Faster car

31

There was something about winning that Derek could never get over. He knew most people loved to win, he knew that there were people in the world who were absurdly competitive and got a high off of winning anything, but he wasn't one of them. In the car, he was competitive, but out of it, he didn't tend to worry about it. But he won in race cars, and when he did, his body seemed to float. No matter how many he won, because he did win often enough that most people would think he would have gotten used to it by now, he never did. Every time he saw that checkered flag waving and no cars in front of him he got the same feeling. His mom swore it's what made him so good, that winning still gave him a high that nothing else compared to. And he really hadn't found anything else to beat that feeling yet. Even though he usually crashed after a race, he still felt that high for days on end. He felt like he was floating and flying and it was incredible. It was an incredible feeling. Usually, he tried to stay away from other people until he had gotten a chance to calm down, but he couldn't do that right now. Because now, he was going to find out if he really was having a boy.

Which had to be part of the reason he was so bouncy right now. They had been referring to the baby as a boy for ages now and Derek didn't actually know how to even consider the possibility of them being wrong. He'd love to have a girl, and if he did, he knew he'd love it just as much as he would a boy, but he had made so many plans for having a son right now. It's not that his plans wouldn't fit with a girl, they would. A girl could still use the huge yard in the house he was planning to buy. And a girl could still take up race car driving, starting with go karts in the midget league. And a girl could still come fishing and sit in the pits with him and...but he did like the sound of having a boy. He really did. And now, he couldn't sit still.

Meredith was looking at him like she thought he might explode and he wasn't one hundred percent certain he wouldn't. The high of winning the race and the chance to find out for sure it was a son might be enough to kill him but that was okay. He couldn't remember a better day than this, he couldn't remember ever being happier with his life than he was right now. He was pretty sure most people wouldn't look at his life right now and think it was perfect. His ex...whatever Meredith had been was pregnant with his child, he had had to give up Le Mans, and he wasn't sure he'd be making it to the last race of the season. But it all felt perfect to him. Every last bit of his life felt incredibly perfect and that made him bouncy as he picked up random instruments around the room. The doctor was taking too long. Last time he had been here with Meredith they had barely had time to get comfortable before the doctor had come in but now it was taking forever and he just wanted to know for sure. She was probably busy, his sisters were all doctors, he understood it but it didn't make the waiting any better. He wanted to see his son.

"Stop touching."

"What?"

"Stop touching," Meredith repeated. "Look, but don't touch."

"I'm not hurting anything."

"Those are sterile medical instruments, not toys."

"Thanks, Mer, didn't know that."

"You're the one touching everything."

"Well...I can't sit still," he breathed.

"Obviously," she rolled her eyes. "Now I know to never book an appointment the day after a race."

"Sorry," he laughed.

"Come here," she held out her hand.

"What?"

"Come here. You're making me nervous when you move so much."

"Oh...sorry," he sighed, walking toward her.