ғᴏᴏᴛsᴛᴇᴘs | ᴋᴍ ✔︎

Down We Go

"Oh, Father tell me, do we get what we deserve?
Woah, we get what we deserve.

And way down we go."
- Kaleo

"Where's Cody?" Jeri asks the moment her foot hits the floor from the bottom step, her eyes scanning the open plan space of Alex's Orlando home.

"She's at a meeting for the charity she set up. It's basically like an AA meeting for young people." Kristie yawns, steam from her mug of coffee rising up to her face.

"She'll be back soon." Jack shrugs. "I waited outside during these meetings while we drove here. She's putting so much effort to set up offices in as many states as possible, to help as many people as possible."

"You should be proud, Alex." Jeri grins, facing her sister who glared at her.

"I've always been proud of her."

"Me too." Kristie mumbled.

Almost instantly all in the kitchen turned to face the Dash player, knowing smiles on their faces.

"What?" Mewis mumbled, eyes wide in surprise, but nobody answers her.

Cody was thankful that she was well versed in these kinds of meetings. She had them numerous times before. They all started the same.

No matter how many different people Cody worked with for her charity, nobody really seemed to listen. The young people they wanted to help so badly were highly suspicious of anyone.

"Listen Cody - whatever kind of name that is for a chick - I don't care what you say, I've heard all this shit before. We all have!" A young woman, maybe only a few years younger than Cody herself, named Claire insisted as others silently nodded along. "Especially help from you. You think you take a couple pills and you're an addict? I'm sorry sweetheart but that's bullshit. I don't care who your mother is, but at least be honest enough with us and yourself to say that the only reason you're here is your last name!"

Cody sat silently beside the office manager for the charity, Helen, as Claire continued to scream at her. The room finally went quiet and the Morgan stood. She didn't speak right away, she never did, she always took this time to study each of the faces looking at her. Some would scowl - like Claire, some would stare at her blankly and others would avoid all eye contact - those were always the one she could relate to most.

"I'm not here to coddle you." Cody began. "I'm not here to make you feel worse about yourselves, about any of the decisions any of you have made because I've made them too. I didn't pop a couple pills and decide I was an addict, I sometimes wish it was a process that simple but it's not. Nothing in life is simple." 

There was a short silence as Cody took a few seconds to gather her thoughts, everyone was now paying attention to her.

"Yes, my mom is who she is, but she didn't raise me. I was raised in a bubble. A bubble of abuse that I just couldn't escape from. The only time I felt free was either when I had a ball at my feet or a drink in my hand. You see, I didn't meet my mom until I was about sixteen, she helped me escape the bubble I was in but by then the damage was already done. When I couldn't get a drink I was buying pills from a kid in my class. That's how it always starts, we do anything to numb the pain, but before we know it the crutch becomes something worse, something we feel we can't live without, and we need that. We need that drink, we need that pill, that joint, that needle."

Cody sits back down, continuing to demand all the attention in the room, a pin could drop but nobody would pay attention, the only thing they want to hear is Cody speak. Someone their own age, not some adult they feel is condescending, but someone relatable.

"I used to believe that it didn't matter if I was sober. When the world around me would be crashing and burning...why the fuck would it matter if I was sober? What difference would it make? Who would even care?"

The young women around her nod along in agreement as Cody continues.

"But in a world where everyone is trying to take something, everything from me - I'm gonna fight for what I can keep, what I can control. My sobriety is something I can fight for. It's something I will always fight for."

"Will you be okay?" Alex ask as she kept Cody wrapped securely in her arms. Her bags were already packed and in the trunk of her car, ready to take her to the airport to meet up with the rest of the US Olympic team.

"I will." Cody chuckled despite tightening her hold around her mother's waist. "I'll be driving home tomorrow, leaving when Grandma and Jeri leave with Blue."

"I'll miss you too," Jack butts in, smiling when she hears Alex chuckle.

The older Morgan lets her daughter go only for Kristie and Jack to squish Cody in a group hug, though only Jack was completely happy with the arrangement. 

"But I'll miss you more." Kristie smiled before kissing Cody. It was a short, brief kiss but passionate all the same.

"Mewis!" Jeri screeched, causing the two NWSL players to pull apart. 

"I'm sorry!" Kristie all but yelped as she jumped into the car, Jack cackling behind her, leaving the family to say goodbye to Alex.

"She's easy to scare, I love it." Jeri smiles as she hugs her sister.

"Only because you took lessons from Hope." Cody shrugs. "I'll miss you mom, let me know when you land."

Alex hugged her daughter again before pulling back and kissing her on the forehead.

"I'll miss you too. Be good, and drive safe okay?"

"I will."

"Promise me." Alex insisted.

"I promise.