You Are My Sunshine

Chapter Thirty: Manchester City vs Stoke City

Balancing Elena on her hip, Gabriella took a nervous breath wondering if this was a good idea but she had promised Joe that she would be here; she knew how much this meant to him. 

Things had been pretty calm recently and Gabriella really hoped that it would stay this way, she didn't want any more drama in her life and she just wanted to focus on what she had right now. 

Elena babbled happily as Gabriella tracked down her seat, she was a little relieved for the peace and quiet; she looked around knowing that this private box in the stadium was just for families of the players. 

Taking her seat, Gabriella looked down at the pitch still not sure if she felt right with being here, it was hard to forget that a lot of the other spouses of the team didn't like her. 

Even now over a year on from what had happened between her and Joe, Gabriella wondered if she would be forever remembered for the fact that Joe had cheated with her on Georgina. 

Elena continued to babble on her mother's knee as other people entered the box, it snapped Gabriella out of her thoughts; she focused on the fact that the players had taken to the field to warm up to the match. 

"Is this seat taken?" said a voice making Gabriella look to her left, she peeked up at Carla wondering what the woman wanted; she wasn't particularly interested in speaking to her. 

Carla slowly sat down, she owed Gabriella an apology and she knew that she was one of the main reasons that the brunette avoided coming to watch Joe play. 

The hate campaign against her had been horrible and Carla did feel slightly responsible for the fact that Gabriella was ostracised by the other women on the team. 

Her actions to save Georgina's life had only attracted the attention of the women that where here for the wrong reasons; they were more interested in their man's money than the person he was.

"I wanted to apologise for causing you to feel unwelcome here," Carla said peeking over at her children, she chewed on her lip knowing that she would have never coped with everything that had happened to Gabriella. 

It had been increasingly hard on Gabriella and Carla knew that if she was willing to put up with everyone trying to bully her for Joe then she couldn't be all bad. 

"You're as much a part of the Manchester City family as any of us," Carla mumbled knowing that it wasn't fair to Joe to continue to push Gabriella away, she dreaded to think of what the lap-of-honour would be like if they continued down this path. 

It would certainly mean the world to Joe if he could have Elena with him during that moment, it was a time that the players celebrated with their families and it wouldn't be fair for Joe to miss out. 

Gabriella didn't say a word, she looked down at Elena, she wasn't sure why Carla was saying all this now but it was a little too late; she would never be able to forget about how they had made her feel so unwelcome at the Christmas party. 

That was before she had even started to date Joe and while Gabriella knew what she did was wrong, it took two people to make Elena and they hadn't said a word against Joe. 

Carla waited for a moment in case Gabriella said anything, she wasn't surprised when not a word past from Gabriella's lips; she deserved it and she hoped that Gabriella would be able to warm to her one day. 

Elena clutched at her mother's shirt as Carla left them alone, she cuddled into Gabriella who let out a sigh and closed her eyes for a moment knowing that she had done the right thing. 

If Carla was serious about her apology, then she wouldn't be expecting to be forgiven so quickly.

***

Everything seemed to run in slow motion as Joe leapt into the air to catch the ball, he wasn't quite sure what happened but the next thing there was a blinding pain in the back of his head and he was on the floor.

Everything after that seemed like a strange blare, he felt something went trickling down his face and someone tried to pull him to his feet only to be stopped by someone else. 

Suddenly there was a light being shone in his eyes and Joe groaned trying to move his head away from it, his head hurt and he just wanted to close his eyes and take a nap. 

"Joe?" someone called to him, they gave him a quick shake and he opened his blue eyed to find medics standing over him; he blinked confused for a moment wondering what had happened. 

They seemed to be talking to him but Joe found it hard to concentrate on what was being said and before he knew it he was being lifted onto a stretcher and rushed off the pitch. 

Willy Caballero came on in his place and Joe wondered for a moment how bad it was, his mind seemed so unfocused and he feared that this would truly put Gabriella of attending his matches in the future. 

The medics hurried him into a treatment room and started poking and prodding trying to see how badly Joe had been injured; it was already clear that he would have to make a trip to the hospital. 

The last thing that they wanted to do was take a risks with a head injury, Joe would need to be checked over and an ambulance was already on its way to get him. 

Joe couldn't help but whimper as they poked and cleaned the injury below his eye, he winced already starting to feel things coming back to him and he knew he'd have a black eye after this.

***

Gabriella paced outside of the treatment room as she waited for some sort of news on how Joe was doing, she had felt sick seeing him hit the floor like that and she prayed that he was okay. 

 Elena seemed blissfully unaware of what was happening, something that Gabriella remained relieved for since she doubted the three month old would react well to seeing her daddy covered in his own blood. 

A medic stepped outside of the room and smiled at Gabriella, he closed the door behind him knowing that there was a large chance that Joe would be spending the night in hospital for this. 

"He's okay for you to see him now," the medic said to Gabriella, she had been so patient and the ambulance would be here soon to rush him away. 

They weren't taking any chances with Joe and it was for the best that they had the hospital check him over; the medic offered to take Elena so that Gabriella could speak with Joe for a moment. 

There was quite a bit of blood still covering Joe and the little girl didn't need to see her father like that; Gabriella thanked him before she stepped into the room. 

The sight of Joe's face made her pause and her stomach turned at how bad the injury looked, Gabriella walked over to his side slowly before taking his hand. 

Joe drowsily looked at Gabriella, he was pleased that she had come and pouted as she ducked down to tenderly kiss the top of his head; they had given him some pain meds for his head. 

"How are you feeling?" Gabriella asked brushing her fingers gently against the side of his face, she hated the footballer that had done this to him. 

Joe only smiled at her, his fingers tangling into the bottom of her polo shirt wanting her to stay close to him; he searched her face as a thought popped into his head. 

"Marry me..." Joe blurted out a goofy smile on his face, he stared up at Gabriella knowing that he wanted to be Mr Joe Evans.