The Climb

77

Talia's POV

"Hey T." Lieke says as she gets in the front seat of my car while Lisa and Viv get in the back.

"Hey Dutch ladies." I say. "And honorary dutch lady."

"Ha Ha." Lisa says as I drive away from their apartment building.

"Do we need to pick up anyone else?" I ask.

"No." Viv says. "Everyone else has rides."

"Okay." I say. "What happened to your car?"

"It had a flat." Lieke says.

"Ah." I say then I hand my phone to my cousin. "Text Madeleine Harvey, tell her where your car is, what car you have, and that you have a flat tire."

"Why?" Lieke asks as she does as told.

"Cause she's my mechanic and she'll have it fixed by the time you get back from the game." I say.

"You have a female mechanic?" Viv asks.

"Mhmm." I say. "She owns her own mechanic shop and she only has lady mechanics in her shop."

"Well that's cool." Lisa says as Lieke hands me my phone back then we chat about random things the rest of the drive.

Once we arrive at the stadium, I pull underneath the stadium, park in my spot then the four of us get out of the car and head to the locker room to get ready for the final match of the season.

As I'm walking in to the locker room, I look at the line-up on the wall.

1-Audrey Solo
2-Lynn Wilms
4-Sarah Gorden
3-Linda Sembrant
15-Katie McCabe
13-Morgan Brian
10-Daniëlle van de Donk
19-Jackie Groenen
14-Talia Martin(C)
9-Vivianne Miedema
11-Lieke Martens

After I finish looking at the line-up, I walk to my locker and put my stuff up then I follow my teammates out to inspect the pitch.

Once we I head back to the locker room.

When I get to my locker I take my AirPods out, take out my nose ring, take off my necklaces and my rings, then I put my jewelry and AirPods in my bag.

Once I'm jewelry free I take off my brothers Bayern Munich jersey then I put on my warm up top and my game shorts.

I then sit down in my locker and put on my socks, my shin pads and my green boots.

After my boots are on I put my hair into a ponytail then I stand up, walk out of the locker room, and head onto the field with the outfield players.

When I get on the pitch I run through my warm ups with the starters for a while then we head back to the locker room.

Once in the locker room I change out of the training top and change into my green jersey while the coaches do their last minute talks.

When the last minute talks end, we are told to head to the tunnel so I head to the back of the line in the tunnel.

Minutes later we are told to head out onto the field for the prematch stuff so someone leads us out onto the field

Once on the field we stand in line for a few seconds then we shake hands with the Boston Rovers FC players.

After we shake hands, we take a starting XI picture, I do the coin toss, then we do our huddle before we head onto the field.

Once on the field, I look up into my family's box.

"One more." I mumble as I look at my family. "One more."

- - - - -

"TALIA." My sister-in-laws shout then they jump onto me.

"Yes?" I say as I hold onto Sarah and Moe.

"Are you not excited?" Sarah asks. "We get to lift the trophy in a minute."

"I am." I say. "I'm just waiting for the press to say we cheated."

"How would we have cheated?" Moe asks as I set them down.

"I started the APL Moe." I say.

"And?" Moe says. "You only own 1/20th of the league."

"Most of the media still think I own the whole thing."

"Well they're dumb fucks." Sarah says.

"That may be true, but they still have a hold on how the public views things." I say.

"But you have Emma to tell the world that you didn't fix this as well as a lot of other owners who like you and will back you up."

The Athletic ran sent out an anonymous questionnaire to every player, manager, and owner in the APL to see how we all felt the league was going.

The response was overwhelmingly positive and I was voted one of the top 3 owners in the APL.

"I guess so." I say then I see my sisters sneaking up on Moe and Sarah.

Seconds later, my sisters pick up their wives and love on them so I walk away and hug the rest of my teammates.

After I hug my teammates, I hear my favorite twins babbling to someone as they come up behind me.

"Who's that Kiddies?" I hear Amy say then I turn around and see Amy and Leah carrying the twins towards me.

"Mama." My twins say with a huge smile.

"Hello my babies." I say as I take the twins from the two blonde ladies.

"You lift trophy?" My 4 year old son asks.

"We are gonna lift the trophy." I say.

"Then we party?" Lanie asks.

"Then we party." I confirm.

"Yay." Lanie says.

"We're ready." One of the club staff says.

I nod then I hand my kids to my sisters before my teammates and I head over to the podium.

Once at the podium, Leah and I get in the back of the line then we wait our turn.

"Hey Sunshine." I whisper as I wrap my arms around my wife from behind.

"Yes Moonshine?" Leah says.

"Hi." I say with a smile causing Leah to chuckle.

"Hi Baby"

"You look so sexy." I whisper.

"Down you horn dog."

"Fine." I playfully say then I notice it's our time to get our medals

Leah goes up first and gets her medal then I wait for my name to be called.

"AND FINALLY." The stadium PA lady shouts. "PLEASE WELCOME YOUR CAPTAIN, NUMBER 14, TALIA MARTIN."

Once my name is called I walk on stage then I bend down so Amy can put my medal around my neck.

After my medal is around my neck, Amy hugs me.

"Proud of you T." My club manger says.

"Thanks Amy." I say then I grab the trophy off it's little stand and head over to the team.

When I get to my teammates, I stand front and center then I lift the American Premier League trophy causing confetti and fireworks to go off.

After I lift the trophy, I pass it around for others to lift then we go take a team picture.

Once our picture is taken, we all take personal pictures with the trophy and with teammates.

"So is this what you imagined when you created this league a year ago?" Janine asks.

"This is better than I imagined." I admit. "This is a lot better."