When We Were

Lazily brushing his fingertips down Emilia’s ribcage, Lionel quirked a sleepy smile to himself, watching as her blue eyes blinked open to look up at him, the faintest of smiles appearing on her lips. It was too early for them to have to be anywhere else, too early for Luca to have woken up, and Lionel wanted to make the most of it, wanting to take a few moments to just enjoy being with one another before the morning really started to get going. Gently shifting his hand, he traced it up Emilia’s side before he carefully cupped the back of her head, nudging it downwards slightly so that he could touch a gentle kiss to her forehead.

Emilia sighed gently, her eyes closing at the feel of his lips against her head before she leant back, smiling up at him. “Do you actually sleep when you’re here?” she asked “I swear, you always fall asleep after me and wake up before me. You don’t just spend the night watching me, do you?” she prodded, wrinkling her nose playfully.

Lionel merely offered her a nonchalant shrug, something which made Emilia giggle, pushing his shoulder playfully. “Don’t be weird” she squeaked impishly.

Lionel caught her hand, gently pressing a kiss against her palm. “Weird or not, you love me” he quipped, his voice caught somewhere between awed and playful.

Emilia’s teasing smile softened a little before she turned her head slightly, shyly hiding it against her pillow. “Yeah, I do” she mumbled.

Lionel pushed her hair away from her face, flashing her a small, tender smile. “I didn’t hear that” he fussed.

Emilia shook her head, biting down on her lip to prevent the wide goofy smile that was aching to split across her face. “I said yeah, I do” she repeated “I love you, you dork” she added.

Lionel grinned down at her, pressing a kiss to the corner of her lips. “I love you too” he mused.

Emilia held him close, enjoying the embrace for a few long seconds before the sound of a phone vibrating filled the air, causing her to frown a little. Sitting up slightly, she wiggled away from Lionel and reached her hand out of the bed, collecting her phone from where it sat on the end table.

“It’s barely seven” Lionel noted “Who could need to talk to you so early?” he added.

Emilia, who’d been reading the text she’d received, shook her head. “It’s just Isaac” she noted.

“At seven in the morning?” Lionel prodded, trying to keep the little frown off of his face as best he could.

Emilia shrugged. “He’s always been an early riser” she replied “Anyway, he was just asking if he could come and pick up Luca. He’s off work today and he wants to see him” she added.

Lionel nodded his head slowly, something which Emilia acknowledged by tilting hers slightly, one of her eyebrows arching. “What’s with the look?” she asked.

“What look?” Lionel retorted.

Emilia prodded his cheek. “This one” she replied

Lionel let out a sigh before he shrugged his shoulders. “It’s barely past seven in the morning” he noted “And I get that he wants to see Luca, I’d never try to get in the way of that, but...it’s stupid, but I don’t exactly love him texting you like that” he added, his expression screwing up a little as he heard the words out loud.

He knew that it was something he had to contend with, with Emilia and Isaac having Luca between them, he knew that the blonde man was always going to be around, but after their last conversation, he had grown to be slightly warier, almost certain that Isaac had been biding his time to make another move on Emilia before Lionel had arrived in the picture. It was obvious to anyone who saw the doctor around Emilia that he still had feelings for her. His stare always seemed to linger too long, he always seemed to finding reasons to touch her, and whilst Emilia had made it clear to Lionel that she had no interest in her ex, Isaac had all but said he still loved her when he and Lionel had last spoken, something which made the footballer slightly apprehensive.

Emilia frowned. “He just wanted to ask if it was OK for him to come and get Luca at some time this morning” she noted.

“I know” Lionel noted “And I am not trying to get in the way of that, I know that that’s got nothing to do with me, but I just...” he trailed off, struggling and failing to find the right way to end his thought.

Emilia watched him, her eyes searching his face, before she placed her palm against his cheek, causing his eyes to flash up and meet hers. “I love you” she murmured “Isaac is...he’s my past. I’ve told you that before. He can’t just disappear, not with Luca around, but his being around doesn’t change things for us. He’s just something we have to handle, but he doesn’t change how I feel about this. He can’t change how I feel about you, Leo” she added, gently running her thumb back and forth across his cheek.

Lionel sighed. “He makes no secret of having feelings for you, Emmy” he murmured.

“He just wants me now because he can’t have me” Emilia retorted “Until you showed up and I got all smitten, he could barely stand to be in a room with me” she added with a small laugh.

“Emmy...”

“I don’t have feelings for him” Emilia interrupted, hearing the doubt in Lionel’s voice as he said her name “He can have all the feelings he wants for me, but I don’t have them for him, Leo. It’s you that I want and I am not going to keep repeating that. Isaac is Luca’s papa, that’s all he is to me now” she added, her eyes fixed on his.

Lionel’s dark eyes searched Emilia’s blues for a split second before he nodded. “I’m sorry for doubting that” he noted.

“You’re not the first, you almost certainly won’t be the last” Emilia replied.

Lionel smiled ruefully. He was certain that over the years, almost everyone Emilia knew would have asked about Isaac and he imagined that it was something that she was tired of having to explain. She’d already explained it to him twice and he doubted that if the conversation came up for a third time she would be able to keep herself as composed as she had.

Shaking his head slightly, he gently found her hand in amongst the duvet and knotted their fingers together, offering her hand a tight squeeze. “Come to Barcelona” he announced.

Emilia’s reaction was instant. A bright laugh that was just a fraction too loud to hide her surprise. “What?” she spluttered.

“Not when I go back” Lionel clarified “I know there’s a lot to sort out on your part, but I would like you to come and see my home. Meet some of my friends. Watch me play for Barca” he added, shrugging his shoulders sheepishly.

Emilia just gaped at him, something which made Lionel laugh shyly before he lifted her hand, pressing a kiss against the back of it. “Just a thought” he noted before the sound of Luca’s voice filled the air, something which made them both sigh in relief, glad to have the distraction from the slightly awkward tension which had started to seep into the atmosphere.