May 2021, Monaco.
Chloe rubbed her large but tender belly as she stood outside looking up at the rear of the beautiful five bedroomed property that was home for the Monaco Grand Prix weekend. It felt unreal that it was two years since she'd last been here, so much had changed. Last time she'd been Sebastian Vettel's girlfriend and had stayed here with his parents, his daughters and his ex. Their stay had been eventful with Leonie's brief disappearance after her parents had argued outside a restaurant and who could forget what had happened on the pool table with her gorgeous Seb? Now she was his wife and was staying here with his parents and their first child together, Luis, while inside her their unborn twins were getting ever closer to their big day.
Seb smiled as soon as he found his wife outside, looking up at the large house, her eyes full of memories. It was a sweet, precious moment, a gentle reminder that at the end of 2019 her mind had been cruelly but thankfully temporarily, wiped of all of their most special moments together. He'd already been and found the games room but with her being so heavily pregnant he knew that a re-match wasn't going to happen this year, at least the memory of what they did in that room was still fresh in his mind. "There you are." He announced his presence, making her eyes dart to meet his.
Noticing him wearing his logo'd long sleeved tee, she knew that he was ready to head down to the track - without her.
"Liebe, we agreed that it's best for you to stay here. It'd be too much for you at the circuit, all the walking from hospitality to the garage, all the time on your feet....." He stopped beside her, turned to face the house and took hold of her hand. He could tell by her face that she still didn't like the idea of being left behind. ".....you get tired easily at the moment, you're suffering with back pain and pain in your hips, it's best if you stay here and rest."
She tried to smile as he let go of her hand and slipped his arm around her to bring her closer to his side. "I just didn't envisage that my last race weekend would entail me staying away from the track."
"We didn't expect you having to stop travelling so soon." He replied, leaning in to kiss the side of her head. "But we'll manage, the team are well prepared to let me have as much time at home as possible. We will get through this, we can get through anything, I promise."
"Yeah." She nodded and sighed, she'd have to get used to life with Seb not by her side quite so much. It was time to start becoming less dependent on him and learn to be on her own sometimes. She rubbed her belly as it ached, no doubt it was coming out in sympathy with her back. Seb was right, as much as she wanted to go with him, it would be too much right now and at least this way she'd also be safe from the pesky paps that loitered around the circuit. As the pain suddenly increased she groaned and slowly rotated her pelvis to try and ease it.
"Does it hurt that much? Is that normal?" Seb asked, moving to face her and place both hands on her big bump. It felt quite hard beneath his palms, a sign of her muscles tightening. Surely they weren't contractions? The babies weren't due yet, this would be far too early.
"It's just Braxton hicks but they're quite painful." She admitted, finding the warmth of his hands quite soothing. Hearing Britta calling him from inside the house, she knew that he'd have to leave now or be his usual famously late self arriving at the circuit.
"Are you sure that's all it is? If you think you need to see someone then just say the word and I can call Lawrence and tell him I'll be late." He looked from her beautifully round belly to her equally as beautiful face, it was etched with pain.
For a second Chloe was tempted to tell him to call Lawrence but as the pains were getting no worse and were just sharp but annoying cramps, she decided it was best to say nothing more and to let him get on with his day. "I'm sure it's nothing more than that, I'm feeling it more with two babies that's all. Now go before Britta starts to stress out more than usual about your timekeeping, I know you've got a fairly heavy schedule today."
"Ok but I'll have my phone on me as much as I can and if I haven't got it then Britta or Soph will have it." He rubbed her belly, admiring the way her navy and white striped maxi dress clung to it. "I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too." She smiled as she watched his eyes following his hands. If there was one thing she'd noticed about Seb throughout this pregnancy it was that he was even more tactile than usual when it came to her bump, he was always patting it, stroking it and kissing it even more than he had when she'd been expecting Luis.
"Ich liebe dich my beautiful baby mumma." He smiled before kissing her fully on the lips.
"Ich liebe dich auch." She returned his smile with her own as she reluctantly let him step away. Today was going to feel like a long day without him.
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Heike watched, pulling that same frown of concern that Chloe had sometimes seen Seb doing. She padded slowly around the garden, feeling the immaculately mown grass tickling the soles of her feet and in between her toes while admiring the view out towards the ocean that the rear of the house looked out on. She was trying not to think it as Chloe rubbed her belly in a large circular motion and then her back but it was difficult to ignore the pain she was in.
"Why don't you try sitting down, put your feet up for a while." Heike suggested as her daughter-in-law grimaced with the pain.
"I've tried and it doesn't help, I've even tried to have a warm bath. I just can't get comfortable."
"Shall I call Sebastian?" She asked as Chloe made her way over to the patio area and proceeded to lean on the table.
She shook her head and started to try and breathe through the pain, hoping that, somehow, it'd help. Right now the pain in her back was the worst though it shot around her belly and made her feel like someone was wringing out her insides. Maybe the twins were just sitting on some nerves somewhere? Maybe it was that that was making her Braxton hicks worse.
To Heike, Chloe looked like she was going into early labour. Getting even more worried she went back into the kitchen to get her phone and call Seb. It looked like he'd be needed back here and soon.
"Heike don't." Chloe pleaded, having seen Heike head in she'd followed her. "I'm sure it's just Braxton hicks and the babies resting on a nerve or two. It's eased a bit now anyway, it could even be trapped gas."
She locked her screen before she could hit Seb's name to call him, Chloe did look a bit better and more comfortable than she had a minute ago. "Sit, rest. I'll bring you a drink." She pointed in the direction of the lounge.
"Yes m'am." Chloe smiled at Heike's unintentionally bossy tone, Seb could be like that too sometimes though it was always a lot more 'pleasant' when he did it. She waddled through, making her way to the big lounge. The house was really quiet and felt kind of empty with it just being herself and Heike here as Norbert had decided to head down to the track with his son. She didn't mind the time alone with Heike though, it gave them another chance to spend time together and gave her mother-in-law a chance to practice her English as she'd been trying to learn the language a bit more in order for them to have conversations, something that Chloe appreciated greatly with her parents being unable to travel right now. Sitting down on the sofa, she lifted her legs up and shifted herself so that she could stretch her legs out in front of her. She looked with a small amount of disgust at her puffy ankles, one of the things that was going to stop her from travelling with Seb. She'd thought that being pregnant with Luis had been tough but this pregnancy made her last look like a walk in the park. She could barely think of any days when she'd felt normal, most of the time she'd suffered with morning sickness, then when that had ended she'd had indigestion and heartburn, then she'd felt fat, bloated and seriously unattractive while her breasts felt like they'd ballooned even more, ached and leaked. Her hormones had swung wildly throughout the whole thing, making her break out in spots (something that she'd never really suffered with all her life), get irrationally angry and irritable and cry at the slightest little thing. She'd got no doubt that poor Seb had suffered from her hormonal mood swings too. This pregnancy sucked big time and she couldn't wait for it to be over, then she'd be back on a long term contraceptive as quickly as she could, her baby making days were over as far as she was concerned. It was then when her body decided to remind her once again just how much being pregnant sucked, rewarding her thoughts with a sharp pain that knocked the breath from her lungs and made her sit up with a loud, agonised groan. She tried to catch her breath as she felt her belly tighten, this felt like the real deal.
"I'm calling Sebastian." Heike announced, having heard Chloe groaning with the pain. When she didn't disagree, Heike knew that this was bad, the twins were coming early.
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Britta stood to the side, making sure that she was off camera while a slightly awkward interview was conducted with both Seb and Mick Schumacher. Sky Germany had pulled off a crafty move, bringing Mick in halfway through the interview, something which both Seb and Britta had been none too happy about considering the history between them. While Seb had agreed, not wanting to cause a scene or provide Sky and the hovering photographers with any gossip worthy material, she knew that this would probably be the last time he spoke to the German sports channel for a while. It was just a good thing that the interview wasn't being shown live. Things had just been made especially tricky with Mick proudly mentioning how his father was here in Monaco, attending his first race since before his skiing accident, something that Chloe probably wouldn't know yet. She was wondering how Chloe would react when she found out, when Seb's phone rang in Britta's pocket.
Seb caused the interview to come to an abrupt halt as he stood up and left the table to stand by Britta as she took the call. With her speaking in German he knew it could be his mum on the phone and it immediately made him worry about his wife. The pain she'd been in this morning had been on his mind ever since he'd left her to come here.
Taking hold of the sleeve of his logo'd top, Britta pulled him away from the cameras and the large microphone that was just out of shot, close to the table. "We need to go, now." She whispered, leaning in so that only he could hear. "Heike thinks that Chloe might be in labour."
He snatched the phone from her grasp to speak to his mother himself. "What's going on?"
"She's in so much pain Sebastian, I think the babies might be coming. Should I call for an ambulance?"
Hearing Chloe groan in the background, he started to jog and then run, leaving Britta behind him. He knew she wouldn't want an ambulance and that she'd stubbornly refuse to go anywhere without him. "No, I'm on my way back to you." He cut the call and broke out into a sprint, knowing that where he'd had to leave the car was quite a distance from where his interview had been taking place.
An agonising thirty minutes later, in which every possible scenario had run through his mind as he'd battled with the extra traffic caused by this weekends events, Seb finally arrived back at the hillside mansion. He left the DBX running and jumped out to dash inside.
The house seemed eerily quiet as he entered, making him wonder if it had all been a false alarm but as he ran into the lounge he skidded to a halt when he saw his wife's tearful, frightened face, her complexion looking washed out from her pain.
Her scared eyes met his, she could instantly see that he'd been thinking some of the same things as she had on the way back here. "It's too soon." She whimpered quietly with both hands on her belly. "I'm not even thirty weeks yet."
In a heartbeat he pushed his own fear aside; she needed him to be calm and confident, not worried and stressed. "Let's get something on your feet, then we'll go."
"I'll fetch her shoes." Heike rose from her chair where she'd been keeping a constant eye on Chloe.
"Danke." He replied while heading over to his wife.
She gasped unexpectedly as he knelt down in front of her. "If you're here then you're not......"
"It's ok, don't worry about that." He put a hand on her knee as Heike passed him a pair of flat, navy pumps. "Let's get these on your feet and make a move."
She watched numbly as he proceeded to slip the shoes onto her feet. Her gorgeous Seb, always her rock, she'd got no idea what she'd do without him and he'd come back from the track just for her. "I'm sorry." She said quietly.
He got up to his feet and held his hands out to her to help her up. "Don't be, you've got nothing to be sorry for."
"I've fucked up your day." She admitted before hissing at the pain that shot through her back as she got up.
Not knowing if her pain was a contraction or just muscular, he let her stand until she didn't seem to be so uncomfortable. He had to think positive, these babies weren't coming today but if they did then they'd be fine. Lots of babies were born early and survived, there was no reason why theirs wouldn't.
Heike walked with her son and daughter-in-law to the door and watched worriedly as he helped Chloe into the passenger seat of the black DBX. "Shall me and Luis come with you?" She called out as he closed the car door.
He thought about it for a moment as he walked round to the driver's side but then shook his head. "I'll call you as soon as I have news." Opening the door he was met with the sound of his wife in pain again and as he got in she was shifting in her seat in a useless attempt to get comfortable. He'd have to break a few speed limits to get to the hospital.
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The drive to the Princess Grace Hospital was thankfully short although Chloe couldn't remember much of it, she'd spent the entire journey thinking about how small her babies would look when they were born, how fragile they'd be and how they'd start life fighting for their own survival.
As Seb switched off the engine and undone his seatbelt, it suddenly occurred to him how quiet his wife had been for much of the fifteen minute journey here. She'd held his hand but hadn't seemed to be in much pain since they'd left or maybe she was doing a good job of hiding it. Whether she was in pain or not, she looked lost in her thoughts. "It'll be ok you know." He said softly as he reached a hand down to release her seatbelt, noticing how it only just reached across her large bump. "Lots of babies are born before thirty weeks and survive. How's the pain?"
"You're so calm." She murmured, turning her head to look at him.
He patted his chest where his heart was beating rapidly. "Not in here I'm not."
"I'll need a mask." She said, sounding more flustered as Seb pulled his green Aston Martin mask from the pocket of his faded black jeans.
He leant across and opened the glovebox to pull a black disposable one out. "Sorted."
"Thanks." She took it from him, looked at it and then looked at him. "Seb?" She grabbed his wrist to stop him from putting his mask on. "Kiss me?"
A faint smile ghosted his lips and he leant in to fulfil her request.
His soft but loving kiss eased some of the tension from her body. She didn't want to admit it, she felt stupid, but she was starting to feel better now.
"Come on. Let's get you checked over." He pulled away and got out of the car, hoping that this was a false alarm and that he'd be able to take her back to the house in a short while.
After opening the door, she let him help her out of the car and then clutched tightly onto his hand as he shut the door and locked it. Like him, her eyes were darting all over the place, just in case they were seen going in to the hospital. It was when she started to put one foot in front of the other that the pain returned and with it, her panic. Grabbing handfuls of his top, she leant against him while he put his hands on her hips to help steady her. "They can't come now." She whined through the pain. "They'll be stuck here for weeks and this place will cost a fucking fortune."
"Liebe." He couldn't help but chuckle, it was typical of her to think of how much it would cost, as if he wasn't worth millions and could barely afford to pay his mortgage. "The cost is irrelevant, the health of you and the twins is not. Now, do you think you can move?"
She wasn't sure, the sharp pain in her back was shooting down her spine and round to her tummy, making her feel like someone was trying to squeeze her insides with their bare hands while stabbing her with a red hot poker. It was torture but she forced herself to move, gripping on to Seb's hand for dear life.
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Nearly four hours later and with the sound of the twin's heartbeats sounding reassuringly through the monitor, a very embarrassed Chloe felt like a total fraud as she leant into Seb who was sitting on the bed next to her.
"That's everyone filled in who needed to know, they're all as relieved as we are." Seb announced, letting out yet another relieved breath as he shoved his phone back in to his pocket.
"I feel like such a twat." Chloe hid her face behind her hands. "I can't believe I've made you miss out on the rest of media day just for false contractions, muscle spasms and a baby sitting on a nerve. I knew I should have trusted my first instinct."
"It's ok, really. You were in a lot of pain." He uncrossed and then crossed his feet again, not used to sitting around when he'd normally have been rushing from one place to the next with Britta or Sophie. "Even my mother thought you was in labour."
"I should know the difference now, I've been through it once."
"Yeah but this is a bit different, you couldn't have known and it's best to be safe. At least we know that they're not ready to come out just yet." He looked down at her belly to see the monitors strapped to it moving as the twins wriggled around inside their mother. "They're fine, that's the main thing."
"God Seb...." She groaned. "If this had happened and you wasn't here.....I don't know what I'd have done."
"You'd have coped and I'd have still hopped on a plane to come home and make sure that you were ok."
"You'd have flown home? Even for a false alarm?" She let herself relax a bit more, the thought of him doing that was incredibly reassuring.
"Of course." He lightly brushed his fingers over her shoulder where he'd just put an arm around her. "I told you I'd be there and I meant it."
With the stress of the day melting away and a bit of gentle manipulation having moved the naughty twin and helped with her back pain, tiredness began to quickly set in and she yawned. "Can we go back to the house now? I just want to go to bed."
Seb checked his watch before answering her. "Someone should be here soon to check the monitors, if everything is ok then they'll remove the monitors and then I'm sure we'll be able to leave."
"Hmmm good." She hummed tiredly, trying to twist her upper body enough to snuggle into him a bit. Getting a hit of his gorgeous scent, her senses began to wake up. "Maybe we could take a shower when we get in? Together?"
"You were tired less than a minute ago and in a lot of pain earlier on and now you want sex?" He laughed and kissed her head.
"I know I've not wanted it so much just lately but I have missed you."
"And I've missed you too but as tempted as I am to take you up on your offer, when we get back it's rest you need, not sex.
"Mmm maybe." She mumbled before yawning again and turning some more to slip a hand up underneath his top. "Kiss me."
He was about to honour her demand when a midwife walked in.
With a grumpy pout, Chloe removed her hand from inside his top and shuffled her body back to the way she'd sitting while the woman quietly went to the screen and inspected the tracings gathered from the monitors on her big belly.
"Well, everything looks perfect." The midwife, whose name was Marine, announced with a smile behind her mask. "Let's get these monitors off you and then I'll go and get your discharge papers."
Chloe's pout turned into a smile, she couldn't wait to get out of here. She was dreading how much this luxurious room was costing her husband.
"Rest when you get back home, nothing too strenuous, ok?" Marine added as she released the stretchy straps that had attached Chloe to the monitors.
"Of course." Chloe replied while wondering if Marine had heard her wanting to get her husband in the shower later.
"Don't worry." Seb slipped off from the bed and picked up his wife's dress from the chair. "I'll make sure she does as she's told."
Free from the monitors, Chloe sat up and kicked away the white sheet that had been covering her legs as Marine disappeared to fetch the paperwork. "I suppose she'll bring the bill when she gets back." She muttered as she swung her legs round and got up from the bed.
He gave her an amused smile and simply slipped her dress over her head to help her to get dressed again. When her face was visible again, he kissed her forehead while softly scolding her. "Don't think about it. It's just money, it's not important."
Slipping her arms through the arm holes, she let the rest of her dress fall to the floor, making her bump disappear under the stripes. "I know but......"
"Children cost money liebe, it's a fact of life and it's not like we can't afford it." He cut in, silencing her small protest.
She gave in, knowing that he was right, and put her navy pumps back on her feet. Now she was ready to leave. She still couldn't help but think that she caused him some extra expense. This was Monaco and the Princess Grace Hospital was bound to be more expensive than the hospital they used back in Switzerland.
Seb took the paperwork from Marine and the couple said goodbye. As they left the hospital he found himself thinking that it might not be too long before they were in hospital for the real thing. It was an exciting prospect and he just hoped that there'd be no more false alarms or dramas before the big day, he didn't want to go through a day like today again in a hurry.