☆.｡.:* BABY STEPS .｡.:*☆
act one — the third baby
(💍🕯🏹☁️)

warning: mention of miscarriage!

things over the past two years had gone slightly smoothly for lando and thea, for many reasons. they had recently gotten engaged, which was a big surprise for thea as she had no clue that he had been planning this with cassidy, louis celebrated his second birthday, lando had won the 2022 world championship and they were expecting their third child.

however, there was still some negative events that occurred during those two years; the most tragic and upsetting one being the loss of their second baby. thea had gotten pregnant in january of 2021 and sadly miscarried during her fourth month which caused the couple to slightly drift apart as they couldn't bare to look at each other without feeling heartbreak and utter pain; and things between them hadn't been the same ever since. sure enough, they still loved each other endlessly, but they felt too broken to show their affection and love to one another for a few weeks.

but a couple of weeks before the loss of the baby, lando and thea were lucky enough to find out the gender of their little angel and they were told that they would be expecting a daughter; and as soon as they found out this news, the smiles on their faces could not have been any bigger. they had longed for louis to have a little sister so they could grow up close in age and they would be able to protect each other when growing up. it was one of the happiest times in their life, along with louis' birth and watching him grow.

they would spend hours on end talking about the future with louis and their daughter, who still hadn't been given a name to be called yet, and all of the things they wished to accomplish with them both. so when that dreadful afternoon came along, that thea desperately wished she could've changed, they knew that it wouldn't end well. thea didn't think anything of the painful stomach cramps at first, only complaining to lando when the pain got too unbearable but when she had gone to the toilet a few moments after and saw the blood in her underwear, her entire world stopped.

the trip to the hospital definitely wasn't enjoyable, not one bit, but cisca and adam had picked louis up without a question as they knew how sensitive the topic would've been for them both. although they had been preparing to hear the bad news about their daughter, neither of them could've fully been prepared to what they was told. to be indirectly told that they would never be able to meet their daughter and to be able to hold her in their arms, watch her open her little eyes for the very first time, hear her cry's at any time of the day or watch her grow up and watch her milestones killed them on the inside.

along with the miscarriage, there had been a few rumours of lando possibly cheating on thea with a spanish woman called iona, whilst in barcelona for the race that weekend. there was videos and photos of the pair sat in lando's car looking all loved up and it broke thea's heart even more than it already was; she knew that she couldn't jump to any conclusions without asking him first but it was still painful to see her soulmate with another woman without any context. thea and louis hadn't gone to that race because louis had a fever and thea didn't want to put him at risk of getting any more ill so they decided to say home, but also because thea couldn't face all of the prying eyes and ears of everybody in the paddock.

once lando arrived back in surrey after the race, she was sat on the couch ready to talk to him, even if it was late at night. lando had deliberately booked a later flight as he couldn't face the woman he betrayed whilst he was in spain and she was at home looking after their ill son and her own mental well-being. thea's hormones were still really sensitive so anything that he would say, good or bad, would've set her off and she didn't know if she was able to listen his entire explanation without feeling bad as she believed that everything that wrong was her own fault. their conversation went on for about an hour, him basically trying to justify his actions by saying that she was only a friend and that thea had nothing to worry about and at first, she found it hard to completely believe him and his words but after he had swore down and promised that he was the telling the truth, she gave him into him like she always did but ever since that weekend, he had never given her any major reasons to lose trust in him.

their journey up to now was a rollercoaster to say the least but they had each other throughout almost the entirety of it all and that's all that mattered to them.

which leads us to now... thea and lando were sat in the hospital room awaiting their doctor to check up on their baby. when they had found out that thea was pregnant again, there was a mix of emotions in the room. emotions of happiness and joy, excitement and laughter but also fear and anxiety because the future was very unpredictable. it was unknown if their baby would survive this pregnancy and if they did, would they would be healthy and okay; the many possibilities ran through their minds when they saw those two lines. the day they found out was a normal day, thea hadn't had any symptoms unlike the previous two, apart from her missed period which she didn't even notice until lando had pointed it out to her.

"thea, babe, i'm going to the shop. do you need any tampons or anything like that?" lando asked her, grabbing his car keys off of the side, watching his girlfriend laugh at their sons antics as he played with his toy mclaren on the floor in front of her.

"yeah please." she told him with a smile on her face, the clogs going round in her head as thought back to the last time she actually had her period, which was nearly two months ago. "wait no, i don't need them but i need you to get me something else."

"yeah, what is it?" he asked her, getting his phone out of his back pocket so he could write down what she needed.

"i need you to get me a pregnancy test." thea said to him, watching as his face softened and the smile on his face began to grow wider than before, obviously not expecting her to ask him for that. "but please don't get your hopes up, love, it could just be a false alarm." thea warned him, her voice soft and gentle as if her words was going to shatter his heart into a million pieces.

it hadn't been long since lando had gone to the shop, him not wanting to wait any longer to know if he was going to be a dad again so when he arrived back to their family home, the pregnancy test in hand and the other clutching his chest because he was out of breath from running as fast as he could from the car to the living room. "i cant believe you get more out of breath from running from your car to the house than driving in some of the hottest temperatures." thea giggled at him, holding louis' hand that was stretched out to her and pulling him up to his feet, the trio making their way upstairs so that thea could take the test.

"well its not everyday that yours mrs tells you that she could be pregnant." lando told her sarcastically, making them laugh at what he said and the way that he said it but the nickname that he gave her making her blush. "wow, after all this time, i'm still making you blush."

"get a grip of yourself, babe, i'm not blushing." thea turned her head away from him so that he couldn't see her rose tinted cheeks, lando quickly bending down to pick louis up and place him on his hip; them now at the bottom of the stairs before lando stops in his place with a smirk on his face, thea stood on the step in front of them. "louis, is mummy blushing?"

"mummy's blushing." louis repeated the words that his dad said, making both lando and thea laugh and smile at his cuteness, lando pecking the side of his sons head and ruffling his hair. despite being born blonde and staying blonde for about eight months, louis' hair was now a mess of brown curls that he had adapted from lando and it was the cutest thing ever.

"i thought you was on mummy's side, louis norris." thea jokingly told him, putting her head in her heads and pretending to cry making louis reach his arms out so that he could touch her, lando leaning him forward so he was able to do that. feeling her son tap her head gently, thea opened her arms to him so that she could take him off lando and bounce him on her hip, all three of them giggling along. "i got you, i got you." she laughed, tickling his stomach, making him throw his head back whilst laughing and trying to push her hands away.

"mummy, stop it! daddy help!" louis shouted, his pronunciation of the words getting better but thea and lando were still being able to tell exactly what he was trying to say. after a few moments, they had begun to walk up the stairs towards thea and lando's bedroom, where they had an en-suite to take the pregnancy test. lando smacking thea's bum as she walked up the stairs, making her squeal and louis look behind thea's shoulder in confusion.

"lando, watch those hands." thea smirked to him, making him chuckle.

"daddy, watch your hands." louis joined in, just as they walked into the bedroom, thea placing him on their bed so she was able to take the test after taking it off lando.

"before you take it, my love. whatever is meant to happen, will happen, okay?" lando told her seriously making thea nod at him, then both sharing a quick kiss before thea went into the bathroom. as much as either one didn't want to admit the truth, they were petrified of what would happen if thea was pregnant.

a few minutes passed, them minutes feeling like hours, and thea came out of the en suite holding the test in the her hands with a wide smile on her face, tears of happiness brimming her eyes; thea feeling nostalgic from the time she found out that she was pregnant with louis and their second baby.

"we're having a baby."