Hope you all have a good week 😊
Keira's POV:
I woke up this morning to Lucy cradling Ellie in her arms, as she walked around the room. I lifted my head up off the pillow, making a little noise, which must have stirred Lucy's attention. I looked to see Ellie with tears running down her face, clutching her blanket and the dummy in her mouth. I glanced over to see Charlie still fast asleep. I sat up in the bed and Lucy got back into bed beside me, and passed Ellie to me. Ellie clung to me and cuddled her face into the crook of my neck. I leaned against Lucy as we looked down at the toddler in my arms. "When did she wake up ?", I quietly asked Lucy, as I rubbed my hand up and down Ellie's back in attempts to soothe her, and maybe lull her back to sleep. "About 20 minutes ago, she accidentally kicked me in the stomach, so I woke up and saw she was having another nightmare", Lucy replied, combing her fingers through Ellie's messy hair. We sat in bed just letting Ellie fall asleep again, before we both decided to get out of bed. I got out of bed first, and settled Ellie in the middle of the bed, placing two pillows either side of her. Lucy gently got off the bed and we both got ready quickly.
I checked the time to see it was 9:15am. I nudged Lucy and she looked too, and we decided to wake Charlie at least. I gently nudged Charlie, and she mumbled quietly, before rolling over and trying to go back to sleep. I leaned down and whispered "if you get changed, me or mum will carry you down to breakfast, so you can go back to sleep". Charlie slowly sat up in bed, and shuffled out of the bed. I smiled at how easy that had been. I looked over to see Lucy sat at the desk in the room. I headed over to see what she was up to.
I wrapped my arms around her neck, leaning on her shoulders and peering over her shoulder. I smiled when I saw what she was doing. She craned her head so that I could lean down and peck her lips. I watched as she slid the papers I had signed yesterday into an envelope, before writing an address in the middle, and placing a stamp in the corner. I leaned down and whispered "thank you". Lucy looked up at me again, quirking an eyebrow at me, clearly confused as to why I was saying thank you. "You introduced me to an amazing 12 year old who is one of the most important people in my life, and whom I love more than she'll ever know. You also gave me an adorable little baby girl, who is too cute not to love", I told her. Lucy turned around in the chair and looked up at me. "I wouldn't be where I am today without you, Charlie wouldn't be as happy and bright without you, and Ellie definitely wouldn't be here without you, nor would she be as adorable without you", Lucy replied, before puckering her lips so I could lean down and kiss her again.
When our little moment was over, we both turned to see that Charlie had joined Ellie in bed and they were both curled up together fast asleep. I looked over to see Lucy smiling at the sight in front of us, before leaning down and gently picking Charlie up and settling her in her arms, without too much noise from Charlie. I leaned down and picked Ellie up and settled her in my arms, making sure to grab her blanket, that could definitely do with a wash. I slipped on my shoes and soon enough we were all out the door and on our way down to breakfast.
As we walked down the hallway towards the dining hall, I could already hear the noise from inside. I looked over at Lucy who frowned when she heard the noise before making eye contact with me as we both stopped in the middle of the hallway, wondering what we were going to do. We looked between each other and the girls and then came to the conclusion that we all needed food and we should head inside. As I went to open the door, I watched as Lucy placed a kiss to Charlie's head and whispered "I'm sorry for the noise Charlie", before walking into the dining hall. I followed behind her and made my way towards the breakfast queue. As I stood in the queue, I felt a poke to my back and turned around to see Leah smiling softly at me, before she glanced at Ellie in my arms. Leah frowned at the sight of Ellie being asleep. "I was hoping to have some morning cuddles from my goddaughter this morning", Leah said. I chuckled gently and then replied "well once I eat my breakfast if she's still sleepy, you might get some". Leah smiled and nodded before we quietly chatted while getting our breakfast and making our way to the table that Lucy had taken, with Charlie still in her arms, somehow still fast asleep.
Lucy looked over to me and grinned when she saw Ellie utterly conked against my chest. "You'd think they'd both played the game yesterday by the sight of them now", Alex said as she sat down at our table. We all laughed quietly at the comment. I ate my breakfast, checking every so often to see if Ellie was waking up yet, but she was still out. Once I was finished with my breakfast I shifted slightly in my seat and noticed Leah staring at me. "I'm forever telling Charlie that it's rude to stare, don't tell me I'll have to start telling you too", I said to her, causing everyone else at the table to laugh. Leah shook her head and then replied "I was wondering could I have my Effie cuddles now". I chuckled slightly and then slowly and gently passed a sleeping Ellie to Leah.
I checked to see if she was still asleep and then fixed her blanket. "She must be wrecked", Leah quietly said turning to me. I nodded as I watched Ellie sleep against Leah's chest. "Yeah, she hasn't been sleeping great, she keeps waking up from nightmares", I replied softly. "Oh no, poor thing, any idea what's causing them ?", Leah asked. I shook my head and replied "not a clue, all she's said about them is what happens in them, which is me and Luce leaving her, Luce reckons it might have something to do with it being her first proper tournament, she's never been this long away from home and out of her normal routine". Leah nodded and than we looked around to see that most of the team were leaving to head for our recovery session. I stood up and watched as Leah slowly and gently stood up too. I checked again to see Ellie still fast asleep.
I knew I should probably wake her up, but I didn't have the heart too. She hadn't been sleeping a lot recently, especially at night. So I decided the best option was to let her sleep. We all walked to the recovery rooms and Lucy thankfully got the stroller so that Leah could carefully place Ellie in it while we all did our recovery. At the end of breakfast Charlie had woken up, but definitely wasn't her usual cheery self.
I was stood waiting for the weights and than felt two arms wrap around my waist from behind. I turned around and Charlie dug her face into my chest. "Still tired huh ?", I said. Charlie just nodded as she leaned against me. When the weights became available, I gently nudged her and she let go but stayed near me. Once I was finished with the weights I put them back and than led Charlie over to the mats. I sat down and started rolling out my muscles.
Charlie sat down beside me. "Kei ?", Charlie muttered, just loud enough for me to hear her. "Yeah ?", I replied, putting less focus on my muscles and a little more on Charlie. "I wanna go home", Charlie whispered as she leaned into me and hid her face in my chest. I stopped my recovery and pulled Charlie onto my lap. I rubbed my hand up and down her back and whispered into her ear "aww Charlie I'm sorry, it won't be long now till we're home, and you know I don't think you're the only one who misses home right now". Charlie didn't say anything, but then I felt my t-shirt starting to get a bit wet, and peeked my head to see that Charlie had begun to cry quietly. I sighed softly and hugged her closer to me.
I looked around the gym to see everyone else focused on their recovery. I saw Luce check in the stroller briefly, but she went back to her recovery session. I continued to comfort Charlie, and slowly but surely she stopped crying, but stayed in my lap and made no attempt of leaving.
