Passing Through

Part Two

A/N Love the Cooper/Wicker love, I told you we'd see more of these. Hope you enjoy. Keep commenting, it keeps my enthusiasm! MZxxx

Chapter Two

Bo had been in Britain for two weeks. He'd arrived a week before preseason training and hadn't seen much of the city he was based in, yet. Coming from California he hated the weather. This was apparently summer, he rued, as he pulled on a jacket with a hood and made his way out into the early evening. The coach lived in a huge house a couple of miles away, he had assured him it wasn't difficult to find, and fortunately the car he'd been given had a satnav. If you could call it a car.

It was tiny. He could barely fold himself into the front seat. It as emblazoned with the club details, and so he was under strict instruction that he HAD to drive it everywhere. He had wanted to go buy something sensible, an SUV of some description, but he'd been told that he couldn't drive it.

Scowling, something that seemed perpetually marring his face, he turned the ignition, then ground the gears, he hadn't driven stick for years. Anger and stress weren't helping.

Coop's house was impressive, an old stone structure at the end of a long driveway. Parking next to his own club emblazoned Rangerover, Bo wanted to punch something at the irony, and car envy. Before he reached the door, it opened, and a petite dark haired woman stood there smiling, a toothy toddler on her hip.

"You must be Bo, I'm Freya Cooper..." she smiled as she looked at the little man clung to her hip, "and this is Benji Cooper."

She shook the hand he offered, then chuckled when he shook hands with her son.

"Come in, Mitchell Cooper is in the shower, he was late home. But dinner's almost ready, can I get you a drink? Coffee? Wine? Beer? A soft drink?"

"I'd love a water, if I could," he asked, following her into the house.

The kitchen was a chrome and wood filled room, with appliances and work surfaces to the right, but a comfy looking sofa and dining table for ten, to the left, in front of glass doors that were pulled open, giving a view over the back garden.

Out there two other children played on a wooden climbing frame. Dropping Benji to the floor, she watched him negotiate the doorway to the garden safely, before she turned back to the kitchen, and a water for him.

Handing him a bottle, he thanked her, then offered, "something smells delicious."

"I just hope it tastes OK, I couldn't cook before I met my husband...I'm still not that good," she chuckled as she led him to the sofa, encouraging him to sit. He loved her happy demeanour, she had barely stopped smiling since he'd arrived.

A voice replied to her before he did. "She lies, my wife does nothing by half. And whilst she's late to cooking...she bosses it. Thank fuck, cos I'm shit."

"Mitchell Cooper! Language in front of a guest."

He rolled his eyes, "like that is any shock to him after two weeks in our dressing room," as she waggled her eyebrows he shook his head, "the kids are out of hearing, too."

Bo laughed at the easy banter between the two, then stood when Coop came towards him, hand extended. Shaking it, he said, "thanks, for inviting me. Reckon I'd have killed myself or something if I stayed inside for another night."

He nodded, "been there. Look it's training camp, we have to work hard, train...but once preseason starts, the guys will meet up, there'll be social stuff happening. I know it's hard, being here on your own."