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plot: in which, a mid season trade brings the struggling couple back together

trope: established relationship/ marriage troubles

pairings: wbb! masc reader x sabrina ionescu

warnings: foul language, angst, and sexual implications

a/n: figured id do sabrina since y'all been requesting her like crazy 🙂‍↕️ t-cloud still in the works, but if y'all got plot ideas for it send them in pls 🙏 for the vote, we got satou sabally, allisha gray, kate martin, gabby williams, kiki iriafen, and natisha hiedeman

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They got married in early 2023 during the off-season. They met in Oregon, starting dating towards the end of freshman year. It was a good life. They worked through it, even though they had traded to different teams. She proposed in 2022 during their off season trip to Romania. Everything was good. It went smoothly.

Until it didn't.

Not even months after being married, they were having troubles. Communication was one of the them. They felt like their love just wasn't strong anymore from being apart for so long. They hardly got to see each or spend time together. It was driving Sabrina crazy. All she wanted was her wife, and she couldn't have her. It started a huge argument because y/n didn't want to leave Vegas. The finals games against each other's team did not help their problems either. It made them worse.

It ended up with them discussing divorce. They both agreed to it. The only problem? They couldn't file until off season.

Not to mention. They were both doing this in secret. The public did not know of their relationship at all. They knew Sabrina was married because she posted her wedding pictures, but, there was no mention of the groom, or well, in her case, the bride. They didn't even know she was gay.

Y/n was having a difficult season in Vegas. Going into the new season with the divorce was far from easy. She wasn't playing good. Her mind was distracted. She was drained. She confided in her coach about her marriage problems with Sabrina. It had Becky thinking. Of course y/n was valuable to the team but her mental health mattered more than some stats. She found herself talking to Sandy, and the New York gm about a possible trade.

It took a month for them to come to an agreement and the thing that finalized it was Sabrina's bad game. A bad game because she and y/n got into another argument over the phone about the divorce, again. Apparently they didn't want to give each other a dime of their money but were both somehow offended that neither wanted to give anything. It was beginning to irritate Sandy as much as it was Becky. They couldn't take it anymore.

It was a random Thursday the trade was announced, neither of them warned about it.

They had y/n on the next flight to New York. She was beyond frustrated but she wasn't going to be ungrateful. At least now she could argue with Sabrina in person. Funnily enough, Sabrina had that same idea because she was waiting for her wife at the door of her new apartment. Y/n sighed deeply, setting her bags down. "Don't sigh at me. If anyone should be sighing, it's me. Now I have to put up with your daily attitude in person and at work."

"Are we seriously doing this right now? I just got here. I'm tired. I ain't in the mood for your bullshi-" Sabrina's eyes widened, "my what? Say that again. I dare you." She sighed, unlocking her door and pushing it open. "Can we pick this up later? Please. I'm exhausted. I still have to unpack."

Sabrina rolled her eyes, "fine. But we are talking as soon as you wake up."

"I'm not calling you when I wake up."

"No need. I'm sleeping over." Sabrina pushed her way inside and walked over to the couch. She sighed, dropping her things and walking to her bedroom to sleep. As she slept, Sabrina unpacked her things and even went to the store to buy her some things to make the apartment feel more like home. It was just a wife habit.

Then she realized the fridge was empty so took it upon herself to stop at the grocery store nearby and fill up her fridge. She knew y/n always waited until the last minute to buy groceries and ended up eating out. She got all her favorite foods and drinks and organized them in the fridge. She then realized her wife would probably be hungry when she woke up so decided to make her some food.

Y/n woke up to the smell of pasta. Her padded against the new floors as she made her way to the kitchen. Sabrina plated up the pasta and poured her a glass of cold water. "Don't you have anywhere else to be, Sabrina?" She complained, hating that she was still here in her apartment when she could be doing anything else.

"How about a, "thank you for unpacking, and making you dinner, my beautiful wife." Sabrina retorts, sliding the plate of food to her.

She smiled forcefully, "thank you."

"My beautiful wife," she finished for her with an annoyed look.

"Nope. You said I couldn't call you my wife." She corrected, reaching for her water to take a sip.

Sabrina scoffed, "no, I didn't."

"Yes, you did."

She scowled, taking a seat across her. "Whatever. Hey, how come I'm not in any of your picture frames? You don't even have our wedding photo."

Y/n took a breath, trying to have patience with her. "I sent my pictures and other artwork through FedEx so they didn't get lost like last time. They should be here in a week." Sabrina hummed, a little more satisfied to know y/n didn't burn their pictures together. "Good to know. Anyways, as I was saying before you rudely cut me off with your jet lag. We need to establish some ground rules."

"Ground rules?"

"Yes. This is not Oregon, okay? We- are not together. We are coworkers. We must have a professional, work relationship. That means you cannot kiss me. You cannot smack my ass, or pull me into the showers. You cannot hug me from the front or from behind. And you especially cannot sweet talk me. Understand?" Y/n smirks, her words sparking ideas in her mind. "Define sweet talk."

Sabrina groaned, smacking her arm in annoyance. "Can you take this serious?"

"Fine. I won't do any of those things. Work relationship only."

"You promise?"

She taps her chest, "scouts honor."

Sabrina groaned yet again, "how did I marry you?"

She knew Sabrina was just annoyed and overwhelmed with all this but that still hurt for her to hear. She didn't like their love, all their memories to be dismissed to that. "Don't say that. You know why you married me." Her eyes dropped, guilt creeping up her chest. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. This is just- it's a lot. The divorce, the trade, and now the pressure of a championship and the commissioners cup in a couple days."

"You want a hug?"

Tears rolled down her cheeks uncontrollably, "yeah."

Y/n got up without another word and wrapped her arms around her wife. They stood there for a couple minutes, letting her wife cry into her chest, allowing her emotions release. Sabrina pulled away to look up at her, y/n wiping a stray tear with her thumb. She had those caring eyes that brought her warmth on a cold day. Those eyes she fell in love with. She missed looking into them. "I should go."

"You don't have to."

"Yes, I do."

She let her leave. Why? She didn't even know.

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They lost the commissioners cup to the Minnesota Lynx. But, the good thing was, y/n was fitting perfectly into their plays, and team. They built some solid chemistry together. What really stuck? Her chemistry with Sabrina. It was too good. So good Sandy and the coaching start starting making up plays specifically for y/n and Sabrina. But, they wanted to consult them on the plays as well.

Everyone was sat in the film room, forced to go over their mistakes in the commissioners cup game. Y/n sat beside Kayla, and bowl of popcorn in her lap because she was hungry and forgot to eat breakfast. Usually Sabrina would call and remind her, but again, they were that close anymore. As she chewed, Sabrina turned around to glare at her, "could you chew any louder?"

Y/n rolled her eyes, "there you go makin' a problem out of nothing."

Her jaw dropped slightly in offense, "I'm making a problem? You're literally chewing popcorn in film room like you're proud of the way we played that game." Y/n scoffed, "it's called the film room for a reason. And, if I recall, I played pretty good in that game. We should be addressing you're lack of catching passes, Ms fumble me."

"I will climb over this chair-"

"What are you gonna do? Spank me, pillow princess?" She taunted.

"I hate you." Sabrina snatched the popcorn from her hands and sat back in her seat.

She scoffed, "I was done anyway."

After film, they had practice to work on some new plays, specifically trying to make plays for y/n and Sabrina. Unfortunately, they kept clashing heads and the plays weren't working. It was frustrating. "Can you pass the ball right? It really ain't that hard." She argued, throwing the ball into Sabrina's hands.  "Stop fumbling the ball and we won't have this problem! It's not my fault you can't handle my strength!" Sabrina yelled back, throwing it back at her.

"Oh, you wanna talk about my strength now?" She scoffed and walked over to her, Sab taking a step back in alarm. "Don't you dare." She smacked the ball out of her hands and Sabrina tried to run only for y/n to grab her waist, spin her around and throw her over her shoulder. "Put me down!" Stewie chuckled at the scene, and JJ pulled out her phone to snap a picture. "Send that to me. I gotta show Marta."

"Talk about my strength again, Sabrina."

She huffed, going limp in her arms. "Whatever. Can you put me down now? I got the point."

"Good." She slid a hand over her ass as she set her back down and Sabrina smacked her hand away. "Hey! Watch those hands!"

"I was tryin' not to drop you-"

"Yeah okay, you just wanted to cop a feel. I felt the squeeze."

"So what if I did? Shoot me."

Sabrina smirked, taking a step away from her. "That's all you're getting, 'cause this body? Off limits. You're never gonna get a piece of it again."

"Why you gotta be like that?"

She walked off without another word and coach ended practice with that, adding that they'll pick up tomorrow.

More time passed, but their arguments only worsened with time. Fortunately, it didn't extend to the court. It was odd. When they tried plays during practice they never worked out. When they tried them during games, they nailed them every time. The fans were excited, especially Oregon fans who loved the duo in college and now got to see them reignite that flame in the pros. Fans were oblivious to their relationship.

Then, really out of nowhere for y/n, she was told she made the USA Olympic team. They announced it during practice and the day before, they had pulled Sabrina and Breanna to tell them they made the team. She didn't think she made the cut at all after that. Her teammates were screaming, jumping around her and shaking her in excitement. Sabrina held her jersey, ready to give it to her when she reached for it.

"That's crazy." She chuckled, taking a step closer to her wife who stared up at her with the proudest eyes. Their teammates backed up to give them their moment. "You did it." Sabrina whispered and y/n immediately pulled her into a hug, arms wrapping tightly around her figure. She pressed a kiss to her cheek and Sabrina smiled, her arms tightening around her wife.

That video is what brought on the fans suspicion. There was no way it was something friendly between them.

After the All Star game, they were off to Paris. That's where they learned, because they were married, they had to share a room. Y/n didn't even know that was a rule (and she had suspicions it wasn't), but they complied much to Sabrina's dismay. Y/n laid spread out on the bed as Sabrina unpacked her suitcase. She groaned, "are you seriously not gonna unpack?"

"Why would I do that when I can just grab whatever I need out of the suitcase?" She retorts.

Sabrina huffed, "you're so lazy." She walked over and grabbed her wife's stuff, bringing it over to her bed to unpack it.

"Are you gonna complain this whole trip? I think I should at least get some sex if you're gonna scream my ear off." Sabrina paused, turning to glare at her smirking wife. "If you want sex so bad, go sleep with one of the other single Olympians around here." Y/n rolled her eyes, "chill out babe, I was just jokin'. You do know what a joke is, right?"

"Stop calling me 'babe.' We are not a couple."

"That's not what our wedding certificate says."

Sabrina scoffed, "you're so lucky I can't file until off season."

"I'm so blessed," she retorts sarcastically.

That night, the girls planned to go out for dinner and explore Paris together. Y/n put on some casual striped trousers and a top. She waited for Sabrina to hurry up out of the bathroom. "We're gonna miss the bus. Hurry up." Sabrina rolled her eyes and stepped out. She wore a beautiful black dress that hugged her figure, hair curled, makeup as perfect as ever. Y/n was starstruck, her breath hitching slightly. She brushed the dress down, "how do I look?"

"Perfect...so fucking perfect."

Sabrina blushed, walking over and picking up her heels to hand to her. "Can you put these on me?" She nodded, immediately dropping to her knees to put them on.

Y/n was on wife duty, and by that, it meant holding Sabrina's bags and taking pictures of her. Then they got to the Eiffel tower and everyone was taking pictures looking super cute. Sabrina noticed all the couples taking pictures in front of it and felt very left out. They'd been to Paris before, on a surprise trip and took the most beautiful pictures in front the Eiffel tower. But as she watched, she wanted to feel that again.

She reached for her wife's hands and cleared her throat, "hey, maybe we should recreate those pictures we took last time we were here." Y/n couldn't hide her smile. She nodded, "yeah, definitely." She called over Diana and of course she was happy to take the pictures, but she did make Jewell hold Sabrina's bag.

Sabrina giggled, "you remember the poses?"

"How could I forget them?"

The first two were simple, easy. Then they got to the third one. The kiss. "Hurry up and smooch, I ain't got all day! I'm gettin' too old to be up this late." Diana expressed, really tired of these two acting like they weren't in love.

"You don't have to kiss me if you don't want-" y/n was cut off, her wife's lips pressed softly against hers. Oh, how she missed that feeling. She hadn't kissed her wife in months. She slipped her hands around her waist, bringing her closer and deepening the kiss. Sabrina didn't pull away either. She allowed it. She encouraged it. Diana smirked, snapping the pictures as Jewell cheered.

The final pose, they pulled away, Sabrina as red as a cherry. Y/n slowly lifted her off the ground, the blonde's hands going to her shoulders and smiling down at her. Diana snapped the pictures, and looked down at the camera, impressed with her work. "I could be a photographer."

They walked over to check out the pictures, Sabrina smiling gleefully at the result. "Don't worry. I'mma edit those people out," y/n mumbled.

"They're perfect."

"Think so?"

Sabrina nodded, "yeah."

Time passed, and they actually had a pretty good time in Paris. The gold medals they won only added to that. Even the fans were onto them. The social media admins didn't help by posting a ton of moments they had in Paris, and even making up a ship name for their friendship. It started off as a joke, but slowly became serious the more content they got.

The allegations got worse during their playoffs run. The first round, they beat Atlanta. But during that, fans noticed their friendship on the court mirroring their moments in Paris. Now, it was a huge difference compared to the way they acted during regular season. They were always a little standoffish to each other on the bench and weren't super close or smiley on the court. The playoffs changed that.

They caught Sabrina smiling at y/n, or playfully nudging her, and messing around on the bench. They picked up the way y/n looked at Sabrina, like she was in love with her. It was more than a friendship look. Then, it had them watching every single thing they did. Everyone knew y/n only signed her own merch, and she usually only signed for the younger fans, and the elders. So, when y/n signed some Sabrina jerseys, it rung more bells.

It was the semifinals now, and of course they were going up against Vegas, y/n's former team, the team she started her career in. It was a bittersweet moment for her. Unfortunately for them, she had to kick their ass. And she did. They beat them twice to start off the series. Vegas beat them the third game. New York knew they had to put them away the fourth game. They could not risk a comeback.

The final game, Sabrina dropped 22, and Y/n dropped twenty, Stewie with 19, a combined 61 points to put Vegas away and secure a finals spot. The first person Sabrina ran to? Her wife, as soon as the buzzer went off. She was one step closer to a ring. Y/n grinned, returning her wife's excited, bubbly hug. "We did it baby! We're going to the finals!" Sabrina expressed, jumping for joy.

Y/n pressed a subtle kiss to her cheek, whispering to her ear, "I'm so proud of you."

Sabrina buried her head into her chest, "I'm proud of us. We couldn't have done it without you."

After celebrating, they were back on the plane to New York. Sabrina sat down beside her wife after weeks of sitting by herself. Y/n was shaking her salad up as Sabrina readied herself to take a nap. She sighed, "your lawyer called me this morning." Sab perked up in interest, "what'd she say?"

"She wanted to discuss our shares or whatever its called. I said I'd discuss it with you only." Sabrina frowned slightly, almost forgetting about the divorce stuff. Off season was coming fast. "Okay. Um..what kind of shares?"

"The property in Oregon. The cars. The money in our shared account. That kinda stuff." She shrugged, opening up her salad to take a bite. She was starving.

"You should keep the house," Sabrina mumbled.

She was quick to shake her head, objecting to that immediately. "No. I'm building that house for you. It's almost done, I can't exactly tear it all down and rebuild a new one. It's yours. It's your dreamhouse." She hated this. All this divorce talk, she almost forgot about why they got married in the first place. Sabrina wiped a stray tear before her wife noticed. "Can we talk about this later? I'm really tired."

"Yeah."

"I'll be right back." Sabrina got up to go to the restroom. She leaned against the counter and pulled out her phone, booking a flight for two.

They got to the airport, only for Sabrina to tell her she got them a direct flight to Oregon. "Is this about the house? 'Cause I told you it's not done yet. You can't see it until it's done."

Sabrina huffed, "it's under my name. We're going home. You can either stay here or come with me."

"When's the flight?"

"Ten minutes. Let's go before we miss it."

It didn't take long to get to Oregon. Y/n rented them a car and they drove to the property. Sabrina's eyes brightened as the car drove up the rocky road to their home. It stopped in the driveway. She quickly climbed out, pulling her jacket close to protect her from the cold. It was exactly like she described in college. Her dream home. A tear rolled down her cheek as she followed y/n to the door. She pulled the key out from under a secret board on the porch and used it to unlock the door.

"It's not finished yet." She flipped on the lights, allowing Sabrina to step inside with clear vision.

The furniture was covered in plastic, the counters were covered, almost everything was. Sabrina didn't expect it to be this close to being done. She thought most of it was still under construction. "When have you even found time to work on this?"

"Off season. Every single day off I have. The back porch isn't finished. I'm still having trouble with the plumbing upstairs. It's a work in progress." She felt defeated. This was not how she pictured showing Sabrina. She wanted it to be a surprise for their anniversary next year. "It was supposed to be a surprise for our anniversary next year."

Sabrina pulled up the plastic to reveal the beautiful counters she had pictured. "They don't even sell these types of counters..."

"Yeah, I know. I had to make them myself. You should see the bathroom sinks. They don't exactly sell flower sinks at Lowe's so..." Sabrina's eyes sparkled as she covered it back up and looked to her wife excitedly. "Shut up. You made the flower sinks?" She nodded, a small smile pulling at her lips. "You wanna see 'em?"

"Are you sure? I mean...I don't wanna ruin to the complete surprise. You seem pretty upset.."

"I just...I really pictured this to be different. I thought we'd still be together..happy. When I started this project, I pictured us, living here, happy, maybe even starting a family. And now, it's just gonna be you and whoever you fall in love with next." A tear fell, a tear she didn't bother wiping away. This was the worst pain imaginable and she had torn both her acls in college.

Sabrina shook her head, "don't say that."

"Why not? It's true. We gave up on us, Sabrina."

"No. No. I gave up on us." She walked over, reaching for her gentle hands. "I walked away. I gave up on you. You may have stopped trying to get through to me, but you never gave up on us. If you had, this house wouldn't be here. But you kept building. You had hope for us. You believed in our love. I was stupid to ever think I was capable of loving anyone else other than you. Because truly, I cannot imagine my life without you in it."

She reached up to cup her face, y/n's hands naturally finding her waist to bring her closer. "I want this. I want this to be my life. I want to be your wife, and I want it for the rest of my life. I love you baby."

"I love you too, my beautiful wife." Sabrina smiled and y/n leaned down to bring their lips together. "If I had known this house was gonna fix our problems I would've shown you sooner." She chuckled, hugging onto her and slipping her arms under her coat for warmth. "Does the thermostat work at least?" She asked.

Y/n laughed, "nope. But, the fireplace works. I just gotta chop up some wood."

"Ooh, I wanna see that." She smirked and pushed her along to the back porch. "Careful baby, it's still unfinished." She guided Sabrina over to the steps, and she looked over to see the undone side her wife was talking about. She took off her coat to pull it over her wife's shoulders.

Sabrina smiled, watching as her wife grabbed her axe and walked over to the many logs over to the side. "This is a great view." She comments, watching her bend over slightly before chopping the log in half. "You look like a sexy lumberjack."

She chuckles, grabbing another piece. "Are you gonna thirst the whole time?"

"It's my duty as your wife to thirst."

She finished up and carried the wood back inside. She uncovered the fireplace and tossed the wood inside. Sabrina sat down on the fur rug, running her fingers through it with a furrow of her brow. "This is fake, right?" Her wife nods, starting up the fire and sitting down. "Yeah, it's all faux fur. The hunters around here called me soft for it but I don't care. I don't believe in their trophy hunting shit."

"You're so sweet." Sabrina smiled, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"Is the house everything you imagined? You know I can still make changes-"

"Hey, hey," she reached up to cup her cheeks, "it's perfect. It's exactly as I imagined. You did so good." Her heart filled with reassurance, and relief. That was all she wanted to hear. After all her doubts, Sabrina's reassurance was all she needed. "I can show you the rest if you want."

"No. You can show me the rest when it's finished, just like you planned." She pressed a gentle, reassuring peck to her lips. Her lips traveled lower, peppering soft kisses to her neck. Y/n reached for her waist, bringing her wife onto her lap. Sab broke away to pull her shirt off, tossing it to the side, a simple black bra under it. Y/n took a second to admire her wife's beauty. "What did I do to deserve a goddess like you?"

Sabrina smiled, "you ran into me at full speed on our college campus."

She laughed at the memory, "I can't believe I didn't see you. I don't even remember why I was running."

"You were running to your car because you parked it in a no parking zone." Sabrina answered, recalling that exact day perfectly. She'd never forget the first time they met. It wasn't even through basketball. "And you got so distracted flirting with me, it ended up getting towed anyways."

She grins, "worth it."

Sabrina giggled, pressing a peck to her lips, "you're such a dork."

"Hey, you married me."

She hummed, reaching behind her to unclip her bra. "I know." She dropped it, tossing it to the side with her shirt. She slipped her fingers beneath her wife's shirt, running her fingers over her abs with a sheepish smile. Sab leaned in, her breath hitching at her touch. She pressed a peck to her jaw before her fingers slipped beneath the band of her sweats. "Worth it."

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