CHASING GOLD: The Olympics

Chapter 4

"Tobin!" Mark Parsons yelled. He motioned for Tobin to follow him to his office.

"Everything ok coach?" Tobin asked as she got into his office.

"Yeah. Everything is fine. But I wanted to show you this." He said, extending the captain's armband. Tobin grabbed it and studied the band.

The band was black with the PTFC logo. A small pride flag was stitched to the left of the logo and to the right was something else. It was 3 stitchings. The first was TMH17. Underneath that was AMH77 and finally AMH13. Tobin looked up at Mark in confusion.

"Coach I don't understand." Tobin said.

"Today marks the first day of you being the captain of the Portland Thorns." Tobin's eyes went wide.

"Wait what? What do you mean? Sinc is the captain."

"And now, you are." Christine Sinclair said, walking into the office. She smiled at Tobin.

"Sinc came to me the other day. She handed me the captain's band and told me that it was your turn." Mark explained. "So, I decided to get it stitched with, hopefully, something meaningful to you. So I put Alex and Andy's initials, as well as yours, on it and a pride flag. I know how much you and Alex are advocating for the LGBTQ+ community."

"But these aren't our initials legally yet." Tobin said.

"I know. But I know they will be soon." Mark said smiling. "Ok. Go get ready captain." Tobin smiled and nodded. She walked out of Mark's office and continued to get ready for the game.

*****

"Ok ladies. Starting line up and then warmups." Mark said coming out of his office. "AD, Reynolds, Menges, Sonnett, Kling, Long, Horan, Heath, Sinclair, Raso, Morgan. And, as of today, we have a new captain." The team looked around confused. Mark gave Sinc a look and she nodded. "Sinc came to me the other day. She told me that she's retiring at the end of this season and she believes that it is someone else's turn to wear the captain's band. So, with lots of consideration and input from many people, your new captain is Tobin."

"'Bout damn time." Sinc said. The team laughed. The team congratulated Tobin and headed out towards the pitch to start warmups. It was only Andy, Alex, and Tobin in the locker room. Andy collided into her mom the second she could.

"Congrats mom. You deserve this." Andy said. Tobin hugged her daughter tightly.

"Thanks, kiddo. Soon, you'll be wearing a captains band too. I know it." Tobin said to her daughter. They pulled out of the hug and Sonnett and Lindsey walked in.

"Hey, Andy. You ready?" Sonnett said. Andy nodded and walked to her and the two headed out together to the pitch. Sonnett, Lindsey, and Andy were becoming very good friends. Tobin turned towards her fiancé and smiled.

"Hey." Tobin said.

"Hi." Alex said back. She couldn't take it anymore and crashed into Tobin and hugged her tightly. "I'm so proud of you. No one is more deserving of this than you." They pulled back slightly and leaned in for a kiss. They pulled away and Tobin grabbed Alex's hand and led them outside.

*****

The Thorns beat the Pride 3-0. Alex scored once and Andy scored twice. It was 1-0 for about 60 minutes. When Andy came in for Raso in the 65th minute, she turned the game around and ultimately secured the win for the Thorns. The Thorns were now 6-0 on the season and at the top of the league standings. They were the only team with an undefeated record. No NWSL team has ever pulled off the perfect season and the Thorns were determined to change that this year.

THREE WEEKS LATER...
The Thorns were now 8-0, beating Racing Louisville 2-1 and then the Washington Spirit 3-1. Andy is now a starter for the Thorns up at forward but would occasionally step back to midfield when the team needed it. The Thorns were traveling to Utah next to play the Royals and Andy couldn't be more excited. She hasn't seen Theo for about a month and a half. She was excited to hear about how everything was going in her best friend's life and she was even more excited to hear about how court went. Theo, Kelley, and Hope went to court a few weeks ago and Theo is now officially and legally theirs.

The plane touched down and the Thorns emptied the plane. Andy walked with Lindsey and Sonnett. The three have become quite the trio. They were the jokesters of the team. Always having fun, pranking, laughing, dancing, etc. Bottom line, the three are now best friends and there was never a dull moment with the three.

The team got to the hotel and soon, Tobin, Alex, and Andy were headed to dinner with Hope, Kelley, and Theo. The Morgan-Heath family got to the restaurant and sat down. Andy bounced her leg nervously. Tobin noticed and put her hand on her daughter's leg to try and calm her. It helped. "Hey. What's wrong?" Tobin asked. Andy looked at her moms who were giving her concerned looks.

"I'm fine. I'm just nervous." Andy said. "What if she sees me and realizes she doesn't like me anymore? Or she's found somebody else and she's going to break up with me or-" Tobin cut her off.

"Hey. She does like you. She hasn't found anybody else and she's not breaking up with you. She cares way too much about you." Tobin said. Andy nodded and Tobin pulled her into a side hug. Several minutes later, the O'Hara/Solo family walked in. "Hey, kiddo. Look who it is." Tobin said pointing towards the little family walking towards them. Andy stood up and Theo practically sprinted to her. She collided into Andy and all of Andy's nerves dissipated. She hugged her girlfriend tightly and melted into her touch.

"I missed you." Theo whispered not breaking the hug.

"I missed you too." Andy whispered back. The group exchanged hugs and sat down to enjoy their night with each other.

*****

It was game day and the lineup was the same except for Andy now being in the starting 11. The game was a little chippy. Sonnett got a yellow as she tackled ARod and the ref didn't like it then Lindsey shoved ARod a few plays later and received a yellow as well. Tobin had to hold Andy back and promised that she would talk to ARod later about everything and Andy said she'd talk to Sonnett and Lindsey. Ultimately, the Thorns won 4-2. Andy scored once and assisted Tobin. Sinc got two goals.

Andy didn't want to leave Theo. She missed her girlfriend so much, she just got her back and now she has to leave. Luckily, there wasn't too much longer until Theo and Andy would see each other again.