Lean on Me

Part Three - Epilogue: The Lap of Honour

Cassidy grinned as the roar of the crowd echoed around her, she still couldn’t believe how much had changed since her family had moved to Madrid.

It still seemed unreal that five months had passed since they had left behind their lives in London and there were times that Cassidy feared it was all a dream.

“Madrastra,” Nora said staring up at Cassidy, her brown eyes shining with joy as Atlético Madrid celebrated their win; the club had just beaten Barcelona to win La Liga.

Cassidy shifted her hold on her two month old son, she looked down at Nora as Fernando made his way over to his wife and children; the children were all wearing Atlético shirts with Fernando’s number on the back of them and the world Papa.

Fernando’s brown eyes shined brightly as he hurried over to his wife and children, he had been so much happier since his return to Madrid and everything had fallen into place.

Fernando ducked down and hugged his children, he knew that he would never have been the man that he was today without them or his wife. Fernando looked up at Cassidy and smiled at the small bundle in her arms, he still couldn’t believe that his youngest was finally here.

“Is he okay?” Fernando asked looking his wife, he was a little worried that the noise from the crowd would upset the infant.

Dylan Torres Smith had been born the 11th of March and had weighed a surprising 9Ib 10oz, the couple had been surprised just how big he had been; it had been a welcome surprise to the couple.

“He’s fine,” Cassidy reassured as Nora bounced a head so that she could speak with Zaida and Olaya Villa who were with their father and younger brother.

Fernando nodded his head checking on Nora for a moment before he stood up and moved to hug his wife and youngest son; he still was in awe at how much Dylan looked like his mother.

The couple had found it a little amusing since Nora looked more like Olalla while Leo, Leia and Noah all favoured their father’s looks a lot more than their mother’s.

So it had been an interesting surprise when Dylan had started to look a little like a male version of his mother.

“Congratulations,” Cassidy said pressing a tender kiss to her husband’s lips, she knew how much this meant to him since he had been a flop at Chelsea when he had first arrived however he had slowly regained his form.

Fernando grinned nodding his head and carefully took Dylan from his mother, he looked down at the two month old who pouted at being taken from Cassidy.

Fernando watched as his wife picked Noah up, the twins were both now two years old and Noah was still a mummy’s boy while Leia still favoured Fernando.

“Shall we?” Fernando said nodding towards the pitch knowing that they had to do the lap of honour and he wanted to show off his family to the world.

Cassidy nodded her head as she took a shaky breath, it still made her nervous about stepping out in public with her family; the press in Madrid were a lot different than the ones back in London.

They were a lot more judgemental than the ones that Cassidy was used to handling and the brunette had learnt to ignore the programmes and magazines that blasted her for marrying Fernando and having multiply children under five with him.

Cassidy wasn’t sure why they were all surprised that Fernando and her had children and that the now thirty year old footballer had a lot of children running around.

***

Fernando smiled finishing reading to Leia and pressed a kiss to her head, he was surprised how quiet the house got when all of the children were in bed.

It was often nice and the only time that he had with Cassidy since they did have five children to look after now; it was difficult but the couple were coping as best as they could.

Fernando carefully got to his feet and moved out of his youngest daughter’s bedroom and carefully shut the door before he checked on Nora, Leo and Noah; they each had their own rooms as did Dylan.

“Did they go down okay?” Cassidy asked cradling Dylan in her arms, her brown eyes looking up at her husband knowing that he’d had to put the twins to bed at the same time while she feed their youngest.

Fernando nodded his head as he moved to sit beside Cassidy, he pressed a kiss to her lips as he checked on Dylan who was being a little fussy and didn’t seem to want to sleep.

“Out like a light… just Dylan to go to sleep now,” Fernando murmured smiling down at his youngest, he’d had the infant’s name tattooed onto his wrist alongside her sibling’s names.

Fernando carefully lifted Dylan out of Cassidy’s arms knowing that the infant wouldn’t settle down and he wanted some alone time with Cassidy.

Bouncing the infant in his arms, Fernando cooed softly trying to settle him to sleep, he smiled knowing that it was going to be a while before they really adjusted to how much having five children would change their lives.

“Have I told you today how much I love you?” Fernando asked looking at Cassidy, he made it a point to always tell her that he loved her and even after five months in Madrid, he still put his family before anything else.

Cassidy laughed softly nodding her head and smiled at Fernando, they had somehow managed to keep their marriage alive and she knew that the three years that they had been together were only the start.

“I love you more than life itself,” Fernando said sweetly pressing a kiss to his wife’s lips, he rested his head against hers knowing that they would be okay.

Cassidy was his soul-mate and they had already survived the worst, now they were happy and nothing would ever take that away from them.

“I love you too,” Cassidy breathed looking down at Dylan, she doubted that if anyone would have told her five years ago that she’d be married to Fernando Torres and have an ever growing family with him that she would have believed them.

Now there was nothing that Cassidy wanted more than to spend her life with the man in front of her whatever life threw her way.

THE END.

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Author's Note:

Thanks to everyone that read, commented and rated this story, I couldn't have done it without you xxx