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As soon as Emily entered the house, she knew something was wrong. The living room was spotless, the dishes were done, fresh cookies were cooling on the stove, and the smell of her lavender bath salts was permeating from the bathroom upstairs.
This could mean one of three things. The first was that she had completely forgotten an anniversary. Except for the fact that it was September, and Emily knew the two of you didn't have any anniversaries this month. Thank God it wasn't that, Emily thought.
The second thing was that you were buttering her up for something.
The third and most likely option was that you had already done something and were doing all this to soften the blow.
She heard your soft footsteps come down the stairs before your hands were wrapped around her from behind.
"Hi honey," Emily smiled as she leaned against you momentarily. Taking in the smell of your shampoo and reveling in the fact that it was a Friday night and she could spend the weekend with her two favorite people.
"Hi," You answered as you kissed her on the cheek, "I just put Amelia to bed-" You started as the sound of your four-year-old bounding down the stairs interrupted you.
"Mama!" She yelled excitedly as she collided with Emily's legs.
You chuckled as you removed your hands from Emily so she could pick up your daughter.
"Hi baby," Emily smiled as she adjusted Amelia onto her hip. "I thought Mommy put you to bed," She said as she tickled the little girl's stomach, causing her to laugh and squirm in Emily's arms.
"Too excited!" Amelia giggled.
"Too excited for what?" Emily asked, turning to you, but you quickly turned around and pretended to be cleaning something in the already spotless kitchen.
When Emily looked down at Amelia, the little girl mimed, zipping her lips closed.
Emily followed you behind the counter, leaning her hip against it. "Y/n Prentiss..." Emily trailed on, "What did you do?"
"I made cookies!" You announced, ignoring the question as you picked one up and held it in front of Emily "Chocolate chip, your favorite."
"You're deflecting," Emily commented as she took a bite out of the cookie. It was delicious, just like everything else you made, but she wasn't going to let that distract her.
"Yeah, Mommy, you're deflecting," Amelia parroted, having no clue what the word meant, but lately, she'd been Emily's shadow. Following her everywhere and copying everything she did, it was honestly the most adorable thing you'd ever seen.
"Fine," You groaned as you let Amelia have a small bite of the cookie before putting it back on the pan. "I may have accidentally agreed to something." You said with a sheepish smile.
"Uh huh," Emily said, prompting you to continue. This hadn't been the first conversation that had started like this, and it definitely wouldn't be the last.
"So you know Amelia's little league coach, Heidi?" You asked as you started putting all the cookies in a container.
"I do," Emily confirmed. She looked down at Amelia and saw the little girl giggling into her shoulder, so whatever this was, she knew about it.
"Well, she just got a promotion at work and doesn't have the time to coach anymore." You continued.
"So?" Emily asked, already knowing where this was going.
"So I may have agreed for us to coach Amelia's team." You said, turning around with a guilty but hopeful smile.
"Yay!" Amelia cheered from Emily's arms. You were honestly surprised she was able to keep the secret that long and not blurt it out as soon as she saw Emily.
"That's right, baby," You said as you lifted her out of your wife's arms. "Aren't you just so excited?!" You asked her, and she clapped happily in your arms.
Emily looked at the two of you, both staring at you with pleading eyes, and she knew without a doubt that look was her undoing. It was impossible to tell you or Amelia no.
"You two are lucky you're so cute," Emily said with an amused head shake, "When do we start?" She asked.
"Tomorrow's game!" Amelia blurted out, and Emily narrowed her eyes at you, but you knew no malice was behind it.
"Surprise." You joked as you took a few steps closer to Emily and kissed her on the cheek.
"You owe me a lot of coffee tomorrow morning," Emily said seriously as you walked upstairs to put Amelia to bed again.
"Deal."
●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●
It was 8 am the next morning, and the three of you were heading to the soccer field.
"I did some research last night," Emily said as she drove.
"You did?" You asked humorously, turning toward your wife. You and Emily both had on matching hats and pink coach jerseys. It took some corralling to get Emily to wear it, but as soon as Amelia walked into your room and squealed in excitement about matching with her mom's, Emily was a goner.
"I read up on some gameplays and strategies," Emily continued, and you couldn't help the dopey smile that came to your lips, "You're so cute," You giggled because if there was one thing about Emily, it's that whenever she was all in, she was all in.
You watched the small blush rise on Emily's cheeks and couldn't help but revel in the fact that you still had this much effect on her.
You turned toward Amelia in the back seat, "Isn't your Mama just so cute," You asked.
"Yeah!" Amelia giggled excitedly.
"Okay, okay. I get it," Emily said as she pretended to swat at you. You and Amelia seemed to be partners in crime in tearing away at her walls and insecurities, and she couldn't have been happier.
"Good. Now, what I meant to say was that they're four, so I'm pretty sure all we have to do is make sure no one runs off the field and hand out juice boxes." You said.
"Oh right," Emily said with a sheepish smile, "But if for some reason they turn out to be soccer prodigies, we have a game plan," She continued, and you chuckled in agreement.
It was 20 minutes later when you made it to the field. You put Emily in charge of helping the kids warm up as you talked to the parents. With you being the one to drop off and pick up Amelia from practice, you knew them better than Emily.
"Alright, when I roll the ball to you, I want you to kick it!" Emily said enthusiastically as she lined up the ten four-year-olds a couple of yards away from the soccer goal.
Of course, Amelia had volunteered to go first, the little girl had been outspoken and energetic since she'd arrived in the world. It was a trait that Emily had been reprimanded for when she was younger, her mother telling her that young girls were supposed to be passive and quiet.
But seeing those traits in her daughter made her realize just how wrong her mother was. There was nothing about Amelia that Emily wanted to change. She was perfect the way she was.
"Alright, Amelia, you ready?" Emily asked as she kneeled in front of the goal, a small soccer ball in her hands.
The little girl nodded eagerly, and Emily slowly rolled the ball to her. Amelia kicked it, and it was nowhere near the goal, but Emily still cheered, "Yeah! Good job!" She smiled as Amelia ran toward her and gave her a high five before going to retrieve her soccer ball.
"You ready, Chloe?!" Emily asked the next girl in line.
By the time all the girls had kicked the ball a couple of times, you jogged over to tell Emily the game was about to start.
You rounded the girls up into a circle for a short meeting before the game started.
And when Emily heard the words, "The most important thing is to have fun," come out of her mouth, she knew she was a changed woman.
It took a few minutes to get all the girls on the field. "It's like herding a bunch of squirrels," Emily murmured to you as she kept putting the girls back in their spots since they had all tended to wander around.
"I take it we have no soccer prodigies on our hands." You giggled, bumping your hip into Emily's as you walked off the field.
"We were 0 for ten on the warm-up goals. So, maybe next year," Emily commented.
Once the game started, there wasn't much to do except stand on the sidelines and cheer.
Halfway through the game, you put Amelia as the goalie since you wanted the girls to play all the positions.
"Zoe, sweetie, you can't pick the ball up!" You heard Emily yell from beside you. You chuckled as you watched the little redhead run across the field with the ball in her hands before throwing it into the goal.
"Did you see that, Mrs. Emily?" Chloe said excitedly as she ran over to the two of you.
"I did! But maybe next time we use our feet to kick the ball, alright?" Emily said, and Chloe just shrugged before walking before you and holding her hand out, "Juice box?"
You chuckled as you grabbed one out of the cooler and handed it to her as you ruffled her hair. "You wanna take a little break?" You asked, and Zoe nodded as she walked over to the bench.
When you turned your attention back to the field, you noticed the lack of a goalie.
"Hey, where did Amelia go?" You asked Emily, who was watching your team try to score another goal.
"What?" Emily asked as she looked to the left and saw that Amelia was nowhere to be found.
"We need to put a tracker on that girl," Emily murmured, not at all surprised that Amelia had wandered off somewhere. The little girl's attention span had always been next to none, constantly running off when something caught her eye.
Emily would have been more worried if they were anywhere else, but the field was small, and she walked the perimeter beforehand, so she had a good idea of where Amelia had wandered off to.
"You stay here, I'll get her," Emily said as she squeezed your shoulder before jogging off the field.
"Amelia!" She called out as she walked over to the patch of flowers behind the bleachers.
She was relieved to see the little girl's pigtails peeking out. "Baby, what are you doing?" Emily asked before Amelia turned around, smiling at her mom.
"Look!" She replied, holding two tiny bouquets that she had picked in her hands. Although bouquet was probably a generous word for it. "This one is for you," Amelia said as she handed the crumpled bunch of flowers to Emily. "And this one for Mommy!" She said excitedly.
"Those are very pretty," Emily chuckled as she easily scooped Amelia into her arms, "But you're supposed to stay on the field."
"But flowers!" Amelia said, once again holding up the flowers at Emily's eyesight.
"I know, but it's not safe to wander off like that, okay? Next time, you need to wait for me or Mommy to go with you." Emily said as she rubbed Amelia's back.
"Okay, fine," Amelia sighed dramatically as she flopped her head onto Emily's shoulder.
"Thank you," Emily smiled as she walked back to the field.
"How about I take the flowers, " Emily said as she put Amelia back down on the ground. "And you go back on the field," Emily continued.
"Being the goalie is boring!" Amelia pouted.
"There's only a couple minutes left of the game," Emily chuckled, very familiar with the pout that one hundred percent originated from you.
"And once we're done, maybe Mommy will buy us ice cream. But only if you play," Emily negotiated, and Amelia immediately sprinted back to the goal, going as fast as her little legs could carry her.
Emily shook her head with a laugh as she walked back over to you.
"Amelia picked you some flowers," Emily said as she handed you the crumpled flowers which were more stem than actual petals.
"Of course, she did," You giggled as you grabbed them and gently put them in your pocket.
The rest of the game went by quickly. The team didn't score a single goal, but it didn't look like any of the girls cared as they ran off the field. You and Emily gave them all high fives before sending them off to find their parents.
"Ice cream time!" Amelia announced as she ran up to you and Emily.
"Oh, is it now?" You asked as Amelia tugged on your hand.
"Yeah! Mama said you're paying!" Amelia giggled, turning toward Emily with a mischievous smile.
"She did?" You question, turning towards Emily with a raised eyebrow.
"Uh-" Emily trailed off, pretending to be oblivious as Amelia laughed at her antics.
"C'mon!" Amelia said, trying to pull the two of you, but just staying in place as her feet slid on the grass.
"Okay, okay," You appeased as all three of you walked to the car.
You could feel Emily's giddy smile before you turned to look at her.
"What?" You asked, feeling the slight blush rise to your cheeks just from the way she was looking at you.
"Nothing, I just- coaching was a lot of fun."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," Emily said as she leaned over to give you a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Oh, thank goodness," You sighed in relief, "Because I signed us up to coach next year,"
"Y/n Prentiss!"
"I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" You laughed, and Emily knocked her shoulder into yours.
"You're definitely paying for the ice cream now," Emily said as she unlocked the car and helped Amelia into her car seat.
"We share a bank account, honey." You reminded her.
"Well then, you're paying in spirit!"