I Knew I Loved You

Chapter Eleven: Arriving in France

Charlene took a deep breath relieved to get through the airport without much of a fuss, she had been worried about flying with Abigail but it had gone better than she had expected. 

Flying had been an entirely new experience for Abigail who had been a little queasy during take off but after that she had been completely fine. 

The little girl had kept close to Charlene's side and had kept her head down a little frightened when people had approached them asking for Charlene's picture and autograph which had been politely declined. 

Charlene had done her best to keep things as calm as she could, she didn't want to be hounded by press but that was unavoidable wherever they were; she was looking forward to seeing her husband again for the first time in weeks. 

"We could go sightseeing," Charlene suggested hoping to make this a normal holiday for Abigail, the little girl had confessed that she had never left Germany despite having lived all over the country with her mother in her short life.

Abigail had been excited to take her first holiday and Charlene wanted to make the best of it; she wanted nothing more than to relax with everything that had happened in the last month. 

"Really?" Abigail gushed looking up at Charlene with a smile lighting up her face at the idea of getting to see a country that she had never been to before. 

She had been given a special passport that would allow her to travel without her parents or relatives and she was excited about being here; her eyes taking in everything as they walked through the airport. 

They would be catching a taxi to the hotel where they would be staying and Abigail was very aware that people seemed to be watching them; she made sure that she stuck close to Charlene as they walked through the airport. 

It had been a shame that Manuel hadn't been able to slip away from training, his request to collect them from the airport had been refused and Charlene had assured him that she would be fine. 

***

Charlene was relieved when they finally reached their hotel room after checking in, she was exhausted and the idea of taking a nap was very appealing; even Abigail looked like she could do with a couple of hours sleep. 

It had been a long trip to get to this point and they had left the house rather early this morning with Michael dropping them off at the airport. 

Opening the hotel room door, Charlene stepped inside and yawned wanting to just relax before she started to think about Manuel visiting them. 

Manuel had training and he had told Charlene that he would come by later on since he hadn't been able to come and get them from the airport; he had a match tomorrow and Joachim Löw wanted him to be focused on that. 

It was a privilege that Charlene had been allowed to stay at the same hotel as the team, no unneeded distractions were welcome nor wanted at the hotel for the tournament. 

"How about we take a nap?" Charlene suggested making sure that their suitcases were inside before she shut the door and locked it; she looked down at Abigail who looked dead on her feet. 

The trip to the hotel had been exciting to the little girl who had spent the ride planning out their sightseeing trip; she was looking forward to it and Charlene was sure that she would fall asleep no problem. 

Abigail rubbed her eyes and nodded her head, she was tired and it had been exciting to think about all the things that they could do while they were in France.

Charlene smiled before showing Abigail into the bedroom that would be hers, she was glad they'd been able to get a comfortable room like this on such short notice especially with the Euros keeping the hotels packed.