Of Dreams and Miracles
By Misha

Disclaimer and Notes in Prologue.

Part Forty-Seven: Family Time

The XII Winter Olympics, Day Twelve

Everyone was pretty tense the day before the big game against the Soviets, so Herb gave them all the day off. Elizabeth spent the day hanging out with the team as usual, just relaxing.

That night, though, she decided to spend some quality time with her family. It had been some time since she had really spent any real amount of time just hanging out with her parents and siblings and if she went to Boston, then she wouldn't have that many opportunities to spend time with them.

There was a rink set up inside the Olympic village where people could go skating, so Elizabeth skated with Kelly and Danny while her parents talked.

She was amazed at how much she had missed her brother and sister. She had barely seen them since training camp had begun in July and she really felt the absence. So, it was nice, just hanging out with them and enjoying their company.

After a while, Elizabeth decided to take a break.

"I'm going to go sit with Mom and Dad, okay you guys?" She asked them. "You two keep skating and I'll watch."

Her siblings nodded and Elizabeth made her way over to the bench where her parents were sitting. She arrived just in time to catch the conversation they were having.

"I got a telegram today from a lady in Texas." She heard her father telling her mother. "You know what it said?"

Elizabeth did, since she had been there when it had arrived.

Patti shook her head head. "No what?" She asked as she handed

Elizabeth a hot chocolate. Elizabeth took it gratefully and began to sip it.

"Beat those commie bastards." Herb informed her.

"Wow." Patti said, shaking her head.

"We're playing a hockey game against the greatest team in the world. Maybe the best that's ever played this game. Why can't we leave it at that?" Herb asked.

"Because this is more than a hockey game to a lot of people." Patti told him.

"Yeah, this is big." Elizabeth echoed. She was just starting to understand how big it was.

"Yeah." Her father repeated. "I keep running through them all. Johnson on Mikhailov. Broton on Petrov. Pav against whoever-ov. We just... We don't match up, Patti."

Elizabeth looked down into her hot chocolate, a part of her knew that her father was right. Skill-wise, they didn't match up. But it wasn't about pure talent, it was about heart and desire. She refused to believe that the Soviets wanted this as much as the boys did.

"You might want to skip that when you talk to the boys tomorrow." Patti chided. "Herb, there's no disgrace in losing to this team."

"I know." Herb said, but Elizabeth knew he didn't believe it.

"The important thing is that you got this far." Patti reminded him.

"The important this is those 20 boys knowing in 20 years that they didn't leave anything on the table, that they played their hearts out." Herb corrected. "That's the important thing."

"I think they will." Elizabeth told him. "This team, they have a lot of heart and I think tomorrow, win or lose, they'll play with everything they've got."

Herb didn't say anything, just looked pensive.

Patti and Elizabeth exchanged a look. They both knew how much this meant to Herb, how much he had riding on this game. He had been waiting for this moment for twenty years and Elizabeth wasn't sure how he'd take it if the moment passed him by again.

She could only pray that it wouldn't. She honestly believed that this team was special, she just hoped that was enough.
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That night, after Patti took Kelly and Danny back to their hotel, Elizabeth sat in her room for a while, and then decided to go talk to her father. She knew that he was pretty tense and she thought he could maybe use the company, even though he'd never ask for it. She didn't knock, just walked through the door that connected their rooms.

"Daddy?" She asked, stepping into his room.

"Hey." Herb said, not turning away from where he was looking out the window.

"Thinking about tomorrow?" Elizabeth asked quietly.

"Yeah." Herb answered. "We're playing the best in the world, Liz. The moment is almost here and I don't know if we can do it."

"You can." Elizabeth assured him. "This team's special, Dad. They can do it. They will do it."

"I hope so." Herb told her. "I want this so badly, Lizzie. I've waited twenty years for it."

"I know." She told him softly. "It's going to happen, just wait and see."

Her father nodded. "I just wish your mother were here to see it." He told her softly, looking far into the distance.

"Umm, Dad, Mom's just at her hotel, you saw her an hour ago, she'll be there tomorrow." Elizabeth pointed out and then she suddenly realized what he had meant. "You mean--"

For some reason the thought had never occurred to her.

"Laura." Herb replied. "I've been thinking about her a lot these last few days. She would have loved to see this." He paused and looked at Elizabeth. "You and I, we don't talk a lot about what happened with the Olympic team in 1960, but Laura was right there through the tryouts and she was just as disappointed as I was when it didn't work out, but she never let me feel like I failed her or let her down in anyway."

Elizabeth was quiet, having known that in theory. After all, she had known that her father and Laura had been married by then, since she'd already born, and it made sense that her father's wife would support him through his disappointment.

She felt a little uncomfortable because these were two subjects that they never talked about. The 1960 Olympic team and her birth mother.

"Do you miss her?" Elizabeth asked quietly, having never thought to ask her father that before. It had simply never occurred to her until that moment.

"Sometimes." Herb told her quietly. "I love Patti and I wouldn't give up our life together or Kelly and Danny for anything, but I do regret that Laura's life ended so soon and so tragically. There are also moments like this where I wish she were here. She shared my love of the game, understood this part of me and my life in a way your mom never will."

Elizabeth slightly as he referred to Patti as her mother and Laura by her first name. It was the truth. She doubted he even did it on purpose, it was just how it was.

"I wish I could remember her." Elizabeth confided, having never admitted that out loud before. She had always felt that it would be disloyal to Patti. To her mother.

"She loved you, Lizzie." Herb told her softly. "She would be so proud of you, of the woman you grew up to be. In fact, you remind me so much of her."

Elizabeth wrapped her arms around her father, not knowing how to respond. Besides, this was one of those times when actions were better than words.

Herb held her close to him, still staring out into space. They stood there for a long time in quiet reflection.
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