A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I really appreciate comments, criticisms, and questions. Advice is nice too. I don't own Miracle; I own Ellie, Heidi, and my imaginary friend, Fred, he's a psychiatrist.

DarkDestiny2000: I haven't decided if Ellie was just teasing him about a crush or if they really did have a history. You'll find out when I decide.

Misha: There will definitely be more Ellie/Jannie tension. Yeah, Heidi is sticking around. For more on that, read the chapter.

Babe7878: I know his name is Jack, but that's a nickname for John. (I should know; I'm dating a guy named John who we all call Jack. Actually we call him Jack Ryan, but…) I'll try to make the scene breaks more obvious.

CapriceAnn Hedican-Kocur: Five dollars an hour for teaching piano was shit even in the 70s because you're only working two or three hours a day, so you make like ten or fifteen dollars a day. My older sister, who teaches viola for a living, charges like thirty dollars an hour. Ballet and ice-skating probably would pay about $2.50/hr.

Shannon: Yeah, he's gorgeous, but so is my boyfriend and no one ever writes stories about him.

Meadow567: Your story is cool. I took your advice and redid the first chapter.

Emador: The kiss actually happened to me once. My friend was trying to make me shut up and I wouldn't, so he kissed me. Then I went and told his girlfriend. I'm glad you're enjoying this story.

Jack O'Callahan's POV

It had been a week since Ron's nighttime visit and I was back to rooming with Rizzo. Thankfully, I didn't have to share a bed with him; that would have been disturbing. Also, he doesn't wake up crying at two in the morning because he's hungry. But, I have to admit that staying with Ellie and Heidi wasn't all that bad. I still saw them at practice every day and they were starting to grow on me. Between Ellie's smiles and the sheer pleasure of just holding Heidi, my girls were a pair of princesses.

Then the letter from Julie came. It was a Friday night; we were all going out for dinner, even Ellie and Heidi. I came out of the locker room after practice to find Ellie sitting on the floor with Heidi in her lap, a letter in her hand, and a murderous look on her face. Immediately, I took Heidi from her arms and asked her what was wrong. She shoved the letter at me. "Read it."

Dear Ellie,

I'm in New Mexico. I'm not sure how long I'll stay here or where I'll go next. Finding myself seems to be taking longer that I thought it would. I'm more lost than ever and this could take several years. It sure is nice being away from Ron and Heidi; I can sleep until noon and no two am feedings. This is the life.

I'm not sure when or if I'll be back. You can keep Heidi until I come back. But I think I'll probably want her back, when she's a little older and can take care of herself. Give my baby my love.

All the best,

Julie

I was pissed. There was no way Julie could expect Ellie to raise Heidi for years and then just give her back after she "finds" herself. "Heidi needs stability," I told Ellie. "She doesn't need a new family when her mom grows up in five or ten years; she needs a real family now that will stick with her for the rest of her life." I looked at the baby on my hip. "You need a mommy who loves you."

She grabbed at my hair and Ellie laughed. "She loves hair," she explained. "All babies do. That little munchkin is always grabbing my hair. She thinks it's one of her toys or something."

"It's all right," I told Ellie. "I don't mind her little baby nonsense all that much." I looked into the baby's big beautiful green eyes. "I don't mind you at all; I think you're a little princess."

She just grabbed my hair. Ellie smiled. "Someday, this little munchkin will get a real family with a mommy and a daddy."

I hoped that she was right. Heidi was a sweet little girl and she didn't deserve her parents. I looked down at Ellie. "Are you all right?" I wasn't sure she was; she seemed a little shaken up still.

She shrugged. "I'm frustrated with Julie. She has a baby and then she abandons her with me. I just don't get it, Jack! Why couldn't she be a mother? Why did she have to go off to find herself? Doesn't she know who she is already?"

"I don't know. I don't know her, so I don't understand why she did this." Why did she need to go to New Mexico to figure out who she was? More importantly, why did she abandon Heidi? She seemed like a sweet little girl to me. I'd started to fall in love with the little girl, to be quite honest. I rubbed Heidi's back and she leaned against my chest. "Heidi, you're my princess."

Ellie's POV

"So, Mac, when's Kathie's next recital?" Jannie asked.

I groaned and Rob made a disgusted face. "The day after my funeral," Rob answered. "I cannot stand another one of those exhibitions."

"Why do they make the more talented students play later so you have listen to all twenty billion seven-year-olds play Three Blind Mice, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and Hot Cross Buns?" I hated those stupid things. "I swear, I want to kill half those kids by the end of the recital."

Rizzo took a sip of his beer. "I thought you gave piano lessons."

"That's the problem. I have to sit there next to those kids for all those songs. Their parents sit there applauding happily and taking pictures, but I cringe every time they hit the wrong note. Their parents are paying me to teach them to the play the piano but they keep messing up."

"And she has to wear a dress," Rob added. "She hates dresses."

"No, I hate the dresses Mom picks out for me to wear to the stupid recitals. Have you seen my dress for the next recital?" The recital was in a week.

"Is it pretty?" he asked. My mom has great taste in dresses; the problem is they are too fancy for kids' piano recitals.

"It's gorgeous, but it's just so fancy."

"So, if the guys want to see you in dress, they should come to the recital?" my brother asked, half-teasingly.

"Whatever," I sighed. "I have a bigger problem. I can't take Heidi to the recital; I need a babysitter."

"I'll watch her," OC volunteered. Everyone turned and looked at him. Personally, I was amazed at how involved he was getting with Heidi, and I couldn't figure out what he wanted. Why was he spending all this time taking care of Heidi? Did he honestly just like Heidi or was he just trying to get into my pants? Or, was he trying to get close to me so he could break my heart and piss off Robbie? I just couldn't figure him out. What did this guy want?

But something inside of me told me to give him a chance with Heidi. "All right, OC, be at my apartment next Friday at six-thirty. I should be home by ten."

He nodded. "I'll be there."

OC's POV

The next week went by fairly uneventfully. Friday morning, Mac stopped me on my way to the rink. "I'll drive you over to Ellie's apartment tonight."

"You're going to the recital?" I was shocked; he seemed to hate those things.

"I have to; my mom's going to kill me if I miss one of these things. The recital's at the country club and it's a chance for her to show off her two oldest children when we're dressed up. It's like being paraded at an auction that will sell us to the highest bidder."

"Ouch!"

Mac's POV

I knocked on OC's door at six-fifteen. Rizzo opened it. "Well, don't you look nice?"

"Tell OC I'm here and shut up." I hated being dressed up like this. I was wearing a black suit with a white dress shirt and a dark red tie. I missed my jeans.

OC walked to the door and I glared at him. "No comments, let's just go."

"Geez, someone's defensive."

"You would be too if you had to wear this outfit."

"Let's just go," OC said, shaking his head. "You and your sister probably shouldn't be late for this gig."

I sighed. "Listen, I hate these stupid functions, so don't make it any worse than it already is."

As I pulled into the parking lot at Ellie's building, I spotted a familiar car in one of the guest spots; Todd was standing next to it. "Shit," I muttered. "That guy just can't leave Ellie alone."

OC looked vaguely at me. "You say something, Mac?"

"Shit," I replied. He shook his head; he must have thought I was crazy, swearing under my breath when I was going to pick my sister up so we could go to a piano recital. "OC, just don't use that kind of language around Heidi."

"Yes, sir," he replied. That lucky fink, he just had to baby-sit a well-behaved three-month old.

We got out of the car and headed for the building, following Todd closely. Well, I was following Todd; OC just thought we were going in the same direction as the guy. Todd was dressed nicely and he was carrying a bouquet of roses. My mind was instantly consumed with the concept of murdering Todd and making it look like an accident. But I couldn't do that when OC was around because I'd have to dispose of him too so I wouldn't have any witnesses. And then Herb would kill me because I'd killed OC. I'd have to kill Todd another day.

OC's POV

When we got to Ellie's door, there was this guy standing there wearing a suit and holding a bouquet of roses. I knew Ellie didn't have a date to the recital because for one thing she was the piano teacher and she'd be with the students all night and for another thing because she told me she didn't have a date.

The guy turned when he heard us approach. "Robbie, what are you doing here? Are you dating Julie?" Then he saw me. "Who are you? You can't be Ellie's date; you're not her type nor are you dressed to go out."

Rob's fists clenched. "Ellie's students have a piano recital tonight," he stated through clenched teeth. "And Julie doesn't live here anymore."

"What's this guy for? He's sure isn't dressed for a piano recital at the country club," he said as Ellie opened the door.

"Todd, it doesn't matter why Jack's here," Ellie said; she was breathtakingly gorgeous in a strapless black dress. "What matters is that you leave before I call the police."

"I'm not leaving until I know why he's here," this Todd creature demanded. "As your ex-boyfriend, I have a right to know if you're dating again."

"If I am dating again, which I'm not, I don't have to tell you. Todd, Jack is one of my brother's teammates and he needs Rob's car tonight, so he's driving Rob and me to the country club and he'll pick us up afterwards."

"Why can't you and Rob just use your car?"

How stupid was this guy? "There's a gas shortage," I told him. "It's less expensive if we only use one car."

He would have left and everything would have worked out perfectly if Heidi hadn't started crying just then. "Where's the baby? Whose baby is here? Ellie, did you have an affair?"

Okay, this guy was a moron. How could she have had a baby without him knowing? Ellie must have been thinking the same think because she came out and said it. "How could I have had baby when I was dating you? You would have known if I was pregnant. And why would I cheat on you? I'm not that kind of girl; you're that kind of guy, but that's beside the point." Heidi kept screaming and Ellie looked at me. "Jack, be a saint and go get Heidi for me, please?"

"Heidi?" Todd gasped as I walked away to get the baby. "You have Julie's baby? Where's Julie? I thought you said she was gone."

I walked into Ellie's bedroom to find a screaming baby lying in the crib. "Hey, princess," I whispered to her. I picked her up and held her close to my body; I knew that she loved being by a warm body. "Are you hungry?"

I took her continued wailing to mean that she was hungry. That was until I got a whiff of her; she needed a diaper change, which I did as quickly as possible. She stopped crying once her rear was cleaned up. Once I put a clean diaper on her, I picked her up again and we went out into the living room. "Todd's gone," Mac said as I walked into the room. "He left when he found out that you were THE Jack O'Callahan; apparently, your reputation precedes you."

I shrugged. "I thought maybe little Miss Stinky Pants here scared him off."

Ellie smiled. "Was it that messy?"

"Please never make me do that again," was all I could say. When I get married, my wife can take care of diaper duty, thank you very much.

"I'll see what I can do," she replied as she picked up her purse. "We should be back by ten, but try to have her in bed by nine-thirty at the latest. Then you can watch TV or whatever."

"And behave," Mac added as they walked out the door.

Ellie's POV

I absolutely hate these recitals; the only reason I even have them is that the parents demand them. They wanted to hear their precious little darlings play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star so they knew that their money was going to something worthwhile. My more advanced students like my sisters play beautiful pieces of music, but it just takes so long to get to those pieces. I knew half the reason Robbie came was to keep me company.

So, after two and a half grueling hours of my younger students banging out Hot Cross Buns and my older students letting their fingers dance across the keys to produce such melodies as Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, I was finally able to announce that there were refreshments available in the back of the room. Then I flew to my brother's side. Robbie hugged me and smirked at me. "What's so funny?"

He just laughed. "I'll tell you in a minute."

"Come on, Robbie, tell me!"

"Did you know that the name of the theme song to MASH is Suicide is Painless?" My brother was laughing as he said this.

"Yeah, well, living's easier than dying, Rob," was my reply. "It wasn't that bad. Heck, Natalie and Jennie were actually really good. Kathie impressed me the most though; I didn't know she'd done that much practicing."

"She was amazing," Rob agreed. Kathie had played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata beautifully despite the fact that during her lesson on Tuesday I hadn't been sure she would be able to play without embarrassing herself tonight.

Kathie rushed over to me. "Was I good? Ellie, did I do a good job?"

I loved my youngest sister. Out of all of us, she was the most likely to be Mom's perfect beauty queen. I had gone far, but I broke my leg ice-skating a week before the Miss Teen America pageant and I had to step down.

"Was I good, Ellie?"

I hugged her. "You were fabulous, absolutely fabulous. I was astonished at how good you were. Robbie, wasn't she amazing?"

My brother smiled and hugged Kathie. "You were wonderful. I couldn't believe how well you did."

Kathie smiled. She, like Jennie and Natalie, had inherited Mother's blonde hair and blue eyes; Robbie and I had both inherited Dad's dark brown hair and eyes. Kathie hugged Robbie and me again and then ran off to our mother who was waiting with a bouquet of roses for her.

"Mom spoils her, you know," Robbie told me. "She showers her with affection and gifts. Neither of us every got anything like that. She never gave you roses for your recitals, ballet or piano."

I shrugged. He was right, of course. "I've learned to let that go," I told him. "I know that Mother loves her blonde babies more than me. It's just the way she is; she wants a daughter who can be her doll. And she finally has that in Kathie. Robbie, she's happy; I'll just leave her be."

Robbie hugged me. "Ellie, just don't ever let her make you sell yourself short. You're a wonderful girl and you don't deserve anything less than the best."

I smiled. "Don't worry, Robbie. I'm not stupid enough to believe people who tell me I'm not beautiful just because I have brown hair."

My mother came over just then. "My darlings, how are you? Robert, how's your job search going?"

"I'm on the Olympic hockey team, playing for Coach Brooks," Rob replied. "I've told you this before, Mother."

"I think you have," Mother replied. "But Robert, why aren't you trying to get a job? You'll need a good job if you're ever going to marry a nice girl like Donna or Erin."

"The NHL is more likely to look at me if I play on the Olympic team. I have a degree from the U and I can find a job if things don't pan out after the Olympics."

Mother gave Rob a worried look. "All right, but only if you're certain." She turned to me. "Your students were amazing tonight; you do an excellent job teaching these kids to play. But do you have a more serious job? Teaching ballet, piano, and ice-skating don't pay well enough for you to keep that apartment and raise Heidi."

"Coach Brooks hired me as a physical therapist for the team until the Olympics and after that, I can get a job at a hospital," I explained, hoping my mother would understand.

"Or you could marry Preston," Mother suggested.

"I don't think so," I replied calmly.

"Or maybe you'll meet someone at one of these recitals."

"Maybe," Rob suggested. "She'll meet one of the guys on the hockey team, fall madly in love with him, and move off to Boston."

I smirked at him. "You know, Rizzo's not that bad."

"Rizzo?" my mother asked.

"Mike Eruzione," I replied. "Or there's always OC; he's babysitting Heidi tonight."

"OC?" Mom's voice was getting high-pitched.

"Jack O'Callahan," Robbie told her.

"Is he Irish?" Mom was starting to squeak.

"Yep, and he's gorgeous."

"An Irishman or an Italian?" Mom squeaked out. "Elizabeth, grow up."

A/N: Okay, so let me know if you think this story should commit suicide or if I should continue it. Please review.