Faster car

27

The last time Meredith had been to a track, she had felt like she was dying. Or not dying, but she had been sick and hot and dizzy and she had been nervous. She had been so nervous that she hadn't even gotten a chance to really look at the track, to really take in what a race track looked like. She had figured a race track was just a big circle and there wasn't anything special about it at all. She hadn't told Derek that. Because Derek had a tendency to laugh at her for knowing nothing, and it was the good kind of laughing, not the mean kind but still, she didn't really like being laughed at. And then she had gotten a basic idea when she had watched the race at the place in Alabama, except she had been so confused by all the different cars on the track she had hardly noticed the actual track. Sophie had been really nice about explaining DPs and GTs and pace cars and everything and it had been really hard to take it all in, especially when the baby was eating her brain and her intern test was looming. She could barely remember where she put her keys on a day to day basis, much less remember all the rules of racing, and so paying attention to a track seemed stupid.

But now she was at a track. She had had no idea why she had thought of doing this. She didn't know racing and she still wasn't sure she'd ever like it but she had figured that she was carrying a race car drivers baby and it seemed like going to a race would be kind of amazing. Derek clearly wanted to share this with his son so it was good to be here. And the thing was...it was beautiful. Virginia International Raceway, or VIR as Derek and Mark and everyone else seemed to call it, was really beautiful. It was green, really green from the bad weather finally ending and spring actually starting, and it wasn't a big circle. It looked like a really intricate road system or something. There were little turns and everything and it was...amazing. She hadn't thought a race track would be green. Race tracks were...they were cold and pavement. She had really thought race tracks would be cold but this place looked...friendly. It looked friendly and it looked like people had taken time to make it look like something nice. There were even trees, trees leaning over the track that made it look natural. It was really beautiful and she couldn't help but stare as she rubbed her belly slowly and carefully, her belly that was just a little bit bigger from last week. Or maybe it was more than a little bigger, she wasn't sure. She just knew that it stuck out from her body, making her back curve slightly, and that everyone wanted to touch it. "You're at a race track, baby," she whispered softly as a slight breeze lifted her hair.

Coming had been a good idea. Her son needed to get used to this. This would probably be a really big part of his life. Meredith knew that the second he was old enough, his daddy would want to drag him to every race track he could and she wouldn't be surprised if Derek put him in...whatever kids did to get into car racing as they clearly couldn't just race cars. But Derek would do whatever he could to get their son into a race car. She imagined she'd be here like Carolyn was one day, holding her breath as her son went one hundred and forty miles an hour around a race track. She shook her head slightly, cradling her stomach as she let out a soft breath. It was quiet right now, she knew it wouldn't be later, but now it was quiet and she loved it.

"You look lost in thought."

"Hmmm?" she looked up quickly.

"You look lost in thought," Derek repeated.

"Oh," she giggled. "Trying to remember if I packed my toothbrush."

"You think about your toothbrush with a small smile on your face?"

"I was smiling?"

"A little, yeah."

"Oh...it's quiet here."

"It is," he nodded. "Today."

"Hmmmm," she nodded, rubbing lazy circles into her stomach as the baby moved slightly. "It's really pretty."