When We Were

Throwing his hand out of bed, Lionel felt blindly across the top of the bedside table, his hand searching for his phone which was blaring throughout the room, disturbing the silence which otherwise filled it. It was a rare night away from home, with Barcelona’s away game due to kick off at lunch time, the team had travelled the previous night, and whilst Lionel was used to early mornings at home, the idea of being disturbed in his hotel room had caught him off guard. Grumbling a little, he turned over onto his stomach, staring at the phone on the end table until it stopped ringing before he pushed himself up. Reluctantly, he lifted the phone up into his hand, squinting against the brightness of the screen as he looked at it, Emilia’s name immediately catching his gaze.

Staring at the phone for a moment, he briefly contemplated calling her back immediately, but opted against it, knowing that if it was important, then she would call him back. Placing the phone back on the end table, he moved to turn over against his pillow only for the phone to blare again, causing him to let out a quiet curse as he sat up. Picking up the phone, he accepted the call and pressed it against his ear, his other hand pushing back through his hair. “Emmy, I love you, but you do know what time it is, don’t you?” he grumbled out, the end of his sentence distorted by the yawn that worked its way out of his mouth.

Emilia made a little noise, somewhere between a scoff and a laugh. “You act like you’re not used to it” she quipped.

Lionel allowed his head to fall against the headboard, his fingers scratching his jawline lazily. “I didn’t say that” he replied “And don’t take this the wrong way, but I was kind of looking forwards to the chance to sleep in for a bit. Is this a call that can wait?” he asked.

Emilia seemed to hesitate for a second before she sighed. “Yeah, it probably can” she mused “Sorry I woke you” she added softly.

“I’ll forgive you” Lionel chirped back.

“I just thought you’d want to know that I took another pregnancy test this morning” Emilia said quietly.

Lionel felt a familiar lump grow in his throat. It was a mixture of excitement and anxiety, one that he got every time that she had taken a test and he doubted that it would ever be any other way. They were ready for another baby, they had been for a while, and whilst he and Emilia were trying to be careful about getting their hopes up, he couldn’t help himself. “And?” he said gently.

“And” Emilia’s voice was slightly shaky, something which caused Lionel’s stomach to drop.

“Emmy…”

“And it was…it was positive” Emilia breathed out.

Lionel almost dropped the phone in surprise.

“I thought it was probably a false one” Emilia continued “So I took another couple to be sure. They were both positive too” she added.

Lionel blinked, his mouth opening and closing, but he wasn’t quite able to make anything come out of it, something which made Emilia laugh gently, more than a little amused by his stunned silence. “Glad I woke you up now?” she asked playfully.

“Yeah” Lionel breathed out softly “You’re really…?” he trailed off.

Emilia breathed out a soft laugh. “Yeah, I’m really…” she mimicked playfully.

Lionel couldn’t stop the laugh falling out of his mouth.

“I’m really sorry I woke you” Emilia said gently “I know it’s early and I knew you’d still be asleep, but I just…I didn’t think I could wait until you got home to tell you and I had to tell someone. If I didn’t call you, I probably would have called my brother and upset him. I’ll let you go if you want me to” she added.

“No” Lionel replied quickly “No, it’s OK. I’m awake now” he added, his voice softening a little.

Emilia made a noise down the line which confided that she was smiling at him, something which made Lionel smile gently to himself. “What made you think about taking another test?” he asked gently.

“I don’t know” Emilia replied “I just got the feeling that I should. My time of the month was due a few days ago, but that’s never been overly reliable. I just thought I’d take one, just to be sure and now…”

“And now you know that you’re carrying my baby” Lionel finished for her.

Emilia let out a soft awed laugh. “Yeah” she mused softly.

Lionel held the phone against his ear, basking in the awed silence which lingered between them for a few moments, before he heard Luca’s voice down the line, earning a soft, happy, sigh from Emilia. “The kids need me to go and make their breakfast” she mused gently.

“I heard” Lionel replied.

“I should go” Emilia mused “You know which one of his parents Luca got his patience from” she joked.

Lionel’s lips quirked upwards amusedly. “Yeah, you” he quipped playfully.

Emilia scoffed, but it quickly gave way to a soft laugh. “Another baby” she said gently “Gosh, I hope this one is a boy. If we give Luca another sister, he’ll give us hell” she added.

“He loves his little sister” Lionel pointed out.

“He does” Emilia conceded “But we both know that he wants a brother. He put up with Maisie, but if this one is another sister for him…” she trailed off playfully.

Lionel smiled to himself. “Happy and healthy” he mused.

Emilia parroted the words back at him as Luca’s voice grew louder, signalling that he had probably arrived in the same room as his mother. “I really have to go” Emilia mused “I love you. I’ll see you when you get back tonight and we can talk some more” she added.

Lionel nodded to himself. “I love you, too” he replied “I’ll see you tonight, Emmy” he added.

“Bye, Leo!” Luca’s voice chirped.

“Bye, Luca” Lionel replied.

“He says goodbye, too, Luca” Emilia said, clearly talking to the little boy.

Lionel smiled at the tone of her voice before she spoke up again, saying her own goodbye before she disconnected the call. Waiting a second, he lowered the phone away from his ear and stared down at it, his bright grin reflected in the blank screen as he allowed the news that Emilia had given him to settle in.