Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Wednesday 9th of December 2009 – USWNT camp in Tampa, Florida

The team has a lifting practice this morning, around 10 o’clock, then a field training in the afternoon.

Most of the team is at breakfast when Tobin walks into the room skipping and whistling, which is not normal for her because she is not a morning person.

“What got you so happy this morning?”, Kristine Lilly questions.

“It’s definitely not because of the lifting”, Abby says.

“Is it because of what I’m thinking about?”, A-rod, Amy Rodriguez, teases.

Tobin smiles even bigger knowing what Amy is pointing at. Everyone who doesn’t know the relationship between Kelley and Tobin is confused since they don’t know they are talking about the rookie.

“Ah yes, she’s coming in today!”, Ashlyn exclaims knowingly about her best friend coming.

The team is still confused as to why Tobin is excited for the rookie to come knowing it’s not her mate because they are two beds in her room, whereas when the couples only have one bed in their room. So they are expecting to have an alpha rookie, well they think. Ashlyn, Barny, A-rod, Cheney, Casey, HAO, and Christie all smile knowingly and happy to see Kelley.
The team, excluding Christie, A-rod, Cheney, and Tobin and the staff, as well as the world don’t know what happened to Kelley two months ago.

—–—–—–

Around 4 o’clock, Pia wraps up practice. The team goes to take a shower before going back to the hotel. Tobin is bouncing with excitement, not tired from running around on the pitch. She got a text from Kelley saying that she is close to the hotel.

Kelley traveled with not only the Cardinal football team but also with the baseball team because both teams have a game against Tampa University. While traveling, she was always in the middle of the groups of athletes and next to Zach, Cole, and Jack at all times. She is also wearing one of Zach’s t-shirt and sweatshirts and even one of his coats to have his alpha scent to keep away the unknown unmated alpha.

When the USWNT enters the hotel lobby, they are met with a large group of guys waiting for instructions. They assume it the college teams. The omegas on the USWNT take a step back behind the team’s alphas due to the number of unmated alphas in the lobby.

They also notice a young woman in the middle of the athletes and from the looks, they assume it’s the rookie because she is athletic and has a US soccer bag and luggage. The ones who know Kelley all smile at her when she looks at them after she recognizes their scent. But the rest of the team are confused because they were expecting an alpha and yet they can smell that this woman is an omega.

After realizing that this omega is the rookie, the veterans get scared for the newbie since she is in the middle of a lot of unmated alphas. When Abby and Kate, two alphas on the team, approach the omega, the college alphas all turn around and tighten their ranks to protect Kelley while growling warnings at the two. Both veterans back up not wanting a fight to break. Christie chuckles trying to hind it, as well as Nicole and Rachel because they know the Cardinal teams protect one and another.
Whereas A-rod, Cheney, and Tobin, ‘The New Kids’, all burst laughing, confusing the rest of the team.

The three of them start walking towards Kelley, with Abby trying to stop them not wanting them to get hurt. But the trio still makes its way towards Kelley. When they get close to the guys, the team holds their breath waiting to see what’s going to happen.

When ‘The New Kids’ gets to the Cardinals, the guys, knowing them, let them through their barrier, going to hug Kelley and talk to the guys casually, confusing, even more, the rest of the girls.

—–—–—–

Meanwhile, Hope, since she walked into the lobby, is smelling an amazing scent, fresh grass and the forest, of an omega. Her wolf keeps chanting ‘mate’ in her head. She looks around frantically looking for her mate. When her eyes land on a breathtaking woman, she gets jealous and angry at the amount of unmated and mated alphas around her. Her wolf, because she is a Lycan, wants to kill them all but she controls her urges because she can see that her mate is calm and at peace around them. She observes that the guys around her are athletes, so she supposes they are the teams that will be staying here.

She spots a US Soccer bag and luggage so she assumes her mate is the new rookie. Hope can’t be happier that her mate is a soccer player and on the team. She also takes note that her mate seems to not notice that her mate is around. She gets confused about the situation but waits to know more about her mate before making a conclusion. Her mate probably just has a cold and can’t smell, so Hope doesn’t panic but look lovingly at her.

Carli notices Hope’s attitude but doesn’t talk about it now, she will wait until they are in the room.

When Abby and Kate approach her mate, they get growled at by the guys and they back off. Hope gets confused at why ‘The New Kids’ are laughing before going and hug and talk with her mate and the guys.

—–—–—–

The USWNT watches the rookie, ‘The New Kids’ and the guys talk and laugh, getting confused at the sight but they also relax when they understand that the rookie is not in danger.

“Alright Cardinals get your butt moving to the conference room for the meeting”, Says Jim, the football coach.

“Same for you ladies”, Pia adds.

Everyone starts walking to the conference room for the reunion. Pia pulls Kelley aside to introduce herself and tells her that she will properly meet the team just after the meeting with the three teams.

Walking into the conference room, Kelley goes and sits next to Tobin.

“Hello everyone. I’m Mark the baseball coach and he...”, he points to Jim, “is Jim, the football coach. We are the Cardinals from Stanford. We just wanted to say that it’s a pleasure to meet you ladies and see some of you again. Also, don’t worry our boys will respect you. Am I right boys?”, Mark asks.

“YES”, the Cardinals answer.

“Good or else you will run until you puke, am I clear?”, Jim questions.

“YES”, the Cardinals respond, gaining nods and smiles from the soccer players.

“Now that is clear for everyone. I hope we all can get along for the next week or so.”, Pia adds, “Any question?”

All the baseball and football players raise their hand, confusing the USWNT players. Pia points to Cole.

“What’s Kelley’s room number?”, he asks
“And who’s her roommate?”, Zach asks too, earning nods from all the boys and the hands all go down since they all have the same questions.

These two questions puzzle the soccer players, while Tobin, Lauren, A-rod, and Kelley laugh, and Christie, Barny and Rachel smile knowingly. The coaches shake their heads smiling.

Pia answers, “Room 456, and her roommate is Tobin”

The boys are happy with the response knowing Tobin is Kelley's best friend.

“Alright boys, go to your room and settle in. We will see you at dinner, be on time and behave”, Jim tells them.

The boys stand up, grab their bags, and start to leave. Zach decides to annoy Kelley a bit after a long day, so he grabs her stuff too. Unfortunately for him, she catches him.

“Zach put my bags down!”, Kelley yells at him, getting amused looks at the Cardinal and ‘The New Kids’.

“What bags?”, he asks like he doesn’t know what she is talking about. Then he starts running around the room.

Kelley chases after him, yelling, “You piece of shit”, earning laughs from the Cardinals.

“Language!”, Christie yells, getting a grown for her daughter in return.

Jim sighs at their antics before yelling, “Tom, Jerry, sit!”. But both of them ignore still running, while the others chuckle at the nicknames.

“Stop or no nuts for you O’Hara and no corn for you Ertz”, Jim yells again.

This time they stop running to a halt.

“But my corn” “My nuts”, they say sadly and scared to lose their favorite snack. These comments make the rest of the room laugh.

“Can you behave?”, he asks. They nod. “Good, now Zach give Kelley her bags and go to your room so the Ladies can have their meeting. Get moving boys.”

After the Cardinals team leave the room, Pia takes a stand.

“Okay so now that is over, I think I should properly introduce the new rookie”, Pia says and gestures to Kelley to come and stand next to her. “This is Kelley O’Hara. I will be leaving and you can ask your questions after.”

After leaving, most women, who don’t know Kelley, raise their hands.

Shannon says when she is pointed to, “I assume you go to Stanford”.

Kelley nods, “Senior”

“So how old are you?”, she continues.

“I’m 21”

“When is your birthday?”, Amy LePeilbet asks.

“August 4th”

“Why are you rooming with Tobin when you are an omega and she is an alpha?”, Abby asks.

Kelley grins, “’cause we are used to sharing a room since the youth teams and even before in summer soccer camp.”, keeping out the fact the two started sharing a room that every occasion possible since they shared a crib as babies.

“Even a bed”, Tobin mumbles. The others look at her suspiciously. “What we love to cuddle”, she defends herself shrugging.

“Where are you from?”, Ali asks.

“I’m from Peachtree City, Georgia. It’s near Atlanta.”

“Who is that Zach guy to you?”, Carli asks nervous because of Hope, “because I notice that you don’t have a mark on your neck.”

Kelley stiffens, as well as Tobin, Cheney, A-rod, and Christie.

“He’s like a brother to me. And I’m like the sister he never had. We have a sibling kinda relationship, you can ask anyone.”, she answers. The team nods.

“Alright, let’s let Kelley get settled in”, Christie says before they can ask more personal questions about her daughter’s family.