The Sound of Silence (USWNT)

Team Bonding Part 1

*Abby's POV*

I couldn't believe my eyes when the door opened and I saw Victoria standing there, shuffling her legs nervously. I went stock still for a second, before my joy overrode my shock as Victoria looked up, her eyes stopping on me.

"ABBY!" She signed, joy and something else replacing the fear and sadness that I'd seen in her eyes both times I've seen her now.

"VICTORIA?!?!" I sighed and screamed at the same time, causing everyone from the team to jump and stop chattering as they had started to introduce themselves to the other newbies.

I ignored everyone's look of shock and opened my arms wide. A smile slowly forms on her face as she runs to me, jumping into my arms, and wrapping her arms and legs around me tightly. In that moment I finally felt like everything was right again. Like I was finally whole.

The moment was broken by a throat being cleared loudly. I felt Victoria jump at the sound, but I rubbed her back soothingly, slowly lowering her to the ground.

We were then met with the curious glances of all of my, well now our teammates.

"So you must be the kid that had Wombat here all broody lately." Christie said and signed with a gentle smile, slowly approaching Victoria.

Victoria's hands shook slightly, and she looked to me, I smiled at her, and squeezed her hand gently, reassuring her that nobody here would judge or hurt her.

Victoria slowly nodded, signing "And you're Christie Rampone. You've always been one of my heroes." A shy smile on her face.

Christie grinned "Aww you're so sweet! I can see why you mean so much to Wombat here!" she said and nudged me with a smirk as she passed me. Victoria's shy smile got bigger.

I playfully smacked Christie's arm. "Stop it; people will start thinking I have a heart" I joked causing everyone to laugh. Victoria even silently laughed, causing me to beam at her. The only thing that would make this better would be if my parents and Sara hadn't left yet.

Our moment was broken up by a throat clearing. We all looked up to see Jill standing there with her hands folded. She was trying to look serious, but we could all tell she was fighting a smile.

"Well now that we're all acquainted, I thought that it would be a good idea if we had some team bonding with the new members, but I'd like to introduce a new member of our coaching staff first. As you know, we've been looking for an assistant coach for a while..."

We all nodded or vocalized our acknowledgement and Jill continued. "Well we've been in contact with someone for a while and were finally able to work everything out. I don't think i need to make any introductions as you all know her well..." Jill smirked.

We all traded confused glances as Jill continued without further ado, welcome your new assistant coach, Sara."

We all turned to where Jill was pointing and my jaw dropped as I saw Sara standing there, a grin on her face.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Pinoe shouted, before I could. Instead I just ran to Sara, picking her up and spinning her around.

Sara giggled and I finally set her down when she complained that she was getting dizzy.

"I can't believe this!!" I grinned as I hugged her tight, everyone grinning around me.

"Hey don't hog your better half Wambach!" Ashlyn joked, earning a smack from Ali as she pulled Sara into a hug, congratulating her, which set off a hug fest through the team.

Coach just rolled her eyes good-naturedly as everyone hugged Sara. Finally she hugged everyone until she got to Victoria. I tensed up slightly, not sure why I was so nervous for 2 people who meant so much to me to meet officially.

"So you're Victoria. I've heard a lot about you. You've made Abby more of an adult already! Can you teach me your ways??" Sara joked in a gentle voice and I saw Victoria finally fully relax for the first time.

Victoria nodded, her smile touching her eyes.

"You were always one of my favorite players, It's an honor to meet you." She signed, smiling shyly.

Sara grinned, pulling her into a hug. "I love this kid already!! Can I keep her?!" She asked, spinning her around gently. Victoria was silently laughing, and I could feel my heart swell seeing the interaction. 

Suddenly I pictured our little family having our own little house by the beach as Victoria and Sara messed around on the beach, maybe trying to help Victoria convince Sara, always the worrier, to let Ashlyn, Kelley and Tobin teach her how to surf.

I made eye contact with Sara as she gently set Victoria down, and I could tell that maybe, just maybe she saw the same thing. Before I could dwell on it too much my reverie was broken my coach clearing her throat again.

"Okay ladies" coach clapped her hands together, pulling our attention back to her. "We're going to do a giant game of capture the flag. It will be all of you versus the staff. But, here's the catch. You are not allowed to talk out loud to each other. You have to find a way to communicate quickly with each other without having to talk."

"Wait really?!" Kling asked. I tensed up as I saw Victoria freeze, probably waiting to be ridiculed, knowing this bonding event was for her.

"Yes Kling, did you have any questions or concerns?" Coach asked, Being a Co-Captain with CAP, I could see the steel in her eyes, just daring Kling to say something against it.

"Yeah, I think that Victoria should be our captain for when we crush you!" She cheered, making us all laugh and cheer, everyone clapping Victoria on the back.

I grinned at coach, and she smiled back at me, and it looked like Victoria was nearly in tears, her eyes shining. We all gathered out team pinnies, we were red, and our nerf guns as we waited for Dawn to return with the flag.

I turned to see Victoria smiling as Pinoe, Kling, Mal, Steph, Ali, Ash, Mal and Kelley were all talking to her. I couldn't help but smile, proud that this family made the pain and fear disappear from her eyes, at least for a while.

I vowed to myself that eventually I would make sure I'd never see that in her eyes again.