Trinidad and Denmark didn't make it into the first round seeing as they lost most of their games in the trials and were cut. The countries that made it in were seeded and the quarter-finals were announced. In the first round the match-ups were as follows: Iceland vs. France, USA vs. Italy, Russia vs. Germany, and Canada vs. Sweden.

Each team was given a week to prepare for the heart of the Goodwill Games to begin. This time was utilized for specialized training, studying their opponents, and over the top pranks. The worst one, and the one that surely would have gotten them all kicked out of the hotel if the staff ever figured out what really happened, occurred in the middle of the week.

Julie was spending time with Gunnar in his room when it went down. They just finished up a conversation regarding observations of the teams they were up against, and just as Julie reached up to place a soft kiss on his lips sudden showers of water rained down on them.

Startled she jumped back from him and nearly tripped thanks to bumping into the corner of his bed but was steadied thanks to Gunnar's quick hand on her shoulder. From the various screams heard throughout the hotel it was obvious it wasn't just their room. Everything was getting soaked but the two couldn't help but start laughing. The water was cold as it continued to pour over them and Julie began to rub her hands up and down her arms. Gunnar placed his hands on her shoulders and pulled her close to keep her warm. Water was dripping off of their bodies, hair and clothes utterly soaked through, and Julie didn't think he'd ever looked more handsome. He must have had similar thoughts as she saw his grey eyes darken as he stared down at her. Their mouths reached for each other at the same time and both became lost in the touch of the other. Almost immediately Gunnar's tongue was exploring her mouth and she pressed herself as close as possible to him. They were holding each other tight and didn't even notice when the sprinkler system was finally turned off. If prank wars led to this then Gunnar and Julie were all for them.

Portman was starting to hang around more with the rest of the team. And he was even seen talking with a few of the Iceland players, though he completely ignored (glared) at Gunnar and Olaf. When Fulton told him that Cat was actually dating one of them he was held back from immediately going after Stahl and breaking his neck. It took a long time for him to calm down. He always had a little thing for the pretty goalie and the rejection stung, especially since she chose that Iceland prick over him. And as far as Sanderson was concerned, he would never forgive the goon for purposely injuring Adam's wrist and nearly crushing Connie. How his fellow Ducks could forgive and forget was beyond him, especially Banks and Moreau.

But with time to adjust with Julie's choice, because obviously it was something he had to live with for now to keep the peace on the team, Dean actually came to like some of the Viking players. They weren't all jerks and he wasn't even against the idea of some of them joining them in a reunion game with Russ's brother and crew for some street puck. And if the opportunity just so happened to present itself then he would absolutely obliterate Stahl.

Both Connie and Julie were dressed in their USA Ducks tank tops and track pants for the pick-up game of school yard hockey. They had a larger group than last year when they skated on roller blades through the streets of LA towards the same place where they faced off against the Tyler brothers.

The game was fast-paced with high intensity but still loads of fun and loud music, and it seemed the boys from Iceland were warmly welcomed to participate. And of course Gunnar blew them all away. Julie merely shook her head at the raw talent he had whether skating with blades on ice or wheels on blacktop. It was amazing how much he'd improved his game in one year, he was heads and shoulders better than anyone else in the competition…both on the streets and in the Goodwill Games. And from the stares he was getting it was clear that she wasn't the only one who knew that. She was; however, privy among a select few that several scouts had been asking for some of his time. He confided in her that while he was happy to know his play impressed them, he wanted to focus on the tournament and worry about his future afterwards.

The blasting hip-hop music spurred her on as she quickly weaved around players and scored a goal on one of the metal cans used as a net. Gunnar celebrated with her as they were currently on the same side for once and spun her around a few times. She grinned up at him and he pulled her in for a quick peck on the lips. His enthusiasm made her soar and she thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with their old friends. It wasn't often that she played hockey without all the heavy pads on, or was free to skate and maneuver as quickly as she really could.

Charlie commented that he was impressed with her agility and it seemed the rest of her team and even the boys from Iceland nodded their heads in agreement. It was Ken who pretty much stole the show from everyone after that. The former Olympic figure skater had hit a growth spurt over the year and was definitely not the shortest Duck anymore. And as friendly payback to the elder Tyler brother, Wu picked a mock fight with him. And with that several other small mock fights sprang up. Russ told them all that it was important to be able to handle yourself. And everything was in good fun, until things went bad really fast.

"What about you Stahl, wanna go a round?"

Julie was sitting on the bench removing some of her gear to readjust it when Dwayne pointed out that Portman was circling and taunting Gunnar, trying to goad him into a fight. She stood and started to make her way over to them when Dean shoved Iceland's captain roughly in the shoulder, almost making him lose his balance.

It seemed everyone else stopped what they were doing to see if a real fight was about to break out. Portman was doing just fine for most of the day, but he hated to see all those stolen looks and touches shared between Julie and the one guy he completely despised. And he remembered that he owed the bastard for that hit during their last game so he shoved at him again.

This time Gunnar barely moved an inch as he'd been ready for it, he hadn't said anything yet but he wasn't about to back down if Dean wanted to go. It was about time someone put the guy in his place, and all that stored away anger over the bruises Portman left on Julie's neck rose to the surface.

"Stop Portman," Charlie tried to get between them but Dean just moved around him with Gunnar keeping pace easily.

Seeing that Stahl was fair game Portman nodded in anticipation, "Alright, let's do this then."

"No!" Julie yelled out and the two stalled for a moment as she successfully came between them. Her eyes pleaded with her boyfriend as she said, "Gunnar no, not here. Please."

"Get out of the way, babe," Portman spat at her with a nasty emphasis on the word 'babe'.

Gunnar pressed closer to Julie with one hand on her shoulder as he coldly ordered, "Don't talk to her like that."

"Don't tell me what to do!"

Julie turned her back on her teammate, fully disgusted with him at the moment not understanding what his problem was, and looked up at Gunnar's face. With the way his jaw was set and his eyes turned to cold steel she lost hope that she could stop this from happening. Finally though, he glanced down at her and nodded once. She sighed out in relief, happy that he was being the better person here and let it go.

Unfortunately Dean didn't exactly like that, he was geared up for a fight and wasn't about to let this drop. Not when he finally had Stahl right where he wanted him. In quick movement he shoved Julie to the side, not seeing just how roughly he'd pushed her as she hit the pavement, and sent a hard jab right into Gunnar's mouth that split his lip.

Gunnar landed two sudden strikes to Dean's jaw before the two were pushed apart by Charlie, Fulton, and Jovin. Olaf simply stood by thinking it was about time and was ready to jump in if they started going at it again. Stahl and Portman were both raring to go, but at the sound of a soft whimper all the fire to fight in Gunnar simply vanished.

He left his opponent to be dealt with by his teammates and he moved to kneel beside Julie and helped her stand. His worried gaze saw blood running down her arm and he moved her towards one of the empty benches to look her over. The Ducks were still dealing with their troublesome enforcer while he poured water over her scratched up arm, her elbow had the worst of it. He removed his shirt and wrapped it tightly around her elbow in an effort to stop the bleeding.

Julie was quiet for the most part but she grew worried when she saw his hands start to shake and could sense that every inch of his body was on edge. Her eyes took in the very tense muscles of his shoulders, arms, chest, and stomach.

In a whisper he asked if she was okay and she nodded she was. He looked down while moving his lips but she couldn't make out the apology spoken. And before she could ask what he said he took off towards the others in unrestrained rage.

"That is it!" Gunnar yelled loudly when he faced off against Portman and the rest of the USA Ducks. Jovin skated up to him and struggled to hold him back by the shoulder while Olaf was gearing himself up so as to not miss out on the fun. "You have hurt her for the last time! Come after me all you want but leave Julie out of this!"

Portman did his best to get out of the death-grip his fellow Ducks had on him, "How dare you, I never harmed her!"

"You haven't!?" Gunnar exploded and pushed his way pass his teammate and soon Olaf was right at his side. The sight the two created was impressively imposing with Sanderson's blaring icy blue eyes and Stahl simply seething in his anger, "So it wasn't your hand that left bruises on her throat? It wasn't you that knocked someone into her that nearly crushed her? You didn't just push her to the ground and make her bleed!?"

Dean's eyes widened at what was being yelled at him, he wanted to deny the accusation but couldn't speak because guilt was starting to eat at him. He never wanted Julie to get hurt. It was never supposed to be like this.

Gunnar narrowed his gaze dangerously as he darkly promised, "If you ever touch her again, if you do anything to hurt her, nothing and no one will stop me from coming after you."

It was eerily silent as the two stared each other down. And all the animosity that was thought to be long forgotten was suddenly thrust upon team USA and team Iceland. Everyone was familiar with the chilling stares of Stahl and Sanderson, and if anyone gave the indication to start up another fight then it would be game on. Only this time, the majority was simply angry at Portman after hearing what he'd done to the female goalie, especially the part where he actually choked her hard enough to leave a bruise.

To break the thick tension, Jovin pushed his captain back and kept pushing at him until they were half-way to Julie. Gunnar finally let his gaze with Portman break and moved to return to the girl he would do just about anything for. He felt his heart skip a beat when he looked at her. Julie's eyes were dark and she was breathing hard, her hair was blowing in the wind and he had to swallow down the sudden emotion that flooded him. He sat next to her and immediately pulled her into his arms, needing to simply feel her safe and protected, feeling nothing short of territorial when it came to this beautiful girl.

"Gunnar..."

"Sssh," he tightened his grip on her, "I'm sorry you had to see that and I'm really sorry you got hurt again."

"Gunnar you're bleeding."

"I am?"

He felt her lean away from him but he kept his arms locked around her. Then he watched as she lifted a small towel to the corner of his bottom lip. Gunnar shrugged the little injury off; it wasn't like it was his first busted lip. Julie lightly kissed the other side of his mouth before settling back down against him.

It wasn't long before most of the Ducks, Vikings, and the locals gathered around them. Gunnar refused to let Julie go, but eventually had to settle on keeping an arm around her shoulders when Adam demanded to see her arm. Julie unwrapped Gunnar's shirt and was glad to see the deepest wound had stopped bleeding. Charlie sighed as he kneeled next to her and shook his head. They were all disappointed and felt bad for their star goaltender. Julie didn't do anything to deserve the poor treatment from Dean. Fulton was the only one who remained with Portman, and that was only to get him back to the hotel to calm down.

It was strange because this was so unlike the Dean Portman from last year. He never would have done anything to hurt one of the Ducks, especially not one of their girls. Something had to be going on, there just had to be.

Everyone was still there other than Fulton and Dean and the rest of the afternoon was spent talking and trying to cheer each other up. The entire time Gunnar held his girl close to him, it seemed it was important for them both to be at each other's side. When it came time to head back to the hotel, the couple took their time on the way back. Gunnar kept his blood stained shirt over his shoulder and kept Julie's hand in his own as they slowly skated through the streets.

Once they reached the hotel, Gunnar took her to his room and wrapped her arm in ointment and bandages. Then she better treated the cut on his lip, which turned out to be not as bad as she first thought. And silently she agreed to cuddle up with him on his bed, taking comfort in his familiar arms and the steady sound of his beating heart helping her relax. There was just something positively sexy and exciting about the way he defended her today. She remembered watching the sun glistening off his back, his muscles taut with anger as he stood up for her. It was something she will never forget.

Yes. Things were going just fine for her and Gunnar. The same thing could not be said for her Ducks. As a team they were breaking down, it started a while ago when Guy and Connie broke up. It was difficult for everyone to pretend everything was okay when they knew their teammates were hurting. And her relationship with their former rival's team captain certainly didn't make things any better. Regardless of their feelings and earnest intentions for one another, it did affect her team.

Her thoughts whirled around in her mind until eventually it was all just blocked out. Julie focused on Gunnar's relaxed breathing and was slowly lulled into slumber. It never crossed her mind that she was spending the night with a boy in his bed.