In The Darkest Hour

Part Two - Chapter Eleven: First Home Match

Isla laughed softly as she followed her brother and Dev into the Camp Nou, she was glad that they had come with her and she was a little excited about seeing Gerard play; she couldn't remember the last time she had been too a match.

Kieran had been pretty excited when Gerard had offered them tickets to watch the opening match of the season; he guessed his sister dating a footballer had its perks.

"I can't believe that we get to watch Barcelona play," Kieran gushed looking back at his older sister, he could see how much Isla loved Gerard and he hoped that their parents would see that when they found out that the couple were dating.

Dev nodded his head, he wasn't sure how to feel about the tickets coming from Gerard but he was here as Isla's best friend and he knew that he would get used to the fact that she had moved on.

"I'm surprised that Gerard didn't get you his jersey," Kieran continued with a smile, he knew that the footballer was a little overprotective of Isla and he had seen how in love Gerard looked when it came to his older sister.

Isla laughed and nodded her head, she wouldn't deny that Gerard had wanted to do it but they had decided against it until they went public with their relationship; they didn't want to out themselves so soon after getting together.

"There's always next time," Dev teased smiling at Isla, he knew how much all of this meant to his friend and with her staying in Barcelona; this would be the first of many matches that she would get to attend as Gerard Piqué's girlfriend.

However the next time that Isla came she would be doing it without them since Kieran and Dev had to return to Sydney in a couple of days; that meant that Isla would have to start focusing on rebuilding her life here in Barcelona without them.

***

Isla jumped as Dev elbowed her in the ribs, she turned to look at her best friend wondering what was going on; the match had been pretty slow to start and Isla knew that he wouldn't interrupt unless it was important.

"Antonella is staring at you," Dev murmured peeking back over at the woman that seemed to be more interested in staring at Isla than watching Lionel play football; she had Thiago sat on her knee and didn't seem to do anything else but stare.

Isla shrugged her shoulders, she had no interest in speaking with Antonella even if she was letting go what had happened; things wouldn't be the same again.

Isla was very aware that Antonella and Daniella had spread terrible rumours about her around the team and some of them had leaked to the press; they had been taken in by the hospital's lies and had made things so much worse for her.

"Ignore her," Isla murmured back, she didn't turn to look at Antonella knowing that the woman felt guilty for what happened now; she had thought Antonella was her friend before things had gotten tough with Gerard.

Dev nodded his head, he wasn't fond of anyone that had given Isla trouble when she had been innocent; he was only just able to forgive Gerard since the man had been tricked into believing the hospital's lies and was grieving for Isabel.

Isla took a deep breath as she focused on the match, she didn't know what it was going to be like when she met the team; she doubted that any of them could have forgotten about what had happened last time.

Dev peeked at Isla, he was a little worried about leaving her in Barcelona especially since he feared that she wasn't going to be able to cope with being Gerard's girlfriend.

The press were bound to bring up what happened and some people would say horrible things about her because of it; Dev didn't know what would happen if Isla wasn't able to cope.

***

Antonella took a deep breath as she watched Isla talk with her brother, she knew that there was little chance that Isla would forgive her after what had happened; she had truly believed that Isla had been guilty.

Daniella had been the one to start spreading all of the rumours, she wanted to ensure that Isla couldn't get her claws into Gerard again no matter what happened; she had never thought that Isla was what actually innocent at all.

Antonella chewed on her lip knowing that she needed to apologise, she had been a friend to Isla before everything had kicked off and she needed to make amends for what had happened; she had been horrible and so quick to turn her back on Isla when Gerard had told her what had happened.

"Mama," Thiago whimpered making Antonella look down at her son, she smiled at him softly and brushed her fingers through his hair; she couldn't wait to be a mother for the second time.

Antonella looked back over at Isla, she knew that a couple of the other women weren't going to be entirely welcoming to her and she hoped that she could fix that; people were going to give her a hard time after what had happened and it wasn't going to be easy.

Isla looked beautiful and casual in her print jersey tunic and white peg trousers paired with golden wedge sandals, it reminded Antonella of the woman that she had meant nearly two years ago that had pulled Gerard from his depression.

Antonella looked up as she saw Lionel and Gerard walking into the room, she smiled glad that their friendship hadn't suffered after what had happened; she felt a little guilty thinking about how quick she had been to push her friend Kathleen at Gerard when he was clearly grieving and not thinking straight.

Gerard grinned as his eyes landed on Isla, he was so happy that she came to his match and he hoped she would come again; he waved Lionel off before he walked over to his girlfriend.

Lionel watched as Gerard walked away, he really hoped that his friend knew what he was doing and he hoped that he was happy; he didn't want to see Gerard hurt again after everything he had been through.

"Hola," Gerard greeted wrapping his arms around Isla, he was pleased with the score and he knew that this wasn't going to be an easy season but they would be okay.

Isla kissed Gerard ignoring the fact that people were staring at them, she didn't care what any of them thought; they were still new at this and it would take some time to get used to it.

"Hola," Isla replied brushing her fingers through Gerard's hair, she stared up at him and smiled glad that she had come to see him play; she hadn't had the chance before.

Gerard held Isla close, he had warned his team-mates that Isla was going to be there since he didn't want anyone to upset her; she was innocent and that had been proven.

Gerard didn't want Isla feeling that she wasn't welcome at his games, he wanted her there as often as was possible and he knew that it all depended on the fact that none of the other women scared her off.

Gerard was very aware how catty some of the others could be and they were all very close meaning that they would completely shut people out if they didn't like someone.

Kissing Isla again, Gerard wanted nothing more than to make sure that the next few weeks went well; it wouldn't be long before everyone knew that Gerard Piqué was dating Isla Cortez and everything changed.