Off The Field

thirty-four

note: I'll be honest with you all now and say I envisioned this chapter going so differently from how it turned out and I'm sure you'll all know exactly what I mean by that when you read it but I hope you enjoy it anyway. I think I might have overcome my writers block (only by changing my chapter plan for the next few chapters) but fingers crossed.

To Leah:
Baby is approximately the size of a prune now. They're about 1.5 inches now so getting so much bigger! Pickles are still my absolute favourite thing in the world. I love you so, so much xx

'How's Courtney doing?' Sarina asks softly as she takes a seat next to the blonde who smiles and places her phone down on her knee to turn her attention to her manager.

'She's doing really good actually... She's still sick practically every day but she's ten weeks now so thankfully getting closer to that second trimester and hopefully being able to breathe a bit easier.' Leah replies.

'That's good. Are you finding it easy to keep in touch with her while we're in camp and stuff?' Sarina asks and Leah nods her head.

'Mm-hmm... We find time to speak each night and she messages me little updates throughout the day if she needs to. I think- Well it's not easy but we're making it work. It's hard when she's feeling so shit and I can't be there but Beth and Viv are out here with us along with Jen who used to be our teammate at Arsenal so I know she's in good hands until my mum gets out here.' Leah replies and Sarina smiles slightly.

'I'm glad to hear she's doing good. Is she going to come to some of the games while out here?' Sarina asks.

'Yeah, she's coming to the first game. Her and Bunny are coming but they're not going to come to every game.' Leah replies and Sarina nods her head.

'Well you'll have time after the game to see them both.' Sarina says and Leah smiles.

'Yeah, it'll be good to see them both.' Leah replies softly.

'Well if you need anything, please do not hesitate to ask, Leah... I know that you might feel like while here we're expecting you to focus on the game constantly and don't get me wrong, I do need you to focus on the game when we're training and playing but I selected you knowing that at times your head might be elsewhere especially after everything you have gone through.' Sarina says.

'Thank you, Sarina.' Leah replies smiling.

****

Tears stream down her cheeks as she sits on the edge of the bed wrapped in a towel watching as Bunny sleeps peacefully in the middle of the double bed. Taking a shaky breath, she immediately reaches for her phone to glance at the time. 1:23pm. It's been a little over thirty minutes since she got out of what was supposed to be a nice relaxing shower but turned out to be the opposite.

To Beth:
Hey, if you're not too busy could you pop by my room? Maybe watch Bunny for me for a little while? Xx

From Beth:
Be there in 5. Everything okay? xx

Her heart pounds as she drops the phone onto the bed and glances back at her daughter. They've had the absolute best week spending time with Jen, Beth and Viv; Bunny has most certainly became the Dutch forward's little shadow following Viv everywhere she goes much to the surprise of everyone who is used to Beth being her favourite. A knock at the door pulls her from her thoughts as she makes her way over, peeking through the peep-hole and seeing the blonde standing, one hand resting on her growing bump which is certainly more visible than it was when they arrived.

'Hey... What's going on? Are you okay?' Beth asks softly taking in the sight of the brunette as Courtney opens the hotel room door. They make their way into the room and Courtney tightens the towel around her body before taking a deep breath.