Daddy's little girl - LN4 [Part 1]
Summary: you and Lando have a beautiful two year old daughter, named Aurora, all blonde curly locks and sparkling green eyes. the two of you agreed to co-parent, but when you decide to move to New York, things get harder. It’s hard for him to not see her, to see her grow up, to parade her round the paddock and show off his little baby girl. Now your life looks completely different, your new boyfriend Jaxson Dart looks at Aurora like she hung the moon, he loves her like he’s her own…but he could never replace Lando.
Warnings: None
Word Count: 1.9k
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
A/N: This was a request! I absolutely loved writing this first part so I decided to continue it, so there will be more parts. Thank you to the lovely anon that suggested this. If you come back into my requests with an emoji, I can pop it in the next parts!
He never meant to count the days.
It wasn’t intentional, it was just something his mind did whenever the noise of the world around him grew quiet again. After a race, during a long haul flight, sitting in bed in another hotel room half-way across the world from her. His thoughts would wonder, and the amount of days since he’d seen her would resurface.
There were moments, mainly at night, when he would try to remember how he would feel in his arms. What her curls would smell like after a bath, the unmistakable warmth of her tiny hand in his. He would just lie there, eyes blinking at the ceiling, reliving every moment until it physically hurt.
Parenthood wasn’t easy, it wasn’t supposed to be. But he was sure it wasn’t supposed to feel like this either. He felt like a part-time father, and it was killing him.
Lando found out about your new relationship during media day in Singapore. The air was already so thick, so humid you could choke on it. His phone buzzed on the table of the McLaren hospitality suite, a tiny banner notification glowing on his lock screen where a photo of Aurora and you sat.
Max had sent him the post. He almost ignored it, almost turned his phone over and pretended he didn’t see it. Almost.
But something, maybe curiosity, maybe stupidity, maybe even masochism, made him open it.
It was a photo of you, laughing, glowing, standing beside a man who made Lando’s chest tighten in a way he didn’t understand at first.
Jaxson Dart, quarterback for the New York Giants. Broad shoulders, flawless smile, the kind of person that girls fall over for. The hero.
Jaxson stood behind you, his arm around your waist in a way that looked natural, warm. Like he’d been doing it for years. Like that’s where he belonged exactly.
Lando stared at the photo until his vision blurred.
“And that’s the plan for the rest of the weekend. Are we in agreement, Lando?” Andrea said from across the table.
He didn’t answer. Partly because he was still engrossed in the photo and partly because all his senses had tunneled.
He locked the phone. Unlocked it again. And stared at the photo again.
A full twist and whirlwind of emotions knotted in his stomach. Confusion, jealousy, guilt, anger at himself for feeling all of that.
“I shouldn’t care,” he thought. You weren’t his anymore. You hadn’t been for a very long time. He had a girlfriend, a sweet, kind, lovely girl. So why did it feel like someone had reached into his chest and ripped out his heart?
He forced out a shaky breath and muttered to himself. “Doesn’t bother me. Why would it?” He typed back a message to Max.
Good for her. Bit different to me though.
Everything tasted bitter in his mouth, because he knew. Of course he knew. It bothered him way more than he wanted to admit.
The blow came a few weeks later. It wasn’t from the paparazzi photos that he came across, daily. It wasn’t from the headlines. It didn’t even come when a photo of you and Jaxson was circulating across the internet of him running to you, helmet in hand after a game, lifting you into the air after a win.
No, it came from a thirty second video clip. He was scrolling through his phone in bed in his hotel room, exhaustion from a race weekend kicking in, when a video clip appeared on his feed, the irony of Instagram saying it was ‘suggested for him.’
He almost kept scrolling. Almost. But then he saw someone familiar. You.
You were bundled in a big winter coat, your cheeks flushed pink, your hair poking out of a Giant’s bobble hat. And in your arms was Aurora.
His beautiful, baby girl. His whole world.
Her matching blue beanie bobbed as she giggled, hands outstretched towards Jaxson.
He was sweaty, smiling and he stepped toward you with the kind of confidence that came from thousands of fans chanting his name. When Aurora reached out for him, Lando felt his stomach dropped.
She clung to him, she wasn’t shy, she wasn’t upset to leave your arms, she wanted to be with Jaxson. Like she trusted him, like she knew him.
Jaxson adjusted Aurora on his hip with practiced gentleness, one arm supporting her up, the other adjusting her dummy as she smiled beneath it. Aurora snuggled into his chest as he pointed at the scoreboard on the big screen, saying something that made her squeal and wriggle excitedly in his arms. Even another player jogged past and held his hand out to Aurora who high-fived him. Jaxson kissed the top of her beanie and the video looped.
But at that moment, it killed something inside Lando. He didn’t lock his phone and try to sleep, to forget. He replayed it. He replayed it ten times. And every time it replayed it hurt more.
“That should’ve been me.” He whispered.
He finally saw you and Aurora two weeks later.
New York hit him with that bitter, winter cold. It was the kind of cold that seeped into your bones. Lando stood outside your apartment building, hands shoved into his pockets, his heart pounding harder than it had ever done before, harder than before any race.
You opened the door with that soft, cautious smile, it was the smile you’d started to use after the breakup. It was gentle, friendly but distant.
“Hey,” you said quietly.
He nodded. “Hey.”
Before anything else could be said, there came that beautiful sound that always undid him.
“Daaaaddddddyyyyy!”
Aurora sprinted towards him, her socks sliding on the wooden floor, curls all wild and bouncing. He crouched just in time for her to crash straight into him. Her little arms wrapped around his neck, and he lifted her easily. Clutching onto his daughter like he never wanted to let her go.
He breathed her in. She was all baby shampoo and laundry powder.
“Hi, baby girl.” he whispered against her hair. “Daddy has missed you so much.”
She pulled back from him, putting one of her tiny hands against his cheek, smooshing it. “Daddy, I went to football.”
That ache returned to his stomach instantly.
He swallowed. “Yeah, that’s very cool.”
“And Jassy won.”
His jaw tightened. “Jassy?”
You cleared your throat. “She means Jaxson.”
Aurora beamed. “Jassy big like a giant, daddy.”
Lando managed a small laugh, but it fell thin. He kissed her temple and forced himself to smile for his daughter.
“Why don’t you go pick a book for me to read later, yeah?”
She nodded and scampered back down the hall to her bedroom.
The moment that Aurora was out of earshot, the energy between you two shifted.
You folded your arms. “Okay. Say it.”
He blinked. “Say what exactly?”
“That it bothered you.”
He looked away, “it didn’t bother me.”
You raised an eyebrow, and he groaned, rubbing a hand down his face.
“Yeah, okay, it bothered me a little.”
“A little,” you echoed dryly.
“Okay, a lot. You happy?” he muttered.
Your expression softened, but that didn’t make it easier. “I really don’t want to fight.” you said quietly.
“Neither do I.”
The silence stretched between you two. Until, finally, he broke.
“It’s not him,” Lando said, his voice low. “I mean, it is him but it’s not only that.”
You waited for him to finish.
“It’s seeing someone else hold her, teach her things, be there for her,” his voice cracked, “I’m her dad, and she’s never stepped foot in a paddock.”
He lifted his eyes to yours, pain clear enough even though he tried to hide it. You stepped closer to him, just a little, to ease the awkwardness looming.
“Lando…”
He shook his head. “I’m missing everything. All of her firsts. And then I saw that video of her with him and–”
He exhaled sharply. “It felt like losing something I didn’t even know I still had.”
Your eyes flickered, a sad understanding mixed with something so much deeper.
“Jaxson isn’t replacing you,” you whispered. “No one could replace the great Lando Norris.”
A small laugh managed to escape his lips. “I know,” he said, but he didn’t sound convinced. “But she was so comfortable with him.”
“She reaches for the man who gives out popcorn in the stands,” you pointed out gently. “Lando, she’s two.”
He huffed another broken laugh. Then, you said something that made his breath catch.
“She asks for you every single night.”
He blinked hard, “she does?”
“Every night,” you repeated. “And she talks about you. A lot.”
Warmth flooded him and hurt all at once.
“I wish I had more time with her,” he said, “more than anything.”
“I know.”
He swallowed. “I want to be the one taking her places. Showing her new things.”
Your voice turned soft, “Then tell me what you want, Lando. Tell me what you need.”
He looked back down the hallway where Aurora sat flipping through a stack of children’s books, humming to herself.
What he wanted was impossible. The last two years back.
But when he shifted his gaze back to yours, something deeper resurfaced. He stepped closer to you, not enough to touch you but enough to feel the undeniable gravity that pulled you both.
“When I saw him holding her…when I saw how she looked at him,” he took a small breath, “it hit me harder than I expected.”
You opened your mouth to say something, but you stopped yourself. He forced the words out through the tightness in his chest.
“I kept thinking…it should’ve been me.”
The silence crept between you both so thick it felt like the world had stopped moving on its axis.
You looked at him, really looked at him. And something in your expression cracked open.
Before either of you could say anymore, Aurora’s little voice echoed from down the hallway.
“Daddy, I have a book!”
Lando swallowed hard, tore his eyes away from you and went running to her.
But the words lingered between you both, heavy and painful. It was a confession neither of you had meant to make, hanging in the quiet like the truth was finally spoken.
It should be me.
You wiped your tears and headed to the kitchen, leaving Lando and Aurora to have their time together. You leaned against the kitchen counter, head in your hands, tears refusing to stop falling and replayed those words again.
It should be me.
