Work Text:
Godsend: a desirable or needed thing or event that comes unexpectedly
Light streamed into Rebecca's office, sunbeams casting ephemeral pools across the floor. She let out a sigh of contentment. Relaxed mornings at the club, free from all disturbance, were her favourite. Today there were no meetings to rush off to, and no hour-long calls to painfully listen in on. Even the press was blessedly silent. So she took her time brewing herself the perfect cuppa.
When it was ready, she glanced at her phone to check the time. The clock read half past nine. Odd. Ted was usually in by now. Her desperate desire for biscuits caught her off-guard; a few more minutes and she reckoned she’d start shaking like some sort of addict without their fix. She grumbled internally that her tea would be much less enjoyable without her morning sweets. She speculated she might have to make another cup to properly consume the biscuits when they were finally delivered into her waiting hands.
Another fifteen minutes passed and Ted still hadn’t shown. Rebecca assumed he must have been running late for once, and therefore simply didn’t have any time for ‘Biscuits with the Boss’ before training, but he could have at least had the decency to text her if that were the case. Her idyllic morning seemed tarnished somehow. She really had become a biscuit junkie. She tried not to acknowledge that she was also disappointed she hadn’t gotten to speak to the baker himself. She swore she would never admit it, but she’d come to enjoy their little chats and looked forward to them every day.
She made her way over to one of the windows and flung it open so that she could observe training. It only took her a few seconds to determine that Ted was notably absent from the pitch. She couldn’t see Beard either. The only coach present was Roy; she didn’t need to look to know he was there. Every two seconds she could hear him yell “whistle” very loudly and quite angrily. Had she not been concerned with the whereabouts of the other coaches, she would have laughed at his antics.
She was starting to feel nervous. She never had to intervene with Ted and Beard. They were always punctual and generally communicated any issues or appointments with ease. Her gut was telling her that the men’s absence could only be due to something bad. Rebecca swiftly decided that a trip down to the locker room was warranted.
The locker room was quiet, as all of the lads were already out on the pitch, so she could hear Beard speaking to someone in the main office easily enough. She anticipated hearing Ted’s drawling responses but they never came. When she entered the office, Beard was wearing a hole in the floor. He paced back and forth behind Ted’s desk like a caged animal with his mobile pressed tightly to his ear. When he finally spotted her in the doorway, the relief on his face was palpable.
“Boss is here. I’ll send her your way,” he said cryptically to the mystery caller.
When he rang off, Rebecca said nothing, only raised a quizzical brow at him. “To whom are you lending my services without my consent?” she questioned when he didn’t deign to speak.
“Coach is at the hospital. Thought he might - ”
“What!” she exclaimed before he finished his thought. Her voice was steely; the one word she uttered was clearly a demand for an explanation.
“It’s not really my story to tell.” Beard raised his arms in a half-shrug before miming that his hands were tied.
“Well, is he all right?” Rebecca felt fervently protective all of a sudden.
“He’s a little worse for wear. But nothing a good night sleep - and a few stitches - won’t fix.”
“Stitches!”
Rebecca didn’t think. She was spinning on her heel and running. She may have unintentionally elbowed an intern in the hall, but she couldn’t say for sure; it was all a blur. She thought she heard Beard following behind her, but didn’t turn to check. When she reached her office, she grabbed her bag and rifled through it. She quickly ascertained that she had all the essential items: phone, wallet, car keys (by providence, she’d driven in today).
She looked up and made eye contact with Beard who had in fact accompanied her on her chaotic journey through the Nelson Road complex.
“Well, then, let’s get a move on.” She looked at him pointedly and tried to usher him out the door, much like a mother would a young child.
“No thanks.”
“I’m sorry, would you care to repeat yourself?” She definitely felt like his mother now.
“ ’Fraid of hospitals,” he said nonchalantly, and she knew he would not be expounding.
“You can’t be serious.” Rebecca side-eyed him.
“Oh, I am.” Beard reassured, undeterred by her assertiveness.
“For fucks sake,” Rebecca sighed. She was exasperated beyond belief.
She pushed past him and made it down the first flight of stairs before remembering she lacked crucial information. Growling, she raced back to her office.
“Which hospital is he at?” she shouted through the open door.
“West Middlesex.”
She didn’t deign to reply. She simply made a mad dash for her car.
“Who are you here to see?”
“Ted - Theodore. Theodore Lasso.” She stumbled over the easiest question in her frazzled state.
Rebecca shifted from one foot to the other as the man searched the hospital’s system for patient files. Now that she was here, her mind was catching up with the rest of her being. Did Ted even want her to come? Should she have been more adamant that Beard join her? Did all bosses feel this level of panic when one of their employees was hurt?
“Are you his wife?”
Rebecca’s mind went momentarily blank at this line of questioning. She started to say no, but one look at the nurse’s furrowed brow made her change her mind. She was sure Beard was Ted’s emergency contact, so she wasn’t going to risk the staff prohibiting her from visiting because she wasn’t family or a designated caregiver.
“Yes.” She gave what she hoped came off as a real and genuine smile as she blatantly lied.
“Follow me, please,” the man requested, setting a brisk pace down one of the many corridors that all managed to look the same somehow. Well, that had been entirely too easy. Should she be worried about the strength of her lying abilities or…
“This way, Mrs. Lasso.”
Rebecca froze at the title. The name had a nice ring to it…
Wait what? She shook her head in an attempt to dislodge her present train of thought, but she didn’t succeed in shaking away the fact that it hadn’t felt wrong to be called that. She must be experiencing secondhand shock - that was a thing right?
Rebecca was drawn out of her introspection by the nurse beckoning to her from further down the hall. She promptly filed away the lingering thoughts for later (or never) and hurried after the medical attendant.
After navigating the many twists and turns within the ward, Rebecca was guided into a small room. As she entered she saw Ted sitting on an exam table with his head in his hands.
“Whatever is the matter with you?” Rebecca asked with no preamble.
Ted looked up very abruptly, grimacing as he did so.
“Oh hi, Boss. Thought Coach might have been bluffin’. Didn’t think you’d come…”
She didn’t know what to make of that comment, so instead she took stock of his injuries. He had a deep gash across his forehead over his left eye, and a trail of blood ran down his temple to his bruised cheek. Dried blood clung to his neck and shirt collar. She must have looked completely appalled because he was quick to assure her that he was alright.
“Looks worse than it is. Who knew head wounds could bleed so much?” he said amiably like they were discussing the weather.
“How have you done this to yourself?” Rebecca moved to stand in front of him and reached down, gently cradling his head in her hands, her thumb hovering over the nasty cut on his forehead. She couldn’t help but remember the other time she’d held him like this.
“It’s kind of a funny story, actually…”
Rebecca was sure her skepticism was written all over her face. “Do go on,” she finally told him when all he did was stare up at her. Being close to him felt more intimate this time around with his eyes laser-focused on her.
“Well, maybe it’s not actually as funny as it is sad.” He visibly deflated. “I told you about my friend Shannon, right?”
“The child who periodically accosts you and generally kicks your arse at football on The Green?” she helpfully supplied.
“I use the term friend loosely,” he chuckled. “But, yes, that’s the one,” he confirmed.
Rebecca couldn’t help but smile a little, stroking his unscathed cheek with her thumb. Shit. She was well and truly in it now.
“Well, I got a little overly ambitious this morning,” Ted continued. “Shannon bet me I couldn’t score a goal from the halfway line that she and some of her pals had drawn on The Green, and so of course I tried to prove her wrong.”
“Of course,” Rebecca assented. She thought her heart might burst with affection and she wondered if he felt the same way too.
“Ended up trippin’ over my own dang feet and conkin’ my head on a rock. It was not the most graceful of moments, I daresay, and it definitely made me question my sporting abilities and perhaps, even more broadly, my life choices,” he said while frowning.
“You’ve watched trained athletes fail to make those kinds of goals and yet you decided you would be able to…?” she trailed off.
“Yeesh, Rebecca. Way to kick a man when he’s down,” Ted exclaimed but without any real conviction.
“Sorry, was that too harsh?” She knew she looked anything but sorry.
“Nah, I like it when you’re mean to me. Lets me know you care,” Ted replied, eyes twinkling.
Rebecca rolled her eyes fondly. You have absolutely no idea how much I care, the thought leapt into her mind unbidden.
They were interrupted by the doctor who hastily entered and, without much of an introduction, set about assessing the damage. He poked and prodded around the wound - which seemed a little excessive to Rebecca - and eventually, after much pondering, came to a conclusion.
“You’ll definitely be needing stitches for that.”
To which Rebecca replied under her breath but loud enough so Ted could hear, “I could have told you that.”
Ted snorted and then immediately winced when the movement disturbed his cut. In an attempt to soothe, Rebecca absentmindedly stroked his hair back from his forehead and ran her hand across his scalp a few times.
Before the doctor left, he called for his assistant who would be suturing Ted’s wound. Rebecca was surprised at the nurse’s promptness considering Ted had spent the majority of his morning at the hospital simply waiting to be seen. She introduced herself as Mary; she seemed sweet and experienced which bolstered Rebecca’s confidence in her abilities immensely.
When Mary started pulling out the required medical materials, Rebecca watched Ted begin to tense up. He turned to her looking a bit sheepish. “Will you hold my hand?”
Rebecca was momentarily taken aback by his request, but did her best to rein in her surprise. This was fine. This was normal. Nothing out of the ordinary was happening. It was just a standard work day.
“Of course.” She reached out and wrapped both her hands around his one hand that wasn’t fisted by his side.
“Aren’t you just so very lucky that your lovely wife could come in and support you through this whole ordeal?” Mary winked at the pair.
Rebecca stood, rooted to the spot, mortified. Ted looked up at her and the fool was grinning.
“The luckiest man alive,” he replied without missing a beat, “and she is lovely, isn’t she?”
Rebecca was sure she’d gone as red as a beet.
“Have you got a concussion as well?” She fell back on sarcasm not wanting to show just how much the compliment had affected her.
“No, just speakin’ from the heart - ” He ceased talking abruptly and let out a grunt of pain as Mary began to dab at his cut. Rebecca softly drew patterns on the back of his hand in a bid to comfort him.
“Sorry, Mr. Lasso, but I’ve got to get this clean before we can proceed to the fun part,” Mary sunnily remarked.
Rebecca chucked a surreptitious glare at the other woman and set about reassessing her previous judgement of Mary’s character.
“You will numb it, won’t you?” Rebecca tried her hardest to curb her annoyance.
“Oh yes,” Mary stated in what Rebecca deemed to be too cheery of a manner, “we'll dab a bit of topical anesthetic gel on it. But I can’t promise it won’t hurt at all…”
After what felt like ages, Mary finally left the room, her task completed. Ted was now sporting a large piece of gauze over the stitches on his forehead and had been given strict instructions to not get the area wet for at least 48 hours.
Rebecca was scrolling through her emails on her phone trying to determine if she’d missed anything essential at the club during her time away - and also steadfastly ignoring all of the silly, little feelings that had bubbled up in the last hour or so - when Ted interrupted the silence.
“Pheeeew!” He declared rather boisterously. “Mary made it out alive.” He feigned wiping his brow.
“What are you on about?” Rebecca looked up from her mobile and pinned him with a stare.
“Gee, boss. It’s just that, for a minute there, I thought you might pounce on her. You were like a mama bear on a mission, or a fierce lioness -”
“She just seemed a little too chipper for someone sewing a person’s head back together,” Rebecca interrupted, “and I thought she should be exercising a little more compassion towards you as you were obviously still in pain even after she applied the numbing cream.”
“Well, thanks for looking out for me, boss. I appreciate ya.” He gave her a small smile that showed his dimples.
“Of course, Ted.” She returned his smile and couldn’t stop her hand from reaching out and tenderly stroking his upper arm. She surveyed his face. “So much for competency,” she tsked disapprovingly, “she missed a spot.” Rebecca pointed to where some leftover blood was still plastered to his skin.
Without being asked, she searched the room for a clean cloth. She wet it at the small sink in the corner of the room and then came to stand in front of him again. She began to delicately wipe the substance from his chin, resting her other hand gently against his neck.
Rebecca felt Ted take a deep breath in before he blurted out, “You really didn’t have to come…I woulda been alright on my own.”
It was a minute before she could speak. “I know.”
“That’s all I get? How very Han Solo of you,” he replied cheekily before falling back into a more serious demeanour.
Rebecca retreated over to the sink and rinsed the cloth out before hanging it over the faucet to dry. All of the feelings she’d been holding back - and even lying to herself about - were once again boiling to the surface, on the tip of her tongue, seconds away from overflowing.
“It’s just…” she began stiltedly, “it’s like what you said…to the team…what feels like ages ago now.” She paused before soldiering on, “Ain’t nobody in this room alone.” She could tell her half-hearted attempt at his accent amused him greatly when he ducked his head and chuckled quietly to himself. And it was equally as obvious to her that her next words sobered him immediately. “You’re not alone, Ted,” she stated assuredly.
“Rebecca -”
“When I heard you’d been hurt, I - I couldn’t think straight,” she spoke over him. She thought about leaving it there, but something had been unlocked inside her heart and she wanted to set it completely free. “Ted, I - I was so worried,” she continued haltingly but determined. “I ran up and down the halls of the club trying to formulate a plan… and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an HR complaint sent my way because I’m now almost absolutely certain that I knocked down one of the bloody interns in my madness to get to you…”
“Rebecca -”
“And Beard isn’t likely to speak to me for some time. I wasn’t the nicest towards him earlier…I - I was just so concerned. What if it was really bad? Like really bad.” Her voice broke with emotion as she revisited all of the worst case scenarios that had initially popped into her head when Beard told her Ted was in hospital.
“Rebecca -”
“What if never got to tell you - to tell you…” She took a few steps towards him.
“Tell me what?” he prompted softly.
She debated in her mind her best course of action. And it turned out action was what was required.
“Oh sod it all.” She closed the distance between them, grasped his face - making sure to avoid his injuries - and lightly pressed her lips to his. He instantly reciprocated, his hands coming up to cover hers briefly before sliding down to tenderly hold her wrists. She deepened the kiss; Rebecca shivered at each slide of his lips against hers. It was electric. “What if I never got to tell you how much you mean to me,” she whispered against his mouth and pulled back to gauge his reaction to her revelation.
His eyes were still closed, but he was smiling contentedly. When he did finally open them, the love she saw there blew her away.
“So why is Beard scared of hospitals?” Rebecca asked Ted as they travelled back through the maze of corridors towards the main entrance of the A&E.
“That’s a story you’ll have to pry out of the man himself one day,” came Ted’s enigmatic response.
“You two and your bloody anecdotes,” she complained and Ted beamed back at her. “You’re lucky I like you…” She smirked before grabbing his hand and intertwining their fingers together.
“A speedy recovery, sir!” Mary’s voice echoed down the hall. “And very nice meeting you, Mrs. Lasso!”
“Thanks for your help!” Rebecca yelled over her shoulder as she dragged Ted more quickly towards the exit.
“So are we not gonna talk about the fact that you pretended to be my wife just then?” he inquired.
Rebecca’s laugh carried them all the way out of the hospital and into the dazzling daylight.