A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I really appreciate it. And I still don't own Miracle. I think I've said that enough by now. I can't believe I'm already on chapter nineteen.

Shelbers: I'm so glad you love it.

CapriceAnn Hedican-Kocur: I thought since Mac and Ellie are twins it would be sweeter, more romantic if OC asked Mac and Mr. McClanahan.

Emador: I'm not sure what's so great about Charlie but I'm glad you like him. And I promise Charlie will show up again soon, not in this chapter, but soon.

Prettypinkcheer5: As I've said many times before, I'm not telling whether or not the dreams will come true. That's a secret between my cat and me. I think I told my seventeen-month-old sister, but she can't tell; you can try to bribe her but I'm not sure she'd tell. She might just take what you give her and toddle away without saying a word.

Darkdestiny2000: Thank you!

Icesk8er7-08: I didn't say how soon he was going to propose. He will propose but the really question is when. (Mischievous laughter)

Jack's POV

The airport was a madhouse when I got there. Gayle and Buzzy were snuggling; Gayle had been able to get three weeks off from work, so she could be with us both in New York and Lake Placid. Gabby had her arms wrapped around Rizzo's neck and she was crying. Emily and Mac were talking in a quiet place. Emily was seven months pregnant and her doctor didn't want her to do any flying so she was going to drive to Lake Placid with Nina and Gabby. Then Mac and Emily were going to drive home together after the Games.

I looked around for Ellie, but I didn't see her anywhere. So I joined Silky and Jimmy. Jimmy was single; and Rizzo and I suspect that Silky secretly wants to be a priest. "So, where's the future Mrs. O'Callahan?" Jimmy asked.

"I'm not sure," I said. "But I'm sure getting out of the apartment with luggage, a stroller, and Heidi could not have been easy."

"Sometimes I wonder how she manages to do anything with Heidi," Jimmy commented. "I mean how does she take a shower or anything like that? Does she have to hire a babysitter so she can take a shower?"

I laughed. "No, she takes showers when Heidi's napping."

"What about paying bills?" Silky asked.

"Huh?" Jimmy and I both just stared at Silky.

"When does she have time to pay her bills?" he asked.

"You mean when does she have time to sit down and write five or six checks?" I asked.

"Yeah, I mean Heidi's got to keep her pretty busy."

"You pay bills like once a month," Jimmy said. "It's not like she needs three hours to pay her bills."

"But it takes time," Silky protested.

I sighed. Silky is a great guy, but he's nuts and a little slow upstairs. "She usually does her bills fairly quickly," I said. "But then she usually does them when I'm over or when Heidi is sleeping."

"I do my best work when you're over or Heidi is asleep," someone said. I looked up and saw my gorgeous girlfriend. She had her purse, a diaper bag, a suitcase, a stroller, and Heidi with her.

"You're traveling light," I told her.

Ellie laughed. "I had to check the other bag. I had no clue how to hard it would be to travel with a baby. I should have taken Emily up on her offer to leave Heidi with her and she could bring Heidi up with her next week."

"But you hate leaving Heidi," I said.

"I know and that's why I'm bringing her with me."

After takeoff, Ellie pulled a book out of her purse and started reading. Heidi was sleeping in my lap and I was absorbed in watching her. She was so cute when she was sleeping. Her eyelids were buttoned shut over her big brown eyes. Her soft dark brown hair was starting to curl at the tips. It was hard to believe that she had only come into my life seven months earlier. At nine months old, she was a little angel and the best part was she was my little doll. Mac said that after watching Heidi he was starting to want to have a daughter.

I must have fallen asleep watching Heidi because I woke up the pilot saying, "Please fasten your seatbelts. We are now approaching New York Kennedy Airport."

I looked at Ellie; she was still reading her book, so I poked her. "What time is it?"

"New York time or Minnesota time?" she asked.

"Both."

"It's 8:47 in Minnesota so it's 9:47 in New York."

"What are you reading?" I asked sticking my head over her shoulder.

She pushed my head away. "How to Kill Your Annoying Boyfriend," she quipped.

"I won't leave you alone until you tell me," I threatened.

She stuck a bookmark in the book and set it on the armrest. "Give me Heidi and you can look at the book."

"But she's asleep," I said as the baby started crying.

"Does she sound asleep to you?" Ellie asked. "Give her to me and I'll feed her. Then you can look at your precious book."

I handed her the baby and she pulled a bottle out of the diaper bag. As Ellie inserted the bottle in Heidi's mouth, I took the book off the armrest. "Doctor Zhivago?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Your mother told me I should read it."

"My mother? Since when is my mother telling you what to read?"

"She didn't tell me to read it; she just recommended it to me."

"But when did she recommend it to you? You haven't seen her since November."

"She called me once shortly after the game against Harvard and we write letters to each other every now and then or she calls me sometimes. Every once in a while she sends me clothes and toys for Heidi."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. She likes me and she knows that my mother isn't any help. Also, I am her son's girlfriend, so she wants to get to know me better."

"How come you never told me about it?"

"You never asked and it never occurred to me. She's called me maybe five times and we only write like two times a month. It's not like she's going to replace Emily or Gabby as my best friend. Besides, don't you want me to have a good relationship with your mother?"

"Yeah, it's just you never told me about this."

"I also never told you that my mother and Kathie want tickets to the Games."

"What? Why? Your mother hates hockey."

"But all her friends at the country club expect her to be a good, dutiful, devoted wife and mother," Ellie said with a touch of sarcasm in her voice. "And besides my father bought five tickets, one for each of the girls and one each for him and Mom."

"So what's your dad going to do?"

"Well, he gave one of the tickets to Charlie, so only either Mom or Kathie could go. He's looking for someone else to take the other ticket because Mom's talking about having Kathie stay with some friends while she's gone."

"My brother said he needs a ticket for his girlfriend," I told her. "My parents had already bought tickets by the time James announced he was dating Nora."

"I have an idea," Ellie announced as we got off the plane.

"What?"

"Nora could take my mother's ticket."

"But then she couldn't sit with James."

"Shut up and listen, Boston boy. Annie could take my mother's ticket and Nora could take Annie's ticket. Then Annie could sit my family and Nora could sit with your family. Now, Annie might not be crazy about sitting with complete strangers, but I have a feeling she and Jennie could be a pretty dynamic duo."

"But Jennie will be paying attention to Charlie. We could give Natalie's ticket to James and your mom's to Nora. Then they could sit with your family and Natalie could sit with my family. Natalie is the kind of person, who would be okay with sitting with my family, isn't she?"

Ellie nodded as she settled Heidi in her stroller. "Yeah, if we introduce her to your family ahead of time, she should be fine. She's pretty good at adapting to new situations."

"Except for your parents' separation?"

"Well, that was a bit more than she usually has to deal with at a time."

I smiled. "Well, you seem to be handling it well,"

"Jack, I've been expecting them to separate for ages."

"And what about us?"

She smiled dreamily. "We're going to ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after."

I was about to kiss her or something equally romantic when Herb yelled, "All right, let's get on the bus and go to the hotel. You boys have an early practice tomorrow morning."

Ellie just smiled at me and began pushing the stroller towards baggage claim.

Ellie's POV

That evening, I was sitting in my hotel room playing with Heidi when Rob came over to talk. "We haven't talked in ages," he said, throwing himself on the extra bed in my room.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Life," was his reply. "It's just so crazy right now. I've wanted to play in the Olympics since I was six and now it's finally really going to happen. And then Emily is going to have the baby in April and we're getting married in June. Everything's happening so fast."

"Are you having second thoughts about something? The wedding? The baby? The Olympics?"

He smiled. "I'm not having second thoughts about the Olympics. You don't have to worry about that."

"But you are having second thoughts about the wedding and the baby?"

My twin brother nodded slowly. "More the wedding than the baby."

"Why? You love Emily, don't you?"

"Of course I love Emily, why wouldn't I?" he snapped defensively. "What put that idea into your head?"

"Rob, if you love Emily, why are you having second thoughts about the wedding?"

He looked down at his hands. "Promise me you won't tell anyone about this, not even Jack?"

"I promise."

"Okay, I'm starting to wonder if we're just getting married because of the baby," Rob said slowly. "I mean we were together for two years before she got pregnant and we never really talked about marriage that seriously. Then she finds out she is going to have a baby and suddenly marriage is all we can talk about. What if we're just getting married because of this baby? What if we aren't really in love? What if we get married and then ten years from now we realize it was all a mistake and we end up splitting up? Or worse, we could end up like Mom and Dad."

"And what if you two really are meant to be together? What if this baby happened to bring you two together?"

"Maybe you're right. I don't know. Why can't things with Em and me be like things with you and Jack? You two have known each other for seven months and you're talking about marriage. You two knew you were meant for each other from day one. Why can't Emily and I be like that?"

"Because you aren't Jack and Emily isn't me, you two have a completely different relationship than we do."

Rob sighed and threw his head into his hands. "But Jack knows he wants to marry you and he just met you in July. I met Emily almost three years ago and I'm still not sure I want to marry her."

"Rob, listen to me. You are not Jack; you two are two completely different people."

"But why? I mean how does he know that he loves you and wants to marry you after seven months? How do you know that you love him and want to marry him?"

"I don't know; I just know. It just occurred to me one day that I was loved him. And then one day we were talking and I realized that he is the man I want to spend the rest of my life with."

"I've never had that feeling about Emily."

"But you two have been together for almost three years."

"I know," my brother said. "And I love her, but sometimes I wonder if I'm with her because I'm madly in love with her or because I've been with her for so long that I can't imagine life without her."

"Maybe you need to talk to her about this instead of me. She's really the one who needs to know what you're feeling."

"After she has the baby," he said.

"No, after the Games," I told him. "You can't put this off until April."

"Sure I can."

"Okay, you shouldn't. Look, Robbie, you need to do what's best for you and Emily. If you're having doubts about the wedding you need to talk to Emily about them. Promise me that you'll talk to Emily about how you're feeling after the Games, please."

"Fine," he sighed. "If it'll get you off my case. Now if you're done pretending to be my mother, I'll be heading back to my room now."

"Go ahead," I told him. "I'd like to get some sleep anyway."

"What? You don't want to see your precious Jack before you get your beauty rest?"

"You can leave now," was all I said and he left.

The next day was intense. The boys were nervous about playing the greatest hockey team alive. "It's not that I'm afraid," Mark Johnson had said to me during breakfast. "It's just that we're playing the Russians and everyone is always talking about how good they are. If the NHL All-Stars can't beat them, what about us?"

"Mark, you guys are some of the best hockey players I've ever seen in my life. They have Vladislav Tretiak, but we have Jimmy Craig. They have Boris Mikhailov, but we have Mark Johnson."

He smiled. "You're just saying that because you're our friend. Plus, Mac's your brother you're dating OC; it's like a rule that you have to say that."

"Yes, I have friends on the team, and a brother, and a boyfriend, but that's not why I said that; I said that because I believe in you guys. The Russians might be hot, but they're not as hot as you guys. They don't have the Coneheads or Rizzo or my brother or Jack. The time of Soviet dominance is over; you guys can shoot them down. I'm sure of it."

Mark had hugged me and then Jack joined us. "So, Johnson, you trying to make a move on the love of my life?"

Johnson and I laughed; then Johnson said, "Like I could ever distract her from you."

Jack kissed me. "My mom called me this morning and she said she's wearing down the beads on her rosary for us."

I smiled. "That sounds like her."

He nodded. "When I was in college, she would bring her rosary with her to my games and she would sit there mouthing the prayers all through the game."

Mark laughed. "My mom was always a nervous wreck during my games too."

"My mother was convinced that the only way I could win was if she asked the Blessed Virgin to help me," Jack said. "I think she might be right."

Heidi picked that exact moment to reach out and grab my spoon out of my Cheerios. As she waved it around in her chubby little fist, she sprayed everyone at the table with milk and cereal. Johnson shook his head. "She is so cute."

"Yeah, she is," I replied. "But she also loves being the center of attention. If no one's paying attention to her, she finds ways to get everyone to pay attention to her."

"Like throwing Cheerios at people," Jack said.

"She just likes to share her food with everyone," Doc said as he walked by.

"Doc, it was my food she was sharing," I told him.

"Ellie, she's nine months old; she thinks that everything is hers." Heidi started cooing and babbling then. Doc took her from me and smiled. "She is a sweet little girl," he said. "She's going to grow up into a beautiful young lady someday."

Johnson smiled. "Jack, you'd better buy a shotgun on her thirteenth birthday."

We all laughed.

That night, I stood behind the bench with my hands folded as if in prayer. I understood why Mrs. O'Callahan prayed the rosary during her son's games. In fact, I would have liked to have her beads with me to give me comfort. The boys just couldn't match up to the Russians; maybe I had been wrong that morning when I said that we were better than the Russians.

Then I saw Jack take a terrible hit and Doc ran out onto the ice to him. I knew I should have gone with him but I just stood there, staring. Jannie grabbed my hand. "Hey, he's going to be all right. Doc will take good care of him."

I went back to the locker room with Jack and Doc. "Ellie, help Jack get out of his uniform," Doc ordered me as he helped Jack up on the table.

I nodded and started to remove Jack's skates. "You can take my skates and my jersey off, but I'm the one taking my pants off."

I sighed. "Jack, you hurt your knee; there is no way I am letting you take your pants off unassisted. You have to at least let me help you move the pant leg over your hurt knee."

"No," he barked sharply. "Ellie, you're my girlfriend; there is no way I am letting my girlfriend take my pants off; that's just not the way I do things."

"Jack, it's not like we're here to have sex," I told him through tightly clenched teeth. "We're here to find out what's wrong with your right knee. I'm a physical therapist for Pete's sake! Just let me take care of you!"

Jack sighed as I threw his left skate to the ground. "Fine, you can only help me with my right leg."

"Fine!" I yelled. "Let's just get you undressed so Doc can try to figure out what's wrong with you."

I knew it was the pain that was making him snap at me, but it didn't really make me feel any better. We were tired, stressed, and worried and that was not making things any better. I was supposed to be taking care of Jack but what I really wanted to do was go lay down on my bed in my hotel room and cry. The boys were losing, Jack was injured, and my brother was having what President Carter would have referred to as a "crisis in confidence." Life was going fabulously.

Heidi was with Gayle Schneider and I knew that if worse came to worse, Gayle would take care of Heidi. Gayle had the diaper bag and a key to my room; she could take care of things.

The fact was I was worried about Jack. The team was losing and he was injured. Knowing him the way I did he was either going to find a way to blame everything on himself and become incredibly depressed or become determined to get back on the ice right away and end up hurting himself. Ah, the joys of dating a hockey player!

Jack's POV

Between Ellie's pursed lips and Doc's murmured "umm-hmm"s, I was starting to get worried. "Possible torn ligament," I heard Doc mutter. "At best a stretched ligament." This was sounding and looking bad. Ellie put ice on my leg and then sat down in the corner. She was ignoring me.

Then Doc left and came back with Herb a few minutes later. When Herb came in, Ellie left. I knew she was probably going to get Heidi from Gayle but I also knew she was mad at me.

"Doc's going with you to the hospital to get a picture of your knee taken," Herb told me and then he left. And the only person left in the room was Doc who was going to drive me to the hospital.

"What's bothering Ellie?" Doc asked me while we were waiting for a doctor in the emergency room.

I shrugged. "I snapped at her when she was trying to undress me, but I think something else is up. Why'd you ask?"

"Herb told her that she could stay here with you and he'd arrange for Gayle to take Heidi to Lake Placid, but Ellie turned him down. She said something about Mac needing her."

"Mac needs her? Mac's half ready to kill her."

"Why?" Doc asked me.

I shrugged. "I don't know; it's none of my business."

"Jack," the old man said to me firmly. "Your roommate and your girlfriend are siblings, twins to be exact, and they have a fight. Wouldn't you say that's your business?"

I shrugged again. "I guess it kind of is."

"I should say it is, young man. You've roomed with Mac on every road trip this team has been on. You've been dating Ellie since early July. In my book, you have a vested interest in those two's personal lives, even if they do seem like a pair of nutcases. Now, I can probably guess what they're fighting about this time, but if you're rooming with a guy and he goes to see his twin sister and comes back half ready to kill her, wouldn't you ask him why?"

"I guess so. It's just he looked so mad that I wasn't sure I wanted to talk to him."

"Jack, I've known the McClanahan twins for a while now and if there's one thing I know about them it's that they don't fight much but when they do, it's bad. Mac usually doesn't want to talk about it, but he needs to and his sister usually just chalks it up to her brother being a jerk and gets over it. Mac is probably unhappier with his sister now than he would be if you had talked to him last night."

"Well, what's done is done," I said.

The old Latvian doctor shrugged. "I suppose you're right, but I think you need to talk to Ellie soon."

"I'll have to wait until we get to Lake Placid," I told him. "She went with the team on the bus and we're not leaving until tomorrow morning at the earliest. And that's only if this is just a stretched ligament."

"Then hope for the best."

Thankfully, hoping for the best worked out for the best. It was just a stretched ligament. I had to keep off my right leg for about a week. I wouldn't be able to play until the medal round, at the earliest. In other words, I was probably going to be cut when we joined the team in Lake Placid.

Doc and I were taking a train to join the team the next morning. We had to spend one more night at the hotel and I was wishing for all the world that Ellie had stayed with us, but she hadn't. Oh, well, I would talk to her in the morning…since I had no other option.

A/N: I hope you liked that. I finished writing that really fast! I'm so proud of me. Please review! (I think I'm addicted to reviews.) Oh well! The Olympics start in the next game! (I think I'm going to borrow my brothers' DVDs of the real1980 Games and watch them before I right the next couple chapters.