Disclaimer: I do not own the Mighty Ducks. But it would awesome if I did.

AN: I can't believe that it has been almost three years since I updated this. I can be such a procrastinator sometimes and there is no reason that you guys should suffer because of it. A thousand apologies you guys.

He stood at her front door hoping that she wouldn't push him away. He shook the thought from his head. She had never done that and hopefully she never would. He raised a hand to knock as the door opened. She smiled before letting him in.

"How long have you been standing out there?"

"Not long. How did you know that I was out there?"

"Peyton saw you pull up. So she came to get me."

"Momma!" Nate called from the kitchen.

"He can talk now?" Portman asked in astonishment.

"Just momma for now, he started Friday and hasn't stopped since." Julie answered in wonder with a shake of her head.

They walked into the kitchen and saw that Nate was still in his chair. Peyton was at the island making goofy faces at him. He clapped his hands sending bits of cookie flying.

"I should clean his chair." Julie said pulling Nate from the mess.

"I can hold him while you do it." Portman offered.

"You're sure?"

"Yeah."

Julie moved to stand in front of him. Nate reached for him while a gummy smile.

"Peyton why you don't you go get some toys for Nate to play with?" Julie asked while wetting a paper towel.

"Yes ma'am."

Julie finished as Peyton came back in with Nate's favorite ball and blanket.

"A blanket?" Portman asked skeptically, quirking an eyebrow.

"Go ahead and show him Peyt." Julie encouraged her.

Portman set Nate on the floor as Peyton put the blanket over Nat's head. His squeals of laughter were muffled as Julie sat at the table.

"Where's Nathan?" Peyton asked, tugging at the corner of the blanket.

"Is that safe?" Portman asked sitting next to Julie.

"Just wait." she said with a coy smile.

Nate pulled a corner of the blanket away from his face giving Peyton a grin.

"There he is!" Peyton said clapping her hands.

Nate clapped his mimicking her.

"It doesn't take much to keep him happy. He's a happy go lucky baby." Julie explained as Peyton put the blanket back over Nate's head.

Peyton pulled the blanket away from him making him laugh all over again.

"Why don't we go in the living room?" Julie asked, rising from the table.

Peyton picked Nate up, still clutching the blanket. Julie waited for Portman.

"I'm glad you came over." she said with a smile.

"I am too." he agreed, returning the smile.

"We should do this more often. We don't hang out the way we used to." she mused.

"You're right, we should." he agreed again.

They sat on the couch while the kids played on the floor. One thing led to another before Portman invited them to dinner.

"You don't have to if you don't want to." he said quickly when she didn't answer right away.

"No. I was planning on taking to the kids to Guy's. I was about to ask if you wanted to go."

"That sounds like a plan." Portman agreed with a nod.

"We're going to Guy's?" Peyton asked.

"We're going to Antebellum." Julie corrected.

"Where did he come up with that name? It's weird."

"I don't know. He can pretty eccentric when he wants to be." Julie said, shaking her head.

"You probably need to get them ready."

"You would be right." she teased.

"Tell you what, I'll call and make the reservation while you get them ready."

"I can have them ready in ten minutes."

Portman pulled his phone out of his pocket as Julie carried Nate out of the room. He felt like he was getting to know her all over again. He had spent more time with her in the past two months than he had in the past ten years.

She'd had her own life that he hadn't been a part of. Julie as a mom surprised him every time he saw Nate. This was the first time he had seen Peyton since Fulton's wedding. The little girl was still a little apprehensive about him.

He could understand that. He had given every guy his mom had brought home a hard time. He and his step dad butted head every time he came home. He would have to give Peyton her space and let her see he wasn't a bad guy. Hopefully it wouldn't take that long.

XXXX

Charlie bolted upright in bed. He rubbed sleep from his eyes as someone rang the doorbell. He looked at the clock as he flung his legs over the side of the bed.

It was almost five. He had slept for five hours. He hadn't meant to sleep that long. He made his way down the hall hearing Guy at the door.

"Sorry." Charlie said helping Guy with the bags on the porch.

"Don't worry about it."

"I can't believe I slept that long."

"I ran into Adam a little while ago. He said he wanted you to call him."

"I'll go and see him later. Right now I'm starving." Charlie said pulling things out of the bags.

"I can't make you anything. I'm running late. I've got to be at the restaurant in ten minutes."

"I'll take care of this. Go ahead and go." Charlie reassured him.

Charlie had everything put away and had finished a bowl of cereal twenty minutes later. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until he had started putting the food away. He was so hungry that he didn't have the patience to cook anything he just wanted his stomach to stop rumbling.

He sat at the island with his phone beside him reading the paper once he had rinsed his bowl out and put it in the dishwasher. It was Adam. They hadn't talked since Adam had told him that he was quitting coaching two weeks before. Once the shock of what had happened set in Charlie was livid that Adam could brush the kids off the way that he had. He knew that Adam had his reasons, but he wasn't talking to anyone.

"Hello?" he said with a sigh.

"Hey." Adam said cautiously.

"Did you need something?"

"I just wanted to talk to my best friend. I haven't talked to you in a while, I wanted to see what was up."

"What's up? Not a lot. I'm swamped at work because the first month or so of school is always crazy. The kids are still adjusting and so am I. My divorce is final, so that's something that you didn't know. Our team has been blaming themselves for you leaving. A couple of the parents pulled their kids from the team because of it. So I have to work with nine players instead of eleven. Not that it's your problem anymore." Charlie said harshly.

"Don't lay a guilt trip on me Conway. I have my own problems to deal with."

"Don't hand me that. You and I both know that Julie was willing to help you with whatever it is your going through."

"I don't love her anymore, okay?" Adam blurted out.

"What?" Charlie spat skeptically.

"I realized that I didn't love her anymore while she was pregnant with Nathan."

"What kind of person falls out of love with their wife while she is pregnant? Don't you have any respect for her at all? What the hell is the matter with you?" Charlie demanded.

"I don't know okay? My mom wants me to see a therapist. She says that it's the only way that I can live with her." Adam defended himself before sighing.

"I thought that you were living with your brother." Charlie asked skeptically.

"I realized that it would be better if I lived with my mom. She needs someone there with her. I hired a nurse to be there when I can't be."

"I didn't realize that she was that bad." Charlie said sadly.

"She has Alzheimer's. It's getting worse."

"I guess you do have your own problems to worry about." Charlie rationalized.

"I can't explain what happened with Jules. One day I loved her and then the next I saw her differently. I love the kids, I always will. And I do blame myself for what happened, thanks for making me feel worse Dude." Adam said with a sigh.

"Sorry." Charlie said sympathetically.

They talked for another twenty minutes before Charlie said that he had to go. He wasn't angry at Adam anymore, but he didn't have the answers to any of the questions that he had asked Adam. He guessed he never would.

XXXX

Portman sat across from Julie with the kids in between them. Nate drank his bottle quietly while Peyton colored. Guy was known for doting on the little girl and Portman could see that Peyton thought the world of Guy. Julie stared at him, wondering why he had suddenly decided to start talking to her again. She had her suspicions that it was because Adam was out of the picture.

Portman had bowed out gracefully after high school when he realized that they were serious about each other. Julie had missed talking to her best friend but she knew that he had never gotten along with Adam. So she had come to look forward to the once a month calls from Portman over the last ten years.

They had both changed so much since high school. She had never thought that he would become a lawyer. The Portman that she had known as a teenager didn't seem like the type of person who would be on the laws side of things. Then again, he had always been able to fool everyone else, so it wasn't that big of a surprise that he did something so unexpected.

"What made you want to become a lawyer?" she asked out of the blue.

Portman's eyes rose to meet hers to see her searching his eyes.

"My mom fought with my dad's family a lot when I was really young. They didn't think that a single woman who had no family could raise a child on her own."

"They took her to court for custody of you?" she asked worriedly.

"Three times before I was ten." he confirmed with a slow nod.

"That's why you practice juvenile law?"

"Mm hmm."

"How come you've never told me that before?"

"I don't like talking about it." he said with a shrug.

"I'm sorry, I'll let it go." she said apologetically.

"No. We've known each other for fifteen years. It's time that you knew."

"Are you sure?" she asked cautiously.

"Not now. Could I come back to your house for a while?"

"Sure."

He took care of the check while she took Nate and Peyton to the bathroom to clean them up and go to the bathroom. They were back at her house half an hour later and he waited in the living room while she put the kids to bed. She came into the living room with a cup of coffee for each of them. He took both cups so that she could sit down next to him.

"My dad took off before I was two. I don't know much about him other than what his family told me. He was on the run from the law so no one knew how to get in touch with him." he explained.

"But his family was a part of your life?" she questioned.

"Yeah. They came from money and they weren't afraid of throwing it around. My mom and I made it clear that we didn't want their pity or their money so they stopped coming around by the time I was thirteen." he said with a scowl.

"What did your dad do?"

"He was wanted for tax evasion. I think my mom said he owed close to ten million in back taxes when he left."

"That's a lot." she said under her breath.

"My mom and I were scared that his family would come back into the picture once I turned eighteen. I was ready to fight them; she didn't want anything to do with them." he said as his lips formed a hard line.

"So it was just you and your mom?"

"Until I was fifteen, she got remarried the winter after we won the Junior Olympics."

"That's why you didn't start Eden Hall with the rest of us?" she reasoned.

"My step dad and I have never gotten along. Things were pretty bad after they first got married."

"Have you told Fulton any of this?"

"When we first met." he confirmed.

"You could have told me. I wouldn't have passed judgment on you." she said as the news sank in.

"I didn't want your pity. Back then you were a completely different person. You wanted to be the mother hen of the team and I didn't want that." he said shaking his head in disagreement.

"And now?"

"You're stronger than you used to be. You're more jaded now."

"Becoming a single parent would do that to anyone." she pointed out.

"Maybe so." he agreed quietly.

"Whatever the reason, I'm glad that we're friends again."

"Me too." he agreed again with a nod.

Silence fell between them as she took in everything that he had told her. She understood him better now than she had as a teenager. She was glad that he had finally felt comfortable enough to tell her the truth. She had met his mother at graduation and had talked to her at Fulton's wedding along with Portman's stepdad Robert. They had seemed like a normal family.

"I should probably go. I have to be in court by nine." Portman said, setting his cup on the coffee table.

Julie looked down at her watch once she had set her cup beside his. It was almost ten. Forty five minutes had passed since they had sat down. She stood with his help then followed him to the front door. He opened the door then paused to turn towards her. He pulled her to him, engulfing her in a hug. She wrapped her arms around his waist, breathing in his scent. They hadn't hugged like this in so long. She hadn't realized how much she had missed it until now. He pulled away just enough to look down at her. She looked up to see him watching her with weary eyes. He was asking her silently not to pity him. She smiled reassuringly before rubbing his back for emphasis.

He pulled away completely before walking backwards onto the porch. She watched him until he got into his car. She shut the door as he pulled out of the driveway. She went through the house turning out the lights before heading up to her room. She changed in the dark, saying a silent prayer to Peyton would sleep in her own bed tonight. She had been in bed less than ten minutes when Nate started to cry.

She made her way across the hall silently to check on him. He needed a diaper change and his bottle was empty. She picked him up then turned on the lamp by his changing table. She changed his diaper then carried him downstairs to make him a bottle of warm milk. He was half asleep before she made it back up to his room. She was back in bed less than five minutes after she had gotten up. She drifted off to sleep to the sound of the tree outside her window tapping against the side of the house.