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.

"Beau, have you thought about talking to Charlie about this?" Aggie Mayland was sitting on her front porch, watching as the dog chased a tennis ball across the green front lawn. She wiped her brow as the hot May sun beat down on her face.

Her daughter sighed on the other end of the line. "Mom, I know that he'll say." Beau was sitting on the balconyh, avoiding Cole, and pacing back and forth. "He would say that it was nice of me to think about him and that he was touched that I cared about him being happy so much, but that I was being silly and that he didn't want to date other girls." She sighed, feeling sick at even having the conversation.

"Oh, Daphne. Gross." The massive dog had dropped the ball on Mrs. Mayland's lap, the slobber dripping off in thick rivulets. She gingerly picked it up and threw it farther away. "Sounds to me like that Charlie is every bit as smart as I thought he was."

"Mom." Beau was frustrated. She just wanted someone to agree with her. In the month since she and Charlie had visited Detroit, she had thought more and more about their situation. He would be living this fabulous life playing hockey, making new friends, meeting hundreds of new people, traveling the country. The world was going to be open to him and she would be a junior in college. Yeah, she was working on her second book and had already received an advance on the third, but she was going to finish school. There was no way that Charlie could enjoy his new life if he stayed attached to her back in Minnesota. This was his chance to create the life he had always dreamed of. How could she knowingly hold him back? "Mom, I thought you would understand."

Aggie sighed in a way that her husband often thought their daughter mirrored perfectly. "Darlin', I understand that you love Charlie and you want him to have the world."

"Exactly."

"It doesn't mean that this is the way to give him the world. You need to think this through…talk to someone else about it. Like Charlie."

"Mom, you are my only option on the talking issue." She raised her voice in frustration, peeking through the glass of the door to make sure that Cole was still engrossed in sleeping on the couch. Not-surprisingly, he was.

"What about all of your friends?"

"Mom!" Her tone was reminiscent of the arguments they had had when Beau was in high school and she hated herself for raising her voice, knowing that her mother was only trying to help. "Sorry. All of my friends are Charlie's friends. I don't want to put them in that position."

"Rachel is your friend, Beau."

Beau had thought about it a million times and there was nothing she wanted more than to talk to her best friend in the world. "I know, but she's been dating Fulton for a while now and you know how it is. When you're that close with someone you tell them everything. I know if I talked to her she'd be dying to tell him and it'd put her in the middle and if she told Fulton then we're back to the issue of not wanting to put him in an uncomfortable position, you know?" She saw Adam's SUV pull into the parking lot below and shook her head, trying to put things on the back burner. "Mom, I really just needed someone to listen. Thanks for letting me vent to you. Guy leaves tomorrow after graduation though, so the guys just got here to go out to dinner and then bowling. I've got to run." She paused, running a hand through her hair. "I love you."

Aggie stood up, seeing her husband's car pull into the driveway in the fading evening light. "I love you too, baby. Promise me you'll think this through some more before you make a decision."

"I promise."

"I love you, Beau." As she disconnected, she and the dog walked up to greet Brian as he stretched and set his briefcase on the hood of his Volkswagen Phaeton.

"Who was that?" He kissed his wife and picked up the dripping tennis ball without even flinching. Aggie loved that about him.

"Beau."

He grinned. "And how is our little author?"

She leaned into her husband, sighing. "I believe she's about to make the biggest mistake of her life, dear."

"Oh my."

Guy had only been in LA for two weeks but already he had found himself rethinking his decision to join Teach for America at least three times a day. They were up at 5am each morning, eating breakfast in a stupor and then trudging out into the sweltering heat to a middle school where 6th, 7th, and 8th graders were enduring one long month of summer school. Guy spent his morning teaching 7th graders who lived below the poverty line math and science. Some of them were wonderful, but as he learned the finer aspects of classroom management and lesson planning, most of them were rude, uninterested, and just plain frustrating. In the afternoon he attended intensive classes on everything from how to teach reading to how to use rap music in the classroom. At night he worked on lesson plans, grading, and trying to get in at least 3-4 hours of sleep. It was horrible, but somewhere, deep down, it was rewarding. Or at least it was supposed to be.

"Guy, you know you're making a difference. If at least one of those kids takes something out of your class, then it was worth you being there." Connie had said the same words nearly every night that the couple had talked. She wasn't sure Guy believed it at all. "When you get back to your school in Minneapolis you'll have your own classroom and you'll be able to do even more."

Guy was sitting on the floor in the dorm hallway. His roommate was asleep and he didn't want to keep him up. That was another problem. All of these people in TFA were…very different from him. They were all so sure of themselves and idealistic, and super-overachievers. He was none of that. He was terrified and cynical and felt like he was floundering. The worst part was that because he had been so quiet for the first few days everyone had paired off into cliques and had already made plans to find apartments together when they got back to their assignments. Guy was the odd man out. He voiced this new concern to Connie, who thought hard about it.

"What about Goldberg and Averman, Guy? Aren't they both going to be living in the city now that they're working for Averman's father?"

Guy signed, dropping his head to his raised knees. "They are living like a block from my mother. I don't want to live somewhere where I might be running into her every other day. Can you imagine?"

Connie chuckled at the dry way he delivered the statement. "Yeah, I can imagine it. I imagine it'd be pretty horrible." They both laughed and it made her feel a small measure better to hear a bit of his normal humor creep back into his voice. "You knew this wouldn't be an easy thing to do, Guy. Keep being yourself and you'll pull through. Give me a few more days to think about the apartment thing. Maybe inspiration will strike."

"It's a great idea, Connie. This place below us just opened up and it's got four bedrooms. Me, Cole, Jesse, Guy. It's perfect. Plus, Cole and I have been trying to figure out what in the hell we're going to do now that all of the boys are moving away. It'll be nice to have Guy around. You think he'll go for it?" Beau was sitting at her kitchen table, more excited than she had been in days.

It had been hard for Connie to call. Since her and Guy had had their very first conversation abut his friendship with Beau over a year ago she had grown accustomed to the idea, but it was still strange to think of the idea of her boyfriend living with another girl - separate rooms or not. She trusted them both, but it didn't make her less jealous that Beau would see Guy every single day. But if it would make him happy…and Beau had been such a good friend to him.

"He's going to be so excited. This is the perfect arrangement. He can drive into the city and teach, but rent is so much cheaper down there. Plus he'll have you guys to unwind with. He needs that – his down time. You all are good for him."

Beau felt compelled to throw Connie a figurative bone. She so desperately wanted Connie to ultimately feel completely comfortable with her. "Not as good as you are for him."

"I don't understand how you peg Bombay so perfectly. You've spent hardly any time with him." They were sitting on the floor of Charlie's room, surrounded by packed boxes and a half eaten pizza. He was holding the first draft of Cooper and the Triple Deke and it pleased her to no end to hear him say it.

"You only have to listen to you talk about him for three minutes to know what he's all about. That's why this book is for you…among other reasons." Beau swallowed hard. For the past several weeks her mind had been in overdrive. She couldn't shake the thought that she would be holding Charlie back when he moved to Detroit. She just kept hearing Cassidy Atsur's voice in her head. Those silly girls, thinking they had the right to hold onto those men. This was going to be the opportunity of a lifetime for Charlie. He was twenty-two and had his whole life ahead of him. She was twenty and still had Pennington State on the horizon. Who was she to think that he owed her anything? He was too good of a guy to let her down. She had to make sure he took advantage of every opening that was getting ready to be there waiting for him. He was leaving tomorrow. It was now or never.

He had said something else to her and for the fifth or sixth time that night she had to shake her head and ask him to repeat himself. "I'm sorry, what?"

Charlie set his glass down hard on the floor and sighed. "Beau, that is like the fifth time tonight you've been completely tuned out. It's our last night together and you're in another world. What is going on with you?"

He was annoyed. He didn't get annoyed with her easily. Well that was okay. Annoyed might make this a little easier. She took a deep breath, thinking about the speech she had rehearsed a hundred times in the past two days. Maybe a thousand. She looked him in the eye but realized quickly that there was no way that would work. She knew that if she told him what she really thought he would charm her and love her to such an extent that she would back down and then he'd be in Michigan and she'd be like a big weight around his ankle. He had to think this was about her. Another deep breath. "Charlie, we need to talk."

He quit fidgeting with the laces on his Vans and got very still. "That doesn't sound good."

Beau felt like all of the air she had in her lungs had seeped out and she couldn't seem to get another breath deep enough to actually feel comfortable. She pulled out the scarf tied around her hair but then nervously tied it back up again. "I've been thinking about this a lot."

The look on her face had Charlie already taking the defensive. "And by 'this' you mean 'us'?"

It was always so foreign to hear that tone in his voice. Anger. They had fought over the past two years - of course they had. With two strong personalities they had clashed countless times, but Beau could not think of a time when they hadn't worked it out. There had never been a night that either one of them had gone to bed still angry. There's a first time for everything.

"Yes. Us. A long distance relationship." She let the term hang in the air, testing it out on her tongue, knowing that Charlie was trying to wrap his brain around what she was saying. To him it was completely out of the blue. When he just looked at her blankly she continued. "I'm not sure I can do this."

His voice was very quiet and very measured. "What?"

Get firm, Beau. There is no way you are going to get through this if you don't. "You heard me, Charlie. I'm not sure I can do this."

He looked up at her, shock finally registering on his face. "I love you, Beau." He reached out and touched her hand and though it absolutely ripped her heart right down the middle, she pulled out from under his palm. He pulled his hand back quickly, rubbing it against his jeans as if he had been burned. His voice got desperately soft. "You love me. That's enough to make it work."

Oh, God. His voice. She looked down at the floor, picking at a piece of carpet that was stained with a small spot of ink. "I've been thinking about this a lot, Charlie. You're going to be traveling all over the country and I've got school and the books and…I think it's time for us to think about this and if this was just one of those college…things." She said the last two words so softly he probably barely heard it. It was a lie. She knew it was. She loved him so much she was afraid that tomorrow she might die just knowing she had said these things. But it was better for him this way. It had to be.

He stood up abruptly, turning in a quick circle before walking to the window and putting his hands up on the frame. She braved a look at him and saw his shoulders rising and falling heavily. He was breathing…trying to get his emotions under control. She knew that about him. That and one million other intimate personal things. Oh, God. When he finally spoke, rage was coursing through ever clipped word.

"This is bullshit, Beau. What is this really about?" He still wouldn't look at her. She didn't have an answer and he spoke again. "Is it another guy?"

"Charlie, no!" If he even though that, it would break her heart. "There's nobody else. It's just that…I can't discuss this, Charlie." She didn't know of any way to make him believe her. He was the kind of guy that would argue with her until she broke down and gave in. He loved her and he would fight for that…unless she didn't let him. "Charlie, like I've said I've thought about this a lot and I'm telling you, right now, that I can't do this. I think we should break up."

When she said it she dug her nails into the carpet and bit down on her tongue to stop the tears. They had been threatening, but those six words hadn't even been said in her head. Out loud they were like and earthquake. Be strong. This is for the best.

He turned on her, infuriated. He said nothing for a very long time and in the silence she stood up, her keys digging into her hip, her body too numb to even care.

"You think we should break up?" He licked his lips, the words like acid as they came out of his mouth. Now he yelled, his voice shaking the room. "What the fuck, Beau?" He shoved a box off of his bed, the sound of the trophies spilling out and hitting the floor shaking Beau's nerves. "I mean, what the fuck?"

She was breathing in and out, trying hard to look determined. Her heart was racing and it felt like the room was spinning. She was choking on the tears building up in her throat. I've got to get out of here. She looked up, knowing she was getting a last look at his face. "I don't think we should break up, Charlie. I want to break up." She figured him being angry at her would be the easiest on him. "I'm so sorry." She couldn't resist those last words though.

His face was red and his hair disheveled as he kept running his hands through it. He did that when he was upset. He stared at her in disbelieve. In anger. That was how she last saw him.

"I'm so sorry." She echoed the words again and literally ran for the hallway. She stepped into the corridor, resisting the urge to look back at him. She pulled he door shut behind her, feeling lightheaded, and leaned her head back against the wood. From inside the room Charlie let out a howl, part anger, part pain, and threw something. It struck the door, shaking it against Beau's head. That was it. Oh, God. The tears finally came, in big thick streams down her cheeks. She sank to the floor, her head on her knees. Oh, God.

duckfluff: Yeah, Red Wings! I was a huge fan of theirs until the Hurricanes came along!

BellaLou: Hope the Henry V paper ended up well. If you ever need someone to proof for you, let me know. I'm an English major. Glad you are enjoying the Guy side story. It's a good base for the next story I'm hoping.

Cc: Yay for you liking Guy in this. Let me know what you think about this chapter in reference to him!

antiIrony: I'm sorry to say that all is not alright between Beau and Charlie.

flyinghawk: Guy is indeed a future teacher. I figured no way in the world would all of them actually get drafted. That never happens. So I decided Guy could have the most interesting side story. Thanks on the grammar review!

bankiesbaybee99: Oh no! I'm so sorry to hear about your knee. Hope you are taking it easy and that you aren't going to miss too much of the season! And on the story note…THANK YOU! I'm super flattered!