Holding Her, Loving You

Chapter One: Lia Fàbregas Semaan

Staring down at his newborn daughter, Cesc Fàbregas Soler couldn’t believe that she was finally in the world; he had been playing in Barcelona's Champions League tie against Paris Saint-Germain when he had received the news that his girlfriend of two years had gone into labour.

The footballer smiled down at the newborn before he looked over at Daniella that was resting, she smiled at him as she relaxed in the private hospital room that had been the scene of the birth of her third child but first with Cesc.

“How are you feeling?” Cesc asked softly as he moved away from his daughter and headed towards his girlfriend, he was filled with emotions and was trying to ignore the negative ones that threatened to ruin this special moment.

“I’m fine,” Daniella reassured him as she kissed his lips, she knew that there was something bothering him and had been since she had fallen pregnant with their baby; the Lebanese didn’t want to push him but she couldn’t help but be curious.

Cesc nodded his head as he kissed her lips, he knew that he had a lot on his mind but he wanted to focus on her and their newborn for that moment; he would deal with everything else later on when he was ready.

“Why don’t you go home and rest?” Daniella suggested as she smiled at Cesc, she watched him wondering if there was something that they needed to talk about; she kissed him knowing that he’d had a hard day and had played well before coming to the hospital for the birth of their daughter.

Cesc stared at her for a moment then nodded his head, he had phone calls to make about the birth and he knew that his family would be thrilled when they learnt that everything had gone perfectly.

***

Gerard Piqué sighed as he spotted his best friend, he had come to the hospital after the match had finished so that he could see Cesc; he knew that his friend had a lot on his mind and Daniella had started to notice.

“Gerard,” Cesc greeted as he approached his best friend, he knew why he had come and he was grateful; Gerard was one of two people who knew Cesc’s secret and he had been telling him for months to tell everyone what was going on.

“Cesc… Congrats,” Gerard said awkwardly, he looked away from his friend as he tried to wrap his head around what to say; he had never truly forgiven Cesc for what he had done but he knew that there was nothing that they could do about it now, the damage that had been done.

“Gracias,” Cesc said softly, he didn’t feel like celebrating even if he did want to focus on the good emotions; the Spaniard sighed as he moved to sit down as Gerard watched him, he could tell that his secret was going to come back and haunt him.

“I take it you still haven’t told Daniella about Belina?” Gerard guessed as he moved to sit down next to his friend, his blue eyes looked at the wall across from them and thought about the brunette that he hadn’t seen in seven years and wondered what she was doing now.

“Of course I haven’t… how am I meant to tell her about that?” Cesc said softly as he ran a hand through his hair and cursed himself for what he had done; he had been a stupid nineteen year old and it had cost him one of his best friends.

Gerard shrugged as he thought about what Cesc had done, he had been stupid and they both knew it and as a result they had lost Belina and she had been forced to go through things alone.

“I never thought that it would be this hard… I knew that it would bring up reminders of what I missed with Belina but I never thought it would be like this,” Cesc said softly as he looked at his friend, he chewed on his lip as Gerard turned to look at him; he knew that he wasn’t going to get any pity here and he was glad.

Over the last few months since Daniella had told him that she was pregnant with his child, Cesc couldn’t help but think about the child that he already had and had never met; he knew that there was no way that he could forget that he had missed out on so much because of his own stupidity.

“What do you want me to say Cesc?” Gerard asked tiredly, he knew that his friend was struggling but he couldn’t bring himself to feel sorry for the man that had caused all of this; he had always been on Belina’s side and wished the brunette would have come to him when Cesc had dumped her because she was pregnant with his child.

“I don’t know…” Cesc admitted as he sighed and roughly ran his fingers through his hair, he looked around the corridor wondering if he could ever make this right; he wished that there was some way to talk to Belina and make sure that she and his child were okay.

***

“Mama did you hear the news?” Alejandro Gomez asked excitedly as he ran into the kitchen where his mother was preparing dinner, she smiled at him as she stopped for a moment; she knew that he wouldn’t have hurried home if it wasn’t important.

“Barcelona are through to the next round on away goals,” Alejandro said as he beamed at his mother, she smiled and nodded her head as she felt her heart lurch at the thought; she brushed some hair from her face and listened as her son told her about the match.

The last seven years had been difficult for the brunette and she knew that one day, she would have to tell her son about his father; she had wanted to save him the heart ache since she knew that when she told him, he would want to meet him.

“Then Fàbregas left the pitch so that Messi could play,” Alejandro said as he continued to tell his mother about what had happened, he had been playing in the street with some of his friends before watching the match; he loved football and Barcelona was his favourite team of all time.

His mother paused at the mention of the swap before shaking her head knowing that it was probably nothing, she had learnt not to get emotional when she heard the name of her ex-boyfriend and the man that had fathered her son.

“Plus they’re saying that Fàbregas’s girlfriend had her baby,” Alejandro said making the brunette stop what she was doing, her heart ached knowing that it should have been her and that because of what had happened her son would never know his father.

“That’s nice Alex… go and wash up, dinner is in five,” the brunette said softly as she turned to look at her son; she smiled as she tried to hide her own heartache knowing that he had probably forgotten that he had another child in the world.

Alejandro nodded his head as he watched his mother, he could see that she was sad and he didn’t know why; he knew that she was trying to keep her mind off something and he hated to see her said.

“Okay mama,” Alejandro said as he moved towards the downstairs bathroom for a moment before he stopped, he looked back at his mother then hurried to give her a hug.

“Love you madre,” he whispered making Belina smile to herself as she hugged him back, she knew that she had done well for her son and she was never going to let him down.