UCLA

When Abby walks into the room, she looks exhausted.

Steph immediately points at the couch, where she settled a nice area for them to cuddle in peace with slow and relaxing music. Abby just got her final exam - hopefully of her life - and has been working her ass off to succeed. With the draft being on the same day than the finale, it's one worry they have less.

The brunette watches her girlfriend let herself fall on the couch, and next thing she knows, Abby is asleep, softly breathing. That makes Steph smile, because she loves it when Abby is asleep and that she can watch them for hours.

But when she is about to sit down there as well, her girlfriend's phone rings. Steph, who is just too curious, gets out on the balcony and picks up the phone.

"Hello ?"

"Good afternoon, Mrs Dahlkemper. We called to discuss the closes of your contract."

"C-contract ?" Steph repeats, losing her smile.

"Yes, with Manchester City. You told us you'd rather come here instead of Rosengard, remember ?"

"Oh, I'm not Abby."

The brunette, bitter, salutes the man.

She's going to live on the other side of the globe. She decided it without even talking to me first. Those realizations make Steph grab her jacket and walk away from the apartment, with only ten dollars in her pocket.

She knows her friends are probably hanging out in their usual spot, under that huge tree near the science building, so she goes there without thinking. Lindsey, Sam, Megan and Sonnett indeed are here, joking around.

But when they see Steph's devastated face, they stop laughing.

"What's wrong ?" Lindsey asks, immediately getting on her feet.

The forward makes them sign to just leave her alone. She sits down in between Megan and Sam, shaking her head.

"I think Abby is slipping through my fingers." she says in the end, shaking her head and setting her jaw.

Her friends can see how hurt she is.

"What do you mean ?"

"She got offered contracts overseas"

"Contracts ? As in more than one ?" Sonnett asks, confused.

"Yes" Steph lets out, bitter. "Rosengard in Sweden. PSG in France. And now Manchester City in England."

"Woah" Sam lets out, her eyes wide open. "She never mentioned that."

"She hasn't."

"That's where Lucy is going too."

"She never even mentioned it."

There is a long, uncomfortable silence, during which Steph decides to go and live with her friends for a few days, avoiding Abby.

She is being a coward.

*

STANFORD

Sam enters Lucy's dorm, looking for her.

The Brit is quietly reading a book about well-being or something like that, her glasses on. No need to say how much hotter she immediately becomes to Sam when she wears those, because the blonde immediately feels her vein exploding. She slowly enters the dorm, knowing that Lucy heard her but wants to finish that page first.

Once she does, she finally looks up to her, before cracking a smile.

"Hello, beautiful" Lucy says in her cute accent.

The fact that her voice is that deep and raspy makes Sam shiver.

"Hey" she only says in return, trying to come up with the good words. After learning that Abby would also play overseas, it reminds her how close the end is. Without thinking, Sam lies down next to where Lucy is sitting, before saying : "Hold me please."

The Brit, who feels there is something wrong, puts her book on the shell next to her bed, before lying down as well.

Her left arm slowly gets under Sam's neck, as the right one just grab the blonde's arm, caressing them slowly, as Sam is letting her back rest on the girl's stomach. Lucy thoughtfully kisses Sam's neck from behind, and that makes the middy shiver.

"What's going on ?"

That question scares Sam : she doesn't know if Lucy has got the same feelings she has for sure, maybe they're not as intense than Sam's. She is scared to express the Brit her feelings for that exact reason.

But after a few seconds, she finally says :

"I'm scared to loose you", regretting it right away. She shakes her head, holding her tears back, before adding : "I know it sounds crazy and very stupid because we've only known each other for months and haven't talked about anything serious, but..."

"It's not stupid, or crazy, Sam" Lucy reassures her, whispering in her ear : "You know I care about you, right ? Even if I don't say it often ?"

Sam doesn't say anything, so Lucy tighten her grip on her and adds :

"I don't care about a lot of people ; that's the way I was raised. 'Boundaries between you and people, Lucia, otherwise you're going to get hurt, or worse'" Her quoting her father just makes her smirk, and so does Sam. "But you somehow managed to break those boundaries, and now I want you in my life in one way or another."

She pauses her speech.

"We're going to live one ocean away" Sam sadly says.

"So what ?" Lucy asks, forcing Sam to turn around and face her. She then softly caresses her cheeks, before adding : "I'm not scared of water, are you ?"

"Terrified" Sam settles.

That makes the Brit smirk.

"I knew you'd answer that" she lets out, relying on her elbow in order to be leveled higher from the middy, who looks at her with concern. "We will be able to see each other, I know that for a fact. I mean, you season starts in March, all the way to October, right ?" Sam nods her head. "Well, mine is from September to July. That leaves us many months to see each other. See ?"

Sam nods.

"Thank you."

"What for ?"

"Reassuring me."

"Oh" Lucy lets out, before leaning in. "You're welcome."

They kiss for a while, before Sam asks her to replicate the first and only night they shared together. And this time, Lucy doesn't hesitate one bit, because she knows she wants to be with the middy.