End Game

Thirty-Four

⚠️TW//Low⚠️

Jo can't help but smile as she takes a long shot, her lips curving further north as the ball falls cleanly through the hoop twenty-one feet in front of her.

"Smile any harder and you'll hurt yourself again." Chelsea laughs, throwing her arm over Jo's shoulders.

"I can't help it, I have missed being on this court, I've missed suiting up for the games, and I've missed playing." Jo sighs, leaning her head against her friend's shoulder for a moment.

"You came back at the perfect time. Let's knock The Mercury out before we have to go to Phoenix next week. I'm still not recovered from the long ass two week road trip we had."

"I'm good with staying home." Jo nods, turning as she hears her name, sighing as she sees her parents and Jackie standing close to the bench.

"Don't play for him, play for you. You haven't played in over a month and we will not be letting daddy hard-ass ruin your return for you." Chelsea smiles sadly.

"Don't call him that, it sounded way too sexual for my comfort level." Jo chuckles, "But you're right, I'm going to ignore him, and I'm playing for me. He's really going to love it when I come off the bench and only play fifteen minutes."

"He can deal with it. He didn't dislocate his entire shoulder a month ago, you did."

"Thanks." Jo sighs, grateful when her eyes lock with her dad's that coach calls her over.

"Go have Tyler double check your tape job and meet us in the locker room for pre-game. I want to make sure you're in the best shape for your welcome back." There's a bit of something behind coach Hammon's voice that tells Jo the request isn't actually about the tape, instead about the man who is standing feet away, clearly annoyed at what he had just overheard.

"Thanks, coach. I definitely don't want to have misaligned tape tonight." Jo nods, driving home the annoyance in her dad before sauntering off towards the tunnel, holding in a smirk and a laugh until she is out of sight from the stands.

"JP, let me double check that the tape is staying where I want it." Tyler calls to her before she can even find him, wandering into his office.

"That is exactly why I was headed this way. Coach doesn't want to take any chances." She smiles, sliding onto the table and rolling her head towards her right shoulder. The room is quiet while Tyler's slightly cool fingers run along the tape mapped out along the muscles of her left shoulder, double checking everything is correctly placed.

"Looks good, signal to coach if you feel off though, we don't want to push you too hard tonight. We are all hoping for a finals run and you'll be worth a lot more in the five game series than you will be in the three game set."

"I know. Fifteen minutes tonight, tops. And I've been working on shooting right, so I may lean on that a bit and see if it connects for me, just for extra precautions."

"The team knows you are not playing heavy defense either, falling on that shoulder again is a really bad idea."

"I stay at the top of the arc, focusing on distraction and deflection, not on blocking drives." She nods. "Trust me, Ty, I want to make it to the finals with a working shoulder too. I'd be devastated if I had to sit out injured and we actually made that run."

"I know, I'm just double checking because coach Hammon will have my head if I don't." He chuckles.

"Thanks for all the help over the last month, Ty."

"It's my job and my pleasure." He chuckles, "Now go help us bring home the trophy, and be in this room an hour before practice tomorrow so we can make sure nothing bad happened while you're on the court tonight, and work on recovery and strengthening that shoulder further."