Chapter Two: Confusion Among Other Things

Liz flopped onto her bed, the one closest to the door, and watched her sister unpack. This was just getting too fucking weird for her tastes. Somehow, after watching Miracle, and saying goodbye to Danny and Cookie, the two of them fell asleep, only to end up in Jess's car, on a highway in the middle of nowhere in Colorado. And if that wasn't fucked up enough, it was also the year 1979, not 2004. To top it off, the person who picked them up from the side of the road when her sister's car conveniently stopped turning over, was none other than Jimmy Craig, otherwise known as the 'anchor' of the U.S. Olympic gold medal winning team.

Liz knew that they couldn't say anything, at least not until the guys won the gold medal, because then it'd just fuck everything up. She sighed dramatically, drawing her sister's attention. "Sis, you know who that was who picked us up right?? It was Jimmy Craig, Jimmy FUCKING Craig!! How the hell did we get here?? I mean, we just woke up in your car that for some reason wouldn't start. Convenient, isn't it?? What the hell are we going to do??"

Jessica snapped the lid of her suitcase shut, turning to face her sister. "Okay, first of all, Liz, you need to calm down. I know, it freaked me out too, when I saw Jimmy. But hell, look at it this way, it could've been some psychotic son of a bitch who picked us up. And to answer your question, no, I don't have a frickin' clue as to how we got here. But while we're here, we might as well deal with it."

Liz just turned over onto her side with a sigh, and went to bed, her sister following suit a few minutes later.

In the morning, the sisters decided to do a little exploring, given that they knew next to nothing about Colorado, and if they wanted to get anywhere in the place, it would have to mean connecting up with Jimmy again, and even though both sisters knew him, it was only by reputation, and they were both apprehensive about him as a person, in spite of his kindness the night before. They called a cab to drop them off at the ice rink, hoping to run into Jimmy there. Even though they knew next to nothing about him, he was still the only person that they knew in Colorado, in this time period. After all, the Colorado Avalanche as a team didn't exist in 1979, Joey Sakic, one of the girls' closest friends was only ten years old living in Burnaby, B.C. at this point, Peter Forsberg was five, not even six years old yet, in Sweden, David Aebischer was a year old, in Switzerland, and Alex Tanguay wasn't even born yet.

And then there was Paul- Jessica's thoughts stopped abruptly when it came to the subject of Paul Kariya. It wouldn't do her any good to think about her ex at this point, especially considering the way they ended up. But of course, it didn't help matters seeing how it was that they still loved each other. Just the mention of Paul's name started this ache up inside of her that she didn't know how to get rid of. Liz noticed the expression on her sister's face, and wrapped an arm around her in comfort, knowing that her sister was reliving the memories that she had with Paul in Colorado. Liz just hugged Jess harder, knowing what being in Colorado did to her.

The two got out of the cab in front of the ice rink, Jessica still wearing Jimmy's jacket from the night before. Both of them looked around uncertainly, unsure of where to go next, when a shout hailed them. Running towards them from the parking lot was none other than Jimmy himself, with another guy following him, who looked exactly like one of the guys in the movie.

Jessica smiled as Jimmy reached them, slightly out of breath. Liz smiled too, but her gaze was already moving to the guy who stood next to Jimmy, a grin stretching across his face as he took in Liz, her slender dancer's form swathed in a light blue halter and jeans, with a pair of blue shades on top of her head.

"Hey, Jessica, Liz, what're you guys doing here??" Jimmy was curious as to the reason behind the sisters coming to the rink, but something drove him even more than his curiosity. When he first caught sight of Jessica walking towards him, still wearing his jacket, he thanked whatever power had brought the sisters to Colorado. She was, quite simply put, beautiful, wearing a simple black tank top and denim cutoffs, but he was more attracted to the glimmer of sadness that he noticed in her eyes. He wanted to find out what the reason was for the sadness, and if at all possible, he wanted to be the one to take it away.

"Oh, just thought we'd walk by, see if you fellas were done tryouts yet." Jessica said casually, noticing the way Jimmy's eyes followed the movement of her hands as she nonchalantly flipped her hair over one shoulder. She felt a tingle run through her, but ignored it, reminding herself that even though they could never go back to the way things were, that she still loved Paul, and he felt the same.

"Actually, we were just about to go in," spoke up the new guy, who Liz realized from the movie, without him introducing himself, was Jack O'Callahan. She smiled at him again, one of which he returned, as they both waited for Jimmy to make the introductions, since he was the only one who knew the sisters, and knew Jack.

Jimmy seemed to read Liz's mind, and sprung into action. "Oh, jeez, I almost forgot. Jack, this is Jessica Thompson-Darbeau, and her younger sister Liz. They're the ones I told you that I ran into on the highway last night. Ladies, this is Jack O'Callahan, my roommate here, my teammate back home at Boston U, and my good buddy."

"Nice to meet you," Liz said, extending her hand out for a handshake. Jack grasped onto it, the grin on his face stretching even farther. "Likewise," he replied, adding a wink. He shook Jess's hand as well, but kept his eyes on Liz. She just smiled and winked back. The four of them walked into the community center where the rink was, as Jack left to go get his number and towel, Jimmy said goodbye to them in order to get dressed for the tryouts, telling the girls that they were welcome to stay to watch who was going to make it.

Jessica thanked Jimmy, before she and her sister walked away to grab a seat at the rink, up far enough to not attract the attention of the management and coaching team scouting the players, making sure not to mention anything about the fact that she already knew who as going to make the team. His smile when she told him that she would cheer for him, stayed with her, but disappeared the second she took a seat in the stands.

As the two watched the tryouts, they commented on the way they were displaying their skills, noting that Jimmy wasn't using the butterfly, or really testing his lateral movement, because as both girls knew in their hockey history, it wasn't until Patrick Roy was drafted that goalies had even heard of the butterfly style. And as both sisters knew, Patty Roy's rookie year wasn't until 1986 when he single-handedly stole the Stanley Cup for the Montreal Canadiens. And that, at this point, was still a good six years off, Patty Roy's draft year wasn't until four years down the road. They also thought it was strange the way the players only took shots from in front of the net, not trying for any wraparound attempts, the way the Canucks did in their practices and morning skates. But then, they again had to remind themselves that they came from fourteen years in the future, so of course the game of hockey had evolved.

The sisters didn't say a word however, when they noticed Jack and Jimmy skating off the ice, indicating that tryouts were over. Although they both already knew the outcome of who would make the team, and ultimately who wouldn't, down to the last cut that sent Ralph Cox home, they were still excited to be there for the entire process, being as it were that in spite of being such close friends with the Canucks players and organization as they were, there were still some things that they weren't allowed to be there for.

They waited casually in the lobby as Jack and Jimmy came trickling out, the guys who made the team coming out ten minutes later than the guys who got rejected. Jimmy and Jack smiled immediately when they saw the girls standing outside waiting for them.

Even though both girls already knew that they made it, they still waited to hear them say it. "We made it," Jack and Jimmy announced in unison. Both girls grinned and extended their hands in congratulatory handshakes, feeling like hugs weren't appropriate at that point. Then they noticed that a few other guys were standing with them as well. Jimmy motioned for them to come over to be introduced.

"Jessica, Liz, I'd like you to meet two of the guys who made the team with us. That's Rizzo, who's also our teammate from Boston U, and Mark Johnson, he's from Wisconsin."

Both girls shook hands with the two guys, Jessica realizing at the same time that her sister did, that this was Mark Johnson, THE Mark Johnson who scored two goals to tie the U.S. with the Russians. They also knew him as Jacques Lemaire's go-to guy on the Minnesota Wild, but that part of his life had yet to be played out.

After handshakes were exchanged, Jessica suddenly realized something she could compliment Mark on. "You know, Mark, I was watching you during the tryouts, and I noticed that you have a really smooth skating style. You take the corners really well. Oh, and that wrist shot of yours is something I wouldn't want to be faced with."

"Thanks," Mark mumbled, his cheeks turning pink. Liz, picking up from her older sister, jumped right in. "Yeah, Mark, you snap it off really fast, I know that the goalie wouldn't see you going off the crossbar, or even if you were going top-shelf." Mark muttered another 'thank you' his face turning redder by the minute. The other three guys were impressed by the girls' extensive hockey knowledge.

"Didn't know you girls knew so much about hockey," Jack commented, feeling a little like they were stepping into his territory. Liz nodded, not noticing the expression on Jack's face. "Yeah, grew up loving it, and watching it. It's a kick-ass sport." The four guys nodded their agreement.

All four guys glanced at their watches, noting the time. "Hey, we're heading off to O'Reilly's for a beer, you girls want to come along??" Both sisters shook their heads, saying that they were going back to the hotel to rest. Although Jimmy offered them a ride, they declined and just took a cab home.

Later that night...........

Jack stormed out of O'Reilly's, full on mad, at McClanahan for taking his championship away, at Rizzo for defending that ass, even at Cox for making light of the subject. That national championship meant everything; now that that son of a bitch took it away from him, he might never be able to get it back.

Suddenly a movement in the shadows startled him. "Who's there??" he demanded. Someone stepped out of the shadows and into the light. It was Liz, still wearing the outfit from earlier that Jack thought she looked so hot in. She raised her hands in mock surrender.

"It's me, Jack. You wanna take a walk??" Jack just nodded wordlessly, thinking a walk might help him calm down. "So, what's got you so riled up tonight??" she asked him, even though she already knew the answer.

Jack couldn't hold it in any longer. "That asshole McClanahan takes me out of the most important game in my life, and steals away my ring, and I'm just supposed to forget it???! God, I don't know what the fuck Rizzo's problem is, I mean, he was there! He was there, and still he can't see why I should be mad."

Liz nodded, walking alongside him on the darkened sidewalk, lit up only by the streetlights. "Yeah, well, I know where you're coming from. But hey, I'm not one to judge right?? I've held a grudge for a lot longer than three years, let me tell you. Oh, let's see, Jess and I come home one day from school, when she was twelve and I was nine, to find our old man beating our mom to death with a hammer. Of course he sure as hell wasn't happy to see us walk in, hell no. He turned it on us, but I guess we struggled too much for his tastes, since he didn't finish the job. But anyway, at some point he decided to call it a day, and then grabbed a gun and blew his brains out all over our brand-new curtains, but hey, why sweat the details right?? The fucker left me without my short-term memory for a year, and Jess was even worse. She lost her long-tern memory for about two years. Still, we're okay now, so that's what counts right??"

Jack immediately felt like shit for even bringing it up, and when he saw the tears in her eyes, he felt even worse. "Aww....damn it, God, I didn't know. I'm so sorry for even bringing that up. God, I'm sorry." Liz quickly wiped the few stray tears from her eyes, away, and gave Jack a wobbly smile. "It's okay Jack, you didn't have any way of knowing. But I just wanted to tell you to let go of this while you still can, because holding a grudge like this, it's just going to end up killing you. I'm not kidding, because I live with it everyday." Jack searched his pockets for tissues, but of course being a guy, he didn't have any. So instead, he just slid his arms around Liz, letting her cry for a few minutes into his shoulder.

After a few minutes, her sniffling stopped, and Jack stepped away. "Thanks," she said quietly, wiping the tears away. Jack smiled at her gently, his grudge against McClanahan forgotten for the moment. "Don't mention it. Just don't tell anyone, or my rep goes to hell." The two shared a laugh, as they walked off together, talking for the rest of the night about anything but grudges.

At the same time, across town, at the university, Jimmy had just finished a conversation with Herb, and watched him walk away. As he walked back to his dorm room, he noticed someone sitting on the concrete bench by the bike racks, Jessica. He walked towards her, somehow convinced that she was here, so that he could get to know her, to talk to her.

Jessica stood up as Jimmy walked towards her, a smile on her face. "What're you doing here?" Jimmy questioned. "Here to see you," was Jessica's reply, not bothering to answer Jimmy's real question, which was who are you, something Jessica would eventually answer, in time.

"Wanna go for a walk??" Jimmy asked. At Jess's nod, they set off, into the darkness of campus, just getting to know each other as people.

tbc....................................

(A/N: Eric parts for my girl Piper, and sorry it took me so long to update. I was updating my other stories on the hockey-dreams yahoo.)