10 years later, 2007

"Joey, Emma, come on! We're gonna be late for the first practice!" Stickler yelled as he was running down the stairs.

"I still think the kids are too young to be playing hockey, they're only 6!"

"I was already great at their age!" He cut Winnie off and stuffed his pockets with his wallet and car keys. "Where's my phone?" He frantically looked around.

"I somehow doubt that…" Winnie crossed her arms and gave him a look.

"Where's my phone?!"

"Here. Would you calm down?" She threw him the phone.

"You're asking me to calm down before my kids' first hockey practice? Do you not know me?!"

"Yeah, who am I kidding, you're gonna take over coaching as soon as we walk inside, take a million pictures and flood everyone's Myspace!" She tried to hold back a laugh.

"Ah so my wife does know me." He winked at her.

The kids appeared with their bags and sticks in hand.

"Got everything?"

"Yes, daddy!" The twins grinned and raised their sticks.

"Aw look at you, daddy's little champs! You're gonna be the next Hawks stars! Wait, hold like that!" He took out his phone and took a picture of them.

Winnie rolled her eyes.

"Alright, get in the car!" Stickler motioned for them to move.

"You know, if someone had told me 15 years ago that you'd be this cheesy, I would've laughed in their face." Winnie chuckled and fixed his hair.

"How can I not be? Look at them, they're so cute!"

"I know, I know. They get that from you but do you know what they also get from you?"

"What?"

"Being unstoppable nightmares sometimes!"

Stickler was unamused. "Yeah, very funny. Come on now, we're gonna be late!" He locked the front door and got in the car.

"Fasten your seatbelts. Oh, Joey, I want you to keep your sister safe on the ice, you're the man, got that?"

"Yes!" The boy proudly answered.

"Mommy, when can we play with uncle Adam?" His sister asked

"Soon, baby. He's away for work. Oh, by the way, Gina called, she wanted to know what we're doing for your birthday."

"Do we *have to* do anything?"

"It's your 30th! Of course!"

Nathan waved his hand. "Big deal, another year older, another year uglier."

The kids laughed. "Daddy, you're not ugly!"

Stickler looked at them through his rear view mirror. "Ah, you think so? Daddy's handsome?"

"Yes!"

"Oh my God…" Winnie facepalmed.

They finally pulled up at the pee wee hockey arena. "Shit, there's no space to park!" Nathan looked at his phone. "We only have 5 minutes left!"

"You guys go, I'll park, give me the keys!" Winnie said.

"Okay, everyone out!" He ordered. With a kid on each side, Stickler ran into the building.

Winnie parked the car and got out. Walking towards the building, she looked up at the huge sign on it that displayed her brother's name. The league had decided to name the place after Adam to honor him as the greatest player ever in the pee wees. "You really were the greatest." She thought and walked inside.

"Winnie, over here!" Stickler called out to her and pointed to the seat next to him.

Winnie acknowledged him but turned to look at her kids on the ice. Many years ago, she had been the only girl on a team that hated her, before things got better that is. Now her daughter was walking in her steps, being the only girl on the current Hawks team. Winnie wondered if Emma would suffer the same fate and a feeling of dread enveloped her. But then she was taken out of her trance by an explosion of cheer. She snapped her head to Nathan who was up and shouting.

"Winnie, look! Emma scored!"

Their daughter was now the center of attention with all her teammates gathering around her and hugging her. Winnie breathed a sigh of relief. "You can do it, baby." She smiled to herself and walked over to her husband to take her seat. She looked around the arena where she'd played so many games. All the memories, the good and bad, flooded her mind. Her eyes fell on a pair of young men, a raven haired and blonde one, a few rows below and she studied them for a bit. "They look so familiar but I need to see their faces better." The dark haired man was enthusiastically cheering for one of the players on the ice while the blonde was sitting still, not having uttered a word. Winnie squinted to see the name on the jersey better. "Morgan."

"Oh my God! Hey, Nate, look-" She nudged him.

"Not now, Winnie, my baby is about to score again...yeah!" He shouted when daughter scored another goal.

"Nate! Look over there!" She forced him to look in the direction of the two men and then pointed to the player.

Stickler looked at her in shock.

"Come." She said and they walked over to the two men. "Morgan?" Winnie lightly tapped his shoulder while Nathan was looking at the person next to him in utter disbelief. "Larson? Holy fuck..."

The dark haired guy turned around startled and stared at them as if he'd seen a ghost. "Winnie...Stickler?"

"Oh my God...Keith, are you okay, what are you…" Winnie didn't know how to react, what to say or ask, there were so many questions in her mind but she couldn't believe she was seeing. Morgan was only 28 but his eyes carried a lot of weight and his jet black hair was disturbed by a couple of distinct white hairs. Larson was...physically present but his stare was blank, as if his soul had left his body. Winnie and Nathan didn't even know if they could talk to him.

"You can say hi to him, he can hear us."

"Bro, what happened...you disappeared, we thought…we were hoping you'd call but you never did..." Nathan began but didn't know how to end his sentence.

Morgan sighed and smiled with half mouth. "After I ran away, I didn't know what I was gonna do. I met this girl...like a dumbass , I slept with her. She got pregnant, wanted to get rid of it but I...I couldn't let her do it. It's weird but I wanted to be a dad, yeah, I know, me!" He laughed nervously. "Anyways, she was in trouble herself so she said we could have the baby if I married her. So we moved back here and had the baby. Four days before the wedding, this guy right here woke up." He chuckled. "I had to take care of him, his parents didn't even want to hear about him now that he was a nobody and a cripple. But, he's my best friend and I couldn't leave him. My fiancée fucked off the next day, leaving me a note that she didn't wanna live with a weirdo so now I'm left with a baby and a grown ass man who can't even feed himself. Fun, huh?"

Winnie and Stickler exchanged disturbed looks. "Dude, that sounds…"

"Rough? Yeah, it is. But, hey, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do!"

"I'm so sorry, Keith, we should have kept in touch more…" Winnie said quietly.

"It's alright, everyone had shit going on. You guys especially with this clown over here making the pros and all! By the way, I was at that game you had in Arizona in '01! Hell of a save you did!." He punched Nathan in the arm.

"Do you need help? Financial I mean?"

Morgan shook his head. "Nah, we're all good. I got lucky with a decent job and we have my mom helping us out with Eli."

"That's a beautiful name." Winnie smiled.

"Yeah, she picked it, I thought it was cool…Oh, how's Banks, by the way?"

"He's got my dad's fancy job, you know, the one he intended for Joey, so he's doing alright." Winnie replied.

"Do you guys talk to Gina and McGill?"

"Yeah, she's a big deal now, took her three years to get support and funding but she finally managed to launch the Women's league!"

"McGill had to undergo some pretty intense therapy and surgeries but he's walking normally now. He's happier now that he can somewhat play hockey…" Stickler added.

"Uhm, how is he?" Nathan put a hand on Larson's shoulder.

"Well, you know, some days he's trying to communicate but others…I bring him here, hoping it's gonna spark a memory, make him say something but…"

"Nathan clenched his fists. "I should've killed them."

"Dude, are you insane? If you had, you'd be rotting in jail now, instead you have two kids, a great wife, a perfect life…" Morgan trailed off as the coach blew his whistle, marking the end of the practice. His son ran up to him and took his helmet off.

"Dad, did you see me out there? I scored 4 goals!"

"Yeah, you did great, champ!"

Eli had his father's raven hair and light green eyes.

"Well, it was good seeing you...two. Don't be a stranger." Winnie told Morgan as her and Nathan were walking back to their seats.

Stickler sat back down and dropped his head. "Are we ever gonna get through the survivor's guilt?"

Winnie placed a hand on his back. "We have to, if not for us, then for our kids."

"I wonder if we should let them play at all. Maybe this team is cursed…"

"Nonsense, Nate! Look how much they love it! I believe they can start a new chapter for the Hawks."

He nodded. "Come on, I think they're ready to go."

After the practice, the twins rushed to their parents. The coach, a young man in his 20s, approached them with a shy smile on his face. "Mr. Stickler? Hi, sir, it's a great honor to meet you, I'm a huge fan of yours…"

"Oh...uhm, hi, nice to meet you." Nathan shook his hand.

"And you must be Winnie, I was there during the '92 finals, that goal you scored was amazing! It shows where the kids get their talent from!"

Winnie smiled awkwardly. "So you think they have what it takes?"

"Oh, absolutely, m'am. I have no doubt Joey and Emma will get far in this sport. We have our first game next month, I know they will do great!"

"Who are they playing?" Nathan asked.

The coach pointed to the team that was just entering the rink. "The Ducks."

A/N: Thank you for reading this story! I apologize for the rushed last few chapters but I was running out of ideas and had to get this fic done before starting my new job. :(

Anyaeversong