Of Dreams and Miracles
By Misha

Disclaimer and Notes in Prologue.

Part Fifty-Two: Victory

For the life of her, Elizabeth could never remember any of the details of that final game. Only that her boys, she couldn't think of them any other way, came from behind to beat Finland 4-2.

As soon as the buzzer sounded at the end of the game, Elizabeth rushed onto the ice with the team. She was embraced by very members of the team, all of them overwhelmed with excitement.

Rizzo was the first to reach her and he hugged her tightly before handing her off to Jack, who pulled her into his arms, kissed her deeply, spun her around and the let her go. Then, she was hugged tightly, first by Buzz, then Pav and then Bah.

Elizabeth saw Jimmy with his girlfriend, Amanda, who she had met briefly over the past week. Elizabeth saw Amanda point to Jimmy's father in the stands and she smiled, deciding to give them a moment of privacy. Such as they could get at a time like this.

Elizabeth hugged Mike Ramsey and then Verchota swung her around. Then, she made her way over to Jimmy and Amanda. Mark had joined them by then and Elizabeth saw Amanda hug him, obviously caught up in the moment.

Elizabeth came up to them and hugged Jimmy warmly.

"You were great." She told him.

"Thanks, Liz." Jimmy said with a smile.

Elizabeth smiled at Amanda and then hugged Mark warmly. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." He said with a smile.

"Take care of my best friend." She whispered in his ear.

Mark blushed. "Liz-"

"I know." Elizabeth said and then laughed. Mark and Kathleen might not be as serious as she and Jack were, but something told her that it might not be too long before they were.

She turned away from Mark and towards Rob.

"Hey." She said, coming over to him. They hadn't really talked since the night in his room.

"Hey." He said and then opened up his arms.

Elizabeth went into them willingly, hugging him tightly. He was always going to mean a lot to her and she was glad that he was there and that they were sharing this.

"I'm so proud of you." She told him. "So proud of all of you. You did something great, you know."

"We couldn't have done it without you." Rob told her.

Elizabeth blushed at his words. "He's right."

Rizzo said, coming up to the two of them. "Liz, you were as much a part of this as if you were out there on the ice with us."

"Thanks you guys. That means a lot to me, hearing you say that." Elizabeth hugged Rizzo again and then kissed his cheek. "I'm so glad I got to be a part of this, it was really special."

More special than she could ever put into words. For the rest of her life, she knew she'd never forget the experience of the last few months or these boys.

With that, Elizabeth slipped away from Rizzo and Rob and found Jack once more. She embraced him again.

"Hey, Princess." He said, holding her tight. "I'm glad I got to share this with you."

"So am I." She told him, running her hand up her face. It was amazing, that not only did she get to be a part something this great, but she also got to share it with the man she loved.

Jack leaned in and kissed her deeply.

"Ahem." A voice said from behind them.

The two of them broke apart to see Helen and John standing there, both smiling.

Elizabeth blushed deeply. "Hi, Mrs. O'Callahan."

"Helen." Jack's mother reminded her.

Elizabeth smiled. "Sorry, Helen. We were just--"

"I can see what you were just." Helen said with a twinkle in her eyes. "And I'm sorry to interrupt, we just wanted to congratulate our son."

"Of course." Elizabeth said, stepping back so that Jack's parents could embrace him.

She was just so happy. They had done it!

A few hours later, the medals and awards were handed out.

Mark had been named tournament MVP, a fact that Elizabeth was sure made Kathleen pretty happy.

Now, the boys were all lined up, ready to receive their medals.

Rizzo was on the podium, as were the other two captains while the rest of the team was lined up to side.

The three teams were all lined up neatly as the American National anthem played and the flags were raised. The crowd went nuts and

Elizabeth watched with pride. Her pride swelled as Rizzo motioned for the whole team to join him on the podium.

It was a tight fit and it looked like a couple of the boys were in danger of falling off, but at the same time Elizabeth knew that they were having fun and after everything they had gone through these last months, they had earned a bit of that.

"They look happy, don't they?" Herb whispered in her ear.

Elizabeth nodded and turned to look at her father. "Yeah, they do."

"They deserve it." Herb told her. "They did one Hell of a good job."

"Yeah, they did." Elizabeth agreed happily. "So did you, Coach."

Herb nodded and Elizabeth could tell that he was happy and proud, though she knew he wouldn't put into words.

Still, his dream had been realized and now they were watching the results. It was pretty special.