Chapter Six: Defending Guy

a/n: okay, so here's another chapter. don't forget to write a review. thanks, guys!

Disclaimer: Don't own 'em... although I really wish i do! ;P

Guy turned around to face him. "What are you doing here, cake-eater?" His tone was rather harsh.

"Stop it, Guy. Don't take out your anger on him." She gave her boyfriend a reproachful look. Connie motioned for him to enter.

"Fine, fine. Sorry about that, Banks." He let out a sigh, stood up and walked over to Adam. "I'll go look for coach, see if he has any news or something." Guy looked back at her and said goodbye. "I'll be back later."

Adam waited until Guy had left before he moved towards the chair. "I just thought I'd come and stop by to see how you were. I bought these flowers on my way." He smiled brightly at her.

Connie smiled as she took the flowers from him, "Thanks, they're beautiful."

Adam was probably the sweetest male Duck on the team… next to Guy, of course. Well, Guy doesn't really count since he's her boyfriend and all. Charlie was sweet – along with Ken and Russ, among others – but in a big brother kind of way. Even Luis was sweet, though it was more of a flirty kind of way. Portman and Fulton were sweet… okay, not really, but it was still different when it came to Adam.

"So, pretty exciting day, huh?"

Her smile quickly faded. "Oh no, please don't." She sighed, reading the expression on his face. "If you're here to recite that whole 'you-should-have-told-coach-we-were-so-worried' litany in front of me, save yourself the trouble. Guy was just here to do that."

"Yeah, so I've heard," he acknowledged with a nod, his smile faltering slightly.

Connie's eyebrow shot up. "How long were you standing there, exactly?"

"I wasn't spying, or anything!" He quickly clarified. "I just didn't want to interrupt the two of you, so I waited until you had finished."

She shot him a look.

"I might have been standing there for... a while."

"A while?"

"Okay, it was long enough for me to hear your whole conversation." He looked at her apologetically.

"Conversation?" She asked with a bitter laugh. "Argument, you mean."

Adam nervously played with the covers of her bed. "Well, he did have a point, Cons." As much as he hated taking his side, Adam knew that Guy was right. "It really was a little – " He caught Connie's evil look at him, as if daring him to say the word himself.

"What? Stupid? Brainless? Dumb?" Connie supplied. "Don't worry about the name-calling, Adam. You won't be the first one to call me 'stupid'. Guy had already claimed that honor."

" – silly." He finished, finally finding a word that sounded less harsh than the ones she used. "You didn't have to pretend to that big goon, and to the rest of the Ducks, for that matter. We would have understood. That was a pretty vicious check. Anyone would have been easily hurt."

"I wasn't about to give him that satisfaction." She muttered, adjusting her pillow. "Fine. Guy had a point, but did he have to point that to me so callously?" Connie ranted.

He knew it. This was going to turn into one of those 'talks' they have every time Connie and Guy had a fight. "Maybe he was just really upset. I mean he was worried about you. How would you feel if it was you who saw him like that? It's not a great feeling, Cons, like he said. You can't really blame him for acting like he did." Gee, you really nailed it that time, Banks. What are you, Germaine's defense attorney all of a sudden?

Why he was suddenly defending Guy, he had absolutely no idea. Maybe because what he said to her was true. If fate had only been kind to him, it would be the same things he would be telling her, as her boyfriend. Boy, oh boy. Did fate really screwed up that one.

Adam shook the thought off his head. This was not the right time to be sulking about that.

His comment made Connie pause. Not because he was actually defending Guy – which was weird in itself – but because it made total sense.

Oh and how she hated it!

"Who are you and what have you done to my Adam?"

He pointedly ignored her question and rolled his eyes.

"Great, now you can't even humor me? Just so you know, I'm beginning to hate you now." Connie declared half-jokingly. Where was the Adam who would always indulge her every time she whined about Guy? That Adam was nowhere in sight tonight.

Adam gave her a skeptical look and scoffed, "Yeah, right. You'd do that."

She groaned in frustration. "Since when did you start taking his side?!" Her eyebrows furrowed.

"I'm not taking any sides." Adam answered truthfully. "I just… know what he's feeling."

Yup, he knew exactly what Guy was feeling. When he saw her fall, Adam was just as worried as him. When it came to Connie, the two guys share every sentiment there was. Except, of course, Connie's affection. It was the one thing Guy enjoyed for himself, and Adam coveted the most.

"Julie was almost hysterical." Adam shook his head and gave a small laugh, before turning serious. "I wa – I mean, we were all really worried back there, seeing your like that."

Connie paused and sighed. She was being unreasonable to both men, and she knew it. "Yes, I know. I'm sorry," she said, finally conceding. "It's just that, Guy was not exactly making it easy for me… and I don't really need the same thing from you."

He nodded slowly. "Fair enough. I'm shutting up now."

She looked at him expectantly. Adam waved, as if signaling her to continue her ranting. Connie jumped on the opportunity. "You know, the least he could have done after calling me stupid was to tell me he's glad I'm okay. What kind of boyfriend wouldn't do that? I mean, you would at least do that to your girlfriend, wouldn't you? Who wouldn't?!" She went on and on.

"Tsk tsk tsk, and to think he already had several years of experience with this." Adam agreed with a smile. They were back in their usual banter. He liked it. It was comfortable, not to mention safe. The pretense of his friendship can hide any revealing emotion he might show. "Allow me to say it first, then. I'm really glad you're okay, Cons."

"Thanks," she answered, blushing slightly. Adam had been looking at her intently when he said it. His eyes were firmly fixed into hers. It was weird. None of the other Ducks would look at her like that, except for Guy. Relax, Connie. It's Adam, your closest male friend, remember? There's nothing wrong with it.

The room fell into a comfortable silence, except for the sound of the machines attached to her. "So," she started, breaking the silence. "Where are the others?"

"They're back at the dorms. Orion ordered us to go home a couple of hours ago. I figured I'd sneak out and check in on you."

"And Coach?"

"I spoke to him outside a while ago. He was quite angry to see me, actually." Adam ran his fingers through his head. "I think he's still trying to contact your aunt."

Connie let out a snort. "Well, good luck about that. They're off somewhere in Australia. God knows where."

"Oh, I see." Adam was silent for a moment. "So-uh, where are you spending the summer?" Don't say Guy's. Please do not say Guy's!

"I'll be spending it at Julie's."

Yes, there is a god! "That's great," he mumbled under his breath. Relief washed over his face. With that, at least he can't torture himself trying to figure out what she and Guy would be doing all summer.

That caught her attention, but Connie shrugged it off and stared at the ceiling. Maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her. "Hey, how long am I supposed to stay here, anyway?" She asked, rubbing her them.

"They're keeping you for 24 hours, from what I heard. They want to make sure everything is back to normal before they release you." That time, Adam couldn't help himself from sounding jubilant. He was grinning from ear to ear, eyes twinkling.

She whipped her head towards his direction, and a perplexed look flashed on Connie's face for a second. There was no mistake that time. Adam had sounded and looked thoroughly pleased. Again, it was weird, but not in a freaky way. There were times when he would suddenly act like that, but she just can't figure out why.

Adam seemed oblivious to her sudden reaction.

Connie decided to let it go and instead gave an exasperated sigh. "That's great. Now I'll get to die of boredom instead."

"I said they were keeping you for a day, not a millennium." He rolled his eyes and laughed. "Just deal, Moreau."

Guy entered the visitor's lounge and found their coach talking with someone on the phone. He could only hear his side of the conversation, but from the looks on Orion's face, he could tell it was not good.

"Yes, yes, I know that. But come on, I – … I understand but… No, you can't do that… Let me figure out something… Fine. I'll see you at your office first thing Monday morning."

"Who was that, coach?" Guy asked as soon as Orion hanged up.

"That was the dean," he said with a frustrated sigh. "I think we may have some problems."

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Emily: ha ha, to tell you the truth, i don't really care who got to him first! by the way, i'm sending Bruno a 'thank you' card. ;P

The Artist Formerly Known as Q: hey there, Quimby! thanks for taking the time to review my fic. you wrote quite a lot! :-) okay, first things first. thanks for the compliment. it actually means a lot, since English is just my second language. ;P second, sorry about that "Taylor" thing. yeah, I noticed, and changed it right away. just another case of carelessness. must have slipped my mind, I guess. anyway, i hope yo keep on reviewing. thanks again! ;-)

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