Time to Grow Up

For years they were constantly breaking up and getting back together. It wasn't the long distance that caused the breaks in the relationship, it was just how they were. But Clint's last visit two months prior to the World Cup was a trip that changed everything.

Staring down at the test in her hands, Madison saw the one word she didn't want to see; pregnant. This was not a good time for this, especially when Clint was focusing on joining team USA soon. Sure he had asked her to come with and she knew he'd ask once more when he came here to see before he left. Knowing she had the time off of work, it was hard to deny him. Which is why she already had a bag packed for the trip, but she didn't know how she was going to tell him about the baby. If she were to tell him about the baby when he got to her apartment that night, there would be no way that he would be able to focus on what he needed to do during the tournament and she would be damned if she were to blame for that. So maybe at the end of the tournament after they got home she would do it.

Night came faster than she had thought it would and Clint was unlocking the door to the apartment. Wearing nothing but a pair of his soccer shorts and a sports bra, Madison threw her arms around him and hugged him. When she felt him wrap his arms around her all she could think about was how good it felt and how much she missed him. It was hard watching him leave each time, but he was doing something he loved and she could never take that away from him.

“I missed you.” Madison said.

“I missed you too,” Clint said with his head in her neck. “It feels so good to be here with you. Just us.”

“Two months is way too long to be away from each other.”

Letting go of him, Madison was about move to the kitchen, but Clint gently grabbed her arm and held onto her for a bit. “I don't want to let you go yet.”

“It was a long flight and you need to eat something and sleep.” Madison said as she wrapped her arms around his waist and he bent down kissed the side of her neck as he moved so they were sitting on the couch.

“I ate earlier, but I won't object to using that bed.”

Looking up into his eyes, she smiled before leaning up and kissing him. The feeling of his lips on hers was something she missed more than anything. It started simple, but the kiss grew heated and she couldn't help wrapping her arms around his neck.

His tongue greedily sought entrance to her mouth and she obliged with a long drawn out moan.

"God I missed you," he said as they broke apart. Madison didn't want to talk. She wanted him and rubbed his bulge to let him know just how much.

He bit into her neck, and purred like a cat, at her long hard strokes. Not willing to waste a single moment more he lifted her straight up from the couch eliciting and excited squeal, and carried her to her bedroom.

Tossing the covers off her naked body, Madison grabbed the shirt that Clint was wearing the night before as she rushed into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. After a few minutes, Madison flushed the toilet as she heard the door open. Making her way over to the sink, Madison turned on the water and filled up the cup that was on the counter and started rinsing her mouth out. Not hearing him walk into the bathroom, she jumped when she felt his arms wrap around her stomach.

“You eat something bad?” his voice, laced with sleep asked.

“No.” Madison sighed, knowing she might actually have to tell him before he actually left for South Africa.

“Flu?”

“I'm not sick.”

“You just threw up-”

“Clint, I'm not sick.”

“Then what's going on?” he asked. “Are you pregnant?”

Madison didn't say anything or look in the mirror into the eyes that she knew were looking at her. Moving out of his arms, she walked back into the bedroom and crawled into bed and just wished that he didn't ask that question.

“Just because you walk away, doesn't mean I won't ask again.” Clint told her as he sat on the bed next to her.

“Yes.” Madison said softly as she felt the tears in her eyes sting.

Nothing was said after that, no words exchanged, no looks. Neither one of them moved from the spot that they were in. It stayed that way for a good forty minutes until Clint got off the bed and left the bedroom. That was when the tears finally fell down Madison's face. The biggest thing to ever happen to them and he walked away and didn't say anything. Eventually she fell back asleep and when she woke up the only sign that Clint had ever been there was the fact that she was still wearing the shirt he had worn when he came over.

Watching Clint and his teammates play in their first match made her miss him dearly and wished she had told him a different way. USA was playing against England and there were nerves all over the place, at least where Clint was concerned. Madison was good at reading the emotions of her long time boyfriend.

At the end of the game, it was tied and Madison was happy that no one was around to see the tears in her eyes. She wanted more than anything to be there with him, but there was nothing going on between them since he left her apartment and headed to South Africa.

For the time that he was playing in the tournament, Madison watched the games and made an appointment to get it confirmed that she was in fact pregnant. More than anything, she wanted Clint there when she did all that, but he was playing for his country and she would never ask him to come back right now. She did wish that he had left on better terms, but there was no changing how things happened.

When the USA fell out of the race, Madison's heart broke. It broke for Clint, for his teammates and for her country. She wanted them to prove that the USA could bring it on and win the World Cup, but this just wasn't the year for it. At first when she turned off the TV, she thought that Clint would come back and talk to her about everything, but he didn't. There was nothing from him, no visit, no call, no text, no email and Madison knew that he was taking the news harder than she thought he would. Sure they never talked about kids, but that didn't mean that he couldn't at least be there for her while she was pregnant with his baby.

The one thing that truly scared her more than anything was she didn't know if Clint would be there when she gave birth. She didn't want to be alone when that happened. Being pregnant and alone wasn't the highlight of her life, she thought that maybe if she told him then maybe they would grow up and finally take the next step in their relationship, but that was not on Clint's mind. It wasn't about him seeing other girls because she knew he wasn't. All she wanted was him to step up and do what they both knew he should have done last year.

Months went by and Madison progressed in her pregnancy, but there was no word from Clint. By her sixth month, she was huge, but she still continued to work. Madison loved being a hairstylist in California which meant that there was always some work happening, but Madison's hours were being cut back and breaks were being taken so that she wasn't standing on her feet all day.

Walking into work two days after her last doctor's appointment, Madison didn't say a word to any of her co-workers like she normally would when first arriving at work. Heading straight to the backroom, she put her stuff away and just sat down. When she had first gotten up she laid in bed and for the first time in months she cried because the man that she wanted to wake up to every morning was not in bed with her, there was no one with her besides the child she was carrying. Her baby was the only reminder that things with Clint weren't getting any better and the chances of things actually working out were becoming less and less unlikely now and that was finally hitting Madison and it was hard to take.

“Madison?”

Turning and looking at the girl who worked reception for the past two years, Madison could see the nervous look in the girls eyes. “What do you need?”

“There is a man here to see you.”

“Does he have an appointment?” Madison asked as she grabbed a hairclip from her bag and began pulling it up.

“No, but he said he'll wait all day if he has to. Says he won't leave without talking to you first.”

“I'll be out there in a few,” Madison said. “Tell him that.”

“Or you can just tell me yourself.”

Closing her eyes, Madison took in a deep breath. She knew that voice better than most. Before she opened her eyes she heard the door to the back room close. “What are you doing here?”

“I think we need to talk.”

“So you've come back thinking that just like all the other times when we've had these arguments that I'm just gonna forgive you and move on?” Madison asked as she turned to look into his eyes. The eyes that on more than one occasion made her weak in the knees or fall right back into his arms without a question.

“This isn't like all those times,” Clint said watching Madison as she moved and sat down in a chair before motioning for him to take the one across from her. “I know things are different now. They started to become different over a year ago.”

“You started avoiding how things were going.”

“I didn't want things to change,” he told her honestly. “But these past few months have shown me what life without you is like and I don't want any part of that. I need you Maddy.”

“What has changed?” Madison asked, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. “What makes this time so different then any other time that we've done this song and dance?”

“Because I've realized that it was time that we both grew up,” Clint told her as he moved to kneel in front of her. Placing his large hand on her rather large stomach. “We are going to be parents in the near future and this baby, our baby is going to need the both of us.”

Not being able to hold the tears in any longer, they started to fall. Moving his hands, he wiped away the tears that streamed down her face. “I love you Madison. And I think I'm long overdue for this.”

“Oh god,” Madison said. “You can't be serious.”

With a half smile, he pulled out a diamond ring. “Madison will you grow up with me and marry me?”

Nodding her head, she carefully stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck. Clint's arms wrapped around her and his head rested on her shoulder before inching over and giving her a kiss on her neck like he used to.

“Is that a yes?”

Moving one of his hands to the side of her belly, she smiled at him. “Yes, because while we grow up, our baby will need the both of us.”

“So from this moment we agree?” Clint asked.

Nodding her head in agreement, Madison gave him a small smile. “It's time to grow up.”