A/N: Hey y'all! I started writing this second part almost immediately after the first one. I know I received a few reviews about some of the missing characters so I hope y'all enjoy this. The subject matter in this is different than most of my work. As I said, I started writing this in 2014 and had most of it finished then. Then a Switched at Birth episode came out and dealt with the same issue and I felt weird about it. But here it is. Any similarities is completely coincidental. When I wrote the first chapter I intended this story to be a one shot but it has grown. After this there will be one last chapter. Not sure when it will be updated but it WILL be updated! So please be patient with me!
Disclaimer: I don't own The Mighty Ducks.
At the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport sat three irritated young adults. Their plane to Minneapolis had been delayed for an hour and God only knows how much longer they would have to wait. All three had at one point or another been part of a hockey team called the Ducks. They were supposed to be in Minneapolis for a Ducks reunion to take place that night, and it was already six. Nineteen people were lucky enough to call themselves a Duck and they were getting together to celebrate their bright futures. Well, nineteen minus the three that were stuck in the airport.
"This sucks." Tammy said. "I'm so pissed."
Tammy had been battling with the decision of whether she wanted to go to the reunion since she had found out about it. She hadn't made up her mind until that morning. She had to wait hours for a seat to open up on a plane in Nashville and now she probably was going to miss the reunion she had spent weeks stressing over. Pissed was probably an understatement.
"I know what you mean." Dwayne nodded. When Luis had first called Dwayne to let him know the Ducks were going to have a big reunion Dwayne did not know what to think. Dwayne had made the decision to return to Texas after spending four years in Minnesota for high school. He had loved living in Minnesota and being a part of the Ducks but Minnesota wasn't his home, Texas was. Out of all the Ducks that lived out of Minnesota he was probably the one that went to visit his friends in Minnesota the most. That's why when Luis told him about the plan for a huge reunion; Dwayne said he wasn't sure if he could come. He was just burned out on flying there and only being able to stay for a few days before he'd have to return back to his life in Texas.
He had made no plans to travel to Minnesota; it was only at the last second that he decided to go. Charlie had called him that morning, "Come on, when was the last time ALL of the Ducks were together? Never!"
So Dwayne said, "Oh what the heck. I'll be there!"
When Dwayne got to Easterwood Airport in College Station he went through the same thing Tammy did. He could have driven to Dallas in the time he waited for a seat to open up.
They both looked at Ken. "I actually wanted to go when I found out about the reunion!"
Tammy rolled her eyes. "You're lucky you don't have any issues with anyone."
"I'm sure it's not as bad as you make it sound."
"I was there at Sunny Abbott's party, and y'all seemed fine there." Dwayne quipped as a family of four ran past them to their gate.
A guy also waiting for the flight to Minnapolis interrupted Dwayne before he could continue. "Sunny Abbott? I know her!"
"Let me guess, you've slept with her." Tammy rolled her eyes.
The guy was disgruntled. "She's my sister."
"Oh. Well this is awkward."
Dwayne cleared his throat, "So, anyway, Ken trust me it's even worse." They were talking about the reason why Tammy had struggled with the decision to go to the reunion.
Ken looked at Tammy, "We all know what happened, but what did happen?"
Tammy didn't say anything for a few minutes, and the overhead speaker reminded everyone in the airport about not leaving baggage alone twice before Tammy said anything. It was still really painful for her to think about let alone talk about. After she collected her thoughts she began her story.
Freshman year Tammy and Fulton reconnected with each other at the community college they were both attending. They started dating around Christmas that same year. Tammy and Fulton were a couple that just made sense to everyone who knew them. They were both a little rough around the edges but they were at their best when together. The summer before their sophomore year, Tammy flew to Nashville for a dance camp that was taking place over six weeks. Not long after she left The Ducks Tammy decided to get into ballet. It wasn't that different from figure skating and Tammy learned that she liked it better.
While in Nashville Tammy became close to one of the other dancers and when she would talk to Fulton on the phone every night she would tell him about Taylor.
The night before everyone was supposed to go home the dancers threw a party at the home of one of their instructors.
Tammy mostly hung out with Taylor, Diana, Kylee, and Ryan. They were the dancers she was the closest too. She was drinking trashcan punch and it was the strongest drink she had never had in her life. This party made the parties The Ducks throw look like a child's party. Not even an hour into the party, Tammy was drunk.
At four in the morning Tammy left the house, visibly distraught. She was able to walk a block before she found a bench to sit on. Tammy pulled her tangled hair out of her face. Grabbing her phone from her pocket and through still drunk eyes she went through her contact list before finding the person she wanted to talk to the most right then.
Tears fell down Tammy's face as the phone rang and rang. Eventually it went to voicemail, "Hey, this is Fulton Reed. Uh, leave a message and yeah…" Beep. Tammy sniffled. "I messed up," was all she could say. Setting her phone next to her, Tammy curled up on the bench and continued to cry.
Three hours later Tammy was in the dorm she had been staying at while she was attending the dance camp. She had turned her phone off. Tammy wasn't sure what she was going to say to Fulton but she knew she had to do it in person. She had a few more hours before she had to go to the airport and still had to pack and clean the dorm. Luckily her roommate Hillary had left earlier that morning and had done most of the cleaning. Tammy had to thank every god to ever exist for her immunity to hangovers. She never so much as got a headache after a night of drinking.
While folding her clothes, Tammy heard a knock at the door and walked over to open the door.
It was Taylor. There he stood all 6 feet of him in the doorway. He wore the same plain grey shirt and a pair of jeans he had been wearing at the party. Tammy left the door open and walked back to the pile of clothes and suitcases on her bed. She went back to folding and packing.
"You were gone when I woke up." Taylor stated.
Tammy turned to look at him, noticing that his blue eyes were bloodshot. "You look like shit."
Taylor leaned against a wall his arms crossed against his chest. "I feel like shit."
"Good. You deserve it." She didn't look away from him and her words seemed to have an effect on him.
"It takes two to tango." He smirked, and ran a hand through his unruly brown hair. She wanted to punch him; in fact, she thought she was going too. Growing up with a bunch of guy friends, she had learned a thing or two about how to punch someone.
Tammy decided not to hurt him. She just didn't have it in her, at least not at the moment. "I was fucked up, Tay. You knew I have a boyfriend. How could you?"
"I wanted to and you seemed down for it. You can be pissed at me all you want, but you were not complaining last night." He shrugged.
"Get out!" Tammy yelled at him but Taylor stayed put until she started towards him.
"Whatever." Tammy locked the door before sliding down against it and began to cry. What was she going to do?
Tommy was suppose to be the one to pick Tammy up from the airport but she figured that because of the message she left Fulton he would be there too, worried about her. She wanted to puke. She felt sick to her stomach. Tammy was disgusted with herself.
When Tammy reached the baggage claim she saw her brother standing off to the side. She kept her eyes on the conveyer built that hadn't yet started moving. Tommy walked up to her, "What the hell, Tammy? Do you have any idea how freaked out Fulton was when he got your voicemail or how freaked I was?"
Tammy bit her lip, nervously. "He's not here, is he?"
Tommy shook his head, "He went to grab you some food."
"Oh." She finally looked away from the conveyer built to glance at the people around them. "Tommy…I slept with someone. I really fucked up."
Tommy just stared at her completely dumfounded. "I don't understand."
"Last night, I got drunk. Really drunk. I has sex with Taylor."
Her brother frowned. "I thought Taylor was a girl? I'm confused. Do you like girls now?"
"No! Taylor is a guy. A really hot guy…"She sighed. "I messed up. I don't even remember it. I just know I woke up in bed with him. I pieced it together and left."
"I…What…" Tommy was lost for words. "He took advantage of you, Tammy."
More people began to arrive at the baggage claim, and Tammy lowered her voice. "I don't know what happened...but I do know is that I had sex with someone other than Fulton and now I have to tell him."
"It's not your fault. Fulton will understand."
Tammy's eyes got big. "He'll KILL Taylor if he found out the truth."
"You're not going to tell him Taylor took advantage of you?"
"I don't want to talk about that. I can't talk about that. I just…can't. Maybe it would be easier if he believed I just cheated on him."
As the conveyor belt began to move Tammy kept her eyes locked on the space in front of her. "Tammy, you cant possibly believe this is the best decision."
"It has to be."
Tammy glanced at herself in the mirror as she sat on her bed while she was on the phone with one of her best friends. "Are you sure it's a good idea for me to show up? Fulton and I haven't been in the same room in months."
Connie replied, "You two are going to have to talk sometime. You're both a part of The Ducks, and will be till the day you die. Tammy, you don't have to tell him what really happened if you don't want to but you need to a least face him at the party because it's going to happen sooner or later. Why not do it sooner rather than later?"
"Ugh. I hate when you're right."
Connie laughed, "I love it when I'm right."
Tammy rolled her eyes even though she knew Connie couldn't see her. "I guess I'll go to the party then."
"Great! You can't chicken out by tomorrow night, okay?" It was more of a demand than a question but Connie wanted to make sure Tammy knew she needed to go to the party. "Besides I'm not really looking forward to the party either."
The blonde sighed. "I guess."
Before they said goodbye Connie said, "Don't do anything you're not ready to do, Tammy. I just want things to be okay. I want you to be okay."
"I know, Connie. Love you." They hung up shortly after and Tammy fell backwards on her bed. She was overwhelmed but knew that by going to the party would be a step forward.
Tammy sat nervously in her car outside of Sunny Abbott's house. Afraid to go in by herself she grabbed her phone she quickly texted Connie, "I'm here."
A few seconds later she received a reply, "Ok, I'll be out in a minute."
Tammy turned off her car before she ran a hand through her short blonde hair tousling it slightly then applying another layer of lipstick. She glanced at herself in the rearview mirror, not fully happy about her appearance but it would have to do. Tammy grabbed her keys from the ignition and got out of her car. By the time she did so Connie and Kacey, Connie's friend, was walking towards her.
"Hey girl! How are you?" Kacey greeted Tammy while hugging her.
"I'm good!"
Connie handed Tammy a beer. "I thought you could use this."
Tammy smiled, "Definitely. Thank you!" They started walking to the house.
Tammy spent ten minutes talking with Connie and her friends before she went to grab another drink. When she reached the area where the drinks were she realized Sunny had provided jello shots as well. Tammy grabbed a couple and was about to take one but she saw Fulton on the other side of the room eyeing her. She hadn't expected to run into him by herself. She took the jello shot once she noticed that he was walking towards her.
"Can we talk?" He asked. She nodded.
Fulton led her upstairs to find an empty room so they could talk in private. After finding one, Tammy shut the door behind them. They stood in silence for a few minutes with Tammy looking beyond Fulton with her arms crossed as if to protect herself. It had been eight months since they had broken up. Since the break up, they were never in a room together. They hadn't even talked since then.
Tammy wasn't really sure what to say. When she finally spoke her voice was so quiet he almost didn't hear her. "Fult…I don't remember that night."
"What do you mean you don't remember that night?" Fulton's raised his voice but it only gave her the strength to tell him the truth, finally.
"I was blackout drunk. I don't remember sleeping with Taylor. I just remember waking up afterwards, leaving the house, and walking till I found a bus bench where I sat and I called you."
"Tammy…I…" His eyes searched hers when she finally looked at him.
"I didn't want to tell you or really anyone. I thought it was better if everyone just thought I cheated on you."
"God, Tammy I'm so sorry." Fulton moved to hug her. She broke down crying.
"I knew you would hate me, but I couldn't let you pity me or hurt Taylor."
"I never hated you. I could never hate you."
Tammy wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I'm in therapy. It's not easy for me, but it's helping me. I think."
Tammy played with her hair. It was longer than it had been in years. "We talked for a while longer before we fell asleep on the bed. Things were okay after that…"
"Until they weren't?" Ken guessed.
"He flew to Taylor's college the weekend after, tracked him down, and beat the shit out of him. Taylor deserved it, I know, but that's the reason I didn't tell Fulton in the first place. I felt like things were going backwards and not forwards." Tammy sighed. "I didn't know until Taylor texted me freaking the fuck out. I had a panic attack when his name showed up on my phone."
Dwayne moved closer to Tammy and put his arm around her. "Honestly, Taylor is lucky Fulton didn't kill him. He's lucky all The Ducks didn't help Fulton."
"I know. Fulton has always been this amazing protective person. I know why he did it, but I did not need him to. I did not want him to. We had a huge fight. We tried for a long time to make things work as both a couple and as friends, but we were never like we were before. I then decided to transfer and moved to Nashville. Fulton and I have been awkward ever since."
Ken had only heard bits and pieces of the story from Portman and Connie in emails and texts with terrible grammar so being able to hear it from Tammy gave him a new layer of understanding.
Ken's phone beeped. He glanced at it quickly not thinking it was important. He did a double take when he realized it was a surprisingly long text from Portman, followed by a text from Averman and another by Luis.
"Hey guys, you're not going to believe this!" Dwayne and Tammy's phones went off simultaneously seconds later.
"Holy shit."
"Oh my god. Y'all how could we have missed that?"
