~Later that night~
Erik took us to a restaurant. I couldn't tell you the name because I can't pronounce it. But the food was amazing. I'm really going to miss Dortmund.
We haven't told Kat yet, and I'm nervous. I know we should tell her, because I'm leaving in two weeks.
"Alles andere, Herr Durm?" The waiter comes.
Erik looks at me and translates, because Kathrin already knows German.
"Do you want anything else?" Erik asks me.
I shake my head. "No. I'm good, thanks."
Erik looks back at the waiter. "Nein Danke. Kann ich den Scheck bekommen, bitte?
The only thing I understood was "No thank you." "I" and "please."
The waiter nods. "Na sicher."
He walks away and I turn to Erik. "I think we should tell her now."
Erik nods and sighs. "Kathrin, can you come here?" He pats his leg and Kathrin sits on it.
"What's wrong? Was I a bad girl?"
I shake my head. "No, you were a good girl. You're always a good girl. We just have to tell you something." I take my glass of water, taking a sip.
Her eyes light up. "Am I having a baby sister or brother?!"
I nearly choke on my water, and Erik can't stop laughing.
"No. Not yet, at least." Erik smirks.
I slap Erik. "No, sweetie. You're not having a little brother or sister. Maybe someday."
"Alright." She says.
"I'm leaving, Kathrin." I say.
"What?"
"I'm leaving, but not today or tomorrow. I'm leaving in two weeks. Dos semanas." I say.
"W-what? Why?"
"I start school soon. I'll come back and visit when I can."
"And we'll go and visit her in America." Erik says.
"And we can talk over the phone all the time. And Skype and FaceTime, too. We'll see each other again, I promise. Okay?"
She nods. "I'm gonna miss you."
I wipe my eyes to keep the tears from falling. I take a shaky breath. I don't leave for another two weeks, why is this so hard?
"I know, baby, I know. I'm going to miss you, too." She hops off Erik's leg and sits on mine. She wraps her tiny arms around me and I hold her close to me.
The waiter comes and Erik pays.
"Are you ready to leave?" Erik says.
I nod. I wipe away some tears and get up, Kathrin still in my arms. There's paparazzi outside, but I don't pay attention to them. Erik holds my hand, guiding me past them.
Flashes here and there. Some even try to pull me back. My grip on Kathrin tightens. I don't want anything happening to her, she's my daughter, even if a stupid paper doesn't state it. I feel a connection with her, and my heart tells me to protect her. And I will. Even when we're miles apart.
We arrive to the Audi safely, thank God. I buckled Kathrin in the back, and sit in the front. Erik has been awfully quiet all this time. It makes me nervous, and I don't know why.
I try looking at him, but his eyes are focused on the road, which is good, but makes me have an uneasy feeling. I try my best to ignore that feeling, and look back at Kathrin. She has my phone and is playing an app that teaches her Spanish.
"Ahora, ¡vamos a contar!" The app lady says. "Repitan por favor,"
Kathrin looks confused and I laugh. "She said that you're going to count. Repeat what she says, okay?"
Kathrin nods. "Got it."
"Uno.. Dos.. Tres.. Cuarto.. Cinco.. Seis.. Siete.. Ocho.. Nueve.. Diez. ¡Muy bien!"
Kathrin repeated the numbers, and it's adorable.
"Mommy, I did it! Daddy, did you hear me?" Kathrin says, all excited.
I nod. "You did, and I'm extremely proud of you. Maybe, one day, you'll be better at Spanish than me."
She laughs. "No. You're the best Spanish speaker ever, mommy, right daddy?"
Erik smiles a little. "Of course she is. But, like she said, you can be better than her."
"Daddy, will you ever marry mommy?" Kathrin changes the subject, abruptly.
Erik slams the brakes. It's a good thing we're home.
"Why do you ask that?" Erik says after a while.
"Because my other parents were married, but I could tell they weren't happy."
Erik turns and looks at her. He takes her hands in his and says, "Liebe, ich weiß nicht, wo deine Mutter und ich werde stehen, wenn sie geht, aber ich kann versprechen dass ich mein Bestes versuchen sie eines Tages zu heiraten."
I have no idea what he just said, but Kathrin does. Maybe they're talking bad about me. Haha, I hope not.
Kathrin nods her tiny head. "Okay, ich liebe dich, Papa."
Erik smiles. "Ich liebe dich auch."
I understood "I love you." And "okay." Does "papa" mean dad? Ugh, I need to learn German.
"If you two are done speaking bad things about me, I'd like to go inside the house to get some rest." I say with a smile.
"Oh, we weren't saying bad things about you, momma." Kathrin says.
"Or were we?" Erik says with a smirk. I give him a glare and he laughs, "Just kidding. All good things, all good things."
I look at him confused. "Did you just quote Olaf?"
"Yeah. I love that movie. Come on, let's go inside."
I take out Kathrin from the back seat and nearly run into Erik when I turn around.
"Jesus, Erik! Can you walk?" I say.
"Shh shh. The lights are turned on. I turned them off." Erik says.
"Maybe Louise is home." I say. Louise is the housekeeper, but she usually turns the lights off after 10 pm. It's 11:13 pm right now.
"Yeah, but why are the lights on? You don't think they're robbing the house, right?"
"Erik, that's pretty ridi-"
"Maybe it's Claire." He whispers.
"I doubt it. You guys had a contract, and now it's over. She has no reason to come back. Let's just go inside and check it out, yeah?"
"Okay, fine."
We walk slowly to the door, and I roll my eyes at Erik acting like a ninja. We could possibly die from whoever is inside the house, and Erik acts like a ninja. Wow.
Erik peeks in through the window and frowns. "I see Louise and some lady on the couch." He turns to me. "I'm going to open the door."
He opens the door and we step inside. Louise turns around. "Welcome back, Mr. Durm, Miss. Eliza, and Miss. Kathrin." Louise says, her heavy German accent noticeable.
I've told her many times to call me Eliza, no Miss, but I guess it's polite here in Germany. The other lady turns around and I gasp.
"Hello, Louise. Who's this?" Erik says.
"Oh, this is-"
"Mom?" I whisper.
Erik looks at me. "Your mom?"
I nod. I set Kathrin down and walk to her. "Mom, what are you doing here? You could've called me? Are you okay? Oh my God, I missed you." I say hugging her.
"I'm fine, sweetie. I just missed you and I called Selene, she told me you could be found at this location. I'm not going to lie, when I Googled it, I thought to myself, 'How in the world can Eliza afford a place like this? And only for four weeks!' But I came here and Louise, who is extremely sweet, told me that this house belongs to the Erik Durm." She gives me a wink.
I blush. "I was staying in a hotel with Selene, but them we met Marco Reus at the airport and he took us to a party that he had with Borussia, and that's where I met Erik. Selene is with Marco right now."
"I know, I've heard. Her celebrity crush since sophomore year."
I nod. "Oh, I forgot to introduce you guys. Mom, this is Erik, my boyfriend," I say quietly. My mom smirks. "Erik, this is my mom, Millie."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am." Erik says, shaking my mom's hand.
"The pleasure is all mine. And please, call me Millie." My mom smiles.
Erik nods. "Of course, Millie."
My mom nudges me, "He's well educated." She whispers to me. I blush. "And who is this beautiful little girl?" She says towards Kathrin. Since she's shy, she hides behind Erik.
"She's Kathrin. Our daughter." I say.
"What?!"
"Well, not entirely. Erik adopted her, what was it, last week? Anyway, he adopted her, and I was with him during it, and yeah. Erik is legally Kathrin's dad, I'm not her mom, legally. I can't be."
"Is it because you're American and you're in Germany for a short period of time?" My mom asks.
I shake my head. "No. I don't think so. It's because I'm not married to Erik, but I still consider myself her mom."
My mom nods her head. "Absolutely. No paper should determine that, anyways. I'm proud of you, Liz." My mom motions for Kathrin to go with her, Kathrin is shy at first, but Erik tells her it's okay in German. "Hi, Kathrin. I'm your grandma, and I'm going to spoil you so bad."
Kathrin smiles. "I'm Kathrin."
"Oh, you're so adorable, Kathrin. You have yourself a good daughter, Liz."
I smile. "Thanks mom. But for real, why didn't you let me know that you were coming to Germany? You just showed up. Why?"
She sighs. "It's your father, Eliza. He escaped."
••••••••••
I'm so sorry, loves!! I know I just disappeared from the surface of Wattpad World for like 100 years. I hope you can forgive me?
I hope you like this chapter. It's not a lot, but it's something. I'll try my best to upload more often.
As always, the German is probably NOT correct, I used Google Translate.
And please, if you can, ignore any small grammatical errors. I typed this in a hurry while watching Wolfsburg vs Real Madrid.
I hope you all have a wonderful day and rest of the week.
Ps. Erik looks so cute with Emma, Borussia Dortmund's mascot! I love him
-M