The Greatness You Are

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING (except Grace and the occasional outside character).

Author's Note: Alright kids. So I'm pretty proud of myself for getting this out so soon. I guess I'm just in a really inspirational mood lately. This chapter's about Grace and Rammer's relationship, not romantic, but as best friends, before the Olympics. The main romantic interest of Grace is still open for debate if anyone has any suggestions! Oh yeah, and she's the same age as Rammer, which I believe is 19, when try-outs being. And this one's long people so settle in and read up!

Thanks so much to all of my reviewers!
Lia06: Thanks for your review! I'm glad you're interested in the story!
Evelynsgrave84: Aww, I'm so glad you like it so much. You're so sweet! All of these nice reviews make me want to update more often!
Meadow567: I'm really glad you like Mike Ramsey. There really are like no stories about him so I decided it would be easy to develop him into my own character. I'm also happy that you like how she's younger than some of the other guys. Keep up the reviews!
Maigain: I definitely agree with you. Mark Johnson is so cute. I'm still accepting comments about who Grace should end up with so thanks for the suggestion. If I don't do this story on him, I'm thinking about doing a one-shot with him in it anyways. Thanks for reviewing!
TJ6: Haha I forgive you for forgetting about Rammer. He's one of the quiet ones. I'm really glad you adore him. I'm still not sure if Grace is going to end up with him or not, but it is a big possibility. Keep reviewing!

Maybe I just want to fly
I want to live I don't want to die
Maybe I just want to breath
Maybe I just don't believe
Maybe you're the same as me
We see things they'll never see
You and I, we're gonna live forever…1

Time stood still as he waited outside her house. This had been their routine for what seemed like forever, which was actually three years since they had first met. She always kept him waiting. They would plan to go hang out and he would get to her house right on time, and would wait at least an hour for her to come downstairs. So this time, he decided to wait outside in the fresh air. Even though he loved spending time with her, Rammer also loved the feeling of the anticipation of her arrival. Her entrances never ceased to be thrilling for him, well in a friend sort of way, he thought.

He took a deep breath as the door to the Brooks' house slowly opened, revealing his best friend dressed in a pair of ripped jeans and a pink polo top, with the collar slightly popped up. The bottom of her shirt didn't quite reach the hem of her pants, showing off part of her stomach. On her feet she wore a pair of green flip flops, which was her daily ensemble during the spring months. (A/N: Sorry guys but I'm not really sure about the fashion back then so I'm just going to go with whatever I think of). He waited by his car as she smoothly raced down the steps of her house, well sort of, with her sandals clapping all the way, and over to where he waited, leaning against his car with outstretched arms. As she went to give him a big bear hug, he remembered their first meeting, which was not so subtle, but was definitely reflective of her wild and sometimes random personality.

--

It was the summer before his junior year in high school, and also a Saturday morning. Rammer slowly walked down the stairs. It was 4:30 a.m. and he didn't want to wake the rest of the house up, causing his family to suffer along with him due to his early hockey practices during the weekends. That unfortunately seemed inevitable as he tripped over an object discarded carelessly on one of the steps and fell, his large hockey bag tumbling down the stairs and knocking over the coat rack at the bottom, with him following suit.

Damn.

From that point on the day only got worse. His dad came down yelling at him for being clumsy, his leg hurt from his earlier fall, his car broke down almost two miles away from the hockey arena forcing him to walk the rest of the way and later calling a tow truck, Herb was mad because he was late, and he had to do nearly an hour's worth of sprints on the ice after practice ended by himself as Herb timed and scolded him.

By the time he was ready to go home, it was noon and he was waiting on one of the rows of bleachers for Herb to lecture him about being punctual, and most likely how he had hurt his team with his late arrival. As he was sitting silently in his seat, Rammer continuously dozed off, finally letting some form of a restless sleep take him. The next thing he heard somewhat startled him, but as his senses came back to him he began to openly stare.

He saw someone driving the Zamboni around the ice, making wild circles and patterns, along with sharp turns sending the machine into treacherous positions. He watched and he could hear the person on the machine laughing, obviously female he had thought to himself as her light laughter floated over to his ears. Out of nowhere, three men ran and stumbled across the ice yelling words, incoherent to him at the girl on the large machine, she obviously not knowing they were there over the roar of the engine and nearly barreling one of the men down as he narrowly escaped.

Finally, after a great deal of effort, one of the men managed to flag her down and she shut off the machine looking expectantly towards him, and for the first time noting that there was more than one man. He muttered a few words to her, which were too soft for Rammer to hear, but the look on her face didn't escape his eyes as he saw her give them a dramatic eye roll and hopped off the machine. He heard a noise behind him, and looked back to see an angry Herb marching down the stairs to the young woman who had been driving the machine haphazardly around the ice.

Rammer seemed to be forgotten as he watched his coach scold her for her behavior.

"Look, Grace I told you, you could recoat the ice, but I didn't say like that. That was dangerous and you could've gotten hurt. Not to mention the…"

"Fine, sorry Uncle Herb." The girl looked deeply into Herb's face and gave a genuinely innocent look. She tugged nervously at the ends of her golden hair, causing her curls to bounce up and down freely. Her sapphire eyes were clouded with doubt as she looked around the arena casually but obviously avoiding eye contact. Her locks swayed delicately against her shoulders as she turned her head looking at the ground waiting for her uncle to say something back.

Herb, looking exhausted and on edge seemed to accept the simple apology and turned his rage toward Rammer, who was sitting in a daze in one of the seats. Noticing that his coach was staring directly towards him, he sat up a little straighter, rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes and prepared himself for a lecture from Herb. As Coach Brooks walked over, Rammer watched with intrigue as the girl in front of him sat down on one of the seats with a stormy expression written all over her features.

"So Rammer, you were late to practice today. You let your team down and were also unprepared."

"Sorry coach, but my car broke down and I had to…" Rammer trailed off noticing that Herb had turned his attention towards the young woman sitting further down the bleachers, worry marring his face. She wasn't facing them, so she didn't notice the intensity of their looks. Herb looked back at Rammer and simply stated,

"Don't be late again Rammer." And walked out of the arena. His voice held a dangerous tone, but he looked weary, and did not continue any further. The girl continued to sit, legs curled up under her staring out into nowhere. She suddenly turned to look Rammer straight in the eye, her blue ones making contact with his chocolate brown ones. She examined him closely, as he seemed to be doing the same to her. He looked tired from a long practice and she could see his well muscled shoulders from under his shirt. He looked a little rough around the edges but appeared to be friendly with smooth, curly hair, which was just as unruly as hers.

As she studied him, he watched her. Her eyes shone with intensity and her lips had a small pout to them, as she seemed to be thinking. Her hair looked silky to the touch, curly, but large curls rather than small ringlets. Her head was cocked to one side as if debating something and all at once she was next to him with a large smile on her face, introducing herself.

"Hi I'm Grace." She watched him expectantly, biting her bottom lip as he was shaken from his stupor at her boldness and held out his hand in greeting.

"Umm, Mike Ramsey. Uhh, Rammer." His deep voice echoed against the walls of the arena and Grace looked at him oddly for a second, ignoring his attempt at a hand shake, and instead entwining her arm with his and leading him out of the hockey arena, talking all the way.

--

Feeling a small hand snake into his pocket, Rammer looked down to see Grace, or Gracie as he affectionately called her apparently impatient with him and fishing around for his keys. He smiled down at her before digging into his back pocket and opening the door to the passenger's side for her. She gave a small whine but reluctantly got in the car. She had always loved to drive, but unfortunately for her, so did he.

In the car, Rammer put the top down and smiled wickedly as Grace screamed while her hair waved all over her face nearly blinding her.

"Jerk. You could've warned me." He laughed at her comment and she shoved him lightly in the shoulder, a playful smirk appearing on her face. He quickly glanced back at the road swerving as he narrowly missed hitting a cat. The next time he looked over at her, she had a pair of movie star glasses on and she was giving him a royal wave and beaming. The memory sent him back to thinking of when he took her to hang out at his beach cottage by the lake for a week during the summer.

--

As she stepped out of the car with Rammer's help, she looked like she stepped right out of a magazine. Although wearing not so nice clothes for the occasion, she still looked gorgeous with her large pair of sunglasses perched precariously on top of her head and a light smile touching her lips.

It had been great and sunny for a large portion of the time at his cottage, with his family, but on the last day it had rained buckets. The whole day they had played cards inside and listened and danced to songs on the radio. They discussed old hockey games and even upcoming ones. Rammer had always been an exceptional player for his age, and was commonly the youngest on his varsity teams. This was one of the things that amazed Grace about her friend. He continued to act casual and ordinary when to everyone else and herself, was so incomparable and special.

The thing he remembered most about their stay at his family's cottage had not been the fun days they had spent swimming, hiking, and out on the lake, but the night before their departure, when it wouldn't stop raining. They sat in the sun room watching the rain fall down, the soft lull of raindrops against the window making them both drowsy. They sat in silence for the longest time, on the couch. Her head was propped up against his big chest and his head was lazily perched up against the wall. She listened to his heart beat, while he concentrated on the methodical sounds of her breathing.

It could have been minutes, or even hours later, but Rammer looked down to see a sleeping Grace gently cradled in his arms. He smiled to himself and tenderly kissed her on her forehead, both of her hands in his as he lightly stroked her palms. She looked so at peace when she slept, which was a sharp contrast from her usual over-the-top energy. Her hair tickled his neck and her lips were curved in the smallest hint of a smile. This was when he had first realized that he loved her. Not the sort of love where you're in love with the person, he just loved her. It was as simple and as complicated as that. She was his best friend and he thought the world of her.

When Rammer thought of Grace, he had often looked back on that one time, reminiscing about his second love. He had first fallen in love with hockey, and then it was Grace. His Gracie. He loved her, and she him. Not in love, but it was love. It was unconditional, but it was not the same thing as true love, it sent butterflies in his stomach and shivers down his spine but he had never fallen for her, or she for him. They weren't dating; they never had, or wanted to. They were just best friends. Not everybody they came across could understand that simple fact, but Rammer had soon learned to brush off the comments as easily as Grace was able to.

--

Now, as he pulled into the parking lot, Grace got hopped easily out of the car without opening the door as he came to a stop. He chuckled and got out of the drivers side stretching alongside his friend. He reached in the backseat of the car and grabbed their bags as they headed over towards the swimming pool area.

As they began walking to their destination, Rammer could hear Gracie's loud footsteps as she attempted to surprise him and jump on his back. Her sandals unfortunately gave away her position, and as she was about to leap onto is back, Rammer suddenly turned around and scooped her up onto his shoulder, ass in the air and her legs swinging freely in front of him. She screamed as he picked her bag up from the ground and playfully hit him on the back. He finally put her down once they reached the pool area and they looked around for a place to sit.

Rammer spotted two empty beach chairs and they made a beeline in that direction. Grace giggled lightly as Rammer not so gracefully tried to set his bag down, dropping it in the process, his clothing and towel spilling all over the wet surface of the pool area. She bent down to help him pick his clothes up, and at the same moment Rammer noticed a few male heads turning to look in her direction. He returned their stares with a glower and thanked Grace as she stood up straight and pulled off her shirt and pants revealing her two-piece bathing suit. Now, a few more heads turned and Rammer glared over Grace's shoulders at the men hungrily looking at his best friend. This moment brought him back to images of his first real fight, but certainly not the last…

--

Rammer had never been a fighting type of person. He wouldn't run from a fight, but he didn't use it as his first solution in solving a problem. Everyone knew he was tough and although challenged to fight a few times, never himself initiated the event. That was until he became best friends with Grace. She was constantly getting looked at and hit on by members of the male sex, along with unwanted stares and comments. Rammer usually managed to ignore most of the gestures and actions, but during one of his hockey games, there was one guy who pushed his patience over the edge, and of course it had resulted badly.

Grace was always involved with her Uncle Herb's hockey teams, and often traveled with them when they went away. She always had a reserved seat next to her uncle while he coached, so she could watch the team in action. Sitting on the bench was obviously more thrilling than sitting in the stands watching from afar. Grace had loved being given the opportunity to be able to witness games so closely, getting to meet the boys from the other teams, as well as supporting her own boys.

Near the beginning of the hockey season of her and Rammer's junior year, it was the team's first away game and everyone was pumped up and excited. While her uncle was in the boys' locker room giving one of his before-game speeches, Grace sat on the bench waiting for the game to commence. She watched idly as the opposing team skated around on the ice and one or two heads turned her way. Just as she was about to look the other way, she saw a shadow appear over her and looked up into the face of the forward from the other team. He winked at her then leaned over the side.

"Hey baby, wanna give me a good luck kiss before I go out to play tonight?" He had a cocky grin plastered on his face as he looked down at her, not making contact with her eyes, but rather other parts of her body, making her squirm under his stare.

"Umm, no." She said it quietly and sounded uncertain. What was wrong with her? Why hadn't she just plainly told him to "fuck off"? Her uncertainty towards the question only fueled the hockey player more as he skated even closer to Grace eying her greedily.

As he was about to open his mouth to reply, Herb walked up behind her and glared at the boy she had just been talking to. Grace stole a glance upward and noticed Rammer had just come on to the ice, and from the look on his face he had seen the whole encounter as well. The forward backed up and skated back onto the ice as her uncle's team warmed up. Throughout numerous other parts of the game, he would skate lazily by her, not seeming to care that his team was down by at least three goals during the whole game. Rammer had taken notice to this, and as he passed the guy while he was lining up for possession of the puck, he growled,

"Stay away from her." It was quiet and laced with anger, but the other guy, not seeming to take the hint grinned at Grace, then looking back at Rammer and saying a few obscenities about his best friend. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the puck not even having been dropped to signal the beginning of the third quarter, Rammer dropped his gloves and rushed into the sleazy guy across from him. Grace gasped, Herb looked pissed, and the rest of the team just stared on in awe. Rammer never let his emotions get the better of him, and here he was tumbling around on the ice, and still no one really knew why.

Pretty soon, his team had come back to their senses and had stopped him, but he was thrown out of the rest of the game and put into the penalty box. Herb had told him that he would speak with him once they returned home from the game, and his team went on to win 6-3.

As Grace was walking out of the arena with her uncle and the team, she could see two indistinct figures moving around to her left and on closer examination came to discover that one of them was in fact, Rammer. She was surprised when he had started a fight during the game, but even more surprised at this. Now, as Rammer was sitting on some guy's stomach the boys rushed over to pull him off the other bleeding hockey player. They grabbed his arms and pulled him back, at first to no effect, but they finally managed to fully pull him off while the guy under him, the forward from earlier Grace had noticed, retreated quickly back into the building.

Looking back on the fight now, Rammer thought it was stupid and pointless. He had received a minor in-school suspension for the fight and Herb had benched him for their next away game. Although not showing it in front of her uncle, Grace had been grateful for what Rammer had done and showed him her gratitude by attempting to get him back into Herb's good graces. She had helped him clean up after the fight, tending to his black eye and cut on his lip. It was a stupid fight, but it brought them closer together, and Grace knew that she could count on him to protect her. Since then, he had never failed, always defending his friend's honor and making sure she was constantly safe.

--

"C'mon Rammer get in!" He looked around to see where the voice was coming from and saw Gracie treading in the water. He jumped into the pool and floated over to her giving her a quick hug, more for his comfort than hers.

"What's this for?" Grace looked at him with confusion on her face, but at the same time returned his hug while sinking into his arms. She bit her bottom lip looking on with perplexity. He took his thumb and moved to pull her lip out from under the grasp of her teeth. Rammer shrugged.

"Nothing." With that, Rammer dove under the water and came up behind her, grabbing her legs. From underwater he could hear her screeches of protest, as he playfully lifted her up and dunked her back into the shimmering water.

From an outsider's perspective, the pair in the water looked like a young, cute couple. No one really stopped to think twice about it. No matter what others might have thought, Rammer and Grace really didn't care. They were best friends, and that was all. It was them against the world, and they didn't care.

1. Live Forever by Oasis

A/N: So this chapter and probably the next one are about how Grace kind of came to Minnesota and met Robbie, Rammer, Buzz, and some of the other guys. They take place in the months before the Olympics, but include flash backs on their times together. Tell me if you liked the parts about their friendship flashbacks, like how they met, etc. because I'm thinking of including more of it in future chapters. The next chapter will have more of Grace's feelings than just Rammer's. The fifth chapter will probably be the beginning of try-outs and I'll hopefully be there by next week.