A/N: Okay, so we've pretty much narrowed the romance possibilities down to everyone. Seriously you need to review, or e-mail me with who you want to see cause I'm probably putting it in next chapter or so.
Nikki was sitting at the kitchen table with her father, brother, and sister. The lights were off as her mother came in with a cake complete with twenty flickering candles, when the singing started:
"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday—" The song was interrupted by the doorbell ringing.
"I'll get it," Nikki's father offered getting up. He opened the door to find several bright eyed hockey players standing there.
"Hi coach," Buzz started.
"Boys." Coach started in shock. "What are you doing at my house?"
"We just wanted to come by to wish Nikki a Happy Birthday," Rizzo answered quickly. "Are we interrupting something?"
"She was just about to blow out the candles," he answered.
"Oh, good we're just in time then," Jimmy started and he along with most of the other boys pushed their way into the house.
"Stop," Herb started to no avail. "You won't all fit in there." He grabbed Mac by his collar and pulled him back. "Aren't you supposed to be at practice with Coach Patrick?"
"Yea, but its okay," Mac assured him. "Rammer, Brots, and Morrow, Suter, Verchota, and Strobel, and a couple of the other guys stayed behind to run interference."
"Herb!" Patti called in distress. "What are they doing in my house?"
"Well I don't know, Patti," Herb returned. "Why don't we ask Nikki?"
"I don't what they're doing here," Nikki defended in between happy birthday bear hugs.
"Don't worry," Mark Johnson assured them. "We're just going to give her our present and then leave."
"You guys didn't have to get me anything," Nikki reprimanded them.
"Yea, we know," Coxie assured her setting the package down on the table. "But we did it anyway."
"Oh my God," she breathed, throwing off the lid off the box. She looked up at Rizzo in disbelief. "Oh my God I hate you." She started, up, pulling away tissue paper to reveal a brand new pair of sparkling tan figure skates.
Nikki sneered at him.
"You know I'm mad at you don't you," she shot evilly.
"What're you going to do about it," Rizzo teased. That was when she jumped up on him and wrapped her legs around his waist. He grunted slightly under her weight as she clung onto him. The boys all laughed, when Herb came into the room.
"Rizzo put my daughter down," he ordered.
"I can't," he protested holding his arms out as she clung around his neck.
"They're staying for cake," Nikki added
"Mommy!" Kelly yelped running into the kitchen, hours later, after much of the hockey traffic had dispersed. "Mommy, there's a hockey player sleeping on our couch, and I want to watch TV."
"Okay sweetie, I'll take care of it," Patti assured her, setting down a pile of dishes in the sink. "Herb," she called smartly up the stairs. "How do you know a hockey team's been to your house?"
"I don't know." He replied coming down into the kitchen. "How?"
"There's no food," she began, opening the ice box, where it seemed nothing remained but a stick of butter and a box of baking soda. "There's nothing to drink...and they left someone behind."
"What?" Herb started curiously. Patti motioned out to the living room, were Mike Eruzione was stretched out with Nicolette resting on top of him; with the news report still flashing across the television, of a recap of the Soviet's latest domination on the ice.
"Rizzo!" Herb yelled. Both Mike and Nikki shot out of sleep.
"Yea, Coach," he started up in a slight daze.
"Get out of my house!" Herb ordered.
"Sorry coach, I guess I sort-of dozed off," he admitted, as he got up, still partially asleep, "Somewhere between losing the feeling in my right arm, and Mikhailov's second goal."
"That's wonderful, the door's that way," Herb replied, pointing.
"Bye Mike, drive safely," Nikki urged him, seeing him out to his car and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Love you," he whispered with a smart smile. "See you tomorrow."
The next morning Nikki was out on the ice, breaking in her new skates as the boys were running plays on the other end of the ice.
"Hit the tape boys," coach Brooks encouraged. "Passes come from the heart."
Half an hour later they came in to discuss some play the Conehead line had thought up.
"Say we want to stretch things out north and south," Herb started. "Take us through it. Bah."
"I'm going to be stretching D out and across," he started.
"Now we've got this open space here," Nikki put in, pointing. "What are we going to do with it?"
"I'm going to fill the open lane," Pav continued.
"And I'm gonna fill in for Pav's lane," Buzz finished.
"Alright, let's do it," Coach ordered leading the team onto the ice. As usual, the Coneheads were out there playing like they were from another planet. Pass, shoot, score as they had put it.
The boys were doing green seats down the hallway, passing weights back and forth, when Nikki came out of the bathroom.
"Hey Sissy, if you're such hot stuff, get your but over here," O.C. ordered.
"Are you kidding?" She laughed, motioning to the weight being passed around like a hot potato. "I can't even lift that in an upright position." She went out onto the ice to skate some more while Jimmy was practicing.
"Don't let 'em have it Jimmy," Herb ordered. "Atta boy Jimmy; atta boy!" Nicolette got to practice her jumps and spins for a little while before all the boys came out for more wind sprints.
"Build your legs boys," her father encouraged. "You're not going to have anything left for the third quarter if you don't build your legs now." After that came more plays.
"Now what do we have here boys," Coach Brooks prompted.
"Options!" They replied in spirited union.
Craig observed the schedule as the boys came in from another long practice.
"Herb, what's this? We're playing the Soviets three days before Lake Placid." He began.
"How 'bout that?" Herb started with a sly smile on his face.
"How 'bout that?" Craig repeated.
When Nicolette entered the lockers there were only a few boys left. Rizzo, O.C., Johnson, Jimmy, Bah, Mac, and Buzz. She smiled to herself thinking they'd be the most receptive to her mischief.
"Guys, guys," Nikki started excitedly. "I just had the best idea, for something fun to do tonight."
"What?" Bah started up.
"Let's pile into my pick up and go tip cows," she started with bright eyes shining. The boys started at her a minute before:
"Are you kidding?" O.C. stated in shock. "That has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard."
"Yea, doesn't that, like, kill the cows," Johnson questioned.
"No they just get really pissed at you," Mac assured him.
"I don't want to murder any cows," Buzz protested.
"No one is going to be murdering any cows," Rizzo added.
"Come on," she urged. "If a bunch of us do it, it'll be fun, like an adventure, come on. It'd make me really, really happy."
"Are you crazy," Jimmy started. "Maybe you don't understand this because your Herb's daughter, but he would kill us...and then kick us off the team."
"You could tell him you thought it'd be good exercise," she said. "Put the blame on me. Please."
"How is tipping cows exercise?" Buzz asked in confusion.
"You don't push a cow over and then look at it..." Mac said. "You scream, and run like hell."
"Please guys, do this one thing for me and I'll love you forever," she said hopefully. "I promise we'll have fun. More fun than you'd have sitting up worrying about who's getting cut."
"I'd go if everyone else does," Rizzo stated, just to make her happy, her on the assumption that his fellow players weren't out of their minds.
"I don't think so," Mark said uneasily.
"I'll sleep with you," she started sarcastically.
"All in favor," Mac took a survey.
"Aye!" Was the euonymus vote.
"Great," Rizzo fumed slightly. Nikki laughed at him.
"Haha, now you have to come tip cows with me and I don't even have to sleep with you," she teased.
"You know if he's not getting it with you he's getting it from someone else," Jack warned her.
"Ack, no! My Rizzo!" She returned jumping onto his back.
"No, bad Nikki, down," he pleaded.
Nikki stopped the car outside the fence of a large farm. The headlights were off and there was no moon out.
The majority of the boys climbed out of the truck bed as Nikki and Rizzo got out of the cab.
"Come on," Mac urged in a whisper, climbing over the fence. They followed him into a field with just a couple cows in it, and Mac, Nikki, and O.C. began to creep impishly up to a sleeping cow, and in one smooth, seemingly effortless motion the tree of them pushed her over.
The unfortunate victim woke on impact, and in turn startled the rest off the herd into a frenzy.
"Cow with horns," Buzz warned. Nikki looked over her shoulder to find an animal with and incredibly scary silhouette charging them.
"Bull," She started franticly. "Run!"
"Mac you idiot!" Johnson shot angrily as they ran for their dear lives. "You picked a field with a bull in it."
"What the hell were you thinking, Butch," O.C. shot at him. In the course of getting back to the car, Jimmy actually ran into another cow, who woke up more cows, who started a stampede. So there was more frantic running and screaming as the boys and Nikki tried to avoid being trampled and gored.
In the last leg of the race they all managed to clear the fence in one smooth motion and hop into the truck.
"Go go go!" Buzz yelled to Nikki in the driver's seat as she started the car and took off. Another mile down the rood they were laughing in excitement.
"That was insane," Jimmy started.
"I'm never doing that again," Mac swore.
"You Minnesotans are out of your mind," O.C. added.
"I thought I was going to have a heart attack," Rizzo put in.
"When Jimmy tripped over that cow though," Nikki continued. "That was really funny...for about the ten seconds it took for the stampede to start."
"That actually hurt, like a lot," Jimmy defended.
"Yea, that was just about the stupidest thing I've ever done," Mark added.
"But it was a lot of fun," Nikki put in, and they all nodded in agreement.