"It is a homefield advantage for the Canadians as they face the first-place United States for the CONCACAF Semi-Final here at BC Place in Vancouver," Ialous called excited as the broadcast began. "We are about 10 minutes away from kick-off in what should be an interesting match-up."

"Certainly, Ialous," Melosa added. "Canada's triplets always have a way of testing the Americans."

"Would they be your keys for this match?" Ialous asked.

"Yes, Leah and Meg are a powerhouse on the backline and I'm sure will be focusing on shutting Xena down at every opportunity."

"Ah," Ialous added. "But Xena will not be the only threat Canada will have to worry about. Athena has confined Gabrielle is back from injury and expected to start, after missing the previous 3-0 win over Jamaica with a rib fracture."

"She has had some excellent showings with Stanford since the last time we've seen her with the national team," Melosa pointed out.

"I've been hearing rumors about number one draft pick? Could we be seeing her in Orlando next season?"

Melosa laughed. "Well, I've been hearing rumors about an expansion team."

"Let's put the brakes on the rumor train for a moment," Ialous stated, drawing a polite laugh from Melosa. "We will be back for kick-off after these messages."

Gabrielle waited in the circle in front of the bench with everyone else as Xena jogged over from the coin toss.

"Alright," she called at the team as they huddled up. "Like Athena's been saying despite what everyone is always saying about them, their defense is the weak point. We're going to push up the sides are hard as we can. Cyane, Gabrielle, that includes you guys."

"Xena's right," Ephiny chimed in as co-captain. "Their center backs are going to be putting all their focus on Xena. That'll give you guys a chance to slip by."

"So, just take it," Xena added.

They broke and ran to their positions. It did not take long after the starting whistle for Gabrielle to realize Xena and Ephiny had been right. The Canadian defensive was so focused on Xena and the midfielders anytime they charged inward that they sides were left wide open. After tackling away the ball from a Canadian midfielder, Gabrielle was able to sprint up the open space on the right side. She was into the offensive third before she had to pass the ball off to Yakut, who struggled to get around a defender but managed to get the pass off to Eve. She flicked it into to her cousin but Xena couldn't get to it.

Most of the rest of the game went like that. The American dominated possession but kept failing to capitalize on their chances since Leah and Meg kept cutting off all of Xena's options.

A field mic picked up Xena cursing as she again went sliding past the goal, just missing another well-threaded ball from Varia that deflected off Leah.

Melosa chuckled.

"Another missed opportunity for the Americans. That is out for another corner, here in the 64th minute. We are still scoreless between the U.S. and Canada," Ialous stated.

"Frustration is becoming rather clear for the Americans. This probably won't help. Canada in one of the few teams that matches the U.S. for height."

Varia prepared to take the corner from the left side. Xena could already feel it getting chippy in the box. An elbow from one of the triplets caught her in the hip as she heard Paulina and Minya huffing behind her. Varia's ball went sailing in and seemed to linger in the air above the five tallest players for a moment, but they all jumped at different times. Xena and Meg were too far away but Minya and Leah both made slight contact with the ball before clashing heads with each other. Somewhere in the chaos, Paulina swung an elbow that caught Leah in the side of the face. She went down hard, clenching her head in two places, prompting the ref to instantly call in the trainers and show Paulina a yellow card.

She began to mouth off and Xena instantly got in between her and the ref. "Cool the fuck off," she called at her. "You wanna miss the final?"

Paulina grumbled annoyed and ripped her arm out of her grasp.

"Damnit, damnit," Minya called a few times wiping at her eyebrow as she was walking out of the box and back toward their defensive end. "Am I bleeding?" Minya asked as she reached Gabrielle, who as one of the shortest players on the team had been positioned outside of the box. Minya had pulled her hand away from her forehead.

"No," Gabrielle stated. "Oh ah, yeah, yeah. A little."

"Damnit," she called as she ran over toward their bench. She got a trainer to pass her a band aide without leaving the field.

As Gabrielle viewed it, that corner seemed to be a turning point in the game and not in a good way. Everything got more physical and more urgent as the clock ticked closer to 90 minutes. Gabrielle was taken down numerous times and could feel the turf burn on the left leg getting worse and worse as the game went on. Xena had three more attempts that should have been goals, but she was unable to get past the center backs. Varia, Eve, and a way up field Ephiny had one rather good chance but Ephiny whiffed the shot as a Canadian defender when slamming into her, which caused the first yellow card for Canada.

Eve lined up for the free kick in good field position, but the Canadian defensive stopped the American's from fully capitalizing on the chance.

They reached 90 plus stoppage still scoreless. The first 15-minute overtime period felt no different until the Canadian midfield was able to get the ball up to Diana, who was just barely onside. So, within a few steps it seemed that she had the high pressing American back line beat and would be going in for a one-on-one with Amarice.

Gabrielle was sprinting back as hard as she could. She was pretty sure she had her. She just had to push herself and then slide just at the edge of the 18-yard box. Amarice had seen her so she'd know to expect her.

"No, no, no," Gabrielle heard Amarice call as she had already gone in for the slide tackle. She thought it was at her at first but then Diana never reached her because Paulina had pulled her down. Gabrielle groaned as she laid defeatedly on the turf, feeling even more bits of rubber stick to her sweat-soaked skin.

Paulina was shown a second yellow card and the ref was reviewing the VAR to determine in the foul had been committed inside the box or not.

"Ooof," Melosa called. "Down to 10 in such in a heated game? I don't think this is looking good for the Americans."

"I'm forced to agree. There are only three minutes plus stoppage left but if this is a penalty? Oh and…it is PK for Canada in the 119th minute here at BC Place."

Gabrielle stood anxiously just beyond the 18- yard line beside the American defenders and most of the Canadian offensive. As they all expected, Diana stepped up to take the PK for Canada. Gabrielle felt like she was going to die for a moment, the intensity was so great. Then Diana took the shot. Amarice jumped in the right direction and batted the ball away. She lunged forward and jumped on top of it.

"Ohh, well that certainly shakes things up!" Melosa called.

"Excellent block and recovery by Amarice. We are still tied nil-nil with less than a minute plus stoppage reminding," Ialous called.

"Oh and here we go!" Melosa added.

The American defensive sprinted forward and Amarice punted the ball nearly to center field. It landed perfectly at Ephiny's feet. She nutmegged her defender and passed it out to Yakut, who chipped it forward to Eve. Gabrielle had the space and was making a run in toward the top of the box. Eve had chipped the ball in, but Meg was running up to cover her. Gabrielle managed to get her head on the ball to flick it toward the goal but by the time she started falling toward the ground and landed on her knees she knew it would be wide.

Xena continued her run passed Gabrielle and flung her foot out just before she went sliding past the goal post. The Canadian keeper jumped up trying to stop it, but it floated over her hand and landed in the back of the net.

"Yes!" Varia screamed as she ran toward Gabrielle and jumped atop her.

Most of the offense followed until Ephiny ran up to them. "Get up. Get up, we don't want a delay of game."

They all obeyed their co-captain, but as soon as the Canadians kicked off the ball the final whistle was blown.

Xena sprinted up to Gabrielle. "This was you, kid!" Xena called like an excited teammate. "You won us this fucking game," she said as she encapsulated her in a hug. The thought of kissing her crossed her mind, but the rest of the team came crashing against them and knocking them to the ground.

About an hour later, the Americans were all making their way to their bus through the pouring rain that nobody had known about since BC Place had a roof. They had planned on going out and exploring the city a bit but there was so much rain that they opted for the rooftop bar attached to their hotel instead. They all split off for a bit to drop of their stuff and change in their hotel rooms.

Amarice huffed excited as she pulled the t-shirt from a diner in her hometown over her head. "I still can't get over how good that goal was," she called at Gabrielle, who was finishing changing on the other side of their hotel room.

Gabrielle laughed. "You stopped a PK. That was amazing."

Amarice jumped back onto her bed. "That game so good! We were awesome! You are ready to go?" she called jumping off the bed. "I'm so fucking excited right now! And I haven't even brought up that Xena almost kissed you after that goal."

Gabrielle was dumbfounded for a moment. "Uh…yeah, ready to go," she told her as she huffed defeatedly.

Amarice was silent until they reached the elevator. "You did pick up on that, right?"

Gabrielle sighed at her. "Yes, I'm not as naïve as she you I think I am."

She shrugged. "I don't know what Texas is like."

"You're from middle of nowhere Minnesota!" Gabrielle called back as the elevator doors opened on the rooftop.

"MVPs!" Minya yelled as they walked out of the elevator but then jogged over to the covered section of the rooftop where most of the team seemed to be.

"Ugh, this whole thing isn't covered?" Amarice complained at her teammates. She and Gabrielle seemed to be the last ones to arrive.

Cyane downed what remained of her drink. "Most of it is," she said as she stood from the wooden bench that seemed to run around the entire rooftop. "Come with me to the bar. The two of you are paying for nothing tonight."

A few of their teammates cheered in agreement as Gabrielle and Amarice followed Cyane to the bar. It was under one of the other covered sections of the rooftop.

"Oh, look who thought they could show their faces?" someone shouted from the cluster of people to the right of the bar as the bartender placed their drinks in front of them.

Amarice grabbed her drink and turned toward the voice. She laughed and began to walk over. "What is this the only bar in Canada?" She called back at Meg, who she had been teammates with during her first year in the NWSL with Regin FC.

"Looks like you Americans also decided to not venture beyond the hotel?" Diana added.

"Ohhh, what?" Minya called from the section where the rest of the team was. She and multiple others started to make their way over to them. "They let you losers in?"

The two groups of players began to loudly mingle together, and Gabrielle felt slightly out of place for a moment. She was still standing by the bar with her drink, realizing there was no easy way for her to get to Amarice or Ephiny.

She peered around looking for the one other person she wanted to be beside. Gabrielle found her sitting by herself to the left of the bar with a half-filled drink in front of her, peering at her phone. She smiled and leaned back against the wooden bench. Gabrielle walked up to her and decided to be bold, sitting at one of the chairs around the small wooden table.

"Hiding from something, Xena?" Gabrielle stated with a cheeky tone.

Xena looked up from her phone to her silently panicked.

"Who was that?" a young excited voice questioned out of Xena's phone in Mandarin.

Gabrielle snapped her hands up to her mouth. "Oh god," she whispered as she moved her hands away. "I'm sorry."

Xena shook her head to shrugged it off. "Some of the rest of the team is here too, buddy."

"Like Gabrielle?! She is my new favorite player. That sounded like her," he stated in Mandarin with a confident nod at Xena. "Hi, Gabrielle!" he shouted in English. "Mom, let me talk to Gabrielle."

Xena peered over her phone Gabrielle, who shrugged and whispered, "Okay."

Xena peered at her phone, over Ming Tien's shoulder at Lao Ma, who gave a breathy huff and nodded. "Just for moment, darling," Lao Ma told him.

"Alright, bud," Xena called, seeming torn between being dumbfounded and embarrassed. She handed her phone to Gabrielle.

"Hi!" Ming Tien yelled.

Gabrielle laughed. "Uh, hi. What's your name?" she asked in Mandarin.

He nearly bounced in his chair. "Ming Tien. My mama is Lao Ma. You will play against her in the World Cup in June. You are my new favorite player. I think you will be the number one pick from the colleges. I want you to go to Mom's team in Chicago or maybe you could come to Mama's team in Dalian. I'm going to get your jersey for whatever team."

Xena smirked as she watched Gabrielle's face go red. "Well, thank you," Gabrielle told her in Mandarin. "Maybe I could send you a signed one?"

He gasped and turned to look at Lao Ma, who was standing behind him, so her face was out of frame.

"Why don't you say goodbye?" Lao Ma suggested. "You know surprise calls can't be as long as normal one."

"Okay," he said before turning back to Gabrielle. "Thank you for talking to me, Gabrielle," he told her politely. "Can I speak with my mom now?"

"Yeah," Gabrielle replied. "It was nice to meet you too." She bit her lower lip anxiously as she handed the phone back to Xena.

"I'm supposed to say goodbye now," Ming Tien told Xena.

She laughed as she nodded. "I know, bud. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay," Ming Tien nodded. "Goodbye, I love you."

"Love you too, bud," Xena replied.

He got up and ran away from the computer. Lao Ma took his place. "Thank you for answering, Xena. He was rightfully very excited about the game. Please thank Gabrielle for me as well."

"Uh, yeah," Xena replied as she began to gesture at Gabrielle but then stopped herself. "Yeah, I will. I guess, I'll talk to you at the regular time?"

Lao Ma nodded. "Yes. Goodbye, Xena."

"Yeah, bye."

Xena ended the call and awkwardly set her phone on the table and picked up her glass. She took a drink and turned her gaze to Gabrielle as she continued to hold her drink near her lips. "So, that just happened."

"Lao Ma's son calls you 'Mom'?" Gabrielle blurted the thought that was weighing so heavily on her mind. "Thalassa's tumblr friends would be elated," she uttered under her breath, imagining it as Ngara's response once she texted her about this.

Xena scoffed. "That's your only question?"

Gabriele nervously grumbled and buried her face in her hands. "This is all so weird."

"Oh," Xena nodded in realization as she smirked over the rim of her glass. "I get it. You're still in that stage. Trapped between, you had a poster of us and now we're your friends."

Gabrielle awkwardly lowered her hands. "Well, I do still have a poster of you," she admitted with a shrug as she moved from the chair to the cushioned bench beside Xena. "But I don't think I'd say were friends. I mean, not just friends."

Xena gave her a small nod. "Yeah, good point," she replied.

Gabrielle gave her a pleased smirked.

"I'm sorry, you don't have like a million questions about that?" Xena pried.

Gabrielle twisted to look at her. "No. Wait, should I?" she asked. "You're like his stepmom, so you having a Skpye call with him doesn't seem weird." She shrugged. "Me being his new favorite is a…a bit…"

"Uncomfortable?" Xena suggested.

"I was going to say odd."

Xena shrugged. "He's young."

"And he was raised by you and Lao Ma, so he only appreciates goal scorers?"

Xena laughed and nodded. "Yeah."

They were silent for a moment. Gabrielle felt something she could not explain pulling her toward Xena. She nudged herself over until her leg was pressed against hers. Xena leaned back against the bench even more and reached her arm around Gabrielle's shoulders.

Raucous laughter erupted from the combined group of American and Canadian players.

"You know, I haven't told anyone," Xena stated, peering across the bar.

"About what?" Gabrielle question, repositioning herself to be leaning back against her.

Xena shrugged. "That I've been talkin' to Ming Tien on a weekly basis. And by extension Lao Ma too, but like only a bit. I mean, he's just a boy and we gotta structure it in some way."

Gabrielle peered down into her drink for a moment and took a sip before gaining the confident to ask the question on her mind. "Why do you think you haven't told anyone?"

"I don't know," Xena admitted. "I guess, they'll all think I'm talkin' to Lao Ma again. Plus, it's still new and somethin' I've wanted so much. Hmpfh," she grunted to stop her rising emotions.

Gabrielle reached a hand on up and placed it on Xena's shoulder without twisting to look at her, for she worried that would be more public comfort than she wanted.

"Ah, fuck," Xena called softly wiping her hand against her face.

Gabrielle contemplated for a moment and then decided she was just going to go all in with the woman she had a poster of and was definitely more than friends with. "You know, you don't have to be embarrassed, Xena. And like I said back in Stanford, I want to get to know you. So, I get if you want to shut me out like you did in L.A., but just know I'm totally here for being here for you for whatever emotions you want to show me. Or don't show me," she added. "I don't care. Just…nothing is going to make me think less of you, Xena. Especially not you having to be friendly with your ex-wife so you can talk to your son. I might be young and — I guess from what Amarice has told you — inexperienced, but I'm not stupid. I don't want just a fling with you, and I don't think you want that either."

Xena had tilted her head toward Gabrielle just as she turned to look up at her. "Oh, goddamnit, Gabrielle. You're too perfect."

She leaned down, Gabrielle reached up and their lips meet. Gabrielle felt a wave of emotion ripple through her. This kiss felt different than the others.

"Do you want to come downstairs with me?" Gabrielle asked as they pulled away.

An unexpected awkwardness filled the space between them. Gabrielle met Xena's crystal blue eyes that seemed filled with doubt and uncertainly. Gabrielle was utterly confused. She had been married. She had a child. She as basically a god, of soccer or of the bedroom wall. So, her seeming nervously while Gabrielle felt wholly certain was tripping up the younger woman's mind.

"What is it?" Gabrielle questioned.

Xena sighed and shrugged awkwardly. "I…I just really don't want to fuck this up, Gabrielle."

Gabrielle tugged her down into another kiss. "You aren't," she told her confidently as she kissed her again. "Just come downstairs with me," Gabrielle suggested as she slowly pulled her lips away from Xena's but leaned her forehead against hers.

"Okay, okay," Xena breathed in agreement.