"Oh, thank God you're here," Kelley greets sincerely as she embraces her irish soul sister.
"How's she doing?" Heather asks in return. Her face wrinkles with worry as she speaks.
"Not great. She hasn't said anything since we told her she can't see Becky. We're all really worried and of course the one person who can help is still unconscious," Kelley vents as she leads Hao towards Sam Mewis's hotel room. She had offered taking a turn sitting with the little blonde so that some of the other players could visit Becky.
"Hey Samuel, how's it going?" Heather asks as her and Kelley enter the room. Sam looks up then from her spot on the bed. She and Ella had been watching a movie on Netflix with Ella snuggled into her side. At the sight of her aunt, Ella immediately raises her hands to the woman. Hao understands the gesture to mean Ella wants to be held which she readily obliges.
"Hey, Heather, Kelley. It's ok. She still hasn't said anything even when Emily and Rose tried to make her laugh," Sam explains worriedly. She's afraid the girl may never be the same.
"Well, I got her from here so you guys can focus on the game," Heather says as she stands with El in her arms and leaves the other two to mentally and physically prepare for a game against Canada without a key defender.
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"This match is gonna be all about physicality which both teams have in spades. There is definitely no love lost between these opponents," Julie Foudy comments as the camera pans across the players warming up on the field.
"There is definitely a hostile history on the field between these two teams, but the major story tonight is the U.S.'s loss of one of their captains in Becky Sauerbrunn. Julie, what are your thoughts on this and what's happened in the past couple days?" Ian Darke questions. Julie sends him an annoyed look at the question. She really didn't think the topic or events surrounding it were an entirely appropriate topic and just wants to stick to football.
"Yeah, the loss of Sauerbrunn is defintely going to change the dynamic of the game. She's the rock of the U.S.'s defense so it'll be interesting to see if someone can step up and attempt to fill her shoes," Julie offers with a sigh. She decides to ignore the second half of the question for Becky's sake.
"For those of you unaware, this week an 911 was made by one of the players explaining that a player's ex-husband had broken into the hotel and a need for police and possibly an ambulance. When authorities arrived on the premises a suspect was apprehended and a player was taken to the hospital. The suspect in custody was identified as Shawn Smith and the victim being national team captain Becky Sauerbrunn. Last month, Sauerbrunn had filed for divorce and a PFA was put in place for both Sauerbrunn and her daughter. All of this information was permitted to be shared by the friend's and family of Sauerbrunn," Ian explains seeing that Julie is going to avoid the topic altogether. The camera pans back to the field as the coverage goes to commercial. It takes a moment to zoom in on the players showing purple wrist bands with Ella written on them then turns to commercial.
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The team ends up barely winning with a scoreline of 2-1. The defense definitely struggled due to the loss of their main defender. The game was extremely physical as expected but the Canadians were immediately apologetic after the game. They know something bigger than soccer is going on with the other team and even offer well wishes. Heather makes her way down to the field with Ella as handshakes are happening.
"Hey, Ellie," Desire Scott greets as she sees the blonde. They're usually buddies when they're at FCKC, but Ella just waves and walks off towards Sam.
"Don't take it to heart, Des. She hasn't said anything to anyone in three days," Heather explains as she greets her former teammate. Meanwhile Ella wraps her arms and legs around Sam's legs. Sam takes it to mean she wants to hang out with her so she bends over to pick the girl up then continues talking with Lindsay and Emily. She keeps El as she signs autographs and heads back to the tunnel. Hao meets Sam there to take the girl back to her and Dave's hotel room. It's nearly Ella's bedtime and the little girl is already dead weight after falling asleep at some point during signing.
"Actually, Heather, would it be okay if she had a sleep over with me, Emily, Rose, and Lindsay?" Sam asks uncertainly as Hao reaches to take her niece. "It's just that we all kinda miss Becky. I mean she's usually so supportive on the field and Em' s having a hard time cause this was her first start in a while. She really wanted Becky to be there for her ya know and El just reminds us of her," Sam explains as she rambles on. Heather looks at her understandingly.
"I get it, Samuel. Please, just make sure she eats something and Ali and Ash are watching her tomorrow because I'm visiting with Becks," Heather agrees sensing the the emotions behind Sam's jumbled mess.
"Thank you! And I will. I hope Becky wakes up tomorrow for Ella's sake," Sam replies in appreciation.
"Me too, kid," Heather replies before walking away.
