If Only Tonight

The Final Fury: Chapter Sixty Seven - Future In Doubt

The Final Fury:
Chapter Sixty Seven: Future In Doubt

The end of the season brought more paper work than Mia had anticipated. Busy filling out all her reports, she saw another package on her desk. Jon must have left it there when she stepped out to find paper towels, she thought. Upon seeing the logo for Real Madrid, Mia instantly knew what it was. Her reports on Matthew's fitness were going to be sent to the Spanish Giants. With a mark reading 'Urgent', Mia sighed as she took out the pages from the package. Some had already been filled by Jon, she noted as she went through them. Finding the papers she was meant to fill out, Mia got up to take out his file. She hated having to go through computer logs, as it was easier to copy the information out with her papers in front of her.

Taking a seat back down, she reflected over what this meant. This was really happening, in a few weeks he would be a player for Real Madrid, she thought, with a certain amount of pride. It would be a start of something new for all of them. Copying out the information in her neatest writing, it took Mia a little over an hour to finish the package, double checking that she had written out everything correctly, she put the papers back in to the manila envelope and walked out of her office, closing the door behind her, as she headed for the main office.

Reaching the office, she opened the door only to find Felix stepping out of his.

"Mia! How are you? I see you're finished with my important business." He said, taking the package from her before the secretary could.

"I'm alright." She answered, with a smile. "How are you, Felix?"

"Okay, under the circumstances. It's going to be hard letting one of my best players go." He gave her a sad smile. "Even harder if I have to let one of my best specialists go with him."

"What?" Mia asked, surprised. "But, I'm not-"

Before she could say any more, the manager had interrupted her.

"It's bad enough that I have to worry about one of my best players leaving for another team, I mean who will I buy to replace him? But now I have to worry about my best doctors too?" He told her, as he smiled, but Mia could sense his worry. "The papers are having a field day...usually I only get asked for interviews with players but these days a certain sports injury doctor is my team's new claim to fame."

"Sir, I'm not leaving. I still have a year on my contract." She tried assuring him.

"Mia, he is your beau. I would be naive to think you wouldn't leave together, knowing how close you both are." He told her, kindly, a wise and knowing expression on his face.

"Felix, we've both talked. He knows I'm staying to finish my contract." Mia told him firmly, as he nodded.

Silently, he gave her a measuring look.

"There are still two weeks before I announce Matthew's departure. It's pretty much a done deal. There are just a few more papers to sign, and then we'll make the announcement." He told her. "Since this matter concerns the both of you, I want you to consult each other before making a final decision. You have until the end of next week to prepare your statements."

"But, Felix I'm telling you-" Mia tried, knowing that it was a conversation she had been hoping to avoid having with Matthew. The tension of the move had been simmering below the surface between them.

"I'm sorry Mia." Felix shook his head. "But since you've become a matter of public interest...I have to ask you to be ready for the press conference next week."

-----

Driving to Oliver's house, Matthew snuck a glance at her. She was busy reading something on her phone. Looking back at the road, he turned only to find her scowl at the phone before shoving it deep in her pocket.

"What's wrong?" He asked, returning his attention to the task at hand.

"Nothing. Kyle texted me to remind me to finish writing up my report for tomorrow." She said, sounding a little annoyed.

"I thought that with the season over, you'd be free of paperwork?"

"Nope...we're compiling results of all the players to compare with last season. Everyone's curious to see how many more injuries we had, and who got injured more this season over last season. Fun stuff...I'm almost done." She told him.

"Aren't you usually the first one done?" He teased her, to which Mia gave a dry laugh.

"Funny...I had some other stuff to fill out today."

"Like what?" Matthew asked curiously. It wasn't like her to get reminders to finish work.

"Your fitness report for Real." She told him, with a smirk. "Too bad there was no space for me to write how many times you missed appointments or came late."

It was his turn to scowl.

"I wasn't that bad..." He muttered, as she laughed at him.

"No, of course not. I must have confused you with another Matthew Rossi who came in late and missed appointments."

"Alright, but I have been better." Matthew sighed, seeing the grin on her face.

"That is true." She admitted, caressing his cheek with a finger.

With the car becoming silent, Matthew looked over at her once more. Mia appeared to be deep in thought. He wondered what she was thinking. Not having asked if she had thought about leaving for Spain since their night at Indigo, Matthew was hoping perhaps she would come around in time and agree to go with him. He wasn't entirely sure what would happen with them, if she remained behind. For all he knew, the distance between them could destroy the relationship they had struggled to build. I'll ask her later, he thought, turning in to Oliver's driveway.

Taking her hand as they walked up the path to the house, Matthew rang the doorbell. It wasn't long before the door opened, revealing Oliver behind it.

"Matthew, Mia, hello!" He greeted them, opening the door wider. "Come on in. Ariana and Lily are in the family room."

Leading them down the large hallway, they came to a stop by an awning. Sitting on her mother's lap, looking adorable, was Lily. Wisps of brownish blonde hair covered her head, while her deep blue eyes scanned them, a gummy smile greeting them.

"Hi Ariana! Lily!" Mia greeted Oliver's wife, as Ariana allowed Mia to scoop Lily off of her lap.

"Hey Lily!" Matthew smiled, as he watched Mia coo to the little girl, she looked so relaxed. The tension he had seen earlier was wiped from her face. Holding Lily close she walked over to Matthew, as he reached to take hold of the baby. He had yet to play with Oliver's daughter. Usually when they came over with his cousins and Nathaniel, there was barely a chance for him to even see the child. Everyone would be busy trying to keep hold of the tiny being for as long as they could, until eventually Lily would fall asleep.

"She's so cute." Mia said, standing behind him, her chin perched on his shoulder as she watched him cradle the girl.

"I know. I finally get the expression cute as a button." He agreed, as the others laughed.

"Hi Lily!" He said , speaking to the baby. "Did you know your dad is a great football player? Yea, Oliver's one of the best...just that I'm better." He added with a grin, as Oliver chuckled.

The baby cooed back at him, as though trying to tell him her own story. Starting to dribble on his shirt, Matthew smirked as he handed Lily back to Mia.

"Here you go. She's all yours." He told his girlfriend.

"Couldn't handle a little bit of drool?" She teased him.

"No..."

Watching as Mia took a seat beside Ariana, he saw Oliver walk over to him.

"Heard the good news." The older player told him. "Congratulations, Matthew!"

"Thanks." Matthew grinned. "Felix is going to be announcing it next week."

"Yea, he told me. Poor Felix, he's not too happy to be looking for a new player."

"Don't tell me, he roped you in to help him?" Matthew asked, with a smirk.

"Yea. Know of anyone who would fit in?"

"I'll get back to you on that one."

Turning to look back at Mia, he saw a contemplative look flitter across Oliver's face from the corner of his eyes.

"So you and Mia are okay?" Oliver asked sounding concerned.

"Yea, we're fine." Matthew answered rather flatly.

"Have you decided about moving together or her staying back?"

"Well initially she wanted to stay, but I asked her a little while back, and she said she'd think about it."

They were quiet.

"You're hoping she'll come."

"Yea, I guess."

"You know being in two different countries isn't the end of the world, Matt." Oliver told him, knowingly. "Ariana and I got through it just fine. I'm sure you two will be okay."

"Yea..." Matthew agreed, reluctantly. I hope so, he added silently.

The drive home was quiet. He could still feel his hesitance at the thought of being apart from Mia. It wasn't that he was unsure about either of them being faithful; it was just hard for him to imagine a future together when they would be so far apart. If he was honest, he wasn't ready to explore the concept of a long distance relationship. His last few relationships hadn't ended well and they had been in the same country. It was new for him to want someone by his side, someone he cared so deeply for; it surprised him how much it mattered to him.

"So did you think about it?" He asked, deciding to finally bring up the subject.

"About what?" She looked over questioningly.

"About moving with me."

"No...not really." Mia said, reluctantly. "Matthew, I just don't think, it's a good idea right now."

"Mia, there's plenty of great opportunities there; I don't understand why you want to stay."

"Felix is counting on me. He gave me this great opportunity, and you're expecting me to just throw it away." She said, getting a little heated.

Having avoided the subject for so long because of the tension, he knew he had been tactless with his words. But still he couldn't help but feel hurt that she was choosing something else over him.

"So Felix counting on you is more important than being with me?" He wanted to kick himself for letting the words slip out.

"What? I never said that, Matt!" She looked angry with him.

"That's what it sounds like." Matthew couldn't stop himself from saying.

"Are you kidding me? I've been bending over backwards for you since I started here. My job was put in to question when we started going out. You can't just expect me to follow you where ever you go!"

Parking in front of the house, Matthew cut the engine.

"I'm not expecting you to come; I'm asking you to come."

"No you're not! I told you I want to stay. I've even said that just let me finish this year and I'll come. You can't just expect me to give everything up!" She snapped at him.

"Instead, you're just going to give us up?" He regretted the words as soon as he said them. The ice cold glare he got confirmed that he had crossed the line.

"Mia..." But it was too late, the car door silently shut, as he watched her bolt to the house.

"I didn't mean it..." He whispered aloud.

What am I going to do? He thought hitting his head against the steering wheel.

-----

"Wakey wakey! "

Mia pushed the pillow off of her face, only to pull her blanket over her.

"Five more minutes...please..." She pleaded sleepily.

"Oh...you're actually here..."

Moving her blanket to see Lina, she saw the surprised look on the older girl's face.

"Where else were you expecting me to be?" Mia asked, puzzled.

"No where..." Lina said, shifting on the balls of her feet, as she looked down the hall.

The implied meaning of her words hit Mia.

"Urgh...Lina!" Mia scowled, throwing a pillow at the older girl. "There are rules...like dating for six months or getting married."

"I was kidding!" Lina retreated hastily.

"Oh I bet you were." Mia covered herself with the blanket and pressed another pillow over her head.

Memories of the night before flooded back, and once more she felt angry and upset. I can't believe he would say that! She thought furiously. After all the effort she had put in to keep things from blowing up, he just had to say something to wind her up. Now she felt stupid for having tried, and even worse for letting him get the better of her.

"Mia, hurry up and come down. I'm making muffins, and you know they taste better when they're hot." Lina said. Mia heard the door close behind the older girl, and footsteps heading farther away signalling that the girl had gone downstairs.

Lying on her bed, Mia could feel the hurt rising up. Having run from the car, she couldn't believe he hadn't come after her. While sitting on her bed last night, she had half expected him to open the door and talk to her. But Matthew hadn't. Instead she had heard his footsteps walk all the way to his room, and the door close. What was she going to do now? She wondered, having never been in this situation.

Finally deciding to get up, she crossed the room to open the door. Looking down the hall she saw that Matthew's door was still closed, the detail grating on her nerves. Walking over to the bathroom, Mia got herself ready.

It didn't take long to get dressed and head to the kitchen, the smell of Lina's muffins wafted through the house, making Mia's mouth water. She hadn't realized that she was hungry until the smell of fresh muffins hit her.

"Finally decided to join me?" Lina smirked, as she pulled out a tray of muffins.

"How could I resist the invitation?" Mia grinned, trying not to think about what was upsetting her.

Remembering to get the juice from the fridge, Mia pulled out a barstool from under the counter, and sat down as Lina put a basket of muffins in front of her.

"They look really good." Mia told her, putting one in the plate in front of her.

"Thanks. I made chocolate chip ones for you and blue berry for Matty and Leon."

Lina must have seen the dark look that momentarily crossed her face at the mention of his name.

"What's wrong?" The older girl asked with concern.

"Noth-" Mia stopping in mid-word. He had come down stairs, hair mussed, blue eyes glacial, fitted black shirt over blue plaid pyjamas.

Why does he have to look perfect when I'm mad at him? Mia thought distractedly.

Sensing the strain between them, Lina gave each of them a once over.

"Okay...I'm going to go wake Leon up, before getting ready for work." She said, uncertainly, as she walked out.

Observing him with reluctance as he moved to stand across from her, she took a small bite from her muffin. Mia was unsure of what to say, and if she was honest she didn't want to apologize first.

Catching his eye, they stared each other down, neither one blinking. She hated the silence between them. Maybe...maybe I should just stop being childish and apologize, Mia thought about to open her mouth.

"I shouldn't have said that last night." Matthew said, beating her to it.

"No...you shouldn't have. I wasn't trying to make you feel like...like I was giving up." She told him, softly.

"I don't know how to do this, Mia." He said, taking a muffin from the basket.

Taking another bite, Mia decided to tell him what Felix had said.

"Matt...Felix has already started to doubt my place with the team. He asked me if I'm staying or going."

"What did you say?" Matthew asked, watching her.

"I said I was staying. But..."

"But?"

"Next week at your press conference...we both have to make statements." She said, finally. "He wants us to be on the same page."

"If he's already wondering if you'll be leaving, why not come?" Matthew asked her, thoughtfully.

"I can't...I really can't. I have just one more season left on my contract. If I don't finish, it'll stay with me for the rest of my life. It would be like taking a course and not getting the grade because you didn't write the exam." Mia looked away, prodding at her muffin. "I would feel bad for hurting Felix and Dr. Phillips."

"What about us?" She looked up to find Matthew staring at her.

"We're going to be okay. Even with you in another country, I can still see you on breaks and holidays, and when you have time you can come. We'll still have phones, email, and Skype." Mia pointed out to him.

Getting off the stool, she walked over to stand behind him, wrapping her arms around him for once. Her head rested on his shoulder. Gently, she kissed him on the cheek.

"Mia...please just consider it..." He murmured.

"But, Matt...I just told you-" Mia started to argue, but he turned to hold her hands in his, those blue eyes of his quieting her.

"Just think about it."

Seeing the pleading look in his eyes, Mia nodded, sighing.

"Okay...I will think about it."