One For All and All For Soccer | Lauren Cimorelli x USWNT

Eight

Christen's POV:

"Oh my God Lauren!" I call over to her as I see her collapse to the ground in pain. I rush over to her, as does everyone else and kneel down next to her. Her eyes are closed but her breathing is heavy and deep.

"Lauren, talk to me," I tell her, fighting back tears that are threatening to spill as the younger girl squirms around on the ground next to me. I place my hand on her forehead while Dawn comes over with a first aid kit.

"Lauren, can you hear me?" Dawn asks and Lauren slightly nods.

"Can you say something?" Dawn asks while taking out the stethoscope.

"It h-hurts," Lauren whimpers out and I look at her in sympathy. Dawn tries to listen to her breathing through the stethoscope but Lauren is moving around too much, I realise this and quickly hold her down in place to stop her from squirming. Dawn takes one listen before a look of worry plasters on her face.

"Okay, call an ambulance!" Dawn screams out, making the team even more worried as we all share worried glances.

Jill is on the phone calling an ambulance and Megan Rapinoe ends practice, telling us all to go back to the hotel until we hear news about Lauren. Instead of going back, Tobin and I stay with her until the ambulance comes.

"I'm coming with her," I tell Jill as she comes back over, off of the phone now and glances at Dawn. Jill nods before speaking,

"The ambulance is on its way." Jill says and Dawn nods. I take Lauren's hand in mine and give it a squeeze.

"I'm coming too," Tobin speaks up and gives me a small smile before placing her attention back to Lauren.

"You're going to be okay, Lo. Everything's going to be fine," I tell her in the most comforting tone I could muster out while trying to hide the worry and concern that was boiling over me.

—

A few minutes later and Lauren was now being loaded up into the ambulance. Jill and Dawn were coming with us as well and were currently telling the paramedics what had happened. Tobin pulled me out of my thoughts when she came over to me and pulled me into a tight hug. She stroked my back and whispered in my ear that everything would be okay. I didn't respond but just hugged her tighter.

After the hug, we both went into the back of the ambulance and found Lauren attached to monitors with tubes up and down her arms. I quickly grabbed her hand and sat down on one of the empty seats. Tobin came to sit down next to me and reached over to grab Lauren's other hand.

We reached the hospital in a matter of minutes and it was all panic and chaos as Lauren was rushed out of the ambulance on the stretcher and rushed into the hospital doors.

Dawn and Jill quickly followed after, having to give another statement to the doctors on what had happened. I climbed out the ambulance with Tobin following when a rush of guilt came over me as I realised something.

"Oh my god. I need to contact Lauren's family. Shit, they're going to be so worried." I exclaim to Tobin who's standing beside me in front of the hospital doors to the emergency department.

"It's okay Christen, we can do it together when we know what's happening to Lauren," Tobin tells me and rests her hand on my back. I give her a small nod before I head into the room and walk to the receptionist.

"Hi, were waiting for Lauren Cimorelli. Do you know when we can see her?" Tobin asks and the receptionist picks up a folder.

"Our cardio surgeon, Dr Shepherd is checking on her now. We can come and get you when they're done, but for now I can lead you to the waiting room." She tells us and I nod, letting her lead us to the room.

We enter and find Jill and Dawn there too, they're still talking to a doctor so we go to sit down.

Tobin could obviously notice my nervousness and my worry as she put her hand on my shaking leg.

"Hey, stop worrying. She's strong, she's going to be okay." Tobin tells me, all I could do is nod as I focus my eyes on the wall in front of me.

"I'm going to give the team an update, okay?" Tobin says and I nod before she walks away and pulls out her phone.

—

"Is she okay?" A voice enters the room loudly, making me jump a little in fright. I turn around and see our whole team there walking over to us.

"How is she?" Ali asks, she looks like she hasn't slept in days although this whole thing only happened a few hours ago. The whole team now focuses their worried faces on Tobin and I as they gather around us and sit down on the chairs.

"Still nothing from her doctor," I tell them. It's been four hours and we've heard nothing. Worried is an understatement of how I feel. Dawn and Jill have been asking the receptionist for an update every half an hour and needless to say, the receptionist was getting very annoyed now.

"It's sweet that you guys came though," Tobin says, we were planning on calling the team to come when we knew what was going on but they obviously had other plans.

"Yea, we couldn't just wait around, worried and with no update. We were going crazy." Alex says and I nod.

"Especially Ali, she had a complete breakdown. Took Ash at least an hour to calm her down," Mal whispers to Tobin and I, obviously not wanting Ali to hear her. It was obvious that Ali and Lauren were close too, they had such a close bond and were really good friends so it was no surprise when Mal told us about Ali being worried.

"We have an update for Lauren Cimorelli," A voice calls out from the doors of the waiting room making us stop in our tracks while our eyes went straight to the voice.