Back to us | Alexia Putellas

Arguing.

I walked back into the bedroom where Isy was now zipping up her suitcase, her eyes meeting mine with a questioning look as I held my phone out in her direction.

"It's your mum" I whispered, glancing down at the screen before meeting her gaze.

"You called my mum on me... really mature Ale" She said through gritted teeth, rolling her eyes at me before raising the phone to her ear.

"Hi mum, I was just about to call you!" She greeted her mother cheerfully, keeping her annoyance at me under control.

"Hey honey, how are you? How's the baby?" I faintly heard Camila answer.

"We're ok, how would you feel about a visit from me and the bump this weekend? We miss you"

"You can't fly Isabel, what if you went into labour on the flight? Or had the baby whilst you were here with nothing ready for them..."

"It'll be fine, I'm not due for another few weeks and I need to get away for a bit..."

"No Isabel, as much as I want to see you, you need to stay at home and I think that you know that. Spend the weekend with Ale, and start getting everything ready for the baby, because they'll be here before you know it, ok?"

"Ok.."

When Isy threw my phone onto the bed I knew that I was in trouble, the look she sent me only confirmed what I already knew... calling her mum hadn't gone down well. She was pissed, and part of me didn't blame her, but it was the only way to stop her from getting on that flight... sometimes the only person that you will listen to is your mum.

"I can't believe you, Ale!" She barked across the room, throwing her arms up in the air in frustration.

"I'm sorry, but if you thought that I was going to let my wife and unborn baby fly to the other side of the country when you could give birth any day now... think again."

"You don't get to decide what I can and can't do just because I am pregnant!"

"I know that I don't, but I do get an opinion... because what if you were to go into labour and I missed the birth of our first child? I don't think that I could ever forgive you for that and I don't think that you'd forgive yourself either" I desperately tried to get my point across.

"The same thing could happen if I stay here, you're never around anymore so who says you'll even be here when I go into labor or when they're born?"

"Isy..." I said softly, my hazel eyes meeting hers momentarily.

That was when she burst into tears, the hormones, exhaustion, and emotions finally getting the better of her, her legs giving  way and she sat down on the edge of the bed, resting her head in her hands as she sobbed.

"I feel like I'm doing this all on my own Ale, I miss you and I feel that this baby is just pushing us further apart" she said honestly, finally letting out how she was feeling.

I practically jumped across the bed to get to her, immediately wrapping my arms around her and pulling her as close to me as I could with the growing bump between us.

"It's not the baby Isy, it's the injury, if it hadn't happened I would be home more, I'd only be training a few times a week rather than rehabbing every day. I'd have games, but I would also have days off afterward. You and the baby are the only good things in my life right now and I hate that I'm not here for you both, I hope you know that. I want to be here with you every second of every day. You are the only thing I care about right now. We didn't plan for the injury when we decided to get pregnant and I wish I could go back and not take that shot, because everything would have been so much easier if I hadn't."

"I'm going to go and run you a bath, I'll order some Chinese food for you and bump and then we'll snuggle up on the sofa and watch whatever reality show you're following at the moment... how does that sound?" I asked, kissing her temple softly.

"Can you rub my ankles too?" She asked quietly, pouting out her bottom lip for extra sympathy as she rested her head on my shoulder.

"Of course, there's nothing I'd rather do"

I spent that evening looking after Isy as much as I possibly could, rubbing her ankles as we watched TV, getting her whatever weird snacks she asked for before helping her upstairs to bed. We ended up in bed a lot earlier than usual, 8 pm rolled around and Isy could barely keep her eyes open so we headed upstairs, and as soon as her head hit the pillow she was fast asleep, whether it was the drama of today that had worn her out or the late-pregnancy exhaustion catching up on her I didn't know, but I was glad she was finally getting some sleep.

But that sleep didn't last for long, and it turns out that we wouldn't be getting much of it for the next few months, because our lives were about about to be turned upside down.