A/N     Heya!! It feels like it's been ages since I last updated though it was only last week! I was quite depressed when I saw my story had gone onto the second page and so I decided to update again.

Thanx to all my reviewers. I love it when you guys review more than once – it's great to know that people are following my story! And if you haven't reviewed yet, it really doesn't take that much effort to click on the little button and send a message which gives me so much happiness you wouldn't believe *breathe* Sophie *breathe*. Anyway, you might find there is slightly more to flame in this chapter coz it focuses a lot on moves in hockey and I know diddly-squit on the subject. If you do flame plz make it constructive!!! 

            This is more a continuation of the last chapter as I kinda left that one hanging (bows my head in shame). It was bad of me but I wanted to sleep! Hope y'all understand! Enjoy!

There was a foreboding silence, broken only by the scrape of Charlie's skates on the ice as he moved cautiously towards his Coach. Fear coursed through his veins and his breath came in short, sharp bursts as he slewed to a stop, just out of Reily's reach.

            The Coach smiled, maliciously, "Now, Conway, don't be scared. You need to come a little closer for this to work properly."

            The muscles in Charlie's jaw jumped as he clenched his teeth against his mouth guard, "I'm not scared."

            "Really?" the Coach raised an eyebrow, "You could have fooled me. However, as it is, Conway, you have no reason to be afraid: I'll cause no permanent damage. It would be foolish, would it not, to cripple the Team's Captain?" he chuckled unpleasantly to himself.

            None of the Ducks shared his joke. Charlie looked up at him, eyes blazing.

            The Coach quickly sobered when he realised that Charlie hadn't moved. He lowered his voice, "Move, Conway, now," he paused, eyes dark. "You don't want to make me come to you."

            Charlie swallowed and moved a foot nearer to the man. Reily smiled, "Good boy. Now, turn around."

            Charlie hesitated, unwilling to show his back to the Coach, leaving him prone and vulnerable to attack, but he complied, reluctantly. He slowly moved his feet, effortlessly and gracefully, turning around to face the Bash Brothers' intense, angry stares.

            "Now, Portman and Reed watch closely. You wouldn't want me to have to do this to your Captain again."

Fulton and Portman were directly in front of him, in best view of the proceedings, Charlie presumed, dispiritedly. Portman raised his eyebrows and Fulton tilted his head to one side, questioningly. The unvoiced query was as clear as day. The Bash Brothers wanted their Captain's permission to rebel: they didn't like taking orders and they sure as hell didn't like watching their Coach hurt their friend. Charlie paused, then, angry with himself for even considering the silent question, jerked his head negatively. He didn't want a full Duck rebellion on his hands, which would, he was sure, inevitably end with the team being kicked out of Eden Hall. Even if he was unsure about his position with hockey, he knew that the others still wanted to play the sport, Banksie especially. He would not be the one to destroy their hopes of future careers.

The blow, when it came, was unexpected and it smashed through Charlie's defences to his very core. His feet were ripped from under his as a strong arm swung against the left side of his neck and he was flipped over the other arm, positioned just below his right hip. He hit the ice with a soft thud, the reverberations of the impact shooting through his mind and he could do nothing but gasp, desperately trying to bring air into his crushed lungs.

He lay like that, his head resting on the ice, water soaking through his kit, for what felt like an eternity, unmoving. He was dimly aware of two figures kneeling behind him, and he feebly attempted to rise, only to be pushed down again, gently but firmly.

"He shouldn't get up," a voice, Julie's, said agitatedly, "he could be seriously hurt."

"Should we call an ambulance?" Adam asked softly, suppressed panic making his voice sound odd, "I don't know much when it comes to stuff like this."

"Gaffney and Banks, get away from him. He'll become his usual frisky self all too soon," a deep voice growled above him.

            Both of the figures behind him froze. The hand on Charlie's shoulder was hastily retracted and one of the figures stood up.

            "Don't you dare, Banks," he heard Portman's growl even from his position on the floor and with his muddled head.  

There was a silence. Julie didn't move away from her prone team mate.

"Gaffney, I'm warning you," Charlie recognised the voice this time as that of his Coach.

"You could have killed him with that move." Like the other figure, Julie got up but, instead of moving away, she stood protectively over Charlie's body.

"You are being over dramatic, girl," Reily spat, contemptuously, "or do you just underestimate Conway's strength? I know what I am doing, never forget that."

"But…"

Realisation dawned in Charlie's hurting head as he realised that the two voices were discussing him. His mind slowly began to function normally and he realised that if he wanted Julie the Cat to stay on the team he had to intervene, and quickly. He rolled onto his stomach and painfully raised himself up with his arms.

"Julie, shut up," he hissed through gritted teeth.

He hoped that she wouldn't take the command too personally but he knew it could be the only way to stop the Cat from telling the Coach exactly what she thought of him.

Julie looked down at him, her eyes confused and filled with hurt. 

Charlie smiled weakly and offered her his hand. The girl looked at him critically, smiled stiffly, and took it, helping him get back onto his very unstable feet.

He glanced around at the Ducks: Russ, Guy and Luis were all glaring daggers at the Coach; Goldberg was looking outraged whilst Dwayne, standing next to him, was looking angry, though bemused at the same time; Connie was looking worriedly between the Coach and her only other fellow female on the team; Averman and Kenny were looking positively green and the Bash Brothers…

Charlie shook his head and refocused on the two biggest Ducks. Fulton had a hand on Portman's shoulder and, if his white knuckles were anything to go by, was holding on to the other boy extremely tightly. Portman was looking murderously at Adam who stood outside the group, his fists clenched.

Charlie looked at them worriedly, hoping faithfully that Fulton could stop Portman doing anything "rash". He had no idea what the Bash Brother's problem was with Banksie but he was grateful that Portman wasn't trying to kill the Coach this time: though Portman was undeniably strong, Charlie feared that the Coach was a lot stronger.

He turned his head painfully to look at the Coach, fear and hatred a burning beacon in his eyes. The Coach smiled and nodded almost imperceptibly. Anger shot through Charlie, though it wasn't anywhere near its usual potency. He was too weak and drained, and, rather inconsiderately, he mused, his fear for the man in front of him was beginning to affect his legs.

He trembled, almost lost his balance but Julie was still clutching him firmly and the small, plucky goalkeeper refused to let go. He was considerably grateful to the Cat for saving him his last dignity.

"Go shower and change, Conway," Reily said quietly to the pale and shaking boy.

Charlie nodded, praying fervently that his gratitude to the vile man wasn't visible on his face. He touched Julie's hand with his and she, reluctantly, let go. Unsteadily he made his way across the ice, eyes fixed on his goal: the changing room door.

"Oh and Conway," Charlie froze. The voice, dark and humourless came from behind him, "Wait for me in my office once you're done. After I've finished with the rest of these water fowl, we need to discuss the punishment you will receive for your cheek earlier on."

Behind him he heard a loud exclamation and the sounds of a scuffle: now it was Portman's turn to hold Fulton back from committing murder.

A/N     Next Chappie will probably be up same time next week! I won't say the "R" word again but if you liked it you know what you have to do (or if you hated it, of course)! 

I decided to put all my reviewing thanks down here so in case you don't want to read it you don't have to – I know it bugs me to go through all the chat before getting to the actual story!

Thanks to IceCube for the info – d'you reckon I managed to do the whole enforcer's moves ok here? I don't know anything about this so they might be totally illegal for all I know. From what I've seen in the films, the Bash Bros just seem to crash into people a lot!

Also – just a personal question – how many people are there in the US called Chelsea? There seems to be an abundance of the name on ff.net!!! Thanks to all the respective Chelseas who have reviewed – especially …RockandRoll for the total spontaneity fix – my head went totally fuzzy just from reading your messages!

And thank you to Nellie2 and xomegsxo for continually reviewing my story – gives me a lovely buzz – plz keep it up!!

Sophie

xxx