The Boxer and the Defender

"In cars."

Bailey's POV

It's roughly been a week since my surgery, and I'm feeling better. I've been out of the hospital for a few days now, and I'm now getting around on crutches. I've been going to physio every day, and I'm making great progress. Kelley has gotten some time off from soccer so she can help me around the house.

"Hey, bag packed? I wanna get on the road." I call out to Kelley.

She comes out of the room with our bags over her shoulders, "Yeah, I'm all set."

"Great. Let's get a move on."

We make our way to the car and load our bags into the trunk, "You sure you're up for this? We don't have to go, you know."

"I'm sure, Kelley. I wanna go. It's a vacation. I'm not gonna let my injury stop me from enjoying it. I actually can't wait to meet your family."

She nods and gives me a kiss, "They're gonna love you."

We both get into the car and Kelley backs out of the driveway, "Okay, here we go."

During the drive, I connect my phone to the car stereo and start playing some music. While we were at a red light, the song 'Cars' came on, and we ended up singing together.

"Here in my car, I feel safest of all. I can lock all my doors, it's the only way to live. In cars."

We both look at each other and start laughing, then Kelley sings the second verse, "Here in my car, I can only receive. I can listen to you, and it keeps me stable for days. In cars."

We both start laughing again, "You've got a great voice." I tell her and she shrugs.

"Not as good as yours."

"Whatever. You have a great voice."

She smiles and we continue singing the rest of the song.

"Here in my car," I sing.

"Nothing seems," she sings.

"Here in my car," I repeat,

"Nothing seems,"

"In cars." I say in unison.

We both smile and look at each other, "Nicely done." She says and I grin.

"Nicely done."

We just smile and continue the rest of the drive to the airport.

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The flight was pretty uneventful, but I enjoyed being able to watch Kelley sleep. She looked so beautiful with her head resting against the window. I couldn't help but just stare at her, admiring her beauty.

We finally landed and made our way to the rental car, a nice big SUV. We loaded our bags into the back and made our way to Kelley's parents' place. "You sure you're okay to do this?"

"I'm fine, Kelley. Stop worrying."

She sighs, "I'm sorry, I can't help it."

We finally pulled up to the house, and we both got out of the car. "This is it." Kelley says as we both look at the house. I follow Kelley to the door and she knocks on the door. She smiles at me and the door opens.

A tall man with graying hair and a clean-shaven face answers the door, "Kelley! Oh my god, it's so good to see you!" He opens the door and gives her a hug. He then steps back and looks at me, "You must be Bailey."

I smile and nod, "Yes, sir. It's nice to meet you. Nice to meet you Mr. O'Hara."

"Likewise, call me Dan. Come on in, make yourselves at home."

We both step into the house and I'm immediately hit with the smell of cooking. My stomach growls and Kelley chuckles, "I'm starving." I whisper to her and she nods.

"Kelley, why didn't you tell us you were bringing a guest?" A woman says as she comes around the corner.

"Mom, this is Bailey. Bailey, this is my mom, Karen."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. O'Hara."

"Oh, please call me Karen. Do you want a drink? Something to eat?"

"Yeah, actually that sounds great." I say and she nods.

"Okay, have a seat and I'll get you something." Karen says as she points to the couch.

We both take a seat and Kelley's dad sits in the armchair, we hear a knock on the door and Dan gets up, "That must be your sister," he says as he goes to answer the door.

Kelley's sister walks in and gives Kelley a huge hug, "Long time no see. How's your soccer going?"

"It's good. Hey, this is Bailey."

"Bailey, this is my sister, Erin."

"Nice to meet you." I say and we shake hands.

"You too. I've heard so much about you."

"All good things, I hope." I say with a grin.

"Of course." She says and we all just sit there for a few moments in silence, before Karen comes back with some drinks and snacks.

"So, Bailey. Kelley tells us that you're a boxer." Dan says and I nod.

"Yeah, I am. I just had surgery, since, well, y'all probably heard what happened."

"Yeah, that was awful. Kelley said that you're making a full recovery."

I nodded, "Yep. I'm in physical therapy. Hopefully I'll be back in the ring soon."

"That's amazing. I always wanted to get into boxing, but I went to the navy instead. Met Kelley's mom while I was in the service. We then had our three kids, Erin, Kelley and Jerry."

"Wow, three kids,"

Dan chuckles, "Yeah, tell me about it. We were pretty busy."

"So, Jerry's the youngest?" I ask.

"Yeah, he's out of the house now. He's a fighter pilot in the air force."

Erin then pipes up, "Okay enough about us, let's talk about you. How did you and Kelley meet?"

I look at Kelley and she smiles, "Well shit, Kelley here pretty much was stalking me on Instagram for months."

Kelley giggles, "What? I wasn't stalking you. I was just liking and commenting on your photos."

"Well when did you two actually meet in person?" Erin asks.

"Oh, that was at the ESPY awards." Kelley says and Dan chuckles.

Eventually we all go to the dining table and sit down to have dinner. We all make small talk and I'm really enjoying myself. It's nice to be around Kelley's family and to finally meet them.

After dinner, we all move to the living room and sit around, just chatting and getting to know each other. Erin and Kelley start talking about some of the antics they got up to when they were kids, and I can't help but laugh as my love grows for Kelley.

Eventually Dan went out and grabbed Kelley and I's bags, and we all went to bed. Kelley brought me to her old room and I can't help but just smile. The walls are covered in posters of various female soccer legends and the shelves are full of trophies and medals.

"Wow, this brings back memories." She says as she looks at all of her old things.

"You must have been pretty good during High School and college." I say and she nods.

"I was. I started playing when I was four and fell in love with it, then eventually went to Stanford on a soccer scholarship."

"Wow, that's amazing."

"Yeah, it was. That's where Christen and I became friends."

Kelley and I chatted for a few more minutes before we both decided to call it a night. We crawl into bed and snuggle up to each other, and before I know it, I'm fast asleep.

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Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, might do a double upload today, who knows?

Anyways, thanks for reading!