I was annoyed.

Herb was annoyed.

We were both annoyed. It made for a beautiful flight.

Buzz woke me up at three. I hadn't gotten much sleep, maybe an hour. He apparently stayed up all night because there was no reason for him to go to sleep when he had to catch a flight at five.

I hadn't packed anything. My intentions were to go to work then come home and pack. That had been shot to hell with Mr. Drunk Man in the bar and the cops. I got home at 1:30 and went to sleep at 1:40. An hour and twenty minutes of sleep does not work for me. But I got up so Buzz didn't yell at me.

I sat next to Silky on the plane ride and slept most of the time. From what I had heard down the grapevine, Herb had laid into Buzz about my riding with them to Norway.

He was scowling until he saw me. Then the scowl fell and he didn't say a word.

Silky was calm as calm could be. When I sat down next to the window, he plopped down right after me. It was slightly chilly at the beginning and before I knew it Silky had dropped his jacket around my shoulder. I didn't ask and he didn't tell. We kept it that way.

When the plane landed, Buzz dropped tha afghan around my shoulders, took my hand and led me from the iron bird. My head hurt from the sudden change in altitude and my jaw hurt from clenching it.

The bus was a welcomed contraption. I sank into the seat and leaned against the window. No one spoke. The tension could be cut with a knife. Buzz was gripping my hand hard. He was nervous. They all were.

My sleep was once again interrupted by the bus stopping at the rink. I got something to eat while the others went to the locker room to prepare for the game. Once alone I got to thinking, which was really bad. I thought that maybe if I got an apartment, Buzz wouldn't have to worry about us now. He had been slightly standoffish the last few weeks. I just attributed that to the fact that Herb was working him too hard, but I can be a little bit on the obnoxious side. I know he hated it at some points.

But then I realized he really did care last night. I could have been seriously hurt instead of nursing a bruised jaw. He was my best friend but maybe we needed time off to find out who we were separately.

I was sitting on the bench with the heels on my hands pressed against my eyes when I felt someone sit next to me. An arm went around my shoulders and I was pulled into a padded side. The smell told me it was Jack. I looked up at him. After a few seconds of shocked silence he brought his hands up. I never even realized I had been crying.

"What's wrong?" he asked as I attempted to wipe the tear tracks away.

I shook my head and sniffled. "Nothing. I wasn't even realizing I was crying." I looked up and then around. "Where're the guys?"

"They're still in the locker room. Buzzy sent me to check on you. He said you might still be mad at him."

"I'm not mad. I understand where he's coming from. We've been together all our lives. I was basically raised with him. Then when my mother died, my dad couldn't handle me and my older brother so he sent me away. Buzz has been my brother in every sense of the word, more so than my real brother."

"Where's your real brother?"

"Who knows. I haven't seen him since family Christmas ten years ago."

"How old were you then?"

"I was thirteen. He came in drunk and my aunt sent him away. I haven't seen him since. Buzz knows where he is but I haven't asked about him and I don't want to know about him."

"You sound like he's the worst person in your life."

"He is. He hated me when we were kids. I'm twelve years younger than him and from his dad's second marriage. We're half siblings and he spent all thirteen years of my life that he was in trying to get me in trouble. That's why I stayed with Buzz. He's always been more of a brother than mine half-brother ever was."

He just sat there and looked at me for a moment. "But that's not what's bothering you, is it?"

"OC, get in here! You, too, Minni." Herb called from across the rink. Jack and I looked at each other before going across the ice. It was faster than waking all the way around the rink.

"Herb, why…"

"Buzzy wants you around us at all times." It all made sense then. He was nervous for me. "Is that okay with you?"

I winced as I bit the inside of my mouth and nodded. "Yeah. It's fine."

"Good. Get in here."

I looked at Jack before we both walked into the locker room.

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

The boys tied the Norwegian national team, much to my chagrin and Herb's annoyance. At one time, Bah and Verchota were talking about a set of twins they saw in the stands. After that, Herb made them do Herbies after the game. I watched on the sidelines with Doc and Craig.

It made me cringe at the thought of them puking on the ice. Silky was clinging to the goal and Buzz was on his knees with his head on the ice. Thankfully, after the lights were turned out and they did about twenty more, Rizzo put a stop to it by telling Herb what he wanted to hear.

We were sitting on the plane getting ready to take off. I was sitting by Buzz in the window seat with my head against said window. I wasn't mad at him. I was mad at me. This was all the family I had left and if I screwed this up, I'd be even madder than I was now.

He didn't say a word and that bothered me. I understood that he had just done a million Herbies in a row but I was upset with him. He took my freedom from me.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "You've been quiet since we got on the bus."

"I'm fine." It was short and to the point but Buzz wouldn't leave it alone.

"I know you think what I did was a little over my bounds, but I worry about you."

"I can handle myself."

"Like you handled yourself last night at the bar?" I clenched my teeth even though it sent a shock wave of pain through my jaw. I wasn't going to yell at him. "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap like that."

"Yeah, you did."

He didn't answer right away, which meant I was right. "You're right. I'm not. I'm going to do everything I need to do to protect you. You have no one else."

That was the truth. "You're right on that account but it doesn't give you any right to force me to sit on the bench with you guys. I enjoy watching the game so close but I don't want it to be because you're giving me special treatment. I'm your cousin, Buzz, not your sister."

"You're like my sister."

"That's great because I consider you my brother, but I will not let you treat me like I belong to you. We may share the same name but we are two different people."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you're out of line on this. I can handle you coming to my defense when that guy attacked me at work. I can handle you not wanting me to ride alone on my way home from work. But forcing me to sit in the box with you and the others is not acceptable. That I can't handle."

"I'm just trying to protect you. Like you said, you have no one else to call family. Your dad, forgive me for saying this, doesn't want you and your brother hates you. Where are you going to turn? We grew up together. We consider each other brother and sister even though we're cousins. Excuse me for protecting that." He turned away from me then.

I felt really bad after that. Buzz was my best friend, brother and cousin all rolled into one. I loved the fact that he cared about me like no one else had and that he was willing to help me. I didn't understand my reaction. We always had each other's backs and we knew we always would. I guess the two of us living together for so long meant we knew each other way too well and that meant we knew how to get on each other's nerves just as fast.

I turned in my seat and looked at him. He had one hand pressed against his mouth. That was the sign that I had hit him where it hurt. He was really only trying to watch out for me.

I threw the blanket over both of us, slipped my arms through his, and laid my head on his shoulder. I knew all was forgiven when he laid his head against mine.