Chapter Text
Emily’s not sure if it's the banging on the door or Rose hitting her in the face with a pillow that wakes her up first, but either way, she stumbles of bed and goes to open it, assuming it’s Lindsey having an early morning pre-final meltdown.
It’s not.
“Sonny! It worked!” Kelley pushes her way into the room only to get hit in the face by Rose’s other pillow. “Your voodoo witch doctor shit worked. I just passed my eval. Full ROM. I’m cleared, y’all.” Her voice is triumphant in a way that makes Emily feel mostly relieved that her ill-conceived plan wasn't so ill-conceived after all.
“Good, now go the fuck back to sleep,” Rose mumbles, and then covers her head with the blankets, but not before she makes sure to add an overly dramatic sigh.
“It’s not that early, Rose,” Kelley tosses her pillow back onto her bed and plops down on Emily’s. “Tell Emma thanks for me. I really doubted you, but…” she shrugs.
“So you’re starting then?” Emily asks, trying not to sound too hopeful.
“Oh, no. It’s too late to be making changes like that last minute. Besides, you’ve been killing it out there. I’m just glad I’m better. Maybe I can get a few pity minutes at the end at least now.”
Pity minutes. The fact that Kelley’s been so low she’s excited about the possibility of being subbed in in stoppage time is heartbreaking considering the career she’s had. Emily sinks back against her pillow. It’s not that she doesn’t want to play – she does – but she also wants Kelley to play, and those two things are mutually exclusive. It means something to her that Vlatko knows Kelley is good to go and is still starting her. It means a lot, actually. Never in a million years would she have believed it if someone had told her she’d be starting in an Olympic final over the Kelley O’Hara. It means a lot to be starting alongside Lindsey, too. She’s worked for two decades for this moment. She knows she can do it. And, sure, she’s nervous about it. But good nervous. Normal nervous. Not I need to hatch a plan to get out of the starting lineup nervous.
It’s just… she’s got time for another Olympics, maybe even two, if she’s lucky.
Most likely.
Probably.
Statistically speaking.
One for sure. Right? Right.
She can’t help that it’s in her nature to be selfless. She can’t help that this singular characteristic overpowers her ability to think logically. It’s a product of being raised right. Or wrong, depending on outlook. She knows everyone would disagree with her, but she can’t help who she is at her core. Right or wrong. Good or bad. She’s worked through a lot of the not-so-good, but she is her mother’s daughter, and her mother, with everything she gave up for her and Emma, was selfless if nothing else.
She catches Kelley’s eye on the bench, and that distinct look of sadness breaks Emily’s heart. All day, Emily’s been so unsure of what to do, but in this moment, the second half just underway, she’s certain. It’s not her place, but then again, none of this was. Maybe no one else has any faith that Kelley is still Kelley, but she does. Kelley would give anything to be on the pitch and will give her all for this team, for another medal, for one more chance to play on this kind of stage, because it’s what everything that she’s gone through has been for. Intangibles matter. Emily knows this better than anyone. If they didn’t matter, she wouldn’t have been in France a year ago. Vlatko’s just so numbers-oriented that sometimes he misses what really should count. It’s a like-for-like substitution, Emily reasons; there won’t be any drop off in play with Kelley coming on. No added risk, of this Emily’s sure. She’d never so carelessly jeopardize what they all worked so hard for if she wasn’t certain. Besides, realistically, Kelley will provide more offense, and they need to break that 0-0 tie. They’ve been playing fine, dominating even, but they aren’t quite in their offensive groove. Marta’s kept her pinned back on one side and Debinha’s been pushed up so high Crystal hasn’t been able to get anything going in the attack – Kelley makes sense. The coaches just can’t see past her injury.
Brazil’s throw-in sails over both her and Marta and it’s a foot race down the sideline. She gains one step on Marta, slides, plays the ball out across the touch line, and stays down.
At first, no one thinks anything of it. No one rushes to her side. Sonny never stays down. Lindsey’s the first one to realize something’s wrong, and when she does, she sprints to Sonny’s side. Then Tobin, from across the field, arrives and almost pushes Lindsey out of the way to kneel down and see what’s going on. Becky and Alyssa, who really weren’t worried at first, crowd around her. In the cracks between the bodies circling her, she sees Kelley up on the sideline. By the time the trainer’s at her side, Kelley’s warming up. By the time she’s being helped up, she sees Kelley getting last-minute instructions from Erica.
“You got this, Kell!” she shouts as Kelley sprints onto the field.
Calf strain.
51st minute.
She’s done.
By her own hand.
If she’s honest with herself, she thought that convincing Lindsey would be the hardest part of the whole thing, but Lindsey’s so worried about her, following her to the sideline, that she knows she’s done a believable job. “I’m fine, Linds. It’s just my calf, it’s not a knee. I’m fine. Go kick some ass!”
She watches Lindsey hustle back onto the field, relief evident on her face and in her body language, and she sits down on the bench, letting the trainer wrap an ice bag around her calf.
Ten minutes later, she feels like a fucking genius. Kelley breaks free on the flank, her cross flies over Rose’s head, and Lindsey slams it home. Emily loses her shit on the bench until a trainer gives her the side eye, but she doesn’t sit back down until Lindsey eventually makes her way over to celebrate. “Keep going!” Emily yells in her ear over the crowd, still going crazy.
Rose is subbed out a few minutes later. She plops down on the bench a few feet from Emily. Once she catches her breath, she looks Emily dead in the eye. “Emily Sonnett doesn’t pull muscles,” she says, showing absolutely no emotion, and Emily can’t get a read her. She turns away to watch the game without another word. That’s not entirely true because she pulled a muscle in the 2018 semifinal, but it’s true enough that she wonders if Rose has real doubts.
In the 76th minute, Alex chases down a through ball from Sam. Back in form, she touches the ball around the charging Brazilian keeper and makes the finish look easy. They’re starting to feel untouchable, but a few passes from the kickoff, Lindsey is called for a foul outside the box, and Marta’s free kick is brilliant, beating Alyssa in the upper 90.
They manage to survive the ensuring onslaught and hang on, and Emily doesn’t even charge out onto the field when the final whistle blows. In retrospect, it was a good decision considering she was supposed to be too injured to sprint, but really, she just needs a moment to take it in. It’s perfection. Lindsey scoring. Alex scoring the winning goal on the eight-year anniversary of the miracle goal she scored against Canada in stoppage time of overtime, proving to anyone who doubted her that she’s back, Kelley getting to play and getting an assist. Lindsey slams into her, having weaved around every single person who tried to hug her on her way to Emily. She wanted to be first.
“Are you really ok?” she asks, and it kind of shocks Emily a little that they just won a fucking gold medal, and that’s the first thing Lindsey would say.
“Yeah, I’m gonna be fine,” Emily assures her.
Lindsey hugs her, satisfied that she’s not broken and can’t be hurt further. “That was supposed to be us,” Lindsey says into Emily’s neck, a little sad. And Emily gets it, but she doesn’t really feel sadness about it because there’s no way to know whether she would have played that same ball into the box. Or if she would have even been able to get free. Sometimes, things go according to plan. Sometimes, they work out the way they’re supposed to. This is one of those times.
“Love you,” Emily whispers, even though there’s no way anyone could hear her in the stadium that’s still rocking.
Lindsey lifts her off her feet, swinging her around. “We fucking did it!” Lindsey screams, finally letting go of everything to celebrate.
“We fucking did it!” Emily echoes. “Now put me down because I’m about to kiss you.”
“You can kiss me if you want.”
Emily thinks about it for a second. She wants to. She really doesn’t even care what anyone thinks anymore, but she just wants to keep the world out of their lives for a little while longer. “I will kiss you until we fall asleep later. Or whatever else you want. Golden Boot winners get whatever they want,” Emily winks at her.
“Sonnett.” Kelley’s voice is a hiss The hand she puts on Sonnett’s shoulder is squeezing, and not in a nice way. Emily turns around, separating herself slightly from Lindsey’s arm around her waist. “I need to talk to you.”
“Yeah, later,” Emily says, turning back to her sister and stepping back into Lindsey’s arm. “We celebrating!” Emily tries to say it lightly, tries to smile, tries to pretend that Kelley will actually walk away and bring the conversation up later, because with one word, Emily knew that Kelley knows.
“Now.” And the way she says it, Emily knows she’s pissed and knows this is not going to go well. She considers not going with Kelley, but then she thinks that Kelley’s probably mad enough to call her out right here in front of Lindsey, and she’d rather avoid that. It all worked out in the end, but she can only imagine what Lindsey’s reaction will be if she finds out that Sonnett gave up her spot on the field to the woman she used to sleep with. It’s going to be a whole argument about Sonnett still having feelings for Kelley, and she doesn’t want that. Not tonight. Tonight doesn’t need that kind of damper on it. Besides, this hurt no one. And it had nothing to do with Emily’s past with Kelley, so she doesn’t feel like she’s lying by omission keeping it from her. There are just some things that don’t need to be brought up. Sonnett doesn’t react fast enough for Kelley’s liking, and Kelley grabs her by the ear.
“Ow, ow, ow!” Sonnett whines as she’s dragged away, and Lindsey just kind of laughs at her, then goes back to talking to Emma. “Shit, Kell, I’m coming. Let go!”
Kelley glares at her, drops her ear, and grabs her arm, dragging her around the corner, and shoves her against the wall.
“I don’t think my girlfriend would like this,” Sonnett tries again to lighten the mood.
It doesn’t work. “What the fuck did you do, Sonnett?”
“I don’t think your girlfriend would like this either.”
“Go fuck yourself,” Kelley stops herself from yelling, but only because she doesn’t want anyone to hear. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” Kelley shoves her again.
“Ow! I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I’m a gold medalist now, and really you shouldn’t- ”
“You think I don’t have Japanese friends after all the time I’ve played in the league? That shit you gave me for my ankle is for congestion!”
Emily starts laughing, quietly at first, trying not to, but she can’t hold it in, and before she knows it, she’s cackling, almost doubled over.
“It’s not fucking funny, Sonnett!”
“It kinda is. We thought it was lotion,” Sonnett says, trying to catch her breath.
“We, who is we? Emma? Or did Lindsey know about this?”
“What? Oh hell no. She knows nothing about this. She’d fucking kill me!”
“I’m gonna fucking kill you!” Kelley says, just so Emily knows that would be worse.
“Unlikely. You got an assist in the gold medal game. That medal around your neck is because of me. Because you played. You’re welcome.” Emily tries to walk past her, but Kelley doesn’t budge.
“Are you even fucking hurt?”
Sonnett shrugs. “You got another medal. Everything worked out. Just hush. And also, keep your mouth shut. Please and thanks.” Kelley just glares at her, and she’s really unsure if Kelley will keep her mouth shut. “Kell, come on” she pleads. “You can’t be mad about this.” But Kelley’s face says she can’t decide if she’s mad or not. “You remember when I almost threw all of this away and you literally dragged me back to camp?”
“How could I ever forget?” Kelley clenches and unclenches her jaw.
“You gave me this moment. You gave me Lindsey back and soccer and this medal and everything that makes me happy and makes me me.”
“Well, it was Tobin, too,” Kelley mumbles, but when she looks back up at Emily, there are tears in her eyes.
“I owed you. I may owe you forever. You just needed a little push to get better, and a little good fortune to get into the game.”
“Son, this could have gone disastrously bad,” Kelley wipes at her eyes so Sonnett won’t see her full on crying.
“I wouldn’t have done it if it was gonna go bad, Kell. I earned this damn medal. I wasn’t going home without it. Can I please go back now? I’ve got beers to drink and dances to dance and a girlfriend to- ” Kelley pushes her back towards Lindsey. “So rude!” Sonnett exclaims. Kelley’s about to let her go, but she pulls Emily into a hug. “Damnit, Kell, you’re about to break my fucking ribs.”
“Shut up. I love you, Sonny. You’re an idiot. You’re insane. I don’t even understand how your brain works the way it works. But you have the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met, and I fucking love you. Lindsey’s a lucky woman.”
“K. Remind her of that next time she’s mad at me.”
Kelley chuckles. “Also, we’re even.”
“Oh fuck, babe. Fuck yes!” Lindsey moans, arching up off the bed.
“You’re a gold medalist, baby,” Emily pulls her mouth away from Lindsey to remind her, for probably the tenth time tonight.
Lindsey digs her fingers into Emily’s scalp. “Em, I swear to god, if you keep stopping…”
She doesn’t get to finish her sentence because Emily’s tongue shuts her up again. Or at least leaves her at a loss for words. She’s certainly not quiet.
The familiar click of the key card unlocking the door makes them freeze, and Lindsey’s able to throw the covers over both of them just in time. “Whatthefuck?” she says, not even trying to hide her exasperation. She was so close. Kelley stands in the doorway, smirking at her.
“Kelley?” Emily mumbles against her thigh, unable to see.
“Uh-huh.”
“Kell, get out of our room!” Emily yells at her, still between Lindsey’s legs, with no plan to move anytime soon.
“My room,” Kelley corrects her. “You can go back to your room. Fuck Lindsey with Rose in there, if you want.”
“Oh Jesus fucking Christ, Kelley!” Lindsey covers her face with a pillow, and Sonnett sticks her head out from under the covers. “What are you doing here? Go back to your girlfriend’s hotel. We talked about this.”
“We did,” Kelley concedes, “But that’s before I knew where this one was staying. Tell them, honey.”
Kam sighs. “I thought it would be really cool to stay in one of those pod hotels.”
“And was it cool?” Kelley asks, annoyed.
“It was so cool, until I wanted to get my girlfriend into bed and then it was not cool.”
“Not cool,” Kelley confirms.
“Go downstairs and get your own room,” Emily says ducking back under the covers and kissing Lindsey’s inner thigh. It’s enough to make Lindsey start squirming.
“Tried. Believe me, I don’t want to be in here with you two naked. No rooms, here or next door.”
“Oh, fuck!” Emily yells from under the covers and she throws them back so she can lay next to Lindsey, almost uncovering them both.
“Don’t act like you’re the only one upset about this,” Kelley scolds her. “Do you know how long it’s been since we've had sex?”
“Shut up, Kelley, y’all fucked in the bathroom at the party. We’ve behaved this whole time,” Emily lies, and Lindsey snorts, trying to go along with it.
“Well, by all means, keep doing whatever it was you were doing. Don’t let us interrupt,” Kelley grins, staring Sonnett down, and Lindsey looks at her like she’d actually consider it. Sonnett had her up against the wall in that same bathroom just a few hours ago, but all it did was get her more worked up and needing this right now.
“Look, the way I see it,” Kam interjects, “is you two have slept together and you two are sleeping together, and really, this doesn’t have to be weird. We can just turn the lights off and be quiet and mind our own business and never speak of tonight again.”
“Lindsey can’t be quiet,” Sonnett chimes in at the same time Kelley suggests “Or we could just have a foursome.”
Lindsey chokes.
Sonnett laughs.
Kam pushes Kelley.
“What? No? Fine. Well, if we’re not being quiet, we should make this a competition.”
“Oh my god,” Kam complains. “If I wanted to date a guy, I would.”
“You’d lose if we made this a competition,” Lindsey assures Kelley, and Emily snuggles against her, proud, and with a huge smile.
They end up ordering room service, bust open every bottle in the mini fridge, and when they finish those, Kelley and Emily run back downstairs to grab another 18 pack of Bud and a case of water from the ballroom that served as their celebration headquarters. With the replay of their game on in the background, they play Truth or Dare, which devolves into strip poker, and thankfully one of them (Emily) has enough sense to stop it before drunk Kelley, who cannot play cards drunk to save her life, loses her last article of clothing.
Lindsey grumbles about Emily spoiling her fun.
Kam throws an empty water bottle at Emily for ruining her chance to finally get Kelley naked.
Drunk Kelley feigns indignation at their responses and profusely thanks Sonnett for defending her honor in her inebriated state.
“You posed for the Body Issue,” Kam rolls her eyes, “you don’t give a damn who sees you naked.”
They re-dress and have drunk relay races in the hallway, trying to balance beers on their heads. That wakes up Rose and Sam, who join in. When beer proves too messy, they call room service again and ask for oranges and spoons, and race balancing those until Carli comes out and yells at them. They probably should have stopped when Sonny tripped and almost chipped her tooth on her medal.
When the light starts creeping in through the curtains, they decide it’s finally time to go to sleep, thankful that they have a few more days in Tokyo for the Closing Ceremonies and don’t have to catch an early am flight like they did to make it to the ESPYs on time after the World Cup.
“This might be the most fun night I’ve ever had,” Lindsey says sleepily.
“Definitely top five,” Kelley slurs.
"I cannot believe this is the shit you do when you're on the road," Kam snorts. "You’re all a bunch of children."
“So much fun,” Emily yawns. She’s about to say they should do it again in three more years in Sydney for the World Cup, when it hits her that in three years, Kelley won’t be there with them. “Proud of you, Kell,” Emily says from across the room. “You, too, baby,” she whispers in Lindsey’s ear. And then, with all the energy she has left to muster, and loud enough for their teammates on either side to hear, she yells, “My girlfriend won the Golden Boot! And you can’t win a championship without the mother freaking gays!”