Chapter Text
“So I was thinking that tonight we could watch the game at - - Hello? Earth to Ashlyn” Tobin said trying to get her friends attention as she looked off to the front doors of the hotel as they sat in the lobby. They were roommates for this camp, it was the first one that Ashlyn had been called into for a while because of injuries and Tobin was trying to make plans for them tonight. “Are you even paying attention to me?” she finally asked.
“Who is that?” Ashlyn said motioning to the check-in counter of the hotel.
Tobin looked to the direction her teammate was staring. “Who?”
“Woman with the long dark hair, little girl holding her hand.” Ashlyn said as she observed them.
“Oh, you mean Ali? I guess you’ve never met her. She played in Germany for a while. She’s great, you’ll really like her.” Tobin explained.
Ashlyn’s eyes went wide. “Ali? That’s Ali Krieger?” she asked as she stood up from the couch in the lobby to start heading back towards her room. She can’t believe that she didn’t recognize her immediately. She’s changed, looks older and more beautiful, if that was even possible.
“Yeah. Ali Krieger. Plays on defense.”
“And the little girl with her?”
“Her daughter. Anna Claire. I think she’s five?” Tobin said as Ashlyn started to walk off towards the elevator.
Ashlyn paused and turned back to her friend. “Wait. She’s five? Do you know her birthday day?”
“Her birthday?” Tobin looked at Ashlyn like she had lost her mind. “No, I don’t know the kid’s birthday. We have like 8 kids running around here now. I can’t keep up with all their birthdays. Maybe in July? Or close to it.”
Ashlyn nodded as she processed that information then she saw Ali and the little girl starting to walk over. “Look, I forgot that I got to call my grandma. I’m just going to head on up to the room. We’ll figure out our plans for tonight later.” Ashlyn told Tobin quickly before walking off.
Ali came over to Tobin with a quizzical look and Anna Claire quickly jumped in Tobin’s lap. “Who was that?” the defender asked.
“Ashlyn Harris. She’s a goal keeper. I think this is the first time y’all have been at camp together. She’s coming back from an injury.”
Ali’s face turned pale. “Harris? Like, she played with you at UNC?”
“Yeah, why?” Tobin asked, realizing that Ali and Ashlyn were both acting really weird about each other.
“No reason. I just think I remember playing against her in college. She’s a good keeper.” Ali explained with a weak smile.
~~ Flashback – 6 Years Ago ~~
“I don’t dance.” Ashlyn said as she took a sip of her beer when she saw the pretty brunette approaching her that she had been eying all night.
“Good thing I wasn’t asking.” Ali said over the loud music of the party. Her college team was in town for a soccer game against UNC and after UNC beat Penn State 3-1 the Carolina girls were kind enough to invite the Penn State girls to a big open Greek party on their campus. “I’m Ali.” The brunette introduced herself.
“I know.” The blonde said as she looked at the girl with a raised eyebrow. “Did you want something?”
Ali looked at her confused. She was sure that the opposing goal keeper had purposefully held her hand a little longer when they were shaking hands after the match and winked…there was definitely a wink. “No, guess not. I was just being polite and introducing myself.” She said before walking off.
Ashlyn felt a little bad for playing the girl. “Wait!” she called after the Penn State defender. “Let me get you a beer.” She offered as she stood up from the couch in the fraternity house and followed after Ali.
“Ok.” Ali agreed without looking at the blonde.
Ashlyn grabbed her hand, noting how soft it was, and dragged her to the back deck where the coolers were. “I’m Ashlyn by the way.” She said.
“I know.” Ali said with a serious face that quickly turned into a goofy smile when Ashlyn quirked an eyebrow at her. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.” Ali said as she giggled.
“No, I should be the one apologizing. I was brooding over the game, that’s not an excuse for me to be rude.” Ashlyn explained as she grabbed a beer and handed it to Ali.
“Why are you the one brooding? You’re team won.” Ali said as took a sip of her beer.
Ashlyn shrugged. “Just wondering what I could have done differently to prevent that goal.”
Ali rolled her eyes. “Oh my god. You’ve got to be kidding. You just can’t be satisfied with a win?”
Ashlyn chuckled. “I can’t be satisfied when I know that I made a mistake.”
“Are you always this serious?”
“No. God no.”
“Ok, show me. Let’s dance.” Ali insisted and started to pull Ashlyn towards the group of college students grinding against each other.
Ashlyn stopped and pulled Ali back. “Like I said, I don’t dance. Let me show you another way that I let lose. Come with me?” She asked as she led Ali back towards her dorm room.
~~ End of Flashback ~~
“Ash! Team meeting! Come on.” Whitney called out as she knocked on her best friend’s hotel room door.
Ashlyn opened the door. “Don’t we have like 20 minutes?”
“Yes, but I like to be early. Plus all the little kids are usually hanging out before the meeting and I enjoy playing with them.” Whitney informed the blonde.
Ashlyn rolled her eyes but followed Whitney down to the lobby anyway.
Sure enough, all the little kids were playing in the back of the meeting room with only Barnie watching them. “How did you luck out to get all of these lovelies to yourself?” Whitney gushed as she picked up Ryan, A-rod’s son, and started tickling him.
Barnie shrugged. “I don’t know. It started with just Reece and then Anna Claire joined, then Rylie, then Ryan, and they just kept flowing from there.” She said as she motioned to the 6 little kids in the room.
“And where did their parents wander off to?” Ashlyn asked as she sat down in one of the chairs at the front of the room and away from the children. “Shouldn’t they keep up with their own kids?”
“Everyone needs a break once and a while, Ash.” Whitney said in a scolding voice.
Ashlyn rolled her eyes. “Reason why you shouldn’t have kids till you’re retired.” She mumbled underneath her breath and unlocked her phone.
She was replying to some e-mails when she heard a soft cry come from the back corner of the room. She noticed that the crying was coming from Anna Claire, Ali’s little girl. She looked around in time to see Whitney run out of the room chasing a sprinting Ryan and noticed that Barnie was in the corner trying to separate a fight between the two Rampone girls. She looked to the direction of the crying again and realized there was no one to check on the little girl laying on the floor crying…well, except herself. She sighed as she stood up and pocketed her phone before walking over to her. She wanted to turn away, run, hide, and never look at the sweet girl’s face again when she noticed that the little girl was almost a spitting image of her mother.
“Hi.” Ashlyn said quietly as she pushed her feelings aside to check on the little girl. “Are you ok?” she asked as she bent down on her knees to be closer to the girl’s level.
Anna Claire shook her head no and held on to her knee.
“Why don’t you show me what hurts?” she suggested.
Anna Claire shook her head no again and continued to cry.
Ashlyn sighed and sat down beside the girl. “Well, I want to make sure you’re ok. So I’ll just sit here until you start to feel better.” Ashlyn explained.
“I got a carpet burn on my knee.” Anna Claire finally whispered out and removed her hand to show the blonde her knee.
Ashlyn nodded and examined the girl’s knee. “Well, I think you’ll be fine. But we should probably get this shoe tied before you end up tripping again.” She said pointing to the untied light-up pink tennis-shoes. Ashlyn had to roll her eyes at the girl's shoes, of course Ali's daughter would be wearing nothing but pink.
“I don’t know how.” Anna Claire admitted.
Ashlyn gave her a small smile. “That’s ok! I’m a great teacher.” She explained as she grabbed the little girl’s foot and lifted it into her lap. “Now, watch me closely.”
Ashlyn grabbed the shoe laces and began the rhyme that her grandmother had taught her when she was learning to tie her shoes.
“Build a tee pee
Come inside
Close it tight so we can hide
Over the mountain
And around we go
Here's my arrow
And here's my bow!”
Ashlyn smiled down at the little girl, proud of herself for remembering the rhyme. Ashlyn then untied the shoe and handed the laces to Anna Claire. “Now you try.” Ashlyn instructed.
Anna Claire concentrated hard as she repeated the rhyme with a little help of the blonde and successfully tied her shoe. “I did it!” she cheered with a smile that melted Ashlyn’s heart.
“Good job.” Ashlyn praised as she held her hand up for a high five.
Anna Claire moved her hand to give her one but quickly pulled it back. “My mommy said not to talk to strangers.” She said suddenly shy realizing that she really didn’t know Ashlyn.
Ashlyn nodded and retracted her hand. “Well, your mommy is very smart to teach you that. Let’s introduce our selves so we won’t be strangers. I’m Ashlyn, a teammate of your mommy’s.”
“Anna Claire Krieger.” The little girl gave her a smile.
Krieger. ‘Why wouldn’t she have her dad’s name?’ Ashlyn thought.
“How old are you?” Ashlyn asked.
“5.” She said proudly.
“Five! Wow, I bet you’re starting school soon then.”
Anna Claire nodded. “I am. How old are you?”
Ashlyn chuckled. “27.”
“My mommy is 27 too!” Anna Claire’s eyes widen as if she had figured out the best thing ever.
“I know! So when is your birthday?”
“June 15th.”
Ashlyn nodded and gave the girl a tight smile as she stood up. The girl had just confirmed the one thing Ashlyn didn’t really want to know. Ali had cheated on her.
~~ Flashback ~~
“Hey baby!” Ali answered her phone cheerfully when she saw that her girlfriend was calling. She and Ashlyn had really hit it off that night after their game. When they woke up the morning after their game, and they realized neither one of them had a desire to leave it at one night stand, they exchanged numbers and got to know each other. Ashlyn went up to Penn State during her fall break and Ali made her way down to UNC for her fall break.
Now it was the day before Thanksgiving and Ali was stuck on campus because the snow was keeping her from getting a flight out to her mom’s house in Florida and her dad had gone out of town for the holiday so there was no reason for her to drive to Virginia.
“Hey! What are you up to?” Ashlyn asked.
“Nothing much. Hanging in my room and avoiding getting out in the snow.”
“Yeah, wish I could say the same.”
Ali giggled. “You mean to tell me that it’s snowing in Florida?”
“No, it’s snowing outside your door.”
Ali was in shock as she ran to her front door to open it. She then heard Ashlyn knock on it. “Who is it?” Ali called through the door, teasing her girlfriend.
“Please open the door! It’s fucking cold out here!”
“My mama told me not to answer the door for strangers.” Ali said as she opened the door.
“Fine, I’ll keep in mind that you think I’m a stranger when we go to bed tonight.” Ashlyn pouted as she stood in the doorframe.
Ali grinned and grabbed her hand to pull her into the warmth. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in Florida with your grandma and Dad.”
Ashlyn scoffed and dropped her duffle bag against the wall. “No kiss? Just straight to the questions?”
Ali playfully rolled her eyes and leaned in to kiss her.
“Much better.” Ashlyn commented. “I am here because my girlfriend was stuck here all alone on Thanksgiving. My grandmother is having all of my uncle’s family over for lunch tomorrow and she said my dad was doing ok, so I knew they would be fine. I asked if it was ok that I come up here instead of going home and she was cool with it.”
“You are amazing. Thank you. I know you had wanted to see your dad.” Ali said sweetly as she gave Ashlyn a kiss on the cheek before leading her over to the couch to sit down.
“And don’t think that just because I surprised you at Thanksgiving that you’re going to get out of seeing me at Christmas when you are down in Florida at your mom’s house.” Ashlyn joked, pushing the subject of her family away.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Ali promised.
“So what are our plans?”
“Plans? I don’t know! You’re the one who surprised me. I was just planning on spending the night watching tv and checking facebook every ten minutes to see what everyone was doing with their families while I sat here alone.”
“Well, change of plans! We’re watching the football game and I’m making you dinner. And you can let everyone on facebook know that you’re having a great time because you aren’t alone on Thanksgiving.” Ashlyn said as she stood up to go to the kitchen.
Ali smiled and let her go to the kitchen and work in peace for a while until she finally wandered into the kitchen and turned some music on while Ashlyn continued to stir something on the stove. Ali came up behind the blonde and wrapped her arms around her waist and kissed her shoulder.
“What are you thinking about, baby?” Ashlyn asked as Ali sighed into her neck.
“That I’m just really glad you’re here, and that this is my favorite song to dance to.” Ali whispered as 'You shook me all night long' by AC/DC came on over the speakers.
Ashlyn chuckled. “Then let me see you dance.”
“No! Dance with me! We’ve been dating for like three months and I haven’t seen you bust out a single move.”
“That’s because I don’t dance, darling.” Ashlyn said in her best country accent before turning back to the stove and left a pouting Ali standing behind her.
“Fine, but I bet you would be good at it.” Ali said before walking up beside Ashlyn and leaning against the counter to watch her cook.
Ashlyn gave Ali a small smirk. “You and I both know that I would be horrible at it.”
Ali giggled. “You’re probably right, but I like you anyway.” Ali said as she leaned in closer and let her nose rub against Ashlyn’s.
“I like you too.” Ashlyn told her before pressing her lips to Ali’s and turning the stove off so she could take her to the bedroom. “Actually, I think I love you.” Ashlyn whispered in her ear before slowly laying her down on the bed.
~~ End of Flashback ~~
Ashlyn took a deep breath before speaking to the little girl one last time. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Anna Claire.”
“Bye, Ms. Ashlyn!” the girl said with a smile and a small wave.
Ashlyn had to blink her eyes rapidly to hold the tears back as she went back to her chair at the front of the room and away from all the children. Take June 15 back 9 months and that means that Ali had cheated on her before she even surprised her at Thanksgiving. Everything they shared seemed like a lie now. Her heart was no longer broken because of Ali Krieger…it was shattered.