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.
"It seems like we spend an awful lot of time saying good-bye to each other these days." Beau rocked back on here heels, hands in the back pockets of her khaki pants and looked up at Fulton. "I miss seeing you guys more often."
He reached one massive hand down, poking her in the shoulder blade. "You're the one with the flexible schedule Miss Writer. You're welcome at our place anytime."
"Yeah, Beau. The door swings both ways," Rachel chimed in and then attacked her friend in a fierce hug. They rocked back and forth and Beau sniffed.
"I'll come soon, I promise." Releasing Rachel she hopped up to hang from Fulton's shoulders making him laugh. When he lifted her higher she put her mouth close to his ear, her voice annoyed. "Maybe when I get there we can be celebrating something, Reed. Sheesh."
His voice equally annoyed and conspiratorial, Fulton pinched her. "I'm waiting on the ring, smartass." He dropped her to the ground without warning and she took a step back to keep from falling. He smirked. "Real graceful, Mayland."
"I miss everyone." Beau was curled up on her couch, staring out the window and moping. She pressed the phone to her ear as Charlie chuckled. "I'm going through friend withdrawal."
Charlie had thought at first that she was just complaining for small talk, but hearing the edge in her voice he knew that she was truly upset. "I miss them too." He thought he heard a sniffle. "Are you crying?" When she let out a little sob he shook his head and tugged at a piece of hair over his ear. "Oh, God. I hate it when you do that. C'mon Beau, cheer up." But somewhere deep in the back of his mind Charlie couldn't help but think how perfect this was.
With a watery voice Beau apologized. "I know. I'm sorry. I just feel very lonely. It's hard getting everyone together and then we come back to Detroit and our quiet little apartments." She looked around and felt her chin trembling as her eyes focused on her framed Wolfpack jersey above the television. "I'm sorry!" She was crying hard now, feeling like such a girl. "It's so crazy that I'm missing Cole's stinky feet and Guy moping and all the noise and confusion."
"It's not crazy at all." It's perfect, Charlie thought. "You know what you need? You need a night on the town with a good-looking guy who knows how to pamper you."
Silence from the other end of the line and then a big sniff. "That would be really good." She paused. "Do you know any good-looking guys who are free tonight?"
"Ha ha ha." Charlie noted the time on his watch, the wheels turning in his head. "Lucky for you I'm not going to take offense to that. Can you be ready in like forty minutes?"
Beau stood up and padded across the living room floor, staring at herself in a huge antique mirror that was hanging on the wall near the kitchen. Her face was blotchy, here eyes swollen, and her hair was, well, scary. "Forty minutes, huh?"
"You can do it, Ace."
She laughed. "See you soon."
"This is beyond perfect. Not what I imagined when you said 'night on the town' but perfect nonetheless." Beau took one final bite, declared herself completely stuffed, and leaned back to lay a hand on her stomach. Charlie grinned at her. "I must be really attractive shoveling pizza in my mouth." That said, she dropped her half eaten piece into the box and sighed contentedly.
Charlie sat back in the bed of his truck and stared at her. She had, in fact, been ready in thirty minutes. She was leaned back, shoes off, and wore almost no make-up. Parked in a baseball field underneath the fall sky, her eyes were sparkling and she looked happy. "Ah, I love a girl who can eat. You know that."
"That I do." She winked at him, letting her head drop back to stare up at the stars. "I didn't realize that if you drove out of the city like two miles you could actually see sky."
Charlie nudged her feet with his. "Pretty cool, huh?"
"Pretty cool indeed." She sat up, wrapping an arm around herself and taking another sip of her glass of wine. "This was exactly what I needed Charlie. You always know just what to do. I love you." She rose up on her knees, laying her lips against his gently and touching his hair lightly with her fingertips.
Charlie smiled against her mouth and then yanked her into his lap. "I love you too, Mayland." Holding her hands in one of his, he slipped something over her head with his other. When she laughed and started to squirm, he shushed her with a kiss. "Settle down. I've got another surprise."
Beau stilled instantly and wiggled her fingers in front of her before feeling the blindfold Charlie had slipped over her eyes. "I loooove surprises. What is it?"
He laughed out loud, standing up and helping her to slide off of the back of the truck and onto the ground. Ushering her to the passenger seat he hip checked her gently. "If I tell you then it wouldn't be a surprise anymore and then the blindfold would just be creepy."
Letting him help her into her seatbelt, Beau nodded soberly. "That's very true."
It seemed that Adam and Charlie were very much alike in what they decided to do with their girlfriends. But as Charlie led a still blindfolded Beau into the deserted Joe Louis Arena, his motives were very different. She knew it was his home. He didn't need to explain that to her. He had brought her there for her own piece of mind.
"Step." When she tensed a little, holding his hand tighter he squeezed back. "Last one."
They were at the top of the ramp that led to the player's boxes, and Beau stood tall, her head tilted slightly back. She took a deep breath and Charlie watched as a smile slid slowly across her lips. "I know that smell." Before he could stop her she reached up and pulled off the blindfold, sucking in her breath. "Oh, Charlie."
Around the boards on the fan side votive candles were placed every six inches. There must have been hundreds of them. They were the only light save a few small spots hitting the ice and the lower part of the arena flickered in their glow. She looked over at him, her eyes wide and reflecting the light of the nearby candles. "How did you do this?" She gestured around, dumbfounded. "Why?"
Laying his hand on her cheek, Charlie rubbed his thumb under her eye to stop a tear before it could slide down her cheek. "How?" He shrugged. "I had a couple of guys on the team come in and do it. We should probably be thrilled they didn't accidentally burn the place down." He bent down, kissing her forehead gently. "Why? Because I hated how you sounded earlier. I know how much you miss everyone and how hard it's been with your schedule to make friends in Detroit." He kissed her again. "You moved here to be with me. It was long past time that I did something to remind you how special you are."
Beau turned in a small circle, her mouth partially open, a smile tugging at the corners, her eyes shimmering. She looks content, Charlie though. With both hands she tucked her hair behind her ears and shivered just a bit in her spaghetti strap silk tank top and her low slung jeans.
Charlie pulled off his corduroy blazer and slid it over her shoulders, rubbing her arms to warm them. "Plus," he whispered close to her ear. "You miss the ice. I can see it in you eyes every time you come to a game. I thought you needed a night to fly."
Her voice was barely audible. "I do." She stared out at the rink, thankful for the warmth of his jacket and his hands on her arms. She breathed in deep, smelling his scent around her.
Charlie was leaned back against the boards, watching as Beau flew around the ice in wide circles, her speed still impressive. She was silent, but her face was perfectly serene. When she had stepped onto the rink in skates she had laughed out loud.
Reaching behind him but still unable to take his eyes off of her, Charlie slid into his gloves and grabbed a pair for Beau. "Hey Mayland!" She slid to a clean stop and focused her eyes on him. He skimmed the extra gloves and a stick out to the blue line, dropping a puck at his feet. "Bet you a hundred bucks I can beat you to three."
Grinning, she bent and examined the stick, happy to see it was her own from home (another Charlie surprise) and then yanked her gloves on. Even after months and months of not playing, they felt exactly how she remembered them. She skated in a slow circle, closing in on him as he moved towards a goal. "It's a good thing you're making all sorts of money, Charlie." Hoping to have distracted him, she lunged forward, missing the puck with the end of her stick as Charlie slid it out of her reach. He smirked.
"Why's that?"
She winked. "Because then I don't have to feel bad about taking a hundred dollars from you." Still smiling sweetly she shot her stick between his legs, sending the puck sailing down the ice. She spun around him and took off after it, laughing loudly when she heard him closing in on her. "Remember we're not wearing pads, Conway!" She called over her shoulder, but knew he would never check her hard when they were unprotected. Nearing the goal she reared back and sent the puck sailing into the next. She looked around, feigning confusion. "I'm sorry. Does that make the score one to, um, zero?"
Charlie shook his head, taken aback by how strong she still was for being seriously out of practice. He shook it off. Besides, this isn't really about a game or a bet at all. He shrugged, rolling his eyes. "It's been so long since you played I thought you deserved a lead. I let you have that one."
She glided towards center ice, letting him retrieve the puck, her nose in the air. "Sure you did."
Little black disc in hand, Charlie met her at the middle of the rink. "We should start this one off legally. I'll drop it in."
She nodded. "Fair enough."
Beau bent her knees, gripping her stick hard in both hands, watching Charlie's hand intently and waiting for the drop. He mirrored her stance, but had only one hand on his stick. The other held the puck…she thought.
She tensed as his hand opened, but then everything in her went completely numb. In his palm, sitting atop the puck was a ring. The band was platinum and wide and held atop it, in several prongs, a large antique princess cut diamond. It was offset on either side with tons of small princess cut diamonds set down into the band.
Beau felt the breath rush out of her lungs and let her hockey stick clatter to the floor. Finally able to tear her eyes away from the sparkling stone, she looked up at Charlie who smiled nervously at her and dropped carefully to one knee. When he did, something in Beau gave out and she sank to her knees as well, still trying to catch her breath. Is this really happening? Someone in the middle of it all she had shed her gloves, as had Charlie, and she covered her mouth with her shaking hands.
Charlie laughed, his voice gentle. "No, no, no. I'm supposed to be the one down here. I want it to be right. Stand up." Reaching out he nudged her to stand up and Beau shook her head at him, speaking through her fingers, her voice shaking.
"I don't think I can."
He smiled. "Yes you can."
Knees shaking, she stood, letting Charlie help her by grasping tightly with her left hand in both of his. When she was standing, he smiled up at her.
"Beau, I have loved since almost the first day I met you, I think. Even through two years apart I was still in love with you." Surprised at his own nerves, Charlie took several deep breaths, still staring up at her. He had practiced a speech probably hundreds of times, but with her standing right in front of him he had forgotten every word. Say what you feel. It sounded so corny, even to him, but he knew his brain was, for once, right.
"Since you walked into Entomology class that day, you have made everything in my life more exciting, more vibrant, more meaningful." His mouth dry, Charlie stopped to breathe and bit his lip. He's nervous, Beau thought, as she fell in love with him for the hundredth time in her life. "You love me in spite of my family, in spite of my faults." He thought for a second. "I sometimes think you even love me because of them."
Beau opened her mouth to speak, unsure what she was going to say, but the look of complete openness on Charlie's face stopped her. He was laying himself absolutely bare, and he had something more to say.
"You're it for me, Beau. There was nothing like this before you, and there will never be anyone after you. I don't want there to be. I've thought about it a lot over the past few months and I think that no matter what happens with hockey, what happens in the rest of my life, my biggest accomplishment will always be loving you. I'm not sure that I can spend the rest of my life without you." He looked up at her now, his eyes watery, the gray bluer than Beau had ever seen it. His voice was soft but direct. "Do you love me?"
She nodded, unable to speak, and squeezed his hand tightly.
Charlie slid the ring gently onto her finger, his voice thick with emotion. "Then love me forever." He bit his lips again. "Marry me, Beau."
She didn't answer, but dropped to her knees again, Charlie's face held gently between her hands. She kissed him hard, pouring more meaning into the meeting of their lips than Charlie could have though possible. She pulled away, just slightly. "I can't imagine not loving you forever."
Charlie kissed her, lightly this time. "That's a yes?"
She leaned back, grinning. "Yeah, Conway. That's a yes." Her eyes widened and she grinned. "Oh man. I'm going to be Mrs. Conway."
Charlie closed his eyes, thinking about it for the first time. "I like how that sounds on you." He leveled his gaze on her. "A lot." He pulled her roughly against him, kissing her until her head spun, his hands roaming down her back possessively. He pulled away, breathless. "Do you remember that first party you came to at our house?"
Staring into his eyes, her nose touching his, Beau nodded.
"Guy said something that night about kissing you at center ice. I've been dreaming of doing it ever since."
Grinning, Beau licked her lips and then touched them to his, eventually letting it turn into something full of love and desire. "Well, kid. Looks like you got your wish."
A/N: This is NOT the last chapter. I've got an epilogue planned, so stay tunned!
xo00Germaine00ox: I think I'll delve into the Guy/Connie marriage issue in a sequel. I'm glad you still love him though!
AdoptedThug: I'm glad I can serve as a wake-up tool. I'm far healthier than coffee!
Hockey-girl90: Thanks!
Johnny: Glad you liked it. I can't imagine not being nervous, you know? Too much pressure!
Cc: YIKES! I don't know I managed to not mention Connie. I really thought that I had. I'm losing it, I think.
Duckfluff: I'm glad you liked the speech. I wrote it and edited like 16 times trying to get it more Beau-like and ultimately I'm still not that happy with it. Oh well!
Sinbin05: I really appreciate your reviews. Thanks! I'm also glad I wrote the premier. I wasn't planning to, but I'm fairly happy with how it turned out!