Of Dreams and Miracles
By Misha

Disclaimer and Notes in Prologue.

Part Forty-Five: Mothers

The XII Winter Olympics, Day Nine

After beating Romania, the boys had a free day. They only had West Germany left to play in the Round Robin and that game would be the next day.

By this point, the media was going crazy, and the whole country was following the team's progress. It was pretty awe-inspiring, though Herb tried his best to keep the boys from being distracted.

That included forbidding the media from talking to any of them. It was a decision that the boys all agreed with, they had a lot on their minds as it was without adding the press into it, as well.

All of their families had arrived in Lake Placid days before to watch the games and the boys spent most of their free time (except at nights when they stayed in) with their families.

On this particular day, Elizabeth was really nervous because she was about to meet Jack's family for the first time.

She had put it off as long as she could, having been busy catching up with her own family and Kathleen, but it couldn't be avoided any longer.

After all, Jack had spent time with Patti, Danny and Kelly over the last couple of days and had even had lunch with Gloria again, so the least Elizabeth could do was agree to have breakfast with his parents and siblings.

It was just that she was really freaked out about it, terrified that they'd hate her and that would cause Jack to break-up with her. Elizabeth knew she was being paranoid, but she really wanted them to like her.

Still, she figured that this meeting couldn't be nearly as awkward as running into Mrs. McClannahan the day before had been...


Elizabeth and Jack walked through the Olympic village, laughing happily. They were just enjoying being together.

Jack was still on crutches, but he barely needed them and he said his leg was feeling much better, which she took as a positive sign.

"Elizabeth!"

Elizabeth turned when she heard her name being called. She froze when she saw Margaret McClannahan standing there.

She had always gotten along well with Rob's mother, but Margaret was one of those women who believed that her son could do no wrong. She also believed that Elizabeth and Rob belonged together. Elizabeth hadn't seen Rob's mother since the break-up a year before and she was kind of nervous about facing her now.

"Mrs. McClannahan." She said, forcing a smile.

"It's Margaret, dear." Rob's mother scolded. "You know that I want you to call me Margaret."

Elizabeth had always called her Margaret in the past, when she had been Rob's girlfriend and a potential daughter-in-law, but now she felt awkward at the thought of doing so.

Elizabeth just smiled tightly. She saw Margaret's eyes linger on Jack. "Margaret, I don't believe that you've met my boyfriend, Jack O'Callahan." She introduced quietly.

Margaret's eyes narrowed. "No, I don't believe that I have." She said tightly. "Though Robert's mentioned him a few times. I had no idea that the two of you were dating."

"For several months now." Elizabeth confirmed softly.

"What about Robert?" Margaret demanded.

"Rob and I are friends." Elizabeth said quietly. "We'll always be friends. He knows about Jack and he's okay with it."

It was the truth, sort of. Rob had given her his blessing, but she knew that her relationship with Jack still hurt him a bit and that it would take some time before he was truly okay with it.

Margaret snorted and shook her head. "I thought better of you." She hissed. "I thought you were a nice girl, but here you are dating one of Robert's team-mates and flaunting it in his face! Obviously, you're not the girl that I thought you were! My son's lucky to be rid of you!" With that Margaret stormed off.

Elizabeth felt like crying as she watched her go. She had been afraid that something like that would occur, but she had really hoped that it wouldn't.

She had always liked Margaret McClannahan and the older woman's harsh words really hurt.

Jack looked at her. "Are you okay?"

Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay. It's hard, but I should have expected it."

Elizabeth shook her head.

Meeting Jack's mother was bound to go better. After all, of course her meeting with Margaret had been awkward--she and Rob had broken up. There was nothing like that to cause awkwardness with her and Mrs. O'Callahan, after all she and Jack were still very much together.

He lead her over to a table where an attractive older couple, two teenage boys, a teenage girl and a younger girl of about ten were sitting.

Elizabeth smiled, Jack had told her all about his siblings. It as obvious that the O'Callahans were a close family and Elizabeth looked at the group, 19 year-old Sean, 17 year-old Bridget, 14 year-old Patrick and 10 year-old Eleanor--or Nell as the family called her.

They all stood up when Jack and Elizabeth reached the table.

Jack's mother smiled at Elizabeth. "You must be Liz, Jack's told us all about you." Helen O'Callahan told her kindly, reaching out to give her a quick, warm hug. "It's so nice to meet you in person."

Elizabeth had talked to Jack's parents a few times over the phone, keeping them updated on the team's progress. She had talked to all the boys parents, it was one of her official duties.

The conversations had never gotten too personal, though in the last conversation Helen had mentioned that Jack had told his parents that he was dating Elizabeth and that Helen was looking forward to meeting her.

"It's nice to meet you too." Elizabeth said warmly, smiling at her. "You too, Mr. O'Callahan."

"Call me John." The older version of Jack said with a warm smile.

Elizabeth turned to Jack's siblings. "It's wonderful to meet all of you guys, too." She said with a smile and looked at them each in turn. "Sean, Bridget, Patrick and Nell, I've really been looking forward to meeting you all. Jack's told me so much about all of you."

"He's told us about you, too." Sean said with a grin. "Though he never mentioned just how beautiful you are."

"Stop trying to flirt with my girl." Jack scolded his brother, pretending to be annoyed.

Sean just grinned, totally unrepentant.

"Ignore them." Bridget advised her. "Sean loves to annoy Jack."

Elizabeth laughed. "It's okay--I'm used to it, I have a younger brother and sister, so I'm used to it."

Well, that was only sort of true. Kelly and Danny were several years younger than she was, so they tended to have different sort of sibling relationship. Though, they did still love to irritate her at times.

After a few minutes, the eight of them settled down to eat their lunch, with the O'Callahans asking lots of questions about Elizabeth's family and about the tournament and the training process.
---

After lunch was over, Helen asked Elizabeth if she'd like to go for a walk with her. Elizabeth was slightly panicked at the thought, but agreed.

They walked in silence for a moment, until Helen turned to her. "Jack speaks very highly of you." She said quietly. "He seems very serious about you."

"And you don't approve." Elizabeth said quietly. This was what she had been afraid of.

Helen smiled. "No, nothing like that. You seem like a very nice girl."

"Thank you." Elizabeth said, still a little wary.

Helen looked a little embarrassed. "It's just that since we arrived her in Lake Placid, I've heard something disturbing-"

"Let me guess, from Margaret McClannahan?" Elizabeth interrupted.

"Yes." Helen confirmed. "I was just a little disturbed that Jack never mentioned anything... Is there any truth to the story, were you stringing them both along?"

"No." Elizabeth told her. "Rob McClannahan was my college sweetheart, but he broke up with me last year, months before I even met Jack."

Elizabeth paused, trying to decide exactly how much of the story to tell.

"Rob and I are still friends, though I will admit that there is some tension between us because we used to date." Elizabeth confessed. "But I didn't string him along."

It was true. To be fair, she had been confused about her feelings, but... This was one of those times that she didn't think that the whole truth was needed.

Helen looked relieved. "Thank you. I didn't want to ask, but..."

"You're protective of Jack." Elizabeth filled in for her. "That's only natural."

Helen smiled. "Thank you for understand, you really are a wonderful young woman. My son's lucky to have you."

Elizabeth smiled. "Thank you."

She was glad to have Helen's approval, though it didn't take away the sting of knowing that Rob's mother had been saying horrible things about her...
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