The Idea

It was 7am when the alarm woke Ella up, she stretched her arm out to switch it off, when she realised that her big spoon was missing. Ella quickly put on a hoodie and went out into their apartment to find Erin.
She soon found Erin sat on the sofa bouncing her knees up and down. Ella greeted her: “good morning babe” met with no response, and so decided to walk to the front of the sofa, standing directly in front of her better half, “hey babe, you not sleep well? You weren’t there when I woke up”

“ella we need to talk” Erin said, seemingly without registering her partners question.

“Hey, what’s happened? Isn’t it a little early to be this intense?”

Erin had yet to calm, still bouncing her knees, before gesturing for Ella to sit down next to her. Erin had been up most of the night thinking about this, she had written her statement about her ACL the previous night, and knew that it was going to be released at 11am central time. It had been a long few weeks for the couple, they’d only just begun their dream of playing European soccer together, and now it was seemingly over.
Erin took a deep breath, she wanted to make sure she got this right. “I am going to be out for nearly 2 years El, that’s if I ever make it back. I am 33 this could be the end for me.”

“Babe, no, you can’t think like that, the two Mcleods will be together on the field once again” Ella replied reassuringly.

“No that’s not what I meant” Erin said, placing her hand on Ella’s, who was now sat facing her on the sofa, “this dream may be over for me, but I think it might be time to focus on my next dream, our next dream”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Ella you know we both want children, and maybe now is the perfect time to start one”

“But..” Ella began quietly.

“No, listen. I’ve been thinking about this for the past 8 hours on and off. 2 years Is a long time to not be playing soccer. If we start the process now, we could have our baby, and I could still be back in two years’ time.”
Neither of the girls spoke for a minute, they were both thinking the same thing. This isn’t how it was supposed to happen. The plan when they decided on Sweden, was that Ella wouldn’t be playing, she would be the one to get pregnant; they had never even spoken about Erin carrying the child.

“you know as well as I do, how good the clinics are around here” Erin eventually spoke, “we researched them all before we even came out here, and since they have our details, it might not even take me that long to get pregnant. Ella we could have a baby…”

Ella remained quiet, a single tear was beginning to roll down her right cheek, and Erin, being Erin, knew that this was a sign of happiness. Finally she uttered the words “but what if you want to play again”

Erin was quick to reply: “but that’s what is great babe. You know the clinics we researched, they say that people normally get pregnant within 9 months. So with that and 9 months for pregnancy, our baby should be born 6 months before I am ready to return to the game. And in the very unlikely chance that I do come back, I would only ever come back to play in the world cup.”

“But that’s like over three years away babe”

“3 years and 2 months roughly, so our baby would be at least 18 months old, by the time of the world cup”

Erin allowed this to register with Ella for a minute before the younger girl replied: “wow you have really thought this through haven’t you?”

“of course I have” and it was true, Erin had wanted children ever since she had begun dating Ella. She knew that Ella would be a great mom, and with it being Ella’s dream, it had become hers as well. They had spoken about it before, researched into it even, but nothing had ever been planned, they were just dreams, and now those dreams might become a reality.

“Ella listen, I know that you wanted to carry a baby, and you can. One day, you will carry our baby, but right now you are playing for an amazing team, with some amazing girls. Playing out here is something you’ve dreamed of, and you have to continue playing whether I can or not.”

It was true, Ella had dreamed about returning to Europe ever since she left PSG. She preferred the style of play in Europe, she loved practising technical drills. She loved how easily she had fit into the team out here. Ali Riley had taken the girls under her wing ever since they arrived in Sweden, and had been of particular support to Ella before Erin had arrived. She had only moved out here to be with Erin, she had retired, in her own mind, when the two left Houston. Never had she dreamed that Rosengard would offer her a contract too.

“I didn’t think you wanted to carry a baby?” questioned Ella. The two had never discussed Erin carrying the child. Erin had never thought about carrying a child herself, not until she heard about the Zika Virus. Suddenly, it had made her question what she wanted to do with her life, did she want to be a mom? Did she want to risk losing a baby?

“I guess I must have changed my mind then” she was watching Ella trace the lines and different colours of her tattoo. She could see Ella was thinking, she always traced Erin’s tattoo when she was thinking, and Erin knew not to distract Ella when she was thinking.
After what seemed like an eternity, Ella let out a deep breath, “okay”

“Okay?”

“okay, let’s have a baby” Ella replied “just as long as you’re sure”

“I am sure, oh my, thank you babe, thank you so much. I love you” Erin said as the biggest smile spread across her face. She had never expected Ella to agree this easily. Erin began to think back to the last few years, and how much her life had changed…