Off The Field

forty-three

Tears stream down her cheeks as she sits at the kitchen island, one hand resting on the counter with the other resting on her bump. It's a little after 3:30am and she's been up for at least the past forty-five minutes just sitting in the kitchen.

'Court, what you doing down here? Come back to bed...' Leah says softly causing Courtney to sigh as the blonde makes her way into the kitchen.

'I-I can't.' Courtney mumbles, reaching up to wipe her cheeks as the blonde gets closer to her.

'What's going on? What's got you so upset?' Leah asks and Courtney immediately shakes her head.

'You'll laugh at me.' Courtney almost whispers as she feels Leah's arms wrap around her waist.

'I won't laugh at you, Court. Whatever is upsetting you is completely valid and I want to try and make it better... Let me make it better? What's going on?' Leah asks causing the brunette to let out a shaky breath.

'I uh- I can't sleep and I just- I want pickles, it's the only thing that sounds good right now but I finished the pickles last night and now I don't have any pickles.' Courtney mumbles and Leah immediately needs to bite her bottom lip to prevent herself from laughing.

'Do you want me to go get you a jar of pickles?' Leah asks pressing a kiss to Courtney's shoulder causing her to sigh.

'It's like 3 in the morning, I can't ask you to go to the shop for pickles.' Courtney replies shaking her head.

'You're not asking me to do anything, Court. I am more than happy to shove some clothes on and go get you pickles. You're twenty-six weeks pregnant, if you want pickles I will get you pickles.' Leah says softly.

'I want pickles.' Courtney almost whines and Leah nods her head.

'I won't be long. Okay, I'll be back in like half an hour at the latest.' Leah says smiling.

****

Making her way out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, Leah can't help but smile as she sees Courtney sitting up in bed clutching a jar of pickles which Leah had brought back from Tesco.

'You good?' Leah asks and Courtney nods her head.

'Mm-hmm... I love you, bubs.' Courtney says smiling as Leah gets into bed next to her.

'You're only saying that because I went out in the early hours of the morning and got you pickles.' Leah replies laughing, her head resting against Courtney's hip.

'Mm... It helps but I really do love you.' Courtney says softly.

'I love you too, Court... More than I ever thought humanly possible.' Leah replies smiling as she feels Courtney gently moving some hair out of her face.

'What are your plans for today when you finish training?' Courtney asks and Leah shakes her head.

'Nothing really... I should finish about 1-ish today. Why is there something you want to do?' Leah asks causing Courtney to smile.

'Christmas shopping... I don't want to leave it all until next month, Le. I want to get as much of it in as possible.' Courtney replies and Leah nods her head.

'We can do that. I could pick you up when I finish training? Bunny's going to my mum's for a sleepover tonight anyway so we've got plenty of time.' Leah suggests.

'Mm-hmm... That sounds like a good plan. I just want to get as much of Bunny's in so that we know it's there.' Courtney admits.

'Yeah, that makes sense. Get it in before the rush as well.' Leah replies.

'Mm-hmm...' Courtney mumbles as she pops a pickle into her mouth.

'Right I'm gonna try get some sleep. Don't worry about getting up with Bunny in the morning, I'll take her to nursery.' Leah says.

****

'You look shattered.' Lia says softly as Leah makes her way over to her and groans as she drops her head to rest on the mid-fielder's shoulder.

'I am... I was out at tesco at like half 3 this morning searching for pickles for Courtney. Don't think I got back to sleep until after 5.' Leah replies shaking her head as Lia wraps her arm around her.

'Oh bless... Still craving the pickles, I guess?' Lia asks and Leah nods her head.

'How far along is she now?' Lia asks as they make their way towards the changing rooms to get ready for training.

'Twenty-six weeks. It's going by so fast now and I am starting to feel quite unprepared for this baby.' Leah admits causing Lia to smile.

'You'll be fine, Le. You've still got plenty of time to be prepared.' Lia says smiling.

'I actual want to curl up in a ball and sleep right now.' Leah mumbles as she makes her way over to sit on the bench. Resting her elbows on her knees, she leans her face into her hands and lets out a small sigh.

'What's going on with her?' Katie asks quietly as she glances at Lia who shakes her head.

'She's just tired... Just give her some time to wake up and she'll be fine.' Lia replies softly. They all set about getting ready for training, the changing room filled with quiet chatter as people break off into little groups before slowly filtering out to the training pitches.

'Le? You ready?' Lia asks and the blonde nods her head.

'I'll be out in five. Go ahead.' Leah replies smiling. Making her way out of the changing rooms, Lia makes her way out to the training pitches where she finds Jonas standing in the middle waiting on everyone arriving.

'Le's had a rough night... She says she'll be out in five minutes but honestly I wouldn't push her today.' Lia says and Jonas nods his head.

'That's fine.' Jonas replies.

****

'Hey, how was training?' Courtney asks smiling as she gets into the passenger seat and glances over at the blonde who shakes her head.

'It was alright... I didn't do much to be fair. I ended up having a nap in the medical room for like an hour before lunch.' Leah replies.

'Oh that's my fault... I shouldn't have had you up getting me pickles.' Courtney says shaking her head as Leah reaches an arm over to rest on the brunette's thigh.

'It's fine, love... Honestly, don't worry about it. I was more than happy to go get you pickles because you wanted pickles.' Leah replies.

'What are we going to get Bunny for Christmas?' Courtney asks resting her hand on top of the blonde's.

'Oh I don't know... I was speaking with mum the other day and she was saying that she was thinking about getting her a doll's pram if we weren't planning on getting her one this year.' Leah replies and Courtney nods her head.

'Sounds like a good idea. We could get a new doll, like one of those proper ones that makes noises and stuff. She doesn't have one like that and she loves playing with her babies?' Courtney suggests causing Leah to smile.

'And when the baby comes along then it means we can go on walks and she can bring her baby in the pram.' Leah says.

'Mm-hmm... Maybe she'll feel more included if she's changing her baby's nappy while one of us is changing our baby.' Courtney replies and Leah nods her head.

'Yeah, I think maybe getting her a doll would be a good idea and then if my mum gets her the pram it'll go really well together... Is there anything you want for Christmas, love?' Leah asks and Courtney shakes her head.

'I have everything I could ever possibly need.'Courtney replies.