Love Will Find A Way

Part One - Chapter Three: Doctor's Appointment

Nicole frowned as she sat in the doctor’s waiting room waiting to be called inside; Sergio had taken time off from training so he could accompany her to her appointment after he had confronted her when she had arrived home from work the night before.

“Miss Bartolini,” a nurse called making Nicole look up panicked, Sergio took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze before he stood and helped Nicole to her feet.

“It’ll be okay,” he said reassuring her as they headed into the doctor’s office, he knew just what was at stake right now and he couldn’t help but be worried about her.

Once inside the pair were greeted by Dr. Fernandez, who smiled kindly at the pair as he motioned for them to take a seat as he looked over Nicole’s file.

“Okay Miss Bartolini, what seems to be the problem today?” he asked turning and looking at the brunette, he wasn’t sure why she had come to see him when she looked perfectly fine; she’d never been someone to come if there wasn’t something seriously wrong.

Nicole sighed a she looked down at her hands nervously, she really wished that she didn’t have to be here and it was only when Sergio took her hand and gave it a squeeze that she prepared to speak.

“I’ve been feeling really tired all the time lately and I noticed I’ve started to bruise easier than before. I wouldn’t have read much into it but my madre had Leukaemia when I was little,” Nicole explained making Dr. Fernandez nod thoughtfully at what she had said.

Sergio looked at the doctor hopefully, he wanted this to be something so much simpler and he couldn’t think what it would do to his uncle would do if Nicole did have Leukaemia.

Dr. Fernandez sighed and looked at Nicole, who knew that expression all too well; whatever was happening to her was good and she really hoped that this was all in her head.

“I am going to have to run some blood tests and it may be too early to tell… but from what you have told me there are high possibilities, that you have Leukaemia like your madre,” Dr. Fernandez informed Nicole, he smiled at her sadly knowing that her chances weren’t good; if she had developed it then it was going to be a difficult time for her.

The moment the words left his mouth, Dr. Fernandez could see the colour slowly drain from the two cousins’ faces; this was the worst possible scenario for both of them and he hoped that he was wrong.

***

Sergio knew he had to do something to cheer Nicole up after they left the doctors surgery, he started to drive towards the stadium knowing that seeing the WAGs and some of the team would cheer Nicole up.

Sergio opened Nicole’s door for her and smiled at her softly, he hadn’t failed to notice that Cristiano’s car was still parked; he couldn’t bring himself to care if the Portuguese was here all not, he just wanted to make sure that Nicole was going to be okay.

Like during most training sessions, the WAGs were all in the player’s lounge waiting for their respective others to finish; Caroline and Sara were quickly by their new friend’s side directing her away from the other WAGs since they sensed something was clearly wrong with the younger woman.

As soon as they were out of Sergio’s hearing range the three women settled down on the couches furthest away from the others.

Caroline put a supportive hand on Nicole’s shoulder and smiled at her gently while Sara glance over at Sergio who was already across the room with Iker and Kaka, who looked at him expectantly as they arrived from training.

“Isn’t it risky bringing her here? Cristiano’s still here from training,” Kaka asked making Sergio shrug as he collapsed into one of the chairs next to his two closest friends.

Iker looked at Sergio worried, he had never seen the young man so down before; the other man always seemed to have a smile on his face and it seemed un-natural for him to be this quiet.

“Sergio?” Kaka asked as he tried to find words that would allow their friend to open up to them, he doubted that it would do the younger man any good to keep things quiet to himself; he would only lash out later on if he didn’t talk about this now.

“Nicole had to go to the doctors… that’s why I missed training,” Sergio said quietly not wanting to tell them much about what had happened while they had been there.

His brown eyes watched her knowing that he was going to have to be strong for her, she was going to need him if the prognosis was bad.

Iker and Kaka looked at each other worried before looking back at Sergio then at Nicole who seemed a little happier now that the WAGs were distracting her from her own thoughts.

“How bad is it?” Kaka asked making Sergio drop his head into his hands, he really didn’t want to tell them about Nicole’s mother and Nicole’s possible Leukaemia.

 He doubted that Nicole had even shared her worrying news with anyone else in the family since it had taken him hours to get her to open up about it.

“They’re just running blood tests at the moment…” he said only telling them, a little of the truth; it was Nicole’s choice not his if she wanted to tell people and he doubted she would say anything until she had to.

However before the two men could continue asking questions, the lounge doors opened and in walked a smirking Cristiano followed by a dishevelled looking Irina; it was only to obvious what Cristiano and the Russian had been doing.

Some of the other players quickly glanced at Nicole, who rolled her blue eyes at the way she saw Cristiano; she remembered William calling him a ladies man and she had seen some of the headlines that seemed to surround him.

Sergio quickly moved to Nicole’s side as Cristiano’s eyes landed on the brunette and an all too familiar smirk filled his face; he didn’t want the forward getting any ideas about his cousin especially while she had what the doctor said on her mind.

Irina was also taking in the brunette, her lips pursed as she looked her up and down, before she linked arms with Cristiano after a few minutes deciding to show that she was Cristiano’s.

“Finally got yourself a girlfriend, Sergio,” Irina said her Russian accent coating her bitter words.

Caroline glared at Irina who ignored her since her green eyes firmly on Nicole, she didn’t know what it was about the brunette before her but she didn’t like her one bit.

“Of course not Cristiano, Irina… this is my cousin Nicole,” Sergio said warily taking notice that Cristiano’s eyes had yet to move off of Nicole who wasn’t paying him much attention; he really hoped that the forward wasn’t going to do anything stupid.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Cristiano said, he was a little annoyed that he hadn’t seen her before; he was starting to get a little bored of Irina, who was starting to get a little clingy.

Irina rolled her eyes and gave Cristiano a gently tug and lead him away from everyone so that they could leave; most of who were surprised at what had just happened, the footballer had never been interested in someone like that before.

If he usually liked a woman, he would start flirting with her as soon as he got the chance; he had never just stared at anyone before.