Shoulder to Shoulder

“So have you finally set a date yet?” Elena asked Dan as she spoke to him on the phone. He’d asked Robin to marry him on their New Year’s trip to Australia and, as Elena had suspected, Robin had eagerly accepted. Since then, they’d been debating when they were going to have their wedding.

“We’ve settled on September as the month, but no actual date as of yet. But be sure to keep that whole month free.” He chuckled down the line.

Elena smiled, “Of course Dan. You know I’d cancel any plans I had to come to your wedding anyway!”

“I know you would El. So how’s everything going with Juan?” Elena took a deep breath. She still hadn’t told her family about her pregnancy, as she was only just over two months gone. There was three or so weeks until she reached the end of her first trimester, which is when she and Juan said they’d begin telling people.

As it stood, aside from Elena and Juan themselves, only Lila and Oriol know of her pregnancy. It hurt not to be able to tell them about such a huge part of her life, but it would be even harder if she lost the baby and then had to deal with all of the pity from the members of her family.

In a week, after the last match of the season, Elena and Juan were going to New York for 8 days. When they returned, her first trimester would have passed and they were planning on telling their families on the day they returned.

So, knowing it was close to the time they could reveal this huge secret, made keeping it from her family a tiny bit easier. “Everything’s going fine. We’re off to New York next week, I’m so excited!”

Dan laughed at his sister’s high-pitched voice, he knew how much she’d been dying to visit the city since she was little. “You’re going to have such a great time, do you have any idea what you’re going to do when you’re there?”

Elena shook her head, although she knew Dan couldn’t see her. “I haven’t got a clue, Juan booked everything. Right from the flights, to the hotel, to some ‘activities’ as he put it.”

“Well, I’m sure he’s booked some great stuff for you to get up to!”

---

At the last match of the season, Elena has another chance to catch up with Christine. This time when she sees the older woman, Elena notices that she looks nowhere near as stressed as she did before.

“I think it’s because we finally booked the venue and the honeymoon. It’s really last minute. It’s in 6 weeks time, and we only booked the venue two weeks ago.” Christine told her as they waited for the match to begin.

“Have you sent out the invitations yet?”

“Yeah,” Christine replied. “As I was waiting for confirmation on the venue on the phone, I had the printers on hold, so I could switch lines as soon as the venue confirmed and get the invitations printed asap.” She waited for a second before turning back to Elena. “Did you not get your invite yet?”

Elena shook her head. “I don’t think so. I gave you Juan’s address, and I was at his flat yesterday, he didn’t mention getting the invitation.”

Christine growled slightly. “Great, now I have to check, and make sure people have received them. It’s not too bad with you, because you know when and where the wedding is. But my aunties in Ireland…they need all the help they can get!” she laughed.

The match went smoothly, with Chelsea winning quite easily. At the end of the match, the players came back on to the pitch to do their lap of honour as it was the last game of the season to be held at Stamford Bridge.

It was adorable to watch the players and their kids on the pitch together. The whole tradition was a good way to thank the fans and also for everyone to see a different side to the players. Elena watched Juan walk around the pitch, passing the ball softly back and forth with Leo, Fernando’s son, and applauding the fans; she couldn’t help but realise that in a year’s time, at the next lap of honour, Juan would have his own child.

As much as the thought utterly terrified her, Elena was more excited to see Juan adapt and become a father. She knew he’d be amazing, but it was still something she couldn’t wait to witness.

----

“I’m so excited to tell my madre, she’s going to be so happy.” Juan said as he rested his hands on Elena’s tiny, tiny bump. If you looked close enough, you could see the slight swell at the bottom of her stomach, but it was nothing a loose t-shirt couldn’t cover up. Though whenever he got the chance, Juan would always push her top up, to just under Elena’s bust and touch her stomach. It was almost like he was mesmerised. Like he couldn’t fathom that there was a child inside her – his child.

“I don’t know how my parents will react,” Elena pondered the different reactions that her parents could have, ranging from sheer anger, to full support. She hoped they’d have the latter rather than the former.

As he shifted and sat up next to Elena, Juan slung his arm over her shoulder. Almost instinctively, she dropped here head on to his shoulder. “I’m sure they’ll be happy. How could they not be? They’re going to have their first grandchild!”

“It’s just that I’m so young, and we’re not married. They’re not old-fashioned, I just think they’d like the comfort of knowing that I’m secure.”

Juan chuckled. “You think that we need to be married for you two to be secure? No matter what occurs, I’d never let anything happen to you or this baby.” He took her hand loosely. “Even if we separate – God forbid – there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for either of you. Please don’t forget that.”

There weren’t any words that Elena could say which could adequately convey her feelings. So instead, she just lifted her head and softly kissed Juan’s temple. What he had said meant the world to her.