How Soon Is Now

Part Two - Chapter Thirty-Three: Unbreak My Heart

Fernando didn't know how he managed it but somehow he managed to function in the four months since he had said goodbye to Nicola; he had retired from playing football to focus on looking after his children. 

Fernando was thirty-five and he thought it was time that he focused on his children, they needed him now and he wasn't going to let him down like he had in the future that no longer existed. 

It was clear to everyone that he was grieving for Nicola, no matter what he did Fernando never seemed happy; not that anyone could blame him, he had lost his soul-mate. 

Fernando had returned to Liverpool after he had finished off the season with Chelsea, he had wanted the children to have something stable after everything that had happened. 

"Papa, Mama wouldn't want you to be sad," Nora whispered looking to her father, who was staring at the rain on the living room window's as it left trails; she hated seeing him like this and she wished that she could make it all better. 

Fernando closed his eyes as the voice of Toni Braxton filled the room from the radio; he flinched as he wondered how she had gotten the song so right, he wanted someone to unbreak his heart. 

"Papa," Charlotte whimpered approaching her father, the five year old wrapped her arms around his leg making Fernando look down at her; he hadn't even heard her approach him and he knew that he needed to snap out of this. 

Taking a deep breath, Fernando forced a smile as he turned to face his three children, he wanted to be strong for them but it was just too hard and he wished that there was a way that things could get better. 

Fernando wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to carry on like this, he felt so alone and he wanted nothing more than to run away. 

Nora, Charlotte and Lucas needed their mother, he needed Nicola and she was dead all for some petty vengeance that hadn't even mattered in the end; Fernando wished that he could fix all of this and he couldn't.

Lucas watched his father, they wanted to make him happy again, he missed his mother and he knew that he would see her again one day but he wanted his father to be happy again. 

Lucas could never remember a time that both of his parents had been happy, he had always known them to be separated but his sisters had told him about what they had been like before and he wanted to see that for himself. 

"How about we order take-out?" Fernando asked trying to cheer them up, he wasn't in the mood to cook tonight and he just wanted to curl up and pretend that Nicola was here with him again. 

The three children nodded watching their father walk brokenly into the kitchen, it was clear that he was never going to recover from this and he would never move on. 

"I thought Grandpa said he was going to fix this," Lucas whispered looking to his older sisters, who shrugged softly; Henry had promised them when they had last seen him, it had been when their mother had returned to the afterlife. 

They knew that no one could meddle with Death and that if someone were to bring their mother back it would rip the veil between Life and Death again as Neena had done to bring back Gideon. 

"Don't worry Lucas... we are all here for each other, no matter what," Charlotte mumbled hugging her brother, who cried softly; he wanted his mother back and he didn't know what would happen if things carried on like this. 

Nora stared at her younger siblings, she wondered why their future selves had stopped appearing when Henry had started to come; her older self, Lilia, had said something about plans for the future to come.