Today we have a free day in Portugal so I'm going diving in the Atlantic. Sadly, though, none of the girls could come since they aren't certified divers so I'm just going with some dive company off the coast of Lisbon. It took me almost an hour to explain to the company what I needed and how I could do it, but eventually they agreed to let me dive.

Once at the dive spot the scuba tank diver went down and I followed ten seconds later. The water was really clear and since we were the only divers in the area the fish were plentiful and they seemed curious so I got an up close and personal look at some of them.

I had been diving for thirty minutes, I had already needed the oxygen once after fifteen minutes, so the scuba guy came up to me and handed me the regulator, or breathing apparatus, for me to get oxygen, but after trying for ten seconds to get air I swim around the diver and look at the tank only to find out its out of air. FUCK. I need get to the surface fast. This has happened once before and it didn't end well.

I can't see the surface.

All I see is black.

Shit.

- - - - -

Mal, Rose, Emily and I are walking around Lisbon on our day off and taking photos. We were about to enter a coffee shop when all of our phones go off which isn't a good sign so I take my phone out and check the notification to see its a message from Jill

EMERGENCY!

EVERYONE TO THE HOTEL MEETING ROOM!

NOW!

"Hey we gotta go... like now." I say to the girls.

"What? Why?" Emily questions. I show them the text and all of them look confused, but we sprint to a cab and head back to the hotel. Once we get there we go to the meeting room and the rest of the team is already all gathered. Except for Cairo.

Jill stands up and she looks like she is counting everyone before she speaks. "Alright as you may notice Cairo isn't here. Now I know what you're probably thinking. She didn't do anything to get sent home. She uh..." Jill clears her throat then continues. "As some of you know she went diving today, which we allowed her to do, and during that dive she had an accident." Jill says while trying to hold back her tears as is everyone else.

"What happened?" Abby asks

"The dive company just told us she passed out under water."

"Is she okay?" Christen barely managed to ask.

"She's alive."

"Where is she?" Alyssa asks.

"She is at the hospital. We are waiting for a phone call about her updated condition."

"What is her condition from when they told you she was in the hospital?" Pinoe asks and Jill hesitates to answer, but finally does.

"Critical."

There were a few audible gasps and now everyone is letting the tears flow not giving a damn about who sees. A part of our family could die.

Suddenly Jill's phone goes off causing everyone to stare intently at her waiting for her to say anything. After she picks up there is talking from what I assume is a doctor then Coach smiles, says ok, then hangs up the phone. She looks at us and smiles. "She's awake and ready to come back." Everyone lets out a collective breath. "I need someone to go help me pick her up." She says. Ash gets out of her seat and grabs Jill's hand and leads her out of the room. I guess Ash is going with her. The rest of the staff tells us to stay in the room until they are back.

A long hour later Jill and Ash come walking in. Ash goes and sits by Ali and Jill stands in front of all of us. "Alright so she is okay. The doctors wanted her to stay overnight, but Cairo wasn't having that so she is up in her room resting. I know you all want to see her, but let's give her a little bit before seeing her." Everyone nods and starts talking.

30 minutes later everyone is getting antsy and Jill is getting annoyed by everyone asking if we can go see Cairo. "Alright you guys can go see her now, but be careful with her."

We nod then quickly leave the room and head to the stairs since all of us won't fit in the elevator. Once we get to Cairo and Alex's room everyone waits outside for Alex to open the door with her key. Alex pushed through everyone and opens her door and leads us all into the room. Cairo is asleep on her bed. Once inside I went straight to her and sat next to her.

Nobody knew what to say. Nobody knew what to do. You could tell everyone wanted to hug her and talk to her but she looked so peaceful so everyone just sat around the room either crying or comforting someone who was crying.

I can't take it any longer. I have to talk to the women I care so much for so I touch her hand and try to wake her up.

"Cairo..."

- - - - -

"Cairo." A voice that sounds identical to Lindsey's says between sobs making me shoot up. I then notice the whole team is in mine and Alex's room, but I really only have my eyes on Lindsey.

"What?....Lindsey what's wrong?" I say as she latches onto me and I play with her hair to see if she will calm down. I then feel something wet on my shoulder and notice Lindsey crying. "Lindsey what's wrong?"

"I...thought...you...were...dead." She says in-between sobs which breaks my heart. I see all the other girls are crying as well."Coach wouldn't tell us what happened. She just said that you had an accident while diving and had to be taken to the hospital and were in critical condition."

"Oh Lindsey... I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you." Wait why is she the most upset about this? "I'm okay now. I can't play in the friendlies, but I'm okay. I promise."

"What...what happened?" Christen asks. She's equally broken up and looks exhausted. I imagine hearing one of your friends is close to death is very taxing on the body.

"The scuba diver's tank wasn't secured properly so all the air drained and I couldn't get any from the tank when I needed it and I passed out underwater. I don't remember anything until Ash and Jill came to get me at the hospital." I say looking around the room. Before anyone speaks again I mouth to Alex to get people out so I can talk to Lindsey, who is still crying into my neck. Alex does and everyone files out of the room leaving just Lindsey and I.

"Hey...Lindsey can you look at me?" She removes her head from my neck and I wipe away the tears from her face. "Lindsey I'm okay... I'm alive...everything will be okay."

She lays her head on my chest. "I was so scared Cairo...I thought you were de-"

I cut her off and started playing with her hair to calm her down. "Shh...it's okay...I promise you I'm not going anywhere."

"I was worried I'd never see you again." She takes a big breath. "I was worried that I would never be able to tell you that I have feelings for you."

"You...You have feelings for me?" I say with a massive smile, but she doesn't see this because her head is still on my chest. She nods. FUCK YES. "I have feelings for you too Lindsey."

Her head shoots up and she smiles at me which I return. "You do?"

"Yeah. I was just scared to admit it."

"So what happens now?" She asks.

"How about I take you on a date during the next free time we have?"

"I would love that."

"Great. Now let's take a nap before dinner. We've both had a rough day." Lindsey falls asleep soon after, but I can't knowing I actually have a shot with this beautiful women who is cuddled up next to me.

I let Lindsey sleep for thirty minutes before I get her up since dinner is soon. Once she is ready to go I try to move, but I can't move two feet without feeling like I had run a marathon.

"Lindsey?" I say to get her attention.

"Yeah?"

"Can you go get Ash?" She nodded and quickly left the room and came back with Ash and Ali in tow 30 seconds later.

"You okay?" Ash says and sits next to me then wraps an arm around my shoulder

"I can't walk." I say so only she can hear.

Ash notices I'm about to cry so she looks at the other people in the room. "Can you two wait in the hall for a minute?" The two girls nod and leave the room and when they do she pulls me into a hug and wipes the stray tears away. "Now what do you mean you can't walk?"

"I feel like I've ran a marathon after two steps."

"Okay I can help with that." She says then rubs my back." I need to go get the girls so I'll be back."

Ash left the room and a couple seconds later the three girls come in and Ash offers me her hand and I take it and stand up. Ash then picks me up bridal style causing me to wrap my arms around her neck and put my head on her shoulder while Lindsey opens the door letting us out and Ash walks us to the elevator. Once the doors open we all step on and after they close I silently cry, not because I was in pain, but because the way I grew up if I asked for help I felt weak and powerless. I guess the other girls noticed me shaking in Ash's arms because Lindsey rubbed my legs and Ali played with my hair to relax me which it did. Ash kissed my forehead and tightened her grip on me.

Finally the elevator opens at the floor with the conference room where everyone is for dinner. Ali and Lindsey walk ahead of Ash and I. Ali went to open the door and Lindsey went to get food. As we enter the room the talking stops. I hate being the center of attention so I just turn my head into Ash so nobody can see my face. Ash takes me over to a table where Lindsey and Ali were sitting with the food.

I eat pretty quickly then Dawn comes to check on me and after that I lay my head down until Alex and Christen get done eating.

After Alex and Christen are finished I go up to them and ask them if they can help me up to the room so I can talk to them. They agree and five minutes later we are in the room.

"Okay so because I consider both of you my two of closest friends I need your help." The girls nod signaling to go ahead. "So I'm taking Lindsey on a date during the next free time and I have no clue what to do."

The girls smile. Alex then starts to talk." Okay we can help with that." Then Christen speaks up. "When did you learn that she had feelings for you?"

"Earlier when it was her and I in the room. That's why she was more upset than most of the team when y'all came into the room."

"We were all upset...but where are you thinking of taking her?" Alex asks.

"I have no clue. I've never been on a date."

"So you've never been in a relationship?"

"No."

The girls and I brainstorm until curfew and while I'm trying to go to sleep I finally have an idea of where to take Lindsey.