UNLOCKED - LANDO NORRIS [Book 3]

23

Lando won his first race of the season. 

Max came in second and Charles finished in P3. 

I'm standing beneath the podium with the rest of the teams, watching the awards be given to the drivers and constructor. 

Charles is given his trophy and as he makes brief eye contact with me, I can't help but well up in pride for him. I raise my hands higher, celebrating with him. He nods at me slightly, sending me a wink before claiming his trophy high in the air towards a sea of cherry red. 

Max is given his trophy and he holds it high in the area as the Red Bull team to my left goes up in a roar. I flick my eyes to Lando, knowing he'll be up next and I find his gaze is already on mine, holding it tightly with the most love struck smile on his face. 

As the man approaches Lando, his gaze only breaks mine for a moment to appreciate the man but snapping right back to me. Kissing the side of his trophy and then pointing down toward me, I feel a influx of butterflies swell inside my stomach, which ironically is housing the little bean we created. 

As the three boys pick up their champagne and clink them with each other, they send Lando a knowing wink as all three of them jump off the podium at the same time and smack their bottles on the ground, pure Lando style. 

As we make it back to the hotel that night, Lando and I can't seem to keep our hand off each other, which isn't really unlike any other night. 

"You won" I mutter to him between kisses as we struggle to rid each other of the clothes we had been wearing that day. 

"I did" he stumbles back, lowering me down onto the bed carefully, crawling over the top of me, being sure to place a tiny kiss on my stomach before moving the rest of the way and pressing his lips to my neck. 

Lando rolls his body off me, laying beside me and pulling me close to him, tucking me underneath his arm. "We need to think of names" he announces. 

"We don't even know what we are having" I chuckle. 

"What do you mean?" he sasses, "You heard Carlos, it's a boy" 

I chuckle, "Hmm" I think, "I've always liked Riley, and Brady." I rattle off the tip of my tongue. 

"I like those" he agrees, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. "And what about girls?"

"I thought we were having a boy?" I mock. 

"Humour me for a minute" he deadpans. 

"Okay" I sigh, thinking a little, "I like, Luna, and Oryana and Poppy" relighting names causes a smile to spread across my face. 

"Oryana?" he asks in a sweet voice. 

I shrug my shoulders, "Just a thought?" 

"I like it" he agrees. "Do you have any idea on what we could be having? Like do you feel anything?" 

I shake my head, "I'm not too sure, I don't really have a preference though, as long as they are healthy and okay and with us, it doesn't matter to me at all" 

"Me too baby, me too" he announces, rolling himself back on top of me and gazing down on me. "We're having a baby" he gushes. 

"We are" I chuckle. 

Settling back on his heels slightly, bringing his gaze toward my tummy, "There's like a mini you and me in there" he teases. 

"I wonder if they'll get your curls" I pull my hand up and run it back through his hair. 

He gazes up at me, a cheeky smile coating his face. I cup my hands either side of his neck and pull him up to me, "and your little dimple" I pull him too me and plant a kiss on top of where his dimple has settled in his cheek, "and this little freckle" I move my lips up to the beauty spot that rests beside his nose. 

"You have no idea how much I love you, Evelyn Verstappen" he gushes. 

I dramatically pull my face into a thinking expression, "I think I'm getting an idea" I mock. 

Pressing his lips to mine, I am overcome with absolute peace and love. I couldn't imagine life getting any better than this, and to think that in only a few months we'll have our little one beside us as well, is such an overwhelming feeling. 

**********************

The past few weeks have flown by, and in between doctor visits and races, Lando and I are busy preparing for life with a baby. I'm due in September and we've decided that during the July summer break, we would head back to London and work on setting up the nursery in Lando's apartment. That was also his cheeky way of asking me to move in with him, although we both kind of just presumed that was what was going to happen. 

Most of the grid now knows of our expecting news and whilst there were some mixed reactions, the people who we cared about the most were the happiest for us and that's all that really mattered. 

Mother hasn't even spoken to me since she found out, which doesn't exactly bother me too much. I should have expected it more than anything else, but what I didn't expect was for Max to burst into a puddle of tears. Happy tears. He was so supportive and excited at the prospect of being an uncle, and I just know that no matter how shitty our parents were to us, that I was going to do better, I had too. And Max had already big plans for being the best uncle he could be. 

Although the idea of it possibly being a girl seemed to scare him a little. 

But Lando and I were now at the clinic in Miami to get our gender scan to find out exactly what was coming our way in September. 

"Are you ready for this?" He asks as we enter the clinic hand in hand. 

"I am" I breath out, excitement overtaking me. 

"Do we even want to find out? Or should we be making it a surprise?" he asks in a halt, pausing just inside the door. 

I chuckle, "I know I want to find out, but if you want it to be a surprise, you can wait outside?" I knew what his answer to that would be. 

"Okay, I'm coming in" he replies in a hurry. 

As I lay down on the bed, the sonographer takes all measurements of the limbs and spine, all looking healthy for our gestational age. We knew the gender identification was going to be the last thing to be looked into, but it was so hard not to want to get to that part and not truly appreciate looking at the tiny hands and feet, the solid heartbeat and the kidneys, knees, elbows and head of our little baby. 

"So, it's my understanding you'd like to know the gender?" The sonographer asks. 

I look over to Lando who gives me an eager nod. "Yes please" I answer. 

I keep my eyes glued on Lando, convinced that his expression will tell me everything I need to know. 

Silence fills the room as Lando's eyes fill with tears. A wave of pride overtaking his body. His face ducks to mine with a smile plastered on his face. He leans forward, placing his forehead on mine after placing a kiss to my forehead. 

"We're having a little boy" he whimpers onto my skin.