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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Tinkerbell821- I like the rain too. Unless it's the cold and winter almost snow kind. I suppose that it would be funny to see your father's tent flood... I would love to see something like that happen. Thanks for the review.
Thank you PrincessH!
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For what seemed like the millionth time in the school year so far, all of the Ducks gathered in the dorm room of one of their teammates. This time it was Dwayne and Goldberg's room. They were all talking about some random thing or another when a loud crash brought their attention elsewhere, "Oh, it wasn't that heavy!" Max's voice called from his room across the hall. The Ducks raced out into the hall and saw that Max was on the floor, covered in his belongings while Alec stood... He had been the one to drop the box.
"Look you little..." Alec began.
"Ahem." A cold female voice said from behind him as the sound of fingernails being tapped against the wall hit their ears, "Be nice to my little brother." Cami said as she held out her hand and pulled Max to his feet.
"Ow." Max said as his things dropped as he stood, "It really wasn't that heavy." He said sourly.
"Yo!" Dean said, "What's going on?"
Max turned and sighed, "Remember when I told you that the minute I turned 18 Sir and Amanda were going to kick me out?" Dean nodded, "Well, they decided not to wait. So, I am going back up to Chicago... Apparently you have a guest room now."
Dean's eyes widened, "Mom and Dad finally got the basement finished, with everything that has been going on?" Alec nodded, "That's informative." Dean sighed.
"Don't piss me off today." Alec warned.
"You really need to chill out once and a while." Dani said as she came from out of no where to her brother's side. She, however, wasn't looking at him. In her hand was one of Cami's sketch books, "Oh, God... Averman the Duck. I don't know how you come up with these things, Cam."
"Well, they are the Ducks." Cami replied, "I figured, if I was going to do portraits of them all, then I should do them as actual ducks." Dani nodded.
"Um... Hello." Averman said from the group, "I want to see." Dani laughed and turned the sketch book around and revealed a Duck in a hockey uniform with curly red hair who was wearing large glasses, just like the real Averman. The look on the Duck Averman's face was exactly something that they would expect to see on the real Averman.
"We want to see ours." Dean said about himself and Fulton. Everyone agreed and circled around Dani. Averman's picture was first, so Dani didn't have to go back to any. She flipped the page and saw that the next picture was Adam. His Duck had a button up shirt under his hockey pads, clearly indicating that he was the preppy. His face was clearly Adam; Dani was really amazed at how good Cami was at capturing what she wanted to when she drew... Her preferred job route would take advantage of this as she wanted to be a tattoo artist. Dani knew who would be giving Dean his first tattoo when he turned 18.
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Exactly a week later, it was school again. The first day to be precise. At the end of the day, Dean lugged his filled hockey bag out of the locker room with the other members of his team. They were chatting happily when they noticed Dean Buckley walking around looking rather distraught.
"Dean Buckley?" Charlie said as the walked up to the older man, "You seem upset." He added, trying to seem concerned.
"No, no." Dean Buckley replied, "Not upset."
"Well, you seem worried." Ken added.
Dean Buckley shook his head again, "I'm fine." No one was convinced and he knew it, "Well, we have a very large gift coming from a large company in Atlanta that we will receive only if pass a rather detailed inspection."
"And the inspectors have come to inspect." Russ quipped with amusement in his voice.
"Yes." Dean Buckley replied, "The President and CEO of the company sent their twin granddaughters as the inspectors. They said that they only trust the girls to make a correct assessment of their 'investments'." He shifted nervously at the thought of what the girls would tell their grandparents. Fulton immediately thought about what Dean Buckley was talking about. Mr. and Mrs. David Jeffreys, T.J. and D.J.'s grandparents, were the President and CEO (respectively) of a large company in Atlanta, Georgia and he knew that his sisters were very business minded and savvy and could make people squirm on occasion. If his thinking was going in the correct direction, the his two Minnesotan Georgia Peaches were at Eden Hall.
"Now you see." A disembodied and Southern accented voice said, "I don't understand why he can't get it through his skull that I don't want him." D.J. came through the door, followed closely by T.J., who was cleaning her glassed with a small cloth, and continued, "I want a cowboy to ride off into the sunset with... On separate horses, of course. I am not a damsel in distress." So, Fulton's thinking was correct... This was going to be good.
T.J. walked right up to Dean Buckley, "We've just finished our inspection and evaluation of your lovely facility." Fulton tried not to laugh, it was squirm time, "Our grandparents will call you when we have given them our full report and opinions. They think very highly of our opinions." Dean Buckley tried not shutter as he nodded, "So, they will talk to you then."
D.J. nodded and turned to Fulton, "By the way." She said before she had fully turned to face him, "We need to meet you're girlfriend." Dean Buckley turned his head so quickly in Fulton's direction Fulton was sure that the elder man should have whiplash.
"Why?" Fulton asked with horror on his face.
"Because you're our brother and we love you." T.J. replied while pinching him on his cheeks.
Fulton swatted her hands away, "Or you're just trying to be a couple of huge pains in my ass." He muttered.
Looks of shock slipped onto the girls faces as they held their hands to their chest in a manner the showed that they were deeply offended. Dean Buckley looked on in horror at the interaction between the siblings. After a moment, however, D.J. smiled and said, "Well, yes, but we want to meet her anyway."
"Mom likes her." He replied quietly.
"Then there is no reason why we shouldn't like her as well." T.J. added with a smile on her face, "Bethany always did have such a great judge of character."
A door slammed open and closed and Dean seized a wonderful opportunity that had just presented itself, "Speak of the devil." He said as he gripped Tammy's arm and thrust her into his best friend, "T.J., D.J., this is Tammy. Tammy, these are Fulton's sisters."
Tammy sighed, "First of all," She slapped him hard on the arm, making him recoil in pain, "don't ever do that again. And second of all... What?" Tammy racked her brain and remembered when Fulton told her about T.J. and D.J., but didn't he want her to meet them? Wouldn't he have told her that they were in town so that she could?
"I like her already." D.J. said, "She's spunky, pretty, and she can handle herself." T.J. nodded in agreement.
"Um... Thank you." Tammy replied uncertainly.
"And she's polite." T.J. added. Then as what seemed like an after thought, she said, "An added plus, they're so different. I like that 'opposites attract' thing. It's so... Fire inducing." Fulton rubbed his eyes with the middle finger and thumb of his right hand. It was just like them to say something like that. Tammy was no doubt more confused then she had ever been in her life, "Fulton, you should bring Tammy to dinner on Saturday... We'll be able to get to know each other better." Tammy nodded to Fulton in agreement, wanting to understand what the heck was going on and why Fulton hadn't told her that his sisters were in town. Surely he had known that before hand...
"And, just a memo... We'll be at you're game on Friday." D.J. said, "So we'll see you then." She turned to the silently still Dean Buckley, "Enjoy you're day, Dean Buckley." Dean Buckley nodded uncomfortably, "Bye." She waved and she and her sister left.
Dean Buckley looked like he was going to be sick as Fulton waved goodbye to his sisters. He looked to Fulton, "Yup, those are my sisters. I must admit, they are honest to a fault. Nothing gets passed them. And they say everything they think." Once again, Dean Buckley held in a shutter. Dean forced himself to stay nice and quiet, but that was easier said then done. Dean Buckley stalked off to worry somewhere and the Ducks bombarded Fulton.
"What?" He asked innocently.
"You have sisters?" Charlie asked, "Not to mention twins? How come none of us knew about that?"
"It never came up." Fulton said in an attempt to defend himself.
"You never told me that they came into town." Tammy said, a little sour, "Didn't you want me to meet them?"
"Of course I did." Fulton replied, "But I didn't think about it. Plus I didn't know how long they were staying." They left the building, various Ducks still shooting remarks at Fulton, but he ignored them.
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Dani sighed and looked at her watch, it was 7:30 at night. She had been waiting for hour and a half for Gala and she had no idea why! Gala had called Dani at 2:00 in the morning and had asked her to meet her at a little coffee shop just outside of town. Why? Dani didn't know, and she was getting just a little bitter.
As Dani sipped on her Black Mango Iced Tea, she stared at the door. It was getting late and if she was going to get back to Eden Hall without getting a lecture then she would have to leave... and soon, "Dani?" Well, it was about time.
"Gala." Dani sighed, "You said you'd be here and hour ago."
Gala nodded, "I know, I am sorry, but what I had to do took much more time then I anticipated that it would." Dani nodded and indicated to Gala to sit down, "I am sure that you wonder what I asked you here for."
"Just a little bit." Dani replied sourly. As she took another sip of her tea, the bell on the door tinkled, signaling the entrance of another person. Gala turned around and waved at the person to come and sit with her. Dani looked at the person and saw that it was Gala's boyfriend... Sindri, that was his name, and he looked very exasperated. He sat down next to Gala, muttering under his breath what Dani thought must be curses in Icelandic. She wasn't sure why she thought that, but it was what it sounded like, even though she didn't know any Icelandic.
"Nice to meet you." Dani said after a long moments wait, "Gala has told me absolutely nothing about you."
"It is good to meet you as well." He replied quietly, "She has told me a lot about you." Dani nodded in response and sipped her tea. His voice was like chocolate, sweet and soothing. Dani could tell that Gala was more nervous then either her or Sindri.
"Just so you know," Dani said to him, "I promise that I won't tell anyone about you two. And I never break my promises unless I know that if I don't then someone will get maimed or killed, and I don't see that happening."
"Thank you." Sindri replied.
"Not a problem." Dani said, "By the way, Gala, I was wondering how Gunnar was."
Gala scoffed, "The same way he has been since Leah left... Depressed and moping." She shook her head, "When you told me that you had the ability to get two people to go out, I didn't think that you had intended to do so with my brother."
Shaking her head, Dani laughed, "I hadn't actually intended for that to happen." She admitted, "Leah and Gunnar meet after you and he took me home from the hospital. She was visiting, obviously, and I asked her and Gunnar to entertain themselves while I gave my statement to the police. They did the rest on their own."
"Really?" Gala asked, "I didn't expect that. He has never been one for talking to girls... Actually, he has had to ask me to talk to the ones he liked for him. And then he always has to get father's permission."
"Wow, I am glad that my daddy trusts me and my brothers..." Dani replied.
"You're lucky." Sindri said to her as he leaned over and kissed Gala on her cheek.
"I know."