For a while it is so quiet that it's almost as if all the sound has been put on mute. It's like the waves aren't crashing on the shore, as if there are no people on the beach, no seagulls squawking. There's complete silence while Seb and Melissa are processing what Stevie just told them.
They thought they were going to hear if Stevie's cancer was back or not. Hearing their friend announce that she is six weeks pregnant was not on their bingo card for today.
"You're joking! You're fucking joking!" Melissa suddenly breaks the silence. Luckily Cole head his headphones on so he can't hear her swearing, otherwise he would have said something about it.
Stevie shakes her head.
"Not joking. It's true."
She can imagine this news is a bit of a shock. She is still trying to wrap her head around it herself. Just a couple of hours ago she thought she would hear she had cancer again and she would need some sort of treatment or surgery. But that is not the case, she doesn't have cancer, she is growing another life in her belly.
During the ultrasound of her breast doctor Houston saw the lumps, but he didn't see anything alarming.
"I have to say these seem completely harmless. I understand why you were worried, but I can already see these are not tumors." He told Stevie after prodding her boob for a while.
"It's not? But what are they then? Cysts?" Daniel asks with a huge sigh of relief.
"No I don't think so. It's just breast tissue. Nothing scary, nothing strange. Definitely nothing that we need to do something about."
Just to be safe he also checked her other breast, but he didn't see anything that shouldn't be there either.
He wiped the gel of Stevies skin and told her to pull her dress back up.
"I'm going to check the test real quick, but I'm not worried about what's going on in your breasts. It's completely innocent."
He then proceeded to walk to his desk and he picked up the test. A large smile appeared on his face.
"Well this explains it." He came back and showed them the test. There was one word, clearly visible on the small display: 'pregnant'
Stevie just gasped, her jaw dropped and her mind was blown. She could feel her heart rate go up to what felt like 300.
She is pregnant? Just because she forgot that injection she is now pregnant.
She slowly turned her head to see Daniel's reaction and there were tears forming in his eyes.
"Daniel?" She whispered. A bit nervous for what he felt about this.
He looked at her and smiled from ear to ear. Happiness just glowing around him as if his aura suddenly lit up.
"You're pregnant?! We're going to have a baby!" He could hardly contain his joy, tears were now running down his face, but they were clearly happy tears.
"We're going to be parents again! And I'm going to be there from the start. Oh my god baby this is fucking amazing!"
He wrapped his arms around her in a bone crushing hug. She let out an 'ooof' when he squeezed her tightly, making him loosen his grip quickly.
"I'm sorry, I have to be careful, you're carrying precious cargo. Oh my god, how far along do you think you are? When is this baby going to be born?" He just didn't know what to do with himself, firing questions at her she couldn't answer.
She had no idea how far along she was and when the due date will be. She didn't even expect to hear she was pregnant right now.
"I don't know. Can't be that long." She tries to think back to when her last period was, that must have been about six or seven weeks ago. How did she not realize she missed her period?
True with that injection she didn't really have a regular period anymore, so she just thought it would come at some point.
"We can do an ultrasound to check." Doctor Houston suggests. He is thrilled to give this lovely couple this amazing news. When he saw the information of the appointment he dreaded it a bit. Having to tell somebody they have cancer, especially a young woman who thought she conquered it, is the one thing he hates about this job.
But now he got to tell them they were expecting which made his entire day. The joy he sees in Daniel's eyes and the surprise Stephanie is showing on her face is enough to put a smile on his face that he won't be able to get rid of for a while.
"Yeah ok let's do that." Stevie nods and she lays back down on the table, this time pulling the skirt of her dress up, revealing her flat stomach.
Again Rodney squirts some gel on her skin and he starts to look for the uterus with the probe. It's a bit of a search as Stevie just emptied her bladder and that makes it a bit harder to find what he is looking for, especially in the early stages of pregnancy.
But he locates the uterus and inside he sees a tiny bean shaped spot on the screen.
"There it is." He points it out for Stevie and especially for Daniel who has never seen an ultrasound from so early in a pregnancy before.
The ones he saw from his sister were from when she was a lot further along. You could really see that it was a baby in there.
Now he just seas something that looks most like a bean or a tiny shrimp.
But that tiny shrimp is their baby. A little brother or sister for Cole and Zara. It's his dream and it is happening.
Cole and Zara are his kids, that will never change and he loves them more than life itself. He is just sad he wasn't there at the beginning. This time he is though.
This time he will be there for every step, he will see Stevie's body change, her belly growing until it's round and full of their baby. He will be able to feel the baby kick and he will be there to support her through it. He will be there to watch their baby being born and he will be there when it will cry for the first time.
His heart is exploding with love and happiness as he looks at the screen where their little bean is visible.
"I'm going to try to let you hear the heartbeat. I have to warn you, it's still early so I might not be able to get it. But I do see the heart beating, so it looks very good." Rodney tells them as he turns on the sound of the machine.
There's some white noise as the probe moves a bit and for a bit he doesn't think he'll be able to get a sound.
Until suddenly the room fills with the fast 'woosh, woosh, woosh' of the baby's heart beating inside his tiny chest.
"That's it. That's your babies heartbeat." He says.
Daniel feels more tears spill from his eyes. He can't only see their baby, he can now also hear its heart beating, which means it's alive and doing well.
"When I measure the fetus I can tell you are now six weeks and one day pregnant. Which means you're due date will be around the 26th of December. It's a Christmas baby." He tells the happy couple.
"A Christmas baby?! Oh wow that's ... just wow." Daniel glows with pride. He made a baby, together with Stevie of course, but they created life. They are going to have a little combination of the both of them and even though Christmas sounds very far away, he knows at least he'll have winter break so he can be there for Stevie and the baby.
"I drank wine a couple of times these last few weeks. Do you think that will harm the baby?" Stevie asks the doctor.
"I don't think so. At the moment everything looks how it should for six weeks. So don't worry about it too much. Just start taking prenatal vitamins and watch your food from now on. You've already been through it twice. You know what to do." Rodney smiles at her making her feel a lot better instantly.
"Thank you very much. This is not what we expected to hear today, but I think it's safe to see we are both beyond happy." Daniel says, his smile not leaving his face.
"Don't thank me. I'm very happy that I didn't have to give you bad news."
Again he cleans Stevie's skin so she can get off the bed.
"You can just call your obgyn or midwife at home who will do your checks. I wish you a very good pregnancy and send a card when he or she is born." He smiles.
"We will. Thanks again." Stevie picks up the test to take with her and Rodney hands Daniel the picture he printed from the ultrasound.
"Good luck with the race this weekend. I'll be rooting for you." He winks. He obviously recognized Daniel straight away, but he gets to see celebrities every day, so he knows how to stay professional.
Daniel's eyes widen before he starts to laugh.
"Thanks. I'll do my best. I need Seb to drink from my shoe again."
They then say goodbye and get back in the elevator to go down to the parking garage where they left their car. The atmosphere completely shifted from a scared tension to a surprised, happy shock.
They both need some time to process and let this realization sink in for a bit.
It will be tough, having three kids under the age of four, but it is what Stevie always wanted. To have children close in age and for her to be young so once they are all grown up she is still young enough to enjoy many years with the man she loves. At least that's what she hopes. You never know what the future will hold, but if all goes well Cole will turn twenty when she is just in her forties. So by the time she is heading towards fifty, the kids will be all grown up.
"Are you happy?" Daniel asks her after they get in the car.
"I am yeah. It's just a lot to take in. I really did not expect this at all. And you? Are you happy?" She already knows he is, but she wants to hear him say it.
"I'm ecstatic. It may be a bit sooner than we first planned, but I'm really looking forward to it. It's going to be crazy though and maybe I should make this season my last. I can't let you take care of three kids on your own."
Stevie's neck almost snaps when she turns her head to look at him.
"Are you crazy? You shouldn't retire because we are having a baby. The decision on when you retire should only be made if you are ready to stop racing. We will figure it all out. Besides this baby will be born during winterbreak. So by the time the season starts again it will be almost 3 months old, which means he or she can just travel with us."
Sure traveling with three young kids will be a challenge, but she isn't alone in this. She has Daniel and Tina. Also Melissa and Seb often fly with them, just as a lot of the team members. She's not going to be on her own at all. She managed with Cole and Zara, this third baby will be no different. Or at least she hopes.
All of a sudden Stevie realizes something.
"The wedding! We won't be able to get married on New Year's Eve." Her face drops realizing: first of all, she's never going to fit in the dress she chose if she just gave birth and second of all, if this baby is indeed born around Christmas she's going to be in no shape to get married a couple of days later.
"So? We can always move it forward and get married during summer break. I'm sure my mom won't mind helping arrange things. We don't have to find a venue, all we need is some catering and somebody to arrange the music. Oh and we will have to check if your dress can be ready by then of course." Daniel makes it sound like it's no problem, while Stevie can't imagine being able to plan a wedding in such a short time.
Maybe with the help of Grace it's possible, she just isn't sure about the dress though.
"I will have to call the store to see what the possibilities are. If I'm six weeks now, I'll be about 18 weeks by then. I'll be showing a bit of a bump so I hope I'll be able to fit in the dress."
"Let's not stress about that yet. First of all let's just enjoy the fact that we made a baby. We will talk about the wedding later. Do you want to tell people right away or should we wait?" He would love to call his parents right now, but he knows it is still very early and things can go wrong.
"We will have to tell Seb and Melissa. They are waiting for news. But we could fool them a bit and look all shocked when we get in. Or is that really cruel?" Stevie grins.
It's probably something Melissa would do herself, just to prank them.
"No we can definitely do that. And our parents?" Daniel asks her.
"I've always told them as soon as I found out. You don't expect things to go wrong, but having people who care about you knowing about it, means you also have people who will support you if things do go wrong. So we can call them today if you want."
Daniel smiles, his mom is going to cry, his dad might as well. But they are going to be over the moon. They always wanted a large family, but didn't have more than his sister and him, so now they are hoping for a lot of grandkids. They will be stoked that number five will be added to the family this year.
"Just one thing. Just because this is going to be a Christmas baby, we're not naming it Noël." Stevie decides.
"I agree. Do you want to keep the four letter names going though? Because it would be cool to have a name that fits with Cole and Zara." Daniel already has some names in mind.
"That would be nice. If you agree of course. With Cole and Zara I was the one who chose the names, Mitch couldn't care less. But now it's also up to you." Stevie just knows how involved Daniel is going to be. He will be there every step of the way, he will probably want to wrap her in bubble wrap to keep her and their baby safe.
"We will decide together. Then the next big question, do we want to know what we're having before he or she is born or should we keep it a surprise?" He asks.
"That is up to you. I've done both, with Cole I didn't know, but with Zara I did. So for me it doesn't matter."
Daniel doesn't know if he would want to know. But he has time to think about that. It's too early to tell now anyways.
"I don't know yet. But it's not like I have to decide now."
Right now what he has to do is just realize that Stevie is pregnant with his baby and he will have to make sure she is safe and healthy.
"Should you keep working though? And all that traveling, isn't that a problem?" He asks her, suddenly worried about their busy lifestyle.
"I worked with Cole and Zara up till I was around 36 weeks so that shouldn't be a problem and as far as I know you can fly until somewhere in the 30 weeks as well. I'll have to check that to be sure. So I don't know if I'll be there until the very end of the season, but as long as it all goes well, I'm going to continue working and traveling with you."
Of course she has already done this twice, so she will know what she can and can't do. For him this is the first time and as long as that baby is inside Stevie he can't do anything, except to make sure she is ok. He already feels useless, odds are he will feel that way all the way through pregnancy and the birth. It's not like he can do much with that either. Still that's a long way ahead. He has every intention to enjoy Stevie's pregnancy and he hopes she will be able to enjoy it too.
~~~~~~~~
"Wow guys this is amazing news. Congratulations. So how are you feeling about it?" Seb asks their friends.
"I feel amazing. Especially when you think you go to a doctor to hear whether you have cancer again or not and you find out you're pregnant. I really have to flick a switch in my head and let it land I guess. It's just not what I expected to find out today." Stevie smiles.
She is truly happy though, this baby may be unexpected and maybe a bit soon in the relationship. It's so very welcome.
"And Daniel? You must be pretty shocked yourself. You know you two are proper assholes though. When you walked in I honestly thought shit hit the fan and it was bad news. Remind me to never play poker against you." Melissa pouts.
"Sorry, we just wanted to mess with you guys a bit, but that was probably not very nice of us."
Stevie feels a bit guilty, but she is just too happy to feel very bad about it.
After talking for a while Melissa and Seb decide to leave them so they can call their parents.
Right after they leave, Zara wakes up so they try to call their parents together with her, Cole just nodded off on the couch so they just let him sleep.
They wanted to call Grace and Joe first, but soon realized it was twelve hours later in Perth, which meant it was already in the middle of the night there. So they decide to call them before going to bed later tonight.
"Alright let's call your parents then. What do you think they will say?" Daniel asks Stevie before FaceTiming his in-laws.
"They will probably cry. My dad maybe even more than my mom." Stevie laughs. Her father is such a huge man, but he also has the softest personality when it comes to his family and especially his grandkids.
"Let's see if you're right."
Daniel presses Trudy's name on the screen to video call her. They are probably having a nice quiet evening which will now be disturbed by some really good news.
"Hey there! We didn't expect a call from you tonight. How is Miami?" Trudy answers the call.
"It's amazing. We went to the beach yesterday and the kids went again with Seb and Melissa today." Stevie answers her mother.
Her dad also appears on the screen next to Trudy.
"Why did Seb and Melissa take them to the beach?" He asks.
"Because we had somewhere to be. Please don't freak out, but there's something you need to know." Stevie says, instantly alarming her parents.
"What is it? Is everything ok?" Trudy asks worried.
"So last night I discovered some lumps in my breast." Stevie starts and she can see the fear appearing on her parents faces.
"Oh Steevs, please tell me you're ok." Her dad pleads.
"That's why we were busy today. Melissa managed to get me an appointment at this super fancy private clinic and I got checked there."
Stevie knows she is torturing her parents now, but they will be super happy very soon.
"And..?" Trudy is desperate to know if her daughter is still healthy.
"You really love your grandkids right?" She asks her parents who both raise their eyebrows.
"Yeah of course. What does that have to do with anything?" Peter doesn't understand why she would ask that.
"Because there's going to be one more. We found out today that I'm pregnant."
Again a moment of complete silence before both Trudy and Peter almost blow up the speakers of Daniel's phone with their cheering.
"Oh my god you horrible person. You scared the shit out of us." Trudy starts to cry, partially from relief that her daughter is fine and partially because she is beyond happy.
Their grandkids mean everything to them and having another one added to the family is a true blessing.
"Sorry mom. I just needed to build up a bit of tension before telling it. But I'm assuming you guys are happy?" Stevie grins.
"Happy? That's not even covering the load of how we are feeling now. It's more than happy, this is fantastic. How far along are you?" Peter would like to know.
"Six weeks and one day. It's going to be a Christmas baby." Daniel tells him proudly.
"Oooh how sweet.... Hang on... what about the wedding?" Trudy asks.
"Yeah we might have to change the date for that. We're thinking about moving it to summer break. Depending on my dress and if we can get it all arranged before that." Stevie nibbles her lip.
They talk a bit more with her parents before ending the call and leaving both Peter and Trudy with tears in their eyes of pure joy.
"Told you they were going to cry." Stevie laughs.
"Yeah yeah, I'm sure mine will too." He is a bit bummed that he can't call them right away, but he also doesn't want to wake them. Only a couple of more hours and then they can call them, it sure will be an amazing start of their day.
"Oh we have to tell Tina! She will have to decide if she wants to stay our nanny if we have three kids. It could be too much." Stevie really hopes Tina won't quit, she loves her friend and the kids adore her as well. But taking care of three kids all under the age of four is quite a task.
"Why don't you call her to see if she can come over. I'm sure you'd rather tell her in person." Daniel suggests.
"True. I just don't want to interrupt her time with Charles."
"Just give her a call and then she can let you know if she has time or if she will come some other day. It's Tina, she won't mind coming over for a little while." Daniel reassures her.
Stevie picks up her phone and calls Tina.
"Stevie? Is everything ok? Is there something wrong with the kids?" Tina answers.
"No no, they are fine. I... we just need to talk to you, but if you don't have time it can wait." Stevie says.
"I have time. We just came back from shopping. We can come over right now. Or if you'd rather have just me coming over that's also fine. Charles can drop me off." Tina sounds a bit nervous. Are they going to fire her? Did she do something wrong?
"Charles can come of course. Don't be nervous. It's nothing bad."
"Ok we will be there shortly." They end the call and indeed, only thirty minutes later Tina and Charles knock on the door.
Daniel lets them in and he can tell how nervous their young friend is. Charles is holding her hand trying to make her feel a bit less anxious.
"I'm freaking out, you said it wasn't something bad, but why else would you ask me to come over?"
Tina sits down on the couch where Zara has been holding on to while she is walking around.
The little girl immediately wobbles over to Tina trying to climb on her lap. Tina picks her up and Zara cuddles up against her. Tina has been a constant factor in her life since she was so little that for her Tina is almost as important as her mom and dad.
Cole is playing with some cars, he woke up from Peter and Trudy blowing up the phone so he's still a bit tired. He greets Tina quickly, but his cars are more important right now.
"I promise it's nothing bad. We just have something to tell you and we want you to take some time to think about what you want to do with that." Stevie says cryptic.
Tina looks at her questioning, she really has no idea what it could be.
"Alright, just tell me because I'm really nervous."
Stevie starts telling her about the lumps she found and how they went to the doctor this morning. Tina's face turns a couple of shades paler when she hears about the lumps.
"You know I'm here for you no matter what. What did the doctor say?" Tina holds Zara a bit tighter while Charles is rubbing her back, comforting her.
He really hopes there's nothing seriously wrong with Stevie. He knows how much Tina cares about her and honestly he really likes the young chef as well.
"The lumps are innocent. They are there because I'm pregnant." Stevie drops the bomb and just like the people who heard the news before her Tina stays quiet for a moment.
"You're pregnant? Like... you're having another baby?" She asks as her face lights up.
Stevie just nods, she can see the change in Tina's expression from stressed to excited.
"But that's amazing!!! Oh my god congratulations!!" She can't really jump up to hug Stevie because Zara is on her lap, so she carefully gets up and puts Zara on Charles' lap.
Now she has her hands free to give her friend a tight hug.
"I'm so happy for you. Are you happy? Oh wow this is just... wow!"
She lets go of Stevie so she can congratulate Daniel as well. Her heart is racing, but she is so relieved to hear Stevie is ok and that they are adding another member to the family.
"But what does it have to do with me? Where do you want me to think about?" She asks after letting go of Daniel.
"Well having two or three kids to look after is a bit of a difference. So you might want to think if you still want to be our nanny."
Tina looks at Stevie in shock.
"Are you crazy! Of course I want to stay. I can't wait for this little one. I'm not going anywhere."