You Belong with Me

Part One - Chapter Thirty-Eight: I'll Stand by You

The fourteen hour flight from Seattle to Faro, had left Alexa completely exhausted, she had barely recovered from her last flight and she had just done another long hall flight.

It was eleven-thirty in the morning when Alexa finally landed and she hadn’t been able to sleep much on her flight, she cursed jet-lag as she collected her suitcase and started to walk towards the exit.

Alexa had done a lot of thinking while she had been flying to Faro and she had made a lot of decisions; she wasn’t sure what the future held for her but she needed to do this.

Rubbing the sleep from her green eyes, Alexa wondered who would be collecting her if anyone was; Ryan hadn’t left her any messages and she had no idea what to expect.

“Lexi,” Katia called as she moved to greet the exhausted blonde, she smiled at her knowing that she probably hadn’t had time to recover from the jet lag of her flight from Madrid to Seattle before she had flown to Faro.

“Katia…” Alexa greeted as she yawned again, the older woman moved to hug her before smiling at her; she hadn’t mentioned to Cristiano that his girlfriend was coming.

Katia thought that it would be the perfect surprise and she could see that Alexa would need some sleep before she spoke to Cristiano.

The two started to walk towards Katia’s car, they spoke quietly between them as they walked, they were lucky that there didn’t seem to be any press around; it would only end up all over the news.

“How’s Cris?” Alexa asked nervously, she had been quite cold with him before she had left, Katia smiled at her reassuringly; it had been a rough few days and it could only get better.

“He’s missed you,” Katia said softly making her nod as they put her suitcase into the car and then got in themselves, the older woman looked at her brother’s girlfriend.

It had taken a while for Katia to warn to Alexa and a lot of persuading from Elma; she had never liked any of Cristiano’s past girlfriends.

It was clear that Alexa was exhausted and was hopefully here to fix things between them, leaving the airport car park Katia suggested that Alexa sleep a little while they travelled back to Vilamoura.

The next time Alexa awoke they were pulling up outside the house, she yawned softly as she looked at Katia who smiled at her as she turned off the engine and pulled out her phone.

“I’ll tell the other’s to keep him busy until your settled,” Katia said as she texted her husband who was Cristiano’s right hand man; José would be able to keep him pre-occupied for a little while.

Alexa nodded still not quite awake from her trip, once the coast was clear; Katia lead her inside and got her settled into one of the bedrooms which was unused.

***

For the life of him, Cristiano couldn’t figure out why his family were acting so strange, it was the day before Christmas Eve and he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Cristiano had tried to be excited at the news that Katia was expecting a little boy with her husband, however it had only reminded him of his own impending parenthood.

Cristiano was losing his girlfriend and there was nothing he could do to stop it, he sighed as he lay back on his bed.

Cristiano had come upstairs to escape from being pestered, he didn’t want to be around his family; his siblings who were all married with children, his mother who was dating and it hurt him.

Cristiano closed his brown eyes while he listened to two people whispering outside of his room; he didn’t have to wait long before one headed downstairs however the other one entered his room.

The person took a deep breath before they moved to sit next to him; however it was the voice that made him open his eyes in astonishment.

“How are you?” Alexa asked tiredly, she was still slightly jet-lagged but the little bit of sleep that she had, had helped; she could no longer put off speaking with her boyfriend.

Cristiano stared at her wondering if she was real, he stared at her confused before pulling her into his arms; he truly couldn’t believe that Alexa was here with him right now.

Cristiano buried his head into her neck; Alexa rested her head against his and ran her fingers through his hair, trying to calm him and reassure him.

“I missed you,” Alexa murmured softly making Cristiano look at her which allowed her to kiss his lips, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was it, if this was how she was going to dump him.

Alexa smiled a little as she pulled back, she could see the worries in his eyes and she wished he wouldn’t; she wasn’t here to cause him more grief.

“I needed time to think… to clear my thoughts, I don’t think I could handle you playing happy family with her,” Alexa said making Cristiano stare at her, he shook his head as he looked at her; he hadn’t known that was what she had been thinking.

“I would never do that to you… I don’t know her, nor do I want to,” Cristiano promised her, Alexa nodded as he softly kissed her lips; she smiled at him as she wrapped her arms around him.

Cristiano continued to kiss her as they fell back into his bed, Alexa rested her head against his; she was happy that he hadn’t turned her away and everything seemed to be okay between them.

“You’re the only one I want…” Cristiano told her, his thumb stroking her cheek as he lay next to her; this was all that he wanted and he would deal with Heather when the time came.

“I love you, you’re the one I want to spend the rest of my life with,” Alexa said making him smile, she closed her eyes as he held her close; she couldn’t think of anywhere better than in Cristiano’s arms.

“I’ll stand by you…” Alexa promised him making Cristiano smile, they both knew that this was going to be hard and that the next year would be difficult for them; but it didn’t matter as long as they had each other.

TO BE CONTINUED…