Let Go

“So I’ll have the shots ready by tomorrow afternoon. Thank You. Bye.”

I hung up with the team’s publishing company and sat back in my seat, glad that I was finally getting a chance to relax.

“Knock, knock. We‘ve come to see our favorite photographer.”

I looked up and smiled as Gonzalo and Xabi walked into my office, taking a seat on the couch sat up against the wall.

“How’s Mrs. Casillas doing?” Xabi wondered.

“I’m ok, just ready to go home already.” I replied with a tired smile.

“I’m just glad we haven’t fully gotten into official training mode yet.” Gonzalo said.

“Yeah, I just love having that to look forward to. Are you okay Gabriella?” Xabi asked when my face paled.

I left them without a response as I jumped from my chair and ran into the bathroom attached to my office. I barely made it to the toilet before spilling my stomach’s contents into it. I leaned against the wall once I was sure I had nothing left to regurgitate before standing up and washing off my face and rinsing out my mouth. I walked back into my offices, finding Xabi and Gonzalo with worried looks on their faces.

“I’m fine, it’s just morning sickness.”

I slapped a hand over my mouth, not believing how easily I had let mine and Iker’s secret slip.

“You’re pregnant?” Gonzalo asked, his eyes going wide along with Xabi’s.

“Please don’t tell anyone. Iker and I wanted to wait a little longer before letting people know. I just let it slip.” I pleaded.

“We won’t tell anyone.” Xabi immediately responded.

“You mean there’s going to be a little Casillas greeting us in nine months?” Gonzalo asked.

I nodded and the boys jumped from their seats and engulfed me in a hug, immediately cheering me up. After listening to them place bets on what sex it would be for at least twenty minutes I finally kicked them out and locked up. I headed towards the locker rooms in search of Iker and leaned up against the wall. I was too busy texting Margarite, the only other person who knew I was pregnant, to hear the door open.

“How is my gorgeous wife?”

I slipped my phone into my pocket and looked up Iker, smiling as he leaned down to kiss me.

“I missed you.” I said, wrapping my arms around his waist.

“What about baby Casillas?” He questioned, grinning like a fool as his hands rested on my still flat stomach.

“Baby Casillas is being mean and making me sick.” I pouted, leaning into my husband’s body.

“We’ll stop on the way home and pick up some cookies and stuff to make pasta.” he said, referring to the two foods I was managing to keep down.

“Can we get some hot chocolate too?” I asked.

“We can get anything you want love.” he replied, placing on kiss on the top of my head.

An hour and one shopping trip later we pulled into the driveway, the car packed with groceries. I had had a case of putting anything into the cart I even thought about wanting resulting in two carts full of food. Iker refused to let me carry anything inside so I resulted to putting it all up as he toted the bags into the kitchen. Once I had everything tucked away in its right spot I got out the things I would need to make pasta, something I had recently found myself craving.

“Gab, what are you doing?” Iker asked.

“Starting on dinner.” I replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“No, you’re not. You’re going to go sit down while I make dinner.” he replied, placing his hands on my shoulders and leading me out of the room.

“But . . .”

“No buts, you’re going to go sit down. The doctor said for you to get as much rest as possible.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re supposed to do everything for me.” I argued.

“If me having to do everything for you means we’re going to have a healthy, beautiful baby in the end then it does.” he grinned.

I shook my head, though I was inwardly smiling at how caring and adorable he was being. Iker set me down on the couch and kissed my cheek before heading back into the kitchen to start on our dinner. I sighed in defeat and switched on the television, my eyes drooping shut within minutes.

“Gabriella. Love, dinner’s ready.”

My eyes slowly blinked open and focused on Iker crouching in front of me. I let out a yawn and allowed him to pull me to my feet before speaking.

“What time is it?”

“It’s almost seven.” he replied, tucking a few strands of hair behind my ear.

“You let me sleep for two hours?”

“You needed the rest, you’ve hardly gotten any sleep in the past few nights.”

“You could have at least woke me up so I could set the table.”

“You wouldn’t be my Gabriella if you didn’t argue.” he laughed.

I ate as much pasta as I could handle, so far it had been my favorite food to eat and I was constantly craving it. Iker opted to put the dishes in the dishwasher instead of letting me wash them and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was going to be this persistent for the next nine months.

“Are you still going to think I’m beautiful when I’m fat and can’t see my feet?” I asked when we were cuddled together on the couch.

“Gabriella, nothing in this world will make me stop loving you. I’ll still love you when I have to pull you out of bed, and when you waddle I’ll still think love you and think you’re adorable.”

“How did I find such a perfect husband?” I asked, pressing a kiss to his lips.

“More like, how did I find such a perfect wife?”

“I think we were just made for each other.” I answered.

“I agree. Just think, in nine months we’ll have the perfect baby.”

+ + + +

“So when do I get to find out if I’m getting a niece or nephew?” Margarite asked.

“Not for another month Mar, I’m really not that far along.” I replied, laughing at how anxious she was.

“Well excuse me for wanting to know. I can’t wait until you find out, then I can start buying clothes and we can decorate the nursery.” she said.

“I hope Cristiano doesn’t get you pregnant anytime soon. It seems you already have everything planned for my child, I can’t imagine what you’d do for yours.”

“Cristiano and I don’t want kids anytime soon. In the meantime, I’ll just spoil your’s.” she grinned.

“Note to self, don’t leave baby Casillas with Margarite.”

“I’ll remember that when you’re looking for a babysitter.”

I shook my head at my best friend and smiled when the front door opened, knowing it was Iker and Cristiano.

“Hello my love.”

I grinned and leaned my head back so Iker could press his lips to mine.

“I missed you.” I said.

“I missed you too.” he replied sitting next to me.

“Oh by the way, we’re not leaving your sister alone with our child.”

Iker laughed and I looked over at Margarite whose face held a scowl.

“If I’d have known you two were going to gang up on me, I would have never supported you two getting married.” she said.

“You know you could have never dealt with us both being unhappy.” I retaliated.

She huffed and crossed her arms, knowing I had gotten her with that one. I grinned in victory and leaned back into Iker, smiling like a fool when his arms wrapped around me and rested on my stomach. A small bump had formed in the last few weeks and even though Iker said it wasn’t noticeable I noticed it every time I glanced in the mirror.

“Let’s drive into the city and get dinner.” Cristiano suggested.

“Let me go change into something more acceptable.” I said referring to my pajama bottoms and Iker’s t-shirt I was wearing.

I hurried upstairs and changed into a pair of jeans and a loose top, wanting to hide my growing stomach. All though Iker and I had announced we were expecting to our family and friends the press was still in the dark and we were hoping to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Dinner with Cristiano and Margarite was no less than entertaining but our fun came to a close when we walked out of the restaurant doors to a hoard of paparazzi. Iker protectively placed a hand over my stomach and one on the small of my back as we pushed our way through.

“Are you ok?” Iker asked once we were safely in the Audi.

I nodded my head taking in a deep breath to calm my nerves as Iker sped off towards home.

+ + + +

I woke up the next morning to the front door slamming shut, causing me to jump in surprise. I got up and rushed downstairs to see what was wrong and found Iker fuming.

“Iker, what’s wrong?”

“This is what’s wrong.” he seethed throwing a paper down on the island.

‘Is there a mini goalkeeper in the oven for Iker and Gabriella Casillas? Last night the newly wedded husband and wife were spotted in downtown Madrid with Cristiano Ronaldo and Casillas’ younger sister Margarite. As paparazzi flooded the area Casillas was seen protectively covering his wife’s stomach prompting all of Spain to question if the couple are expecting. Casillas made headlines last January when him and Gabriella were spotted together just a short amount of time after Gabriella ended her relationship with fellow Real Madrid and Spanish national Sergio Ramos. Though the couple were hoping to keep the pregnancy hidden we look forward to watching Spain’s golden couple as they prepare for the birth of their first child.’

I sighed and set the paper back down on the island before wrapping my arms around Iker.

“Well there’s nothing we can do about it now.” I said, hoping not to anger him even more.

“I know, it just pisses me off. This is supposed to be a special time for us and something we share with our friends and family, not the entire world.” he replied.

I nodded in agreement and rubbed my hands over his back, knowing all of this was getting to Iker. He loved his career but he absolutely hated having people know everything about his personal life.

“Go sit down baby, I’ll make us some breakfast.” I said before pressing a kiss to his lips.

I whipped up some waffles for breakfast, knowing they were one of Iker’s favorite foods, hoping it would cheer him up. Thankfully, it did and after breakfast he was much more cheerful.

“You don’t have practice today right?” I checked.

“No, Mourinho said we’d pick back up tomorrow.” he confirmed.

“Good, that means I get you all to myself today.” I grinned.

Some time later we were laying on the couch, some random movie playing on the plasma, but neither of us seemed to be too interested in it.

“When’s our next doctor’s appointment?” Iker asked.

“Two weeks, the doctor said if everything goes accordingly we can find out the sex.” I replied.

“I can’t wait, that means we can finally start decorating then nursery.”

“You mean I can finally start decorating the nursery. I’m kind of scared to see how you would decorate our child’s bedroom.” I teased.

“I’ll have you know I think my fashion sense has greatly improved.”

“Whatever makes you sleep better at night.” I laughed.

Iker pouted only causing me to laugh more at his expression.

“Aw, I’m just teasing you baby.”

“You hurt my feelings.”

“What can I do to make you feel better?” I asked.

“I think I have a few ideas.” he smirked.

I raised my eyebrows as his hands ran down my body and gripped my hips, pressing our lower bodies together.

“I think I’m going to like these ideas.”

“Oh, I think you’ll enjoy them quite well.”

+ + + +

“I’m so excited.” I exclaimed, lacing my fingers with Iker’s as we walked into the building my doctor’s office was in.

“Me too love, me too.” he grinned holding the door open.

The waiting room was filled with expecting mom’s and newborn babies. I looked at the woman sitting next to us and couldn’t help but smile at the tiny baby tucked safely into a carrier. Thoughts flooded my head of what mine and Iker’s child would look like. Would it have Iker’s brown eyes or my blue ones?

“Gabriella Casillas.” I broke away from my thoughts and looked up at the nurse standing in the doorway.

She checked my weight before leading us to one of the private rooms, telling us the doctor would be in momentarily. She entered the room minutes later and checked me over before beginning the ultrasound.

“Your baby looks perfectly healthy. Would you two like to know the sex today?”

Iker and I both nodded our heads eagerly, having been looking forward to this day for the past four months.

“That right there means in five months you will be welcoming a healthy baby boy.” she replied pointing at the screen.

A wide smile broke out on my face and tears formed in my eyes at the image on the ultrasound screen.

“A boy, our very own little boy.” Iker whispered.

I looked up at him and noticed tears in his own eyes and it only caused more to roll down my cheeks. His eyes broke away from the screen and he looked down at me passionately pressing his lips to mine.

“I love you so much Gabriella.”

“I love you too Iker.”

At that particular moment, I felt like my life was complete. I had everything I had ever dreamed of, the perfect career, the perfect house, the perfect husband, and son I would have the perfect baby.