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That ref was so biased that I wouldn't be surprised if she was paid by Chelsea...

Man united didn't show up really for the first half. That's true, but the decisions by the ref were shocking.

Ella toone wasn't offside, there was a penalty for united, the challenges Chelsea were doing didn't get carded, but when united did them it was a card? There was a corner that wasn't given.

Absolutely shocking from all the officials, not to mention the BBC commentators only talking about Chelsea players.

The only time they talked in depth about a United player was for earps. They listed all her recent achievements. No other United player got that.

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I’m mod of a new WSL discord server if anyone wants to join it 😍😍

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Just Call Uncle | Alyssa Naeher

based on this request... Alyssa doing uncle things for the newbies Enjoy :)

“Uh Rose…I think I broke the shower head,” Olivia walks out of their shared hotel bathroom with said shower head in hand. 

“You think or you know?” Rose laughs, bouncing off the bed and grabbing her phone. 

The 18-year-old blushes in embarrassment, “I definitely broke the shower head.”

“It’s alright. Well just call Alyssa.”

“Lys knows how to fix a shower head?” She questions thinking about her fellow teenage teammate. 

“Naeher not Thompson,” Rose laughs, dialing on her phone. “Uncle can fix anything.”

It’s not long before the goalkeeper is knocking on their hotel room door. Rose answers with a smile as Olivia sits at the edge of the bed nervously. 

“What did you do kid?” Alyssa laughs as Rose hands over the shower head. 

“I was just trying to adjust it to my height and it broke,” Olivia mumbles out, following the two into the restroom. 

Alyssa was fast and efficient in twisting the shower head back on. While really a simple task that either girl could’ve done themselves, Alyssa was used to being called upon for these things. She hops down from the ledge and pats Olivia’s shoulder as she heads for the door. “All fixed. Try not to break anything else.”

“We will try,” Rose smiles, closing the door as Alyssa walks out. 

On her journey back to her room, where she planned to finish enjoying her book, she stumbles across Midge and Jaedyn coming out of the elevator. 

“Oh! Alyssa help pretty please,” Midge waves her over with a foot wedged in front of the doors. 

Clearly the two had quite the shopping spree, as the elevator floors were nearly covered in shopping bags. Alyssa reaches down grabbing them up. 

“I can take some of those,” Jaedyn was quick to try and grab a few bags from her hold. 

“It’s alright I got it. Just lead the way,” Alyssa tells them as Midge lets the doors close and ushers her towards their room. 

“You’re the best, thank you,” Midge tells her as she places the bags on the floor. 

“Don’t mention it.”

The next day all the girls are set to head on the pitch for training when Alyssa stops noticing the frantic shuffling Mia is doing through her bag. 

“Everything alright?” Alyssa asks. 

Never looking up from her bag Mia responds rushed, “I left my socks. How did I leave without socks?”

Alyssa moves back to her training back and digs out a pair, “here,” she says tossing a pair of socks in the attacker’s direction. “They’re clean, promise.” Grateful Mia gives her a quick hug before sliding them on. 

Alyssa would always be the one to turn to whenever the girls needed something. She knew it would only be a matter of time before the younger girls learned that and were in need of her services as well. She was never going to get rid of her title as Uncle. 

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bad dog ficlet

bad dog

"i cannot believe you said yes without conferring with me first." "and why do i need to confer with you?" "well i live here too, it affects me!" "you won't do a single thing for him anyway, so really it'll be my responsibility and therefore was my decision to make." "oh that is not fair, do i not get a say in any of this?" "considering its a favour for your family and i've already said yes, no you do not alessia."

your girlfriend groaned, making sure it was long and loud to let you know she was not impressed as you rolled your eyes, unamused by her theatrics. "are you done acting like a child?" you raised an eyebrow, arms crossed over your chest.

"a child she says!" "i'll take that as a no then." "come back here this conversation is not over!" "yes it is, he'll be here by the time you get home." "if i come home!"

"stay at tooneys for the week then." you shrugged casually, alessias mouth forming a small o of shock, your reaction not the one she expected from her light threat.

"i'll have elio to protect me from intruders anyway, no guard dog girlfriend needed love." you smiled, well aware you were getting under her skin as she sat up, grumbling under her breath as she tugged on her trainers and grabbed her gym bag.

"both of us will see you this afternoon." you hung by the front door twirling her keys on your finger, holding them away as she reached for them. you cleared your throat expectantly and raised an eyebrow, your girlfriend rolling her eyes.

"i love you." she grumbled leaning in to give you a kiss, one arm wrapping around your side. her hand on the small of your back she flushed your bodies closer together, plucking her keys from your grasp and pecking your lips a few more times before she was gone.

~

"oh my god. baby! he's fucking done it again!" alessia shouted angrily, the dopey labrador scurrying out of the room at her raised voice. "don't yell like that you'll scare him." you warned her, alessia scoffing.

"scare him? look what he did!" she held up a pair of her boots which were ripped to shreds. "i told you to stop leaving them laying about. now looks what happened!" you only rolled your eyes, voice lacking an inch of sympathy.

"how is this my fault? he is so badly behaved and you never tell him off!" "lessi, baby he's just a puppy. he's learning!" "yeah? well he better learn not to chew up my shit or he learns how cold it is to sleep in the backyard." "don't you dare. i'll put you out there with him!"

"go and take him for a walk! maybe if he's tired he'll be less of a fucking pain in my ass." alessia huffed, sitting down on the bed and holding her boots in her hand with a groan. she'd not long gotten the new cleats and now she'd not get another single wear out of them.

"are you coming?" you returned a few minutes later, elio of course sitting right by your feet, always ever so obedient for you. "no. he hates me, i hate him, leave it at that." alessia huffed, rolling onto her side where she was laying down on the bed.

"honestly baby you're being ridiculous, he's just a dog! come on, it'll be a good bonding opportunity for the two of you." you cooed, the bed dipping as you sat down. "ah! get down you idiot." alessia kicked out at the dog who followed your lead.

"alessia! don't kick him." you huffed, smacking her in the leg making her whine. "get up, shoes on, you're coming." you ordered sternly, firm glare shutting down her complaining before it could even start.

~

"hi baby." you smiled softly as your girlfriend returned from a photo shoot for the seasons kit, moving aside your textbook out of your lap as she belly flopped onto you making you laugh.

"how was it?" you ran your hands fondly through her hair, gently untangling a few sporadic knots. "good, missed you." she mumbled, shuffling slowly up your body. and once her lips met your neck you knew exactly what she wanted.

your eyes fluttered closed the kisses soft and tender, sweet nothings whispered in your ear. her hands teasingly ran up and down your sides before they gripped your hips tighter, pushing your body deeper into the mattress as hers settled itself comfortably on top of you.

your breath hitched as suddenly she nipped at your pulse point, your body reacting to every little touch she gave you, switching between her teeth and tongue devouring at the soft sensitive skin, your mumbles of encouragement only spurring her on further.

but it was her who heard the whines and scratches before you did, noises which were not coming from you as your attention wavered momentarily.

"no, ignore him, focus on me baby." alessia purred, moving her mouth back to connect with yours, her hands cupped your face and deepening the kiss. your head swam as her tongue swirled against the roof of your mouth, hips bucking involuntarily up against her.

until the barking started.

"baby i just need to make sure he's okay." your hands gently pushed at her chest, breaking the kiss with a quiet smack as her lips pulled off of yours. "are you seriously choosing a smelly dog over making out with me?" alessia asked in disbelief.

"he doesn't smell! i washed him yesterday." you laughed, ignoring the main focus of her point as you pecked her lips and sat up, the blonde rolling off of you with a defeated groan as of course your attention again shifted to elio.

~

"tesoro i already said he is not allowed on the lounge! get down." alessia groaned, having showered once you all returned from your walk, though of course it was alone as you needed to feed elio and watch him while he ate so he didn't choke.

yet another strike in alessia's book against the dopey chocolate menace who was ruining her life. four days had never felt so agonizingly long and with each hour her annoyance only seemed to grow, feeling incredibly neglected by you whose attention and time seemed to be only invested in elio.

"elio off!" alessia yelled, much more sternly this time as the canine only stuck his tongue out, not moving a muscle. "see i told you babe, he doesn't listen." alessia dragged her hands down her face in frustration. "its because he knows you don't like him. you have to ask nicely!" you gestured for her to try again.

"what dog book did you read that in? they're supposed to know whose the boss and that it isn't them!" alessia rolled her eyes in disbelief. "elio. off and onto your bed please." you asked softly, alessia withholding the urge to scream as of course he did what you asked.

"see baby? mutual respect." you grinned, opening your arms expectantly as your girlfriend sighed deeply and dropped down into them, her head on your stomach and arms tucked around your torso.

elio finally napping alessia was able to do the same, and you smiled seeing her so relaxed as you played with her hair, glancing between elio and your girlfriend with a content sigh.

alessia awoke to something wet on her cheek, a smile curling onto her lips assuming the tongue belonged to you. though the rancid smell that followed had her eyes shooting open, meeting orbs which did not belong to you.

"urgh get off!" alessia grunted shoving away the dog and furiously wiping at her mouth, just seeing your back facing toward her in the kitchen. "right, you and I need to have a little chat." alessia growled, grabbing the dogs collar and pulling him back over.

"see her? that is my girlfriend. mine! not yours." alessia warned quietly. "you will start to listen to me, and behave, and let me spend time with my girlfriend or you will sleep outside in the rain!" alessia leaned in closer to the canine.

"understood?" alessia warned, letting go of elio and smiling as he shot right back to his bed and sat down. "here baby." the blonde perked up as you handed her a bowl of pasta, kissing your cheek gratefully.

"no, stay." the striker warned as elio stood to join the two of you, ears perking up at the smell of your dinner. "see! he listened." you smiled happily as the labrador dropped right back down into his bed as alessia settled in beside you.

"yeah baby you were right, we just needed some mutual respect."

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The Barrier

It was a friendly between Italy and Scotland, with both teams preparing for the Euro qualifiers. It was a small pitch that they were playing on. they were playing in Italy, with a small crowd of maybe 6,000 cheering them on. The game was at 1-1. Both goals from penalties. It was a tense match, both teams having something to prove.

It was the 78th minute. Erin and an Italian midfielder were going up to head the ball. Simple tackle, Little risk. They were near the sideline, with space either side of them. Win this ball and Scotland can go on the attack.

Erin and the Italian were shoulder to shoulder going up to the tackle. But the Scot had enough strength to knock the Italian out of the way. An easy header to knock the ball to Evans feet. That was until she felt a force slam into her right side.

Erin felt the impact before she knew what was happening. The breath was knocked out of her. The force followed through after impact. sending Erin off the pitch and into a barrier. A loud crash was heard as the blonde fell onto the wooden advertisement board. then the clash of metal as the board broke. Sending the Scot to the ground, surrounded by broken wood and bent metal.

Disorientated, the blonde could only try to catch her breath. She could hear the muffled shouts of her teammates as they run to where she was. Erin put her head on the ground gently and stared into the night sky. There’s not much else she can do at the moment.

She sees the familiar face of Ella, the team’s medic, block her view. She is talking, but Erin can’t make out what she’s saying. The edge of her vision starts to become dark. It starts to creep inwards, taking more of her vision away.

She sees Ella talk to her again. the sound is muffled for Erin. Her head begins to feel heavy, as tiredness sweeps through her body like a comforting blanket. the irresistible lure of sleep caressing her mind into the heaviness. The last thing Erin sees before she gives in, is the Italian night sky.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first thing Erin registers is the sound of pen on paper. Her mind wanders to her days in school, the constant writing that she did. Next, she hears the shuffling of a chair. Someone is trying to place a metal legged chair down quietly. Trying being the key word.

I wonder how you do that quietly, there must be a knack to it. Erin wonders, putting that thought away for now.

A door opens and someone walks in. They’re either tall or heavy by the sounds of it. Erin struggles to put any face to this thought. It’s as though a fog is blocking her memory.

"How is she?" a voice interrupts. Scottish accented.

"Still the same, no movement from her." Another Scottish accent. Must be the teammates then.

"Go and stretch your legs, Lisa. I'll stay and watch her."

"I'm fine here. I need to go through this stuff anyway." Lisa replies, waving paper in the air loudly.

"What is that? Looks important."

"Just some insurance stuff. they updated something in the policy, so I need to take a look at it." A pen is dropped.

"Listen, Jamie, I know your worried. But she’s not meant to wake up for a while yet. They have her on some good painkillers." Lisa lets frustration seep into her voice. "You need rest. Proper rest in a proper bed."

Erin can’t hear what’s said next. The heaviness is back. This time more aggressive. Theres no lull to this sleep. Just a sudden snap of unconsciousness.

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When Erin opens her eyes for the first time, she is not impressed.

There is a stream of light from what she supposes is a window, directly in her line of sight.

All she manages to do is open them slightly, before forcing them closed immediately after.

"Erin?" A new voice asks. "Erin, can you hear me?" the voice comes closer.

"Kirsty, what are you doing?" A voice from last time questions. Jamie.

"She moved!" The voi- Kirsty almost shouted.

"Who?"

"Erin!"

A shuffle was heard, the bed dipped on the right side of Erin.

"Erin?" Jamie asked softly.

With all her strength, Erin could only manage a feeble groan past her lips.

"Erin, I'll give you my entire stash of chocolate next camp, if you open your eyes for me." Kirsty bargained. The bed dips slightly on the left.

Erin felt the heaviness start to return. This time, she held it off. barely. It’s a fight alright. But it’s a fight she knows she can win. With a struggle, she gets her eyes open. Slowly of course. She is greeted with the sight of two familiar faces.

"Chocolate?" is the only word Erin can manage. But it’s all Jamie and Kirsty needed to hear, to know that she'll be alright.

[wheatstone-bridge]

Clouds

Trigger warning : Angst, car accident, hospitals.

I was thinking of making a part 2, with Ona's POV. Would you be interested?

Thanks for reading and as always, a review is always appreciated <3

______________________________________________________________

Celebrating a new victory for FC Barcelona, you find yourself with almost all of your teammates in an establishment which has been privatized just for you. It's now 2 o'clock in the morning and you saw Mapi and Ingrid slip away more or less discreetly already one hour ago. You think you were the only one to see them go and you couldn’t help but wink at Ingrid when your eyes crossed. She blushed slightly before raising both eyebrows in your direction.

Well maybe you weren’t in the best position to tease her, Ona was sitting on your lap with her drink in her hand while talking with Alexia. Even though you’ve only been together for a one year and some more, you can’t deny that you’re already totally crazy about the spaniard. You met the summer she came back from Manchester.

You had already met her several times on the football fields, already noticing her beauty, but when you got to know her more it was like love at first sight. And by a real miracle, it seems that the feelings are shared. You still wonder every morning when you wake up next to her how a woman like Ona Batlle could focus her attention on you.

Lost in your thoughts, you come back to earth only when you feel her lips gently land in your neck.

"Dance with me?" she asks and you smile lightly.

"You know that I'm a terrible dancer"

It was true. You're a forward and you have good dribbling skills, but when it comes to coordinating your moves on a dance floor, we’re not far from disaster.

Ona pouts and you roll your eyes. That’s enough for her to jump on both legs with a big smile, understanding that you just gave up.

"So smitten"

You hear Alexia teasing and make her a grimace over your shoulder as Ona drags you to the dance floor, making her grin in return. Alexia is your bestfriend and you know she's in really very happy you found someone to be happy with. And the Someone being Ona Batlle, she didn't understand why she never thought to introduce you before.

You have to admit that you have fun with Ona on the dance floor. You weren't really dancing, more goofing around, laughing and swaying when the music go soft.

That's actually where you are, your arms keeping your girlfriend very close to your body. Her hands are around your neck and you kind of got lost in her beautiful eyes. She kisses you and you happily kiss her back for some minutes. You're maybe not out for the rest of the world, but your friends and family know about you two.

"Shall we go home?" you ask a little after.

Ona nods and after taking the time to say goodbye to the girls who have not left yet, you find the fresh air of the Barcelona nights. As you are just next to your appartment, you choose to crash here for the night. Ona being a little smaller than you are, she would wear one of your shirt for the night.

You smile when the spaniard grabs your hand to walk, arching an eyebrow.

"I’m not sure being like this gonna keep people from suspecting that something is happening between the two of us, Love."

Ona shrugs, looking at you from the corner of her eye.

"Well maybe that way people will stop imagining that you’re dating that B team guy."

She pretends to throw up and you can’t help but laugh. That was like two weeks ago for a gala, you posed with this boy for a simple photo and Twitter practically caught fire. So did your secret girlfriend’s jealousy. Your parents are conservative, so you’ve never talked openly about your sexuality. That probably played a big part in this case.

"You know you have no reason to be jealous"

"Yes. Still."

You smile once more and kiss her cheek before crossing the road. From that moment on, everything seemed to be idling. The headlights of a car approaching too fast, the squeaks of the tires and the terrified cry of Ona after the impact. You just had time to take her in your arms and push her out of the way of the car. That's the last things you can remember.

******************

When you wake up, you can't feel anything, but in a good way. You can't open your eyes either, but you feel like you're floating. Remembering a conversation you had with Ona while looking at the stars on her balcony, you make the decision that you are simply lying on a cloud. As the time pass, you begin asking yourself what you are doing on this comfy cloud. That's when the memories came back and first you wonder if Ona is safe. You heard her scream before going numb but it wasn't a cry of pain, physical at least.

And then, you wonder if you are dead. But if that means you saved Ona’s life, is there a better way to die? Probably not.

You feel something a little bit after, that surprises you, even makes you panic a little. Something touches your hand and you feel your heart racing. Strange, for someone dead right?

"What's happening?"

Man this voice, you could recognize it between a thousand, even distorted by anxiety like now. It's Ona's voice.

"Looks like she’s reacting to your touch. That’s pretty good."

You don't know this one, but if she can make feel Ona better, you like her already. The tonality make you imagine an old lady, with grey hair and glasses. Ona stay silence after but you can feel her fingers gently caressing your hand.

"I don't know where I can touch you without hurting you more" she mumble, making you wonder what you look like.

******************

You get bored and wonder what would happend if you just let yourself fly higher. If you let go. So you let yourself go and you start to feel lighter and lighter.

Until you were punched in the chest, brought back to your cloud.

The force of the blow cuts your breathing briefly and a new voice, which you also know very well, sounds in your ears.

"Oh no, don't you dare do that. Not now that I finally managed to convince your girlfriend to come home, shower and change."

Well excuse yourself Miss Putellas but what the hell are you doing on my fluffy lovely cloud? That said, the firmness of her voice changes you a little bit from the sweetness of the one Ona is talking to you with. So you stay on your cloud until your lady comes back. She does a little later, after a door slammed.

"What the hell happened?"

You feel her hands touching your face as Alexia’s voice explains in the background what happened, explaining that everything is fine now.

******************

Time fly again and you wake up in a middle of a conversation. Ona is here once again and you realise that she's talking with her mom.

"I'm so mad at her" you hear Ona say.

"I understand. But I'm more grateful. She saved your life."

You can perfectly picture the scene, Ona in her mother's arms while she gently rocks her. Ona's mother as always been affectionate, even with you. You were at first surprised by the welcome hugs, but it's kind of nice. Your parents aren't really fond of the life you choose, being gay and a football player, so you don't really catch with them a lot. But it's ok like this for you.

"What am I gonna do if she doesn’t wake up Mama? I can’t live without her"

Ona’s voice is choked, meaning she must be crying. And it makes you want to do it too, or at least make her understand that you are still there and that you can hear her. But you don’t know how to do it, even opening your eyes seems impossible. Thanks god, her mom is here.

"She will wake up, Ona. Your story isn't finish now."

A silence passe only interrupted by Ona’s sniffs.

"Your brother is here"

"But I told him not to come" Ona frowns.

"As if he was going to listen to you. He knows you need him and you are as stubborn as each other."

A new silence comes, smaller this one.

"Will her parents come?" Ona's mother ask.

"No. They said they’d come when she woke up. Not sure I’ll let them in though."

While Ona seems angry with this information, you're not really surprised. Like you said before, your parents aren't really supportive of you. Their only daughter did not really meet the expectations they had. You haven’t seen them since Christmas two years ago, last year you spent it with Ona and her family. As for the summer holidays, you preferred to fly away to rest in the sun with your friends and Ona. In any case, they themselves did not mention a possible meeting.

******************

Time has continued to stretch, but you have no idea how long you have been there, floating on your cloud. What you do know is you’d like to know how to get back to your people. You have daily visits, Alexia, Ona’s parents and brother, your teammates and obviously Ona who seems to camp by your side.

Ona talks to you often, makes you listen to music or keeps you informed of your condition. You apparently have bruises all over the place, four broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder. With serious head trauma, but contrary to the doctors' fears, you have no cracks in your skull. You were relieved to learn that you had nothing on your legs. That way you will return to the fields easier.

Alexia tell you about Ona, usually being there when your girlfriend leaves your bedside to take care of herself. Alexia encourages you to come back to Ona, explaining how much she needs you. She sometimes adds that she also wouldn't mind to have her bestfriend back.

Others, like Ingrid, Aitana or Lucy, stay here in silence, but their presence are great too. Some of them take your hand too, usually Ingrid. You hate being alone but you have to admit that you really rarely are. Even Laia flew back from Manchester for some days, wanting to be here for Ona.

******************

"Today is our birthday"

Ona's voice is sweet as always but the information startle you a little. The day of the accident, you still had two weeks to think about a memorable day for your girl. You already had the gift, but not the rest. You had not imagined that so much time had passed since.

"I found the necklace, I didn't mean to but I was looking for one of your hoodie and the box just fell on the floor."

She speaks quickly, as if she expected you to wake up and scold her. Once again you can easily imagine the expressions on her face, the way she would look her shoes and the slight reddening on her cheeks. Instead, you feel your heart swell with love for her a little more. And the bip of the monitoring - that you’ve been hearing for some time now - seem to want to transmit the information to Ona by accelerating a little.

She's closer now, you can smell her shampoo as she gently strokes your hair. When she talk again, her voice is a whisper.

"The necklace is beautiful, but I promise you’ll never have to give me anything again if you wake up today. I want nothing but your presence by my side. I miss you so much."

You miss her too, you have to admit. You miss hugging her, kissing her or watching her like the creep you are while she's sleeping.

So this time, you try to open your eyes, with all that you have. It take some time, Ona keeps talking, but you can’t focus on what she’s saying and the efforts you’re making at the same time.

It takes you some time, but you eventually succeed.

Everything is too bright suddenly and you close your eyes immediately. The hum of Ona’s monologue stops instantly and you hear the sound of a chair rattling the floor. But you try again, this time long enough to allow your eyes to get a little better at the ambient light. You feel the mattress sag at your waist, before your eyes can finally focus on the one thing that really matters. Ona’s face.

She looks at you too, looking too stunned to speak.

"Nice necklace" you mumbling, your voice hoarse and broken from not being used for two weeks.

Ona kind of broke down, bursting into tears and lying half on you, her face buried in your neck. You slowly raise your arm - your muscles all seem numb - to caress her hair.

"You're awake"

You hear Ona repeat this phrase several times, before she gets up to look at you again.

"You're awake" she says again, this time while looking at you.

"I love you" you prefer answering, focusing of what matter for you. Not being able to say it back for so long was kind of frustrating.

She smiles between her tears and kiss you with all the love and tenderness she have. You reciproque the kiss as well as you can, and just when Ona pulls back you hear the door of your room being open.

"They didn’t have the coffee you like anymore, I hope it fits you. They’re all filthy in this hospital anyway" Alexia grumbles without looking in your direction.

"Well hello to you too Miss Putellas" you said.

Alexia turns in your direction so quickly that you wouldn't be surprised to learn that she have a stiff neck. The surprise made her drop the cup of coffee she was holding in her hand and it took her a few more seconds to rush to the two of you.

And for the first time since you are here, you hear Ona’s laughter ringing in the room.

[wheatstone-bridge]

Short fluff piece between Lauren and Ellie.

Lauren opened the door exitedly. "Babe, look what I have!" She calls out exitedly. Kicking off her shoes and closing the door behind her.

Ellie walk into the hall to see what she has. Ellie see her holding a big brown box that she is struggling to look past. "Lauren, what is that?" Ellie asks, crossing her arms.

"Well, I was walking down this side street, and as I was walking down I say that someone was selling some of their stuff." Lauren rambles, going into the kitchen and placing the box on the table.

"And while I was talking to the seller, who was a sweet old lady by the way. She's moving to Manchester next week and needs to lighten her load-"

"Lauren, focus." Ellie interrupts.

"Right. Anyway, she showed me this mystery box. Told me it could have some really cool stuff in it. So I got the box" She pats the top of the box. "And now I get to see what's inside!"

Lauren begins to search for the scissors. Ellie stands there for a moment. "Lauren stop." Ellie tells her, and like a puppy she stops, turns to her, and tilts her head slightly.

"Let me get this straight. You go down a street that you've never been on, alone. You go up to random person's house. You buy a mystery box from them. And you don't see a single thing wrong with that." Ellie questions her, letting some frustration creep into her voice towards the end.

Lauren furrows her eyebrows in thought. She runs through the day and tries to figure out which part upset her.

"I... I should've... told you about the mystery box before buying it?" She guesses, still unsure of what upset Ellie.

She pinches her nose in frustration. Ellie takes a couple deep breaths to calm herself down.

"Lauren. Darling. You shouldn't have gone wandering on your own. Something could've happened." She starts. "Then you go into a strangers home. By yourself. And to finish, you spend God knows how much money on a box that could have nothing in it."

Lauren looks down on the ground, closed in upon herself. Ellie knows she doesn't like being scolded, but sometimes it's a necessary evil she must endure. "Right, um, that's a bad thing, yeah?" She asks timidly.

"Yes Lauren, that is a bad thing." She clarifys, using a softer tone than before.

"Ok, I won't do it again..." She tells you. Lauren moves to take the box off of the table. Her face turning red out of embarrassment.

"Lauren, open the box." Ellie tells her. Her face lights up before falling into suspicion. "But you said the box was a bad thing." She accuses, holding the box close to her.

"Yes, it is a bad thing. A thing that shouldn't be repeated. However, the box is here now, so might aswell open it." Ellie explains, handing her a knife to open the box.

Lauren grabs the knife and begins to take off the brown wrapping. With Ellie helping by clearing it away. The both of you go to open the box.

Inside there is an assortment of old world cup jerseys. The oldest being the 1974 Scotland jersey. They both go through the Jerseys. Twelve in total.

They eventually decide to order in dinner and watch a movie together. As they lay on the couch, cuddled up. Ellie notices that Lauren has fallen asleep. "You're gonna drive me mad one of these days." She says with a soft smile. "But I'll love you anyways."

[wheatstone-bridge]

Mackenzie gets injured during the quarter-final versus France.

The atmosphere was tense. It was nil all at the 90th minute. Tackles were becoming reckless. Australia had a free kick in the final third.

The French defence set up on the edge of their box, marking the Australian attackers. The only person not in the final third is Mackenzie, who is on the half way line.

Caitlin is the free kick taker. The free kick is off to the left side of the pitch. To tight of an angle for a shot, but perfect for a cross into the box.

Caitlin takes the free, a powerful one aimed towards the back of the box. The ball heads towards Sam's head, who manages to get a strong head towards the goal.

It gets saved by the keeper. Who manages to catch it. France quickly goes on the counter attack. As the Australians work to get back. The ball is rolled out to Sakina who takes it and runs. Bacha and Sakina pass the ball between each other around he Australians.

Mackenzie runs to get back to the goal. The French get through the Australian midfield and are now faced with the defence. Mackenzie gets herself settled in goal and watches the play unfold.

The ball is played through to Sommer who manages to get behind the defence. Now in a one vs one against her, Mackenzie comes out to protect the goal.

Summer takes a bad touch and the ball gets away from her and into the box. Mackenzie goes and dives for the ball. She gathers the ball in her arms. However Sommer also went to get the ball.

Mackenzie felt pain erupt across her face. She cried out from it and let go of the ball. She brought a hand up to her face, grazing one of the painful areas, only to pull it back with a hiss of pain. Mackenzie looked at the hand and say blood covering her glove.

She lied still looking at the glove. In shock at the sight. Mackenzie is broken away from her thoughts by Alanna.

Alanna ran over to mackenzie when she screamed. When she arrived she had to stop at the sight of blood. She snapped herself out of it and crouched down beside Mackenzie.

She put a hand on the back of Mackenzies head and got her on her back.

"Macca, can you hear me?"

The goalkeeper looked her in confusion. "Alanna... wha..."

Despite the blood on her face, Allanna moved her hand to cup her cheek. "Its gonna be okay. Don't worry about a thing. I've got you." She says to her. In the corner of her eyes she sees the medics coming over.

"The docs are coming over now. They're gonna take good care of you." She tells her. Alanna is speaking loudly so that Mackenzie can hear her over the noise of the crowd and players.

The medics came over and started their work. Alanna tried to stick by Mackenzie, but was finding it difficult. Eventually one of the medics, Sarah, turned to her.

"We have things under control here. What you need to do is to stop them from fighting the French player." She told Alanna calmly while pointing off towards the goal.

Alanna turned around to see Caitlin yelling at Sommer, who was getting backed into a corner. Alanna rushed over to push them away. "Caitlin, back off, get away!" She tells them.

"SHE HURT MACCA!" Caitlin shouted furiously. She was red in the face. Whether it be from the running or rage, Alanna did not know. "I know, Cait, I know. But right now, we need to be calm." She sooths, placing her hands on Caitlins' shoulders.

"How can I be calm when Macca is lying on the ground, getting treated by medics." Caitlin seethe with tears in her eyes. Alanna didn't know how much Caitlin saw, but she knew she saw the worst of it.

"We need to be calm for Macca. The last thing she needs from you is this anger. She needs her friend. Her sister in all but blood. She needs you to be there for her."

Alanna moved away from Caitlin. She turned her back to her and started to head back over to Mackenzie. She saw Sommer walking off the pitch with the ref holding a red card in her hand.

The medics were preparing her to be moved onto the stretcher. Alanna went to kneel beside Mackenzies head. She paused for a moment to take in the sight. Mackenzies right side of her face was covered in bandages. Dried blood was surrounding the bandages, with small streams of it running down her neck, from the bleeding.

The medics surrounded her, and lifted her onto the stretcher. The strapped her in and began to leave. Lydia came onto the pitch as Mackenzie left. When she passed Mackenzie they exchanged a couple words. When Lydia got settled in the goal, the game was restarted.

-------‐--------------------------‐-‐----------------‐‐--‐-----------

The final wistle blew, thus ending the quarter final. In the 96th minute, Sam had scored from a corner. The girls celebrated and went around to greet the crowd.

Then Tony called them in together for a post match huddle. He gave his congratulations to each player. Tells them to enjoy the night, but not to enjoy it too much. They broke the huddle and slowly started to go off the pitch.

Alanna and Caitlin split off from the rest of the squad. They headed down the tunnel and towards the medical room. They were located down the hall from the dressing rooms.

Caitlin knocked on the door and waited for an answer. Alanna stood next to her anxiously. They heard a voice from inside saying, "enter."

They opened the door and entered the room. Mackenzie was sitting on a chair with her phone in hand. She was holding a damp cloth in her other hand. She used the phone as a mirror and was wiping the blood off of her neck.

Mackenzie smiled at them as they entered. Bandages covered her left cheek, with them going up to the temple. "Hey guys, how are ye?"

They quickly rushed over to Mackenzie, going either side of her. "How are we?" Caitlin exclaimed. "We're not the ones who got their face banged up!" She continued.

"The real question is how are you?" Alanna cut off Caitlin. Mackenzie shrugged, "Got a concussion. That's the worst of it." She commented. "Then what's with all the bandages?" Caitlin inquired. "To cover up the cuts, I have a couple of stitches in there as well."

Alanna grabbed Mackenzies face to get a proper look at her face. "Doesn't look too bad." She tells her. Alanna turns to Caitlin. "But I think we need to keep her close by tonight."

Caitlin nods in agreement. "Agreed. Can't let her be alone for too long." They start to discuss their plans.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Mackenzie cuts in. She looks between them, unsure of what exactly was happening.

"No." They replied in sinc.

They finished their plans and dragged Mackenzie around the place. Before they brought her to their room and forced her to relax there for the night.