Cooper's Children's Home // BradGa

N I N E

"Hey. You've been quiet these past two days. Are you okay?" Bradley asked after he put down the last kid. He walked further into Stefani's room and shut the door, to give them some privacy.

Stefani was in the middle of packing some more things into a suitcase so she wouldn't have to do it last minute and end up forgetting something. Bradley's voice startled her a bit so she quickly wiped over her wet cheeks and eyes to erase any evidence of tears and then turned towards him. "Hey! Yes, yeah. I'm okay." She put on a smile to convince him but knew she'd failed miserably when Bradley raised a brow at her.

"You've been crying, Stef. What's wrong?" He asked, pulling her towards the bed so they could sit down. Instead of letting her go though, he pulled her close, making her sit on his lap, her legs on either side of him. "Now talk. I won't let you go until you tell me." He said, holding onto her hips.

She let out a sigh but instead of answering she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in the crook of his neck. Bradley chuckled and let her hide for a moment before he pushed her away a bit to get a good look at her.

"Stef, talk to me." He demanded.

"I'm leaving in four days and... the kids keep telling me that they don't want me to go and you told me you don't want me to go." She paused. "I don't know, I guess this just makes it harder for me to leave. I can't change it, but it's still hard, you know? I love those kids."

Bradley nodded and brushed some hair out of her face. "I get it." He mumbled. "But you'll visit, right? It'll be fine."

"It won't be fine, that's the problem! I'll go back to my own life and you will stay here and I won't see you or the kids again. I know I keep saying that I'll make time for you, but I can't. I have the tightest schedule, a world tour planned, interviews, I'm in the studio. I don't even have the time to sleep or eat sometimes, Bradley." She groaned, hiding her face in her hands.

He pushed them away and smiled at her. "We'll make it work. We can FaceTime and maybe we will just visit you sometime. It'll require a bus to transport those monsters but I'll arrange one." He joked, making her giggle quietly.

"You're a dumbass." She paused. "Do you think we'll be able to FaceTime? Would that be okay? Would the kids even want to see me?" She asked, letting her arms rest around his neck.

Bradley nodded and pulled her closer. "They'd even put their phones and toys away for you." He chuckled, rubbing her hips a little with his thumbs. "Do you feel a little better now?"

"A tiny bit." She nodded with a smile on her face.

"You're absolutely stunning, have I told you that already?" He asked.

Stefani blushed and nodded. "Yeah, I think you did."

Bradley leaned closer to her face, her fruity and his minty breath mixing. "Can I kiss you now?" He whispered.

"You're making this whole thing really fucking hard for me. Why did you have to make me fall in love with you?" She complained, their lips already brushing against each other's.

"It's not my fault I'm irresistible, Stefani." He joked, making her hit his shoulder and pull away a bit. "I fell in love with you too."

Stefani groaned and buried her face in the crook of his neck. "Stop, I know I started this but we can't. We'll end up heartbroken because long distance relationships never work and it'll affect the kids too." She sighed. "I really fucking wish I could stay, Bradley."

Bradley pressed a soft kiss to her neck and nodded, breathing in her scent. "Me too." He paused. "It's been a while since I even felt anything for anyone, let alone a woman." He confessed.

"Don't." She demanded pulling away again to look at him. "Don't tell me about how I'm the one or your soulmate or whatever bullshit's on your beautiful mind right now. Believe me, there's a high chance I'm feeling the same way about you, but speaking it into existence right now would destroy me." She pressed a finger on his lips to keep them shut. "You'll find someone else. I know you will."

"They won't be you." Bradley protested, pushing her hand away from his mouth.

"They shouldn't have to be. Bradley, we wouldn't work, even if we tried. I wouldn't be happy with seeing you once a year maybe and you wouldn't be happy either, so what's the point in dating for a few days now? It'll only hurt more than it will if we end things here." Stefani explained. She could feel her heart break, even now.

Bradley quickly pulled her closer and pressed his lips on hers in a passionate kiss. Stefani shut her eyes and pulled away when she felt the tears roll down her cheeks. She got off of his lap and wiped them away. "Stefani, I love you."

"Bradley, please. Leave." She said, opening the door for him.

"Don't push me away now." He said.

Stefani took a deep breath in and closed her eyes. "Please. We can't be together. I'm not your soulmate or the love of your life. I can't be the woman you need or want me to be. My life is so crazy and different from what you think it is and I'm fucking messed up. You barely know me. This isn't even me. I hate kids, I hate the idea of settling down. I hate being a housewife and making breakfast or walking the dog in the park. I love to drink, smoke, party, come home completely wasted and to fall asleep on the bathroom floor. Is that really the kind of woman you want? Because this?" She pointed to herself. "This isn't me. I played the starring role for you so I could get back to my normal life, back to being Lady Gaga. I am Lady Gaga and not Stefani."

"That's absolute bullshit. I see the way you act around the kids and the way they act around you. They love you and you love them. And I don't know who told you that a perfect housewife doesn't drink or smoke sometimes or comes home wasted in the middle of the night. I'm not trying to stop you from doing what you want to do, Stefani. I'd never try to hold you back and turn you into someone you're not and don't want to be. You can be Lady Gaga all you want and I'd carry you to bed when you fall asleep on the bathroom floor every single fucking night if you'd need me to, just don't try to put up one of those damn walls right now, because believe me, I know how to put up walls myself and they won't stay there forever and they won't protect you either." Bradley said, grabbing her cheek in his hand.

Stefani held onto the door and didn't say anything. She just stared up at the man whom she fell in love with so fast, she couldn't even try to stop it and now he stood there in front of her and said all the right things but she still had to leave him. Why did her life have to be this hard? "Please, go now. I need to pack some more and I'm tired." She managed to get out.

Bradley's hand left the spot on her cheek and came down to his side again as he nodded. "Okay. Good night, Stefani." He said, leaving her room. She shut the door behind him and then let the tears fall. She was so in love with him, it hurt when she wasn't with him, but he was a wonderful man who deserved much better than her. So she had to let him go, even if it broke her own heart.