Too Much - John Stones

3 Years Old

Johns POV

I missed a week at training to make sure that Bradleigh was okay. I knew she wasn't okay and she still wasn't but she insisted that she was. She insisted that she came back to work at the etihad but still spent most of her time in her office.

"John. Can I speak to you in my office please?" Pep called me out before the analysts came out to speak to us all in the meeting room. I nodded and followed him to his office.

"So obviously I read about what happened" he huffed. "How are you"

"I mean, well I'm coping much better than her, mainly because I didn't know about the baby" I was still annoyed about not knowing.

"You know she has her reasons for not telling you"

"Really?" I rolled my eyes.

"Kevin told me, she had many reasons, she didn't want to mess up you're career, she said that you were going so well at the moment that she didn't want to distract you. Kevin said that also she thought your career at the moment is going so well that she didn't want to tell you because she was so scared it would mess you up" he explained. This made me think about how Brad must of really felt and how I've really only been thinking about me at the moment.

"You gotta make sure she's okay John" he huffed. "I understand why you are annoyed at her, and that's perfectly reasonable to be annoyed. But she had a connection to that baby boy and loved him probably more than you did. How long were you thinking about having a child for?" He then asked.

"I don't know, I suppose I've thought about it a little bit but not like in depth or anything" I shrugged.

"You know Bradleigh has probably been thinking about it since she's been 3 years old. Since she got her first baby doll and a pram for it that she used to push around the park, since she used to fake bottle feed it and rock it to bed" he explained to me. "She's been thinking about it for 20 years of her life, you've been thinking about it for what 20 minutes maximum?" He then added.

"Wow, I really didn't know" I ran my hands through her hair.

"Do you want me to speak to her?" He then asked me, after a few minutes of silence.

"Even if I wanted you too, or if you wanted too. She wouldn't tell you anything about how she feels. She is upset and angry but she just says that she's fine and changes the subject"

"Well if that's her way of dealing with things, you know mourning her loss, then you do have to let her do that. However frustrating that is for you." Pep then nodded. Pep let me go and join back in with the discussions that were happening in the board room.

After all the tactical discussions were finish Pep came in to deliver the weekly meeting. Bradleigh followed in behind him. Everyone knew that she still wasn't feeling back to 100%. She hasn't done her make up in weeks and since she has been back to work she has come in a pair of leggings and one of my hoodies with some trainers, although sometimes she would dress casual to work, she would do her make up or hair or dress up a bit more once a week, even if pep told her off for wearing heeled boots as they would ruin the pitch. Bradleigh gave me a week smile and avoided eye contact with any of the other guys, mainly because she began to get annoyed with their sympathy smiles and how they constantly asked how are you. She pulled her laptop out of her bag and began to take notes on what Pep was saying.

After Pep finished speaking to everyone he announced that Bradleigh had something planned for us all. She pulled the hood down of my Nike hoodie that she was wearing and slightly coughed.

"So obviously the quadruple is back on and it's going to be a stressful time you know, sometimes 3 matches a week all away is well so I thought this weekend we can have a nice relaxing weekend" she smiled. I knew she was hiding something.

"Is that it?" Delphy laughed.

"Well where is this relaxing weekend, surely not here in Manchester" Vincent then spike up.

"Nope, you're right, we are all flying to the south of France tomorrow afternoon, Saint-Tropez to be specific" she clapped. All us guys talked in between ourselves. Most of us excited but a few not really too sure of the significance.

"Trust me guys. From Monday your lives will be stressful, to say the least so this weekend will be good for you guys. Once you are all on the pitch there is not even 1 second I want to see you even look half relaxed. If you want this quadruple you have to work hard for it. Harder than you ever have. Liverpool are close behind us and they are waiting for us to make a mistake and I will not let us make this mistake" Pep then gave a speech.

"Great, so see you guys at 2pm tomorrow at the airport" Bradleigh smiled as no one said anything after Peps speech. Pep called the end of the meeting and everyone left.

"You wanna help me pack?" I caught up with Bradleigh who was walking towards her office.

"You really need help packing for 2 days in France?" She raised an eyebrow but smiled.

"Come on, you know me" I smiled back. "I'll buy you a McDonald's on the way back" I added.

"Wow, I suppose you have convinced me" she giggled. I followed her back to her office and helped her with her bags.

"Okay why do you take so much here everyday" I laughed as I was holding 3 of her bags and she 2.

"Because I never know what I'm really going to need" she said, as if that was a good enough reason. She said that she would drop all her stuff back before I came to pick her up. "Oh and I have some McDonald's vouchers, oh and McDonald's Monopoly has started" she clapped, getting more and more excited.

"Okay Bradleigh calm down" I laughed. "You don't need the vouchers, you complain about how much I make anyway. I don't think a couple of quid of a McDonald's is really saving me anything"

"Oh sorry, I'm John Stones and I play for Manchester City and England. I'm the most expensive defender and I make millions" she began to take the piss.

"I'm only one of the most expensive defenders, not the most" I winked and got into my car. She put her middle finger up and then pulled ahead of me and drove really slowly to piss me off even more.

She seemed to slowly be getting back to happy self, which made me smile. Maybe she is secretly doing this whole weekend away for herself but couldn't take the time off.

Okay maybe not maybe, more like probably.