A/N: Miracle? I don't own it. The guys? Sorry, they're not mine either. But Ellie, Heidi, Emily, and Ellie's friends are only the products of my very colorful imagination.

Klinoa: Ellie's used to it, but she's going to fight all of it before the end of the story. Ellie and their governess, Fiona, influenced Jennie and Natalie, but Kathie was only eight when Ellie and Robbie moved out, so she took more after her mother. Plus her personality is more like her mother's to begin with.

StarrShyne: Well, you can live vicariously through Ellie. And you have Jimmy; he's awesome.

CapriceAnn Hedican-Kocur: I'm so happy. When people tell me they love my stories, I smile. (I'm smiling right now.)

Miraclegirl: Kathie is going to have to deal with a lot of stuff soon. I'm going to give her hell for everything she's done.

Nascarchick: I love how you guys have all united against Kathie and Mrs. McClanahan. I honestly was not expecting this much of a response to those two characters. Don't worry; there will be plenty of good moments that Kathie can't/won't interrupt.

Meadow567: Thanks.

Darkdestiny2000: No you can't beat Kathie up. What I have planned for her will be so much better. I love Gabby and Rizzo too; they're great. Ellie and Jack are so much fun. Yeah, Kathie is such a little brat.

Emador: I love you! You're the best beta ever.

Killerkeanegirl: Yeah, the guys will love Ellie; she's their sister and their guardian angel all rolled into one. OC's awesome; life will be so much easier when you surrender. "Evil Momma" and "Evil Little Momma" I love it! It's great. I'll do what I can to them. Ellie and Robbie will meet the O'Callahans in November and the rest of the McClanahans will meet them at the Olympics. I'll see what I can arrange for you, but I'm not making any promises-yet!

Caitlin: Thanks so much!

Even though I don't generally name chapters, this chapter is named "While I was Sleeping." You'll figure it out in about two seconds.

Jack's POV

I walked into the house after a long day at work and called, "Hello, honey, I'm home!"

Heidi ran to me and hugged my legs. "Daddy! Mommy, Daddy's home!" she squealed as I picked her up and swung her around. I kissed her cheek.

Ellie walked in; she was carrying our two-year-old son, Stephen in her arms. She was seven months pregnant and absolutely beautiful. Well, she liked to argue that point with me, but I thought she was absolutely gorgeous. We'd been married for three years and the past three years had been the best three years of my life. I've been playing for the Chicago Blackhawks since after the Olympics. Amazingly, we won without playing the Soviets. That was a miracle.

"Daddy, Mommy's not feeling good, so you have to make dinner," Heidi announced.

"Heidi, you know I can't cook," I told her.

Ellie sat down on the couch and sighed. "Jack, what happened to your skill with pasta and cream of chicken soup?"

"It still exists somewhere."

"Well, then go cook something up for us."

I smiled at her. "Why should I?"

"Because you love me," she told me with a smile. Then she placed her hand on her belly. "And besides, I'm seven months pregnant with your child. It's your fault that I can't see my ankles and I'm the size of an elephant."

"You're not the size of an elephant," I protested. "You're my beautiful wife who is going to give birth to our third child in two months."

Ellie smiled at me. "Jack, you're always so sweet. Now, go make your very pregnant wife some very yummy dinner."

"Yes, ma'am." I went over and kissed her. "I'll go make dinner now."

"I should go change Stevie's diaper," she said.

"Poor baby," I sighed sympathetically. "You know I love you."

"I love you, too, handsome," she said with a smile that she kept only for me.

So, I made her dinner. Well, actually, I made dinner for Ellie, Heidi, Stevie, and me. Stevie looked like the McClanahan side of the family more than the O'Callahan side. According to Mr. McClanahan, he looked just like Robbie had at that age, but he was my son and I loved him. "All right, people, dinner's ready!" I yelled.

Heidi had set the table and I put the food on the table while Ellie got Stevie settled in to his highchair. "Spaghetti!" Heidi yelled as she sat down and watched her mother serve dinner.

Later that night, I sat in bed watching Ellie get ready for bed. She gorgeous and I told her so. "Jack, stop trying to sweet talk me," she replied, sitting down on our bed to take her pants off. "I've looked in the mirror before; I know what I look like."

I wrapped my arms around her and stroked her belly. "I know what you think you look like, babe, and trust me, you're wrong. To me, you're beautiful when you're pregnant. See, when you're pregnant, it's because you're going to bring a new life into the world. And I helped create that new life; it's our baby."

"It's our son," she said with a sly laugh. "I mean, I was smaller than this when I was nine months pregnant with Stevie."

"Maybe you're just going to have a really big baby girl."

She smiled at me. "Heidi's afraid that if we have another girl we won't love Heidi as much as we do now."

I laughed. "There's nothing in this world that could ever make me love my little princess any less. I've loved Heidi since the first day I met her."

"Have you loved since the day you met me?" she asked, with a teasing smile.

"I liked you immediately, but loving you took a bit more time. I had to get used to the fact that you're a McClanahan," I told her with a loving smile.

She leaned back against me, so I wrapped my arms around her. I gasped and she turned around. "I'm fat, aren't I?"

I knew I was in for it, big time.

Mercifully, I woke up just then. To my knowledge, I wasn't married to anyone and I was sleeping in a dorm room with Rizzo sleeping in the other room, snoring his life away. I was just a regular twenty-two-year-old kid who played hockey for the United States hockey team. I sighed. I loved Ellie; that was becoming decisively clear to me. Marriage? I wasn't sure I was ready for that one just yet. I figured I'd deal with the Olympics and let Ellie deal with the adoption first. Then, when all of that is all wrapped up, we'll see where we are in our relationship and talk about marriage.

Ellie's POV

I woke up and saw Jack sleeping next to me. He looked so peaceful, sleeping there. I, on the other hand, couldn't sleep. My back hurt and it was impossible to find a comfortable position to sleep in with this massive belly. I really want to just have this baby now and get it over with. I know Jack says I'm beautiful, but I'm really not feeling beautiful these days. I'm feeling tired and cranky and FAT. Ankles? I can't see them. I started crying, again.

"Ellie, babe, what's wrong?" Jack whispered, as he slowly sat up in bed.

"I'm fat and ugly," I sobbed. "How can you love me when I look like this?"

Jack kissed my cheek. "Okay, three things, first off, you're the most beautiful woman in the world. Secondly, I love for who you are. Thirdly, that kiss I just gave you was so salty. Babe, I love you, but your cheeks are too salty."

"Then go find someone else to kiss," I told him.

"Never in a million years," he replied. "I love you too much to leave you."

"Even though I'm fat?"

"You're pregnant, not fat, babe. There's a big difference. In about five more weeks, that baby will come out from inside of you and we'll have a beautiful new addition to our family. Michael and Heidi will have a new baby brother or sister and we'll have another wonderful child."

I smiled at him. We did have two wonderful children. Heidi was five and Michael was two. Michael Robert O'Callahan looked exactly like his father had at that age; he was named after his uncle Robbie and his godfather Mike Eruzione.

"So, do you think we're having a boy or a girl?" Jack asked me.

I looked at my belly. "Honey, I wasn't this big when I was nine months pregnant with Michael. We're definitely having a boy this time."

"So, what are we going to name this kid?"

"Herb."

"No, Elizabeth, no, we are not naming our son Herb."

"Hey, I'm pregnant; cut me some slack," I told him with a smile. "Oh, I don't know. How does Harrison Herb sound?"

"Elizabeth Grace McClanahan-O'Callahan," he said slowly between clenched teeth. "We aren't using Herb's name in this kid's name."

"Okay, then how does John William sound?"

Jack shrugged. "It's a possibility. What about David John?"

"David?"

"From Silky and Christian."

"It has potential. Any other ideas?"

"Emily Vanessa," he threw out.

"Jack, sweetie, we're probably going to have a boy," I reminded him.

"But we need a back-up name in case we do have a girl," he told me firmly.

"All right, if we have a girl, we'll name her Emily Vanessa," I consented.

He kissed my nose. "Wonderful."

Suddenly, I felt an intense pain ripping through my body. I grabbed Jack's arm and started squeezing it. "Babe, what's wrong?" he whispered.

"The baby's coming," I moaned.

I woke up just then to the sound of Heidi crying. I immediately jumped out of bed and ran to her crib. The next thing I did was look at the clock sitting next to my bed. It was six-thirty. "Heidi, I'm so proud of you. You slept through the entire night." I kissed her forehead and she kept crying. "All right, little angel, let's go get you some breakfast."

Just then, I realized that the apartment was freezing. "Well," I said to myself. "This is October in Minnesota. What was I expecting?"

I gave Heidi her bottle and she settled down for a while. I sat on the couch, holding her and looking around the apartment. Everything Heidi and I would need for the next week was in two suitcases. Emily was going to drive me over to the dorms at eight so she could say good-bye to Robbie.

I needed to get dressed and it needed to be something warm. I also needed a shower, but I had no clue how I was going to do that and keep an eye on Heidi. It was seven by the time Heidi was done eating and being burped. We went into my bedroom and I put her on my bed while I looked for some clothes.

"What should I wear today, Heidi? Huh? Do you have an opinion on what Mommy wears today?"

Heidi just stared at me and yawned. I laughed. "Heidi, you're absolutely no help at all."

Before I could settle on any clothes, someone knocked on the door. I ran to the door and opened it. Emily was standing there. "Darling, I'm sorry, but I don't think that the dance pants and sweatshirt look is going to turn Jack on," she said. "And I know he's going to hate the Minnesota sweatshirt."

I smiled. "This is called my pajamas, genius. If you'll watch Miss Heidi, I'll take a shower and get dressed. Then we can get going."

"Where's Heidi?"

"My bedroom," I replied.

"All right."

"But first, you're going to help me pick out some clothes to wear today," I told her.

She walked into my bedroom and walked over to my dresser. In a few short minutes, she pulled out a pair of jeans and a black turtleneck sweater. "Here you go," she said, handing them to me. "Now go take a shower and let's get going."

Still Ellie's POV

An hour later, Emily pulled up in front of the boys' dorms. Herb, Coach Craig, and Doc were waiting by the bus. "Where are the boys?" Herb moaned.

"I ate them," Rizzo deadpanned, walking out of the building and over to the bus. "And let me tell you there is nothing more delicious than roast leg of Bah."

Jack and Mac walked out just then. "So, you were nice and didn't eat my brother and my boyfriend?" I asked Rizzo.

"They can run faster than I can," he replied. "Besides, it's your thank you gift for introducing me to Gabby; we'll be celebrating our one month anniversary two days after we get home."

I smiled. "I'm so happy for you two."

He hugged me quickly. "Thanks for introducing me to her."

"Anything for two friends," I told him before Jack came up behind me and picked me up.

Jack kissed me right behind my left ear. "Hey, gorgeous," he whispered. "You look amazing."

I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck. "You smell amazing," I whispered. "And you don't look that bad either." He was wearing navy blue pants, a white shirt, a red, white, and blue striped tie, and a navy blue coat.

"Thanks," he replied. "I must say that the black sweater, blue jeans, and black wool coat is a great look for you."

Emily brought Heidi over to me and I took her in my arms. Jack stroked her head and smiled at me. "I had a really crazy dream last night," he told me with a smile.

"So did I," I replied. "We should talk about this on the bus."

Jack's POV

On the bus the day, I told Ellie about my dream and she told me about hers. I laughed. "Do you realize that we dreamed about almost the same life except for the name of our son?" I asked her.

She leaned against me and smiled. "Yeah, well, Michael is a better name than Stephen."

"Stephen is my dad's name," I told her before placing a kiss on her forehead. "And it's an old Irish tradition to name the first son after his grandfather, so this Michael nonsense will just have to wait for our second son."

"Oh, now we're having two sons?" she teased.

I kissed her nose. "If you want to."

"We'll see what happens."

Ellie had her own room at the hotel because she was the only woman traveling with the team. Also, sharing a room with Heidi wasn't something any of the guys were interested in. I was sharing a room with Mac, Rizzo, and Pav.

Rizzo and Pav both snore; I already knew that Rizzo snored, but Pav snoring was news to both Mac and me. After listening to the snoring orchestra for almost two hours, Mac looked at me. "Do you want to go see if Ellie will let us sleep with her?"

"I thought I wasn't allowed to sleep with her and if you sleep with her, that's incest," I replied.

"You know what I mean. One of us will sleep on her extra bed and the other one, namely you, will sleep in the bathtub."

"Why the bathtub?"

"I don't want you anywhere near my sister," he replied simply.

"Fine, let's just go before these two make me deaf."

A few minutes later, we were standing outside of Ellie's bedroom, knocking on the door. She stuck her head out the door and glared at us. "What?"

"Can we come in?" Mac asked.

She opened the door a little wider and we walked in. "What do you guys want?" she asked, sitting down on her bed. She was cute considering that it was two in the morning. She was wearing black flannel pants and long-sleeved gray Minnesota t-shirt.

"Pav and Rizzo snore," Mac told his sister.

"So?"

"We can't sleep," I told her. "And we were wondering if you would let us sleep in here. Robbie figured he could take the extra bed and I could sleep in the bathtub."

"The bathtub might be a little small," she told me. "I think you'd be better off taking a pillow and two bedspreads and sleep on the floor."

I smiled at her. "That sounds good."

"Then you two can figure that stuff out and I'll go back to sleep," she told us, throwing her bedspread at me. Then she crawled back under the covers. "Good night, boys."

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of Heidi crying. Ellie was sitting on her bed, holding Heidi in her arms. "Is she all right?" I asked.

She nodded. "She's just hungry and it's taking a while for the water to heat up."

"How are you heating the water?"

"Portable hot plate from home," she relied. "I borrowed it from Gabby's dad; he's a chemistry professor at Minnesota."

I nodded and climbed up onto the bed. "I don't like your shirt," I said, settling myself next to her.

She shrugged. "I don't really care; it's my alma mater."

I smiled and leaned my head on her shoulder. "I guess I'll just have to get used to it."

"Yeah, you will because I'm not surrendering my loyalties just for you."

"What time is it?" I asked her as she fixed Heidi's bottle.

"Eight-thirty, you guys have practice at ten," she replied. "Heidi slept late this morning."

"That was sweet of her."

Ellie nodded. "It was very considerate."

We sat there in silence for a while Heidi sucked on her bottle. "Have you ever thought about having kids?" I asked her while I watched Heidi wrap her fingers around Ellie's finger.

She nodded. "Enough to know I want kids; I don't know how many or anything. But I know I want two at least."

"Why two?"

"Because I already have one kid, but I'd like to experience pregnancy and childbirth at least once. People who aren't my mother have told me that while it's painful and difficult, it's the most amazing and rewarding experience a woman can go through."

"You're an amazing mom," I told her, running her fingers through her hair. "You're doing an amazing job with little Miss Heidi here."

"I couldn't do it without your help."

"Nonsense, you don't need my help to raise the baby."

Ellie leaned her head against my shoulder. "That shows how much you know. I need you to help me stay sane and you're pretty good at helping out with Heidi."

I kissed her forehead. "If you say so."

She looked up at me. "Do you want to have kids?"

"Yeah, I guess," I said. "Until I met you and Heidi I never really thought about it."

"Didn't you ever have a serious girlfriend you thought about marrying?" she asked me.

"Can you two shut up?" Mac yelled. "Some of us are trying to sleep."

"Go blow it out your ear," his sister yelled at him. "I'm talking to my boyfriend."

"And I'm talking to my girlfriend," I added.

"Fine, I'll go sleep in my room. Rizzo and Pav are quieter than you two." And with that, Mac left the room.

Ellie looked up at me again. "So, back to the discussion about kids. Did you ever have a serious girlfriend you thought about marrying?"

"Yeah, I dated this girl named Susan during high school," I told her. Susan had broken my heart and it was still hard to talk about it. "I was in love with her and I thought she loved me. I was going to propose to her after graduation, but I found out that she was cheating on me. After graduation she told me that she didn't love me; she was just using me to make another guy jealous. That was the end of that relationship and I haven't been serious with a girl since then."

"Until now?" she asked hopefully.

I kissed the top of her head. "Until now. Ellie, I'm going to be honest. The past three months have been amazing. You've changed the way I think about women and relationships. You've taught me how to love again; you and Heidi have really opened up my heart. I love you, Elizabeth Grace McClanahan. You've been an angel for me."

A/N: Okay, please review. Next chapter, the adoption and meeting Jack's family.