Emily walks off the bus sore and tired. Last night she didn't get a good night of sleep, due to her body hurting after taking many big hits during the game. The entire night she was tossing and turning because she every position she laid in ached.

She looked around for the familiar face that told her she would be there. There was her girlfriend leaning against a tree with a smile on her face. She walked over finally reaching the younger girl, pulling her into a hug.

"Hi cutie" Lindsey whispered into her hair

"Hi" she mumbled into Lindsey's chest

The hug didn't last long since they haven't told anyone on their team they are dating. Of course there are rumors and conspiracies, but neither of them confirmed nor denied them.

When Mal and Sam got off the bus next Lindsey hugged them too, just so it made their interaction look semi-normal. Although it was pretty obvious, to everyone, that Lindsey and her had a special bond compared to the others.

Rose exits the bus last because she was tying her shoe and just let everyone clear out before her. She walked up to the group and Lindsey went to give her a hug too,

"Hey Rosie" Lindsey said walking over to Rose

Rose turned to the side to deflect the hug, "don't hug me, I don't like them"

"Noted" Lindsey said walking back to Emily

The girls all walked into the dorms and split ways going up the stairs. As her, Rose and Lindsey walked up the stairs back to their dorm, Emily took Lindsey's hand in her own. Once the door opened they all walked in together, but Lindsey then stoped Emily and kissed her. Rose gagged from the corner and closed her eyes,

"Guys give me two minutes to grab my stuff then do your thing. Please just wait two minutes" Rose yelled from the other side of the room

Emily smiled into the kiss eventually breaking it. Rose quickly grabbed her things,

"Bye Rose love you" Emily yelled as Rose walked out of the room, "now where were we" she mumbled against Lindsey's lips

The kiss picks up speed as the two girls walk across the room to the bed. Lindsey swiped her tongue against Emily's lips. Emily pulled back and looked her girlfriend in the eye,

"Linds we can't you're-" she started

"I'm fine" Lindsey pushed her down onto the bed, "I've had no headache all weekend" she bent down kissed and kiss Emily, softly, a few times

Emily put her hand on Lindsey's chest, "Are you sure?"

"Yes" Lindsey pushed Emily into the bed as she went back to kissing her

Lindsey slide her leg in between Emily's, causing the older girl to let out moan. This is the first time either girl has been touched since the fight. Emily placed her hand on Lindsey's hips, digging them in to signal to move on.

Lindsey lifted Emily's shirt up and over her head quickly. They were able to keep themselves occupied for some time.

Emily rolled off of Lindsey, both girls out of breath.

"That was so good Em" Lindsey said coming down from her high

Emily now curling into Lindsey's side, "Yeah it was really good" she took a few more deep breaths, "I'm going to be even more sore than I was before this all"

Lindsey laughed into her hair, "I love you"

"I love you a lot more" she said yawing

They girls laid in silence for a bit, Lindsey thought Emily fell asleep until she felt her drawing shapes and letters on her skin.

"Winter break is soon. If we lose this weekend, that means we go home" Lindsey whispered breaking the deafening silence

"Yeah, for a whole month we'd be apart" Emily added on

Lindsey was scared to ask her next question, knowing what Emily would say, "What if I went home with you?"

Emily just laid there, "Linds that's not a good idea. I haven't told my mom any of this. I have a strong feeling she'll disapprove, she's nothing like my dad, or how he use to be"

"So you're just going to keep me a secret to her the rest of your life?" Lindsey asked, "What if we decide to get married Em? What are you going to do, be like 'oh mom this is my fiancé'? That's messed up"

Emily lifted her head, "Lindsey that's not the problem. The problem is I'm terrified" she exaggerated the word, "that she isn't going to except me for me and that I will lose my mom" she looked at Lindsey "I love you. I want the whole world to know that you're mine, but I'm not ready to lose my mom. Not yet."

"Sonny I can still go though, just introduce me as your friend. Please babe. I just want to spend time with you" she rubbed the older girls arm

Emily thought about every single possibility. Lindsey was right, one way or another her mom would find out the two girls are dating so she might as well get this done with and just hope for the best.

"Okay" she said softly, laying her head back down

School had ended the week before this so the girls got to sleep in everyday only having practice to do during the day. The end of the week comes, Friday the semi-finals.

All the family members were there. Lindsey got the start, she's been working her ass off in practice to earn the starting spot again. The girls were up 1-0 in the first half, props to Mal for scoring the goal after Emily's amazing cross. They went into halftime staying up by that one goal.

The entire team new it wasn't enough to win the game, that they had to push harder. Once they got back on the field, Lindsey striped the ball from the other midfielder. She ran as fast as her legs could move, feeling the burn in her legs. She made it to the 18, now by herself taking the shot and tucking it into the top corner of the goal.

She feel to the ground on her knees, only to be lifted by one of the other girls seconds later. All of the girls running in excitement to hug her. She got subbed out in the 75th minute due to their coach wanting to mange her minutes.

The game ended with a 2-1 victory. Lindsey ran onto the field towards her favorite person. Emily jumped in her arms almost taking her down. They were into the finals. After the game ended, they went to go see their families,

"I missed you guys" Lindsey said hugging her mom and dad at the same time

"We missed you too sweetheart, you played amazing" her mom complimented her

Lindsey wanted to cry right there, this was the first time her mom had complimented her playing. Her mom always told her she was making a mistake, her entire life she said that. After she came out to her parents, a lot changed. They changed.

"Thank you" she said

"Now where's that girlfriend of yours?" Her dad asked looking around for Emily

"She's with her mom and sister over there" she pointed to them

"Oh, have you met her mom?" Her dad asked

Lindsey turned back to her parents, "No, Emily doesn't want me to yet so I'm waiting till she's ready"

"Well let's go introduce ourselves, it's the nice thing to do" her mom insisted

Emily had greeted her mom, who congratulated her and told her she played great. She's was on such a high she nearly forgot that Lindsey's parents were there the same time her mom was. It was the sight of Lindsey's parents the made her remember

She looked at Lindsey who was walking over to her on the field. Her eyes wide open giving Lindsey the 'no don't let them meet yet' face. Lindsey gave an apologetic look.

"Hi we're Mark and Linda Horan. Lindsey here is our daughter" Her mom introduced them

"Oh hello, I do remember meeting Lindsey the last time I was here. How are you?" She smiled at Lindsey

"Good" Lindsey smiled back

"I'm Jane Sonnett and this is my daughter, Emma Sonnett" Jane introduced herself

"Nice you meet you two." They all shook hands while the two girls stood next to each other on the field.

It was an awkward situation. One side knew everything while the other knew nothing.

"Emily dear how are you" Lindsey's mom hugged her

"I'm great Mrs. Horan" Emily responded

"Oh you know to call me Linda" Both Emily and Lindsey smiled at the same time

"We should all go get dinner, how about that" Lindsey's eyes widened at her dad's suggestion

"You know what dad. I think maybe we should get dinner just us three, I want to catch up with you guys"

"Sweetie we just saw each other a couple of weeks ago" he answered as if it wasn't obvious

"Yeah but a lot has happened" Lindsey said trying to give her dad the hint to back off

"No, I like the idea. Emily you've been here a while where's the best place" Jane asked her daughter

"Uh, okay. Let me think for a second. Meet me and Lindsey by the parking lot, we're going to change and I'll tell you there" She said grabbing her girlfriends arm pulling her off the field before anyone could answer her

They finally make it into the locker room. Emily pulls her into a room where no one can see them or hear them. Emily shuts the door behind her,

"Seriously Linds, you couldn't just stay the fuck away could you?" She said aggressively

"Em, calm down. I told them not to go over there. They did it, saying it was the 'nice' thing to do. I told them I was waiting for you, until you were ready, so stop blaming me" Lindsey responded

"Fuck Lindsey. What if it all comes out, what if they slip up and say something they aren't suppose too. Linds I want one more Christmas with my mom. I want her to be at the final next week. I can't do this" She said pacing around the room brushing her hair back with her hands

Everything in the room was starting to spin around. She could feel her hands start to tremble and it felt as if the room was running out of air. Emily backed up into the wall and slide down it

"Em?" Lindsey said walking towards her girlfriend

She knelt down in front of her, "hey baby, take a deep breath for me" she grabbed Emily's hands "I'm right here. You're okay, everything will be okay. Follow my breathing"

Once she was able to get Emily back breathing normal, Emily fell forward into her girlfriends arms. Lindsey wrapped her arms tightly around the older girl not letting go of her

"Don't make me go, please" she begged

"Okay, we won't. I'll tell my parents I'm not feeling good so we're going back up and I'll tell them to make an excuse to tell you're mom" Emily nodded in her arms

That night, Lindsey and Emily fell asleep in each others arms...not letting go of each other.

The next Friday came around the team was in Oregon for the game. It was the night of the final. Nerves were high, excitement was even higher.

All the girls once again got a start. Lindsey was surprised she did, she was almost certain that she would have been benched especially since it's the last game.

By halftime the score was still at 0-0. It wasn't that the girls were playing bad, it's just that the other team was that good. They were going into the 85th minute still at 0-0. Their coach hasn't subbed any midfielders or defenders out yet. Just a forward. When one of their defenders made a clean tackle and striped the ball, Sam was close enough to get to it. She was able to clear it up to one of the open forwards who crossed the ball right to Rose's left foot, which as always, rockets to the back of the net.

The crowd went quite, well not completely but majority of the fans were from Oregon so it wasn't the loudest. When the final whistle blows Lindsey falls to the floor, on her knees.

"We did it" she whispers to herself

She felt someone tackle her from behind, "We did it Linds" she heard a familiar voice come from behind her

"We did" she grabbed onto her arms as they fell into the grass

The two girls just laid in the grass until Rose and Sam came over and helped them up. The rest of the night was a complete blur but Lindsey does remember getting some action later in bed.

~~~

Lindsey rested her head against Emily's shoulder once they were on the plane to Georgia. She fell asleep seconds later. The rush of wining the championship was a lot for one person.

The flight was way too long. Lindsey woke up two hours later and they still had four more to go. She tried messing with her girlfriend but Emily did everything in her power to ignore Lindsey's antics.

"Come on Son, nothing" she said messing around with the cup that was once filled with water

"Stop, you're going to lose the cup, and now it's dirty you can't use that again" She pointed out

"Oh yeah? Watch me" she said raising the cup up to her mouth but not letting it actually touch

"If you do that I'm not kissing you anytime soon" Emily reply focusing her attention back to the movie in front of her

Lindsey set the cup down with a huff, "you're no fun"

The last four hours were soon up and the girls finally got off the plane. Emily texted her mom that they were at baggage claim getting well...their bags.

Before they left she was able to tell her mom that Lindsey was going to visit with them for a while just to get the Georgia experience. Obviously her mother was okay with that seeing as Lindsey was with her in the airport.

The two girls got their bag and walked out the doors to the car.

"Hello girls!" Jane exclaimed

"Hi mom" Emily hugged her mom

Lindsey was next for the hugs, "Hi Mrs. Sonnett. Thanks for letting me stay"

"Anytime. Should we get going?" Jane asked them

"Yeah" Emily said lifting their bags into the car

Instantly Georgia was different than what Lindsey had imagined. She always thought of it as a dry deserted area, but it was quite the opposite. Emily's family lived in the suburbs of her town. All the houses were nicely decorated for the holidays, almost as if it was an unspoken rule to have your house decorated to the max.

Once they pulled up to her house she was shocked to see how nice it looked. Not that she thought it would be a bad house, it's just Emily never shared this side of her.

"Welcome, Linds" Emily said as they entered the house

"Wow, Sonny, this is very nice" she said almost in a whisper

"Emily dear, show Lindsey her room" Jane told her

"Come on" she nodded her head to the stairs

They walked up the staircase. Lindsey would stop every now and again to admire one of the baby pictures of Emily on the wall beside them.

"..and here you are Ms. Horan" She said opening the door to the guest room

"Thank you ma'am. How can I tip you, it was great service" she asked

"I think I know how" Emily said closing the door behind her

She walked over and kissed the younger girl aggressively, but shortly pulled away

"The best part of this room is that you are right across the hall from your favorite person" she raised her eyebrows

"Emma?" Lindsey joked

"Never mind, I'm over serving you" she opened the door and walked out while Lindsey laughed from behind her

The girls made their way back downstair to the kitchen where Emily's mom and Emma were.

"Did you get settled in honey?" Jane asked her

Lindsey nodded her head, "yes I did. Once again thank you for letting me stay"

"Anytime. Why don't we get dinner started and then we can wind down with a movie" Jane smiled, "Emily, wash the vegetables off please"

"Okay mom" She walks over to grab the vegetables

Lindsey sits at the counter and admires her girlfriend, or friend, from a distance. For as much as Emily talked about how difficult her mother was, she very kind and considerate for her guest. Technically that's just being a good host and deep down she could be everything Emily described.

That night they ate dinner in peace, all learning about each other. Lindsey was staying there for a week and then leaving to go back to Denver for Christmas.

Over the past three days, Emily would take Lindsey around town to every place she use to go as a kid. She showed her the soccer fields she'd play at, her favorite spot to hang out with her friends, her old schools, everything. It was nice, except for the part that they had to act as if they weren't dating, but other than that it was chill.

On Thursday night the world took a turn. Lindsey was leaving Saturday which meant she had one more day there. Jane made a nice dinner and conversation flowed to a place neither of them wanted it to, but it was expected at some point.

"So, Lindsey how's the love life coming for you? You're now a freshman, seeing all the wonderful men that are available for you at that school...or maybe not because Emily constantly tells me there is no one interesting. Which I have a hard time believing..."

Lindseys eye widened at the question and she slowly stopped eating, "Um..it's going okay. Although I have to agree that there are no good looking guys at the school." She laughed

"There's no way. You girls are just being too picky. You need to pick a man based off of personality and character, not looks" Jane adds

"Well, yeah character is very important." She said looking over at Emily, who was aggressively stabbing at her food, "which is why it's so scarce of good men there. None of them have character"

"Well, maybe you guys need to get out there more, you're all so stuck on soccer and only spending your time there. You need to-"

"Mom stop" Emily yelled from across the table

"That is not appropriate, Emily Ann" Jane looks at her daughter, "you know to not yell at the dinner table"

"I had to, you're pushing too hard again. Lindsey doesn't need to find anyone because she has someone, already. It's me." She said looking up at her mom.

Lindsey sat across the table in shock

"We've been dating for a while now. I was just scared to tell you and what you would say" she said weakly

"I-" her mom sat in there in as much shock as Lindsey, "excuse me" Jane got up and walked out of the room

Emily felt her heart shatter inside as she lowered herself back down into the chair. She heard another voice speak up

"I'm happy for you" Emma said quietly from the other side

That queued Emily to get up and walk upstair, to shut her door with an hard push. Lindsey sat there with her brain unable to comprehend what just happened.

"I'm going to go check on her" Lindsey said excusing herself from the table

She walked up the stairs, not necessarily fast but at a good pace. Once she reached the room she knocked softly,

"Em" She heard no answer so she opened the door slowly

As she walked in she saw her girlfriend siting on the side of the bed facing the window.

"Emily?" She walked over and touched her shoulder the older girls body became stiff under the touch, "hey look at me" Emily didn't move her head

Lindsey sat down next to her

"Do now you understand why I never said anything?" she asked

"She didn't say anything about it though. She just got up and left, not a comment"

Emily just stayed quiet

"She could just need time to process" Lindsey said softly

"Or she's trying to find a way to kick me out" the room became silent again