Cooper's Children's Home // BradGa

E I G H T

"That was absolutely amazing! Just work on your vibrato some more." Stefani said, showing Anna what she meant, placing her hand on her throat. The toddlers were sat around the two and played with their toys while the older kids were on their phones, curiously listening in on what Anna and Stefani did.

Anna sang the same part of the song again, applying all of the tips Stefani had given her and Bradley smiled as he leaned against the door frame. "You wanna go play outside for a bit?" He asked the other kids who jumped up to either sunbathe or play football outside, leaving Anna and Stefani alone in the living room.

"Do you want to take a break as well?" Stefani asked, smiling at Anna who nodded.

Stefani got up from the couch but stopped when she felt Anna's hand in hers.

"Stefani?" She asked, looking up at her.

She sat back down next to the girl to listen to what she had to say. "Yeah? What's wrong?"

"Do you have to leave again?" She asked in a soft voice, clearly sad. "I mean, I know you're Lady Gaga and your fans would miss you but we would miss you too!"

Stefani felt the tears spring into her eyes at Anna's confession. "I'll miss you too, but yes. There's a lot of people that work for me and their lives depend on my work. I know that's hard to understand but believe me when I tell you that I will come visit as much as possible and I will never forget any of you." She said, smiling at Anna. "I'll also continue giving you lessons online if you want me to." She offered.

"I love you." Anna said, quickly throwing her arms around Stefani to hug her as the tears started coming. Stefani hugged her back, a little startled at the sudden emotional outburst but her heart felt so warm and at peace in that moment that she knew this was where she truly belonged. She just wished she could stay.

"I love you too, Anna. So much." Stefani whispered, closing her eyes so the tears would stay away. "Let's go outside before they start looking for us. You know how impatient Bradley gets when we don't do exactly as he says." She joked.

Anna nodded and ran ahead. Stefani stayed back to gather herself again and process what had just happened. Anna didn't show emotions very often, especially not around her, so to hear that she loved her was overwhelming but it felt so nice.

"What took you so long?" Bradley asked, gently throwing an arm over her shoulder to pull her closer to his body.

"Anna wanted to practice some more, that's all." She lied. She knew she wouldn't be able to tell him without crying and she didn't want to do that in front of the kids. Stefani looked up at him with a smile.

••••

"The kids are all asleep. Wanna watch a movie or something?" Bradley asked, leaning against Stefani's door frame.

She looked up from the book she was reading and put it down when she smiled at him. She lifted her blanket and signaled for him to join her in bed. "Only if I get to choose the movie."

Bradley chuckled and crawled under the covers next to her. "Sure."

She turned on her laptop and started a random movie on Netflix before cuddling into his side. Bradley wrapped an arm around her and they watched the movie in silence for a while.

"I'm never letting you choose the movie again." Bradley complained after about half of the movie was done.

"Excuse you? That's a good movie!"

"Yeah, if you're like 12." He scoffed.

Stefani let out a laugh and hit him with a pillow, making him grab one as well to hit her back. They continued play fighting until they were both out of breath and fell back onto the bed, exhausted.