Keira's POV:
Once I opened the bathroom door and walked out I immediately knew something was wrong because of Lucy looking at me, clearly waiting for me to come out of the bathroom with a sad look on her face. I set my towel on the floor, I'll deal with it later, and walk over to the bed and sit down in front of Lucy, gently leaning closer to stroke my fingers through Ellie's hair, who instantly turned around and crawled over to me, I wrapped my arms around her. I looked over at Lucy and asked gently, "what's wrong Luce ?", she looked at me sadly before grabbing her phone from beside her and unlocking it and handing me it, still not uttering a word. "Luce, I don't wanna read your emails, just tell me", "just read the email Kei", she replies back. I read through the email, immediately noting it was from Lucy's lawyer. 'I need to make you aware that Mr and Mrs Lowry have been granted a visit to see Charlotte, with a parent or guardian present at all times within the next week.' ... 'I understand this is a lot to take in and is definitely not what you wanted to hear' ... 'I'll continue working with you to ensure they are not granted custody of Charlotte'. I looked up in shock, as Lucy watched me reading the email, fiddling with the strings of her hoodie. "Oh Luce", I said as I leaned into her chest, tears in both our eyes as Ellie was still cuddled into my chest, talking to herself quietly. Lucy wrapped her arms around me tightly, resting her forehead against mine, as we looked at each other, before I slowly leaned in and kissed her gently. I could taste the tears from both of us in the kiss. Lucy lay her hand on top of Ellie's head, gently stroking her hair with her thumb, before speaking quietly to me. "What are we gonna do ?, this was never supposed to happen, why now of all times do they want to see her, they've had years to try and see her but they never did, but now they wanna see her, it's not fair", she sobbed quietly, now leaning her head on my shoulder, as I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her closer to me, as we both quietly cried.
We stayed in that position for a few more minute, before we both sat up properly and I gently proposed that we go for that walk I had talked about earlier. Lucy agreed and we both stood up, Lucy went into the bathroom to clear herself up and when she came back out, she looked a lot better and it wasn't obvious she had been crying. She took Ellie from me so I could do the same and soon enough we were both ready. Lucy put Ellie on the floor and I quickly grabbed her shoes and kneeled down to put them on. We all headed out the door, leaving the stroller in the room after me and Lucy had both decided we could just carry Ellie if she got tired, even though Ellie insisted she wouldn't get tired.
We knocked on G and Leah's door to see if either of them or Charlie wanted to come with us on our walk. Ellie was holding Lucy's hands swinging from them and standing on Lucy's shoes as we waited for the door to open. Soon enough Leah opened the door and welcomed us into the room. I walked in and immediately spotted Charlie and G chilling on one of the beds. Charlie immediately jumped off the bed and wrapped her arms around my waist. I hugged her back as I leaned down and kissed her on the head. Charlie then stepped out of the hug as soon as she seen Lucy slowly walking in with Ellie still standing on her feet and ran over to give them both a hug. I went and sat beside G and then Charlie asked, "what are you guys doing here ?", Lucy answered her, "we're going on a walk and we were wondering if you guys wanted to come". Charlie immediately said she would and raced around looking for her shoes as Leah and G answered that they'd come too. Me and Lucy decided to wait outside for the 3 of them while they got ready.
Soon enough we were all heading down the stairs to go for our walk. I was walking and catching up with G, while Charlie was walking behind us with Lucy and Leah was walking with Ellie, as always at the back. We eventually made it downstairs and headed outside.
As we were walking Lucy and Charlie caught up with me and G and Lucy whispered to me, "I can't keep it from her any longer, we need to tell her now", I turned to her and muttered back, "I'll ask G and Leah to take Ellie back, just so we can talk to Charlie alone". Lucy just nods and we slip back into conversation with G and Charlie. I let the 3 of the them go ahead, while I wait for Leah who was walking with Ellie, slowly catching up.
Leah has always been amazing with Ellie, especially being her godmother, she has taken that role very seriously and Ellie absolutely adores her. Those two are the best of friends. Whenever we have a match in London, not against Arsenal, Leah will always offer to look after the girls in the stands if she can. When Ellie was born, all the England and Man City girls started fighting for favourite aunt spot, but it was quickly clear that Leah had won that spot, but as soon as me and Lucy announced Leah as one of Ellie's godmothers, they all immediately began fighting for that spot again, which I think the competition is still going because Ellie changes her mind a lot. It's not just Ellie who loves Leah to pieces but Charlie does too. As I wait for them to catch up with me I watch as Leah holds Ellie's hand tightly and continuously looking down and listening and chatting back to her as Ellie babbles away to her. As soon as they catch up to me they stop walking as Ellie grabs my hand with her other hand and then starts swinging from our hands. We begin walking again and I turn to ask Leah for her help. "Le, I was wondering if you could do me a favour ?", I ask. "Yeah, course what do you need ?", she instantly replies back with a soft smile on her face as she waits for my response. "Would you be able to take Ellie back, with G ?", she just nods her head and then says, "can I ask why ?", I just look down at Ellie swinging our hands as we continue walking and then reply knowing I can trust Leah. "A while ago Lucy was approached by a lawyer who told her that Mr and Mrs Lowry have filed for custody of Charlie", I paused for a second looking at Leah who was shocked but encouraged me to continue, "anyway Lucy has been working with her lawyer and there's been no updates until today when Lucy got an email, saying that they've been granted a supervised visit with Charlie within the next week, and me and Lucy want to talk to her about it". Leah just looks at me before replying, "whatever you guys need, I'm here". I just nodded my head and thanked her. Leah decided to pick Ellie up and we quickened our pace to catch up with the other 3.
Once we had caught up Leah announced she was gonna head back and bring Ellie with her, she asked G if she wanted to come and I noticed she looked at G, as if to tell to accept and go with her, which thankfully G did, and then they left. It was just me, Lucy and Charlie then and we decided to sit down on the grass, to rest for a while, and that's when Lucy decided to say to Charlie, "Charlie, me and Kei need to talk to you about something important".
