The Perfect Combination

"He said what?" Terry asked.

We were now sitting in my mother’s living room and discussing the lunch ‘date’ I had just had with Fernando.

"He said I should consider being with him and he would help me raise the twins"

Terry’s eyes expanded to the size of saucers as I repeated the events of earlier today before she continued.

"And what did you say?"

"What was I supposed to say? I told him I need to think about things and then I left", I explained.

"Uhm …What is there to think about? You are not letting Fernando help you raise Sergio’s kids", she stated.

"Why not? Fernando is way more responsible than Sergio will ever be and he is also ready to settle down. Why shouldn’t I give him a chance?” I said, realizing that having Fernando be my partner wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

"Mainly because those kids in your belly are Sergio’s kids not Fernando’s and if anyone between those two deserves a chance in helping you raise them it’s Sergio not Fernando".

"But Sergio’s not ready for that responsibility", I tried to reason.

"How do you know? Have you talked to him about this?” she questioned.

When I made no attempt to give her an answer, she continued.

"I know you’re worried that Sergio isn’t ready to settle down and he may not be but lately I’ve seen him act so responsibly and I think you need to talk to him about this before you start thinking about playing happy families with Senor Torres"

"Fine, I’ll talk to him but if he tells me that he doesn’t want anything to do with me, I’m blaming you."

"Fair enough but I know I’m right, Sergio definitely wants you and those kids in his life", she said as I rolled my eyes.

Tomorrow morning, I told myself, I’d make my way to Casa Ramos and have a serious talk with Sergio about how our friendship would or would not end when the twins were born. But for now I was going to gorge on marshmallows and chocolates while watching the final season of Gossip Girl.

~

Sergio

"Ugh I’m coming", I screamed angrily at whoever has been ringing my door bell for the past five minutes.

I open the door ready to yell at whoever was behind it but I’m left speechless by who was standing there.

"Fernando?!"

"Hey buddy, miss me?” he says while going in for a hug.

We pulled apart and I could tell from the look on his face that this wasn't a friendly visit.

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah of course", I nodded and moved out of the way.

He made his way to the kitchen as if he owned the place and opened the fridge to get a bottle of water. When he was done with his routine, he sat down and finally looked at me.

"So what have you been up too?” he asked obviously trying to delay whatever he had to tell me.

"Nothing much. You know football has been keeping me busy. And you? What brings you to Madrid?” I replied as I took the seat opposite him.

"Visiting Olalla. She just had a baby so I was… just checking up", I nodded at his answer knowing that the Olalla issue is still a sore one for him. "Then I ran into Nati yesterday and we got talking."

"Oh yeah?!. What about?” I asked fearing the worst.

Everybody knew that Fernando always harbored feelings for Lia and I had done what I could to discourage him from pursing anything with her. Not because I was jealous of him wanting to be with her but because I didn’t want Lia to be hurt. This is exactly what Fernando would do. I know he had gone through a lot with Olalla but a part of me always felt that he would never find another woman as good as her and I didn’t want Lia to have to suffer like that.

"The baby or should I say babies and her future plans. By the way congratulations, you got one shot and you scored two goals, not even I’ve managed that.” he joked while I smiled awkwardly at what he said.

Not because he had missed out on the chance to be a father but because I’m not sure if I could technically be classified as one.

"So what did she say?” brushing off my internal conflict.

"Not much. Mainly because I did most of the talking", he said.

"What did you tell her?” I asked in a challenging manner.

"The truth. She mentioned how overwhelmed she felt by having to raise two children on her own and so I told her she should consider looking for someone responsible to be her partner and help her raise her kids", he said nonchalantly.

"So you told her to give me a chance to be a father?", I questioned excitedly hoping that my friend would have my back in my quest to be a grown up and a responsible figure for my kids.

"Actually no I didn’t", my jaw dropped at this as Fernando continued, "I actually told her to cut ties with you because you’re obviously not ready to settle down."

"What?!", I yelled at him annoyed that he would say such a thing. “You have no right to tell her that?, you have no idea how hard I’m trying to show her how responsible I am so she trusts me enough to let me play some part in MY children’s life", I continued yelling.

"For how long will ‘responsible Sergio’ last this time?", he asked mockingly.

"What is that supposed to mean?” I asked shocked at how rude he was being towards me.

"It means that the ‘new responsible Sergio’, is just another act that you put on when you want something. It never lasts and you never think about the consequences it has on those around you", he began going off in a rant. "But I won’t let it happen this time Sergio, I won’t let you play with Nati’s emotions in the same way you play with the other girls."

"So what exactly are you saying?” I said as I stood up, ready to throw him out of my house.

"I’m saying I’m a better man than you will ever be and it’s for that reason that I told her I’m ready and waiting to be there for her in whatever way she needs", he admitted as he stood up, ready to challenge me.

Our silent war was quickly disturbed by Natalia, who had used her spare key to come into my house.

"Hey Sergio we need to talk", she said as she turned the corner but froze when she saw that Fernando was there.

"Evidently we do", I said as turned to look at her.

“When were you planning to tell me that you were planning to raise our children with him?” I said pointing to Fernando.