The four of them were just sitting there, waiting for someone to break the sudden silence.

Connie and Julie were sitting on one bed facing Olaf and Gunnar on the other. Julie's eyes kept dancing between her boyfriend and his best friend, wanting to believe what was just spoken but also doubting it to be the truth as well. And even if it wasn't true, an understanding had already been reached regarding the whole incident.

"You don't believe me."

Connie eyed Olaf and saw just how miserable he looked, she really didn't know what to say or even think. "I'm sorry Olaf, I just need time to process what you just said."

"He isn't lying," Gunnar spoke up, his gaze moving between the two girls sitting next to each other, "I was on the bench when coach made the order."

"But, if Dwayne hadn't…" Julie trailed off, her gaze now locked on Olaf, "I know things are different now and I'm grateful for that." She then turned to her friend, finally having thought this all through, "Connie, he's never given us a reason not to believe him."

"I am serious," Olaf leaned down to catch the dark eyes of the girl who thoroughly put him in his place last year, "yes I was out to get you. But I was only going to scare you, my hands were already out to stop myself for when I hit the glass. I was never going to…just hit you like that."

Gunnar could see there was more his friend wanted to say. He stood and grabbed Julie's hand and she stood with him. With a meaningful glance to both Olaf and Connie he told them, "I think you two should talk a little more. I'm taking Julie to get some lunch and we'll be at the arena."

Julie saw that they both nodded and then settled into looking at each other a little strangely. She hoped she was doing the right thing by leaving them alone. Gunnar sighed when they stepped onto the elevator and Julie grabbed his hand. He raised their joined hands and laid a soft kiss to the back of hers and pulled her into his arms.

At the restaurant where they both enjoyed the local seafood, Gunnar fully explained the conversation between his coach and Olaf last year. He also reminded her that he'd known Olaf since they were in the peewee league together and there was no way he would ever intentionally hurt a girl like that. Boys, yes but girls, no. Olaf's mother would kill him. Gunnar also told her that it was Julie's injury to her neck that made his friend want to explain and apologize to Connie for what happened.

Julie just wished Olaf would have decided to clear his conscious on any other day but today. Because today just so happened to be the day that the Ducks went up against the Vikings for the trials. USA had two more teams to play against after Iceland (who only had one more game) and then the order of how the teams were seeded would be displayed. She was a little worried for Connie, something like this might get into her head. But they would just have to wait until game time and leave it all out on the ice.

The couple made their way to the arena and walked around for a little while seeing as they were early. They passed the time talking quietly, joking around, and sharing playful yet tender kisses with one another. Gunnar's arms were locked around her waist when he noticed the figures of their two friends both dragging their hockey bags towards them. With one shared look Gunnar and Julie knew things were going to be okay. She kissed him just under the ear and said she'd see him on the ice. Then she went forward to meet up with Connie and the two girls left together for their respective locker room. Gunnar and Olaf soon followed after them but headed to the Vikings temporary area.

When the teams were warming up, Julie was stretching near the red line, despite the fact she wasn't starting the game. She had to be ready just in case things went bad for the Ducks. Gunnar stopped and started to stretch next to her for a few minutes and they made plans to go to the beach for breakfast the next morning. The whistle blew for the pre-game warm-up to end and Julie skated to the Ducks bench.

She watched with a torn heart as Stahl easily won the starting face-off. Even though her team had done their homework and were much better prepared for this game than they had been last year, things had changed between the two teams since then. Goldberg was tested early and Sanderson ended up getting the first goal of the game thanks to a filthy pass from his team captain.

Once things settled down the Ducks defense kicked it up a notch and did a pretty good job of keeping their zone cleared. The hitting was constant but it wasn't dirty, it was a good back and forth physical first period. Charlie was doing his best to rally the forwards to get the tying goal, but no matter how hard he worked the Vikings always managed to foil their plays.

At the end of the first period Iceland was still up by one and Goldberg was playing pretty well. The USA locker room was buzzing with energy and Julie felt that the second period should be interesting. Banks won the face-off to start off the second but was knocked down right away and Iceland took control of the puck. Mendoza managed to skate fast enough and stole from one of the players who'd been on a breakaway and fed it to Robertson. Dwayne's stick-handling was downright sinful he was so good now. He dropped a pass over to Fulton who blasted it past the Viking goaltender's shoulder for the tying goal.

Julie leaned on the boards to take in every facet of the game. Her Ducks were flying high and the Vikings were absolute beasts out there. Both teams had taken their game to a whole other level and the crowd was really into it. Iceland and USA were feeding off the energy from the crowd and soon enough Charlie got the goal to finally put the Ducks up by one to end the second period.

This game, this re-match, had turned into one of the best games Julie had ever seen being performed at this level. She wanted nothing more than to be a part of it. Sitting on the sidelines was something; unfortunately, she was used to after last year's tournament. Now she was sitting out simply because she was seeing the enemy's star player. Speaking of star player, Julie watched as he hit the ice for his shift in the middle of the third period. She had been watching him for the entire game and the honest truth of it was that he was hands down the best player in this tournament. He was just a well-rounded competitor with excellent leadership abilities. He could tear up the offense and defend his zone when needed and didn't let anyone get in the face of his teammates.

And when Sanderson passed Gunnar the puck and the captain found himself on a breakaway thanks to Averman accidentally taking out Tyler, she watched with baited breath as he made some incredible moves to bury the puck past Goldberg. Firstly, she was proud of him, because those dangles were creatively beautiful. Secondly she wanted to sigh, because she wasn't sure if even she could have stopped that goal from happening. After the game was all tied up it seemed the hitting really went into effect, and the only really questionable play was when Sanderson knocked harshly into Portman and Stahl followed it up with a jarring hit of his own. In the back of her mind, Julie knew that was their way of getting back at her teammate for what he'd done to her. Portman was okay, a little shaken up and pissed off and looking for revenge, but the hits were legal…just brutal.

The game ended up being tied at 2 a piece. Since it was the trials only the games didn't need to be decided by a shoot-out, but that will change once the first round begins. It wasn't a high scoring contest like some of the other matches, but this game was by far one of the most exciting ones to watch for hockey enthusiasts. Julie was happy that it ended up being a tie as they moved into the heart of the tournament.

As the two teams lined up to shake hands, Gunnar took the time and brought up his ungloved hand to lightly caress Julie's cheek as he smirked down at her. She winked and they moved on down the line. When she moved to skate off the ice she felt a whack to her backside, looking back she saw her boyfriend there looking away from her all too innocently. So Julie made to grab for his stick but he was tall enough to keep it over her head. She pouted at him as they stepped off the ice and he finally gave in to her. Out of view from the crowds he cornered her against the wall and kissed her properly. They pulled apart after hearing their names being called and shared a small laugh when separated.

Coach Bombay praised his team and as a reward for their elevated level of play told them he was taking them to a local arcade for an evening of games, pizza, and all around mischief. The USA Ducks were still buzzing from the intensity of the game and met up with some of the players from Iceland in the hallway. Connie, Charlie, Adam, and Russ remained behind to wait for Julie and Goldberg to finish getting their stuff together. It always took them longer considering the heavy goalie pads to contend with. Guy came back in with Jovin, a defenseman for the Vikings, and announced that some of their players agreed to come with them.

Bombay was looking fairly exasperated when he saw that several tall, blonde, Icelandic players joined his team in front of the hotel. Certainly they didn't expect him to cover both teams!? But when Wolf Stanssen appeared next to him he sighed out a breath of relief. He heard his fellow coach chuckle at him in response and the two fell into small talk. From the corner of Gordon's eye he noticed his best enforcer Dean Portman walk away looking disgusted. If Bombay was completely honest with himself he had to admit that it was strange to see the two rival teams getting along so famously now. And with the special circumstances surrounding the kid, Gordon would allow him some privacy.

Connie sat beside Julie on the way to the arcade. Gunnar was behind them with Olaf, and Adam and Charlie sat in front of their lady Ducks. The mood on the large bus was light as everyone was talking and laughing. By the time they arrived though, they were all ready to get off as quickly as possible. That was in thanks to Goldberg's untimely release of a massive fart. Even Coach Bombay had to join in on the loud and groaning chorus of "GOLDBERG!"

Finally inside the building and back in clear air, Julie led Gunnar straight to a game of air hockey. It was cute when he got flustered with her, complaining she was too good a goalie in all things hockey. The grin on her face at beating him once more caused him to round on her and lead her in a contest of shooting hoops. Feeling satisfied that he'd evened the score, Gunnar accepted Adam's challenge and Banks stepped in to take Julie's place.

Connie grabbed her friend's hand and led her away from the dueling boys and they played some skee-ball together. They did that for a while before Averman and Mendoza hi-jacked them to a round of boys verse girls at a water-gun shootout. Mendoza won of course as apparently he wasn't just fast when it came to skating on the ice. Olaf and Jovin then joined up with the four of them to go again, and with Jovin the girls won the re-match fair and square.

After that the girls went off on their own again and Connie challenged her friend to a round of a dancing game where they had to follow the arrows on a large platform. Just as they finished and Connie gained the win, the star goalie felt a strong pair of arms wrap around her waist and she instinctively leaned back into the warmth that was Gunnar Stahl. He moved her hair and kissed her neck and jaw before whispering in her ear for her to follow him. Julie looked to tell Connie she was going with Gunnar but found her already laughing and walking away with Charlie and Ken.

Gunnar led her into a heavily curtained photo-booth then pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her, "Alone at last."

Laughing Julie told him, "Gunnar, you just put a 50 dollar bill in, just how long do you want this machine taking pictures of us?"

The first flash went off just as he pressed his lips against hers, "As long as it takes."

The second flash showed them staring at each other. The third and fourth shots taken clearly showed their lips molded together. Through the duration of over a hundred pictures taken the couple was seen kissing heatedly, making silly faces, laughing, and back to more fevered kissing. Somewhere along the way they actually managed to take a normal picture, it was buried among all the other strips of them being together and they split the pile between them.

Afterwards they looked around to find that none of their teammates were anywhere to be found. Hand in hand they moved throughout the arcade and finally found everyone chewing on pizza and talking loudly.

"Jeeze, we looked everywhere for you two, where have you been?" Tyler demanded when they walked up to them.

Julie and Gunnar shared a secret smile and it was Guy who sarcastically spoke up before either could answer, "We probably don't want to know."

With his hand on her back, Gunnar urged Julie to take a seat. He kissed her cheek and said, "Wait here, I'll get us some food."

"You know Cat," Russ leaned in and lowered his voice, "I'm still getting used to the whole idea of you with the enemy."

Guy snorted loudly, "I doubt she thinks of him as the enemy Russ."

Julie simply shrugged, "He makes me happy." She then noticed Guy Germaine sneaking glances towards a happily laughing Connie as she sat with Olaf, Adam, and Dwayne, "Guy?"

"Hmm? Sorry did you say something?"

She shifted a little closer and whispered to him, "You miss her don't you? Guy, why did you break it off with her?"

Germaine sighed a little brokenly, "I really don't know anymore."

Gunnar soon returned and presented her with a slice of cheese pizza and a bottle of water. She smiled at him in thanks and they both dug in, not realizing until they took the first bite just how hungry they were.

The ride back to the hotel was a little quiet. Julie sat next to Gunnar and fell asleep with his arm around her shoulders and her head resting against his chest. Gunnar held her as she slept with a small smile on his face. They'd been together just shy of two weeks and already he couldn't imagine what it would be like to not have this with her. She was so beautiful and talented, and he absolutely adored her sense of humor.

For the whole of last year Julie Gaffney consumed his thoughts. And now that he had experienced this wonderful part of her, he wasn't sure if he could simply return home knowing it would be a very long time before seeing her again. That thought alone worried him.