Disclaimer: I don't own The Mighty Ducks. I am just a writer who is doing what they love, for free.

Connie didn't know what had possessed her to come to Minnesota. She only came back for special occasion. Even then she normally stayed with her parents. What in God's name had come over when she thought that she should stay with Guy without calling him first? His car wasn't in the driveway, but Charlie's was. She had been talking to Charlie more and more since the reunion. She could honestly say that she was almost as close with him as she was to Guy.

She turned off the car seeing Charlie walking around in the front room. By the time she had gotten her things out of the back of the car Charlie had opened the front door and was leaning against the porch post watching her. She gave him a helpless look as he watched her amusingly.

If it had been Guy he would have been at the car before she could get out of it and already have her bags in his hands. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate it, but she had become so used to doing things for herself that whenever someone helped her she got flustered.

"I don't know if I should trust you, you're carrying luggage," Charlie teased.

"I had the sudden urge to come down. I should have called first," she apologized.

"Come on in," he said walking into the house.

She put her things in the living room then Charlie picked them up and carried them into his room.

"Why did you do that?" she asked in confusion.

"You're a guest. You should have the bed room," he explained.

"Technically you're a guest here too," she reminded him.

"Would you rather share the room?"

"There is a couch in there," she reasoned.

"As you wish," he said, bowing regally.

"You have gotten more warped with age," she said with a laugh.

"I'm not warped, I'm eccentric," he corrected her in an even tone.

She laughed as she shook her head. She took off her shoes, glad to finally have them off after driving for seven hours.

"Where's Geiger?" she asked when Charlie came back into the living room.

"He's a business conference in St. Paul this weekend. Do your parent's know you're in town?"

"No. Like I explained when I came in, it was a spur of the moment decision."

"So, what's going on in the world of high end fashion?"

"My line got picked up Neiman Marcus and I am in the process of searching for a couple of spokes models for the line."

"How is that going?"

"Not so well, no big names will support someone that is unknown unless they are friends with them. Why didn't I make nice with Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton when I had the chance?" she asked in anguish.

"Well think of it as a chance to discover a couple of unknowns like you," he offered.

"I never thought of it that way. Thanks Charlie," she said, giving him a pleased smile.

He scooted closer to her before draping an arm over her shoulders. She rested her head on his shoulders with a content sigh. She wasn't used to letting her guard down for anyone other than Guy. When had things changed? Probably at the reunion when she had poured her heart out to him. She didn't know why she had done it, but she was glad that she had. It was nice to see Charlie as someone other than the klutzy hothead that she had known growing up.

XXXX

Julie was putting Nathan to bed when the phone rang. Peyton could be heard running through the house downstairs to answer it as Julie made her way down the hall. She heard Peyton talking excitedly as she reached the bottom of the stairs. It must have been Adam; he was the only person who could make Peyton so excited except for her.

She leaned against the kitchen door listening to Peyton's end of the conversation.

"When can I see you?" Peyton asked in a way that only a four year old can.

Julie's heart broke with the realization that keeping the kids away from Adam so much was hurting them. They saw him every other weekend and most of the time he would get called in to work so his mom would end up watching them.

"Here she is," Peyton said before holding out the phone to Julie.

"Go brush your teeth. It's almost bedtime."

"Yes ma'am," she said before walking out the room.

Julie put the phone to her ear, wishing that things could be easier for them.

"Hey," she said after a few seconds of silence.

"She has a lot going on," Adam said with a laugh.

"She's made some friends since starting school. She's becoming more independent too," she said endearingly.

"And she's only in pre-school," he reasoned.

"I'm glad that you called. I wanted to talk about their visitation schedule."

"You're cutting back on my time with them?" he asked hurt.

"No, I would never do that. I was thinking that if you wanted you could take them on weeknights. Don't you still have Monday's and Wednesday's off?"

"Yeah," he agreed.

"I was thinking that you could have them Monday through Thursday of every other week,"

"You would trust me to get Peyton off to school?"

"Of course I trust you," she answered.

"What time does she have to be there?"

"School starts at nine and she needs to be picked up by one."

"I really appreciate you doing this," he said thankfully.

"It's not a problem Adam. I would never keep the kids from you, you're their Dad," she reasoned.

"I wish that I could have made things work with us. I really am sorry for treating you the way I did," he apologized.

"I was angry at you when you left, but I'm learning to do deal with it."

"Don't think for a second that what happened was your fault. All of the blame falls on me."

"Are you doing okay?"

"Not really, I miss the three of you so much that it hurts but I need to work through my issues."

"What happens after you've done that?" she questioned.

"I'm hoping that you can learn to forgive me," he answered honestly.

"I'll work on it," she said with a laugh.

"You're an amazing woman Jules, any guy would be lucky to have you. Just not me," he said with a sigh.

"I know," she said quietly.

They talked for a few more minutes before Peyton came back downstairs in her pajamas to let Julie know that she was ready for bed. Julie followed her up the stairs thinking about what Adam had told her. Sometimes she wondered if she would ever be able to trust someone enough to love them again. Adam had done so much damage that she was scared of taking the risk of letting herself be vulnerable again.

Julie read the story of Goldilocks and the three bears to Peyton and was able to only get half way through the story before Peyton fell asleep. She went to her room and changed into her pajamas before getting into bed. She had some paperwork to go over for a presentation in the morning.

It was nearly eleven when she finished and finally settled in for the night. She couldn't shake what Adam had said. If he didn't want to be with her why would he have said what he had? Was he saying it because he thought that he was supposed to? Did he honestly mean it? She would have to talk to him and set some ground rules about what they could and couldn't talk about because now she was wishing that things could have worked out for them.

XXXX

Connie woke up on Sunday to see Charlie watching her from the couch. He hadn't noticed that she was watching him until she sat up in bed, holding the sheet to her. She didn't know why she was trying to hide behind the sheet; he had seen her wearing less than the cami and boxers that she was wearing. He raked a hand over his face with a sigh. She watched him curiously as he threw his legs over the side of the couch.

Charlie had filled out since she had seen him without a shirt last. He wasn't in as good of shape as Portman or Adam, but he was definitely in shape. Even with his hair sticking out in different directions and even though he needed to shave Connie couldn't deny that he was attractive.

She could hear him in the kitchen as she made way to the bathroom. The smell of coffee smacked her in the face when she opened the bathroom door a minute later. She went back to the room to change and get her things together before going into the kitchen.

Charlie came into the bedroom carrying a cup of coffee for her. She accepted it with a smile and a nod before going back to packing her toiletries into her make up bag. He sat on the bed, picking at a piece of string that had come undone from the quilt absentmindedly.

"What's on your mind?" she asked without looking up from what she was doing.

"Why didn't you to your parent's house this weekend? Be honest with me."

"I honestly don't know. Usually they are the first people that I call when I decide to come down. It was like there was some magnet pulling me down here on Friday and before I knew it, I was here," she explained with a shrug.

"What do you think it meant?"

"I guess it was my minds way of telling me that I needed a weekend away from everything. Things have been pretty crazy lately and I haven't been able to catch my breath."

"I can understand that. You shouldn't put so much strain on yourself," he said with concern.

"I know, but I thrive off of chaos," she said with a sheepish laugh.

"Trust me, I know. You've always been like that," he said with a laugh of his own.

She looked up and gave him a wide grin. He knew her better than she thought he did. He had side blinded her from out of nowhere recently and she had been left reeling. When had he become so charming or empathetic? Why hadn't she noticed it before? She felt like she was getting to know him all over again.

Half an hour later she was putting her bags in the car and he stood a few feet away with his hands shoved into his pockets. She shut the door with a soft thump then turned to face him.

"Thanks for letting me stay here."

"It was the least I could do. You needed a friend and Guy wasn't here," he mumbled.

"He's not as perceptive as you are," she complimented him.

"Can you tell my students that?" he asked hopefully.

"They're kids, it's their job to give you a hard time," she reminded him.

"Call me when you get back so I know that you get back okay," he said, his eyes finally meeting hers.

She nodded before opening her door. He crossed the few feet between them then pulled her to him. She wrapped her arm around his neck, holding him tightly. He kissed her forehead before pulling away.

She saw him watching her as she drove down the street. He was still standing in the yard when she turned the corner. She felt better than she had when she had gotten there on Friday. They had talked late into the night on Friday and gone to the movies on Saturday.

She had a very small circle of friends in New York and they were all designers and models. All they talked about was the business and it was nice to get their opinions on things, but there were times that she wanted to have a normal conversation and not have to talk about work. Charlie hadn't asked about her job unless she had offered information. It had been nice.

She could see herself becoming closer to Charlie. Would that be a bad thing? He knew her just as well as Guy and Julie did. He wasn't the person that she remembered and she was pleasantly surprised to find out more about how he had changed.

She felt sorry for him in a way too. He was handling his divorce well. He hadn't mentioned Linda the entire time that she was there. If she were honest with herself she would say that she had never liked Linda. She was too pushy and bossy, none of the Ducks had liked her.

Charlie was starting to stand on his own two feet again. Connie didn't want to be the rebound girl who ended up getting hurt. They had been friends for too long to make a mess of things and ruin their friendship over something stupid. She would wait until he came to her. She just had to show him that not all women were the same and that she wouldn't hurt him. She would wait, no matter how long it took.