Something Gained

Chapter Ninety-Three

The season was already flying by, the build up to the first Miami race was insane, so much surrounded it and there was so much planned for the team from people coming to the track as guests to media commitments, it was just crazy. Sophie and Ben had done amazing and really integrated into the team, as if they've been here for much longer. I spent more time in the office then I did with Daniel and Lando, which was weird for how it used to be, but it just meant we organised more stuff together as friends, well Daniel wasn't just a friend obviously, but Lando was. They're relationship together had been up and down this season, although the team remained strong. It came from their competitiveness. No one, myself included, expected this season to be how it was.

More high finishes, more podiums, more wins, meant a lot more points, and they were both battling for the championship, it was currently a 4 way battle, both Lando and Daniel were competing to win, Max and Charles in on it. On the track, they battled fairly but strongly, off the track they were good and really backing each other, each wanting the victories. We slipped up at the last race tactically, meaning both cars finished 9th and 10th, unusual with the season so far, so it was a reset to go again.

Daniel landed in Miami on Wednesday, the engineering team and mechanics being here since Monday to set up the paddock, it was about to get full on. I had been here for two days already, as soon as they landed the guys had commitments so they were whisked off to do that, I headed to the track to prepare for the week so I didn't see Daniel at all. He had been on a talk show earlier in the week, so he was away. As soon as I walked in I had a meeting with Zak and Andreas. When I was finally done, I sat down in my office and looked at the time, I needed to text Hannah and check in with her, she had been put into hospital with talks of delivering the baby early due to a few complications, she hadn't had a good time of it with her pregnancy, I had been to see her where I could whenever we were back in England and she was okay, just worried about the baby but they frequently checked on her, but now it had got a little bit more concerning, Liam had gone back to England to be with her. There was a knock on my door that distracted me.

"I'll be free of all things for a little while, can we get lunch?" Daniel smiled from the door way, I felt like I barely saw him at the moment, so every little thing counted, 5 minutes grabbing a coffee, a hug before he got in the car or sometimes lunch, we were managing it, but he was working hard, and with all the current success it meant I was as well.
"Absolutely, 12?" I asked him
"Yeah 12" Daniel smiled, he went to leave before he sighed and turned round and walked into the office. "I love you bubs" he leaned down and placed a kiss on my lips, stroking my cheek
"I love you" I smiled as he stared at me for a little while, his eyes melting me.
"I'll leave you to work" he smiled, I nodded and he left the office, closing the door behind him. I opened up my laptop and my phone rang, a FaceTime call from Hannah, I didn't expect her to ring but she was probably bored out of her mind, I smiled and answered the call, propping my phone up on its stand so I didn't have to hold it. Hannah's face greeted the screen before I screamed out of excitement.

"Oh my god!!! What? When? Are you okay? Are you both healthy?????" Hannah laughed as I started shooting questions out all over the place, causing the very small baby to wriggle in its place on her chest. Hannah looked fairly good, tired but she was glowing, the baby looked good to.
"I wanted to call you so you could see. You share your birth week with someone special"
"I'm sorry, I'll calm down. Someone special indeed oh my goodness"
"No it's okay, you're so lovely. With everything you've done the last few months, coming to see me, helping out, sending gifts, checking in on me every single day, I wanted you to be one of the first to know, after our parents of course" Hannah gushed
"I feel so special! How are you doing?"
"I'm really good, I'm tired. Exhausted actually, it's been a hectic couple of days, I'll explain more when I see you, but little bubba didn't want to cook for any longer and so here we are. Born last night, 6lb bundle of absolute joy. We're so happy, we're healthy and good. They're keeping us here for another couple of days because of everything, and little one has to be monitored as it's a few weeks early, but all things considered he's a healthy baby"
"He?! Omg, you can't just drop that in there as your reveal"
"Haha yes I can" Hannah smirked, they had kept the gender a complete secret
"I'm so grateful and so happy that you're both okay. It's absolutely flown by, what a beautiful little bubba, you look so good, but Hannah it's like 6am there?"
"Yeah we've been up and down all night, he's feeding a lot which is a great sign and I don't mind too much, I'll sleep when he sleeps"
"Just let me know as soon you're home. I'll wait until you're settled"
"You're always welcome to come round you know that, but I will. You'll be back in England after Miami won't you?"
"We will, couple more days after the race and then yeah"
"How is it going?"
"Hannah I'm not talking about work with you" I scolded her, there was no way I was talking about work with her, she wasn't even sure if she would actually return to the MTC
"Why?"
"Because you're on maternity leave, and you've literally just had a baby"
"Fine. How are you then?"
"I'm good, going okay. Now please rest okay? I will text you as always but don't worry about responding. Focus on that beautiful little man there and yourself okay? I love love love you"  I said, making sure she focused on herself and her bubba
"I love love love you Alex, thank you for everything and I can't wait to see you!"
"Same here! Now sleep, I will see you soon!"
"I will, and if I don't speak to you before. Happy birthday!!"
"Thank you angel, I'll see you soon"

I was literally over the moon with that little surprise. It made me smile. I text Liam immediately and made sure he was okay and had everything sorted, and then I arranged to send some flowers and things to the house for when Hannah got home. I skipped out the office and found Daniel waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me.
"Why so happy?" He asked as he put his arm round me and placed a kiss on the side of my head. I smiled and my phone pinged with a long text from Liam and a picture of the baby as well. I showed Daniel my phone
"Hannah rang me, she's had her baby. He's so cute and small and squishy" I gushed staring at the phone
"Aw that's lovely, they both okay?"
"They are, can't wait to see them" I smiled as we ordered our lunches from the cafeteria. I sat down opposite Daniel as we ate and he watched me the whole time.
"You want that?" He asked, I looked up at him confused
"Want what?"
"What Hannah has?" He asked
"We're not going to have that conversation here" I said to him. Some things weren't for work time, and especially not in a crowded cafeteria either.
"Okay" Daniel agreed.
"How was the Trevor thing? You looked really good" I smiled at him
"It was good, I've been on the show before and I know him well. I looked good?" Daniel raised his eyebrows at me, as if he didn't look good all the time
"Yes you did" I smiled. I thought about the blue jacket he wore, and then coupled with his usual jewellery he wore, for me it was a recipe for disaster
"Hmm, interesting" he smirked. His head couldn't get any bigger, I wondered sometimes why I paid him these compliments.
"You know you did so shut up" I laughed
"Well your opinion is the only one I care about so that's fine" he smiled. I rolled my eyes at him.

We sat eating together and chatted about other things before he was pulled back to do some other things. He was very busy, as were we preparing for the pre race show opening party, they were going big for the first race here.