.acht.

Marco left Jude and Grace's house during the early hours of the morning, to avoid anyone from seeing him. The last thing he wanted was for the press to spread some rumors about him. What he didn't know was that it was already happening in the news papers and in gossip magazines all over Dortmund. But Marco wasn't the type who read too much gossip anyway, and it would be a while before he would see any of it.

At five in the morning, the streets of Dortmund were nearly empty. Most people were still asleep, and the only people awake were too busy rushing off to work to notice him sneaking into his car that was parked in front of Jude's house.

He made it to his home within a half hour and got into his bed. The couch at Jude's house had been comfortable enough, and he loved keeping her company, but it wasn't nearly as good as his bed. The Borussia Dortmund footballer quickly stripped down to his boxers, jumped into his bed, and resumed sleeping. He wouldn't be waking up for another four hours.

His alarm rang at nine in the morning. Marco got out of bed and got in the shower to start off his day. He would be going into his therapy later for a final evaluation, in which they would inform him if he was ready to return to training with the other footballers. Marco was very excited for it. He couldn't want to get back to playing because he wanted to invite Jude to the stadium. He wanted to have her cheering him on, and wearing a jersey with his name on the back.

Most of his friends from the national team had already returned from their vacation and he hoped to be seeing them soon. Though he still felt a bit bad about not being able to go, he was happy for them. He knew they deserved the win, and he felt it was his as well. Mario had dedicated it to him.

He raced off to the Borussia Dortmund training ground and wait straight to the medical offices.

There he waited for a couple of minutes until one of the doctors went to see him. He had Marco do a few warm up exercises, and gave his evaluation that Marco was ready to return to Borussia Dortmund training, as well as DFB training, should he be called in the future. Then they filled out some forms and Marco was officially declared in shape to resume his training. He would need to report the next morning, in order to re-integrate himself with the rest of the team.

Marco left the training ground with a wide grin on his face. The only thing that lessened his happiness was that he wouldn't be able to volunteer at the bakery anymore, but he knew Jude would understand.

He drove directly to the bakery instead of going home first, he wanted to give Jude the good news.

But when he parked his car out front, and got out to walk up to the front door, he noticed the sign that read: Sorry, We're Closed.

Marco's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

The bakery was normally open at this time. But he figured it was probably because Jude was still sick and Grace was probably at home taking care of her.

He got back into his car and drove to Jude's home. He rang her doorbell, since he didn't have keys to open, and Jude finally came after a few minutes. Marco was smiling, but his smile dropped when he noticed she wasn't at all happy to see him. She stood at the doorway, bundled up in a thick sweater, her hair was in a mess, and there were dark circles under her eyes. And what was worse for Marco was that she looked like she wanted to tear his head off.

"What's wrong, liebe?" He asked her.

With her hands on her hips, she scolded him, "What did your friend do to my mum? She's all depressed and won't get out of bed, and I don't know why. She won't talk to me. He must have said or done something because she was fine before she left with him."

Marco shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know what happened, I was with you the whole time. He said they were going to a bar. That's all I know, I swear."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

That glare was so much full of venom that if looks could kill...

"Jude, why are you mad at me?" He tried to reason with her. "He's the one who did something, not me."

"But he's your friend." She pointed out. "I trusted him because you trust him."

"I'll talk to Bastian. That's all I can do, and I'll call you if I find out anything." He offered.

Her expression seemed to soften up a bit, and her glare disappeared. Taking in a deep breath, she spoke now, more softly. Her words when talking to him just moments ago had been harsh. "I'm sorry about snapping at you, liebe." She told him. "I'm just worried about my mum and I want to know what's wrong so that I can help her."

He nodded, "I understand, Jude. I would be upset if someone did something to my mum. But I just want to remind you that this isn't my fault, so we're clear."

She cracked a small smile. "We're clear, Marco."

Jude held her arms open and Marco cut the distance between them to pull her into a warm embrace. He held her small frame in his arms and she whispered into his ear, "Just tell your friend that if I see him around here, I'm going to break his car's windows. I really respect Bastian as a footballer, but if he did something to my mum, I won't tolerate it."

Marco chuckled at that. "And if he's innocent?"

"I won't break his windows." She shrugged.

After his brief conversation with Jude, Marco returned to his house and decided to call Bastian on the phone. He had been surprised he had no calls or texts from anyone, but when he got his phone out, he realized the battery was dead.

He put it to charge and scrolled though his notifications. There were fan comments from twitter and instagram, but he scrolled past them. For the time being, he didn't have the time to read them. He needed to talk to Bastian. There were calls from his older sister, and his mother, no doubt they probably were aching to meet Jude. And there were texts from some of his team mates, more texts about how they supported his relationship. This time it was Robert and Ana who texted him about his new relationship with Jude.

Marco thought he was getting a bit too much support.

And last, he checked his calls. He had about ten from Bastian, which led Marco to believe he had done something to Grace. Marco would have to warn Basti not to visit Grace again or he would end up with broken windows in his car.

He hit the call button on his phone and waited for his friend to answer.

From the moment he heard Basti pick up, he said into the phone, "What the hell, Basti? I hook you up with Grace and this is how you repay me? Now Jude's mad at me because you did something to Grace." The last thing Marco wanted were problems with Jude. And if Basti was going to cause them, he wouldn't be doing his friend a favor any time soon.

"I did nothing to her!" Bastian shouted from the other line.

"Then why is she upset?" Marco challenged. "Jude told me she won't get out of bed."

There was no response for almost a minute.

"All I did was ask about Jude's dad, and she got all defensive." Bastian finally confessed.

"I told you she never talks about that!" Marco ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Maybe its because she doesn't like to talk about it."

"You have to help me, Marco. I really liked Grace." Bastian pleaded.

"You have to fix this yourself. I'll try to help, but I don't want Jude getting mad at me because you can't keep your mouth shut." Remembering Jude's warning, Marco added, "And don't come by their house again if you want your car windows smashed by Jude."

"For Grace, its worth it." Bastian said. But as Marco's words sunk in, he chuckled, "So your bae has a dark side? Mats told me Jude looked kind of shy."

"Mats has never seen Jude." Marco pointed out.

"You posted a picture on twitter." Bastian reminded him.

"I don't want Mats interfering in my relationship. He's a homewrecker." Marco said, and the two hung up the phone.

-

a pretty long update for you all because i know i havent updated this in a while. and now we have more of marco and jude. and some of basti. and mats the homewrecker was even mentioned. haha.

i hope you all like