Friday, January 17
Sarina takes a deep breath, trying to stay as calm as possible – if that was even possible.
She debated closing her eyes. She would prefer to not see the sight before her right now. Although, the thought of closing her eyes brought forth more fear. She knew that her mind would dream up all the scenarios of what was happening before her, thinking worse is possible, when that was not the case.
She almost wanted to speak, ask for assurance from the pilot in control. However, she was afraid of saying something. What if she broke his concentration and something happened? She could only imagine what was going through his mind right now.
Perhaps a glance over at him would at least calm her nerves. It’d certainly be better than the sight out of the windows around her.
She finally lets her eyes glance towards the left of her, and a smile forms on her face immediately. It didn’t matter what he was doing, a simple glance at him and she was totally smitten. How did she get so lucky to have this man in her life?
Her eyes focus towards his hands, seeing them gripped on the steering wheel, fully in control of the situation. How was that even possible? She then glanced up into his brown eyes, seeing the laser focus that she had grown used to in situations like this. It didn’t seem as though they were fazed by the sight before them, totally focused on the everything, with only a glimpse away from the sight every little bit to check the control panel.
She then feels the plane begin to descend, feeling an instant urge to scream – but she bit her tongue instead. She still didn’t want to risk ruining his concentration, and knew that it had be a fine scenario given that he had twitched a little. She just tried to focus on deep breathes, trying to remove the lump in her throat, just praying that the wheels would touch the ground sooner than later.
It might have seemed like forever – but it was rather a matter of minutes, before she felt the familiar landing that she had grown used to in their previous flights. She could only look around in utter amazement at the fact that nothing bad had happened, and they were safely on the ground without a single thing to worry about.
Why was she freaking out to begin with?
“We’ve made it to Oklahoma,” he simply comments with a glance over at her, to which she nods her head. It was a trip that she was looking forward to, as she’d always been a big fan of the Chili Bowl – but never gotten to attend in person. Now they were both take in the event together in person for the first time.
“Was the weather supposed to be this bad?” She questions, knowing that he was normally good at making sure to avoid getting into situations like this.
“I knew there was snow coming when I was looking at the models, but both Kevin (Coleman) and I figured that it was coming later based on the speed the system was moving in. I’m sorry that we got it wrong…” He then reaches over, taking her hand and placing a kiss on top of it. “I’m surprised you didn’t freak out actually.”
“Oh trust me, every single inch of my being was freaking out to the point that I wanted to scream. I was just scared that I would ruin your concentration.” He shakes his head, not surprised by her confession as he knew she was not a big fan of flying.
“You know that I’d always keep you safe, as I never want anything to happen to you…” She nods her head, as she looks over into his brown eyes once again.
“That’s why you’re practically the only pilot – other than your father – that I feel totally comfortable flying with.” He smiles as he appreciated the compliment, and glad that they had turned her total fear of flying into that at least.
“How are you feeling, by the way?” She then lets out a sigh, as it seemed to the question that slipped out of his mouth every couple hours. She didn’t mind, as she appreciated the concern and understood the recently being just three weeks removed from surgery. However, she wasn’t one to have someone worry over her all the time.
“I am doing okay, actually. I’m sore still – more than I would like to be sometimes, but I’m doing okay. I told you that I would be fine to do this trip, and I meant that Chase.” Chase lets out a sigh, as he could hear the defiance in her voice about his worry. However, you could never be too careful.
“I just don’t want there to be any complications or issues. I don’t want something to happen this weekend that prolongs your recovery and you don’t end up going to Daytona.” She looks over with a little surprise laced over her voice. If she could go racing just a couple weeks after delivering a baby last year, what was stopping her this year?
“We both know there’s no way that I am missing Daytona this year…” He smiles as it was nice to hear the determination laced in her voice, even if he had concern on his mind. “If I’m being totally honest, the only thing that bugs me is the fact that it feels like numb around the area of incision.”
“Is that a normal response?” Chase wished that he could remember all of Dr. Grayson’s notes and warnings for them, but seemed to be drawing a blank right now.
“I brought it up to her when we saw her last week, and she said it’s totally normal. It’s part of the healing in giving off the feeling, and it’ll simply come back as the incision sight and I internally heal.” Chase felt comfort in hearing that she had told Dr. Grayson, and the fact that it was nothing to panic about.
“Okay, that’s a good thing. But if it does start to bother you more, don’t hesitate to let me know. I mean, we could always just get it checked out qui-”
“Chase, take a deep breath. I’m fine, and trust me when I say this – I will tell you if something doesn’t feel right. That’s why I am allowing you to know this detail. I trust you, okay?” Chase nods his head, though feels a lump in his throat upon hearing those last four words. He trusted as well, but yet couldn’t bring up those pesky letters.
Saturday, January 18 – Chili Bowl Nationals
It seemed that their first experience at the Chili Bowl was a major success thus far. The pair were able to make their way through the pits, embracing themselves into everything that they could. They stopped and checked in with Karysn wishing her luck, before making the trip down to check-in with Justin Allgaier, followed by Alex Bowman.
“I am going to laugh if CJ beats you tonight,” Chase teased as Alex just rolls his eyes back in response.
“I’m not letting that happen man,” he replies as CJ just nods his head behind them, earning chuckles from both Chase and Sarina.
“I still say that you should convince Rick to let your teammates try your ride,” Sarina starts up, catching both Chase and Alex by surprise. “There was the joke on New Years that Chase and I should race each other in midgets, but it obviously just got scuffed off due to the boss’ restrictions. But if you think about it, maybe he’s just scared of getting beat.”
“And who won most of the late model races again there sweetheart?” Chase questions in response, earning a glance from Sarina. There was no secret where the numbers lied between them.
“Perhaps I let you win so that way you could think you were better than me, so it’d be easier to approach me.” Alex laughs giving her a high-five as Chase just rolls his eyes back in response.
“I heard that he was so scared to talk to you, that he brought Bubba and Ryan to the track with him,” Alex comments, to which Sarina nods her head in response, remembering that fateful meeting that certainly helped to begin turning their friendship into more. “I bet you wear the firesuit in the family, too.”
“She tries but it doesn’t always work out in her favor,” Chase replies to which Sarina gives him a glance.
“I know that glance from a woman – and that usually means she’s going to kick your ass. So with that, I am just going to get back to work.”
The pair obviously made their way down to the Tucker-Boat Motorsports pits, with Christopher introducing both Chase and Sarina to Chad Boat and the rest of the crew. The meeting brought forth an up-close tour of the cars, with Chad detailing some of the things that he believed made his team stand out compared to others.
“I know I told Christopher to tell you, but I want to tell you myself – I’m still interested in working with you for some races next year if you wish,” Chad offers to which Sarina nods her head, remembering those words from Christopher. “I was absolutely hoping that you would’ve accepted to run the Chili Bowl as it’d be fun to see you both as teammates.”
“It was certainly a tough decision for me to not do it this year,” Sarina comments as Chase wraps an arm around her shoulders. Other than close friends, family, and their bosses, they had revealed her off-season hysterectomy. “But after a hectic year, I just wanted to take that time with Chase and Abigail.”
“I don’t blame you one bit as family is everything, right?” She nods her head, smiling in agreement, glad there was an understanding without further explanation. “Take all the time you want, but always know the door is open.”
“I’ll remember that for sure.”
While the tour of the pits was fun as it was great to see the cars up close and catch-up with their friends, being up-close to the action on-track was even more fun. There was nothing like seeing the pros slide their midgets completely sideways around the corner – looking as though they were out of control but totally having the hang of it.
It was fun watching their friends compete, even though they wished that things would have gone better at times. Chase was impressed by Karsyn’s progress from last year to this year behind the wheel of her midget, though was disappointed to see her Chili Bowl chances end early.
They both cheered in watching Alex transfer through the C-Main, though groaned at watching him miss transferring to the A-main by five positions; at least CJ made it through. It was also awesome watching Justin transfer to the main event, too, as they knew that was a sense of accomplishment for him after missing out last year.
As the driver introductions get set to get underway, Sarina goes to walk away from Chase, to which he looks at her slightly confused.
“Justin offered me the role of driving the midget out,” she comments, to which Chase glances at her a little confused. “While he gets introduced across the stage, someone steers the car out as it’s pushed out by a four-wheeler. He offered me the role this year.”
“Look at you finding your way behind the wheel of something early,” he replies, to which she just smirks back in response. They make their way back through the pits, stopping at Justin’s car with Sarina climbing in comfortably.
“I could certainly get used to this…” Chase chuckles as he kneels down alongside her.
“You heard what Chad said – it just takes a phone call. I would support you fully.” She glances over, a smirk forming on her face.
“Look at you becoming the dirt track boy quickly.” He just offers her a wink before standing up.
“I was looking for you…” They hear as Christopher runs up behind Chase, glancing in the car at Sarina. “I was going to offer you a special position, but I see Justin beat me to the punch.”
“You snooze, you lose,” Sarina replies, sticking her tongue out. Truthfully, she would prefer the switch to Christopher’s car, but wasn’t about to just turn her back on Justin as that wasn’t fair.
“It’s okay, I can get some help from a superstar.” Christopher then looks over at Chase. “What do you say?” Chase couldn’t help but look on surprised in response.
“Doesn’t Morgan normally drive yours out?” Christopher glances back towards Sarina, simply nodding his head in response.
“She said that she wanted to pass this year, focused on hanging out with friends during the introductions. Her loss…” Sarina chuckles back in response as Christopher’s eyes land back on Chase. “I’m waiting for an answer. I don’t have long..”
“I can’t let her steal all the glory, right?” Chase questions back in response, before following Christopher back through the line to where the car sat.
Through the event, the pair were on the edge of their feet watching the action take place before them.
Neither was surprised in the early laps, watching Christopher break out into the early lead ahead of the field. Normally he wouldn’t lead until later, but him dominating and winning was nothing new.
“Same story, another year…” Sarina comments, smirking in total delight as seeing her best friend win the Chili Bowl would certainly be a great way to cap off this trip.
Though a mid-race restart changed the game as Kyle Larson pulled the perfect move, getting alongside Christopher, before sliding up and pulling the crossover. He then managed to stretch it out to a decent size lead, keeping that all the way to the checkered to win his first Chili Bowl.
“Finally!!” Chase lets out, as his delight for Kyle shined through immediately. He had been wanting to see Kyle accomplish it for awhile – despite being friends with Christopher – in knowing how much it meant to him, combined with all the hard work put in.
“That was awesome!” Sarina lets out, as she couldn’t deny the great racing that she had witnessed that night – despite being disappointed for Christopher.
The smiles continued through the night, as it was magical watching Kyle and Kaitlyn celebrate in victory lane with the kids. Chase couldn’t help but smile, knowing that he and Sarina had several moments like those to come as Abigail got older.
Even though the look of defeat was there for Christopher, a smile could also be seen as they walked over to see him afterwards. Even in coming up one spot short, everybody had fun that night.
“He finally figured out the trick to beat me,” Christopher comments as he leans back against the midget. “I found that bit of grip just a little too late as he was already gone.”
“You two certainly put on one helluva show though,” Chase replies as he shows Christopher one of the photos that he had taken through the night.
“I want a copy of that!” Chase nods his head, accepting. “Sarina wasn’t kidding when she said that you were good at photos…”
“I learned from the best.” Christopher glances at him a little confused. “My mom. That’s actually how she met my dad.”
“Well when you’re at the wedding, make sure to snap a couple because if they look that amazing, I may want to talk to you about them,” Morgan offers as she walks over to join the group. “I mean, you both are coming to the wedding, right?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for anything,” Sarina comments, as Chase nods his head in agreement.
“You were both there for us on our wedding night when we needed you the most,” Chase adds, which brings forth mixes of sighs and flashbacks around the circle standing there together.
“I’m just glad that we could be there, and help you both through that,” Christopher comments to which Morgan nods her head in agreement. She still looked back on that night in amazement of how well they handled it, from Christopher finding the cabin and putting the plan in motion, to her removing the bullet from Chase’s shoulder with precision.
“I told Christopher the other day that I still don’t know how we made it through those two days,” Morgan offers, catching everyone’s attention. “Every time I think of a similar scenario, I can just freak inside and wonder what would happen. But yet it just seemed that faced with that right before me, everything just happened as it should.”
“It’s amazing what happens when your natural instructs to survive and protect those you love take over,” Chase replies, to which Morgan nods her head in agreement. “You surprise yourself in what you’ll do. You may regret those decisions later, but in the end, you know you did the right thing because you did it to protect those you love..” He then takes a deep breath, knowing every thought of Alison entered his mind upon the comment. “When it comes to Sarina and Abigail, I will do whatever it takes.”
“I love you,” Sarina says, leaning in to kiss his lips as she pulls him closer. No words needed to be said as she could already see where this conversation was going in his mind. “That’s never going to change, and the same goes in response – I will do whatever it takes for you and Abigail.”
“I don’t like the sounds of this….” Christopher starts, taking a glance between them.
“You sound exactly like Alan when I get sentimental,” Chase comments as Sarina chuckles, nodding her head in agreement. “You don’t have to worry. There’s nothing going on that’s going to ruin our happiness, or anything at that. Everything is behind us now, and forever.”
Ladybug's Fan Fiction 