The Surrogate

Starting A Support Network

"Where has he got this idea from?" Norbert asks the second he hears the front door shut.

Britta shrugs her shoulders, "I've no idea, this is the first I've heard of it but I know Seb well and I know this won't have been a spur of the moment decision, he'll have been thinking about this for months - probably even longer."

"I know he really wants kids," Melanie adds, "he's told me before. He's always wanted to start a family before he was thirty but he's just never met anyone."

"His relationships have always suffered at the expense of his career, I just don't see how he can manage looking after a baby and racing at the same time," Heike adds too.

"I really think he has his heart set on this," Britta sighs, "I just want him to be happy and if him starting his own family this way makes him happy then I won't stand in his way."

"We all want him to be happy," Heike replies, sounding slightly put out, as if Britta was the only one who wanted Seb to be happy.

"I think we need to back him on this," Fabian speaks up, "I know what he's doing is unorthodox but Britta's right, I think he really wants this - more than he's ever wanted anything. This is a baby we're talking about and he won't be going into this blind, he'll have done his research and thought about every possibility. Ask him anything and he'll probably have an answer for you. He's not stupid, he knows what he's doing."

Outside, Seb leans against his car with his phone held to his ear. He's panicking that his dream of becoming father is slipping through his fingers and that he'll have to go back to waiting until he's met someone he can settle down with. He's calling the only other person he can speak to about this, hoping that she can put his mind at ease.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

London.

"Oh, it's Sebastian," Holly looks at her phone as it rings in her hand, thinking how his meeting with his family has ended rather quickly. She stands up from her seat, "I'd better take this outside."

Ester nods and watches as her friend heads for the door, greeting Sebastian cheerfully as she goes.

Holly notices how he sounds stressed straight away as she steps out onto the busy street and finds a space to stand and lean against the wall, "what's wrong? Did things not go well?"

He gives her a small, ironic chuckle and then replies, "you could say that."

She immediately feels sorry for him and wishes she was there with him to put an arm around him, "tell me what happened."

"They don't agree with it at all. Well, Britta and Antti do but I pay their wages so they maybe feel that they have to but everyone else...." he sighs, "my father thinks I'm crazy and that it'll be a baby from a test tube by some random woman and my mother thinks now isn't the right time and that I should wait until I've finished racing or met someone to start a family with. She says that surrogacy isn't the way for me to start a family."

He sounds so down that it makes her heart ache for him, he's not had the response that he was wanting or expecting and he sounds gutted and really worried. She wishes that she could hop onto the next available flight to Germany to go and comfort him. Plus, she'd love to see him again if she's completely honest with herself. He's an extremely attractive, gorgeous man and friendly and humble with it, who wouldn't be tempted to jump on a plane to see him? "They're probably just shocked, try not to worry about it too much. Give them time to let it sink in," she tries to offer him what words of comfort she can think of but for once she feels a bit out of her depth, she's not used to her clients facing resistance towards their plans to become parents. But then none of her clients have been rich, probably super fertile, single men who just want to fast forward their way to becoming a dad - like him.