Money & Fame

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Summary: His world is changing.

AUTHOR: Catw00man
EMAIL: catw00man@cryptoffic.com
RATING: PG
CHARACTER: Jeff Gordon/Ingrid Vandebosch, Jeff POV
CATEGORY: General/Romance
PROMPT: Taming the Muse #28 (#3 for me) - A penny saved is a penny lying worthless in the drawer – Taming the Muse #3 (for me)
COMPLETED: February 3, 2007
WORDS: 818
DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING and am affiliated with NO ONE mentioned here. Not the drivers, not the teams, no one. This is all fiction and fun. In other words...NOT REAL, NOT REAL, NOT REAL. ;-)
DEDICATION: Thank you, thank you, thank you to MystikHeather for her amazing beta as usual. I know this isn’t what you expected.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is definitely not the norm for me but I was having a REALLY hard time with this prompt and at the last minute Jeff decided to talk to me. I’m not sure what I think of this but...it is kinda sweet. Love to know what yall think.
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January 2007

It used to mean everything to me, the money and fame.

There was always something about proving the world wrong and making a name for yourself when no one knew who you were.  Something about breaking records and doing things no one else had ever done…and probably never will again.  I used to think it was everything and it cost me my first marriage and almost a teammate.  My own ambition has cost me many friendships, all because I wanted to be the center of attention, the best, the one the world would remember.

How can that all change so suddenly?

I used to live my life like there was no tomorrow, existing only for the next win or championship.  I spent money like water, building a mansion in Florida and keeping an over priced apartment in New York…as if I could be in two places at once.  I made sure I had the most lavish motor coach on the circuit and ritziest yacht of anyone I knew just so I could brag that I had the best of everything.

But I didn’t have love.

Part of me wonders if it was my success, my fame, that attracted her to me.  I do know if I hadn’t been who I was we never would have met.  A kid from Vallejo--or Pittsboro--doesn’t usually stand a chance with an international super model.  And to be honest…I still didn’t have a chance when we were introduced.  No, she saw straight through my recently separated, playboy attitude and became tired of me almost immediately.  To be honest she told me to give her a call when I grew up.  I thought she was just an arrogant, stuck up bitch.  Turns out she knew me better than I knew myself.

It was just chance that we ran across each other again.  Jimmie was married and Brian was sick of my constant restlessness so I ended up in New York, alone, without even a friend to keep me company.  So I wandered the fancy clubs and bars, seeking entertainment that for once money couldn’t buy.  I thought that by living extravagantly I’d find happiness--that anything less was just a waste of my good fortune.  It turns out that by trying to experience everything…I almost missed the most important thing.

I almost missed her.

She was in a small café when I ran into her and, to be honest, I almost didn’t even recognize her.  She wasn’t out as the super model she is, she was just…Ingrid…and I was mesmerized.  I remember buying a fancy coffee--I don’t even remember what--and asking to join her.  I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath until she said yes.  She tells me now she saw that I had changed, but I think she’s wrong.

I think she is the one who changed me. 

We talked for the rest of the day and before I knew it I was begging to see her again.  She just smiled at me and said that maybe she’d come to a race sometime.  I swear I thought I was getting the brush off again.  But I wasn’t.  A month later she surprised me in Texas and…we’ve been together ever since.

She’s shown me so much, this beautiful wife of mine, and I smile at the thought.  My wife.  I swear that even after seven years with Brooke I never really understood what that meant.  But Ingrid’s changed everything.  She’s made me live.

It’s been a whirlwind with her; I’ll be the first to admit that.  When she decided to be my wife I thought I’d never be happier…but now I know that was just the beginning.  Every moment with her has given me more happiness than I’ve ever known and at first I didn’t want to share it.  That’s why we kept the news of our engagement to ourselves for almost a month, even from our closest friends.  I think I was afraid that it would spoil it somehow if the rest of the world found out…but it didn’t.  It’s just made it better.

And now she’s given me even more.

Now she’s going to make me a father, and for the first time in my life I think I know who I want to be.  I want to be a husband.  I want to be a father.  I want to be a successful driver and owner…and I will be, just not for the reasons I thought.  I’m a success not because of money and fame or skill and ambition.  I’m a success because I’ve found the most precious thing in the world that money could never buy and a race could never give me.  I’ve found real love in a woman I adore, and soon…that love will grow even more. 

That love will grow everyday.

And it’s all because of her.

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Catw00man - catw00man@cryptoffic.com