late november 2022
on their flight over to italy, elena gets the news. beth had suffered an acl injury and she'd be out for the season. it was also very unlikely that she'd make the world cup.
there was no denying the connection that they had on the pitch. elena would somehow always find the winger, and she had assisted beth's goals since the season had started. she felt deeply saddened when she realized that she was going back to barcelona after this season was over.
if beth and herself had more time on the pitch, she wondered if they could have done great things together.
they train at allianz stadium the day before they're set to play the italian team. elena notices viv staying behind when everyone else heads back to the locker room.
she dribbles her own ball towards the dutch striker, who was currently kicking balls into the goal over and over again.
getting closer, she can hear viv talking to herself in dutch, but she has no idea what the forward is saying.
"can i join you?" elena asks viv. she looks up then laughs.
"yeah, come on, let me try to shoot on you," viv says dribbling back, standing at the edge of the box.
viv and elena practice their one versus one skills. elena spends more time defending rather than being on attack, and viv does the opposite.
every time elena pokes the ball out from viv's dribble, the dutch woman curses.
"verdorie, i can't dribble around you," viv says exasperated. elena juggles the ball, keeping it up in the air.
"sure you can. i think you have a lot on your mind right now, that's all."
when vivianne doesn't reply, elena dribbles to the edge of the box.
"how about i try to score, and you can defend? you teach me some of your attacking moves, and i can improve some defensive stances of yours," elena offers. slide tackling people had always calmed her whenever she was angry. she assumed viv was feeling angry, most likely at the world.
beth didn't deserve to have a long term injury such as an acl, especially with the fact that it was a world cup year. especially after she had just had her best season for both club and country the year before.
maybe elena wasn't going at least 75 percent. it was a little too easy for viv to dispossess her, but it seemed like she was venting out her anger with every tackle she made.
and if elena got her feet swept out from under her a couple of times, there was no harm done.
even better, after their session was finished, viv taught her a couple of phrases in dutch. she'd be sure to show off to jill the next time she saw the midfielder.
when gameday arrives, elena can't help but feel disappointed. she doesn't know if her performances in training have dropped off, or if it's something else.
instead of starting in midfield, she's on the bench as jordan starts in her place once again.
since beth's injury, stina replaces her as right wing as viv starts in the 9.
she had thought it was maybe possible she'd start as left wing and caitlin would start on the right, but that was an irrational part of her thinking that, the part of her that wanted to start no matter what.
she calls jana on the bus ride to the stadium to wish her and the barcelona girls good luck for their game against bayern.
"wait! one more thing," elena says quickly.
"yeah el?" jana replied.
"do you know if aurora's going to your game today? has alexia said anything?" the 18 year old asks curiously.
"uh, i don't know if she's going to be at camp nou today," jana replies unsure. "i heard that she came back from germany a little bit ago though. alexia mentioned she was back home several days ago, why do you ask?"
"i think i'm going to fly back to barcelona during this break we have after the game today. i miss you and all the girls, i also have to give aurora her birthday present as well." elena casually drops the news to her sister, who squeals on the other end.
"you're coming back!?" elena could imagine her sister jumping up and down in excitement.
"well of course, i miss you a lot. salma's been saying that everyone's dying to see me, so i'll drop in for a couple of days. don't tell the girls though, i want it to be a surprise. you can keep a secret, right hermana?"
jana scoffs over the line. "you forget who you're talking to, of course i can keep a secret."
it was surreal being back in turin, elena didn't exactly have fond memories of the stadium.
their game isn't the best, in fact, it was far from it. they had missed numerous chances, two big ones in fact.
stina was through on goal in the 32nd minute, but the juventus goalkeeper stopped her shot, and then caitlin also missed a pretty good chance near the end of the half.
the vibes in the locker room weren't half bad though. many of the girls were hopeful that a goal was coming, they weren't playing terribly, just a little below their standards they had set for themselves.
it all comes crumbling down in the 52nd minute.
girelli lofts a ball over the defense and beerensteyn chips manu, giving the opener to the italian side.
while elena loved the fact that she could chip manu in training over and over again without much consequence, only getting a glare from the austrian keeper, she hated the fact that just about anyone with half decent football skills could chip her as well.
she wondered how many times manu had conceded a goal like that in her career. hopefully it wasn't a lot.
after that goal, juventus started sitting back more. their defense wasn't letting up anything. arsenal were lucky to get a corner after another attempt on goal was swatted away by the goalkeeper.
frida's delivery is excellent, filling in for beth, her ball finds viv's head.
miedema pumps her fists as she and the entire stadium watched the ball go in. the supporters in the away section start celebrating as stina grabs the ball from out of the goal, insistent to restart play quickly.
however, they don't score anymore after that. juventus start playing a more balanced game, attacking, playing for the win. arsenal's defense holds strong as the final whistle blows, 1-1.
the girls celebrations are a bit dampened, but they were contempt with at least coming away with a point; they were still on top of the group table.
elena stayed on the bench for the entire game. even though jordan had been subbed off in the 64th minute, jen replaced her as katie shifted up into midfield. disappointed was an understatement.
but it was all said and done, there was no point reliving the what ifs. she quickly said goodbye to everyone, following instructions on her phone to make her way to the airport.
for the entirety of the hour and a half flight, elena tried to get some sleep, but the baby crying several rows in front of her made that difficult.
she watched a movie for a little bit before getting bored, then she tried reading the safety manual in front of her.
elena found it funny that a flight going to spain didn't have a spanish speaking manual, or even english at least.
when she finally landed in barcelona, she hailed a taxi, and went back to her old apartment with jana.
she'd have to figure out when she was going to apply for a drivers license soon.
still having the key to her home, she unlocked the door and stepped inside to the quiet apartment.
at first glance, everything seemed to be the same, if not, even a little cleaner. she set her suitcase down beside the couch as she made her way towards old bedroom.
everything was just as she left it. the little desk she had in the corner still had pens and papers all over it, from when she was beginning to study for her driving license, but that had been put on pause. the little beanbag chair across from her bed looked like it hadn't been sat on in ages. her half empty closet still had some of her old barcelona stuff that she got from the club, jackets, t-shirts, hoodies, all in that order when she originally left it.
she can't bring herself to actually step inside the room. her feet seem to be glued on the floorboard just before the actual room.
luckily, she's given a reason to not go in for the time being, as she hears some fumbling at the front door.
jana's talking on the phone to somebody with her airpods in, completely oblivious to elena's figure emerging from the hall.
her sister glances towards the suitcase near the couch briefly, and looks away before doubling back.
when she finally realizes that elena is there, in the flesh, she sprints towards her younger sister. elena giggles as jana nearly runs her over with the force of her hug.
jana hugs her so tightly, elena has to take a few moments to catch her breath once her sister finally releases her from her grasp.
jana places her hand on elena's face, her forehead, hair, cheeks, nose, "oh my god you're really real."
elena wipes a few tears she hadn't even realised had escaped from her.
"of course i'm real janita," elena laughs before lifting her sister off the ground, hugging her tightly.
"i thought you were flying in tomorrow!"
"surprise!? where are you headed to?" elena nods as she sees jana pick up her car keys from the kitchen counter top.
"ingrid and mapi wanted bruna and i to bake cookies with them! oh you have to come el! it'll be like old times!" her sister begs her as she tugs on her arm.
"i don't knooooow, i just got off a brutal flight..."
"you don't have a choice, come on hermanita."
that's how elena fernandez finds herself standing in front of a familiar house. when jana rings the doorbell, they only wait a few moments before ingrid opens the door.
her mouth drops as she can't find the words to say anything. elena grins, extending her arms for the norwegian to hug her.
"ingrid! is that jana?" mapi calls from inside the house.
"it's someone better!" ingrid calls back. jana playfully shoves the norwegian in mock offense.
"hey! i can understand english you know!" the older fernandez replies.
it's bruna who first notices elena out of the two, she stops moving with the baking tray in her hands, carefully places it onto the counter top, and runs toward elena at a surprising pace.
elena warmly embraces her sisters best friend.
"you're here!" bruna exclaims with excitement.
"i'm here!"
"ay dios mío," mapi stares in shock at the midfielder. "you're actually here!"
elena makes her way over to the kitchen, where mapi is currently frozen in place. she seems to finally snap out of it once she lifts elena high off the ground.
her time with mapi, ingrid, bruna, and jana were well spent, as it always was. it's well past midnight when she's curled up on mapi's couch, snacking on the toffee cookies that bruna and herself handmade.
bruna's been telling her a story about how claudia almost tripped on nothing in the locker room and elena has to imagine that it was true. claudia was really clumsy.
ingrid was shaking her head at the two in amusement.
"what? you do not believe me?" bruna stuttered out in english.
"she didn't trip on nothing! vicky accidentally left one of her towels lying around on the ground!" ingrid corrected.
"boooo, that makes the story boring," bruna pouted.
mapi made her way over to the living room, snuggling into ingrid's arms.
"so elena, what brings you back to barcelona?" she smiled playfully.
"well, i missed you all a lot," elena flicks jana's head softly, making the defender stir a little bit.
"i had a break so i thought maybe i'd spend some time back home, visit my girls, stuff like that," she shrugged.
"does anybody else know you're here?" ingrid asks.
elena shakes her head. "i'm hoping to surprise everyone, including aurora, i have a gift for her birthday in my suitcase. i heard she's returned from germany?"
elena loved jana to death, but her older sister didn't know as much about aurora compared to mapi or ingrid. after all, it really was elena who was friends with aurora first.
"yeah! she's back in barcelona for a couple of weeks. she's probably holed up in her apartment right now. are you visiting her tomorrow or later in the week?" mapi replies enthusiastically.
"yeah, tomorrow morning. then i'm hoping to spend some time with her tomorrow."
jana and elena stay at mapi's for a little bit longer before the defender calls it a night; she was a couple of cookies from collapsing on their couch anyways.
when they're back home, jana quickly gets ready for bed, hugging elena goodnight before closing the door to her room.
elena stands in arsenal pajamas outside her door. she looks at her room again; it was completely untouched, just as she would have preferred.
but for the past 2 months, it had been just that, a room. nobody lived in it, and elena assumed jana treated it like a guest room, except for the fact that not anybody could just sleep in there.
elena finally steps in, too tired to keep standing. nothing happens, maybe the floorboard creaks beneath her, but her thoughts were much louder than the silence currently encompassing the house.
she takes about three steps before finally collapsing on her old bed.
the mattress had felt foreign, a little stiff in places elena wasn't used to.
when she finally closed her eyes, she imagined being back on her bed in london.
it helped her sleep a little easier.
it made her feel less like a stranger sleeping in her own room.
-
elena reuniting with some of the barca girls!
saw all the girls stories about myle and they were so cute, victoria is THE dog person of the team. i read the comments for the last qotd and i loved all your responses! thank you so much for your support on this story so far. we've surpassed so many milestones and i can't thank you guys enough.
vote and comment, don't be a silent reader.
qotd: who do you want to see elena visit during this break?