HOCKEYFAN-68 –Good to hear you liked the ending! Hope you like the rest of the story too!

BellaLou- Sorry, but you'll have to wait till Chapter 4 to figure out a love interest. I'll be reading your Miracle fanfic soon!

Miss Kitten- Thank you, thank you, thank you! Don't worry, I don't take it personally; I love to get criticism. I'll be using your ideas in the next few chapters I write. The first one was written in a bit of haste because the idea came so quickly. I promise I won't hold any more chapters hostage!

Meadow567 – Happy you enjoyed it. The new chapters are coming up soon.

Anmerie- Yay! My first reviewer! Thanks a ton for the review, I hope you like the upcoming chapters.

Okay everyone, the chapter is ready. Actually, Chapter 3 is ready also and Chapter 4 is well on its way. Thank you for the great reviews! I hope you enjoy these next few; I know I had fun writing them. Chapter 5 may take a while, as I am writing 2 Numb3rs fanfics as well, along with nurturing ideas for some other stories. Please excuse any hiatus.

Hunter was never one to notice the cold of an ice rink. Maybe she had as a child, but spending her life on the ice had numbed her to the cold. Everything about a rink she loved. Nothing made her feel at home more than the rush of frigid air upon entering the ice.

That morning, Hunter was skating around the team's practice rink, trying to work out the knots in her muscles. Sleeping in the backseat of a car reeked havoc on a body, but it was the only choice she had. After spending a ridiculous amount of money on gas, she had none left over to pay for a hotel room.

Her mind was wondering to her days of young, learning to play hockey with her dad, the first broken arm she got. That memory made her laugh; she'd started quite a rivalry with another boy on her team when she was 12 years old and he had checked her a little too hard. A little too hard was actually an understatement. She had yet to be checked as hard since. Her thoughts were broken by the sound of the doors opening. The blond head of Jack O'Callahan appeared, followed by a stick. He walked in and looked at the girl skating strangely. Obviously upset that she was snapped out of her daydream, she nodded to him.

"Who're you?" she asked, pushing her shoulder length brown hair out of her eyes. Both of her gloves, her only equipment, lay on the ice beside her and her hands rested on her stick.

"Jack. O'Callahan. And you are?" he retorted. He already wasn't thinking fondly of this girl.

"You're O'Callahan? I've heard a lot about you. You're a bit early, aren't you?" She smiled at him, trying to seem nice. They would be spending a lot of time together, might as well have a friend.

"Yeah, well, I figure Herb would like it if I was." He shook his head and got out on the ice, moving his legs around weirdly, trying to warm them up. "You still haven't answered my question. Who're you?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off. "HP? You have gotta be kiddin' me! HP, what the hell are ya doin' here?" Both whipped around to see the oh-so-familiar moustache and long red hair.

"Coxy? You're on this team? Alright!" Ralph Cox ran out onto the ice without skates and grabbed Hunter in a hug. "It's been way too long!"

"Yeah it has! How's my favorite girl doin'?" he asked, smiling at her and giving her a playful shove.

Jack looked at them, thoroughly confused. "Hey Cox," he said, still looking at Hunter strangely.

"Hey OC! Nice to see ya. I see you met HP already."

Hunter smiled at them both. "Not quite. I'm Hunter Patton. My friends call me HP."

"I think he stole the initial idea from ya, HP," Cox said, winking at her.

"Thank you Captain Obvious." She rolled her eyes at Cox. "I've got so many nicknames, it's not even funny. If people don't call me HP, it's Puck or Patty. Patty was my dad's nickname, so I got stuck with it."

"How about HP? I don't mind sharing initials." He reached out a gloved hand and shook Hunter's bare one, making her hand look tiny.

"You're so sweet," she said laughing. "I have to go guys. Meet up with Herb, you know. See you soon!" She skated off, waving to them.

"She's a hot little number," OC said after she'd skated off.

"You better believe it. I've known her for a long time and she is a great catch." Cox smiled. "Gotta change all the way. See ya."

OC gave him a light smack on the shoulder. "See ya." Scratching his head, he started to skate around the rink again, waiting for the others to come.

Author's Note: I know the dialogue is a bit heavy in this chapter, but it should slim down within the next few. I hope you all enjoy this! There's been a bit of an issue which as resulted in me not being able to read reviews off the site, SO…please don't be offended if I missed your review. It was a mistake.

-Shelby