Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had rained the night before, leaving the track slippery. After a bit of back-and-forth, the officials decided to go ahead with the race; there was no rain forecasted for the day and the track would dry in the sun anyway. 

Then came the question, do they have a rolling start like they normally would for a wet race, or should they stick with a standing start?

Since the finish straight had mostly dried out by the beginning of the race, the officials chose to stick with the standing start; after all, the fans wanted to see proper a race, right? 

What they didn’t take into account was the first corner was still wet, the corner being slightly obscured by a few trees that didn’t allow for much sunlight. The leading cars were able to slow down slightly to accommodate for the surface change, but Lance, being in the middle of the pack after qualifying 15th, didn’t have that option.

After what he thought was a decent getaway, making up four places, he found himself jostling around the middle of the pack, trying to keep out of other people’s messes.

He’d made it around the majority of the corner, when, out of nowhere, his car was jerked up, flipped over and began cartwheeling across the gravel. He barely had time to realise what was going on before his car smashed into the tyre barrier at the exit of the corner, a ringing resounding in his ears.

“...nce? …ance? Lance?”

He shook the fogginess from his head as much as he could, blinking the stars out of his eyes as he reached for his radio button.

“‘ere.” His voice sounded scratchy even to his own ears.

“Are you okay?” Ben sounded concerned, but maybe that was the radio cutting out.

“I’ll live,” the Canadian groaned. “I think I’m stuck, though.”

His surroundings were mostly-black, what wasn’t dowsed in shadows was the light streaming through the gap between the halo and the wall. He could see the gravel, meaning he was upside down.

‘That would explain the strange pull on the harness ’, he thought drowsily.

“The marshalls are on their way. There were a couple of other crashes on the opening lap they were helping with.”

“Copy.” Lance took his hand off the steering wheel. If the marshalls were going to be a little time, no-one would mind if he took a nap, right? He was so tired.

The darkness had consumed him before any other thoughts could pop into his head.

He came to, slowly, squinting against the sudden brightness that infiltrated his eyelids. Gingerly, he peeled his eyes open, looking up at the white ceiling in confusion.

Hadn’t he just been looking at the gravel trap at turn one? Where was he now?

A rhythmic beeping filled his ears and he turned his head to the side, seeing an ECG monitor a few metres from where he was.

Ah, so he was in the hospital. 

“You’re awake.” A voice said, startling Lance. He turned his head to the other side, slightly surprised to see Stoffel Vandoorne sitting on a chair next to his bed.

Lance licked his lips, mouth dry. “Where’s Este?” He croaked.

“He kept threatening the hospital staff, so Nyck put him on lockdown until you woke up. I’ll go and call him.”

Lance watched the Belgian omega stand up and leave the room, pulling his phone from his pocket to call his mate.

A soft chuckle left his lips, of course, Esteban would get angsty if Lance was in the hospital; it wasn’t uncommon for the French alpha to get possessive over his mate, he’d done it multiple times before.

Once he even growled at Stoffel when he was talking to Lance. The Belgian merely flicked him on the nose and went back to his conversation. Lance had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at his mate’s confuddled expression.

He’d asked Stoffel about it afterwards.

“I do it to Nyck when he gets growly.” The omega laughed. “He got really possessive after Gabriel was born, he almost didn’t let my parents in the house to see Gabe.”   

Lance laughed alongside him, he remembered the small Dutchman practically strutting through the paddock after his son was born, every inch the proud alpha, and would tell anyone and everyone who would listen for even a few seconds about his pup.

It had made Lance wonder what Esteban would be like if they were to ever have children. He’d seen Esteban’s jealous glares at Nyck and Stoffel when either one was holding baby Gabriel, and Stoffel had noticed certain ‘looks’ Esteban was shooting Lance when the Canadian omega was holding Gabriel.

“It’s the same look Nyck kept giving me after his sister had her kid,” he explained.

A whirlwind pulled his attention away from his thoughts, and the door to his hospital room was flung open as Esteban ran in, almost skidding on the tiled floor.

The Frenchman wrapped his mate up in as tight a hug as he could, rubbing his cheek against the mop of Lance’s hair.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, don’t you ever scare me like that again!” He murmured, voice muffled by Lance’s hair.

The Canadian smiled, “I’ll try not to.”

Esteban finally extracted himself from Lance’s head and gripped his mate by the shoulders, looking directly into Lance’s eyes.

“I mean it, Lance, I can’t lose you.”

“You won’t.” Lance reassured him, gently stroking Esteban’s cheek.

Este nuzzled Lance’s palm for a moment. “I almost did. You passed out in the car, you weren’t responding. I was so worried, no-one knew what had happened except you had to go to the hospital, and even when I got here, no-one would tell me anything!”

“Probably because you rounded on the first doctor you saw and threatened to rip her throat out if she didn’t tell you where Lance was,” Nyck scoffed as he entered the room.

Esteban growled at the Dutch alpha and Stoffel flicked his head.

“Be nice,” The Belgian warned.

“You did what to a doctor?” Lance exclaimed, gaping at his mate.

Esteban rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I was worried?” He offered weakly.

Lance gave him an unimpressed look. “Don’t assault the doctors.”

“Yes, Lance.” Esteban looked down at the bedsheets below him.

“So, when do I get out of here?” The Canadian asked, relaxing against his pillows as his mate snuggled up next to him. 

“Doctors’ will probably want to keep you at least overnight, so tomorrow earliest. Might be a couple of days, depending on what they say.” Stoffel shrugged.

“Good, now get out. I wanna spend some time with my mate.” Lance told his friends, who sent him knowing grins.

“Be good!” Stoffel called as they left the room.

“Fuck you, Vandoorne!” Lance yelled back.

“No thanks!” Was the reply.

Once the door closed behind the pair, Lance and Esteban let out a good, long laugh before settling into a comfortable silence, just happy to be wrapped up in each other’s arms.

Esteban had his hand on Lance’s chest over his heart, feeling his heartbeat through the hospital gown. Lance turned his head and pressed a kiss to Esteban’s head.

“Remind me to send a thank-you basket to Stoff and Nyck when we get home.” The Canadian told his mate.

Esteban snorted. “Just offer to take Gabriel off their hands for a night, they’d probably be happier with that.”

Lance hummed, running his fingers through Esteban’s hair. He ran through the conversation we’d had with Stoffel before Esteban and Nyck arrived.

“You want pups.” He stated.

 Esteban’s head shot up, his brown eyes wide in surprise. “Wha-”

“Stoffel said you have that look on your face when you see Gabriel. The same Nyck had before their pup was born.”

Esteban growled under his breath. “I’m gonna kill him.”

“Don’t kill him.”

“Why?”

“Nyck won’t let us see Gabriel again. Nyck might try to kill you, you know Stoff’s his impulse control.” 

Esteban huffed. “Fine, I won’t kill him.”

“So?”

“So what?”

“Pups.”

“Mon beau, you just woke up from a crash. Pups probably aren’t the right idea right now.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “I know, I meant in the future. Maybe another year or two.”

A ‘duh’ look passed over Esteban’s face. “Oh, yeah. Yes. Definitely in the future, I mean I’ve wanted pups with you the moment we mated.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

Esteban rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I didn’t want you to think I was pushing you into something you didn’t want.”

He didn’t think it was possible, but Lance had just fallen more in love with his mate. He couldn’t think of anything to say in reply, so he just pulled his mate into a soft kiss.

Chapter Text

Almost exactly two years later, Esteban had made good on his promise and Lance once again found himself in the hospital.

Only this time, not for a work-related injury.

Lance watched his mate from where he was lying on the hospital bed. Esteban was holding their daughter in his arms, an awestruck look that had been plastered across his face for the past ten minutes.

“She’s gorgeous.” Esteban finally spoke up, his voice hushed as he watched the sleeping baby in his arms.

“She is,” Lance agreed as the Frenchman begrudgingly handed her back over, his hand still caressing her head.

“Did you pick a name?” He asked Lance, who was taking his turn to memorise his daughter’s face.

“Adrienne.” The Canadian replied. “Adrienne Maeva.” 

“Adrienne.” Esteban breathed. “It’s perfect.”

It was perfect, Lance agreed. He felt Esteban wrap his arms around him, and he snuggled into his mate’s hold. 

Everything had turned out fine.