Disclaimer : I don't own the Mighty Ducks unfortunately. I wish I did but I
don't!! Anything that does sound unoriginal however is mine!!!!!
A/N : JUST PRETEND FOR THE SAKE OF THIS STORY THAT THE NHL TEAM THE ANAHEIM MIGHTY DUCKS ARE REALLY THE MINNESOTA MIGHTY DUCKS!!!!!
Summery : Connie has been split from the ducks since high school, her life is a mess and having had to drop out of college to support her family, she could really use a ducks shoulder to lean on.
Chapter 1
CONNIE'S P.O.V
I knocked tentatively on Mrs Hobson's door. She had been my child minder for nearly a year now. Since my Mom had been arrested 3 years ago for robbing a liquor store, drink driving and manslaughter, my brother and sister had come to live with me. When I first took them on at a mere 18 years old, my college friends thought I was crazy, but I knew that if I hadn't agreed to have them, then they'd be taken into care. It wasn't as though I was alone, my Mom's 2nd husband, the one I actually liked, helped me out a lot, especially since he had my other brother and sister.
See it's rather complicated, my Mom's been married 3 times, the first time to my Dad who unfortunately died when I was 6, then there was Pete and they had Jack 14 and Cara 11, after Pete she married Terry who I couldn't stand and they had Kelly 9 and Tyler 5, but Terry left soon after Tyler was born. Me and Pete had fought to have Kelly and Tyler live with him knowing that I would probably have to drop out of college to care for them, but since he wasn't a blood relative like me, they disallowed him.
When I first came to college I kept in touch constantly with the ducks, mainly Julie and Guy. Me and Guy hadn't been together as a couple since freshman year, but we had remained good friends and he had supported me throughout all my problems that I'd had to face with my mom, but I had never told him about my biggest problem with her yet. Eventually though, I phoned less and less, emails became my only contact, but soon in turn the ducks fell from my list and before I knew it I hadn't a single contact with my old team.
"Hello Connie, your early". Mrs Hobson opened the door and greeted me in the warm friendly tone she always seemed to have.
"I know, I managed to get off work early". I told her, then fished into my purse for her wage. "Hey guys". I greeted Kelly and Tyler as they bustled past me. "Erm, I'll not need you tomorrow, I've got a day off". I paid her then said good bye.
"Connie are you working tonight"? Kelly asked me as we walked down the street to our apartment.
"Yeah, but I have tomorrow off all day and night". I replied.
"Who's looking after us"? She continued probing.
"John". I answered.
I worked two jobs in order to pay for everything. I worked at a restaurant during the day, which paid fairly well and I worked in a bar at night, which paid excellently. As you could probably guess child care was a big issue as I worked 5 days at the restaurant but that was just outside school hours for the kids and I worked 3 nights a week at the bar and that suited my schedule as 2 of the nights they stayed at Pete's and the other John my old college friend and neighbour watched them for me.
"You got any homework"? I asked Kelly as I pushed the door open.
"Yeah, but just math". She replied.
"If I were you I'd get it done now or else John will make you do it tonight and he'll check it and make you redo the mistakes too". I laughed.
"What about you Ty, you got any"? I asked the 5 year old who had just started nursery school.
"Nope".
"Well, you can just help me cook dinner then". I told him rubbing his short blonde locks, He reminded me of Guy in a way, quiet and laid back with dirty blonde hair and ocean green eyes.
Cooking, that was something I had been doing since before I could remember. I took it up when I was about 7/8 and continued up until Pete married my Mom. After he left I started again and had never stopped. I could hear Kelly scribbling away in her notebook, rushing just to get it done in time to help me out. She was a good kid really, every bit like me. She was very independent and head strong, she'd had an interest in hockey from an early age and was on the local pee wee team, she idolised my old team the ducks and posters from our Team USA days were hung all over her walls.
"Hey Connie, since your not working tomorrow night, are you coming to my hockey practise"? She called from the other room.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world". I smiled to myself. "You done your homework"? I asked, knowing that the answer would be no.
"Nearly".
5 minutes later she appeared in the kitchen and began checking the oven chips, then beginning to wash the lettuce, she was never happy unless she was active. With her help dinner was soon served. I sat Tyler on his cushion as he was still a little too small to see over the top of the table when he sat without it.
"Hey look, we made the magazine". Kelly pointed out from behind the hockey magazine she bought every week and read nearly 50 times over until the following issue was on sale.
"Kelly, put it away until after you finish your dinner". I told her. She was that engrossed that she didn't even hear me. "Kelly". I said again.
"Wait, there's an article about Adam, Guy and Charlie here". She passed me the page.
I stared at the page, there was a picture of them in the Minnesota Mighty Ducks suits and little bit of writing at the side. I could feel Kelly's eyes looking at me intently, wanting to know what it was about.
"What's it say"? She finally blurted out.
"College graduates Adam Banks, Charlie Conway and Guy Germaine are drafted in to play for their pee wee hockey teams namesake the Minnesota Mighty Ducks. Adam Banks will be playing first line centre and his two team mates will play first line left and right. It seems that for these 3 their childhood slogan 'Ducks fly together' has well and truly stuck. Their first game will be in 3 months time, but until then the boys are taking a well earned break". I read. I hadn't realised it but a tear had escaped my eyes.
"Connie, why you crying"? Tyler looked at me, tears in his own. He hated it when people cried.
"Because I'm happy for them Ty, I'm not crying because I'm sad". I reached over and touched his cheek affectionately.
"You miss them don't you". Kelly asked.
"Yeah, yeah I do. Other than you guy's they were my family". I told them.
"Why'd you stop calling them"? She pursued.
"Oh, I don't know Kel, I suppose we just grew apart, keeping in touch just got too difficult. Come on finish your dinner, I've got to get ready for work in a bit". I started to eat again, I was glad to see that she actually did, normally there would have been another dozen questions.
After we finished, I cleared the dishes and Kelly occupied Tyler so I could get ready in peace. Just as I finished, I heard a knock at the door then Tyler's voice screech 'John'. I walked out of my room to see John throwing Tyler up in the air and pretending that he wasn't going to catch him.
"Hey". I walked up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek.
"So what time do you get off"? he asked me.
"About 1". I replied.
"Right come on rugrats, lets go". He shouted as they filed out to next door. Kelly took their nightclothes I had just picked up from the clean clothes pile. It was a lot easier for John to have them at his place since he had all his college work at his fingertips and he'd also got a playstation which would keep Kelly and Tyler occupied until their bedtime of which they slept on John's sofa bed, but Kelly always seemed to wake up just before I got in.
"Thanks". I shut the door behind them. I grabbed my bag and jacket as well as keys before leaving myself.
It was only a short walk to the bar, a short walk that had petrified me at first. New York wasn't exactly the safest place to walk alone but armed with pepper spray, attitude and many self defence classes I felt rather safe, not that I never took it for granted that I would never get mugged. I had been working at the bar since I was 19, but Ruth the owner had only allowed me to be a bar dancer and even then when the cops turned up every so often I had to disappear. I suppose I owed a lot to Ruth, she risked her business on me, but the one time I had thanked her she told me, she knew what it felt like to be broke and have to care for her 2 younger brothers.
"Hey Sid". I greeted the faithful bouncer.
"Hi Minnie". He replied. Minnie was his nickname for me. He'd called it me ever since he found out I came from Minnesota. No-one knew why, but he called Ruth, Flora because she came from Florida, He called Tina, Penny because she came from Pennsylvania and as for Colette he called her Manny as she came from Manhattan.
Hey guy's". As I hung up my coat and bag behind the bar.
"Hey Con, how's it going"? Tina stopped in between serving to have a little chat, one of her worst qualities and something that got her continually in Ruth's bad books when we were busy. Luckily we weren't at that particular time.
"Not bad, I'm looking forward to tomorrow night when I'm going to Kelly's hockey practise". I told her whilst serving a customer.
"I don't know how you do it, your 21 and caring for a 9 year old and a 5 year old". She replied.
"If they were your family you'd do the same thing". I told her. We often had this conversation, but she'd grown up an only child and only took this job to prove to her parents that she was capable of looking after herself and that was 4 years ago.
"TINA". Ruth shouted her, making her jump back to work quickly. I shook my head laughing.
I could remember the one time I had left Kelly and Tyler with her nearly 2 years ago, when I had come to pick them up, she was seconds away from tearing her hair out, mainly because she'd had to compete with Kelly for talk time. Soon the bar was jam packed and customers were shouting orders to me over the bar.
Well, is it worth carrying on? I promise the next chapter will involve another duck I PROMISE!! PLEASE R&R!!!!!!
A/N : JUST PRETEND FOR THE SAKE OF THIS STORY THAT THE NHL TEAM THE ANAHEIM MIGHTY DUCKS ARE REALLY THE MINNESOTA MIGHTY DUCKS!!!!!
Summery : Connie has been split from the ducks since high school, her life is a mess and having had to drop out of college to support her family, she could really use a ducks shoulder to lean on.
Chapter 1
CONNIE'S P.O.V
I knocked tentatively on Mrs Hobson's door. She had been my child minder for nearly a year now. Since my Mom had been arrested 3 years ago for robbing a liquor store, drink driving and manslaughter, my brother and sister had come to live with me. When I first took them on at a mere 18 years old, my college friends thought I was crazy, but I knew that if I hadn't agreed to have them, then they'd be taken into care. It wasn't as though I was alone, my Mom's 2nd husband, the one I actually liked, helped me out a lot, especially since he had my other brother and sister.
See it's rather complicated, my Mom's been married 3 times, the first time to my Dad who unfortunately died when I was 6, then there was Pete and they had Jack 14 and Cara 11, after Pete she married Terry who I couldn't stand and they had Kelly 9 and Tyler 5, but Terry left soon after Tyler was born. Me and Pete had fought to have Kelly and Tyler live with him knowing that I would probably have to drop out of college to care for them, but since he wasn't a blood relative like me, they disallowed him.
When I first came to college I kept in touch constantly with the ducks, mainly Julie and Guy. Me and Guy hadn't been together as a couple since freshman year, but we had remained good friends and he had supported me throughout all my problems that I'd had to face with my mom, but I had never told him about my biggest problem with her yet. Eventually though, I phoned less and less, emails became my only contact, but soon in turn the ducks fell from my list and before I knew it I hadn't a single contact with my old team.
"Hello Connie, your early". Mrs Hobson opened the door and greeted me in the warm friendly tone she always seemed to have.
"I know, I managed to get off work early". I told her, then fished into my purse for her wage. "Hey guys". I greeted Kelly and Tyler as they bustled past me. "Erm, I'll not need you tomorrow, I've got a day off". I paid her then said good bye.
"Connie are you working tonight"? Kelly asked me as we walked down the street to our apartment.
"Yeah, but I have tomorrow off all day and night". I replied.
"Who's looking after us"? She continued probing.
"John". I answered.
I worked two jobs in order to pay for everything. I worked at a restaurant during the day, which paid fairly well and I worked in a bar at night, which paid excellently. As you could probably guess child care was a big issue as I worked 5 days at the restaurant but that was just outside school hours for the kids and I worked 3 nights a week at the bar and that suited my schedule as 2 of the nights they stayed at Pete's and the other John my old college friend and neighbour watched them for me.
"You got any homework"? I asked Kelly as I pushed the door open.
"Yeah, but just math". She replied.
"If I were you I'd get it done now or else John will make you do it tonight and he'll check it and make you redo the mistakes too". I laughed.
"What about you Ty, you got any"? I asked the 5 year old who had just started nursery school.
"Nope".
"Well, you can just help me cook dinner then". I told him rubbing his short blonde locks, He reminded me of Guy in a way, quiet and laid back with dirty blonde hair and ocean green eyes.
Cooking, that was something I had been doing since before I could remember. I took it up when I was about 7/8 and continued up until Pete married my Mom. After he left I started again and had never stopped. I could hear Kelly scribbling away in her notebook, rushing just to get it done in time to help me out. She was a good kid really, every bit like me. She was very independent and head strong, she'd had an interest in hockey from an early age and was on the local pee wee team, she idolised my old team the ducks and posters from our Team USA days were hung all over her walls.
"Hey Connie, since your not working tomorrow night, are you coming to my hockey practise"? She called from the other room.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world". I smiled to myself. "You done your homework"? I asked, knowing that the answer would be no.
"Nearly".
5 minutes later she appeared in the kitchen and began checking the oven chips, then beginning to wash the lettuce, she was never happy unless she was active. With her help dinner was soon served. I sat Tyler on his cushion as he was still a little too small to see over the top of the table when he sat without it.
"Hey look, we made the magazine". Kelly pointed out from behind the hockey magazine she bought every week and read nearly 50 times over until the following issue was on sale.
"Kelly, put it away until after you finish your dinner". I told her. She was that engrossed that she didn't even hear me. "Kelly". I said again.
"Wait, there's an article about Adam, Guy and Charlie here". She passed me the page.
I stared at the page, there was a picture of them in the Minnesota Mighty Ducks suits and little bit of writing at the side. I could feel Kelly's eyes looking at me intently, wanting to know what it was about.
"What's it say"? She finally blurted out.
"College graduates Adam Banks, Charlie Conway and Guy Germaine are drafted in to play for their pee wee hockey teams namesake the Minnesota Mighty Ducks. Adam Banks will be playing first line centre and his two team mates will play first line left and right. It seems that for these 3 their childhood slogan 'Ducks fly together' has well and truly stuck. Their first game will be in 3 months time, but until then the boys are taking a well earned break". I read. I hadn't realised it but a tear had escaped my eyes.
"Connie, why you crying"? Tyler looked at me, tears in his own. He hated it when people cried.
"Because I'm happy for them Ty, I'm not crying because I'm sad". I reached over and touched his cheek affectionately.
"You miss them don't you". Kelly asked.
"Yeah, yeah I do. Other than you guy's they were my family". I told them.
"Why'd you stop calling them"? She pursued.
"Oh, I don't know Kel, I suppose we just grew apart, keeping in touch just got too difficult. Come on finish your dinner, I've got to get ready for work in a bit". I started to eat again, I was glad to see that she actually did, normally there would have been another dozen questions.
After we finished, I cleared the dishes and Kelly occupied Tyler so I could get ready in peace. Just as I finished, I heard a knock at the door then Tyler's voice screech 'John'. I walked out of my room to see John throwing Tyler up in the air and pretending that he wasn't going to catch him.
"Hey". I walked up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek.
"So what time do you get off"? he asked me.
"About 1". I replied.
"Right come on rugrats, lets go". He shouted as they filed out to next door. Kelly took their nightclothes I had just picked up from the clean clothes pile. It was a lot easier for John to have them at his place since he had all his college work at his fingertips and he'd also got a playstation which would keep Kelly and Tyler occupied until their bedtime of which they slept on John's sofa bed, but Kelly always seemed to wake up just before I got in.
"Thanks". I shut the door behind them. I grabbed my bag and jacket as well as keys before leaving myself.
It was only a short walk to the bar, a short walk that had petrified me at first. New York wasn't exactly the safest place to walk alone but armed with pepper spray, attitude and many self defence classes I felt rather safe, not that I never took it for granted that I would never get mugged. I had been working at the bar since I was 19, but Ruth the owner had only allowed me to be a bar dancer and even then when the cops turned up every so often I had to disappear. I suppose I owed a lot to Ruth, she risked her business on me, but the one time I had thanked her she told me, she knew what it felt like to be broke and have to care for her 2 younger brothers.
"Hey Sid". I greeted the faithful bouncer.
"Hi Minnie". He replied. Minnie was his nickname for me. He'd called it me ever since he found out I came from Minnesota. No-one knew why, but he called Ruth, Flora because she came from Florida, He called Tina, Penny because she came from Pennsylvania and as for Colette he called her Manny as she came from Manhattan.
Hey guy's". As I hung up my coat and bag behind the bar.
"Hey Con, how's it going"? Tina stopped in between serving to have a little chat, one of her worst qualities and something that got her continually in Ruth's bad books when we were busy. Luckily we weren't at that particular time.
"Not bad, I'm looking forward to tomorrow night when I'm going to Kelly's hockey practise". I told her whilst serving a customer.
"I don't know how you do it, your 21 and caring for a 9 year old and a 5 year old". She replied.
"If they were your family you'd do the same thing". I told her. We often had this conversation, but she'd grown up an only child and only took this job to prove to her parents that she was capable of looking after herself and that was 4 years ago.
"TINA". Ruth shouted her, making her jump back to work quickly. I shook my head laughing.
I could remember the one time I had left Kelly and Tyler with her nearly 2 years ago, when I had come to pick them up, she was seconds away from tearing her hair out, mainly because she'd had to compete with Kelly for talk time. Soon the bar was jam packed and customers were shouting orders to me over the bar.
Well, is it worth carrying on? I promise the next chapter will involve another duck I PROMISE!! PLEASE R&R!!!!!!