After the team's gathering after the loss, Kristie bursts out of the room, energetically walking toward her dorm : today, she's had enough. She got forty five minutes of playtime, and was tackled about fifteen times - clean tackles, but still, frustrating - and didn't even manage to pass the ball correctly. So she is quite upset with herself at the moment, and isn't even able to send her sister a congratulations text, mostly because she doesn't think Stanford should still be able to compete after all that happened. Of course Hope Solo and her friends were responsible, and it should probably not penalize the whole team - whatever Kristie says to herself, she knows she's pissed and bitter.

When she hears footsteps behind her, she rolls her eyes and doesn't even bother turning around. Instead, she just snaps :

"I don't want any kind of human interaction, go away."

A soft laugh elevates in the quiet night, and Kristie immediately stops walking. Of course Gibby must've seen she wasn't okay. Of course the brunette would've run after her because she knew Kristie somehow needed company.

But the blonde is not ready to surrender, so Gibby says :

"I thought you wouldn't mind if it was me"

Her teasing tone makes Kristie smirk and turn around. When she finds herself face to face with Gibby, who only is three steps away, she shakes her head.

"For real, I need loneliness" the blonde insists, raising her eyebrows.

"No, I won't leave you alone now" Gibby firmly says. "You wanna know why ?"

"No, go away" Kristie groans.

But the freshman is quite persistent and never really listened to anything Kristie was trying to use as orders. So she says :

"Because if I leave you alone, you'll spend the night outside, getting wasted with people you don't know, blaming yourself for the loss. So this is not going to happen. Besides, I don't want you to sleep with some dude while drunk."

Kristie raises her eyebrows.

"Would you be jealous ?"

Gibby throws a death glare at her.

"I guess you know the answer already." she only says, before taking those lacking steps.

She wraps her arms around Kristie's neck, getting on her toes, before crashing her lips on the blonde's. Kristie is too shook to realize what is going on - like, her actually feeling something in her stomach and heart is a first when someone kisses her - so she doesn't move a bit, but it doesn't seem to bother Gibby, who is very smoothly kissing Kristie's lips. So when the blonde is snapped out of her trance with butterflies in her stomach - ugh, what have I become ? she thinks to herself, rolling her eyes at herself - she aggressively wraps her arms around Gibby's waist, holding her as close as she can, deepening the kiss.

But the younger girl pulls away a little bit, leaving Kristie with no choice but stop kissing her. But when Gibby shyly tries to escape Kristie's embrace, she only can go as far as the realization that the blonde isn't letting go. So they stare into each other's eyes, before Kristie cracks the biggest smile she's ever had and says :

"I think you like me, Giblet."

The brunette blushes, but keeps her chin up.

"Don't flatter yourself, Mewie" she lets out in a defying tone. "You're not my style."

"Mmh-mmh"

Gibby smiles, before leaning in again. But this time, Kristie doesn't let her and only says :

"You never agreed on going on that second date with me".

The brunette bursts into laughter.

"Since the last one was a total disaster - I mean, I hate art, paintings and shit - I guess you'll have to wait until the next semester to ask me out again."

"Do you know how frustrating that is ? How frustrating you are ?" Kristie teases, beaten.

Gibby lets a cute laugh escape of her mouth.

"I have an idea."

"Can I at least invite you in my dorm to watch a movie ?" the blonde carefully asks, but when she sees the girl's eyes go reluctant, she adds : "Don't worry, I don't want to screw you. Or maybe a little... lot. But I won't do anything unless you-"

"Kristie."

The blonde stops talking, and she sees Gibby's eyes expression change all of a sudden. She shivers, as the brunette adds :

"I think we've earned the right to have fun"

Kristie smiles.

"The team is not in trouble or in the competition anymore..." she very slowly says, pushing Gibby toward her dorm room. She then smirks. "I think we need to... I don't know, just have a taste ?"

But the defender doesn't even answer : she doesn't have to, as Kristie is already kissing her aggressively, as they both enter the dorm.

*

Stanford

As champagne is floating everywhere, and the players are laughing their asses off, Jessica Fishlock is only looking for Shelina : their 4-1 win over a very good Duke team is all thanks to her magical tackles and play, as well as the two assists recorded. Ever since she joined the team, Shelina impressed not only Lauren Barnes, the other co-captain of the team, but also Jess. And this is something very difficult to do.

So when the short-haired finally spots the Canadian, she walks toward her. Shelina is actually in another room, talking on the phone. As soon as she sees Jess, she whispers something and hangs off.

"What's up ?" she then immediately asks, gaining time.

But Jess is not someone you can fool easily.

"How is Becky doing ? I heard about their loss..."

"She's okay. I think." the defender settles, before coughing. "I mean, she deserved so much better. But it's life, I guess."

"True."

When Lauren joins the two girls on the little room, Shelina starts frowning : she slowly understands they have something to say to her.

"Okay, girls, you can tell me what's up on your twisty heads now" Shelina lets out in a casual tone.

The two co-captains exchange a look, before Lauren says :

"You know the final will be our last game with this team ?" Shelina nods, as Jess is having a nostalgic smile on her lips. "We gotta make sure that our legacy - what we've been working very hard to make happen and keep going even through adversity - is protected. So I had a little chat with Kop, and the three of us agreed on asking you a question..."

Shelina frowns, as the keeper comes into the room as well.

Of course Jess and Lauren's legacy is very clear to see : it's that idea of backing up the girls of the team as much as possible, and keep this work ethic that made them so successful. Values that people like Hope and Ash, or even Alex and Carli, have lost. Speaking of which, the middy also makes her way in, a serious mug on.

The Canadian suddenly feels the urge to make a gesture toward Lauren to tell her to hurry up. But Jess is the one saying :

"Shel, we think you should captain this team next year."

"You've deserved it" Lauren adds, looking around her. "Everybody here love you, and you've been terrific for the back line. Furthermore you care about people, about this team. And this is important to us."

Shelina is too shocked to say anything. So instead of talking, she just looks at Kop, her partner in crime, and she sees pride and confidence in her eyes. She then looks at Carli, who only manages to smile a very tiny bit, before saying :

"We'll work this out, I swear I'll make some efforts." the Jersey girl lets out, honest.

The Canadian shakes her head.

"Girls, I'm honored, but..."

"We only trust you with this legacy thing, Shelly. So you better say yes, otherwise I'll make sure to fail my exam only to stay on that team a little bit longer. We need someone to put us in the right track again, and that person is you."

The honesty in the senior's eyes when those words left her mouth trigger something in Shelina. Her stomach flops, as she says :

"I'm in, then."

The girls cheer loudly, before having a group hug and go back to the party. Captain Zadorsky, Shelina thinks to herself, smirking. Becks told you you'd be captain one day. Looks like that woman always is right somehow.

She smiles and grabs a bottle of champagne.