VIRAGO

resplendent

[ This one's a little long but there was no sense breaking it into two chapters. Last chapter before the epilogue! Thank you all! ]

resplendent (adj.) - having brilliant or glowing appearance; dazzling and impressive in appearance

She paced around the room, running her hands through her hair. She missed going to breakfast the morning of their gold medal match, her nerves at a maximum and her stomach doing flips. She thought eating would upset her more, so she told Kelley to meet her down there. The timer went off, bringing her back into the bathroom. She shut the timer off and looked at the counter.

Pregnant.

She sunk down against the wall, her hand going over her mouth. How could she not have known sooner? She felt as if she was going to throw up, but took a deep breath to try and subside the nausea. She had not thrown up, but she figured the nausea had just been her nerves in shambles over their Olympic campaign. She threw the test away and covered it so Kelley would not see it as easily if she happened to glance at the trash can. She washed her hands and splashed some water on her face as she heard the door handle jimmy and her roommate came into the room.

"Hey, we missed you at breakfast, everything alright?" She asked as she came out of the bathroom.

"Yeah, everything's good. Just wasn't up to eating this morning. I have a protein bar on the dresser and I'll be fine." She gave her a white lie. She was on top of the world with the news, but she still did not know how to process it herself. She was freaking out, if she was being completely honest with herself. However, she knew she had to keep it to herself for now, otherwise she might not be able to play in the gold medal match. She had come this far, and she had to only be a few weeks, so there was no chance of her missing out on this game.

The two of them went down to the lobby where the rest of the team was waiting, amped and excited to get on with their game against a familiar foe - Canada. They had placed second in their group so they were moved to the other side of the bracket, in which they battled to make it to the finals against the USA, a game they had lost three-nil. The USA were ready for another takedown of their rivals to the north, and they went with the same game plan they had while in the group stage. They arrived at the stadium ten minutes later and got off the bus, heading into the locker room with energies high. However, Samantha was still processing her own news. She had not wanted kids, but Nash had changed her mind after years of being together. She wanted kids with him, but she had to heal herself first, and he knew that. It was almost like this was Nash telling her that everything was going to be okay, and that she was healing from her past. She had made some sort of amends with her father and the stalker who made an attempt on her life twice was in prison. Even though this was news that she wanted to keep to herself as of right now, she knew that she needed to let Dawn know, for she was their medical trainer. She got up from her seat in the locker room after warmups to take a walk down the tunnel to the office that the coaches had been using as a base camp. She caught the coaches walking out, Vlatko bumping fists with her as he walked by. She locked eyes with Dawn and gave a silent plea of needing to speak with her, and she stepped off from the group.

"Sam everything alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, can I talk to you for a minute? In private?" Samantha responded, and she nodded, both of them stepping back into the office.

"What's going on?" Dawn questioned once they were away from prying ears.

"We technically have doctor-patient confidentiality, right?" She asked first.

"Technically, yes, but if there's something that should prevent you from playing I would suggest you not telling me because I'll have to tell Vlatko. You didn't take a knock in training, did you?" Dawn responded, and now she debated even telling her, but she knew someone needed to know in case anything happened to her during the game.