person who had raised him, given him everything. He couldn't lose her too.
Finally, she was awake. They ushed him in, sat him down, he looked over at her. Wires running through her, dried blood and scabs along her face, covered by bandages and gauze. She was a mess.
"Mom…" his voice cracked. She smiled at him and he reached over for her hand.
This is when he knew it. His mother, she was dying.
He tried hard not to cry.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Connie and Guy renewed their vows three months after Adam's funeral. They had stood, side by side, listening to the reverend and knowing this was finally the right thing. They ended it with a kiss and started the rest of their lives together…again.
It was months of pure heaven. Days of pure joy. They were in love again and it felt so good.
Things started to get rocky when the hockey season came by, Juile and Josh had moved in, and life began to dwindle the happiness away again.
But they wouldn't give up this time. They knew, this time, that this was life.
Connie miscarried their first child, Guy learned it would be hard to have a family and a career. So they put off their family plans for a bit and helped Juile raise Josh.
They began to live in happiness again, once they learned, Connie was pregnant. Guy gave up hockey and became a scout. It was as if the pices were finally falling into place.
At the birth of their first son, Adam, they cried. When their second daughter, Megan, came around, they smiled. But they would never forget Katie.
Now, eighteen years after that tragic, but nostigic ten year reunion. They were all reuniting again…under sadder terms and down a few people. It was a sadder reunion, filled with more tears then jeers, more frowns then smiles, more "I wish"s then "I hope"s.
Adam was gone and Julie was not far behind him.
That last reunion would be the last time they were all together. The last time, they sat and reminicised with smiles and not tears, the last time they would come today and not be afraid of tomorrow.
Sitting in the hospital waiting room, they all waited for those fated words. Juile's injuries were too much for her to sustain and they knew they had to let her go.
Connie and Julie best friends through everything would forever remain kindred spirits. They had the friendship that everyone wanted, but not everyone could obtain and Connie would hold Juilie in her heart forever. They loved each other more than they ever though they would, their friendship beginning with a common hobby and ending with one too: Josh.
He would be the living memory of his long gone parents, for a team of juvenile hockey players turned sucessful ambitious adults to forever hold dear. He would lose his mother, but gain more than he could fathom. The Duck family, though missing a few members, was still a family.
From that lonely room, they could hear it. A scream through the darkness, a vortex through the void, a haunting memory for the rest of their lives.
Josh screamed. "Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!"
And they knew it was over. And it came, like a jaded memory, or a dreaded dream.
"I'm sorry, but Mrs. Banks is dead. Her injuries were too much for her to sustain. We exercised all that we could, but were unsuccessful. I'm sorry."
And it hurt more than they ever thought it would. And before they knew it, it was all over.
Julie and Adam were reunited one last time for all eternity. Connie, through the tears, smiled because she could imagine them. Adam rushing to welcome Julie, holding her tightly in his arms, telling her how much he missed her and he loved her.
I love you too Adam.
They were finally together again and neither was scared or afraid anymore. They had each other for all eternity once again.
Like a dream or a nightmare, it was over.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
'…I thought we would get to see forever, but forever's gone away…'
Please CONTINUE to REVIEW – I beg you! Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter, it really encouraged me and to everyone who has stuck by through this long drought of writer's block too!!!
