The Right Time (Lestappen)

A Tiny Gift

Snapshot: Charles' retirement from F1

Charles crossed the finish line to rapturous cheers and applause as he claimed his third world championship. As he took the chequered flag at Abu Dhabi he ended the season five points ahead of his nearest rival Lando Norris. Jumping out of the car he flew into the arms of his team, a sea of people embracing him warmly, cheers ringing out. This title was just as special as the previous two because not only was this his final race of the season, it was his final race in an F1 car. As the Monegasque removed his race helmet he wiped away the tears that were falling, formula one had been such a huge part of his life for so long, the fact that he had just stepped out of the car for the last time was a little daunting.

The podium passed by in a blur, champagne spray covering him as the brightly coloured confetti rained down from above. As he looked down he could see the smiling faces of his team, it had been a long fought battle and he was relieved that all the hard work the team had put in had paid off. As he stepped off the podium for the last time he felt a strange mix of relief and sadness. He still adored the sport but it was all encompassing and he was keen to have more time to spend at home. Long weekends abroad had been much more exciting when he had had Max by his side. Charles had spent all his career battling with the Dutchman so his absence on the grid over the past year was sorely missed.

The celebrations were in full force in the Ferrari garage. As the champagne bottles popped and the music blared out, Charles took the opportunity to escape to his drivers room to call the one person he wanted to celebrate with more than anything.

"Congratulations Charlie" Max picked up immediately and Charles knew he had been waiting by the phone. His husband's voice was warm and comforting and Charles could just imagine the huge smile on the Dutchman's face.

Max couldn't help but feel guilty for missing Charles' final race, especially because he remembered how much he had appreciated Charles' comfort when he had retired the previous year. Charles had also been there to support the Dutchman when he took his maiden endurance race victory at Le Mans earlier in the year. Still, Max had a pretty good excuse for not being in Abu Dhabi

"How did the scan go?" Charles asked, his voice a little hoarse from shouting and cheering during the post race celebrations.

"Perfect. Everything went well, all healthy" Max reassured his husband and Charles let himself breathe a sigh of relief. The 58 laps of the Yas Marina circuit had been spent wondering how Max had gotten on with their surrogate at her scan.

"Did you find out the gender?"

"You want to know?"

"Of course" Charles could already feel his hands shaking a little, he wasn't sure why he was so nervous, he didn't really mind if they had a little girl or a little boy as long as they were healthy. Still, the excitement of finally finding out the gender of their baby filed him with more adrenaline than any race could.

"We're having a baby boy" Max said excitedly.

Charles felt the tears of happiness filling his eyes, he wanted so much to throw his arms around his husband and celebrate together and was thankful that he was getting a flight almost straight away. As his team celebrated his victory Charles jumped on a jet and made his way back to Monaco to celebrate with his husband.

It was the earlier hours of the morning when he arrived back, keeping as quiet as possible he slipped back into the apartment, trying not to wake his husband who he suspected would be sound asleep at this hour. The Dutchman had other ideas though, he had barely been able to sleep as he waited for Charles to come back and surprised the Monegasque by setting off a party popper as soon as Charles stepped through the door. The loud bang radiating out in to the darkness made Charles jump in to the air much to Max's amusement.

"Congratulations Champ" Max grabbed his husband tightly and kissed him tenderly.

"I've missed you so much" Charles moaned softly into the kiss, melting into Max's arms.

"I have a gift for you" Max took his husband's hand and led him over to the sofa. He couldn't contain his excitement as he handed over the small gift wrapped present. He watched closely as Charles ripped into the paper to reveal a small baby grow. A Red Bull Racing baby grow. Charles smiled at the tiny garment, it seemed almost unbelievable that in a few months they would have an actual baby of their own. As he held the grow in his hand he started to slowly process what it might mean.

"Wait, so are you-, does this mean-" Charles stuttered a little over his words.

The decision to use a surrogate had led to many long discussions over who was going to be the biological father. In the end they had decided to late fate decide and fertilised two embryos, one with Max's biology and one with Charles'.

"Yes, she's having my baby" Max said softly.

Charles immediately lent in and wrapped his arms around his husband, reassuring him that he was nothing but happy. The thought of a tiny little Max running around filled him with joy.

"I didn't even think they could tell yet" Charles asked.

"Well they can't always but sometimes they can" Max tried to explain but really his second gift was by far the best explanation.

The Dutchman handed over the second parcel, a huge smile on his face and his heart racing as he waited for Charles' reaction. Charles tore open the paper, his hands shaking as he noticed the mini Ferrari baby grow that lay underneath the wrapping paper.

"What-, I don't" Charles voice was wavering.

"She's having twins Charles, both embryos were successful. We're having two little boys"

Charles burst into tears in much the same way as Max had done in the hospital. This was the best possible scenario, the scenario that they had both secretly been hoping for but had been too scared to verbalise.

"A mini little you and a mini little me" Max was almost crying again as he watched his husband's reaction. It had been a crazy 24 hours for the Monegasque. Winning the championship had been amazing but it paled into insignificance compared to the news he had just received. As he looked across at his husband's excited face he was sure he was never going to stop smiling. He hoped the next few months flew by because he could barely wait for them to realise their shared dream of starting a family together. 

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Quite a jump forward but I had to make it all happy for them after everything they went through in this book 😂 . I guess I will do one more chapter if people want to see how they get on when the babies are born?!

Thank you to everyone for all the lovely comments and votes along the way. 

I know there was a request to try and get in a bit about them saying husband in the press conference, I couldn't get it to fit into this chapter but I will try and write a little cute one shot around that at some point to make up for it <3 <3