ғᴏᴏᴛsᴛᴇᴘs | ᴋᴍ ✔︎

Suspicions Rising

"And I've figured out
I'm better than I've been before."
- ANASTACIA

The ring was something that Kristie took with her everywhere she went. It didn't make sense - she told herself it was to ensure its safety but carrying it with her everywhere only heightened the chances of losing the piece of precious metal. Still, she wouldn't part with it.

She took it to team dinners, visits with her family, away day games and even left it sitting on her bedside table.

She took it to training, where Jack would make faces at her, and wiggle her eyebrows before dropping the charade and asking the Mewis woman when she was going to pop the question to Cody.

The only problem for Kristie was she didn't know what question she wanted to ask Cody. She didn't know what step in their relationship this was. Their relationship was far from the norm - they didn't see each other a lot, they didn't live with each other, the only norm in their lives is that they've had their fair share of arguments.

And then there's Alex.

And with Alex comes Jeri.

"Still spiraling, I see." Jack chuckled as she and Sam sat at either side of Kristie at the small, circular tables spread evenly throughout the room.

"Shut up."

"I don't understand why you're overthinking it." Sam shrugged, sipping on her coffee as her eyes studied her sister. "Do you love her?"

Seemingly insulted by the suggestion that Kristie could be stringing her best friend along, Jack repeats the question, only in a higher pitch and more accusatory tone, "Yeah, do you love her?!"

"Of course I love her." Kristie sighed, but it was too late for the Mewis woman. Jack's loud question caught the attention of some of the other players who were at different tables.

Her only saving grace was that Alex and Cody were in the middle of interviews.

But Tobin wasn't.

"What's going on here?" Heath asked, arms crossed over her chest, eyes firmly staring at Kristie.

"Oh, I--we were just talking about something--someone else." Sam muttered pathetically, not helped in the slightest by Jack.

"Yeah. A dog. That's it, a dog. I think Kristie should adopt it, but uh..." Jack trailed off as Christen stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Tobin, and raised an eyebrow, silently questioning her girlfriend. "She loves the dog!"

"Yeah. She does!" Sam chuckled. "Nothing to see here."

The veterans were silent for a simple two minutes. The longest two minutes of Jack, Kristie and Sam's lives but they left nonetheless.

"Okay, we're going. Just know that we don't believe a word of any of that." Christen laughed, the small action bringing a smile to Jack's face despite the words that were spoken.

"You're so smitten." Sam laughed at the Idaho native before they turned their attention to Kristie.

"What?"

"What?" Jack mimicked. "Suspicions are rising. What'cha gonna do?"

At their separate interviews, Alex and Cody were blissfully unaware of the tense situation elsewhere in the hotel. They were focused solely on getting through the questions without stirring up a drama.

"Alex, what's it like having your daughter on the team?"

"It's great." The brunette beamed, unable to hide her happiness. "Without getting into the whole backstory, it's amazing to have her so close. It's a first for us, on a long-term basis, to be near each other. To see her everyday is a blessing."