Second Lap

Wildest Dreams

Y/N's POV - last week of May

                  Carlos, the voice belonged to Carlos. But, before I could even react, I felt Ben tugging at my pants.

''Mommy, mommy, look, it's Carlos Sainz!'', he squealed with joy.

''Yes it is, darling.'', I responded as calmly as possible, trying to mask the nervousness in my voice.

                Carlos had always been Ben's favorite driver and I had nothing to do with that. I think that deep down he knew there was some sort of connection between the two.

''Carlos, this is your new engineer, Dr. Lecle-'', Caco said as he tried to introduce me.

''Via... it's been a long time.'', Carlos interrupted.

''Indeed it has...''

''Wait, did you just say Leclerc?'', Carlos asked surprised, turning to Caco.

''Yes, she's Charles' sister.''

''Sister?!?'', he asked shockingly.

''Yes...'', I timidly replied.

''I- I-'', Carlos stuttered.

''I'll leave you two alone to talk... call me if you need anything.'', Caco said as he left.

''Via, I-'', Carlos began as soon as Caco was out of sight.

''You're my favorite pilot!'', Ben suddenly said as he flew to and hugged Carlos' leg.

''Ben!'', I said as I lowered myself to his level, ''You can't just jump on people like that, honey.''

''It's okay...'', Carlos said as he kneeled beside us.

''Carlos, this is Ben.'', I said.

''Hey there, buddy, nice to meet you.'', Carlos said, extending his hand to Ben.

               Ben suddenly got all shy and hid his face in my neck.

''Come on, sweetheart, Carlos won't bite. He just wants to say hi.'', I said, poking his side and tickling him.

''Hi Carlos...'', Ben said. ''You're my favorite driver and I even have a picture of you in my bedroom.''

''You do?'', Carlos chuckled as he looked at me, eyebrow raised.

''Yeah, mommy says-''

''Mommy says why don't you go sit at the table and play some more while mommy talks to Carlos a little bit?''

''Okay.''

''I love you kiddo.'', I said as I kissed his cheek.

''Bye, Carlos!'', Ben waved.

''Bye, Ben!'', Carlos replied.

            I waited for him to be out of earshot and turned to Carlos. He was already looking at me.

''Carlos, I-''

''He's mine, isn't he?'', Carlos asked, realization hitting him. ''He's my son.''

''He is.'', I sighed, ''He turned four this March. We share a birthday, actually.''

''How- when?'', he asked, clearly in shock.

''I found out three weeks after that night. I was already back in the States, but my mom flew over to be with me at my first ultrasound. If it weren't for my family, I would have never finished my Master's and PhD while raising a kid. If I'm here today, with the position of assistant engineer, I owe it to them.''

''But why did you never tell me about Ben nor that you were Charles' sister?'', he asked.

''It's not like we exchanged numbers or you came after me. I woke up to an empty bed and a note, Carlos, a note... what were you expecting? Do you really think I'd say 'Hey Charles, how are you? I'm fine, thanks for asking. Oh, by the way, you know your new teammate Carlos? Well, he's your nephew's father.' ?'', I asked, frustrated. ''As for me being Charles' sister, I didn't want you to form your opinion on me based on who I was related to. For once I wanted someone to like me for me and not my name.''

                 Carlos sighed. I could see he understood what I meant, but that it was still quite a lot for him. I could only imagine what it's like to find out you have a son all of a sudden.

''Look, if you want to be a part of his life, there's still time. He's still young and you can make up for lost time. However, it's all or nothing. This isn't just a 'taking him to the park on weekends' type of thing. If you want to do this, if you want to be his father, you're all in. The good stuff and the bad, the easy and the hard. I'll be moving to Maranello in July, so that makes things a lot easier if you want in.''

''Via, I- what did you tell him all these years whenever he asked who his dad was?''

''I told him his father had to leave and that I only found out afterwards that he was in my tummy, but that if his father could have stayed, he would and he would have loved him very much.''

''I... I... thank you, Via.'', he said as he waved his hand through his hair.

''For what?''

''For not shaming me despite what I did. I know I don't deserve it, so thank you.''

''Whatever happened, happened between us. You never did anything to Ben, so why speak ill of you?'', I sighed, ''Look, take your time to think about it. This is something big, it's a lifelong commitment. I don't want you to regret your decision, so no rush. If you choose to be a part of his life, we can figure out how we'll do this later, okay?''

''Yeah, okay, that sounds g-''

''Carlos, five minutes till go time!'', someone shouted.

''I, um, I have to go.'', he said, scratching the back of his neck.

''It's okay, we'll talk later. Good luck in the race.''

''Thanks.'', he replied.

                  He gave me a half-smile and walked away. But, after only a few steps, he turned to me again.

''It was nice seeing you again, Via.''

''Likewise.''