Hear Your Heart

“Look at you” Iker cooed gently as he held Thiago close, smiling down at the nearly 4 month old who cooed happily in his arms. It had been a pleasant afternoon, Iker and Olivia had taken Thiago to the park for a few hours, and Iker couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend his time. It had been tense, Olivia barely spoke and when she did, it was merely to answer questions that Iker put to her, but he knew better than to fixate upon it. Things weren’t getting easier, Olivia was still curt and impolite with him, but he knew he couldn’t keep thinking about it. If he spent all of his time trying to get closer to Olivia, he would forget the most important thing which was, without a shadow of a doubt, the little boy who smiled cutely up at him. “You’re such a cute little baby, Thiago” he murmured, ensuring that his son’s sun hat was safely perched on his head “It’s a little hard to believe that you’re mine” he added.

“He looks like you” Olivia, who had been sat on the bench beside them reading, noted “That’s how your mother knew to believe me” she added.

Iker shook his head. “He looks far more like you than he does me” the keeper mused “He’s got your eyes, your hair, your nose” he added.

Olivia shook her head, setting her book down. “He looks like you, Iker” she murmured gently “And I always knew that he would” she added, gently smiling as Thiago kicked his feet, signaling his want to lay down. Leaning a little closer to the goalkeeper, she gently prized Thiago into her arms and moved to lay him down in his pram, ensuring that the sun was kept off of him. Iker watched her closely and smiled. “You’re a natural” he murmured gently into her ear, evoking a small blush on her cheeks.

“I am not” she murmured, gently rocking the pram so that their baby would fall asleep “I just learned. For the first few weeks, Danny and Lori were around all of the time, helping me understand how to feed him or how to comfort him. There were moment, in the beginning, where I thought I couldn’t do it, but I learned to do it. I love him, Iker, more than I thought I could ever love anything, and so I learned” she explained, her blue eyes briefly looking back at him.

“You really had trouble?” Iker murmured, glad that she hadn’t moved to push herself away from him.

“I was terrified” Olivia muttered “I was when I found that I was pregnant in the first place, but as time went on I become more and more frightened. I couldn’t imagine doing it by myself, so I called Danny and Lori and for the last 2 months of the pregnancy and the first month after Thiago was born, they helped me. They set up a nursery in my apartment, taught me to how to change nappies, they taught me the basics and made me feel more prepared for when he came” she explained.

Iker dropped his head. “You know it should have been me, Oli” he muttered “I should have been there, I should have been helping you” he added.

“I never stopped you” Olivia replied “Iker, I never told you that I had lost the baby, nobody I knew did. You could have found me if you wanted to” she noted, keeping her stare on Thiago who had drifted off to sleep.

“You could have come to me” Iker returned “You knew where I was” he added.

Olivia shook her head. “I can’t go back to that house” she muttered.

“It’s a house Oli” Iker replied.

“It’s more than that” Olivia noted stubbornly.

“No, it isn’t” Iker noted, placing his hand on her shoulder so that she would turn to look at him “Oli, I know that I fucked up, OK? I regret what I did with Delilah…”

“Don’t say her name” Olivia spat “I don’t want to know” she added.

Iker sighed. “I fucked up, OK? Cheating on you was easily the worst mistake I have ever made, but do you honestly think that we can just never talk about it? Do you really think that keeping him from me was the best way to cope with it?” he posed, his hand motioning to Thiago’s pushchair. It had been a mistake, what he had done with Delilah, but what Olivia had done with regards to their son was on the same sort of level. She had been deliberate, calculating, and it hurt Iker. The bitter woman who sat beside him bore little comparison to the wonderful woman he had proposed to a little over a year previous.

“You want to talk about it? Fine” Olivia muttered “What was she like, Iker?” she posed.

“Oli…”

“No, tell me. Was she as good as me? Better perhaps?” she spat.

Iker sighed. “I don’t remember” he muttered.

Olivia shook her head. “What did she have that I didn’t? What made you think going home with her was a good idea?” she prodded.

Iker shook his head. “It wasn’t a good idea, it was a petty and bitter move based purely on a sense of anger and jealousy towards the notion of you being with another man, but I admit it. What you have done, Oli, is as bad as me” he snapped.

Olivia scoffed, shaking her head gently. “I told you why I did it” she commented.

“I think you did it because you love me still” Iker commented.

Olivia’s eyes widened, but Iker spoke again before she even had the chance to refute the notion. “I think you’re scared because you know I am right, you’re scared because, even despite what I did, you still want to be with me, and to stop yourself falling over me, you’re pushing me away, even going to the length of keeping me out of Thiago’s life. Oli, I messed up, but I would never…”

“Stop” Olivia interjected, shaking her head “Stop talking” she added.

Iker sighed. “Querida, please” he murmured “You know I’m right about this” he added.

Olivia shook her head. “You’re not” she whispered “You couldn’t be more wrong” she added.

Iker scoffed. “Then look at me, right in the eye, and say it” he quipped.

Olivia swallowed and attempted to will herself to look at him, only to find her heart thumping as she studied his face.

“Say it, and I will let it drop” Iker noted, quietly confident.

Olivia opened her mouth, but found no words coming out, a sight that made Iker smile. “Say it” he commented nonchalantly.

Olivia shook her head. “I don’t have to do anything, Iker” she muttered “I will see you next week” she added before she stood up, steering Thiago’s pushchair away from him.

Iker watched her go and smirked to himself, almost certain that Olivia still wanted him almost as much as he wanted her.