FIC: This Is Not Afterglow

Title: This Is Not Afterglow
Characters/Pairing: Brittany House, J.J. Redick, various other basketball players; references Greg House/Brittany House, and Dan's usual Brittany/J.J. Redick quips
Word Count: 1057
Rating: PG
Summary: "I can't believe I shook this guy's friggin' hand."
Author's Notes: This is an expansion on a scene taken from the second chapter of Risk Oblivion For Glory, which is here. First chapter is here. For those of you new to the 'verse, this is futurefic where Brittany is coaching the Princeton men's basketball team, and has just led them to the NCAA championship. As I am a Duke fan, Duke jokes and cameos abound in this universe, so I had to write something.



It hasn't sunk in yet. It won't. Maybe on a Tuesday next year when she's standing in the gym looking at the banner. But not now. Oh, God, definitely not now.

Because Coach Brittany House, tears stinging her eyes, is leaning heavily against a wall in the press room, watching Mike Krzyzewski, one of her two coaching idols, talk about how Princeton simply was the better team. How she should be commended for being the first female coach to coach a men's team, and to lead it to cutting down the nets. And all she can think, looking at him, is Is the man insane? and He's gotta be talking about somebody else, right?

This hasn't really happened to her. She wasn't out on the floor guarding J.J. Redick or getting herself slammed down by Shelden Williams. She did not do this. Her team did this. She was just the coach. Just keeping them in line. At least, that's how she sees it.

The national media that just besieged her with questions about gender politics and pressure situations for twenty minutes sees it differently.

She wants to snap that she's killed people for her country before, being that she used to work as a federal agent, so she knows about pressure, and that all she ever set out to do was win basketball games. Now, standing there with her championship T-shirt under her blazer, she can't argue that she hasn't been successful. But she doesn't like the attention. She never has.

Brittany sighs and looks away for a moment, and that's when she sees the Duke players come into the hall to wait for the team portion of the press conference. Redick, Williams and Josh McRoberts. She knows them well, having followed them for a long time before she faced them. It's an honor to even be in the same room with them, yet alone when they're standing in this hallway with her. Everyone waiting. She's waiting for the fanfare to end and she suspects they'd like that, too.

They all look saddened and shaken up. Two of them will leave Duke without a national championship. She can tell from J.J.'s eyes that he's been crying. A sharp pang of guilt hits her in the gut then, and she feels bad about winning. Feels horrible that the mere fact that she's a woman guarantees her more acclaim than these kids who have busted their asses for four years. Guilt almost keeps her from saying anything.

But these are the players she admires, and she can't not let them know that what they've done matters to someone. Even if it's the enemy.

She shifts her body so she's facing them more and says softly, "You were great tonight. You've been great all of your careers. And, um...this is going to sound stupid but...I owe you guys for my being here. If it weren't for you I wouldn't have considered coaching. So...thank you."

There's a silence for a moment, as they all look at her strangely, considering that they're all younger than she is, even if it's not by much. She's in her mid-twenties, with a husband and a kid, it doesn't make sense. But then again, nothing about tonight makes sense. There's an awkward pause. Then J.J. Redick, despite all he's been through, extends his hand. "You're welcome," he says equally quietly. "You were great too."

When she takes his hand, the hand of one of the best college athletes ever to play the game and certainly the best of this year, it's instant validation. He respects her. All those people who've been saying a woman can't coach can go fuck themselves, because the best college player she's ever seen respects her.

"That means a lot to me," she admits. "I...you're a hero to a lot of people. Including me. So don't listen to that bullshit, just know that you've got people who have your back."

He dares a weak smile. "Thanks," he replies. "So do you."

No one's really in the mood for small talk at the moment, considering everything that they've been through, so it's just a few more exchanged words, muted congratulations and condolences. When she steps out the door and meets Steve Benson, Dan Collins and Rob Plantier in the hall coming over for their press conference, she utters a phrase they will tease her about for the rest of her life.

"I just met J.J. Redick," she says, forgetting that she met him after the game ended for the handshakes, that's how shot her brain is. "I can't believe I shook this guy's friggin' hand."

They all crack up in disbelief that that is the most eloquent thing she can say. National champion and she has the dialogue of a fangirl. It's Dan, her star player who has listened to her talk about Redick all year, who immediately jumps on her. "Did you get his phone number?" he teases, ignoring her eyeroll as soon as the words have left his mouth. "He'd probably take you to prom."

"I'm married, you jackass, and I didn't even go to my prom." She looks back over her shoulder at the door to the press room. "He's a good kid. They all are. They'll go far."

Then she turns around and looks at the floor. "This feeling is weirding me out. This like..." A dismissive hand. "State of denial. Do you know what we just did? Do you know who we just beat? Jesus Christ. I can't believe it."

"I understand." Dan puts his hand on her shoulder, waits two seconds and says, "It's afterglow. From you and your boy."

"He is not my boy," she retorts, "and this is not afterglow!"

Dan's smirk only grows. "I'm just teasin' you, Coach," he says, tugging her into a hug. After a moment, he releases her and pats her on the back, moving past her toward the door. "Gotta go. We got a world to face." A pause and then, "Because you put us here."

She smiles slightly. "I didn't do it all on my own, Dan."

"You did a lot." He grins. "Want me to get you an autograph? Or I could probably get his number."

"Get in the room," she orders, pointing and looking stern. But she can't help laughing. Yeah, it definitely hasn't sunk in yet.