Disclaimer : I own nothing in this chapter. Although I wish Mark Johnson was mine.

Rating : R. I'm playing it safe, as later this story will have some pretty dark themes. Drug use, sex, bad language etc…if it offends you, then I apologise, but just don't read it.

Summary : Mark Johnson is quiet, reserved and understanding. Alex Morrison is outspoken, wild…and lost. Can the Wisconsin native help the Minnesotan girl find herself, her life, and her dreams?

Author's Note : Well, I've had this idea buzzing around in my head all day, and although I'm working on my other Miracle fic "Divided" I've decided to go ahead and crack on with this. Also, I have an unhealthy obsession with Mr. Mark Johnson, so any excuse to write about him is fine by me.

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Prologue

Everybody should have a dream. Some people think that dreams are unhealthy – if not achieved, the dreamer can become miserable and disillusioned. However, having a dream can be the focus of someone's life, giving them purpose and direction, and most importantly hope. Hope and belief that there is something amazing that you can achieve is the foundation of a happy and successful life. Achieving the dream results in such explicit, unadulterated joy, that it has to be worth it – that split second of pure, unaffected bliss as you achieve your dream makes up for all the heartache that may have gone along with fighting for the dream.

Mark Johnson was somebody with a dream. His ambition was to be the best hockey player he could be; his dream was for this to be good enough to play in the NHL, and to play in the Olympics. He believed that it could happen, but not that it would.

He was a man of two halves – he followed his heart, and believed that it could lead him to the achievement of his dreams, but he also used his head. It was this rational side that made him work as hard as he possibly could at becoming the best hockey player possible. However, just using one's head isn't enough, and luckily he listened to his heart. It was this dual action which found him sitting on a plane on a bright summer afternoon, headed to Minnesota for the 1980 Olympic hockey team tryouts.