El

part 1

summary: now your life has been turned to a shit storm. lucy's girlfriend knows about your daughter, meaning it's only a matter of time before lucy herself does...

warnings: arguing, angst, swearing, pent up feelings

authors note: this feels rushed? but it's anything but tbh, i just didn't know what to write for this chapter and this is what my head came up with. is a part 3 wanted?

leah isn't actually mentioned in this chapter, but there is a reason she's in the photos btw, will just be mentioned at a later time if more parts are wanted 😉

~

Adapting to life after finding out you were pregnant was hard, particularly when it had been mere weeks since you and Lucy had broken up when you found out.

Lucy had known about her move to Barcelona since March of 2022, and told you at that time, breaking up with you then as well. Just a few weeks later, on your best friends birthday, in fact, you found out you were pregnant.

You and Lucy had started IVF a few months beforehand, the two of you agreeing that you wanted to start a family, and that you were willing to undergo it, knowing you didn't have the Euros to play in the summer, and as you were out with an injury at the time.

So you started the journey, and each time it didn't work. Well, until it did. Until the last time you did it, but by that point, you suppose Lucy was fed up. The ring on your finger, the engagement ring that she gave you, clearly meant nothing if she was able to break up with you so easily. Able to leave you behind.

So instead of telling her about the child, her child, you kept it from her. You kept it from most people, other than those who had to know. So the people at Arsenal, teammates, staff, everyone at Arsenal, as well as anyone who represented the Italian national team, and, obviously, your family.

Seven months later, almost exactly seven months later, baby Emilia was born, on the 28th of October 2022. Lucy's birthday. Of course that had to be the case.

Now, two years on, you were plagued with Lucy's girlfriend in front of you, and your daughter behind you.

"Mamma." The voice from behind you repeats, causing you to turn around and walk over to your daughter.

"Mila, baby, what are you doing awake?" You whisper to her, picking her up and cradling her in your arms.

She's your baby, no one else's. Yours.

As you turn to look at Ona again, you see the shock written on her face, it's clear she can see the resemblance between your daughter and her girlfriend, in fact, she is essentially a carbon copy of what Lucy looked like at that age.

"Nightmare, Mamma," Emilia says from your arms, burying her head into your neck as you continue to cradle her, taking no notice of the other woman standing in the room.

"Dios mio," Ona mutters under her breath, shaking her head as she looks at the scene in front of her intently. There's no doubt this is Lucy's kid, but why didn't she know about it? Why didn't she know about you? She came here for answers, and all she has is more questions filling her head.

You also know there's no getting Emilia back to sleep in her bed now she's had a nightmare, so instead of taking her back to bed, you move to sit on the sofa with Ona, your daughter now wrapped fully around you, her head still buried in your neck as you talk to her.

"So... Lucy is my ex if you didn't realise that already?" You say awkwardly, rubbing your daughter's back, trying to soothe her still. "Uh, I don't really know what else to say..."

"D-Does Lucy know?" Ona stammers out, her eyes still wide as they flick between you and the two year old in your arms.

Did you expect that to be her first question? No, not at all, but you knew it was coming. Eventually.

"About Mila?" You ask, not meeting Ona's eyes, knowing what she's going to say.

"Sí, about the niña."

You sigh at that, debating your options.

On one hand, you could tell her the truth, but there's no doubt that she would tell Lucy about Emilia. That would open a can of worms that you didn't want to happen.

On the other hand, you could lie and say that Lucy wanted no part in her life. But Ona probably knows Lucy well enough to know that's a lie, especially as Lucy loves kids. So ultimately, Lucy would find out from that as well.

Or you could say that Emilia wasn't Lucy's and she was the product of a one-night stand. But again, that's obvious to see through if you know Lucy and you see Emilia. Emilia is the spitting image of her.

So really? There was no winning possibility here. The outcome would be Lucy finding out regardless, so you may as well tell the truth.

"No. She doesn't. And-"

"Okay. Tell her then. Or I will." Ona says, cutting you off before you can finish your sentence. Tell her? Tell her, is Ona fucking kidding?

"Are you having a laugh? Lucy will-"

"Sí, she will lose her shit, but she should know she has a daughter."

You nod, tears filling your eyes as your perfect life is all unravelling in front of you. Everything you worked so hard to prevent is about to fall apart right in front of your eyes. And there's no stopping it whatsoever.

"I- In person. I'll drop you to Lucy's, let me just... Let me call someone to look after Mila." You say, knowing that everything is about to come crashing down. Your peace is about to be broken.

Lucy is going to take Emilia from you. Emilia is biologically hers, not yours so it makes sense that she's going to fight this, and she's going to take her from you and leave you alone again.

She's going to break you all over again.

~

You don't know how it happened but around an hour and a half later, you and Ona are sat outside Lucy's apartment in your car.

At first, Ona had argued that you should bring Emilia with you, but you stood your ground and stated that she came first, and it would be too stressful a situation for her to be in.

Now you're drumming your fingers against the steering wheel, trying to delay the inevitable.

Lucy was going to rip you to shreds, she was going to take you to court and take Emilia from you. You were going to lose everything.

When you did, would you flee back to Italy? Would you quit football? That's something you don't know for definite, but it is certainly a possibility.

After another five minutes, you and Ona get out of the car, walking up to the intercom for Lucy's apartment.

Ona's the one who presses the buzzer, making you frown as you realise that she doesn't seem to have a key? Maybe it's because this was all last minute but...

This must be weird to any outsiders, Ona had come to yours around 10pm, you were talking for around two hours, then it took like 30 minutes for the childcare for Emilia to actually turn up, meaning it's now around 2am.

You're standing outside your exes apartment building at 2am.

Though you don't have to wait long as someone comes down to the door instead of buzzing you in.

Recognition flashes through your eyes as you meet the eyes of the person at the door.

Lucy's mum, Diane.

"Y/N? Wha- Ona? What is going on?" Diane says, looking between you two in astonishment. Almost as if you're Lucy's ex and this is Lucy's current girlfriend. Oh wait, that is what is happening.

When did your life get to this? Is all you can think of as you step forward, offering a shy smile to Diane.

"Diane, it's been a while..." You mumble, but she still catches it, smiling weakly at you.

You always had a good relationship with Lucy's family, always. Her niece and nephew would call you Auntie Y/N, and her parents always said they saw you as another daughter.

"Lucy's asleep?" Ona asks, tilting her head to one side like she already knows the answer. Diane just nods in response, her eyes still darting between the two of you in disbelief.

The two of you then follow Lucy's mum up to Lucy's apartment, you staying a bit behind the two other women, debating on whether you should just turn around and run back to the car, drive to your apartment, and then flee back to Italy.

An Italian team would take you, right? If you called your agent, that could probably be arranged, especially as your contract with Arsenal was up at the end of the season, and you didn't know if you were keen on renewing it yet.

Shaking your head, you reach the front door of Lucy's apartment and walk in, Diane leading you to the living room.

Instantly, you hear little feet padding along the floor.

Narla.

Narla spots you and comes over, her head tilted to one side as she does so, seemingly trying to suss you out.

You crouch down in front of the dog, offering your hand for her to sniff, which she does, resulting in her tail to start wagging excitedly, the westie barking at you. It was obvious she had remembered who you were.

Whilst the three of you were trying to quiet Narla down, you all fail to notice footsteps approaching from Lucy's bedroom, until she stops in front of you, rubbing her eyes.

"Ona? Mam? Y-Y/N?" Lucy stutters out, still rubbing her eyes as if she's not seeing things correctly.

Summary: You and Lucy dated before Lucy moved to Barcelona (in this timeline, Lucy and Keira didn't date). Lucy broke up with you before moving, claiming she didn't want to do long distance. Now she's back in England, playing for Chelsea, whilst doing long distance with Ona, her new girlfriend. There's also a little mischief running around that Lucy isn't aware of...

Warnings: Angst? A lot of pent-up feelings. Language. J*nas.

Extra Info: You play as a winger for Arsenal and Italy.

And let me know if you want a part 2 :)

This is my first time writing on here, please be nice <3

~

If anyone had asked you if you had any regrets in your life, you would say no. You were playing for Arsenal, your dream club alongside your best friend, and vice-captain, Leah Williamson. You had everything you could ever ask for. But truthfully? You had one regret. One regret that overwrote everything else.

Seeing the news that Lucy was back in England, had moved back to the WSL, broke something inside of you that you'd built up over the past few years. The layers of protection around you? Gone, shattered. All with one announcement post.

"You better believe it: Lucy Bronze is a Blue."

Posted by none other than the Chelsea Women's account themselves, with Lucy as a collaborator on the post.

Of course, you knew of the rumours surrounding her potential move back, but did you really think she would do it? No. Not at all. In fact, you thought she would stay in Barcelona for the rest of her career, or at least in Spain, that way she would be close to her current girlfriend. But no, of course she shattered that thought, moving to Chelsea, moving to somewhere around London. Closer to Arsenal. Closer to you. And worse yet, closer to the person who Lucy was unaware of, who you didn't want her to know about, ever.

Of course, you hadn't always felt that way, no, at the start you and Lucy were perfectly fine with each other, in fact, more than fine. She had been your girlfriend for several years before she moved to Barcelona, since you had just turned 18 and she was 23.

You had been by her side when she moved to Lyon, she was fine doing long distance then, so what was the difference when she moved to Barcelona? You didn't know. Lucy claimed it was only because of the distance, but was it really? Or were there other reasons? You truly didn't know.

Although you suppose that doesn't really matter now, it doesn't change the fact that she's back in England now after all. She's back, and it hurts still, in fact it probably now hurts more than before.

The thoughts in your head don't stop, though, wondering if she had broken up with Ona Batlle, her new girlfriend, now she's moved back, or if she's still with her? Not that it is really that important, or any of your business. Besides, you just need to get your head down and focus on the football, not Lucy.

~

A few months later, and the season is underway, well and truly underway, and your suspicions are also confirmed, Lucy and Ona are still together.

So it was just a problem with you then, not the distance. Clearly, almost 8 years meant nothing to Lucy if she could just throw it all away for what? For someone who she didn't even know? Did she like Ona before she moved, is that what it was? But wait, Ona was playing for United then?

It's a weird situation to be in if you're being honest with yourself, dwelling over your ex girlfriend and her current girlfriend. At least today of all days.

Playing Chelsea, at the Emirates, playing against Lucy again for the first time in years.

Yeah, Italy and England have had two friendlies against each other since you and Lucy had broken up, but in the first one, Lucy didn't play, and you weren't even in the squad, for personal reasons, and in the second, you were injured. Meaning you hadn't been against each other since Lucy played for Manchester City.

Now, you were starting on the left wing, meaning you were directly going against Lucy, who was playing at right back, her position.

Caitlin had picked up a knock in the Bayern game, which was a few days prior to the match, meaning that you had gotten the nod to play over her as she wasn't fully fit yet, and Jonas didn't want to risk her when the Champions League is more important in his eyes.

It was no secret amongst the fans, or the players that Jonas preferred playing Caitlin over you, especially as she had been in better form recently. But mostly, it was due to the argument you got in with him over the incident between him and Viv last season. He had tried to sell you after that, but the club put their foot down and said no, not wanting to lose two of their best players in the same transfer window.

Now, you had to play against Chelsea.

The warm-ups went as normal, the normal shooting practice, and the fans chanting, everything was as it should be, as it usually is.

Until you lock eyes. From different ends of the pitch, it still happens. Throughout your whole relationship, it was said by your friends, your family, everyone that you two were drawn to each other like magnets. If you were apart in a room, you would find each other instantly. You two were like fire and ice now, drawn to each other, but incapable of doing anything about it without burning each other.

Handshakes before a match are something you often believe to be stupid and unnecessary. Football is supposed to be intense, borderline violent at times, and the handshakes before a match signify that rivalries aren't as serious as what some may hope them to be, especially between Arsenal and Chelsea.

So is it to anyone's surprise when you skip Lucy's hand entirely as you go past her? Probably not, but considering you're both last in line, she grabs your wrist back without thinking as you try to walk off to get into position.

"Get the fuck off of me, Bronze." You hiss at her, yanking your wrist away from her vice-like grip instantly, not wanting to be any closer to her than necessary. It's funny what love does to us, how it changes us.

"Calm your shit, Bambi," Lucy replies with a smirk, letting go of your arm before spinning off to go over to her team.

Bambi. That's something you hadn't been called in years. Hell, Lucy was the only one who had ever called you that.

You shake your head, knowing that you can't let it affect your game, that's all she's trying to do after all, get in your head. But it's definitely working. That's just the affect that Lucy has always had on you.

The game goes as expected, well at least at the start. Chelsea take the lead early on, and then double their advantage 12 minutes later. Fuck Jonas and his shitty tactics, that's all that you can think.

In the 43rd minute, you manage to draw one back, scoring a goal by beating Lucy, then shooting across goal, the ball clipping the post as it goes in.

The half time team talk, Jonas is pissed. Very pissed. He's shouting at Leah, at Lotte, and even at you for shit defending- you're not a defender, why is it your fault?

When you go back out on the pitch, feeling a bit dejected by Jonas' words, you start playing more clumsily than the first half.

Especially in the 52nd minute of the match, you and Lucy are both jumping for the ball, to which you then end up elbowing her in the face as you come down, causing her to fall to the floor clutching her face.

Before you can say anything, you're getting shoved by Chelsea players, away from Lucy, away from the harm you've caused. One person in particular shoving you away, is Millie Bright.

"What the fuck is your problem, (Y/L/N)?" She shouts at you, shoving you particularly harshly. "You're deliberately hurting other people now?!"

"Oh fuck off, Bright. It was an accident!" You snarl back at her before Leah runs over to get in the middle of you two.

"Mills, calm down, she didn't mean it," Leah tells the Chelsea captain, her hand on your chest as she speaks, physically trying to prevent you from going for Millie most likely.

"Oh come on, Leah! An accident? She's probably still pissed off that Lucy dumped her and found someone better!" Millie retorts, causing you to see red and get around Leah, shoving Millie harshly to the floor.

Millie gets straight back up and shoves you back in retaliation, causing the referee to come over, blowing her whistle constantly whilst you and Millie are still going for each other.

Eventually, Katie and Leah manage to pull you back, whereas Lucy (who has now gotten up), and Hannah have hold of Millie, holding her back.

It's no surprise when the referee shows you both red cards, the pair of you being escorted off the pitch by your separate teammates to ensure you don't go for each other again.

Once you're off the pitch, Manu and Steph come to take over, walking you back down the tunnel to the locker room. Once in there, they say they can't stay and leave you there, going back to the bench, leaving you alone with your thoughts.

Fucking Lucy...

~

Should it be a surprise to you when in mid December, you get a random knock on your door at... 10pm at night? Maybe, maybe it should have been.

But after being rested from a minor ankle injury, and being told you weren't going to play tonight's Champions League match against Bayern, it doesn't cross your mind how strange it actually is.

So when you get up and open the door, the last person you were expecting to see is Ona Batlle standing on the other side.

"Uh, hi?" You say awkwardly, staring at the girl in front of you in confusion. Why is Lucy's girlfriend outside your apartment?

"Dios mio, what am I doing here?" Ona mutters to herself before looking back up at you. "Can I come in?"

Still stunned, you just nod your head, stepping to the side to allow her in before shutting the door behind her.

"So uh... Hi?" Ona says with an awkward laugh, rubbing the back of her neck. "Sorry, I just got off a plane after playing almost 90 minutes against City and I don't know exactly why I came here."

"Uh, it's okay I think? But like, why?" You ask her, sitting on the sofa whilst Ona is still standing, in fact, she's more so pacing now.

"Right. So you know I'm dating Lucy, no? I just wanted to ask what your history with her is? Now I'm saying that I'm realising this could have been done over Instagram..."

"Me and Lucy? Y-you don't know?" You stammer out, your accent becoming more noticeable as you talk.

"Sí, you and Lucy. Keira said something the other day about Lucy having an ex who played for Arsenal and then got all awkward when I asked her who. So after looking at rumours again... Here I am."

"Shit... So Lucy hasn't told you about our past?"

"No." Ona answers simply, causing you to sigh. However, before you have the chance to speak, a small voice speaks from behind you.

"Mamma?"