Disclaimer - I do not own anything even remotely related to The Mighty Ducks or Disney. I only wish I had thought of them first…
Italics indicate character thought.
"Alright, quiet down!" Guy tapped his knife against his glass and waited for the rowdy table of boys to stop talking and focus on him. He readjusted his blazer and Beau couldn't help but smile at him. All grown up. In charge. Mr. Germaine. "I'm really proud of how far you all have come in the past few weeks." They all cheered and he raised his glass to them and took a drink. "Even if you lose every single game of the season,"
"Like we lost tonight?" A small sophomore laughed and his teammates cheered again.
Guy nodded, smiling. "Yes, Collier. If you guys lose every game, if you play the way you played tonight - as a team - then I will be ridiculously proud to be your coach."
One of the boys leaned back on the legs of his chair. His look was smug. "So what you're saying, Coach, is that you got our back?"
Guy laughed, still unused to being called Coach. "Yeah Mario. I got your back." As the boys laughed and continued to eat their pizza he sat down and looked over at Beau who was sitting back, legs crossed, sipping her wine. "You did a good thing here, Beau." He smiled down the table to where Connie, running her finger over her own wine glass, was animatedly discussing her patented spin move with his star center.
Beau followed his gaze and smiled sadly, pushing down her wave of jealousy. She missed having Charlie look at her like that. "Fulton and Adam and Hendrix Hockey and I just wrote checks." She nudged him. "You're the one who has done a good thing…changing these kids lives."
He heard the lack of Beau in her voice. Over the past month she had been a mere shadow of her self. She seemed to be floating through life and he hated it for her. "Still haven't heard anything, huh?"
She shook her head, looking into her glass before taking a long drink. "Nope." She tucked a piece of hair nervously behind her ear. "I sent three letters and he hasn't called, hasn't written back…not a word."
"This is crazy." Beau sat up straighter at the table and read the last few sentences of the contract, shaking her head in disbelief. "What exactly does this mean, Rusty?"
Rusty Gusler, her literary agent, perched one hip on the table and grinned at her. "It means, Beau, that you are going to make a lot of money."
She shook her head. "So they want to take the first three books and make a movie?" She laughed out loud, a huge contagious sound that had Rusty smiling. "This is ludicrous!"
Rusty sobered a bit and tapped the table. "There are a couple of major points that Disney is insisting on." He pointed at the paper. "You sell the movie rights outright."
Beau furrowed her brow. "Meaning?"
"Meaning that you give up the story rights. They can just use the character names and completely change the story." He held up his hand when Beau started to bristle. "However, they have asked if you would be interested in coming on staff as a consultant."
"Like someone to tell them if the hockey scenes are accurate?" She didn't know if she was up to that challenge.
Rusty shook his head as he moved down to a huge leather office chair. "No, although I'm sure they'll hire one of those. Like a script consultant. It doesn't mean that they'll take everything you say and make it so, but you would at least have some creative say in how this thing makes it to the big screen."
Beau nodded and walked to the huge plate glass window which sat nestled high in the Chicago skyline. "Do you think they would take my suggestion on someone to serve both as the hockey consultant and to work with them on the story?" She turned around, her face flushed with inspiration. "If it was someone who had lived the story of Cooper and Cody and the rest of the Ducks?"
Her agent frowned and swiveled back and forth subtly. "That's very unorthodox, and I'm not sure it's really something they would go for. To be very honest with you, Beau, I think they offered you the consultant role to keep you on for media purposes. You are this young writer who would be great for interviews and promotion."
"What if I made it a, um, condition of the sale of the rights?" Beau frowned, working her brain and feeling - no, knowing - that this was a perfect idea.
"I can certainly call their lawyer back, tell them you have a caveat you'd like to add." Rusty crossed his legs and shook his head. "I have to tell you, though, I don't think it's a good idea. I think there's a good chance they'll just tell to you to forget it." He squinted at her, a hint of understanding creeping into his brain. "Do you already have someone in mind?"
"Hey!" Beau picked up the popcorn that had fallen in her lap and threw it back across the room at Goldberg. "Unless you are planning on staying after the game and cleaning up, quit throwing food around my living room!"
Goldberg pouted and looked at Cole who shook his head and rolled his eyes. "She's just pissed because she knows she's going to have to see Charlie play tonight." He said it louder than he intended and when Beau shot her gaze over to land on him he raised his hands, palms up, and frowned. "Sorry, babe."
Beau brushed the remaining kernels onto the floor before sitting on her hands. "It's okay, Cole." Averman and Goldberg had felt out of the loop living in the city and were uncomfortable as the conversation turned to Charlie and Beau. They had talked to their friend when the Red Wings had made it to the Stanley Cup Finals and they saw Beau fairly often, but neither ever mentioned the other. Beau looked around at her friends now, defeated. "I've given up, guys. I've sent him like 25 letters and nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's done now."
Guy was getting ready to rebuke her statements when the crowd on the television erupted into deafening cheers as the two teams made their way onto the ice. The announcers threw up pictures of the Red Wings' starting line up and Beau was faced with a picture of Charlie. She had to laugh a little at him trying to look tough, but she was really starting to wonder if the whole thing would get any easier. It broke her heart every time she saw him.
"Mayland!" Jesse's voice broke into her private misery and she shook her head to focus on him. "Phone."
She walked into her bedroom where things were marginally quieter and picked up the cordless. "Hello?"
"Ahem." The man on the other end of the line cleared his throat in what sounded like a nervous gesture. "Uh, hi, Beau."
It took her a minute – a long minute – to place the voice. When she did, she had no idea what to expect or how to feel. "Adam…hi."
He cleared his voice again. "Are you guys watching the game?"
He's making small talk? This is too weird. "Uh, yeah. Everyone is over. We usually got together for your games too, when we could." She knew her voice sounded false. It was strange to dance around the fragile edges of a broken friendship. She didn't really have the energy. "So, Adam. Why are you calling?"
He sighed heavily several times before finally speaking. "Charlie told me that he's coming out to LA after tonight's game to work on the Ducks movie."
Beau dipped her head, torn between happiness and frustration. She hadn't been sure Charlie would take the offer from Disney. Had not been sure he would want to be so close to something she had her fingers dipped in. Before she could speak Adam was talking again.
"Did you do that? Did you tell them to ask him to come?" It wasn't accusing. His voice sounded full of wonder. "Didn't they offer it to you first?"
She was pacing her room, winding her hair around her fingers. "They offered me the story consultant position. Not the hockey one." She stated it simply. "Charlie knows the story much better than I do. It made sense."
"It was good of you to do. He's really excited about it. He's excited about seeing our lives come to life." Adam was smiling thinking of what it would be like to have his best friend within driving distance again. "He's had a rough season."
Beau nodded, a tear slipping down her cheek. "I've read the articles. I know. His mother sued him?"
She could hear the barely controlled rage in Adam's voice. "Yeah. A few weeks ago. She's trying to get her hands on his money. I don't even think he was surprised."
"Yeah, I can't say that I am either." Beau threw a book across her room before calming herself through deep breaths. "I've thought about this a lot, Adam. I understand where you were coming from the last time I saw you. And I understand that you need to side with your friend. But…" he cut her off.
"Beau, I've thought a lot about it too, and you were right. Charlie is like family to me, but you are a friend too. And you were a good friend." He corrected himself. "You are a good friend. I guess it took you doing this for Charlie for me to see it. I'm sorry."
She couldn't help but smile, despite the fact that she was now dwelling on Charlie and Casey. "That means a lot Adam." She sniffed back a few more tears. "I've missed you."
"Ditto, kid."
She had always loved that he called her kid. Parker had called her that. Okay, better lighten the mood before you become a real baby. "I got word on some of the kids they've got playing you guys, Adam. Bunch of Hollywood boys who have never even been on the ice before."
He laughed. "Well, at least Charlie will be working hard for his money."
Cc: Thanks! Yup. All better now. It was so disgusting though! And no Charlie going home on the horizon. Sorry!
Hockey-girl90: Thanks for the compliment. Okay, Beau and Adam. Adam sort of thinks of Charlie as this brother figure, his very best friend. Back when they were in high school, Adam and Julie dated and you find out in chapter 41 that he was really hurt when she broke up with him. He has seen how devastated Charlie is and he feels bad for him because he knows how it feels and he is still angry at Julie and is taking that out on Beau. He feels like she did the same thing to Charlie that Julie did to him. To him that is more important than their friendship. Does that help at all? I feel like I was just rambling.
Duckfluff: Thanks as always! Sorry for the delay in updating. I'm having some writer's block issues.
BellaLou: Don't know how soon you'll see the lovin' but keep hoping! Hope you've been getting more sleep!
antiIrony: Yeah, I always have sort of thought of Adam as a little wrapped up in his own world. Not that he's not a GREAT guy and a good friend, but…yeah.
sinbin05: WOW! Thank you so much. Glad to have you caught up. I feel like I've been writing this story forever, so I can only imagine reading this monstrosity! I'm really flattered by your comments about love in existing relationships, etc. I'm so glad that you approve and here is your "Adam and Beau making up" scene!