Monday July 13th. Switzerland.
"Room for one more? I've brought goodies." Seb grinned and waved a pot of Häagen Dazs ice cream at his wife along with two spoons.
"What flavour?" She asked, shuffling to make room for him to sit behind her so that she could lean back against him.
"Chocolate salted caramel." He replied as he sat down in the space she'd created.
"Two spoons?" She queried as she settled back against him, being encircled by his arms as he removed the lid and tossed it onto the table close by.
"Yeah, you don't think you're eating this all by yourself do you?" He chuckled.
"Christ Seb, you're going to go to Hungary about a stone heavier at this rate. Heikki will go absolutely mental."
"You know what? I don't care." He proclaimed as he placed a spoon into her hand. "All I care about right now is you and my boy." He kissed the side of her head and then scooped a generous spoonful out of the tub. "And the ice cream is right behind you both in a close second."
Chloe hesitated before helping herself to the ice cream while Seb let out a moan of pleasure at the taste of it. As much as she loved being in his arms like this, sharing ice cream, she couldn't help but think that he was trying to avoid the subject of his loss of love for his sport and what had happened over the weekend. She'd made a few attempts to talk to him about it throughout the day and every single time he'd changed the subject.
"It's good right?" He said as he dived his spoon in once more.
"It's lush." She agreed, licking her spoon before going for more. "Can I ask you about the weekend and how you currently feel about things?" There was silence for a moment and she heard and felt him sigh against her back.
"Where's our parents? The house seems very quiet." He said, not wanting to answer her question because nothing had changed. If anything, things were worse; made worse by the fact he'd got no decent running with the new updates to the car and that his teammate's error had been simply written off as just a bad day for the team when he knew if it had been himself who'd caused the collision then he'd have been reprimanded by Mattia, mauled by the media and the tifosi and punished by the FIA.
"Believe it or not they're in the games room which is slightly worrying because I just know that my dad will be behind your bar and they'll all be hammered before ten. Don't change the subject again Seb." She took the ice cream from his hand, deciding that it would be easier if she held it. She heard him sigh behind her and she knew he'd probably be rolling his eyes because he didn't want to answer her question, then she could feel him nuzzling his nose into her hair as he brought an arm around her front to let it rest on top of her bump. "Seb." She murmured his name quietly, her tone softly scolding because she knew he was being affectionate to try and swerve attention from what she'd asked him. Turning her head, she let him feather her cheek with little kisses, setting off sparkles of desire that made her close her eyes and lean her head towards him.
"We've run out of.....oops sorry." Chrissie stopped abruptly as she saw the couple cosied up together on the sofa with Seb showering her daughter with affection.
"It's ok." He smiled as Chloe turned to see who'd interrupted their little moment. "We were just sharing some ice cream."
"I just came out for tonic water." Chrissie admitted, feeling a little bit like a third wheel.
"You don't have to stay in the games room on our account." He dipped his spoon back into the pot which was now dripping with condensation onto his wife's bump.
"You two need your time alone together, especially with you being so busy. I better apologise now for the hangover your dad might have tomorrow though." She looked rather sheepish.
"I told you they'd get hammered." Chloe said, grabbing Seb's wrist and diverting his spoon into her mouth.
"Hey!" He exclaimed. "You've got your own spoon!"
"I'm saving you from the humiliation of being too fat to get into your race car."
"You have to be careful with anything chocolate related with my daughter around." Chrissie laughed. "I'll get the tonic water and be out of your way."
"You know where it is, right?" He asked, laughing as his wife decided to hold the Häagen Dazs at arms length in front of her so he couldn't reach it.
"Yeah, I know where it is." She wandered off towards the kitchen.
"C'mon liebe, that's not fair." He grabbed her arm to try and make her bring the pot closer.
"I'm saving you from yourself!" She giggled. "You don't want them adding the letters YFB onto the car, do you?"
"What's YFB?"
"You fat bastard!" She burst into laughter and moved from his embrace to sit cross legged facing him. His face as he laughed too gave her a warm feeling inside, she loved to see him laughing and smiling, it took years off of his face and made her suddenly realise that the past five years of driving for a high profile team like Ferrari with all of their protocols, the constant scrutiny of the harsh, fickle Italian media and the weight of expectation from the tifosi, had taken it's toll.
"What is it?" Seb watched as her laughter faded and her expression turned more serious. Behind them Chrissie could be heard creeping past with a box full of mini cans of tonic water.
"I'll put this back in the freezer." She went to get up.
"Chloe." He grabbed her wrist to stop her. "Is something wrong?"
"This will be melting." She muttered, smiling weakly.
"I'll put it back if you've had enough, you should be resting." He reached across to the table and picked up the lid.
"I can manage a trip to the freezer and back." She got up and took the lid from between his fingers. "I'm only pregnant."
He watched her walking slowly away, he smiled at the fact she'd now developed a waddle when she walked and then frowned at her sudden change in mood. Keen to know what had bothered her, he got up and followed her.
"I'm quite capable of putting a tub of ice cream in a freezer." She remarked as she opened the freezer door, knowing that he was right behind her.
"Tell me what's bothering you." He said as she put the ice cream away and shut the door. "One minute you're laughing and the next you go quiet on me and you look sad."
"It's nothing, I'm just being silly, it's my hormones." She turned around to face him, he didn't look at all convinced.
"Mrs Vettel, you either talk to me now or I'll get your mother to get it out of you." He stepped closer to her and placed his hands where her waist used to be before her belly had got so big.
"Honestly Seb, it's nothing, it's just a silly little thought I had." She reached up to place her fingertips his on face, examining the little lines on his forehead and at the corners of his eyes, eyes that looked tired of Ferrari and Formula One.
"Tell me." He smiled, enjoying her touch.
"When you smile and laugh you look young and carefree....."
"Are you trying to say I look old?" He gasped.
"If you'll let me finish Mr Vettel." She glided her palm down his cheek. "I love to see you smile and laugh, everyone does from your family to your fans. I'm not saying you look old but I am trying to say that I can see that the past five years of driving for a prestigious Italian institution has taken it's toll on you. They've not given you enough reasons to smile and laugh, I can see now that they've worn you down, they've made you fall out of love with racing. Not me or you or Coronavirus, they have. You've had the weight of Italy on your shoulders for so long, such high expectations and such harsh criticism when things haven't gone your's or Ferrari's way. Please don't take this the wrong way, I'm not saying this to criticise your looks....."
"It's ok, I know what you mean."
"It just makes me sad how they treat their drivers. When you win they put you on the highest pedestal but when you don't, nothing else apart from first place is ever good enough and they tear you down. You deserve more Seb, so much more."
"Then it's a good job I'm leaving them isn't it." He kissed her forehead. "Come on, let's go back in the lounge and sit down. You're not meant to on your feet so much, remember?"
"How can I forget with this in front of me!" She looked down at her belly.
"Nine days to go." He moved his hands to her bump. "I'm going to miss this in a way."
"I won't, I'm looking forward to seeing my feet and being able to comfortably shave my legs."
"You're not still worried about me, are you? About what will happen next year?" He asked as he took her hand and led her back to the lounge.
"I'll always worry about you, I love you." She replied. "And I just want you to be happy in what you do."
"I promise what ever I do, I'll be happy. I'll be happy because I've got you and my two, soon to be three little ones. I couldn't ask for more than that." He sat down on the sofa, extending an arm out so that she could sit next to him and cuddle up to him. "Well, I could....." He added.
"And what would that be?" She sat down and got as close to him as she could.
"Another baby."
"Seb." She groaned, cutting him off. "I can't even think about that right now."
"I know we've talked about it before but I really want this."
"At least let me give birth to L.J and give me time for my body to get back to some kind of normality before we even think about trying for another."
"So you're not ruling it out?" He asked hopefully.
"Like I've said before, let's just wait and see how things pan out. You've yet to decide on what you're doing next year and I don't want another baby if you're racing next year, I don't want to be left on my own to struggle with two babies."
"So if I didn't race next year...." He mused.
"Don't even think about using what I've just said to sway your decision!" She sat up and looked at him.
"I've always said that any decision I make will be made with my family in mind." He replied defensively.
"Yes you have but there's doing that and there's letting me sway your decision and I don't want to do that."
"But your opinion is important to me." He countered.
"Seb!" She groaned, starting to get frustrated. "What do you actually want to do next year?! What's your first instinct? To carry on or to stop?"
"I've had a brief chat with Otmar." He confessed.
"What? When?" This was news to her and she tried not to get annoyed that, yet again, he'd failed to keep her updated on what he was doing when it came to potential seats for next year.
"I bumped into him on Friday and then we talked over the phone Friday night."
"Racing Point....." She said the team's name out loud as if she was trying it for the first time to see how it sounded.
"They'll be Aston Martin next year." He said quietly to correct her.
"And?"
"And what?" He scanned her face for her reaction.
"You said you talked on the phone." She replied, encouraging him to carry on.
"They've got contracts with Sergio and Lance but it's still a possibility." He admitted. "We just talked, that's all."
"Well Lance won't go anywhere, not while daddy owns the team."
"No but anything's possible. Like I said, we just talked, nothing more."
"So what you're telling me is that, really, you still want to race next year."
Seb took a deep breath before he answered as he thought about what he was going to say. "I guess I do but at the same time I'm very prepared to spend next year with you."
"Just know that whatever you do, I'll be happy as long as you are." She settled back down against him but then couldn't resist kissing his jawline.
"They're based at Silverstone so it'd mean more time back in the UK."
"Mmm." She responded as she moved to kiss his neck, smiling as he leant his head to the side, encouraging her to carry on.
"We could rent somewhere, you could spend more time with your family." He swallowed down a groan as her tongue swirled over his skin. "We could get a place tucked away in the countryside."
"Let's not get too far ahead ourselves." She murmured, quickly getting addicted to the scent and the taste of him.
He couldn't quite believe what she was doing. She was thirty-seven weeks pregnant, due to be induced in just nine days time because she had pre-eclampsia and she was giving him very obvious signals that she wanted him. His eyes fluttered closed as he felt the effects of her kisses electrifying every nerve ending. Sometimes he wondered if she really knew just how much she turned him on. He felt her hand slip underneath his t-shirt, heading straight for his chest where her nails trailed over his skin and her fingers slipped through the hair there. Her lips left his neck to claim his lips in a heated kiss and his hips moved of their own accord as she started to lower her hand back down, dragging her nails lightly over his abs. He could already feel the hot, tight knot of sexual arousal gathering force inside him and he groaned, slipping his fingers into her hair at the back of her head to kiss her more deeply. When he felt her hand begin to touch and softly squeeze him through his jeans, it somehow made him realise that he couldn't give her what she so obviously wanted. It pained him to stop her as he gently took hold of her wrist and parted their lips. "We can't, we shouldn't." He looked at the confusion on her face. "Your blood pressure, getting excited won't be good for you."
"Maybe I'm already excited." She replied, pulling her hand from his grasp to place it back between his legs again.
"I can't risk it, we can't let your blood pressure go too high, we both know what will happen."
Chloe sighed and let herself flop back from his embrace. He was right. Anything that involved any kind of strenuous activity was a no go and orgasms were off the menu due to them spiking her heart rate and potentially her blood pressure too. She gave him a sideways glance and then let her eyes wander to the bulge in his jeans. She was still hungry for him, she still could give him pleasure even though she was having to miss out herself.
"What are you thinking?" He asked her with a dirty grin.
"Maybe...." She began as she got up from the sofa and then got down onto her knees, making Seb part his legs so that she could get herself between them. ".....I'm hungry for you." She took his salacious grin as her go ahead and started to pop open the button fly of his jeans.
"I like your thinking." He smirked. "Maybe we should take this upstairs."
"Why do that when I could have you here?" She asked, slipping her hand inside.
"Because we have guests, remember?" He bit down on his bottom lip as her hand wrapped around his hard length.
"Ok, you're on. You'll have to help me up off the floor though." She admitted with a sheepish smile as she removed her hand from his jeans.
"Of course. As much as I'd love to have you on your knees here with my dick in your mouth, I can't have us being caught." He stood up and held his hands out for her take. "Get up slowly, remember." He added, not wanting her to get dizzy from getting up too quick.
"I can hardly forget." She breathed as she got herself up, bit by bit. The second she was up, his lips were on hers and his hands were grasping handfuls of her hair as he kissed her greedily. She smiled into the kiss, he really wanted her and it gave her a thrill to know that she turned him on so quickly.
"Come on. You need to finish what you started." He took hold of her hand and started to lead her away, towards the stairs.