Thursday January 2nd, 2020.
Heikki Huovinen left his case in the hall and walked through the lounge towards the kitchen. Although he hadn't been here for just over six years he still remembered his way around the place as though he'd only been here yesterday, at one point this house had been almost like a second home, or maybe a third one if he counted the one that Seb owned that he'd be staying in. Thinking about that place, he was yet to go there and he was well aware that it still contained Antti's belongings as the former PT was still due to turn up and clear out. Entering the kitchen he spied the Nespresso coffee machine, as Seb didn't drink coffee he assumed it belonged to his wife. Then he spotted the large fridge-freezer, he went straight over to it and opened it, keen to see what his driver was currently indulging in.
"Can I help you?" A woman's voice disturbed him and he hastily shut the fridge door and spun around to face her. Seb had already spoken to him about Chloe and her current condition and how she might not be particularly welcoming today after having to say goodbye to her family this morning but he was still a little shocked by her pale, tired appearance.
"Hi." He smiled, running a hand back through his blonde hair, keen to make a good first impression on her. He stepped forward and held his hand out to her. "I'm....."
"Heikki, I know, I remember you." She said in a monotonous tone, brushing past him to go and get herself a glass of water.
"You do?" He wasn't expecting this.
"You were Seb's PT at Red Bull." She replied with her back to him as she turned on the tap.
"Yeah, I was." He was going to say how he knew that she'd worked for Michael and that he unfortunately couldn't quite remember her but she seemed in no mood to talk.
"So are you here for an interview or something?" She filled a glass and turned around, it was then that he noticed she was still wearing pyjamas - at nearly two in the afternoon.
"No, I'm back here as Seb's PT for this year, or as long as he needs me." He masked his surprise, obviously for whatever reason, Seb had failed to tell her that he'd got a replacement for Antti. As he took in her pretty, but pale face he wondered if she could be anaemic, being pregnant it was highly possible.
"Sorry about that, I had to take that call." Seb said as he walked in, he stopped as soon as he saw his wife. It was the first time he'd seen her since her parents and grandmother left at seven this morning. "Hey, how are you feeling?" He walked straight over to her and Heikki stood back, watching with interest. She just shrugged her shoulders in response. "Have you had any sleep? You look exhausted."
"No." She shook her head and looked to the clock on the wall. Shouldn't she have heard from her mum by now to say they'd got back ok?
"Your mum said she'd text as soon as she could after landing, try not to worry." He knew exactly what she was thinking. "Want me to get you something to eat?"
"I'm not hungry."
"Chloe, please, you really need to eat." He took a step closer to her.
"What I need is my parents and nan to still be here but they're not because you wanted to have me on your own."
Seb couldn't help but roll his eyes, he'd had this all day yesterday. She'd laid the responsibility firmly on him for her family going home despite everyone trying to tell her otherwise. "Liebe, we've been through this, please don't keep pushing me away."
"I'm tired and I feel sick." She muttered, her new default response to getting out of situations she didn't want to be in, especially ones involving her husband. "I'm going back to bed."
"You're probably anaemic through not eating properly, that's why your tired." Heikki said suddenly. Chloe's head swiftly turned in his direction.
"I'm sorry? When I want your input, I'll ask for it. I'm tired and sick because I'm pregnant, not that it's any of your business." She turned and walked away, not giving either of them another glance.
"I'm sorry." Seb sighed and leant back against the counter, wearily rubbing his forehead. "Things are a bit difficult at the moment, she's quite fragile."
"It's ok, I understand." Heikki looked to the door that she'd left through and then at Seb's pained expression. It seemed that a full on training schedule might be off the cards for a while, it was clear that his focus was going to be very much else where. "Why don't we take a seat and you can run me through your past schedule and routines that Antti took you through, then we'll go through the diet plans."
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It was getting dark when Chloe eventually ventured back downstairs, looking at the case in the hall it was clear that Heikki was still here and with no one about as she entered the lounge she figured that both men must be in the gym. Walking through into the kitchen she could hear the rhythmic thumping of music coming from the gym and she sighed as she headed to the coffee machine. This is fucking typical. He makes my family fly home so that he can supposedly spend time alone with me and then he decides to start his new training schedule the same day. Bastard. She popped a pod into the machine and then placed her mug underneath it, she waited patiently while her drink was dispensed and then took it to sit at the breakfast bar. Having heard from her mum via a text to say that they'd landed safely and then another one to say they'd got back home ok, her mood was only slightly better and she'd managed to get about an hours sleep. Looking at her phone, she decided to have a flick through Instagram and Pinterest and before she knew what she was doing she found herself looking at images of Seb. Gorgeous, handsome Seb. Maybe she'd been a bit harsh on him, maybe her parents really were trying to give her a not-so-gentle shove forward in her recovery and help her to start to rebuilding things with him. But then maybe he'd orchestrated this whole thing just to get her alone and try to force her into remembering things.
"You've got the real thing through there, you know." Heikki stopped beside her and pointed in the direction of the gym, making her jump.
"How long have you been in here?" She locked her screen quickly.
"Only a minute or so. Did you not hear me come out of the gym?" He went to the fridge and grabbed two bottles of water.
"No." She answered glumly.
"Did you get any sleep up there?"
"A little."
"If you've got the ingredients here, I know a great iron boosting smoothie I can whip up for you." He offered. "It's not good for a pregnant lady like yourself to be anaemic."
"You should get back to Seb." She went back to looking at her phone. It should be him out here looking after me, not you.
"I'm sure he won't mind me taking a few minutes to make you a smoothie." He put the bottles down and spying the fruit bowl, was quick to grab a banana and an orange from it. "I just need some spinach, some yogurt, chia seeds and ice cubes." He flashed her a smile as he gracefully navigated his way around the kitchen as if he'd always lived here, grabbing what he needed from the fridge and freezer and finding chia seeds in a cupboard. "He still keeps stuff in the same places." He muttered to himself while starting to peel the banana before chopping it up and dropping it into a blender. He noticed how she hadn't turned down his offer to make this for her but she'd fallen silent and looked sad, lonely and like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders while looking at her phone. "I used to make this for my girlfriend when she was pregnant with our daughter." He said, trying to get her talking.
"You've got kids?" She asked, looking up from her phone and actually taking in his appearance for the first time. He was certainly a looker, with a strong chiselled jawline, a classically handsome face, blue-grey eyes and darkened blonde hair that she suspected would lighten over the spring and summer months. Under his tight black t-shirt was undoubtedly a strong, muscular body; he was most certainly easy on the eye. But he's not a patch on Sebastian, not even close....
"Just the one, she's two now. Her name is Eeva, spelt the Finnish way of course." He smiled as he thought of his blonde haired little girl, he was missing her already.
"I didn't know there was a different way of spelling it." She admitted whilst ignoring the thought that had just crossed her mind.
"With two E's at the start." He said as he started throwing orange segments in with the banana.
"I guess she's at home with her mum?" Chloe asked, starting to show a little interest.
"Yeah." He looked up from what he was doing, happy that he'd got her talking.
"You're still with Eeva's mum?"
"Liisa? Yeah, we're still together. She'll be coming over to visit as soon as I'm settled here."
"I suppose she's got two L's at the start of her name." She remarked with a teasing hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Close, two I's." He grinned as he ripped up some spinach leaves and noticed a wry smile form on her lips.
"It must be tough knowing you'll spend quite a lot of time apart this year."
"It'll be tough, for sure, but she's going to try and come to a few races, especially the European ones." They fell quiet while he added the rest of the things to the blender and he turned it on. She watched as the mixture turned green until he switched it off and found a tall glass to pour it into.
"I remember you as being the guy responsible for helping Seb to win his four titles." She commented as he poured the smoothie into a glass.
"I must admit, it's one of my greatest achievements, though Seb did all the hard work." He put the glass down in front of her, watching as she pulled a face.
"It's green." She stated, looking somewhat revolted.
"Tastes better than it looks, trust me." He replied, going to another cupboard and finding her a straw. "Try it." He dropped the straw into her glass and she looked at him before taking the straw in her fingers and tentatively putting it between her lips. She took a tiny sip and her brows shot up.
"I've got to hand it to you, this is actually ok." She was genuinely surprised.
"A couple of those everyday will make you feel less tired and much better, I promise."
"Thank you." She said sincerely, she decided that she liked Heikki, he could turn out to be a good friend.
"You're welcome."
"You can make me up a whole load of these if you like."
"It's best if they're made and consumed fresh but I'm more than happy to make you some more whenever I'm here." He smiled, pleasantly surprised at the progress he'd made with her after her slightly hostile attitude earlier. He wondered if he could smooth the path between her and Seb. "Can I talk to you about Seb?" Even with the straw between her lips he could see her brief lift in mood plummet.
"What about him?"
"Obviously I know what's happened in the past and he's brought me up to date with how things are between you two."
"Has he now." She muttered darkly.
"He's just told me that things are a bit tense at the moment. He cares about you, he loves you."
"He made my parents fly home."
"You know that's not true, it was their decision. Seb would never do anything like that, from what he's said to me he's loved having a houseful of people. He wasn't sure that you were ready for your parents to leave and to be honest, he still thinks that but they wanted to go - for the right reasons."
"You seem to know an awful lot considering you've been here less than a day." She snapped, then felt guilty. "I'm sorry."
"It's ok. We had a good talk in the car on the way from the airport and we've been talking in the gym, I think he's needed someone else to talk to." He glanced behind him in case Seb was coming. "He's told me you two were getting on well up until Christmas Day, he just wants to get back to where you both were."
"I feel like he wanted my parents out of the way because he thinks that us being alone will magically make me remember."
"He didn't want your parents out of the way but you can't blame him for wanting to spend some time alone with his wife. He loves you and he misses you."
"Heikki, please don't." She said, starting to feel upset as the guilt began to creep back in.
"Have either of you spoken to anyone since you've been out of hospital?"
"In what way?" She asked, suspicious of where his question could be leading to.
"Like a therapist or a counsellor. Look, I have a friend back home who's excellent in dealing with couples....."
"Are you suggesting that we have marriage counselling?" She cut in, aghast at the thought of speaking to a complete stranger about their personal life even though Heikki was pretty much that himself.
"No, not that, but you've both been through a lot and I wonder if it would do you both good to speak to someone. They'd fly over here to see you."
"Not a chance, we do not need therapy." She said quickly, her tone harsh.
"He'd see you individually, not together."
"No. Now please drop it."
"Ok." Heikki put his hands up in defeat.
"There you are. I was beginning to wonder if you'd gone to the lake for that water." Seb said as he walked in. Again, his eyes fell straight on his wife and she looked back at him as though he was the last person she wanted to see. Her being so off with him was hurting him badly and he just didn't know how to get through her.
"I've made her smoothie, hope you don't mind." Heikki spoke up, sensing the angry look Chloe was giving Seb.
"That's fine." Seb replied, still looking at her. It hurt even more that he'd offered to make her something earlier and she'd refused, yet his trainer could make her a smoothie and that was ok. "How are you feeling, any better?" He asked, desperate to say something, anything, to her.
"I'm taking this up to my room." She muttered, slipping off of the stool and grabbing the glass.
"Chloe, please....." He went to walk over to her.
"Go back to your training." She snarled as she walked away with tears running down her cheeks. She badly wanted to get back to the sanctuary of her room. She felt tired, angry and extremely tearful and with no one else to vent to poor Seb was getting it on the odd occasion that she was seeing him. This in turn made her feel even more guilty because she knew that deep down, he didn't deserve it. She knew he hadn't sent her parents away but she wanted to lash out and he was the only person here. Blaming him for her parents not being here was her way of lashing out and staying in her room and out of his way meant that she was saving him from the brunt of it at least. Getting in to her room and kicking the door shut behind her, she suddenly had the urge to pee. This was another reason why she'd not been sleeping so well because it felt like her bladder had shrunk to the size of a grape and was making her pee a lot. It was yet another unfortunate side effect of pregnancy. Putting her glass down on the nightstand, she traipsed her way into her en-suite and did what she had to do. As she wiped herself with the toilet paper afterwards she didn't know why she wanted to look at it, but she did and she noticed something. Blood. She looked up at the door for a second and then back down again. It was still there. She looked down at her knickers, a couple of spots were visible on the lilac material. Her stomach lurched and she went ice cold. There wasn't a lot of blood on the toilet paper, only a tiny, tiny amount, just enough that it was noticeable and it wasn't bright red in colour but it was there and it made her feel sick with fear. She could feel her heart starting to beat faster, along with her breathing and she started to shake. Getting up, she re-dressed and flushed the toilet before washing her hands. She looked at herself in the mirror; if she'd looked pale before, now she looked white. She ran from the en-suite, through the bedroom and out onto the landing. Then she stopped, telling herself not panic and that this was probably perfectly normal but it still didn't stop the fear from eating away at her. At a slower, careful pace she made her way down the stairs, through the hall and then into lounge. As she opened the door to the gym she couldn't even remember the walk through the lounge and kitchen but Seb and Heikki were already back in there on a large mat starting to do some cool down stretches and Seb stopped the second he saw her, as did Heikki when he saw how white she looked.
"Are you ok?" Seb practically ran over to her, she looked ghostly pale and absolutely petrified. Had she had a flashback?
"Seb....uhm....." She gripped hold of his arm, he could feel her shaking.
"It's ok." Sure that that's what had happened, he didn't hesitate in pulling her close and wrapping his arms around her. While it pained him to see her like this, inside he was now daring to hope that he'd got his wife back. If she remembered what had happened in Norway, then surely that meant she'd remembered how she felt about him? "I'm here, you're safe. It's good that you're remembering." He felt her press her face against his chest for a moment until she looked up at him and shook her head every so slightly.
"No, it's not that." She bunched up his t-shirt in her fists, her heart was hammering in her chest and she was starting to feel as though she could faint.
"Then what is it?" Her frightened eyes were starting to seriously worry him.
"I think...." She began, right on the edge of bursting into hysteria. "There was blood....."
"Blood? Where?" He asked quickly, studying her expression closely, although really, he already knew.
"I'm not even sure....." She said, her voice shaking along with her entire body. Seb kept still, listening closely. "It was just a tiny bit maybe....but definitely blood."
Heikki watched as Seb's face paled. "Chloe, was it there when you went to the toilet?" He asked, trying to gain some more information out of her while Seb looked as though he was free-falling into panic. She looked at him and nodded and then looked back at Seb, wordlessly asking for his help.
"On the toilet paper." She said, her voice getting stronger but her panic sounding stronger with it. "Seb, I think I'm bleeding." She burst into tears and buried her face back against his chest.