Richmond did not win their game against Crystal Palace. The loss was palatable in the locker room. The feeling mixed with the usual stench of sweat as the team lumbered back in. Trying to either impress Roy, or evade the man's steely gaze, Nate had elbowed the window on the door of the Manager's office. He had meant it as a display of frustration towards the loss. The second he made contact with the glass, it cracked and splintered like a hardboiled egg.
Ted offered the team a low energy speech about how loss was just another opportunity to grow before motioning for Beard to turn on the portable speaker and play a few party tunes. Beard and Nate began passing out cake as Ted reminded everyone it was still Sam's birthday for a few more hours. The Head Coach retreated back to his office with a slice of cake.
"Ted." Bailey called out to him quietly from the doorway.
"Hey!" There was that smile again that could light up a whole dang room. Bailey inhaled a shaky breath, sad that she would have to see the smile go so soon. "Where's Annie? I thought she was walkin' home with us."
"I sent Anna home after the game ended." She told him. "Ted, there's something I have to talk to you about."
"Oh." And just like that his smile disappeared. He looked past Bailey, checking to see if everyone else in the locker room was otherwise occupied. She stepped closer to his desk so that the two of them could talk more quietly. "I-I know we aught to talk about what happened last night…"
"This isn't about last night." She interrupted him. "Although we absolutely need to talk about that too. It's about this." She took her cellphone out of her pocket and showed Ted the same photo that Keeley had presented to her earlier.
"Bailey, I don't want you to get the wrong idea or nothing." He started to say. "That photo is just…"
"I already talked to Keeley." She assured him. "She's the one who sent me the picture. She showed it to me right before the match." Bailey continued telling Ted about the conversation she'd had with Keeley. "I haven't told anyone. Not even Anna, but I don't know what we can do to stop this from happening."
"Is Keeley still here?" Ted asked.
"She's sticking around for a bit, waiting to see if we come up with anything. She was just feeding Jamie some bites of cake a minute ago." She told him.
"I appreciate you bringing this to my attention, Bailey." Ted said earnestly. "I'll have a talk with Miss Keeley and see if there's anything that can be done about our situation."
"If it's not overstepping too much, and I know I've done a lot of that recently." Bailey acknowledged. "Could I suggested something or someone that I think might be able to help you both out of this mess? If this gets out to the press, it's not just bad for you and Keeley. It's bad for Jamie and the club. Manchester City won't be happy that the player they've loaned us is mixed up in a scandal. As the club owner, Rebecca should at least be told about this. Best case scenario, she might even have a way to stop The Sun from publishing."
"I do like best case scenarios." Ted mused. "I'm gonna step out into the hall. Do you think you could persuade Keeley to join us out there and the three of us can talk to Rebecca together?"
"You got it, Boss." She nodded. Ted slipped out of the locker room, armed with the excuse that he was going to bring Rebecca and Higgins some slices of cake. Keeley was sitting on the bench in front of Jamie's locker. Her boyfriend was off in the corner watching a replay of the goal he'd scored.
"Keeley, would you mind helping me out with something in the hall? I heard you have a knack for decorating and I'm thinking of updating some of the wall art." Bailey lied.
"Yeah o' course!" Keeley hopped to her feet. "Happy to help." She waited until they were out of earshot of the team before adding, "I know the bit about the wall art is a ruse, but if you ever do decide to update the way things look around here, I love to redecorate."
Bailey accompanied Ted and Keeley up to the top floor where Rebecca's office was. Ted knocked on the door and the group of three let themselves in. No one was surprised to see that Higgins was already in Rebecca's office. The two had been chatting about the game before they'd been interrupted.
"Sorry to intrude, Boss." Ted apologized. "I brought y'all up some cake to soften the blow of our defeat. We can play a lot better than we showed today." He promised her. Ted placed the two slices of cake down, one in front of Rebecca and the other on the corner of her desk closest to where Higgins stood. "Unfortunately, like this cake has a couple layers to it, so does our reason for visitin'. We've got ourselves a situation here." Ted went on to explain the context behind the photo and the story that The Sun wanted to run. Keeley showed Rebecca the photo in question.
"I'm gonna find the piece of shit that took this, and who hired them!" Keeley declared.
"No, no. Not necessary!" Rebecca told her with confidence. "I know the owner of the paper. I can get this stopped, with a phone call."
"Really?" Keeley asked. The relief was as visible on her face as the loss had been on the players downstairs. "Oh my god, thank you!"
"This woman right here is strong, confident and powerful!" Ted proclaimed gesturing towards Rebecca.
"Glad to help." Rebecca said, offering up a tight-lipped smile.
Trusting that the major scandal had now been successfully avoided, Keeley returned to the locker room to collect Jamie. He was one of the first players fully changed out of his uniform and appeared ready to put the dog track behind him for the rest of the weekend. They offered the locker room a short round of good-byes before leaving. Ted resumed his self-assigned task of keeping the party going. Bailey watched him try to teach Nate a "secret" handshake when she noticed some one saddle up beside her.
"Best cake in London, eh?" It was Roy Kent, freshly showered and changed into his street clothes. He was holding a small paper plate with a slice of cake on one hand and a plastic fork in the other. She watched Roy try a bite of the cake. He didn't say anything right away. Like he couldn't decide if he wanted to spit it out or not. "This cake is fucking delicious. What bakery did this come from?"
"Actually, Ted made the cake." She told him.
"Yankee doodle made this cake?" Roy ate another bite. "He should quit his day job. He's a shit coach but he makes a hell of a cake."
"Bailey!" She turned away from Roy to see Sam standing in front of her. "I wanted to thank you. I know you must have had a lot to do with planning this party and purchasing my gifts. I know that we lost today, but you helped make my birthday special."
"Of course, Sam." Bailey smiled. "Happy birthday."
A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in awhile! I hadn't realized how hard it would be to keep 3 versions of this story up to date! (Aside from FFN & Ao3 this story is also available on Tumblr) Archive of out own tends to have the most updated version of this story as it gets the most interaction. So while updates may take a little longer here on FF.N, They will also likely happen in 2-3 chapter drops as I re-write chapters to OC rather than xreader.
I want to thank butterflydance21 & strawberryfruitsnaxs for their continued support of this story!