Chapter 12 - The One with the Visit

Each passing minute was agony. Couldn't he just come to the appointment and get this over with? Hours had gone into how she would approach this appointment. Everything from how she would sit to what she would wear. No stone un-turned. Conversation after conversation ran through her head, each separate, distinct scenario being plotted so she would know how to react. Of course as the appointment time drew closer and closer, none of this applied. Everything flew out of her head as if her plans were birds just waiting for the cage to be opened.

A brief knock sent her heart into overdrive and made her regret the jelly doughnut she had just devoured. The door swung open quietly and he stepped in. Her throat closed and stomach clench harder. She couldn't believe how stupid she had been, no amount of planning and thinking could help this utter chaos exploding in her mind and body.

"Hello Roger. Have a seat," she said coolly, although she felt anything but.

"Katie," he replied in the same odd, formal tone she had spoken to him in.

He handed her his journal, and she opened it to the last page he'd written in. She hoped that her face didn't show the horrible let down of not seeing a little note apologizing, or at least asking to talk. Her eyes gazed over what was written.

"Tuesday AM: slight, dull headache near injury site. Thirty milliliters of concoction used, as recommended by Healer. Headache gone within several minutes. No tenderness at site. No further headaches for rest of day."

There were several more entries, most reporting no changes. Some were similar to his headache situation. It seemed to be sporadic for the majority of cases.

"Looks like everything is going okay," she spoke clinically, detached from the emotions.

He nodded.

A few minutes passed; Katie was deep in thought. She didn't look up at Roger and Roger didn't look at her. Keeping up with her professionalism, she focused only on his symptoms.

"Would you be comfortable with me trying a variation?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I was thinking that instead of using the potion as you need it, taking a small bit each morning and seeing if all symptoms disappear completely. Eventually take away the need for it at all."

He didn't seem to be against it, so she continued on. He pulled his chair around behind her desk like he did every time before and watched her write out charts and calendars for scheduling the potion. Gradually, they both got caught up in writing down dates for appointments, writing in game times, their hands hitting the others' and voices arguing each side if there was a disagreement on a date.

"Hold still, this is pissing me off," he said and pulled an eye lash off Katie's cheek.

She sat stock-still in shock at having been touched so casually by him. She pushed herself away from the desk, from him, from their bubble. She was so caught up in how much fun she had with him during these appointments that she completely forgot about Oliver, about Lena, about how angry she was. She could tell he had as well.

"Make a wish," he whispered and held out her eyelash on one of his fingers.

Her jaw locked and her teeth hurt from holding them together so tightly. She looked up at him, wishing that this was just all one long nightmare and that it would end and that she could go back to being happy. She closed her eyes tightly and, with the slightest exhale of breath through pursed lips, pushed the lash off Roger's finger.

Roger's face was exponentially closer when her eyes opened again. His fingers went into her straightened red hair and cupped her face. His palms were warm against her cheeks. Nausea rolled in her stomach, but disappeared the instant Roger's lips touched hers. Her breathing stopped, her heart stopped, her body turned to melted butter, but her nerves came alive in the most incredible way possible. She felt she had enough electricity running through her to kill her, that there was no way her nerve endings could handle everything being thrown at them. His lips were soft, but not insistent, yet she could feel the intense emotion behind them, and it was enough for her to forget everything again. He made an unconscious, contented noise in the back of his throat as his fingers curled up in her hair and his tongue tentatively swept across hers. Nothing had ever been more right in the history of humanity as this moment was.

"Did your wish come true?" he murmured and she opened her eyes to find him gazing down at her, his eyes lit up like the sun, as if there had never been a storm in them. Ever. He kissed her softly again.

A huge smile was getting ready to cross her lips when everything crashed down on her.

"You need to leave." She squeaked and pushed away, rising up out of her chair and going to the furthest point in the room away from him.

He shook his head and stood, approaching her. "I don't want to..."

"I didn't ask if you wanted to or not, I said you need to leave! That was inappropriate given the situation."

"Would you just talk to me?"

"No, I know what I need to know, and you need to leave."

An exasperated sigh. "Is that what you want?"

"Yes." No.

He swallowed heavily, looking defeated. "Alright. If that's what you really want."

She nodded, and collected his journal and new schedule and handed it to him. His fingers grazed over hers as she handed it to him. Her sharp intake of breath made him smile sadly.

"Kiera will look after your next appointment," she said suddenly to his back as he approached the door, "I'll be sure to fill her in on everything."

"Alright," he said, so softly she wasn't sure if she had actually heard it. Without looking back at her, he opened the door. At the last moment, he half-turned and said clearly, "You know, this isn't like you. The real you would listen and hear someone out, listen to reason. Face the situation head-on."

With that, he left, the faint 'click' of the closing door echoing in her head. She knew this wasn't like her. She was grounded, thicker-skinned than this. That girl, however, was floating, lost in a sea of emotion. She recalled being pissed off all those years ago when Oliver broke up with her, but not feeling like this.


"Katie!" Kiera yelled from the ground. "Get your ass down here RIGHT now!"

The wind felt so nice where she was, floating over the empty pitch. The intermittent rays of sun warmed her, making all the negative emotions seep out of her body. She didn't want to come down; all her problems were on the ground. The only thing she had to worry about right now was being seen, and the chance of that happening where they were located was next to nothing. Katie peered down, vertigo passing as quickly as it came, seeing the bright spot where Kiera's hair shone like gold silk in the sun. She sighed, and sped down to her sister.

"What the hell is this?" Kiera asked, showing Katie the note that was left on her desk earlier.

"I've decided it's time for you to take a more active roll on the team."

"I am in no way qualified to help a player with a head injury." Kiera's arms were crossed, her brow furrowed and she looked so young as she tried to scold her older sister.

"No better time to learn."

"You're avoiding your problems."

"Well, my problem kissed me today."

Kiera looked momentarily stunned. "Oh."

"'Oh' is right."

"Still, I can't do this. You know I can't. I can be there while you work on him, with him, whatever it is you're doing, but I cannot be doing it myself."

Katie's shoulders felt heavy; her problems were being stacked back upon her one by one. She rubbed her eyes hard enough that she saw strange lights and shapes. "I know, I'm sorry. It was a weird appointment. It was awkward, then it wasn't, then he kissed me, then I lost it. It just sort of came out of nowhere when I said it."

"Just grow a pair and deal with it. This isn't like you."

Katie's head whipped to Kiera. Were they conspiring? "What did you just say?"

"This isn't like you. Normally you just deal with things. You saw the team about to be sold, you bought part of it to keep your say. Oliver comes back into your life, you drew boundaries after you got the emotion out of your system. On the anniversary of dad's death, you still came to work, although you didn't accomplish much except to make the Captain scared of you. Now? Roger makes one move on you, and you can't face him ever again. When Oliver did that, you told him to piss off and then got back to your work and life. We all lose ourselves with crushes sometimes, but the damsel-in-distress role isn't for you."

"I suppose you're right."

"I know I'm right. If you really want me to be there for the next appointment, that's fine, I'll do it for you. But you aren't going to run away. If you really want Roger to piss off, tell him. Don't be wishy-washy about it."


Katie had forgotten who they were playing today. Maybe, subconsciously, she had forgotten, not wanting the emotional repercussions for thinking too heavily on it. With already too much on her mind, she had shoved this date out of her consciousness to protect herself temporarily. She probably wouldn't have noticed until they were on the pitch where she would have just swallowed the lump in her throat and move on, but the fact was made known to her with one little visit prior to the match.

Her door was open, but the woman still knocked to announce herself.

"Katie Bell?"

Katie stood up straight, blowing a curl off her face, a stack of old medical files in her arms. Recognition didn't immediately kick in.

"Can I help you?" Katie asked the very pretty brunette as she set the files on her desk.

"I'm Lena." A nervous chuckle. "Fieldhouse, that is."

Ohgodohgodohgod... She was beautiful in person - tall and fit with long dark hair swept back in a loose bun at the nape of her long neck and dark, playful eyes. Katie struggled to deal with the fact that she was standing in front of her, that this was actually happening.

"Hello," Katie said as confidently as she could even though she had just knocked the tall stack of files over, "What can I help you with?"

"Nothing really, I just had to meet you, Roger never shuts up about you," Lena replied smiling, seeming a little too happy with that piece of news. Katie's brow furrowed, and Lena could see confusion written all over her face. "I'm really happy for you two," she added, as if this would help.

"Forgive me, but what in heavens' name are you talking about?" Katie's faced flushed quite unbecomingly as she started to re-stack the files, averting her gaze from Lena's for a brief moment.

It was Lena's turn to look confused. "He... didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"Oh dear..." Lena's face crumpled and she looked as if she regretted being here.

"Tell me what, Lena? Why are you here, really?"

"I've made a huge mistake. I'm sorry, Katie, I thought after we talked, he was going to talk to you..."

"Well, he didn't, so you can either fill me in, or leave." Katie felt close to tears.

"It's not really my place to say."

"Alright. I'd like you to leave then."

"I'm sorry, Katie."

"Me too."

Lena left as quietly as she came, and Katie sunk into a chair, hyperventilating.


"Katie?" Oliver asked as he found her sitting with her chest and stomach on her thighs, head between her knees. His hot calloused hands rubbed her back gently. "What are you doing?"

"Knitting a sweater, what does it look like?" she retorted. She was far past manners.

A few moments of silence as he continued to rub her back. "Stupid question. How about another - are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she barked, sitting up and swatting his hands away. "Stop that."

"You look like shit," he said, leaning up against her desk.

"Oh piss off. What do you want?" she asked as she threw her hair back into a clip, likely looking like a poor man's Lena.

"Well, we have a match, my shoulder hurts and your sister was looking for you."

"Fuck, fuck and fuck."

"What has gotten into you?" Oliver seemed stunned to see her this way.

"For some reason fucking Lena, Roger's girlfriend, popped in for a little chit-chat."

"Ah," Oliver replied, looking out the window.

She studied his face, his cheeks a little too flat, eyes a little too wide.

"You prick," she growled, low and furious.

He looked over at her, his expression giving nothing away. His eyes pierced into hers and a shudder went down her spine. Instead of shutting her down, it fed her anger.

"You're ridiculous. I don't know what is wrong with you, but this is why you and I will never work. You always have a plan, a trick, some way to get back at something. You're pissed off at me for not wanting to go out with you, so you tell her to come see me? Knowing or sensing that I like Roger, you send his girlfriend to me for what? A pep talk? To piss me off so you could come comfort me, thinking I wouldn't see through your little trick? It makes me sick to see how little you think of me." She slapped his bare arm, the harsh sound ringing in the room. "Go sit on the table."

He sat and kept his mouth shut, not defending or refuting her. He seemed to have the sense to know that staying quiet was better for him than trying to persuade her otherwise. Her wand rapped him hard on the shoulder. He flinched, but sat stoically through Katie's rougher-than-necessary examination.

"Finally you have the sense to keep your mouth shut! I'm going to tell you this as a friend: you need to get your shit together, Oliver, if you ever want even a small chance at happiness. You can't constantly punish people for making you angry or upsetting you. You're an adult, not an adolescent, and need to deal with situations as such. Your shoulder is a little inflamed," she spit and thrust an ice pack up the sleeve of his t-shirt and onto his shoulder. "Keep that on there for 10 minutes. Take this," she shoved a dark blue vial into his hands, the same potion she'd given him when he had his injury. He downed it quickly. "We all have to deal with people doing stupid things in our lives, and you choose to stoop to their level or lower. I'd have to walk on eggshells at all times with you. How could I ever be happy with someone like that?" A sharp jab of her wand to check that things were starting to work. "You'll be fine. Now get out of my sight."

He stared at her long and hard, his jaw working. She piqued her eyebrow. "Did I stutter?" she exclaimed and thrust her finger towards the door.


Katie waited until the last possible moment to come out to the pitch for the match. The two teams were just kicking off when she took her place beside Kiera. Even with the extra time she'd taken to stifle her anxiety, she still only had a precarious control over her emotions.

"Where have you been? I was looking for you everywhere!"

"You would have found me had you checked my chair closely."

Katie saw Kiera's head slowly turn to look at her sister. Something in Katie's tone of voice had Kiera curious.

"Are you okay?"

"No. Oliver sent Lena to visit me to get back at me for rejecting him, so I had to go off on him."

Kiera seemed to sense the anger in Katie, and backed off. They watched the game in an uneasy silence. Especially so when Roger and Lena started talking as they floated around, waiting for a penalty shot to be taken. Roger's brow creased when Lena seemed to be telling a story. His gaze caught Katie's glare, and she turned slowly away, barely keeping her face straight.

When they eventually lost the match, the loss of it hit her harder than it should have. It hit her harder than any loss ever had. Of course everyone had been upset, it meant their streak was over, but Katie stormed off the field after bursting out in tears. It felt like a personal insult.