#alex morgan imagine

[wordsbyrian]

Surgeries and Surprises - Alex Morgan x Reader

Summary: "Skater!R gets injured", "Skater!R skates in XGames", "IDK but more Skater!R"

A/n: Look, I finally wrote a thing you guys! From multiple request for more Skater!R

Despite popular belief, skateboarding is an incredibly multifaceted activity.

There are so many different disciplines: street, vert, park, freestyle, downhill (and its variation street luge), and cruising.

For the first four, there are different competitions that skaters can compete in if they are so inclined. And in all honesty, you are usually not inclined to compete, preferring the unpredictable nature of actual street skating to the polished finish of comps like Street League, XGames, and Dew Tour.

But the chance to be one of the first skateboarders to compete in the Olympics.

Well, that’s not really something you can pass up on.

Which is why you’re skating in your 5th comp of the summer.

Not the worst schedule but you’re an idiot and made the choice to also try and get clips for your next video parts in your very limited free time.

Free time, that was only made more limited by the way you were constantly flying back and forth to France to support your wife in the World Cup.

All of this is to say that your body is currently going through it.

And, unluckily, it’ll keep going through it because XGames comps are not set up in a way that plays to your strengths, with only three 45 seconds runs to string together a line and show the judges what you can do.

Luckily, on the other hand, your flight out of Minneapolis is booked for immediately after the contest ends.

Your first two timed runs went pretty well but you know you can do better which is why you saved your best stuff for your final run.

And for the most part, your final run goes pretty well until you get to your last trick with 10 seconds remaining.

You had planned it out perfectly so that you had enough time to take a breath before giving it a go. A necessary precaution for a trick you're familiar with but not a master at, a frontside flip noseslide to fakie, especially since you’re trying it down the biggest obstacle, the 4-block rail.

A little homage to Reynolds, something you’ve been doing throughout the contest season.

Except there are a couple of problems.

The first is that, unlike Reynolds, you are not a master of the frontside flip.

The other is that after a long day of being skated by just about everyone, the rail had picked up the wax from everyone’s boards, making it slicker than you need it to be for your noseslide.

Which is why you aren’t very surprised when you hit the ground. The only surprising thing is how much it hurts.

You immediately roll over and begin to stand up and take a few steps, only to drop to one knee after barely making it anywhere.

As you try to gather the strength to stand again, you’re stopped by someone placing a hand on your shoulder.

“Stay down, Y/N/N.” It’s Reynolds. “You just used your head as a basketball and your arm is fucked. They’re bringing out a stretcher.”

“I’m fine,” you say, trying to get up again. “I don’t need a stretcher.”

His hand gets firmer and you feel him pushing you to sit down properly.

“I’m serious, Y/N, I’m serious,” he says. “I’m telling you this as your friend, not as your boss. You need to go to the hospital, your shit is fucked.”

It’s at this moment that you realize how quiet the arena is.

It’s almost as if you can hear the individualized breaths of everyone in the building and honestly, it's making your head pound in a way that you wish you weren’t familiar with.

Then you see the EmTs rolling the stretcher towards you.

“Fuck dude,” you groan, resigning yourself to your fate. “Just don’t call Alex, man, she’s gonna freak out.”

“It’s too late, she already texted me she’s trying to get on the next flight out.”

“Shit.”

The entire process of letting the EMTs do their jobs is a hassle because it’s painfully obvious that they don’t deal with skateboarders often. And it takes a lot of convincing for you to even let them strap you to the backboard.

Your memory blurs out a bit after that.

The only thing you really remember besides waking up in the hospital is telling Reynolds to make sure that they don’t give you anything stronger than a Tylenol (that didn’t happen).

When you regain consciousness it’s to the sound of voices, two you recognize and one you don’t.

“She should be coming out of the anesthesia soon,” the recognizable voice says, a doctor maybe. “In addition to her mild concussion, there were some moderate tears to her deltoid that were repaired in surgery. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do about the fractures to the humeral head as we can’t cast the area.”

“She’s not going to like the sound of that,” you hear Alex say, “Not going to like that at all.”

“Unfortunately, whether she likes it or not doesn’t really matter. She needs to be in the sling for a few weeks at least,” the doctor says.

“Alright, thanks doc,” Reynolds' loud voice makes the headache you forgot you had worse. “Don’t worry Alex, she’s been through worse. Besides, the medal will make her feel better.”

“Not now Andrew.”

The door to your room opens a tiny bit and through squinted eyes, you watch as both your wife and mentor slip through the crack, closing the door behind them.

When they get close enough that you can make out the details on their faces, you stick your hand out to Alex and attempt to pull her into the hospital bed with you.

She doesn’t let you though and instead releases your hand to pull the only chair closer to the bed.

“Not so fast, hotshot,” she says, keeping her voice low.

“I told Andrew to tell you that you didn’t need to come all the way out here. You should be at home resting,” you tell her.

“And I told him that I was already on my way to the airport.”

“And I told you,” Reynolds says, frowning at you, “that I wasn’t going to risk having your wife mad at me.”

You roll your eyes at him.

“Now here’s your medal, silver’s not too bad considering you knocked yourself out,” he says, placing the item on the edge of the bed. “I’ll see you around bro.”

Both you and Alex watch as he quickly exits the room, moving sort of like his ass is on fire, and leaving the two of you alone.

The second the door fully shuts behind him you turn back to Alex and see more than her sigh deeply.

“How do you feel…”

“Why weren’t you…”

You both try to speak at the same time.

“No, you go ahead,” you tell her.

“Well, first of all, were you just about to ask how I’m feeling while you are literally laying in a hospital bed,” she asks.

You shrug somewhat sheepishly and say, “I mean you just flew halfway across the country and I know you haven’t been feeling the best lately.”

“Y/N/N, you’re ridiculous.”

“Anyway,” she says, rolling her eyes at you, “Why weren’t you wearing a helmet? You can only smash your head so many times before the damage is irreversible and I don’t like constantly being called to hospitals wondering if this time is the one.”

You take a second to let her words sink in.

She’s right.

Ever since the two of you reconnected and subsequently got together roughly 4 years ago, you’ve been injured quite a bit.

This is your 3rd concussion and 4th broken. You’ve also ruptured your achilles, cracked a few ribs, had one of your lungs collapse, and gotten over 50 stitches from various gashes gained from getting cut open skating some sketchy spots.

That’s not even counting the smaller ones that you haven’t told her about, like when you sprained your ankle visiting her during the Rio Olympics.

But admitting that Alex is right has never been something you’re great at.

So instead you just scoot over in the bed and ask her to lay down with you again.

It takes a bit of pleading but you do get her to join you and when she does, you’re quick to wiggle around into a position that's comfortable but still allows you to hold her.

With the knowledge that your current position makes it impossible for her to see your face, you can���t help but crack a joke.

“C'mon, babe, you know that helmets are for hills and hills only,” you say, finally answering her question, only to immediately recoil as she pinches you. “Okay, I’m sorry. I know I really freaked you out today and I hate that I keep forcing you to come see me in hospitals. And I…” she cuts you off.

“You’re not forcing me to do anything,” she protests, keeping her voice light. “I love you even though you seem dead set on destroying your body.”

“It’s not really on purpose,” you say, pulling her impossibly closer. “I don’t know how to explain it but sometimes when I skate it’s like an out-of-body experience. Nothing matters except how good it’s gonna feel when I roll away. I can barely even think straight when I’m on my board but that obviously means I don’t think about how my choices affect others and that’s not fair to you.”

When you finish speaking, the first thing you hear from your wife is a sigh that can only be described as annoyed.

“What,” you ask.

“You’re an idiot,” she says.”

“Babe,” your voice is indignant, and too loud even to your own ears.

“I’m sorry but you’re so dumb,” she says. “I’m not concerned because of how it affects me, I care about how it affects you. You’ve been acting strangely all summer and I don’t really want to see where this path takes you.”

Once again Alex is right.

And her pointing out your recent odd behavior, something you hadn’t noticed yourself, is like a bucket of ice water over your head.

Taking a deep breath, you nod even though she can’t see you and say, “I think I need to call my sponsor.”

“That sounds like a good idea.”

Unfortunately, between your concussion and having to travel back to Orlando, the call to your sponsor had to wait a few days.

And in those few days, you begin to really notice the behaviors Alex had mentioned.

Even before your injury, you were stressed and anxious but you had ignored it, believing it was tied to the comps and upcoming deadlines.

But now with those things mostly out of the way, the intensity of these feelings is familiar and you aren’t very fond of the places you ended up the last few times you felt like this.

And the isolation of being trapped at home, unable to do much more than stare at the walls and wait for Alex to get back from training, only made those feelings stronger.

When you’re finally able to make that call and the first words finally come out of your mouth, it’s as though the weight of the world comes off your shoulders.

Recovery isn’t an instant process but you do instantly feel a little better as you explain your recent behaviors that you now recognize as somewhat erratic.

And when the call ends, you have a list of dates, times, and locations so you can go to a meeting whenever you need to.

The only thing that's really left for you to do is talk to your wife when she gets home but that might be the hardest part.

So you wait, completing as many boring household tasks as you can to make the time pass more quickly.

It doesn’t really work that well because you only have one arm to work with. And you're just unlucky enough that it's your dominant hand out of commission.

You’re in the middle of unloading the dishwasher when you hear the front door open and shut.

It doesn’t take long for Alex to find you and in the back of your mind, you know that the only reason she didn’t shout your name across the house like she normally does is because of your lingering headache.

“Hey babe,” you hear her greet as you bend over to place a pot in its designated cabinet.

“Hi,” you respond, standing back up and turning to face her, only to see that she’s already taken a seat at the island. “Oh, that’s the serious conversation chair,” you note, going to lean on the counter opposite her.

“I mean it is serious but it’s nothing bad.”

“If it’s nothing bad, do you mind if I go first,” you ask, “Mine isn’t bad either but I finally got around to giving Noah a call.”

When you say that it's almost as though you can feel the energy in the room shift.

“How did that go?”

“It definitely went.”

“Are you going to elaborate or…”

Sighing deeply, you shuffle your feet, focusing on the way your socks slip over the tile.

“Apparently, when you’re really stressed and overly tired your brain chemistry changes,” you tell her, now looking up at the ceiling. “Which makes people look for things to relieve the stress, which can be a bad thing for addicts. And between the video parts, qualifiers, and flying all over the place, I haven’t actually had a chance to sit down and think, much less attend a meeting. But now, when I would’ve had a chance to, I can barely be in a room with lights on for more than 15 minutes.”

There’s a moment of silence before Alex responds and as it passes, you can feel your heart sink further and further into your stomach. This is the moment that she finally decides that being with you is far more work than it's worth.

Your downward spiral is broken by the sound of her voice.

“I guess that means that we have to come up with ways for you to handle stress when you're busy,” Alex says, “because you’re only about to get busier.”

“What? No, I’m not, the next two competitions are at the end of the month and I literally can’t skate for the next month and a half.”

“3 months,” she shoots back, “and yes you will.”

“You’re not making any sense Alex.”

Alex gets up from her seat and makes her way toward you. Before you know it, she’s reaching out for your good hand, which to this point has had a death grip on the counter behind you, not that you’ve noticed.

With a confused look on your face, you watch as she pulls your hand to rest against her stomach before covering it with both of her own.

Still confused, it takes you longer than you’d like to admit to figure out why she would do that.

It’s only when you remember the seemingly never-ending nausea Alex has been dealing with that you connect the dots.

“Oh shit.”

[gamergirl929]

No Matter How Far You Run (I'll Always Be Right Behind You) (Alex Morgan x Reader)

You were always told that your wedding day was supposed to be a momentous, and joyful occassion, if that were true, why were you feeling the way you were feeling? Why did you feel like you would never be good enough for Alex Morgan?

You’d gotten into the room over an hour ago, and for nearly the entirety of that hour, you’d been pacing, your palms sweaty and your heart racing, the bow tie around your neck growing tighter and tighter.  

“What about the flowers Em, did we get the right flowers???” You ask, your heart nearly beating out of your chest.  

“We got the right flowers Y/N, I promise.”  

“And the cake?” You ask, screeching to a halt, your hands running down your face. “What about the cake Em?” 

“We got the right cake, Y/N, you gotta calm down, okay?” Emily says, her own hands beginning to shake, your anxiety transferring to her in some form of mass hysteria.  

“What if I screw up my vows?” You ask, giving Emily no time to answer before you’re asking another question.  

“What if Alex decides I’m not worth it?” You gulp, your pacing increasing in speed.  

You continue to mutter unintelligibly under your breath words that Emily can’t quite make out, your anxiety only increasing her own.  

The door slowly creaks open, Kelley O’Hara poking her head through the crack.  

“Has she calmed down yet?” She asks, her brown orbs widening when she realizes Emily is nearly shaking just as much as you are.  

“I’ll take that as a no.” She says, slipping through the crack, the door clicking shut behind her.  

“Y/N, tell me what you’re thinking...” Kelley whispers gently, giving your shoulder a comforting squeeze. 

You sigh deeply, running your fingers through your hair, your mouth opening and closing as you search for words to describe the emotions you’re feeling.  

“She’s too good for me Kel.” You whisper, the shorter woman shaking her head as you turn to her, tears in your eyes.  

“You’re perfect for one another.” She whispers, tucking a loose strand of hair dangling in your face behind your ear.  

You shake your head, sniffling.  

“What if she regrets marrying me?” You mumble, your words so soft Kelley has to lean in to hear them.  

“She would never regret marrying you.” She smiles softly, her hands settling on your shoulders before she gives them a squeeze.  

You swallow hard, your Y/E/C orbs darting around Kelley’s face considering you’re unable to look her in the eye.  

You shake your head, your mouth opening and closing as you try to find your words the sound of Emily’s chair scooting across the floor making you stiffen.  

“She loves you Y/N.” Emily whispers as she places a comforting hand on your tuxedo covered back.  

“It’ll all be okay, alright?” Kelley whispers, cupping your cheek with one hand, running her thumb along your cheek in comfort.  

You nod, taking a deep breath as you try to calm yourself down, but it’s to no avail your inner turmoil again rearing its ugly head.  

Kelley and Emily’s shoulders sag, the pair feeling ease, despite the fact that you were beginning to tremble again.  

The room, though large enough to comfortably house a group of people feels claustrophobic, the room closing in on you as your heart again begins to race.  

“I can’t do this.” You mutter, causing both Emily and Kelley to jump as you turn on your heels and sprint out of the room, dashing in a random direction, putting as much distance between the pair as you possibly can.  

************************************************************************

You weren’t at all sure where you ended up in the venue, your sense of location completely off as you sprinted in random directions until you found a random room to camp out in.  

You cover your face with your trembling hands; your entire body beginning to shake. 

You knew you shouldn’t feel this way, you knew that this was supposed to be the happiest day of your life, but still, you couldn’t escape your own head, one thought followed by another, then another, each thought worse than the last.  

A part of you wanted to remain hidden, to curl up on the other side of the door until the wedding was over, but you knew you couldn’t do that, not to her. 

No matter how much you thought she deserved better, you couldn't break her heart like that. Despite that thought, you remain still, unable to force yourself to your feet.  

You go ridged at the sound of approaching heels, your chest tightening as you hold your breath, hoping that whoever it was would pass by, unaware of your presence.  

Unfortunately for you, the clicking heels stop just behind the door you’re currently leaning against.  

“Y/N?” You hear Alex’s soft whisper, and your eyes widen, the door slowly creaking open.  

“W-Wait, we’re not supposed to see each other.” You stammer, the woman on the other side of the door chuckling.  

“You’re more important than a silly tradition right now.”  

You shake your head, grabbing the edge of the door, holding it closed.  

“I know how important it is to you Alex.” You mutter, your throat bobbing.  

Alex falls silent before the door creaks open a bit wider, her hand slipping between the crack, her palm facing upwards, her fingers wiggling in a silent invitation.  

You take her hand with no sense of hesitation, the tightness in your chest ebbing away slightly.  

The two of you sit in silence, Alex’ fingers delicately playing with your own, the rapid racing of your heart decreasing with each passing second.  

“Do you want to tell me what’s wrong? Emily and Kelley said you might be having second thoughts...?” She asks and you take a breath, your throat bobbing as your hands grow clammy.  

You remain silent for a beat, the woman on the opposite side of the door squeezing your hand.  

“Do you...” You stiffen at the sound of the crack in Alex’s voice as she speaks words you know she wished she never would have to speak.  

“Do you not want to get married?” She asks, her voice quivering, your heart sinking in your chest at the soft utterance.  

You remain silent, your mouth opening and closing as you try to put your feelings into words.  

“Alex, there’s nothing I want more than to marry you, but...” You close your eyes, your breath catching in your throat. 

“What if you regret it?” You whisper, the woman on the other side of the door remaining silent as you put your thoughts into words.  

“I’m just going to screw it up, I’ve already screwed it up by running away and hiding like a coward.” You say, knocking your head against the wooden door behind you.  

“I’m not good enough for you, you deserve so much better, you deserve someone who isn’t going to run and hide on what’s supposed to be the best day of your life, and that’s not me.”  

Your heart clenches in your chest when Alex’s hand leaves your own, a lump forming in your throat.  

“Close your eyes.” She whispers, your brows furrowing as your eyes flutter shut.  

The door creaks open softly, your breath hitching as Alex’s hands settle on your chest before finding your shoulders, leading you to believe that she too has her eyes shut, following the tradition she holds dear.  

“You’re more than good enough for me.” She whispers, her fingers tangling in the fine hairs at the base of your neck.  

Her forehead rests gently against yours, her lips ghosting your own as she whispers.  

“You’re all I’ve ever wanted. I couldn’t and never would regret marrying you.” She says, bumping the tip of her nose against yours.  

“You didn’t screw anything up, and no matter how many times you run away, I’ll always be right behind you, because I love you, Y/N, and you’re worth chasing after.” She whispers, a tear streaming down your cheek, one that Alex quickly swipes away with the tip of her thumb.  

You sniffle, covering her hands with your own as you kiss her lips softly, her manicured nails scrapping the nape of your neck gently.  

Reluctantly you part, neither going far as your noses brush, a small smile stretching across your face.  

“So, should we go get married now?” You whisper a grin stretching across your face as the woman giggles, pecking your lips.  

“I think we should... As long as you still want to...?” She whispers and you smile, leaning your head back to kiss the tip of her nose.  

“There’s nothing I’d want more.”  

[outsideratheart]

Bumped Heads & Bedtime Stories (Alex Morgan x reader)

A/N: So this wasn’t planned but once it was in my head I had to write it. I hope you all like it.

Alex and Charlie watched on proudly as you took the field with the Matildas for the Semi final of the World Cup. The younger of the two got up from her mother’s lap and stood directly in front of the TV when the camera zoomed in on you as you exchanged pendants with the German captain. 

“Mommy look it’s Mama” Charlie says excitedly. 

Long distance was hard for the two of you when you started dating, more so when you got married but all of that failed in comparison to when you had Charlie. You played for Lyon and had done since you were a 21 years old. Alex feared what your bond with Charlie would be like when you lived half way across the world for the majority of the year but she soon found out she had nothing to worry about. Charlie adored you and the bond you two shared was unbreakable.

“It is and she is wearing a shirt just like yours” Alex replies to her daughter.

“This is her shirt Mama, look” Charlie points the your last name on the back of her shirt.

“But you support America, right Charlie?” Kelley asks the small child.

“No! I support Australia” she didn’t pronounce every letter but it was enough to be understood.

Alex knew this was an argument she could never win. You hadn’t tried to get Charlie on your side, the girl automatically chose you. The two of you asked her who she would support if Mama and Mommy play against each other and each time Charlie said you.

The Matildas were putting in yet another dominating performance just like they had been doing the entire campaign. The advantage they had with it being a home tournament made a huge difference and every game sounded and was played like a final.

You were 2-0 up going into the second half. Sam had scored from a corner and you had scored from a free kick. You were currently the top scorer on the tournament which shocked most people because you were a left back but you were also a set piece specialist. The ball almost always found the back of the net whether it came off your foot or your head.

It’s why when the next corner takes place you are heavily marked but some how manage to free yourself. As you jump for the header you feel your head hit something but it felt a lot harder than a ball, this much is proven when you fall to the floor and can feel your head throbbing in seconds. Your first guess is that you got elbowed so you stand to your feet but then feel a warm liquid running down your face. Yes, you had built up a sweat but it was winter in Australia no way are you sweating this much. It is only when you look down that you see drops of red on your shirt and when you raise your hand to where the pain is your hand is covered in blood.

Alex was unaware of the incident that had taken place on the pitch as she was getting some water from the hotel bar. The first wave of panic is brought on when she hears Charlie shrieking and her cries get louder and louder as she runs towards her.

“Mama’s hurt. Blood” Charlie all but jumps into the Alex’s arms. The child is inconsolable.

Your wife doesn’t know to react. She knew that she had to stay calm if she had any hope of calming Charlie down but right now she was finding that incredibly difficult.

When Alex returns to the seating area she sees all eyes are on her before heads turn towards the TV. 

“How bad is it?” Alex asks calmly.

“Lots of blood” Charlie is the only one to answer her question.

“Can you one you please tell me what happen to Y/N?” Alex begs her team mates.

“It was a corner. She jumped up for a header but one of the German defenders had a hold of her shirt. The keeper came out to punch the ball away and kneed Y/N in the head. She got up almost immediately—“ Kelley tried telling her best friend.

“So she’s ok?”

“She had a cut on her head. Like Charlie said there was a lot of blood. She refused a stretcher and help from the physios because she wanted to play. Sam and Ellie had to help her of the pitch. She looked out of it”

Alex tried to process what she was being told. Head injuries are serious and regardless of whether you used a stretcher or not, the suggestion of one is enough to instil worry. 

“Was it bad?” She wasn’t sure if she wanted to the answer.

“No”

“Yes”

Only one player said yes and it was Kristie. 

“Sam refused to play and walked off the pitch with Y/N. I know my girlfriend, I has never seen her look like that and she has never walked away from a game. It’s the semi final. She wouldn’t have gone with Y/N if it wasn’t bad”

Kristie’s statement made Alex feel two things; relief because you had your best friend with you and panic because the blonde was right, Sam wouldn’t have left the match if it wasn’t bad. 

“Charlie” Naomi walks up to the little girl who surprisingly doesn’t shy away from her “do you know how many goals you mama has scored so far? I think it’s 2”

Your daughter reaches of the defender and goes into tell her that you had scored and how you scored them. 

Time after time, Alex got your voicemail. She was about to give up and drive to the hospital that were closest to the stadium but then Kristie got a call.

“It’s Sam” She holds the phone towards the forward “She’s with Y/N”

Alex took a deep breath before holding the phone up to her ear.

“Y/N” 

“Hi Al” you voice was quiet and if she hadn’t already have known she would be able to tell something was wrong “I need to go to the hospital for some checks and stitches”

“Which one? I’ll get one of the cars and be there as soon as I can” Alex was already searching for a member of staff that would have car keys.

“No, don’t come. Stay with Charlie. Hospitals are no place for children and you hate them almost as much as I do. I should only be a couple of hours if I don’t have to stay over. I’ll come to you afterwards”

Alex wanted to argue. She needed to see that you were ok with her own eyes, anything less wouldn’t do. 

“You’re going to come here as soon as you can?” 

“I am” 

The whole USWNT waited patiently, some more than others, for you to arrive to their hotel.  Since you began dating Alex, you had become part of their family. They all watched the incident happen and would feel much better when they saw you in the flesh. 

Hours pass and you still hadn’t arrived, they hadn’t even heard from you since the call with Alex.

Charlie went quiet and Alex knew it was because you needed to see you. The young girl always shut down when she missed you and she wouldn’t return to her normal until she saw you or felt like you were close to her. Because of this Alex had packed several of your hoodies so that they can be a source of comfort your daughter and her as well.

“Kells, will you take Charlie up to get one of Y/N’s hoodies. I’d take her but I want to be here when she—“

“Of course” 

The choice of clothing must have been a hard decision because the pair was gone almost half an hour. The defender returns to the hotel bar.

“Kelley, please tell me you haven’t lost my daughter?” Alex asks when she notices her friend is alone.

Alex walks towards the defender who had assumed Charlie was right behind her.

“Mama!!” 

The word is heard throughout the bar and the giggles that follow lift a weight that had been hanging on each players shoulders. 

When you enter the bar, your daughter in your arms, everyone can see what the accident had done to you. The left side of your forehead is slightly swollen and you had stitches just below your hairline. You welcome Alex into your arms and place a small kiss to both her and Charlie’s temples.

Sam hovers near you. You hear Kristie call her over but she shakes her head.

“Go. I’m fine” you pat your best friend on her shoulder “Thank you for staying with me Sammy” 

“I’m only over there if you need me” Sam gingerly walks over to her girlfriend.

You sit down with Alex next to you and Charlie on your knee. Your daughter inspects your injury all whilst been careful not to hurt you. She presses your stitches a little too hard which causes you to wince.

“Does it hurt?” Charlie asks and you can feel Alex’s eyes burning into you.

“It does but I’m ok” 

“Are you?” It is now Alex’s turn to ask you a question.

“I am. I have no concussion and no major damage”

“Then why is Sam here and why is she watching you like you’re going to pass out at any minute?”

“I lost consciousness a couple of times, I think I scared her” You once made a vow to be honest with Alex and it seemed important now more than ever.

You look over to where Sam and Kristie were sitting and like Alex said, Sam was watching you like a hawk. 

“I’m here because I have her medication” Sam answers Alex’s first question.

“Medication? You said you were ok. If you were ok then you wouldn’t need medication” 

You give Sam a look as if saying look what you’ve started. 

“Sam. Show Alex the medication you were talking about”

Sam holds up a pack of paracetamol earning a laugh from the girls around you. 

You hated taking painkillers but the doctor give you strict instructions to take them every 4 hours. It has been 2 hours since your first dose and Sam had taken it upon herself to make sure you took a second dose, after that it would be Alex’s job.

“Sam wanted to see Kristie without it the girls teasing her for it so she’s using me as an excuse”

Sam couldn’t argue with you on that. The team, you included, loved to tease her about how much she missed her girlfriend. You got just as much stick but you agreed with your tormentors whereas Sam would get defensive.

You took Charlie upstairs to get ready for bed since it was made obvious that the team would be staying downstairs for a bit and one late night wouldn’t harm the child. 

Whilst Alex did believe you when you told her you were ok, she still wanted a second opinion and your best friend her best option. 

“How bad was it?” Alex joins Sam and Kristie at their table. Sonnett, Lynn and Kelley was also at the same table.

“You want the truth?” Your wife nods her head “At first it was really bad. The physios couldn’t stop the bleeding and they didn’t want to go to hospital until they did. Y/N was out of it but she was trying to act fine. Her eyes wouldn’t focus on anything, it was almost like we weren’t in the room with her” Sam tries not to cry but the lump that if forming in her throat was making it difficult.

Alex didn’t share the same need for control. Her tears fell freely as she heard your best friend tell her what happened moment by moment. Turns out she did have a reason for concern and quite a few at that. Looking at the way you walked in you wouldn’t have thought anything had happened but after listening to Sam, Alex realised you had to be putting on a brave front.

When you return with a pyjama clad Charlie Alex tells the group that is is time for the Morgan - Y/L/N’s to go to bed. You saw the look in her eye and didn’t argue.

Once the door had shut Alex started to cry. 

“Hey hey, there’s no need to cry” you pull her in tight and hold her close. You knew that you would have scared Alex so you let her cry.

“You scared us” Alex speaks into your chest.

“I know, I’m sorry” you grab her hand and pull her towards the bed. Once sat down Alex buries her head in the crook of your neck and you hold her tightly again.

“Yeah mama, there was a lot of blood” Charlie walks over to the two of you. Alex pulls away and quickly wipes her eyes. She didn’t want your daughter to see her cry.

You wanted to say wait till they see your Matilda’s jersey which was now more red than yellow but now wasn’t the time for jokes. 

“I know there was but it all got cleaned up and then I got these to stop it from bleeding again” You point to your stitches. 

“I got you this” Charlie climbs onto your lap and holds up a band aid which had Pepper pig on. You take it off her and hand to Alex with a nod of you head. Alex then places the unnecessary band aid across the stitches but makes sure that the cushion covers your stitches.

“Can we watch a movie?” 

“Yes” Alex answers.

“Actually, the doctor told Mama she isn’t allowed to watch any movies tonight”

“You said you didn’t have a concussion” Alex whispers knowing full well what people who have concussions get told.

“I don’t but the brightness makes my headache worse” you reassure your wife.

“Why?” Your child was curious and didn’t understand why you wouldn’t be allowed.

“Because whilst I am ok, I do have a poorly head. What about a bedtime story instead?” 

Charlie happily takes you up on your offer and even gets herself into her bed. 

“What do you think Al, is it time our daughter finds out how we met?” 

Alex rolls her eyes at this. You two had very different sides when it came to the day you met. You were adamant that it was love at first sight, especially for Alex but she didn’t agree. 

“Only if you tell her the truth” 

Once Charlie is tucked up in bed you side on the side with Alex standing over you.

“It started when Australia played America. I had to mark your mommy and she kept trying to take my top off” This earned you a slap from Alex but a giggle from Charlie so it was worth it.

“I did not”

“You ripped it off me remember”

“It was an accident”

“Oh baby, you keep telling yourself that. Do you think it was an accident Charlie?”

“Nope” Charlie agrees with you, of course she did.

You continue telling the story and every so often you would hear Alex scoff at your recollation of events. She saw you as this cocky Aussie but you did catch her eye that first day but she wouldn’t call it love at first sight. Lust would be more appropriate given then you ended in her hotel room that night.

“Then a couple of years later your Mommy moved all the way to France because she missed me and wanted to see me everyday”

“I didn’t move for you. Well not just you”

“Ha! I knew it” you look up at Alex with a smug look in your face.

“I miss you everyday Mama” 

“And I miss you my sweet one”

You continue the story up to the point where you propose to Alex when you see Charlie trying really hard to fight sleep. You end it there and promise to finish it another time.

You get into your own bed, well technically it is Alex’s bed, and with a watchful eye you enjoy the show she is putting on as she gets changed.

“So I’ve been thinking” 

“Are you allowed to do that?” Alex jokes.

“Actually not but just allow it for the time being. My contract is up with Lyon this summer and I have meeting after the world cup to discuss my contract. How would you feel if I request a transfer?”

Never in all the years of dating and marriage had Alex asked you to leave Lyon, not even when Charlie was born. You were one of the best players in the world, Lyon was the team that made you into that and in return you gave them several champions league titles. Sure the topic had been brought up before but you were always under contract so it was hard.

“Are you saying you are ready to leave?”

“No. I’m ready to stop leaving. Charlie is getting older and you heard her, she misses me and I know you do” Alex throws her top at you “You do and I miss you too. I’ve given my life to that club but it’s time I put our family first”

You wouldn’t admit it but today scared you and you knew that it could have been a lot worse than it was. It made you appreciate these moments you had with your family and you wanted to have more of them even if it did mean moving the San Diego.

[sunnys-out]

One for the road | Alex Morgan x Reader

Part 2 of Your damn cherry chapstick

A/N: Again we are going to, again, pretend that voicemails can be this long lol. Tech at work stopped working so was able to write this.

Warnings: Internalized homophobia, slight nsfw, not a happy ending

WC: 684

*Ring*

“Hey sorry I missed your call, just leave me a message and I’ll get back to you when I can! Bye!”

“Hey (y/n), this isn’t technically a text…but you will probably not even listen to this. So, I guess I’ll just say what I need to say for my own sake.”

Pause

“I remember the first time that I had met you…you were way too excited that morning practice…I was not. laughs Then we got paired up for drills and I could barely keep up with you…I don’t think you even broke a sweat”

Pause

“You were one of the few that had class after practice while the rest of us headed back to Clark Kerr to shower and sleep a bit longer. I made an off-hand comment as we were going our separate ways. I had seen a vendor near our dorm on the weekend selling strawberries and wondered when they would be back so I could buy myself some”

Pause

“I didn’t think about it until that evening…you knocked on my door with a small,green basket filled with strawberries. Honestly, I didn’t expect it especially from you...I mean we had just met. You just took one from the basket and took a bite, ‘just one for road as payment’ you said to me with a wink as you walked away to your room down the hall”

Pause

“I think that is when I started to fall in love with you…yeah I loved you…I probably still do…no, I still do. Sigh You became my best friend and I don’t ever think I can be as close to someone as I was with you. When we had our first kiss in the hallway of the frat house celebrating our win against Stanford…I swear I didn’t taste the tequila that you drank earlier but the strawberry you had the day we met.”

Pause

“I fell harder for you every day but I got scared…when you introduced me to Servando…I saw an easier future. You were everything I dreamed of but my career was just starting…I was becoming a poster child and the world is better but- I- sacrificed everything I had with you to have everything I have now. I hurt you I know…it hurts me knowing that. The Gala, I left you the moment I saw the recruiters, my fear came back again and I attached myself to Servando. You would be ok without me was my thought; you didn’t need me…Portland was smart to take you when they got created”

Pause

“(Y/N), I didn’t realize how much what I did affected you until you got injured for the first time in Portland. The eyes you shot at me when I approached you in the physio room to check on you. The force that you used to pushed me away, ‘Don’t fucking touch me’ keeps playing in my head when I remember that day. I really lost my best friend”

Pause

“You said that you remember the way I-...I remember those times too…I haven’t forgotten that. You were more than that to me. That last time…it was a goodbye but I just wanted to be close to you again to just be around you. I wanted to be near you when you had your career ending injury with Portland. That’s not what I did. I kept my distance when I saw you go down and from then on I kept myself from you.” 

Pause

“I did listen to your voicemail if it isn’t obvious…I’m sorry…You’re right when you say that I would think to run back to you if you showed up at the wedding…but it would only be a thought. I’m still that scared university student, fearful for her future but so in love with her best friend. You don’t deserve what I am doing to you, so this will be my last message to you ok? I love you and even if I won’t be in your life anymore…I will always be rooting for you…maybe in the next life we-... never mind. Goodbye, (y/n)”

…

[cinnies-stories]

alex morgan / the essence of what made winning so special.

2800 words or so. I got a little carried away :) enjoy!

The stadium erupted in cheers as the final whistle blew, declaring the San Diego Wave as NWSL shield winners. Confetti rained down, and elated teammates embraced each other, their own cheers almost drowning out the roar of the crowd. Amidst the jubilation, you caught Alex's eye, and a spark of shared victory ignited between you.

As the celebration continued in the locker room, teammates exchanged high-fives and hugs. You and Alex found yourselves side by side, sharing the euphoria of your triumph. Your shoulders brushed, and stolen glances lingered a fraction longer than necessary. A subtle electricity hummed between the two of you, heightening the celebratory atmosphere.

Post-match interviews and team photos followed, each moment drawing you and Alex closer. The trophy glittered between you, a symbol of your combined efforts.

Later, in the hotel, the team gathered for a post-victory banquet. The atmosphere was charged with excitement, and you couldn't shake the magnetic pull drawing you toward Alex. Seated next to each other, the conversation flowed effortlessly, punctuated by stolen touches—a hand on the shoulder, a brief brush of fingers.

The line between teammates and something more blurred in the warm glow of success.

As the night unfolded, you and Alex found yourselves in a quieter corner of the hotel. The air was thick with unspoken words, and your eyes met once again in a silent exchange that spoke volumes. Longing glances hinted at a connection beyond the confines of your soccer triumph.

With the hotel room door closing behind Alex, the tension reached its peak. The glow of victory illuminated your faces as you stood on the precipice of something uncharted. Conversation turned to shared laughter, and stolen glances evolved into purposeful touches.

The hotel room was bathed in a soft, comforting glow, creating a haven of tranquility. You and Alex sat on the edge of the bed, the residue of her victorious return to the soccer field lingering in the air. The room seemed to echo with the triumph of overcoming unexpected challenges.

Your eyes traced the lines of resilience etched on Alex's face, a testament to her journey from motherhood back to the soccer pitch - to the winning days.

"You're incredible, Alex. I can't believe you came back after everything," you whispered, your admiration evident in your voice.

Alex smiled, a mix of exhaustion and fulfillment in her eyes. "I never thought I'd be back here either. But the team, you – it's a part of me."

Your fingers intertwined, a silent acknowledgment of the shared triumphs and struggles. You could see the strength that emanated from Alex, not just as a player but as a mother who defied expectations.

"You're the strongest person I know," you said, voice filled with sincerity. "To balance motherhood and a soccer career, it's beyond inspiring."

Alex's gaze softened, the weight of her experiences reflected in her eyes. "I wanted to show Charlie that you can pursue your passions - no matter what."

You slowly leaned in, pressing a gentle kiss on Alex's forehead. "You're not just showing her, Alex. You're showing all of us. I'm honored to be on this journey with you."

Your embrace lingered, the warmth of shared triumph and unspoken understanding enveloping you both. Alex, moved by your words, met your gaze with a depth that mirrored the vulnerabilities of motherhood and the strength it brought.

In a moment of shared surrender, you cupped the forwards face, your thumb tracing a gentle path across her cheek. Your lips met immediately in a kiss that spoke of admiration, connection, and a shared journey that surpassed the boundaries of the soccer field.

It was a tender exchange, a bridge between friendship, motherhood, and the unexpected twists life had thrown your way.

As Alex pulled away, the room held an electric charge, a magnetic pull that neither of you could deny.

You, with a subtle smile, whispered, "I meant every word."

Alex nodded, her eyes reflecting a mixture of gratitude and longing. "Thank you, Y/N. For understanding, for being here."

In the quiet aftermath of your shared moment, you found yourselves drawn to each other once again. This time, the kiss held a different resonance—a merging of your worlds, a celebration of strength, and an acknowledgment of the uncharted territory you were entering.

As you both lay side by side, the room cocooned you in a gentle embrace. The celebratory echoes of victory outside seemed distant, replaced by the quiet intimacy that filled the space between you and Alex. With whispered words of gratitude and unspoken promises.

The night became a chapter in your shared story, one marked by resilience, understanding, and the beauty of unexpected connections.

-

The morning light filtered through the curtains, casting a soft glow on the hotel room. You stirred, blinking away the remnants of sleep, your hand instinctively reaching out to where Alex should have been. The disappointment hit you like a wave as reality settled in—the space beside you was empty.

A sinking feeling crept into your chest, and you sat up, glancing around the room. The realization that Alex was not there, that the person you had connected with so deeply the night before was absent, left you with a sense of abandonment.

The hurt lingered, and you couldn't shake the feeling of being left behind. The warmth of the shared night seemed like a distant memory, overshadowed by the ache of solitude. You couldn't fathom why Alex had retreated, leaving you with a void that was both confusing and painful.

Despite the disappointment, you couldn't deny the genuine joy you had experienced in this connection. The tender moments, stolen kisses, and shared vulnerability were etched in your memory. It was a bittersweet recollection—a night that had held promise and intimacy, yet now seemed tinged with the sorrow of unmet expectations.

With a heavy heart, you traced the outline of the empty space beside you, contemplating the unspoken questions that lingered in the wake of the night's intimacy. The disappointment weighed on you, but somewhere beneath it, the memory of the shared connection held a flicker of warmth—a reminder of a night that, despite its complexities, had been a moment of genuine connection and shared vulnerability.

-

The hotel's breakfast buffet was a bustling scene of teammates reliving the previous night's triumph. You scanned the room, your gaze settling on Alex at a distant table. Determination etched on your face, you approached, but a knot of apprehension tightened in your stomach as you noticed Alex avoiding eye contact.

"Hey," you greeted, trying to mask the growing frustration beneath a smile. "Last night was incredible, wasn't it?"

Unbeknownst to your teammates, you meant a lot more than just winning the shield with San Diego.

Alex, engrossed in picking at her breakfast, gave a brief nod without meeting your eyes. "Yeah, it was something."

You hesitated, sensing a shift in the air. "You okay?"

A forced smile played on Alex's lips.

"Yeah, just tired."

The conversation hung awkwardly between the two of you, the unspoken tension palpable. Your frustration simmered beneath the surface as you tried to breach the distance Alex had created.

"I was thinking we could grab lunch later, talk about the game, maybe even about what happened afterwards?" you suggested, an attempt at casual conversation masking a deeper desire to understand the sudden change.

Alex's response was a noncommittal shrug, and she focused intently on her plate. "Maybe."

Your frustration bubbled up, but you swallowed it down, trying to empathize with Alex's potential insecurities. "Alex, what's wrong? It feels like you're avoiding me."

Alex's gaze flickered, and a vulnerability flashed in her eyes. "It's nothing, really. I have my own things to figure out."

Frustration and confusion warred on your face as you searched for words.

A sigh followed, the forward's shoulders slumping with a mix of defeat and insecurity.

"Last night happened, but it doesn't change who I am."

Right, of course.

Alex Morgan, the soccer star.

Alex Morgan, straight.

Unable to meet your eyes, Alex pushed her chair back. "I need some time, Y/N. I'll see you around."

As you watched Alex retreat from the breakfast table, her emotions in disarray, Naomi, noticed the subtle change in atmosphere. Concern etched on her face, she approached you.

"Hey. Is everything okay?" the younger defender asked, her tone filled with genuine worry.

You mustered a small smile, trying to downplay the turmoil within. "Yeah, just some post-celebration exhaustion, you know?"

Nai studied your expression carefully, sensing there was more to the story. "Just remember, relationships—whether friendships or something more—they take time and understanding."

Once again, you thought about how the young defender was incredibly wise for her age and so much more mature than you were at that age.

Naomi placed a reassuring hand on your shoulder. "Give her some time, Y/N. People have their own struggles. Maybe she needs a moment to figure things out."

You nodded, grateful for her comforting words. The breakfast scene continued around you two, teammates chatting and laughing, but you carried the weight of uncertainty and the unanswered questions about the connection that had unraveled overnight.

-

The hum of the plane's engines created a backdrop of distant melody as you settled into her seat, the anticipation of departure overshadowed by a quiet ache. You glanced towards the boarding passengers, heart pulsating with a mixture of hope and trepidation. The empty seat next to you yearned for the familiar warmth that Alex's presence once provided.

As the last boarding calls echoed through the cabin, your gaze lingered on the entrance, searching for the one person who had shared a night of triumph and intimacy, only to slip away in the light of day. Your stomach knotted with a bittersweet turmoil as each passing moment deepened the void beside you.

Then, there she was. Alex, a silhouette against the entrance, moved down the aisle, but instead of approaching you, she exchanged a smile with another teammate and took a seat elsewhere. The subtle rejection hung in the air like an unresolved chord, and your heart sank.

The empty seat, a poignant reminder of unspoken words and shattered connections, seemed to reverberate with the echoes of their shared moments. Your fingers traced the armrest, yearning for the touch that had once felt like a promise. The cabin lights above flickered, mirroring the flickering hope within your own chest.

The gentle hum of the plane transformed into a haunting melody, an anthem of solitude that accompanied your silent contemplation. The passing clouds outside mirrored the shifting emotions within you—a turbulent sky of uncertainty and longing.

As the plane taxied down the runway, you felt the weight of the unoccupied seat beside you, a physical manifestation of the emotional distance that had grown between you and Alex.

As the plane ascended into the sky, your eyes, like a compass seeking north, found Alex's across the aisle.

Alex's eyes, once a familiar harbor, now held a tumultuous sea of uncertainty. Lost within their depths were questions, hesitations, and the weight of uncharted territory. You sensed the struggle within, a silent plea for understanding that Alex's eyes conveyed more eloquently than words ever could.

In that fleeting moment of connection, you saw a vulnerability in Alex's gaze that mirrored the tremor in her own heart. Alex's hands, clasped tightly together, betrayed a subtle trembling—an outward manifestation of the inner turmoil she grappled with.

The symphony of the plane's engines became a muted backdrop to the silent conversation within your locked gaze. There was a yearning for a return to the warmth of shared moments, yet an unspoken understanding that something had shifted. The uncertainty in Alex's eyes was a puzzle that you longed to unravel, a puzzle whose missing pieces seemed to scatter with each passing second.

You wanted to bridge the distance, to hold Alex's trembling hands and reassure her that whatever complexities lay ahead, you could face them together.

But the plane, an intermediary in their shared journey, continued its ascent, and the distance between you and Alex remained insurmountable. Your eyes held onto each other for a moment longer, a silent acknowledgment of the uncharted territory that stretched before you, before Alex looked away, her gaze retreating like a ship disappearing on the horizon.

The tremor in Alex's hands, the uncertainty in her eyes—it left you with a lingering ache, a sense of longing for a connection that seemed to slip through her fingers like sand.

-

The sun dipped low on the horizon, casting a warm glow through the living room window. Alex sat on the couch, cradling a tired Charlie in her arms. Her medal, a symbol of triumph and challenges overcome, stood proudly on the coffee table.

"Mom, why is winning so special?" Charlie asked, her innocent curiosity echoing in the quiet room.

Alex smiled, gazing into her daughter's eyes. "Well, sweetheart, it's not just about the trophy or the game. It's about the people—the teammates who become family, the ones who support you through thick and thin. They make winning something truly special."

Charlie pondered Alex's words, her eyes wide with wonder. "Like Y/N?"

The name hung in the air, and Alex felt a subtle shift within her. She looked down at Charlie, her heart warming at the mention of you.

"Yes, sweetheart, like Y/N," Alex replied, a softness in her voice.

As Charlie nestled against her, Alex's thoughts drifted to you. The realization settled in—the depth of the connection you shared went beyond the soccer field. You had been a pillar of support, a constant presence throughout the highs and lows of this remarkable journey.

A wave of longing washed over Alex as she thought about your unwavering encouragement, the stolen glances, and the warmth of shared triumphs. The realization hit her with a clarity she hadn't fully embraced before—you were not just a teammate; you were the essence of what made winning special.

As the evening sun bathed the room in a golden hue, Alex held Charlie close, the echoes of their conversation mingling with the subtle ache of missing someone who had become an integral part of the forward's journey. In that quiet moment, surrounded by the tangible proof of victory, Alex understood that winning was about more than the accolades; it was about the people who turned those moments into cherished memories. And in the delicate tapestry of her reflections, your presence stood out as a thread that she couldn't help but miss dearly.

-

In the quiet of her living room, with Charlie in bed, as the shadows danced with the fading daylight, Alex sat alone with the weight of regret settling like a heavy shroud. The echoes of your absence reverberated through the room, and a profound sadness gripped her heart.

She reached for her phone, a glimmer of determination in her eyes. The realization of how she had distanced herself from you, how she had let insecurity overshadow your connection, weighed heavily on her soul. With trembling hands, she began to type an apology, a heartfelt confession of the regret that consumed her.

Yet, as she opened her messages, a notification blinked on the screen. Your name illuminated the darkness, and a knot tightened in Alex's chest. Her eyes scanned the words, each one a sentence of separation, a declaration of departure.

"Alex, Utah wants me. I said yes."

The room seemed to close in, and the air grew heavy with the weight of realization. Alex's heart sank, the words on the screen a painful reminder of what she had unknowingly let slip away. The regret that had fueled her desire to reach out transformed into a profound despair as she read your decision to leave.

A silence enveloped Alex, broken only by the distant sounds of the world outside. The phone slipped from her hands, as if unable to bear the weight of the truth it carried.

Alex's gaze fixated on the empty space where your name had been moments ago. She felt a profound emptiness, a void that seemed insurmountable. In the quiet aftermath, the realization hit her—the most important person in her life had slipped away, leaving behind a sense of loss that felt irreversible.

Regret became a bitter taste on her lips, and she found herself yearning for a chance to undo the distance she had created. But the message on the screen stood as a testament to a choice made, a departure that left Alex alone in the echoes of what might have been.

[perfectly-imperfect82]

Security!

I was sneaking my way through the hallways, making sure to not be seen by security but also make it seem like I was suppose to be here.

I saw a sign that said field, bingo. That is where the team must be or going to be.

I quickly made my way to the tunnel and looked out on the field.

I saw the team by the benches and I felt my heart pick up at what I was about to do, who I was about to meet.

I slowly made my way over the bench, which it surprisingly took a long time for anyone to notice me.

"Who are you?" Ash asked once she saw you

"I'm (y/n)" I said as I continued my way over to them

"And what are you doing here?" Ash asked confused as the team was now all staring at me. I however was looking for one particular person. When I saw her, she looked shocked and fearful.

"I came to talk to Alex" I said still looking at Alex.

"I don't know you" Alex said finally saying something

"I just want to talk" i said keeping myself calm at all the looks I was getting.

"I think you need to leave kid, before we call security" Ash said moving closer to Alex in a protective manner while Alex just continue to stare at me

"I think you would much rather come and talk to me, then have me share what I know about you" I said with a smirk as I watched Alex panic since she knew who I was

"Are you blackmailing her?" Kelley asked angrily as I just nodded

"She is just a kid. There is no way she could actually know something about Alex that we already don't know" Allie said looking at me skeptically which only made my smirk grow. People always underestimate kids.

"Are you sure about that? I mean I may be only 13 years, but I would say this is a pretty juicy story" I said look right at Alex who was moving towards me. She looked pale and nervous which alone made me happier.

"I thought you would change your mind" I said as I turned to walk away as I heard "Alex, are you okay" but I new she was following me.

I made my way across the stadium and took a seat and watched as she followed me and took a seat next to me.

"So I'm guessing you realized who I am. I mean your parents still ask for a picture every year. I assumed you have seen at least one" I said continuing

"What do you want?" Alex asked with an a confused face

"Just to meet you in person" I said speaking honestly

"I don't believe you. You won't come here and sneak into a stadium. Then blackmail me to just meet me" Alex said not with an irrated look causing me to smile.

I mean she isn't completely wrong but most of it had been to meet her. To see what she is like in real life.

"No, it's pretty much just that"

"I still don't believe you" she said

"What? afraid I'm going to tell the world that the Alex Morgan had a baby as a teenager and gave her up for adoption to peruse soccer. Dont you think if I was going to that, I would have by now? Plus I would never actually tell anyone that your my birth mom. That would put to much attention and be a burden on me" I said causing her to glare but I honestly didn't mind. She seems way nicer on tv and social media

"In that case. SECURITY!" She yelled causing my eyes to widen in shock. I was not expecting that.

I looked over and saw two security guards running my way so I took off running towards the exit. However due to my condition and not being able to work out, I was slower than normal and the were able to catch me.

The tackled me to the ground. They forced me the ground held me there.

I started to panic as i new I shouldn't be flat on the ground. I felt my chest start to tighten and the lightheadness and dizziness start to kick in after a minute.

"Sit me up" I managed to get out but I was ignored. Paying attention to what was around me was getting more difficult as the discomfort grew in my chest.

That's when I heard it though, my mom

"Get off her, your hurting her" my mom yelled

"Get of the kid, now" I heard a male say and instantly the security guards were off me

The next thing I knew I was pulled up into the sitting position and met the worried eyes of my mom as she looked me over. The discomfort and dizziness was going away quickly now that I was sitting up

"I'm okay, I promise" I said looking at my mom as she started to calm down

That's when I noticed the team was surround us and looking at me with curiosity

"Do you want her to check out by our trainer?" Vlakto asked looking at me mom, he must know. Of course he knows, how else would mom manage to get in without telling him

"No" I answered while my mom said "yes" causing me to glare at her which she returned

"I just want to leave, it wasn't what I thought it would be" I said moving my eyes to Alex so she could get the message. I watched her her eyes soften as she saw Alex

"Once I know your are okay for tomorrow" she said giving me a sad smile and I gave up. Knowing it would make her feel better.

I stood up with my moms help and we followed Vlakto to the training room were we watched him talk to the trainer before he called me over.

"I'm guessing you've done this before?" The trainer asked point to the heart monitor machine and I just nodded and took off my shirt, leaving me in a sports bra for him to attach everything.

"If it's okay with you, I would like to talk to you privately" Vlakto said to my mom who then looked at me hesitantly.

"Go, I'll be fine" I said giving her a smile and with that they left.

Just as the trainer finished attaching everything, a group of the team walked in causing me to roll my eyes

"Well for sneaking in to meet us, you don't look so happy to see us" Emily said taking a seat in front of me

"I didn't come to see all of you, I came to see one person. I met her and now I'm good" I said glaring at her and I felt a glare back and saw Kelley standing behind her glaring at me

"Why are you attached to these? We don't usually do this when a fan gets tackled by security or anything?" Mal said looking at me confused.

"Nothing for you to be concern with" I said and pulled out my phone and did my best to ignored them.

They didn't leave which made me uncomfortable.

When the trainer was happy with results and took my blood pressure he told me I was good. I quickly threw on my sweatshirt and looked at that team who was blocking my path.

"Are you sure your okay?" Lindsey say looking at me with concern once the trainer left

"Yes, I'm fine"

"No, like your overall health" Lindsey said causing me to look at her shock. That is not a question most people would ask

"And you call me rude" Emily said before turning back to me

"But are you?" She continued as i then turned my shocked express to her

I went to move towards the door, ignoring them and just wanting to leave.

That's when I saw Kelley blocking the door.

"Can you move? I would like to leave now" I said giving an annoyed look.

"I just want to talk" Kelley said as she looked to the other to leave, which they did to my surprise

"What do you want?" I asked

"I know who you are" Kelley said

"Good for you. Now I want to go to my mom and leave" I said

"I'll let you go in a second. Just answer this questions. What is wrong with your health?" She said and I saw her expression change of the angry to concern which confused me

I gave in "No, I have a heart tumor. I'm having surgery on it tomorrow and found out you guys where here. That's why I came. I wanted to met Alex once, just incase" I said looking away from her as she just looked at me with shock and sadness

"Can I go now?" I asked still not looking at her

I saw her move and I headed out the door

"Just so you know, she isn't normally like that. You just surprised her and it scared her. Also, she may not know you, but she has always loved you and wanted you to have the best in life" Kelley said causing me to stop for a second.

I felt tears come to my eyes, but I quickly blinked them away before continuing on my way out to find my my mom. The person I wanted to spent the rest of my time with before surgery.

[reminiscingtonight]

If I Hated You

Alex Morgan x Reader

Word Count: 1.4k

A/N: Based on the song by Fletcher

[WOSO Masterlist]

You’ve lost track of the number of drinks you’ve had already. One drink turned into two, two into three, three into… a lot. Now that you think about it, you’re pretty sure you had only planned to stay for an hour, enough to make your presence known before leaving. If your blurry vision isn’t playing tricks on you though, it’s now three in the morning, long past your allotted one hour.

A flash of brown hair pulls you out of your thoughts. 

Your heart lurches dangerously. There’s a twisting feeling in your gut, not sure if you want it to be who you think it is or not. You have to squint before you can make out the face right in front of you. 

“Alrighty, I think you’ve had enough.” Kelley gently grabs the drink from your hand when you sway dangerously towards her. 

You pout. “Kell-bell, don’t be a party pooper.”

You make to take the drink back, but it’s easy for Kelley to avoid your sloppy movements. 

“I’m serious. C’mon. Let’s go.”

Frowning now, you try to think back to how Kelley even knew you were here in the first place. 

Your tickets for this event had been purchased months ago. Given your more recent relationship status, you had been in dire need for a plus one. Kristie had offered, but she couldn’t make it, still overseas with Sam. You had thought about calling Kelley but you thought she was still in DC.

That left only one person who would have known where you were tonight. Only one person who would know who to send after you. 

“Alex sent you, didn’t she?” 

Kelley hesitates for a moment. But that split second pause tells you everything you need to know. 

“Alex shouldn’t have called you.” You shake your head, only succeeding in making yourself feel sicker.

“She still cares about you.” Kelley grabs your arm, slipping her own around your waist. 

You’re still struggling half-heartedly against her, but you’re drunk enough that it’s not even a real battle. “Kelley, let me go.”

The brunette shoulders her way through the crowd, making sure to keep a firm grasp on you. 

You don’t realize how stifling it is stuck between all the bodies in the club. It isn’t until the cool outside air hits your face that you feel like you can breathe. 

Kelley turns to point out her car, but freezes when she realizes you’re crying. 

“(Y/N).” Your eyes flutter shut when her hands come up to brush away your tears. If you try hard enough, you could pretend that it isn’t Kelley in front of you. You could pretend that you’re just out on another date night with Alex and she’s holding your face just like she usually does before she kisses you. 

The mirage breaks the second you open your eyes to see hazel instead of blue. 

“Alex shouldn’t have called you,” you repeat, voice cracking. 

“I know.” Kelley’s voice is soft, eyes full of sympathy. “But she did call. And you’re my friend. So I’m going to be here whether you want me to or not.”

Her hands drop from your face, quickly looping back around your arms. You only let her take a couple steps before you dig your feet into the ground. 

“No, I don’t want to go back,” you whimper, trying to pull yourself out of Kelley’s grip. If you were a bit more sober, you would explain why the apartment you live in now is nothing like the home you once shared with Alex. Why the loneliness makes clubbing more appealing than the suffocating plain walls of your apartment.

“(Y/N)--” Kelley starts. She doesn’t get a chance to finish her sentence, as you firmly plant your feet and pull. Your feet slip out from under you when Kelley doesn’t release her grip, sending both of you crashing to the ground.

“Are you serious? Damn it, I shouldn’t have listened to Alex,” Kelley sighs, brushing herself off. “Get up, (Y/N). It’s time to head home.”

“I wish I could hate her, you know? I wish that Alex could give me a reason to hate her so I don’t miss her as much as I do.” You’re sitting petulantly on the ground now. Your elbows and knees hurt from where they made contact with the ground, but they feel like nothing compared to the ache that’s been in your chest since the break up.

Kelley gives you a look. When you don’t make a move to get up, she plops right down next to you on the curb. 

“I still can’t change the background of my phone.”

You try waving your phone at her, but Kelley knows this script all too well. She gently pries it out of your fingers, pocketing your phone so you don’t lose it.

“She was so good to me,” you sigh out.

“And you were to her.”

Kelley’s words are a little comforting, but not that comforting. Still, she gets kudo points for trying. Kelley really didn’t deserve all the shit you make her do for you. You drunkenly get up, resolving to let her help you get home.

You're silent as Kelley maneuvers you towards her car. You don’t have enough energy to put up much of a fuss when she ushers you into the passenger side. 

“Do you think she’d kiss me if I wasn’t me? If I was some other person?”

You lift your arm when Kelley motions to put your seatbelt on. 

“I think Alex would kiss you regardless of what face you’re wearing because she loves you.”

“That’s not a funny joke, Kels,” you sigh out, head already resting against the window the second Kelley closes the door. “Jokes are supposed to make you laugh.”

The two of you sit in silence for a little while. Kelley keeps a careful eye on you while she drives through the streets. She thinks you’ve fallen asleep when she hears a quiet whisper.

“Love you, Kel.” It’s a sad little murmur. It makes Kelley hate Alex for a second. Only for a brief second. 

“Love you too.”

Sometimes Kelley wishes she never went to Stanford. If she never went to Stanford, she wouldn’t have become friends with you. If she never went to Stanford, she never would have joined the national team and become friends with Alex. If she never went to Stanford, she wouldn’t have to be stuck in the middle of your failed relationship. 

She still remembers it all. Introducing the two of you. The way you blushed every time Alex looked your way. The way Alex went to her for advice on how to ask you out. 

She remembers the good and the bad. Alex calling her every night, telling Kelley how much she loves you, but how much it wasn’t working. Your tearful calls of frustration, angry about yet another setback on your injury rehab, but trying to stay upbeat for all Alex was achieving.

Kelley remembers the break up. Alex spent a week on her couch. You left for New York and stopped talking to everyone. (The silence made her worry until Kristie assured her that she was keeping a careful eye on you)

Somewhere along the line, Kelley becomes the messenger. Alex calls her one night, telling her that you’re at a club, quietly asking Kelley to bring you safely home. She does it, no questions asked. Kelley didn’t want to know how Alex knew you weren’t okay. She also didn’t want to know why you thought getting blackout drunk in the middle of the week was a good idea.

Every time it happens, Kelley wonders when it’ll stop. When you’ll finally pick up the broken pieces of your heart. When Alex will do the same. 

Every time it happens the two of you say the same thing. 

“I miss her.”

“I love her.”

“Do you think there’s a chance that we’ll get back together in the future?”

Rinse and repeat, every couple of days. 

When Kelley gets to your apartment, she carefully rouses you. You’re still pretty out of it, but she gets you all the way to your bed, tucking you in. She resolves herself to another night spent sleeping on your couch. 

You wake up profusely embarrassed. You cook Kelley a full-course meal, promising her it won’t happen again.

---

When Alex calls her three days later, Kelley gets into her car and pulls up to the club.

[wosoimagines]

Not Really Scary - Alex Morgan/Reader

i hope y’all enjoy. i didn’t really show much of how the USWNT sees R, but I hope you still like it.

prompt: If you want maybe one where the USWNT team thinks R is very closed off and intimidating but they find them looking after Charlie and is really a big teddy bear inside. Possibly Alex Morgan/Reader if you can make it work.

warnings: none

words: 1250

Alex POV

“So, I think it’s definitely interesting that (Y/N)’s here at camp,” Kelley said. 

I furrowed my brow at that. I couldn’t imagine why.

“Why? I mean, she’s one of the best forwards in the NWSL right now,” I said. It was true. I had dreaded going against the Angels because of (Y/N). “I mean, you can’t tell me that you didn’t have the Angels games circled on your calendar.”

“I mean, yeah, sure,” Kelley nodded. We both looked where (Y/N) was sitting on her phone. No one else was around her. “But she doesn’t really talk to anyone. I know that Tierna had mentioned that she rarely talked to any of their teammates when they were playing on the youth squads. Plus look at her. She could run one of us over and put us in the hospital.”

Kelley wasn’t wrong about that. It had quickly became clear just how much of a physical player (Y/N) was and it definitely helped her as she almost just pure muscle.

“Has anyone tried to talk to her?” I asked.

“Nope,” Kelley shook her head. “And I pity whoever is her roommate is.”

We both stared at her for a moment longer. I was curious as to what it would be like to play with the forward.

“Where’s Charlie?”

“The kids wanted to watch her,” I said. Kelley looked over at me but I kept my eyes on (Y/N). “I think they’re all trying to sway her so that they can be her favorite aunt.”

“As if they’ll ever take that title from me,” Kelley said.

“Yeah, we’ll see.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I walked into my room and I was surprised when Charlie ran ahead of me but I found (Y/N) lounging on the bed that I had left free. She looked up from the book she was reading.

“I was curious who I was rooming with,” I said. (Y/N) didn’t really say anything to me. “If Charlie bothers you, just let me know and I’ll take care of her.”

(Y/N) still didn’t say much. I only nodded at that. I pulled a couple of Charlie’s toys out and gave them to her. I made sure that Charlie was okay before standing up.

“I’m going to get a shower, so seriously if Charlie is bothering me, just knock on the door,” I said.

All I got from (Y/N) was a small nod. I nodded my head at that as I grabbed my things to go into the bathroom. I did try to keep my shower short so that I didn’t have to leave Charlie alone with (Y/N) for long. But before I went back out, all I could hear from the room was laughter.

I was surprised when I opened the bathroom I found (Y/N) playing with Charlie. The two didn’t pay me much time until the the bathroom door shut. Once the door did shut, both of them turned their attention to me. Charlie immediately reached out to me. I picked her up before pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“You know, if you ever need someone to babysit, I wouldn’t say no,” (Y/N) said.

I nodded at that but I didn’t really respond as (Y/N) moved to grab a hold of her book again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Y/N) POV

I was surprised when I saw Alex sit down at the same table as me. But I was even more surprised when I realized that Charlie was walking up to my side. I reached down to pick her up once she reached her hands out to me. I looked over the table back at Alex.

“Surprised that you two are sitting with me,” I admitted. 

It hadn’t escaped my notice of how most of our teammates had avoided me. I didn’t blame though as I preferred it that way.

“Well, Charlie wouldn’t accept us sitting anywhere else today,” Alex said. I was a little surprised when she pushed the smaller plate across to me, but I didn’t mind. “It seems that Charlie has decided that you’re her favorite person here besides me.”

I grinned at that. I wasn’t too surprised though as I often helped babysit my nieces and nephews while I was in high school.

“You just have to know how to pick up on what they want,” I shrugged. Alex seemed a little surprised by my answer. “I used to babysit all of my nieces and nephews when I was in high school. Of course none of them are toddlers anymore.”

“Ever think about having your own?” Alex asked.

I looked over at her in surprise before looking down at Charlie. It was a fair question.

“I honestly never gave it much thought,” I admitted. I moved Charlie’s fruit closer to her so she could grab a hold of it. “I mean, I would have to adopt or use some kind of alternative. Just never really thought of it in the kind of lifestyle I live.”

“You don’t seem like the kind of person to live a partying lifestyle.”

“I’m not,” I shook my head. Parties weren’t exactly my scene. A quiet night in was more of my style. “I just never want to be the kind of parent my dad was. He was always busy with work and I’m focused on soccer, so...”

“You just haven’t thought of it.”

“I mean, maybe one day,” I nodded. I looked back down at Charlie. “Or if I find the right partner.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I softly passed the ball to Charlie. I chuckled as she stopped it with her hands before pushing it back to me.

“You kick it,” I said as I bent down in front of her. Charlie shook her head. “It’s a soccer ball. You kick it to each other.”

“No.”

I shook my head at the toddler but I waited for her to turn back to me before I softly passed it to her again. Charlie once again stopped it with her hands before pushing the ball back to me.

“What are you two doing?” Alex as she came up behind Charlie.

“I’m trying to teach Charlie how to pass the ball back and forth. But someone is determined not to kick the ball,” I said.

“I could always join,” Alex said.

“I would never say no to a legend like the Alex Morgan.”

Alex rolled her eyes before I passed the ball to her before she softly passed it to Charlie. Charlie, however, was still content to pushing the ball to us. I shook my head at her as Alex and I continued to kick the ball back and forth while Charlie just pushed it.

“You grew up in Los Angeles, right?” Alex asked. I nodded at that. “What was it like?”

“It was home,” I shrugged. Growing up in L.A. had been cool. “I mean, I’m the youngest of five. Living in L.A. can be hard when you have that many kids. It’s been really cool though to play for my hometown.”

“You’re the youngest of five?”

“Yeah.”

“That must have been something growing up,” Alex said. I shrugged at that. “I bet there wasn’t a dull moment growing up.”

“Wouldn’t really know. I was usually overlooked,” I said as I picked at my food. “Usually everything I did, my siblings had already done. It’s why soccer been so huge for me. None of my siblings played. But I was usually the one left out because there was a 5-year difference between me and my youngest oldest sibling but there was only ever like 2 years between my older siblings.”

“It must have been lonely,” Alex said.

“I lived. I had soccer,” I said. There were times where it had felt lonely growing up because I wasn’t as close with my siblings as they were with each other. “We’re all pretty close now.”

“Gone,” Charlie chirped from my lap.

I looked down at her with a smile. I glanced at her plate.

“All gone?” I asked. Charlie nodded at that. “Good! You gotta eat healthy if you wanna grow big and strong.”

“Like you?”

“Yeah, like me,” I nodded.

“Be big and stwong like (Y/N), Mama!”

I softly chuckled at that as I looked over at Alex. She was smiling at Charlie and I.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Are you sure you’re okay to watch her for the night?” Alex asked.

I rolled my eyes at her concern. It had to be like the tenth time she had asked me. 

“Alex, we’ll be fine. We’re just gonna hang out in the room,” I assured her. I had babysat plenty of time to know that it would be fine. “We’ll probably just play and eat our own dinner and go to sleep. You’ll come back and we’ll be totally okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“Go to dinner with the others. It isn’t my thing,” I said. 

Alex nodded before giving Charlie one last kiss on the top of her head before she left. I grinned as I turned to Charlie.

“Aiwpwane?”

“Airplane.”

Charlie giggled as soon as I picked her up and lifted her in the air as I made engine noises. Charlies squeals and giggles filled the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I groaned as I rubbed at my eyes. It took me a moment to realize that Charlie and I were no longer the only ones in the room. I caught Alex shooing the others out of the room as I pulled Charlie off of my chest and laid her down on my bed.

“It looks like you two were comfy,” Alex pointed out.

“We had fun,” I said. I glanced over at the bed where Charlie was laying. “Played, ate dinner, played some more, and then we watched Encanto. We must have fallen asleep during the movie.”

“I’m glad Charlie had fun.”

I nodded at that and watched as Alex pulled her shoes off. I couldn’t lie that I had gotten close to Alex during this camp. I was hoping that we’d be seeing each other more.

“I was thinking that Kelley could watch Charlie tomorrow,” I said. Alex furrowed her brow and turned to look at me as she tilted her head. “I was hoping that I could take you out on a date.”

“I didn’t take you for someone to go out on many dates.”

“Well, I’m not. But there’s this really beautiful forward that plays for the same national team and she has a pretty cool daughter,” I nodded. Alex gave me a small smile at that. “They’ve both been really amazing to me. Tonight, I figured that if this forward was able to create such a lovable and amazing daughter, then I would probably be interested in asking her out.”

“You have to plan it out,” Alex pointed at me.

“Deal,” I grinned. “So tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.”

[kingofmyheart-19]

Begin Again - Chapter 1

***thinking about posting my wattpad stuff here too, starting the first chapter of this book.

Six months prior - Mack's POV

I'm getting Riley ready for bed when my phone rings from the other room.

I look at my watch.

She's late again.

"Mommy? Where momma?" Riley asks me sadly.

"She had work, baby. She will see you in the morning."

She leans in and kisses my cheek, "Okay."

I scoop her up and kiss her cheek, "We love you. So much."

I set her in her crib and turn on her sound machine and then hit the light.

"Night night, mommy!"

I sigh, "Night night, baby."

I close her door and walk to the next room, "Max, come here, boy."

Our big yellow lab runs into the room and hops onto the bed.

I grab my phone and see two missed calls.

Ally.

I push her contact and it quickly gets picked up.

"Hello." A man's voice answers.

"Uh, hello? Who is this?" I ask, concerned.

"Is this the spouse of Allison Hughes?" He asks.

I gulp, "Y-yes? What is going on? Where is my wife?"

Silence.

"Mrs. Hughes? My name is Dr. Snyder, I was your wife's trauma doctor today."

My heart drops.

"What? Where is my wife?" I ask and stand up.

"Your wife was in a terrible accident. She came into my trauma bay and we performed CPR for 30 minutes, but her injuries were too extensive."

I stop pacing.

"No. Where is my wife? I want to talk to her! She-she was on her way home, albeit, late, but she was on her way!"

"Mrs. Hughes, your wife passed away about 30 minutes ago. We were unable to save her. I am so sorry." He says.

My brain is unable to compute what is actually happening.

"We have a two-year-old." Is the only phrase I can say.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Hughes. We will need you to come down to the hospital. It's a formality."

I stare at the bed and feel tears running down my cheeks.

I see the photo of us on our wedding day and when Riley was born.

"Fuck. Okay. I understand. I'll be there, what hospital?"

"UC San Diego Medical Center."

I hang up and rub my face.

'This can't be fucking real. It just can't be.'

I go to my contacts and click the name.

"Hey dude! What's going on?"

"Lauren?" I sniffle.

"Whoa. What's wrong? You and Ally okay?"

The mention of Ally makes me cry harder.

"Shit. This is bad. I'm coming over."

She hangs up and I sink to the floor.

'What am I going to do?'

Present

"Riley! Don't go too far, okay?" I call out.

"Won't, mommy!"

I look out at the ocean and sigh. I look down at my wedding rings that I can't take off.

'I miss you so much, babe.'

I look back up and try to locate Riley, but can't.

"Riley?" I call.

I feel my heart rate increase and call again, "Riley!"

"Mommy, I'm here!"

I whip around and see Riley run up with another girl.

I kneel down and hug her, "You scared me, baby."

"Right here, mommy." She says.

I pull back, "Who's your friend?"

She smiles, "This is Charlie!"

I smile, "Hi, Charlie."

"Hi! My momma is over here!" She says and bolts away.

I watch as she comes back, pulling a woman.

"Whoa, Charlie!" She says.

"Momma! This is Riley, my new friend! And this is her mommy!"

I smile and stand up, "Hi. I'm Mack."

She smiles and I feel butterflies in my stomach.

"Alex. Nice to meet you. Looks like these two are thick as thieves." She laughs.

I nod, "Looks like it."

"Can we go play?" Charlie asks.

"Yeah mommy, can we?" Riley pleads.

"Sure, but we have to go in 10, yeah?"

She nods and runs off with Charlie.

"She's cute, how old?" Alex asks.

"She's 3. What about Charlie?"

She smiles, "She just turned three too."

I nod, "Nice. We will have to exchange numbers so they can have play dates."

She smiles wider, "Totally."

We continue talking when I look at my phone.

"I'm so sorry, but we have to go. Riley, come on!"

She runs over, "Time to see momma?"

I smile sadly, "Yeah, baby. Just like always."

She nods, "Bye, Charlie! See you soon?"

Charlie nods and hugs her, "Yeah!"

I see a look in Alex's eyes, but it quickly changes, "Here's my number."

I grab it from her and nod, "Thank you. I'll text you."

She bobs her head, "Great. Bye!"

I wave and we walk to the car, getting in.

We pull into the cemetery and I park.

"Mommy?"

I sigh, "Yeah, baby?"

"When can momma come home from the cemetery?"

I feel my eyes fill with tears and sigh, getting out of the car.

I open the back door and get her out of her seat, setting her on the ground and kneeling.

"Ry, momma isn't coming home from the cemetery. She died, remember? Her body stopped working and she went to heaven." I say sadly.

She looks down and nods, "Lots of flowers."

I smile, "So many flowers, just like momma liked."

She sighs, "Go talk to momma, now?"

"Yeah, let's go."

She runs ahead and I look up.

'She misses you so much.'

Alex POV - later that week

"Earth to Alex! I'm telling you a story!"

I turn and see Taylor, "Sorry. Zoned out."

"What about? How your divorce with Serv is almost done with?"

I sigh, "No, but also thanks for the reminder."

She chuckles, "It's a good thing. Then you can be free to do what you want or really who you want."

I smile and shake my head, "You're ridiculous."

"Now that you're like settled on the whole being with a woman thing, we have to find you a lady!" She exclaims.

I sigh, "Oh my god."

"Come on! Let's go to the gay bar." She says, pushing my shoulder.

My eyes widen, "I have a three year old. No one wants my baggage."

She sighs, "Dude, you're a catch. Charlie is adorable. Also helps that you're a ridiculously famous soccer player."

I chuckle, "Maybe. I don't want to date another player though."

"Okay. But we will find you someone." She says.

"Sure."

I stand up and walk out of the locker room.

I get to my car and stare at my phone.

'That woman never texted me. Charlie's been asking about Riley.'

I sigh and head towards Charlie's school.

I pull in the parking lot and Mack crosses my mind again.

I shake my head.

'She had a ring on, Alex. Get a grip.'

Mack POV -

The bell rings and I smile, "Alright guys, that's the bell! I'll see you all next week!"

I watch as my high schoolers quickly clamber to get out of my classroom.

I turn and sit at my desk, starting to grade papers.

I glance up and see the photo of Ally and I with Riley, one month before she died.

I sigh and sit back.

"Knock knock, buddy! Time for the weekend!" Lauren waltzes in.

I look at her and smile, "Yup!"

"Let's go out tonight." She says and leans on my desk.

I stare at her and shake my head, "Riley is still having a hard time during bedtime without Ally."

She sighs, "You need a break. Call your mom, she can come watch Ry."

I look down, "I'm really missing her, Laur."

"I know you are, which is why you need a break. Let's go out, get a few beers, nothing crazy, you'll be home by 11. Ally would want you to take a break." She says.

I look back up at her, "Alright. I'll text my mom."

She pats my back, "It'll get better, I promise."

I bob my head, "Okay. I need to go get Riley."

"See you at 8."

She walks out and I lean back, looking up.

"Send me a sign, babe. I don't want to go on without you, but it's hard."

I close my eyes and sigh.

I gather my stuff and head to my car, going to get Riley.

I pull up to her preschool and smile when I see her running out on the playground.

'She's so much like her.'

I get out and she sees me, "Mommy!"

I jog over and pick her up, kissing her cheek.

"Hi my little love!"

"Hi Mrs. Hughes! Can we chat real quick?" Riley's teacher asks.

I nod, "Go play a little more."

I watch as Riley runs off and turn to her teacher.

"What's going on? Everything okay with Riley?" I ask.

She nods, "Yeah, just she's having a hard time napping and has been acting out a little bit."

"Acting out, how?" I inquire.

She sighs, "She's shoving kids, not sharing, wants to be by herself, which as you know, is not like her."

I shake my head, "It's not. She's been struggling with losing Ally."

She nods sadly, "I agree. I really think it'd be beneficial to have her see a social worker."

My eyes widen.

"I know that sounds scary, but you're an educator, you know the importance of getting the right supports in place." She says gently.

I think about it and let out a breath, "I know you're right. I'm just worried, she sleeps with me every night."

She nods, "We will support you guys just like we have been."

I nod, "Thank you, see you Monday."

"Come on, Ry!"

She skips over and grabs my hand.

We walk to the car and get in, "Okay, baby. Tonight, grandma is going to stay with you for a few hours. I'll tuck you in, but mommy is going to go out for a few hours with Auntie Lauren."

She shakes her head, "No, mommy! What if something happens!"

I sigh, "Nothing will happen. I'll see you in the morning. You'll be safe with grandma. Maybe she will even give you ice cream before sleep."

Her eyes well up and she nods, "Promise you'll come home?"

"Promise."

Alex POV

"Okay, let's get a drink!" Taylor yells.

We walk to the bar and I lean on it.

"Hey. What's your name?"

I turn and see a gorgeous blonde staring at me.

I smile, "Hi, I'm Alex."

"Elise."

"Nice to meet you." I say.

"Can I buy you a drink?"

I nod and am about to speak when someone bumps into me.

"I am so sorry. Jesus, I should really watch where I am-"

"Mack?" I ask.

She looks up at me, "Uh- Alex? Hi! What are- what are you doing here?"

I chuckle, "Same thing as you."

She stares at me and shakes her head, "Can I buy you a drink?"

I smile widely and nod.

"But-" Elise starts.

I turn to her, "I'm so sorry, but i know this one. Thanks for offering though."

She scoffs and walks off.

"Did I interrupt something?" Mack asks.

I shake my head, "No."

"Mack! The hell? You just wander off and now you're with some hot chick!"

My eyes widen.

"Holy. Are you her wife? I am so sorry, but I promise this is not what it looks like."

Her eyes widen, "Am I her- oh no. Just best friend."

Mack sighs and I notice her demeanor change.

"Lauren, what's your name?" The woman asks.

"I'm Alex. Our kids met at the park the other day." I say.

She smiles, "Oh, nice."

Mack is lost in thought and her friend nudges her.

She looks up, "Riley met her daughter at the park."

"We established that, idiot. You know what? I'm going to go find our crew. You'll catch up?"

Mack nods.

Lauren walks away, "So, you promised me a drink."

She smiles, "I did. Let's go out on the patio though."

We grab drinks and walk outside, which is way quieter.

We sit and I stare at her.

'She's so damn cute."

I shake my head.

"So, where's your wife?" I ask.

She looks down at her hand and sighs.

"I know you see these rings and that's why you ask."

I look at her confusedly.

She lets out another breath, "Alex, my wife died six months ago."

'What?'

[reimagine7]

They'll have to try harder to break me (Alex morgan x reader)

Request: Alex Morgan x R where the reader has a reputation for shrugging off injuries? During a big game she takes longer to get up and people worry until she says they have to try harder to break her?

Okay, I took a loooong time to write it down. Sorry, my life is a crazy mess right now and it was hard getting inspiration, motivation and time to write something. But I will try to start writing again, at least during the break. I hope you enjoy!

----------

Your pov

“I’m fine. It’s nothing, it was just a scratch.” I told Alex while cleaning the blood out of my knee. “Are you sure? You’re bleeding and it’s a little swollen.” She said, trying to get a closer look at my knee. But before she could touch it I finished the cleaning and put my knee down again. “Yes, I’m sure. Now stop worrying. I already told you it was nothing.” “I know, but you told me that last time as well, and where were we the day after? In the hospital with four stitches on your hips.”

I rolled my eyes, opened the door for us and entered the locker room where a few of the girls still were.

We had just finished the last practice before the friendly game we have tomorrow. During one of the drills I somehow was able to trip on my own feet, bumping and falling into one of the free kick mannequins. Earning a few scratches on my right knee. Nothing major.

“Y/n? How is your knee?” Christen asked. “It’s good, just a scratch.” “As always. You still even ask, Chris?” Sonnett jokes, coming to me and passing her arms around my shoulders. “Y/n is always tripping on her own. Tell me one time though that she admitted she was hurt?” Sonnett said, looking at the other girls.  Everyone just shrugs agreeing with her. “That 's because I’m not.” I defended myself. “Right, do I have to remind you the other time then when you said you were fine, that it was nothing and we ended up discovering you had a concussion?” Alex said to me, giving me a serious look. Passing me our bags and walking toward the bus and out of the locker room. I looked to the door she just left and then back at the girls. “Don’t worry Y/n as long as you keep getting up right away like you always do, we are okay with it.” 

I nodded at them and went after Alex.

Alex pov

It’s always like this. She gets hurt, but acts like it was nothing. I know that most of the time it is nothing, she is a defender after all, so she is always involved in tackles on the field. But I can’t help but worry. And Y/n don’t make it easy for me as well, she is always shrugging off injuries.

“Can I at least get a kiss?” Y/n came from behind me and hugged my waist. “That depends. Were you telling me the truth?” “I promise I’m okay. It was nothing. It’s just a…” “A scratch, yeah I heard it before. So why won't you let me look at it?” I said, turning around in her arms. “Because you will only get more worried, and it looks worse than it actually is.” I rolled my eyes. “Fine. But next time, if it hurts you promise to tell me?” “Of course.” I raised my eyebrow, not actually believing her. “As soon as it happens?” She took a little longer to answer me this time. “Yeah?” “Y/n!” “Will you be happy if my answer is, as soon as I think is important?” “No, not at all.” She just pouted at me, but in return I gave her a warning look. She was almost giving in, when a knock on the door stopped her. “Come on guys, dinner is in 10 minutes.” Y/n looked back at me and gave me a kiss. “Come on babe. We can’t get late.”

---

The game is 1-0 for us, it is now the 70th minute of the game and I got subbed off. I sat on the bank beside Tobin and she handed me a water bottle. “Tired?” “Yeah, a little. The game is tougher than we thought it would be, Germany is being hard on us.” I answered her not taking my eyes out of the game, after a good tackle from Y/n taking the ball out of bounds. “I know, Y/n is killing it though. They didn’t even get the chance to get close to the goal through her side yet.” I smirk at that. Of course I love to play, but I grew to love watching my girlfriend play just the same. Every tackle she makes and then quickly standing up celebrating each one of them. It’s hot.

We were watching the game when during one attack Y/n stole the ball from one of the germany players and looked around trying to find someone to pass the ball to. Becky took a little longer to appear, long enough for a second player to get to Y/n and they both to tackle her. The ball got out of bounds, but the referee called the foul. “Hey, ref. That’s a card. A red.” 

Everyone stood up from the bench yelling. The ref ignores us and only gives a warning to the player. I shook my head and looked to the field to try to see what Y/n was doing, she normally would be yelling at the ref as well. But when I noticed, she was still on the ground. “Why is she still on the ground?” Tobin looked back at me and then to Y/n, probably thinking the same thing. Y/n never stayed on the ground, not even when she was needing stitches. She is that stubborn. I start panicking. The doctor ran to her and she gave them a small smile. We couldn’t see much from here, but she soon stood up and the doctors gave us a thumbs up, which means she will be back on the pitch. Thank, god!

As the doctors had to take a look at her, she had to get out of the field and wait for the referee to allow her in again. Giving me just enough time to ask how she is. I don’t even get to ask her, because just by looking at my face she knew what I was thinking. “I’m okay. They will have to try harder to break me.” She sent me a wink and went back on the field.

The game passed fast after that. Y/n kept playing like always, Germany only got one more chance of goal, while he had a few, but none of the teams scored. The score remained 1-0.

I greeted a few players, but went as fast as I could to Y/n. Hugging her when I got to her. “How are you? When I didn’t see you standing up, I got so scared. You always do.” “And I did it again.” “I know, but you took longer this time.” “How is your knee?” “My knee is good.” “Great, I thought they had got you this time.” I gave her a peck and went to look at her, just then I noticed her guilty face. A frown immediately appeared on my face. “They did? But you said your knee was fine.” “Well…”

“Y/n!” One of the team doctors called for her. I looked back at her with worry. “So, remember when I said they had to try harder to break me?” I only nodded at her. “They kind of did.” “What do you m… where?” “The doctors think my forearm is broken.” “And you kept playing?” “Yeah? It was noth…” “If you say ‘it’s nothing’ one more time, you will be sleeping on the couch for the rest of the week.” I gave her a stern look. She just smirks at me and kisses my cheek. “Now let’s go, I should have made you promise to tell me yesterday.”

[wlw-imagines]

The Ups & Downs of an Elevator Love Story - Alex Morgan/Reader (USWNT)

request: "Hey, could you write a Alex Morgen x reader. Where Alex and r shared a drunk kiss at one night. The next they are so nervous that they dont talk to eachother. After a couple of days Alex or r takes the risk and ask the other on a date. End with fluff" - by androgynousmoneyflowervoid

a/n: we love a really unnecessarily long title xoxo sorry for taking roughly 3 years to post <3 as alwasy, it is not checked because i am lazy ! so if it doesn’t make sense or it’s patchy, lemme know and maybe i’ll come back to it in 5 years time to edit it ! 

Retrospect is a fine thing. Because you’d be the first to admit that, looking back on last night, you would be so much better off if you hadn’t gone. If, when you’d been asked whether you were going on to the roof party, you would say ‘oh, thanks but best not!’. But no.

Let’s start at the beginning.

The World Cup! Never in your wildest dreams did you think that you’d be here! And with a gold medal around your neck. It felt… you weren’t entirely sure what you felt. Whatever it was, you’d quite like it bottled up so that whenever you were feeling down you could just take some of this energy and feel absolutely on top of the world.

You were standing out there, on the field still, with confetti falling all around. It was never ending, that confetti. It felt like you could stand there for weeks and there would still be little pieces of red, white and blue paper raining down on you.

Kelley came crashing into your side, her arms wrapped around your waist, and you instinctively wrapped your arms around her shoulders to keep steady. It didn’t keep you steady, it just meant that when you fell, she came falling down on top of you.

She rolled off of you and onto her back, laughing with you, “Can you believe this? Your very own World Cup-final goal, huh?” She asked, looking at you from where she was laying on the grass with pride shining in her eyes.

You rolled over onto your front and leant up on your elbows to look at her, "I... can't believe it. Is this real life?"

"You'd better believe it baby!" She shouted, leaning up to squeeze your cheeks, "Come on, it's my favourite time of any competition." Kel stood up and held her hand out to help you up.

"What's that?" You asked, putting your hand in hers and letting her pull you up to a standing position next to her.

She grinned and wrapped her arm over your shoulders, "Getting outrageously drunk and celebrating, obviously."

"Oh, this I have got to see." You grinned, letting her guide you to the dressing room.

The closer the two of you got, the more you could hear the thumping of the music and the loud cheers from your team. Kelley squeezed you into a side hug, "I have a lot to teach you about parties with the national team. You will never experience anything like it."

"Oh yeah? How come?"

She put her pointer finger up to count the first reason, "First of all, high adrenaline because we just fucking won the World Cup and two, all the free booze."

"Free?" You asked, raising an eyebrow. By this point you were standing in the dressing room, surrounded by your friends. Some were just chilling by the side, in a state of absolute shock and happiness, and some had already started on the alcohol.

"Oh, sweet baby Y/N." She parted from you and shot you a wide grin, "Give me one second, I'll be right back. I'll find something to drink, okay? Want anything in particular?" She asked as she was starting to walk away into the mass of support staff and team members.

You just shrugged and shouted after her, “Whatever you can find!” Then she was gone. You looked around the room and spotted your seat with your stuff under it. You sat down for a moment, leaning back and shutting your eyes. Just hours before, you were in this exact position, absolutely wrecked with nerves and anxious energy - ready to fuel into your performance on the pitch. And look what had happened.

You jumped slightly as someone sat down on the bench next to you and nudged you with their elbow, "Hey." You smiled at Alex’s voice and opened your eyes, gazing up at her from your slouched position.

"Hi." You straightened up and your smile grew even more. Just a few years ago, you wouldn’t have believed someone if they had told you that here you would be - winning the World Cup with Alex Morgan. Yet here she was, and here you were. You were sure that you would never be more in love with her than you were in this moment. But you’d thought that many times and somehow the feelings you had for her still grew.

She nudged you again, "What took you so long?"

"I don't know, I was just... soaking it all in, y'know?" You shrugged and gazed around the room, aware of her eyes on you, which immediately made your brain go a little numb and it felt like you couldn’t get your ideas out properly. "It's so different out there when there's no one else, I’m sure you know the feeling. Kinda magical."

"Magical?" She asked, turning her body more to face you.

"Yeah, it’s kind of unreal. Maybe I'm just being lame." You shrugged and you could feel the heat of a light blush across your cheeks.

"No, I know what you mean. There is something special about it." The two of you sat for a moment, taking one another in. You could swear that her eyes flickered down to your lips and that the way she had let her tongue slightly wet her lips had been intentional… but she cleared her throat and brought herself back to reality, bringing you crashing back too, "I- do you want a drink?"

You shook out the tension that you had suddenly held in your body and took a deep breath, "Yeah, I think Kelley disappeared to find something to drink but-"

Alex laughed a little and shook her head, "She's gone, I promise you. You will not see her again for another hour at best." She held her can to you, "Here, you can have this one. I only just opened it, I haven't started drinking or anything, promise. I'll get another." She nudged it towards you again but you hesitated.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, "Of course, take it."

"Thanks." You smiled, letting your hand linger over hers as you took the drink from her.

Her eyes twinkled, "No worries."

“Alex!” Pinoe’s voice boomed from the other side of the room, at the same time as-

"Y/N!" Sonny came racing up to you and ruffled your hair over-excitedly.

Alex laughed and squeezed your hand, "I'll catch you later."

"Okay." You just nodded, dumbly, and watched as she walked off.

Emily fell down beside you, filling the seat Alex had just left, and laughed drunkenly, "Dude! Fuck! Isn’t this insane, we’re gold medalists, baby!” She wrapped her arms around your shoulders in a kind of hug and shook you.

“I’m… it’s surreal.” You let out a laugh, loving the energy of a room full of gold-medal world champs.

Em let out an overly dramatic gasp and grabbed your arm, almost making you drop your drink from Alex, "You only have one drink? Come on! Are you really celebrating if you don't have like three drinks at any one time?"

You laughed and shook your head but you could already see it was too late, Emily was set on getting you more drinks. Your words went completely in one ear and out the other, "This will do for now, I'm sure."

As you predicted, she ignored you, shaking her head and already walking away, "I'm getting you another one. By the time I get back I'm expecting an empty can!"

Okay, see? Probably the first mistake. Because maybe if you hadn’t had so much to drink then the night wouldn’t have ended the way it did. Though, the alcohol didn’t do much of the heavy lifting, it was mostly you. You knew exactly what you were doing when you-

Anyway, carrying on.

After the glass was drained, you turned around and somehow, magically, another glass was being handed to you. And not even by Kelley, Emily, or Alex.

And this seemed to happen again, and again, and again. Until you were probably too drunk to still be accepting drinks… but this was the World Cup! How often could you get to drink on the night of winning the World Cup?

Somehow, the team had made it from the dressing room back to the team bus, having been kicked out by the stadium not long ago. You could hardly remember how you had made it but you think Alyssa may have given you a piggyback? You were sure there would be video evidence of the entire night somewhere that you could check when you were… less drunk.

"Hey, Y/L/N, you coming?" Emily grabbed your face and you just grunted. The bus had stopped outside the hotel and almost everyone was already off and heading in. “Y/N! Wakey, wakey!”

You lifted a heavy eyelid and raised an eyebrow, "Coming? Where?" You managed to grunt.

She shook you again, enough to properly wake you up, and shouted happily, "After party, baby!"

Stretching, you fumbled for your seat belt and undid it before practically rolling out of your seat, "I don't know, I don't think I have ever had this much alcohol. I am so drunk, oh my god." You groaned, lying down in the aisle of the coach.

Emily laughed and stepped over you, "Come on, get your ass moving."

You waved her away, "Yeah, yeah, I'll see you there. I just need a 5 minute nap and then I’ll be back up and ready to party."

"Hey, you alright?" Alex’s voice immediately made you open your eyes and you looked up at her, standing over you.

Em, tapped her on the shoulder, "Alex, you're on Y/N watch!"

"What?" She asked, looking between you and Sonnett. You just waved at her happily.

Em raced off and Alex bent down to join your level on the floor, you grumbled as you sat up to face her, "Why are you not as drunk as me?"

"I am sorry, do you want me to catch up?" She smiled, holding you steady as you hoisted yourself up to a standing position again.

You shrugged and leant into her, "It's the only right thing to do."

"Are you heading up to your room?" She asked, as the two of you walked off the bus. She had put her hand around your waist and some point and you just smiled for a second before remembering you had to respond.

"I... I think there's another party."

"The roof?"

Your eyes widened, "The roof! Oh shit, Em missed out that it was a roof party!" That was insane. You could count the amount of roof parties you had been to on one hand (none). This changed everything, you had to go to that roof party. "Are you going?"

"I don't know..." She chewed her lip and looked at you, “Are you sure you don’t want to go to bed?”

“No, I’ve found more energy! I want to go.” You put your hand in hers, "Come on, how can I persuade you?"

Her eyes sparkled again as she grinned, "Persuade me?"

"Yeah," You took a step towards her so you were more face to face. You vaguely realised that you were wrapped up in someone else’s jumper and you were pretty sure it was Alex’s own. You smiled, and drunkenly held onto Alex’s hips, "Alex, I will personally make sure that you do not regret coming to the roof. Come on, this is a once in a lifetime."

“I'll have you know, I've won the World Cup before." She rolled her eyes jokingly and you grinned. You could feel the heat coming off of Alex’s body and you let go, instead opting to walk hand in hand into the hotel lobby.

"Oh, yeah?"

"It's true, I have."

You shrugged and smirked slightly, "Well, you haven't won it with me before."

"No, now that is true."

"Would you like to come to an World Cup champions, once-in-a-lifetime-because-it’s-with-Y/N roof party with me?" You asked, now in the foyer of the hotel.

She looked over at you and her eyes were soft, "I don't know how you did it, but you have actually convinced me."

You took a hold of her hand and squeezed it gently, coming to a stop in front of the hotel’s elevator, "And would you look at that?" You said as it pinged open at the exact same moment the two of you had arrived.

"Perfect timing." She murmured, squeezing your hand back.

You stepped aside, not letting go of her hand, as you let her on the elevator first, "After you."

xxxxxxxxxxxx

The roof had slowly emptied as the night grew longer and turned into morning. And throughout, both you and Alex had stuck side by side - dancing, drinking and laughing.

As the night - morning- had grown longer, everyone else had started disappearing downstairs until only you and Alex were left on the rooftop. Someone had left a speaker, playing softly in the background, and you didn’t think you ever wanted to leave this little bubble.

The two of you were snuggled next to each other, sharing a pool side lounger. You had been just chatting for the past half hour and you were in a new level of comfrt right now. Alex softly played with your hair and you sighed, cuddling further into Alex’s side. You lifted your head so that the two of you were face to face. “Can we just stay here?” You asked, hopefully.

She smiled and rested her head back, “For how long?”

“Maybe a bit of forever?” You grinned, resting your hand on the soft material of her shirt.

She turned back onto her side so she was facing you again and laughed, “I think the hotel would kick us out eventually.”

You contemplated her words and eventually conceded, nodding, “Hmm, true. Okay.” You sighed, eyes connecting with Alex’s. She was chewing her bottom lip and you frowned, raising your hand and using the pad of your thumb to gently pull it out from between her teeth. She smiled with soft eyes and you watched as her eyes fell to your lips, before reconnecting with your gaze.

She blinked a few times, pulling herself out of her trance and cleared her throat. “Ready?”

“Yeah.” You slowly nodded, watching her sit up and stretch. You took your time in getting up, letting the moment fully sink into your memory.

Alex joined her hand with yours and gently squeezed, “You know, we shouldn’t let this just be a France thing.” She mumbled, her hair falling out of the ponytail she put it in and falling into her eyes.

“What do you mean?” You asked, as the two of you started your way back to the exit of the roof.

She hrugged and smiled, “We can do this back home too.”

“Yeah, I’d like that.” Your smile mirrored hers. You held your gaze until... you didn’t. She was literally just there and then- a wave of pool water splashed up at you and you gasped at how cold it was. You quickly began laughing upon realising that Alex, somehow, had fallen into the pool. She resurfaced to find you cracking up, standing where she had been just seconds ago.

"Oh my god." She mumbled, swimming to the side of the pool and pausing below you.

You tried to stop laughing to check on her, "Are you okay?" You asked, letting out another brief snort of laughter as she jokingly glared at you from the pool.

"I didn't even realise the pool was there!" She exclaimed, letting her glare melt into a grin.

You bent down on the ground so that you were closer to her level, "Alex, I think you're more drunk than I had first thought."

"No, I swear! The pool moved." She pouted, glaring at the edge of the pool.

You raised an eyebrow and nodded, "Oh, really? The pool?"

"It did!" She laughed.

"I believe you, I do.” 

She stuck her tongue out at your sarcastic tone, “Just help me out?” She asked, reaching her hand out to you.

You smiled, standing up and planting your feet on the floor in an attempt to steady yourself before pulling her out. You reached out your hand to connect with hers, “Here.” Before you could steady yourself enough, Alex tugged on your arm and pulled you into the pool beside her. You managed to shout out an indignant, “Alex-!” before being fully submerged in the water.

As soon as the cold water had covered your body, you immediately righted yourself up at kicked off from the bottom of the pool, back to the surface to see Alex cracking up.

“I’m so sorry!” She said, laughing through the apology.

You let out a shocked laugh and swept the water out of your eyes, “That was so deliberate!”

She shrugged, and sheepishly swam slightly closer to you, “It was just so tempting.” She smiled.

You gasped and, as soon as she was close enough, began splashing her with water, “You are so mean!”

“I’m sorry!” She yelled through the walls of water being sent her way. She held her arm up to try and block the water, and swam closer to you, until she was close enough to hold your arms and stop the water being pushed her way. “It was funny though.” She mumbled, grinning.

You rasied an eyebrow and went to splash her again, “Oh, yeah?” She dodged the water and smiled, nodding. 

“Just a little bit...” She held up her hand, motioning ‘tiny’ by putting her forefinger and thumb a little bit away from one another. 

You had found yourself in the deep end and, although kicking to keep yourself up, you were tired. “I hope you know I’m already planning revenge.” You mumbled, before finding yourself bobbing underneath the water when you didn’t kick hard enough to keep you afloat.

Alex’s hands found their way to your hips and she pulled you up and closer to her. She wound her arms around your waist and swam the two of you to a shallower spot.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” She whispered, smiling. Your feet found the ground and, as you stood, you leaned into Alex’s embrace. “You okay?” 

You nodded slightly. Looking into Alex’s eyes, you paused. The way the lights were twinkling in her eyes. The way she looked at you, and held you, and touched you. Your breath hitched in your throat and her steady gaze on you turned into a questioning one. You weren’t entirely sure what she was asking but you just nodded.

Alex’s eyes flickered down to your lips, and her nose gently bumped against yours as she moved closer to you. You were so engrossed holding her gaze that you found yourself startled when you felt her hand move against your waist and up through the water. You let out a little shiver. Her hand came to a rest on your cheek and you could feel her thumb swipe against your cheekbone. 

"Y/N?” Alex almost soundlessly spoke your name.

“Alex.” You whispered back to her. You could see her smile, her eyes crinkling as she nudged your nose with hers again. She closed what little space there was left and you closed your eyes -- but all of a sudden, there was a loud noise that made the two of you startle.

You opened your eyes and jumped, swimming backwards in surprise when everything around you remained blank. You breathed a sigh of relief when you heard Alex murmur a little, "Shit. The lights went out." and you blinked, getting used to not being able to see your surroundings as clearly as before, but knowing that at least they were all still there. ”Y/N?” She called out and you swam slowly forward towards her voice, before gently colliding with Alex. “Hey, you good?” The two of you slowly blinked as your eyes began to adjust to the new light setting and you nodded at her.

“Yeah,” Your spoke, having to clear your voice when it was more shaky than you would have liked. She relaxed slightly and curled her arms around your waist again, holding on protectively. You let out a breathy laugh, "I, uh, think that might be a message they want us off the roof." She closed her eyes in, what looked like slight frustration, but nodded.

"I think you might be right." She smiled and the two of you swam to the edge of the pool, pulling yourself up and onto the side. The streams of water falling from your body and your clothes broke the silence of the, now dark, night. You sat by the side of the pool for a moment, shivering again.

Alex was the first to stand up and her movement caught your gaze. You looked up to her and, resting your chin on your knee, smiled, "We should go to bed. When's our flight?" Your teeth clattered slightly and you looked down, hugging your arms around your body in an attempt to warm yourself up.

"Early. I think we're leaving at 7." She responded. You turned to look at her again to respond, only to see her pulling her shirt off over her head. Your mouth gaped open slightly. She bent down to wring the water out of her shirt, twisting the material and letting it drip back into the pool. The sudden noise of water splashing into the pool brought you back to reality. You quickly realised you were staring, and quite literally gaping, at Alex so you made sure to (reluctantly) tear your gaze away.

You distracted yourself by looking down at your watch and you let out a small groan at the small numbers flashing back at you, "That's like three hours time, fuck." You rubbed your eyes and let out a small yawn, just now realising how tired you were. It had been a hell of a long day. You lifted your gaze to find Alex, wrapped in one of the blankets, looking down at you with a small, fond smile, looking like she was in some kind of daydream. You frowned, "You okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah, no, I'm good," She shook herself out of her trance and held her hand out for you. You stood up and she immediately opened the blanket, “Come here, you’re cold.” You stepped into her arms, and into the warmth of her embrace. After making sure you were completely surrounded by the blanket, she leaned back, a questioning look in her gaze as she pulled at your shirt. You just nodded again, trusting her. 

The question was clearly, ‘Can I take your top off?’, which became obvious when she began to unbutton your shirt. Her fingers moved quickly and, once she got to the last button, she removed her hands and nodded to you to remove the soaked shirt.

“You’ll be warmer without it, I promise.” She smiled, taking the blanket as you quickly removed your top and mirrored her actions from earlier, turning around to twist your shirt over the pool, shaking out as much water as you could.

You jumped slightly as her warm hands pulled you back into her, and the blanket, moments later. She let out a warm, breathy laugh as you turned to face her in the warm bundle of blanket.

“I’m not going to push you in again, I promise.” She hugged you, moving your wet hair and tucking it behind your ears again, “I wouldn’t do that.” She held your gaze, smirking slightly.

“I know, you’d never do something like that.” You joined her in the joke, laughing. 

She winked and smiled, entangling her fingers with yours before frowning, “You’re freezing.” She pulled your hand up to her lips and used her breath to warm your hands.

“Sorry.” You mumble, teeth clattering again.

She shook her head, “No, don’t be.” She gathered up the corners of the blanket, where she was holding it together and ducked out, handing them out to you, “Here, hold this and I’ll get us another blanket.” You gripped onto the blanket as she quickly grabbed the largest of the others and brought it back to you. You opened the blanket you were holding so that she could come back in and join you. She smiled, draping the second blanket across the two of you as well.

Now that you were starting to remember what it felt like to be warm again, you didn’t think it was too bad to stay for longer. As long as Alex was here. But it was late(/early) and you needed to be up soon. So you looked over to Alex, “Should we go?”

She smiled and nodded, "Just one moment. Let's just look at the view." You agreed, standing together - you in her arms, looking over the Paris skyline.

You looked to, what you thought could be, the East and nudged her, "You think we'd make it until the sun rises?"

Alex let out a small snort and shook her head, "No, you'd fall asleep."

You went to disagree with her but, to her credit, she was absolutely correct, "I definitely... would. Yeah, for sure." You grinned, nodding.

“It’s just so beautiful,” She glanced across the horizon one last time before turning to you with the same look of wonder in her eyes, "Come on then, let's go to bed." 

The two of you started to make your way to the exit (attempt no. 2 to leave tonight) and you quickly steered Alex to the right, "Careful, there's a pool right there. I don't know if you noticed it." You winked at her and she gasped softly, nudgin you in the ribs.

"Shut up." She smiled but didn’t protest any more. She stopped you both at the elevator, and pushed the call button.

You frowned as the elevator started making it’s way up to your floor. "We are dripping wet, we can't go in the elevator." You paused, looking down at you shorts (still dripping pool water) and your shirt gripped in your hand (still, also, dripping pool water) and to Alex, who was in a similar situation. “The stairs are literally right there. We’re, like, four floors down.”

“And get the stairs all wet?” She raised an eyebrow. “Come on, I can’t be bothered with stairs.” She pouted, “It’s late.”

The doors opened up and Alex stepped in and turned around, waiting for you.

You paused for a few more seconds, before begrudgingly, and slowly, entering the elevator with her, “We’re athletes. Aren’t athletes meant to be all about taking the stairs instead of the elevator.”

Alex pulled you closer in by your blanket, “Y/N, my love,” She held your cheeks in her hands, and a blush instantly creeped up through your face, “We just won the World Cup, I think we can take a night off.” She turned around and pushed the button to the floor where the team were staying. 

You couldn’t believe that someone’s words would have such an effect on you. Your heart clenched with emotion and you felt light headed. You cleared your throat and, as she turned back around to face you, asked, “Can you say that again?” Your whole body felt tense in anticipation, “Just one more time.” 

“What that we’re world champs?” She grinned and you hesitantly shook your head.

“No, that... other bit?” You whispered. The grin slowly fell from her face when it dawned on her what you meant, and she raised an eyebrow.

Alex took a step closer to you, “Y/N,” She smiled softly and her gaze held the most tender emotion you might have ever seen, “my love?” 

You couldn’t trust your voice so you nodded at her words. Before you could even try to say anything more, Alex’s lips were on yours and her hands had you pushed up against the wall of elevator. The blanket slipped from your shoulders as you reached to pull her closer to you. Her hair was still slightly dripping and you could feel small drops of water falling on you, you smiled into the kiss and she slowly pulled away, slightly breathless.

As she moved slowly back, you moved with her, pressing small kisses with a smile to the corner of her mouth as she smiled back at you.

Alex leant back into you, “Happy we took the elevator now?” She asked with a teasing smile. You responded by reconnecting your lips, and she had you back up against the wall. Just as the kiss was about to deepend- ding dong.

“Fuck-” You moved away, breathing slightly heavily. The doors to elevator started to swing open.

"It's-" Alex sighed, looking to check the floor number, "This is our floor." She didn’t move away from you, keeping her hands on you - until the doors started to close again and she had to dash to keep them open. You bent down to grab the fallen blankets as she held the doors.

The two of you walked down the corridor in a comfortable silence, aware of your sleeping teammates behind every door. Once she’d walked you back to your door, she started chewing her lip again. You raised your thumb to gently free her lip before reaching up to press a short kiss to her lips.

"Are you sure you'll make it all the way back to yours." You asked jokingly, a smile growing on your lips as you leant against your hotel room’s door.

She shook her head, "You know, I don't kn- what if I don't?" She whispered.

"I'll make sure you do." You promised, squeezing her hand as she started to walk backwards to her room.

She stopped at the room opposite yours, just far enough that you couldn’t reach on another, and smiled, "I think I made it."

"I'll see you in the morning?" You asked, looking at your watch again, “Two and a half hours!” You tried to pretend to be cheery about the fact that you were going to get literally no sleep.

“I’ll see you in two and a half hours.” She nodded.

"Night." You waved, opening your door. She silently waved back, opening hers at the same time.

You closed the door behind you and took a deep breath. What the fuck?

Emily shifted in her bed, raising her head and opening a sleepy eye, “Y/N?”

“Em, I’m fine, go back to sleep.” You whispered, walking round her bed to get to yours.

“Why aren’t you wearing a top?”

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Y/N... Y/N!" Emily shouted, her words piercing through your nice, comfy bubble of sleep.

You groaned and waved her off, "Yeah, yep, I'm up." You croaked out and stayed put, hearing Emily’s receeding footsteps and thinking you could get another 5 minutes of sleep, at least...

Something hit the back of your head, "Come on, we're leaving in ten." Emily’s voice sounded out, “I’ve packed most of your bag, but we gotta hurry.”

"What?" You took the duvet off, and turned around in bed to face the ceiling. It was bright, too bright for your liking.

Em was rushing around the room, "It's nearly 7, we've got to be in the lobby in ten minutes." She said, putting her toothbrush in her mouth at the same time as folding your clothes and stuffing them in your bag.

You groaned again, "Shit."

"Come on." She garbled out, through her toothpaste.

You sat up in bed and shook your head, "I think I'm still drunk."

"Yeah, join the club." She grined, throwing something else your way. “Come on, pack your bag.”

You wince and move off the bed, "Did I do anything stupid? I feel like I did something stupid." You said, frowning at your slightly damp hair and shorts. “Where’s my shirt?”

"Who knows? Probably. I was just as out of it as you. Anymore questions?" She raised an eyebrow and you shook your head, "Let’s go, I've packed everything from the bathroom. You've just got to clean teeth and get changed."

You slowly move from your bed to the bahtroom and do as you’re told as quickly as your body can function.

You popped your head round the doorway and looked in the room, "I thought Alex slept over last night?" You said, this time you were the one speaking despite the toothpaste filling your mouth.

Em rasied an eyebrow and shook her head, "Nope, just us. You're just dreaming about her I guess."

"Stop it, I'm not." You threw your toothpaste tube at her and she just ducked in time.

"You're blushing!" She shouted at you, putting the tube in your suitcase.

"Shut up," You cleaned your mouth out and cleaned your toothbrush before packing that too. "She walked me back to the room, I thought she stayed but obviously not."

"You wished she stayed." She threw the clothes at you to get changed but then hesitated, not throwing your shirt to you yet, “Wait, she walked you back? Miss not-wearing-a-shirt? Was Alex also perhaps not wearing a shirt?”

You glared at her, "I will empty your suitcase off of our balcony if you're not careful."

Em grinned, throwing the shirt, you turned around to get changed, "I’ll throw your suitcase down the elevator shaft then." 

"Oh my god." You winced again at the memory. 

"What?"

You put your hands on your head and shook it in slight panic, "I think I'm going to throw up."

Em made a face, "Alcohol does that to you. Just don't throw up on me."

"No, Em! I kissed Al." You turned to her, eyes wide.

"You wish you kis-"

You shook your head, throwing your shirt back at Em to shut her up, "Sonny. I'm not kidding. Fuck! We kissed."

"Wait, what? When?" She asked, expression matching yours now. She came and sat down on the bed next to you, putting your shirt on the pile of clothes you still needed to get changed into.

"Last night! She walked me down and-"

Alex leant back into you, “Happy we took the elevator now?” She asked with a teasing smile.

"Fuck!"

Em shrugged, "It's not that bad! I've been trying to get you to gain the courage to do something about you're massive crush for ages. Drunk you has the courage."

"No! Drunk me is dumb!" You put your head in your hands.

Em sympathised for a moment and then cleared her throat, "Okay, I know you're having a bit of a moment but we really need to go or we'll hold everyone up and they'll be pissed." She stood up, nudging your clothes towards you.

You bit your lip, "Em, what do I do?"

“Uh, get dressed?” She smiled, sitting back down for a moment, "It'll be fine, just talk to her about it. I've been trying to tell you that she likes you too. Kelley told me when we were drunk ages ago."

"I don't know."

"Oh my god." She held onto your shoulders and lightly shook you, “Dude, she kissed you. You kissed her. She likes you. You like her.”

"We were both really drunk." You shrugged.

"Yeah, you still are, dumbass."

"Emily..." You whined, not sure what you were going to say to Alex, or, worse, what she was going to say to you.

"It’ll be fine.” She ruffled your hair, “Just- come on, love bird." She grabbed your shirt and handed it to you, “But please don’t take each other’s shirts off this time.” 

xxxxxxxxxxxx

You sighed, having just taken a team photo on the steps to your plane, a.k.a the thing you were going to be stuck on for the next however many hours alongside Alex. You trailed up the stairs, taking your time and trying to ignore the hangover. This was a big mistake.

No chairs left. How were there no chairs left, apart from-

"Can I sit here?" You asked Alex, motioning to the seat opposite her.

"Huh? Oh, I- sure, yeah. Here." She moved her bag and blanket off of it so you could sit down. You looked for any hint of what she was thinking in her eyes. They had been so easy to read last night. Whay was she thinking now?

You realised you were staring and sprang into action, sitting down in the now empty seat, "Thanks." You smiled, relazing into it.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, raising her eyes from her phone and over to you.

"I..." You gulped and shrugged, "I feel this is going to be the worst hangover of my life." You said, honestly.

Emily popped up from the seat behind you and leant over, "More drinks in the day keeps the hangover away." She grinned, her sunglasses covering her eyes as she held up a bottle of champagne.

You groaned and swatted her away, "Em, go away, you and Kelley got me into this mess."

"I'm here to offer you another glass of champagne - for our winning goal-scorer." She ruffled your hair again, "And how about a drink for the lover?" She asked, looking over at Alex.

"The what?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.

You gritted your teeth, "The what?" You glared at Em, trying to convey a very particular message. Don’t you dare.

She raised her eyebrows in innocence, "Hmm? I said... what about a drink for the... mother. How is Charlie? I bet she's missed you, huh?" She said, clearly thinking on her feet. Alex was about to answer when Kelley shouted across the plane.

"Em! Want a beer?" She asked and Em nodded, immediately getting up to run over to her. 

"Yep, coming." As she passed Alex, she turned around to look at you.

'I'm sorry!' Emily mouthed to you with a massive grin that screamed that she was, in fact, not sorry. You scowled back at her but quickly smiled as Alex looked up to you.

"She's... weird." Alex said, after a long pause.

You quickly nodded, trying to forget this ever happened, "Yes, yep. Very weird."

"How... did you sleep?" She asked, locking eyes with you.

"Honestly, not great. I think I might still be asleep even though I'm walking and talking."

“Maybe we stayed up a bit too long.” She smiled and you mirrored it, nodding.

"Yeah, god, we must have, I mean, like... I only slept for like 3 hours."

"Less probably. I'm going to need a lot of lie ins to make up for this." She winced, rubbing at her eyes.

"I hardly remember what went on yesterday. Even, y'know, the whole soccer part is just one big blur."

"Oh yeah? No, same... We must have had some fun though."

You grinned, just now recalling the actual game rather than just replaying the kiss again and again, "I would happily win the World Cup again if I could have a repeat of last night."

"We've still got lots to come." She smiled, another soft smile like last night, and nudged your knee with hers.

You relaxed slightly and nodded, gulping down the fear and taking a deep breath in, “Yeah... Hey, Alex, about last ni-” But you were interrupted by her phone going off. 

She picked it up straight away and her face broke into a grin, “Oh, shit, that’s Charlie. I said I’d call her and my parents before take-off, do you mind?” She asked, hardly sparing you a glance.

You shook your head, “No, no, of couse not.”

"Get some sleep, you’ll need it." She smiled and held up her blanket, "Want to share?"

Your palms went a bit sweaty as more memories from last night flooded your mind, "Yeah, sounds good. Thanks." You smiled, tugging it over the two of you.

She answered the call, pressing her phone to her ear as she said, “Hey!” You couldn’t help but smile at her joy, before turning over and desperately trying to get some much needed sleep.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Em sighed as she chucked a beach ball at Rose’s head, before flopping down on the lounger next to you. "Y/N! Come on, it's been days now. You still haven't talked to her about it?" She looked exasperated and you winced slightly.

"Yeah, okay, but technically she also hasn't said anything to me, so..." You trailed off, sitting up and shrugging.

Lindsey joined in the telling off. Emily had taken it upon herself to update anyone and everyone who wanted to listen about your love life. Cheers Em! "You just need to talk to her! You're being an idiot." Lindsey said, affectionately. 

“But, like, I gave her the chance to talk about it and she clearly didn’t want to-”

Em hity ou over the head, “Neither did you! She probably thinks you are embarrassed and don’t want to talk about it.”

“I’m not embarrassed. But what if she is?”

“Oh my god.” Rose snorted, putting her sunglasses up on the top of her head.

You groaned. None of your friends were backing you up here, wasn’t that meant to be there job? "Do you think I could get away with never having to talk to her again?"

Kelley came to sit next to Em, hanging her up over her shoulders, "Honey, babe, I'm sorry to have to tell you this but... you're on media duty with her today." She looked from her phone, to you.

You rasied an eyebrow, "You what?"

"Yeah... you've literally got to sit with her, in close proximity, answering random questions for about... three hours." She said, before smiling.

"You're messing with me." You shook your head.

Kelley shrugged and gestured to her phone, "Did you not see the email?"

You frowned, “Email...?”

Rose looked over at you, “Yeah, you know... that thing they invented. It’s like sending a letter but... online.”

"You guys get emailed stuff?" You asked in disbelief. They were pulling your leg. This isn’t real.

"You don't?" Rose asked.

You shrugged and mumbled under your breath, "Well, I've never had one..” 

“Give me your phone.” Em reached her hand out, gesturing for you to hand it over.

“Why?”

She rolled her eyes, “I’ll find the email for you.”

You huffed slightly but gave her your phone anyway, “I’m telling you, I didn’t get one.” You tried your best to convince everyone around you. Emily just handed back your phone. You frowned and she pointed at the screen. You looked down at the open email, "Since when do we get emails?" You asked, flicking through it and seeing yours and Alex’s names at the media section, "Fuck."

Em grinned, leaning back on the lounger and putting her legs up on Kelley’s lap, "I don't know about you guys, but I am having the time of my life right now."

"You, Emily Sonnett, are an asshole." You pointed at her, putting your phone down and standing up. You scooped her up and carried her over to the pool.

She wriggled slightly and shook her head, "No-! Don't you dare-" You dropped her in, grinning as you waited for her to resurface.

When she did, you shrugged down at her, "You asked for it." 

“You’re the one who doesn’t know what an email is!” She shouted, splashing water at your feet.

You laughed and let your mouth drop open at the accusation, “I know what an email is, I- ah, Kelley, no!” You screeched as Kelley lifts you up, holding you above the water. You cling onto her, “Wait, we can talk about this. Don’t drop me!” You beg.

Kelley gets distracted, seeing her friend across the pool, “Alex!” She shouts and drops you so can she wave at her.

“Kel!” Alex shouted in indignation. You resurface, get dunked again by Em, before resurfacing and swimming over to Alex, who is now stnding next to Kelley. "Y/N?" She looks down at you, an eyebrow raised.

"Uh, hi." You smile and wave.

"Hey," She gazes at you a second before regaining her train of thought, "um, media starts in, like, half an hour."

Your heart sinks ever so slightly but you nod. Best get this over and done with, "Right, yes, I- will go get ready." You point towards the steps out of the pool. As you’re swimming she calls over.

"I can help you if you want?" She offers and you turn, swimming backwards.

“Sure, yeah.” You nod, before arriving at the steps an quickly climbing out. As you’re getting out of the pool, Kelley smirks at Alex next to her.

"I'm sure you can really help her." She winks and Alex blushes before quickly pushing Kelley into the pool. She walks over to you. You look back at the splash and Kelley resurfacing, grinning at you and Alex.

You frown, turning to Alex and point to Kel with your thumb, “Kelley... did she just-?”

“She fell.” Alex quickly responded, a blush still evident on her cheeks.

You nod, “Huh.” And quickly run to catch up with Alex, grabbing your stuff from your lounger as you go past, thanking Lindsey and Rose’s ‘Good Luck’ as you go.

By the time you do catch up with Alex, the elevator has already reached your floor, “Good timing.” She mumbles and then falters, “Um, after you.” She offers, staying back to let you go first.

You nod and smile, before hurrying in, trying not to drop everything, “Sorry, thanks.” You clear your throat to try and shift the awkward feeling in your chest, and say the first thing that comes to mind, “I feel like I’ll annoy the hotel staff by getting water all over the elevator.”

“Not the first elevator we’ve flooded.” Alex smiles as she leans on the wall of the elevator.

You flush at your stupidity - of all the things to say... “No, I guess not.”

“Um, about that...” Alex shuffles her feet, standing up and pushing off of the wall.

You notice her pause again, “The other night?” You prompt her, interested in what she has to say about it. You try to steady your breathing, hoping it’s the outcome you want, hoping she still means everything she said.

She takes a deep breath and reaches past you to push the floor you’re both staying on with the team.

“Yes, yeah, I didn’t mean to be awkward about it. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable or anything. It wasn’t my intention.” She nervously puts her hands in her pockets and flicks her gaze between you and the floor.

“No, you haven’t- I’m not...” Your heart sinks slightly, “I didn’t want to bring it up in case you didn’t want to talk about it or something.”

“And I thought maybe you- maybe we were just, I don’t know, like, high on adrenaline and alcohol so maybe it didn’t actually mean anything.”

“Exactly!” You take a sharp breath in, because that’s exactly what you were worried about too. It’s Alex, for god’s sake. She could have kissed anyone. Was it you because you were there? Or because you had both been celebrating together?

Alex was holding her body tensly the whole time and she suddenly seems to deflate, “Sorry, we can just forget it happened.” You frown, how did you get to this point?

The elevator only just jolts into life as it starts taking you down to your floor.

“Oh, right. Yeah, maybe that’s... for the best.” You frown again, you can’t help but notice the signs that show she’s disappointed. Or is she? You sighed, and steel yourself. You needed to just double chck, you’d forever kick yourself if you let Alex slip through your fingers, “Or-”

“Or?” She immediately repeats, gently lifting her gaze to yours. 

You wince before you’ve even said it. Drunk you thought it was romantic but maybe this was corny and would comfirm your place as a friend only. Fuck it - “We don’t have to let this just become a France thing...?”

"It can be a home thing too?” A blush returned and she chewed on her lower lip, before letting out a giant grin, “We’re a bit fucking cheesy when we’re drunk.”

You smirked, relaxing, “You can say that again.”

Alex steps forward and your smile falls from your face slightly as she looks so serious. She pushes a strand of your wet hair behind your ears and you’re very aware that, once again, you’re drenched in water, you’re not wearing a top and you’re pretty sure Alex Morgan is about to kiss you. 

She cups your cheeks in the palms of her hands and nudged your nose gently with hers, “Y/N, my love, we are the cheesiest drunks.” 

“I think we’re pretty cheesy sober, too.” You mumble, before connecting your lips once more. You smiled of the, already familiar, feel of Alex’s hands on your hips as she swivelled you around so she could push you up against the wall. “This feels kind of familiar?” You briefly pull away to tease her. She only responds by kissing you more deeply, her hands starting to wander- “I think I should remind you that we’re in an elevator.”

“Right, yeah.” She replies this time, mumbling her answer into your lips, lifting her hands back up to your waist.

She pulls away, clear pride in her eyes as she smiles. You’re not sure you remember seeing her smile this brightly at you until now. And that warms your heart.

“Can I take you for dinner tonight?” She asks, hope in her eyes, along with a tiny little amount of fear.

You don’t even hesitate, nodding straight away, “Yes, yeah... I’d like that.”

“I won’t make you take your shirt off this time.” She grins, before looking down and looking back up at you, “...Not that you actually appear to have a shirt to take off...”

You blush, and look down, “Oh, yeah, I went swimming...” You try to reason your lack of shirt and pants. You’ve won the World Cup, doesn’t that win you the right to hang out in just your bikini for several weeks? At least?

“Or pants, for that matter.” Alex hummed, raising an eyebrow.

You smile and pull her back into you so her gaze returns to yours, “When did this become a conversation about my clothes?”

“Probably when I realised you weren’t wearing any.” She whispered, pressing a quick kiss to your lips.

“Bikini. A bikini is a kind of outfit.” You mumble, slightly disorientated by the whirl of emotions you’ve been through the past few days, and now here you are. Kissing. Sober - (Kind of).

The elevator comes to a stop and Alex takes a hesitative step away, “You should probably get some clothes on.” Her gaze momentarily slips, before returning back up to your eyes again, “For the media day.” She smirks and the doors open. She throws your towel over you and intertwines your fingers, walking out into the corridor.

No one is there to witness the chaos of the two of you coming out of the elevator in a state of undress - luckily. She pushes you gently towards your hotel door.

You lean on your doorway and pull her towards you, innocently cocking your head to the side, “I thought you told Kelley you were going to help me?”

“Haha.” She laughs sarcastically, shaking her head and checking the time on her watch. You raise an eyebrow, opening the door to your room and holding it for her to go in first. She hesitates for a moment, standing strong, before completely giving in. As she walks past you, she peppers your face with kisses, pulling you inside with her.

[wordsbyrian]

First Skateboard - Alex Morgan x Reader

Summary: A sequel to "Skater Girl" in which R (a professional skateboarder) gets a skateboard for Charlie.

A/N: I actually had the idea for this before the idea for Skater Girl but I felt like I had to write that one first. Yeah, enjoy. Also, all mentioned skateboarders are real people except the photographer.

Ever since you reconnected with Alex a few years ago, life has been going pretty well for you. On both a personal and professional level.

Professionally, you’ve dropped some of your best video parts ever, you brought home a couple of X Games, SLS, and Dew Tour medals and you backside-flipped El Toro before they tore it down.

In your personal life, you and Alex got married a few years ago and have since had a daughter Charlie.

Plus, you haven’t even been tempted to break your sobriety since that day you saw Alex at the bottom of the hill.

Good things all around.

And they were only going to get better because Reynolds, your close friend and the man in charge of Baker skateboards, called last week and told you to expect a surprise with your next board and merch delivery.

A delivery which just arrived.

Flinging the front food open, you shout thanks to the mailman before grabbing both boxes and heading inside, the door slamming shut behind you.

Normally, all of your sponsorship deliveries get taken directly to either your car, for immediate use or to your “skate cave” (the garage) to be out of the way until you need them.

This time you carry them straight to the living room, where Alex and Charlie are hanging out.

“Hey Chuck,” you say, getting the attention of both your wife and daughter, “Uncle Andrew sent you a present.”

“Present?”

“Yea, little dude,” you confirm, setting both boxes down, “a present.”

As Charlie walks to you on slightly unsteady feet, you have to do your best to not laugh at the look on Alex’s face.

You know what she’s thinking, of course, the last time Reynolds sent you anything for Charlie, it was a baby dirt bike that was immediately banished to the garage.

Although, he’s assured you it's nothing that out there this time around.

Dropping to the ground beside the boxes, you shoot her what you hope is a reassuring smile before using a key to slice the tape and help Charlie open them.

When she does get the first open, you have to hold back another laugh because sitting on top of all the fresh merch is a bottle of Tylenol with the words “For Alex - Chill Pills” written on it.

Grabbing them before Charlie can, you toss them to their designated recipient.

“Looks like the Boss sent you something too, babe,” you say, carefully watching her face for any reaction.

It takes her a moment but eventually she just sighs deeply, putting the bottle somewhere Charlie can’t reach it, and speaks, “All of your friends are idiots, especially Reynolds.”

“I’ll make sure that I let him know you said that.”

Looking back down, you’re unsurprised to see Charlie already reaching into the box and pulling out some of the items.

It’s mostly shirts with the latest designs on them and you see a few packs of stickers and some hats in there as well.

Dropping one of the hats on the toddler’s head so that it covers her eyes, you hurriedly hide the stickers, sliding them underneath your leg. The last thing you want is for Alex to be mad because you let Charlie put one somewhere it shouldn’t go.

By the time she removes the hat, all stickers are out of sight and you’re already opening the box containing the decks.

Once it’s open you see exactly what Reynolds was talking about.

There sitting on top of the boards that you know are for you, is what has to be the smallest skateboard you have ever seen.

Smiling softly, you pass it to Charlie who immediately spins around to show Alex.

“Mommy,” she shouts, “Look what Uncle Andrew got me.”

The smile on Alex’s face is forced but she hides it well enough that Charlie can’t tell.

“That’s so cool, baby,” Alex says, “Why don’t you go put it in your room with your other toys.”

It takes a moment but Charlie does eventually run off to put the board away. You and Alex both stare after her silently waiting to see if she comes running back or if she gets distracted like she normally does.

When she doesn’t come rushing back, Alex immediately turns on you, face set in a hard glare.

“Seriously, Y/N,” she asks.

“What?”

“A skateboard? She’s not even three years old yet.”

“It’s just a board Alex, it’s perfectly safe,” you say calmly.

“You just got a cast taken off your arm last week.”

“That’s because I’m an idiot, Charlie isn’t going to be trying to drop in off roofs for a long time,” you try to explain, “Besides with me, Reynolds, and all the other guys, she’ll be perfectly safe.”

The look you get lets you know that your appeal isn’t working at all.

And if the look wasn’t enough to show you that Alex wasn’t moved by your words, what came out of her mouth surely is.

“I’m sorry that I don’t trust your idiot friends who nearly burned down their own warehouse to keep my daughter safe.”

Something about the way she says it pisses you off but the reasonable part of your brain knows that being angry isn’t going to make this conversation any easier.

So you take a moment, putting everything back in the boxes and grabbing them as you stand up.

“I’m gonna go put this stuff away,” you say, not looking at her, “Come talk to me when you remember that Charlie’s my kid too.”

“Y/N.”

You cut her off and continue walking away, “Seriously Alex, not now.”

A few weeks later, the incident is mostly forgotten, in that neither you nor Alex have brought it back up and have chosen to continue like it never happened.

At least that’s how you’ve been handling it until Alex walks into your bedroom one night after Charlie’s been put to bed with a concerned look on her face.

“What’s the matter,” you ask, setting your book down.

“The nanny canceled for tomorrow.”

“Oh shit.”

Alex has to hold back a smile as she rolls her eyes at your response and walks to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

“Yup,” she says, “And I can’t take her to training with me tomorrow, we have meetings in between our two sessions.”

“I’m kinda free in the morning, I’ve got a couple of calls with Nike and Red Bull,” you tell her, “the problem is the afternoon. Beagle and some of the guys are supposed to come down so we can get clips. Deadline’s coming up.”

You hear a groan followed by a light slight thump before Alex speaks again.

“Crap, can you take her with you,” she asks.

It’s your turn to grimace, the idea of having Charlie watch you and your friends practically throw yourself down stairs is not a very appealing one.

Seeming to sense your hesitation, Alex continues speaking, “You can bring the board Reynolds sent her and show her what you do for work.”

“Uh, what,” you say confused.

“Last week, Charlie said that I play soccer for work and that you take phone calls for work,” she says in a way of explanation.

“I’m not sure how that managed to change your mind about her skateboarding.”

It takes her another moment to respond and you just sit there staring waiting for her to finish brushing her teeth.

When she does, she walks back out of the bathroom and says, “You don’t think it’s weird that our daughter has no idea what you do for work? It doesn’t bother you?”

“Uh, no,” it sounds like a question even though you don’t mean for it to. “I’m 33 years old and I have no clue what either of my parents did for work when I was a kid. I think my dad might have been in the mob.”

“Can you be serious for 5 minutes, Y/N/N?”

“I think I’d die if I tried,” you say with a grin, “Might even be offed by my mob boss father.”

“You’re intolerable,” Alex says getting into bed.

“So I’ve been told,” you respond, “Just relax, I’ll take Chuck with me tomorrow. We’ll hang out with Beagle and the boys and everything will be cool.”

And for the most part, the majority of the next morning is cool, your calls go well and you manage to get all the details you need for the team tours hammered out.

The afternoon is when things take a slight turn.

First, Beagle and the guys showed up a little early, which normally wouldn’t have been a problem but Figgy walked into the house and immediately went to wake Charlie up from her nap.

Then you had to try and get a toddler and five grown men out of the house. It was only the promise of you buying lunch that convinces your friends and the promise of being taught to skateboard that convinces Charlie to head out to the van.

After that, it's back to smooth sailing.

You guys manage to knock out a few spots, everybody getting the tricks or lines that they’ve been working.

It’s at the final spot that you realize that maybe Alex was right about not having your friends around Charlie.

It all happens so suddenly too.

One second you’re slamming after yet again failing to laser flip down the Valencia 20 stair and the next you’re hearing a little voice saying, “Mama, you just got fucking broke off!”

And the only thought you have, while you’re laying there trying to catch your breath, is that it’s your fault really. You're the one that left Dickson and Theotis watching her while you tried this trick.

You don’t even have the energy to tell her not to say things like that, you need every last ounce of it that you do have to pull yourself back up the stairs to give the trick another go.

You speak only a few words on your way back up, “Thanks, Charlie. Beagle, I’ve got it this try, man.”

“Yeah, man, let’s get it,” the filmer shouts up at you.

It’s probably going to be your last shot to nail this trick, your body is aching, your shirt is torn, and you're pretty sure that you’ve got a couple of scrapes leaking blood and staining it.

So taking a deep breath, you begin pushing towards the stairs again.

Next thing you know, you're at the bottom of the stairs still on your board rolling away. Figgy, Dickson, and MIke, your photographer, are hooting and hollering, Theotis is skating after you holding Charlie, and Beagle is running behind you, camera still in hand.

Slowing to a stop, you let yourself be surrounded by your friends and take Charlie into your arms, you look at Beagle who speaks first.

“That’s the ender right there man, we start the part with that last slam and we have gold bro,” he says.

Before you have a chance to respond, Charlie speaks.

“Mama that was so cool,” she practically yells in your face, “Teach me how to do that?”

“Maybe we work on the basics like standing on the board first, and then work our way up to things like that,” you tell her, already fearing the repercussions from Alex. “Come let’s go ride for a bit while Figgy tries to kill this rail.”

“It’ll be gnarly.”

That night when you get home, you’re unsurprised to see that Alex is already there.

“Babe, we’re back,” you shout in greeting.

“In the kitchen.”

Making your way there, you’re quick to try and greet her with a kiss but you’re shocked when she leans away instead of returning your affection.

When you pout at her, she just rolls her eyes and says, “You smell, you’re covered in dirt, and,” she pauses, “Is that blood?”

“Might be,” you shrug, “Can I have my kiss now?”

You lean in again only to be stopped by a hand to the chest pushing you away.

“Go take a shower and then I’ll think about it,” she says.

Taking a step back you sigh, “Ugh fine. Charlie tell your mommy about all the stuff you did today.”

You begin walking away as your daughter begins to ramble. You make it halfway to your room when you hear it.

“And then we went to a school and Mama got fucking broke off when…”

You go running back to the kitchen shouting, “Charlie no!”

Alex glares at you the second you make it to the doorway.

“Y/N,” her voice is stern, “Why is our toddler cursing?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Never again, Y/N, never again.”

“Fair enough.”

[gamergirl929]

When Somebody Loved Me (Everything Was Beautiful) (Alex Morgan x Reader)

A reunion of childhood best friends would typically be a jubilant affair, but not in this case. No, because you were about to reunite with none other than Alex Morgan, the woman who left you behind when you were kids, the woman who'd broken not only your heart but your spirit as well.

I really want to thank @kingofmyheart-19, without them I doubt this fic would have gotten done, they helped so much and listened to my ranting on plot ideas and gave me some of their own, so thank you so, so much for the help, it was SO appreciated! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ They're also a writer as well, so feel free to go check out their page!

Disclaimer: This fic could be very triggering to some, it deals with abuse, speicifically child abuse, so if that's going to trigger you PLEASE skip this one. If you're still here, get ready for a 9K emotional roller coaster. As always, I'd really love to hear what you all think, this has been a fic I've been wanting to write for so long and I'm so happy it's done, so please, let me know what you think.

⚠️Trigger Warning: Child Abuse/Mentions of Child Abuse ⚠️

You closed your eyes, practicing the deep breathing you learned in therapy before your eyes open, the stadium where you would meet the USWNT looming overhead.  

You knew you would see her, that you would have to see her, you were now working for her team after all, but the thought of your reunion made your stomach twist.  

You could feel your chest tighten, a panic attack looming as you thought about your Y/E/C orbs meeting hers.  

You wondered if they were still the same bright blues you remembered.  

You shake your head rapidly, pushing those thoughts to the back of your mind.  

Just because you were about to see each other again after so long, didn’t mean things were the same as they once were, she’d left you behind, and you didn’t think you could ever forgive her for that.  

You didn’t know if you could ever forgive Alex Morgan for what she did, in all honesty, you weren’t sure if you wanted to.  

With one final deep breath you slip out of your rental car and make your way towards the arena, mere minutes from reuniting with the woman that broke your heart.

************************************************************************

If there was one thing Alex Morgan didn’t expect, it was to see you making your way across the field towards her and the team, Emma Hayes at your side.  

Her throat bobbed as she took you in.  

You’d gotten taller, easily towering over her.  

Your jawline was much sharper, and visibly clenched, something she used to get on you about when you were growing up.  

The second your eyes met hers, her heart stalled in her chest, the Y/E/C orbs that would once soften when they locked with her blues, were now cold and sharp.  

“Y/N...” Alex whispers when you’re in earshot and you glance her way.  

“Do I know you?” You ask, a harshness to your tone that takes her aback, she’d never heard you speak that way, especially to her.  

Her mouth opens and closes rapidly, the woman searching for anything at all to say, but it’s as if her vocal cords had stopped working.  

Her teammates eye her curiously, their eyes darting between the two of you.  

“Well, this is Y/N Y/L/N, she’s going to be our new trainer, she comes HIGHLY recommended, so try to make her feel welcome, okay?” Emma smiles, in no way missing the way Alex stares pleadingly at your profile.  

Eventually, your eyes catch hers, her orbs the same bright blues that you often found yourself getting lost in years ago.  

Alex isn’t able to utter a single word before you’re turning on your heels and moving towards the sidelines, Emma Hayes in toe.  

Alex jumps when a hand settles on her back, a hand belonging to her longtime friend, Kelley O’Hara.  

“Are you okay Al? Is something wrong?” She asks, able to read the woman’s face easily, picking up on the fact that she was incredibly upset.  

“Ye-Yeah.” Alex stammers, her blues orbs burning holes in your back as you move out of sight.  

“Everything is fine.”

**********************************************************************

The second Alex saw you, all the emotions she tried so, so hard to bury came rushing back, hitting her like a tidal wave.  

She wasn’t prepared for the way you looked at her, your eyes hard and icy, a look she vaguely remembered when she spotted you in the hallways of your high school, your books hugged to your chest and a new bruise gracing your face or your arms, the woman knowing full well that more bruises were hidden beneath your clothes.   

She knew deep down she deserved it; she severed ties with you when you needed her the most, and she could never wash away the guilt she felt every time you passed her in the hallway, your face twisted in a pained grimace.  

That night, she stares at the ceiling, her blue orbs glassy as she remembers the first time, she saw signs of the abuse you were enduring at home.  

***********************************************************************

“What are those from?” A small Alex Morgan asks as she points to the circular marks dotting your forearm, the skin a bright and angry red, the wounds fresh.  

You shake your head rapidly, pulling your arm away from her.  

“N-N-Nothing.” You mumble, the girl scoffing as she gently takes your arm, her blue orbs zeroing in on the sores covering your arm.  

“What happened?” She asks and you shake your head, tears glistening in your Y/E/C orbs.  

“Y/N...” She whispers, gently rubbing your arm, careful not to touch the marks.  

“You can tell me anything...” She says, frowning when she sees a tear streaming down your cheek.  

“What happened?” She asks again and you swallow, your mouth opening and closing before you croak out a single word.  

“Dad.”

**********************************************************************

Needless to say, Alex didn’t sleep well that night, her mind racing, wondering if the wounds on your arm had increased in number.  

She honestly wasn’t sure if she wanted to know.  

Eventually, Alex dragged herself onto the bus that morning, her blue orbs immediately finding your Y/E/C’s.  

You almost immediately turn away, as if you’re unable to look at her for too long.  

She pauses, attempting to find something, anything to say to you, but again, she finds herself unable to speak.  

She sighs in defeat before making her way towards the back of the bus, unaware that your eyes are on her, your nostrils flaring.  

She had no right to speak to you, no right to even look at you, not after the things she’d done, not after she’d left you behind to be abused and neglected.  

You growl, turning towards the front of the bus, your fingers curling around the seat in front of you.  

If you had anything to say about it, you wouldn’t speak to Alex Morgan ever again, in reality, it wasn’t that you wouldn’t it was that you couldn’t.

**********************************************************************

Unfortunately, you’re forced to speak to her, the forward seeking you out when you reach the hotel, pushing her way into the elevator with you.  

Your throat bobs as you stare blankly forward, your foot tapping and hands trembling, something Alex notices immediately.  

“Y/N.” She whispers, her voice cracking, the sound pulling at your heartstrings, that sadness ebbing away a beat later.  

“Y/N, you can’t ignore me forever.” She sighs and you shake your head.  

“I told you; I have no idea who you are.” You say, the woman growling as you hastily exit the elevator, her hand catching your wrist, something that noticeably makes you jump.  

“That’s bullshit Y/N, and you know-- 

Your lip curls in a snarl as you jerk your arm from her grasp.  

“I USED to have a friend named Alex Morgan, but that was a long time ago.” You say through gritted teeth before turning on your heels and marching down the hallway, leaving a crestfallen Alex Morgan behind.

**********************************************************************

Despite the fact that your last interaction didn’t go well, Alex continued to try and speak to you, popping up seemingly everywhere.  

Unfortunately, you would be on the road for a significant amount of time considering it was She Believes Season, the entirety of the team together more often than not.  

The close quarters resulted in early mornings, and one morning, you’d made the mistake of rolling up your sleeves to your elbows, revealing the multiple scars littering your skin.  

Alex stiffened the moment she saw them, tears filling her blue orbs as she saw the massive number of burns on your skin, burns she knew were made by the end of a cigarette.  

She’s unable to keep the tears in her eyes at bay, tears streaming down her cheeks.  

You pick your head up, the feel of someone staring at you setting the hairs of your arms on end.  

Your eyes catch hers and your brows furrow, following her gaze to the scars dotting your arms.  

Your eyes meet hers before dropping to your marred arm, your nostrils flaring as you turn away, tugging your arm out of view.  

“Alex...?”  

Alex jumps, her eyes meeting Kelley’s concerned brown orbs.  

“Are you okay? Why are you crying?” She asks, watching as Alex wipes her tears away with the sleeve of her sweater.  

“It’s alright Kel, it’s nothing.” She sniffles, her eyes burning holes in the back of your head.  

Kelley eyes her profile worriedly before turning away reluctantly, wondering what it was that was troubling her so.  

**********************************************************************

“When did that happen?” Alex asks when she catches you in the hallway on your way to your hotel room.  

You turn on your heels, coming face to face with the woman you’d been trying to avoid, her blue orbs zeroed in on your scarred arm.  

You pull your arm out of view, tucking it behind you.  

“Like you care.” You bite, turning on your heels to take your leave.  

“Y/N, you can tell me anything.” She whispers, her words stopping you in your tracks, taking you back to the day on the playground when you’d first told her that your father had burned your arm, when you’d first told her your father was abusing you.  

“Like you don’t know.” You mumble, unable to turn to face her, tears stinging your eyes.  

Your breath hitches when she slips around you, gently taking your wrist and inspecting your arm closely. 

You’re unable to stop your heart from skipping a beat when she brushes the scars, her touch light and tender.  

The scars were generally perfect circles, aside from those that overlapped, forming random shapes along your arm.  

Alex frowned as she caressed the lumpy and disfigured skin, her eyes glazing over.  

“Don’t act like you care.” You mutter, the forward frowning.  

“I do care, Y/N.”  

You scoff, pulling your arm out of her grasp, briefly missing the way her fingertips felt against your skin.  

“If you cared Alex, I wouldn’t have these.” You growl, her throat bobbing.  

“You can’t blame me for that Y/N, it isn’t fair.”  

You bark out a laugh, the sound taking her by surprise.  

“I wouldn’t have half the scars I do if it wasn’t for you. You abandoned me when I needed you the most, and for what Alex!?” You yell, surprised by the sound of your own voice and the anger in your tone.  

Alex’s mouth opens and closes rapidly, the forward unable to find her words, that being enough to send you shoving passed her, your shoulder knocking hers as you make your way down the hall towards your hotel room, leaving the woman behind, just as she’d done to you.  

That night, you can’t help but stare at your shirtless self in the mirror, the scars typically hidden beneath your clothes revealed, of course, to your eyes only.  

How could you ever forgive Alex when your skin looked like yours?  

How could you ever forgive the woman that you’d blamed for receiving them in the first place?

***********************************************************************

It was unsurprising to Alex that you put so much pressure on her during practice, as if getting back at her for all the pain she caused.  

“Pick it up Morgan!” You yell, Alex noticeably slacking considering you’d spent the practice already putting her through the ringer.  

It’s only after her drills end that she comes to a halt, panting heavily, her hands on her knees as she attempts to fill her lungs with air.  

You shake your head, making your way towards her and leaning down.  

“You don’t just make the team because you’re a pretty face, you know that right?” You bite, the forward shooting you a glare.  

Your brows furrow when the corners of her mouth tick upward.  

“Did you just say I’m pretty?” She teases and you scoff, pinching the bridge of your nose.  

“Of course, THAT’S what you take from that.”  

Alex’s lips split in a grin, her smile just as bright as it always had been, your heart skipping a beat in your chest.  

“Hey, you said it, not me.” She smirks and you roll your eyes, turning her towards the remainder of the team before giving her a light shove.  

“Get your ass over there Morgan.” You grumble, her grin widening before she skips towards the others.  

You roll your eyes, unable to hold back a small smile as you too make your way towards the team.  

**********************************************************************

The distance between you and Alex was still massive, no bridge long enough to bring the two of you together.  

It wasn’t for a lack of trying on Alex’s part, whereas she tried to reach out, you’d only pull back, unwilling to bridge the gap, in fact, increasing its size. 

Alex watched as you focused your attention Lindsey’s knee, wrapping it gently, the blonde saying something to you she can’t quite hear, but whatever it was, it makes you smile, a smile that still makes her heart skip a beat after all these years.  

You move to your feet, giving the midfielder a pat on the shoulder before she turns and jogs onto the field.  

“Thanks Y/N!” Emily says patting your back a bit harder than intended, as she jogs passed following Lindsey onto the field.  

You go ridged, your hands trembling as you squeeze your eyes shut tightly.  

Alex jogs towards you, the emotional turmoil you were experiencing unnoticed by the remainder of the team.  

“Y/N...?” Alex whispers as she gently takes your trembling hands in her own, stopping their quaking.  

Your chest begins to rise and fall rapidly, an anxiety attack impending, something Alex had seen happen to you multiple times before.  

“Y/N?” She says again, giving your hands a squeeze, this time however, you speak.  

“I said I was sorry... Please don’t…” You mutter, Alex’s eyes widening before immediately filling with tears. 

“Come on.” She whispers, silently guiding you away from the team, catching sight of Emma Hayes watching the two of you, the forward shaking her head rapidly.  

When you’re in a secluded spot, Alex cups your cheeks.  

“Y/N, it’s okay, it’s me.”  

You squeeze your eyes shut even more so than they already were, your hands shaking violently.  

The tears in Alex’s eyes begin to stream down her face as she tries to think of something, ANYTHING to get you out of the catatonic state you’re in.  

Her eyes widen, a memory flickering in the back of her mind as she pulls you into her, one arm around you and the other resting on the back of your neck, her fingers tangling in the fine hairs there.  

She remembered holding you that way in high school, before your friendship ended, a nightmare pulling you from your sleep one night as the two of you slept side by side.  

“I’ve got you.” She whispers in your ear, drawing lazy circles against the nape of your neck.  

“And I’m not letting you go, never again.” She whispers, cooing softly in your ear.  

Your breathing begins to slow, the motion of her fingers against the nape of your neck lulling you into a sense of calm, something you hadn’t felt in a long time.  

She knew when you realized it was her that was holding you, you’d pull away, and the thought tore her heart in two. 

You begin to relax, your shoulders sagging as your eyes slowly flutter open.  

Almost immediately you move out of Alex’s hold, the forward frowning, missing the way you felt against her, missing the way her fingers felt tangled in your hair.  

“What the hell are you doing?” You snarl, putting as much distance as you possibly can between the two of you.  

“I-I didn’t know what else to do, you were having a panic attack.” She explains, her voice quivering.  

You scoff.  

“I didn’t NEED your help, I would’ve been just fine without you, like I ALWAYS have been.” You bark out before hastily leaving the room, not even sparing a glance back at the woman whose shoulder you roughly knocked into on your way out. 

**********************************************************************

Even though you were angry at her, you knew you had to thank Alex.  

You couldn’t imagine what would’ve happened if Alex hadn’t taken charge and took you to a secluded place to calm down, using a technique she became accustomed to using in your later high school years.  

You could still feel her fingers gently drawing circles against the nape of your neck, something you longed to feel again, but you wouldn’t let her get that close again, you couldn’t.  

You’re pulled from your thoughts when the very woman who’d been on your mind comes towards you, the woman silently shuffling from foot to foot as she waits to get her ankle wrapped.  

You give Kelley a smile, the defender’s ankle wrapped in her own bit of tape before she jogs off, turning and giving Alex’s hand a squeeze on her way passed.  

Alex comes to a stop in front of you, her throat bobbing as you gently take her ankle in your hands.  

You’re silently wrapping her ankle in bright pink tape when you finally find your voice.  

“I’m sorry.” You whisper, blue orbs widening as they meet your Y/E/C’s.  

“You don’t need to be.” She smiles softly and you clear your throat, the sight of that smile effecting you more than you’d care to admit.  

“I do." You sigh, the forwards cheeks flushing as you subconsciously caress her ankle. 

“You...” You swallow hard, your throat bobbing.  

“If you weren’t there for me the other day, I don’t know what I would’ve done, so... Thank you, Alex.” You whisper, clearing your throat, your eyes widening when you realize you’d been running your thumb gently back and forth along her ankle.  

You give her a nod, reluctantly releasing her ankle, your old friend staring down at you for a moment before she smiles. 

“You don’t have to thank me.” She mumbles softly, before her lips split in a grin.  

“But you’re welcome.”  

You watch as she makes her way onto the field, a smile stretching across your own face as you turn to Lindsey Horan, the blonde waiting for her knee to be wrapped.  

However, you can’t help but look passed her, specifically at Alex Morgan, the woman beaming, wearing a smile you hadn’t seen her wear in a long, long time.  

A smile that makes the butterflies in your stomach begin to stir, butterflies that died a long, long time ago, butterflies that were slowly coming back to life.  

You didn’t like that the feelings you did your best to bury were resurfacing.  

You blamed her, you were supposed to hate her, but the more she smiled your way, the more that anger and blame started to ebb away.  

Your brows furrow as your phone again begins to ring, an unknown number stretched across its screen.  

You shake your head, dropping your phone onto the top of a nearby bag. 

Alex glances your way, smiling softly when your eyes meet.  

The relationship between the two of you began to slowly change, you no longer looked at her with absolute disdain, instead wearing an expression she couldn’t quite place.  

It’s when Emma Hayes blows her whistle that Alex sighs, making her way towards her bag, unaware that your phone had slipped inside.  

She runs her hand through her sweat covered hair, catching sight of you out of the corner of her eye as you chat with Emma Hayes, a smile on your face.  

She’d missed seeing that smile, mostly, she missed seeing that smile directed at her.  

She turns away, reluctantly, unaware that your phone was buried deep inside her bag.

**********************************************************************

You growl, searching wildly through your bag in an attempt to find your phone, sighing when you come up empty.  

You flop down onto your hotel room’s bed, your head in your hands.  

The last thing you wanted to do today was lose your phone, but here you were, attempting to remember where you’d last seen the device.  

A tentative knock on your hotel room door makes you jump, your brows furrowing as you make your way towards it.  

You tug the door open, your eyes widening and brows knitting in confusion when you see Alex standing behind the door, the woman shuffling nervously from foot to foot.  

“Uhhh, yeah?” You say, the woman nodding into your hotel room.  

“Can I come in?” She asks and you hum, eyeing her intently before you step aside, uncertain why you’d allowed her into your room.  

The door clicks shut behind you before you turn towards her, your arms crossed across your chest.  

“What is it?” You ask, your eyes widening when you realize she was holding your phone.  

“I found it in my bag.” She says, the look on her face telling you there was something more to the reason why she was in your room.  

“Th-Thanks.” You stutter, taking it from her hand, the forward’s throat bobbing.  

“It was ringing, and I answered it.” She says, your brows knitting, anger building in your chest at the thought of the woman invading your privacy.  

“I’m-I’m sorry Y/N, I promise, I really didn’t know it was your phone.” She stutters, the anger you were feeling dissipating at the look on Alex’s face.  

“There’s more to it, isn’t there?” You ask and she, sheepishly nods.  

“It was your mother.”  

Your eyes double in size, your body going ridged at the mention of the woman who’d done nothing, merely watching as your father abused and neglected you, a woman you hadn’t talked to since you were kicked out at 18.  

You make your way towards your bed, taking a seat on its end, Alex making her way towards you, waiting until you give her a nod before she too sits down.  

The room is enveloped in silence for a moment before you find your voice.  

“Wh-What did she want?” You stammer, realizing the calls you’d been getting the last few days must have been from your mother.  

Alex swallows hard, staring at her intertwined fingers, her mouth opening and closing.  

“It’s your dad.” She whispers, noting the hitch in your breath, the woman unable to stop herself from reaching for, and covering your hand.  

You find yourself taking comfort in her touch, something you thought you would never do again.  

“What happened?” You ask, your voice barely above a whisper.  

Alex clears her throat, seemingly searching for what to say before she mutters.  

“He’s dying.”  

You snort, in a sick sense, happy that the man who destroyed your childhood was about to die.  

“Your mom said, he wants to...” She pauses, staring at your profile as she speaks.  

“He wants to apologize, for everything, before he passes.” 

You stiffen, your hands balling into fists, Alex’s thumb delicately running along your white knuckles.  

You chuckle.  

“Of course he does. He wants to clear his own conscious before he dies.” You snarl angrily, the thought of calling your mother and ripping her a new one prominent in your mind.  

Alex remains silent, your brows furrowing as you turn towards her, her mouth opening and closing rapidly.  

“What?” You ask, the forward shrugging.  

“I may have...” She stops mid-sentence, shuffling nervously.  

“Said some things.”  

Your brows arch, noting that she’s refusing to look you in the eye.  

“Like what?” You ask and she clears her throat.  

“I may have told her your dad was a piece of shit, and that you didn’t owe him anything, that he doesn’t deserve to see you after all he did, and that she was a bitch who doesn’t deserve to see you either because she was just as guilty. He abused you, and she just watched and did nothing about it.”   

Your brows arch, your eyes burning holes in the side of Alex’s head before you laugh, her blue orbs widening as she turns towards you.  

You wrap your arms around your middle as you’re overcome with laughter, the thought of the look on your mother’s face as Alex tore her a new one, and the look on her face when it was Alex that answered the phone making you laugh uncontrollably.  

You knew her and your father weren’t her biggest fans, considering she treated you the way you were meant to be treated, and loved you in a way that they never did.  

“I would’ve paid to see that.” You say, wiping a tear from your eyes, the forward beside you smiling, her lips splitting into a grin.  

“I meant what I said, you don’t owe them anything Y/N, even if he’s dying, you don’t have to go to see him, unless you want to.”  

You shake your head, your eyes dropping to your and Alex’s joined hands, the feel of her hand in your own making your heart skip a beat.  

“I know.” You say, taking a deep breath before exhaling loudly.  

“I kind of want to see him, to show him that even though he treated me the way he did, he didn’t break me, that I became successful, and I didn’t need him or my mother to do it.”  

You swallow hard, your gaze falling to your lap.  

“I suppose...” You pause, frowning, unable to stop tears forming in your eyes.  

“I suppose he did break me, didn’t he?” You mutter, your eyes widening a gasp leaving you as Alex’s hand leaves your own, the woman instead wrapping her arms tightly around you.  

The tears that formed in your eyes began streaming down your cheeks as she held you tightly, her cheek pressing against your shoulder.  

“He didn’t Y/N.” She whispers, squeezing you gently, not wanting to throw you into a panic attack like you’d had the other day.  

You close your eyes, sagging in her hold, the hotel room falling silent as you simply let Alex hold you in her arms, a feeling you didn’t realize you’d missed so much.  

You’re unsure of what makes you say it, but before you can think your lips are moving.  

“I don’t know if I can face them alone.” You confess, Alex turning her head and kissing your temple, the woman stiffening when she realizes what she did, though she in no way relinquishes her hold on you.  

“You don’t have to Y/N.” She whispers, smiling when she feels your arm slip around her.  

“What do you mean?” You ask, your heart lightening in your chest at the thought of the forward coming back to your hometown with you.  

“I’ll go with you.” She mutters nervously, leaning heavily into you, her hold on you tightening.  

You go silent before you rest your head against hers, a soft sigh leaving you as you give her side a squeeze.  

“I think I’d like that very much.”

**********************************************************************

The relationship between you drastically changed after that, the bridge was all but mended, the two of you almost as inseparable as when you were kids.  

And when the She Believes Tournament ended, with the USWNT as the victors, you and Alex decided it was time to prepare to head back to your hometown, a place that held so many bad memories for you.  

It wasn’t long before there was a knock at your apartment door, your hand freezing on the doorknob as you take a deep breath.  

Despite the fact that things were better between the two of you, you still got nervous, worried that she would disappear again and break your heart.  

You pull the door open slowly, Alex smiling when your eyes meet hers, a duffle bag slung over her shoulder a suitcase in one hand.  

“Are you ready?” She asks as you step aside, allowing her inside, the woman taking in your small apartment.  

“Honestly, not really.” You sigh, leaning against the island in your kitchenette.  

Alex makes her way towards you with a frown, taking your hands, the gesture making your cheeks flush.  

“Well, you’re not going alone, I’ll be there every step of the way.” She whispers as she caresses your knuckles.  

You couldn’t lie, the feelings you had for Alex had resurfaced, and the closer you became, the more you realized that the feelings you had in high school had come back, tenfold.  

You were in love with the woman currently holding your hands, the woman whose blue orbs sparkled when she smiled, the woman who’d broken your heart all those years ago.  

You give her hands a squeeze, noting the flush of her own cheeks.  

“I know.” You whisper pushing yourself off the island and moving to your full height.  

“And it means a lot to me.” You say, bashfully staring at the floor beneath your feet.  

Alex smiles softly, turning your hands over in her own before intertwining your fingers.  

“It’s the least I could do.” She says, giving your hands a squeeze.  

Her hands leave yours reluctantly and you sigh, missing the feel of her smooth palms against your own.  

“Well, let’s go.”

**********************************************************************

Alex’s fingers drum on the steering wheel, her eyes darting to the passenger's seat, where you're fast asleep. 

She knew this journey would take a toll on you, she knew that this was one of the hardest things you ever had to do, and she was happy you’d allowed her to be along for the ride. 

You mumble in your sleep, your brows furrowing as your head turns back and forth.  

Alex reaches towards you, gently covering your hand with her own as she pulls into the tiny roadside hotel the two of you were planning on staying in for the night before you reach your hometown the following day.  

“Hey.” Alex whispers, tenderly tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.  

Your eyes slowly flutter open, your brows furrowing as you blink rapidly to clear your vision.  

“Are we here?” You rasp, the sound of your sleepy voice making her smile lovingly.  

“No, we’re at the hotel.” 

You hum, stretching your arms above your head before you open the passenger's side door and slip out with a groan.  

Alex slides out the driver’s side door, she too stretching. 

“We had reservations, right?” You ask and she nods rapidly.  

“I’ll go check us in.”  

You watch her go with a small smile, the woman disappearing into the small hotel’s lobby, leaving you with the suitcases, which you didn’t mind.  

You lean back against Alex’s car, staring up at the random hotel you’d decided to stop at on your way home.  

You sigh, leaning your head against the car behind you.  

You didn’t want to go home, you didn’t want to face your father and your mother, but you knew you had to.  

You had to show them that you were well off, you had to show them that you’d made it without them, that you survived your father’s abuse and your mother’s refusal to do anything about it.  

And having Alex Morgan by your side was just a plus, a major plus.  

You remember your father taunting you, making comments about how Alex had finally learned how pathetic you were and made the right decision to distance herself from you.  

Your throat bobs as you bite your bottom lip, staving off tears at the thought of your father’s harsh words.  

Your mother wanted you to come home to hear their apology, but you had ulterior motives.  

You were never going to accept her apology, and you were certainly never going to accept his, much like his apologies during your childhood, they meant absolutely nothing, and that wasn’t about to change.  

“Hey.”  

You jump, your eyes flashing open, immediately locking with Alex’s blue orbs.  

“Are you okay?” She asks, concern evident in her tone.  

You clear your throat, pushing off the car as you nod.  

“Yeah, I’m just fine.”  

***********************************************************************

It didn’t take long for the two of you to settle into your room, the pair of you flopping down onto the beds you’d be sleeping on for the night.  

“I’m so tired.” You yawn, rolling off the bed and heading to your suitcase.  

Before you realize what, you’re doing, you tug your shirt over your head, revealing your near bare back to the woman in the opposite bed.  

“Oh my god.”  

You twist on your heels, your eyes wide.  

“What’s wrong? Are you alright?” You ask as you approach the forward, tears streaming down her cheeks.  

“What is— 

You pause your throat bobbing as you glance down at yourself, realizing your torso was bare, covered only by the sports bra you were wearing. 

Meaning each and every scar that covered your flesh was revealed, scars dotting your arms, as well as covering your chest and back.  

Alex’s hands tremble as she makes her way towards you, her eyes focused intently on your chest, a number of scars littering your skin, some from glass, some from a belt, and others you couldn’t really remember. 

Lashes covered your stomach, as well as your back, red welts made mostly by your father’s favorite belt.  

A wide array of cigarette burns covered your skin, mostly all over your arms, but some were on your chest and stomach.  

“Jesus Christ.” Alex whispers, her voice cracking as she places her hands on your shoulders, taking in the destruction your father left behind on your skin.  

“I-I...” She stammers, her bottom lip trembling as she turns you around, lash marks covering your back, overlapping into a mess of patterns.  

Alex sobs, your breath hitching as she wraps her arms around you from behind, burying her face in the nape of your neck.  

“I’m so sorry.” She cries, clinging onto you for dear life, her tears running down your scarred back.  

You turn in her hold, wrapping your arms tightly around her, the woman burying her face in your neck as she cries.  

“This is all my fault.” She sniffs, realizing that you hadn’t had the scars you do before the two of you had stopped being friends.  

You shake your head, your chin resting on the top of her head.  

“It isn’t. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize that.” You whisper, ducking down to kiss her head.  

Alex pulls back, her watery blue orbs locking with your equally watery Y/E/C’s.  

“It is Y/N!” She cries, searching your face intently.  

“You didn’t have these before we stopped being friends.” She says, whimpering as she takes in your scars again.  

“I— 

“No.” She says, shaking her head rapidly.  

“If I would’ve just told you how I felt, you wouldn’t have these.” She sniffles, your eyes widening, and brows furrowing.  

“What do you mean?” You ask, staring closely at the woman’s face, noting the way her throat bobs.  

“Come on, Al.” You whisper, gently placing your hands on her waist.  

“You can tell me anything.” You say, repeating the words she’d said on the playground so long ago.  

Much to your surprise, she stares at you blankly for a moment before leaning in, your breath catching as her lips meet yours.  

The butterflies that recently began to stir, burst to life as you kiss your childhood best friend, something you’d wanted to do for so long.  

Your lips lock, the kiss stimulating every one of your nerve endings.  

You never wanted it to end, you never wanted to stop kissing Alex Morgan.  

She sighs against your lips as you kiss passionately, feelings the two of you had for so long now revealed. 

Reluctantly, you part, Alex’s forehead resting against yours as you catch your breath.  

“Wow.” You whisper, smiling when Alex leans in for another kiss, this one softer, and shorter than the one you’d just shared.   

Alex’s mouth opens and closes for a few seconds before she clears her throat.  

“I didn’t know how to tell you back then how I felt, I was scared, I thought if I pushed you away, the feelings would go away, but they didn’t.”  

She cups your cheeks, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear.  

“They never went away, because I love you, Y/N.” She confesses, your eyes doubling in size, your heart skipping a beat.  

“I always have, I just never knew how to say it...”  

She licks her lips, inhaling deeply before continuing.  

“When I saw you walking across the field, those feelings came flooding back.”  

She rests her forehead against yours.  

“I love you Y/N, I always have, and I always will.”  

The room falls silent, the woman in front of you baring her entire soul to you, the knowledge that she’d felt the same making your stomach lurch with excitement.  

You lean in, pressing a feather light kiss to her lips.  

“I love you too, Al.” You whisper, Alex smiling against your lips as she throws her arms around your neck, kissing you passionately, the feel of her lips against yours something she couldn't get enough of.  

The kisses remain tame, the urge to turn them into something more not present in any sense, the two of you catching up on the tender and loving kisses you’d missed when growing up.  

You again, reluctantly part, your arms wrapping tightly around Alex, the forward burying her nose in the crook of your neck.  

Unfortunately, your lips part in a lengthy, and loud yawn, the woman in your arms giggling as she leans back, leaning in to peck your lips before stepping out of your embrace.  

“We should get some sleep, huh?” She asks and you nod, making your way towards your suitcase and grabbing the shirt you’d first intended to put on.  

“Wait.” Alex whispers, placing her hand gently on your back so as to not scare you.  

You turn to face her, a single brow arched as she motions to the shirt in your hands.  

“Keep it off.” She says your throat bobbing as your eyes dart from Alex’s blue orbs to the shirt and back. 

You hum, dropping the shirt before grabbing a few things from your suitcase and nodding to the bathroom.  

“I’ll be right back.” You smile, pecking her lips before disappearing into the bathroom.  

Alex, meanwhile, makes her way towards her own suitcase, slipping into a pair of shorts and a tank top just as you’re moving out of the bathroom.  

She turns towards you, noting the way you shuffle on your feet, a sports bra covering your upper torso and a pair of sweats hugging your hips.  

She holds her hand out, motioning towards one of the beds, your cheeks flushing at the silent invitation. 

Nervously, you make your way towards her, her hand immediately settling on your bare stomach before she nods towards the bed.  

“Do you want to share?” She asks in an uncertain whisper. 

You gently take her chin between your thumb and index finger, tilting her head upwards until her blue orbs meet your Y/E/C’s.  

“I’d love nothing more.”  

Eventually, you turn the overhead light off, and shuffle into bed, the flickering TV the only thing bringing some source of light to the room.  

Alex leans back, her blue orbs dragging down your front, taking in the scars covering your chest.  

Your breath hitches in your throat when she ducks down, gently kissing a long scar running along your collarbone before turning her attention to the others she can reach.  

Your eyes flutter shut, the feel of her lips a complete contrast to what it felt like to get the scars in the first place.  

You can feel the tears streaming down your cheeks before you realize you’re crying. 

Alex pulls away from you, tears forming in her own eyes when she sees you’re crying.  

She cups your cheeks, pressing a tender, and loving kiss to your lips.  

“Shhhhh.” She coos, her fingers running through your hair as you bury your face in her neck.  

It isn’t long before you fall silent, falling fast asleep, tear tracks visible on your face as your childhood best friend holds you tightly.  

She ducks down, kissing the top of your head, a hum leaving you as you snuggle closer.  

“I love you Y/N, and I’m not going anywhere, no matter what.”  

**********************************************************************

The remainder of the journey is uneventful, Alex’s hand in yours more often than not, the woman kissing you tenderly any chance she got, realizing how much the feel of her lips against yours calmed you.  

Before you realize it, you’re passing the sign informing you that you’d made it, you’d made it to the place that held so many awful memories for you.  

You cling to Alex’s hand tightly, the woman noting the feel of your clammy palm against hers.  

“We’re here.” She whispers and you nod, your chest tightening.  

“Y-Y-Yeah...” You stammer, the air within the car becoming less and less until you feel as if you’re unable to breathe.  

Alex almost immediately pulls to the side of the road, gently cupping your cheeks, her forehead resting against yours.  

“It’s alright.” She whispers, taking your hand and pressing it against her own chest.  

“Try to match me.”  

You whimper, tears running down your face, but your breathing halts entirely when you feel Alex’s lips pressing against yours.  

You slowly part, noting the fact that your anxiety attack had been stopped dead in its tracks, your breathing slowly returning to normal.  

“Are you okay?” She says softly, her lips brushing yours as she whispers.  

Your eyes flutter shut, the tightness in your chest ebbing slightly, but not entirely going away, you knew what you had to do to get it to go away, and that was to confront your father.  

“I have to confront him before I’ll be okay.” You confess, Alex kissing your lips again before turning her attention to the road.  

“Well, let’s go do that.”  

Alex takes your hand, her fingers intertwining with yours as you stand outside the hospital where your father and mother are, the aforementioned woman making her way towards you, tears in her eyes.  

“Y/N...” She says, opening her arms, but quickly realizing the last thing she’d get was a hug from you, especially considering Alex had stepped partially in front of you, her protective side warming your heart considerably.  

Your mother comes to a stop, her throat bobbing.  

“I understand.” She says and your nostrils flare.  

“Where is he?” You say curtly, Alex gently squeezing your hand, earning a squeeze in return.  

Your mother frowns before nodding to the hospital.  

“This way.”  

**********************************************************************

Your mother didn’t even attempt to make small talk on the way to the room, she knew you weren’t there to embrace her and forgive her for everything she didn’t do when you were growing up.  

Alex’s hand remained in yours, even as your grip on her hand became painful, she didn’t let go.  

You needed an anchor, and she would be that anchor, for as long as you needed and as long as you would let her.  

Your mother comes to a stop outside one of the many hospital rooms before turning towards you, her hands clasped in front of her.  

“He’s in here.” She says, unable to look you in the eye.  

“Please, try not to upset him, he doesn’t have much time left.”  

Your lip's part, your nostrils flaring angrily, before you can speak however, Alex beats you to it.  

“Yeah, because he cared so much about not upsetting Y/N when she was growing up.” She bites, your mother having the decency to look remorseful.  

She didn’t abuse you, she never hit you, but she allowed it, and it was that thought that made you keep distance between the two of you, you weren’t about to forgive the woman who stood aside while your father scarred your body and beat you senseless.  

She simply nods before stepping aside, motioning towards the room, knowing full well that the visit wasn’t going to go how your father expected.  

You come to a stop, your chest tightening at the thought of seeing the man again, your free hand beginning to shake.  

Alex turns you towards her, the woman cupping your cheek with her free hand, the other in a vice grip.  

“I’ve got you. I’m not going anywhere.” She whispers, resting her forehead against your own.  

You nod, your throat bobbing.  

“Promise?” You whisper, your voice noticeably cracking.  

Alex smiles, closing the distance between you, her lips lightly meeting your own.  

Your mother meanwhile is unable to keep herself from smiling, happy in the knowledge that you had someone to care for you, unlike she had when you were growing up.  

You give Alex a barely visible nod, the woman taking your hand and stepping through the doorway with you, partially in front of you in a protective gesture. 

“There she is.”  

You come to a screeching halt, your eyes darting towards your father who’s resting in the hospital bed, looking much smaller than he did when you were growing up.  

“Well, aren’t you going to give your old man a hug?” He asks, his eyes still holding a hint of the anger you saw all the years ago.  

“No.” You say curtly, leading Alex further into the room, your hands now full-on sweating, your face flushed.  

“Why not?” He asks, his voice having an edge to it.  

“Why?” You ask, laughing humorlessly.  

You stare at the man blankly, realizing he had deluded himself into thinking you had no reason for not coming over and hugging him.  

“Are you kidding me?” Alex snarls, the woman taken aback when you move towards his bed.  

“Maybe because you spent my childhood beating the hell out of me?!” You roar, knowing your voice could be heard rooms away.  

His lips part, the man about to say something but you don’t care, rolling your sleeves up and showing him the scars on your arms.  

“Maybe this is why?” You yell, unbuttoning your shirt hastily, uncaring that you were basically standing in the hospital room wearing only a sports bra.  

Your mother is unable to stop her breath from hitching when she sees the scarred flesh of your torso.  

“Maybe this is why, DAD.” You say, your voice dripping with contempt. 

Your father remains silent, the anger you’d typically seen burning in his eyes still there growing. 

“I just wanted to see you before I go.” He growls, and you scoff.  

“Well, here I am.” You say, throwing your hands in the air, Alex watching in something akin to awe as you confront your abuser.  

“I’m not going to give you a big hug, and I’m not going to tell you I’ll miss you, because I won’t.” You bite, noting the jumping in your father’s jaw.  

“How dare you— 

“How dare I?” You bark out a laugh.  

“How dare you think I should come here and just forgive you, just forget what you did to me growing up, how dare YOU.” You yell, cut off by a nearby nurse.  

“Is something wrong?” She asks, her brows knitted in confusion.  

Alex turns to her.  

“This has been a long time coming, she needs this, let it happen.” She whispers, the woman shaking her head. 

“I never said I was sorry.” Your father mumbles and you’re unable to stop yourself from laughing.  

“Of course you didn’t, because you never felt bad for beating me.” You shake your head, the nurse, surprisingly, backing out of the room.  

“Well, you didn’t break me, you didn’t win.” You say, your hands balling into fists.  

“I came here to tell you that, and now that I did, I can move on with my life.” You say, turning towards Alex before leaving the room hastily, leaning against the wall outside of the room.  

Alex turns to your father, the man shooting her a glare, a glare she returns, her blue orbs smoldering.  

“You tried so hard to break her, but it didn’t work. She’s one of the best women I know, and I love her, more than you ever did, more than either of you ever did.” She snarls angrily, glancing at your mother who’s staring at the floor.  

“She’s better than either of you, she rose above your abuse and became an amazing and talented woman, someone I’m proud to call my girlfriend.” She says confidently, your eyes widening when you realize what Alex had just said.  

“Of course, as if she couldn’t disappoint me more.” Your father growls in reference to the fact that you and Alex were together.  

Your hands ball into fists, the thought of walking in and jacking his jaw prominent.  

“We don’t need your approval; we don’t want it.” She says, walking closer to the bed, the nurse who’d come in earlier coming towards you along with another nurse.  

“Y/N is a better person than you could ever hope be.” She growls, turning to make her way out of the room, shooting a glare over her shoulder.  

“I'm proud of her for coming here, for saying what she needed to say, and I know I put distance between the two of us growing up, but I’m going to be there for her no matter what, more than you ever were.”  She says before making her way out of the room, zeroing in on where you were leaning against a nearby wall.  

She hastily makes her way towards you, throwing her arms around you, squeezing you tightly.  

Unbeknownst to you, your mother had followed you out, wearing a frown.  

“I asked you not to upset him.”  

Alex relinquishes her hold on you, the two of you sending the older woman a piercing glare.  

“Well, I asked you to be there for me growing up, and you weren’t. Looks like neither of us got what we wanted.” You say, taking Alex’s hand, the nurses making their way towards you coming to a halt.  

“Don’t worry.” You say, glancing at the women.  

“We’re leaving.” You say, turning towards your mother.  

“The only reason you need to call me again is to tell me he’s dead.” You say, turning on your heels, and making your way down the hallway, Alex’s hand holding yours tightly. 

It’s only when you’re walking out of the hospital’s entrance that you break down, falling to your knees, your body wracked with sobs.  

Alex drops down beside you, wrapping her arms tightly around you as you sob loudly against her chest, the relief of finally telling your father how you felt, making you emotional.  

“You did it, Y/N. I’m so proud of you.” Alex whispers, running her fingers through your hair as she coos softly in your ear.  

You sniffle, tears streaming down your face, your nose running as you cry against her chest.  

Eventually, you fall silent, your body twitching every so often as you sniff.  

You pull back, your bloodshot Y/E/C orbs meeting Alex’s red rimmed blues.  

She cups your cheeks, leaning her forehead against your own.  

“How do you feel?” She asks as you breathe in deep, filling your lungs with air, your chest no longer feeling as tight as it did.  

You sigh, cupping her cheeks, wiping the tears Alex didn’t realize were streaming down her cheeks away. 

“Lighter.” You say softly, bumping your nose against Alex’s.  

You fall silent before your lips split in a grin.  

“Girlfriend, huh?” You tease, her cheeks flushing.  

“I-I mean...” She stutters, cut off by your lips meeting hers in a tender, chaste kiss.  

“I do like the sound of that.” You smile, Alex throwing her arms around you, giving you a tight squeeze.  

The two of you eventually make your way towards Alex’s car, your chest feeling lighter than it ever had before.  

“I’m so proud of you.” Alex says as she slips into the driver’s seat.  

You turn back towards the hospital, staring up at the hospital where your mother and father currently were, an abusive man you’d finally told how you felt, a demon from your past that you’d finally faced and conquered.  

You smile, slipping in the passenger's seat beside Alex, the woman immediately taking your hand.  

“You know.” You pause, turning towards Alex who’s wearing a tender smile.  

Your own lips split in a grin.  

“I’m proud of me too.” 

***********************************************************************

It’s nearly two years later that you find yourself back in your hometown, rain pouring down around you as you stand at your father’s grave.  

You stare down at the stone stoically, noting the fact that it doesn’t say anything about being a loving father, but only a loving husband.  

Your eyes widen when a dark shadow falls over you, a shadow belonging to an umbrella, an umbrella Alex Morgan is currently holding.  

You take her hand, your fingertips brushing the ring wrapped around her ring finger, a ring you’d proposed to her with not that long ago.  

Life had torn you apart, creating a distance between you so vast that you were not sure if the gap would be bridged, but it was also life that brought you together again.  

It was life that led Alex to confess her feelings for you, and life that led you to where you currently were now, standing in the middle of the graveyard, your hand in Alex’s, the band of her engagement ring cold against your palm.  

You turn towards her, smiling softly.  

“Are you ready?” You ask, her brows arching when she turns towards you.  

“Are you?” She asks, squeezing your hand as you turn back to the stone, nodding. 

“Yeah, I am.”  

Alex turns, her fingers intertwining with yours as you make your way back towards her car.  

You chance one last look over your shoulder, staring at your father’s stone again before turning away, eager to start your life with the woman currently holding your hand, your chest feeling lighter than it ever had before.  

After all these years, you were finally free, and you were free to live your life with the woman you loved, and that woman was your childhood best friend, and fiancé, Alex Morgan.  

[outsideratheart]

The Three Of Us (Alex Morgan x reader)

A/N: It has been 6 months since i last posted an Alex Morgan fic. I hope you enjoy!

“Let’s have a baby” Alex peppers kisses starting from your ear lobe before working her way down. 

By now she knew the moment you were the most open, relaxed and honest was during sex. 

Upon hearing those words you felt like you were stuck in a time loop. What is it they say is the definition of insanity ‘doing the same thing over again and expecting different results’ well that is what this is. Alex sees a family on your morning walk and within ten minutes you are getting questioned on your future or when she saw how one of the opposition’s players celebrated their game by playing with their child on the pitch “that could be us” she said.

“Really? You want to have this conversation now” you push her off you, what this was leading to is now the last thing on your mind.

“I don’t understand you. You are amazing with children and they love you. Why don’t you want one of you own? Why don’t you want one with me?” 

You breathe a sigh of frustration. Alex knew exactly what she was doing by asking you this but what angers you more is that she already knew the answer. 

“Alex, we have talked about this” you bury your head in your hands on the side of the bed “I do want children just not yet. I want to live my life for me. I want to travel the world and make memories with you. We have our careers, I play in Portland and you are in Orlando. I have things I want to achieve. It would be wrong for me to bring a child into this world when I cannot make it my number 1 priority”

“Y/N it’s easy for you to say that, you are younger than me. My body is on a timer and I’m running out of time.” Alex begins to explain. 

“What are you saying?” You ask. 

“It is clear we are at different points in our lives. We want different things”

“I want you Alex why isn’t this enough?” You stand and begin pacing the room. 

“I’m sorry Y/N” Alex makes her way to the door “these past 6 years have been the happiest of my life and I can never thank you enough for that but I’m ready for the next chapter in my life and it’s clear you are not” 

You spent the rest of your off season travelling just like how you and Alex planned only now it was a solo trip. You used the time alone to think about what you wanted in life. For many years the first thing that came to mind was Alex now that wasn’t an option so you chose to focus on your career. 

Before the season started you had national camp and the SheBelieves to win. When you stand in reception your eyes scan the room for one person in particular but you cannot see her. It was the first time in a very long time that you wouldn’t be sharing with Alex but you welcomed the change. 

After being assigned rooms, the team go their separate ways to unpack. As luck had it you were sharing with Christen. 

“Have you seen Alex?” You ask whilst in the bathroom. 

At first you don’t think Christen has heard you so you go back into the bedroom and repeat your question. 

“Ermm” Christen hesitates “she is injured” 

“Is she ok?” You try not to sound overly concerned but deep down you were worried. 

“I think so” 

When you get to the meeting room you take a seat near Kelley and you try to call Alex but she doesn’t pick up, you try again, still no answer. You don’t think anything of it at first then you see Kelley’s phone go off and Alex’s photo appears on her screen.

“Can you give us a moment Y/N?” Kelley says asking for privacy. 

“What?” You reply. 

“I need to speak to Alex” Kelley adds. 

This only adds to your frustration. It hurt to see the two of them clearly not want you to be apart of their conversation. You wished that the break up wouldn’t affect the team but clearly Alex got Kelley in the separation. 

“Then take the call elsewhere. This is a room for the players who are attending camp and the meeting is about to start” you keep your gaze forward. You let your voice tell them how mad you are because if they saw your face they would see how hurt you are. 

The players around you watch the interaction between the two of you and knowing what they do, they cannot help but feel bad for you and worry about what is to come. 

*****************

A week later and things aren’t getting easier. No matter how hard you tried to brush it off you could feel a block between you and the rest of the team. Most of them were avoiding you one on one whilst Pinoe wouldn’t leave you alone, she was trying too hard. 

You decide one night to do an extra training session. As you stand there with a football at your feet it’s as if your problems no longer exist. This is what football did for you. It gave you an escape. 

You run drills, take freekicks and penalties until the sun sets. When you feel fatigue setting in you know that it is time to call it a day. 

You check the make shift food hall, it’s empty and so are the tv rooms. The team must have gone out for something to eat. You couldn’t be mad that they hadn’t invited you, after all you told Christen that you wouldn’t back till later.  

When you get to your the room you are about to swipe your key card when you see the door is open and you hear voices inside.  

“She has a right to know” 

“It’s creating a divide in the team and Alex isn’t even here”

“Everyone in this room is lying to her and I won’t do it anymore” 

You knew something was going on but hearing that they have been lying to you about something, this you didn’t expect. 

“We can’t tell her. Alex asked us not to. She wants to be the one to do it” 

“Alex wants to tell me what?” You say from the doorway. 

The rate in which their head turns in your direction, some could have got whiplash. 

“How long have you been standing there?” Kelley asks. 

Answering a question with a question. Classic form of avoidance but you weren’t letting her off that easy. 

“Alex wants to tell me what?” You repeat yourself but the words are sharper as you walk closer to the defender. 

“We can’t” Kelley mumbles.

“Then we are done. All of us. You want to keep a secret from me, I can’t stop you but I can limit the amount of time I see you. Now all of you, get out of my room. Now” 

You point to the door and they all leave, one by one. 

“Do you know what they are talking about?” You ask Christen. 

The look on her face gives you the answer you need but you want to hear her say it. 

“She asked us not to tell you” this was the forward’s defence. 

“Then the only reason why you are still in this room is because you were assigned it. If it was up to me then you would have left with the others”

Christen stands there as her words fail her. What was she suppose to say? What could she do to reassure you that she hated keeping this from you. 

**************

Days pass and you don’t speak unless spoken to and even then is it minimal.

“Y/N” Tobin approaches you in the gym. 

“Go away Tobs” you say as you continue to run on the treadmill. 

“You know you can’t actually run away from your problems” she tries to make a joke but your face remains stale. 

You stop the treadmill and walk towards her. 

“I’m not running away from the problem because I don’t know what it is. None of you will tell me” 

“We can’t” Tobin says “Alex wants to be the one tell you” 

“Alex isn’t here. She won’t take my calls. She seems happy enough to tell all of you about this thing but she won’t tell me, the woman who has spent the past 5 years loving her”

Once you’re out of earshot Tobin makes a phone call. 

“Yes, you were right, she was in the gym” 

“No, she has just left so she’ll be on her way to you” 

“Just be careful with her Alex”

You make your way to your room, passing players as you do so. None of them say anything but you can feel their eyes burning holes into your head as you pass by them. When they think you aren’t listening you hear them whispering. It gave you an uneasy feeling in your gut. 

When you get to your room you hear Christen talking to someone. 

“Just be honest with her” your room mate days. 

“I don’t know if I can”

Alex

“I hate to say it but you don’t have a choice. You either tell her now or let her find out on her own which by the looks of things won’t take her long” 

You know you shouldn’t eavesdrop but they are in your room. Are you really doing anything wrong?

“She’ll never forgive me. When I tell her I’m pregnant there’s no hope for us” 

“What did you just say?” You make your presence known. 

“Y/N” the look on Alex’s face when she sees you is priceless. 

Christen doesn’t say anything. Instead she gives you the room. 

“Let me explain” 

“You’re pregnant?” You know you heard her correctly but seeing her from a closer view, her swollen stomach confirms what you heard. 

What confuses you is the size of her stomach. You are a football player, not a doctor but it is big. 

Alex sees you thinking and she knows the conclusion you are about to come to. 

“Wait, how far a long are you?” You ask. 

Alex mumbles something but you don’t hear her so you ask her to repeat herself. 

“Y/N” once again she says only your name. The way she says it sounds like she is asking for forgiveness before she even apologises. 

“Answer the question Alex” you stand your ground. 

When Alex takes a couple of steps towards you, you take a few steps back. 

“Stay there please” you ask. 

You know that if Alex gets close enough to you she will reach for you hand and you will unravel under her touch. 

“Please answer my question Alex. How far along are you?” 

 “4 months” 

One number. One word. It breaks you heart more than when Alex broke up with you. 

“No. You can’t be” you take more steps back as a way of putting as much distance between you and Alex as possible. “That means”

“Y/N let me explain”

“No. If you are 4 months along it means you were pregnant before we broke up. You were pregnant when I told you I wasn’t ready to be a mother. I really meant nothing to you?”

“Y/N you—“

“I never wanted you to be in a position to choose between me and wanting to to be a mother. I guess now you don’t have to” 

“Y/N that’s not what I wanted” 

“You’ll make great mother Alex” 

You leave the room and go straight to Tobin’s room because you know that is where Christen will be. 

As your knuckles bang on the door you feel you nose tingle and tears brim your eyes. Your chest tightens and the enormity of what just happened hits you like a ton of bricks. 

“Y/N I’m so sorry” Christen says. 

You all but collapse in her arms as she opens the door. 

Without letting you go Christen leads you to the bed. You immediately cuddle into her side as you let your tears fall. 

“Go see Alex” Christen mouths to Tobin. 

When the two of you are alone Christen asks you what happened. 

“She’s pregnant but you already know don’t you? That is what everyone has been hiding from me?”

Christen knows that her answer won’t make this any better so she stays quiet whilst slowly stroking your hair. 

“She is 4 months pregnant. She did it when we were together. She never cared about me” 

“Y/N that’s not true, Alex loves you with her whole heart.” Christen says confidently. 

If there was one thing anyone who ever saw you and Alex together knew, it was that the love you have for each other is unconditional. 

“She doesn’t but that’s ok, she doesn’t need to anymore. She has her family and she will be an amazing mom I know it”

Christen was in awe of how you spoke. You are the most selfless person she has ever met. Even now when you heart has been broken again, you would let Alex go if it meant she got to be happy. 

“Are you really going to let her go?” Christen asks you. 

“She’s already gone Chris” you admired defeat “she had already left when she was stood in front of me asking if I wanted children. She asked me this whilst knowing she was already pregnant” 

“And you’re not ready for this? Are you sure or are you scared?”

“Chris, in a few months time she will have a baby. The thought of been a mother in 3 years time scares me”

“So it is because you’re scared not because you don’t want a baby” Chris continues to push you on the topic. 

“I really don’t want to talk about it. Can we just lay here?” You ask. 

“Of course. Do you want to hear about how Tobin broke Channing’s arm?” 

Christen tells you the story but she isn’t even half way through when she feels your breathing even out. When she looks down your eyes are closed confirming her suspicions that you had fallen asleep. 

***************

When you wake up the next morning, you find yourself alone in the hotel room. You see a note of the bedside table. 

You looked so peaceful and I thought you could use the sleep. I have gone for breakfast, come down when you’re ready. 

P.S breakfast ends at 10am. 

You take a quick glance at the clock, 9:30. You mange to get a shower and ready for the day in ten minutes. You are about to leave the room when you are reminded of last nights events. When you look in the mirror you know you don’t look great. Despite the extra time in bed, your eyes are still red and puffy. 

When you get to the food hall you see a spare seat next the Christen and you know it isn’t a coincidence. As you take a seat Christen hands you a cup of coffee. 

You can feel everyone’s eyes on you. It is clear that they know you know. As you look around you make eye contact with every player on the team and they look at you the same way, with pity. 

You push your chair out then stand on it. 

“Can I have everyone’s attention?” You ask. 

What you are just now realising is that Alex isn’t only sitting at your table but she sitting directly opposite you. She sends you a weak smile but you can only shake you head. 

“The past couple of days you have been keeping something from me and it hurt. It hurt to see my friends, some of you my best friends, choose to keep me in the dark about this but I don’t care anymore. Alex asked you not to say anything and you respected her wishes. Now I ask you to do the same thing for me, I wish to move on and not talk about this topic any more. Can you do that?” You ask. 

You receive a mixture of responses but they are all in agreement. 

“Are you ok?” Christen asks as you retake your place at the table 

“No. I’m far from it” you reply was honest because you didn’t have the energy in you to lie. 

As you finish your sentence you see Alex watching you. The worry on her face is evident but you refuse to have sympathy for her considering that she is to blame for your current state of mind. 

The longer you look at her the further away she feels but you keep eye contact. The intensity of the stare gains the attention of those around you and they can do nothing but watch the two of you hoping that nothing too extreme happens. You watch as Alex’s hand goes to her stomach and a small smile tugs at her lips, seeing this brings you to tears but you can’t look away. You feel a single tear on your cheek, you let it fall and soon feel another one follows in suit. You flinch when you feel Christen’s hand on your thigh.

“Y/N lets—“

she gets cut off when a member of the media team approaches you.

“Y/N Vlatko has said to come and get you. You have media duties this morning” 

You mentally scold yourself, forgetting about the media that has been scheduled.

“She can’t do it, look at her” Alex says as she comes to your defence.

“I’m not yours to worry about anymore Alex” 

You stand and are about to leave when Christen grabs your hand.

“She’s right Y/N I don’t think it is best for you to go in front the media right now” Christen joins Alex’s cause.

“I’ll be fine Chris. It’s not like they are going to ask me how I feel about my ex showing up to camp pregnant after we broke up or maybe they might, did you tell anyone else before you told me or more accurately before i was told?” 

You turn to Alex with a wicked look in your eye.

********************

A couple of months later, Portland are playing Orlando and for the first time since before the break up you find yourself back in the sunshine state.

“How does it feel been back here?” Lynsey asks you.

“Like i’m suppose to be sneaking out to spend the night at her house” you reply as you look out at the city view from the hotel room.

You go quiet and Lynsey knows that even though you are looking at the city, you are deep in your head. Since that camp you have been closed off, not in a ignorant way, you have still be spending time with the team but you’re not the Y/N they once knew. 

“She’ll be at the game. Are you ready to see her?” 

“I have come to realisation that I will have to see her, I will have to play with her and i’m ok with that”

“No you’re not”

“No I’m not but it sounded very mature didn’t it?”

The next day you beat Orlando 5-1, a result that came as a surprise to no one. You and some of of the Portland girls decide to stay another night and go to Disneyland on your day off the next day.

The other girls, along with Ash and Ali, decide to go out for a meal but you tell them you are too sore. It was a lie, you knew it and they knew it but they let you off regardless.

You walk the streets of Orlando and a highlight reel of your’s and Alex’s relationship plays on a loop in your head. You are so caught up in the past that you almost don’t hear your phone go off.

Looking down you expected it to be Sonnet who told you she would tell you the dessert list in case you wanted one bringing back.

“Sonny, let me guess they have red velvet cheesecake and you want to know if I want one slice or two?” 

The line is quiet but you can hear someone breathing heavily.

“Y/N” it was Alex.

You freeze upon hearing her voice.

“Y/N something is wrong with the baby” 

Her words instil a level of fear you have never experienced before.

“I need you Y/N” 

In that moment you couldn’t care less about the past or the hurt that Alex has caused you. All you cared about was her and the baby.

You take in your surroundings, you weren’t far from Alex’s house so decide to run there instead of waiting for a taxi knowing that it would be quicker.

“Alex” you don’t bother knocking as you enter the house you once called a home “Alex i’m here, where are you?” you call out.

You do a quick sweep of the downstairs before running upstairs.

“Alex!” you call her again.

“B-b-bedroom” She only just manages to reply.

Once in the master bedroom you see Alex on her side hugging her stomach, the size of it catches you off guard, it really has popped since you last saw her.

“You came” Alex says in disbelief.

“I promised you I would always be there if need me and I never plan on breaking it” you sit on the edge of the bed “Tell me where it hurts?” 

As soon as you ask the question you realise how stupid you must sound. You know where it hurts and you have no idea what to do.

“Y/N” Alex says and even though she is in pain she still manages to give you a look which says what do you think.

“Right, stomach, baby” you take a deep breathe as you try to pull yourself together. “Let’s get you to the hospital, i’ll drive”

Again this earns you the look.

“Don’t look at me like that, I’m trying my hardest here”

You carry Alex bridal style to car and drive to the hospital but not before sending a text to your national team mates asking them to meet you there.

Once through the doors, the doctors take Alex and ask you to wait in the waiting room. It’s not long after that the girls arrive. They ask you what happened but you don’t have the answer.

“You’re telling us its a coincidence that this happens the night you are in town. The night you tell us that you don’t want to come out with us” Ash says.

Her accusation is clear and while you know you did nothing purpose you can’t help but think you could have had something to do with it. Alex never turned up at the soccer game, was it because she didn’t want to see you? Was she stressed about having to face you? Was Ash right, was this your fault?

When the doctor comes out she asks for the family of Alex Morgan and everyone but you stand.

You can over hear the doctor tell them that both Mother and baby are doing well, after that you zone out, you had heard all you needed to but when you see ash turn to you with a scowl of her face and shake of her head you know that it must have been your fault.

“She’s allowed visitors, are you coming?” Tobin asks you.

“No, I can’t” 

Tobin sits with you for a few minutes until she knows you are a little calmer.

“Where’s Y/N?” Alex asks when Tobin enters the hospital.

“She isn’t coming in” the forward replies.

“I thought for a moment she still cared. When I looked at her it was like my Y/N was looking back but I guess not” Alex doesn’t try to hide the hurt in voice and even if she did, her face would give it away.

She watches as her friends all look at each other, it’s as if they are having conversation between each other without talking.

Alex has enough when she sees Sonnet whispering something in Lynsey’s ear and the forward shakes her head.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Alex says.

The sound of the heart rate monitors rapidly increases as Alex begins to worry.

“Alex you need to calm down. It’s not good for you or the baby” Ali says.

Alex closes her eyes as she focuses on her breathing knowing that her friend is right.

“Ash made Y/N think that this is all her fault. That she caused, well whatever happened to you, to happen” Sonnet spits out.

Although Alex wasn’t sure what caused this, she knew it wasn’t you. She knew that if not for you then it could have been a lot worse. She looks at the goalkeeper who funnily enough cannot bring herself to look at her friend.

“Get out” Alex tells her “Now”

Ash is about to argue but Alex cuts her off.

“I would like all of you to leave. I need to rest and I thinks it’s better if I do that alone” 

The girls do as they are told, knowing that arguing with a pregnant woman never ends well.

Hours pass and Alex’s thoughts are all about you. She knew that once Ash planted the seed of fault that you would believe her and that as time passed you would only feel more guilty.

She presses the button on the remote which calls for a nurse.

“Yes Miss Morgan” 

“Is there a woman out there. Tall, rather muscly”

“Looks like a soccer player?” The nurse playfully asks and Alex nods.

“I take it you’re talking about Y/N Y/L/N?” 

Alex nods again.

“She is out there. She hasn’t moved since she brought you in but I think she is trying to drink our coffee machine dry” the nurse jokes.

That sounds like the Y/N Alex knows.

“Will you please ask her to come in? I know she doesn’t want to but I really need to see her��� 

“She does want to come in Miss Morgan. Before your friends got here I watched her walk towards that door and go back to her seat so many times I lost count” 

The nurse leaves the room and Alex waits in anticipation. Her eyes dart to the door whenever she hears foot steps close by. 

“I don’t like her” you say as you lean against the threshold. 

“I heard that” the woman shouts from the nurse’s station. 

“I don’t care” 

Alex only laughs at your childish response. 

“What did she say?” Alex says hoping to avoid the elephant in the room. 

“Nothing that wasn’t true”  you admit as you sit in the seat beside Alex. 

“You never did like the truth” 

“I like it better than lies” you pause and instantly regret what you’ve said “I shouldn’t have said that. I don’t want to cause any more damage” 

You rest your elbows on your knees as you bury you head in your hands. The sound of the machine Alex is hooked up to only makes your guilt worse. 

“It wasn’t your fault Y/N and Ash had no right to tell you otherwise. According to the doctors I wasn’t resting enough and this was the baby’s way of telling me to slow down”

As she mentions the baby your eyes wander to her swollen stomach. 

“Please forgive me Y/N” Alex begs. 

“Alex I forgave you the morning after I found out. I could never stay mad at you for wanting a family. It’s something that I couldn’t give you, not yet anyway” 

“I hate the way things ended between us” your ex girlfriend admits. 

“Did you expect anything else? Did you think that once I found out you were pregnant that I would change my mind?” You weren’t angry anymore but you were still hurting and felt like you deserved answers. 

“Yes” Alex replies honestly “I’ve seen you with kids Y/N, I have no doubt in my mind that you will be an amazing mom but you’re scared, you’re scared that you will turn out like your own mother” 

Alex was right. Your mother had you when she was young and when she wasn’t ready. She blamed you for not being able to live her life and it caused a rift in your relationship until the day she died. 

“I’m petrified Alex. You mean the world to me and I can’t have you resenting me when I fail our child”

“Y/N” Alex whispers, her voice low as she is overcome with emotion “you called her our child” 

“I’ve been thinking about it and I’ve even dreamt about it a few times but seeing you tonight on the bed in so much pain, I was so scared Alex and I could do nothing to help you” as you think back to a few hours ago your fear returns. 

“You did everything you could have. You calmed me down even though I know you were freaking out on the inside. You got me to the hospital and despite our break up and what I did, you stayed out there and you didn’t leave me” 

When Alex sees one of your hands resting on the side of the bed she grabs it. Touch was your love language and in that moment she knew you needed the connection. 

You feel Alex’s hand in yours and you feel yourself relax more than you have in months. 

“You called the baby a her?” You say letting Alex know that you picked up on the pronoun she used “you said you wanted a surprise”

“Well this pregnancy hasn’t exactly gone the way I hoped” Alex jokes “and before you say it, I know that is my fault” 

There is so much you want to say but you don’t know how to say it. 

“Tell me what you thinking” Alex asks as if it is that simple. 

Your thoughts are too loud to comprehend. 

“You can leave if you want. You drove me here and you stayed with me but I’m fine, the doctors said I can go home tomorrow so you can leave”

“No, no. I don’t want that” you had never been so sure of anything in your life. 

“Tell me what want you Y/N” 

“I want to kiss you. I’m missed been able to kiss you” you look down at Alex’s lips. 

“I won’t stop you” 

You stand up and sit on the edge of the bed. You cup Alex’s cheek. When you lean forward you stop millimetres away from her face. 

She really is the most beautiful woman you have ever met. 

With your lips on hers, you both move in sync. The kiss isn’t wildly passionate but it is full of love. 

“I want you and I want her”

Your hand hovers over her stomach. The hesitation you feel is due to a mixture of nervousness and fear. 

“You can touch it” Alex grabs your hand and places it on her belly with hers intertwined on top of it. 

It feels surreal and you think about what this moment means not only for you but for yours and Alex’s relationship. 

Your face lights up when you feel the baby kick against your hand. A smile that rivals that of the Cheshire cat from Alice in wonderland spreads from ear from ear. 

“She likes your voice” 

Surely this couldn’t be true. The only time you have talked to Alex since been pregnant is when you found out and it wasn’t exactly a positive conversation. 

“I have been playing her some of our videos and the ones the team has posted. I have really missed you and it turns out your voice doesn’t only soothe me” 

“I’ve missed you too, more than you know. I haven’t been the same without you Alex” 

Alex moves further aside so you can lie on the bed. You pull Alex into you side with one arm whilst the other one gently rubs her bump. 

“There is a human in there” the more you think about the concept, the more you are amazed that Alex has another human being growing inside of her. 

“It freaks me out” she admits. 

The two of you lay there peacefully. The comfortable silence is welcomed as you enjoy being in each other’s company again. 

“I can do this. I am ready” you are speaking to Alex but you are also reassuring yourself. 

“We can do this. It’s me and you, we are a team” Alex corrects you. 

“No Alex. It’s me, you and our daughter” you kiss her temple 

[sunnys-out]

Your damn cherry chapstick | Alex Morgan

a/n: from this prompt list. Let's pretend that voicemails can actually be this long lol.

Prompt Request: 10. I still remember how you taste...

Warnings: Implied Smut, MDNI, cursing, alcohol

Word Count: 573

Part 2 here

You have one new message

“God, I shouldn't even be doing this, fuck, how long since we talked talked?... I shouldn’t have had that stupid fucking wine... Fuck, like it matters, you probably are going to delete this once you see it’s from me…I’m not here to say congrats on marrying Servando…nah you know that’s not very me.”

Pause

“I regret introducing you to Servando, I really do…I would’ve been the one dancing with you at that Gala. I was just sitting there drinking away at that cheap ass, champagne they gave us and overlooking the campus while you were having the time of your life.”

Pause

“Funny, he looked so happy having you in his arms that day when not even hours before I was in between your legs, Morgan. I thought I had you back completely but you broke up whatever we had and went running to him once we got to the end of the year Gala for Cal Soccer”

Pause

“Do you remember that last time? You showed up at my apartment after skipping your Philosophy lecture wanting to “see me again” after ignoring me for weeks because you were with Servando. Hell, talking lasted 6 minutes before you pushed me against the wall begging me to kiss you…”

“I still remember how you taste, Alex…even the taste of your damn, cherry, chapstick. The sounds you made for me then are ingrained in my head...God, I’ll never forget. The way that it was all because of me and I was the only one who could make you feel that way… you said it yourself. Fuck, I wouldn’t have let you go that morning if I had known it was the last time; maybe things would have been different.”

Pause

“Nah, you knew what you were doing. It was just a fucking goodbye, wasn’t it? Got my hopes up and just broke it the moment you saw Servando?!? Fuck, Alex, you know what, I’m glad I had that career-ending injury in  Portland, I saved myself all that time pining over you, wishing to have your back…”

Pause

“That sounded pathetic of me…’I still remember how you taste, Alex’ like that isn't the sound of pining over someone. Hell, you wouldn’t have said the same for me maybe because I didn’t let you…I was just happy tasting you and having you all to myself.”

Pause

“You know Servando actually texted me asking me if I wanted to be invited to the wedding. Said that I slipped through the cracks in planning…Funny, wonder if that was intentional on your part, babe. Afraid that you’ll leave Servando immediately if you see me. I mean you did that but to me back all those years ago…why wouldn’t you do it again?”...Anyways, Sev, pushed the idea that I give a speech of how I introduced you two…I declined of course…said I was busy.  

Pause 

“Is it cocky for me to assume I was the best you ever have? Probably… Anyways good luck on this marriage thing. Tell Servando that his ass should be happy that I introduced him to “the love of his life”. I hope you remember me the way that I remember you, I love you Alex Morgan, I’ve always had…it’d be ironic if I said don’t be a stranger because you do that all on your own…”

“Don’t you dare text me…I swear to God, Alex Morgan”

End of Message

[perfectly-imperfect82]

Security part 2

There will also be a part 2 with an alternative ending!

Alex POV

I was sitting, talking to Christen, Tobin, and Megan when I heard the door open and saw Kelley enter. She took one look at me before she turn and went to join the table with the youngsters.

"What's going on between you and Kelley? You guys haven't spoke since practice yesterday" Megan asked looking at me

"We've spoken"

"Like two words" Tobin said

"We just don't agree on something, she'll get over it" I said looking over a Kelley who was glaring at me

That enough, I thought. I don't need Kelley attitude giving it away.

"Let's go talk" I said looking at her as she slowly followed me outside the room and down the hallway.

"What's your problem?"

"You know what my problem is" Kelley said with attitude

"You aren't still talking about (y/n) are you?" I asked causing Kelley to continue to glare at me as she responded "of course I'm still mad at you for that. You should go see her and say sorry. Let her met the real you, not the scared one. You may never get the chance to after this surgery. I mean it fricking heart surgery, she could died for all we know. And that's how you want to leave things with your daughter? You calling security on her?"

I stare at Kelley for a minute and as I felt all the emotions I've felt that I've pushed away reach me.

"She doesn't need me, she has her mom" I said sadly turning to walk away from her

"That's not what it looked like yesterday. She wanted to meet you. That seems like she wanted you in her life"

"Kelley! Don't you get it! I gave her up! I lost any right I had to be her mom or apart of her life that day." I said as tears reached my eyes that I quickly wiped

"You are the kid's mom?" I heard causing me to quickly turn and see Ash and Ali standing their in shock

"You aren't wrong, you did give up your right to be her mom. You didn't however give up your rights to be a part of her life, especially if she reached out to you" ash said

"I have to fix this" I said

"And we will help you" Ali said —————————————————

I ran as fast as I could to through the hospital, looking for (y/n) or her mom. I had to make it to her before her surgery, I had to let her know I was sorry.

I felt my lungs burn as ran, dodging people and things as I went. Ignoring the shouts to slow down or stop running. My only thought was to her reach her.

I round the corner and felt my heart rate increase even more and I felt sick to my stomach at the sight in front of me.

(Y/n) mom was in tears as the doctor held her.

"No, my baby" I hear her cry out repeatedly as the doctor continued to comfortable her.

I felt my throat tighten, as the realization of this means hit me. I'm too late. She already in surgery and she didn't make it. I'll never get to talk to her, build a relationship with her, see her grow up

The first sob ripped through my body as I fell to the ground with tears starting to fall down my face.

"I didn't make" I sobbed out as I felt someone pull me them as I felt there tears fall on to my shoulder

"I'm too late" I continue turning to look at who is holding them. I looked to see Kelley holding me as tears feel down her face as she looked at me.

"Alex" I heard Allie say as she gentle help me to my feet as (y/n) mom made her way to us with tears streaming down her face

She looked at me with a look of disgust.

"Now you decide to show up. Once she dead. You couldn't have figured this out yesterday after you called security on her or this morning before she went into surgery. To think that when I signed her adoption papers and made the amendment that if someday you realized your mistake of giving up a wonderful daughter. That I would give her back. You parents thought for sure that I would have her two years max. That you would come back for your daughter. How wrong we were." She said said causing more tears to come to my eyes as she put reality in to perspective for me.

I had know I could take her back, but I never did. I selfishly put soccer over my daughter. I put my life before my daughters.

"You know, she went into that surgery thinking you didn't love her. That's she was a mistake and should have never been born. I worked years to get those thoughts out of her head when she was younger and it took one conversation with you to pull them all back. I held her as she cried over it last night. A night that should have been calm and maybe full of nerves for her surgery today. You did that Alex and now you have to live with that for the rest of your life" she said as more tears fell down my face as angry rose in me as she walked away with the doctor

Angry at all my decisions, angry for making a young girl feel like a mistake, angry for never realizing what I gave up.

"Alex" Kelley said gently and I knew she was worried for my reaction

"We should go" Tobin said moving slowly to help guide me out but as soon as her and Kelley touched me, all my angry exploded

"DONT" I yelled shoving there hands away

"I fucked up" I said angrily pushing them away I went to move away from them, not sure to where I was heading

"I fucked when I gave her up! I continued to fuck over the years but not getting her back. I fucked up by calling security on her." I said angrily at them as I saw everyone worried faces, most of them having tears coming down there faces

"I managed to fuck up by not getting her in enough time to tell her I've always loved her. That my biggest regret was never getting her back. Now it's to late" I mumbled as all the anger left me and numbing feeling took over my body.

I would never forgive myself for this.