Of Dreams and Miracles
By Misha

Disclaimer and Rating in Prologue.

A.N- Another new chapter, I wanted to give a little bit more development to Elizabeth's friendship with Rizzo and maybe write some more early scenes with her and Jack, though that didn't really happen. There's only a little bit of Jack in this scene, but there is a good Liz/Rizzo friendship scene, so one of my goals was accomplished. That's all for now, enjoy!

Part Five: Bonding Time

Late July, 1979

"Liz, come back to the dorms and hang out." Bah Harrington invited one day after practice.

They'd been at this for a few weeks and Elizabeth was still just starting to get to know everyone.

"Sure." Elizabeth said with a grin. "I guess, I could do that."

Bah grinned. "Good, it'll be fun."

"It's always fun when I'm around." Elizabeth said with a smile.

"That's definitely true." Robbie said, coming up to the two of them. "But in what context are you talking about this time?"

"Elizabeth's agreed to come hang out at the dorm." Bah told him.

Elizabeth saw Robbie's eyes light up and felt irritated. "I'm coming, but I'm not just hanging out with you guys." She warned. "If I'm gonna hang out with the team, I'm gonna hang out with everyone."

"We don't really hang out together that often." Rob told her, pointing out the obvious.

There had been no physical encounters since that first day of practice, but there was still an obvious division between the guys from Boston and the ones from Minnesota, with everyone else tending to side with one group or the other.

Elizabeth shrugged. "I don't care. I'll just split my time up between the two groups, I have no problem doing that, but I am going to hang out with everyone."

Rob rolled his eyes. "Same old Lizzie, huh?"

"Always." Elizabeth told him with a bright smile.
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Once they arrived back at the dorm, a bunch of the other guys were rounded up to go hang out in the common room. It was a pretty good mix of all the guys.

Rizzo and Jack were amongst the guys who had gathered. Elizabeth was a little surprised to see Jack willing to hang out with Robbie, but things had been a little bit better than them. She guessed that there might be some benefit to them pounding each other into the ice. Maybe.

"Hey, Liz, you finally decided to start slumming and hang out with us, huh?" Rizzo asked with a grin.

Elizabeth grinned. "Well, I figured I should get to know you guys off the ice."

She had gone to the bar with them once or twice, but this was her first time at the dorms since the night she had had her confrontation with Robbie.

"Sounds good to me." Bob Suter said with a grin. "You're a nice change of scenery."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Thanks."

"He's right." Jack told her, giving her an appreciative look. "You're a lot nicer to look at than any of these guys."

Elizabeth smiled at him. "I don't know, I don't find you guys that hard too look at."

Robbie scowled at her flirtatious comment, but Elizabeth ignored him. She wasn't going to get involved with any of these guys, for a lot of reasons, but there was no harm in a little playful flirting, especially not with a guy as good-looking as Jack O'Callahan.

Besides Robbie had no say in what she did or didn't do, not anymore.

She looked around the room and grinned. "So, now that I'm here, what do you guys have in mind? Something interesting I hope."
---

After a few hours, Elizabeth stood up to leave.

The group of them had just ended up talking, telling funny stories about one another. Elizabeth thought that it had been good for the guys, helped them really get to know one another.

It had also given her a chance to get to know some fo the boys a little better. She found herself really liking Rizzo, he was great.

Elizabeth also found herself drawn to Jack, though she wasn't sure how much of that was just physical attraction. After all, the guy was arrogant and temperamental, but she still found him intriguing and figured that the killer smile had something to do with that.

"You leaving, Liz?" Bah inquired.

Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah, I should get home, early morning and all."

Everyone groaned at that, but it was truth. Herb liked to start his practices bright and early.

"I'll walk you out." Rizzo offered before anyone else could.

Both Robbie and Jack looked a little chagrined. Elizabeth understood Robbie, and was grateful that Rizzo spoke up before she'd had to refuse Robbie, but she didn't see why Jack really cared who walked her out. Maybe it was just a guy thing.

She turned to Rizzo and smiled. "That'd be great, thanks."

Rizzo grinned and after Elizabeth had bidden goodnight to the rest of the guys, they headed out of the building.

"You sure make a difference around here." Rizzo told her.

Elizabeth shot him a look. "What do you mean."

"I mean this is the first time we've all really hung out together." Rizzo told her.

"You've been to the bar together." Elizabeth commented.

"Yeah." Rizzo agreed. "But, there's always been a definite split, the guys from Minnesota and us guys from Boston, we didn't really hang out as one group. Tonight, we sort of did and that's because of you."

"Well, I'm glad." Elizabeth said with a smile. "I think all this Boston-Minnesota stuff is silly anyway, you're a team now."

Rizzo smiled. "Yeah, but it's not as easy as all that."

"No," Elizabeth agreed, "it's not, unfortunately."

"You should come around more often, Liz." Rizzo told her as they reached her car.

"I will." Elizabeth assured him. "I definitely will."

She had really enjoyed herself, besides it was her job to get to know these guys and hanging out with them was part of that. Though, she had the feeling that even if it hadn't been her job, she'd have done it anyway.

They were an interesting bunch of guys and she figured that the next few months were going to be anything but boring.
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