Disclaimer: We don't own the Ducks and probably never will because they belong to Disney. However, Emaliar Malfoy does own Bella, Ollie, Seraphina, Alex, and Patrick "Paddy" Ridley. Bobcatwriter owns Annie, Mike, Travon, all the characters at Lakeshore Academy, Baby Hans, Paddy's family, The Lebrie Family, Reese, Mark, Judge Stone, Judge Murray, a few of the other students and teachers from Eden Hall.
A/N: This is the sequel to the other Mighty Ducks story's: "The Way Things Are", "The Way Things Were" and "The Way Things Should Be". We recommend you read those three first. However, this can also be read as a stand-alone story. Please read and review. Reviews are good for the soul.
Chapter 16
January 3rd, 1999
Adam's POV
When I got back up to Lakeshore on January 3rd, I decided to mark the calendar for the day when we would be arriving back in Minnesota, hopefully. Coach said that we will be arriving on July 15th. We had to take our time because of baby Hans, since by then he be walking for sure, and he would need time outside of his car seat or so Michele said. I could not believe that I have spent a whole year up here, already. Although I knew that I was ready to go home, the staff didn't think that I was ready to go home, just yet.
I was marking the calendar with the number of days until I saw Gunnar again, "192, 193, 194," I said and then I sighed.
"What's wrong?" Ollie asked.
"194 days until Gunnar and I will be reunited, this suck's," I said as I grabbed onto the ring and held it in my hand.
"Adam your language," Ollie said.
I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Besides, it could be worse, it could be years like Grandma and Grandpa were apart," Ollie said.
"Yeah but Grandma and Grandpa were married. Gunnar and I are dating, I am scared that I am going to get dumped," I said as I climbed up on my bed.
"Adam relax it will go fast you will see," Ollie said.
"Yeah Right," I said.
January 13th, 1999
184 Days until Adam sees Gunnar
9:52 Am
"Hey Adam, do you mind if we changed our appointment from 1:15 to after school today?" Dr. Freeman asked me.
"No, Why?" I asked.
"Because I completely forgot that I had a prior appointment with my dentist until the dentist called me last night to confirm my appointment. You know what that is like?" Dr. Freeman asked.
"Yeah sure, I suppose, but I need to study for the SAT tests," I said. I was going to have my SAT's on February 13th at Periwinkle High in Periwinkle, California. There were 4 of us that were going to take the SAT's that day. Brian, Nick, Trevor, and myself. I had gotten some ACT and SAT prep books from Connie's Parents, Ollie, and Grandma for Christmas. The book Grandma gave me the day we left Minnesota; she gave it to me at the airport.
"Adam you can do your studying for the SAT's after we have therapy. And they are not for a month anyway," Dr. Freeman said.
"But it looks really hard, I want to do well," I said.
"Relax Adam, it's just a test," Dr. Freeman said as he walked away.
Relax? How could I relax? That test determined my whole future, whether I got into college.
12:30pm
Ollie handed me a big fat manilla envelope, it had Bella's return address on it. I knew what it was. The college brochures from the college fair that Eden Hall had last week. Bella had told me that she was going to get something from every school that had a hockey program. So I knew what my options were. There was only one school that I had my heart set on going. The University of Minnesota in Minneapolis or more commonly known as the U.
"Man that envelope is thick; did Bella get enough information for you?" Ollie asked.
"No I could use some more information," I said.
I opened the envelope and all the information spilled out onto the lunch table I could not believe it; Bella had sent me information from 57 colleges plus the Air Force and the Army. Like I really wanted to go to their schools, no thank you.
"How many colleges, there has to be over 50," Mike said.
"I don't know, I will count them later," I said. I had moved to the staff table for meals when Ollie moved into my room, so I would not feel like the lone wolf out.
4:15 pm
I walked into Dr. Freeman's office, "You ready for me?" I asked.
"Yes come on in Adam," Dr. Freeman said.
I walked in and sat down, "So how are you doing today?" Dr. Freeman asked.
I shrugged my shoulders, "Alright I guess," I said.
"Come on Adam, tell me the truth," Dr. Freeman said.
I sighed before I said, "I miss stuff, I miss Gunnar, I miss hockey. I want to play. Bella told me that she is going to meet with the coaches of Wisconsin and have a campus visit next month."
"Adam you know the rules," Dr. Freeman said.
"I know and I promise that I will not cut, but I see the ice on the lake and it's calling to me Adam, Adam come skate on me you know you want to. I feel like it's taunting me," I said.
"What did you want to do when you were younger?" Dr. Freeman asked.
"I don't know," I said.
"Come on Adam, you know that is not the truth," Dr. Freeman said.
I sighed before I said, "I wanted to play hockey, I wanted to play for the North Stars like my dad did. I meant like Phillip did."
"That's okay Adam, you can call Phillip whatever you like," Dr. Freeman said.
"I know, I feel guilty because if I call him Phillip I am disrespecting him but if I call him dad I would be disrespecting Coach and Michele who actually want me," I said.
"I know it's a sticky spot. If you were not Phillip and Seraphina's son. Do you think that you would still want to be playing hockey?" Dr. Freeman asked.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Do you think that if you were Gordon and Michele's son in the first place and were not related to the Banks family would you want to play hockey," Dr. Freeman said.
"I don't know, I mean I guess. But you told me that we could not dwell on the what if's," I said.
"I know I said that. Do you still want to play hockey?" Dr. Freeman asked.
"Yes I do, I was doing a little skating while I was home on Christmas break. I felt great, it was perfect. Despite the fact, my timing was off. But Julie did let a few easy goals in to give me some confidence," I said.
"What were you going to do when you were forty, Adam? You can't play hockey forever," Dr. Freeman said.
"I know that, I was going to look back on a great career. Maybe do something with an NHL team, now look at me I am not even a has been. I am a never was," I said.
"Adam you can't look at it that way," Dr. Freeman said.
"Yes, I can. You don't understand, I felt free on the ice. I felt like myself, where I didn't feel the pressures of life. It was just me, the puck, the stick, the Ice, and the goal. I didn't need anything else I was free. I didn't worry about the constant pressure to perform, I didn't worry about what my father thought of me, I didn't worry about how my mother babied me. I was back and I was awesome. It was like I was 4 years old again, back when everything was okay. I want to feel like that every time I touch the ice," I said.
Dr. Freeman sighed before he said, "You do love it, don't you?"
I got up and looked out of the window. Luckily, there was a clear view of the lake from his office. The lake was pretty much frozen over. It was not frozen solid but that would be coming in a couple of weeks' time. However the lake would be frozen for just a few weeks and then that was the end of that. But it didn't matter now, I sighed.
"There is something that I want to give you," Dr. Freeman said.
I looked at him with a furrowed brow before I said, "It's not Christmas and it's not even close to my birthday."
"Sit down, close your eyes and put out your hands," Dr. Freeman said.
"You are not going to hand me a used gum wrapper, Goldberg did that to me a few times," I said.
"No, I promise it's good," Dr. Freeman said.
I sat down on the couch and did what Dr. Freeman wanted me to do. I felt something heavy go into my hands. "Okay, Adam you can open your eyes now," Dr. Freeman said.
When I opened my eyes, there was a pair of hockey skates in my hands, with a bow wrapped around the laces. "Does this mean? Does this mean I can skate?" I asked.
"No Adam it's for the kid behind you, of course you can skate. But there are some requirements you must do. To be safe about this. So there is no skating without someone to watch you. You must clear the snow off the ice each time before you skate, you must keep them stored in Dr. Binford's office, you can't wear them in the house. And it must be below 32 degrees for at least 4 days before you can skate out there," Dr. Freeman said.
I couldn't help myself, after my session. I had to tell everybody, I ran up the stairs with my skates on my shoulders and yelled, "I can skate, I can skate, I can skate!"
"I know congratulations," Annie said to me as I hugged her. Dr. Binford came out of his office to see what the matter was.
"Thank you Dr. Binford," I said.
"You welcome Adam," Dr. Binford said.
"Ollie do you have video tapes? We have a lot of work to do," I said.
"I will get some in town tomorrow," Ollie said.
5:30 pm
I was glued to the tv that night, watching the news hoping just hoping that the weatherman said that it was going to be below 32 for the next four days and I could go skating on the 17th.
"Our extended forecast tomorrow will be a high of 52 with a low of 28, Friday will be a high of 57 with a low of 41, All next week highs near or above 50 with lows in the 30's," said the weatherman.
"OH THIS IS KILLING ME!," I yelled.
"Adam calm down," Mike said.
"Calm down how can I calm down if I don't get any ice time?" I asked.
"Adam you will get your ice time, you have to keep in mind up in the mountains you can knock off an easy 15 degrees," Mike said.
"I hope so, Mike I hope so,"
January 22nd, 1999
175 Days until I see Gunnar
Adam's POV
I was six days before I was able to get some ice time in. Ollie filmed a lot of me playing by myself. I had to come up with a short introduction. I ended up with my name is Adam Banks welcome to Periwinkle, California. I love to play hockey and I would love to come play for your school. Ollie had made copies of the tapes and I started to send them out, via FedEx. Gordon and Michele paid for the shipping of my tapes back to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Nebraska. We even got some game footage from the Junior Goodwill Games committee, again thanks to Gordon. That was awesome, Ollie and I had paired down the number of colleges from 57 down to 37.
{Flashback January 14th, 1999}
"So how are we going to pare down these colleges?" Ollie asked.
"Well I don't want to go to a private school. I have had enough of them, for my entire life. I want to go somewhere where Gunnar and I can be out together. Despite what grandma thinks," I said.
"So Boston College, University of Notre Dame, Augsburg University, Bethel University, College of St. Scholastica, Concordia College, Gustavus Adolphus College, Hamline University, Hope College, Lake Forest College, Lawrence University, Marian University, Middlebury College, Saint Anselm College, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, Salve Regina University, St. John's University, St. Norbert College, St. Olaf College and University of St. Thomas are out?" Ollie asked.
"Yep," I said.
"Are you sure about St. John's University, I mean the head coach was an Olympian on the 1980 miracle on ice team?" Ollie asked again.
"Yes I am sure I don't want to go to a college that won't allow Gunnar and I to be together. I want to be with my boyfriend," I said.
"Alright, Alright I give up. I thought you would be interested in learning something from John Harrington, but I guess not," Ollie said.
"I would be interested if he wasn't coaching at a 4-year private Catholic School," I said.
"What about Wisconsin?" Ollie said.
"At Madison?" I asked.
"No Timbuktu, of course Madison," Ollie said.
"There are still in for now," I said.
"Have you decided on a major yet?" Ollie asked.
"Nope, maybe psychology. I don't know. It's not like I don't have plenty of time to decide right?" I asked.
"Yep you have plenty of time to figure out what you want to do," Ollie said.
{End of Flashback}
It reached a balmy 27 degrees outside at a little after 2 today. I could not wait, After school I would grab my skates and walk down to the Lake and work on Skating for a couple of hours only to be chased in, by the dinner bell then I would have to do my chores, homework and then study for the SAT's.
After school today, I ran upstairs to get my ice skates so that I could skate outside and found Dr. Binford's office locked.
"Hey Mike, I want to go skating, why can't I go?" I asked.
"Dr. Binford left for the day. Annie's at the Doctor, Jeremy took a few of the boys to the Dentist," Mike said.
"Where's Ollie?" I asked.
"Ollie said something about study group at the library at 4 o'clock," Mike said.
"Oh that's right, but I want to go skating," I said.
"I am sorry Adam but there is not enough staff here to fulfill Dr. Binford's orders," Mike said.
"Please, I will be careful I promise. I haven't cut in almost a year, please, please?" I asked.
Mike sighed before he got his keys out of his pocket to unlock Dr. Binford's door and said, "Alright, but don't make me regret this."
"I promise I won't let that happen," I said as I grabbed my stuff.
I quickly made it down to the Lake and was putting on my pads in case I fell, as I was feeling the blade I heard.
"Come on Adam you know you want to," said a voice.
I turned but I didn't see anybody.
"Come on Adam cut this is your opportunity. They are not looking," said the voice again.
I realized it was my conscience, my bad conscience.
"NO, I have worked too hard to earn their trust back. I will not cut, I want to live," I said to myself and then I took off my shoes and put the skates on and laced them really well. I quickly scooped the snow off the surface that had blown back over since Ollie and I were done filming and practice yesterday. Then I set up the trash cans and started to play some pond hockey. I was playing for about 20 or so minutes when Henry waddled out to the lake and got in between me and the goal.
"Quack, quack, quack, quack," Henry said.
"Hey Henry, you going to play a little defense?" I asked.
"Quack, quack, quack," Henry said.
I faked Henry right out of his webbed feet, and put the puck into the trash can. Then I went and grabbed the puck and went down the length of the ice. I and Henry were playing for about 10 minutes when I accidentally let go of a slap shot.
"HENRY GET OUT OF THE WAY!" I yelled but I was too late the next second Henry got hit in the head with the puck and fell to the ice.
A/N: Before I go and hide under a rock. Let us know what do you think? Thanks!