A/N: Do I look/sound like I own Miracle?
Miraclegirl: Staying up till 6:30 am? Tsk-tsk, that sounds like something I would do. I'm so glad this is one of your favorites.
Klinoa: You'll see what happens.
Meadow567: Mrs. McClanahan's reality check is going to be intense and cruel.
Darkdestiny2000: You'll see what happens.
Swim90: It was sweet!
Ellie's POVI was sitting behind the bench watching my boys play the Soviet Union. Herb calls them his boys, but really they're mine. I wash their laundry, clean their dishes, make them clean their rooms, and did a million other motherly things for them. When the game ended and my boys had won, I started screaming and hugging everyone near me. Jack picked me up and swung me around in circles. "I love you," he yelled in my ear, yet I could barely hear him.
"I love you too," I replied. I looked up into the stands and saw Gayle Schneider holding Heidi. Gayle waved Heidi's arm at us and we waved back.
"I love her too," Jack said.
"Who, Gayle? I think Buzz will kill you for that one."
"I love Heidi, you dork." Then he kissed me. "And I love you, too."
"You're pretty amazing yourself."
"And I want to marry you," he said, getting down on one knee. "Elizabeth Grace McClanahan, will you marry me?"
I gasped and threw myself into his arms. "Oh my gosh, yes! Yes, I'll marry you."
He kissed me. "Ellie, you're making me the happiest man in the world."
"Oh, well, it's the least I can do for the man I love."
"Plus she feels sorry for your mother," Silky said, skating over to us. "Your mother wants grandchildren and Ellie figures this is the only way it would happen."
"Silky, shut up!" I said, slapping him. "I love Jack more than you could ever comprehend in your pea brain."
"Oh, that hurt," he moaned.
Just then I woke up and looked around. I was someplace cold, but it wasn't an ice rink; it was my bedroom. And it was freezing cold. The wind was banging the windows and Heidi was screaming. I picked up Heidi and went to the thermostat; it said the temperature was seventy degrees and I did not believe that.
After Heidi was settled with her bottle, I started looked for more blankets. In the morning, I'd call my super and see if there was something wrong with my furnace. But in the meantime, I was going to see if the munchkin and I could get some sleep.
Jack's POV
It was over; it was all over. We still had one more game to play, but we'd beaten the Soviets; that was the hard part. Whoever came next would be easier to beat. I looked at the bench and saw my Ellie. She was beaming with joy and Mac was spinning his sister around in circles. Mac, who was becoming the most responsible guy on team, was acting like a crazy little boy who had just found out he had won all the free candy he could carry. I skated over to them. "Can I borrow my girlfriend?"
Mac picked his sister up and handed her to me. "She's all yours. Take good care of her."
I smiled and kissed her cheek. "Hey, baby."
She kissed me on the lips. "Hi, superstar, it seems to me congratulations are in order."
"Aw, we couldn't have done it without our beautiful physical therapist. Every time we got hurt, you were right there to make sure we got better."
She smiled at me. "I was just doing my job."
"Well," I told her. "I appreciated that more than you can imagine. Having the woman I love with me every step of the way meant more to me than you'll ever know."
"I enjoyed it too," she replied. "The past seven months have been absolutely amazing."
"I know," I replied. "I can't tell you how amazing being with you has been." She gasped as I got down on one knee. "I don't have the ring with me right now, but I have a question I really want to ask you. Elizabeth Grace McClanahan, will you do me the great honor of becoming Elizabeth Grace O'Callahan and spending the rest of your life as my wife?"
She gasped again and stared at me. "Are you serious?"
I nodded. "As I can be."
"Then, yes," Ellie told me with a smile. She wrapped her arms around my neck and grinned. "I'd be absolutely thrilled to marry you."
I picked her up and kissed her. "Thank you," I whispered as I set her down. "I don't deserve you."
She just smiled.
I woke up just then and looked around. I was not in an ice arena but in my dorm room with Rizzo snoring. I laughed; we were leaving for Wisconsin in the morning to play the IHL All Stars and once again, Mac and I would be rooming with the Snoring Twins again. Of course, we'd eventually find our way to Ellie's room and spend the night with her; Mac would make me sleep where he was sure I couldn't get need Ellie, but I didn't care. I understood where Mac was coming from and I was willing to respect his wishes.
Ellie's POV
Jack, Heidi, and I were sitting together on a bus taking us to Wisconsin. All the boys had someone to sit next to except Timmy Harrer; all the boys were avoiding him and I couldn't blame them. They were all fighting for spots on the team and Tim was an intruder, at least in their minds. Every guy on the team, except for Jimmy and Jannie, was at risk of losing his spot on the team to Timmy.
I leaned my head against Jack's shoulder and sighed. "Something wrong, sweetheart?" he asked.
"I'm worried about Rizzo," I replied. "This whole thing with Timmy is really affecting him both as a player and as a person. He's just so upset all the time."
Jack nodded and wrapped his arm around me. As I snuggled up against him, he said, "I know what you're talking about. He isn't his usual chipper self."
"Chipper? You mean peppy, annoying, and nosey?" I joked.
"Hey, you're talking about my best friend," he said, pretending to be offended.
"And I'm your girlfriend, so you should be nice to me."
He rubbed his nose against mine and smiled. "Yeah, I should. After all, I do love you more than anything."
"More than anything?" I asked, shocked.
"Except maybe God," he conceded.
"All right, you're allowed to love God more than me, and maybe your mother," I told him. "But no other girls; I have to be your number one girl."
"Well, Heidi's my number two," he said with that amazing Jack smile.
"Works for me," I replied, before kissing him.
"Mac! Your sister's kissing OC!" Johnson yelled from the seat across the aisle from us.
"I'm warning you, OC!" Robbie yelled. "You treat my sister right or I'm going to cook you, kill you, and eat your for breakfast. And yes I am planning to cook you alive."
"Great," OC moaned. "Your brother wants to kill me. Why did I fall in love with you?"
"My surpassing beauty overwhelmed your senses and you become my doting slave eternally," I replied with a smile.
"Yes, I'm sure that was it," he replied. "Doll, I love you, but I think it was your personality that made me love you. Don't get me wrong; you're beautiful, but it was your strength, passion, and integrity that really made me love you."
I smiled; that was the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me. "Hey, Ellie, what do you love best about OC?" Silky asked from his seat next to Johnson.
"The sex," I joked.
"John Patrick O'Callahan!" Robbie bellowed from his seat. "I'm going to neuter you when we get to the hotel!"
"I'm just kidding!" I yelled. "Robbie, I'm still a virgin; I can still wear white on my wedding day."
"You'd better be!" Robbie called. "I don't want you and Jack to end up where Emily and I are right now."
"Ah yes, the ever protective older brother," Bah murmured. "Boys, never mess with a girl who has a brother like Mac. The brother will kill you if you so much as look at his sister wrong."
"Protective older brothers are an absolute necessity when you have a beautiful younger sister," Rizzo said. "I speak from years of experience."
"You have a beautiful sister?" Bah asked. "How come I never met her?"
"Because she's fifteen years old," Jack answered. "Rizzo's younger sister, Maria, was a surprise and she's almost ten years younger than him."
"Is she pretty?" Bah asked again.
"She's fifteen!" I told him. "That's only slightly illegal."
"And incredibly disgusting," Jack added. "Can't you find a girl closer to your own age?"
"With his looks he ought to," I said without thinking.
"You think Bah's hot?" my boyfriend asked me.
"You think I'm hot?" the sheep in question asked.
"You're good looking," I blundered. "And you're a nice guy, but you're not my type."
"What is your type?" Rizzo asked.
"Sweet Irish Boston boys with blue eyes and light brown hair who make you smile just by looking at you," I replied. "Boys named Jack O'Callahan."
Jack smiled and kissed me. "I love you so much."
"OC, leave my sister alone for five minutes!" Rob yelled from his seat.
"But we're in love!" Jack yelled back.
"Who cares about love?" was my brother's response.
Jack's POV
We played the IHL All-Stars and won. Herb coddled Tim and completely ignored Rizzo. Ellie was shooting Herb evil looks for over half the game; I had to laugh because I don't even think he noticed her once. Everyone was subdued in the locker room and on the bus on the way back to St. Paul. We stopped at a restaurant near midnight and we decided as a team that a few of us should confront Herb about Tim. Rammer suggested we have a "Boston boy," a Minnesotan, and one of the boys from somewhere else. Silky said Rizzo should go too because he was the most likely to get cut if Tim hung around.
"But who should go with Rizzo?" I asked.
"Mac," Jimmy suggested. "Herb likes him."
"And OC," Jannie said. "He's good at arguing."
"Who else?" Johnson asked.
"You," Mac, Rizzo, and I all said at once.
"Why me?" he asked.
"Because you're from Wisconsin and you spoke first," I said.
A few minutes later, we told Craig we wanted to talk to Herb. Herb met the four of us outside the bus.
I spoke first because I have a big mouth and I do things like that. "This is crazy, Herb. Bringing him in this late."
Mac picked up on my train of thought. "We've got parents buying tickets. Getting rooms. What are we supposed to tell them? And with one of us going home as it is..."
Herb had to try to twist our words and this became obvious as he spoke. "I guess I don't have to ask where you stand on this, do I, Rizzo?"
Mac, however, wasn't going to let that happen. "This wasn't Rizzo's idea," he protested firmly.
"You want me to say, "I'm scared of getting cut?" I'm scared of getting cut. Everyone is," Rizzo added.
"We just want it to be fair, Herb." I had to say that; I couldn't let Herb go after one of my oldest friends.
Herb replied harshly, "Don't try to tell me what's fair. He was right back there with us in Colorado."
Rizzo came back with "That was six months ago!"
But that wasn't good enough for Herb. He had to remind us that we weren't nearly as smart as he was. "And you don't think he's been playing for the last six months?"
Well, Rizzo wanted to fight with Herb. "Not with us he hasn't!" His quiet nature was abandoned for his love of the team.
Herb was ready for Rizzo's challenge and had one of his own. "So?"
Rizzo kept fighting for what he believed in, as usual. "So there's a difference!" he yelled.
Herb could yell too. "Like hell there is! All I know is that that kid can flat out play!"
Okay that hurt and I had to stand up for Rizzo, for all of us. "What and we can't?"
Herb needed to protect his darling. "He's got great vision on the ice..." he said, but we weren't convinced.
"That's not the point!" Mac protested.
Herb wasn't done trying to destroy us. "You know what else he's got? He's got the attitude I want on and off the ice, so somebody here better tell me why I shouldn't be giving him a hell of a look!"
The silent Wisconsin decided to talk. "Because we're a family!"
"What?" Herb was shocked, absolutely shocked.
Mark persisted. "We're a family."
"And this is the family you want to go to Lake Placid with?" Herb asked us, still shocked.
We all answered in the affirmative and Herb agreed to cut Tim. Then we got back on the bus and headed home.
When we got home, it was about seven-thirty in the morning. We had driven through the night to make sure that we didn't have to spend two nights in a hotel. Emily was in the parking lot with her car. Mac rushed over to her the minute he was off the bus. He picked her up and spun her around, kissing her all the while. Ellie smiled. "They're so cute together."
"What and we aren't?" I asked her.
"Not in the same way," she replied. "We're still dating and this is a young relationship. They've been together for two and a half years; we've been together for five months. They have the old, lived-in relationship cuteness; we have the new and exciting relationship cuteness."
I smiled at her and was about to say something when Mac ran over to us. "Ellie, Emily needs to talk to you."
"About what?" Ellie asked.
"Mother darling called her last night looking for you," Mac replied.
"Oh no," my girlfriend moaned. "Honey, I'll be back in a bit."
Ellie's POV
The minute Rob said that Mom had called Emily looking for me I knew something was wrong. I hurried over to Emily. "Why on earth did my mother call you?"
She sighed and rested her hands on her small, but still obviously swollen, belly. "She was looking for you."
"Rob told me that," I replied. "But why?"
"At first, I thought she just wanted to be stupid and annoying, but it turns out she needs your help with something."
"My mother needs my help?" I asked. "Whatever for?"
"It involves your sisters or something," she replied. "She didn't really say."
"So, I should just call her when I got home?"
"Yeah, that sounds like a plan."
I nodded. "Well, I suppose I should go home and call my mother."
"That's so adult of you," Robbie said, coming up behind me.
I smiled. "Thank you. I try."
"So, you're not going to hang around with Jack all day?" Emily asked me.
"I'd love to, but I probably need to deal with the maternal situation," I told her.
Rob smiled. "It's going to take some explaining to convince OC to spend a day apart from you."
"I think he understands how twisted our family is," I replied.
"He'd better if he's going to date you," Emily said.
"So true, so true," Robbie said as I walked over to my very understanding boyfriend.
Jack did understand and I went home and called my mother. It wasn't even nine and she was already drunk. Her words were slurred and she kept hiccupping. I just did not understand that about my mother; she insulted Irish people and accused Jack of being drunk constantly, but she was the one who was constantly drunk.
"Eleeshabeeth," she moaned when I told her who I was. "Dahling, your daddy doesn't love me anymoah."
I smiled to myself and wondered how long it had been since my dad had loved her, but then I collected myself. "How do you know he doesn't love you anymore?"
"Because last night he threatened to move out and take Vivian Jennifer and Natalie with him."
I dropped the phone on the floor and screamed.
A/N: Please review.
A/N2: I have relatives who are alcoholics and I am not using Mrs. McClanahan's problem to make her comic relief of any sort. She has a very serious problem and she needs help, lots of help. (I say this because her alcoholism is going to come into play heavily in the next few chapters.)