They kept up their "routine" of sorts, seeing each other privately after school and on weekends. They saw each other in the halls at school, but they didn't have any classes together. Adam was in the "advanced" classes while Jesse and the rest of the Ducks were in the "regular" classes. This confused Adam because though he was smart, he wasn't nearly as smart as he was assumed to be, and Jesse was a lot smarter than people thought he was. In fact, sometimes their time together on weekends consisted mostly of Jesse helping Adam prepare for a big test or project.

Once school let out, they unfortunately saw less of each other. Without the pretense of a school assignment, Adam didn't really have any good excuses to have Jesse come over, or to even get out of the house. He spent most of the beginning of summer vacation alone, thinking about Jesse and practicing his hockey, the one activity his father approved of.

This was what he was doing, in fact, when he heard that "duck call". He turned around, a smile growing on his face when he spotted Jesse, standing there with Charlie, Connie, Guy, Averman, and Goldberg.

Jesse had spent the beginning of his summer break just trying to distract himself. He couldn't see Adam and it was driving him insane. The only way he figured he could somewhat deal with it was by playing street hockey. He would play pretty much every day with kids from around the neighborhood. Sometimes other Ducks would play too; Charlie would be there a lot when he wasn't working at the store; Averman and Peter would be there pretty often, too. But it was Jesse who was there every day, pushing to make himself better.

When he heard the "duck call", Jesse knew immediately what it was. He turned around to see Charlie standing on the other side of the fence saying that the Ducks were back. They went off together to round up the Ducks that would be able to play in the Junior Goodwill Games.

Tammy and Tommy's mother wouldn't let them go because she wanted them to focus more on figure skating. Terry, who had just started dating Tammy a couple months before school let out, decided to stay behind so he could spend time with her. Karp and Peter were both stuck in summer school, so they were forbidden from going. They picked up Averman, Connie, Guy, and Goldberg before making their final stop. Jesse couldn't stop smiling as they got closer and closer to Adam's house.

When they finally got there, he saw Adam practicing outside. He couldn't control his smile and his laughter as he saw Adam in his typical polo, practicing with a fake goalie. He just looked so...preppy. He may have made fun of it in the past...and he still did...but Adam's clothes had become endearing to him, even though he still teased him about them to no end.

He couldn't keep his next words from slipping from his mouth.

Hey, cake-eater, you want to play some real hockey?

Adam couldn't control the grin that broke out when Jesse called him cake-eater. It had grown to be a term of endearment that Adam would use to jokingly make fun of someone like Coach Bombay and that Jesse continued to use for him. It was a completely affectionate term now. Instead of cliché names like "baby", Jesse would call Adam "cake-eater".

As they set off to meet with Coach, Adam and Jesse stayed as close together as possible, ecstatic that they were able to see each other again, but still trying to not give anything away to their teammates.

They eventually met who were to become their new teammates. Although they both, like the rest of the original Ducks, were hesitant, they all eventually got along pretty well.

When they got to California, they were both pretty amazed. Yeah, Adam was richer and his father had done a lot of traveling over the years, but Adam himself had never been out of Minnesota before. Neither had Jesse. They both looked around at their surroundings with child-like eyes.

They both thanked whatever higher power there was when it came to room assignments. They ended up roommates in a room for two in the dorms they were assigned to. After they had put down their stuff in their room, they immediately closed the door and pulled each other into a fierce hug.

"I missed you," Adam whispered in Jesse's ear, reminding himself how good the scent that was purely "Jesse Hall" was.

Jesse's reply of "I missed you too, cake-eater," was met with a wide grin from Adam. Their mouths came together for a deep kiss as they just let themselves get reacquainted with each other. They collapsed onto one of the beds, their kiss never breaking, and spent a few moments simply content.

Once the games started, Adam began to get worried, which, of course, Jesse noticed. He would spend each night telling Adam to not worry about the scouts or what his father expected, which he knew was the real reason behind Adam's obsession with the observing scouts. Though Adam didn't want to worry, it was just so difficult.

The only thing that would calm him would be Jesse holding him as he listened to Jesse's soothing voice tell him of all his dreams for the future, dreams he didn't think he would ever accomplish but he still liked to think about. Playing in the NHL. Opening a community center. A place where people could go to get help if they had a drug problem, kids could go if they had any kind of personal issue, and a place where people could relax and find out who they were.

It was this dream that would stick in Adam's brain for years to come.

Even with the luring hostility from the team from Iceland, everything was going well. They were winning and having fun. One event that still sticks out in Jesse's mind is the day he decided to go explore with Goldberg, Averman, and Dwayne. Adam had been on the phone with his dad that morning and was exhausted afterward. Jesse offered to stay with him, but he insisted Jesse go have fun and that he just needed to sleep and that he'd feel better when he woke up.

It was pretty fun. None of them had ever been around such "high-end" stores and people. They played a few pranks before Goldberg got the brilliant idea to pose as Aaron Spelling's nephew.

When the models came out, Dwayne, Goldberg, and Averman all had similar looks on their faces. They were in complete shock, spurred by hormonal overdrive. Jesse, however, couldn't help looking at the women and thinking 'Okay...and...?' And he couldn't keep his thoughts from showing on his face. When he came back and told Adam, who was by then in a much better mood, about it, they laughed together and curled up on one of the beds.

Everything was going fine until the game against Iceland.

Coach hadn't been spending too much time preparing for the game, so the team was completely unprepared for the powerhouse force they faced.

When he gave his speech during one of their breaks, Adam and Jesse on either side of him, Adam couldn't keep his eyes off of Jesse. Jesse may be one to speak before thinking most of the time, but he was also always the voice of reason. When he told the coach that they were doing their best and Bombay stared right at him and more or less told the team, but Jesse in particular, that they, meaning he, wasn't good enough, Adam was angry. He was pissed.

Listening to someone who hadn't been doing their job at all demean someone he not only cared deeply about, but someone who worked harder and had had to deal with more struggles than anyone he knew, he wanted to snap back at Bombay and defend Jesse, but at the time he was still mostly timid, and still felt he needed his father's approval, and the only way he knew he would accomplish that would be to play and win, and he figured if he pissed off Coach Bombay any more than he already was, he wouldn't be able to do either.

When they went back out, he was determined to score a goal. He pushed himself harder and harder and finally, he scored.

But the stick slamming down onto his wrist brought him out of his euphoric daze.

When he saw that stick come down onto Adam's hand, Jesse was absolutely livid...and worried. He wanted to tear into Olaf Sanderson and at the same time race over to Adam to see if he was okay. When everyone else on the ice left Adam after he assured them he was okay, Jesse's eyes were still on Adam, so he was the only one who saw him gingerly take his hand out of his glove.

He waited until after their forced after-game practice to say anything to Adam. They both returned to their room exhausted. Adam immediately collapsed onto his bed, but Jesse slowly walked over and stood above Adam.

"How's your wrist?"

Adam's eyes popped open and a look of panic crossed his face.

"It's fine! It was nothing." He should have known better. This was Jesse. Jesse, who seemed to know everything about him, who could tell when he was upset, or scared, when he needed space and when he needed comforting...and when he was lying.

Like right now.

"Adam."

Just hearing his voice say his name in that tone made Adam feel guilty for even trying to lie to Jesse.

With a deep breath, he finally came clean.

"It hurts. It hurts really bad. It's hard for me to even turn it."

Jesse's concern showed on his face.

"You need to tell Coach. You need to get it looked at."

The response he got was not the one he would have preferred, but it was the one he expected.

"No! I can't! He'll bench me, and I gotta play!"

Jesse sighed. He still had to work on Adam's obsessive need to have his father's approval.

"And you can't tell him either. Please, Jesse. If it gets too unbearable, I'll say something, but for right now can you just keep this between us? Please?"

Going against his better judgement, Jesse agreed. Adam gave a relieved sigh and pulled Jesse onto his bed with him. They laid on their sides, facing the same direction, Jesse behind Adam, holding him in a comforting embrace, and they both drifted off to sleep.

When Miss MacKay said they had the day off, all the Ducks sighed and nearly collapsed with relief. They all went back to their respective rooms to rest. Jesse convinced Adam to let him look at his wrist, worried when there didn't seem to be any improvement.

TBC

I am so sorry I haven't updated in a while, but this is by far the longest chapter in this story so far (yay!). I hope that makes up for it. Please review so I can know what you guys think. :)