☆.｡.:* BABY STEPS .｡.:*☆
act three — the time apart
(🪐🕊🏹🐚)

🖤t
come to margaret's. it's urgent

lando x
on my way x

"hello, my darling, you okay?" margaret walked over to thea's couch, only just realising that her favourite customer had come in.

"hiya, marge. i'm doing alright, how're you?"

"i'm well but my age is catching up to me now, love, my bones are aching all the time now." margaret placed a hand on her hip, making thea giggle at her over exaggerated action. "and i'm getting more wrinkles."

"oh give over, you don't look a day over twenty-one."

"you're too kind to me, thea. is it just you today?"

"only for about five minutes, lando's coming to meet me so we can talk." thea checked the time on her phone, seeing that lando would've left his now, the nerves in her stomach rapidly increasing.

"i'll be sure to give the pair of you some privacy, don't you worry, love. would you like anything whilst you wait?"

"if it's not a problem, that would be amazing, thank you." the pregnant woman smiled gratefully, there was many things that she loved about the woman who acted as a grandmother to her, but this part had to be up there.

"what are you craving right now? what does the baby want?"

"we'd both love a slice of red velvet cake please."

"i'll be back in a minute, love." thea watched as the older woman walked behind the counter, margaret reaching for a small box before a buzz from her phone caught her attention, sending a quick message back to her mum just before margaret came back over. "i've put a couple of slices in a box for you to take home, to make you and the baby happy."

"you're such an angel, marge, but can you let me pay though?"

"absolutely not, this is a gift from me to you after everything you've been through." thea could smell the cake through the shut box and it made her want to devour it all on that spot, the cake definitely being one of thea's all time favourites.

"you truly are one of my favourite people ever, i hope you know that."

"ditto, sweetheart." margaret placed a hand on thea's shoulder, gently squeezing it as a certain british driver came into the cafe. "lando's just came in so i'll leave you alone, good luck."

"hi." thea spoke up first once he was close enough to hear her but not loud enough to catch anybody else's attention.

"hey, you okay?" lando asked kindly, almost expecting her to be rude to him after the other night but he didn't get that.

"yeah, you?" the blonde mother smiled awkwardly as she began to fidget with her pedicured fingernails.

"yeah, thanks."

"before we talk, i just wanted to apologise for the way i spoke to you the other night."

"you don't have to apologise, i don't blame you for being like that." he nodded at her, taking a seat on the couch opposite her. "red velvet?"

"yeah, margaret's just given me a few slices to take home, gotta listen to what the baby wants."

"me and you both know you crave margaret's red velvet cake even when you're not pregnant."

"how can i not? it's stunning and i just have an excuse to eat as much of it as i want now." she placed the box of cake to her right side, sending him a small smile which made him feel slightly more relaxed in her presence.

"that is very true." he chuckled, wanting to break the tension atmosphere that you could cut with a knife. "how's the baby?"

"they're good, i got you some pictures." thea told him, reaching into her bag to pull out the extra set of scan photos before carefully leaning over to give them to him.

"can i ask you something?" lando asked, quickly smiling at margaret who had just came into his eyesight before focusing his attention on thea. "what's actually going on with you and mason?"

"nothing, he's my best friend and he wants what's best for me." thea told him, trying to discreetly tell lando that she didn't have anything going on with the chelsea footballer because despite the fact that he cheated on her, he would always hold a special place in her heart.

"he fancies you, thea." she knew this. he had told her the night that the she had stayed at ben's and when she realised what he said, it felt almost like her world had stopped and flipped. as much as she thought that he was an attractive guy, she could never act up on that because of the way she saw him, she saw him like a brother figure.

"what does that have to do with anything?" she didn't understand why mason having feelings for her would affect her, especially when there was no romantic feelings on her behalf.

"as soon as you broke up with me, he was there straight away."

"i didn't officially break up with you, we're just on a break right now." she clarified for him, showing hi her left hand, where her engagement ring sat peacefully. "and he's always been there for me, lando, and it just so happens that you cheated on me so he's going to be there for a friend in need."

"do you have to bring that up everytime?" he sounded defeated, leaning against the back of the couch as a sigh left his mouth.

"what? you cheating on me, not once but twice?"

"yeah, that."

"yeah i do because you're acting as if you did nothing wrong so i have to keep reminding you." she let out a sarcastic laugh, shaking her head at him slightly before wanting to know why he ditched her before. "so are you gonna tell me why you couldn't come to the scan?"

"i was busy at the factory, doing some social media stuff with daniel." the lie made her huff, the messages on her phone from a certain mclaren worker proving him wrong.

"really? that's the best excuse you could come up with?" she grew entertained at his lie that hr was trying to keep up but by the look on his face, he knew that he had been caught out.

but despite thea knowing that he was lying, he was still trying to find excuses. "i'm telling you the truth."

"okay well the next time you try to lie about being at the factory, make sure charlotte isn't messaging me to see where you are."

"she messaged you?" his eyes had widened as they scanned over the messages that thea had shown her.

"yeah so cut the crap, where were you?" she didn't want any more lies, no more sneaking around and certainly no more cancelling on plans that were to do with their children.

"it really doesnt matter, thea, i'm sorry for missing the appointment but i promise i won't do it again."

"you've lied to me so many times and you're doing it now, just tell me the truth for once."

"i was with luisa." he admitted, rubbing his hands over his face as he knew how bad it sounded but she didn't understand the context of the situation and he knew that he wouldn't get the chance to explain today.

"see that wasn't so hard, was it? but it's nice to know where your priorities lie." she exhaled deeply, her hand subconsciously resting on her jumper covered bump.

"you know that i'd do anything for our children."

"i know you would but that didn't apply to today, did it?" the façade that was trying her hardest to keep was beginning to crack by this moment, all of her feelings towards him overtaking her body, and quickly. "and i may be an over thinker but i was never wrong, and you hurt me so much."

that sentence was all it took for her the tears to fall down her face, thea instantly covering her face with her hands to hide the fact that she was crying because of him again; lando jumping up from the couch opposite to her to sit next to her, pulling her into a hug.

"i'm sorry, i'm so sorry, thea." he whispered into her hair, his hand placed on the back of her head once she leant into him, his scent had changed since the last time she hugged him and she knew why.

"i wanted you there, more than anything." she mumbled into his chest, no doubt the white shirt now had tear stains and whatnot on it but lando didn't care about that, all he cared about was making sure that she felt protected and loved right now.

"i know, my love, i'm so sorry for everything." his apology was sincere, more sincere than any of the previous times he had apologised. he had finally realised how badly he had fucked up and how much he would need to prove to her that he was sorry.

"i just want things to go back to normal with us, before everything happened." she sniffled, pulling away from the chest, looking him in his eyes before switching his gaze to her lap. "that's all i want."

"i'll do whatever you want me to do so we can get back to that point, you're the only one i want."

"it'll take baby steps for us to get back to where we were."

"and whether that takes weeks, months or even years, i'll wait for you." he held her face in his hands, the pads of his thumbs running under her eyes to wipe away any tears that continued to fall. "no matter how long it takes."