{He missed his dad… okay, fine, we all missed dad l 2037ish}
“Da…da”
A soft yawn met Jess’ lips as she sat with Aidan in front of the flatscreen tv. Over the past few nights, this had become a nightly routine. Around 2 AM, Jessica’s one-and-a-half-year-old would start crying and quite literally the only thing that would calm him down was watching his dad on screen. Meaning, yes, Jess would play an old interview of Dorian on the sports channel, or Ellen, or something of the sort to calm Aidan until he fell asleep. So yeah, that had been her nightly routine for the past month and a half that Dorian had been gone playing different teams internationally. Mainly because he was trying to get a spot on the US World Cup team, though most sports channels said it was basically a given that Dorian would get on the shortlist for the team. Did that mean Dori was going to stop working his ass off? Nope and Jess would never expect him to.
Did that mean she didn’t miss him? God no. She missed the hell out of him, and so did this little munchkin who had just started walking two months before Dori left. Which, may seem out of context. The only issue in that statement was the fact that Aidan had grown used to holding his dad’s hand when he walked, meanniingggg… yep… Aidan was currently trying to grab the nonexistent TV hand every time Dorian came on screen. Did Jess try to take Dori’s role and hold Aidan’s hand and walk with him? Yes, yes she did - but APPARENTLY, she wasn’t a good replacement. That was quite bloody rude, but it’s fine kid. Mom gets all the cuddles so IT’S FINE.
Two other little girls missed their dad too - that much was clear when they would rush to the phone when Dori called on his break, though the timings were always off depending on what city he was in. What time was it even where he was right now? Right - far too damn late for her to even attempt a call. That didn’t stop Zoe and Shay from asking every few minutes if they could call their dad.
“DADAAA”
Jess watched as Aidan reached higher, clearly getting frustrated. After all, how dare virtual Dorian NOT hold his son’s hand? The gall of the man. With another yawn, Jess finally stood up, walking towards where her son was and swooping him up - attempting to distract him before he started crying from the frustration. “Daddy’s busy right now love. Butttt guess what we can do… we cannnn,” Jess started before throwing her son up into the air and catching him a second later - followed by tickling the boy. “Weeeee can have sooo much fun without him.” Jess finished, kissing her son on the cheek as she brought him to the couch and wrapped her arms around him - before laying her tired body on the couch and positioning her son so that he was sitting on her.
There was a smile on Aidan’s little lips before the boy yawned himself, cuddling against her body within a few seconds. Was this a fix to what would happen in a few hours? No - like clockwork, this little kid would be waking up in a few hours with his sisters begging to talk to their dad. You know what.
What the hell?
Maybe it was time to grant that wish.
It only took Jess a few hours to make a few arrangments - and boy was she exhausted. With a cup of coffee in hand and the morning paper in the other, Jess had somehow wrangled her sleepy kids into a plane currently headed to Switzerland where Dorian would be playing his next match. Shay was the only one who woke up at Jess’ nagging a few hours earlier - whereas the other two were too much in a sleep coma to understand why their crazy mom was dressing them in warm clothes when they were half asleep.
“Mommy wh.where are we go-wing?” Smiling at her 4- year-old, who seemed to be the first one awake, Jess placed her coffee down and picked her daughter up and onto her lap. “Guess darling,” Rubbing her eyes, Zoe perked up at the idea of playing a game and she responded almost immediately. “Dwisney Worlddd?” A soft laugh met Jess’ lips as she fixed her daughter’s bed-head hair. “Since when have we gotten on a plane to go to Disney, love?,” “Um…um… to Cwonsin Dwan’s house?” . “Although I’m sure he’d love to see you, no. Let me give you a hint.,” Grabbing a magazine that Jessica had picked up from the airport before boarding, she handed it to her daughter. A large picture of Dorian adorned the cover - something about being a sports rockstar or something. Honestly, Jess had only skimmed it - but she knew her daughter would appreciate it. “WERE GOWING TO SWEE DADDDY?” “Yep, we’re going to go surprise daddy. But we have to look pretty for Daddy right? So remind me, what do we do when we wake up?” "Bwush my teeth, eat breakfast, and and and then I can go plway. “You got it - so let’s go see who can get to the bathroom first okay? On the count of three and then we both race. Deal? Count with me. One, two…” “TWEEE.”
“Are we excited to see daddy?” Jess asked, looking at her kids as the driver pulled into the stadium. The answer? It was easily an astounding Yes as both Zoe and Shay were bouncing in their seats. Aidan didn’t exactly know what was going on, though at the mention of dad he did perk up and look around before snuggling back in Jess’ arms a few moments later realizing that their dad wasn’t there. Soon kid, soon. “Alright Darlings, remember - it’s a big stadium and we’re coming in after the game already started so we won’t be able to say hi to dad before it starts. We’ll have to wait until after. Zoe, do not let go of Shay’s hand. Shay, you don’t let go of Zoe okay?” Jess said, looking at Shay who nodded and grabbed Zoe’s hand immediately. Shay’s other hand went to her mom who would be holding Shay’s other hand. Aidan of course had it easy resting in his mom’s other arm.
And, a few seconds later - the four of them were off. Shay was doing a good job holding onto her excited little sister and Jess was leading the girls towards the special entrance for family. Within a few minutes, they were seated in what most would consider some of the best seats in the stadium. It was slightly raised so that they could watch the game and the players at a close distance. Though, far enough that no one could jump the stands and… I don’t know, hit the ref on the head for being an idiot. Good one Switz, you made a good stadium. Jess would give you that.
Annnyways - Shay, and Zoe had their little faces pressed against the gated stands, squealing every time they saw their dad, followed by the two jumping up and down and screaming to see if they could get the man’s attention which was a no because Dorian was far away and concentrating on a ball. Would Jess dare ruin their fun, however? God no. Instead, Jess stayed seated on the bench pointing towards Aidan’s dad so the little boy knew where he was.
She did this until halftime - when the buzzer rang for the 25-minute break the players were given, and dancers performed. “Dadadadada” Jess smiled, hearing the boy squeal looking up at the large projection of the players walking to the bench to grab water - one man, in particular, catching Aidan’s eye. Though, the screen was soon replaced by a kiss cam, for audience engagement. The first couple shown on the screen looked like teenagers in love, though clearly they were shy and shook their heads a few times before the girl finally kissed his cheek. The screen then moved to an older couple, who immediately gave each other the sweetest kiss. And, well, then Jess found herself on the screen with her son in her hands. A soft laugh met Jess’ lips as she pointed to the screen so that Aidan would see, waving his little arm before placing multiple soft kisses on his chubby cheek until the kiss cam went back to the first teenage couple - likely to mess with them.
Though, Jessica’s attention was brought away from the screen when she found a 
confused soccer player walking toward her section - clearly having just seen the large screen hovering on top of him with his wife and child having a grand time. Though at the louder squeal from her daughters screaming for their dad, she found him running instead until he was standing right under them. Oh… you thought she told her husband she was coming? How would it be a surprise if she told him?
A cheeky smile met Jess’s lips as she walked towards the cage, looking down to Dorian who looked back towards her with a how the hell are you here look. “Oh don’t bloody give me that look, these kids missed you darling.” Jess screamed down - watching as the girls were on their knees trying to reach for their dad who grabbed their hands from where he was. Jess turned towards Aidan before pointing down, “Look who it is Aidan,” And that’s all it took for the boy to squeal one of the only words he knew. If you couldn’t guess what those were - it was obviously dada.
“You are crazy Jess, I love you. Can you lower him down?” Jess gave him a skeptical look, but after a few seconds of the boy reaching for his dad, Jess carefully held the wiggling boy and lowered him down, meeting Dorian’s hands halfway who grabbed his son and smothered him in kisses. “ME TOO ME TOO ME TOO MAMA” Well, you had to expect that Dorian come oooonn. Jess sent him a look and after a confirmation from the man, Jess picked up Zoe before lowering her down too, and then Shay - who all got love and attention from their dad.
“You wanna jump, Jess?” Jess heard Dorian jokingly say, and after rolling her eyes she shook her head.
“Usually I would darling, but I had a huge breakfast and lunch… and second lunch… and I doubt you want me to throw up on you with all that exercise jumping requires.”
“I should have guessed, meet me down here in a bit?” She saw him asking as he nodded toward the player’s entrance.
With those words, Jess watched as he grabbed Aidan - saying something she couldn’t hear to their daughters - which resulted in all of them racing towards the field towards the goal. Soon, the overhead projection went to Dorian and their kids playing with a soccer ball for the rest of halftime - and honestly, Jess couldn’t take her eyes off of her family: Zoe and Shay kicking the ball into the net and Aidan tightly holding his dad’s hand as he attempted to do the same, a bright smile on his lips. It was… everything she could have ever wanted.
@astxrism
Edit: Fixing the images