Requests

It happened gradually. An already worn down shoulder undergoing constant wear and tear from the game that she loves most. When it all finally came to a head, when she finally couldn’t take the pain anymore, she gave in. A second shoulder surgery. At her age, it’s almost undoubtedly a career ender, but Hope Solo doesn’t take no for an answer. The surgery was the easy part. It’s the rehab that’s gonna wear her down emotionally. Hope isn’t used to being taken care of. She hates it when people do things for her so when she’s forced to bite the bullet and allow it to happen, it drains the life out of her. Now, just two weeks after her surgery, Hope’s having a hard time giving up control.

“Fuck!” Hope yells, as the plate falls to the floor, breaking into small pieces. Carli hears the crash from the other side of the house and immediately takes off towards the kitchen. She flies around the corner to see a seething Hope shooting her a heavy glare. “What are you doing? You were supposed to be watching a movie, Hope. You can’t keep doing this.” Carli says, exhaustedly. It’s been an ongoing process for the past couple days. Hope refuses to give up her independence and continuously has been trying to complete household activities on her own. This is the first time she’s broken something in the process, though.

“I was hungry. I should be able to make myself a fucking sandwich. Will you just get me the broom and a pair of shoes? I don’t want to cut my feet.” Hope says, shortly. Carli glances down to Hope’s bare feet, sharp shards of glass surrounding her. “No.” Carli replies, walking up to the taller woman. “Jump up.” She says, grabbing the back of Hope’s thighs. “What are you doing?” Hope says, grumpily. Carli glances up at her and shakes her head. “You aren’t making yourself a sandwich. You’re not cleaning up this mess. I’m not getting you shoes. You’re gonna let me carry you to the living room, where you’re gonna wait while I sweep and make us food.”

“Fuck you.” Hope spits back. “I’m not a fucking invalid, Carli, I can do this shit by myself. I don’t need you here. Just fucking go.” She fires, motioning wildly with her hands. Carli takes a step back, hurt flooding her face. “All I’ve done is try to help you. If you want me to go, I will, but just recognize what that means. I won’t be coming back” She says, looking pointedly at the taller woman. They’ve been dating for just over a year. Carli is the one who persuaded Hope that she needed this surgery. She saw the pain that keeper faced every day at training and knew that her girlfriend needed to put her health before soccer.

Their relationship has rocky for the past few months. Carli’s career is on top of the world right now, the last thing she wants to do is risk anything by coming out. Hope, on the other hand, is ready to settle down and be open about their relationship. She wants a family and Carli isn’t ready for that yet. While Carli denies it, Hope’s convinced that her reputation has a lot to do with Carli’s hesitance to putting their relationship out there. They’ve argued about it many, many times, but neither of them is willing to give in. Hope’s agreed to give it some time, to give Carli time to think about it and talk to James. Hope thinks he’s just using Carli for the fame and he would NEVER give her permission to come out as being in a relationship with the goalkeeper that most people love to hate.

“Go.” One word is all it took for Carli to turn around and walk out. She didn’t look back as she went to their room, Hope’s room, to collect her wallet and keys. As she walks past the kitchen to get to the front door, she catches a glimpse of her girlfriend...ex-girlfriend? She’s standing in the same sport, unable to move, her shoulders seemingly shaking as she closes in on herself. Carli sighs and contemplates going back to her, but ultimately decides that if Hope wants her to go, that’s what she’ll do. She walks out the front door, slamming it shut behind her and she quickly drives away without a second thought.

Hope stays in the same spot for what feels like hours, her legs starting to hurt from the lack of movement. She’s tried to pull herself onto the counter, but with only one working arm and still being rather weak from surgery, it was an unsuccessful attempt. After a while, she can no longer take the pain and grits her teeth as she takes a long step over as much of the glass as she can get over. She feels at least three shards go into the bottom of her foot and she lets out a whimper. She quickly walks her way away from the mess and limps to the living room, plopping herself on the couch and looking at the damage that the glass did to her foot.

“She’s completely unreasonable, Kelley.” Carli says, exasperatedly. She ended up parking her car in a parking lot a few miles from Hope’s house and decided to call Kelley, the only other person who knows Hope almost as well as Carli does.

“What did you expect, Lloyd? She’s Hope. You know how Hope is. You just have to put her in her place and make sure she knows she isn’t weak just because she allows someone to help her.”

Carli sighs. “I know, I know. It’s just frustrating. She won’t let me touch her, she won’t let me help her, she’s pushing me away.”

“And you let her. You left, Carli, just like she said. You know how well she deals with people leaving, you idiot.” Kelley says, as if it’s obvious.

“I know, I know.” Carli responds, semi-ashamed that she allowed herself to be pushed away so easily. She knows how Hope is. She knew what she was in for when she told Hope she would be there for her throughout the recovery process.

“So then go back there and make her listen.” Kelley says, as if the solution’s that obvious.

“I’m going to. I just needed to take a few minutes. Thanks, Kell.”

“No prob. Let me know how it goes.” Kelley responds, lightly.

“Will do.”

When Carli walks back into the house, she knows something’s wrong. It’s silent. Too silent. As she makes her way into the living room, the first thing she sees is blood pasted on the floor from what looks to be some sort of print. ‘Shit.’ Carli thinks, as she looks in the living room to find it empty. She glances into the kitchen on her way past and finds no sign of Hope. “Babe?” Carli calls out. She doesn’t receive a response, but she does here what sounds like the water running. She makes her way into the bedroom and walks directly to the bathroom.

Hope is sitting on the toilet cover with her right foot soaking in the bathtub. “What happened?” Carli asks, softly, as she approaches Hope from behind. Hope shrugs, looking at Carli with a tear-stained face. “I had to step on the glass to get out of the kitchen.” She says, nonchalantly. Carli sighs, feeling guilty that she left Hope to fend for herself, regardless of what the woman had said to her. “You’re a moron, you know that?” Carli asks, semi-lovingly. “You left. Why are you here?” Hope asks, as she takes her foot out of the water and checks where the glass remains lodged in her skin.

“I shouldn’t have left, but you did tell me to go, so I did. I’m here now though, I’m not going anywhere.” Carli says, softly, looking at Hope’s foot over her shoulder. “I hate this, Car.” Hope whispers, brokenly. Carli places a hand on Hope’s back, rubbing it reassuringly. “I know.” She responds. “But you have to let me help you, Hope. If you don’t, this is gonna be a long couple of months. I want to be here for you but I can’t keep being pushed away every time I try to help you with something. You have to accept that you can’t do this alone.” Hope stiffens, slightly, as she places her foot back into the warm water.

“I know.” Hope whispers. Carli raises her eye brows at the lack of a fight. “You gonna stop fighting me on this?” She asks the brunette. Hope nods, silently. Carli realizes that this is probably the most she’s gonna get from the goalkeeper. She kneels down next to her and places a hand on her thigh. “Let me see your foot.” Carli says, softly, motioning to the foot that’s resting in the water. Hope shakes her head. Carli looks at her, pointedly. “Let me see it.” Carli says, seriously. “No, it hurts, I don’t want anyone touching it.”

“Are you shitting me? Give me your foot, you big baby.” Carli says, jokingly. Hope rolls her eyes and slowly, very slowly, brings her foot out of the water and allows it to hover in the general vicinity of Carli. Carli sighs and grabs Hope’s ankle, spinning her so she’s in a better position to look. The cuts are still bleeding consistently and Carli knows she needs to get the glass out. “Why would you walk on glass?” She asks. “I couldn’t move any other way.” Hope replies, softly. Carli looks at her, apologetically.

After getting the glass out of her foot and bandaging the cuts heavily, Carli goes into the kitchen to clean up the mess while Hope gets ready for bed. She just finishes sweeping the floor when she hears Hope calling for her. “You okay?” Carli asks, as she walks into the room. Hope’s sitting on the bed with sweatpants on. “Can you help me?” She asks, uncomfortably. She tugs at her shirt and looks at Carli, pleadingly. “Yep, stand up.” Carli says, softly. She walks over to the goalkeeper and looks up at her. Hope is still clearly uncomfortable asking for help. Carli leans up and places a lingering kiss on her cheek.

She reaches to the hem of Hope’s shirt and slowly takes it off of Hope’s good arm, before carefully sliding it over her head and off of her bad shoulder. She tosses it towards the laundry basket. She refrains from leering at her half naked girlfriend, who decided that bras were too difficult and stopped wearing them. “Thanks.” Hope whispers, before turning and grabbing a fresh shirt to put on. “Need hel-“ Hope cuts her off before she can finish her question. “No.” She says, shortly. Carli sighs, shaking her head at Hope, before turning to walk out of the room. She’s sick of being snapped at.

“Wait, I’m sorry.” Hope says, frantically. Carli stops and turns to face her. “I’m sorry, I need your help.” She blurts. “Please.” She finishes, while holding out the shirt towards Carli and looking at her pleadingly. Carli rolls her eyes at the keeper’s antics, but reaches out and swipes the shirt from Hope’s hands. “You sure you want to wear a shirt? I mean you could just stop wearing clothes, that’d be fine with me.” Carli says, as she blatantly looks her up and down. “You’re gross.” Hope replies, smirking.

Carli carefully, so carefully, helps Hope into her shirt. “Thank you.” Hope says, softly, looking down at the midfielder. Carli nods, in response. Hope leans down and captures the shorter woman’s lips in a loving kiss. She pulls back before the kiss becomes too heated and places a lingering kiss on the woman’s forehead. “I really do appreciate you helping me.” Hope whispers against her skin. “I’m sorry I’ve been so short. I’ll be better.” She finishes. Carli pulls back and gives the keeper a smirk. “You’re lucky I love you.” She says, matter-of-factly. She turns and walks out of the room. “Come on, gimpy, we’re watching a movie.” Carli calls, as she makes her way into the living room. Hope scoffs, but follows suit. “Gimpy, my ass.” She mumbles under her breath, as she makes her way out of the room.