One Night (Max Verstappen)

Chapter 8 - Lifechanging News

Sitting on the edge of her bed in her Monegasque apartment, Alicia clutched her chest as her heart began to race, the silence in her apartment causing thoughts of dread to continuously swirl around in her mind after she had just returned from the bathroom, realising that surely it can't be a coincidence that this was her fourth morning in a row throwing up, the Dutchwoman realising that it surely couldn't have been something she ate because she felt largely fine during the rest of the day. She may have known that she wouldn't be able to feel anything, but her hand found itself travelling down to her flat stomach as she thought about the life which she was now almost certain must be growing inside of her, a life which herself and Max had created, but a life which she was certain he hadn't signed up for being involved in when they made their casual agreement. 

Being desperate not to ruin things between herself and Max, she attempted, but failed to talk herself out of her suspicions as she made her way to a local store to get a pregnancy test. She may have tried to envisage that there would only be a single line after she had taken it, but Alicia felt sick to her stomach during the couple of minutes of waiting, her heart sinking when two lines became visible as she now couldn't continue to escape from the truth. 

Throughout the rest of that day, her thoughts were consumed by how she was going to tell Max about the pregnancy, Alicia knowing that the right thing to do would be to tell him as soon as possible, but a large part of her wanting to wait until their next race weekend was over with it being their home Grand Prix and Max needing to be just a little more focused on getting the win than usual. It was for this reason why she knew things needed to continue as normal in Zandvoort, Alicia making the difficult decision to compete in the race even though she knew there could be risks involved. She done this to try to make people, especially Max, think that nothing had changed, but it was no secret that she wasn't herself, not just because of how the colour was sometimes drained from her cheeks, but also because of how she was frequently distracted, being consumed by guilt about her decision, but not seeing any other way in that moment.

"I'm so sorry. The last thing I want is for anything to happen to you. You've quickly become my whole world, but I don't see any other way. I never knew it was possible to fall in love so quickly, but I just wish your daddy would feel the sam-," Alicia mumbled with affection, resting her hand on her stomach as she sat in her motorhome minutes before she was expected in the garage to get into her McLaren.

However, her head shot upwards as she spoke her final word, her heart pounding even more vigorously against her chest as she heard her door opening, her eyes widening with surprise as she noticed that Max was standing in the doorway.

"Were you just talking to yourself?" He asked with a chuckle of amusement as he sat beside Alicia, who had managed to remove her hand from her stomach just in time. "I heard your voice, but I've got no idea what you were saying." 

"I'm just stressing about the race," Alicia replied somewhat truthfully after she had taken a deep breath. "You know how difficult my on track rivalry with Lando has been this season. He's beaten me during more races than not and it's especially important that this doesn't happen this weekend with it being our home race. I just want to do myself, the team and our country proud." 

"Everyone is going to be so proud of you, but no one will be more proud of you than I will, your biggest supporter," responded Max warmly as he cupped Alicia's cheeks, tilting her head up slightly, before hr pressed a gentle, but lengthy kiss to her lips.

Her heart skipped a beat at first as Max left, Alicia beginning to realise that Max done things which she wouldn't imagine would happen when things were just casual, his sweetness making her wish deep down that he would share the feelings for her which she had always had for him. However, when she was left with nothing but her thoughts once again, tears began to bubble up in her eyes as she thought about how that could have been the last moment they would share like this.

"You're not going to be my biggest supporter once you find out about the news, are you?" She muttered under her breath with sorrow, before taking a shaky deep breath as she left her motorhome.

Once she had changed into her overalls and was pulling her helmet and balaclava down over her head, she realised that this was the one time where she was struggling to get into her racing headspace, Alicia normally being focused on the upcoming race alone at this point during a race weekend, especially at Zandvoort, but thinking of nothing or no one else apart from her baby, wishing she hadn't bee so stupid to race this weekend, but knowing that there was no turning back now.