"Hmmm," Lao Ma murmured pleased as she awoke with the warmth and smell of her wife's skin against hers.

Then it all hit her, and she remembered. Ex-wife. She sat up instantly and pulled up the sheet to cover herself. When she pressed it against her bare skin and peered down at it, she realized she had bought it, bought it when the bed she was in was once their bed.

"Xena," she sighed disappointedly.

She groaned as she awoke and pushed herself onto her elbows, not being as careful about covering herself.

"What are we doing?" Lao Ma peered over at her and seriously questioned.

"Are you trying to tell me you didn't want to do that? That was a mistake?" Xena questioned as she ran her hand along Lao Ma's arm.

Lao Ma grasped her hand in hers. "We did not end this for no reason."

"Nah," Xena stated, shaking her head disappointedly. "Nah, I know."

Lao Ma began running her hand against Xena's arm. "We decided this was for the best," she told her seriously.

Xena began to cry and nodded through her raising tears. "Yeah. Yeah, I know. Maybe you should just go now."

Lao Ma ran her hand down the side of Xena's face. "Not yet," she stated as Xena's leaned forward into her.

"Ah, hm, ha," Eve exclaimed as she walked into a familiar face as she reached the door of Xena's building that afternoon.

"Oh," Lao Ma exclaimed as she spotted Xena's cousin.

"Hi, Lao Ma," Eve stated, awkwardly placing her hands on her hips. She felt slightly less awkward running into her since Varia was beside her. Her older out cousin and her wife had never mentioned a thing about her and her girlfriend who were very much not. "Xena did not mention you'd be…"

"No, she did not," Lao Ma finished with an awkward elegance.

Eve laughed, remembering why she had liked her former cousin-in-law so much. "We've just going to say goodbye to Xena before we head back to Orlando and North Carolina. Uh. I'm assuming you're doing the same before you head back to Dalian?"

Lao Ma nodded at her with a smile. "I hope to see you at the World Cup," she told Eve. "The both of you," she added with a nod to Varia.

"Yeah," Eve awkwardly called after her.

Lao Ma disappeared in the direction of the nearest El stop.

"Bwah! The fuck, dude?" Varia exclaimed as they entered the ground floor of Xena's building out of Lao Ma's sight.

Eve shook her head. "Was your bedroom poster of her, Xena, or the both of them?"

Varia shook her head. "This isn't fucking fair," she stated as they entered the elevator. "I didn't get to grow up amid this."

Eve smirked. "So, both?"

"Shut up," Varia smiled at her as she pushed her up against the back wall of the elevator and kissed her.

A few days later, Xena entered the Lakeview brewery by herself. The hostess peered at her quizzically for a moment.

"Um, the booth by the window," she told her.

"Thanks, kid," Xena told her with a wink.

"Hey," Xena called at her teammate as she sat at the booth across from her. "Are you going to talk to me again?"

Ephiny exhaled slowly and angrily. "There is no reason to be mad at you. Or Lao Ma. I mean, fuck. She isn't a dirty player."

Xena nodded in agreement. "Nah, she isn't."

"It was a mistake. I don't know if it was Caesar or Hercules or fan bullshit, but," Ephiny paused to loudly huff. "I can't be mad at you or her."

Xena laughed. "How many in are you?"

Ephiny shrugged. "The Australians were here before you."

"Which Australians?" Xena questioned, feeling left out.

"The Red Star ones. From the you, me, Lao Ma domination days," Ephiny explained.

Xena laughed and shook her head. "I wish I would have been there for that."

Ephiny drunkenly laughed. "Seemed you were too busy with something else."

Xena glared at her. "What's that supposed to mean? I was with Eve and Varia."

Ephiny put up her hands in defeat. "All right, Xena. I'll leave it."

Xena groaned and lowered her face into her hands. Thankfully that was when her drink order arrived. She took a long swig of it before directly her attention to the smirked Ephiny. "Which one of them texted you?"

"Both," Ephiny stated. "Varia out of an odd sense of admiration, but Eve out of legit concern."

Xena shrugged dismissively.

Ephiny shook her head. "But seriously, you sure this is a good idea?"

Xena scoffed. "It was once."

"You can't fool me, Xena," Ephiny told her. "Or Eve. Fuck or Terries or Amirace, we were all here when it fell apart and me and Evie when it started. You two are going to suck each other in until you chew each other up and spit each other out. Then we'll face China again and it'll just restart."

"It was once," Xena repeated. "There's nothing going on between us."

Ephiny shook head her and sighed as she drank her beer. "Whatever you say, Xena."

"You got any more news of Terries' back up?" Xena asked to change the subject.

She nodded. "Some young kid, out of one of the Ivy's. Harvard, maybe?"

"Caps?"

Ephiny shrugged. "Maybe four or five. It was doing that time when Athena was trying to shake up the roster and bring in some young talent."

Xena smirked. "Yeah, okay," she answered in amusement. That whole period had been criticized by analysists and pundits as one of Athena's worst mistakes as head coach. Eve had gotten her first cap during that time, which had been deemed as the periods only success.

"Be interesting to see how she does at camp," Xena stated.

Ephiny scoffed. "Better be good, because we are fucked otherwise."