The Surrogate

The Agreement

"This is Michael Schafer, my lawyer," Seb introduces his lawyer to Holly who's thankfully calmed down, "he's worked for me for many years now and has been the man responsible for checking over pretty much anything before I sign it."

"Hi, good to meet you," she shakes his hand and then gestures to her dining table, "shall we get started?"

Seb and Michael both take a seat and he gets his laptop out of his bag and boots it up. This already feels like a very official kind of meeting.

"You got into that hotel I recommended, yeah?" Seb asks, mainly to fill the silence. He's full of nerves, right now he's struggling to believe that they've actually got this far with the surrogacy - especially after earlier on.

"I did and it's great, thanks."

Holly then places a jug of water and three glasses on the table to which he acknowledges her with his thanks as she sits down.

Seb's been secretly worried about her ever since he's had his shower because she's been very quiet and he's keeping everything crossed that she doesn't pull out at the last second. He shifts his chair a little closer to hers and casually drapes his arm over the back of it, letting his fingers lightly touch her shoulder.

"I've had to do some research, I won't lie," Michael admits, "I've not had anything to do with surrogacy before."

"It's ok, this is my fifth time, I know what needs to be discussed and decided," she gives Seb a little side glance, his damp hair and shower fresh scent is quite intoxicating, as is the way his fingers are absentmindedly touching and ever so lightly stroking her shoulder.

He slides a sheet of paper across to her, "would these points cover everything?"

She picks it up and begins to check it, it's UK based advice and what she's used to seeing, so far so good. "Yes, that's fine."

He then taps on his laptop and brings up the file he's created, "let's get underway then, shall we."

Seb looks her way, trying to catch her eye but she's either not noticing or is ignoring him and it makes him feel uneasy but he nods his agreement.

"So far I have both of your details and those of your key supporters," Michael looks to Seb, "those being your sister, Stefanie, and your press officer and personal trainer, Britta Roeske and Antti Kontsas. Is that still the case?"

"They're the key ones yes but my parents, brother and my other sister will probably also help out from time to time," he answers, still trying to get Holly's attention in order to calm his unease.

"Shall I add them all to the list of key supporters?"

"Yes, definitely," he replies confidently, trying to hide the bout of nerves he's beginning to suffer from. He reaches out to pick up the jug of water and fill up his glass, his mouth is going dry again.

Holly can sense his knee bouncing underneath the table and places a hand on it to stop him, finally meeting his questioning gaze. She gives him a smile, he's really nervous and she doesn't want him to be. She's the one who's nervous.

"Straight to business then," Michael taps away in his keyboard, adding Seb's family at the top of the agreement in the section titled, 'key supporters.' "We move on to method of conception, I can't make any suggestions so it's up to you two."

"If it's ok with you, Holly, I'd like any treatment or procedures to be done in Switzerland, in Zürich," he turns in his seat to face her. They have talked about conception before but not in depth so they're having to make these decisions right in front of Michael. It's a good job he signs a yearly NDA.