He Who Conquers Others Is Strong, He Who Conquers Himself Is Mighty

Breakfast

Two Days later....

JULIAN'S POV

I was in the kitchen early making the girls some breakfast. Amelia had stayed last night after having a girls night in with Pen and we told her to stay. Man it was good having her around. She was a breath of fresh air around the place right now. I'd missed her, and obviously Penny had. Man. Pen. Ugh. The baby shower had started out awesome. Then we opened the card and fuck, all hell broke loose. Penny was inconsolable, Gronk was ready to break bones, Danny was freaking out like a litle girl and me? Fuck, I sloped off outside and isolated myself. I know everyone knew I should have stayed with Penny and helped her, like any decent husband would have done. But honestly, I needed to just remove myself from it for a while. I was working on my anger, on my reaction to things- I needed to. And if I had stayed in that room, seeing Penny so upset, I would have lost it. Gone out and fucked it up even more by doing something stupid. I'd learned my lesson finally, and this time, I was rising above it. Ignoring what that dumb bitch had done was one thing, but letting go of my anger, that was the hardest. Apart from seeing Penny so cut up.

"morning Jules" the sweet voice of Amelia entered the room, distracting me from my thoughts. Which was pretty handy before they had chance to turn dark and bitter again. "Mornin' Melia" I grinned at her as I flipped the pancakes on the stove. "hmm smells good" she grinned as she joined me. "need a hand with anything?" she asked, "nope. Thank you. I got it all in hand. Take a seat though, be platin' up in a sec" I told her. "want a drink though?" she asked, "I'll grab a smoothie before I leave" I told her. "you training this morning?" she asked me and I nodded. "yeah, well, it's only some gym work. Not at practice today" I told her. "meeting Dola and Gronk there in a little while" I said. "how was your night?" she asked, obviously knowing I'd had a guy's night at Rob's with some of the guys. "pretty good. Needed to blow off a little steam." I said, looking back to the pancakes I was cooking. "I'll bet" she replied as she grabbed a plate from beside the stove. "yeah" I huffed a little. "we mostly sat around listening to Gronk though" I sighed lightly, hoping she would take the bait. "oh?" Amelia replied in a way that sounded like she was intrigues- but not wanting to sound like she was desperate to know the details. "yup." I nodded. "apparently some English chick hasn't returned his messages..." I added, giving her a glance over my shoulder. I couldn't hold back my chuckle as I heard her snort. "my phone has been mucking around since I got here. I only got a hold of Nick at the airport because I spotted his Eccentric blue charger in the car park" 

"Electric" I corrected her, turning to rest against the counter. "Eccentric." She stated, "who buys a charger that colour?" she rolled her eyes, "I wouldn't mind if he was mid 40's and was balding..." she said which made me laugh. "so you not giving Gronk the cold shoulder then?" I asked, folding my arms across my chest. "has he asked you to ask me this?" she side stepped my question. I grinned at her and shook my head, "he would kill me for spilling to you how freaked out he is that you're going cold on him" I grinned wider. She blushed and looked down at the counter as she flashed a timid smile. "I wouldn't say I was ever...hot on him...." she smirked and I snorted. "but no, I haven't 'gone cold' on him." she explained, "I just haven't been able to call him back" she shrugged. "but good to know where he's at" she smiled, "he's a little on edge is he?" she asked, looking at me with wide, excited eyes. I giggled at her demeanour "well....ya could say that" I smirked, turning back to the stove. I didn't want to give too much away- even though I probably already had. "how many pancakes do you want?"

"Don't you be dodging my questions now Julian Edelman" She snorted at me. I grinned, but ignored her as I piled 3 cakes onto a clean plate. "I'm not!" I laughed back at her. "you so are! c'mon, I won't tell him" she whispered excitedly thinking I was about to break. "na-uh, bro code" I said, turning back to her to pass her the plate. "ugh, you're no good" she pouted, making me grin wider. "like you'd ever spill anything that you and Penny talked about?!" I retaliated. "I so would! If it got you guys together!" she defended, but I screwed up my face. "I'll tell you everything she said about you after you guys met" she smiled at me angelically, and I almost caved- opening my mouth to speak, but then just before my moment of weakness took hold I stopped. "nope!" I announced, turning back to the stove. "ugh!" she scoffed. "it's a good thing you cooked me breakfast" she mumbled as I laughed at her. "looks like it might just  be for you huh" I sighed, "where is my lovely wife?!" I asked her, remembering her last night star-fishing in the bed when I got home. "probably still snoring her head off." Amelia replied, "I could hear her from the guest room" she added with an eye roll. "thank god she is pregnant. Gotta say, your walls are paper thin dude" she advised me. I looked over to her with a smirk, "duly noted" I nodded and then pulled a stool over to the opposite side of the counter to Melia to begin my breakfast. 

"so how was she last night?" I asked as I laced my pancakes with syrup. Coach was gonna kill me. Eh, what did I care right now. "okay" she sighed, not initially filling me full of confidence. I looked over at her with worried eyes. "other than wanting to rip you-know-who's head off...she's pretty sound" she nodded lightly. I sighed deeply and frowned down at my plate. "she's more worried about you though" her words had me looking up at her once again. "she's worried you're gonna do something stupid. O-or ruin what you guys have..." she said with a hint of embarrassment. I rubbed my face with my palm. "I just wanna make sure she's safe. Happy. I don't want anything or anyone to upset her. Now more than ever" I confessed. "and nothing will. As long as you're here with her. She's a little freaked that you're gonna take off again."
"she said that?!" I asked nervously. Amelia shrugged, "in not so many words..." I huffed out a breath, "look, we all know what shit you guys have been through. And she's emotional. She said she was scared that this would push you to your limit and you've closed up on her. She just wants to forget everything. Focus on you, her and the baby" she explained. "I wanna protect her. I want to do whatever makes her happy" I sighed. 
"I know you do Jules. And I wanna see her happy before I have to leave again" 

"when are you flying back to England?" I asked her. "day after tomorrow" she sighed before taking a sip of orange juice. "good" I nodded. "we're coming with you"