In the short space between the meeting and the JV/Varsity showdown Coach Orion had taught them the 'blue collar hockey' method and it was hard work.

Connie had never been so sore in all of her life. Each day she was discovering new muscles she never knew existed.

"This blue collar hockey sure does wonders for my body" Julie was standing in front of the mirror realising that her favourite pair of jeans were now too big for her.

"Tell me about it" Connie had been annoyed to find her really expensive dress pants didn't fit her at all now.

"Are you ready to go?" Julie asked Connie.

The Ducks were taking a night off to go and see a movie together.

"Yeah, lets go" Connie stood up and grabbed her purse.

"Why am I not surprised that we're the first ones here" Julie commented laughing when she saw that none of the boys were at the fountain yet.

"And they say we're bad" Connie laughed taking a seat. She couldn't help but look over to the bench where her and Rick had been the day he found her crying.

"Are you okay?" Julie asked.

Connie snapped out of it "Yeah why?" she asked putting on a smile.

"You just looked a little sad" Julie said.

"Oh just thinking about Hans" Connie covered.

"Hey girls have you been waiting long?" Charlie and the rest of the boys arrived each wearing a sheepish smile.

"Oh let me think, only forever" Julie replied sarcastically.

"Sorry Catlady" Fulton said.

"Hey what about me I was waiting too" Connie protested.

"Fine! Sorry Catlady and Velvet Hammer" Fulton rolled his eyes.

"That's better" Connie said satisfied.

"Come on guys lets go" Charlie tapped his foot impatiently. Why was it always so difficult getting the Ducks to do anything?

They eventually made it to the movie theatre with a few minutes to spare, after Goldberg had gotten his fix of junk food that was.

"Hey Julie I got you this candy bar" Goldberg offered the offending bar to Julie.

"Bite me Goldie" Julie shoved the bar back at him. She wasn't stupid, after the 'whole yummy array of goodies' episode she wasn't going to let him get the better of her again.

"Come on Connie lets get a good seat" Julie grabbed Connie and headed for the back of the theatre where they found some unwelcome company.

Rick had decided to take Traci out on a date to the movies and neither Connie nor Luis were too happy about it. Luis was more visibly upset about it but Connie hid it pretty well.

"Excuse me" Connie said bitterly as she passed Rick and Traci.

"Great now our date is ruined by Ducks" Traci said displeased.

Connie had her eye on the empty seats further down the aisle but as luck, or lack thereof, would have it those seats were filled by the other Ducks and the only one left was the one next to Rick.

"Fanfuckingtastic" Connie swore earning her a puzzled look from Julie. Connie never used such colourful language in public.

Fulton ended up sitting on the other side of Connie just in case anything was to happen. He didn't dare ask to swap otherwise he would have copped an earbashing about how Connie could look after herself.

If only he knew.

Connie found it very hard to concentrate on the movie as all she could hear was Traci's stupid giggle and Rick's smooth voice telling her all the things he used to tell Connie.

Stupid jackass Connie thought trying to tell herself that she was over him.

Half-way through the movie Connie could hear kissing sounds and was a little hurt to see Rick and Traci in a full-blown makeout session.

Fulton nudged her and she rolled her eyes indicating to the couple. Fulton grinned and placed a friendly arm around Connie.

I'll show Rick she thought as she snuggled into Fulton a little.

It wasn't so odd to see the girls like that with one of the male Ducks. They all had this close platonic friendship but Connie was aware that kissing Fulton was too creepy and like kissing your own brother so she scrapped that idea.

"Aw look the Bash Brother has a girlfriend" they heard Traci snigger.

Connie looked across to see Rick's face full of anger.

"What's his problem?" Fulton whispered to Connie.

"Beats me" Connie played innocent. Inside she was ecstatic, she'd gotten to him!

"SSHH!" came a harsh whisper from behind them.

Connie and Fulton settled back down and Rick and Traci ended up abandoning the make out session and started watching the movie.

Ten minutes later Connie was more than surprised to feel a hand on her own. She glanced at Rick who was pretending to be interested in the movie.

She tried to discreetly wrench her hand free but he held onto it. Eventually she gave up deciding she liked the warmth of his touch. She'd been missing it the past few days.

The movie finished and the lights came on. Rick let go of Connie's hand as if they hadn't been touching at all.

"Hey lets hit up the arcade!" Russ suggested.

"Come on Rick, you can hit me up, we'll leave these babies to their arcade" Traci said suggestively making Connie's stomach churn.

Rick didn't say anything as he left. He couldn't look at Connie and see what damage he'd done. He couldn't stand knowing he'd just hurt her even more than he already had.

"Coming Cons?" Fulton laid his arm around Connie again.

"Yep" Connie said firmly shooting one last glance at Rick before leaving with the Ducks.

The last image Rick had of Connie that night was her retreating back with the Bash Brother's arm where his own should have been.

……………………...………………………..

"Last night was fun huh?" Fulton commented to Connie in the hallway.

"Yeah especially when I kicked your ass at air hockey" Connie laughed.

"I let you win" Fulton protested.

"Oh you did not!" Connie teased.

"Aw how sweet, its Mr and Mrs Bash" Traci sniggered on her way past with her posse of cheerleaders.

Connie and Fulton looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"That is just so wrong" Fulton laughed.

"Hey! What's wrong with me?" Connie teased.

"Nothing, its just you know, its like dating my sister" Fulton hoped he wasn't in trouble.

"I know I'm just messing with ya" Connie slugged him on the shoulder and dragged him to their English class.

………………………...…………………………..

"What the hell is that?" Connie pointed to the garbage can located in the centre of the ice.

"It's a trash can Connie, haven't you ever seen one of those before?" Charlie said sarcastically.

"Bite me Spazzway" Connie retorted.

"I'd love to Connie" Charlie poked his tongue out at her like they used to when they were little.

"Team over here NOW!" Coach Orion blew his whistle.

The team skated over to the offending trash can and took a knee.

"Right first up we've got a new player who's really an old player so no one will really care if he joins the team. Banks get over here" Orion called to Adam who had just entered the rink.

"Hey Banks!" the team chorused as Adam joined them. They knew that Rick had told them that they could keep Adam but no one said it was official so they were glad to have one of their star players back on the team.

Orion immediately continued his instructions.

"As I've said before we need to play two way hockey. Now I've been studying the Varsity's tapes and I'm not going to lie to you. They're good. The way they wiped your faces in the dirt last time was no fluke"

"Inspiring" Averman whispered.

"But one thing I've learned about Varsity is that they're vultures around the net. They pick up every loose piece of trash" Orion emptied the contents of the trash can on the ice.

The Ducks wrinkled their noses. It was stinky garbage.

"And that's what we need to do to clear the net. Pick up every loose piece of trash. Any questions?" he asked.

A bagel had rolled past Connie and stopped in front of Averman who picked it up.

"Got any cream cheese?" he asked innocently.

The rest of the practice was spent picking up all of the trash. Connie had to admit, it was a very effective way of training.

Coach also had the team on a community service project that also benefited their hockey training. Yes they were picking up the trash on the streets of Minnesota on their blades.

Coach had pointed out that it would help keep their grades up too and community service always looked good on a school report card.

After the third day straight of clearing up garbage in the rink they were pretty well done.

"Alright I think this place is pretty clean" Connie yelled sweeping her stick back and forth.

The shrill sound of Orion's whistle cut into the little celebration.

"Take a knee" he barked.

Barely two seconds later the whistle went off again "Get over here!" he screamed.

The Ducks looked at each other warily. Is this the return of the asshole Orion they'd met earlier in the year?

"You guys are not skating like Warriors" he yelled.

The team looked at each other. He couldn't be serious!

"You look like something else" his voice softened.

Now the team was really confused.

"You look like Ducks" Orion grinned as he stepped forward to open a cardboard box.

The Ducks grinned when he realised it was their jerseys.

"Robertson" Orion held one up and chucked it to Dwayne. The rest of them scurried forward to claim their jerseys back.

"Circle!" Charlie shouted leading the quack.

"Ducks, Ducks, Ducks, Ducks, Ducks, Ducks" they all chanted.

They were Ducks again.

A/N - thanks for your reviews I'll go respond to them now.