The Best is Yet to Come

Nicole's P.O.V.

The Olympics went by faster than I wanted them to.

We were undefeated the for the whole tournament and tomorrow we were gonna play for a gold medal.

I had been picking up more publicity through out the Olympics, which is exactly what I didn't want. I was doing an interview in the middle of the village, I was surrounded by maybe 50 cameras and about 30 or 40 reporters. One English speaking German reporters voice sent chills down my spine.

"Hi Nicole I'm Christopher McCarthy, I was wondering how do you manage at least 2 points per game?" He asked.

That name. It had given me nightmares 'Oh shit!' I thought. I looked into his brown eyes and I felt paralyzed.

"Umm I don't know. It's.. It's... Excuse me." I said as I cut threw the crowd and ran to the Finnish housing unit.

"Hey Nicole what's up?" Tuukka Rask asked as I walked swiftly into the building.

"I...uh I need to talk to Olli is he here?" I asked.

"Ya, he's in room. 307 I think."

"Ok thanks. Good luck tonight." I said as Finland was playing in the semifinals against Sweden later that night.

"Thanks. Good luck tomorrow." He smiled and we parted ways.

I walked up to Olli's room and carefully knocked on the door, by this time I had tears running down my cheek.

"Hey." He asked groggily.

"Hi." I smiled weakly.

"What's wrong? What happened?" He asked ushering me into his room.

"My ex boyfriend here. He's a reporter. And he asked me some questions and I just freaked out. And I just needed to see you." I said hugging him and sobbing into his shoulder.

"It's ok. I'm here, it's ok. I love you. It's ok. I don't know what this feels like but do what you said you wanted to." He said rubbing my back.

"What?" I asked confused.

"You said you wanted to rub your success in his face and then kick him in the nuts." He smirked at me.

"You're right. Thank you. I love you." I said as I headed for the door.

"You're welcome. I love you too." He smiled.

"Hey Olli, kick some Swedish ass tonight." I smirked at him.

"I'll do my best." He said, as I walked out of the door and back down to the village.

I was walking back to where all the interviewers still were, knowing I'd have ever more questions to answer.

I stepped back into the spot light and the cameras started flashing.

"I apologize for the delay, for those of you who don't know I suffer from anxiety and all the questions and cameras made start to freak out." I answered the question nobody was willing to ask.

All the interviewers asked more and more questions that I started to answer. When it came to his question I answered it honestly.

"It's fairly easy, I mean in the NHL I strictly play back, in fear that I won't be able to get back to defend if I move forward" I answered, "but here I know I'm fast and have probably the longest stride, I know I can get back in time. So I'm moving to forward more, taking more shots and getting more chances and points."

Once the interviews were over I walked away but was soon stopped by a firm grip on my arm.

I whipped around and was faced with the guy who gave me hell.

"Hey Nicole." I tried to move but his grip tightened, "I just wanna talk."

"You wanna talk, Chris? You wanna talk about how you used to beat me? You wanna talk about how you gave me hell? You wanna talk about how I get nightmare about you with that hockey stick you hit me with, and how I've had sleepless nights, terrified I'd wake up next to you? You wanna talk about how the greatest day of my life was when you left and I thought I'd never see you again? Lets talk about how I'm at the height of my career and you're nothing but a lousy reporter for stupid German news show. Let me tell you if you ever touch me again, if you ever even come near me again, I'll make your life hell like you made mine. And that's not a threat that's a promise." And with that I turned on my heel and walked back to the Canada house, with a smirk on my face.

I made my way to my room and got ready for the semi finals game. Not mine, but Olli's.

I slipped on my Määttä shirt and headed towards the Bolshoy. I took my usual seat next to Mrs. Maatta and we held each other hands as her son and my boyfriend stepped on the ice.

All the praying we did didn't do so much Sweden won 2-1 and you could see Olli's heartbreak.

He met us after the game and gave us both a sad smile. He hugged his mom and then he hugged me, maybe a little longer than he should have.

"Hey. Olli look at me. You aren't going to get gold, ok. But you can't mope around you have to get ready for the bronze medal game. And your mom and I will be there watching and cheering for you every shift. And you are going to kick some American ass tomorrow." I smiled at him.

"Thank you. You do the same." He smirked.

"Oh I will."

Before I knew it we were gearing up for the gold medal game against the USA. We had beaten Switzerland with ease to get here but now we knew it was going to be an uphill battle. I was nervous, I'm not gonna lie, winning a gold medal is hard work, but defending it is even harder.

We stepped onto the ice and you could almost cut the tension with a knife.

They scored 1 goal in the second and then another in the third. We knew we still had a chance but I could tell we were getting nervous. I had had a pretty good game, I blocked several shots and I knew I'd have bruises in the morning, but I also knew that if we didn't end up with gold around our necks it wouldn't mean anything.

The clock was counting down and we had less than 4 minutes to go and were down 2-0 soon enough Brianne stepped up and slipped one past Vetter and put us on the board.

I stepped up to make a play and try to keep it in the zone when a stupid linesman got in the way and one of the US players got a shot off from the opposite blue line towards our empty net.

'It's over' I thought as I saw the puck go sailing down towards the net. I closed my eyes not wanting to see the gold slipped through my fingers when I heard a clink, then gasps from the crowd.

I opened my eye and saw that the puck had hit the post.

There was less than a minute left when Marie-Phillip Poulin put one past Vetter.

The game was tied and we were going into OT.

We took the intermission and prepared ourselves for the battle ahead.

We took the ice and about 6 minutes into OT Catherine took a penalty and the whole penalty kill was spent in our zone with the American taking shot after shot on Shannon. The game continued and we were on the power play for some of it.

I took the ice for my second shift of OT and I received the puck at the top of the slot. I could have shot but I saw Poulin was more open than I was. So I passed it to her and she rocketed it past Vetter and into the next.

The buzzer sounded and the whole building cheered.

We just won a gold medal. I couldn't get it through my head.

We all threw our gear onto the ice and celebrated in a big pile of sweaty limbs and ponytails. Once we calmed down we went through the hand shake line, even though I had cross checked half of these girls I had to give them props. They played a hell of a game.

We stood on the ice as the silver medals were awarded and then it was our turn. I stood anxiously at the end of the line as the officials went through and gave each ember there medal, flowers, and a handshake.

"And at defense, number 59 Nicole St. Claire." They announced.

And the crowd went crazy. I looked up and saw most of the men's team watching us and my dad was almost in tears... of joy of course.

I received my medal and then we took our team photo, and next thing we stood, standing shoulder to shoulder sing our national anthem.

We walked off the ice and I pointed to my dad one last time before we entered the locker room.

Caroline Ouellette popped the champagne and I decided I'd have a swig of the bubbly liquid even though I couldn't technically drink, but we were champions so who cares.

I walked out of the locker room dawning my everyday jeans, vans, Olympic hoodie, and now my medal.

I ran and hugged my dad.

"I am so proud of you!" He smiled.

"Thank you."

"You have no idea how happy I am for you right now." He beamed as we pulled away.

I spotted a bunch of the guys standing there and I knew I had to go say hey.

I walked over and Sid enveloped me in a hug.

"Congratulations." They all said.

"Thanks." I smiled, "now boys remember hockey's our game. Go out there and kick some ass tomorrow."

"Will do." Sid said as I walked over to where my baby Finn was standing.

"Hey!" He said hugging me, "Congratulations."

"Thank you." I feel like I've been saying that a lot today.

"I really wanna kiss you right now." He said in my ear.

"Well..." I placed my hand on his chest and leaned closer to him, "having congratulatory Olympic sex has always been on my bucket list."

"When I when that bronze tomorrow I'm gonna fuck you so hard." He growled.

Damn sexy Olli was amazing!

"Sounds like a plan." I said, winking.

I walked back over to my dad and we went and decided to watch a curling match. I know hat your thinking, Nicole you just won a gold medal. You should be parting and celebrating.

Well, ya but sitting with my dad and talking about the game was all I really needed. Plus Catherine, Brianne and I were gonna party in our room tonight! They promised to bring some champagne to the room, considering hard liquor wasn't allowed I'd have to settle for the bubbly.

Notes

I'm actually American and I play hockey and it's my dream to play for the USA women's team. So this chapter was painful to write.

Keep up that awesome feedback!