CHAPTER TWO

Jackie let herself into the house and dropped her bags. She was exhausted - mentally, physically, and emotionally. It was always exhilarating to see Alexandra and James win, but underneath all the excitement, Jackie always felt a little bit of heartbreak. The best part of winning to Alexandra and James was that they got to share it. Jackie had no one to share it with. She got to stand and cheer for her team, alone.

She was so lost in thought and self pity that it took a couple of minutes to notice the shadow on her back porch. She grabbed the closest thing she could find and headed outside to see what it was.

Hannah and Jackie both screamed when Jackie walked outside carrying an old trophy.

"What are you doing here?"

"What do you plan on doing with that?"

The two continued to shout over each other until both broke into laughter and embraced. They then went inside and Jackie poured wine while Hannah explained why she was no longer in Minnesota.

"So, I packed and took a plane to the only place I could think of."

"Wow. I'm sorry sweetie. I never liked that Jackson guy, anyway. Seemed like he only cared about you as part of a "we", not as an individual."

"Yeah, thinking about it on the flight made me realize how much both of probably like the way people looked at our relationship more than we actually liked being IN the relationship. It still hurts, but more pisses me off now."

"Well, you're welcome to stay here as long as you need. And, if you really want to get back into skating, we'll talk about it over brunch tomorrow. Right now, I have a competition to recover from." Jackie kissed the top of her cousin's head and made her way to her bedroom, falling into a deep sleep and dreams of another heartbreaker.

The next morning, the cousins went to have brunch and figure out what Hannah's next move should be. They had just ordered their mimosas when Zach Conroy walked up to say hi.

"Zach, so good to see you. This is my cousin Hannah. Hannah, this is Zach. He's the one that got me into coaching in the first place."

"And I see you're doing quite well at it yet again. Nice to meet you Hannah. Visiting from Minnesota?"

He could tell she was shocked that he knew that she lived there.

"Sorry, my business partner was just talking about you the other day and I remember him saying you were a cheerleader up there."

She nodded in understanding as Jackie looked away. Zach mentally kicked himself for mentioning Alex in front of Jackie, and Hannah seemed to understand that.

"Maybe visiting, maybe for good; debating that right now." She said quickly to get the topic away from Alex. "I've just finished getting my masters and now have to decide what to do with my life."

Jackie's phone rang, and she excused herself, leaving Zach and Hannah to talk.

"I hope I didn't upset Jackie too much mentioning Alex."

"I love her, but if she still gets upset all this time later, then maybe she should do something about it."

"Funny, I kinda wanted to tell him that the other night, too."

Hannah was just opening her mouth to ask Zach for more detail when Jackie frantically approached them.

"Hannah, were you serious about wanting to get back on the ice?"

"I mean, I would love to, I just don't know if I can."

"Well, we need to go find that out NOW. Sorry Zach, good seeing you." Jackie said as she threw down some cash and pulled Hannah away.

Hannah looked back at Zach, wishing they could continue their conversation.

On the way to the rink, Jackie quickly explained to Hannah that she was going to need to find a replacement for Alexandra, SOON. She was hoping that Hannah's natural talent, plus her experience of partner stunting in cheerleading, would make her the perfect candidate. James was going to meet them at the rink soon to see if the plan would work.

When Hannah had said she wanted to get back into skating, she hadn't really had immediately in mind. Surprises happened, though, and she hoped she could help out. She knew how hard it was to be so close to Nationals and walk away.