Hi, I'm back. Feeling a little better. Plus I watched another hockey game tonight, and watching hockey always puts me in the mood to write about it... Anway, so thanks to everyone for the reviews. 50, I can't believe it.

Alright, for everyone's Miracle pleasure... The next chapter!


"Ashleigh, I'm serious. No."

"But Marissa's going."

"You're not Marissa. Besides, she's paying for herself."

"I would be paying for myself. It's my trust fund."

"Ash, listen, I know you want to come, but you made a promise to yourself not to use your mother's money."

"It's my money. And I just want to support you!"

"I know, baby, and I appreciate it," Silk brushed Ashleigh's bangs out of her eyes and placed his hand on her shoulder. "but-"

Ashleigh angrily shrugged off her boyfriend's hand. "But what, David? I'm doing this for you! To be with you, but if you don't want me with you I'll go. I'll go stay with Emma and Marcy and you can do this by yourself!"

Silk clenched his jaw. "Of course I want you with me."

"Then what does it matter if I use some money from my trust fund to go to Norway with you?"

"You'll regret it."

Ashleigh shook her head. There were tears in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. "That's the thing Dave, I wouldn't regret it, if it meant being with you."

Silk watched wordlessly as his girlfriend left the room. He collapsed onto his bed and banged his head against the headboard. He'd really screwed up this time.


Johnson cringed as his phone rang. Crap, he'd forgotten to call Sara the previous night… Heads were going to roll. More specifically his head was gonna roll… "You guys might not want to stay for this."

Mac, Bah, Buzz, Pav, Rizzo, Coxie, Erin, and Ava all stared at him. Mac grinned, "If it is who I think it is you guys definitely want to stay for this."

"Ooh," Erin leaped across the bed and snatched the phone out of Mark's hands. "It's the feisty girlfriend!" She grinned wickedly at Johnson before answering the phone.

"Erin…" Johnson was pleading with the brunette. "Don't! Please…"

Erin just smirked. "Hello?" She used her best bedroom voice.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end of the line was beyond confused. "I'm looking for Mark Johnson. I think I have the wrong number…"

"No, no." Erin grinned. "I'm sure he's around here somewhere. Mark? Marky?"

"Give me the phone Erin."

Erin smiled sweetly at her friend and handed him the receiver. "Here you go, Marky."

Johnson shook his head and hesitantly put the phone to his ear. He jerked it away when his girlfriend's voice exploded over the line. "Who the hell was that? And who in God's name do you think you are? You think you can jerk me around? Screw other girls? I'll tell you something, you arrogant bastard-"

Johnson held the phone out to Erin, his blue eyes wide. "Fix it."

Erin rolled her eyes and took the phone from him. "Hello, Sara right?" Mac, and everyone else, watched as Erin's eyes grew wider and wider. "Jesus Christ!" she looked at the rest of the team, "I don't think sailors even know those words… Sara- Hello? Sar- Sara! Would you listen to me for a bloody minute? Holy God. Listen, Johnson- Mark- and I are friends, just friends. Erin. What? No way! No, I mean he's cute, but I have a boyfriend. Say hello, Buzzy."

"Hello Buzzy!"

She rolled her eyes again, this time at her boyfriend. "Cute." She put the phone to her ear again. It was a long time before she spoke. "Yeah. No, I'm sorry about that. He really is. No… Yeah well, we all went to this bar last night. No. I work there. Anyway…" Johnson looked shocked as Erin began to laugh. "No, he talked about you all night. No," more laughing, "Buzzy just talks all the time anyway-"

"Hey!"

Mac looked over at his teammate. "Hey, Magic."

Johnson looked over at the bored forward. "Yeah?"

"If you ever want to talk to your girlfriend again you might want to wrestle that phone away from my sister. She can go on for hours. Buzzy! You remember that time you were over and Erin was on the phone for 4 hours and 36 minutes?"

Buzz grinned and nodded, "Oh yeah!" He looked over at Johnson, "She really was. Mac and I timed her."

"I'm bored!" Ava declared from her perch on Bah's lap. "Erin! Get off the phone and entertain me!"

Erin rolled her eyes again. "You know they could stick that way, right?" Mac asked.

"What?"

"I said, they could stick that way-"

Erin shook her head and pointed to the phone. "No. That was my stupid brother." She stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"Real mature."

"Oh, that was Ava. Umm, let's see, my brother Mac, Ava, Bah, Pav, Coxie, Rizzo, my boyfriend Buzz, and Mark, obviously. What? Oh, sure, no problem. Okay. Yeah. You too. Bye."

Erin handed the phone to Johnson. "Sara wants to talk to you."

"Okay…"

"The rest of you," The brunette glanced at everyone else, "Out."

"This is my room Erin!" Cox protested.

"Out. Now."

"But-"

"Let's go Buzzy." Erin ushered everyone out of the room and winked at Johnson before she closed the door. "Have fun, Magic."

"Sara?"

"I like her."

"She's… nice."

"You forgot to call me last night."

"I know. I'm sorry…"

"It's okay."

Mark stared at the phone in shock. What? "What?"

"It's okay, Erin told me about it."

"She did?"

"Yeah. She told me you talked about me."

"I did."

"Crap, Mark, I have to go."

"You do?"

"Yeah, Laurie needs the phone. Call me in a few days okay?"

"Okay."

"Don't forget."

"I won't."

"Okay, I love you."

"I love you too."

Mark stared at the phone as he hung it up. He needed to buy Erin a drink.


OC was sitting on the curb outside the hotel, waiting for Marissa, when a despondent Ashleigh wondered past him. "Ash?"

The blonde girl sniffled and wiped the tears off her face before responding. "Hey Jack."

"You okay?"

"Yeah." Her resolve cracked as the blonde continued to stare at her. "No."

"What happened?"

"Dave!"

OC reached up and pulled the blonde girl down so she was sitting next to him. "You guys get in a fight?"

Ashleigh broke down and laid her head on OC's shoulder when he draped an arm about her shoulders. "Yeah." OC, uncomfortable as any male would be when a girl started crying, didn't say anything. Finally Ashleigh cried herself out. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

"Waiting for Marissa."

"Oh yeah!" a grin broke out on Ashleigh's face. And as beautiful asit was it just looked odd with the puffy eyes and splotchy face… "When's she getting here?"

"Any time."

"Tell me when she gets here?"

"You're not going to stay?"

"No. I should probably talk to Dave. I can't stand it when we're fighting. Even if he is being an idiot."

OC laughed. "I'll see you later Ash."

"Yeah." Ashleigh stopped when she reached the hotel door. "Hey Jack?"

The blonde turned to look at her. "Yeah?"

"Thanks."

He smiled his most devastating, 1000-watt smile at her. "Anytime Ash."

The Boston hockey player waited for 15 more minutes before he finally spotted a familiar battered blue Mustang. He jumped up, smiling insanely as the car pulled up to the curb and his girlfriend leapt out. "Jack!"

OC laughed and kissed the dark haired girl deeply. "You're here!"

"Finally." She agreed, burying herself in her boyfriend's arms. After a few minutes of just basking in each other's presence Marissa spoke again. "So O'Callahan, where can a girl get something to eat around here?"

"Always thinking with your stomach, eh Jenkins?"

"Not always." The brunette teased, wandering back over to her car. OC grinned and whistled shamelessly at his girlfriend when she bent over to retrieve her suitcase from the backseat. Marissa rolled her eyes at the blonde. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Chuckles." The usually tough 22 year old blushed when his girlfriend used his mother's childhood nickname for him. "What would your mother say?"

"Mare, you can't call me that in front of the guys!"

Marissa tossed her hair over her shoulder and handed him her bag. "Get some food in me and we'll see what I can do for you."


"Uncle Mikey!"

Rammer grinned and scooped up the little 5 year old girl as she launched herself at him. He glanced reproachfully at Val. "I wonder where she learned to do that…"

Val glared at her best friend. "Behave. We're in the presence of children."

The brunette stuck his tongue out at her. "When I'm with you I'm always in the presence of a child."

"Harsh!"

"Uncle Mikey!"

Rammer looked down as Tanner started tugging on his t-shirt. "What's up, Tanner?"

"Did you bring me a present?"

"You spend to much time with this child."

Val shrugged. "Did you?" The little girl asked again.

"Of course I did, Tan."

"Where is it?"

"Right here." Rammer pulled a pink beaded bracelet from his back pocket and held it out to the little girl. He had taken a lot of crap from the guys when he bought it, but he knew his best friend's niece would adore it.

"Pretty!" The little girl squealed as Val clasped it around her wrist. "Can I go show Daddy?"

"Of course," Val smiled as Rammer set the little girl down, "but what do you say first?"

"Thank you Uncle Mikey." The 5 year old hugged Rammer's leg and scampered off.

"The world is in trouble."

"What?"

"That girl is turning into a mini-you." Val punched Rammer in the shoulder. "Ow!"

"You deserved it." The golden haired girl pouted.

"Did not!"

"Michael?"

Val grinned as her mother entered the living room. "Hi Ma."

Lisa Dean smiled at her daughter before turning back to the big hockey player lounging against her couch. "Michael Ramsey, you come here and give me a hug right now!"

Rammer smiled as he engulfed the matronly woman in a hug. "Hi Mrs. Dean."

"Mrs. Dean? What do I look like? My mother in law? Call me Lisa. I've told you to call me Lisa. Now, you come with me and we'll see if we can't find you something to eat."

Rammer looked over at his shoulder at Val, "Yes Mrs. Dean."

"Did to." Val mouthed at the helpless Minnesotan.


"So this is Louie's?" Marissa asked as OC led her into the team's favorite hangout.

"This is it."

"See anyone you know?"

OC looked around "Yeah, there's the Coneheads, and a couple of the others over there. You sure you want to sit with them? We could always go back to the hotel room and order room service…"

Marissa shook her head. "I'm going to be traveling overseas with these people. I'd like to meet them beforehand."

"Fine." OC led his girlfriend over to the team's usual table. "Hey guys."

"Hey OC." Rizzo nodded. "Marissa?"

"Rizzo!" The brunette flew from her boyfriend's side to embrace the Italian.

OC shook his head. "Silky was right."

"Right about what?" Mac, who was sitting closest to the blonde, asked.

"About our girlfriends being more excited to see Rizzo than us."

"Girlfriend?"

"Yeah. Guys!" OC shouted, getting everyone's attention. "I want you all to meet my girlfriend, Marissa. Mare this is Mac, Johnson, Pav, Bah, Ava, Erin, Buzzy, Coxie, and you know Rizzo."

"Hi."

"So you're the girl who told Jack to hit my brother..."