| Cody |

Turns out the last session my mom and the team has before the Canada game is in the early evening which means we get to have time to chill, and bond. In some of the girls cases - it means shopping. I only agreed because Tobin promised we could go get new boards, which is where we're at.

"Why can't you just pick one?" I hear Pinoe complain, and Tobin raises an eyebrow at her.

"How many times have I said that to you when you drag me shopping?"

"Carry on." Pinoe sighs out after taking a long pause, thinking about Tobin's argument. We only take five minutes before we're done, Tobin's board is orange while I opt for red and green. Gotta rep The Thorns. Gotta hide it from my mom.

"Hey Lex! Guess who supports Portland?!?!" Oh thanks a lot Tobin.

My eye widen as my mom glares at me, I hope it's a playful glare cause damn, I'm tempted to go back and switch my board for a purple one.

Then again, I'm not.

"Sorry mom, I'm not sorry." I grin at her, skating in circles around the small group of players, and my mom breaks out into a smile as she watches me be carefree for the first time since I met her.

"I guess I can accept it, if you support Orlando when we play Portland."

Shit. Someone offer me an escape, please!

"Why isn't Kristie here? I thought she was inseparable from Cody and Jack?" Kling asks. Not the 'out' I would have hoped for but I guess it will have to do. I put on my game face at the mention of Krissy because I can feel Alex's stare burning a hole into the side of my face.

"I think she said her boyfriend was flying into town to see the game so she's spending the day with him".

Game Face. Game Face.

The 'adults' continue to talk about Kristie and her mysterious boyfriend while I got bored pretty quickly and started skating around them again, Tobin following behind me.

"Race ya, Codes!"

I grin at Heath, and I nod before we both take off, racing towards a lamp post and back to the group again.

"I win!"

"No, I won!" Tobin argues, and we stare at each other, neither of us backing down until Alex stands between us - physically.

"You're both children." She starts, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration, but I see a small smile playing on her lips. "I'm going with Pinoe for a minute, can I trust you and Kling to watch Cody?"

"Hey, I'm right here!" I whine, and pause abruptly as I realize I've helped her make her argument - that I'm a child. "Okay, fair enough." I pout, mostly to myself and my own stupidity. I smile though when my mom kisses my forehead, and walks off with Pinoe.

__________

It's only been ten minutes but we're getting bored. No. I'm getting bored, because Kling stole my board and wouldn't give it back, and I'm not about to start chasing her in the mall.

I watch as she skates around me, teasing me, like the child she pretends she isn't, when she crashes into someone and falls to the ground.

"HA! Karma is a bitch!" I yell, laughing at the board thief on the ground, rushing to grab my wheels before she can get up, and I see who she crashed into.

"Oh no! I think you broke Krashlyn! Kling that's not cool!"

"Relax Cody, we're fine." Ali says as she gets up with the help of Ash, and hugs me tight. I reciprocate, loving the motherly vibes I get from her.

"Hey Ali, sup Ash." I say as the 'keeper steals my hat and puts it on her head, not that I care. Okay I do care, but I'm trying to stay on her good side, because I need to ask her something later, and I'll need her help.

"Where's your mom, kid?"

"I'm here." I turn when I hear Alex's voice, smiling when I see her and she sends one back, walking over to wrap an arm around my shoulder, kissing me on the head. It's moments like this that I realize how much I craved this growing up. I wanted hugs from my mother, tender little kisses on my head that showed she cared. I never got anything like that growing up, but it's true what they say, better late than never.

"Are you okay Cody?" I hear my mom's distinctively raspy voice whisper to me, I'm guessing she doesn't want anyone to hear incase something is wrong.

"I'm great, really mom." I smile at her to show that I'm being completely honest and genuine and my smile grows even bigger when she smiles back.

"Let's get some lunch, crashing into people is exhausting." Kling interrupts which makes me laugh.

____________

We pull up to the front door after lunch, walking in one by one, until Alex and I walk in, her arm still around my shoulder. We find Hope on the couch, her arm resting on the back, we walk around to the front of the couch to see that Jack is asleep, cuddled into her.

"Did you guys have fun bonding?"

"Yeah, she's a great kid", Hope answers and I instincively nod knowing my best friend is amazing.

We all freeze as she starts to wake up, quickly dispersing to the kitchen as to not wake her. She hasn't been sleeping well since her mom's funeral, I can't blame her. She loved her mom more than anything, I hate seeing her this upset.

_____

| Alex |

We're having our last practice before our game against Canada. It's a game that we take serious, being a rivalry.

The girls are on the ground, stretching as I stand, taking a drink from a water bottle, watching my daughter and her best friend as they talk with Sophia and Tara. I also see how Mal stands, walking over to the four, seemingly muscling her way into the conversation.

I overhear some of the other girls as they start to talk about Pugh, groaning at their attitude. This isn't high school.

"I heard she's after Cody." I hope not.

"Can you blame her, she's hot!" You better shut up.

"I heard it's just to make Fleming jealous." Wait, what?!

"Why are they here anyway?"

"I think it's because Hope adopted the slightly taller one." Her name is Jack.

I take a breath, stepping away from the Gossip Express Train, trying to calm myself down. I know that Cody hasn't told anyone I'm her mother, I just don't know why. But I can't complain, I don't exactly tell everyone she's my daughter. I did hear that she doesn't tell people her last name. I want her to have my last name, but until the custody shit is sorted, it's not really priority number one.

"Alright ladies, back to work!" Jill yells, and we do as instructed. We work hard, and I work Mal even harder, not liking to even think she might be trying to play Cody.

It's after practice and I'm in the van with the girls, Cody and Jack.

"Alex, guess what?!"

"Shut up Kelley!" I laugh as I hear Cody and Jack yell at Kel in unison. They do that a lot, like they're twins.

"Never! Your kid has a date!"

I stop the van, pulling over to the side of the road, the van goes silent as I turn to look at Cody with a questioning look.

"Is it Mal?" I get a few looks from my teammates at my tone of voice, and downright blunt questioning.

"No. I thought she liked some Canadian?"

"Then who is it?" I ask my daughter, but Kelley answers for her.

"It's little Tara McKeown, how cute, right?!" I laugh at Kelley gushing. Tara isn't someone I know very well so I can't say for sure, I only nod.

"That's not all!"

I hear multiple groans as Kelley continues to dish the dirt, mostly from Cody and Jack.

"Jack asked Soph out! And she only said yes because they all agreed to double date!"

I laugh at Kelley's excitement, thinking she wants to go on the date with the youngsters, knowing her she would, so I keep my mouth shut, putting the van back into drive, and heading home to get some rest for tomorrow's game.

_________

| Cody |

"You'll tell me if she tries anything, right?"

I listen to Hope give Jack a speech on safe...everything, really. From safe relationships to safe sex, safe conversations. Seriously, if I didn't know any better, I'd think Hope was her biological mother.

We're in one of the sky box rooms in the stadium, mostly to keep fans away from Hope.

I'm just glad to be here, considering how odd it was this morning. By odd I just mean different. Everyone was obviously in game mode, there wasn't any messing around, Kling and Pinoe were a lot less rowdy, everyone was quiet. But we're here now, and I can't wait for it to be over so that everyone is back to normal afterwards.

The teams are lining up and the anthems are being played, when my phone starts to blow up, but not just mine. Jack and Hope's too. I start to get a nervous feeling in my gut, so I take my phone out of my pocket and unlock it to see that Twitter, Instagram and even Snapchat is blowing up.

"Spirit News - Why has The USWNT been in Idaho two times in a row? Is there something going on?"

""

Oh, fuck.