The afternoon was spent on administrative work that I'd been putting off. Reviewing the trial paperwork for Eze, making sure everything was in order for Monday.

He wasn't signing anything yet; this was just a trial, a chance for him to train with us and for us to see if he'd fit.

But I wanted everything ready. Drafting a training plan for the next three weeks leading up to the competitive season. Responding to emails from Gary about squad registration and match schedules. It was tedious, mind-numbing work, but it needed to be done.

By the time I left Copers Cope at 6pm, I was ready to collapse. I stopped at Tesco on the way home, bought ingredients for a proper meal: pasta, chicken, vegetables, things that didn't come from a takeaway bag, and forced myself to cook.

Emma would be proud. She was always telling me to eat properly, to take care of myself, to remember that I was human and not a coaching machine.

I ate dinner on my balcony, watching the sun set over London, and tried to let myself relax. Tomorrow was Friday. Another recovery day. Then the weekend, and then Monday when Eze arrived. One step at a time.

Friday followed the same pattern. Light recovery work in the morning, administrative tasks in the afternoon. The players were moving better, the fatigue starting to lift. Rebecca's recovery program was working. By the end of the session, most of them looked almost human again.

Saturday morning, I woke up to my phone ringing. Unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Danny Walsh?"

"Speaking."

"This is Eberechi Eze. I just wanted to confirm Monday, 9am, Copers Cope Road?"

"That's right. Looking forward to it."

"Me too. Thank you for this opportunity, coach. I won't let you down."

"I know you won't. See you Monday."

I hung up and stared at the phone. He'd called to confirm. Most players would have just shown up, but Eze had called. That said something about his character. About how much this meant to him.

I spent Saturday preparing for his trial. Reviewing his match footage from the Millwall game, identifying his strengths and weaknesses, thinking about how he'd fit into our system. He was technically brilliant, intelligent, creative. But he lacked physicality, and his work rate off the ball needed improvement. Those were things we could work on. Things I could coach.

By Saturday evening, I had a plan. Monday morning, I'd introduce him to the squad, explain that he was here on trial, and then integrate him into training. No special treatment, no making a big deal out of it. Just another player trying to earn his place.

Sunday morning, I went for a run. 8k this time, pushing myself harder than I had all week. The system tracked my progress Fitness 51/100, Cardiovascular Endurance 48/100 but I barely noticed. I was thinking about Monday, about Eze, about the competitive season, about everything that was coming.

When I got back to my flat, there was someone standing outside my door.

Emma.

I stopped dead, my heart suddenly hammering in my chest for reasons that had nothing to do with the run. She was leaning against the wall, a weekend bag at her feet, her red hair catching the morning sunlight in a way that made my breath catch. She looked up when she heard my footsteps, and her smile was everything I'd been missing for eight weeks.

"Surprise," she said.

I crossed the distance between us in three strides and pulled her into my arms. She smelled like home like lavender and coffee and something uniquely her and for the first time in eight weeks, I felt like I could breathe properly.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice muffled against her hair.

"You said you missed me. I missed you too. So I got on a train." She pulled back just enough to look at me, her green eyes bright with amusement. "Also, you look terrible. When was the last time you slept properly?"

"Wednesday," I admitted.

"Danny Walsh, you absolute disaster." But she was smiling, and her hand came up to touch my face, her thumb brushing against my cheek in a gesture so familiar and so missed that I nearly lost it right there in the hallway.

"Come on," I said, fumbling for my keys. "Let me shower, and then we can "

"You can shower, and I'll make you breakfast. Actual breakfast. Not a Tesco sandwich."

Inside the flat, Emma took over with the kind of easy competence that came from knowing me too well.

She unpacked her bag, put the kettle on, and started rummaging through my kitchen while I stood in the doorway of the bathroom, still trying to process the fact that she was here. Actually here. Not on the other end of a phone line, not on a FaceTime screen, but here in my flat, in my space, real and solid and present.

By the time I'd showered and changed, she'd made scrambled eggs, toast, and coffee. Proper coffee, not the instant stuff I'd been surviving on.

"Sit," she ordered, and I sat.

We ate in comfortable silence, the kind that only comes from years of knowing someone. I kept looking at her, noticing details I'd forgotten over eight weeks of phone calls. The way her red hair fell over her shoulders. The freckles across her nose. The way she smiled when she caught me staring.

"What?" she asked.

"I just... I forgot how much I missed you."

Her expression softened. "I know. I missed you too. But look at you. Look at what you've built. Eight weeks ago, you were terrified. Now you've got a staff, a system that works, and you just won your first match 5-2. You're doing it, Danny."

"It doesn't feel like enough."

"It never does with you. But it is. Trust me."

We spent the rest of Sunday together, and Emma did what Emma always did she forced me back to being human. We walked through a park, the autumn sun warm on our faces. We got lunch at a pub, and she made me laugh with stories from the paper.

We went back to my flat, and she curled up on the sofa with a book while I reviewed tactical footage on my laptop, her presence a quiet comfort that I hadn't realized I'd been desperate for.

That evening, as the sun set and London turned golden outside my windows, she looked up from her book.

"Tell me about Eze."

So I did. I told her about watching him in the Millwall match, about his quality, about the way he kept trying even when his team was losing and his coach was shouting at him. I told her about his potential, about the four clubs that had released him, about the text he'd sent asking when he could start.

"You're going to change his life," Emma said quietly.

"Or I'm going to fail him like everyone else did."

"You won't. Because you see him. You see what he can be. That's what makes you a good coach, Danny. You see people."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I just pulled her closer, and we sat there in the fading light, her head on my shoulder, my hand in her hair, and for the first time in eight weeks, I felt like everything might actually be okay.

Monday morning would bring Eze. The competitive season would start in three weeks. There would be challenges and setbacks and moments of doubt.

But right now, with Emma here, with the match won and the system working and a player with 175 potential joining my squad, I let myself believe that maybe just maybe I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

***

Thank you to nameyelus for the inspiration capsule.

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