A/N - Thank you to all of you who have reviewed, PM'd, followed and favorited my story. Here is the next chapter. It was getting really long, so I decided to break it down into two chapters. I will post the second part over the weekend. If you have any suggestions, please let me know and tell me what you think.

Chapter 9

Ellie woke up with a terrible headache. She was fully dressed and face down on the bed and turned her head and looked for Devon and didn't see him. Ellie tried to sit up, but the pain was too great. She thought she heard something, but couldn't quite make it out. Following where she thought the sound was coming from, Ellie crawled across the bed to the far side and peered over the edge. Devon was on his back snoring, wedged between the side of the bed and the wall. He looked like he was trying to remove his pants and got one leg out and fell on the bed before falling on the floor. Ellie reached out and shook Devon's shoulder and he continued snoring. Next she tried pinching his nose, to no avail. Finally she slapped him hard on the cheek. That did the trick. "Owwww. What'd you do that for?"

"What'd we do Devon? Why are we so hung over?"

Devon groaned and said "I don't remember. Do you?"

"I vaguely remember drinking out of a fountain. Not much else."

"I don't remember anything. Help me up Ellie."

Ellie reached down and helped Devon back on the bed. They lay there on the bed for a bit before Ellie dashed off to the bathroom to empty her stomach. As soon as she was finished, Devon pushed her out of the way and did the same thing.

"Oh god. I feel terrible. Where's the aspirin?"

They staggered out to the kitchen and looked for Ellie's purse and the aspirin. Devon filled two glasses with water and they downed two each after Ellie found what she was looking for. They both looked like the parents of a newborn that haven't slept for three days. They leaned against the kitchen counter and covered their eyes as any light caused them pain. Just when they thought about going back to bed, they heard knocking on the door. "Who could that be at this hour?" asked Ellie. "What time is it?"

Devon looked at the clock. "It's 10:30am."

The knocking persisted and they staggered to the door. Devon looked through the peep hole in the door. "It's Sarah and Chuck. It looks like they brought some food and coffee."

Ellie opened the door.

"Ellie, Awesome…" Chuck started to say.

"What happened to you? asked Sarah. "You look terrible."

Ellie and Devon groaned in unison. "Do you have to shout?"

Chuck looked at Sarah and back at his sister and her fiancé. "We're not shouting. Drank a little too much jungle juice at Patel's?

Ellie looked at Devon and back at Chuck. "That's where we were? We don't remember anything."

"Yep," said Sarah. "It's a good thing you didn't get a chance to try the hookah."

"The whatah?"

"The hookah. It's an Indian pipe. Those rascals Jeff and Lester put some funny stuff in the pipe. Carina and the others in the group have forgotten the last three days. The amnesia is supposed to be temporary, though. It's a good thing they didn't burn down the whole building."

"We almost burned down the building?"

"Not you, Cole."

"Who's Cole"

"You really don't remember, do you?"

"Nope"

Ellie finally remembered to invite them inside and she took the food from Chuck and Sarah and they all sat at the table and ate. Chuck and Sarah had brought bagels, cream cheese, orange juice, coffee and a smoothie for Devon.

Sarah and Chuck gave them the details about what had happened and showed them the newspaper article about the incident. Fortunately they had all left before the police had arrived and no one in the area remembered who was there, other than Chuck and Sarah and they were going to keep their mouths shut.

"You two don't seem to be affected by the jungle juice."

"We didn't have any. We saw firsthand what happened to Morgan and Zondra after they went to Patel's and warned you to be careful. Unfortunately, you didn't listen."

"You didn't wake up fully clothed face down on the bed with a gigantic hangover?"

Sarah smirked. "Nope. We woke up by the fireplace after a very romantic evening and some fun with whipped cream."

Ellie groaned and Devon smirked. "TMI* Sarah," said Ellie.

Devon said to Chuck "Awesome bro" and gave Chuck a high five.

Ellie looked at Devon and back to Sarah and

rolled her eyes. "Men!"

Sarah chuckled and said to Ellie "You should try it sometime. We're heading to the store later to get more. Do you want us to bring you some?"

Chuck and Sarah hopped in the limo and headed up to Whistler to watch the snowboarding events. They packed a lunch and enjoyed some of the items from the minibar. And they enjoyed considerable necking on the way as well.

Once at the event site, they bundled up in their parkas and mittens and scarves and headed to the slopes. They watched and cheered on Morgan as he won his round of 16 heat and his quarterfinal race in snowboardcross. While waiting for the semifinal heats, they met up with Morgan and Alex and had a cup of hot chocolate with them. Alex was racing the following day.

Alex asked "Did you hear what happened at Patel's?"

Sarah smirked. "You could say that. We were there when it happened."

"What?" said Morgan. "We were going to go back tonight."

"Even after what happened to you before?"

"Yep, that place was crazy. What happens in Patel's stays in Patel's. How did the place almost burn down?"

Chuck told them the story. Alex said "No wonder Carina was so out-of-it this morning when I ran into her. It's a good thing her next race isn't for two days. Cole better only do sweeping today in his curling match, though."

It was time for Morgan's semifinal heat. Alex, Sarah and Chuck all cheered him on to victory and his place in the finals. He was going to face some serious competition for a medal.

During the final, Morgan got off to a poor start and was in fourth place heading into the first turn. He was able to move up to third at the half-way point it the race and was in bronze medal position, but well behind the leaders. Near the finish line there was one final jump and the leader, thinking he was going to win the gold medal decided to do a little showboating and grabbed the back of his board and thrust his arms in the air during the jump, causing him to lose concentration and crash on the landing. This allowed Morgan to move up to second for a silver medal and the former leader was able to get up in time to finish third.

Morgan and Alex celebrated his Olympic medal at the finish line and Chuck and Sarah cheered his finish from the crowd. After the medal ceremony and obligatory interviews, Chuck and Sarah offered them a ride back into Vancouver in the limo. Morgan and Alex readily accepted and they enjoyed a celebratory trip down the mountain, especially after opening the bottle of champagne they found in the minibar.

After dropping off Morgan and Alex at the village, Sarah wanted to go to the figure skating rink and do some skating. She invited Chuck to join her on the ice and she borrowed some figure skates for Chuck to use. The held hands as they skated around the ice, sometimes side-to-side, sometimes one in front facing the other. Since both were excellent skaters, they

had a blast. Occasional, Chuck would forget about the toe pick and trip. On one turn, Chuck had his right arm around Sarah's waist and her left hand in his. Chuck accidentally caught the toe pick in the ice and tripped, causing them both to fall and slide into the boards. Chuck hit the boards with his back and Sarah slid into him. Chuck protectively wrapped his arms around her so she wouldn't get hurt. When they discovered that no injuries resulted from the fall, they burst out laughing and shared a chaste kiss while lying on the ice.

"Figure skating is a lot harder than it looks, Sarah. How do you keep from constantly tripping on the toe pick?"

"You get used to it, sweetie. When we get a chance, I want you to teach me a little ice hockey. I bet I'll have a mean slap shot."

"I bet you will, honey. That sounds like a lot of fun."

They got up and skated around the rink some more. Chuck stood at the boards and watch watched while Sarah practiced some jumps and spins and footwork. She called Chuck over. "Sweetheart, would you like to try and pick me up in a lift?"

"I don't know, honey. I'm afraid I might drop you and hurt you."

"Don't worry, you're strong on your skates and plenty strong enough to pick me up. You've done that already several times. Just pretend you're carrying me to bed so you can have you way with me."

That caused Chuck to turn pink. "OK, Sarah. Just exactly how do you want to do this?"

"Let's start with a press lift. You skate backwards and I skate forwards toward you. We clasp hands and I jump up and you extend your hands over your head."

"OK sweetheart. Sounds doable. Are you sure I won't drop you?"

"I trust you sweetie. You'll do fine."

Sarah skated toward Chuck while he was skating backward. They clasped hands and Sarah jumped up and Chuck extended his arms over his head. They executed the lift amazingly well on a first try. Sarah smiled broadly. "You're a natural, Chuck. I knew you could do it."

Chuck grinned at his success and said "This was great, Sarah, but how do I set you down?"

"That's the easy part, sweetie. Just lower me down and I land on one foot. You are supposed to go onto one foot too and we extend our leg out."

Chuck followed her instructions perfectly and set her down and they both extended their legs in pretty good form. Chuck couldn't believe he had done it and gave Sarah a big hug and a kiss. They practiced the lift several more times and improved each time. They even successfully completed the lift with one arm instead of two as they had been.

"Sarah honey, can you teach me how to do a jump?"

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "You trying to learn a new move to score more goals, sweetheart?"

Chuck smirked. "I really want to score with you, honey."

Sarah grinned back. "That can be arranged my love, but doing it on the ice may be a little cold."

Chuck turned bright red. Sarah came close and gave him a kiss. "Be careful what you ask for sweetheart. I did tell you any time, any place and I meant it."

Chuck smiled and kissed her back, hard. "Oh, I want you right now but I'd rather have you when we're alone and in a more private place."

Sarah smiled at him and said "I belong to you my love. I'm ready when you are."

"I love you Sarah. I belong to you too." They shared another kiss, this one much longer.

After they broke for air, Chuck said "I really would like you to teach me a jump. Will you?"

"Certainly, Chuck. Let's try a single toe loop. It's one of the first jumps they teach you how to do."

Sarah demonstrated the jump and explained it to Chuck. After a few tries he succeeded and after a few more attempts he had it down quite well.

"Would you like to try a double toe loop Chuck?"

"That's not the kind of double I had in mind, sweetheart."

Sarah turned pink. "That sounds like a lot of fun, honey. But I really think you can land a double toe loop."

"Really?"

"Really."

Sarah demonstrated the double toe loop a few times and gave Chuck a few pointers. After falling a few times, Chuck finally landed one and smiled broadly.

"I did it!"

"Yes you did, sweetie. Come here." She landed a big kiss on Chuck and they held each other for a moment.

Chuck said "This is a lot of fun, Sarah and it's a challenge. I really was really happy for you that you won the gold medal, but actually being out here with you makes me appreciate what you accomplished even more. I'm so glad I get to share this with you."

That made Sarah's heart melt into butter and she clung to Chuck like there was no tomorrow. She reached up behind Chuck's neck and pulled him in for a deep kiss. When they broke for air, she said "I can't believe how lucky I am to have you in my life. To have someone who wants to share these types of experiences with me and to be with me and who loves me just as I am."

They both looked deep into the other's eyes with a look of pure unmitigated love pouring out and their lips crashed together in a passionate embrace. "I'm so glad you're in my life Sarah and I'm the lucky one."

Sarah smirked. "I don't see anyone else around right now. You sure you don't want to try it on the ice?"

That brought a chuckle from him and he said "I can't tell you how tempted I am right now. But I really want to check out the steam room a little later."

"You're so on, sweetie."

Chuck practiced the double toe loop a few more times and then they decided to try to do the jump side by side. Their timing was a little off but after a few more times they were able to land one in unison, bringing a big smile from each. Finally, Chuck asked Sarah to show him a death spiral. After a few tries, they were able to perform one that was pretty good.

They concluded their session by racing around the rink a few times for exercise. Sarah was fast, but she couldn't quite keep up with Chuck. When finished, they skated to the opening in the boards and stepped off the ice. The found their shoes and changed out of their skates. Sarah returned the skates to where she borrowed them and they headed back to the limo to meet with Bryce for dinner.

Unknown to the two lovers a member of the US Figure skating federation was in the press box area watching them skate. Needless to say, she was very surprised at how well they skated together. It's too bad they aren't a team. I guess love really does help bring out your best.

Bryce was already waiting at the restaurant when they arrived. Since Sarah was bringing Chuck, he decided to invite Lindsay to the dinner. The restaurant was casual and was called the Grill. Bryce stood up and gave Sarah a hug and shook Chuck's hand. Chuck and Sarah greeted Lindsay and they sat down. After placing their drink orders, they received menus and started to look them over.

Sarah asked "How are you too feeling after last night?"

"Last night?" Lindsay asked.

"Yeah, last night at Patel's."

"We were at Patel's last night?"

"You don't remember?"

"Nope," Bryce answered. "I know something strange happened because I woke up face down on the living room floor at Lindsay's apartment. She was on the floor next to me and we were both fully dressed."

Lindsay just looked down, feeling embarrassed.

"Was it strange because you woke up fully dressed next to a pretty woman or because you were face down on the living room floor?" Sarah teased.

Bryce just put his face in his hands and groaned.

Chuck and Sarah hid their smiles and tried to show compassion for their obvious discomfort. Then they told the story of what happened at Patel's and to Carina, Cole, Devon and Ellie.

Both Lindsay and Bryce looked shocked. "How come we can't remember any of this?"

"From what we heard, the memory loss is temporary, but the hangover is very real," Chuck added.

"I take it you weren't affected?"

"We didn't partake in the jungle juice or the hookah. We were fortunate."

The waiter came back and took their orders and they sipped their drinks while conversing about what else they have been doing the last several days.

After the food was brought to their table, they began to discuss the topic that was the reason for the meeting.

"Have you done any skating since the finals, Sarah?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. Chuck and I skated for a while before we got here. I don't want to fall flat on my face in the exhibition."

Bryce chuckled. "That would never happen, Sarah."

"What about you Bryce?"

"I took Lindsay out to the rink yesterday. It was good to get back on the ice. It made me realize that I'm not quite ready to quit. If you're up to it, I'd like to go to Worlds."

Sarah looked at Chuck and he nodded. "I'm not quite ready to quit either, Bryce. Let's go. Do you want to call Diane?"

"Let's call her together, right now." Bryce picked up his phone and hit his speed dial for Beckman. She answered on the first ring. He put it on speaker.

Hi Bryce. Do you have good news for me?"

"Yes we do," answered Sarah.

"Sarah, hi. I didn't realize you were there. I thought you were busy with that hockey player."

Sarah smirked. "Oh I'm very busy with that hockey player, and he's here listening in on this call."

"Oh."

Chuck spoke up "Hi Ms. Beckman. It's nice to speak to you again."

"Hi Chuck. You don't need to be so formal with me. Please call me Diane."

"OK, Diane. By the way, I'm totally supportive of Sarah skating in the Worlds."

Sarah smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek.

Diane spoke up and said, "OK then. I'll see if we can if I can get some ice time. I'll let you know."

"Sounds good, Diane. Just make sure you don't schedule the time during Chuck's games."

"OK, Sarah. Do you have any restrictions, Bryce?"

"No, Diane. I can work the rest of my schedule around the practice time."

"Good. I'll let you know what I find."

"Great, Diane," and they hung up the phone.

They all enjoyed their dinner together and finally said goodnight. Chuck and Sarah were anxious to get back to check out the steam room.

A/N 2 - * For those of you that don't know - TMI stands for Too Much Information.

I also hope you noticed the Cutting Edge reference.

And a little hint of some of what is coming in the next chapter.

Devon called out "It's about time you came out of there. We were afraid you might get overheated."

Ellie smirked "From the looks on their faces, they definitely got overheated, but not from the steam room."