The apartment was silent in the way only late-night homes could be.
Not empty silent. Not lonely.
The kind built from exhaustion and familiarity. From a dishwasher humming in the kitchen. From rain tapping lightly against the balcony windows. From the faint city sounds far below the apartment building in Barcelona.
And from you, asleep in the middle of the bed.
One arm tucked beneath your pillow. The other stretched across the empty side where two people should have been.
Twenty-one days since Lucy Bronze had left for England camp. Nineteen since Ona Batlle had left for Spain training.
Three weeks of video calls at strange hours. Half-finished conversations. Missed messages. Voice notes sent between flights and physio sessions and your brutal ER shifts that somehow kept stretching into doubles because the hospital was understaffed again.
Three weeks of sleeping alone.
And tonight you hadn’t even managed to stay awake for their flight landing.
Your phone sat abandoned on the bedside table beside untouched tea and a pair of reading glasses. Still wearing your hospital sweatshirt and leggings, you’d apparently collapsed face-first into bed sometime around ten.
The front door unlocked quietly at 1:13 a.m.
Lucy stepped inside first, dragging her suitcase with careful slowness.
Behind her, Ona slipped into the apartment and immediately closed the door with a soft click.
For a moment neither moved.
The familiar scent of your lavender detergent. The shoes piled near the entryway. The framed polaroids covering the wall beside the kitchen.
One blurry selfie where Lucy looked half asleep while you and Ona kissed her cheeks simultaneously.
“God,” she whispered, rubbing a hand over her face. “Missed this place.”
Ona’s eyes were already drifting toward the hallway leading to the bedroom.
Lucy smiled softly at that.
They moved around the apartment quietly, muscle memory guiding them. Lucy dumped the bags beside the couch while Ona immediately headed for the bedroom like gravity was pulling her there.
The bedroom door creaked open gently.
Ona physically stopped in the doorway.
Lucy appeared behind her a second later and instantly softened too.
Not just sleepy. Exhausted in a way that made both their hearts ache.
Dark circles beneath your eyes. Hair messy across the pillow. One of your socks half falling off your foot. The comforter barely covering you because you’d clearly fallen asleep without trying.
Your phone screen lit briefly from another hospital email before going dark again.
Lucy muttered, “Jesus, baby.”
Ona looked emotional immediately.
“She tried to,” Lucy corrected quietly.
That somehow made it worse.
Ona crossed the room first.
She sat lightly on the edge of the mattress and brushed your hair away from your forehead with such tenderness it could’ve shattered something.
You stirred instantly at the touch.
Years together had trained your body to recognize them.
Your brow furrowed slightly before your eyes blinked open, unfocused and sleepy.
Your voice came out rough with sleep.
The smile Ona gave you was devastatingly soft.
You stared at her for half a second before suddenly pushing yourself upright.
Lucy barely had time to laugh before you were reaching for both of them at once.
There was nothing graceful about the reunion.
You nearly tangled yourself in the blankets trying to grab them, sleepy and disoriented and emotional all at once. Lucy caught you around the waist while Ona practically climbed onto the bed to kiss your face repeatedly.
“You’re home,” you mumbled, still half asleep.
“We’re home,” Lucy corrected, pressing her forehead against yours.
Your eyes looked watery immediately.
The kind of kiss built from absence.
Ona followed instantly after, cupping your jaw and kissing you like she’d been starving for it.
You made a small emotional sound that nearly killed both of them on impact.
“Hey,” Lucy whispered against your temple. “Easy, sweetheart.”
“You were supposed to land tomorrow.”
“Why didn’t you call me?”
Ona exchanged a look with Lucy.
“You needed sleep more than another airport pickup.”
You groaned softly and buried your face in Lucy’s shoulder.
“I’m gross. I literally just came from the hospital and crashed.”
Lucy wrapped both arms around you immediately.
“You could never be gross.”
“You say that now but I definitely still smell like antiseptic.”
“That’s because your sense of smell is broken.”
Lucy smiled as the two of you immediately slipped into bickering like no time had passed at all.
Missed the way the apartment felt alive when all three of you were together.
You suddenly looked between them more carefully, taking in the tired eyes and travel clothes and messy hair.
“You both look exhausted.”
“Says the ER doctor working seventy-hour weeks.”
“That isn’t medical treatment.”
“It literally medically treated me.”
Ona was already peeling your glasses gently off the bed and setting them safely on the nightstand.
“You’ve been overworking.”
“It is absolutely the point.”
Lucy finally climbed fully onto the bed beside you, stretching with a groan before pulling you against her chest.
The second you melted into her, she felt some tension leave your body.
“You okay?” she asked softly.
Your answer took a second.
That tiny honest answer nearly broke Ona’s heart.
You spent so much time taking care of everyone else.
And sometimes you forgot there were people desperate to care for you too.
Ona slipped under the blankets on your other side and immediately wrapped herself around you as well, pressing close until you were trapped between them.
You sighed the second they surrounded you.
“There she is,” Lucy murmured knowingly.
You made a sleepy little hum.
Ona laughed quietly into your shoulder.
“Is that all we are? Human blankets?”
Lucy pressed a kiss into your hair while Ona traced lazy shapes against your arm.
The room settled into quiet again.
Full of warmth and familiar breathing and the occasional sleepy kiss pressed against skin.
You looked at Lucy suddenly.
“Tiring. Media stuff was annoying.”
A grin spread across Lucy’s face.
Ona smiled softly at that.
Even after fourteen-hour shifts, you still found ways to watch their matches. Even if it meant falling asleep halfway through highlights later.
You looked toward Ona next.
“Tiring too. Lots of tactical work.”
“Mm. You sounded stressed on the phone last week.”
“You go quiet when you’re stressed.”
“You literally disappear emotionally and start reorganizing drawers.”
“That happened one time.”
“Three times,” you and Lucy said together.
You started smiling sleepily then.
Not the exhausted fake ones you’d apparently been giving everyone else lately.
Lucy’s chest tightened at the sight.
“There’s our girl,” she murmured.
Your expression softened instantly.
Three weeks apart had always been hard, but there was something uniquely difficult about all three of your schedules colliding lately.
Sometimes love looked less like grand gestures and more like surviving calendars.
But moments like this made the distance feel survivable.
Lucy immediately looked concerned. “What?”
“Airport food doesn’t count.”
“You are half asleep and still trying to take care of us.”
“That’s literally my job.”
“Your job is emergency medicine,” Ona informed you.
You yawned hugely mid-argument, completely ruining your point.
Both women dissolved instantly.
“Oh my god,” Ona laughed.
“You can barely keep your eyes open.”
“You’re blinking one eye at a time.”
Lucy kissed your forehead.
“Go back to sleep, sweetheart.”
You looked stubborn for approximately four seconds before collapsing dramatically against them again.
You mumbled something incoherent into Lucy’s shirt.
“What was that?” Ona asked.
The room went quiet again.
Lucy’s arms tightened around you instinctively.
Ona kissed your shoulder softly.
“We missed you too,” she whispered.
“No,” Lucy corrected gently. “We missed her more.”
You smiled sleepily without opening your eyes.
The rain outside got heavier.
Inside the apartment, the three of you stayed tangled together beneath the blankets while exhaustion slowly pulled all of you under.
But before sleep could fully take you, you lifted your head slightly.
Lucy laughed softly. “Again?”
“And tomorrow none of us have to leave immediately?”
You looked absurdly hopeful.
“So we can just stay here?”
Ona’s expression melted completely.
Lucy brushed her thumb against your cheek.
Your entire body visibly relaxed.
“Good,” you whispered. “I really need my girls.”
After three weeks apart, Lucy and Ona needed you just as badly.
So Lucy pulled the blankets higher around all three of you.
Ona tucked herself closer into your side.
And sometime around two in the morning, with rain falling softly outside and your breathing finally evening out between them, all three of you fell asleep together again.
Not with hospital pagers or early flights or national team schedules dragging someone out of bed before sunrise.
Golden light spilled through the curtains in soft stripes across tangled blankets and bare skin. Rain from the night before had faded into a gray, sleepy morning that made the apartment feel cocooned from the rest of the world.
For the first time in weeks, none of you had anywhere to be.
And apparently your bodies intended to take full advantage of that.
Years of training camps and early match days had trained her internal clock beyond repair, but even she stayed still for a long moment after opening her eyes.
This was her favorite sight in the world.
You were curled against her side, still deeply asleep, one hand fisted loosely in her shirt. Ona was half sprawled across both of you, face buried against your shoulder, one leg tangled shamelessly with Lucy’s beneath the blankets.
All three of you completely twisted together.
She’d missed this so badly it almost physically hurt.
The way the three of you somehow always gravitated together even in sleep.
You stirred slightly against her chest with a sleepy little noise.
Lucy’s entire expression softened.
Carefully, she brushed your messy hair away from your face.
The dark exhaustion that had clung to you last night looked lighter now. You still looked tired—ER shifts didn’t magically disappear overnight—but there was color back in your cheeks.
Ona made a grumbly noise without opening her eyes.
“Stop being awake,” she mumbled in Spanish.
“You literally answered me.”
You laughed weakly into the pillow, still half asleep yourself.
Lucy looked down immediately.
Ona blindly reached for you, immediately finding your waist beneath the blankets and pulling you closer.
Lucy pressed a kiss to your forehead.
You groaned dramatically.
Ona cracked one eye open.
“Rude. You tell me that too.”
“Because I want to marry both of you.”
You smiled sleepily as Lucy carefully untangled herself from the bed.
The apartment was chilly without her warmth immediately surrounding you.
Ona apparently noticed too because she instantly moved closer, practically climbing on top of you the second Lucy disappeared toward the kitchen.
“Clingy,” you teased softly.
Her voice was still rough with sleep.
Messy dark hair. Sleepy eyes. Oversized shirt hanging off one shoulder. All warm skin and soft affection and quiet morning tenderness.
You touched her face gently.
Ona’s expression melted instantly.
“Mm. No. You don’t understand how miserable Lucy became.”
A muffled offended shout came from the kitchen.
Ona grinned against your shoulder.
“She literally counted down the days.”
“She made us leave one restaurant because the lighting reminded her of you.”
You laughed harder at that.
Not just them individually.
The dynamic that only worked because it was all three of you.
You brushed your fingers lightly through Ona’s hair while she watched you carefully.
“You okay?” she asked softly after a moment.
Because both she and Lucy had noticed it last night—the exhaustion sitting heavy in your bones.
“You’ve been pushing too hard.”
“You literally played ninety minutes with a bruised ankle.”
You rolled your eyes affectionately.
Ona smiled faintly before leaning closer.
Her fingers traced softly along your waist beneath your shirt.
“You scared me a little,” she admitted quietly.
Your expression softened immediately.
“You looked so tired yesterday.”
Something in your chest ached.
Because she sounded genuinely worried.
You cupped her cheek gently.
“You don’t always have to be.”
The thing about working emergency medicine was that eventually everyone started seeing you as unshakable.
They always noticed when the weight got too heavy.
You leaned forward before you could think too much about it and kissed her.
Just gratitude and affection poured into one quiet moment.
Ona kissed you back instantly.
Her hand slid more firmly against your waist as she shifted closer beneath the blankets, warm skin pressing against yours.
You hummed softly into the kiss.
God, you missed touching them.
The intimacy of being close after weeks apart.
Ona’s lips curved slightly against yours.
“There she is,” she whispered.
You rolled your eyes weakly.
“Don’t get emotional before coffee.”
She kissed you again anyway.
Your fingers slipped into her hair automatically while she moved over you more fully, one thigh settling between yours beneath the blankets.
Your breathing hitched slightly at the pressure.
Her eyes darkened just a little as she looked down at you.
“You’re sensitive today.”
“You’ve both been gone three weeks,” you pointed out.
She kissed along your jaw slowly, lazily, like she had absolutely nowhere else to be.
The realization made everything softer somehow.
No packed schedules waiting.
Just morning light and tangled sheets and the woman you loved touching you carefully like she’d missed you just as desperately.
Your hands wandered beneath the hem of her shirt, fingertips brushing warm skin.
Ona inhaled softly against your throat.
You smiled slightly at how quickly her composure cracked.
The kiss deepened naturally after that.
Weeks of distance melting away touch by touch.
Ona shifted closer again and you could feel the strength in her body immediately—athlete muscle beneath soft skin, warm and solid against you.
Your hand slid down her back slowly and she shivered.
“That’s unfair,” she murmured.
“You complain when I don’t touch you.”
“Yes, but now I’m distracted.”
You laughed quietly against her mouth.
Then she kissed you again and your laugh disappeared into a soft sound instead.
By the time Lucy returned with coffee, balancing three mugs carefully in her hands, the scene in front of her stopped her dead in the doorway.
You were flat on your back beneath Ona now.
Ona was kissing down your neck while your hands clung to her waist beneath her shirt.
Both of you entirely wrapped up in each other.
Lucy leaned lightly against the doorway and watched silently for a moment.
You two were beautiful together.
A slow grin spread across her face immediately.
You turned your head and visibly softened at the sight of Lucy standing there.
Fond expression all over her face.
Lucy laughed under her breath.
“No,” both of you answered instantly.
She set the coffee mugs down quickly before climbing back onto the bed toward you both.
The mattress dipped beneath her weight.
Warm hands immediately found your thigh.
“Missed me already?” she murmured.
You reached for her instantly, pulling her into a kiss before she could say anything else.
Lucy kissed like she played football.
Completely consuming when she wanted to be.
You melted into it immediately.
Ona watched the two of you for a second with open affection before pressing close behind you, kissing along your shoulder while Lucy’s hands slid through your hair.
Lucy pulled back just enough to look at you properly.
“She’s needy today,” Ona informed her helpfully.
You made an offended noise.
“Baby, you practically climbed into Ona’s skin before I left the room.”
“That sounds medically concerning.”
“You are medically concerning.”
You tried to glare but Lucy kissed you again before you could manage it properly.
Soft touches turning warmer.
Lucy’s palm sliding beneath your shirt while Ona’s fingers traced lazy circles against your thigh.
Just affectionate and hungry and familiar all at once.
You looked between them, heart embarrassingly full.
Lucy noticed your expression immediately.
Ona softened instantly and leaned down to kiss your forehead.
The room quieted again after that.
Coffee cooling forgotten on the nightstand while the three of you stayed tangled together in warm sheets and even warmer affection.
And for the first time in weeks, none of you were counting the hours until someone had to leave again.
The bed had become a complete disaster at some point.
Blankets tangled around legs. Pillows shoved half onto the floor. Three untouched mugs of coffee slowly cooling on the nightstand because none of you had remembered they existed in the last twenty minutes.
Not when Lucy was kissing you like that.
Not when Ona’s hands kept sliding beneath your shirt in slow, absent strokes that made it impossible to think clearly.
The morning had shifted somewhere along the line.
From sleepy affection into something warmer.
That was the thing about the three of you. Even when desire slipped into the room, it never lost the tenderness underneath it.
Lucy kissed down the side of your neck while Ona stayed tucked against your side, fingers tracing gentle patterns over your stomach beneath the oversized sweatshirt you’d slept in.
“So clingy today,” Lucy murmured against your skin.
You tilted your head to give her better access automatically.
“You disappeared for three weeks.”
Ona laughed softly from beside you before leaning in to kiss the corner of your mouth.
“Mm,” you hummed. “And now you’re never allowed to leave again.”
Lucy snorted against your throat.
“I work in emergency medicine. Everything is dramatic.”
“That explains a lot actually,” Ona said thoughtfully.
You tried to glare at her, but Lucy’s hand sliding slowly up your thigh ruined the attempt immediately.
The reaction didn’t go unnoticed.
Lucy grinned against your skin.
Your breath caught slightly when Ona shifted closer again, one hand settling at your waist while Lucy continued kissing along your neck with maddening patience.
You were trapped between them in the best possible way.
It felt overwhelming after weeks apart.
Every touch seemed sharper now. More meaningful. Like your body had spent three weeks memorizing the absence of them and now couldn’t get enough.
Lucy finally pulled back enough to look at you.
Her hair was messy from sleep. Her eyes still soft around the edges.
You reached up instinctively, brushing your thumb along her jaw.
Lucy’s entire expression melted.
Ona watched the two of you fondly before leaning across to kiss Lucy too.
None of you existing separately from the others for very long.
Lucy smiled into the kiss before turning back toward you both, one arm wrapping around Ona while the other stayed draped across your waist.
