A/N Happy Playoff Day! Can you believe the season is over and we're to the playoffs? Who do you have surviving the divisional round? How about the fact that NotRob got to QB for quite a few weeks before Peyton came back in to play hero? He looked so Cockyback! Loved it! I'm psyched for this playoff season! Psyched!

Good news! I've written all the outtakes for this story, and plan on posting one a week for the playoffs and the final one on Super Bowl Sunday! So you have those to look forward to. I've also written a chapter of the new short story that's been in my head for ages. And I'm still thinking about Grande. And I have something else we'll discuss later :) So yeah, lots to come, I promise.

We haven't seen Miss Chelsea in a while, so I thought I'd tell her story that was brought up in another outtake with Dani. I hope you enjoy protective Cockyback! I'll see you next week with another! Love and miss you guys!

GB Outtake Chelsea

I smiled when I saw the car in the driveway as I pulled up. Chelsea's parents had bought her a used Altima when she turned sixteen, and she popped over often after school to hang with Bella and the kids. I gathered my gym bag and the game tape and headed into the house.

I was surprised not to hear the usual shrieking and laughing that accompanied a Chelsea visit but headed into the kitchen anyway. That's where the family usually was when I got home. A quick glance showed me that I was wrong, although Rainbow popped up from her spot by the fireplace and came running.

"Hey, Rainbow." I bent to pick her up. "Where is everyone?"

Her response was a meow and a head butt, which wasn't overly helpful.

"Reed Girl?" I called, heading for the stairs.

"We're in Dani's room," my wife called.

Well then. I headed that way, stopping in the doorway when I heard sniffles. Fuck. Someone was crying. Who and why? Had Dani had a bad day at school?

"What's going on?" I asked, walking into the room to find my wife and daughter cuddled up with Chelsea, whose head was resting on Reed Girl's shoulder.

Fuck. My first thought and fear was that she was sick like her brother had been. I don't know why I went there, but a part of me always worried that she'd get sick, too. Some kind of twin thing.

"What's wrong? What can I do?" I asked, carrying Rainbow over to the bed.

She hopped out of my arms and walked right over to Chelsea, climbed into her lap, and curled up. Rainbow knew how to comfort people when they were upset. She was a lot fucking better at it than I was, let me tell you.

"Chelsea just had a bad day at school." Reed Girl held out a hand to me, and I took it, collapsing on the bed next to her and pulling all three girls into my arms.

"What happened?" A bad day didn't entail sobbing your eyes out, at least not in my world.

"Why do boys lie?" Chelsea asked, her sad blue eyes swimming in tears as she looked up at me.

Fucking hell. Boys. Why did she have to be dating? She'd been so excited a few months ago when she'd gone on her first ever date. She and Reed Girl had spent hours picking out outfits and talking about hair and makeup and shit. I'd taken Dani away before she could get any ideas in her pretty little head about boys and dating. Yeah, she'd only been five at the time, but still. Fuck that noise.

"What boy lied about what?" Had he gotten into her pants? I was going to have to kill him if that was the case. Chelsea was nearly as much my girl as my own daughter was.

Reed Girl ran her fingers through my hair, no doubt trying to keep me calm.

"This boy Chelsea went out with is telling everyone that things got a lot farther than they did."

Fucking prick. Who was this little asshole? He and I needed to have a discussion.

"Trevor Snowden," Chelsea spat, her voice shaky from the crying, but I was glad to see that there was some anger there as well. "He said that I…that we…"

I held up a hand because I didn't need to hear those details. I got the drift. There was generally only one thing that guys lied about when it came to girls at that age. I'd never had to lie, of course, but I knew plenty who had.

"Did he try to push you to do anything?" I needed to know this for my own sanity and because I needed to know just how much pain I had to inflict upon him when we met-which if I had my way, was going to be very soon.

"No! We barely even kissed good night. I don't understand why he would say those things about me."

I sighed when three pairs of expectant female eyes turned my way. This was the shitty thing about being the only male in the house-well, minus Ethan, but he could hardly explain the male psyche when it came to sex. Where was Jasper when I needed him? His counselor ass should be having this discussion.

"Why don't you go find your brother, Princess?" Dani didn't need to be hearing this discussion.

"He's napping," she told me, sitting back and clutching her teddy bear to her. "I want to stay here and make Chelsea feel better."

I smiled at her, because she was so damn cute and sweet. She loved Chelsea like a big sister.

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair, glancing at my wife, whose lips twitched. Yeah, she fucking loved seeing me squirm.

"I'm sure Bella has told you that guys see certain things differently than girls do."

Reed Girl smirked.

"She said that boys think with their-"

I held up a hand again because I didn't need to hear certain words pass Chelsea's lips. She wasn't my kid, but she was close enough.

"Er, yes, they do. But also, guys brag. They brag when they have stuff to brag about, like being an awesome athlete…"

I smirked at Reed Girl's little laugh. Chelsea even rolled her eyes and gave me a half smile.

"And they brag when they don't. Everything is kind of a competition with guys. So if one guy is getting lai…er, with a girl, then the others think they have to be. And if they're not, they'll sometimes lie and claim they are."

"But that's awful! I really liked him! I thought we were going to go out again and maybe someday we'd get to that point, but not after the first date."

Christ. I didn't even like hearing that she'd consider doing it one day down the road. That was just fucking wrong.

"Of course not after the first date." Or the twenty-first. "Any guy who would lie about that isn't worth your time. He doesn't deserve you."

Chelsea snorted. "Of course I'm never going to speak to him again. But he told everybody! And now all these guys who have never talked to me before are asking me out because they think I'm easy."

Of course they were. Fucking hell. What teenage boy didn't like an easy lay?

"You have to rise above it," Reed Girl told her, rubbing her back. "You have to hold your head up high and try to laugh off the rumors. You know it's not true, and anybody who truly knows you knows it isn't. Right now it seems like the end of the world, but I promise you, the rumors will die down and everybody will move on."

That was one way to go about it. Not the way that I preferred, though. "Or you could sock him in the nose."

Reed Girl laughed and shook her head. "Lovely advice, Champ."

I liked it. "I could do it for you."

Chelsea actually laughed. "I'd love to see that. He'd probably lose his sh…stuff the instant he laid eyes on you."

It was an idea. A good one, as far as I was concerned. No, I wasn't going to beat up a sixteen-year-old kid, fun though it may be, but I could scare the shit out of one.

"Edward won't be hitting anyone." Reed Girl smiled at me. "But his heart's in the right place. Why don't you stay and have dinner with us, call your parents and ask if you can have a girl's night with me and Dani? We'll let Edward and Ethan have some man time."

That sounded good to me. I far preferred testosterone to tears.

"Okay." Chelsea wiped at her pretty face. "Sorry I came and cried all over you guys."

"Hey. You're family. You can come see us anytime," I told her.

She bent forward and gave me a hug. "Thanks, Edward. You give me hope that there are good guys in the world."

I smiled at that, stroking her soft hair. "There are. And trust me when I tell you that you'll find one, because I'll make damn sure of it. No jerks are getting through me."

She let out a watery laugh. "Okay, good."

"Trust me. He can spot them." Reed Girl smirked at me, both of us knowing that she was referring to the guy I used to be. "Let's call your mom."

I held out a hand to Dani. "Let's go wake up your brother so I can have an ally in this sea of estrogen."

"What's estrogen?" she asked as I tugged her from the room to give Chelsea and Reed Girl a little more talk time without sensitive ears.

"It's a girl thing," I told her.

"What's easy?"

"Not you, baby. Never, ever." I scooped her up and gave her a smacking kiss. "No more big-girl talk. Let's go watch some cartoons."

I shuddered to think of having this same conversation with her in another ten years. It would be way too soon for me to deal with it. As it was, I was having a hard time leaving Chelsea to Reed Girl. Let it die down, my ass. That kid was going to tell everybody he was a fucking liar. I was going to see to it.

Xoxoxoxoxo

"This kid said what?" Sammy demanded, his dark eyes narrowing and shooting fire.

"He told his pals that Chelsea put out, and now the whole school knows. Guys are asking her out, wanting to be the next in line." Just thinking of it pissed me off, and I slammed down the weight I'd been holding.

"What the hell? We're not gonna let that stand, are we?" he asked.

And that, right there, was the reason Sammy was my closest friend on the team.

"Fuck no, we're not. I'm going over there on my lunch hour to have a talk with him."

"Correction. We're going over to have a talk with him." He clenched his jaw. "I have daughters, damn it. Is this what I have to look forward to when they hit their teens?"

"Tell me about it. Dani's older than your two. I'm going to suffer first." God help me. "Reed Girl says I can't hit him."

"Little loser would probably sue us if we did," Sammy muttered, kicking at one of the sweat towels hanging off the bench. "Fucker."

"Just because we can't touch him doesn't mean we can't scare the living shit out of him. The most important thing is making sure the shithead owns up to being a fucking liar."

"It's a date." Sammy grinned. "I can't say I've ever been so excited to go to school before."

I snorted. "I know what you mean." My visits to school these days were way better than when I was a kid, that was for sure. I was looking forward to this one more than most.

Xoxoxoxox

"Does Chels know we're coming?" Sammy asked as we headed into the school.

"I think she assumes," I said, laughing at the way she'd hugged me when she left this morning. She'd had a look in her eye and a smirk on her face when she told me she'd see me soon. Reed Girl had definitely known, only telling me not to do anything that was going to get splashed across the newspapers and the net.

I checked in with the front office. I'd already informed them that I was stopping by with lunch. They were used to it by now. I visited Chelsea once a month at least. A smile for the secretary and principal had us being waved on with flutters and blushes. That shit never got old.

We pushed through the cafeteria doors, and my eyes quickly found Chelsea. She was at a table with a few close friends, her eyes downcast and shoulders hunched. That would never fucking do.

The usual gasps and exclamations accompanied our appearance as we made our way across to Chelsea.

"Hey, Chels. What's with that face? Don't you have a hug for your favorite wide receiver?" Sammy demanded, loudly, in case there were a few people who hadn't noticed us yet.

Chelsea looked up, and a smile lit her pretty face. She pushed out of her chair and ran into Sammy's waiting arms.

"I'm sorry…is Antonio Brown here?"

"I'll Antonio Brown you, kid!" He swung her around before setting her down in front of me. "Here. She won't pretend that you're not her favorite."

"Because he is." Chelsea snuggled into my arms. "Hi, Edward."

"Hi, kid. How are things today?"

She shrugged, and I saw that sadness back on her face. "The same, I guess."

"Well, we can't have that." I smiled at Sammy, giving him a nod.

"Where's Trevor Snowden?" he shouted. "I'm looking for Trevor Snowden! He's the big winner of a special prize."

"There he is!" a kid yelled, helpfully pointing at the boy who was now hunched over much the same way Chelsea had been.

"Thank you, my friend." Sammy beamed at him. "Trevor! Come over here for a minute."

With all eyes on the kid, he kind of had no choice but to push back from his chair and walk over to where we stood. I kept my arm around Chelsea, bracing her as she tensed at his nearness.

"There's a lot of witnesses if you hit me," he muttered once he got in front of us.

"Hit him?" I asked, looking at Sammy, who managed to look shocked and dismayed. "Why ever would we hit him? What could you, a mere child, have possibly done to make us hit you?"

He glanced at Chelsea and then shrugged. "I don't know."

"Oh, I think you know." I flashed him the same smile I flashed on the field right before I threw a game-winning touchdown.

"I didn't do anything."

"Exactly! He didn't do anything, Sammy! He admits it! So then, why does everybody in this cafeteria think that you did something?"

He shrugged, his brown hair falling into his eye. I itched to take out some scissors and cut that shit off. Damn my promises.

"I can't help what people say."

"Can't you? Well, even if you weren't the one who started the rumor, you could be the one to finish it. If you were any kind of man."

I turned to Sammy. "I'm fairly certain there's nothing more pathetic than a guy who has to lie about his sex life, as if that's what makes him a man."

"Agreed. You know what makes a man a man? It's standing up and doing the right thing, owning up to your mistakes, defending the reputation of a girl who did nothing more than have the bad taste to go out with a moron."

Sammy glanced at Chelsea. "Really, kid, we need to work on this. I'm not sure what you ever saw in this guy. He reminds me of this jerk I grew up with, who also lied about his experience with women. Pretty sure he's still a virgin. Because even if his friends thought he was cool because of his lies, the girls saw through him. And really, who should a teenage boy want to impress? It's certainly not the guys, unless you swing that way. In which case, more power to you."

"I don't swing that way! What are you trying to do," he asked quietly.

I smiled. "Us? We're not trying to do anything. We're just trying to clear up a rumor. We can't help it if what we say here gets twisted by your friends, just like what you said or didn't say about your date with Chelsea."

"Seriously. We can't control what people say." Sammy had a bright smile on his face. "We can only control what we do about it," he added, softly, so only we could hear. "What should we do about it, Trevor?"

"I can think of many, many things. I spent much of the night jotting down ideas. I have a daughter, you see. Sammy has two. It's good for us to be prepared for situations that may arise. Also, Chelsea is a weird kind of sister/daughter hybrid, so you can imagine that I'm insanely protective of her. And when I hear that a little loser is spreading lies about her, I get angry. And then I get creative. Interesting things happen when I'm creative, wouldn't you say, Sammy?"

Trevor's eyes were wide, and he was kind of pale. It made me feel pretty awesome.

"Oh yeah. I've seen you get creative. What you did to Colin is still the stuff of legend. Years later, he's still getting crap for it."

I smirked, even though I hadn't done shit. Reed Girl had a devious fucking mind, though, and she'd use it against this kid in a heartbeat.

"So, should I continue to get creative, Trevor? Or would you like to clear matters up right here and right now, with everybody watching? Because I enjoy having all eyes on me, you know. It's a quarterback thing. Do you enjoy the spotlight?"

He shook his head.

"Well, take it. Just this once. Before I do." I kept the pleasant smile on my face the whole time.

He looked petrified. "I didn't sleep with Chelsea. I lied!" he yelled.

"Why ever would you do that?"

"Because everyone said I was a loser if I didn't. Jay slept with Jessica, and David with Mary, and I was the last of my friends."

"What?" some girl shrieked.

I glanced at Chelsea, who smirked and said, "Jessica."

The girl went up to some dude and laid into him.

"Looks like you might not be the only liar of the bunch, Trev," Sammy drawled, smirking as the girl smacked the boy upside his head.

"I guess that just goes to show that much of the stuff you hear in the hallways just isn't true." I looked around the cafeteria, meeting every eye I could. "Perhaps you should stop and think before you say things about people, because the next lie could be about you. So, Trevor, thank you for clearing up that little matter. I trust that we won't have to return for any other situations?"

He shook his head quickly. "No."

"Good. Because I'm not going to throw that list away. I'm just going to add to it periodically when inspiration strikes. And if you so much as think an unkind thought about Chelsea, I'll be forced to consult it. Okay?"

"Okay. Sorry, Chelsea."

She just nodded, and the kid scampered away.

"Now that that bit of business is done, let's eat!" Sammy said, smiling.

"Oh, one more thing." I glanced around the cafeteria. "Any of you who asked Chelsea out based on that lie? You don't deserve a minute of her time. Don't you bother her either. My list is extensive and all-encompassing."

"Edward!" Chelsea hissed. "Now nobody will ever ask me out."

I grinned at her. "That's the point, kid." But the frown on her face had me continuing. "Any guy who treats you with respect is fine by me, Chels. Just pick better next time."

"I will." She hugged me. "Thanks for helping me out, Edward."

"Anytime, kiddo. Anytime."