Ale and Jordi travelled out the Seville game with us, it was the first time that he had travelled to an away game with the team and he loved every single second of it, so did the girls. Mapi insisted that she got to sit with us on the coach to the airport, promising that she would keep him entertained, which she did, by pointing to things that passed by out of the window and practicing his new skill of playing peek-a-boo over and over again. Half of the team seemed to be crowded around us, looking over the backs of seats and standing in the aisle as Jordi put on a show, placing his hands over his eyes before quickly pulling them away and giggling loudly, an occasional little snort coming from him as he laughed.
Ale was sat quietly next to me, she had never been the most vocal one when we were travelling, but she had seemed a bit off for the last couple of days. Nothing that anyone else would notice, but I definitely did. She seemed distracted like her mind was completely focused on something else.
"Are you feeling ok?" I asked as I leant over and spoke quietly into her ear, my hand resting on her knee trying to get her attention.
"Yeah, sorry. Just got a lot going on in my head, but I'm ok" She sent me brief smile.
"You'll tell me when you're ready though, yeah?"
"Of course, we're fine though... it's just work stuff" She reassured me, placing her hand on top of mine and squeezing it gently.
"Contract?" I mouthed to her, not wanting any of the girls to hear as I knew how private she was about this sort of stuff.
"Yeah" she mumbled, before looking over to Jordi who was banging his hands on the table that sat between the four of us.
Ale's contract discussions had been going on for a few months now, she would have frequent calls with her agent, meetings with the Barcelona board and discussions with Jonatan at the training ground, but it didn't seem like a renewal was getting any closer. She had a call from her agent late last night and that was when she went really quiet, so I guessed that there had been some news.
The flight was about an hour and a half long, which happened to coincide with Jordi's nap time perfectly. He fell asleep on Ale, which I think was what she needed to take her mind off everything, even is was just for a while.
"I'm jealous" I whispered as I rested my head on her shoulder.
"Of what?" She laughed slightly, slowly turning her head towards me.
"The sleepy Jordi cuddles that you're getting"
"I can give you some sleepy cuddles tonight if that makes it any better?" She smirked leaning over and kissing the top of my head.
"That might help"
"Are you sure your parents are ok with having him for the night?"
"Definitely, they haven't stopped talking about it. Especially Dad, he's so excited to have him for a sleepover"
My parents came by the hotel to pick him up that afternoon, Jordi was excited about seeing them again so soon after his birthday, but was a bit apprehensive about leaving with them. It had been a long day of travelling and being away from the comfort of his own home, but eventually he warmed up to the idea and happily let me buckle him into their car.
"If he doesn't settle for the night just give me a call and I can come and pick him up" Ale said to my parents through the open driver's side window
"He'll be fine..." I said as I closed the back door and joined her, placing my hand on the back of her shoulder.
"We'll see you at the game tomorrow, enjoy some time to yourselves and let the grandparents take over for a bit" My dad smiled at us through the window.
Mum and Dad sent us updates for the rest of the evening, pictures of him playing with the toys that they had brought him to keep at their house, eating his dinner, having a bath, and then finally a photo of him fast asleep in the travel cot that they had set up for him in my childhood bedroom which seemed to put Ale at ease.
We ate dinner with the rest of the team like we did every night before an away game, we sat at a table with Ona and Lucy for a change as Mapi and Ingrid sat with some of the younger players.
"I'm starting to think that missing out on the Olympics might actually have been a good thing... I can't remember the last time I had a whole summer off" Lucy said honestly.
"You'll come and watch me though won't you?" Ona asked her girlfriend.
"If you want me there, then of course I will"
"I bet you're looking forward to having the summer off Ale" Ona turned to Ale, who was drawing circles on my thigh with her fingers as she stared out of the window.
"Have you two got anything exciting planned? Any fancy holidays anywhere?"
"Probably a family holiday with Alba and the grandparents and then I think that we're going to head over to Greece for a few weeks, rent a villa, and spend some time in the sun, just us and our boy"
"I'm so jealous, I'll probably be back in rainy Manchester for most of it visiting my family" Lucy laughed.
We headed up to our room earlier than usual, whatever was on Ale's mind was clearly affecting how sociable she was feeling as she immediately turned to me when Ona and Lucy went to get a drink.
"I think I'm going to head upstairs, not really feeling it tonight, but you should stay and have fun"
"Don't be silly, I want to come with you... you promised me some sleepy cuddles anyway"
As we lay in bed I could tell that Ale wanted to talk about whatever was bothering her, she wasn't even attempting to go to sleep. She was holding me tightly from behind, her front pressed against my back and her hands intertwined with mine, occasionally placing delicate kisses on the back of my shoulder.
"Ale, what's going on? I know that you said that we're fine, but-" I started, but was quickly interrupted.
"It's my contract renewal..." She said quietly.
"What about it?"
"I don't think they want to keep me"
"Of course they do, you're the captain, you're la reina. They'd do anything to keep you"
"Their latest offer doesn't really show that"
"What do you mean?"
"It's not exactly an improvement on what I'm on now"
"Money-wise?"
"Mmmhmm" she mumbled into my shoulder.
"You want to stay though, don't you?" I asked, turning around in her arms and brushing her hair out of her face.
"Of course"
"It doesn't need to be about the money, so please don't only focus on that, we'll be fine" I tried to reassure her.
"I know, but I want to feel like I'm being valued and the other offers would set us up for life. I'm not going to be playing forever and I don't know what opportunities are going to be around once I've retired"
"You've had other offers?" I asked.
"Yeah" She nodded, her hazel eyes softly looking into mine. She looked tired, tired from thinking about all of this.
"Where?"
"England, America, and possibly one in France"
"I just don't understand why they aren't offering you more, you're our star player..."
"I'm not anymore"
"Don't say that"
"I'm just being realistic. I missed nearly all of last season and now I'm injured again, there are better players now. Aitana, Salma, Patri, Keira... they played me as a false-nine because I don't get into the midfield anymore... I don't think that I'm part of their plan now"
"If you want a change then we'll support you, my contract is up at the end of the season too, so we can move as a family, but please don't rush into anything. I don't want you to make a decision that you'll regret"
"I won't, I'm not going to decide anything until I'm back playing again... I need some more time to think this through"
"I'm not angry, but why didn't you tell me about any of this? I could have helped"
"I only really found out about it last night, they've given me their final offer and I either accept it or I move on"
"I can't believe that they are treating you like this, after everything that you have done for the club"
"I thought that I'd be at Barca forever..." she said sadly, her hazel eyes avoiding mine.
"You still can be, there's a contract on the table, you can stay if you want to"
"Honestly... I'm not sure if I do anymore. They clearly don't want me to stay as much as I do"