chap22

"Thanks for taking care of me" she whispered to him and he smiled up at her.
"You're welcome" he whispered back as she sat down. Hope shot him a questioning look across the table but he went back to his breakfast. He stood up a minute later and started to carry his things to the sink as someone came running up the stairs.
"Where's Shawn?" he heard someone say
"Right here" he said, turning around to see Eric coming into the room with Greta.
"Hey, man, look what I found downstairs" he said, holding up a football and tossing it to him. He caught it cleanly. "You up for a little game?"
"Definately" Shawn said, squeezing it to see if it was any good and then tossing it back.
"Only if you boys think you can keep up with us" Bo said, intercepting the ball.
"Ok, dad, you're on" Shawn said, grinning.
"And that would include me" John said, jokingly elbowing Eric in the side.
"Great" Eric said. "Anyone else wanna play?"
"I'll play" Greta volunteered.
"Then we need one more player..." Shawn said, surveying the table. He went over and put his hands on Belle's shoulder, gently squeezing them. "Belle.."
"Yeah?" she asked.
"You up for a little friendly game of football?" he asked.
"I don't know if I should jump into a physical activity so fast after being sick" she said.
"Oh, we won't play long" he said. "And you can quit if you start feeling sick"
"I don't know..." she answered.
"Please?" he begged. She turned to look at him and he gave her a sad face.
"Fine" she said, standing up. She turned to face him and squeezed his face in her hand. "Just give me a minute to get ready"
"Ok, hurry!" he called after her as she went to her room. She pulled on her bathing suit and then put on a tank top and a pair of shorts over it. She pulled her hair up and then hurried out again. Shawn was the only one waiting for her in the kitchen.
"Where'd everyone go?" she asked.
"They're waiting for us" he answered. "Let's go" They hurried down the stairs and out of the house to the beach.
"Ok, we need teams" Eric said. "Me and Shawn are captains because...well, because I said so" They laughed.
"I call first pick" Shawn said. "Dad, you're with me"
"John, you're with me" Eric said, as the men walked over to them.
"Do you see where this is headed?" Belle joked.
"Yeah, real nice boys" Greta said. "Maybe we don't want to play with you guys after all" Bo and Shawn were conversting and then Shawn looked up.
"We'll take Greta" he said.
"Ok, sis, you're with us" Eric said. Belle shot Shawn a questioning look and he jokingly stuck his tongue out at her. John grabbed Belle and pulled her over to them.
"Ok, I'll take Bo" he said. "Eric, you watch Greta and Belle, you've got Shawn"
"Daddy, I really don't know how to play" she said.
"Hey John" Bo said, with a grin. "Since we know we're gonna win, we'll let you guys have the ball first". Shawn laughed and Belle shook her head.
"It's not that hard, honey" John said. "They're probably thinking that we won't give you the ball. But this is what we're going to do-I'm gonna take the ball and Eric, I want you to go over to the side and get open. Oh, Belle, can you catch the ball?"
"I...guess so" she said. "I really don't know"
"Well, try" he said. "I'm going to fake like I'm going to throw to Eric but I'm going to throw to you. And then you just run with it, ok?"
"Yeah, I guess so" she said, uncertainly. They broke apart and faced each other.
"You're going down, Perfect Girl" Shawn said, facing her.
"Just wait, Brady" she answered. John got the ball and Belle took off running, pushing past Shawn. He took off after her but taking his time and Belle turned to see the ball coming toward her. She caught it hard against her chest and then started running. Shawn was started to see her with the ball and quickly took off after her. She had a good head start and ran up till the point where they had declared the end zone.
"Touchdown!" she said, turning to face the rest.
"Nice one, Belle!" Eric shouted as Shawn caught up to her.
"Good job, princess" he said. "I'm impressed"
"You ain't seen nothing yet" she said, taking the ball and slamming it into his stomach. He groaned as he took it in his hands and she walked off. They played for a few more uneventful minutes until Greta got control of the ball. She ran down the beach and Eric was hot on her trail. He reached out to grab her and they both tumbled down in the sand, laughing. The rest of them stopped as Erirc got up and pulled her to her feet.
"Wait, we didn't decide how we're playing" Shawn said. "Is it tackle or two-hand touch or what?"
'Well, with girls playing, we better just play two-hand" Eric said, coming up to them. Greta smacked his arm.
"What, are you saying we can't handle it?" she asked.
"We don't want to see you girls get hurt" Shawn said, mockingly.
"Or maybe you're afraid that you'll be the ones getting hurt" Belle said, defiantly.
"Ok, let's compromise" John said. "It's two-hand touch...with occasional tackling, ok? It's just for fun anyway"
"Sounds good to me" Greta said, and Belle nodded.
"Don't come crying to me when you get hurt" Shawn said.
"Whatever Brady" she said, walking away.
"You feeling ok, hon?" John asked Belle, when they were near each other.
"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" she asked.
"Just checking" he said. "Now keep your eye on Shawn, I think he has something up his sleeve" Belle watched as Bo almost immediately threw the ball to Shawn. He took off running and she ran after him. His foot slipped on the loose sand at one point and she gained some land on him. Near the end zone she caught up to him and she reached out as far as she could, finally connecting with him. She caught him around the waist but since she was off balance, started to tumble down, taking him with her. She fell on the back of him and they rolled down the beach a few feet before they stopped. Greta and Eric, who were the closest, hurried to check on them but stopped when they could hear them laughing.
"Are you guys ok?" Bo called out.
"I'm fine" Belle said, sitting up. "Better check on Shawn" He was still lying on his stomach with the ball a few feet from him. "Shawn?" she asked, crawling over to him. She gently placed her hand on his shoulder and he jumped up with a growl. She screamed as he rolled her on her side and started tickling her. "No, please, stop!" she screamed but he wouldn't.
"Hey, save it for the honeymoon" Eric said, and Shawn finally stopped. He stood up and brushed himself off as Belle also climbed to her feet. They started walking back towards the others.
"Told you that you'd get hurt" he said.
"Hey, I'm not the one bleeding" she said, pointing to his leg. He looked at it and shrugged.
"That's nothing" he said.
"If you say so"
"I'm a man, I can handle it"
"Uh huh" she said, as they got near the blanket where Marlena and Hope were sitting. Shawn looked at the cut again.
"Mom!" he said, hurrying over to her. Belle laughed as Hope cleaned it off and put pressure on it till it stopped bleeding. She scoffed at him as he came back to join the game. They continued playing for awhile longer before Belle started to feel tired.
"Hey guys, I think I'm gonna quit" she said.
'Are you ok?" Shawn asked.
'I'm starting to get a headache so I'm just going to rest' she said.
"I guess we're done then" Eric said.
"No way!" they heard someone say behind them. She turned to see Marlena standing up. "I'll take Belle's place" Eric and John shouted at her as she came up to join them. They huddled together as Belle went over to the towel.
Shawn was half-listening to his Dad as Belle was walking to the blanket. He watched as she stood on it and pulled her tank top off, revealing her bikini. She then slowly unbuttoned her shorts and let them drop around her ankles, bending over and stepping out of them. She pulled the tie out of her hair and let it fall, gleaming, down her shoulders. She sat back on the blanket and put her sunglasses on, stretching her long legs in front of her. He was so engrossed in watching her that he didn't hear Eric call out to him.
'Shawn! Heads up!" Eric yelled. Shawn was busy watching Belle as the football came flying over and connected with the side of his head.