Disclaimer: I still do not own the Ducks.

Nickelle walked into the Coaches office at Eden Hall. She had met the Dean and didn't like him one bit. He seemed a little stuck up. It was everything she could do to be polite. She did not like cake eaters as Jesse started calling them. All though, in Oklahoma she found out not all cake eaters were bad. Just the Minnesota cake eaters.

"What's on your mind Nick?"

"Stupid cake eaters." was all she said. Bombay had to laugh. Even if she had changed, she still had the same spunk deep down inside. All though he knew it was going to take a while to get it back. She had been through a lot. Pulled away from the only family and friends she knew at the age of twelve. Then in the last year her dad died. She moved in with her boyfriends mom and then had to get jerked away again because her husband beat her.

"Well, besides that are you glad to be back?"

"I guess." She had pulled herself back into her shell.

Bombay looked at the clock. It was 2. O'rion would be in here in thirty minutes. He was always here thirty minutes before practice. They sat in silence and then..

"Coach?" It was barely above a whisper.

"Ya?"

"Do you think they all hate me now?"

"Who the Ducks?"

"Ya.."

"No why would they?"

"Because I left. I could have done better to keep in touch. But I didn't."

"Kelli. They could never hate you. You didn't have a choice."

"I could have called."

"Listen, you could've but it would've been long distance. They will all be happy to see you again. When they found out your dad died, they all cried. Even some of the newer Ducks, because all though they didn't know you, they heard an awful lot about you.."

"That's another thing. Did they know that I was gonna come back after my dad died and then I decided to stay?"

"No they didn't. We didn't tell them, because we knew you would probably stay, so we didn't want to get their hopes up. They don't even know your here today. I don't know how O'rion is going to introduce you, but..."

Just then O'rion came in. Nickelle sized him up. He wasn't Bombay, but if Bombay says he was good then she'd believe him. She closed up again.

"Another Conway huh?" O'rion laughed.

"Ya. You got a problem with that?"

"No, No. It's just when I first started teaching Charlie's loyalty made him hate me for the longest time. I was just wondering if your the same."

Bombay looked up. "She is a lot like Charlie, if that's what you want to know."

"But if Bombay says your good, then I'll give you a chance."

Nickelle practiced for a little bit. She was amazed at how it all easily came back to her. It was like she had been always been on the ice.

It was time for team practice and Coach O'rion had an idea of how to reintroduce her to the Ducks. They came into practice and Nickelle was suited up, but didn't have her name on her jersey. She was sitting in the Coaches office, nervous as she can be.

"Ducks. I have a new player. She just transfered here from another school. The thing is, before I put her on the team I want to see how well she plays with you guys."

"What's her name coach?" Adam looked up at his coach.

"I can't say yet. Although you guys are going to scrimage and she's going to be with you and Charlie."

The new player came out and everyone looked at her curious. She didn't say anything to them and they didn't say anything to her. This was all part of O'rion's plan. It was to see if her, Charlie, Adam and the original ducks still had the magic. If they knew who she was they would be too excited and there would be no way to tell.

They got onto the ice and Coach O'rion was amazed. Sure enough. They read each other's mind even after four years. The others not knowing who she was. They moved as one. Nickelle skated past O'rion and Bombay and they seen the shine in her eyes. Bombay laughed. "You know O'rion. Nick has always had that shine in her eyes when she was on the ice. Hockey has always meant a lot to her. This might not take as long as I thought to get her readjusted. But then again, you never know."

Nickelle skated and flew with the old Ducks. Everything went back in time. She felt like she was a ten year old again. Charlie passed her the puck and she passed it to Adam who shot and scored. She passed the puck to Connie, Connie to Charlie, Charlie to Adam, Adam to her. She shot, she scored. They didn't have to even look. They just knew. It was just like when they were little.

Practice was over and she skated next to O'rion. Charlie watched her and him and Adam took a kneel. "You know Spaz-way. That was almost like it was ..."

"...NIckelle Conway." O'rion had been introducing her while Adam was whispering. Adam looked up as Nickelle took off her helmet. She looked at the team. The team looked at her. It was silent for a minute and then everybody started screaming. The old ducks that is. The new ones didn't know what to do. Charlie grabbed his cousin and swung her in circles.

"Nick! Is it really you? What happened? How are you?" Everyone was crowding around here. Bombay sighed and looked at O'rion. "Guys... Why don't you all hit the showers. I'm sure Nickelle doesn't want a bunch of smelly guys holding onto her. Ya, you have a lot to catch up on. But give her a breather. This is her first day back." Nickelle looked thankfully at O'rion. They went towards the locker room. The girls went in one and the guys went into the other.

Connie was so excited. She had known Nickelle forever. "Nick! I'm so glad your back. I missed you so much!" She gave her best friend and hug and asked what had been going on. Nickelle told her and was laughing for a little bit. Connie introduced her to Julie and then tried to get more out of her.

"Connie, you know. It's great to be back. It really is. It's just sooo different." They talked for a few minutes and didn't even notice when Julie left the room, looking a little bit ticked off.