The Footballer's Girlfriend

Part Three - Chapter Nineteen: Home at Last

Stepping into his home, Cristiano ran his fingers through his hair almost glad to be away from it all especially after how bad the tournament had gone; he just wanted to forget about what had happened. 

It was late at night and Cristiano hadn't spoken to his wife since Portugal had been knocked out of the World Cup; he had let her down and he hated that he hadn't been able to get further in the tournament. 

Setting down his bags by the door, Cristiano took a moment to admire how quiet the house was right now; it was the middle of the night and everyone was asleep. 

Cristiano had just about been able to ignore the horrible shouts and the things that had been said to him; he was frustrated and he didn't want to take that out on Eliana and Elsa. 

Moving up the stairs to his bedroom, Cristiano thought about his wife and daughter knowing that there was nowhere else in the world that he would rather be right now. 

Ricky had suggested that they go on holiday so that Cristiano could relax and forget about what had happened but that was the last thing on his mind right now. 

Cristiano had a son due in a matter of weeks and he wasn't going to jet off on some luxury holiday while Eliana wasn't able to join him; he didn't want to be apart from her right now. 

Unable to resist peeking in on Elsa, Cristiano smiled at the sight of his little girl who was sound asleep; she looked so much like her mother and that made him smile. 

It had been so hard being away from his family and only speaking to them over Skype, Cristiano had wanted them there with him in Brazil but it just hadn't been possible. 

Shaking his head, Cristiano moved away from Elsa's room and headed towards his own room where he knew that Eliana would be sound asleep and he hoped that he wouldn't wake her.

His wife deserved all the sleep that she could get and Eliana was only going to get more uncomfortable the further along her pregnancy became; she was carrying their son and Cristiano wanted to help her. 

Stepping silently into the bedroom, Cristiano closed the door behind him and sighed in relief before he carefully started to strip out of his clothes; he hissed in pain as he brushed against his knee. 

It was sore after the long flight and Cristiano had a feeling that he wouldn't be doing much until the doctors gave him the all clear this time; he wasn't going to rush himself back again. 

The injury would have healed by now if he hadn't forced himself to play recently and Cristiano knew that he had no one but himself to blame for how much pain that he was in. 

"Cris?" Eliana murmured hearing some noise, she rolled over carefully and flipped on the bedside light; she blinked tiredly as her eyes found her husband. 

She hadn't been expecting him home until late tomorrow and it seemed like Cristiano had other ideas; Eliana yawned moving to sit up before Cristiano stopped her. 

Kissing Eliana softly, Cristiano climbed into bed exhausted from traveling and wanting little more than to cuddle with her right now; he didn't want to talk about what had happened. 

Losing out on the world cup had been hard enough and Cristiano had a feeling that Lionel Messi was going to do well this year; another thing that the smaller man would take from him. 

"Go back to sleep... we'll talk in the morning," Cristiano murmured crawling under the covers with her, he wrapped his arms around Eliana and kissed her again. 

The couple cuddled knowing that this hadn't been how Cristiano had wanted his world cup to end but there was little that could be done to fix it now.

***

"Papa," Elsa squealed toddling across the floor towards Cristiano as soon as she spotted him the next morning, a large smile on her face as she got away from her grandmother who had been trying to settle her for breakfast. 

It was a beautiful day out and they had been relaxing out by the pool before breakfast that morning; Eliana rested a hand on her bump as she watched Elsa hurry over to her father. 

Cristiano grinned ducking down to pick his daughter up, he kissed her cheek and cuddled her close glad to be home; he couldn't imagine what would have happened if he didn't have a family like this. 

Jennifer disappeared back into the house, she wasn't going to stick around when she had so much wedding planning to do right now and her talk with Eliana hadn't gone well that morning before Cristiano had gotten up. 

Raising an eyebrow at his mother-in-law's actions, Cristiano moved to sit down next to Eliana; he knew that Jennifer had been worried that he would stray while he had been in Brazil. 

That was something that had never even crossed his mind and Cristiano hoped that Jennifer wasn't going to cause him any grief while he relaxed here with his family. 

"How are you feeling?" Eliana asked peeking down at Cristiano's leg, his knee was already bandaged and she hated that there wasn't any way that she could help him. 

Things were going to be a little busy in the run up to the birth of their son and Eliana could only hope that they weren't going to have any unnecessary problems any time soon. 

"Happy to be here with you and Elsa," Cristiano replied leaning back in his seat, he settled Elsa on his lap and kissed the top of her head just wanting to relax. 

There was little that he could do to change the past and Cristiano was going to enjoy the break that he had been given before filming continued for his movie at the end of the week.

Eliana nodded her head, she couldn't imagine what he was going through right now and she couldn't help but wonder if he regretted going to the world cup for his country when he could have rested. 

It didn't matter now and Eliana just hoped that he would recover well after straining himself so hard to get to something that wasn't going to happen; she didn't want him to be upset about this. 

"I love you," Eliana murmured making Cristiano look at her, he smiled knowing that she was worried about him but he wasn't going to be too upset about this. 

Sure he would have loved to have won the World Cup but Cristiano knew that there would be another chance one day, he was just happy to be home right now especially with Eliana looking so huge. 

It seemed unreal that she was only carrying his son and Cristiano was looking forward to the day that he was born; he couldn't wait to hold the newborn in his arms for the first time. 

"I love you too," Cristiano said to her, he didn't know what he would have done without his family here with him; they were keeping him sane and he was glad for the break. 

Real Madrid wouldn't want him back at training until late August, they were giving him extra time to recover since they wanted their current top asset to recover the best that he could. 

There were going to be clear changes when Cristiano returned from his holidays but he wasn't going to think about that too much; he was going to focus on his family instead. 

The next couple of months would be focused on Eliana, Elsa and bump and Cristiano wouldn't have it any other way; he was thrilled to have this chance now. 

Eliana leant back in her seat, she brushed her fingers gently against her bump feeling Caleb or Rafael kick her; they were the two names that seemed to play back and forth in her mind for her son now.