One week later

After handing Baby Freya to Kop, who has been all over the place the past week, supporting Julie the best that she could, Kristie gets out of that hospital room to walk toward Kassey's. Still no sign of getting out from the coma, but everybody is hopeful : my girl is fighting. And that thought is the most important one.

But then, she sees Lucy Bronze going out of Kassey's room, and angrily walks toward her.

That bitch. Making sure that nobody is around, Kristie grabs Lucy's collar with one hand, making sure she hits the wall hard. The Brit is trying to defender herself, but the blonde is just too determined to be stopped. So she just decides to let the storm pass.

"You were working for Hope" Kristie hisses.

"Wait, did Sam tell you ?" Lucy asks, frowning.

"My sister talks in her sleep" the blonde says in the exact same tone she used before, setting her jaw, not releasing her grip. "I thought you knew that already, since you're trying to use her and get her in your bed."

Lucy frowns.

"What ? No, I-"

"Shut up and stay the fuck away from my sister otherwise..."

This time around, Lucy manages to get Kristie's hand off of her, pushing her away a little bit. She is very calm, but her eyes are throwing daggers at the blonde.

"I like Sam, okay ? I wouldn't hurt her." she then says, serious.

Kristie shakes her head.

"That doesn't take away the fact that you had to seduce her for Hope" she points out, utterly angry this time.

"You don't get it..."

"No, you don't understand" Kristie hisses, claws out. "Sam doesn't deserve to be treated this way, especially from a total stranger who has caused nothing but bad luck around her since she got here. So stay away from her."

"Or what ?"

Lucy's sassy and powerful tone makes Kristie falls into silence : she sees in the brunette's eyes the determination she has got, as well as the strength in her that doesn't seem to ever vanish or something.

Kristie looks at her, before smirking.

"Mmh."

"Yeah, right." Lucy lets out, rolling her eyes.

The blonde doesn't like that, so she says :

"I swear on Sam's head that if you ever hurt her, I will strangle you with those ugly curtains in your dorm."

"Eh" the Brit says, offended. "Those were my grandma's !"

Kristie can't hold a laugh back. Shit, we could actually be friends if she wasn't trying to play my sister.

"Go away. Seriously."

"Fine."

Lucy, as the dork she is, slowly walks toward the corridor where some of her teammates are, turning around several time to mess with Kristie, who rolls her eyes before entering Kassey's hospital room.

But today, when she takes Kassey's hand in her own, starting her usual speech about her day, Kristie feels a pressure applying on her hand and freaks out :

She's awake.

*

Once Lucy reaches the front door, Sam's here.

This past week, the Brit has been through hell : the constant memory of the scene make her feel nauseous, and the pain from trying to go somewhere else but not being able to is haunting her. But Sam has been a pillar in her world recently, always here to check on her.

So when she sees Lucy get out of the building, the middy doesn't hesitate before pulling her closer and holding her as tight as she can : she knows the Brit has a dark history with hospitals because of her diabetes, so she just want to make her feel better.

And you love her hugs, be honest, Sam.

After letting go, Sam makes a weird face because Lucy looks like she is tired as fuck. That makes the Brit giggle.

"You're cute when you're confused."

"I must be cute all the time then"

This time, Lucy's the one bursting into laughter. The sound of that just warms Sam's heart, as the defender playfully pushes her away.

But it doesn't stop Sam from saying :

"So, do you still want me to show you around Stanford ?"

Lucy's face changes immediately.

"Well... now that I don't have anyone paying for my studies, I don't know how long I can still stay here... I might have to go back to England."

Sam has a smirk on her face.

"Coach didn't tell you ?" the middy asks, laughing her ass off because of how sad and cute Lucy looks at the moment. "Laura Harvey is a saint : your year will be financed by the department of sports of Stanford. You're lucky she plead your case."

"B-but..."

"Fine, I helped by insisting to her that she should do it and that you would be a big loss for the team, and she agreed."

Without thinking, Lucy literally jumps into the blonde's arms, a huge smile on her face. Sam smirks, before the brunette pulls away and throws her a death glare.

"Why didn't you tell me ? I've been freaking out for weeks now !" Lucy exclaims, shaking her head.

"I kind of... forgot ?"

Lucy rolls her eyes, before following the blonde to the first location she wants to show her.

*

As most of the youngsters - freshmen and sophomores, as well as some juniors and even seniors - have their mid-year exams today, so the hospital is quiet as hell. Kristie has stayed by Kassey's side since she woke up yesterday : unfortunately, she isn't responsive verbally speaking, because her brain was damaged for a while. But she has her eyes opened, and she doesn't seem to take them off of Kristie the whole time.

For Zach and Julie, on the other hand, those past few days - and past week - have been really challenging : their baby girl is doing okay, despite being born one month early. She is already strong and moody, which made Becky smirk when she held Freya in her arms the fist time. Good thing about being part of a team that support their players like that is that the baby girl has loads of aunties.

Speaking of which, her favorite might be either Becky or Tobin, because they're able to calm her down. But the biggest surprise was how comfortable and happy the baby looked while being held by Kop.

"Damn" Zach lets out, shaking his head. "She loves you more than she loves me ! I'm her damn father, for God's sake."

That make everybody on the room - aka Julie, Becky, Tobin, Shelina and Kop - laugh, before the goalie says :

"I'm kind of her father too."

"Even Julie calls you daddy" Zach smirks. "I always knew you were the man in the relationship."

Another few laughs, as the baby starts agitating a little bit. The keeper surrounds Freya with her strong arms, before kissing her forehead.

Meanwhile, Julie is making a weird face, before saying :

"No offense, but I didn't become a lesbian to be with a 'daddy'"

Kop throws a glare at her, before smirking, giving Zach a high five before he takes his baby girl into his arms. As he takes care of Freya, Kop goes and sits down next to Julie on the couch, wrapping one of her arm around the blonde's shoulders, so that she can rely her head on the goalie's shoulder.

The brunette then kisses her forehead naturally, in a protective way. Julie, on the other hand, only puts her hand on Kop's stomach, before smiling.

"I love you" the blonde whispers.

"I love you too..." the goalie responds, before smirking and saying : "... But I love Freya more."

When Julie hits her arm, the goalie forces her to look her way so that she could kiss her. Zach has a bright smile on his face, while Becky and Shelina are jokingly imitating the two girls, before Julie starts laughing her ass off because of how realistic it is.

It's good to finally catch our breaths.