"C'mon kid, let's head into the changing rooms"
Beth placed her hands on the young girls shoulders, slowly guiding her down the steps and directly to the changing rooms, deciding to miss the team talk, and the lap, to try and calm the shocked young girl. Her face was paled, and her bright blue eyes were wider than usual, her body trembling as they slowly made their way over to Leah's locker, the young girl simply sitting down in it, Beth opposite her.
"Jess? Hey Jessica? Speak to me kid."
It was as if Beth wasn't there, the young girl looking directly through her, clearly unaware to her question, or even her presence as she simply remained sat in the locker. Her body remained trembling in the space, as Beth moved over to turn the lights down in the changing rooms, in hope to see if got a response from the young girl, yet to no avail. She made her way back over to Jess, moving to sit next to her to wrap her arms around her, only to be met with the young girl ducking the movement, avoiding Beth before resuming her position of remaining where she was sat, looking directly forwards. The English forward only sighed, leaving the young girl where she was, hoping that all she needed was time to process.
The girls began to filter into the changing rooms, a sombre mood within the air, small discussions going on between the girls, all of them glancing towards the young girl, pale as a ghost. None of them tried to talk to her, or even go near her, the spaced out look in her eyes enough for them to know she needed time. It wasn't nice for any of them to watch Leah go down, and they could only imagine how it must've been for such a young girl to watch her older sister to go.
Beth made her way over to Viv, who had been on the field, in an attempt to get some kind of awareness of what had happened. In the rush of trying to protect Jess further, she was unaware of what injury Leah had even sustained, or what had directly happened, her focus entirely on getting Jess out of there. She placed herself beside her partner, who knew exactly why she had come over, whispering the answer over,
"None of us really saw to be genuine. It was a set piece, except it seemed the Ajax player had seemed to have seen it coming. She barged her body into Leah's, and she fell, hitting her head on the goal post as she fell to the floor. She was out for a bit, just kind of laying there, but when she was stretchered off she was awake and fine. Just kept asking about Jess, I promised we'd take care of her."
Beth could only nod at the Dutch's comment, taking a deep sigh as she went to lean her weight against her partner, her head on Viv's shoulder with her arms wrapped around her waist, the Dutch placing a soft kiss onto Beth's head as she went to speak.
"How's Jess?"
"I'm not sure. She watched Leah go down, and just started panicking. I ushered her in here, but she wouldn't let me touch her or anything. I tried to get her to speak, but it's like I wasn't even there Vivi, the poor girls just so out of it. It must've been hard for her to see."
Viv only nodded her head in response before standing up to offer her hand the Beth, a mutual agreement between the two that they'd be taking Jessica under their wing for a bit. Most of the other girls had silently filtered out, all of them still trying to process whatever had happened on the field, yet Jess hadn't moved an inch within the hour they'd been in the changing rooms. The two of them made their way over to the girl, Viv crouching down in front of her, moving to take her hands only to be met with the young girl moving them so she couldn't.
"Hi kiddo. You're going to come home with me and Beth tonight. You're going to stay with us overnight, it's okay, we have some of your clothes at our flat anyway. You'll be staying in our spare room, and we're going to go straight there from the grounds. Is that okay?"
No response came from the girl, who had only continued staring ahead of her, similarly to how she did when Beth spoke to her, slowly moving from her space to stand up, as Viv and Beth gathered Leah's stuff out of her locker. They all walked out to the Arsenal hire car that Jonas had agreed to let them drive home, deciding it was best for Jess to not go back on the bus. She trailed after the two of them, dragging her feet behind her as she placed herself into the backseat silently, nothing coming from her as she placed her seatbelt on, keeping her eyes stuck in front of her at all times. A concerned glance was shared between the two older women as they both entered the front, Viv behind the steering wheel with Beth beside her.
A silence was maintained the entire drive home, only broken by a couple notifications from different devices, which were picked up quickly in hopes of it being an update on the English defenders condition. None of them really knew what injury she had picked up, and just wanted to see if she was okay. It was like that the entire 45 minute drive back to Viv and Beth's apartment, reaching there just as it became pitch black dark, the sun having fully set as Beth moved to open the kid's car door, Viv unlocking the front door. Barking from Myle was the only noise to be greeted, Jess moving straight past the exciteful pup, and into the room she knew to be staying in, shutting the door behind her. Beth followed behind her, deciding to give the kid some time, and giving some affection to the bouncing dog, turning to see Viv leant at the bar, on her phone.
"Any update?"
"Nothing yet. I just know that Lia's gone with her, so we should expect a text message from her at any point."
"What about kiddo?"
"I reckon we give her time. It must be a lot for her to process. Did you notice how she's kept her ear defenders on the whole time? She usually removes them as soon as we enter the changing rooms, but they didn't even come off even when she entered her room."
It was something Beth hadn't picked up on, the observation clear to both women on what it meant; Jess was still overwhelmed. Each of them sighed, moving over to give each other a hug as they went over to the sofa, deciding to just order dinner in for the night, and watch some TV whilst they awaited the message, Myle hopping up to snuggle between them on the sofa.
They waited and waited, with no movement from the kids room, until a vibration came from Viv's phone.
Lia❤️: She's alright, a grade III concussion and broken collarbone, they're keeping her for a few days for observation but she's alert and talking x
Viv❤️: Thank you so much Lia, we've been so concerned x
Lia❤️: No problem. She hasn't stopped asking about Jess though, you have got her right? x
Viv❤️: Yes she's with us x
Lia ❤️: is she okay? x
Viv❤️: hard to answer at this moment of time, just let Leah focus on getting better x
Lia❤️: well that's more difficult than it seems, she's desperate to just see Jess x
Viv❤️: we can bring her down if that's alright? I think she could do with seeing that Leah okay as well x
Lia❤️: yeah of course it's fine, see you in a few x
The Dutch flashes her phone for Beth to see, each of them sharing a sigh of relief as they collectively agree to take the kid to see her older sister, in hopes that it would provide some kind of regulation for her. Beth moved to clean their things up, collecting the dinner from the door to place in the fridge, whilst Viv went to knock on the young girls door.
She opened it, to find the twelve year old sat on the corner of her bed, just staring at the plain white wall in front of her, similarly to how she did in changing rooms, undisrupted by the arrival of a bouncing spaniel by her side. Viv walked over, softly kneeling down next to her to speak,
"Leah's okay Jess. She's asked if you can visit her in hospital, me and Beth will take you. C'mon kiddo."
Jess slowly came off the bed, just following silently after Viv as they made their way to the car, the exact same fashion as they did on their way back from the Emirates, in a concerning silence.
~
The 15 minute drive to the hospital was a long one for all of them, even more so as the three of them waited impatiently for Lia to take them down to Leah's room. Viv had moved to take a hold of the young girls hand, in hopes to see if she had found time to calm herself, only for her to once more move out the way of it, and taking a step to the side to ensure a safe distance between herself and the older woman. It wasn't like her, to avoid any form of contact, knowing that she was often comforted by the physical presence of others. The uncertainty was filled with the quick footsteps of Lia approaching them, a warm smile on her face, moving in to give hugs to both Viv and Beth, the young girl taking a step backwards so that she couldn't hug her. The Swiss turned to raise an eyebrow at the pair of them, each shaking their head towards her, indicating their joint uncertainty as well, as Jess continued just staring towards the plain white walls.
They had a small conversation, going between the traffic to get to hospital, the ending of the game, anything that avoided the main topic of conversation that they were all desperate to hear about, waiting till Lia managed to get onto it.
"She's down here, all she's been doing is complaining that they don't have any good food, that and making sure Jess is okay. She's desperate to see you guys, and I'm desperate to get a break, follow me."
The three older women laughed as the followed down the white hallways, Jess trailing behind them, as their conversation just became fuzzled in her ears. The winding halls reminded her to be similar of school, the lights beginning to become more and more blinding by the minute, as the sights in front of began to blur together. She struggled to keep her balance as the girls in front of her came to a halt, each of them turning to face her, yet she was unable to work out what they were saying to her. Her balance began to become wobbly, as her knees began to tremble, the lights brightening by the second. The heavy weight that had arrived in her chest after seeing her sister go down was beginning to pound into her chest, clenching her lungs together so that she couldn't even take a deep breath. A hand came closer to her, the young girl ducking, jumping backwards and letting out a little scream, as she dug herself into the corner of the room, simply watching as one of the others went into the room in front of her, closing the door behind them.
She slowly sunk herself into the floor from the corner of the room, curling into her safety position of a ball, rocking herself forwards and backwards. There were no tears, just a look of fear occupying the young girls face, as her hands moved to her head, tugging at her hair. She pulled and yanked, in attempt to seek any form to just feel something, uncertain of the situation with her sister being injured.
She didn't know how she was feeling.
~
Beth stood talking to Viv and Lia, laughing away at Lia's description of how bad a patient Leah was being, knowing only to well that the English defender was probably not the most helpful of people when injured. It was only when the small, laboured breaths hit her ears that she spun round, watching as the kid struggled to remain upright.
Her eyes had widened further than they already were, and Beth would be lying if she said she didn't think the young girl was going to be sick. The colour had completely drained from her face, basically taking her freckles with her, as her knees physically were knocking each other, struggling to remain upright, her hands grasped around her ears. Beth turned to Lia and Viv, both of them just shocked as she was as the young girls breathing became heavier and heavier, struggling further. They watched as Lia moved forward to place her hand on the girls shoulder, Jess practically shoving Lia back wards as she moved towards the corner of the room, a piercing scream leaving her throat as she did so, echoing through to the open door of the patient room.
"Who was that? Was that Jess? Guys was that Jessie? Jessie?"
Leah's panicked shouts filled the air, as the three women all stood there, uncertain what to do as they watched her begin to tug into her hair, Lia quickly gaining composure.
"Right, Viv go in and just speak to Leah. We can't have her more worked up than she already is. Beth and I will stay with Jess. She's not ready to see Leah."
They each nodded, as Viv moved into the patient room, both Lia and Beth stood watching the girl who was uncontrollably shaking, uncertain what to do. Neither of them had ever witnessed her have a meltdown; they'd heard they happen, but Leah was always brilliant at preventing them before they happened. They stood frozen in their spot for 10 minutes, uncertain what to do, waiting to see if the young girl would regulate herself in her own time, only to be met with furthering herself to spiral even more. Beth turned to Lia in a panic, uncertain on what to do as the young girl began to gag ever so slightly, jumping into action when they watched her sit up, reaching to put a bin in front of her as she began to be physically unwell. She had gotten herself so worked up that she was unwell, leading Beth into a kick-start of responsibility, taking a breath before turning to Lia,
"Are you okay to take Viv home if she stays with Leah?"
"Of course, what are you thinking?"
"Kid's too worked up about being here. I don't know what it is, but she was at least well kept together at the apartment, and we need to put her first here. She needs to go back home. We can visit Leah another day."
The Swiss only nodded at the decision, as Beth turned to crouch down beside the still shaking young girl, careful to not put any physical touch on her, taking a deep breath as she went to speak,
"Jess? Hey kid. I need you to just look at me for a second."
Her head slowly tuned to face Beth, an empty look consuming her eyes which had lost their brightness, the blue eyes turning a slightly grey colour in it's lack of energy. Her baby hairs were everywhere, and her cheeks were rosy, but the rest of her face pale as a ghost.
"Hi there. We're going to go back to mine and Viv's apartment together. Is that okay?"
Yet again, no response came from her, apart from slowly getting to her feet, a little unsteady as she lost her balance again, still heavy in her breathing, but better having been sick. She looked towards Beth, who was demonstrating some deep breaths to take together, which Jess followed, attempting to fill her lungs with air once more, finding herself beginning to become more steady on her feet. Beth waited till she was comfortable with the young girl's state, ever so slowly reaching a more calmer one than she had before, as she guided her out and back to the car, giving Lia a small wave as she did so. It gave a her a bit of reassurance, as Jess moved to walk beside her as they headed out to the car park, evidently calmer now that she was away from the hospital.
~
Beth moved to unlock the front door, having arrived home for the second time that night, yet greeted with a fast asleep puppy this time, realising that it was incredibly late in the evening. There was no point in eating, and having seen the bags under the young girls eyes following such a hectic day, Beth decided that they'd each go straight to bed, leaving the young girl to sort herself out, as she moved into her own room. The older woman threw an oversized jumper and some shorts on, going to brush her teeth before moving to knock on the door to the young girls room. She wasn't expecting a reply, so instead called out to the young girl after knocking,
"Jess I'm going to come into your room now."
She moved to open the door, greeted by the young girl already tucked up under the covers, with Myle spread out across the bed. A warm smile spread across Beth's face, reassured by the allowed presence of the dog, as she moved to kneel down to the young girl, pulling the covers up to her face, Jess moving so that her eyeline faced Beth's.
"Hi there kiddo."
She didn't respond, simply maintaining eye contact with the Arsenal player.
"Chaotic day today, huh?"
"I'm really proud of you though. Really proud of you. Tomorrow, we'll follow your footsteps of how you want to do things."
The young turned her body slightly, moving to the side, opening up a space where she had sat just before. Beth raised her eyebrow at the girls movement, just watching as she lifted the cover to her bed, Myle following Jess to the other side.
"You want a cuddle?"
A slight nod from the twelve year old was all that was needed for Beth to hop right in, giving Jess complete control of the situation, still uncertain to how much she was actually prepared for. It was only when the girl moved to place her head on Beth's chest, and her hand on Beth's hand, that she realised that Jess just needed to know somebody was there.
She let out a deep sigh, placing a soft kiss on the young girls head, before whispering,
"It'll be okay Jess."
A/N
following Jess' perspective for this, just because i think its vital to cover how such big moments impact an nd individual so specifically
it's really messed with her poor kid :(
i say that as if im not the one literally writing it
got some plans for the upcoming chapters, if there's anything you'd like to see please let me know, im trying really hard to incorporate all of your guys ideas, they're greatly appreciated! :)
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