CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The team knew that in order to have everyone's eyes on the team and their show, they were going to have to deal with the press first. So, at 8am, they met for a quick breakfast and headed off to their press conference. This time, every one walked in coupled off. While the couples ahead were very close, Hannah and Zach kept their distance and never looked at each other.

"Good morning, and thanks for coming. Due to the fact that Hannah and James will be taking the ice in a few hours, I would like to ask that you hold all questions until later today when we celebrate their win. We would, however, like to take this time to make a few announcements and clear the air on a couple of issues that some of you have touched on. I, for one, am happy to announce that yes, Jackie and I are in fact working on getting back together. We do ask for respect and privacy at this time while we work things out, and will be more than happy to talk to you all later when things have settled and decisions have been made."

As Alex finished speaking, Jackie stepped up to the podium to join him and the two smiled together as the photographers went crazy.

"Thanks, we can use all the confidence and support we can get while we work on this reconciliation. Now, I would like to hand the spotlight over to James and Alexandra as they have an announcement of their own," said Jackie, as she took Alex's hand and moved to give James the floor.

"Throughout this whole ordeal, there has been a lot of speculation as to why I would be skating without Alexandra today. A lot of those speculations were dealing with our relationship off the ice. Well, we would like to finally address those."

Alexandra took a deep breath and stepped close to James to make her announcement.

"I am excited to tell you that I will not be competing today because James and I will be welcoming our first child this October."

"And, " interjected James, "as far as our relationship, we will be getting you all together soon to announce our wedding date."

As another round of photographers going crazy ensued, Zach and Hannah took a glance at each other. They knew the media expected to hear something about them, but they really didn't want to ruin all the good news. Instead, Zach simply stepped forward to thank everyone for coming and excuse the team to go get ready to compete.

Hannah took off immediately to get ready, not wanting to watch everyone else kiss their significant others goodbye. Zach knew he should have apologized to her about his actions in the elevator. She was just acting even colder to him than he expected and he wasn't sure the right way to approach it. He was about to ask Alex for advice when his Blackberry started going off. Seeing that it was Celeste, Zach excused himself to find a private place to talk.

"You wanna talk about it?" asked Jackie as she finished zipping Hannah into her seersucker skating dress.

"There's really nothing to talk about."

"If that were true, you'd be in a much better mood."

"It is what it is, ya know? Apparently I'm just built to fall for guys who like to sleep with other women."

"What are you talking about? I thought you quit brooding about Jackson about five minutes after it happened?"

"I wasn't referring to Jackson. I meant Zach."

"Even more confused now."

"I went to go talk to Zach last night, thinking he'd given me the signs that he was maybe regretting saying it wouldn't work with us. So, I did something very unlike me. I sucked it up and went to his room to talk about it. Boy was I surprised when it was Celeste Mercier, not Zach, who opened the door. Talk about déjà vu."

"Have you talked to him about it?"

"Yeah, right. Sucking it up once was tough enough for me. No way in hell am I doing that again."

"Maybe it was a misunderstanding. I know that seems very rare, but in this group, there actually pretty common. Ask anyone who was up there with you this morning."

"Do you actually think that?"

"I'm not sure, but I know you owe it to both you and Zach to find out what happened."

Without responding, Hannah threw on her Uggs and took off running to find Zach. By the time she got to where they'd had the press conference, only Alex and Alexandra were left.

"Have y'all seen Zach?"

"Yeah, I just saw him in the front lobby helping Celeste with her bags."

Not even taking time to get upset that he was again with Celeste, Hannah sprinted to the lobby. She had just finished her mental pep talk when she spotted them, and stopped suddenly.

Seeing them hold each other like they never wanted to let go was enough for Hannah to realize it had not been a misunderstanding. Before they could spot her she turned around and headed back to Jackie, determined not to let what she had just seen effect her performance.