A/N: I don't own what you recognize. I really appreciate reviews and follows. They motivate me ever so much.

September flew by. Before anyone knew what had happened, it was October and the playoffs had begun. Eliza was wearing long sleeves constantly-even while running. Anne was looking decidedly pregnant. Marisa felt like she was going to explode. Elinor was suddenly spending all of her weekends in Michigan or wherever the Tigers were just to be with her man and with the spirit of the team. Emma was always with the team. September had been busy, but October would be crazy.

And October started off with a bang. On October 6, 2012, in the middle of the American League Division Series, Adeline Marie Benoit was born in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. She had a head of thick, dark brown hair and dark eyes. Four days after Adeline was born, the Tigers won their ALDS. And two days after that, the Tigers went on to the American League Championship Series where they faced the New York Yankees. The Tigers won that series in four games and went on to face the San Francisco Giants in the 2013 World Series. The Tigers lost in four games. And with that, the baseball season was over.

But on Saturday, October 20, the Saturday in between the ALCS and the World Series, Will and Eric were able to come to one of Eliza's cross-country meets. From Eric's perspective, it was difficult to tell who appreciate Will's presence more-the girls on the team or their coach who couldn't stop grinning the entire time Will was there. "Mr. Wentworth, you have to make sure that Coach Bennett keeps Mr. Darcy around," one senior girl said after the race. "I've never seen Coach Bennett this happy before."

"She even let him put his arm around her shoulders at one point," another senior girl said.

"I think she likes him," the first girl, McKenna, said.

"Like really likes him," Olivia, the second girl, added.

Eric just shook his head. "I can't tell you more than what you see."

"I think he likes her too," McKenna remarked.

"Yeah, you can see it in the way he looks at her," Olivia said.

Eric shook his head again. "I'm not going to tell you anything."

"You're no fun, Mr. Wentworth," McKenna said.

"I'm okay with that."

McKenna sighed. "Just make sure that Coach Bennett marries Mr. Darcy, Mr. Wentworth. I think they're good for each other."

"And they look cute together," Olivia said with a toss of her blonde hair.

Eric shrugged. "We'll just have to wait and see what happens, girls."

"Boring," McKenna replied.

Anne joined her husband and the two girls just then. "Hi. Mrs. Wentworth," Olivia said.

"Mrs. Wentworth, do you guys know if you're having a boy or a girl yet?" McKenna asked.

"They're having a girl, Kenna," Olivia replied before Anne could say anything. "Mrs. Wentworth told us that in AP Lit like a month ago."

"Uh, Liv, I'm not in AP Lit. I'm in regular lit with Mrs. Olivier. How would I know what Mrs. Wentworth told you in class?"

"I don't know. Maybe you list when I talk?"

Anne sighed. "All right, girls, that's enough. Yes, McKenna, I'm having a girl."

"That's so exciting. Can we have a baby shower for you at school? Please?"

Anne laughed. "Of course you can."

"Sweet, I'm going to tell my mom," McKenna said. "She'll totally help us plan it. Come on, Liv. We have to talk to my mom."

After the girls took off towards McKenna's mother, Eric looked at his wife. "Will her mom really help them throw you a baby shower?"

Anne nodded. "Oh yeah, I've told you about Julie Coffman, haven't I?"

"It sounds vaguely familiar."

"McKenna is Julie's youngest kid, but I've taught three of her four kids."

"Oh, I know who you're talking about. Wasn't her son in love with you or something? I feel like Eliza told me that once."

Anne laughed. "Oh yeah, Ryan Coffman, he was something else. He's a great kid."

"Do you have any contact with him anymore?"

"Why are you jealous?"

Eric snorted. "Me? Jealous of your former student?"

"Because I still see him occasionally," Anne said. "If the girls make it to states, he'll come to that. He came to regionals and states last year. Eric, he's a great kid. I really liked having him as a student, and he's a good big brother to McKenna and Madeline."

"I just think it's weird that he had a crush on my wife."

"Well, I wasn't your wife then for one thing. And for another thing, I still have students who have crushes on me. And thirdly, Eric, Eliza has it way worse than I do."

"I just think it's weird when students have crushes on their teachers. I never had any crushes on any of my high school teachers."

"That's because all of our high school teachers were over forty, Eric. There was no way you were going to have a crush on Nick Porter's mom. It's totally different for my kids when they have twenty-seven-year old teachers who look like Eliza Bennett."

Eric snorted. "Eliza may be beautiful, but you are far lovelier."

"You just have to say that because you're my husband," Anne teased.

Her husband laughed. "No, I'm just saying that because it's true. I could have asked Eliza out in high school, but I didn't."

"That's a really good thing," Will said as he joined the two of them. "You and Eliza never would have worked out."

"Nope," Anne said. "They would drive each other nuts."

"No, mostly she'd drive him nuts. I think he would entertain her," Will commented. "But it wouldn't work anyway because she doesn't like baseball and he couldn't stand being married to someone who didn't like baseball."

"Truth," Eric remarked.

"But you wouldn't mind being married to someone who didn't like baseball?" Anne asked.

"I'm related to Gina. I'm used to it."

Anne and Eric both laughed.

On Saturday, October 27, 2012, the girls' cross country at St. Benedict's Catholic High School of Longbourn, Michigan won their regional championship and qualified for the state championships the following weekend. As Anne had predicted the previous weekend, Ryan Coffman did come to watch his baby sister's race. Since neither of them was scheduled to pitch that evening in the Tigers' game against the Giants, Will and Eric also came to the race with Anne.

And once again, Eliza's students and her former students observed some sort of connection or chemistry between their Spanish teacher and her professional baseball-playing friend. "Miss Eliot, sorry, Mrs. Wentworth, can't you just tell Miss Bennett to marry that guy?" Ryan Coffman asked. "He really likes her, and she seems to like him too."

Anne laughed. "Ryan, I can't tell Miss Bennett what to do in that area of her life. That's an area where each person has to make his or her own decisions. You of all people should know that well."

Ryan sighed. "You're right."

"I know I am," Anne replied with something that could have been mistaken for a smirk if it hadn't been on the face of Anne Wentworth. "I remember when Miss Bennett wanted you to break up with Caitlin and start dating Maggie."

"And she was right," he said with a sigh. During Ryan's senior year of high school three years earlier, he had been dating a girl from Longbourn High School named Caitlin. She was a nice enough girl, but Eliza had seen a connection between Ryan and his female best friend since kindergarten, Maggie Sullivan. Without any direct help from Eliza (although she had given plenty of subtle hints), Ryan broke up with Caitlin the summer after graduating and started dating Maggie about a year later.

"So how is Maggie anyway?"

"Good, really good," he replied. "She was busy this weekend, but if Kenna goes to states next weekend, Maggie is going to make sure that she can be there."

"Good," Anne said. "I'd love to see her."

"She told me to tell you and Miss Bennett that she said hello."

Anne smiled. She knew, largely from other teachers' comments and from parents' comments, that she was one of the most popular teachers at St. Benedict's. She knew that kids argued long and hard with Mrs. Page, the registrar, to be able to take a class from Mrs. Wentworth. But it still took her aback a bit when her former students wanted to sit and talk to her like Ryan was now or when they sent her greetings via one another. Having been well liked but not popular in high school had not prepared her for being one of the most popular teachers in the school as an adult.

The Tigers lost the World Series the day after Eliza's girls qualified for states. The game ended late at night, and Eliza didn't learn the results until the following morning when she saw the text message that Anne had sent her. She also had messages from Gina, Will, and Eric. The guys had both just texted her to tell her that they had lost, but Gina's message was a bit more informative. "My brother is a bit of a mess, E. He's sticking around the D until after states. Keep an eye on him please."

So after a grueling cross-country practice in the rain that Monday, Eliza called and offered to take him out to dinner. They found themselves at Palm Palace, a local Middle-Eastern restaurant they both loved. "So how are you?" she asked after they were seated and had ordered their drinks.

He shrugged. "I slept in until like one o'clock this afternoon just because I could."

"That sounds nice."

"It was nice. But it's also weird."

"Because you guys lost?" Eliza asked timidly.

He shrugged again. "Because we came so close and lost; it hurts, Eliza."

She nodded. "I can imagine. Two years ago, I got the girls so close to winning states and then they lost."

"But they won last year," he offered. "We haven't won since 1984."

"Before last year, St. Ben's hadn't won states in close to thirty years."

He nodded. "It's hard, isn't it?"

She nodded. "It's really hard to come so close and not get what you want."

"Yeah," Will said. "I know that there's always next year and stuff. But we'll never be exactly the same. And fans are rabid. I can't believe the crap that they're saying on the Internet. They're calling for Skip to be fired and talking abut how we should trade George since he didn't get the W last night. It's really hard, Eliza. It's stressful. I thought that baseball was just supposed to be a game."

Eliza reached across the table and squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry, Will. I'm really sorry."

"Thanks," he said dully.
"And you're totally justified if you feel frustrated or angry or sad."

"I just want to win. It's the World Series, Eliza. I want to win it. The other awards, the MVP, the Cy Young-they're all nothing to me without the World Series. They're nice, but they're not the World Series. I want to win the World Series."

"I know," she replied, still holding his hand.

He sighed and squeezed her hand. "Eliza, why didn't we win?"

She shook her hand. "I don't know. Will, you know that I know nothing about baseball."

"Maybe that's why I'm asking you," he said. "I'm hoping that you have some sort of outsider insight."

"That doesn't even make sense, William," she replied with a shake of her dark brown curls.

He smiled then. "Can you call me that more often?"

"What? William? Yeah, sure, but why?"

"I don't know, but I like it."

"I thought your mom said that you didn't like being called William because it made you feel like you were in trouble or something."

He nodded "Normally it does, but with you, I don't know. I like it when you call me William."

She smiled. "Then I'll keep calling you William."

Will and Eliza had a nice evening together. After a dinner of chicken shawarma for her and beef shish kabobs for him, they went back to his house and watched The Avengers together while Eliza graded vocabulary quizzes that Will claimed he wasn't smart enough to help with. Eliza rolled her eyes and playfully swatted at him, but then she let him be. And after the movie was over and she had made Will promise to call her if he needed anything, she went home.

"You're going to her kids' race on Saturday, right?" Gina asked Will. It was Wednesday night and the Darcy siblings were having their regularly scheduled weekly phone call.

"Yep."

"So do something after that," she replied. "You're leaving for Virginia on Monday and you probably won't be back in Michigan until January. You have to make sure that you get out of the friend-zone before you leave. You don't have to make her your girlfriend, but you have to make sure that she knows that you view her as more than a friend."

"And what do you suggest, Professor?"

"Something simple but elegant," she replied. "Will, she likes daisies, but she hates watermelons. I know that much."

"She doesn't hate watermelons, Bean; she's afraid of them."

"Which is super weird and random," Gina said.

"It's whatever," her older brother replied. "So she's afraid of watermelons. I'm sure she has a good reason for it."

"Oh Will," Gina sighed. "You're adorable."

"Shut it, Bean," he said.

Saturday morning found Will, Eric, and Anne in Brooklyn, Michigan at the Michigan International Speedway for the 2012 MHSAA Boys and Girls Cross-Country Championships. St. Benedict's girls' team was scheduled to run at eleven in the morning, but Eliza had to be there several hours earlier.

Knowing how Eliza felt about early mornings, Will brought her a large thermos of coffee. That earned him a hug and quick peck on the cheek when he delivered them.

"I knew she was in love with him," McKenna Coffman whispered to Olivia Russell.

"Well, duh," Olivia replied. "Okay, he's not as hot as Mr. Wentworth, but he sure is nice to her."

"He is a sweetheart," McKenna agreed.

"Girls, cut it out," Eliza chimed in. "And Kenna, go tell Nina Porter to stop flirting with her boyfriend. I need her focused."

"You got it, Coach," McKenna replied before scurrying off to yell at a junior girl who could be one of the team's best runners-as long as her boyfriend didn't distract her. She had been a problem for Eliza for similar reasons the previous season. In fact, Eliza vaguely remembered venting to Will about her once or twice the previous fall.

Eliza's girls won the championship. When she saw the final results confirmed and she knew that her girls had won, she almost screamed. She definitely squealed with delight. Then she hugged each of her five starters-McKenna, Olivia, Nina, Madelyn, and Catherine. "I am so proud of you," she said to each of them. Two of them, McKenna and Madelyn Russell, were named all-state.

After talking to her entire team and then their parents and arranging for the team to reconvene for lunch at a restaurant off of I-94 on their way home, she finally made her way to Will, Eric, and Anne.

She hugged Anne first. "You'll have to bring Baby Girl Wentworth again next year," Eliza said, rubbing her friend's belly. "I think she's our good luck charm this year."

"We'll see how things go," Anne replied, hugging Eliza again. "I'm not dragging a baby out here next year if it's this cold again. But for now, I'm so proud of you and of them."

"We're going out to lunch in Dexter," Eliza said. "You guys should come with us. The girls would love to have Mrs. Wentworth and her hot husband there."

"Sure thing," Anne replied. "That sounds like fun."

"Congratulations, Eliza," Eric said as he hugged his friend and kissed her cheek. "You did an amazing job."

"It was all the girls. I just yelled at them."

He laughed. "Well, that yelling paid off. They were great, Coach Bennett."

"Thanks, Eric. I'm so proud of them."

"As you should be," he said.

And then she was face to face with Will. He started to hug her and opened his mouth to congratulate her, but anything he might have wanted to say was stopped on his tongue because before he knew what was happening, she had wrapped her arms around him and pressed her lips to his. And then his arms were completely around her and he was kissing her in return.

A/N: Please review!