"Hey, Sonnett."

Emily jumped on the edge of her seat. Lindsey and her were now alone on the locker room, with no one that could actually save her from that talk they needed to have. It's been four years since they knew they needed to talk about... stuff. But Emily was avoiding the brunette, trying to find excuses not to see her alone. But the moment had come, and it wasn't the best timing ever : Emily had a sorta boyfriend, while Lindsey was just flirting with her to make her uncomfortable. And that wasn't the worse part : she was still feeling something toward the midfielder.

The defender looked at her, not impressed.

"Hey" she sharply said, trying to avoid any sort of fissure in her mask. She wasn't supposed to like her. They weren't supposed to be attracted by each other.

Lindsey frowned : she wasn't used to seeing Emily behaving like a second Allie Long. She sat down in front of her, cross-legged, confused. Sonnett was nice with everyone but her those days. She knew for a fact that flirting with her the other day wasn't the best idea ever. But she couldn't help it.

The brunette seemed pretty tired today.

"Listen Lindsey, I'm not interested in you, I-" Emily started.

"I'm sorry" Lindsey said at the same time.

Both girls looked at each other for a while. There still was something going on in their looks, they couldn't deny it. And that pissed Emily off.

"You better be" Sonnett said, trying to look tough. "I have a boyfriend. I'm not gay. I don't like you that way... In fact, I'm not sure I like you in any way anymore."

"Woah, that's harsh" the brunette let out, and Emily could say she was hurt. "I just came here to apologize, but since you're being total ass right now, I take my excuses back and will leave" she said, getting up.

Emily closed her eyes. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"But you spoke your mind" Lindsey slowly said. "I'll leave you alone, I swear. Have fun with your boyfriend."

As Lindsey was trying to exit the room, Emily grabbed her arm and made her turn around. Their eyes met, and they both held their breaths for a second.

"I'm sorry for reacting like a bitch" Emily quickly went on. "It's just that... you're still trying to seduce me or something, and it's becoming confusing, and I don't know how to deal with this without hurting your feelings..."

"It it working ?"

This time around, Emily was the one confused. She stopped breathing for a minute, not sure what to say.

"What is working ?" she asked.

"The whole seduction thing ?" Lindsey murmured.

"Lindsey..."

"I apologize for what I'm about to do" the midfielder went on, her confident tone on.

"What ? Lind-"

But before Emily could even realize it or finish her sentence, she felt Lindsey's lips on her, and a oh too experienced feeling taking over her body. The taller girl had put her hands on her hips, pulling her closer until their bodies touched each other. Emily started by frowning, restraining herself from kissing Lindsey back. But when she realized she actually enjoyed it - way more than she would've wanted to - she angrily grabbed her shoulders and kissed her with fierce. Lindsey was quite surprised by Emily's forwardness, but she just went with the flow.

When Emily actually realized what was really going on - yes, it took her several minutes of kissing to realize Lindsey actually wasn't her girlfriend and that she was dating some random douche - she curtly pushed Lindsey away. That made her crash on the wall, while Emily was glaring at her.

The defender was even more confused than she was before. She was trying to look tough and confident, but she absolutely wasn't.

"Stop doing these... things" Emily ordered.

"Why ? Did you enjoy it ?" Lindsey asked without thinking.

"No" Emily exclaimed. "You're a goddamn bad kisser !"

"That's not what you seemed to think" Lindsey said, raising her eyebrow.

"Don't do this again" the defender insisted.

With that said, she left the room in a rush.

Today, Mark decided to split the group in four. To do that, he only made a group of each position on the field.

So the goalkeepers were out with Nadine Angerer - the GK's coach - for the day. The German just decided to make them visit the town, and eventually stop for a drink. The midfielders, on the other hand, just decided - or it was more something like 'Tobin decided' - to rent some bikes and go on some cliff. The forwards were doing a pool session, which left the defenders with something to think about. Julie and Kelley found it funny how they were the two 'old people' of the defense. With Becky, Kling, Kriegy and Whit gone, they were the only one remaining. Even though Julie only was 27, she felt like a veteran.

The girls decided to go and chill on a park. Once they were settled, they sat down in a circle, facing each other. Julie was sitting next to Cari, her Chicago Red Stars teammate, as Kelley was just sitting in between Saskia and Maura. Emily seemed pretty tired, so she wasn't talking much.

Since Mark wanted to make small groups so people would try to know each other better off the field, Julie thought it was her duty as a co-captain to speak first.

"So" she let out, looking at Kelley for a moral support. "How about each one of us take a piece of paper with a question written on it, and answer it ?"

Everyone seemed to agree.

Kelley was the most enterprising of the group, so she picked one little piece of paper and quickly opened it. That made her laugh.

"'Who is the funniest on the team'" she read out loud. "Well, beside myself..." she let out, rolling her eyes. "I'd say Steph is quite funny. But she's not even close."

That made people laugh. Kelley dropped her paper the way she would've dropped the mic. Julie rolled her eyes at her, and took another paper.

"'What are you afraid of'" the defender sad. "Uhm, probably, like, loosing the people I love. And spiders. I hate them."

She then gave Cari the basket, and the brunette blushed when she read the note.

"'Who is your celebrity crush?'". She then blushed a little bit deeper. She didn't have any clue. Morgan Brian is my celebrity crush would be the truth, but she couldn't say it out loud. She didn't want people to think she was a creep or something. Instead, she just had a soft laugh and said : "I'm not very original, but I really like Johnny Depp."

"That's lame" Kelley muttered. "We all know Orlando Bloom was the hottest pirate."

"Anyway" Julie said. "Saskia's turn !"

The blonde, who wasn't feeling comfortable since she didn't know her teammates very well - it was her first camp with the senior USWNT - nervously took a note and read it. Her heart began to beat faster as she had to talk.

"'What is you biggest inspiration in life ?'" she read, frowning. "I'd say I'd like to let the young people from Syria know that there is hope. I was able to get out of this mess, and they are able to do the same. Wars are stupid, humans are stupid. But sometimes miracles happen, so I'd like to be an example for people that are desperate. So they just keep on fighting or something"

"That's deep" Emily let out.

"You'll have to tell us the whole story one day" Julie said, her eyes full of admiration. "I'd like to know your story, and I'm sure the rest of the Department of defense would like to know as well."

Seeing that all the girls were nodding, Saskia said : "Sure."

Julie gave her a warm smile, before giving the basket to Maura. The brunette opened her note, and burst out laughing. Kelley, who was sitting next to her, joined her in her laugh, and both girls seemed to make fun of the note.

"I got 'Who's the hottest girl of the team?' and the answer is Allie Long" Maura blurted out, surprised by her own forwardness. "I mean, she looks like a freaking model. And she's well-driven and funny. I mean, if I was her age, I'd like to date her."

"Maybe she's a cougar" Cari smiled.

Kelley felt her heart huddling. She hated the fact that even people talking about dating Allie like a joke made her jealous. Julie saw the weird look on Kelley's face, and decided to grab the basket and give it to Sonnett.

Emily's hands were shaking. "'Who is the most likely on the team to forget their cleats on game day?'" she read, laughing. "Well, I mean, there are too many people I can think of. Probably Hoodrat, and KMew, and SMew, and probably Cari, and-"

"We got it" the brunette immediately said.

"I'm flattered you didn't say my name on that list" Kelley exclaimed.

Emily glared at her. "Actually, you were the next one in line"

That made everyone laugh. Julie looked around her : this young department of defense was looking very good, which was a good sign. She wanted to make Becky proud. She wanted to take care of her legacy.

Those girls were Brunn's legacy. And Hope's. And all the other players that one day were part of the Brick Wall.