A/N: I don't own Miracle. I don't even own my family's copy of the DVD; it's my brother's. (Weeps in her corner.) But (smiling cheerfully) I do own Ellie, Heidi, Ron (not that I want to own him), and Julie.

From here on out, the story will be told from a character's POV. This chapter is told from Ellie's POV.

The next morning, I walked into Herb's office. I'd had a long night, but right now I could really use a real job, i.e. one that paid more than five dollars an hour. Ron and Julie had broken up the night before. Ron was moving to Texas for a job and Julie was going off to find herself. So, they wanted me to take care of Heidi until Julie found herself; Mrs. Watson couldn't or wouldn't do it. So with rent to pay and a baby to take care of, I desperately needed a job. My miracle of a younger sister, Natalie, was babysitting Heidi while I went to meet with Herb.

"Ellie, come in!" was Herb's welcome when I knocked on his office door. "How are you?"

"Keeping busy," I replied as I sat down. "Robbie says you're looking for a physical therapist?"

"Yeah, I have Doc here, but I could use your help."

"And I could use a job," I told him.

"Rob said you already have four." His eyebrows were raised; he knew how sick I'd gotten when I'd overworked myself the summer before.

I smiled reassuringly. "Three, Julie left this morning to 'find herself' and Ron is moving to Texas for work, so they left Heidi in my care-no pay."

"This is almost perfect," Herb replied. "You're a physical therapist who needs a job and I need a physical therapist for my team; you've got the job."

"Thank you so much," I told him. "But there's one thing; I'm going to have to bring Heidi with me everywhere."

Herb nodded. "It's fine. When can you start?"

"As soon as I rescue Heidi from my sisters; they agreed to baby-sit her, but they were planning to have some friends over or something and I'm a little worried about that. I can be back in about an hour."

"Then I'll see you in an hour," Herb replied.

An hour later, I walked into the rink with Heidi in my arms. At two months old, she slept most of the time; she was also quite the little cutie. She was currently bundled up in a snowsuit I'd borrowed from my mother. I spent most of practice just watching the boys, thankfully. I didn't want to have to go to work this early; the team didn't need anyone getting hurt in July.

After showering and changing, my brother came over to talk to me. "What's little Miss Munchkin doing here?" he asked as I took Heidi out of her snowsuit. "Did Romeo and Juliet break up?"

I smiled. "Yeah, Ron got a job in Texas and Julie started questioning her 'personal identity' after Heidi was born, so she went off to find herself. But apparently, when one is seeking oneself, one cannot take one's two-month-old daughter along for the ride. One must instead leave the aforementioned daughter with one's best friend and roommate. Oh, and did I mention that Ron started drinking again and he is staying with Heidi and me until he moves this weekend?"

Rob hugged me. "I'm sorry. If you really want to, you can come stay with Buzz and me. We both snore and the place stinks, but Ron isn't there."

I smiled. "No thanks, I'd rather not expose an infant to that stench. My only worry is that Ron will come home again drunk and start hitting things."

Rob's eyes narrowed; the last time Ron had come home drunk Julie had ended up with a black eye and I'd ended up with a broken arm. "You're not staying there by yourself. If you won't come stay with Buzzy and me, at least let one of us come stay with you."

"I don't know." I was reluctant to have Rob come stay with me; I knew how he felt about me living with Ron and Julie at all. "I'm afraid you'll overreact if something does happen."

He nodded. "Well, if I'm not allowed to protect you, the least I can do is send an emissary. What do you say to Buzzy?"

"I say he snores and he smells funny," I replied knowing full well that Buzz had just walked out of the locker room and could hear me.

"I snore and I smell funny? Elizabeth, I feel so loved," Buzzy was making puppy faces at me.

"You should, you smelly old man," I teased; Buzzy and I had teased each other terribly when he and Ron played at the U. "Look, Rob, you don't have to find me a bodyguard; I'm a big girl."

"You're twenty-two but you're also small. Last time Ron got drunk, he broke your arm; I don't need to deal with those kinds of phone calls again." As Rob was talking, Jack O'Callahan came out of the locker room; immediately, my brother seized upon a new idea. "OC, you got any plans for tonight?"

"Yeah, Rizzo's making spaghetti and meatballs; then I'm going to catch up on my sleeping." His Boston drawl was beautiful. They should make recordings of him talking and sell them to women as sleep aids.

"No, you're not," Rob replied. "You're helping Ellie take care of Heidi."

"What?" Jack and I yelled together.

"Rob, I told you; I can handle Ron. I know he's a drunk, but I'll be fine."

"I have plans!" Jack yelled. Then he turned to me. "You're staying with a drunk? Mac, what's going on?"

"My sister's roommates broke up and left her with their daughter; the guy is moving to Texas and the girl is going off on a road trip by herself. The problem is the guy isn't moving until this weekend and he's a drunk."

"He's still staying in the apartment with Ellie and the baby?" OC asked.

"Yeah," I mumbled; I knew where this was going.

"Mac, I'll stay with her," he replied quickly.

"Thank you," my brother replied with a smile. That was first; Rob McClanahan smiling at Jack O'Callahan. "Ellie, take OC to his room so he can get his stuff and don't ruin dinner tonight."

"Yes, Daddy," I replied.

He shook his head. "Jack, Ellie, behave yourselves, and Ellie, don't give me any of that Miss Minnesota lip."

We were driving to my apartment from the dorm when Jack looked over at me. "What did your brother mean by 'don't give me any of that Miss Minnesota lip'?"

I sighed. "My mother wanted to be a beauty queen when she was younger, but it didn't work out for her. From the day I was born, she was grooming me to be a beauty queen. That's how I learned to play the piano and do ballet. But my parents started Robbie in hockey when he was four and I wanted to do everything that he did. So, then I started ice skating, figure skating, of course. But mother dearest would not be deterred. So, when I was sixteen, I was forced to enter the Miss Teen Minnesota Pageant."

"Let me guess," he said. "You were the runner-up and that's why everyone calls you princess; the Grace Kelly story is a load of bull."

"Nope," I replied. "The Grace Kelly story is true; my mother adores her and the boys nicknamed me after her. I won the pageant; I was Miss Teen Minnesota 1973."

"Oh my gosh!" he gasped. "You? You were a beauty queen?"

"What? Am I not pretty enough?" This guy was a jerk.

"No," he said seriously. "Ellie, you're gorgeous. You just don't act like a beauty queen."

"Then this will really shock you. My parents belong to a local country club and I practically grew up there."

"Your family belongs to a country club? You were Miss Teen Minnesota? That's a little hard to believe, Ellie. I mean, you and Mac, you're normal people."

"Yes, but Mother darling isn't. She is a socialite and the stereotypical rich man's wife. She goes to the country club, drinks martinis and daiquiris with her friends, plays bridge once a week at her friend Margie's house, dresses like a model, and smokes like a chimney. She's very elitist too; she's always lecturing Rob and me about marrying within our social class. She wanted me to go to Wellesley; I wanted to go to the University of Minnesota. She wanted me to major in home economics; I became a physical therapist instead."

He made a face. "She sounds awful." Then he smiled. "Hey, look on the bright side; at least she didn't name you some fancy name like Vivian."

"No, she just named my younger sister Vivian Jennifer. I got off easy with Elizabeth Grace; I think it's because I caused so much trouble when I was born."

"What kind of trouble?"

"I was a twin; she was in labor with us for like twenty-eight hours, so we escaped with Elizabeth Grace and Robert James. The younger girls got landed with Vivian Jennifer, Natalie Jacqueline, and Katherine Patricia."

"Geez, I got off lucky with John Patrick."

"You Irish?" I asked.

"Yep, why?"

"Mother will hate you; she hates Irish people. Are you Catholic?"

"I was raised Catholic; I don't know if I am."

"Mom will hate you."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

I shrugged. "For you, I don't know; for Robbie and me, it's great."

"What do you mean?" Jack was confused. Of course, if I were in his shoes, I would have been confused too. But, then, he hadn't met my mother yet.

"Mom wants me to marry Preston Harrison, the son of one of her bridge friends."

"And you're still the bad little girl who doesn't want to do what Mommy says," he teased. "So you don't want to marry him."

"Well, yeah, but besides that, he smokes like a smokestack, he smells like cheap perfume, and he gambles so much I doubt his father's entire fortune could cover his debts." Just then, I pulled into the parking lot by my apartment building. "I hope you're up for climbing because I live on the sixth floor and there's no elevator."

"I'm fine," he replied. "I'm used to climbing stairs; my dorm room was on the eighth floor. But are you going to be okay carrying Heidi?"

"I'll be fine; she's not that heavy."

We both survived the trip up the stairs. I unlocked the door and let him in. "I don't think Ron's here, but I'm not sure," I told him. "Just be careful."

"Okay. Where do you want me to stash my stuff?"

"My bedroom's fine; it's the bedroom where the bed's all made up," I told him. "I'll get started on dinner."

"What are we having?"

"Well, tonight we have a multitude of options. If you're Heidi, you're having formula. If you're you or me, we're having whatever I can scrounge up out of the fridge."

He put his stuff in my room and came back into the kitchen. "What's in the fridge?"

"Look and see," I told him. "I have spaghetti in the cupboards as well as canned soup, peanut butter, a loaf of bread, formula, and applesauce."

He stuck his head in the fridge. "You have cheese, strawberry jelly, carrots, tomatoes, pickles, hair gel that I won't ask about, broccoli, a baby bottle, and four eggs."

"No meat?" I asked.

"There's some sliced turkey, like lunch meat."

I sighed. "Well, your options are eggs, canned soup, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, formula, or pizza."

"We're ordering the pizza, not making it out of the hair gel, right?"

"Yes," I said laughing.

"What kind of canned soup?"

"Cream of chicken," I told him.

"I have an idea," he told me. "Give me Heidi and cook the soup."

"Okay." I was confused, but I handed over the baby and started cooking the soup. "Anything else?"

"How am I supposed to hold her? Can I hold her on my hip or is she still too young?"

"Your hip is fine. I'm just amazed she's letting you hold her; she's usually terrified of strangers." Heck, she was terrified of her own father, but he was terrified of her too, so turn about and turn about is fair play.

"She's mesmerized by my charm and good looks," he replied with that famous smile. "Now, boil the spaghetti," he ordered as he rubbed Heidi's back.

"What am I making?"

"It's this thing Rizzo's mom makes," he told me. "You're supposed to put cream of mushroom soup over pasta, but cream of chicken should do the same thing. If you want, you can scramble up some eggs with cheese, tomatoes, and broccoli to make sure I share."

"Or you could do that," I told him.

"But I'm playing with the baby," he told me. Just as he said that, she started fussing. "Is she hungry?" he asked me.

I nodded. "I'll make her a new bottle; the one in the fridge was there when I got home yesterday. It's probably not safe."

"Okay." He lifted her up so he was looking her in the eye. "It'll be okay, Heidi. Ellie will make you a bottle and everything will be better again. You'll be good for me, won't you? I don't have any experience with little kids. But don't tell Ellie, okay? She's nervous enough as it is; we don't need her to get any more nervous. So, how about this? We'll both be good tonight; Heidi and OC will behave for Ellie? Do I have a deal?"

She kept fussing and screaming. "OC," I told him. "She can't understand you."

"That's okay," he told me with a smile. "I can't understand her either."

I smiled at the pair of them. He was talking to her and she was fussing. After a few minutes of this, her bottle was ready. I took it out of the pot on the stove, tested it on my wrist, and looked at him. "Should I feed her or do you want to?"

"If you show me how, I'll do it."

I smiled at him and took Heidi in my arms. "Hey, gorgeous, I know I'm not your mommy, but I have something you'll really like." I looked at Jack. "Hold her like this and put the nipple in her mouth. It may take her a few minutes to get her mouth around it, but once she has a firm grip on it, she'll just go to town."

OC nodded; he watched, mesmerized, as she started drinking the formula. "She's so tiny. Her fingers, Ellie, they're so tiny and perfect; look at her fingernails. They're so tiny; she's like the dolls Annie used to play with when she was little."

I smiled. "I remember thinking that when Jennie was born; Rob and I thought she was just another doll for me to play with. We were only six years old. But when Natalie came along, I would help Mother with the baby as much as I could and the same thing with Kathie. But I wasn't one of those girls who wanted to be a mommy when I grew up."

He took the baby from me and held her. As she ate, he asked me a question. "What did you want to be when you grew up?"

"At first, I wanted to be the first woman to play in the NHL, but that dream died off after a while. Then, I wanted to be Peggy Fleming or Dorothy Hamill; I wanted to wear those beautiful outfits, skate in front of adoring crowds that threw teddy bears and flowers at me."

He smiled. "When did you decide you wanted to be a physical therapist?"

"When I was about sixteen or seventeen, my best friend at the rink fell doing a jump and messed up her knee. I could drive and she couldn't, so I had to take her to rehab every day. It was only because of rehab that she could ever skate again and I decided I wanted to help people like her."

He smiled the Jack O'Callahan smile; it's the most beautiful smile I've ever seen. "Stir the soup and check the pasta. Oh, and start on the eggs and vegetables thing. Is there a real name for eggs, cheese, and vegetables?"

I laughed. "Yes, they're called omelets."

"Oh, I always wondered what those things were."

"I'm starting to wonder how you got into Boston University."

"Didn't I ever tell you how rich my parents are?"

Twenty minutes later, we sat down to dinner. I was holding Heidi and trying to eat. "How do you hold a baby and eat at the same time?" OC asked, perplexed.

"Very carefully," I replied.

"You know, this pasta's pretty good."

"It was your idea," I replied. "You'll have to tell Mrs. Eruzione how good this is."

He nodded and smiled. "She taught me how to make it after discovering just how hopeless I was in the kitchen. I couldn't even make toast."

I smiled and started giggling. He looked at me. "What? Ellie, what's so funny? Come on, tell me!"

"You couldn't even make toast? OC, you are pathetic!"

"You know, little Miss Minnesota, I bet there are plenty of things I can do that you can't do." He looked mad.

"Toast, you stick in the toaster!" I kept laughing.

"Ellie, stop laughing at me! Ellie, come on! Elizabeth," his voice became stern. "Elizabeth Grace McClanahan, you're going to behave now!"

"What makes you think that, John Patrick O'Callahan?"

"If you don't behave, I'll kiss you!" was his threat.

"Oh, really?"

"Really," he replied with mischief in those gorgeous blue eyes. Then he wrapped his arms around my shoulders and leaned in for the kill. As he pressed his lips against mine, I found myself liking it. Oh, I knew it was a joke, but still, you knew there was passion in this man. When he pulled away, we both laughed, but I knew we'd both learned something from that kiss.

Later that evening, we were sitting on the couch when he asked me that oh-so-important question. "Where am I going to sleep tonight?"

He couldn't sleep on the couch; I needed him in the bedroom with Heidi and me. And I told him that. "So, I guess you can either have the floor or you can share the bed with me, if you can keep your hands in appropriate places."

"I'll try," he promised.

So, that night, Heidi slept in her crib and OC and I shared my bed; it wasn't really big enough for the two of us, so I ended up sleeping in his arms. He was just wearing a pair of shorts, so I could feel the warmth of his body, hear his breathing and his heartbeat, and smell him; he smelled amazing.

Thankfully, Ron didn't come by that night, but that didn't mean we were safe.

Two nights later, I was sleeping in the warm sanctity of OC's arms when I heard the apartment door bang open. Then I heard the sound of shattering glass, followed by a bellow. "Ellie! Where's my beer? Ellie, get out here and give me my beer! Be a good girl; you should do what Julie would have done!"

OC's grip on me grew tighter. "Shh," he whispered. "Stay quiet; maybe he'll never notice that we're here."

And he probably would have if Heidi hadn't woken up and started screaming. "Shit," I muttered.

Jack kissed my the top of my head and whispered, "I'll keep you safe; trust me, Ellie, I won't let him touch you or Heidi. No one's hurting my girls." His girls, the words made me smile inside. In the past two days since he started staying with me, Heidi and I had become OC's girls.

"I know you're here, Ellie! Come on, Ellie. Get me a beer." Ron was still bellowing.

Jack let go of me and climbed out of bed. He put on his pants. "I'll be right back. Hold Heidi and see if you can calm her down."

"Jack," I whispered, the fear I felt inside was evident in my voice. "Don't leave me alone."

He sat down next to me. "Ellie, I'll be back soon. I promise." He looked deep into my eyes. "Ellie, I'm not going to let him hurt my girls; I'll take care of him. I'm sober."

I smiled and kissed his cheek. Then he left and I went to get Ellie.

I could hear him yelling at Ron. I wasn't listening to their words; I was praying that God would keep OC safe. I heard yelling and banging, but I was afraid to leave the room. Then nearly thirty minutes later, OC came back into the room. "He's out."

As he climbed into bed, I started crying. "I was so scared."

He pulled me into his lap, into his arms. "Come here, you," he whispered. "I'm Jack O'Callahan and there's no way that bastard could get me down. You're my friend and Heidi's my little angel; there's no way I would go down fighting for you. He was not going to hurt you; I wouldn't let him. For one thing, Rob would kill me if I did and for another, I'm here to protect you. I will not fail."

I leaned against him. "Thank you."

A/N: They are NOT together. They're friends and that is it. He was just protecting her from an idiot. Please review!