You loved the last chapter and for that, I love you all. I'm really happy everyone enjoyed it. I'm going to start writing longer chapters. It's hard because my attention span is…you get the point. This chapter will give a little more character interaction, more of Hunter's background and a little more romance. Enjoy!

Herb had been drilling the boys for the last two weeks. He was hell bent on creaming the Norwegian's Nationals Team and the boys could tell. Practices ran late and were twice as hard. The team could have skated to Norway and back with all the distance they had skated. Luckily, Herb let up on them a little bit in the week before the game. Hurt skaters played worse than out of shape ones. This schedule was great for Hunter. When the boys were working hard, she had plenty to keep her busy. Just when she was getting sick of being around tired guys all the time, Herb let up and she could have more fun.

Less than a week before the Olympic team left for Norway, the team got off easy with one of Herb's lighter practices. Hunter skated onto the ice, ignoring the constant calls for Puck. She made a mental note to beat the living daylights out of Cox next time she saw him. Hunter planned on skating for a few minutes, then pulling out the zamboni. Her plans changed, however, when she saw Jimmy Craig still on the ice. His helmet sagged in the top of the goal and he wore a broad grin.

"You don't look tired enough Craig. Do I need to get Herb back out here?" she teased, skating over to the goal.

"No, you can keep Herb. I was wondering if you wanted a fantastic goalie to shoot on."

"A fantastic goalie?" she asked. "I'd love that! Where is he?"

Jimmy laughed mockingly. "Ha ha Hunter. Very cute. What, are we in 5th grade or something?"

Hunter just shrugged. "You totally set yourself up for that one Jim. Be careful with that."

He smiled at her and laughed, honestly but lightly. "Jokes aside, would you like to? I'm really not too tired."

"Why not? You seem interesting. Are you totally opposed to talking while I shoot?"

Jimmy considered this. There was a good chance he wasn't going to be doing much responding, but if she wanted to talk, he'd be all ears. "Totally opposed?I guess that dependsonwho's talking.I'm not much of a talker on the ice. Not that I get manyoffers like this,but still."

Both chuckled and Jimmy skated back into goal. Hunter wore her skates and gloves, leaving the rest of her equipment in the spare locker room. She took a few practice shots, Jimmy easily knocking them aside. She was impressed with his skills. It wasn't enough to watch him; you had to play against him. Her eyes narrowing slightly, Hunter pulled her stick back and shot, the blade flicking off the ice and snapping the puck into the goal. Jimmy let out a small sigh of awe. This girl was better than she thought and she deserved her nickname.

"So are you going to talk, or what?" Jimmy asked as he threw back the few pucks they were using.

"Sure, sure. Just wanted a few fair shots." Hunter skated to the pucks and gently brought them back. "I'll probably just ramble on if I don't have a good topic. Anything you're curious about?"

Jimmy thought, blocking one shot but missing another. "What about your dad?" he asked.

Hunter considered it. "Not quite yet. Why don't we save that one for later?" She fought back the beginning of tears and lost a little color in her face, though Jimmy had barely seen it. She had mastered the art of hiding her feelings.

"Okay," Jimmy said. He understood what it was like to talk about parents, especially ones that weren't around anymore. "How about how you started playing hockey?"

Hunter grinned broadly, her color quickly returning. "How I started? It wasa while ago, back when I was 8 or 9 years old. My dad," she paused, chuckling at how easily it slipped back to the topic of her father. "My dad loved hockey all his life, so of course, I got involved with it. Let me tell you a little known secret. This is something thatonly Coxy knows, so keep it quiet around the boys." Hunter paused again, this time for dramatic effect. She pulled back and flung a shot just into the goal before she started again. "I couldn't skate to save my life! I was always slipping all over the place. I know you can't expect to be any good when you haven't even hit puberty yet, but I wasn't anywhere close to the other players. I didn't get good at skating until I was around 13 years old. That was the year I perfected my hockey stop and somehow everything else followed. That was when the trouble started."

"Trouble?" Jimmy asked, grabbing a shot from just inside the post. Hunter had to force back giggles; Jimmy's voice was muffled a little from his helmet and it sounded funny.

"A lot of trouble, actually. You see, when I started playing, it was even worse for girls who played hockey. When I was really little, I had no trouble. I couldn't skate and I couldn't shoot, so no one thought I'd stay with it. As I got older, people realized I was completely serious about hockey and they weren't happy. My family and I got a lot of crap from parents who didn't want me around. The worst for me was my teammates. I wanted them to want mearound but they refused to accept me. Eventually I fought my way into an all-boys league with checking, which upset most everyone. The boys loved to target me and I got hit harder than most. That was where my fighting issues started. I figured the only way I could put the boys in their place was with my fist." Hunterwas talking butpaused when she shot.Her words came out choppy, but Jimmy understood her.

"You don't seem too angry to me," Jimmy commented. He had yet to be around her when she swung a punch.

"You have a lot to learn,"she chuckled.She stopped her story to shoot three times in a row, aiming the last one at his head.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Oops. Sorry Jimmy," Hunter said without any remorse in her voice. Jimmy shook his head at her as she winked at him.

"Be nice Hunter!" Both grinned and Jimmy glided the pucks back to her. "Go on with the story. Did you meet Coxy around then?" he asked,still very curious.

"Yeah, I did. The first time I played with him was when I was 14 years old. We were playing for Jamesville Jaybirds. Can you believe the name of that team? We really played for them. It was an embarrassing time in both of our hockey careers. Embarrassing, yes,but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I never would have met Coxy if I hadn't played for them. I loved him the first time we talked. He was willing to talk to me, which made him already cool by my standards. He was so sweet and had the most hilarious laugh.

"We played together on as many teams as we could. Something about the two of us just clicked. We could always seem to find each other. He could have skated blindfolded and would have given me the perfect pass every time. Kind of like the Coneheads are, except with less testosterone."

Jimmy let a few goals go past him, smiling at her through his cage. It was obvious he was done blocking shots for the night. Hunter didn't seem to mind, only skating over to the goal and leaning on it. "You know, that makes me want you on the team even more."

"Oh Jimmy, I'm flattered. Really."

"Happy I could flatter you Hun,"Jimmy said jokingly. Hegrabbed his water bottle and squirted a little on Hunter's face. "From what I heard, you didn't know about Coxy joining the Olympicteam."

"Nope. We used to talk everyday, even when I went off to college. Then it slowly trickled away and we stopped talking. I missed the boy like Hell but there wasn't much I could do.We wereboth too busy.It's really cool that he's here now. I missed hanging out with him."

Jimmy tipped his head to the side, his bright blue eyes squinting from his smile. "Glad to hear that. It's interesting to hear about you. It was hard for me to believe you were a serious hockey player, even when you helped coach. Now that I know all this, it makes more sense."

"So enough about me. Why don't we talk about the enigma that is Jim Craig?" Jimmy shook his head, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"Why would you want to hear about me?"

"I figured that was part of the deal."

"There was a deal?"

"Jimmy! Why are you avoiding this?"

He looked at her, his eyes deep with a strange emotion. "I'm not avoiding anything."

Hunter sighed in disgust. "Okay. So we aren't going to talk about you. What should we talk about?"

"How cold it is just standing around in here?"

"That would be a short conversation. I think we just may agree on that."

Jimmy smiled and thought for a moment. The light bulb seemed to go off in his head. "Would you be willing to have the parent talk if we went inside?"

Hunter's brow furrowed and she looked at the ice. If she could keep her eyes on the little pile of snow on the ground, she wouldn't get upset. "I don't talk about my parents much," she commented.

"You just did. You were talking about your dad."

"Good point." She kept her eyes on the ice, trying to knock out the desire to confess everything to Jimmy. She had talked to Coxy already and didn't feel the need to burden another person, let alone one she didn't know very well. "Why am I telling you all this?" Hunter asked, amused. "I don't open up to many people. Coxy knows the most about me, which sadly isn't much. How am I talking to you so freely?"

"I don't know Hunter," Jimmy said,lookingat the girl with sympathetic eyes. He knew what it was like to carry a burden. It was strange for him to see that Hunter had more burdens then himself. "People say I'm easy to talk to, I guess. I've been through something similar to you. Maybe you just need to vent on someone who will understand."

Hunter didn't want to let that idea cross her mind. She had grown up thinking that the only person she needed was her dad. Since he left, Hunter had grown accustom to not needing anyone but herself. She shook her head, brushing off the idea before she realized it was true.

Jimmy shrugged. If Hunter didn't want to admit it to herself, that was her decision. He would be there for her if she wanted him, but only then. He knew he wasn't the only one with that idea. 'I need to talk to Rizzo,' he thought.

"Hunter! Why don't I hear the zamboni?" Herb yelled from the locker room.

"That would be because it isn't on," Hunter yelled back jokingly. "Sorry Herb,it's not becauseI figured out how to turn off the sound." Jimmy lightly punched her in the arm, amazed that she had the nerve to talk to Herb like that.

"Very cute Hunter. If I don't hear that zamboni in the next 5 minutes, you know what I'll do."

Hunter frowned because she knew exactly what he would do. Herb was like family, but he didn't kid when it came to hockey. "Guess you'll have to get off the ice then," she said to Jimmy.

"I understand. I'll see you later. You know where to find me," he said, smiling and waving her good-bye. She watched him walk away, thefeeling of a new friendship swirling around her. Her skates pushed out as she glided over to the room with her favorite machine.

"Finally," Hunter said, climbing into the seat of the zamboni. "Just you and I." She laughed at herself. There were times when she felt so absurd and it was a nice break from remembering the past.

There it is. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I know I sure as hell don't. Writing this was near impossible. I can't believe Iwas interrupted so many times.I was so excited to write this, but putting it into words was hard. Any questions or comments on how to fix it are GREATLY appreciated.

Also, I am toying with the idea for a new story. It won't go up right away as I am writing this and one other fanfic at the moment, but I will work on it when I feel compelled to. My idea is to take the 1980 team into the 2006 Olympics. Whether or not it will be just the personalities of the boys or if I'll be crazy and make it time travel has not been decided. I need feedback! Even if you don't want to comment on the story, please respond to this.

You guys are great! I can't tell you how amazing it is to have good readers.

-Shelby