Sorry I couldn't be there
Renée Slegers x Chelsea!reader
Summary: Y/n gets injured but her wife, Renée, couldn't be there to watch because she had a big game for Arsenal, but when she hears about what happened, she can't get there fast enough to make sure everything is okay, feeling guilty for not being there.
Word count: 2.3k
Warnings: mentions of injury.
You knew deep down that this would be your last season playing, feeling the effects on your body after a long career. But you wanted more than anything to make it to one last major tournament with England in the summer, knowing that if you won the world cup then you could retire knowing that you had won everything that you had been able to throughout your career at least once. A lot of these successes and trophies had come with your wife, Renée, the pair of you having played together for most of your senior careers.
Today was one of the last games of the season, and your team had a big game in the title race against Man city at home, you had to admit, playing for the team that is the biggest rival of the team your wife managed was weird, the only time either of you played against each other when Renée was still playing was for your countries, you playing for England and Renée for the Netherlands, and so the first time the teams played each other, there was a bit of tension between you and your wife to begin with, until Olivia, your daughter who was only three at the time, asked why mummy and mamma weren't talking to each other and you both realised how silly it seemed, agreeing that in the future, nothing from football would be brought home, an agreement which lasted about two weeks until you and England beat the Netherlands and you came home after camp, teasing Renée relentlessly, especially when Olivia kept asking to wear her little England shirt with your name and number on the back wherever she went.
"Good luck today babe, I'll see you later," Renée says, kissing you on the head and then picking up Olivia's bag ready to leave.
"Bye-bye mamma, go score goals," Olivia says as she jumps up for a hug.
"Thank you Livvy, be good for mummy yeah and I'll see you both later,"
After another two hugs from Olivia, as always, your daughter never letting you leave before a game without at least three hugs and goodbyes, something which had become almost a pre-match ritual for you. After that you finally leave the house, running a little bit late but not too bad and know that you would be able to make the time up on the way to the training ground.
"Y/n you're late," your captain, Millie, says as you get out of your car when you arrive at the training ground.
"Yeah sorry, Olivia didn't want to say bye this morning," you explained.
"Just get on the bus," Millie says, you just roll your eyes and walk off. You've never really got on with Millie, the pair of you had never fully argued but it was clear neither of you were the others biggest fan.
"You two still at each others throats?" Kiera asks as you sit next to her on the bus.
"She just has a problem with me, she always has, doesn't bother me anymore to be honest,"
"I don't know what her problem is, she isn't like that with anyone else,"
"Yeah, well she isn't the one leading us in goals is she so she can say what she wants," you laugh, putting one airpod in and handing the other to Kiera like you always do before a match.
The journey to the stadium is not too long thankfully due to it being a home game and when you get there you all get off the bus and make your way into the changing room, you and Keira still having your shared playlist playing.
Pre-match preparations go as they always do, the routine comforting before a big important match like this. Once you have all warmed up and had the final team talk from Sonia, it is time to line up in the tunnel and get ready to start the game. You always make an effort to talk to the mascot that is walking out with you, knowing that this could be a little girl or boys biggest dream.
"Hello, what's your name kiddo?" You ask, leaning down to sort out your socks and to be more at the kids level.
"I'm Ava," the little girl responds.
"Hello Ava, it's lovely to meet you, who's your favourite player?"
"Uhm, either you or Hannah," Ava responds.
Before you can respond, the girls in front of you start walking out, so you reach your hand out for Ava to take and then you start to walk out of the tunnel too. After shaking hands with the other team, the mascots all run over to the sideline where their families are all waiting, whilst you are walking towards the team huddle, you make a mental note of where Ava and her parent went to sit, wanting to go over to her after the game, and you have an idea to take Hannah over since the girl said that you two were her favourite players.
The game starts off well, Sam scoring after sixteen minutes and then Aggie getting the second after ten minutes. These meant that you and the girls went into the changing rooms at half time with a 2-0 lead in the crucial game in the title race.
It is in the second half where things start to go wrong, as soon as you come out and kick back off, you notice straight away that they now have two players on you whenever you get the ball. The opponents clearly wanting you to not be able to play anymore balls through their defence like you had to assist both of your teams goals in the first half.
It is in the sixty-fifth minute when it happens, you had been being fouled for twenty minutes, and without the ref doing anything about it. You don't hear or see her coming, one minute you're passing the ball to Keira and then the next you felt studs in the back of your leg and you were then on the floor, grabbing your leg and ankle in pain.
"Y/n/n! Are you alright?" Lucy says, crouching down next to you, getting there first as she was closest to you when the foul came.
"No, fuck that hurts," you reply, opening your eyes and looking down at your ankle, seeing the blood coming through your socks already as she physios get to you.
"Y/n can you move your hand away, we need to be able to get to your ankle." The physio asks you, having to lean down right by your ear because of the noise coming from the crowd.
You do as the physio says, moving your hand away from the affected area, the pain only seeming to feel worse as the physios start to try and assess the extent of the damage. When you look at them, they're both talking to each other, you can't hear what they are saying but you can tell by the looks on their faces that it isn't going to be news that you will want to hear.
"Do you think you can walk Y/n?" The physio asks you.
"Yeah, I'll be fine, I can carry on," you reply, knowing you can't but also not wanting to have to come off injured.
"No you absolutely can't, so you're even walking off or we can get the stretcher, which I recommend, I don't think you should be walking on it."
"No, no stretcher, fine I'll come off, but can you just help me walk off instead of the stretcher?" You ask hopefully.
"Fine, but just be careful please." The physio gives in, helping you up and each physio putting an arm around you from each side as you start to hobble off the pitch.
When you finally get to the edge of the pitch, you give Wieke a hug as she is the person coming on for you, and then Sonia comes over to you, patting you on the shoulder and wishing you the best luck and hoping that the injury isn't as bad at it looks. After that the physios help you down the tunnel and into the changing room to be able to assess the extent of the injury.
After what feels like hours of waiting and the physio prodding and checking your ankle, but could have only been minutes in reality, the physio turns to you and from the look on her face alone tells you all you need to know.
"I'm so sorry to tell you this but it looks like with the way the opposition came in from behind studs up, and the way you landed, I think it is likely that it will be broken, we will get you some x-rays tomorrow and for now I'll give you some crutches, you can go and sit back out on the bench if you want, and I'll put a boot on it for you once I have cleaned and dressed the wound from the studs catching you, sound alright?" The physio finishes as she puts on a clean pair of gloves and starts to get all the stuff she will need.
"As alright as it can sound, how long will I be out for?" you ask, trying to hide how much it is hurting when the physio is touching around the area affected.
"If it is broken, then six months,"
You don't say anything else, just letting the physio finish clean up the cut and put the boot on before she hands you the crutches and then you decide to try and have a quick shower without getting your leg wet, which takes longer than you anticipated and by the time you have got changed into a tracksuit and made you're way back out to the side of the pitch, the final whistle is being blown as you make your way out of the tunnel.
"Oh Y/n, what are they saying it looks like?" Sonia asks as she sees you come up behind her.
"Looks like it could be broken, I'm having scans tomorrow so I guess we'll find out then."
"I'm sorry Y/n, I hope it isn't too bad and that we can get you back out there as soon as possible, we're all here for you through it all ok?" Sonia says, carefully placing an arm around your shoulder as you both make your way onto the pitch for the post match huddle with your team mates, when she sees you Keira jogs over.
"You alright mate? That looked nasty," she asks you.
"I've been better I won't lie, physios think it's broken so could be six months out," You reply to Keira before Sonia starts her post-match talk.
After all the usual post-match responsibilities and rituals everyone gets on the bus, Keira not letting you carry your own bag, even after you protest that you could still carry it. Once you've settled on the coach you finally check your phone for the first time since before the match and you turn it on to see five missed calls and seven messages from Renée asking if you were ok, saying she had seen the tackle, you decide to call her back now, knowing you're wife will be worrying and won't calm down until she hears from you and actually hears your voice. You press her contact and she answers after the second ring.
"Y/n/n? Are you ok? Have they said what it is?" Renée asks, not giving you any time to answer one question before she asks you the next one, and from the noise you can hear in the background you can tell she is on the bus back to the training ground after her own teams game and you can hear Olivia in the background too.
"I'm fine babe, well as fine as I can be," you admit.
"Me and Oli will come and get you when you get back, we are only about five minutes away from the training ground so I'll get her off the coach quickly and then I'll drive to your training ground to come pick you up." Renée says, panic still clear in her voice.
"Okay thank you, no need to rush, I can wait," you reply.
The phone call ends soon after that and before you know it the coach is pulling back into Cobham and everyone is getting off, Keira picking up your bag again before you can get the chance to take it yourself. Surprisingly it is only about fifteen minutes of waiting until you get a message from Renée to say that they're outside so you start to stand up, sorting your crutches as Keira, who waited with you despite you saying you could be on your own, picked up your and her own bag and then you both make your way outside to the car park where you see Renée waiting by the car, pushing herself off the car and rushing over to you.
"I am so sorry I wasn't there when it happened, you know if I could have I would've been right next to you," Renée says.
"It's fine Renée, I'm fine, now come on let's get home, I need some sleep, and we need to by Liv down as well," you reply, getting into the car on the passenger side and turns around to say hello to Olivia.
Once you get home you try to help put Olivia to bed before getting ready for bed yourself, with some help from Renée. After that you both go to sleep. The next day you go for scans and it does turn out that you have broken your ankle, which is devastating knowing your season is over, but you know that you'll get through it, with the help of Renée and your team mates.










