A Game Of Two Halves By Anna Hadland

“That’s a wrap!” said the director of ‘Football fever’. “Thank god for that!” sighed Claire. I’ll never play football again!”
“Too bad. That’s means we’ll have to drop you from the team!” replied Anna. Both girls were in the women’s side of the celebrity football match. They’ll be playing with other singers and actor against the men.

On the day off the match Claire was in Goal while Anna was striker with Cat Deeley, Rachel Stevens, and Angela Griffin. On the other team Nicky Byrne was in goal. They also had Mark Feehilly, Declan Donnelly, Anthony McPartlin, and Dane Bowers.

At the end of the first half the girls were 2-0 up. Just as the second half started Dane got the ball who passed it to Mark who was in front of the net. Claire was too busy staring at Mark who she thought looked really good in his shorts. She didn’t see the ball go flying past her. “OI!” yelled Anna from the other end of the pitch. “Quit staring at Mark’s legs and do your job properly!” Nobody could tell who was redder, Mark or Claire.

After that Anna had the ball near the net. Nicky came out of the goal to try and get the ball. Anna kicked the ball. It bounced off Nicky’s head and went in the goal. He ran over to Anna and pretended to tackle her to the ground.

Near the end of the game Mark tried going for another goal. He tried to kick the ball past Claire but instead kicked her in the leg and she fell over. Mark helped her up and took her to the bench. “I’m so sorry.” “That’s ok.” Anna and Nicky, who had been going out for over a year came over. “Ya alright?” Asked Anna. “Yeah just go and win the game.” And they did, 5-3.

After the game, they were all in the bar when Claire came in on crutches. Mark looks a bit guilty, “what’s wrong with it?” “It’s twisted and I’ve been told not to walk on it for two weeks.” Mark felt so guilty he took her home and waited on her hand and foot for those two weeks. At the end of the two weeks Mark had to go back to work. “I wish I didn’t have to go.” He sat down on the sofa next to Claire. “I want to ask you something but I don’t want to ruin the friendship we’ve built up in the past two weeks.” “What is it?” “I love you.” “That make’s things easier for me then” replied Claire. “I love you too.” Then he kissed her.

A few weeks later There was loads of bands rehearsing for the Smash Hits Poll winner’s party. Westlife were up and Ronan was on stage with them. Claire was at the side of the stage. Anna couldn’t be there because she was doing a commercial with Josh Hartnett. There was a load crack from above. The boys looked above them to see the set fall on them. A piece of lighting also fell down and hit Ronan on the head. Claire screamed “MARK!!”

Ronan, Mark, Nicky and Shane were all unconscious. Kian and Bryan crawled out from under the set and tried to get the set off the others.
At the hospital Claire phoned Anna. “You better come to The London Royal Infirmary. Something has happened.” “What?” “I’ll tell you when you get here.” Anna left the set of the commercial. She told the director where she was going and went. It took her over an hour but when she got to the hospital Claire was waiting outside for her.
“The set fell on them. Kian and Bryan are ok. The others and Ronan are still unconscious. They’ve just taken Nicky, Mark and Shane up to intensive care. Ronan had a long piece of lighting stuck in his stomach so he had to go to theatre” explained Claire as they walked to the Intensive care unit.
They were all in rooms next to each other. Claire walked into Mark’s. He had a bandage around his head and a drip in each arm. He was attached to a heart monitor which speed up a little bit as she walked into the room. Mark’s eyes opened. “Claire?” he whispered. “Where is everyone else? Are they ok?” “They're fine for now. Don’t worry. Ronan is in Theatre but he is fine.” Claire tried hard not to show she was lying. She would do anything not to make Mark cry right now. She wanted him to get well as soon as possible.

Anna walked into Nicky’s room. He was laid there silently. A cast was on his left arm. He was so pale. She walked over and sat on the bed. She picked up his hand and held it in hers. “Please wake up!” she whispered. Mark and Shane appeared in the doorway. “Is he ok?” asked Shane. “I don’t know” replied Anna. At that moment the doctor came in. “I’m glad to see you two out of bed” he said smiling at Mark and Shane. “I’ll send you up to the ward overnight. I’ll be along to check you over in a minute.” Mark and Shane left. The doctor took Nicky’s pulse and checked the drips. A nurse came in to take his blood pressure. “He had a nasty blow to his head. I’m going to send him for a CT scan.” “Will he be ok?” asked Anna. “We hope so. We will know more once we’ve done the scan. Unfortunately for his friend in theatre, he stopped breathing in there. They are having trouble taking the piece of lighting out.”

A few hours later Nicky went for the scan. Anna sat up on the ward where Claire was with Mark and Shane. The doctor came in and said “Anna can I talk to you outside please?” “Um whatever you have to say you can say it here. They are like Nicky’s family.” “Are you sure?” “Yes.” “Well I’m afraid Nicky has got a blood clot on his brain which will have to be removed surgically. I will need to see his next of kin to sign the consent forms.” “Ok. I’ll phone his mum.

Later that day Nicky’s mum came to the hospital from Ireland and signed the forms. Nicky was taken to theatre that night. Yvonne (Nicky’s mum) and Anna waited anxiously for Nicky to come out of theatre. Bryan came over. He looked as though he had been crying. “What’s wrong Bry?” asked Anna. “Ronan has just died in theatre.” He said Shocked. “What? How can he be dead?” asked Anna “He just stopped breathing and they could not get him back.”

In the early hours of the morning Nicky came back to Intensive Care. He was kept sedated for the next two days. On the second day the sedatives were stopped. After a couple of hours Nicky’s hand started moving. Both Yvonne and Anna were sat in chairs next to his bed and they were both asleep. Anna’s hand was near his so he put his on top of hers. Anna woke up. “Nicky?” “You miss me?” he said smiling. “Yes I have” “Hey you what’s wrong?” asked Nicky as he could tell that she had been crying. “Nothing! Just you get better that’s all.” “No tell me” he demanded. “Has something happened to Mark?”
“No.”
“Shane?”
“No.”
“Kian?”
“Nicky…”
“ME?! What’ wrong with me?”
“Nothing Nicky…It’s Ronan…he had a piece of lighting stuck in his stomach and he had to go to theatre to have it taken out…He stopped breathing…Nicky he’s dead.”
“What? What happened?”
Yvonne woke up and told him everything and about his operation as well.”

Nicky was out in time to go to Ronan’s funeral. All the boys were there as well as Claire and Anna. They were all crying. Later that night Anna and Nicky were sat at home talking “You know Nicky that I could not live with out you in my life” “don’t worry Anna I am not going any where” “If you mean that then will you marry me?” “Now? Alright then” he said making a joke. “I’m being serious.” “Of course I will. Are you alright? You don’t look so good.” “Yeah fine.”

The boys had to go to work but Nicky had time off to recover. During that time Nicky and Anna had a small wedding in a registry office. The others got fed up because in all the interviews they did everyone wanted to know how Nicky was and about his wedding. After a couple of days of the same interviews they were told that they could have some time off until Nicky was back.

After a couple of months Nicky was back to normal. They went to Indonesia to do some promotional work. Claire had something she wanted to confess to Anna.
“Go on tell me?” said Anna.
“I can’t…”
“Just say it!”
“I’m going to have a baby!” Anna’s mouth dropped open.
“Wha…t?!?!”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“So am I! Have you told Mark yet?”
“No. You told Nick?”
“Nope. Don’t know if I want to.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want him to be mad at me.”
“He won’t be. How long have you known?”
“Nearly four months. You”
“Only two.”

A few days later the boys came home for a couple of days. That morning they both went out for a walk. They stopped at the newsagent’s and saw the headlines:

WESTLIFE’S SECRET LOVECHILD SHOCKER!
“I wonder who that is?” said Nicky as he looked through it. He gasped as he saw the pictures. “Oh my god. That’s Kellie!”
“Your ex?”
“Um yeah.” Said Nicky.
“You BARSTARD!! Your still with her aren’t you? You’ve been having an affair!” She slapped him hard in the face and walked out of the shop. Nicky just stood there too shocked to say or do anything.

Anna tried to avoid him for the next two weeks. She went back to her parent’s house and Nicky stayed outside their house until she came out. “I need to talk to you.” “I have nothing to say to you.” “Well I have something to say to you. Her kid is nearly two. There is no proof that it’s mine. I’ve been faithful to you. I don’t want to hurt you. I love you.” Anna turned round to face him.
“Two? How come you never told me?”
“I never knew. Please believe me.” He had tears in his eyes. “I don’t want to lose you.”
“I love you too.” She went over and hugged him. At that moment the baby decided to kick and Nicky felt it. “What was that?” asked Nicky. “Well Nicky it’s um well it’s our baby” “What do you mean our baby” “Well I am 4 and a half months pregnant” “that’s such good news” “I am so glad your happy about it” “How can I not be happy? You’re going to have our baby.”
Meanwhile…Claire tries telling Mark. “Mark I don’t know how to tell you this but I’m just going to say it. I don’t want you to interrupt because it’s important that you know.”
“What’s that?”
“I’ll give you a hint daddy.”
“What?”
“You heard me!”
“Hey that’s great!” He picked her up and kissed her.

A couple of days later Nicky came face to face with Kellie. “I want a DNA test to prove it!” said Nicky.
“Can’t you see from his looks? He looks just like you.” He looked at the two year old boy sat next to her. He had blond hair and bright blue eyes. He looked so much like him. Nicky knew it but he didn’t want to admit it.

The next week he has the test done. They have to wait a while for the results to come back. “Until they come back we have to get on with our own life’s” said Anna hugging Nicky, which he did.
The day the results came back Anna, Nicky and Kellie were all in the doctor’s office. “ I don’t know if you will like this or not but the child is Nicky’s.” Nicky sighs and puts his head down.
They left the office and went to the café round the corner. “So what do you want out of him?” asked Anna.
“I want his father to be there for him.” Replied Kellie.
“That’s going to be hard though isn’t it?”
“Why?”
“Because he’s always away. They might not see each other for months at a time.” Replied Anna.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“It’s the same for you.”
“No it’s not. It’s different because I live with him. He comes home to our house.”
Nicky just sits quietly staring out of the window. After a while he joins in the conversation and they decide that he will take Josh out at the weekend.

“Claire where are you going?” asked Mark just as she was going out of the door “Out sorry but I have to get away from you for a bit” “why what have I done” “Well you have been asking me if I want anything all day and I just have to get out.”

That weekend Nicky takes Josh to the zoo. A few hours later he takes him back to Kellie then he goes home. “What’s wrong?” asked Anna.
“I’m not sure I’m ready to be a father.” Anna looks hurt and walks out. It takes Nicky 10 minutes to realise what he said. “Damn!”
He finds Anna sitting in the corner of the park down the road. She is crying “Don’t you want this baby?” asked Anna holding her stomach. “Oh Anna I am so sorry I never meant it like that. I don’t think I can be his father. I don’t feel the same way about him as I do this one. I’d rather be a father from the beginning not when they’re two.” “Are you sure you feel that way?” “ Yes I am” then they walked home hand in hand.

Four months later there was nice sunny day so Anna and Nicky sat in their back garden. Anna started to feel hot and uncomfortable. “Are you alright?” “Yeah I think so but can we go inside?” Nicky went over and helped her up but she froze. “What’s wrong?” “It hurts!” “What does?” “All of me. I think the baby is coming” “What do you mean the baby’s coming? OH MY GOD” as he says that Nicky runs around the garden in a panic “what should I do?” “Well getting me to the hospital would be a good idea.”

A few hours later Claire and Mark came to see them but Anna has not had her baby yet. 6 hours later she had a baby girl and named her Jordan. Nicky held her and couldn’t take his eyes away from her. Anna saw tears in his eyes. “She’s beautiful” he said. “Do you mind if I held her now?” asked Anna. “I don’t want to.” He gave her to Anna then sat next to her on the bed. Just then Claire and Mark walked in with a camera “We should take a picture” said Mark. Just then Jordan opened her eyes to reveal two blue sparkling eyes.

A month later it was Jordan’s christening and as a gift Mark and Claire gave her a little box and in it was a bracelet with her name on it. Later that night Claire was sat down with Anna “hey you how’s it going?” “Fine, you?” “Feeling a bit fat but ok I got this for you” she gave her a white box and as she opened it she saw that there was the picture that they took at the hospital inside it. “Thank you.”

Another month later Claire is sat in her kitchen drinking a cup of tea when she had a sharp pain across her back. “Are you alright?” asked Mark. “Yeah I’m fine. I know. Why don’t you go and have a drink with your friends?” “But I don’t want to leave you.” “I’ll be fine. You just go.” “Are you sure?” “Yes.” “Ok. See you later.” He kissed her and went out. She saw him walk down the path then she doubled over in pain. She goes over to the phone and tries to phone Mark’s mobile. She hears his phone ringing upstairs. “The idiot! He never takes his phone anywhere without him and on the day he does leave it this happens!” So she phones Anna. Anna comes over while Nicky goes to find Mark. After a while he found him in a pub in town. He had already had a couple of pints and looked a little tipsy. “Flipping heck Mark!” said Nicky as he dragged him to his car. “We’ve got somewhere to go.”

A few hours later Nicky and Anna were waiting outside. Mark stuck his head out the door. “It’s a boy!” then he disappeared back inside. “Interesting” said Nicky laughing “We don’t even get a name.” Mark reappeared “And he’s called Sam” then he disappeared again.

Nicky takes Josh out again. This time they go to the park. Just the two of them. They both run around after each other and finally fall into a heap under the slide. “Daddy?” Automatically Nicky says “What?” “Can I have ice cream?” “Come on then” he picked him up from off the floor and put him on his shoulders.
When he got to Kellie’s house that evening there was a police car outside. “Mr Byrne?” said one officer. “Yes?” “I’m afraid your wife has been in an accident.” “Oh my god. What’s happened to Anna?”
“Who?”
“Anna? My wife?”
“I’m sorry there must be a mistake. It was a Kellie.”
“Is she alright?”
“I’m afraid she didn’t make it.”
“Then what’s going to happen to Josh?”
“I’m sorry I can’t tell you that. I have to take him to social services. I’m sure you will hear from them soon.”

A few days later Nicky received a letter from social services. “Anna? I need to talk to you!” he shouted upstairs. He forgot Jordan was in the next room and woke her up with his shouting. “What’s up?” “They want Josh to live with us.” “And?”
“And what? Shall we or shan’t we?” “He’s your son. Whatever you decide I’ll be here for you.” Nicky did make up his mind and the next day Josh moved in.

At Christmas Claire didn’t eat much dinner. “You not hungry?” “No. I think I’ll go and have a lie down.” “Do you want a glass of water?” “No thanks.” An hour later Mark went to check on her. She was hot, sweaty and looked really pale. Mark could see she was in pain. He put three month old Sam in his car seat and Claire went in the front. They dropped Sam off with Nicky and Anna then went to the hospital. “How many times have I been here in the last year?” “I’m sorry Mark but it wasn’t my idea to come here.” “Well you need to be here.” The doctor came in. I’m afraid you have appendicitis. We will have to operate this afternoon. “I don’t want to” Claire said after the doctor had left. “You have to honey.” “I can’t. I don’t like needles. I don’t want to be put to sleep.” “I’ll be there with you when you go to sleep and when you wake up.” “Thank you” “That’s ok”. After phoning Nicky to see if Sam was ok and to tell him what was going on Mark went down with Claire to the theatre . Just as she was about to be put to sleep she looked at Mark and said “you know that I love you” “Yes I did and I love you to” and just as Claire went to sleep he kissed her.

Claire woke up the next morning with Sam next to her. Anna was sat in the chair holding Jordan while Nicky and Mark were sat in the window with Josh on Nicky’s knee.. “Good morning” said Mark. Sam wriggled to show he was there. “How are you feeling?” Asked Mark. “Not so bad. A lot better.” “You get ill like that again and I’ll kill you!” said Anna. “Thanks!” said Claire. “Hey you got that part in that new film with Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett.” Said Mark. I got the phone call last night. “Hey I’m in that too!” said Anna. “Start filming in two months I can’t wait.” “Neither can I” agreed Claire. “You just want to kiss Ben Affleck don’t you?” “No!” “Admit it Claire!” “No!” “Admit it!” “Ok I want to kiss him! You happy now?” “Yup!” “Although I’d love to kiss Mark more. Which I’m still waiting for.” Mark walks over to her and kisses her. “Can I have a piece of the action?” said Bryan as he walked in. Mark ran up to him and kissed him on the cheek. “Will you marry me Mark?” said Bryan laughing. “Sorry you’re not my type. But…Claire?” “Yes?” “Will you marry me?” “Of course I would!”

That summer they got married in a lovely church in the country. They invited a million people to the reception. Then they went to Paris for the weekend. After Paris they went to Jamaica for two weeks.