You Are My Sunshine

Chapter Fourteen: The Christmas Party

Joe smiled helping Gabriella from the car, he ignored the snap of cameras and the shouts of the press; he kept her close knowing that he wasn't going to let anyone upset her tonight. 

Gabriella looked simply beautiful in her berry coloured maternity plunge front maxi dress and Joe couldn't take his eyes off her, the bump looked wonderful in the dress and there was no denying that he was excited about the birth. 

Joe kept her close as they headed into the restaurant, he had warned his team-mates that he would be bringing Gabriella to the party; he wanted them to be nice to her and not scare her off, he wasn't going to put up with the other women being mean. 

Gabriella took a deep breath, she was a little nervous about meeting Joe's team-mates, she had no idea what they thought of her after what had happened; she was sure they were going to be horrible because of what had happened. 

"It'll be okay," Joe murmured trying to reassure her, he knew that this wasn't going to be a walk in the park; a lot of the women had liked Georgina but he wasn't going to let that bother him. 

Gabriella was the mother of his unborn child and she was here to stay, Joe liked spending time with her; he couldn't wait to be a father to their daughter. 

Gabriella just nodded her head, she had plans on staying out of any trouble tonight and she hoped that there would be no one looking to cause them any trouble; she had come because Joe had asked her and she didn't see why that would be such a big problem. 

Joe took Gabriella's hand and led her over to their table, he had been careful about deciding where they would be seated; he knew which women would most likely kick up a fuss and he wanted to avoid them. 

The two of them weren't in a relationship and Joe could only imagine the trouble that would start if they were; right now he wanted everything to be perfect.

***

"I'm Hollie," a woman said sitting down next to Gabriella, she smiled nervously at the other woman who was sat at the table where she and her boyfriend would also be seated; this was her first team event and it made her nervous. 

Gabriella blinked surprised that someone was speaking to her, Joe was off speaking to his team-mates and she had been a little ignored since they had arrived by everyone else. 

"Gabriella," Gabriella replied trying to work out who the woman in front of her was, she had seen her somewhere before and she couldn't work out where. 

Hollie smiled at her, she was glad to see someone that was like her and felt so out of place in the room; she wasn't sure what to do and had decided just to sit down since she was twenty-two weeks pregnant. 

"I'm Sergio Agüero's partner," Hollie explained with a smile, she had been a little surprised when Sergio had insisted on her coming with him; she had never really met any of these people before and she was quite relieved to have someone to talk to while Sergio was speaking with friends. 

Gabriella nodded her head, she wasn't entirely sure how to introduce herself since she wasn't Joe's girlfriend; she was just the random woman that was going to have his baby and he currently lived with. 

"So when are you due?" Hollie asked sensing that Gabriella was a little hesitant to talk about her own situation, she recalled seeing the other woman's face plastered on the front page of a lot of newspapers.

Gabriella smiled resting a hand on her bump, she was glad that Hollie wasn't pushing for more information; she was just friends with Joe and she doubted that was ever really going to change.

"The middle of January," Gabriella mumbled with a smile, she couldn't believe how little time was left until she had her daughter; she was just hopeful that Joe would be there when their little girl was born. 

Gabriella was worried that Joe would miss the birth because of a match or something, she couldn't imagine what was going to happen and she knew that she needed to start thinking about what she would do. 

"I'm due early April," Hollie replied knowing that she still had quite a bit of time to wait until her baby was due, she was so excited and she knew that Sergio was as well. 

Gabriella slowly nodded her head, she was sure that time would fly-by for Hollie and before she knew it she would have a baby of her own; she had no idea what was going to happen between now and then. 

Gabriella was sure that in time she would get used to all of this, people were always going to have a problem with her because of what had happened and she was going to have to get used to it. 

"Do you know what you are having?" Gabriella asked softly, she didn't see why she should be constantly punished for what had happened; she had been wrong to sleep with Joe yes, but Georgina had proven that she wasn't right for him when her dirty secrets came out. 

Hollie nodded her head eagerly, she was so excited with the news that she was going to have a daughter; she had been worried for a while that Sergio would be upset but he had reassured her that he was so happy. 

"We're gonna have a girl," Hollie said with a smile, she felt so relaxed right now and she knew that it wouldn't probably last if Diego Maradona had anything to do with it.

***

"Did you have fun?" Joe asked when it came time to leave to head home, he kept Gabriella close as they walked to the car and he was pleased to see that she had made at least one friend during the evening. 

A lot of the other women had avoided Gabriella and it was pretty clear that they had tried to keep her isolated during the event; it had only been Sergio's girlfriend that had even bothered to speak to her. 

"I did," Gabriella replied with a small smile, it had sort of bothered her that some people had been so happy to believe the lies that Georgina had told about her. 

Half the things that had appeared in the papers had been a complete lie and it truly upset Gabriella that some people believed that they were true; she wished that there was some way that she could clear her name. 

Joe had been wonderful when he had released the statement that had cleared up things a little bit; he had done what he could but there was always going to be people that believed what Georgina had said. 

Joe took a deep breath, he wanted people to see that Gabriella wasn't anything like the woman that Georgina had portrayed in the papers; he knew that it would take time for people to actually realise that. 

"I'm sorry," Joe mumbled knowing that tonight hadn't really gone the way that he had wanted it to, he wanted people to be more accepting of Gabriella but it just hadn't happened. 

Joe knew that it wouldn't ever really change, they would probably adore the daughter he had with Gabriella but they would never be accepting of her. 

"It's not your fault," Gabriella replied shaking her head, she squeezed Joe's hand knowing that there was little that they could do about what other people thought. 

Joe didn't say anything, it was partially his fault and he wished he could fix the damage that had been done when Georgina sold that story to the press.

###

Author's Note:

I hope you liked my surprise... Hollie is from my story, For Once in My Life xxx