Chapter Text
“I never imagined having to travel halfway around the world just to see you.”
Kelley looks around, taking in the view “Out of all places, you chose Sweden?”
Hope chuckles, she can see the irony in it.
The keeper gets out of her chair and stands to hug her friend.
“What are you doing here? Your brother’s wedding is in less than two weeks. Christmas day is in two days,.. Karen… She will not like you skipping Christmas….”
Kelley places her hand on Hope’s arm to calm her down. “There is still plenty of time to get back in time for the wedding. I think my mom will understand I couldn’t let you celebrate Christmas on your own.”
“I won’t be on my own, Lotta invited me.” Hope countered
“I know”
Hope should have known than her old friend would reach out to Kelley. To be honest she is glad Kelley is here, she just feels bad that she wasn’t the one to ask Kelley to come.
The two stand a bit awkwardly, both not sure what to do or say next.
“Do you want to go for a walk?” Hope eventually asks, feeling like a walk might be a better place for the conversation they undoubtedly will have.
Before Kelley has time to answers “If you rather rest from your flight that’s ok too.”
“I would love to go on a walk”
“Great” Hope replies, smile once again present.
The keeper hastily packs her stuff and motions to Kelley’s bag “I am going to leave my stuff here, do you want me to also store away your bag?”
“yeah, that would be… “ Kelley doesn’t end her sentence, instead she just hands Hope her carry-on.
Hope turns around and walks into the little coffee shop.
“Jon, can I leave this here for a second?” Hope asks the bartender.
“Yeah, sure. Take your time” the bartender replies.
“Tack”
“Varsågod”
Kelley watches Hope, she watches the keeper interact with the bartender. It is clear that she comes to the place regularly. Kelley turns around, pretending to be focussed on her surroundings, before Hope makes her way back outside.
“We’re all set” with that Hope leads Kelley away from the café.
“How was your flight?” Hope asks, in an attempt to keep the conversation light.
“It wasn’t too bad. Slept through most of it.”
Once the two get to a more secluded part of the city something changes between the two of them.
Hope had tucked away her hands in the pockets of her jeans, but not before having zipped up her jacket completely.
Kelley reaches out and stops the keeper.
She once again places a hand on Hope’s arm, hoping it would have the calmng effect it had earlier.
“How are you?”
Hope is taken aback by that question. She had expected a thousand different questions ‘how are you?’ Wasn't one of them.
Hope contemplates for a second on how to answer that question.
“I …” Hope takes a second “I’m doing better. It still hurts and I’ve lost way too much sleep over it but I am trying to put it behind me. It isn't just the whole Sweden thing or even suspending thing. It's the team, the others. I really thought this time would be different.”
Seeing Hope is a few seconds away from getting all teared up, Kelley pulls Hope in for a hug and holds her close.
“I just thought that I got used to it, you know. That it would sting less than the previous times.”
Other than just hold Hope close by Kelley doesn’t really know what to do.
Kelley knows that she has to say what has been on her mind this last month but she also knows now is neither the place nor time to do so.
A minute or so passes before Hope gently pulls back, signalling to Kelley she’s ok.
Hope snorts. Kelley looks at the keeper, curious what she came up with. “It is actually quite fitting you know the team shutting me out. Cause now all three ‘era’s’ I’ve played with have shut me out. The 99’ers started the tradition by banishing me from the victory tour after the 04 Olympics. Then there was the 07 World Cup and now again.”
“It is not the same now”
“Isn’t it? Because from what I’ve heard, more than one player has already thrown me under the bus. And I can’t say that I’ve got a lot of messages, well apart from yours.”
“Hope, I care about you, they do too. They are just afraid. Afraid of what standing with you would do with their careers.”
Kelley realized too late that this wasn’t really a constructive sentence.
Hope decides to drop the conversation, she had spent way too many hours going over this.
“Have you already decided if you’re going to play in the NWSL or not next season?”
“I don’t know. I like Sky Blue. But there is another place I rather be at. For the moment I am just looking at what my options are. There is still a lot of time before the start of the new season plus a lot can change between now and then.”
The two arrive back at the café. Seeing she just had coffee, Hope copies Kelley’s order and also takes a hot cocoa.
“What’s on your mind?” Hope asks once returning with the orders and seeing Kelley was lost in thoughts.
Truth be told, there was a lot on Kelley’s mind but she decided to just go with “About how you always talked about showing me Gothenburg” she wraps her hands around the mug to warm them before adding “I never expected it to be like this.”
Hope lowers her head, knowing damn well that she is the one to blame.
“I’m sorry to have left you behind, for not telling you were I was going, for not reaching out. I am sorry I hurt you.”
Having Hope acknowledging that she did indeed hurt Kelley, meant a lot to the defender.
Kelley reaches across the table for Hope’s hand “I’m not going to say it didn’t hurt, cause it did. But I understand you had to get away from it all for a while,” she takes a sip from her hot cocoa, “I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised by it. Cause you are you and I knew that one day this might happen…”
Hope wants to interrupt Kelley but she decides that the least she could do is let her finish
“I just … I think I just hoped that maybe you didn’t also need to be away from me.”
Hope takes a moment, fuck why am I not as good in coming up with things in the moment as I am with things I can think about and write down. Well if I had been, I probably wouldn’t have been in this entire situation in the first place.
“Kell” the keeper squeezes the defender’s hand “I just had to get out of the US and I didn’t want to force you into leaving everything behind.”
Kelley has to restrain herself from shouting a couple things to Hope. How could the keeper just not see it?
“What if I wanted to?”
Hope looks at Kelley in confusion
“What if I wanted to come with you?” Kelley clarifies.
The keeper opens and shuts her mouth a couple times. She didn’t think about it in this way.
“Hope, you know what you mean to me. I would have loved to come along, if only you asked me to.”
Kelley sees the look in Hope’s eyes change.
“Hey I didn’t come here to make you feel bad. I came here to catch up and to finally see for myself if Gothenburg is as amazing as you say it is.”
Hope smiles, she appreciates Kelley putting in the effort (she still feels bad though).
“You’ll love Gothenburg” The keeper replies, already thinking about what places she should take Kelley to.
They both drink some of their drinks.
“So how’s your recovery going?” Kelley asks, effectively changing the topic.
Hope raises her arm, to show how much mobility she has regained already.
“I still have a long way to go but I have made already a lot of progress.”
The sun has already set by the time Hope makes her way to the bar to retrieve their bags.
“Thanks for keeping an eye on my bags.”
“Don’t mention it. It was my pleasure.”
Having seen how relaxed and genuine happy the keeper looked during her conversation with her visitor Jon can’t help but call her back.
“Hope?” The keeper turns back around “Have a good weekend!”
Hope momentarily looks back at Kelley before replying “I’m planning to.”
“So what exactly is your place?” Kelley asks halfway through their walk to Hope’s place.
“I have been staying at Lotta’s old place. It is the apartment she lived in when I played here. She has bought a more spacious apartment two blocks from her old place.”
“I thought she played in Malmö?”
“She does, her family lives in this area though. I also think she wanted a new start here so going back to her old place well, that wouldn’t exactly be a new start.”
Kelley nods, she did know about the break between Lotta and her longtime girlfriend.
The apartment is not as big as the apartment Kelley just bought back in Atlanta. But it looks spacious. Kelley loves the old wooden floors. Hope reassures her she would also love the view, but sadly it is already too dark to see it. The fireplace is a real plus for Kelley.
Hope goes to drop off Kelley’s luggage in the bedroom. In meantime Kelley looks around and spots some of the touches Hope brought into the apartment. She noticed some pictures, the majority were pictures of the two of them. Kelley spots the damn cuckoo clock the keeper bought back in Germany. She notices some of the UW stuff Hope takes with her.
Hope walks back into the living room “Is it ok if I finish up on some work before dinner? I need to send in this piece before tonight and it isn’t finished yet.”
“Yeah, sure." Kelley replies while continuing to look around "If this is Lotta’s old place. Is her new place some kind of castle?”
Hope smiles "Well if you wanted to sleep at a castle, you're a couple years too late. But Lotta's new plays is pretty awesome."
Hope makes sure Kelley is all settled before she takes out her notepad and goes over the words she had already written down.
Kelley tries to fall asleep but her mind is too active. So instead she sends out some texts. one to her mom, telling her she landed safely. One to her sister updating her a bit on how things went down. One to her brother saying she hadn’t yet had the chance and one to her dad, thanking him for the upgrade.
The defender glances at Hope from time to time, in between sending texts.
Seeing Hope fully concentrated on writing down what is really going on in her mind.
Kelley doesn’t understand how Hope finds the strength and motivation to keep fighting.
The team, herself included, say they care and are willing to do whatever it takes but no one is putting in this much time or effort, no one is putting as much on the line as Hope is.
She is pretty sure the keeper doesn’t know the team is about to fire her lawyer.
Curiosity gets the best of her, “Hope?”
Something in the way Kelley just said her name made Hope stop writing and focus on Kelley for a hundred percent.
“Are you disappointed in me?”
“What? NO! Why?”
“Cause, you know. For not speaking out as much as I should do.” Kelley fidgets with her hands “You do all these interviews, write these great pieces, speak up about it and the only thing I have done is retweeted some posts whenever the team sends another four players for some interview.”
Hope pushes her writing material aside and stands up
“Kell, it took me nearly twenty years to get the courage to speak up like this. And it got me fired. So no, I am not disappointed in you. I’m just frustrated.”
“frustrated in how I didn’t think about them firing me, or as they like to put it ‘suspending me’, as soon as the Olympics were over. Frustrated that they can put so much pressure and imbed so much fear in you guys. Frustrated in the retired players not speaking up… well not speaking out on the important things.
I’m frustrated with the media. They all were very eager to extensively write about my remarks after the Sweden game but not one of them is putting as much effort in writing about my fight now.”
The keeper stops pacing and squats down so she more at the same level with the seated defender.
“I am not disappointed in you. I might not have shown it lately but without you, I wouldn’t be able to do all this without knowing you love me, no matter what they write or say about me. Without having you in my corner, I probably would have walked away from this all a long time ago.
Knowing you love me and knowing I am on the right sight of history on this one. Those are the two of the things that keep me going.”
Kelley gets out of the couch and goes to hug Hope, however, she has too much momentum and sends the keeper tumbling back onto the floor, with Kelley on top of her.
The two wake up around 3pm, half an hour before the sun sets. Both having had some of the best sleep they have had in quite some time. For Hope that did still mean, waking up at least three times because of her shoulder acting up. That is as far as Kelley could tell, Hope might have been awake more times.
With Kelley searching through the cabinets to find all the ingredients she needs to make some pancakes she notes that Hope does not have any alcohol at all in her apartment.
Another sign the keeper might not be dealing as well as she says she is.
She knows Hope is afraid of getting addicted to it. Not because she likes alcohol, but because her brain likes to be shut off, to be numbed. So not having it at the apartment is probably the best.
Luckily for the two of them Hope wakes up and gets out of bed before Kelley starts making the batter for the pancakes. The keeper knows what a Schelin Christmas dinner looks like. Eating pancakes just a few hours before is not a good idea. Instead, the couple just eats a bowl of fruit and yoghurt.
After taking a shower, that took longer than planned, Hope and Kelley both change into something more fancy than they usually wear.
The keeper may have watched Kelley for a second or two too long. But they don’t really dress up like this on a regular base. And the black dress Kelley is wearing really is one of her favourites. As she noticed yesterday, Kelley does seem to be much more lean than she was before. Hope finds it a bit too much since they aren’t near any big tournament so there really isn’t any reason for Kelley to in this kind of shape.
Kelley places a quick kiss on Hope’s cheek.
“You are beautiful”
Kelley smiles, some things does stay the same.
The keeper always remarks how she ‘is’ beautiful. Hope has said it at the end of a game (where Kelley was certain she was all sweaty and had turf pellets in her hair) , she has said it when the two of them were drinking coffee, she has said it when they came of a 10 hours flight.
The couple finish getting ready and make it out of the door with minutes to spare.
Hope shouldn’t have been surprised that Kelley brought along some gifts for Lotta and her family.
Kelley is nervous. She knows Lotta a bit, they got to know each other a bit better with Lotta calling to keep her updated on Hope. Kelley doesn’t know a lot about her family and she certainly doesn’t speak Swedish. So she hopes everyone speaks English. On their way to Lotta’s Kelley makes Hope tell all she knows about the Schelin family.
Lotta’s new place isn’t a castle but it is a really lovely place. Kelley likes the old one more, maybe that’s because of that one reminds her more of Hope.
On their way back to Hope’s place Kelley is certain she looks like a six months pregnant lady.
Hope assures her she does not, “eight months however, that might be a possibility.”
Kelley mocks to be offended and slaps Hope onto the arm.
The keeper laughs, almost loses her footing and laughs some more.
The couple stop walking for a moment, both getting their bearings straight.
Hope cups the younger woman’s cheek kisses the younger woman.
The defender doesn’t know if it is because of the alcohol (that last shot of akvavit might have been just one too many) or because of the kiss but she felt like she was floating.
Kelley smiles, today had been a really good day.
With Hope’s arm around her the couple finish the rest of the walk back.
Hope almost forgot about Kelley’s tradition go to church on Sunday morning.
Hearing the alarm go off 5.30am is not something Hope had expect her Christmas morning to start like.
“I’m surprised to see you two even made it, on time” Lotta says, looking at her watch and noticing it’s 6.52, the couple has eights minutes to spare.
“Well, Kelley put on at least a dozen alarms, to make sure we would be here on time” a half asleep Hope Solo replies.
“Tell me again why Julotta has to be held this early?” Hope asks while resting her head on Lotta’s shoulder. Knowing she will fall back asleep and not wanting to be disrespectful Hope sits back up straight.
The eulogy is well, done in Swedish, something both Kelley and Hope failed to think about. So neither understand much. Plus singing along in Swedish is much harder than expected. Why do they have to use those damn circles, dots and whatever it is that they add to their letters?
Afterwards the couple says goodbye to Lotta and her family (they are expected to attend some family thing outside of the city). Once back at the apartment Hope drags Kelley back into bed and mumbles that they are going to sleep until it is at least noon in the US. The keeper is asleep within seconds. Kelley however, stays awake a bit longer. Enjoying the feeling of having Hope peacefully in her arms again. Soon exhaustion takes over and the defender is also asleep.
Before they know it, the couple finds themselves on their way to the airport.
Looking outside Kelley realizes that in these few days she really got to love this place. Although a happy Hope being here might be a big part of the reason why.
She and Hope spend most of the daylight time outside, discovering the city.
After the sun had set they usually worked out. Hope working on staying in shape while also doing some exercises to get her shoulder back healthy.
There was the occasional late night walk around the city.
Lots of Fika, Kelley was really glad Dawn wasn’t around.
Hope parks the car so she can walk Kelley to the building and just have a few more minutes with the defender.
Not that she cared (she actually cared a lot) but Hope was relieved that the press (nor the obnoxious kind of fans) had picked up on their presence. She’d like to keep her stay in Sweden out of the press. As does she prefer Kelley not getting in trouble for being here with her.
“Jerry has texted me like 200 times to remind me to give you this” Kelley hands Hope a rather big manila envelope “I have no idea what is in it, but it has to be something important.”
Hope takes the envelope, unsure of what to think of it.
Kelley pulls her keeper closer for one last embrace.
Hope closes her eyes and takes Kelley all in for a second, the way she feels (a bit more chubby then when she arrived) , the way she smells (not like Hope would ever forget that plus she may or may not have kept one of Kelley’s sweatshirts behind)
“I love you” which Hope more so interprets as a ‘don’t forget about me’.
Kelley sees the keeper looking at her, but she remains silent.
After a few seconds of silence she picks up her bag and starts walking away, disappointed.
“Oh and Kelley” the defender turns back around to face Hope “I love you too”
The smile on Hope’s face after she made that statement is the one Kelley loves so much. It is Hope’s proud kind of a smile.
The defender is already long out of her sight but Hope stands there, just looking, maybe hoping the younger woman would come running back. She doesn’t but that’s ok. (Cause that would also mean she would have to once again say goodbye to the smiley defender.)
After some more minutes Hope turns around and makes her way to the car. She puts the envelope on the passenger’s seat, having decided to open it back at her place.
31 December, Kelley is a bit of an emotional wreck. Apart from the tweet about tissues she sent out, she did manage to keep her feelings on the down low.
She didn’t bring her brother’s wedding up in any of the conversations she had with Hope (neither did Hope). Kelley really wanted Hope to be here today. But she was set on not asking it again. Hope has known about the wedding ever since the couple got engaged last year. Kelley told herself to not think about it today cause it was her brother’s day and she shouldn’t let the happiness of today be clouded by being mad at Hope for not bothering to show up on an important day.
“I was told to deliver these here”
Kelley turns around faster than ever before.
“HOPE”
The keeper drops the two boxes of tissues she was holding so she could catch her defender.
Kelley had almost asked her back in Sweden but she chickened out. She didn’t want to feel the disappointment when Hope said “no”. In a way, without asking, she could pretend Hope wasn’t invited.
But seeing how she had been borderline angry with Hope all day, that strategy clearly didn’t really work.
“I didn’t think you would be here.”
“Well, I vaguely remember telling you I would be here when we heard about the engagement plans. And I couldn’t let the ticket your brother sent me go to waste.”
Kelley is surprised by the last part. She didn’t know her brother reached out to the keeper to make sure she would be here today.
“The tickets were in the envelope you gave me when you came to visit me in Sweden” Hope clarifies.
She takes a step back to look at Hope, the first thing she notices is the apostrophe necklace Hope is wearing.
“Is my outfit good enough for an O’Hara wedding?”
A knock on the door interrupts their moment. A very enthusiastic Erin walks into the room seconds later “So it is true, Hope Solo is back in the country.”
“For the moment, I am. Wouldn't want to miss this” Hope replies with a smile and goes to hug the oldest O’Hara sibling.
Kelley’s smile falters, she hadn’t thought about Hope being back not being a permanent thing.
With Kelley being called away by one of the other bride maids, Erin get serious real quick. “You better never ever leave my sister like that again”
Hope knew coming back would also mean facing Kelley’s family. She just didn’t expect Erin to talk about it now.
Hope hangs around Kelley and the other bride maids, waiting for her date to arrive. Well actually Kelley’s date. The defender didn’t want to attend her brother’s wedding on her own so thinking Hope wouldn’t show up Kelley asked her best friend to accompany her.
With Hope here, Adam will be Hope’s plus one whenever Kelley has to fulfill her bride maid duties. He knows the O’Hara’s and Hope well enough to also be fine on his own.
The keeper has spotted her plus one so it is time to say goodbye to Kelley for now. She, however, knows how self-conscious Kelley gets whenever she has to wear a long dress. Somehow, she got it in her mind that she really couldn’t pull off wearing a long dress.
So before Hope joins Adam, who is waiting for her a couple feet away, she pulls the defender close, “I thought the bride was supposed to be the most beautiful woman”.
She places a quick kiss on Kelley’s cheek, careful not to ruin her defender’s make up, and with that Hope walks to Adam.
The two walk into the chapel
“Whatever you said… it must have been something really special to get Kelley O’Hara blushing like that.”
Which on its turn made Hope blush.
It’s already past midnight. Hope’s surprised Kelley is still sober-ish.
They have already had some dances, currently Kelley is goofing on the dance floor with Jerry and Erin.
Hope is taking a break, still not entirely adapted to the EST time zone.
Kelley sees her mother making her way towards Hope and the defender is thinking about joining them. But the look Erin is throwing her right now tells her not to. Kelley knows that Karen also has a right to speak to Hope in private, Kelley just wants to defend her wife.
She keeps on dancing but her focus is almost solely on two of the most important women in her life. Seeing Hope’s posture is still quite relaxed, Kelley knows whatever the two are talking about, it isn’t too bad.
Hope had looked onto the dancefloor, the couple had made eye contact for a few times with which Hope’s smile always got just a bit bigger. But apart from that she didn’t give Kelley any clues on what was going on.
The conversation is close to an end when Dan interrupts and steals away Karen for a dance. Hope really looks up to those two, they did a really great job raising their kids and as couple, they just, well they were what Hope strived to be.
Hope decides it is time to rejoin her wife on the dance floor.
“Relax Kelley. Your mom was just looking out for you. Plus she also wanted to know how I was doing.”
Upon hearing this, Kelley does relax a bit.
A dance or two later Hope finally gets the courage to ask the question she has wanted to ask Kelley since before she left “Do you want to come to Sweden with me?”
“Yes” Kelley answers without much thought, “you are stuck with me, …I’ll always choose you … no matter how far away you need to go. I’m your wife, I always choose you.”
Hope didn’t mind being stuck with Kelley.
“Oh and Hope, next time either pick a country with a warmer climate or we go in the summer”
Hope smiles, spins Kelley around brings her back closer “Deal”.