Disclaimer: I disclaim all except the characters not found in the movie

Authors Note: K, this chapter is really really long... sorry, it just happened. And I just thought I'd mention that it's 1:52 am and I'm writing fan fics while my roommate and her boyfriend snore away... To put this in a different perspective, I'm still fully clothed and I'm getting up for my next breakfast in less than 8 hours. There's something really wrong with me. I mean, I should at least be doing homework instead of fan-fic-ing... but nooo, here I sit, as I've been sitting for the past four hours... Anyway, enjoy the really long chapter that's really useless except for the bonding time...but still, Enjoy...

Wednesday, 11:30, Cal stood outside the locker room door, cigarette in hand. Damn math class. She didn't even need it. It was the biggest waste of time there ever was in a schedule.

The bell rang. Next period was English. Finally, something at least a little bit worthwhile. Not that she'd have felt bad skipping it, but she had nothing better to do.

It was a pop quiz day. Cal was done in five minutes, the rest of the losers in her class were bound to take another 10 or 15 to write down the answers they were pulling out of their asses because they didn't do the required reading.

Suddenly her bag was vibrating against the floor. Cell phone! But who would be calling her…She nearly leapt out of her seat as she gripped the phone. Walking as calmly as possible to the front of the room she asked to use the restroom. With permission she scurried out into the hallway, closing the door gently. As soon as the coast was clear she was off to the locker room again. Just outside the door she flipped open the phone, never so happy she had it on 7 rings before the voicemail picked up.

"Hello?" She pretended to now know who was on the other end.

"My turn to pick the activity."

"Only if you answer the question I just came up with."

"I didn't call because my brother got into trouble and I had to help him out yesterday."

"Fair enough. Where are you and where are we going."

"I'm sitting on your car, and you'll figure it out when we get there."

"You're gonna have to wait a while," she said, walking slowly toward the corner of the school. "I've got to go back to class to get my stuff."

"You're gonna make me sit out here and freeze my ass off while you go back for a math book?"

"No, the math book stays in my locker. It's my jacket I'm going back for." She smiled, finally rounding the corner. She could see him but he had no idea. Holding her phone away from her face she yelled "Heads up!"

The keys landed just shy of the car. He'd been too caught off guard to catch them. Now he dropped down to pick them up, pocketing his own phone. When he looked back up Cal signaled she would only be 5 minutes, and then darted back into the school.

There were still 20 minutes left of class. But the teacher was talking to one of the trouble makers at the front of the classroom. As quietly as possible she slipped through the door, crept over to her belongings (she cursed herself then for sitting on the far side of the room), and slipped quietly back out the door.

She knew the teacher had seen her, and she thought she heard the door open a few seconds after she'd left, but sneaky little Cal was already stuffing half her stuff in her gym locker. Looping her scarf over her neck she again exited out the locker room door.

………………………………………………………………………….

Jack was sitting half in/half out of the driver's side of the car, cigarette in hand.

"You drivin'?"

"I wasn't aware that that was an option," he admitted in surprise.

"Well, you are the only one who knows where we're going. It makes more sense if you drive. Just don't crash, k?"

"I won't drive like you, I promise."

"Ha, funny," she plopped herself into the passengers seat. "I didn't get us killed."

"Not yet."

"Hey, I'm letting you drive my car, be nice or I'll take over."

Jack ignored her, focusing on forcing the seat back so his long legs would fit. "Damn you're short."

"I'm… sorry?" she giggled. "So anyway, where're we going?"

"I'm not telling you."

"You're a pain in the ass."

"And you're so much better?"

"Ooh, great comeback." They were on the road now, headed toward Jack's part of town. Cal was a little anxious. She had no idea where this guy was taking her. "So you're really not going to tell me where we're going?"

He laughed a little at her, probably hearing the uneasiness in her voice. "Am I scaring you?"

"Um, well, not really other than the fact that this situation sounds like something from a horror movie. I'm not where I'm supposed to be, and you're the only one who knows where I'm going. Oh and no one knows we even associate, let alone 'hang out'."

He was still laughing when he said "Well we're going to a public place if that makes you feel any better."

"A little, yeah," she giggled again and leaned back in the seat. For some reason she really wasn't worried about being around this guy.

……………………………………………………………………………..

Jack felt insane. He still didn't know this girl, and here he was driving her car and stealing her from school. And yet he'd talked to her more in the past two weeks than he'd talked to most of his brothers all month.

She'd seemed a little freaked out a few seconds ago, not that he blamed her. He figured he better keep talking or she'd get bored and start that damn question game again.

"We're not going to be alone, by the way. If that makes you feel better too."

"Oh my God, just tell me what we're doing already!"

"Helping my brother," he stated plainly.

"Helping him do what?... And which brother?"

"Helping him teach his girlfriend how to play hockey, and Angel."

"And why are we doing this?"

"Because he wanted to play hockey and Sophie won't let him do anything without her."

"And how do you expect me to help as I have no skates?"

"Angel brought an extra pair for you."

"Wow, ok, I'm out of questions now." Then, after a second she took it back. "Wait, no I'm not. What if I didn't know how to skate?"

"Well, you probably wouldn't be asking that question. So do you know how to skate?"

"That's not the point," she couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the conversation. "But yes, I can skate. Not so sure about the hockey skills, but the skating I can handle."

"You're already ahead of Sophie so I wouldn't worry about it."

"I…wasn't worried." She'd been sitting away from the seat again and as she sank back she began to blush. "Much," she muttered as an afterthought.

Jack smiled. He'd noticed her sitting forward little by little during the conversation. It was going to be interesting to see how she reacted around the others.

……………………………………………………………………………….

They'd pulled up along the curb. There was a guy skating around on the ice, Cal assumed he was Angel. And the girl lacing up her skates had to be Sophie. Jack got out and immediately walked toward his brother. Cal more cautiously stood with the car door open for a few seconds. She was thinking that any girl with a similar amount of fear would probably have gotten back in the car and driven away. And who could have blamed her really. She hardly knew even one of the people she was with. But she couldn't bring herself to leave without explanation, and she didn't have a good explanation for wanting to leave. Just fear, fear that she lived with every day.

"They won't bite you, I promise," Jack had backtracked a little, seeing her caution. "Well, Angel wont, I wouldn't put it past Sophie."

The Latino woman glared over and yelled "Shut up Jack, you're getting to be as bad as Bobby."

Jack laughed, but tugged at Cal's jacket. "Come on."

She finally closed the car door and walked with him. Angel, having come over to pull his woman out onto the ice, motioned to where he'd left the other skates. Jack handed Cal a pair, glancing down at her feet as he did so. "They might be a little big."

She shrugged and sat on the bench to put them on. Lacing them extra tight compensated for the size difference. Jack was watching her, she could see him out the corner of her eye. Blushing a little she turned to watch Sophie fall on her ass for the third time. She started bitching in Spanish as Jack and Cal laughed. But Cal was getting anxious. She stepped out on the ice and did a quick lap around just to test the skates. She hadn't skated in a year or so, but it was pretty easy to get used to again.

Jack had followed her on to the ice, but he was lingering around his brother. After a bit more joking Sophie threatened to fight the younger man, who skated a safe distance away from her.

Cal turned quickly to test her stopping ability, and then changed direction to join the others in the center of the rink. Angel stuck out his hand in greeting and introduced himself. The girl was a little slow to take his hand, but revealed her name quickly to cover up the few seconds before she reached over. Sophie half-heartedly smiled and waved. She looked like she was probably going to attack Cal if she touched her man again (not that she could have made the skates move far enough without falling on her face). But Cal realized that her nervousness wasn't helping the situation and she resolved to calm down immediately. It wasn't like her to be this nervy around strangers anyway. She didn't want to give the wrong impression, not that she was likely to see these people ever again. Except maybe Jack, but he'd already gotten his first impression, he didn't count….

After about half an hour Sophie was a sufficient enough skater to play a weak version of hockey with. Giving her the stick to lean on made her a little better, but she wasn't so good at the whole taking the puck with her thing. She became the goalkeeper for Angel. Trying to make it fair Cal took the other goal. But the younger girl was still much better, possibly because she was simply more willing to drop to her unprotected knees to stop the puck.

When they were up by five Angel decided that to be fair (and to shut up his woman) Jack and Cal should leave their goal unattended. Jack didn't necessarily think this was a good idea, but Cal shrugged. She was probably kinda bored of standing there.

Still, he didn't want her to get caught between the boys. She'd get hit… not that she didn't get hit all the time, but…. Gah, whatever. He surrendered.

As they started she slipped back and used their goal to slingshot herself to the other side with as much speed as possible. Jack passed to her, and saw her get a little impressed at her own ability to stop the puck.

Angel, on the other hand, was looking pissed, probably due to the fact he could blame no one but himself for this problem. But he went after the girl like he was going after one of his brothers.

"Ang…"

…………………………………………………………………………………..

Jack's warning tone was ignored. But Cal could see and hear the other man coming. She was toying around with the idea of just standing there, but shooting sounded like more fun, so she shot. SCORE!

Angel angrily began to stop, but purposefully knocked into her anyway. One leg skidded out and only one hand had to touch the ice in order for her to stabilize herself.

"Ang, be nice to the kid."

"I didn't hurt her!"

Cal had skated around the rink once before pulling up beside her teammate. He looked more pissed of than his brother which kind of surprised Cal. She decided to butt in with her normal tough-girl demeanor. "It'll take a lot more than that to irritate me, Jack." He turned his head so that he could glance between his brother and the girl he hardly knew. She smiled and skated backwards into playing position. "He's just intimidated because I'm wearing a skirt and I'm still better than him."

Angel's lip curled into a snarl. "I'm gonna kill your girlfriend, White Boy."

"She's not my girlfriend," he said calmly, "And it was your idea to bring her out of goal."

"Blah blah blah," Cal slapped her stick against the ice. "I thought we were playing hockey."

Angel moved forward with the puck, but waited long enough to make the other team nervous before taking off. He made sure to lunge his elbow out and knock Cal to her ass. Jack stopped for a second to make sure she got up, and then skated forward in an attempt to head off his brother. It didn't work, the older boy scored.

Now even more pissed, Jack quickly returned to the center line. But Cal was plotting her next attention-grabbing move.

She held back as Jack tried to make it past their opponent. He had to pass back to Cal in order to keep possession. Angel came at her fast, but she passed back to Jack and sped backwards to come around the other side of the rink again. Angel predicted where she'd come out and placed himself at an angle at which he blocked Jack from making a goal, but could also easily reach out and stop any attempt to pass to the girl. For a while they all just stood there pondering what to do next. Cal's eyes glanced around the rink. Suddenly she skated back a few paces and blurted out, "Jack, don't move."

"Why?"

"Just don't, ok?" She looked up at him for a moment, almost locking eyes with him. A little flustered she put on a cocky façade and smiled at Angel for another moment. Then, picking up her stick, she began skating as hard as she could. She could tell Jack wanted to lift his stick out of her way, it blocked her path around behind the other goal, but she prayed he kept it down. Before she could think about the stupidity and the risk involved in the move she took a two footed leap to clear the stick and the puck that lay beside it. As soon as her feet touched the ice again she reached out with her hand both to steady herself and to help in turning the corners.

Jack was ready to pass to her as soon as she turned the second corner and Angel knew to anticipate it. He moved to block the girl, leaving his goal tending woman at the mercy of his younger brother. The puck wailed her in the side of the thigh.

Cal suppressed her laughter to a snort and covered her mouth to hide her smile. It really wasn't nice to get pleasure from the other girl's pain, but it was kinda funny…

Jack was smiling too, though he was trying to apologize. Angel shoved his little brother out of the way and bent down to tend to his girlfriend. Jack skated over to the other girl, who was still smiling broadly. "Shut up," they both chuckled before he changed the subject. "If I didn't know any better I'd think you were trying to catch someone's attention with that ridiculous stunt."

"Good thing you know me better," she kept smiling, but averted her eyes to watch Angel lift Sophie to her feet. She was thinking 'besides, I already had the attention of the only person I required it from.' But what she actually said was "So I take it we just ended the game?"

"It appears that way," they started following the other couple off the ice.

"Gee, and I was just getting the hang of it."

……………………………………………………………………………….

Sophie was sitting in her own car, changing on the slightly softer seat to ease the throbbing in her thigh. Angel bent down nearby to change his. Ignoring them now Cal sat on the bench to begin the process, Jack lifted his one leg up onto the same bench to do the same.

"You're pretty quick on those skates," he complimented.

Cal suddenly broke into the most unnecessary life-story that she'd ever told... "When I was little my mom signed me up for all sorts of ridiculous stuff, one of which being a speed skating class. I actually stayed in it for like 3 years."

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Jack felt kinda mean as he laughed.

"Yeah," she shrugged, "but I was better at it than any of the other things."

Jack had finished tying his boots before she even replaced her first skate. He realized that part of the problem was that she was pretty violently shivering every few seconds. "You're freezing." He felt like slapping himself on the forehead for that dumb comment, but she smiled and managed to get her second shoe on.

"I'm wearing a short skirt to play outside in the dead of winter, probably not the smartest thing I've ever done. Not to mention my ass is wet from falling and my hands are soaked from pulling myself." She finished her knot, dropped her foot to the ground and slapped her hands on her thighs. "But, I'd rather freeze my ass off having a little fun than go home and do schoolwork in the toasty warmth."

"I take it that means you have no intention of leaving yet?"

"Yeah, that's kinda where I was headed with that statement." She nodded, wondering if he's really meant to reply to the earlier statement.

"Well you don't have to freeze your ass off." Angel cut off his next thought, calling for him to bring the skates over. He didn't even make an excuse as he snatched them up and ran to hand them over. His brother was still upset with him, and was glaring a little when he approached. But with his hands free Jack waved and smiled. They'd probably fight over all of this later, but for now he was free of it because as a general rule they'd been taught not to fight in public.

Cal was standing up as he returned to her side, but she wasn't used to the normal pavement yet and lost her balance. If Jack had had a moment to think about it he wouldn't have reached out to help her. But instinctively he did and she flinched at his touch, causing him to flinch a little in return. And yet, since he was already touching her he didn't let go until he was sure she was stable. And even then his hand hovered defensively by her shoulder.

"Maybe you shoulda left the skates on," he joked. She looked away, her already red cheeks deepening a shade, but she was smiling. "You alright now? You think you can manage walking up a couple blocks?"

"I'll give it a try," she stretched her legs to play along with the joke. "It better be pretty flat though, I might trip over something."

"Says the girl that managed to jump a good two feet on ice skates." Jack chuckled as he headed for the sidewalk. He knew without a doubt that she would follow whether he told her to or not. It was convenient and creepy at the same time. She was soon walking beside him, keeping up surprisingly well for being so much shorter than him.

"So… where're we going?"

"My god, you're worse than a five year old." He couldn't help but laugh.

"I am not! It's a simple question, why do you have so much trouble answering simple questions?"

"Because it's way more fun to torture people."

"We're gonna be there before you give up, aren't we?"

"Probably."

"God, you're such a pain." Just then she tripped over a chink in the sidewalk, making Jack laugh out loud.

"You sure you don't need those skates?" She buried her face in her hands as he stopped and turned toward her. "You alright?"

"Physically, yes I'm fine… but my pride is taking one hell of a beating today."

"Technically you're not physically fine since your knees have been bleeding pretty consistantly for about an hour."

"Geez, details, details. I'm a little scuffed up, I'll live. Now help me up so I don't fall again." It was hard to tell if the redness in her cheeks was just from the cold, or if she was still blushing.

He reached down to pull her up. She shivered as his gloved hand closed around her bare one. Smiling he bent down a little to look her in the face. "You gonna make it?"

She pulled away a little. "You know that pride problem… Yeah, you're not helping."

"Sorry," but he was still smiling.

She rolled her eyes but started walking in the general direction they'd been headed in before. "Where are we going," she asked again.

They'd walked far enough that Jack could simply point at the building, and she laughed as he figured she would when she realized what he was doing.

"Nice, trade one school for another."

"We're not going to classes, don't worry."

"I have yet to fear that around you, Jack."

"Nice, real nice. Here I am leading you all around town and you go and insult my schooling."

"Not your schooling, just your ability to stay in class."

"Same thing."

"Yeah, ok."

…………………………………………………………………………………

They stopped to cross the street in front of the school. As they reached the door Jack held it open and ushered her inside. It was like he was trying to make her feel bad about insulting him even in fun. But with an unimpressed look at him she stepped inside.

"This way," he said, pressing gently on a door to their left. She could hear a vaguely familiar thudding get louder as the door opened and suddenly realized where they were going, and that again there were going to be strangers involved.

Jack stepped into the room with little hesitation, but Cal peeked around the corner before moving just inside the door. There were a group of fifth or sixth graders practicing Basketball drills in the gym. No one had yet noticed the arrival of the two older people and the nervy teenage girl wondered what was going to happen when someone looked up.

Now Jack was coaxing her onto the second row of the bleachers. When she kept glancing down at the children he rolled his eyes and tugged at her coat as he had earlier. "They don't bite either. Now get your ass up here where it's warmer."

With a sigh Cal steadied herself on the higher bench and stepped up to follow the orders of this kind almost-stranger. He was right, away from the doors there was no draft and the air was at least a few degrees warmer. She flopped down and bent over to look at her scuffed up knees. They had been raw from the hockey game, and when she'd fallen on the pavement she'd split them both open. They'd begun to scab over, but she licked her thumb and scrubbed at them.

Then some kid was yelling up into the bleachers. "Jack come play with us."

"I'm busy," he claimed as he leaned back, though it was obvious he was nothing of the sort.

"Aw, come on Jack." The first kid whined. Another came up behind him and chimed in "Your girlfriend can play too if she wants."

"She's not my girlfriend," He seemed a bit exasperated at having to explain this a second time.

Cal sat up and looked over at him. "Go play, Jack."

"You were freaked out about being here a few seconds ago, now you're telling me to leave you alone up here?"

"Jack, even if I were your girlfriend I would have no right to stop you from doing what you want. Go play."

"You comin'?"

"Ha, no… Basketball is one thing I know I suck at."

Standing up (to the slight cheers of the children below) Jack took off his jacket, laid it beside her and before turning around muttered jokingly "You just wanna watch this in action," he motioned at himself.

Smiling Cal couldn't help but blush again. "Yeah that too." It was the truth, and by the way he laughed at it he knew. Damn.

But then again… Damn, look at that. He was a mighty fine young specimen, that was for sure. His long-sleeved tee fit just snuggly enough to show off the muscles of his arms. The black short sleeved shirt overtop of it was a little looser but not loose enough to hide anything from a dirty teenage girl. His ratty jeans were much the same.

He was playing at a level just enough above the kids to annoy the opponents of the team he was on, and make him the hero of his teammates. Show-off. She smiled as he faked out someone and passed to another. They were all having an awesome time. He was so good with them. Then again, he was good with her too. He'd known she'd enjoy hockey, he'd brought her in out of the cold, and he'd offered to stay with her instead of going off to have fun. It was cute really. It was almost worth flirting with him over.

But she stopped that train of thought immediately. There would be no such action taken. There was too much risk involved.

………………………………………………………………………………….

Suddenly a couple of gunshots rang from out on the street. Cal's full attention was turned to the wall that faced the streets, though obviously she could see nothing of what was taking place out there.

The game had paused at the sound, but when the shooting was done Jack dribbled a little to pick up where they'd left off. But he edged his way off the court and over to the bleachers. Jesus, why did that have to happen? The girl was already tweaking out on him, now gunshots? She was kind of pale and she still couldn't take her eyes off the wall. Slowly her temporary guardian made his way up to sit where he had been before.

"You ok?"

She swallowed hard, turning now to face the courts again, and nodded her head. Basic instinct would be telling her to run right about now. Run from the sound, and run from the cops that provided added danger soon after. But they were in the school. No one was going to shoot up a room full of seventh graders except maybe a fellow seventh grader. And she had no idea where she was, and was likely to get lost on her way to the car if she was running.

He was about to say something as comforting as he could think of when some of the doors burst open and two cops stomped in.

"Well whadaya know, there's a Mercer hanging around here."

"Shit," Jack stood up, "What seems to be the problem, officers?"

"What, you gonna tell me you didn't hear that gunfire out there?"

"I was playing basketball, kinda hard to hear anything but the ball and squeaky shoes."

"So that's why you're outta breath and sweaty then too?"

Jack nodded.

"You got anybody who can back you up?"

"How about that big group of kids you just scared outta here?"

"They seem to have left you on your own, kid. And your girlfriend there seems to be a little scared about what happened. What happens when we get her alone and ask what she knows?"

"She's gonna tell you I was playing basketball with those kids. She was sitting here watching us."

"Alright, relax Mercer. Why don't you come down here and talk to us."

"Why, so you can search me for a gun. I think you're confusing me for my brother, officer. You must be looking for Bobby, he's quite a bit shorter than me.. heavier build."

"Shut the fuck up kid," Jack smiled. "Alright so I'll believe ya that you don't have a gun on ya, but I know you're not wandering around here without some kind of weapon. Why don't you get your ass down here and cooperate so we can get this over with."

"I'd rather not leave her up here by herself, especially with guys like you hanging around."

"Watch it Mercer."

"Hey listen, you know I didn't fucking to anything, alright. So for once just let me off the hook so I can get her out of here."

"Hey, if you want we can give her a ride to whatever corner you picked her up from."

Jack felt his fist ball up and his jaw set. Fucking cops. But to everyone's shock it was Cal who spoke next.

"If you don't let us go, officer, who's gonna pour your drinks tonight?"

The older cop squinted over at her. "I don't believe it. Tanning's daughter?"

"Yes sir, and what's my father going to say when he finds out what you implied about me?"

"You're hanging out with the wrong crowd, girly."

"Really, 'cause I felt pretty safe 'till you two showed up."

The cop glared and cursed at her in Italian. In another shocking move Cal retorted in the same language. That pissed him off all the more. He turned back to Jack.

"Listen Mercer, all you gotta do is hand over any weapons you got and we'll let you walk out of here."

Jack glanced down at his jacket and thought about the proposal. It was just a knife. He had to get them out of there. But then he looked over at Cal and almost smiled. She was pissed off beyond anything he'd ever seen. She shook her head, she wanted him to decline.

The cops had seen him looking though and were climbing up the bleachers to snatch the jacket. Before they could reach for it however, Cal had thrown it on over her own. What the fuck was she thinking? He was about to ask just that, but the cop started reaching over for her. Jack froze, unable to think of what to do. He could slug the bastard, but that wouldn't really help. He couldn't rip the jacket off the girl, she was backing away now.

The cop took one more step before Cal's anger formed a smile. "You touch me, and it's sexual harassment. Not to mention you'll have to find a new place to drink."

Now Jack's eyes began to bug out of his head. Was she seriously threatening a cop? Damn. He silently reminded himself never to piss her off.

"Just turn out the pockets and we'll leave you both alone." The cop offered.

"First of all," she started, "I don't believe you. And second, unlike you I've got manners enough not to stick my hands into someone else's pockets."

………………………………………………………………………………………

The cops followed them out of the building, but as soon as the youngsters made it to the car they headed the opposite direction. Only then did Cal breathe. All the anger had faded to fear now. She looked over at Jack for a bit of reassurance.

"That was the fucking stupidest shit I've ever seen anyone try." He sounded like a parent scolding their child. Not exactly what she'd been looking for. "You're a fucking psycho, you know that right? You just threatened a fucking cop for some shit that had absolutely nothing to do with you!"

She smiled, though she felt her lip twitch nervously. "You're just jealous."

He bit back a smile. "Fucking right I'm jealous, now get in the car and take me home you psycho. And take my jacket off will ya? I'm gonna smell like girl now."

She shrugged off the heavy leather and tossed it to him before crawling over to unlock his door. They were off before either of them spoke again.

"What did you say to him?"

"When?"

"In Italian, or whatever, what did you say?"

She laughed a little. "He said fuck you, so I told him he'd have to find his dick first."

"Are you shitting me? You threatened him that early on in the conversation? There is something wrong with you, kid."

"Yeah, but if there weren't I wouldn't be hanging out with you, and you wouldn't want me to."

Rolling his eyes Jack settled back to fiddle with the radio. "True enough."