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Disclaimer - I do not own anything even remotely related to The Mighty Ducks. I only wish I had thought of them first…

Italics indicate character thought.

-

When Adam's black Rang Rover pulled up to Gore Hall where Beau and Hailey were waiting early the next morning, Beau didn't expect the car to be nearly full. Not only was Adam driving, and Charlie there with his luggage, but Guy was there again, and Coach Neumann. Oh, geez.

She looked terrible, Charlie thought. Pale, dark circles under her eyes, her hair dull. It was like she was just floating through life. He touched her face softly, a little shaken when she flinched and pulled back. But she looked up at him apologetically.

"Sorry. I'm just…" she shrugged, not really sure what she meant to say.

She and Hailey hugged for the 800th time that morning and she climbed into the back of the car between Charlie and Guy. She cleared her throat several times throughout the short ride to the airport, always sounding as if she was going to say something, but then never actually speaking. Finally, as Adam took the off ramp, the silence became too much for her.

"It was nice of you all to come. I don't know how…"

Adam looked at her in the rearview mirror. "Mayland, you may be new, but you're a part of this team. You would do the same for any of us. You don't have to say thank you."

She smiled at him and then looked over at Guy, nodding at him still grateful for his presence the previous day. Her smiled faded though as the Coach turned to look at her. "Coach Neumann…the earliest I'll be back is Sunday. I'm not even sure it will be then. I…" she looked pained. "The Michigan State game."

He waved her off. "Mayland, it will hurt not having you and Charlie there, but we'll manage. We pick up the slack for each other. You take the time you need. Your spot will stand when you get back." He smiled softly and Beau felt…how did she feel? Content. Content that at least here at school, things would be semi-normal when she got back. What would it be like at home?

Just thinking it her throat filled with tears and she had to swallow hard to stop them.

-

It was warm when they walked out of the airport to where cars were waiting. How did I forget in a month and a half that it was still warm in North Carolina in September? She sighed a little, and was grateful when Charlie's hand found the small of her back, but something had been nagging her the entire flight. Just say it. She looked over at him.

"Charlie, I don't want you to feel like you have to be here. I don't want this to be, like, some big defining thing in our relationship."

He looked at her, his face completely blank. "What do you mean?"

She was pained, but continued. "I don't want us to come back from here, and you keep dating me because you think I need someone to support me. I'm so happy you came, and you are an amazing friend…but if that's all that we end up being, I'm okay with that."

Charlie looked down at her, his eyes soft. "I can understand why you're saying that, Beau, but I don't really think that you're okay with us just being friends. We can leave that for now. I'm here because I care about you, a lot, and I want to be here. I'll be there when we get back because I care about you a lot, and I want to be there, not because I feel like it's the nice guy thing to do. This doesn't define us."

She touched his chest gently, nodding. "Okay."

Before she could think of anything else to say, a car pulled up and her father stepped out. He was average height, a good looking man, Charlie thought, and his children most definitely looked almost just like him. He stood by the hood of his car, staring at his daughter, and running a hand over his salt and pepper hair. It didn't look like he had combed it recently.

Instinctively, Charlie stepped back from her and nudged her gently forward. It was all it took to send the father and daughter racing towards each other. In three steps they were embracing, holding onto each other tightly.

"Daddy." It was a plea for an explanation. It was the first time that Beau had cried that day and her father struggled not to break down with it. He rocked her back and forth. "I know. I know."

While they talked softly to each other Charlie silently loaded their bags in the back of the car and waited by the trunk, his back to them for privacy. Eventually he heard Beau sniffle behind him. Her father stood beside her, his hand still on her shoulder. They were so obviously supporting each other it moved Charlie. He stuck out a hand.

"Mr. Mayland. I can't...I don't even have the words to tell you how sorry I am."

The older man reached out to grasp Charlie's hand with both of his and Beau was touched to see her father so emotionally open.

"Charlie, the fact that you are here says everything."

-

While Beau and Charlie were in the air to North Carolina, Jesse was moving heavy bags of grain from palette to palette in the Purina factory. It was 6am. He worked there every morning he didn't have practice from 6-noon and then all the days he did have practice, he was there midnight till 6. He slept every other chance he got, but it paid the bills, and it was easy to hide from his friends. God it was humiliating to be poor.

The one true problem with the job was his ankle. Over the summer he had worked at the Purina factory at home and some moron had driven into him with a lift. Driven into him! Since then the tendon running up the outside of his left ankle just hadn't felt right. It was weak, it turned over easily on him, and Jesse was worried. He woke up even earlier than normal each morning doing an extensive list of exercises that Adam had given him. Of course, Adam, and everyone else for that matter, thought he had just sprained it while working out.

Jesse hefted another bag and tossed it the three feet to its next spot. Wiping his brow absently he took a step back for another load and winced. His ankle was stiff today.

-

Raleigh was a beautiful city. Charlie looked out the window as they drove, answering questions only as Mr. Mayland asked them. Trees flew by and bushes of all colors that Beau told him were called azaleas.

They pulled into a picture perfect neighborhood. The kind Adam Banks would recognize. The kind Charlie had always hoped for when he was in high school. It was overrated, he knew, but for Beau, it had been a wonderful thing. Now, as the parked in a long driveway in front of a two story stone home, you could just sense sadness in the air. It didn't feel like it belonged.

They came through the front door into a house that smelled so clean Charlie just knew that Beau's mother must have been cleaning constantly. Beau said she did that when she was stressed. He and Mr. Mayland were carrying the bags, and Charlie simply held his as Beau stood, sucking in deep breaths, and looking around the foyer and up the stair case. She looked lost. She turned to her father, looking like she was five years old, and opened her mouth. Just as he was about to say something to her, a woman came around the corner, pulling dish gloves from her hands.

"Baby."

They embraced and Charlie felt awkward, not know where to look or where else he could go. Mr. Mayland touched his shoulder gently and motioned up the stairs. Charlie smiled and walked to the second level. He followed Mr. Mayland down the hall and into a clean and crisp blue and white room where he set his bags on the floor and dug his hands into his back pockets.

"Mr. Mayland…" he looked up, not sure how to say things tactfully. "I, um…"

Brian Mayland smiled. "It's okay, Charlie. You can just say it."

"I want to be here for Beau, but I don't want to intrude on your family's time, sir. I would be more than happy to stay at a hotel."

"You're not intruding, Charlie. It's a comfort to have you here for our daughter." His voice broke a little on the word and Charlie looked away. "We wouldn't think of having you stay anywhere else."

When they came back downstairs, Beau and her mother were in the kitchen. As the elder of the women turned from the tiled counter Charlie was struck by her. Her emotions were so plain on her face, but she was beautiful despite her grief. Maybe even because of it. She was the same height as Beau, tall at almost 5'10. Her dark brown hair, kinky curly like her daughter's and streaked with silver was to her shoulders. She held herself tall and proud and Charlie could read every ounce of where Beau had gotten her personality. Just in one look. She stared at him from across the room, and Charlie could feel his cheeks growing red.

"Mom, this is Charlie. Charlie Conway." Beau smiled at him across the room. A real smile, and it put him completely at ease.

Mrs. Mayland took two steps to him and placed her hands firmly on each of his cheeks and looking up the few inches into his eyes, taking him by surprise. "It is so wonderful to finally meet you, Charlie." She pulled his head down and kissed him on the forehead. "Thank you so much for being here. I know it must be awkward for you, dear."

Charlie's brow wrinkled and he swallowed hard. Beau wondered what was going on in his head. He swallowed again then reached his hands up to cover Aggie Mayland's hands with his own.

"Ma'am, I am so so sorry about your son. I wish I knew what else to say to you." His voice cracked on the last sentence and she pulled him down to kiss his forehead again.

"Thank you." She pulled away and motioned to a chair. "Have a seat, darlin'."