The Teammate

05 - She Was Pregnant

April 2023

"I'm sorry what?" Levi demanded his fork poised halfway to his mouth filled with a mixture of potatoes and hollandaise sauce. Arabella, his younger sister, sat across from him poking at her own food, a look of innocence on her face. Like she thought it was a fact that he should already know.

"I said what I said." She shrugged, picking at a smaller potato she poked it and brought it to her mouth.

"You mean to tell me," he lowered his fork back down to his plate, "that you, Mrs. I only love my snowboard, has a boyfriend?" Bella just shrugged.

"I wouldn't say boyfriend." She admitted. "We are choosing not to label it."

"There it is." Levi pulled his fork back to his mouth, finally taking the bite. "How long has it been?" Bella narrowed her eyes at him.

"Since the photoshoot I did last month, the one with the Formula One car." Levi's fork clattered against his plate as his mouth fell open.

"You're fucking kidding." Bella just smiled, taking another bite. "You're dating a Formula One driver?"

"Not just any Formula One driver." She countered. "Max Verstappen." Levi shook his head, grabbing his fork he filled it up with more of his breakfast.

"That's insane." Then his brows furrowed as if he just realized something. "Wait, is that why you went to the race in Saudi?"

"If the next question out of your mouth is if you can come to the next one, the answer is no." Levi held his hands up in protest.

"What?" She giggled at her brother's reaction. "You don't want your big brother to meet your not-boyfriend?"

"That's not why." Levi laughed.

"Sure." A ringtone cut through the small restaurant, and Levi, still smiling, pulled his phone out of his pocket. His smile faltered slightly at the number, but he answered it anyways. "Hello?" A pause. "This is he." Bella shoveled more food into her mouth. "Great, we'll be right there." Instead of hanging up, the voice on the other end spoke again. "No, I won't be on my own, I'm bringing my sister; Arabella." Another pause. "Yes, thank you." Bella took another massive bite. "See you soon, bye."

"What was that about?" He slid the phone back in his pocket before answering, not looking at his sister.

"Dad's done with his tests."

"Was I not supposed to come?" Levi shook his head finishing off the plate in front of him.

"They were just curious if it was going to just be me or not." He finally looked up at her, wiping his face with his napkin. "it's no big deal." He shrugged and despite not being completely convinced, Arabella dropped it.

They finished their plates and paid the bill, before leaving the small restaurant and walking the few minutes down to the medical center. Everything about her hometown was exactly the same as she remembered it the last time she had visited. Since she was from a small fishing town in the Netherlands, she had spent most of her time away from home training and competing. So, coming home had always been a comforting feeling. Everything about the town felt like home, everything except the medical center.

The Medical center didn't hold a lot of fun memories for Bella, or the rest of her family. Within those walls was where Bella went after she broke her leg, it was where her ACL and MCL were reconstructed, but it was also where her mother died, and now it was where her father was.

Walking through the stale-colored hallways brought back not only memories but a mixture of emotions. All that Bella had shoved down over the years, threatened to come bubbling up and spill over the edge. It took everything in her to keep herself calm and collected as they got closer to her father's room, especially under the heavy fluorescent lights that had started to make her eyes ache.