The Family

49

Talia's POV

"Hey Talia." Ash says when she and a couple other girls enter Julie's hospital room.

"Hi." I mumble and keep my head on Julie's thigh while staring at my girlfriend who's still in a coma.

"Sweetie." Kristi says and rubs my back. "You've been here for three days and haven't left Julie's side. This isn't healthy."

"You need to get out of here if only for an hour." Melanie says.

"But." I say then look in terror at Julie's family. "I don't wanna leave her."

"Talia I will call you the moment she wakes up." David says. "I promise."

"Okay." I mumble then kiss Julie's leg.

"Come on Freckles." Christen says. "Let's go get you showered."

"I don't smell that bad." I mumble then I get a whiff of myself. "Never mind."

I follow the national team girls to the door then I stop and look back at my girlfriend.

"She's safe munchkin." Tobin says and pulls me out of the room. "Nothing bad can hurt her."

I sadly nod then follow the girls down the stairs, out of the hospital, and to my House which is 10 blocks away. Once at my house I'm greeted by the entire team.

"Hey Talia." Moe says with a soft smile.

"Hi." I mumble.

"Come on." Ash says and picks me up. "Let's get you showered."

Ash carries me up the stairs to my room followed by the whole team

"Okay." Christen says when we get to my room. "I don't think Talia needs everyone to clean her."

"Come on." Kelley says and drags me to the shower.

Kelley turns on the shower as Christen comes in with new clothes and under wear then the two older women strip me out of my clothes and they take off my necklaces. I step into the shower and let my friends wash my hair and body then I get out of the shower and dry myself and my hair. I change into my fresh clothes then Kelley, Christen, and I walk into my bedroom and see Tobin, Alex, Becky, Carli, Ali, and Ash.

"Hi." I mumble as I put on my slides.

"Hey Blondie." Alex says.

"Anything you wanna do Talia?" Ash asks.

"Talk." I mumble.

"What do you wanna talk about?" Ali asks.

"Anything." I say. "Just start talking."

"So how's the sex?" Kelley asks

"Kelley." Alex scolds and slaps her wife on the arm.

"What?" Kelley asks as I look down at my hands. "It's just a question."

"Freckles?" Christen questions so I raise my head. "Is something wrong with your sex life?"

"No." I quickly say. "Our sex life is amazing......there's just some stuff I need to work through."

"Like?"

"Just getting use to the fact that before me all of Julie's sexual partners were men and the fact I can't get her pregnant since she wants kids."

"Lemme guess." Ash says. "Julie wanted to try something new and it made you nervous."

"How the..." I say.

"Happened to me to with Ali." Ash says and shrugs. "We can talk about it more later."

"So." Kelley says. "Out of all of us who all have you seen have sex?"

"All of you." I admit.

"Where?" Tobin asks.

"You and Christen don't lock the door in Utah, Ash and Ali didn't even shut the fucking door after we won gold in Tokyo, neither did Alex and Kelley, and I walked in on Becky and Carli joining the mile high club on the way to Tokyo."

"That was you?" Becky questions. "I thought Carli was just seeing things."

"I wish." I say and shudder at the memory. "I still haven't got that memory out of my head."

"What where they doing?" Kelley asks.

"Lets not go there." I say.

"On a more serious note." Christen says as Becky and Carli blush. "Talia you do know Julie won't leave you right?"

"I mean I can't give her kids which is big for her." I say.

"There's other ways for her to get pregnant Talia." Ali says.

"I know." I mumble as I put my three necklaces back on.

I silently get up and leave the room then I walk down stairs to the kitchen.

"Hey T." Moe says.

"Hi Moe." I say.

"We have food for you." Lindsey says and hands me a chopped cheese sandwich.

"You guys went to the Bronx?" I question when I notice the chopped cheeses is a legitimate chopped cheese and not some gentrified version.

"We went in a group." Emily says.

"Well thank you." I say.

I eat my sandwich and talk to the girls for a while until my phone rings then I pick it up.

"Hello?"

"Talia?" Kristi says.

"Yes?"

"Julie's Awake."

- - - - -

"Talia."

"Talia."

"Talia."

"Talia."

"Talia."

"Talia Grace Martin wake up." Someone says causing me to shoot out of my chair.

"Jules what's wrong?" I quickly ask and try to rush to my girlfriend's side.

"Woah." Ash says and holds me back.

"Breath Talia." Kelley says. "She's just sleeping."

Julie's been out of her coma for two days.

"Sorry." I mumble then I take the bagels Christen hands to me and start eating. "So what's up?

"Talia have you checked your emails or any social media lately?" Christen asks.

"I mean I've been kinda occupied." I say and motion to my sleeping girlfriend.

"Right...Talia you are one of the four finalist for the Ballon d'Or Féminin."

"What? Why? How?" I ask then open up my emails.

"Sweetie." Becky says. "You won an Olympic gold medal, an NWSL championship, you were league MVP, defender of the year, and in the NWSL first team Best eleven."

"And you won The Best FIFA Women's Player and you were in the FIFA FIFPro Women's World11." Kelley says.

"And you won the FIFA Puskás Award for your goal against France." Christen says.

I check the email and see I'm a finalist along with Ada Hegerberg, Vivianne Miedema, and Pernille Harder.

"Wait." I say and look at Christen. "Why weren't you nominated? I mean you had better years then Hegerberg, Miedema, and Harder...combined"

"Just the way the cookie crumbles." Christen says and shrugs.

I also notice I can bring four family member.

"Guys." I say and get my three club teammates attention.

"Yes Talia?" Becky says.

"Um it says I can bring four family members so um would you three come with me?" I ask.

Christen, Becky, and Kelley all look at each other and smile then they look at me.

"We'd love to Freckles." Christen says.