Lover II- ML

211. Great British

It was Sweden and Ireland that England had to face this week, battling for qualification for the Euros next year.  

Kaia could still feel the disappointment deep in her gut, the heart wrenching emotion of not qualifying for the Olympics only a few months ago.

She couldn't let that happen this time, none of them could when they were the reigning champions, they made England come alive with their home tournament, they made such incredible memories last time.

If they missed out on next year, it would hit them very hard.

It was a tough group; Sweden, Republic of Ireland and France. Every game counted and momentum was key to getting them through it.

Kaia's form had just picked back up with that appearance of hers against Real Madrid, she was starting to feel herself again, Leah was back and it was also Kaia's birthday camp which always made her feel better.

So turning up to St. George's Park with Lucy and Keira, Kaia smiled brightly for the cameras and she was excited to get inside and back with the national team.

She got right into a meeting with Sarina and Leah, slowly passing the mantle of captain back to its true owner. This camp was a weaning process for Leah, she was more focused on getting back into training and re-gelling with the squad rather than taking on any and all captains duties.

So Kaia agreed to do the press conference for Sweden the day before the match since she was a teammate of two of them, taking the media stress away from Leah who was already rubbing her temples.

There was still this weird tension between Kaia and Natalie; but with Alexia being publicly named godmother within their social group and quite some time having passed since the whole incident, Natalie has seemed to have gotten over it.

Plus Alexia had told both Kaia and Mapi that she slept with Natalie on her birthday, so they were clearly working through it themselves.

It still didn't stop Kaia and Mapi from having mild reservations about Natalie being involved in their baby's life by association, but they agreed that Natalie would not get the title of godmother too.

That was only for Alexia to hold.

So Natalie was just a teammate, an opponent Kaia had to help score against in a couple of days time.

But before then, on the night of the 3rd, Kaia was curled up in her hotel bed and staring at the face of her fiancé who was mirroring her actions from her own hotel in Spain.

"One month today, can you believe it?" Kaia says in a dreamlike voice.

Mapi's loving smile only widens. "No, I can't." She admits softly. "Getting cold feet?"

"Never." Kaia promises, rolling onto her back as she runs a tired hand over her face. "I am getting stressed though, nervous we haven't got everything sorted in time."

"Princesa, we hired an entire team of wedding planners for this very reason." Mapi reminds her in a chuckle. "They have the list, they know everything they need to do down to who to give the rings to on the day."

At the reminder, Kaia holds her hand up in the darkness and looks at her engagement ring. "I can't wait to wear mine, they came out so beautiful."

"I can't wait to wear mine either." Mapi agrees with such a big smile that it's squishing her face thanks to her lying on her side in bed. "I love my engagement ring, don't get me wrong," she chuckles. "But having a wedding band seems so much more... real, and the thought of wearing one makes my heart happy."