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- Long awaited? That is an wonderful thing to hear... Or, in this case, read... Anyway, as for the Adam-and-Dani-ness that you crave, I get the ever-so subtle hint that you gave. I can not say if I will get them back together or not, you will just have to read and find out. I'm sorry if I am not going as fast as you would like with the updates, but I do do my best. Thank you for being patient.
PrincessH- I'm glad that you like the last chapter and thought that it was cute. I do try to do as well as possible on the Tammy/Fulton interaction. It seemed to me that any girl would want to meet her boyfriend's sisters. I am happy that you are interested in what happens next. That's what I try to do. Thanks!
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Dani munched on a White Cheddar flavored Rice Cake as she flipped through the mail that she had been sent. Mostly it was stuff from her uncles or cousins or some of her fans wishing her well... The thing that really caught her eye was the teeny lime green box that had long since become her godmother's signature packaging. Throwing her Rice Cake on the cabinet, Dani picked up the tiny box and tore off the tape that kept the box closed with much gusto; what ever Jeannette sent her was defiantly going to be good.
Once she opened the box, Dani became confused. There was nothing in it but a small folder of pictures. She pulled out the folder and flipped through it, confusing her even more. All of the pictures were of a little baby with massive amounts of light blonde hair, the same color as Jeannette's natural color. She turned the photo over and read 'Damian Piers D'Argonto: born January 3rd, 2006. 6 lbs, 10 oz.'. Dani's jaw dropped as she turned the photo back over and looked at her godbrother. Sure, she was still surrounded by boys, but he was so cute. Thank goodness he already looked just like Jeannette and not Alan...
Practically bounding from her seat, Dani grabbed her jacket and left to try and find Dean. It was about dinner time so she was sure that she would find him a Mickey's with the rest of the Ducks, besides Fulton, who was having dinner with his mother, sisters, and Tammy. More then likely he was pining over Julie while he was only two feet away from her. Dani sighed, this was the guy that could get any girl he wanted, yet he pined over one of his best friends... It was like a in a movie or something.
As Dani ran towards Mickey's, she thought about what Dean would think. He would defiantly tease her about still 'being surrounded', as everyone affectionately called it, and she probably wouldn't get the picture back. Oh, well. She figured that was the reason that Jeannette had sent a lot. Mickey's came into sight and Dani sped up, practically throwing herself into the dining car. As she thought, near the end of the car was the Ducks, Charlie trying to convince his obviously pregnant mother to sit down for a minute, "Mom, please."
"No." Casey retorted to her son, "I'm due in April and I will be staying away from maternity leave for as long as possible."
Charlie sighed, causing Dani to laugh, "So, you basically have no chance of anything." She said, "Women are determined enough, but pregnancy is something that no man should mess with. They've done enough."
"Uh-huh." Casey replied in agreement.
"Hi Casey." An excited voice said as a very chipper teen raced passed, "You look great."
"Thank you, Merci." Casey replied, "But I look like a whale."
"No you don't, you look really good for 6 months along." Dani replied, "If you want to know someone that really looked like a whale, then talk to Leah. Her Aunt Phyllis was huge when she was pregnant with her daughter. Leah enjoyed Phyllis' complaining. Looks are basically everything to her."
"Yeah, plus she's just really creepy." Dean added.
"But, anyway." Dani said as she pulled Damian's picture out of her pocket and handed it to Dean. Dean looked at it and furrowed his eyebrows, "What?"
"Who's is this?" Dean asked with shock dripping off of his voice.
"The picture or the baby?" Dani retorted sourly.
"Both."
Dani sighed, sometimes he really needed direction. It was very annoying, "Well, the picture is mine. As for the second part of the question, read the back, stupid." Dean cast her and evil gaze and turned the picture around, reading what was written. He had taken a sip of water and promptly choked on it when he read the writing, "Yeah."
"Holy crap." Dean said, "I'm keeping this."
"Yeah, I kinda figured."
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Gunnar Stahl sat alone in his hotel room, enthralled with a photograph of one beautiful young women from Chicago with blue/black hair and sharp hazel eyes. Leah Tracy was one of, if not the most, beautiful people that he had met in a while, and she had an inside to match. She was the nicest person that he had met in his life and she had a lot in common with him; a love of hockey, a crappy parental situation, few people in the world that she trust, and the massive burden of being very misunderstood.
As for her beauty, it was defiantly undeniable. Her hair was the most interesting thing that he had ever seen and she didn't care what anyone thought about it. Also, she was tough and she didn't care that it showed on her face, which was gorgeous what ever she was projecting. As for her body, it was amazing. Her legs, arms, back, and stomach were toned from her hockey but she still had her fair share of womanly curves. And he did rather appreciate them... Okay, he really needed to get her off of his mind or he was most defiantly going to lose what he had left of it.
Sighing, he laid back on his bed and continued to look at the picture. He had taken it of her when she had taken him on top of the building that Dani had been living in. It was a sunset and she looked absolutely beautiful with it behind her. She was looking out into space and he had taken his chance to get the picture he wanted of her. He believed with ever fiber of his being that had his father had not been sent Gala and him to the United States as early as he had then he would not have meet Dani who would not have introduced her to Leah. So, for once, his father had actually done something that had done him and Gala some good. Now, if he could figure out what was going on with his sister, then he would be as happy as possible.
As if on cue, Gala entered the room, "Where have you been?" He asked, sitting up from his lying down position.
"At practice, where do you think?" She asked.
"Gala, I know that there is something that you are keeping from me." He responded, "I thought that we could always tell each other everything. Please, I know that you would not tell me if it would get you in trouble with father, but you can trust me not to tell him."
"I don't have anything to say." Gala replied as she turned into the bathroom.
"Please." He said again as he grabbed onto Gala's arm, "Do you not trust me anymore?"
Gala looked shocked at what he said, "You know that that is not true." She replied as she pulled out of his grip and moved up to hug him, "You know that I trust you."
Gunnar sighed as he hugged her back, "I just don't understand why you can not tell me what it is that is going on."
"Okay." Gala replied, feeling guilt creep into her body, "I'll tell you what you want to know. What is it that you would like to know?"
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It had been a long day at work for Philip Banks and he had been thankful to get home. He walked into his house and pulled off his jacket, placing it on the jacket hook next to the wall, "Corrine?" He called from the bottom of the stairs, "Are you home?" He didn't get an answer, which confused him. It was 7:30 and normally she would have been home about an hour ago, "Corrine?" Again no answer.
He walked into the kitchen and saw that she wasn't there and decided to check in their bedroom. Philip walked up the stairs and knocked on the bedroom door, "Corrine?"
"She's not here, Mr. Banks." Claribel said as he opened the door. She was dusting the armoire and there was a stack of clean clothes on the bed that she was going to put away next.
"Do you know where she is?"
"No, sir." Claribel replied, "She didn't tell me but she raced out about 45 minutes ago, so I think that she might be back soon." She placed her duster in her belt and placed the clothes away, "Good bye, Mr. Banks. I will see you tomorrow. I am not sure if you know, but Monica is staying at Ana's tonight."
"Thank you, Claribel." Philip replied as he watched the young women leave. She was a good women who did a lot for his family, yet it had just dawned on him that that was all that he knew about her. Oh, well. If she wanted him to know then she would tell him. Philip placed his briefcase on the chair next to the door of his bedroom and walked over to his wife's dresser.
He had noticed a familiar picture on the dresser that he hadn't seen in a long time. Picking up the picture, Philip couldn't help but smile. Corrine, in all her raven haired, 19 year old glory, was standing in the middle of two sisters that looked nothing alike. The sister on the left was her age, the younger of the two, with light brown hair and a look about her that suggested that she was the more serious of the two with her hair in a bun and her sweet smile. The other sister, however, had long dark brown, almost black, hair and she gave off what would be considered the feel of the essential party girl. Her smile was wild and wide, as if she was getting ready for a party the moment she finished having her picture taken. Come to think of it, she probably was.
The sisters were Virgina and Jennifer Foster. Virgina, or Ginny as she was better known, was the younger sister, while Jennifer, or Jen, was the older and much wilder sister. She was 3 years her sister's senior and had known Philip all of his life, being the same age as him and having very close families. As a matter of fact, he and Jen had dated for quite a long time before Ginny introduced Jen to Corrine, who introduced her to him when their relationship ended. It was Corrine who had finally settled him down after a youth of rebellion and trying to not conform to his father's ideals; a path that gave him a lot of coming-home-drunk stories and even more angst-ridden teenage 'my-father-doesn't-understand-me' stories that he had told Corrine when they first met, subsequently causing a romance to blossom.
None of his children knew of his past, nor did he want any of them to. Philip was very ashamed of what he had done in his youth. One story in particular stuck out to him. When he and Jen were 20, they had been out all night to an end of the school year fraternity party. They both had gotten so drunk that neither if them could drive home, so his friend Lisa Tarsi, now his children's godmother, had called Ginny to pick them up. Ginny did, rather reluctantly, and brought them back to their dorm rooms. In the time that he got into the car and got home, he ended up vomiting all over Ginny's Cadillac, not that he remembered much about that night. Once he could think again, he paid to have Ginny's car cleaned as an incentive for her not to tell his father about it. He didn't need to deal with his father's problems then.
But today Jen was a psychologist and she was married to an ex-professional body builder turned fireman, while Ginny was the editor of a fashion magazine that was based in St. Paul and she had been married to a Police Officer and divorced him, now she was married to a Chef at a rather exclusive restaurant. If Philip remembered correctly, Ginny had a daughter that was a Registered Nurse and a son that was only about two years older then Adam. Jen had 2 daughters and a son. Her oldest daughter and oldest child was an aspiring photojournalist, her son played football in college, and her youngest daughter, who was only 14, wanted to be a beautician.
Looking down again, Philip saw Corrine's daily planner laying open on her desk. He placed the picture down on her dresser and walked over to close the planner. As he closed the planner, he was shocked to see '6:50, appointment with Jen' written for that day. Now he knew why she had run out on Claribel so fast, but why did she need to see Jen? It was probably nothing... Right?
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Fulton was turning redder by the minute as his mother, sisters, and Tammy talked about his past. There were the normal baby stories, childhood mess ups, and teenage problems, and he was fine with that. But when D.J. and T.J. had asked Bethany to whip out the photos, and she agreed, things went in a different direction then he had expected.
"Aw. You were so cute." Tammy said, looking at a picture of Fulton smearing mashed yams on his face and high chair, "Not that you still aren't, but this is priceless."
"Tammy," Fulton said, "Please don't tell anyone about these pictures."
"Why not?" D.J. asked, "You were adorable."
"He has a reputation." Bethany replied, knowing how tough Fulton seemed to be to anyone who met him, "Don't worry, honey. What is said or shown at this table stays at this table."
"Yup." T.J. replied, "By the way, grandma and grandpa send their love. They want to come up and see you at some point. Plus, they'd love to visit mom." D.J. nodded and Fulton silently cursed at himself. He needed to go to the cemetery and clean up around Robyn's grave like he promised his mother he would.
"It would be lovely to see them again." Bethany replied quietly. She had always felt a little bit guilty about Robyn's death, knowing that that was about the time that Dorian really started to get crazy. However, there was no proof that it was anything but a sad accident, so she couldn't say anything. But, then again, there was nothing to the contrary either.
"Oh my goodness." D.J. said as she picked up a picture, "Is this the Pee-Wee Ducks?"
Bethany and Tammy looked over, "Yup." Tammy replied, "That picture was taken just after we won the Championship." Fulton laughed as his mother handed him the picture. He wasn't sure which picture it was, but just slightly off center was Guy and Connie having their first kiss. Just moments after that picture had been taken, all of the Duck's rushed to the hospital to tell Adam the good news. Charlie had gotten there first, but he waited so that the whole team could tell Adam.
"Then we raced to the hospital to tell Adam the good news." Fulton reminisced.
Tammy nodded, "Uh-huh. That was also the night that everyone met Jamie. He was waiting for Adam when Charlie got to the hospital. I still can't believe that I had a crush on him."
"You... What?" Fulton asked, deadpanned.
"It was only a little one." Tammy said in an attempt to defend herself, "It was for, like, two days. You're much more my type."
"I find that disturbing on very many levels." Fulton said, more to himself then anyone else. Tammy scoffed and threw a piece of a roll at him, hitting him directly on the nose.