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It was just one wrong move.
A very small but incredibly wrong movement that made her whole world stop all of a sudden.
The moment Mapi felt that weird sting inside her knee she instantly realized that something was wrong. The Spaniard sat down on the grass, her face contorted in pain.
It didn’t take long for Alexia to be by her side, immediately rising her hand in the air to signal that something wasn’t quite right. The whole squad knew that this was everything but a good sign. It was quite the opposite.
Ingrid hadn't been on the field when the incident happened so it took her a while to register the chatter on the field. When the medical team came rushing in the Spaniard's direction, the scenery finally caught Ingrid's attention and her heart nearly stopped when she registered Mapi sitting on the gras.
The look on her girlfriend's face was obvious to the Norwegian: This was very serious.
Mapi didn't just sit down on the ground out of nowhere in the middle of training. It was unusual that she even asked anyone for help. That was so unlike her. Something was definitely wrong with her.
It took Ingrid around three seconds to be right by her girlfriend's side kneeling down next to her and taking the Spaniard's hand in hers. She was incredibly pale, her eyes completely lost their usual spark and she had stopped smiling. Mapi never stopped smiling.
“Hey, what is it, elskling? Are you okay? What happened?” The only thing coming out of Mapis mouth in that moment was a very quiet “It's my knee. Me duele mucho.” [It hurts a lot.] Ingrid's knowledge in Spanish wasn’t the best but it was definitely enough to understand her girlfriend when she was speaking slowly like she did right now.
The pain in Mapi's voice caught her completely off guard and Ingrid's heart sank right away. She immediately tried to calm the Spaniard down by slowly stroking her thumb over the back of Mapi’s hand.
Before she could even try to form any answer though, the medical team started to take a look at the Spaniard's knee which must've hurt a lot because Mapi winced abruptly and started hiding her face in Ingrid's shoulder. “Lo siento, no queremos hacerte daño. Intentamos ser cuidadosos. Pero no se ve bien.” [Sorry, we don’t mean to hurt you. We’re trying to be careful. But it doesn’t look good.] The staff member explained to Mapi, a bit too fast for Ingrid to follow. So she just went on with trying to calm the Spaniard down.
They stopped treating her knee after a while and when Mapi dared to look up and met Ingrid's gaze, the fear in the Spaniard's eyes sent an unpleasant shiver down Ingrid's spine. The Norwegian tried her best to stay as positive as possible but she knew exactly that knee injuries were everyone’s biggest nightmare.
Even though absolutely no one on their team deserved it, Ingrid was certain that out of all players, it was Mapi who least deserved to suffer that kind of injury.
She lifted her hand and gently stroked a strand of hair from the Spanish woman's face before softly placing her hand on her cheek. “It’s going to be okay, I promise. I'm with you.” Ingrid gently kissed her on the forehead, then on her nose and finally she gave her a small peck on her lips. Normally Mapi would've felt better right away, but the pain seemed to erase everything that was typical-Mapi. It nearly paralyzed her.
When the medical team started speaking to the Spaniard again, Ingrid tried her best to understand them but she couldn’t manage to understand every little detail of what they were telling her girlfriend. But obviously Mapi understood what they told her as she was constantly nodded her head.
They carefully helped her to stand up and slowly walk off the field, Ingrid walking behind them and feeling everything but helpful. Mapi thanked the staff members before turning back to Ingrid who was looking at her with nothing but worry in her eyes. “They are not sure yet but something’s definitely wrong. They obviously want me to end training for today and let it check immediately.” That information did in fact not really help Ingrid to worry any less.
And the fact that she needed to continue training and couldn’t accompany her girlfriend to any further medical examination didn’t help.
It took Mapi three whole hours to return.
By the time she was coming back from her scannings, Ingrid had completely lost her mind. The worry for her girlfriend had only grown more and more over these past hours and not even their captain had succeeded in calming the Norwegian down, even though Alexia had tried her very best.
So when Ingrid turned around at the end of the training to leave the field and she caught sight of the Spaniard sitting on a bench with a pair of crutches next to her, she ran to her as fast as possible. The nearer she got, the more she was able to see the look on Mapi's face. It told her everything she needed to know.
There were no words needed. It was indeed a serious injury.
Nether the less she slowly sat down next to the Spaniard. “Hey, do you want to tell me what they said? Is it serious? I don't like seeing you with crutches.” Ingrid slowly placed a hand on her girlfriends thigh. Mapi immediately took the chance to take the Norwegian's hand in hers.
“Promise me you won’t freak out okay?” — “Min kjære, there's no way you're starting a conversation like this. You know me. I’m already going crazy, how do you expect me to react? Just tell me please.” There was deep sigh and some seconds of silence before Mapi finally spoke up again.
“It’s my meniscus. I’ve torn the external meniscus in my right knee and I need surgery. They don’t know how long I’ll be out but it’ll take me a while to come back.”
Ingrid knew that Mapi tried her best to stay strong and to keep her emotions locked inside, but she could clearly hear the weight of her sadness in her voice. She wouldn’t break down right here and now, but the Norwegian knew that as soon as they were going home it probably wouldn’t take long until her true feelings took control of her.
“I'm so sorry. I knew it was serious as soon as I saw the look on your face when you were sitting on the field.” Ingrid gently squeezed her girlfriend's hand who didn’t even dare to look at her. Instead she seemed to be very interested in the ground.
“Hey, look at me for one second, will you?” Ingrid tried her very best and when Mapi finally looked at her and she saw those tears in the Spaniard's eyes, it nearly broke her too. “I know what you’re feeling right now, min kjære, and it’s okay. I understand your pain. Let’s get you home, hm?” Ingrid wanted to smile softly to reassure her girlfriend that everything would be alright, but it didn’t work and honestly, the Norwegian's heart shattered at the sight in front of her.
A single tear found its way down Mapi's pale cheek and she squeezed her eyes shut to stop the rest of them coming out too. “No, don't cry, you're breaking my heart. I’ll make your favorite cookies at home, how does that sound?” Even though there was no reaction, Ingrid didn’t stop trying. “Listen, you’re not alone, okay? I promise you that I'm with you and you’ll be back stronger.”
The Spaniard nodded slowly as if she was still thinking about what Ingrid had just said, but she really tried to calm herself down by the thought of having Ingrid by her side through all of this.
The other girls joined them soon and after taking a deep breath, Mapi told them the same she’d just told Ingrid. They were all shocked. No one expected it to be this serious.
Of course they tried to cheer her up and support their friend and teammate, but honestly, Mapi just wanted to go home in that moment.
She promised Alexia to text her whenever she needed anything and Ingrid helped her girlfriend to stand up again before handing her the crutches. “You’ve not even taken a shower yet, I can go to the car and wait for you if you want to.” — “María, don't be stupid. I can still take a shower at home, you'll just have to deal with my smell in the car.” That brought a very small but soft smile to the Spaniard's face and Ingrid thanked the gods that she knew how to cheer her girlfriend up.
The drive home was rather quiet apart from some occasional Norwegian swear words Ingrid dropped here and there because of the traffic. Normally it was Mapi who drove them to training and back home but there was no way she could drive right now.
When they arrived at home, the Spaniard tried to climb out of the car on her own but the painkillers seemed to already lose their effect and she had to pause for a second after being hit by another wave of pain. “Let me help you, you don’t have to do this on your own.” Ingrid was right by her side.
The Norwegian knew that Mapi hated asking for help. She always wanted to do everything on her own as if to show that she was able to succeed without any help but Ingrid always told her to stop acting like that. She seriously wanted nothing more than to help her.
Considering the expression on Mapi's face, she indeed didn’t like the fact that she wasn’t able to make it out of the car and inside their apartment without Ingrid, but she didn’t dare to say anything.
Ingrid held the door open for her and then helped her to sit down on the sofa. She immediately took care of new painkillers, got Mapi's favorite lemonade from the pantry and handed her the cozy blanket from their shared bedroom so that the Spaniard could make herself comfortable on the sofa.
For a few moments, there weren’t any words exchanged between the two of them but the weight of Mapi's sadness and disappointment about her injury was obvious to Ingrid, even though the Spaniard didn’t mention it directly.
“Is there anything else you need?” The Norwegian broke the silence after a while, standing in the middle of their living room as she thought about what else she could do to cheer her girlfriend up.
But Mapi wasn't even paying attention, it seemed like she completely dozed off inside her mind. When Ingrid was just about to speak up again, the Spaniard finally looked up and Ingrid immediately recognized new tears shining in those beautiful honey-brown eyes.
"You know… I just want to undo it. I should've been more careful. Why did I move like this? Todo es culpa mía.“ [It's all my fault.]
Ingrid immediately shook her head at her girlfriend’s words. "Stop it, please. This is not your fault. Injuries happen, it’s the risk of our job. Everybody gets injured from time to time, María.”
The Norwegian sat down next to her on the sofa and tried to hold her girlfriend's gaze without letting her heart break at that sight. With the way Ingrid shared the Spaniard's emotional pain, it almost felt like they were both injured.
“I've let you down. All of you. First Frido, now me. Who's going to make sure that our defense stays as strong as it needs to be? We want to win the Champions League again. I mean, confío en ti, vas a ser increíble! Pero el equipo también me necesita.” [I trust you, you're going to be amazing. But the team needs me too.]
“Of course the team needs you, but you can always support us from the sideline. I know, it’s not the same, but you’ll be back sooner than you think.” Ingrid gave her a reassuring smile and when there were some single tears rolling down Mapi’s cheek, she was quick to wipe them away softly and kissing her girlfriend gently on the tip of her nose.
“Hey, let’s wait until your surgery, okay? Maybe it’s not even as serious as you think it is and you’ll be back in March, who knows. Give yourself some time to rest, will you? Your body really needs a break right now.” The Spaniard nodded slowly and took a very deep breath before reaching out for both of Ingrid's hands.
“Thank you.”
But the Norwegian shook her head immediately. “No, there’s no need to thank me, min kjære. Siempre estoy contigo, lo sabes.” [I'm always with you, you know that.]
“That's what I’m thankful for, mi amor. Te amo, lo sabes, sí?” [I love you, you know that, right?] The soft smile on Ingrid's lips grew wider and she nodded without thinking a second, “Of course I know that. I love you more.” — “Noo, stop saying that. It’s not true!”
The Spaniard tried to look angry at her but it only ended in them both laughing about her. “Soo, as I said earlier, I was thinking about making your favorite cookies for my favorite girl! Want to join me in the kitchen? I could move that cozy armchair for you.”
“How about we do that later and stay here on the sofa for a while? Me vendrían bien unos mimos ahora!” [I could use some cuddles now]
Of course there was no way Ingrid could’ve said no to that, especially when Mapi was looking at her with those soft, pleading eyes she adored more than anything else in the world. So she agreed to some cuddles, which obviously turned into them being inseparable and not moving for hours.
The Norwegian still wanted to make those cookies, but there would be enough time for her to do it after the game tomorrow or after Mapi's surgery next week.
They spent the entire evening cuddled up together, Ingrid only moving once to enlighten some of her favorite candles so that the whole living room was smelling like vanilla after a while.
At one point, the Spaniard started to speak up again about all those thoughts slowly fighting their way back into her mind and about the incredible fear of not turning back or not being as good as she was before the injury.
“I know that you’re afraid. I would be too, that's no secret. But if there’s anybody out there who can do this, it's you. Eres muy fuerte y creo en ti. [You are so strong and I believe in you.] Every single game I'll play, I'll play it for you and I'll think of you every second until you are finally back on the pitch, right by my side.”
There were no words to express how thankful Mapi was to have someone like Ingrid by her side through all of this. But she didn’t even need any words. They never really needed words, which was the reason why life in three languages worked perfectly fine for the both of them. It was never about the words. It was always about the looks and actions.
The love Ingrid found in Mapi's eyes right now was enough. And the smile on the Norwegian's lips told Mapi that she knew. Ingrid knew how thankful she was. So she responded with an even bigger smile. Oh, how Ingrid loved to see that smile.
“Please don't ever lose your smile, okay? Promise me.”
“How could I ever lose my smile when you’re the one that brings it to my face every day?”