"The Beginning of Every End"

Maurae felt terrible. She knew she should be more upset about Hans' death. She was very upset. But it was hard to be so sad when your best friend is speaking to you again, and holding you, and...She let her thoughts trail off, still unwilling to follow them through to conclusion. She went back to feeling bad because she didn't feel that bad about Hans.

Someone knocked on the door and she heard Carrie open it. But she was face-down on her bed, buried to her ears in her pillow, wallowing in misery, guilt, and even a little euphoria. "Hey, Carrie. Is she ready?" Maurae sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed, slipping on the comfortable black shoes she'd gotten for the funeral.

"I'm ready," she said softly, unable to look at him without having her ears turn red. He offered her a hand, and she took it reflexively, allowing him to pull her out of the room. "See you on Monday, Carrie," she said, picking up her overnight as she left. The redhead nodded and closed the door behind the pair. Leaning against it, she grinned.

"Derek owes me money," she said with a wicked glint in her eyes.

It had been a long three days since Dean Buckley had told them the news. Adam hadn't gone back to the Varsity table since Wednesday morning, and his teammates were constantly hounding him about it. They would saunter over during meals to shoot snide comments at him, most of which Maurae would have jumped at them for if he hadn't calmed her down. 'What's going on?' she wondered, hand still clasped securely in her best friend's. 'I've never gotten all defensive or protective of him...he's got entirely too sweet a manner to let them insult him like that!' She hurriedly backed off from those thoughts as well. She knew how Adam felt about her; she'd somehow always known. But she didn't...she couldn't return those feelings...he was her best friend. That's all.

Hearing the disquieting echoes of those same words, spoken aloud to Carrie and Derek, didn't make her feel better. In fact, her conscience was screaming /Denial! Denial/ at her repeatedly. She chose to ignore it.

Adam's brother Daniel was waiting for them, and they both slid silently into the backseat. He eyed their clasped hands with a small, smug smile, but said nothing. Neither one seemed to realize that they were still holding hands at all. The drive to the cemetary was quiet. When they arrived, it took Daniel a few minutes to find a place to park. Finally, he pulled over a little. "You guys go ahead. I'll park and then I'll join you." Maurae opened her door without comment and climbed out. Adam followed. Not once did they let go of each other.

At the sight of the casket, Maurae nearly burst into tears. She bit her lip, eyes swimming, and pressed her face to Adam's shoulder. He let go of her hand and put his arms around her, smoothing back her hair and letting her cry. A splash of warm wetness landed on her ear and she froze. Was Adam crying? She looked up, and found, much to her surprise, tears blurring the blue of his eyes. He blinked and another one hit her face. Surprised, she lifted her arm and used her sleeve to wipe his face, making him smile, watery and weak though it was. He had known Hans better than she had, she remembered.

Neither one of them noticed the incredulous, pained glare coming towards them from across the casket. Charlie and his mother had arrived and were standing together. The entire team was now gathered, as well as some of Hans' friends and family. A trio of women in native costume stood to one side. Heads turned as the priest arrived, standing at the head of the casket that held their beloved friend.

He began the service in a soft voice, with the Lord's Prayer. Those gathered repeated it gently.

Our Father, who Art in Heaven,

Hans, why didn't you tell us?

Hallowed be Thy name.

Why does this have to happen now?

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done,

Why is everything terrible always happening to us?

On earth as it is in Heaven.

God, why did you let this happen?

Give us this day our daily bread,

Why?

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Forgiveness...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to question You.

And lead us not into temptation,

No, please don't. I don't think I can handle it anymore.

But deliver us from evil.

And pain...and sadness...take it all away, please!

For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory.

And You have to do something! You can't keep punishing us or we'll snap!

Forever and ever. Amen.

It was then that Maurae felt a lightening of her burdens. Logic, or what she assumed was logic, broke through her grief. Hans wouldn't have wanted them to mourn. There was nothing the man had liked better than watching them play, than listening to them play. They had been letting him down recently. All of them. She glanced at Charlie, whose valiant effort to conceal his tears only made him look pissed.

The priest started to open his Bible, but a new face appeared, and interrupted him. "May I?" whispered Bombay. The man nodded once and stepped back. As they watched, he unfolded the jersey he'd brought, the one with Hans' name on it, and laid it on the casket. "Every time you touch the ice," he said, looking up at them, looking about to cry, "remember it was Hans that taught us to fly."

With those words, the dam broke. Charlie threw Bombay a glare and stormed off towards the lake. No one followed. They knew he needed to be alone. Instead, his friends hugged their former coach and started to trickle off, knowing that nothing more needed to be said about their friend, their mentor. And apparently, his other friends, and his family, agreed. The priest sighed, put up his hands, and walked away from them. Soon, the gravesite was deserted.

Connie and Julie joined Maurae in a long hug, all three girls crying on each other, smearing their solemn makeup. None of them cared. "We'll win one for him," Connie whispered. "We'll make him proud." The other two agreed. They pulled themselves together and started fixing each other's makeup. Well, Maurae helped them both; she didn't wear makeup to a place she knew it would get messed up. She was just smart like that.

"Uuhhnn..." she moaned as an incessant pounding brought her to wakefulness sharply. 'What time is it?' she wondered, glaring blearily at the glowing numbers of her alram clock. It was a little past nine in the morning.

"Are you decent in there?" demanded a familiar voice. She sat up, the blanket slipping off her legs as she stretched. She opened her mouth to reply when the familiar-but-unplaced voice added something. "Only, I think my brother might like it if you aren't." The unmistakable sound of flesh hitting flesh made her grin. She'd forgotten how much Daniel loved to tease his little brother. She went to the door and opened it, smirking, to find Adam beating his older brother round the head while the other laughed and fended him off.

"I am decent, actually," she drawled. "Why are you pounding on my door at this time of the morning? It had better be an emergency."

"Of course it is," Daniel replied loftily. "I'm your ride to the rink in the city. However, I have someplace to be in an hour. Unless you want to skate there, you need to get dressed and ready to go." Daniel nodded at her attire. "Nice pj's." Then he sauntered down the hall to his own room and shut the door behind him. Maurae grinned at Adam, who grinned back, flushing slightly. They continued to stare at each other until Daniel opened his door and emerged. He stopped dead and started to grin. "You know," he began loudly, making them both jump. "As entertaining as it is to watch you two strip each other with your eyes--" here both teens turned tomato red and looked anywhere but at each other, "--I really am going to be leaving soon." Maurae stuck her tongue out at him, immaturity catching up to her blush. "Is that an invitation, princess?" he teased. She blinked.

"Only in your dreams, Danny-boy," she retorted. Then she spun back into her room and slammed the door.

Daniel tapped his brother on the shoulder and bent over to whisper, "You sure can pick em, little bro." Instead of the indignant response he'd expected, Adam grinned foolishly.

"Yeah, I know," he replied. Then he walked off to his own room to change, leaving Daniel in possession of a valuable piece of gossip and numerous 'ideas.' After all, what was a big brother for, if not for 'helping' his little brother?

"Okay, I'm ready, let's go!" chirped Maurae, swinging open the door. She had pulled on a pair of capris and a t-shirt, pulled her hair up and back, and was carrying a backpack filled, no doubt, with her pads and skates. Adam appeared only a second later. The three clattered down the stairs and out the front door.

It was only about ten when they arrived, but they weren't the first there. Nor the last. After waving Daniel off, with his promise to pick them up at three unless they called him first, they sat down on a bench to pull on their skates. By the time they had finished, the last of them had arrived, and with them..."Jesse!" Maurae screeched, launching herself at her friend. He grinned and hugged her.

"Hey. What's up, cake-eater?" the black boy asked Adam, holding out his hand. The blond grinned and grabbed it, hugging his friend. "I've been getting horror stories all morning from these two," he added, indicating Averman and Luis. "I just missed Hans' funeral, but I went to the wake. Only none of you showed up. Then Averman called this morning at the butt-crack of dawn and told me you all were getting together here." He smirked. "Since then, I've been completely updated on the happenings at Eden. I knew I was the only rational one of this bunch." Maurae punched his arm lightly.

"It hasn't been that bad..." she began. Then she blinked and grinned sheepishly. "Okay, so most of it has been hell, but..."She started to smile dreamily, and Jesse grinned.

"Somebody has a secret," he stage-whispered. "Does Ro have a crush?" Her flaming scarlet face belied her stammered denial. Jesse finally let go and picked up his hockey stick. "So, we gonna do this, or what? I do have work this afternoon." He answered their surprised looks with another wicked smile. "I work at the fam's pizza place. You should come by. I'm sure I could convince Mom to let you have some for free."

The resounding agreement led to the beginning of the friendly game. There were no specific teams; it was mostly just playing around. Until Russ spotted two familiar figures. Grinning, he skated towards the fence. "Damn, Conway, what took you so long?"

"Yeah, come on, get in the game!" yelled Dwayne. The others beckoned, and their former captain smiled sheepishly and walked through the fence. He sat on the bench and someone handed him a pair of skates. He looked up at Jesse.

"Coach told me he'd be bringing you. So I went to your house and got these from your mom." Charlie's grey eyes said thanks enough, so Jesse skated away, oddly flushed. Charlie bent over to start pulling them on when another body landed next to his. Almost afraid to look, he followed the leg up to the chest, to the face, and found Maurae staring at him, quite solemn.

"I wanted to apologize," she said quietly, arms crossed. "For what I said...that morning...and for the way I've been acting." She took a deep breath. "I know that all of this has been especially hard on you, and I thought...if you could fogive my stupid pigheadedness..."

"Of course," he replied instantly. "If you forgive my smart mouth and quick temper."

Smiling brightly, she leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I'm glad you're back," she whispered, right before standing and pushing off the bench. He grinned. It was good to have his best friends back. He watched her skate over to Adam, and the two began an animated conversation.

"Fifty bucks says he's thinking about kissing her soon," commented a low voice in his ear. He turned to look at Averman. The redhead was watching the pair with sparkling eyes.

"You don't have fifty bucks, Averman," the brunet replied easily. He'd missed the back-and-forth between his teammates. He narrowed his eyes. "You think...that Ro and Banksie...?"

"All right. Twenty bucks says they kiss by the JV-Varsity game."

"You're on."

"And fifty bucks says that Adam's thoughts towards her aren't G-rated," he added slyly as he straightened and skated off. That made Charlie laugh. No, Adam's thoughts were decidedly way past G-rated. He knew that already.

But Ro...she'd said she only cared about Adam as a friend, hadn't she? What had he missed in a week?

During the game, he focused more on his two friends than he did on playing. Which is why he was quite surprised when he was lifted off his feet and set inside one of the trash barrels they were using for goals. "Haha, very funny," he said, climbing out. He spotted Bombay in the same position in the other goal. In a fit of childish amusement, he picked up his goal and shoved it down over Goldberg's head, pounding it once to make sure it stayed. Laughing, the others rescued the hapless goalie.

As the teens prepared to head over to the pizza place, Bombay left with a wave. Adam called his brother for a later pickup. Charlie tied his laces together and slung them over his shoulder. Now he could watch Ro and Banksie. Jesse saw his scrutiny and leaned over.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" the black boy asked.

"If you're thinking we'd make good machmakers, then no," Charlie teased. "But if you're thinking it would be fun to 'help' them along, then yes."

"Good. We're on the same page."

"Ads doesn't need convincing. I think we have to work on Ro. She's obviously in denial about how she feels." Jesse rubbed his hands together gleefully.

"This is going to be fun."