VIRAGO

bellicostic

"You too, I love you." She said, squeezing his hand one last time.

"I love you, too. Rest up." He answered, smiling. He left her alone in the room, which was thankfully a private room so she did not have as many disturbances with a grade four concussion. She looked around for her phone, finding it on the table beside the bed. It was dark in her room, so the screen lit up her face and the rest of the room, even when the brightness was as low as it was. She had a few missed calls from her teammates, many tags and mentions on all forms of social media, and plenty of Snapchats from her teammates celebrating without her. She did not feel like opening all of them right that moment, but she did take a look at her missed call list, seeing Dana was on there. She took a deep breath as she hit her name to call her back, and she picked up almost immediately.

"Samantha?" She answered quickly.

"Hey Dana." She responded, and she could sense the relief that she was feeling on the other end of the line.

"God is it good to hear your voice. We tried to call you after the game was over but you didn't answer, and then Nash called us to tell us what happened, and he said you were unconscious and-" She rambled on.

"Take a big deep breath for me Dana. I'm okay, I'm awake, I'm still here." She interrupted, trying to get her to calm down.

"And for that I'm glad. We saw all the blood, the staples. We assumed the worst when Nash told us you were in the hospital." She answered.

"The symptoms did not start up until after the game so we had no idea how bad it was until we got here. It's a pretty severe concussion, grade four, but luckily besides the nice new stitches I have on the side of my head, nothing else is going on." She explained to her, trying to convince Dana and even herself that everything was alright.

"How about I fly out in the morning to come take care of you?" She suggested out of the blue. "I've always wanted to see Seattle."

"I'm not going to say no to you coming to visit, but with the trial being moved up to this week, I just don't know how free I'll be. And what about work? Don't you kind of have a school to run?" She sighed in disappointment. She knew regardless of their season being done that there was still the impending trial of Henry Fox to be had in the coming weeks.

"Sweetie, that's what vice principals are for. You are more important and need family in your corner for a trial. You shouldn't have to face your almost murderer alone." Dana answered with sincerity in her voice. "Tell you what. Rick and I will fly out in the morning and if it's alright, we'll stay with you through the trial, and in between you can show us around."

"I turned into us, huh?" She joked, both of them chuckling. "Fine, that sounds like a plan, but at least let me pay for your tickets." She said, caving in.

"I couldn't let you do that." She answered.

"Dana, I just won a NWSL Championship, I've got the money to buy you and Rick first class tickets to Seattle." She responded with a chuckle as she already was surfing her phone for a first class ticket from Detroit to Seattle. "What time do you want to depart?"

"I guess the earlier the better." She sighed.

"I'll send you the info, but your flight leaves at eight A.M. tomorrow morning." She told her, buying the tickets.

"Well I guess we'll see you in the morning." Dana said with a small chuckle as she sent her the information for their departure from Detroit Metro Airport.

"Have a safe flight, I'll see you guys in the morning. Love you." She responded.

"Get some rest, Sam. Love you too." She answered, and they both hung up. She was actually excited to see Dana and Rick, for the last few years had been only FaceTimes and phone calls with the occasional visit home. Now they were coming to the west side, a place where she had spent the last five years, and a place neither of them had ever been. She put her phone down and closed her eyes, a feeling of happiness washing over her as she fell into a light sleep.