Chapter Text
“Where were you?” Ingrid asks, staring at her wife, arms crossed over her chest, impatiently waiting for an answer.
Mapi’s feet are frozen to the floor right inside their bedroom, the door left half open for Olivia to be able to come in if she needs them and for them to be able to hear any noises coming from around the house.
She doesn’t say anything for a minute, she just stares back into the green eyes trying to read what her wife was feeling. It isn’t bright in the room but there is a soft glow from Ingrid’s light on the nightstand, giving her the ability to see the dark circles under her wife’s eyes, and even more concerningly the redness in her eyes she always got after crying.
Mapi can feel the guilt growing in her chest with every passing second, the anger she felt all day completely gone. She doesn’t know what to do with herself, if she should try and get closer to Ingrid or if her wife will want space.
She lands up moving to stand at the end of the bed, “I was with Jana. She was training with Cata when I went back out to the pitch after I finished in the gym and she ended up staying with me for a while. Then we went to dinner and she said that she had just moved but wasn’t staying at her place because none of her furniture was put together, so I offered to help put a few things together for her.”
“That’s what was more important than coming home? What is going on with you today?” Ingrid snaps back.
Mapi drops her head, her voice thick, “I’m sorry, I’m an idiot and was being selfish. I won’t let it happen again.”
Ingrid may be mad but she isn’t blind to see that her wife was clearly struggling at the moment. She takes a deep breath, pushing her anger aside for the time being, “Come sit down and tell me what is going on.”
Mapi looks up to see Ingrid patting the space in front of her on the bed, which she is quick to move onto, tucking one leg under her with the other dangling off the bed so that they can be face to face.
“It’s so stupid and embarrassing. I know I should have talked to you but I just couldn’t for some reason. I’m so sorry.”
The Norwegian reaches out for her wife’s hand, “please just tell me what it is, you’re scaring me.”
“I’m so tired, not just physically but mentally. I love our kids and wouldn’t change anything about them or our jobs but lately it has felt like too much.” Mapi’s eyes casted down at their hands as she started to explain. “And I miss you.”
Mapi expects a laugh or a sarcastic response about how they are literally sitting next to each other but when all she gets is silence back she looks up to see tears starting to form in the green eyes looking back at her.
“I miss you too.” Ingrid whispers, moving from her spot on the bed to cling onto her wife, arms tight around her neck.
Neither of them let go for a minute, only pulling away when the position gets too uncomfortable. “You do?” The Spaniard asks quietly.
“Of course I do, you are one of my three favorite people in the entire world. I know things have been crazy around here lately and it seems like because of all of that we have put our marriage on the back burner. But we are here now so please tell me more about how you are feeling.” Ingrid pleads, desperate to help her wife which would inevitably help their relationship.
Both women readjust to more comfortable positions knowing that this conversation won’t be short or easy.
“I’m just feeling exhausted between our match schedule being almost 2 games a week and with how the kids are sleeping, or more so not sleeping. Olivia is in here at least 4 times a week because of nightmares and for only being a little girl she takes up a lot of space.” Mapi jokes at the end, making them both smile thinking about how the almost 3 foot preschooler takes up half their bed.
“I’m tired too but I don’t know what we are supposed to do about the nightmares. I want her to come to us if she needs us but she hasn’t said much except for being scared, so maybe a little part of it is that she likes to sleep in here with us and we keep letting her.”
Mapi agrees, her daughter only ever tells them that she’s scared because it was really dark. “We are going to have to see if she will talk to us more about what the dreams are then and hope there is something we can do to help. Or we can let her fall asleep in here and take her back to her bed.”
“We can talk to her this week about it, see if we can try to get more information but at least get her back in her bed for as long as possible. Hopefully that will give us a bit more sleep at night. I don’t think we can do much about Max waking up since we know it's just a phase and teething. I would try and help more during the night but he hates me right now.” Ingrid lets her words trail off at the end.
“He doesn’t hate you.” Mapi responds adamantly.
Ingrid doesn’t respond, dropping her gaze to her lap where she nervously twists her wedding ring around her finger. She may have said the same thing hastily earlier but saying it now makes it sink in that her son hasn’t been her biggest fan lately.
“He doesn’t hate you, Ingrid.” Mapi repeats, reaching out to stop her wife’s fidgeting. “He loves you and right now he may be picky on who he wants but that doesn’t mean he hates you. This is a phase that is going to pass and I’ll be more than happy for you to take him when he is upset.”
Ingrid lets out a dry laugh but can’t help but let her mind spiral. “Or you just are a better parent and that is why he likes you more.”
Mapi wants to laugh at the absurdity of the comment but she knows that her wife didn’t mean it as a joke. They have gone through rough patches before, thinking they were horrible parents but that was usually when the kids were infants and crying all the time.
The defender thinks for a minute about what she wants to say to really make her wife believe what she says. “I can think of a million examples of you being the best mom but I’ll give you one to start and if you need more I will keep going until you believe me.”
“María, no, you don’t have to do that.”
Mapi just shushes her and starts talking. “A couple months ago when Max started to pull himself up on things, you know the first person he would always look for when he did it?”
The Norwegian shakes her head.
“He looked at you. Every single time. Anytime that he does anything new or when he is told good job and claps, he looks for you. You may not see it but I do. Even just the other day when you were walking around the house on the phone, he would perk up every time you walked past us. He may want me when he is upset right now but when he is happy he is always looking for you.”
Ingrid wipes at the tear that rolled down her cheek. She was so focused on when Max was upset that she didn’t even realize that maybe there were other times that he wanted her. “I didn’t know that.”
“The three of us love you very much and think you are the best mama ever. I’m sorry that you’ve had to keep these feelings to yourself, I should have made us talk about it sooner because I knew that you have been struggling too.”
“I could have come to you, so don’t blame yourself for me keeping it in. Thank you for talking me down.” Ingrid says sincerely.
“Anytime you need reassurance, you know where to find me.” Mapi leans in for a quick kiss, “Seriously I have endless examples of why you are the best mom and wife. Like truly I can already think of a million.”
The midfielder lets out a genuine laugh, leaning back in for another kiss just to shut her wife up. One kiss turns to two which turns into both of them deepening it, letting themselves get lost in the closeness of each other for a few minutes.
“We can’t do this right now, we still have things to talk about.” Ingrid says, her own hand pushing at Mapi’s that started to sneak up the front of her sleep shirt.
The center back pulls back, catching her breath “sorry, got a little carried away there.” She wishes they could just stay in this moment, just the two of them for a little bit longer. It was going on 2 months since they were able to be intimate, between the kids in their bed and being exhausted every night, it was hard to find the time.
Mapi clears her throat, trying to break herself out of the trance held by the darkened green eyes looking back at her. “Jana said her and Jill would babysit for us this weekend if we wanted to get out of the house, just the two of us.”
“We don’t need to have our friends babysit just so we can have sex. We are perfectly capable of handing our kids.” Ingrid responds harshly, startling the Spaniard. One thing Ingrid hated was being an imposition to people and she didn’t want the other couple to think that they needed a babysitter just because they were horny.
She had no problem with babysitters, the kids' babysitter was basically part of the family but it was different when it was their friends. She knew everyone was busy and when they had a day off it was a luxury, so she didn’t want to impose her kids on them for what she felt was not a good reason.
Mapi can’t help but answer with her own bite to her words, “that is not the reason and you know it. Jana had just made the suggestion earlier when we were talking about how we were both tired and I missed spending time with you.”
Her wife crosses her arms, the moment they just shared far behind them, making the room tense again. “So you can talk to her about how you feel after a couple of hours but it takes you months to talk to me?”
The tattooed woman can’t help but drop her head into her hands, trying to not let the anger from earlier start to creep back in. She thought that they had passed the point in the night where they were going to argue and she would really like for it not to get back there.
“Baby, please, you know that is not true. I was having a really bad day and I just needed to get rid of all that energy from the game and you had already left, so I needed a ride and she needed some help. I’m sorry that I needed to have such a meltdown in order for me to have this conversation.” Mapi says calmly, trying to stop the agitation in both of them from continuing to rise.
It obviously doesn’t work because the next thing she knows Ingrid is letting out an annoyed groan and getting out of the bed, moving quickly to close the door before coming back and pacing the side of the bed.
“You are so infuriating!” Ingrid huffs out, pointing her finger at her wife.
The center back is taken aback by the drastic change in mood from the tall brunette in the past few minutes. She knows her actions today and the past few weeks may not have been the best but it was rare that her wife got to this level of anger.
She knows she can respond one of two ways. She can take the easy route and fight fire with fire, which was what they did early on in their relationship, or she could stay calm and let her wife work out her thoughts and just take it.
“I’m sure you are right but can you tell me why?” Mapi gives the midfielder a half smile in hopes of it coming off lighthearted.
“Because I know you always have good intentions and want to help everyone but did you even think that maybe I needed you today? That while you were so focused on yourself that you didn’t stop to think that your actions during the game affected more than just you?” Ingrid shouts, immediately taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down. She didn’t want to yell, they had worked so hard on communicating effectively but she was too worked up to care at the moment.
All of a sudden it clicks in Mapi’s mind that Olivia must have done something because of seeing her on the field today. Ingrid’s rush to get home after the game and Alexia’s surprise with her not being at home. Her stomach drops at the thought and she needs to know what happened.
“What happened with Olivia?” Mapi asks, her eyes pleading for her wife to answer her quickly.
Ingrid knows her wife is an emotional person and wants to be delicate but she kind of ruined that when she yelled. “Frido and the kids were sitting with Carla and Alex today and she said that when you got your red card Alex made a comment to Liv, which she responded by pushing him over.”
Mapi doesn’t know if she wants to cry or punch something but she doesn’t do either yet, “what did he say?”
“Frido didn’t hear but Olivia told her that he said that you were mean and deserved to not play anymore.”
The Spaniard squeezes her eyes shut, trying to get her emotions in check for a few more minutes to be able to get all the details. “So that’s why she needed to go home? Did you talk to her?”
“She knew what she did was wrong and was very upset about it and wanted to go home. She didn’t say much to me but she did say that she wouldn’t do it again. Frido also mentioned that Liv told her she was mad at you for being mean to the other player.”
Ingrid grabs the tattooed hand in her wife’s lap that was clenched tightly in a fist. She loves her wife so much and despite her still being mad, she doesn’t want her to get completely caught up on one incident.
“I told her that it was okay to be mad at you as long as she talked to you about it. I tried to explain that you reacted like that because you were overwhelmed and tired. She seemed to understand but her main worry is that you are mad at her.” Ingrid pauses, feels herself get slightly choked up because she knows when she tells her wife the next part it's going to crush her.
Mapi must sense because she pleads, “tell me, please.”
“I told her neither of us were mad but when I was putting her to bed she asked again if you were mad because you weren’t here for bedtime and didn’t call like we do when we are on away trips.”
The brunette watches almost in slow motion as her wife registers her words and her entire face falls as tears instantly form and start to roll down her cheeks. She quickly pulls her into a hug and lets her cry into her shoulder, whispering reassurances to her.
Mapi pulls back after a solid 5 minutes, wiping at the remnants of tears left on her cheeks as she tries to gather herself.
“I really fucked up this time, didn’t I? I’m so sorry for everything today, I was beyond selfish and you and the kids deserve better.” Mapi says, her voice wavering still, trying to take a few more deep breaths to settle herself down.
“Only a little bit but it’s not something that we can’t fix. I know and Olivia knows that what happened today is not who you are and what Olivia did is not who she is. You both were angry, which thankfully passed but we need to make sure that all of us learn from this.” Ingrid responds.
“I should have known better, especially with the kids in the stands but I swear that girl was trying to annoy me on purpose. I just couldn’t take it anymore and snapped even though I knew it was going to be a red card.”
Ingrid had been watching her wife closely the entire match and she wouldn’t disagree that it seemed the forward was being intentional with all her tackles. “You will know better for the future now.”
Mapi groans, flopping back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling trying to gather her thoughts. Ingrid follows suit, laying on her side with her arm tucked under her head, allowing her eyes to roam over her wife’s features.
She notices her smile lines have gotten more pronounced over the years along with the growing wrinkle between her eyebrows. If she were to tell herself when they first met that this would be their life almost 10 years later, she would never believe it.
Ingrid can’t help but lift her hand to trace the slightly faded words written across her wife’s neck, looks can be deceiving.
The statement was what initially drew Ingrid toward her, wanting to know everything about the defender who had the reputation on the field to be ruthless but off the field no one had a bad word to say about her.
Ever since the centerback shyly kissed her after their first date that both of them secretly hoped would be the last first date they went on, Ingrid had promised herself that despite what everyone may think of the tattooed woman at first glance, she would make sure Mapi always knew she was so much more.
Mapi turns to the side causing Ingrid’s hand to move to the nape of her neck, scratching softly just the way that always helps relax her.
“I’m sorry for snapping at you in the gym, I should have just listened to you and came home when you asked. I’m going to fix everything, I promise. I wish just saying sorry was enough but I know it isn’t and I will prove to you and the kids that the person I was today isn’t who I really am.” Mapi says with conviction, making sure her wife knows how serious she is.
“María, listen to me, you don’t have to prove anything to us, we know who you are and we love you no matter what. All of us have rough days or weeks or even months but that doesn’t change how we view you. Of course I wish that today didn’t happen but in the end we made it through with just a little hiccup that I know you can fix tomorrow.”
“How can you be so sure that she isn’t going to resort to pushing people around now that she’s seen me do it when I’m angry?”
“Because she immediately knew what she did was wrong and was more concerned afterward with making us mad. We make mistakes sometimes and might not always believe we are the best parents, but I am certain that we are raising our kids to be good people.” Ingrid reassures, she knows they both have a lot to learn and have their fair share of doubts about their parenting but deep down they know they are good parents.
Mapi lets the exhaustion from the day take over, her eyes slipping closed momentarily with Ingrid’s hand still running through her hair. As her wife did before, when she opens eyes, she lets her roam over Ingrid’s features.
Mapi truly believes that with each passing day, Ingrid gets more beautiful. Before they had met, she had a reputation of being non-committal but she knew that she would have to get over her fear of commitment if she wanted to keep the Norwegian around. To her surprise, it came easy for her to be in a serious relationship. She loved to bring home flowers, treats or anything that she would see that reminded her of her girlfriend, but the little gifts had dwindled over the years since the kids came around.
“What are you thinking about?” Ingrid whispers, breaking her thoughts.
Mapi smiles at the question, “just how lucky I am to call you my wife. You are the best thing to ever happen to me.”
Even after all these years, Ingrid blushes at the Spainard’s words, “You're the best thing to happen to me too.”
Ingrid uses her hold on the back of Mapi’s neck to pull her in for a soft kiss. The long day catching up to them, not letting the kiss last any longer than a few pecks.
They know they need to go to bed soon but Ingrid needs to ask one more question, “What can I do to help you feel better and more relaxed? We talked about what we can do with the kids but what can I do to help you?”
“You don’t have to do anything, I already feel better after talking to you.” Mapi answers honestly. She does feel better about where the two of them stand even if she is still feeling guilty about Olivia.
“I feel better too, but I was thinking that we could try and split off a few tasks so that both of us could get some time to center ourselves. Just for a few weeks to get us back on track and find a new schedule that can accommodate the needs of all 4 of us.” The Norwerigan offers, a little selfishly, knowing they both could use it.
Mapi chastises herself silently, not realizing that her wife might need some time to decompress alone too . “You’re right, what were you thinking?”
“I know we both love to do everything together with the kids but I think we need to put ourselves first for a bit. I can handle the school drop-off during the week and take Max with me and you can take that time to yourself. And if you are willing to do pick-up, that could give me a little time in the afternoon?”
“Of course. I know I’m the one who had the outburst today but I know you have been struggling too, so if there is anything I can do for you, just let me know.”
“Thank you baby.” Ingrid gives her another kiss, “Go get ready for bed, it's late and the kids aren’t going to let us sleep in.”
Mapi reluctantly gets up and heads toward the ensuite, when almost as soon as the bathroom door closes behind her, Ingrid sees the bedroom door open and the top of her daughter's head pop into view.
“Are you okay, Livvy?” Ingrid questions, as the preschooler walks up to her side of the bed. The 4 year old’s hair is a mess, one hand rubbing her barely open eyes and the other holding tightly onto her elephant stuffed animal, similar to Max’s lion.
“I had a bad dream and I tried to go back to sleep but I was too scared.” Olivia admits, her eyes falling to the empty bed beside Ingrid, the memory of Mapi not being home that night coming back to her mind.
Ingrid watches the sequence of her daughter's eyes seeing the empty bed, causing her lip to wobble and tears start to form and fall rapidly from her eyes. She instantly picks the little girl up, holding her to her chest, rubbing her back in an attempt to try and calm her down.
It doesn’t work because the cries turn to sobs as she manages to barely choke out, “You said mommy wouldn’t be mad at me but she didn’t come home.”
The bathroom door opens, Mapi peeking out with her toothbrush still in her mouth, able to hear Ingrid say, “she’s just in the bathroom, I promise she isn’t mad at you.” She quickly turns back to rinse the toothpaste out of her mouth and rushes around to the side of the bed, kneeling down to be eye level with Olivia whenever she opens her eyes.
Mapi runs a hand through the messy brown hair, her voice gentle as she calls out, “cálmate mi corazón.”
It takes a few seconds for the words to register to the young girl but when she does her cries stop momentarily as she moves her head out of Ingrid’s neck to find where her mommy’s voice is coming from.
“Mommy?” Olivia sits up in Ingrid’s lap, her sad eyes looking at Mapi to make sure she is actually there.
Mapi reaches up to wipe some of the tears that are on the small rosy cheeks, “yes Livvy, I’m right here.”
Olivia’s eyes get teary again, her lip jutting out in a pout, “are you mad at me?”
“No Liv, I’m not mad at you. Mama told me what happened and we can talk about it tomorrow but it's really late and time to go back to sleep.” Mapi looked at the clock to see it was just after midnight.
Ingrid watches her daughter take a big, shaky deep breath, her voice raspy from crying, “But you didn’t say goodnight and you always say goodnight, even if it's on the phone.”
Mapi’s heart shatters in that exact moment, her own eyes filling with tears, “I’m so sorry I didn’t call to say goodnight and wasn’t home for bedtime.” Olivia drops her head back to Ingrid’s chest, eyes still focused on Mapi but her eyes getting heavy with sleep again.
“How about after school tomorrow you and I can do something just us two and we can talk about everything that happened today?” Mapi hopes the suggestion will be sufficient for Olivia to drop the conversation for the time being. She wants her daughter to get back to sleep but also needs her to know that they can talk about her feelings.
Olivia nods her head, “can I sleep in here tonight?”
Mapi looks up at Ingrid to silently ask if it was okay, knowing they just talked about how exhausting it was to have the kids in the bed, and lets Ingrid respond, “of course sweetheart. Mommy will go get your pillow for you.”
Ingrid moves Olivia off of her into the middle of the bed, the 4 year old sniffing and breathing shakily, still trying to calm down. Mapi comes back with the pillow, getting into the other side of the bed and placing the princess pillow under Olivia’s head.
“Thank you mommy.” Olivia shifts around to get comfortable, the elephant stuffed animal still clutched securely in her arms. Ingrid moves to turn her lamp off, allowing the room to fall into darkness except for the light streaming through the door from the hallway night lights. “Can we all cuddle?”
Mapi and Ingrid both move closer, laying on their sides to face the sleepy toddler. Mapi’s hand starts to combs through the messy brown hair again as Ingrid’s lays softly on Olivia’s stomach.
“I love you mommy and mama.” Olivia mumbles, falling completely asleep not even a minute later.
The parents stay silent for a few minutes to make sure their voices won’t wake up their daughter. Mapi readjusts slightly for her to be able to slip her arm above the top of Liv’s pillow so that she can find Ingrid’s hand to hold onto.
“I am so sorry about today and for not talking to you sooner about what I was feeling. I don’t want you to ever doubt the love I have for you, our kids and this life we have created together.” Mapi whispers quietly, her voice filled with emotion.
Ingrid presses a kiss to the back of Mapi’s hand, “I love you and our life together too. This is only a little bump in the road, we will get through it just like we always do.”
Nothing else needs to be said between them, both succumbing to sleep quickly with their hands still intertwined.
—-----------------------------
Ingrid groans when she feels little fingers poking her shoulder incessantly to wake her up. “Mama?” She peeks her eyes open when she hears Olivia whispering for her.
Olivia perks up when she sees green eyes on her, making sure to keep her voice low, remembering all the times she was told to be quiet in the morning, “I’m hungry, is it breakfast time?”
Ingrid rubs at her eyes, she can feel that they are swollen but is grateful that she can see sun sneaking through the curtains to signify it was actually morning. She rolls over to look at the clock, relieved that it says 7 am.
The midfielder turns back over, bringing a hand up to brush the hair out Olivia's face. “Pancakes sound good don’t they?” Ingrid asks, knowing it was her daughter's favorite breakfast food.
The 4 year old’s face instantly lights up and she starts to wiggle around with excitement, “yes!”
“Shhh, mommy is still sleeping and don’t you think we should let her sleep in a little?”
Olivia looks over at Mapi sleeping, seemingly debating whether or not they should actually let her keep sleeping. “Yes, she was sad yesterday so she can sleep to feel better.”
Ingrid gets out of bed, taking Olivia into her arms, pressing a kiss to her cheek, “you are the sweetest Livvy.”
The Norwegian moves quietly out of the room and down to the kitchen, setting her daughter down on the counter. She moves around the kitchen, grabbing ingredients and a bowl to start making the pancakes.
“Mama, how many minutes until it's time to go to school?” Olivia asks, swinging her legs dangling off the counter.
“We can leave in an hour, are you excited to go today?” Ingrid moves to turn the stove on to heat the pan up.
Olivia starts to stir the ingredients, remembering to go slowly to not make a mess. “I like school but I want it to be over so I can spend time with mommy, I missed her yesterday.”
“I know you did, when she got home last night she told me that she missed you too.” Ingrid responds, adding a little more water to the mix and taking over to make sure it was actually stirred.
They make enough pancakes for the two of them, putting the batter in the fridge until Max or Mapi wake up to make more. Ingrid agrees to Olivia’s request of adding chocolate chips to her pancakes, which makes her bounce around while they cook.
It's not more than 5 minutes after they sit down at the table that Max makes it known that he is awake and ready to get out of his crib. Ingrid had taken the baby monitor down with her in hopes of being able to see as soon as he woke up so he wouldn’t be too loud and wake Mapi up.
Max is always happiest after he wakes up, so when Ingrid walks into his room, even she gets an excited squeal from him.
“Good morning! Did you have a good sleep?” Ingrid sing songs, moving to pick him out of his crib. He responds with clapping and more happy babbles as she changes his diaper before bringing him downstairs.
Ingrid gives Max her pancakes, deciding to just wait until later to eat breakfast herself. The three of them sit around the table together, the chatty 4 year old leading the conversation and making her brother laugh with funny faces.
It takes 30 minutes for the kids to be finished, Max asking for more repeatedly until he starts throwing what she gives him on the floor to signal he was finished.
The dishes are left to be cleaned up after Olivia goes to school in favor of getting her dressed and packed up on time.
Max keeps himself busy by crawling around his sister's room finding things to get into as Ingrid braids her daughter's hair into two french braids and helps her into a Winnie the Pooh t-shirt with a pair of short overalls on top.
“Okay Liv, why don’t you go tell mommy that I am going to take you to school and then we can leave.” Ingrid says, sitting on the floor with Max rolling a Barca ball he found between them.
The preschooler doesn’t even respond, just takes off toward the master bedroom. “Mommy, mommy.” Olivia whispers, poking her mom in the cheek.
Mapi barely peeks an eye open, shifting slightly to pull Liv up into the bed with her, closing her eyes again.
“No mommy, wake up, it's time for school!”
The defender sits up, looking at the clock that reads 7:52am, causing her to throw the covers off, hop out of bed, grab Olivia and start running toward her bedroom. “We are going to be late Livvy, I need you to get dressed super quick! Where is mama?”
Olivia laughs the entire way Mapi is running toward her room, not having time to answer through her laughs before they get into the room and Ingrid is sitting on the floor with Max, giving them a perplexed look as to why they came bursting into the room.
“Are you okay?” Ingrid asks.
Mapi gives her a confused look back, “it’s almost 8, she’s going to be late for school!”
The tall midfielder starts to laugh, “babe, she is ready to go. She was supposed to just come in and let you know we were leaving.”
Mapi takes a deep breath, taking a second to actually look at the preschooler in her arms. She’s fully dressed, hair done, shoes on and a big smile on her face.
“Sorry for making you run mommy!” Olivia giggles again, wrapping her arms around Mapi’s neck, letting her relax and get her heart rate back down.
“Are you going to pick me up from school and we can have time just me and you?” The 4 year old asks, tracing the words tattooed along her mommy’s neck.
“I’ll be waiting for you as soon as you are finished and we can do whatever you want!” Mapi responds, having an idea of what they can do but wanting Olivia to have the option to decide.
“Yay! I can’t wait mommy!”
“Me neither!” Mapi responds, pressing a kiss to her cheek after readjusting her in her arms.
Ingrid notices her wife’s arms starting to tremble while trying to keep hold of their growing daughter. Her wife was incredibly in shape, all of her muscles toned, so it was odd for her arms to be fatigued after only a few minutes.
“Livvy, say bye to mommy and go get your lunchbox to put in your backpack. I’ll be down there in 2 minutes.”
Olivia wraps her arms around Mapi’s neck again, whispering goodbye before wriggling free to take off toward the kitchen.
Ingrid walks over to the defender as she shakes out her heavily tattooed arms, “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
Mapi cringes as she bends her knees and feels soreness all up her legs. “I may have overdone it a little yesterday in the gym and afterwards.”
The Norwegian rubs her hands up and down the heavily tattooed arms, squeezing a little to try and alleviate some of the pain. “Is it only your arms?”
“It's pretty much head to toe. I’ll be fine, I should have known yesterday I went too far.”
“Mamamama!!” Max screeches, too focused on the stuffed animals he found to have cared about anything else when she came into the room but now excited to see his favorite person.
She can’t do anything but lean down to pick him up despite her muscles screaming at her not to. “Good morning, my little guy.”
“I’m ready!” Olivia shouts, making both of her mothers laugh.
Ingrid reaches over to take Max, grateful he lets her, “I’ll take him with me to drop her off. Go take some Tylenol and when I get back I thought we could go out and get some coffee?”
Mapi doesn’t argue like she normally would to go with them or keep Max with her, needing a few minutes to herself. “That sounds perfect, I’ll see you in a little while.” She presses a kiss to both Ingrid and Max’s cheeks as Olivia shouts again that she is ready.
The preschool is only 15 minutes away from their house but with having to park and walk Olivia in, drop off usually takes around 45 minutes for her to get back to the house.
As soon as Ingrid pulls into the driveway, she sees her wife waiting on the front porch while stretching out her legs. The Spaniard walks gingerly toward the car, pressing a kiss to Ingrid’s cheek when she gets in.
“We don’t have to leave right away if you want to rest for a while to give your muscles a break.”
“The meds are starting to kick in and it will be good for me to move around, we can lounge when we get home.” Mapi buckles her seatbelt, reclining her seat back slightly to try and hold Max’s hand while they drive, making him squeal and then try to bite her finger. “Ow! You really have some strong teeth coming in.”
Ingrid can’t help but let out a loud laugh at her wife’s pouting face, “you’ve done that so many times, you should know by now he’s not going to hold your hand anymore.”
“He used to let me do it all the time and he loved it, but those little teeth are no joke.”
“If only there was another hand that you could hold.” The Norwegian replies sarcastically, reaching across and dangling her hand in front of Mapi’s face.
Mapi chuckles, grabbing her wife’s hand, kissing the back of it before settling their intertwined hands in her lap. “Ah yes, how could I forget my favorite hand to hold.”
The trio spends an hour at their favorite coffee shop, the adults feeling more alive with every drop of caffeine and the baby happily waving and babbling at everyone who walks by.
Any other afternoon they would go for a walk in the park or run a few errands but both women are still exhausted, deciding to just spend the rest of the morning and early afternoon lounging on the couch.
—----------------
The defender leaves their house a half hour before she needs to, hoping that her mom will be free to talk for a few minutes. The phone rings 3 times before she is sent to a voicemail with a text coming in soon after that her mom was at a doctor's appointment and that she would call her back later, unless it were an emergency.
Mapi sends a quick text back letting her know that it was no big deal and she would call her back later that night. She still hadn’t pulled out of the driveway, debating whether or not she should go back in for a few minutes or if she should try calling her mother-in-law for the advice she wanted from her own mother.
She had been close with the Engen family ever since the first few months that Ingrid and her had started dating. They both were close with their families and it was important to both of them to meet each other's families early on to make sure that they all got along.
Mapi had met Ingrid’s parents for the first time at dinner after a game that they had come into town to see. Ingrid laughed at her for being so nervous the entire ride to the restaurant but took her hand once they parked, looking at her seriously and saying, “I know you are nervous but they’re going to love you because I love you and they just want me to be happy and you make me the happiest.”
It had only been 3 months since they officially started dating, both knowing it was early to say they loved each other but in the back of each of their minds they knew that there wasn’t going to be anyone else.
From that night on Gudrun always told her that she saw her as a third daughter and that she could always talk to her about anything. Whenever her mother-in-law visited or they visited Norway the two of them would stay up later than everyone else talking for hours.
Mapi hits the call button, not having to wait more than two rings before her mother-in-law picks up. “Hola María!”
“Gudrun, hei! I hope I didn’t interrupt you.”
“Not at all, I am just out on a walk with the dog, the weather is perfect here today!”
The Spainard smiles at the image of the sun shining in Norway, thinking of all the memories she has had over the years in the county she has grown to think of as her second home. “That sounds lovely, how is everyone doing over there?”
“Everyone is doing well, same old stuff going on, just missing the grandbabies.”
The response makes her shake her head, both of their parents always grumbled playfully about not seeing their grandchildren enough, even though they facetimed multiple times a week and tried to visit every couple months.
“They both miss you too, we need to start planning our next trip back there for the summer break.”
She can hear her mother-in-law squeal on the other end of the phone, “we cannot wait, but I don’t think that was what you called me to talk about.”
“I’m getting ready to go pick Olivia up from school and I did just have a question or two for you about parenting if you had a few minutes.” Mapi starts driving as soon as her mother-in-law tells her that of course she would try and answer any questions.
“Did you watch our game yesterday?”
The Norwegian pauses, knowing what her daughter-in-law was getting at, “of course we did, the team played really well.”
“Well, long story short, my red card caused Liv to push Irene’s son and let’s just say it was a long night for us. We are having a hard time lately with Olivia’s nightmares, Max’s extra clinginess to me and the team schedule. It’s all been adding up and we hit the breaking point yesterday. Ingrid and I talked and figured out a few things but I still feel like I really messed up and Olivia isn’t going to forgive me.” The center back takes a breath having rambled it all out quickly.
Gudrun thinks for a minute in order to choose her words carefully. Ingrid had called her a couple days ago to vent about almost the exact same thing but she was never able to finish the conversation because Olivia had come into the room asking about lunch.
“María, dear, your daughter loves you and will forgive you. Believe me, children are forgiving and both you and Ingrid are basically superheroes to her. It may feel like the end of the world at the moment, but you are far from the first parent to ever make a mistake. Have you spoken to her yet?”
“I am on my way to pick her up from school now. How am I going to know what to say to her? She was mad at me but also worried I was mad at her. You know I’m not the best with words.”
Gundrun can’t help but let out a small chuckle, thinking back to when the Spaniard had asked them for their blessing before she proposed to Ingrid and she sat very obviously nervous through an hour dinner before stumbling through a long winded monologue about how much she cared for their daughter.
“Honey, you need to relax a little with all of this. I know this is the first time you both are going through something like this but trust me she is going to forgive you. Just be honest with her, kids are intuitive and all she wants from you is to be who you are.”
The older woman continues, sensing her words might not be having the desired effect. “When Ingrid and her siblings were 5, 3 and 1, I truly thought I was going to never sleep again. Orejan was working overtime a lot and I was alone almost all day with all three kids and I didn’t know what to do. I remember one day I was having one of those days where everything was going wrong, everyone was sick and Ingrid had stolen a toy from her sister which caused all hell to break loose. I snapped and screamed at them which just made them all scared of me for the rest of the day.”
“And they forgave you?”
“I had to apologize, telling them what I was feeling and along with some fresh baked cookies we were all back to normal within a week. It might not all go back to normal immediately but life will carry on and you will find a way to adjust and get back on track. You aren’t a bad person for snapping, you are human and just had a bad day. Explain it to her the best you can and it will be okay.”
Mapi feels herself relaxing with every passing second, “Thank you. I’m almost at school but I have one more quick question for you.”
“I’m all ears.”
“Did Ingrid or anyone else have nightmares when they were growing up? We are kind of at a loss on how to help her because she doesn’t say much about them and we want to help but in a way that isn’t her sleeping in our bed every time she has one.” Mapi pulled into the parking spot at the school, there was still plenty of time before the kids were actually done.
“All three of them actually did. It’s pretty common around her age for nightmares to start especially with her being in school full time and having a sibling now. It’s hard to stop them completely but we used a different technique for each kid to help them not be as scared.”
Gundrun thinks back all those years ago figuring out what actually worked for each of the kids. “Ingrid had the least of the three, but her tactic really was to go crawl into her sister’s bed and lay closest to the wall so that the monsters would get her sister first.”
Mapi laughs, imagining a little Ingrid sacrificing her sister to protect herself. She can’t wait to go home and tease her about it later, asking her if she would still toss her to the monsters to protect herself.
“With her brother, he wanted to show he was strong and would want to fight back so he slept in his superhero pajamas with his foam sword tucked under the covers with him. He would even line up all of his stuffed animals around the bed as his little army. It made me laugh but it worked for him most of the time.”
“Her sister was the hardest though, she was scared to even leave her bed in the middle of the night and would just cry until we came in there. We came up with putting up strings of light around her room for her to see everything when she woke up. Orejan still had to check the entire room 3 times before she went to sleep and we had to read and stay with her until she was sound asleep.” Gundrun recounts, it was a tough time for them, dealing with 3 kids under 5 and having almost an hour long bedtime routine for her.
Mapi makes sure to remember everything she says, willing to try anything to help Olivia. “I will keep those all in mind and hope that one of them works for her.”
“I hope so too, I don’t like that my grandbaby is struggling to sleep. If you need us to come out there sooner to help, just let us know.”
“We will and thank you so much for listening to me right now, I hope I didn’t interrupt your day too much.” Mapi says sincerely.
“No need to thank me dear. You are one of my kids too and am always just a phone call away.”
The two women continue to talk for a few more minutes before Mapi says goodbye, needing to head to the door before all of the kids get dismissed.
—----
Mapi waits just outside the school gates for Olivia’s class to be released, talking with a few of the other parents that they have had play dates with before.
The classes are released one at a time to ensure there aren’t too many kids trying to run out of the gates without supervision, so it takes a few minutes for Mapi to see Olivia’s teacher walk out, trailed by her 15 students.
The Spaniard isn’t surprised when she sees her daughter is last in line talking animatedly with the class aide who is trailing behind all the kids. Olivia had inherited her ability to be able to talk to anyone at any time about anything and she particularly loves talking with adults, knowing she had them all wrapped around her little finger.
Olivia finally sees her when she gets down the front steps, shouting out for her even though she was still about 10 yards away. “Mommy!”
The preschooler has never been shy, always soaking up all the attention she got from all her aunties and staff around the team. She also had a habit of not knowing the volume of her own voice, so before she started school they had to work on using her inside voice and knowing when it was okay to be loud.
She can’t help but laugh along with the other parents around her before giving a wave to the teacher and aide to acknowledge she was there and they could let Olivia free.
Olivia says bye to a few of her classmates along with her teacher before she starts running, rather awkwardly with her backpack still on, right for her with the biggest smile on her face.
The center back squats down, arms wide, picking up the 4 year old as she comes barreling toward her.
“Hi sweetheart, did you have a good day at school?” Mapi asks, pressing a quick kiss to her head before putting her back down and taking the backpack off of her to hold.
“Yes! We got to do lots of art today but Ms. Garcia isn’t as good an artist as you, maybe you can teach her how to draw really well.”
Mapi feels a slight blush warming her cheeks when she hears the parents around her chuckle at her daughter's bluntness. “That sounds like a fun day! Are you ready to go?” Mapi redirects the conversation, not wanting the 4 year old to say anything else about her teacher.
Olivia nods quickly, grabbing her free hand while both of them say goodbye to the parents and kids around them.
“I was telling all my friends about how we are going to have a mommy and Olivia day! I couldn’t wait for school to be done.” Olivia says while they make the short walk to the car.
“What do you think we should do?” Mapi asks, hoping her daughter had come up with a few ideas of her own.
“Maybe we can go to the park or the toy store or the art store and get ice cream!” Olivia rattles off, thinking of all of her favorite places.
“I think those are amazing ideas! How about we get ice cream to eat at the park and then after that we can go to the stores?” Mapi mentally plans their route, timing it all out in order for them to make it back in time for dinner.
“Yes! Can I get sprinkles on my ice cream?” Olivia practically bounced out of her shoes, unable to contain her excitement at the prospect of getting her favorite dessert.
Mapi pretends to contemplate for a minute, “Since it's such a special day, we can definitely get you some sprinkles!”
“YAY!”
Once they reach the car, Mapi helps Olivia get buckled, putting her backpack on the seat next to her before she buckles herself and heads to the ice cream shop near the park that they frequent.
The mother daughter duo walk hand in hand into the ice cream shop, Mapi having to tug Olivia back slightly when she tries to run right up to the display even though people were already up there ordering.
Olivia takes the time they are waiting to order to fill Mapi in on what else she did at school and how one of the boys in her class got in trouble for making a mess with the glitter and clue at the craft table.
It only takes about 5 minutes for them both to get their ice cream, Olivia getting her sprinkles in a dish on top of a scoop of plain chocolate and Mapi getting a mix of strawberry and chocolate.
The park is just across the street, so with the little self control that the preschooler has, she waits until they are sitting on a bench before she starts to eat her ice cream.
As they eat, Olivia continues the conversation about her day at school , the center back not interrupting knowing that she will need her daughters full attention to have the actual talk she wants and that won’t come until they finish eating. It takes 10 minutes and 2 brain freezes later for them both to finish, Mapi having to find a wet wipe in her bag to clean up the small mess Olivia made on her hands and face.
“Before we go play, can we talk about what happened yesterday at the game?” Mapi starts, still slightly nervous about how the conversation will go but knowing that both of them need to talk about their feelings.
Olivia’s smile drops at the thought of getting in trouble but nodding her head yes, prompting her mother to start the conversation.
“I am so sorry that I got really angry yesterday during the game and I should never have pushed the other player. Mama told me that you were a little bit mad at me, which is okay because what I did was wrong but can you tell me what made you so upset?” Mapi probes, she thinks she knows the answer but she wants her daughter to learn how to explain what she is feeling.
“You were being mean to that girl, then Alex said you shouldn't be able to play again and then you did stop playing. But you aren’t mean and mama says you are the best player and it’s not fair that you can’t play anymore!” Olivia exclaims, avoiding eye contact with her mother, starting to feel overwhelmed again.
The answer she got was more detailed than she expected and makes her wish even more that she could go back in time to avoid all of this from happening.
“Liv, look at me,” she pauses, waiting for the preschooler to look up. “It’s okay to be upset, I was being mean and I got in trouble which was why I had to stop playing but I only have to miss one game and then I get to play again, I don’t have to stop playing forever.”
“You don’t? I like when I get to watch you and mama play, I want to play like you when I’m bigger.”
“Just one game I have to miss but mama still gets to play, so I can sit with you and and we can cheer extra loud for her. When you grow up, you can be whatever you want and we will cheer for you too. I’m sorry that Alex made you think I wasn’t going to play ever again.” Mapi reassures, not realizing that her playing meant that much to their daughter.
“Mama said that you were tired and upset but why were you so mad at that girl during the game?” Olivia questions, making Mapi think for a minute on how to explain the game in terms that her 4 year old will understand.
“You know how my job is to stop the other team from scoring goals?” Olivia nods her head, she had the understanding that both teams were trying to score more goals than the other and that both her moms jobs were to stop the team from scoring and it was the job of her Auntie Alexia, Aitana and Caroline to score the goals for their team.
“The girl on the other team that I pushed was the player that was trying to score the goals for the other team and it was my job to stop her from doing that. Sometimes when we play we get kicked or pushed a little when we try to steal the ball from the other team and she kept taking the ball from me and that made me upset with her because I wasn’t doing my job well if she had the ball. It made me mad that she was doing her job better than me and I didn’t do a good job of controlling my emotions and pushed her. Does that make sense?”
“It does and Dodo said the other team didn’t score any goals so you still did your job!” Olivia replies, remembering how Claudia had asked her yesterday on the field if she had seen her score which meant that their team won.
“We did win but it still doesn’t make it okay to push the other player, especially since it made you push Alex. Did you do that because you saw me do it?” Mapi probes, noticing the hazel eyes across from her starting to fill with tears as they did last night.
“I’m so sorry mommy, I didn’t mean to make you mad at me.” Olivia says in between sniffles, trying to keep her tears at bay.
“Come here corazón,” Mapi helps pull the little girl into her lap to be able to wrap her arms around her as they continue to talk. “I am not mad at you, we both did things we shouldn’t have and we aren’t going to do it again, right?”
Olivia doesn’t waste even a second before she nods, “Yes mommy, I promise I won’t.”
“Good and I promise I won’t do anything like that either. Did you say sorry to Alex?”
“No, Dodo took us to sit away from him.” Olivia pouts.
“Next time we see him you are going to say sorry and next time I see that girl I will too. It’s important to apologize when you do something wrong.” Mapi emphasizes, wanting her daughter to know how valuable it was to admit when you’re wrong, especially to friends and family.
“Pinky promise?” Olivia struggles to hold just her pinky out, Alexia having taught her what a pinky promise was a couple months ago after having to bail on going to the park but had pinky promised her that she would go the next day with an added promise of ice cream.
“Pinky promise!” Mapi links their pinkies together, holding on for an extra few seconds to make it an extra strong promise. “Is there anything else you want to talk about?”
“No, I feel better. Do we have time to play?” Olivia looks longingly over at the park, wanting nothing more than to be able to go to the playground.
“It’s our day, we can stay as long as we want! But can I have a hug first?”
Olivia doesn’t even bother responding, wrapping her arms tight around her Mapi’s tattooed neck, forgetting the playground momentarily, content to be held. Mapi holds her daughter tight in her arms, the guilt she felt yesterday finally easing knowing that Olivia had already forgiven her and wasn’t going to look at her any differently.
They spend the next half hour at the park, Mapi pushing Olivia on the swing for a majority of it, the defender’s smile growing every time she’s told to push higher and being met with loud laughs when she does.
“Can we go to the toy store now?” Olivia asks, slightly out of breath from running up the little tower to slide down for the past 5 minutes.
Mapi agrees, grabbing her bag and their garbage to throw away on their way back to the car and driving across town to the toy store both the kids loved.
“Alright munchkin, you can pick out 1 thing and we can find 1 toy for Max too.” Mapi answers, wanting to make it known they weren’t going to get a bunch of new things like she usually did when she went out with any of her aunts or grandparents.
“I think Max wants a new truck or maybe a dinosaur, he likes those a lot.”
The Spaniard loves that her daughter knows what her brother likes to play with. They have been through many different phases of excitement, jealousy and anger during the last 11 months of her becoming and being a big sister.
“Those are great ideas, should we go find his toy first and then you can look for what you want?”
Olivia lands up picking out a little truck set for Max that has a firetruck and ambulance with each of them making a few different loud noises that she knows they will all get sick of but Max will love.
Once her brother's toy is taken care of Olivia takes her time looking through every section of the store carefully to choose what she wants. Mapi goes along with her, making comments and pointing out a few things, never rushing her daughter to make a decision.
After 10 minutes of trying to decide between a Frozen castle set and a marble run set, she decides on the Frozen castle since it has new Anna and Elsa dolls along with it.
Olivia skips out of the store, too excited at the prospect of going home soon to play with her new toy. “Do you still want to go to the art store or do you want to go home and play?”
“Art store! Maybe Lucas or Maya are working, we haven’t seen them in forever!”
The art store was very popular in their household and they tried to go at least once a month. Mapi had found the place when she asked one of the baristas at a coffee shop where she had gotten her tattoo done and she had raved about the shop where she went.
Mapi had gone alone the first time to check it out and landed up spending an hour there talking with the owner who had been there that day and recognized her.
The store was in a 2 story building with the main floor being a massive art supply store with a small gallery that featured local artists and then upstairs they had the tattoo parlor.
Mapi got all of her art supplies there and both her and Ingrid had gotten tattoos for both kids there and had plans for a few more. Lucas was the owner who did their tattoos and told Mapi that whenever she retired or wanted to start practicing tattooing he would make her his apprentice when she was ready.
Maya was a college student studying art who worked the supply store whenever she could to try and help pay for her classes. The first few times that Olivia went to the store with Mapi, Maya was there and Olivia had the girl wrapped around her finger in minutes after telling her that she was the second best artist behind her mom.
The drive to the store was quick and only 10 minutes from their house so it was on their way home. Mapi sends a quick text to Ingrid as they are walking in letting her know where they were and they would be home within the hour.
Much to Olivia’s disappointment neither Lucas or Maya was working today but Mapi reassures her that it was probably because it was earlier in the day than they normally come but that they could come back later in the week to see them.
The preschooler darts off in the direction of the big sticker box that she loves to sort through looking for anything new. If Lucas or Maya ever saw them coming or knew they were they would sneak a few Disney stickers in there for her to find.
While her daughter is occupied, Mapi takes a few minutes to pick out a few new pencils and sketch pads that she has been meaning to get for the past few weeks. She hasn’t had a lot of time recently to sketch as much as she would like but after their talk last night, she is going to make the time.
“Did you find anything good Liv?”
“It’s Tia!” Olivia shrieks, holding up a sticker of Alexia doing her signature bow. She has found a few Barca stickers in the past, mostly just of the badge, but on rare occasions she would find a few of her aunts.
“She is going to love that! Good find munchkin!” Mapi adds the sticker to her little pile, waiting a few more minutes to let Olivia finish her search. She finds a little rainbow that she asks to buy with a little pout that Mapi can’t say no to.
“I’m going to put these on my water bottle so that everyone can see them. When am I going to see Tia next so I can show her?” Olivia questions, followed by slight disappointment when Mapi tells her she will have to wait until Friday’s game because she has school and can’t come to training.
Mapi can’t handle the thought of disappointing her daughter, already pulling her phone out to text Alexia about her plans this week. “Maybe I can see if she wants to come over for dinner before then.”
The little girl is content with that answer, grabbing onto the tattooed hand not holding the supplies as they continue to browse the rest of the store.
“Should we get some big paper and new markers for your family tree project so that we can work on it tonight?”
“Really? And you will draw a really big tree for me?”
“Of course I will, it’s a big project and it deserves some new supplies.”
Olivia’s eyes light up at the thought, already pulling Mapi in the direction of the nice paper. It doesn’t take them too long to pick out what they need, the defender having already planned in her head what the project would like as an outline.
By the time they get back into the car, the day seems to have caught up to the 4 year old because she falls asleep just as they are turning down their street.
Mapi gently maneuvers the preschooler out of her car seat, into the house and into her bed successfully without even as much as a twitch.
When she walks back into the living room, her wife is quickly up off the couch to greet her with a hug and a few quick kisses.
“Max is sleeping too?” Mapi keeps her arms wrapped around the tall Scandinavian, wanting to keep her close.
“Yes but probably only for a few more minutes, he went down just over a half hour ago. How did it go with Liv?” Ingrid asks, desperate to know how it went, knowing how nervous she was.
“It was good, I think she understood everything and won’t do anything like that again. I was just telling her th-” Mapi trails off, hearing the tell-tale signs of Max waking up. She drops her head onto Ingrid’s shoulder, “I will tell you everything as soon as they go to bed.”
“I am looking forward to it. Go get your son, he will be excited to see you.”
Mapi does just that and gets the reaction that makes her heart burst with love. Olivia wakes up 20 minutes later, wanting to immediately open her toy and give Max’s his.
The kids spend the next half hour before dinner playing with their new toys, allowing their parents to cook together with limited interruptions.
During dinner, Olivia recounts a play by play of school and her afternoon for Ingrid, going into as much detail as she can remember.
The rest of the night is quiet for the little family, Mapi and Olivia working at the kitchen table on her project. Mapi draws the outline then lets Olivia color it in, going back and forth with all the branches. They don’t finish it all but they get close, just needing to write in all the names.
Ingrid and Max play with his new toy and she does his nighttime routine alone, enjoying the time with her son wanting to give Mapi and Olivia their time.
After she gives him his nighttime bottle, she walks back to the kitchen to see Olivia starting to nod off as Mapi cleans up their mess.
“Livvy, go get your jammies on while Mommy and I put Max to sleep and we will meet you in your room.” Ingrid says softly, grateful that the preschooler doesn’t put up a fight and goes straight to her room.
Mapi leaves the mess for now, getting up and taking the sleepy baby from Ingrid’s arms. “Hi buddy, let's get you to bed.”
He sets his head down in the crook of her neck as she starts to walk back into his room, with Ingrid trailing right behind. They don’t have to do anything more than give him a kiss and lay him in his crib for him to fall asleep almost instantly.
“I love when it's that easy.” The Spainard whispers as she quietly shuts the door behind her.
“I know, maybe we can be 2 for 2.” Ingrid responds hopefully, wanting to have as much time as possible alone with her wife to hear about her day.
Mapi waves her hands at her wife showing her that her fingers are crossed, making them both laugh as they cross the doorway into Olivia’s room.
The preschooler is already in bed with 2 books in her lap, waiting for her moms to join her.
“Did you go to the bathroom and brush your teeth?” Ingrid inquires as she sits on the bed and starts to undo one side of the little girl’s braids, as her wife does the other on the other side of the bed.
Olivia nods and mumbles a yes, her blinks long but still holds up a book toward each of her mothers to read.
“How about mommy just reads one tonight, we can read an extra one tomorrow.”
“Okay, Mama.”
The center back takes the book handed to her, opening it up as Olivia readjusts to cuddle into her side but whines for Ingrid to move closer so she is cuddling with them.
Mapi reads slowly, enjoying having her two favorite girls cuddled up to her a little extra after having missed their storytime last night.
When she finishes, Olivia is almost dead weight pressed up against her. She moves her back to the middle of the bed, both her and Ingrid getting off the bed but staying close. She must feel them get off the bed because her eyes snap open and clutches her stuffed elephant closer.
“Close your eyes Livvy, Mama and I will stay until you are asleep. We love you.” Mapi whispers, pressing a kiss to her forehead, Ingrid doing the same right after.
“Love you too.”
They wait just a couple minutes before sneaking out and going back to the kitchen to clean up. Once they finish cleaning they take turns showering and getting ready for bed, wanting to be close to each other and the couch wasn’t the most ideal spot for that.
It’s just past 8:30 when Ingrid climbs into bed with a smile and drapes herself on top of her wife. Mapi puts her phone on her nightstand as she pulls the Norwegian closer to be able to kiss her comfortably.
“Are you still sore?” Ingrid asks, rubbing her hands up and down the heavily tattooed arms.
“I just took some more Tylenol but I’ll tell the physios tomorrow and they’ll help. No need to worry.”
“I always worry about you but I will let you take care of it. Anyway, tell me about your afternoon.” Ingrid cuddles impossibly closer to her wife, ready to listen to her favorite voice.
Mapi recounts everything that happened from the moment that she picked up Olivia to when they walked through the front door. Ingrid listens intently, asking questions when needing more information at parts and laughing at some of her daughter's antics.
“Sounds like it all went well, do you feel better about everything?”
Mapi takes a minute to assess how she actually feels before answering. “I do, she seems okay, I feel less guilty and she doesn’t seem to be mad at me anymore.”
“I’m happy to hear that. Max and I went to see Frido and Aitana while you were gone, which he loved because Aitana chased him around for like an hour.” The short midfielder wasn’t the best with kids but she was always full of energy and Max loved nothing more than running around.
“He didn’t give you any problems?”
“Not until we got home and he wouldn’t let me put him down in his crib, so he fell asleep on me but that isn’t such a bad thing.”
Mapi couldn’t be happier to hear that their son didn’t cry for her while she was gone and didn’t cause any more trouble for Ingrid. Whenever they have time like this just the two of them she can’t help but reflect and think about how lucky she is for her wife and kids.
Mapi runs a hand through the long brunette hair in front of her, “I love you so much.”
Ingrid leans into the gentle hands, “I love you too, baby. Do you want to watch a movie before we go to bed?”
The Spainard nods, shifting to let her wife reach for the remote before she cuddles back into her side. It doesn’t take them long to find something to watch, having bookmarked a handful of movies that they have wanted to see over the past year that they have never gotten the time to watch.
As soon as the movie finishes, the TV is off and they both are on the verge of falling asleep, staying close to whisper their goodnights in between kisses.
They fall asleep hoping to get a few good hours of sleep before they are woken up by one of their children but when they wake up the next morning they are beyond grateful to still be alone in their bed with both kids still sleeping soundly down the hall.