Love in thirds

10.3 Daniel & Nell

You pace around your apartment with tears in your eyes. The last 5 weeks have had you feeling up and down with everything, your health, your emotions, your entire life basically. You decided to stay home for this weekend's GP, especially since Daniel wouldn't stop worrying about you when you were around him. He calls you every spare second that he has now as well, so not making him worry by staying away didn't work out the way you wanted it to. You called your mother and Grace today, who were both concerned about your health, before telling you to do a pregnancy test, before you'd go to the doctors. You sigh, looking at the table where you dumped the bag with 3 tests. 'Alright, let's just do it, it can't be positive anyways because I'm on birth control' you tell yourself to calm your nerves.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, what the fuck!" you breath out when the first one comes back positive. "Okay we have two more, no worries" you mumble to yourself, drinking another gallon of water before peeing on both other sticks. You busy yourself with cleaning up some bits in your apartment while waiting for the tests to be ready. You close your eyes, breathing in deeply before looking at the other two. Two lines. "Oh god!" you exclaim, looking for your phone to call Marie who's hopefully not doing anything during the race, apart from watching the race.

"Hey girl, why are you calling during the race? Everything ok? Daniel is on fire today!" Marie says excitedly, "are you somewhere with others now?" you ask her. "Yeah, I am, do I need to go to the bathroom so no one can hear me or? What's going on?" you tell her to walk somewhere a bit more private, to which she answers with an okay and wait a minute. "Okay, what's going on? Are you hurt?" she sounds concerned, and you choke out a sob, "I just did three pregnancy tests and they're all positive." It's silent on the other side of the phone before you hear an excited "oh my god! That's amazing! I mean, that's amazing, right?" her excitement turns into concern when she only hears your sniffles.

"We're not even together for a year! We never even talked about kids in the sense like hey when do you want them! How the fuck am I supposed to do this? I don't even know if I want kids!" your voice raises with every breath because of the panic that's taking over your brain. "Okay, okay, relax. Breath in and breath out, focus on your breathing and then we'll talk, it's okay." You listen to Marie, regulating your breath before sitting down on the chair in front of your opened window. "You okay now?" she asks, to which you hum.

"Okay, first of all, doesn't matter that you haven't even been dating for over a year! You're like a married couple and you've known each other for years. The only difference is that you actually share a bed now, so that is absolutely not something to worry about in my eyes. You love each other, you're basically made for each other Nell. Secondly, no parent knows how to parent so don't freak out about how you're going to do this. I've seen you with kids here in the paddock, they love you and they calm down when you're around them. My answer on the other question is that you should talk about this with Dan, he's flying home first thing after his media duties, so he'll be there somewhere in the night. I can already tell you that he's going to be stoked but talk about your thoughts and insecurities. He'll understand you and probably calm you down in five seconds." You listen to her, relaxing into the cushions when you hear her talk.

You were slightly reassured after your call with Marie, watching the race afterwards before cleaning up your place. You packed up the clothes you wanted to wear, your work necessities and other stuff before putting the tests in a small box. You lock your apartment door before making your way down to the garage, unlocking Daniels car and driving to his apartment. He asked if you wanted to stay at his place for the week, and you agreed to that since you missed him. His place was bigger too, with a nice office space where he lets you work. You groan when you're finally done with putting your bags in his apartment, drinking some water before putting your clothes away in his closet. There were a lot of things from your wardrobe here already, but the weather was getting colder, and you wanted to wear your own sweaters and cardigans, not just Daniel's clothes to stay warm.

You stock the fridge, make yourself a nice dinner and take a warm bath while thinking about how Daniel will react. Marie is probably right; he will be stoked. You remember him telling Grace in Cornwall how you'd give her grandchildren soon. He probably didn't mean this soon though. You hadn't told your mom and Grace anything, only that you'd think about doing the tests and talk to Dan about this all. You made an appointment with your doctor for tomorrow afternoon, so you and Daniel could go together and be fully sure before deciding your next steps. You dry yourself off, brushing your teeth before putting on Daniel's sweater and sweatpants. They're way too big on you, but that doesn't matter to you, because they are warm. You fall asleep with your head pressed into his pillow, dreaming of Daniel holding a small baby.

You're blinking confused when you feel someone stroke the hair from your face. "Hey baby, I'm home" whispers a sleepy Daniel before he slips under the covers and pulls your body into his embrace. He hums when you snuggle against his neck. "I missed you, how are you feeling?" You shrug, waking up a little when you realise what you should tell him soon. You whisper, "I need to tell you something," and he hums, running his fingers through you hair while breathing in your scent. He presses a kiss on your lips before saying softly that you can tell him anything. "It's pretty huge though, do you want to hear it now or tomorrow?" he chuckles, slipping a hand under your sweater to stroke your bare skin. "I want to hear it now if you want to tell me now. I'm awake for a little while anyways until the sleep kicks in. What's on your mind, love?"

You take a shaky breath, exhaling against his chest before clearing your throat. "I'm pregnant" you whisper, swallowing when you feel Daniel tense against your body. "Really?!" he asks, sitting up a bit and turning on the lamp on the nightstand so he can look at you. You sit up too, looking at him with teary and nervous eyes before nodding. He clasps his hand in front of his mouth while tears form in his eyes too. "You're actually being serious? I'm going to be a dad?" his voice cracks up before he pulls your body on his lap, wrapping his arms around you while he cries against your shoulder. "Oh god, I'm going to be a dad! And you a mom! Babe, I'm so happy. Oh my god, I can't believe it!" You smile at him through the tears, his excitement taking away a big part of the worry you had. He kisses you deeply, stroking your back while you're both crying.

He lifts your shirt up to splay his hands on your stomach, looking at it before he looks at you with the biggest smile and the most loving eyes you have ever seen. "I love you so much, I can't believe I'm so lucky. How do you feel? Are you happy too?" you nod, looking at his hands on your belly, before taking a shaky breath. "I am happy, but I'm also very scared. Don't you think it's soon? We never talked about kids or the future like that..." he hums while shaking his head, kissing you softly before pressing you against his chest. "I don't care that it may be soon, it takes nine months to grow our little bean in the first place, so I'm not worried about that." You hum, laying your head against his chest while he strokes your back. "I know that we haven't discussed kids, but I've wanted to have you as the mother of my children for a long time. Before we started dating already if I'm honest" he chuckles, scratching his neck when you look at him in the soft glow of the nightlamp.

"That calms me down a bit, but I'm still nervous. I've never really thought about becoming a mom. I'm not sure if I would be a good one. What if our child doesn't like me?" Daniel smiles at you, stroking your cheeks before kissing you softly. "Our child will absolutely adore you because they will see me do so every day. You'll be an amazing mom and I'm going to support you in every way I can, you're not going to do this alone." You smile when you hear the determination in his voice, relaxing against his body while he tries to move you both back under the covers. "I made a doctor's appointment for the afternoon" you mumble sleepily, and Daniel hums. "That's good babe. Let's sleep now" he says sleepily, kissing you before stroking his hand on your stomach, whispering good night to your unborn child. "You do realise that it's probably the size of rice now, right?" he shrugs, "bean needs to know that I also want it to sleep well."

The waiting room is almost fully empty, apart from an elder couple and you and Daniel. You're bouncing your leg nervously while Daniel is playing with your fingers. He puts his hand on your thigh, stopping your leg from moving before he looks at you. "It's going to be okay, I'm here. You don't have to worry" he strokes your hair, looking at you with sparkly eyes before pecking you on your lips. "Mr and Mrs Ricciardo?" you look up slightly confused by the name the doctor says before you see Daniel grin at you mischievously. "Figured we'd try out how that sounds while we're at it. Come babe."