A Miracle On Ice

Chapter 10 "Family Dinner"

"How long does it take to get changed?" Herb Brooks looked over at his second oldest daughter, after she sat down on the passenger seat in his car.

She grinned at that, "Hey, I'm a girl, you know? What do you expect?"

"I called mom earlier to assure her we'll be home for dinner." he changed the topic.

"Okay." Carly shrugged.

It was quiet for a while, until Herb started talking again, "Hey, why did you ask me that question last night?"

Carly stayed quiet for a second, before saying, "Well, you're tense and all and when you two talk it ends badly nowadays, so I guess I just wanted to make sure that you're okay."

"I love your mother with all my heart." he honestly replied to that, "And you kids, too. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I do." she smiled at him, "Maybe tell Ally though, cuz she's kinda pissed at you."

They pulled up at the house twenty minutes later.

Opening the door Carly yelled, "Honey, I'm home!"

She was met by two little kids hugging her with such force, that it almost made her lose her balance, "Carly!" Kelly and Danny yelled in excitement.

"Hey, squirt." she ruffled her brother's hair, before turning to her sister, "You look pretty tonight. New dress?"

"Yeah, Ally and I went shopping today. I wish you could have been there." Kelly started rumbling, "Hey, maybe you can come next time!"

"Ally!" she yelled up the stairs.

"What?" the oldest Brooks girl yelled back.

"Can we take Carly to go shopping with us next time?" Kelly asked again.

"Sure." was the short answer, before Carly was met with her sister and her boyfriend at the top of the stairs.

Ally grinned at her, slightly pissed off, "Look who found their way home."

"Sorry. Practise." Carly returned, "Hey, Jacob."

"Charlotte." Ally's boyfriend returned, making Carly huff in annoyance.

Luckily, Patti interrupted the tensious moment, "My baby!" she came up to Carly and kissed her on the cheek.

"Hey, mom." the girl said, rubbing her cheek to get the lipstick off.

"How was practise?" she asked, leading her daughter into the kitchen.

Carly grinned, "Brutal. Exhausting. Excruciating."

"Ah, another drama queen." Tommy walked in, hitting his sister on the head playfully.

Carly turned, capturing him in a headlock, "Teenage boy! Missed ya, buddy."

"Moom! Tell her to let me go!" Tommy shrieked.

But before Patti broke her fighting kids up, she yelled, "Dinner's ready!"

Within seconds, everyone had bursted into the room and sat down at the table.

"We have a good shot at winning states this year." Tommy explained to his sister while shoving more chicken onto his plate.

Carly looked at him, interested in the topic, "Oh, yeah?"

"Hmm." he spoke with a full mouth, "Greg is like saving everything that's coming his way and I almost scored a hat trick last Saturday."

"Tommy, don't speak while you have food in your mouth." Patti scolded him.

But Carly turned back to him, "Man, I wish I could have seen that. Hey, when's your next game? Maybe I can swing by."

"There's a home game on Friday." he explained, "At 4."

"You have practise, Carls." Herb spoke up at that.

"Yeah, till 4. So I can make it, if I hurry with changing." she shot back.

Then Carly turned back to her brother, "I'll be there. Maybe some of the guys wanna come watch."

"How's your stats this year, Tommy?" Herb asked, joining the conversation.

They talked for hours until they fell onto their beds later that night. Carly immediately crashed, having missed her bed.

The next day, Carly opened the door to their dorm rooms, still tired from her eight hours of sleep.

"Hey, how was family night?" Mac picked her up the second he saw his best friend.

Carly struggled to get free, "Great, actually."

She dropped on the couch next to Neal Broten and Mark Johnson, "Hey, Tommy has a game on Friday. If we hurry, we can make it after practise. Anyone wanna come?"

"Watch little Brooks play?" Neal asked, "Sure, I'm in. I love that guy."

"Yeah, he knows." Carly grinned at her friend.

"I'm coming too. Your family is fascinating." OC piped up.

Mark put an arm around Carly, saying, "Me too."

"Wait, we met Tommy at your grandma's birthday, right?" Silky asked.

Carly nodded, "Yeah, my mom's mom, but whatever. Dad's mom is way cooler."

"When can we meet her? I need to know who raised Herb Brooks." Bah called out.

"She'll probably invite all of us over before Christmas break, seeing as some of you don't have their families here." the girl responded.

Jim Craig gave her a look, "She is willing to feed an entire hockey team right before Christmas break?"

Verchota took that as his queue to jump in, "Grams Brooks is a saint! She makes the best pie in the world and she always has some embarrasing Herb and Carly stories."

"We always have a blast over there." Christoff grinned.

"So, she does that?" Rizzo asked.

"Yeah." Bill Baker spoke up, "Every year we go to grams house at least once."

"Awesome. I'll give her a call soon to ask." Carly finished the conversation.

Mac checked the clock, "We should get going soon. Practise starts in 20."

The team shuffled out of the dorm rooms, where the U graciously let them stay while they trained for the Olympics and walked to the rink, which was obviosly close to the dorms.

"Pass it!" Mac yelled towards Carly, who sailed the puck over to him.

Silky and OC were coming at them to stop them from scoring on Janny, who was in their goal.

Coach Brooks was overlooking the whole thing, navigating them, "Paver's free! Pass it to him!", he yelled.

Mark Pavelich accepted the puck and quickly gave it to Buzzy, who stood right in front of Janny's goal, scoring, "Yeah!" their line celebrated.

"Okay, nice goal, Buzzy. Paver, good watch." Coach Patrick complimented them, when they shuffled back to the bench.

"Next line up! Come on, get a move on!" Herb pushed them and they continued their practise game.