Chapter 12 – Home for the Holidays
Things started calming down around the Thanksgiving holiday.
The hockey teams, unfortunately, all lost their games against Coon Rapids High School. But even that couldn't deter them from being ready for a relaxing long weekend. Even the school play directors were giving the cast of 9 to 5 off for the weekend, telling them all to be ready to work on Monday when they got back to school.
Logan stood at the kitchen counter in his Aunt Zoey's house with his cousins, Pace and Jennifer, helping Jennifer prepare the pie crust. At the same time, Pace drank a beer, flipping through the channels on the TV while his kids – Logan's second cousins – Rebekah and Arnold – played noisily in the living room.
Maybe Logan shouldn't have said he was helping Jen prepare the pie crust – he was doing most of the work, anyway. She hadn't inherited any culinary skills, let alone any baking abilities. She was incompetent in the kitchen and lived off frozen chicken and pre-cooked meals that she heated up while living at college. One would think her living alone would force her to learn how to cook for herself. After all, Logan had been forced to become independent after he and his father moved from Toronto to Minneapolis when he was eleven. Then again, not everybody could be him. He just got to be very good at cooking through a lot of trial and error.
"Pie crust is better when the butter and water are cold. And you can't just use tap water, either," he explained to Jen as he made it by hand. He refused to make pie crust using a food processor. He preferred doing everything the old-fashioned way.
"Okay, I'll just leave all the work to you, then," shrugged Jen as Harris, Aunt Zoey, and Logan's cousin-in-law Meghan brought shopping bags full of groceries from the last-minute shopping trip.
"It's a mob scene out there," Harris said as he wheeled Aunt Zoey into the house, and Jen's boyfriend, Dawson, helped take some bags from them.
"But you guys got enough of everything to make extra stuffing, right? Because I plan on bringing some back with me to school," said Jen.
"Logan and I are doubling the recipe," Aunt Zoey assured her.
"And is Renee coming?" Logan asked his father warily, referring to Harris's new girlfriend, whom he started seeing over the summer.
"Yes, she is. And she's bringing Callie and Kim with her," said Harris as he got the Cornish game hens out of the shopping bags – even though both Harris and Logan were Canadian, Logan's mom Claire was American and grew up in Wisconsin, and rather than celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving in October, they celebrated the American Thanksgiving at the end of November and instead of turkey, they had their own, individual Cornish hens, and even though Logan's mom and dad had divorced when Logan was eleven years old, Harris saw no use in discontinuing their tradition of Cornish hen, apple and chestnut stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, butternut squash rice pilaf, roasted cauliflower, and banana cream pie.
However, one major change that happened in recent months was Harris's new girlfriend. It wasn't that Logan disliked Renee, per se. He just felt that she was a bit too eager to be a mother figure to him, and Logan wasn't exactly best friends with her daughters, Callie and Kim, but he promised himself that he'd try to grow to like them better and that he'd be on good behavior. And after Thanksgiving dinner, he needed to hop on the plane to go to Toronto to have a Thanksgiving meal with his mom, her new husband, his kids Jared and Peyton, and her new baby, Lily; Logan was still hurt over his mom cheating on his dad and destroying their family, but he loved his new baby sister to death and more or less was okay with his stepbrothers. But he knew he wouldn't be the only one in this boat; Teddi said that her dad was having Linda over for Thanksgiving dinner.
He supposed he could take some of the bitters along with the sweet. At least he celebrated holidays with his parents and split that time with them. He needed to be thankful that Harris's girlfriend was trying to forge a bond with him and that her daughters were nice enough, too. But after being his dad's whole world for the past few years, part of him struggled with sharing his dad.
But Logan pushed that thought aside. Nothing could ruin his holiday. He was the king of pie baking in the house, knew how to cook a perfect Cornish game hen, and had a secret to make the perfect, flavorful gravy. And he never failed to impress his family; Renee said he was an excellent cook, and Jen often begged him to make extra food so she could bring it back with her to her apartment. On top of that, tonight, the Maple Leafs were playing against the Panthers, something for him to look forward to; he grinned at that thought, considering he stood there in his Tavares jersey (he still needed to get a Matthews one; he was holding onto hope for it for his sixteenth birthday).
He mixed up the pie crust while Pace turned the TV on to the Maple Leafs game, and he grinned broadly.
"You think they're missing Keefe?" Pace as Logan.
"I think after they saw how the Devils did in Prague, they were secretly crying for him," Logan sniggered as he got to work on the custard.
"But then Toronto beat them in their home court," Pace pointed out.
"Time will tell."
"I'm telling you, I don't have high hopes for the Sabres. I'll just hand this victory over to you, Evan," Jace Cole said as he lounged in front of Evan's television, his dad, Colin, sitting beside him.
Jace was thrilled when he heard that his dad wanted to come to Minnesota for Thanksgiving. Not only that, Alex and Evan opened their home to him and his father, inviting Jace to stay in Evan's room while Colin took the guest bedroom, which Alex usually reserved for her mother when she came to visit from Detroit. For Jace, it was heaven; the past few Thanksgivings had been just him and his dad. For him to get to celebrate the holiday with the guy he'd begun to love like a brother, his current roommate at Minnetonka Prep, it felt like a dream, not having to worry about getting on a plane to come home to Orange County for Thanksgiving, even though Adam Banks generously offered to cover any and all travel expenses.
Additionally, Evan's dad was coming for Thanksgiving dinner; after he'd gotten his crap together and actually committed to an actual day job, Alex started having her ex come around for holidays more often, much to Evan's delight, who'd frequently had to worry about which parent he'd be spending the holiday with and which weekends he'd visit with his dad. For Evan to be able to celebrate with both his parents, plus Jace, Jace understood that for Evan, this was all he could ever wish for.
Jace had turned the TV on to the Wild at the Sabres game. Even though Jace supported the Sabres out of obligation to his dad, he was beginning to reassess his loyalties and consider following a team like the Dallas Stars or the Calgary Flames – at least those teams weren't filled with a bunch of softies, and they didn't have Lindy Ruff, the guy that buried the Devils into a hole, as their head coach.
"Why do you say that?" Colin asked his son.
"We're one of the lowest-ranking teams in the NHL. They lost twice to the Devils overseas. They re-hired that dinosaur Lindy Ruff, who was holding the Devils back from winning for four years!" Jace retorted. "I don't wanna look at Ruff's face. He literally makes me sick. I thought he was gonna burst into tears when he watched his former team beat his current team, which he went crawling back to. He's pathetic."
"But the Wild are also weak. They need to take notes from Tom Fitzgerald about adding in some more violent guys; we need a Brenden Dillon because we can't keep getting bullied around by the Blackhawks," pointed out Evan. "Let's just predict that the Wild makes the playoffs for this year, but they're not making it to the Stanley Cup. It's not like they ever won a championship, even if they did have Hal 'The Hammer' Vargas on defense. Why don't we just place our bets on the Ducks for this year?"
"No way!" Jace shook his head vehemently. "The Ducks are rebuilding. And they're weak, too; they've got no defense, and their head coach is weak – did you see what he did, making them go open-net after the Kings scored in the third period? The guy let them get butchered and put on a rotisserie! And I don't care if Ken Wu's assistant coached them; there's no wonder he returned to coaching for the minors. Sorry."
"Don't let Charlie hear that one," cautioned Alex Morrow from where she stood in the kitchen, working on her apple pies for tomorrow.
"Oh, don't worry, I'm not saying a word to him," Jace promised as he picked up a handful of cheddar jalapeno chips.
"Well, don't just fill up on chips, Jace. We still have to eat dinner tonight," said Alex; she'd had a big pot of lentil soup simmering all night long. She'd also been busy making all of the Thanksgiving sides ahead of time; the sweet potato casserole was par-baked and cooling and ready for marshmallows, and the broccoli for the broccoli-cheese casserole was already steamed; she'd also already prepared the au gratin potatoes.
Jace sighed. "Dad, if you were ever offered to coach the Sabres, would you?"
Colin seemed to ponder it. It was no mystery that he missed his glory days. He'd played under Ruff's coaching years ago; apparently, it hadn't always sucked as bad as it did now. "I don't know. That would mean needing to move you to Buffalo. And I don't think I'd want to do that," Colin admitted. "Not when all your friends are in Orange County."
"No, actually, all my friends are here in Minnesota. And as long as I attend Minnetonka Prep on scholarship, I live here."
"Well, thank God for that," commented Evan as the game started playing on television.
"Yes, yes!" Maya Kasper shrieked as she leaped from her sofa, her stepdad Lindsay Barlowe following as she watched Trouba score on the power play against the Hurricanes with an assist from Kakko. "All right! If they keep playing like that, they're making it to the Stanley Cup!"
"Does that bring back any memories?" her stepbrother, Lindsay James Jr., dubbed "L.J." by the family since it sounded more macho and masculine than his birth name, asked.
Maya grinned. "You know it! Takes me right back to one of our games against the Huskies J.V. team last year. It was shortly after the J.V.-Varsity showdown, and I scored with an assist from Katie. It shows nobody puts Baby in a corner."
"That's my girl!" Lindsay Sr. grinned broadly at his stepdaughter, locking his arm around her neck to mess up her hair – he was the only person she allowed to do so. Although there were days she missed her biological dad, Tony, immensely, she'd been quick to bond with her stepdad, who filled that void for the past two years, ever since he married her mom; she'd met him at work and had been in charge of training him, and when people learned Lindsay and Lisa had been dating in secret, they were pissed for a while since Lisa was his superior. However, once everyone saw how deeply they'd fallen in love after Lisa had spent so many years alone mourning her husband, it was nice to see someone come in and pick up the pieces. And it helped that Maya had bonded right away with L.J. and Lindsay's younger daughter, Molly, who was following in her older stepsister's footsteps of playing hockey with the Ducks as a defensive player in District Five. It also helped that her stepdad had played defense while in college, having attended Montclair State University and played for the Red Hawks; he had no qualms about giving Maya tips on improving her playing.
As they continued watching the game, the phone rang, and Lisa came in, bearing the large pizza box, to-go Ceasar salad, buffalo wings, and telephone. "Maya, honey, Tommy's calling you," she announced casually.
"Okay." She reached for the phone as Molly came into the room, ready to eat, and they continued watching the game; even though her stepdad and stepsiblings were die-hard Flames fans, they enjoyed watching Rangers games with her when they could. Plus, they recorded the Flames game so they could watch it tomorrow when Thanksgiving appetizers were being served.
Maya pressed the phone to her ear. "Hey, Tommy, it's not the best time. We're about to eat dinner, and the Rangers are beating the Hurricanes right now. I'm sure you understand."
"No, I totally get it. Let me know how it goes!" Tommy said brightly.
"Sure! And I'll see you on Saturday. Love you!"
"Love you, too."
Maya hung up the phone before dashing back into the family room, where everyone was congregated in front of the flatscreen, anxiously watching the game.
"You hang up on your boyfriend to watch a hockey game?" L.J. asked her.
"Hey, and in my defense, I'm starving." Maya reached inside the pizza box for half of the pizza that contained meatballs and ricotta. "Besides, he's the kind of guy who understands that."
Lindsay smiled. "Glad to hear that."
It amazed Teddi how being on something as simple as the pill could change so much around.
Within a day of being on the pill prescribed to her by Amara Bhatt, she could already feel her moods mellowing significantly. Even her anxieties decreased a little bit, though she still spoke with Danielle Samitar weekly – her dad had agreed it would be best if she kept up with therapy, especially after Sofi ratted her out about her drinking half a bottle of Malibu during Tommy Phillips's Halloween party. Her dad hadn't been happy when he'd heard his daughter had been drinking. But once he learned the reason why, he became filled with sympathetic understanding, but also told her to never, ever do that again.
And Teddi wholeheartedly agreed with her father. She would never drink like that again.
The only thing she hadn't shared with her father or anybody else was the self-harming incident that happened the day of her sweet sixteen. But when she swore to herself she'd never do it again, she stuck to that promise, so there was no need to tell anybody. Still, the guilt ate at her, and the more therapy sessions she sat through, the more she felt she should say something to somebody. But today wasn't the day for that. Within weeks of being on birth control, exercising every morning before her day of classes, and making significant changes to her diet, like cutting out bread, pasta, and red meat, Teddi was beginning to feel almost normal as her weight began to shift into something healthier, and she started liking what she saw in the mirror. It also helped that the birth control pills helped her with managing her acne for the time being.
She, Charlie, and Casey worked together in the kitchen. They would cook for the masses every year, and it often consisted of Charlie sweating profusely, checking on the turkey while Casey worked on appetizers like stuffed mushrooms and spinach dip and baked brie with raspberry jelly, wearing absolutely no makeup but instead wearing her husband's button-down shirt and a Minnesota Waves baseball cap.
This year, Linda Chavez was joining them for Thanksgiving, but Ted Orion and his two children would join them, as he did every year on Thanksgiving. In the past few years, Ted Orion's family integrated into hers, and Teddi wouldn't have it any other way. Billy, Adam, Julie, Violette, Connie, Guy, Gordy, Sam, and Rose would be joining them, as well, meaning they needed to put various fold-out tables around the living room sofas, and they also needed to grab extra chairs. So, Gordon was at work cleaning the living room, vacuuming while wearing one of Casey's frilly aprons, which both Charlie and Teddi took the opportunity to tease him over; ever since he married Casey, Gordon began taking on domestic housework like scrubbing toilets and dusting furniture.
Charlie kept checking on the two massive turkeys they had roasting in the oven while Teddi helped start the baked yams with marshmallows. Connie and Guy would be bringing apple and mushroom stuffing, Linda was taking care of the pumpkin and apple pies, Julie was bringing her special, homemade spiced cranberry jam as well as her famous green bean casserole (which she made from scratch; absolutely no canned ingredients used), and Ted was bringing homemade mac and cheese as well as corn casserole. In a way, Teddi was glad that so many people were bringing food because they could not cook everything all at once.
Charlie had the Devils game from last night turned on in the kitchen by the time Linda arrived bearing the pies.
"Hi," she said, her hair blowing from the snow outside.
"We're in the kitchen, Linda!" Charlie yelled as she came in, setting shopping bags down on the kitchen table.
"Hey, Happy Thanksgiving," she said, hugging Charlie and kissing his cheek in greeting. Teddi smirked slightly as she noticed her dad start to blush; he might've said at one point that he was over Linda, but based on how red he was turning, he couldn't fool anyone anymore. And Teddi felt happy for him, knowing he was having some happiness again.
"Happy Thanksgiving," he said. "And thanks for bringing that over. We've got too much to do already over here."
"Yeah, I can see from your stepdad's choices in fashion," remarked Linda over the noise of the vacuum cleaner in the living room.
Charlie sniggered as he closed the oven before he reached into the refrigerator for a beer, just as Markstrom made a massive save against St. Luis. Once Teddi heard Gordon turning the vacuum off in the living room, she wandered in there and sat on the couch, where Gordon was already lounging after having cleaned up all morning long.
She would never quite get over seeing him in a frilly, flowery apron – according to the stories he told her, many years ago, he never thought that this would be his life, enjoying having grandkids and being married and doing mundane household chores wearing women's aprons, but somehow, after he began coaching the Ducks, that made it into a possibility for him, a possibility that he regained even after he lost that job at St. Paul State University. Then again, he was so content and happy being married to Casey that he'd do just about anything for her, including doing chores while wearing her clothes.
"So you're turning into Mr. Mom?" Teddi asked, smirking as Gordon turned on last night's Ducks game against the Seatle Kraken.
Gordon rolled his eyes. "Make fun of me all you want. But your grandma appreciates it when I do what would typically be her chores."
"And I'm sure she gets a kick out of seeing you wearing her clothes."
"She wears mine all the time. So sue me. You'd lose anyway."
Teddi grinned, leaning her head on Gordon's shoulder as he skipped through the introductions for the Ducks-Kraken game. He wound his arm around her, and Teddi couldn't help cuddling into him; after having almost lost him a year ago, feeling him close to her brought her more relief than one could imagine.
"You doing okay?" Gordon asked her gently.
Teddi nodded. "Yeah, I've been feeling a lot better." At least she could say that honestly, and she didn't feel she needed to lie anymore, saying she was okay when she wasn't. She, indeed, was okay, more okay than she'd been in a long time.
"The night of your party, you scared the crap out of me," Gordon whispered. "Don't ever do that to me again."
"I won't." Teddi squeezed her eyes shut. "Just don't go almost leaving me again."
"I'm not dying," Gordon assured her. "The doctors gave me that check-up back in September. I've got a clean bill of health now. They said I'm perfect."
"Good." Teddi squeezed her eyes tighter as Gordon tightened his grip around her.
She didn't know how long they sat like that. But it was these quiet moments with her grandfather that she wouldn't trade for anything. After spending weeks nearly having several nervous breakdowns, Gordon just had a way of making her feel so safe.
"Teddi?" he asked her finally.
"Mmh?"
"Is there anything you wanna tell me?"
She pondered this momentarily. She knew she'd said to herself she wouldn't tell anyone about the incident; there was no use worrying anyone over something that would never happen again, because after cutting herself once and only once, she'd stopped herself short and never once brought the razor across her wrist again. Still, the shame of keeping it hidden ate at her. And if there was one thing she learned from therapy, it was that secrets make you sick, that the more you withhold, the more you suffer, and the more anxious you make yourself.
She silently lay there for a moment, watching as Gordon flipped through the channels until a channel playing Who Framed Roger Rabbit caught his attention, and it was in the middle of the scene where Eddie Valliant and Roger were in the bar's speakeasy room, with Roger explaining how those people needed to laugh. And Teddi had a distinct feeling she knew why Gordon picked this; he knew she loved a good eighties movie, especially Pretty in Pink, The Goonies, and Young Guns, but Who Framed Roger Rabbit was her ultimate comfort movie along with Dirty Dancing and Ghost. To top it all off, it was her mom's favorite movie.
She heard the line, "That's right. A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes, it's the only weapon we have." It made her think of all the times she couldn't bring herself to smile or laugh, especially after her mom died, how when she first laughed several months after that ordeal had happened, it was like she came alive again. It made her think of that quote from The Greatest Showman: "The noblest art is that of making others happy."
Somehow, that did it for her. Curling her legs underneath her, she mumbled, "Yeah."
"What is it?" Gordon murmured.
"You'll be upset if I tell you." Tears were already brimming in her eyes at the thought.
"It can't be that bad. I promise I can take it."
He said that now. But could he? Sighing, she whispered, "The day of my birthday party, I . . . I didn't just have one anxiety attack. That was the second one that day. The first one . . . I did something; thought it would help, but it didn't, and I haven't done it again." She didn't dare look at him, afraid to see the disgust in his eyes at the thought of her being so weak. She hoped that he wouldn't ask her to elaborate further, that he could put two and two together and be smart enough to understand what she'd done without having to tell him directly.
Gordon remained silent for a moment before asking, "Did you hurt yourself?"
She nodded, her face reddening. "But I didn't do it again, I swear."
She felt him kiss her on the top of the head. "Thanks for telling me, Teddi." That hadn't been what she'd expected to hear; she'd expected anything but understanding, but then again, Gordon had never once given her anything but unconditional love and support, even when she felt she didn't deserve it. It filled her with a warmth that sunk all the way down to her toes as she heard the front door open, and she lifted her head up to see Ted, Hans, and Lucy coming in.
Hans snickered upon seeing Gordon wearing the frilly apron. "Hey Cinderella, you ready for the ball?"
Gordon glowered at his surrogate nephew while Lucy sniggered slightly. "One of these days, when you get married, Hans, you'll do whatever it takes to please your wife."
"Yeah, sure. What are you gonna do next? Put on some heels?" Hans continued teasing.
"If it makes my wife smile, then yes," Gordon retorted, but a smirk remained on his face, which showed he wasn't completely offended by Hans's comments.
Hans coughed out the word whipped, and Gordon jumped from the couch, grabbing Hans in a side headlock and giving him a noogie.
"Careful with his knee, Hansy, he's old," teased Lucy.
"I'm only sixty-two!" snapped Gordon as he kept messing Hans's hair up.
"And it won't be long until you're seventy," Henry teased as he came running down the stairs to Hans's rescue, latching himself around Gordon's leg.
"Hey, easy!" Ted snapped, grabbing Henry under the armpits and hauling him away from Gordon just as Gordon released Hans, who grinned cheekily.
"You know, Ted? He was much cuter when he was a baby," Gordon retorted, rolling his eyes. "You made that, just so you know."
"Yeah, I know. But I don't know where he got his sick sense of humor from," Ted commented shrewdly as he carried the tray of baked macaroni and cheese as well as the corn casserole into the kitchen.
"I think he spent too much time with Averman when he was little," said Gordon.
"Most definite," Ted agreed as he kissed Casey and Linda hello before wandering back into the living room, sitting beside Teddi and throwing an arm around her. "Did you see the game last night?" he asked her.
"I knew it would end that way," Teddi sighed.
"Yeah, so did I," Ted agreed grimly. "It makes me wish the North Stars didn't move to Texas."
"Traitors. They left us with chopped liver."
"Then why do you continue supporting the Wild and the Ducks when neither has won a Stanley Cup in years, or ever?" Ted asked her curiously.
"Because I have empathy," Teddi said. "I know how hard it must be to feel like a pathetic loser. I know I did years ago. So, who am I to judge? It's not their fault."
Ted laughed out loud. "You're right about that."
Much later that night, everyone was seated in the Bombay-Conway living room, having grabbed all their food buffet-style from the dining room. Once everybody was congregated on the sofas and extra fold-out chairs, Charlie took a moment to raise his glass of Pepsi in the air.
"All right, everyone, let's say grace before we eat. Teddi, you wanna do the honors?" he asked her.
Teddi nodded, bowing and folding her hands before saying, "Thank you, dear Lord, for this feast we are about to receive that you have blessed us with and for us all being able to be together. Praise be to God for our health and happiness as we come together this Thanksgiving in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen."
Everyone applauded her, and she felt the heat rise to her face even as Julie and Adam rose from where they sat, looking at everyone with serious expressions. "Thank you, Teddi. That was beautiful, but my wife and I have an announcement to make," Adam said. "You all know that for these past fifteen years, we've had a life as a family of four."
"But come this spring, we're expecting to be a family of five," Julie announced, and Teddi gasped, nearly choking on her cream soda. Charlie's eyes widened significantly, and Gordon and Ted just looked at each other with perplexed expressions while Connie and Guy went bright red.
"You guys are nuts; you know that, right?" Charlie teased, getting up and hugging both Adam and Julie. "Are you kidding me? Three kids?"
"No, we're not kidding. We just found out back in September!" Julie laughed.
"So, you two came back for more," Ted said, shaking his head as Teddi and Gordy both got up, embracing Billy.
"Congratulations!" Connie squealed.
"Adam, for the record, we'll have that baby on skates and playing hockey before they know it," Gordon grinned.
"If he or she wants to," Adam said. "I won't force anything; I won't be that dad to my kids."
"That's why you're the greatest dad," Julie declared proudly, kissing him on the cheek as Linda got up and hugged them both.
"Well, on that note," Gordon said as he returned to his seat, "Happy Thanksgiving, everyone."
A chorus of "Happy Thanksgiving" went around the room, and the house seemed even warmer, filled with family, extended family, and chosen family, as everybody ate, talked, and laughed. And as Teddi dug into the corn pudding, baked yam with marshmallows, turkey, spiced cranberries, and mac and cheese, she was already thoroughly prepared to come back for even more food, even though they had more than enough that would last them for at least two days straight. And it truly, genuinely was a happy Thanksgiving for her as she relished in finally being able to have her life back to normal, as normal as it could be for her, but at least all of the pressure and anxiety had melted away, replaced with a kind of joy that hadn't been there in a long time.
Now, I know it's far too early to predict anything for the NHL, but part of this chapter was my speculation about how things would go this season based on how the standings are now. I predict that the Sabres and the Ducks won't make the playoffs, while the Wild and the Devils will at least make the playoffs, I'm not sure about the Stanley Cup; yes, the Devils have a better coach, but they also had a four-game losing streak that got broken when they played the Ducks this past Sunday (I would know, I was there, I saw it all, every minute of it); I'm cautiously optimistic about the New Jersey Devils making it to the Stanley Cup, even if we do have Shelden Keefe and Jacob Markstrom on our side. But their game against Anaheim was a good one and a great experience seeing it live.
After I wrap this story up, my plan is to go back and fix a lot of plot issues and details that were in the early installments of the saga. My other Ducks-centered stories are still at work, though; for the most part, it's just figuring out how to finish things with them. But I do have an idea in mind; I might want to do a whole Mighty Ducks story from Ted Orion's POV, starting with movie one, and then do movie two and movie three; that's going to be an extra labor of love, but I feel that it'll be well worth it; it's going to require me going back and rewatching D3 at least, even though I'm sure I've got all the films memorized by now.
Also, to fix a detail from my Orion and Charlie stuff, in one story I listed Lucy Orion's age as nine, when for the rest of my stories, I've put her age at about five or six years old, so that means I need to go back and make some edits. In my time of writing for Mighty Ducks, I think I've made more rewrites and edits on those stories than any other fandoms I've written for, probably because I want them to be perfect because those movies now are my life.