Life's Full of Little Surprises
Disclaimer: I own absolutely none of the 'Mighty Duck' characters or the rights to the "Mighty Duck" franchise, that honor belongs to Disney. So I would appreciate that I wouldn't get sued over something I don't own.
Summary: Dani's life couldn't be going better. She has finally made it to the Olympics, doing the sport she loves the most. But... after arriving in Minneapolis, Minnesota things change. First she is constantly badgered by her brother, then she falls for one of his friends, and, of course, there is always a stalker!
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PrincessH- Ah Tammy and Fulton, what could be so right and so wrong at the same time? You gotta love them. Adam pining is cute, you can't hate him even if you want to. Thanks for the review. I hope that I'm not throwing anyone off, because you're my only reviewer... Sad, but I think I can get over the heartbreak.
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"Thanks for the ride, Forrest." Bethany Reed said to her co-worker, Forrest Kowalski, after getting off of work early, "I have no idea what is taking so long with my car." She smiled at the tall, brown haired, blue eyed doctor that she had long since become friends with.
"Not a problem." Forrest replied, "I've had my fair share of mechanic problems." Bethany nodded, "You can make it up to me by going out with me on Saturday." Bethany stopped dead, her hand reached out to open the car door. She turned back to the doctor and was happy to see that he seemed shocked by what he had said as well, "I really just said that, didn't I?" He sat back in his seat and placed his hand on his forehead as Bethany nodded again, "Wow, am I an idiot or what?"
Bethany tried to think about what to say, "Forrest, I... Well..." She wasn't quite sure what she thought about his offer, he was a nice guy and a great doctor, but she always had a fear of dating friends, "What I mean is... Oh, I am no good at this." Forrest chuckled nervously, "I should go. I'll see you tomorrow." He waved as she walked towards her apartment, looking back for a second and smiling.
Sighing heavily, Forrest banged his head on his headrest, "Stupid, stupid, stupid. Damn it!" He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the number of the only person he could think of to talk to, "Come on, come on. If you love me you will pick up."
"Hello." A deep, male voice said on the other end of the line.
Forrest sighed happily, "Fruitcake, how are you doing?"
"Screw you, I'm hanging up."
"Okay, okay!" Forrest said, "I'm sorry, Perry. You're not a fruitcake."
"Actually I am, but you're not allowed to call me that." Perry replied.
Forrest shrugged, "Whatever, I need your advice." Forrest could tell that Perry had perked up when he heard that his advice was needed.
"All you ever need advice about is your abysmal love life... Or should I say your lack of love life." Forrest sighed as Perry continued, "Look, little brother, women all work in different ways. Just find the way to make yours work in your favor. For instance, have you done anything nice for said woman lately?"
"I just gave her a ride home because her car was in the shop." Forrest admitted.
"That's it?" Perry asked in disappointment.
"Don't give me that." Forrest said, "You live in nice, hot New Mexico. If you have forgotten what snow looks like, it's white and cold and it tends to fall a lot here in Minnesota. Look, I need to get back to work, I see you for the Family Reunion."
"Don't be a stranger." Perry replied, "Call, write, send e-mails." Forrest laughed, "Tootles."
"Bye." He said as he closed his phone. "Oh, fruitcake." With a final look at Bethany's apartment, he drove off.
Inside her apartment, Bethany was off in her own world. Forrest was an attractive, sweet, fairly muscular guy, what was his interest in her? Surely he had women chomping at the bit to be with him, so there was no need for him to get involved with her. Plus, dating friends and co-workers was a big no-no in her book, if they didn't work out something went down the tube. "He isn't your type." A familiar voice said, making Bethany jump and turn around. Standing in front of her was a thin and weedy looking man with graying brown hair, "Hi Beth. How ya been?"
"Dorian?" Bethany gasped, backing towards the door in fear, "What... How..."
Dorian smiled, "Can you guess what today is Beth? It's December 2nd. The day that you stabbed me in the back!" He screamed as he knocked all of her china off of it's shelf, causing Bethany to recoil in fear. "Now, it's funny that the day you took everything from me is the same day that that little Restraining order expires... Ain't life just a kick? I mean, you stole my son and turned my daughters against me all on the day that you got me sent to jail."
"I didn't do anything other then keep all of them safe." Bethany said as she backed away with tears in her eyes. "Robyn would have wanted to know that her daughters were safe."
"Now isn't that just like you, you lie and don't get your way and here come the water works; plus you bring up that bitch. That isn't going to work on me Beth, it never has." He kicked the glass out of her coffee table and threw it across the room, "You know, if your stuck in prison with nothing to do, working out helps sort out your issues."
"Dorian, I..." Bethany stopped as Dorian grabbed her by the hair and threw her into the kitchen.
"No time for pleas now, Beth." Dorian said as he put his hand around her throat and slammed her into the refrigerator, "You know, I have always heard the saying 'Like Father, Like Son'. Is that true, Beth?"
Bethany sighed angrily, "Fulton will never be like you." She said, causing Dorian to slam her into the metal refrigerator door again.
"You sure?" Dorian taunted, "I'm not so sure." He slapped her across the face and kneed her in the stomach, "You see, if you're dead and I can discredit everything you said about me to take my son away, which I can, I think that I can mold him, even at this age. I hear that he's got a killer slap shot, I can work with that."
"I won't let that happen, even if you try and kill me." Bethany said defiantly. She paid for it when he slammed his fist into her ribs. It had been a long time, but Bethany had never forgotten the feeling of her ribs breaking.
"What was that, Beth?"
"I said that I will never let you get to Fulton. He will never become you, no matter how hard you try." Bethany didn't even flinch as she felt his fist make contact with her nose, nor did she do anything as she heard the crunch it made; he wouldn't get the mental advantage.
"Beth, do you remember where we met?" Dorian asked, trying to lower her more then he had, "You always liked this part. The pain that you enjoyed."
"You got off on that stuff, Psycho!" Bethany snapped, "Not me." Dorian shrugged and threw Bethany so that she hit her head on the metal sink enough to hurt her, but not enough to knock her out.
"Bye, Beth." Dorian said as he pulled a large butcher knife out of the knife block, "Love stinks." He added as he plunged the knife into her stomach and chest more times then he cared to count. Throwing the knife aside, Dorian clenched his hand into a tight fist and punched Bethany hard and repetitively in the face before leaning over her one last time, "That was overkill, I know. But I can't wait for them to see the beautiful Beth Kenelm now." He looked up quickly to the sounds of police sirens, "Shit, they always ruin the fun."
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The entire Chemistry class sighed in relief as a Senior Office Aid knocked on the door and stopped substitute teachers on going lecture about The Periodic Table. "I was beginning to think that nothing would shut her up." Fulton whispered to himself. There were people in this class that he wouldn't have minded to talk to once and a while, but everyone else was on the other side of the room. Damn the alphabet and its order.
"Fulton Reed." The substitute said, causing Fulton to look up quickly, "The Dean would like to speak to you in his office." Fulton shrugged and stood up, taking his books with him, knowing that the last bell of the day would ring in about 10 minutes and he wouldn't need to come back. Despite what most people thought, Fulton had rarely ever been to the Dean's office and if he did go, it was never for any trouble that he caused, most of that he hadn't been caught for.
Fulton managed to get himself to Dean Buckley's office in a timely manner, even though he had been in one of the class rooms farthest from his destination. "Hello, Mr. Reed." The 20-something secretary, Ms. Lowell, said as he entered, "You can just go right in." Fulton nodded in surprise, mostly it would take a good 10 or 15 minutes of waiting before you could go in.
Fulton walked in and was shocked, yet again, to see two police detectives and two officers in standing on either side of the room, drinking coffee and looking very gloomy, "Mr. Reed, lovely to see you again." Dean Buckley said in a cheery voice, "What's wrong?"
"Well, I'm not aware of doing anything illegal, so I'm kind of surprised to see cops." Fulton said, "But other then that, nope, I'm fine."
"Oh, you didn't do anything. You see..." One of the detectives cleared her throat, "Oh, right. I suppose that they should tell you. I'll just wait outside."
"Somebody tell me." Fulton said uncomfortably.
The detective that had cleared her throat walked over to the seat in front of Fulton and sat. She pulled out a tape recorder, "Do you mind." Fulton shook his head, "Mr. Reed... Fulton, I'm Detective Sallee. My I ask when was the last time you saw your mother?"
Fulton raised his eyebrows, "My mother? Um, Sunday night, before I came back here. Why do you ask?"
"Sunday night. So it's been about two days."
"Yeah, I guess." Fulton said, getting more irritated by the minute, "Is there a reason that you're asking me?"
The detective looked to the male detective, "About three hours ago, you mother was brought to the ER of Regions Hospital with multiple stab wounds and facial injuries." Fulton just sat deathly still, trying to comprehend what this women was saying, "You neighbor, Mrs. Brown, called the police after she heard a commotion coming from yours and your mother's apartment."
"Is my mom okay?" Fulton asked petrified.
Detective Sallee sighed, "She's very, very lucky. The doctor's said that she is stable, but she has yet to wake up. Would you like us to take you to see her?"
Fulton shook his head, "No, I can manage. But I have to ask about the stab wounds." Fulton knew that he looked strange just staring out into space and asking these questions, but he really didn't care.
Detective Sallee shook the confusion of his request off of her face, "Ask away."
"They're in a square, right?"
"How did you know that?"
Fulton sighed, "Because I know exactly who did it." He looked up, out of his daze, "The lunatic that likes to call himself my father."
"How do you know?"
"It isn't the first time he's done that. Not to my mom, but to other people when he got drunk. Plus, he has squares tattooed all over him. They're his 'thing'." Fulton stared at her and she knew that he wasn't lying, "I really have nothing more to say, can I go?"
"Of course." Detective Sallee said as she clicked off the tape recorder. She sat in stunned silence as Fulton picked up his bag and books and left.
The male detective walked up to his partner and placed his hand on her shoulder, "You okay, Justine?"
"God, that kids life sucks more then mine did."
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Fulton didn't bother to make his way to the ice rink to tell his coach that he would miss practice that day, he knew that he needed to get to his mother. He pushed people out of the way, only stopping to quickly open his locker so that he wouldn't be weighed down by his books. Luckily he didn't have any homework, nor did he run into any of his teammates; Fulton knew that they would ask questions and he couldn't handle that.
Running as fast as possible, Fulton cursed himself when he ran into someone and cursed himself even more when he saw that it was Dani, "Fulton, you okay?" She asked as she stood up and pulled a bag back over her shoulder.
"Yeah, fine." He lied, "I gotta go."
He tried to run again, but Dani stopped him, "Go? Where? You have practice in 15 minutes." Fulton tried to rapidly think up another lie, "Fulton, I can tell that your lying. You're not okay, what's wrong?" Fulton said nothing, "Look, as one of your girlfriend's good friends and your best friend's sister, I want to help, talk to me."
"You want to help?" Fulton asked.
"Yes, you seem surprised."
"Help me by telling everyone that I'm not going to make it to practice today."
Dani raised her eyebrow, "Fulton, this is just a guess, but did something happen to your mother." Fulton's eyes widened as he thought 'Damn how does she do that?' "It's a gift, but if that's the case, then you better go."
"Thank you, Dani." Fulton said, "You're a gem."
"I know." Dani replied, "But you had better go. Do you want me to tell them, or should I just say that you're not going to be there?"
"Just that I won't be there."
"Got it." Dani watched Fulton run off and couldn't help but notice that he was really fast, then she remembered the Dean had said that Fulton had played football before switching to hockey. "Okay... tell the team." She mumbled to herself before running off towards the ice rink.
She wrenched open the door of the rink and ran passed the abandoned concession stand, towards the ice. As she entered, Dani saw all of the Ducks and their coach on the ice. Tammy and Gia were standing just off of the ice and Dani distinctly heard Dean reply 'I don't know' when his coach questioned him about Fulton.
"I can answer that." Dani called as she raced down the stairs, "Well, partly anyway." She stopped next to Gia and Tammy before speaking again, "I ran into Fulton a few minutes ago and he asked me to tell you that he won't be able to make it."
"Why the hell not?" Orion asked as Tammy gave her a what's-going-on-that-I-don't-know look.
Dani felt her gazed involuntarily drop, "He didn't tell me."
"Liar." Dean said noticing her low gaze, "What happened? He wouldn't miss for nothing." He saw Dani struggle to keep her mouth to herself and she was doing a good job at it, "Open up, blabbermouth." Dean smiled as he saw panic in Dani's eyes, knowing that it meant that she was going to talk. His smiled drooped, however, when Dani reached into her bag and pulled out two chocolate-covered mini éclairs and stuffed them into her mouth. She quickly mumbled what happened, not that anyone could understand her, and quickly retreated back to where she had come from. "I hate it when she does that." Dean sighed as Tammy followed Dani out of the rink.
"So were not going to find out?"
Dean looked over to his coach, "Nope, she's not spilling. Too determined."
"I'm going to kill him." Dean heard Charlie whisper, knowing that Fulton's not being there was going to mean a lot of hell for everyone else.
"Stand in line." Dean said as he skated over to the captain.
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Fulton stood quietly over his mother's lifeless looking body, not able to say anything or move, no matter how much he wanted to. Her face was splotched with massive amounts of purple and blue and her lips and eyes were swollen to twice their normal size. Fulton had been staring into space so long that he hadn't heard someone walking up behind him, so he jumped when fingers laced with his. Turning his head quickly, Fulton was relieved to see Tammy standing next to him, but he was also a little confused as to how she had found him. "Hey." She said.
"Hi." Fulton said, "How did you know that I was here?"
Tammy smiled, "I forced Dani to tell me. Don't worry, nobody else knows that your here." Fulton stiffened a little, "She didn't tell me what happened, just where you were."
"I guess that's okay."
"She didn't tell Dean when he tried to make her spill." Fulton smiled. He knew that Dean could always make people talk if he wanted them to, "Well, actually she told him, but she stuffed a couple of mini éclairs into her mouth before hand so that he, nor anyone else could understand what she was saying."
"That's Dani for you." Fulton said, "She's a regular Houdini when she wants to be." Tammy furrowed her eyebrows, "She can get out of anything... Well, except for the whole someone-having-a-crush-on-Goldberg thing, Dean made her spill that."
"He does tend to do that." Tammy said, "What's wrong? I mean, other then the obvious."
Fulton sighed, "Remember when I told you that my dad was a nut case?" Tammy nodded, "He's the one that did this."
"How do you know?" Tammy asked.
"Because today is the day that the Restraining order that my mother filed against him expired." Fulton said, "You know, when we left him, I would always have nightmares that he would find us and hurt us again." He managed a shuttering sigh as he continued, "I still have them, but now they've changed and I'm the one doing the hurting."
"Fulton, you wouldn't do that." Tammy said, "Your the nicest person that I know."
"How can you be so sure?" Fulton asked, looking at her for the first time, "They say 'like father, like son', how do you know that won't turn into him?"
"Fulton." Tammy said as he looked back down, "Would you ever hurt me? Or anyone if you have the choice?" She pulled his face back up so that he was looking at her, "Would you?"
"No." Fulton replied.
"Then you're not him." She finished, "And you never will be."
Fulton flipped his wallet around in his hands nervously, "Did I ever tell you that I have two half sisters?" Tammy shook her head, "I do." He pulled a picture out of his wallet and handed it to her, "That's them about two months ago."
"Twins?" Tammy asked.
"Yeah, they're 20." Tammy nodded and looked over the photograph. Both of the girls had golden blonde hair and sparkling blue-green eyes; they shared beautiful high cheek bones and matching half smiles that could make any man drool, but that was all that was the same about them. In this picture they were sitting on a metal bench and the one that was sitting on the left had a sporty, tomboyish look about her, her hair cut short and all over the place and she wore a tank top and sweat pants. She was lean and muscular and looked like she could snap a man in two (but the man wouldn't care) and she had a football in hand. The other was quite different; she had long hair placed up in a ponytail and she had a sexy librarian vibe to her with her suit jacket, knee length skirt, square glasses, and skinny frame. In fact, she had a book on her lap to round out the librarian look.
"They look so similar, yet so different." Tammy said, "I mean, one is tomboy-sport women and the other is a... Sexy librarian or something."
"Well that's nice to know." Fulton said, not wanting to hear something like that, "But your kinda right, they like to be their own people, despite being twins."
"Dean and Dani in two blonde women." Tammy said making Fulton laugh, "That's a really scary thought... Anyway, what are their names?"
"D.J. and T.J." Fulton said, "Dream Sky Jeffreys and Thorn Sahara Jeffreys." Tammy tried to hold back a laugh, but didn't entirely succeed, "I know, they hate it to, that's why the just go by T.J. and D.J."
"I see." Tammy replied, "But I have another question, were their parents hippies or something?"
"No, but as I mentioned before, my father is a nut." Tammy nodded.
"That you did. So, which one is which?"
"D.J. is the one with the football and T.J. is the one with the book." Fulton said, "Their mother, Robyn Jeffreys, was a good friend of my mothers. She died when I was a year old and mom took them in until everything could be worked out for their grandparents to take them in."
"So your mother was a friend of their mother, and they each had kids from the same lunatic?" Tammy asked.
Fulton nodded, "Robyn left my dad right after he and my mom met. He needed comforting and she gave it to him and I was the end result of that." Tammy nodded understandingly, "My mom's parents are devout Catholics and made them get married when they found out, but that was after T.J. and D.J. went to live with their grandparents."
"Oh." Tammy said, "You learn something new everyday."
"Yeah." Fulton said, "He was mad at mom for not giving her support to him during the custody trial, so that is when he officially snapped."
"And he started hitting you and your mother."
"Yup."
"I'm here for you if you need me, you know that, right?" Tammy asked. Fulton nodded and gave her a quick kiss, "Good, because I will not have you moping and missing tons of hockey practice."
"Which reminds me, Coach, Charlie, Dean, and pretty much everyone else will want to kill me when I see them next." Fulton sighed.
"Not if you tell them the truth."
"When would I do that?"
"Whenever you want."
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Fulton laid on his bed in his dorm room, knowing that Dean would be back soon to give him hell. But in all reality he found that no amount of pressure from anyone of his teammates, or anyone else for that matter, could make him care, his mother needed him more then anyone and the only reason he was where he was was because sleep was a necessity and he wasn't going to get it in the hospital. Fulton only minimally comprehended the sound of a door opening and closing, but he was brought back to reality when Dean's angry voice broke into his reality, "DUDE! Where the hell were you? Orion had us doing laps and suicides for hours?"
"I was a little too preoccupied." Fulton said monotonously as he sat up and turned to his best friend, "I'm sorry, but I had something a little more important to deal with."
Dean threw his bag onto the floor, "Oh yeah? What?"
Fulton stumbled over whether or not to tell Dean, but decided it would be best, "My mom got attacked... She's in the hospital."
"What?" Dean asked dumbfounded.
"Yeah." Fulton added, "She was hurt really bad and has yet to wake up." Dean dropped to his bed, his eyes still on Fulton, "But I already know what happened; my raving father did it, I can tell."
"Man, I'm really sorry."
"Don't be, you didn't know."
Dean looked around the dorm room nervously, Fulton was being honest with him so why couldn't he give the same? "Dude, do you remember a couple of months ago when Dani talked to me and I didn't join in the festivities after the Blake game?"
"Yeah." Fulton said.
Dean gulped, "Dani told me that our dad got shot at work and that he was in pretty bad condition. We still don't know anything."
"Oh my god." Fulton replied, "Isn't he a teacher?"
"Yeah." Dean said sadly.
"Now I get why Leah and Keoni came down that week. And Jeannette." Dean nodded, "So you still know nothing?"
"Nope."
Fulton thought for a moment and then something else popped into his head, "One final question." Dean nodded for him to continue, "Why the hell did Julie know before me?" Dean's answer got caught in his throat, "Oh, I see."
"You see what?"
Fulton shrugged and laid back down, "You have a thing for Julie."
"I WHAT?" Dean protested, hoping that his attempt would not be in vain.
"Dude, do not try to deny it."
Dean scoffed, "I don't have a thing for Julie... She's Julie."
"Denial." Fulton said in a singsong voice that didn't really suit him all that well.
"I'm not in denial."
"Denying denial." Fulton replied, laughing as he looked over and saw Dean flipping him off.