[ Thank you for supporting me and reading. I wouldn't have made it to chapter fifty(!) without you guys! ]
The house was more beautiful than Casey could imagine. It was just off Lake Nona and was built within the last ten years back in 2015. It was a two story house with four bedrooms and five bathrooms, and to her, it was a mansion. The exterior was a soft creme with dark oak trim, and the interior was all lightly marbled cream tile with white walls and more dark oak trim. There was a pool in the backyard, as well as a whole patio and grill area to host parties at. The entire house was glorious, and Casey was scared to touch anything in fear of ruining it, but Alessio had told her she was fine. He owned the house, they could do whatever they pleased.
"Is that the last box?" Alex asked when they made one more trip inside. Patrick closed the door behind the four of them, and Casey nodded.
"Yeah, that's it. I told you it wasn't a lot." Casey told them with a sigh.
"It wasn't a lot because you can't do the heavy lifting." Her father said, and they all laughed.
"There's literally only five boxes here." She chuckled, pointing to the five boxes that were now sitting in the living room. Alessio had already moved all of his stuff in and had organized it all while she was across the country, so when she moved in, it already had a homey feel to it.
"Alright there's still a couple beers in the fridge and a couple slices of pizza left. Please help yourselves." Alessio said, pointing behind him towards the kitchen. Alex looked down at her wrist and sighed.
"I'd love to stay, but I have to go pick Sev up from the airport." She informed, and she hugged both of them. "Love you both, I'll see you tomorrow Casey." She said before she went back out the front door.
"I'll take a slice for the road, if you don't mind. I've got to get to the hospital by three." Patrick said as he excused himself to the kitchen to grab a slice of pizza.
"Go for it dad." Casey chuckled. He came back and smiled, hugging his daughter.
"Remember, separate rooms, got it?" He joked with her, and she laughed.
"You got it dad. I love you, have a safe drive back." She said, kissing him on the cheek. He shook hands with Alessio, who thanked him for his help moving Casey in. He left a few minutes later, and then it was just Casey, Alessio, and Atlas remaining. They both plopped down on the couch, Alessio squeezing her excitedly.
"I am so excited to live with you Casey." He said into her hair before he kissed the top of her head.
"Well why don't we start getting some of my stuff unpacked so I can actually be all moved in." Casey said with a laugh, and he smiled.
"I was thinking we go break in the mattress in the master bedroom." He said seductively in her ear, and she looked at him with sad eyes.
"Alessio, I can't. Not with my back." She responded softly as he pressed feathery kisses against her neck. She gave in too easily to his touch, and his hot breath against her skin took any thoughts of pain out of her mind.
"I'll go easy." He whispered, and although she knew that was a lie, she could not resist. He stared into her eyes, and she lovingly pressed her lips against his in response, and he smiled against her lips.
"Let's go break that mattress in then." Casey chuckled, and he lifted her up off the coach to head upstairs to the master bedroom.
--
"So how was your first night in the new house?" Alex asked when she arrived to training the following morning. It was weird not going to training together, and they both could feel it, but they were both happy.
"It was great. The bed feels like I'm sleeping on a cloud." Casey said.
"Let me guess - you didn't do a lot of sleeping did you." She responded with a laugh, and Casey acted shocked that she would even say something like that.
"I mean, you're not wrong." She confirmed with a laugh as soon as they walked into the locker room. They were both laughing up a storm when they walked in, which got some curious glances. "Alright, I'm off to the trainers. I'll talk to you in a bit." She told her, and they did their handshake before Casey went to the opposite doors of the locker room and across the hall to the training staff.
"Good morning Casey. How are you?" Jackie asked her when she walked in.
"I'm doing pretty good, how about yourself?" She responded as she sat on the table.
"I'm exhausted, but I'm doing pretty good. Let's see, week three post injury?" She commented to herself. "How 'bout we get started. I've got you scheduled for a MRI over at Orlando Health Regional Center at two in between training sessions. For now, we're gonna do some massage therapy to try and work around those pulled muscles and then I'll have you stretch out and join the team for some moderate exercise."
"Sounds good to me." Casey said, and she was instructed to lie on her stomach so Jackie could get to work on her back.
"So I saw your post, you and your boyfriend move in together?" She asked, trying to keep some sort of conversation going.
"Yeah, he asked me to move in with him over the weekend. I just moved in yesterday." She responded with a big smile on her face.
"Well congrats. That's a big step in a relationship."
"Yeah I know. I'm scared but I'm excited at the same time."
"And you know what sweetie? That's perfectly normal. When I moved in with my husband, I was scared to even touch anything in his house."
"I feel the same exact way, I'm so glad I'm not the only one."
"You learn a lot about a person when you move in with them. They become your best friend, and I felt that way about my husband after only a couple weeks of living together."
"Alessio and I lived thousands of miles apart from each other before he moved here to Orlando, and he was still my best friend even then."
"Then you're in a pretty good starting place." She said with a smile. "Alright, I think I've worked your muscles enough to be all loose and to continue healing. Why don't you go get dressed and then head out with the rest of the team to do some running."
"Thanks Jackie. How much moderation today?" Casey asked as she sat up and rolled off of the table.
"Minimal today. You've got your watch, right?" She asked her, and Casey nodded. "Try to keep it between one and three miles. Remember, MRI at two, and as soon as you're done I want you back in here with your scans so I can see them myself."
"I gotchu Jackie." She responded with a laugh. "Alright thanks, I'll see you later." She told her before heading back across to the locker room to get changed for their training session. She threw on a pair of shorts and one of the t-shirts that got laid out for her. She put on her socks and then her cleats. Her hair was already up, and since she had only been running as of late, she did not bother to grab her gloves. She would do some drills with the keepers their second training session when they were not conditioning. She was able to do the ones where she just stepped over cones and caught a ball coming directly at her face, but anything where she was on the ground was a big no.
After their training, she was not in as much pain as she had been, but there was still a strain on her back. She packed her stuff up and looked at the time, seeing she had only fifteen minutes until her scheduled MRI. She went and rushed out to her car and got driving, but luckily Orlando Health was only a five minute drive from the stadium. She parked and got into the main part of the hospital, seeing the receptionist that always seemed to be working when she came in sitting at the counter.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Radcliffe." Hannah said with a smile.
"Hannah, how many times do I have to tell you just to call me Casey?" She responded with a chuckle.
"It's informal. You have another MRI today?" She questioned, and Casey nodded.
"Yeah, they told me this morning that it was at two. They really cut it close today." She told her and they both laughed.
"Alright Ms. Radcliffe, you know the drill. Dr. Dean will meet you in one of the MRI prep rooms so we can get you in and out of here. I don't think you need to fill out a third MRI form, so you can just head back and get changed into your gown. You remember where the room is right?" Hannah explained to her, but she was only half listening. She knew all the procedures and nodded when she asked her if she knew where the room was.
"Thanks Hannah." She said before dismissing herself to go down the hall and through the doors where she would have to go to get ready for her MRI. She did not bring anything but her lanyard with her keys and wallet, so she did not get a locker out and just kept everything together. She made sure to take her earrings out before Dr. Dean came in and yelled at her for keeping them in. She always forgot to take them out.
There was a knock on the door and Dr. Dean came in with a smile on his face. "Good afternoon Casey. How's my favorite patient doing?" He asked her, and she chuckled.
"How am I your favorite patient?" She questioned in response.
"Because you're my easiest patient. How are you feeling today?" He answered as she got off the table to follow him across the hall to the MRI.
"Probably better than I have been. The pain is still there but not as bad." She told him as she sat down on the table.
"That's good to hear. Alright, you know the drill, lie down, stay still, and we'll get to work." He said, and she nodded, lying on the table and getting loaded into the machine. A few moments later his voice was over the intercom in the machine. "Casey can you hear me?" He asked.
"Loud and clear." She responded with a sigh.
"Okay, starting the scan now." He said, and with that a ton of loud noises started and she knew she needed to lie as still as possible. Luckily she was only getting one part of her body scanned, but it would still take forty-five minutes to get a good scan, so she was stuck there for a while.
--
She arrived back at the stadium for their second training session of the day, which was going to be more skills based, the stuff she could not really do. She went across the tunnel to the trainers with her scans in hand, and Dr. Dean had said she was almost to a full recovery. Strained back muscles took four to six weeks to heal, and it was looking like she was going to be on the earlier side of that scale. She handed her scans to Jackie, who immediately took them out and held them up to the bright ceiling lights.
"Looking good Casey. I can say probably a full recovery sometime next week. I'll set up two more MRI appointments, one next week and one the week after, just so we can make sure you're all healed up." Jackie said, putting the scans back in the manilla folder and putting them with the rest of her scans from over the last few weeks.
"Alright, sounds good. What's up with this training?" Casey asked.
"Take it easy. You can run through and drills where you're on your feet but that's it. I'm gonna suggest to Marc that you don't keep running too much. I already know you went over the boundary I gave you." She said, and Casey chuckled, shrugging.
"I'm stubborn and I didn't keep track. Sue me." She responded, and Jackie just rolled her eyes.
"Keep doing your stretches and get out there. I think they started early." She informed, and Casey's eyes went wide.
"Well you could have said so!" She laughed out as she jogged out of the training room. "Thanks Jackie!" She shouted behind her as she rushed through the locker room and out the doors to get with the rest of the team to start their second training of the day.