What The Heart Wants

Out of Bounds

Julie and Christen arrived at Philadelphia International Airport under the cover of darkness, as their flight to Chicago to attend the press conference for their new head coach flew out at 6:05am. With such an early flight, the pair thought the papos wouldn't be out and about, so they had their guards down a bit, holding hands and being cinnamon-roll sweet with one another. Unbeknownst to them, there was a lurker scouring the concourses in search of Hearts players leaving Philly today. He noticed the two of them sitting at their gate, with Julie's arms wrapped around Christen's shoulders and her head resting under the left side of her chin. He quickly walked past and found a quiet corner where he could record some comments for his Monday podcast.

Seen at Philly International: Julie Ertz and Christen Press, flying to Chicago. One, why were they in town together? Two, coincidence that they were here while Zach was away with the Eagles? Three, the two didn't look like BFFs but more like GFs while waiting for their flight.

The Red Stars' players' flight was called and the two walked down to enter the plane. Once seated, Christen popped a mild sedative so she could deal with the turbulence.

Christen: Jules, did you really mean what you said on Friday night, that you wished I had stood up to stop you from marrying Zach?

Julie: Yes, I did. I was too scared to do it on my own, so I was hoping that you would step in and objected.

Christen: See, I thought that if I had done that, you would hate me forever and we'd be through. I loved you too much to risk that possibility and stayed quiet.

Julie: After Friday night, I'm not afraid any more of letting people see us together. I know it will eventually bite me somewhere, but that will just give me the impetus to come out fully and commit myself to you completely.

Christen: I know I didn't tell you on Sunday morning, but you were AMAZING the previous night. I don't remember you ever getting me off THAT many times or in so many ways. Usually, I'm the one driving you crazy between the sheets, but it was nice to be on the other end for a change.

Julie: I wanted you to know how devoted I am to you and how much I wanted to be with you in my own bed. You seemed to thank me quite well in the morning, waking me from my slumber by sticking your tongue in my box.

Christen: I've got a couple of surprises for you the next time we're together.

Julie: Tonight, then?

Christen: You're not flying back after the presser?

Julie: No. I booked my return flight for tomorrow.

Christen: Then I guess it will be tonight. I booked a room near O'Hare knowing that I wasn't wanting to fly back to LA today after the early-morning start to get to Chicago.

Julie leaned over and kissed her girlfriend full on the lips, which was reciprocated. Christen then nodded off just as the plane began taxiing toward the runway.

***

The five Hearts' players still left in Philly (Ali, Steph Labbe, Kristie, Steph McCaffrey, and Savannah) arrived at the airport around 9am and went to check their luggage and get their boarding passes. Steph Labbe was headed back to Edmonton, with her flight leaving at 10:35am. The other four were all on a flight together to Boston, then Ali and Savannah would travel on to Orlando and Atlanta, respectively, with an 11:04am departure time. Still at the airport, Greg followed the five of them toward Concourse D, where the five of them would hang out until Steph had to head down to catch her flight and the other four would move over to their gate in Terminal E.

Kristie and Steph dragged the others to Dunkin' Donuts for some coffee and chat time. A few minutes into their conversation, they were interrupted by their favorite muckraker.

Greg: Fancy meeting you guys here. I heard that the team had left on Saturday for their various points of off-season living. What kept you five in town?

StephMac: Don't you have some other soccer players to bother?

Greg: Not ones that are reluctant to give the press a good story for their readers.

Steph Labbe: It's not our job to give you a story. Our job is to play the game to the best of our abilities and represent Philadelphia and our team in a positive manner.

Greg: You're sure not winning points on that second part the way you've been dealing with my polite inquiries for information on your connection to the Alex Morgan saga or confirming matters of relevance to the city's sports fans.

StephMac: Polite, my ass! You have been trying to get dirt out of us all week, be it propping up your conspiracy theory about some of our players being a party to the demise of Alex and Servando's marriage or whether she has a side chick that played on the same team as her and our captain. I've had enough of it, and I for one would like to see you end up penniless. Steph, do you still have Brian's card?

Steph handed Steph the card and the forward called their volunteer legal counsel.

StephMac: Hi, Brian? This is Stephanie McCaffery from the Hearts....Yes, we have the defendant standing in front of us right now. You can tack on at least two more counts of harassment to whatever you have, with more to possibly follow if he doesn't hit the bricks....Good. Let Wendy know about this and one of us will contact her tomorrow after we're home....Take care, say hi to Julie and the kids for us....Bye.

Greg: What was that all about, and why did you refer to me as the defendant?

StephMac: The club is in the process of filing a harassment lawsuit against you. We're also requesting a temporary restraining order that will hold until the trial. Now tell me, what do you have against women's sports and its athletes?

Greg: I have nothing against women's sports in general, just women who think they're above the rest of the population and act like it when it comes to their private lives. How is a normal, well-rounded, kind gentleman like myself supposed to get anywhere in the women's sports world when their stars either hook up with one another or are in search of a sugar daddy who will either take care of them or will help them cover for their true carnal desires.

StephLabbe: So now the axe you're grinding comes out. You think female athletes owe it to the rest of society to spread their worth around, to be a means of elevation for the general male population. We're damn if we do and damn if we don't. The criticism regarding your punching bag of choice right now is that her man should never have been able to get her.

Greg: That is a legitimate gripe. Their relationship is a case of inside baseball, and Servando didn't deserve someone like Alex because of it. He isn't well-known enough or "good" enough for it to be a decent celebrity relationship, but he also isn't John Q. Public enough for anyone to consider the two of them a true heart match.

StephLabbe: I have a flight to catch shortly and I would like to have a FEW minutes to say goodbye to my teammates. If you don't have anything else, VAMOOSE.

Greg left the players to finish up and went down to Concourse E to wait for McCaffrey and Mewis, as he knew that the flight headed to Boston was departing from that terminal. 

The players walked down to the head of Terminal D, where they hugged their goalkeeper farewell and wished her a safe flight. Kristie and Steph, with Savannah, walked over to Concourse E, leaving Steph and Ali to themselves for a couple of minutes. The two looked into each other's eyes and had a hard time coming up with words to say. Steph took Ali's hands in hers and told her how the past week did more for her peace of mind than did the break from the Spirit. She also complimented Ali again on how HOT she looked on Thursday night. Ali blushed and told Steph how happy she was to have found in her someone who she knew loved her as is, without the need to broadcast it. The two embraced each other tightly for what seemed like an eternity. Upon release, Ali leaned up and kissed Steph on the lips and told her, "Wish me luck, ma bae." Steph giggled at her cute play on her name and gave her the ASL sign for crush along with an air kiss and mouthed to her, "Two Hearts, One Love."