Heartdriven: Too Driven To Drive

12. Housewarming

Trigger warning: This chapter contains content that some readers may find upsetting.

"Alice... we're home."
She barely remembered being awake at any point during the long flight home. She did feel kind of guilty that Sebastian had been left to deal with everything by himself, as her mind had been so exhausted in the airport, he had to run around for their luggage himself.
Having slept the whole drive home as well, the only thing that finally woke her up was Sebastian's calming voice near her ear. Her neck was a bit sore from sitting in what would turn out to be a very unpleasant sleeping position.
"Sweetie... we're home," he tried again to get her fully back to consciousness.
She opened her eyes to the bright, white light of the sun shining through clouds. With a frown, she looked out the window, a little confused, "No, we're not," and leaned back against the car seat.
"Yes, we are. Come." He got out of the car, ran around to the passenger side and opened the door for her, to help her out.
Barely just awake, she held firmly onto his arm, "What is this? Did you move?"
"Do you like it?"
The house did look nice and homely. She was quite taken back by this revelation, not even looking at the building as a home, but rather a house. It was larger than his previous house, that had only been a few rooms for him alone, but this had an attic and large windows. It was not a recent built, had some decades on its back, but very wellkept — perhaps gone through a few renovations.
Looking a bit around too, it was a bit of a desolate area, there were woods nearby, perhaps a forest, but it was very quiet. No neighbours within short distance, no big roads or the noise of a city. Just nature.
"I'm not saying anything. I'm sorry, I am just a little surprised. It doesn't mean I don't like it. I was just not expecting it, you know?", she put her hand to her chest, trying to grab herself from the surprise.
He hugged her, letting her body calm in his arms, "I couldn't stay at the old place anymore, knowing...," he stopped himself from continuing, and she let go of the hug, but still kept her hand grounded on him, and he continued, "I didn't want to live there without you. It wasn't a home anymore, it was just a house. It felt empty, cold and silent."
She leaned up against him, with her eyes up to his, "Are you saying I'm loud?", with a slight grin across her lips.
"Noo-hhw!", speaking so abruptly, his words were covered in his breath, "Just... it was like it was haunted."
"You felt that too?", she stepped back from him, perhaps her fingers were digging into his arm, as he looked down for a moment and she let go.
"What do you mean?", he reached for her, "Alice... did you think the house was actually haunted?"
Maybe not exactly, but how could she explain that to him? "Not in the traditional sense."
"In what sense then?", he seemed curious, but not delighted about it, rather concerned. She never liked that look in his eyes.
"I will tell you everything... later. I promise." She took his hand and kissed him. That seemed to remove the concern shading his face. "Where are we?"
He put his arm around her shoulder, and turned her away from the house to look a bit more around, "A few towns over... It's more outside town... quiet and private. And closer to my parents. Let's go inside." He grabbed the keys out of his pocket as they approached the doors, but hesitated, "Wait a moment."
"What?"
He unlocked the door and turned back to her, pulling her up from behind her knees, and holding her around her back. She grabbed onto his neck, slightly caught off guard by being scooped up, and holding on for all she could, until she was safely held in his arms.
"What on earth are you doing?!", her voice a bit frazzled.
"I want to carry you over the doorstep."
She threw her head back with an eye roll, but she was kind of charmed by it. "Okay-okay-okay!"
He balanced her in his arms, standing on one leg and using the other to knock open the door fully for them to enter. Looking to her, with that smile on his face, he took the first step inside the house, their new home, with her in his embrace.
"Do you want to continue to the bedroom?", she stretched her neck to kiss his cheek.
"Uhm...," he slowly put her back down on the floor, holding onto her until her feet found their balance again, "I don't have any condoms in the house."
That kind of annoyed her, if there was one thing she had been looking forward to when arriving back home, was riding him. "Why not?"
"I never needed them!", he sounded offended by the suggestion.
"Alright, you can pick some up later while I unpack," unknowingly holding onto his chest, lingering for a moment as he noticed and looked down at her hands holding his pecs. "Where do I unpack?"
"Here, uhm...," he cleared his throat and stepped back, or rather down a larger area, "We have the kitchen and dining area," he continued around the rooms, giving her the tour. It was such a big house. No, not actually mansion-big with countless rooms, but each room was so big and tall to the ceiling, there was so much light by the larger windows, many places ceiling to floor. Making it to the living room, it felt like a panorama view over the garden, or maybe it was a field... a large grass area with different smaller trees around, not belonging to the forest. Just fruit trees and... no... was that? She walked over to him, pulling him back with her to the window, "You brought the apple tree?"
"Of course. It's our tree."
She could feel herself starting to tear up, In fact, she already was, but she was getting so overwhelmed the tears had come before her mind had manifested them. Covering her face and shaking her head af few times in the actual disbelief of how wonderful he was, she finally threw her arms around him, leaning her whole body against him in a hug. Kissing his neck too, before holding back from remembering she couldn't go too far with the sexual tension.
"I... I had completely forgotten the tree.. and you brought it along and planted it..."
He made her take a step back to clear her breath and wiped a tear, or running faucet, from her cheek, "Do you want to continue?"
She nodded and he showed her more of the house. A bathroom nearby, the hallway continued with a few empty bedrooms used for storage and his workout equipment, and Sebastian's office. Met in the middle with the entry and kitchen, and a washing room leading to the attic, another hallway down the opposite end of the house led to the master bedroom and another bathroom. The bedroom was split up, an area for the bed and (walk-in) closets, and its own little living room space with a couch and tv, divided by a curtain.
"Look," he opened one of the closet doors for her, to a bunch of folded white cloth. But it wasn't just cloth.
"You kept my bathrobes?", her tone growing tinier.
"It was difficult," he snickered, "I don't know how many you got, but there was barely room for them."
She ran her hand down over the soft fabric, "It might have gotten a little out of hand," giving him a little giggle after being directly faced with her collection.
"'A little'?", he mocked, "You have more bathrobes than you have clothes. Alice. You can't keep that many. Some of them, you have several of the same!", he was kind of telling her off, but it was with an irresistible twinkle.
She shook her hand to let go of the touch, "Yes. No. I know, I know. I guess I never expected to be working and travelling with F1 for so long. At first it was just souvenirs, and then it became a bit of a habit. I'll try to clean some out... Like this one, from England, I don't need that, we go to Milton Keynes all the time. I can take one any time."
He lifted his finger jokingly, "No more stealing bathrobes!"
"Right," playfully nodding along, "Unless it's a special one."
"Very special then," he simply couldn't say no, but it was fun to see him try. She would clean out the bathrobes, of course, because he was right. But she would keep the special ones.
Outside the bedroom window, the view of the area continued, and the buildings next to the house became visible. Just as the rest of the house, they were large buildings, one looked to be a garage with extra working space, and an old styled farmhouse probably previously used for storage of tractors and machines. There would be plenty of space for Sebastian to use in his free time, starting up some hobbies. He had been talking about restoring some vehicles, but not quite finding the time with the busy schedule of F1. Maybe she could push him along the direction to get started, rather than just procrastinating about the lack of time. They did just blow off all errands to run off to Vegas. That large grass area... perhaps the first vehicle he should invest some money into, should be a lawnmower tractor. She could just imagine him, riding across the field in slow speed.
Her thoughts weren't disguised by the smile on her face, and he touched her shoulder, "So, what do you think?", the anticipation building on his face.
"It's wonderful, Sebastian," she took his hands and kissed his wedding band, "I can't wait to live here."