-A week later at Hope and Jerramy's home in Seattle-

Hope's POV

I smile softly to myself as I watch Julie squeal happily and run from Jerramy through the kitchen window. Jules wanted to come home with me after the Olympics so I brought her not thinking that she'd leave my side once we got here because of him but I was wrong. I tried to call Carli about it but her phone isn't working because she's still in Rio so instead I talked to Brian. He's not concerned about the sudden change in her behavior so I guess I'm not either. It's a good thing she loves Jerramy again. I glance through the glass one more time at the two of them playing with the dogs before continuing mixing up the ingredients to make stuffed bell peppers which happens to be Julie's absolute favorite. I finish the filling and put it into the hollowed out shells and pop them into the oven not even a minute before the back door burst open. 

"Mom, Papa got me all muddy!" accuses Jay pointing behind her toward him. I shoot him a look which just makes him laugh. "Hey!" she says spinning around. "Don't laugh at me!" He grins at her and picks her up making her gasp dramatically. 

"I wasn't laughing at you!" he insists tickling her. "I was laughing at Mom over there trying to be scary." He makes a monster face and then attacks her face with a whole bunch of kisses making her giggle and squirm in his arms desperately trying to get away. Julie reaches up and pushes his face away.

"Papa stop it!" she laughs. 

"Hey!" he whines pouting. "That hurt!" She giggles and leans up and kisses his cheek. He smiles at her, "Much better princess," he pecks her nose, "thank you very very much." She gives him a little nod before looking over at me with her huge smile. I chuckle and walk over and carefully take her out of his arms. 

"So what's this about Papa making you all muddy?" I ask with a smile while scanning her clothes. 

"Weeeeeeell he didn't make me ALL muddy!" she says with a sheepish smile. She looks down at her shirt and points to a spot about the size of a tomato. I chuckle and roll my eyes.

"Go change your shirt and then come down here and help me finish dinner." I set her down and she runs off to her room. I look over at Jerramy and smirk, "So you have a new friend huh?"

He smiles and puts his hands on my hips and pulls me close to him, "I guess I do." He kisses my neck making me shiver. He chuckles lowly and dips down to whisper in my ear, "I think we need to send my friend to the store to pick up some ice cream."

I bite my lip and look up at him, "Why should we do that?" His hand travels down to my butt and he squeezes it and kisses my lips. "Oh." I giggle quietly. "I get-"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" screams Julie making us jump apart quickly. She stands in the entryway in one of my shirts with her hands covering her eyes. "WE EAT IN HERE!" I sigh and roll my eyes.

"We were just hugging." I tell her crossing my arms annoyed that she interrupted.

She puts her hands on her hips and sasses, "Yeah right! You two were pre gaming!" I whip my head around to Jerramy and he looks utterly shocked that that came out of her mouth and shrugs his shoulders at me.

"What are you talking about?" he asks looking at her still surprised. She grabs an apple out of the bowl on the counter and bites it. She swallows and then looks over at us.

"Sex." I feel my mouth open and close horrified. "You two are obsessed with it. That's ALL you do!" she tells us jumping up on the counter top. "I mean I thought Zach and I were bad but-"

"Hold up!" I say putting my hand up. "You and Zachary have had SEX?!" My little blonde shrinks back against the cabinets and looks down at her hands nervously.

"Mhmmm..." she hums not meeting my eyes. Jerramy walks toward her with a frown on his face.

"Sunshine," he says cautiously lifting up her chin, "did you at least use protection?" Julie pulls her face away embarrassed and nods. He sighs relieved and backs up, "Good." I look at him angry and confused. Is that all he's going to say? I grab her arm and pull her off the bar. I drag her out of the kitchen and pull her to her room.

"You're never seeing Zach again!" I loudly claim pushing her onto her bed.

"But Mom we're engaged!" she yells back starting to get up. I glare hard at her and she sits back down. She looks down and then looks up at me with big sad eyes, "Momma it was just three times." The use of that nickname makes me pause for a minute and just stare at her. I haven't heard that one in at least a year. "The first time was when we first got together and then after one of his games and the last one was after he proposed." She tears up, "Mommy I'm sorry. Please don't be mad."

I sigh and sit down next to her and wrap her in a hug, "No more until you're married alright? Just to be safe." She nods and kisses my cheek making me smile. "Let's go finish dinner snug-a-bug!" She laughs as I pick her up and bounce her in my arms while walking back down the hallway to the kitchen. "Hey honey," I call to Jerramy while I set Jules down on the counter, "can you get the grill warmed up for steak?"

-1 Hour Later-

Jerramy's POV

"Amen!" says Julie closing out the blessing. I smile over at her and give her a nod of approval making her grin before digging into her meal. I take a bite into my steak and grin to myself. These turned out perfect.

"Hey Julie," says Hope while cutting her pepper, "have you heard from Alex lately?" Julie looks up from her plate at me and then over at her mother. Alex and Hope aren't talking right now. Once Lex heard what happened in the interview she got upset and quit answering Aitch's calls.

"Yeah I talked to her this morning." replies JJ looking down at her plate and stabbing her macaroni with her fork. "She's good. Her, Ashlyn, and some of the other girls on their team are going out tonight."

Hope takes a breath and nods, "That's good. How's Mal-"

"Mallory is fine." answers Julie quickly. Hope nods again and starts to eat her food. Mal's parents don't want her around Hope right now so that's going on too. Christen is traveling with Tobin Heath somewhere which I think is strange but I've been told not to ask any questions. I went from being "Papa" to one sweet girl to being "Papa" to three other girls that I honestly don't know very well and I don't know when I'm going to get to. The three of us fall into silence as we eat. I look down at my plate and pick at my stuffed bell pepper. I've never been fond of them. I scoop some of the center out and put it in my mouth. I swallow quickly and then take a sip of my water to try to wash away the taste. That is nasty. I shake my head a little and then look back down and start to cut a piece of my steak. Across from me I hear a the dreaded sound of a metal knife scraping against a glass plate. I look up and see Julie struggling to cut her meat. 

Hope sighs and gently reaches over and takes JJ's plate to cut it herself, "Hey baby I'll do it." I take it out of her hand and set it next to mine. "You just-"

DING! DONG!

She peers at the clock behind me and groans, "Who could that be? It's dinner time." She takes her napkin off her lap and gets up. "I'll be right back." She leans down and kisses the top of Julie's head and smiles softly towards me before walking out of the room. Jules and I make eye contact and grin at each other.

"Let's get the munchkin some meat she can eat shall we?" I make a silly face causing her to giggle before starting to cut up her food. I finish cutting up her dinner so I pass the plate back to her and continue to eat my own. A few minutes later Hope walks in and I can tell something is off. Her skin looks visibly paler and she doesn't look at Julie or I when she sits down. "Who was at the door honey?"

She speaks softly, as if her voice is going to shatter into a million pieces if she speaks any louder, "No one important." She gazes down at her lap and sniffles. She picks her head back up and grabs her fork and starts to eat rather quickly, "Just some kids selling something for school." I eye her strangely while she shovels down a few more bites before abruptly getting up. "Honey do the dishes tonight." She grabs her plate and leaves. Julie looks at me curiously and I shrug my shoulders. Hope's dishes pang against the metal sink in the next room with her heavy, short footsteps echo through the house. Jay flinches once the door to our bedroom slams shut. She looks up at me with teary eyes. 

"Is Momma okay?" Her lip trembles and she starts to hiccup. I quickly get up and rush to her side of the table and sit in the seat beside her to try to calm her down before she breaks down. 

"I'm sure Mom is just fine sweetheart." I say soothingly. I tuck the loose hair from her ponytail behind her ears. "Papa is going to go check on her, okay? Can you stay in here and eat your dinner for me?" She nods still visibly upset. Julie has always been very sensitive when it comes to Hope. I kiss her forehead before getting up to find my wife. I make my way to the back of the house and frown when her sobbing hits me. I push the wooden door open and close it behind me. I turn and my heart breaks at the sight in front of me. 

"Baby?" I cautiously ask inching toward her. Her body looks small collapsed on the floor next to our bed. In one hand she has her phone and the other she clutches our comforter that she must have pulled down with her. She looks up at me with her makeup smeared all over the face and her eyes bloodshot. I frown and sit down next to her. I wrap my arms around her and pull her into my chest. She clutches my shirt in her fist tightly and sobs into my shirt. I hold her as she shakes and gasps for air. I silently press my lips to the top of her head and rub her back until she calms down enough to catch her breath. "Honey what happened?" I whisper.

She tilts her head up just enough to look at me, "I think I'm about to lose my job." My eyes widen in complete confusion and shock. My grip around her loosens slightly so she sits up and wipes her face. She sits back on her heels and sighs heavily, "That was my manager at the door. Jill and the President of US soccer has called a meeting with my team and I tomorrow concerning disciplinary action." She bites her lip and looks away from me while shaking her head, "I've been on that team for seventeen years." She dryly chuckles before continuing. "Now it all could be gone. Just like that!" She closes her eyes and sighs again, "the kids, retirement, everything." She opens her eyes and looks at me, "What are we going to do?" Suddenly our bedroom door opens and in walks Julie with a determined look on her face. 

"We're going to fight." she says putting her hand out to help Hope up. Once she's standing I watch in a small state of awe the little girl I just had to cut her steak up transform into a strong, brave woman. She wraps her arm around Hope and looks her in the eyes. "We're going to fight until there's nothing left to fight about. I'm not about to give up my mom because some cowards got their feelings hurt."

Hope smiles a little bit, "We don't call people that Julie Beth." She leans and kisses her cheek. "Let's go fight."