A/N: Charlie experiences his first breakup when Linda decides to end things.

The Breakup

Graduation should've been a time of jubilation for all of the Ducks.

But it appeared all except for Charlie were in a celebratory mood.

After the graduation ceremony that took place on the last official day of classes, Bombay decided he'd surprise the Ducks with a graduation barbeque in his backyard, as he still kept his house in Minneapolis since he would be staying there during the off-season. He told them they could bring whoever they wanted, and Ted knew that meant some of the Ducks would be bringing girls – namely Russ, Averman, Fulton, and Portman, who all had girlfriends they got together with toward the end of their junior year. Connie and Guy – the on-again-off-again couple – were currently on-again and held hands, sitting by the small pond behind Gordon's house. Adam and Julie, who'd somehow gotten together a month ago, were giving each other a shy smile and were separate from the rest of their friends. Russ's girlfriend, Brianne, was chatting it up with Averman's girlfriend, Debbie, and Fulton's girl, Denise, while Averman played a game of cards with Russ and Goldberg; Averman and Goldberg were in a heated argument, something about who was cheating. Portman and his girlfriend Gina were probably off making out somewhere, while Mendoza was off with his latest flame, one of the Varsity cheerleaders.

The only one who remained without an obvious plus-one, and who also remained inside the house rather than out with the others, was Charlie, which was a surprise to Ted. Charlie was normally the most outgoing and sociable of all his friends, often being the mastermind behind their practical jokes, and when you paired him with Averman, the two were nothing but trouble; after all, it had been Averman, Charlie, Dwayne, and Guy who organized the senior prank of letting the school's horses loose overnight and sneaking them onto the ice rink, where the horses proceeded to take a massive dump right in the middle of center ice, and when Ted and the new J.V. coach, Meyers, walked into the rink and saw the hand-painted banner that read SENIORS – CLASS OF 2000, Ted instantly knew that had been Charlie's handiwork. And even he had to admit it was very creative.

So, when Ted saw Charlie not socializing with the others, he knew something had to be wrong with the kid. Why wasn't he out here with the rest of the Ducks? Graduation was the only thing Charlie could seem to talk about for weeks; he even went on and on about some big road trip that he, Fulton, Adam, Guy, Connie, and Julie were planning on going on – they were going to drive out to Ohio to visit their former Ducks, the Hall brothers, and then camp out near the Lake Erie Islands; they would spend the whole summer out there before they needed to return to Minnesota for college.

Sighing, Ted gave his wife a kiss on the cheek and said, "I'm gonna go find Charlie."

Bella nodded gently, smiling. He took that as his cue to head inside the house. As he headed inside, he passed Adam, who turned to him as Julie went off to the beverage table.

"About time you talk some sense into him," Adam said.

"Why?"

"He's been in a mood since the first day of finals. I tried talking to him about it. But you know how he is. He doesn't like talking about stuff that upsets him." Adam shrugged. "But I think it's got something to do with Linda."

That was a surprise. Linda and Charlie had been steady since freshman year, especially after Charlie changed the team's name from the Warriors to the Mighty Ducks. Ted knew that that had meant a lot to Linda, but he also knew how starkly different the two were; Charlie was hockey-obsessed and had aspirations of working with children, either as a school teacher or a social worker, while Linda had aspirations of either going into politics or becoming a journalist. Charlie wasn't academically driven, whereas Linda focused more on her studies. Linda would be going to the Ivy League on scholarship; Charlie would be going to a local state university and would depend upon financial aid. It was a mystery how those two stayed together for as long as they did. But Linda had always helped Charlie keep a cool head and it was because of her that his grades improved to a little bit above a B-average.

Finally, Ted nodded, thinking he understood. He had dated in high school and knew what it was like to have growing pains in relationships. He headed into the house and found Charlie sitting on Bombay's sofa, watching St. Elmo's Fire, but he hardly seemed to be paying attention to the movie.

Sighing, Ted sat beside him on the sofa; the scene was focused on Kirby and Kevin talking about the meaning of life, with Kevin grumbling about how love sucked.

"He's right. Love sucks," Charlie grumbled.

"Let me guess. Linda?"

Charlie glanced at him, blue eyes reflecting a sort of surprised confusion. "How'd you know?"

"Adam told me you haven't spoken to him since the day before finals started. He said he thought Linda might've been the reason."

Charlie rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. "She dumped me."

Ted winced. That explained Charlie's sour mood and why he was distancing from the Ducks. "Any particular reason why?"

"Just that it makes no sense for us to stay together if she's going to school in Massachusetts." If Ted weren't mistaken, the boy's eyes looked suspiciously misty. "She's not even giving us a chance to see if it could work."

Ted nodded. He knew perfectly well how bad it hurt to break up with someone, having gone through the woes of dating and being a teenage boy once. But he also knew that you couldn't possibly expect to stay with the same girl, that the chances of being with your high school girlfriend forever were one in a million, and that sometimes, things like this were necessary, even if it did hurt while you went through it. But he also knew Charlie was a boy who wore his heart on his sleeve, and that when he found someone he genuinely cared about and loved as much as he did, he held all those feelings very close to his heart, and that made it all hurt so much more when he felt he was being dumped. Ted had seen the aftereffects of this when Bombay took the job with the Junior Goodwill Games Committee, how when he met Charlie, the boy had been a ticking time bomb about to explode from all the rage and hurt that he carried around, which wasn't helped by being trapped in a prep school filled with overindulgent, privileged kids that sneered at him for not coming from money.

The boy had been through a lot of hurt and had seen his mother hurt more times than he cared for. But Ted also understood that one day, Charlie would see there was life beyond that and that there was a chance he could grow into a better man because of it.

"I hate to say it, but maybe it's better that way."

Charlie shot him an incredulous glance. "How so?" he snapped.

"I know you love her. And I know she was something special. But you'll never grow and have a life outside of this point if you don't broaden your horizons and see that there are plenty of other opportunities. I remember when I broke up with my high school girlfriend; it was before I got drafted into the North Stars; I knew that I would never be able to experience real life if I stayed content with somebody unwilling to grow with me. You gotta take the time to reexamine what's important in your life. What's the most important thing to you? More important than any girl you could ever date?"

The boy contemplated as he watched the rest of the movie play out. They sat like that through the next half hour of the film, until Charlie finally said, "Helping those disadvantaged. Giving a good kid a shot at having a good education and a chance at life."

"And you'll do a lot of good here. And I'm sure Linda will be successful no matter where she ends up. My advice? Be happy for whatever success comes her way. And be open to finding a girl who will be willing to grow with you and move through life with you. Remember what I said years ago about confidence even if you aren't winning? The same thing applies to relationships. If I didn't have confidence in knowing that breaking things off with my first girlfriend was the right decision, I wouldn't have met my wife, and I wouldn't have tried out for the North Stars. I would've been hung up on a relationship that just wouldn't move. And that's no way for anyone to live. You understand?"

He watched the realization settle in for Charlie, and the boy nodded quietly. "Yeah. I guess."

"I know it sucks. But don't write this off as indicating that you should give up. You'll find the right one. Or, there's a possibility you and Linda could find your way back after you've both grown up."

A small smile appeared on the boy's face as he turned his gaze to who was now his former Varsity coach. "Thanks."

Ted smiled at him just as warmly, patting his shoulder. "Any time." They continued to watch the movie in silence, and somehow, both ended up drifting off toward the end of the film. And that was how Bella and Bombay found them, asleep on the couch with Charlie's head somehow on Ted's shoulder, and Ted's arm draped across his shoulders.