Unexpected Lines.

Finding Home.

________

That evening, Kaia’s phone buzzed nonstop.

First, Barcelona posted her signing:
📸 Kaia-Marie Catley| #12 | Welcome to Barça Femeni

Minutes later, Arsenal dropped their own bombshell:
📸 Jill Roord joins Arsenal on loan until the end of the season.

The timing was brutal. Within seconds, the comments were already flying across social media—“from Wolfsburg to Arsenal to Barça connections,” “the drama writes itself,” “Barça cooking something wild.”

Inside Barça’s team group chat, chaos erupted.

Vicky: Welcome Kaiaaaaa!!! 🥳💙❤️
Mapi: About time Ale had some real competition 😏
Ingrid: Well this is ironic.
Jana: Forwarding this, because no way… → (Arsenal’s post of Jill in red & white)
Jana: That’s ironic 🤔
Kaia: Imagine if I’d actually chosen Arsenal 💀
Ingrid: You’d be done for, no question.
Jana: I would’ve tackled you first training just on principle 🤷🏻‍♀️
Kaia: Appreciate the honesty, little sis.
Ingrid: Nah, I would’ve helped her walk away after Jana broke her ankle.
Kaia: Thanks Ingrid, good to know someone’s got my back 😂
Alexia: You three better behave before I make you run laps tomorrow 🙃
Kaia: Yes mami.
Jana: She actually called you that??
Vicky: Dead 💀

Kaia laughed so hard she nearly dropped her phone. The banter felt good—normal—even though underneath, the announcements landing at the same time made her stomach flip.

A new notification popped up. This one made her pause.

📱 Steph Catley:
Congrats on the move! Proud of you. 💙

For once, Kaia didn’t hover, didn’t leave it unread. She typed back.

📱 Kaia:
Thanks, Steph. I actually had an offer from Arsenal too… nearly took it, if I’m honest.

📱 Steph:
The Catley sisters reunited. Maybe one day though, eh?

📱 Kaia:
We’ll see. Not sure Ale would like that… and Jana would probably purposely injure me first session 😂

📱 Steph:
Ha, you’re probably right. Still—Barcelona’s lucky to have you.

Kaia smiled at that, her chest warm. This time, she didn’t leave Steph on delivered.

_______

The next few weeks passed quickly — training, meetings, team bonding dinners. Kaia was still finding her rhythm in Barcelona, but the comfort of having Alexia and Alba grounding her kept her steady. Then the Champions League draw was announced, and her stomach dropped.

Barcelona. Arsenal.
Home leg in Spain, return leg in London.

Ironic, really. Jill would be there in Arsenal colours. Steph too — her sister, her blood. The sister who once broke down to Leah and confessed that she knew who Kaia’s father was but hadn’t been able to bring herself to say more.

And Leah. Blue-eyed Leah.
Leah, who sat with her while she opened the letter from her papi, the first person she told about finding her father and sisters. The one who made her feel steady and safe when nothing else did. And the same night, when all the weight became too heavy to carry, Kaia had found herself tangled up with Leah — a night that still lived in the back of her mind.

She shouldn’t be thinking about her. Not now. Not when everything was finally piecing back together with her family, with Barça, with the fresh chance she’d been given.

Kaia closed her eyes and muttered to herself, no relationships, not yet. Just football. Just family.

But still… the thought of stepping out at the Emirates, knowing Leah would be there, waiting with those same steady eyes — it made her chest tighten in a way she couldn’t ignore.