USWNT & NWSL One-Shot Collection

^* - Mal Pugh/Reader - My Girlfriend's Daughter...

POV: Mal Pugh

I sighed, wondering how this was going to go over. I cleared my throat and looked at the stadium in front of me. Practice starts in fifteen minutes and I knew I needed to get into the locker room to change soon. Y/N, my girlfriend of 2 years, had gotten called into work yesterday and wouldn't be home for a few days. I of course said I would take care of everything while she was gone.

"It's gonna be ok. They aren't going to hate you for lying to them." I muttered to myself as I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out. As I got to the back door, I opened it and smiled down at the tiny human looking up at me.

"Mally we go play?" Harlow, Y/N's daughter, asked; her bright green eyes staring up at me in wonder.

"Yeah, Harls, we go play." I answered softly. "Remember what I said, these are my friends, so it's gonna be ok."

Once I had her unbuckled and her bag on my shoulder with mine, we headed inside. We managed to get all the way to the locker room, without being spotted.

"Harls, stay right here ok?" She nodded to me and I quickly got changed.

When I looked back to where I had left her, I found her wearing one of my training jerseys. My heart melted, the jersey was so big on her that it nearly dragged on the ground.

"Whatcha doing Harls?" I asked, getting the three year old's attention.

"I play! I Pugh Pugh!" She smiled up at me and wiggled around.

"Come on Mini-Me. I gotta get on the field." I gently grabbed Harlow's hand and led the way out to the field. It took a few moments for someone to spot me.

"Mal-Pal... About time you got... here?" Tierna Davidson, one of the defenders asked, as she ran up to Harlow and I. "Umm... Mal-Pal, there's a tiny human hanging onto your hand."

Harlow ducked behind my leg.

"Harlow, it's ok. This is Tierna, I call her T." I whispered to the small child. "Tierna, this is Harlow."

Tierna knelt in front of me and offered Harlow a fist bump. "Hey Harlow. I'm Tierna; you can call me T."

Harlow knocks her fist against Tierna's, peeking out from behind me. "Hi, T."

"I gotta talk to the trainers, see if someone can keep an eye on Harlow while we are training." I mentioned, as one of the coaching staff actually came over.

"Mal, who's this little one?" The assistant coach, Ella Masar, asked.

"This is Harlow, Y/N's daughter, can one of the staff keep an eye on her while training is going?" I explained.

Ella nodded, offering her hand to the little girl. "Hey Harlow, I'm Ella. Do you wanna come with me while..." Ella looked at me and arched her eyebrow.

"Mally." I answered the unspoken question.

"While Mally is working with the team?"

Harlow looked at me and I nodded. "It's ok, baby. It's gonna be fun." I encouraged, handing Ella her bag. "If she needs anything."

"We have it." Ella shook her head. "Get on the field, training has already started."

I nodded once, before kneeling in front of Harlow. "Harls, you be a good girl, and after we can go get ice cream." She quickly agreed and followed Ella over towards the bench.

For the next few hours training went on and I lost myself in the various exercises. As we got started with a 5 on 5 game, the ball got kicked wide and a scream was heard. My head whipped around and I spotted Harlow on the ground with one of the coaches trying to calm her down.

"MAMA!" Her voice echoed across the now silent pitch. I went running, my heart hammering. "I WANT MAMA!!!"

I skidded to a stop on my knees next to her. "Baby Girl, it's Mally. It's ok."

"MAMA!" Harlow threw herself into my arms.

I picked her up and held her tightly. "Mommy will be home soon, baby girl. It's ok. Are you ok? What happened?"

"The ball that got kicked wide, hit her in the stomach." Ella answered, kneeling next to me. "Can one of the trainers look her over?"

"Harls, can Max look at your boo boo? Just to make sure you are ok?" I asked, running my hand up and down the girl's back. She merely nodded her head, not letting me go. "Harls, you gotta let go of me in order to have Max look at your boo boo."

She finally let me go and Max motioned for us both to come over. I stood with her in my arms and headed over. Max did a quick check over, and cleared her. Which had me breathing a bit easier. I'm sure that Y/N would kill me if something happened to Harlow.

"Mama..." Harlow whispered softly, curling into my arms. I shifted a bit, standing up and holding her close. The interaction got the attention of the rest of the team. They all ran over quickly, surrounding the three of us. "Mama!" Harlow screamed as the group got a bit too close.

I instantly wrapped my arms tighter around her. She called me Mama, and it made my heart soar. "You're ok. It's ok. They are friends. They just got too excited." Harlow buried her face into my neck, her tears wetting my shoulder. "It's ok baby."

"Alright everyone back up." I heard Alyssa speak up. "You all scared the hell out of the poor kid, back up."

I looked up and spotted only T and Alyssa nearby, with the rest a few dozen feet away just staring at me.

"Thanks, Alyssa. I guess I should explain?"

Alyssa nodded, motioning to the team to sit down. I sat, pulling Harlow into my lap. "Everyone, this is Harlow Y/L/N, she is my girlfriend, Y/N's daughter."

"She's so cute." Casey Krueger said, as the others agreed.

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A/N: I like this one, shorter than my normal, but it's been in my head for a bit. I'll have a similar one in my marvel one shot book eventually.

Word Count: 1030