Dani~

I sit in front of Christian as he helps Brie stand on her own. He tosses me her favorite stuffed bear. I hold my hands out so she can try to walk to me. She's so close to doing it.

She looks up at me as she wobbles around trying to find her balance. Christian lets go of her. "Come here."

She takes a step but starts going so fast that she falls. She crawls toward her stuffed bear but I toss it back to Christian. I stand her up and let her get her balance.

He holds his hands out. "You can do it."

She's determined to do this. I let go of her and it takes her a bit to pick up a foot. She takes two steps toward him and catches herself from falling. She keeps it up until she gets to him. Her first steps right into her dad's arms.

He turns her around to face me. She walks toward me and holds onto my neck as she makes it over to me. "Good job!"

She pulls on my hair a bit as she starts to turn around in my lap. I get her fingers out of my hair before letting her go back to Christian. He holds his hands out as she walks back over to him. "Fast learner, huh?"

"She's got athletic parents. We expected this."

She gets super excited when she turns around to face me. "You did it!"

She's getting so big. I can't believe she's almost a year old. I'm not sure if I'm ready to leave her just yet. I know that every 'goodbye' is going to be extremely emotional for me.

"A couple of more, please," our moms plead as we stand against the railing of our deck in Malibu.

"Mom, she wants to play. She doesn't want to be held right now," I tell her as she tries to fight her way out of Christian's arms.

"She only turns one once."

"And she's not going to remember it. She's not even one yet." It was easier to have a small party when my family was out here for Christmas rather than them coming back out for her birthday.

"She might not but you two will and you'll want all of the photos you can get," Alecia says as she finally holds still enough where the pictures won't be blurry.

He holds her between us as I put my arm around him once more. He switches with me and I take her and put her on my hip. She holds still while he puts his arm around me.

She starts getting antsy again. "Okay, she's done."

I put her down on the deck and watched her run to my dad. She loves her papa. "Okay, you two. Stay there."

He puts his arm around me again. I put mine around him as we pose for a few more pictures. "Are we good?" I ask.

"Yeah, I think so."

I watch my coach walk through the house. I didn't know he was coming. He got an invite but I figured he wouldn't come out. "I'll be back."

I take my seltzer with me as I go into the house. "Hey," I say, getting his attention, "I didn't think you'd come."

"Dani, c'mon."

I laugh. He hands me a gift bag. "You didn't have to get her anything."

"Oh, it's just Team USA stuff and my girls made some stuff."

"Well, thank you."

"Of course. Can we talk about a few things if you aren't busy?"

I look around at the family and friends that did show up. They all seem content enough. "Yeah,
let me set this down. Then we can go downstairs."

"Okay."

I go to the gift table and set the bag down. I find Christian. I pull at his hand. "Hey, what's up?"

"I gotta talk to my coach about something. I'm not sure what though. We'll be downstairs."

"Okay. Looks like your dad has her. I'll stay here."

"Thank you."

He squeezes my hand before I head back to my coach. "Did you want anything to drink?" I ask as I grab myself another seltzer.

"No, I'm good."

I crack it open before leading the way downstairs. I set my drink down on the coffee table. "What's up?"

"I've been talking with the league and Team USA officials over the past few weeks and explained to them your situation." This doesn't sound good.

He continues, "I know we said you could train in Milwaukee, which you still can, but, you will have to be in Colorado Springs too. They said at least 30% of the time. They want you a part of this team but you can't do that when you're just in Milwaukee. I'm not sure what that means for you two regarding Brie."

"What does 25% equate to?"

"It's about a week each month. She's more than welcome to come to practices and all of that. They just need your representation as someone who is a part of the team."

"So I just hope that the week I have to go out there, is a week where he's at away games?" I guess we should probably talk about that so that we're on the same page. That just seems like a conversation where I'm probably going to cry because I don't want to leave her and I don't want to take her from him.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Can I pick the week?"

"I believe you can but let me check with them. But when you get out to Colorado in a couple of weeks, you need to sign your contract. I'll let you know when that is. It's around 5 million I think. Are you ready? Are you feeling good?" Five? Seriously?

"For being almost 32, yeah, I feel good. Five?"

He smiles, "It's good to have you back, and yes."

"It's good to have you back," I say.

"We're gonna have fun this year."

I pull Brie's cake from the fridge and put it on the island. Christian sits her down in her high chair as I stick the candle on top.

Everyone gathers around her as I take the small cake over to her. I light the candle and we all quickly sing Happy Birthday to her. She's unsure what to do with the cake but even more unsure about the candle.

"Blow it out," he tells her as we kneel in front of her.

The flame eventually simmers out so I take the candle from the top of her cake and push it towards her. He taps the top of the cake to get her to try to touch it. "Brie, watch me."

He digs a finger in, making a dent in the cake. She follows him, grabs a chunk of the cake, and holds it in her hand. She's not sure what to do with it now.

He looks at me and smiles. "No, don't do it."

Our family and friends laugh as he continues to smile at me. I eventually give in and let him wipe the cake on my face to show her. Although I think she's supposed to eat it, not smear it on her face.

Her giggles fill the room as she goes to eat it. I look over at him, watching him watch her. Alecia hands me a towel so I can get the cake frosting off of my face.

She continued to destroy the cake in front of her after I had cleaned my face off. Everyone takes as many pictures as they can. We go on either side of her and get a few more pictures.

Our baby is one. It's unreal. A year ago I was on bed rest doing everything in the world to get her to come. Now it's been the best year of my life because I got to become a parent and watch my baby grow from the size of a watermelon to a human that can walk and talk.

I pick up all the garbage in the kitchen and toss it into a huge garbage bag. Christian comes downstairs after putting her down for the night. "She'll sleep the whole night."

"So much work for someone who won't remember a thing," I say, picking up the empty cans and tossing them in the bag too.

He opens the cake that we got for our family and friends and takes a fork from the bowl.

He sits down as I put the bag near the door. I sit next to him. "This is some good cake."

He feeds me a piece of cake and I nod. It is good. "What did your coach want?"

I shake my head, "It's not important."

I look over at him and he's not impressed with my answer. "That makes it seem like it's important."

"He told me stuff that I'm, we're going to have to get used to and I don't like it."

"Which is?"

"The league understands that I don't want to be away from the both of you for six months. They're willing to work with me on that. But each month I'll have to go out there."

"That's not even that bad."

"But we're not sure if I can pick and choose when I do. So that means she either comes with me or stays with you. Or goes with you on your road trips."

"I don't think it'll be as hard as you think it is."

I shrug as I take one of the forks. "I don't know. He'll give us more information when he gets it."

"What about your contract?"

"5 for one year."

"Million?"

"Yeah. Whatever the number was, I was going to say yes. But I didn't expect 5."

I take a piece of the cake and eat it. "Are you ready to do this again?"

"Yeah. Gotta make it count."

"You will."

I look back at our living room and see all of the opened gifts from our friends and family. I shake my head, "She won't remember a damn thing."

"Absolutely nothing."

I leaned back on him as our seats were close enough together. His hand rests on my hip. "Successful birthday party?"

"I think so."

He puts his hand on my head, "You're warm."

"Alcohol does that to me."

"Oh, I know."

I laugh, turning my head to his neck. He kisses my cheek. "Let's go to bed."

I nod, sitting up and getting off the chair. I go to unplug the Christmas tree lights before heading upstairs with him.

"They said they would watch her tonight if we want to go to dinner," I tell Christian as we sit in a conference room.

"Do you want to go? It's your day."

"If they're offering."

He smiles, "Okay."

She stands on my legs as my coach and the director of Team USA come into the room. I put her on the floor and she walks over to Christian. She waves to them. "You've been through this enough where I'm sure you don't need to read everything," my coach says as they slide a few pieces of paper over to me.

I laugh, nodding and reaching for the pen.

"So the top one is your contract. The board landed on five million for the year since most likely you could probably put up numbers as you did before. Your name being as big also helps too. The rest of the papers are the schedule for this season. It's similar to the 2024 season. Three international trips. Paris, Tokyo, and São Paulo. Los Angeles is hosting the Olympics so I'm sure that's easier for you. The next piece of paper is the schedule where you'll need to be out here for a week each month. If you can't comply with that schedule, let us know so we don't have to fine you for missing practices and stuff like that."

I look through the papers and hand Christian the schedules. I skim through my contract before signing at the bottom. I hand it back to them so they can look over it too. They smile, "Welcome back."

I smile, looking over at Christian as he does the same thing. "Feels good to be back."

"This is a pretty cool birthday event."

"I'd say so."

The director takes my contract, "I'm going to get this processed with the league. You said the Nike stuff was coming in soon?"

"Within the next hour, it should be here. We planned on sorting through everything for the girls."

"Okay. We'll let you know when it comes in."

"Okay."

He leaves the conference room. "Practices start on Tuesday at 9. Two and a half hours long and then we'll go from there until you have to go to Arizona."

"Okay. Sounds good."

I get up and hug him. He hugs me back, "I know I've said it a lot but I'm proud of you."

"I'm glad you came with me."

"Me too. Let's win one last time."

"That's the plan."

"I'll see you Tuesday, okay?"

"I'll probably be here around 8:30."

He heads out of the conference room. Christian leaves the door open and points to the ground. Brie grabs something before he points back to me.

She walks over to me with a bouquet the same size as her. "Here, mama."

I take them from her, "Thank you, honey."

I pick her up. She claps. "Wuv you, mama."

"I love you too."

She kisses me before I put her down. Christian steps up and hugs me. He kisses my forehead, "I'm just as proud," he tells me.

I squeeze around his waist, "You're the best."

I feel Brie down at our legs. "Do you want in this?"

She lifts her arms up and he picks her up. He holds her between us and put his free hand around me. "We love you."

I kiss Brie's cheek before kissing Christian. "I love you too."

"Babe, are you almost ready?" I ask Christian as I hear him coming up the stairs in the house we're renting for my season. It's perfect for us, Mikayla, James, Lauren, and Ethan. The condo was getting too small for us especially now that we have Brielle.

He comes into our room, "Did you just call me babe?"

"Yeah?"

He leans in to kiss me. "So are you ready or not?"

"Yes."

"Dani?" Mikayla calls out from her room.

He moves out of my way as I walk into her room. "This is cute," she says, motioning to my dress.

"Thanks."

"Did you want us to keep her in here for the night?"

"We're not going to be gone for long."

"I know. But I also know you two too well to know that clothing will come off. It just will."

I try not to smile, "I will go get her playpen."

She laughs, "You're welcome."

I go back into our room. I clear out the playpen. write lifting Brie out of it. I hand her to Christian. "What are you doing?"

"Putting this in their room."

"Why?"

I stand in front of them and cover Brie's ears. It's not like she can understand but she doesn't need to hear it. "Did you think we were coming back here and sleeping?"

"Well, no. Oh, I see. Forget I asked."

I fold the playpen up so I can carry it easily. "Where do you want this?"

"Maybe in the corner."

I put it in the corner of their room and go get the mattress pad. "She doesn't have a hard time sleeping in this so you should be fine. She'll most likely sleep for the entire night unless something wakes her up."

"Okay. I can give her anything to eat?"

"Yeah. I give her a bottle of water at night and then she's good."

"Sounds good."

"Thank you," I tell her as I go back into my room to put my shoes on.

"Of course. Good practice, right?"

"Oh, you're putting that out there."

"I've been saying it."

I find my black booties since it snowed last night and it's still extremely cold. I look over at Christian as he lay with Brie on our bed, "Are you ready?"

"I've been ready," he tells me as he sits up.

"Okay, sassy, let's go."

Brie walks over to me, "You're gonna spend some time with Auntie Mik tonight."

"Mik!"

"Yeah. You're going to have so much fun."

I kiss her cheek before handing her over to Mikayla. "She'll be fine. Get going."

I grab my phone and follow Christian out the door. I blast the heat as soon as he turns the car on. One more year of cold, snowy weather.

He backs out of the driveway, immediately putting his hand on my leg. I look down at his hand and back up at him, "We haven't even left the street yet. Calm down over there."

His laughter echoes in the car, "You're the one who brought it up."

"For later."

We laugh as he turns onto the main road, "I'm off the street now. Are you okay with it now?"

"I never said I wasn't okay with it."

"I can pull over."

"Drive to the restaurant," I tell him trying to hold my laughter in.

Christian woke me up as I turned over in my sleep to face him. "You're warm," I say quietly as I snuggle into him.

He pulls the blanket over my back as I try to continue sleeping. He rubs my back with one hand as he holds me close to him with the other.

I could sleep for more hours just like this. We got home late last night. Later than I thought we would. But we honestly sat in the car and talked for a long time. We haven't done that since before we were dating. We talked about everything. The future. The present. Even the past.

It was nice. It felt good to do that again. It felt like the old us that were just friends. I like that about us. He's my best friend. He's my favorite person.

I lay with him like this for a while before sitting up and finding a shirt to cover up. "Where are you going?"

"Going to get our daughter."

He smiles as I pull the shirt down. This has to be one of his shirts. It's way too big on me to be mine. I go out to the kitchen to see her with Mikayla and Lauren. They see me, "There's your momma."

She looks over at me and smiles. "Hi, pretty girl. How are you?"

Her smile grows as I go to pick her up from the high chair. "She slept the entire night. No problems whatsoever. She has the best time with her favorite aunts."

I tickle her little tummy and she laughs, "Sounds like you had a fun time."

"We did. How was dinner?"

"Amazing. We didn't get back until 1. We had a lot of fun."

"Good. We're glad. She ate all of her food and had some water this morning. She was so good. We had a lot of fun with her."

"I'm glad. Should we go see Dad?"

She lights up, "Dada!"

"Yeah. Let's go see him. Thank you again."

"It's no problem."

She waves at them as I walk away and head back to our room. I push our door open and see him on his phone. He puts it down as I put her on the bed. She crawls onto his chest, "How's my girl?"

I get back in bed with them and sit against the pillows. I put my arm around him as she lays her head on him. My favorite person with my favorite little girl.

I scroll through Instagram after I had just combined a post with USA Volleyball. I look at all of the comments and reactions. All of them are so extremely positive.

danicampbellyelich and usavolleyball: She's back 👀

I go through some of the photos and videos attached to the post. Some of my best moments on this team. I can't wait to be back on the court with these girls.

I put my phone in my bag before grabbing my knee pads and shoes. I got here extremely early. We didn't have to be here for another hour.

I sit in one of the folding chairs and put my knee pads over my knee brace before putting my shoes on.

I go to the end of the court and do my normal warm-up routine. It feels unbelievable to be back on this court. It feels surreal.

I make sure the net is up correctly before grabbing a ball. I go to a wall and warm up my arm.

"I figured you'd be early," my coach says, startling me.

I turn to see him with Mikayla and Lauren. "I'm excited."

"You've warmed up and everything?"

"Yeah."

"She's never been this excited about practice," he says to them.

They laugh, nodding that it's true. It is, I won't lie about that. They both grab a ball and start warming up their arms next to me. Christian was right. The Power Three is back. We're going to have the best year and go out together. That's always been the plan.