This story is going to need a few chapters to set the scene and introduce the characters. I have in my head an idea of how I want things to go and it can't be rushed.

In the chapter Callie arrives in London and encounters Arizona for the first time.

More than once during the flight Callie had questioned her decision. What the hell was she doing? She hadn't even heard of Tottenham Hotspur women team 48hrs ago and now here she was on a private jet leaving behind her friends and family to go and play for them.

Callie looked over to Stacey her manager who had convinced her it was a good move. "Remind me again" she asked for the third time.

"Cut it out Torres!" Stacey had replied "when have I ever let you down before?" Stacey waited for an answer, but the brunette remained silent

"Exactly. If you want to be in contention for a place in the squad for the Olympics you've gotta play games. The league is cancelled in US, and so the UK is the next best option".

"But I've never heard of this team before!" Callie said in a whiny voice.

"Bottom line is you're recovering from an injury and that put a lot of teams off, believe me I tried!"

Callie realised Stacey was cross "I know you did and I do appreciate it!"

"Well what you should be appreciating is Spurs taking a chance on you, on them offering you this contract with no guarantee you'll kick a ball for them!"

Callie remained silent "look Callie, I get this all happened super fast and it's taking some time to get your head around it, but trust me, it's a good move. The women's club recently got promoted to the league, but the facilities and infrastructure is amazing. They've just built a brand new stadium and the training grounds are top notch."

Stacey had been Callie's agent all her professional career and she knew her better than anyone else. They had both received soccer scholarships at Berkeley, and whilst Callie's career went up and up, Stacey never quite made the leap and so took a decision to quit playing and by accident became Callie manager.

"Look, it's just for the season OK. You can do this, and it's not like you won't know anyone there." Stacey reminded Callie that Spurs had also signed Rose Green from Pride earlier in the transfer window, not to mention the fact that half of the US National team were playing for teams in the league this season, including Jess Woods.

"I'm sorry Stace, I'm having a diva moment!" Callie said apologetically

"Yeah you are, and whilst I might be used to them, they really aren't gonna cut it at this new club OK. They need you to come in and bring some leadership and experience to the team."

"OK I get it.Understood boss" Callie joked and Stacey smiled to indicate all was forgiven.

Callie didn't know what she would do without Stacey around. She had been an every day occurrence in her life since College, but she had a young family now and whilst her husband Todd was looking after the kids so that Stacey could fly over and make ensure everything was OK, she would be heading back to the States in a few days time.

Once landed they put their branded masks on and headed into the car that had been sent to pick them up. The first thing Callie noticed as she walked across the tarmac was the temperature. A few years back she had spent a season in France at Lyon and she had struggled with the weather then. This time round she had come prepared and had packed all her warmest clothes.

Stacey filled Callie in on the car about the history of the club and what to say and not say, who the biggest rivals. Turns out Jess had signed for Arsenal ladies and Spurs and Arsenal fans did not get on. Jess had messaged her yesterday when the news had broken in the UK about the deadline day deal and expressed her excitement that Callie was coming to the UK.

Jess and Callie had become close friends over the past year, they would bunk up when they had away games. Callie suspected Jess had feelings for her, but they had never talked about it. Neither of them had been with a woman before and so Callie totally freaked out when they were pictured together and gossip started spreading about them being more than just friends.

There were a number of high profile out and proud gay members of the women's team already so Callie wasn't worried about the impact on her career, but she was worried about the impact on her super catholic family.

There had been times over the past year when her feelings towards Jess were definitely stronger than what you would normally feel for a friend, but she had been too frightened to do anything about it. Overall, Callie's love life had been a bit of a disaster zone and so she was perfectly happy to stay single and focus on her career until she figured out what she wanted in life.

One of the key things they needed to sort out before Stacey left was somewhere for Callie to live during her time in London. Callie had visited London many times before, but had always stayed in hotels. Jess had suggested she could move in with her as she had a huge house 30 mins outside London in the countryside. As nice as it would haven been, Callie didn't think it was a sensible option, and so they had shortlisted some properties to view over the next few days before Stacey had to fly home. In the meantime she would stay and the training complex.

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Everyone coming into the club had their temperature checked. They couldn't risk someone catching Covid and spreading it amongst the team.

Once inside Callie was provided with a her new kit with the lucky number 13 on the back and various branded tracksuits and coats before meeting the club chairman and then the press who were all interested in the transfer deadline day move.

Like the professional that she was Callie spoke of her excitement at joining Tottenham Hotspurs and how friendly everyone had been so far, and how the facilities were amazing and that it was an offer she couldn't refuse.

Come lunchtime and Callie was starving, so they headed into the canteen area where she was introduced to the rest of the team for the first time. Social distancing meant that she couldn't give Rose a hug, but it was nice to see a friendly face. The canteen was shared with the Men's team and some of them came up to introduce themselves and welcome her to the club.

After lunch Karen and Juan, the joint coaches of the team gave Callie a full tour of the training complex. Whilst in the gym Callie couldn't help but notice an attractive blonde haired woman who some how looked familiar to her. Later that day, she was properly introduced to the blonde and her assistants as the physio team and they arranged a time to do a full work up and assessment on her injury.

As the blonde doctor talked Callie was immediately drawn to the most sparkling blue eyes she had ever seen. Callie realised she hadn't taken in a word the physio had said, which considering they were talking about her knee wasn't the smartest move. So as to not seem rude she apologised and explained that the jet lag was kicking in and that perhaps it would be best if they could have this talk tomorrow. It wasn't a complete lie, but Callie's attention had definitely been distracted by the eyes.

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It was 1am and Callie was wide awake and knew she wasn't going to get to sleep just lying there. She pulled on her costume and tracksuit and wondered over to the main facilities and headed in the direction of the pool. Swimming had been the only exercise she could do immediately after her injury and she found it had a meditative effect on her. She figured a few laps of the pool would help her get to sleep. The security guards on duty didn't look remotely surprised to see their new star signing turning up in the middle of the night, and explained that the were used to the players staying in the apartments coming in to use the gym or pool at all hours.

Callie headed in the direction of the pool, getting a little lost along the way until she found the changing room which then led to the pool. As she changed out of her tracksuit she heard the sound of water lapping from the pool and realised she wasn't the only one craving a midnight swim.

She peered through the glass window into the pool area to see who it was but could only make out a black swimming capped and goggled head gliding through the water. However it was, she was an excellent swimmer and Callie was slightly mesmerised as she watched the person swim up and down the lane. Callie found her heart beat increasing slightly as she watched the swimmer pull herself out of the pool and sit on the edge, legs dangling in the water as she took deep breaths, chest rising up and down. Her skin was ivory white apart from the odd freckle on her shoulder.

Callie watched in silence from the locker room as the mystery swimmer stood up, reached up and removed her goggles and swimming cap revealing blonde hair and those killer blue eyes.