Based Off Of Taylor Swifts Song Style

based off of taylor swift’s song style

a/n → part two!! how this played out was debated for awhile honestly. i hope you guys enjoy and start to understand a little more of the dynamic we’re looking at here. as always, feedback is heavily heavily appreciated and let’s me know you want more. let me know to be added to the taglist! ALSO - a lot of people who commented on part 1 to be added to the taglist don’t have it turned on in settings where i’m able to tag them, so i couldn’t. i won’t be going back through several parts to find your @ so you’ll need to fix it and comment again if you want to be on the taglist in the future.

summary → he’s the quarterback of the cincinnati bengals, a worldwide heartthrob with an ego the size of lake erie—but does he have the heart to match it? you’re the bengals newest cheerleader, desperate to prove how much you deserve your spot on the team. it doesn’t take much to catch the eye of joe burrow, however that isn’t necessarily a good thing when you’re told that any romantic relations between cheerleaders and players is strictly prohibited.

warnings → alcohol use, strong language, nsfw content - oral sex

word count → 3.3k

remember to reblog and leave a comment if you enjoy!

SERIES MASTERLIST

Ever since the spontaneous car hookup earlier in the week, things had been a sort of comfortably complicated. Joe had driven you to pick up your car, half hard watching your legs cross so delicately as if he hadn’t just ripped your panties off in the backseat. It was more than a turn on for him.

It was a still silence all the way back to the practice facility. He kissed your cheek and told you to have a goodnight, then you grabbed your cheer bag and had gone home. Joe waited to see if he’d hear from you, wanting to see where you stood on the matter before he pushed his way into your space. He was giving you an out if you wanted it.

You wanted to want it.

It was so wrong. You were breaking the biggest rule imposed on you. Yet, you couldn’t. So you didn’t. It took until mid-afternoon the next day when you texted him to get his actual phone number, the texting exclusively through instagram private message felt a little middle school. He happily obliged, not wanting to pressure you into anything.

The conversation was casual, nothing pertaining to the subject of you fucking in the backseat of his Porsche. The only discussion of that was via Venmo, when he sent you money for a Plan B without question. You hadn’t even requested the money, he just let you know through the transaction that he didn’t want to act entitled to knowing if you were on contraception.

He didn’t know why he was so enamored by you. Joe had a very fuck boy-ish college career, he’d done his fair share of sleeping around and having women throw themselves at him. Some would say this has given him a big ego, he partially agreed. It was never about the hookup culture, though. It was more so just what he thought was right for a college athlete, it was what all his friends had done. He’d broken some hearts, for that he wasn’t proud. It was a time in his life that he was focused on two things: football and partying.

It was pretty obvious that you were the opposite to him. He had done a little social media stalking to find out a little more about the so-called rookie Ben-Gal. Just through instagram he saw that you were a very spirited girl during high school, it seemed like you had a serious boyfriend through most of those four years. He sort of disappeared when you came to the University of Cincinnati.

He wondered if he was your first love. Joe hadn’t ever been able to recall a first love for himself. There had been plenty of girls, he just didn’t ever feel like it was love.

He saw that you had maintained the good girl persona through college too. He was shocked that you’d never joined a sorority. Joe came to realize that you really were just a dedicated student athlete through and through. How you ended up as a Bengals cheerleader? He wasn’t sure.

Joe: What’re you up to tonight?

He typed the message out without thinking much of it, it’d been days since you’d last been together. He hadn’t pushed anything since the car incident. He hung back after practice and watched you rehearse the dance choreography for the preseason that would begin in a few days.

Y/N: Not sure yet

Y/N: Why?

He didn’t really know why. Joe wasn’t so selfish that he wanted to get you in trouble for hanging around him. He just wanted to see you.

Joe: I want to see you.

This was a surprise to you. Not that Joe seemed like the type to sleep with a girl and ghost, but he did kind of seem like the type of guy to do that. He was so charming, though. Everything he said to you sent your stomach into somersaults.

Y/N: Do you?

Joe: I really do

Joe: How do you feel about dive bars?

Y/N: LMAOO

When he didn’t respond to that, you realized he wasn’t kidding when he asked you that. Without thinking much, you laughed and began to type again.

Y/N: Oh shit, you’re serious

Y/N: Can’t say I’m very familiar with the scene lol

Joe: Really?

Y/N: I mean, I just turned 21, I don’t really go to frat parties at school. I really only drink with friends. Haven’t been to many bars.

Joe: Fair enough. I know a spot outside of Cincinnati. It’s pretty small, usually pretty deserted. The crowd is older.

This made you nervous, being in public and easily spotted with Joe made you nervous. It wasn’t the fact that anyone would know who you were, being an NFL cheerleader didn’t make you a celebrity. It was more so the possibility of someone snapping a picture of Joe with you in it, Joe is a celebrity and he’s extremely recognizable.

Y/N: Joe, I really don’t want all this to get back to my coaches. It only takes one person to fuck this all up for me before the season even starts..

Joe: I get that. I’m telling you, nobody here is going to be a problem.

-

In between finishing up your hair and adding a red lip tint, you heard a knock on your apartment door. That would definitely be Joe. He’d insisted on coming up to grab you when picking you up, something about being raised decent.

You’d slipped into a navy blue miniskirt and white ribbed tank top. It seemed like the simplest thing for going out to a hole-in-the-wall bar.

“You’re punctual,” you laughed as you opened the door to reveal Joe in a pair of khakis and t-shirt.

“You look,” Joe began, scanning your figure. “I mean you look really great, Y/N.”

He couldn’t help but think about your reddened lips. He didn’t know where the both of you stood on a lot of things, this made him hold back some of what he wished to say.

“Thank you,” your face flushed at his comments.

Both of you just kinda stood there in the doorway for a moment, grinning like high schoolers after their first kiss. Joe’s cheeks were pink, his hands shoved in his pockets as he watched you retrieve your clutch. His eyes fell to the way your ass looked in that skirt on more than one occasion, or more specifically what it would look like out of that skirt.

“Ready?” You asked.

Joe nodded and you headed down to the complex’s garage. It was a comfortable walk, filled with you having the inability to tear your gaze from his toned arms and back. He definitely noticed you staring, grinning each time he caught you from the corner of his eye.

He opened the passenger side door for you, walking around and getting in himself. He looked so fucking good. There was just something about an attractive guy driving, but Joe took it to a whole different level. He pushed his hand through his hair and backed out seamlessly.

Some A$AP Rocky song was playing in the background as you looked out the window at the lit up city. Joe drummed along the steering wheel. It was obvious every time he attempted to slyly glance at the skirt riding up your thighs.

“How do you think this game in a few days will go?” You said softly.

“Hard to say,” Joe replied. “It’s preseason, so technically it doesn’t matter. To the team it matters, though. Losing these early games give guys like Skip Bayless a reason to rip us apart before the season even starts.”

“You listen to stuff like that?”

“It’s hard not to, they practically shove it down our throats the entire season. Last season was tough, not winning the Super Bowl.”

“You made it, though,” you said. “Counts for something.”

He looked at you, smiling softly and glancing at your lips briefly. Once his eyes were back on the road, you took the opportunity to brush a hand over his arm. He let a deep breath out, chuckling a little. The tension was thick, both of you tiptoeing around the fact that you wanted so desperately to rip the other’s clothes off.

He let you touch him, obviously enjoying it. Maybe he wanted to see how far you’d take it, maybe you wanted to see how far you’d take it. Letting your hand fall to his thigh, you used your thumb to brush over the fabric softly. His breathing became a bit unsteady, eyes flickering to you every few seconds.

When you inched closer to his erection, you gave him a look as if to ask for permission. He nodded, groaning soon after you began to palm him through his pants. He was hard, aching for anything you would give him. You felt yourself heating up, surprised by your own actions when you began to undo the button on his pants, unzipping them and assisting in pulling them down ever so slightly.

He was still driving, eyes very focused on the road now. You let yourself begin to palm him through his briefs now, watching him yearn for your touch more and more.

Joe was driving down a long stretch, the road was deserted and only occupied by him as far as he could see. High beams on, he wondered if he should pull over and fuck you then and there. Or maybe he should see where you were going with this.

“Is this okay?” You asked him, looking up.

“Yeah, more than okay,” he breathed out.

Pulling down his briefs, you tried to maneuver your body into a comfortable position. He was hard in your hand, precum gleaming at the tip. As you let yourself take him in your mouth, he let out a guttural moan. With one hand on the wheel, another found the back of your head and weaved its way into your hair.

This was definitely unsafe.

With your knees bent towards him, your ass was in the air as he started to steadily pace you. He thrusted into your mouth, telling you not to stop. Using your tongue to your advantage, you used your hand to pump where you couldn’t reach.

“Good girl, fuck,” he praised you. “Just like that, I really don’t want to crash this car.”

Trying to push him to the back of your throat, you made sure to take it slow. While this was incredibly hot and sexy, Joe was right. One wrong move, he’s crashing you both into a tree.

Letting yourself release him from your mouth, you used your saliva as a lubricant and pumped your hand over top of his shaft. He was breathing hard, letting you gain composure before your mouth was on him again. He couldn’t take it, the way you swirled your tongue to hit every single nerve. It was only when he began to enter the small downtown area that he realized he’d have to forfeit this without finishing.

Pulling up, you wiped your chin and helped him to get his pants done up. This was a space with a decent number of other cars and stoplights. Last thing either of you needed was someone snapping a picture of Joe receiving a blowjob at a red light or something.

You both laughed a little, Joe still very worked up and giving you the side eye. Pulling down the sun visor, you looking into the tiny mirror and realized your red lip had become all smudged. You went into your clutch and grabbed the tint stick out, applying it evenly.

This only turned Joe on more, watching you as he drove down the tiny street. There seemed to be a lot of brick buildings, some people out and about. It was late, though. He pulled into a small side lot, saying this was it.

Stepping out of the car was a breath of fresh air, it had been very hot and sticky after you decided to blow him. Joe adjusted himself, rolling his eyes when you smirked at him. He held a hand out to you, making your cheeks heat up ever so slightly. Then he pulled you down some cellar like set of steps, pushing a heavy green door open to reveal a dimly lit bar. It was a room of purple hues, lights strung up with music playing. There were a few older people, like three or four. All of the bar seats were empty.

“Come sit,” Joe brought you over.

The bartender was easily seventy, she had red hair that was pulled back tightly and an apron tied to her waist. She smiled at you, the tag on her shirt read ‘Jenny’.

“What can I get you tonight?” She asked, looking at the two of you.

“I’ll have a Blue Moon,” he told her.

“I’ll just have a vodka tonic.”

The woman didn’t ask for any ID, she just nodded and smiled. Joe glanced at you, looking around the space and chuckling. You leaned against the bar, taking a sip of your drink as she placed it down. Joe followed suit, talking to you mindlessly about practice.

“Oh my god, it’s Maggie May!” You said over the music, eyes wide when you grabbed Joe and pulled him to the empty space at the middle of the bar.

“What’re you doing?” He laughed.

“We’re dancing!” You smiled, letting him take you by the waist.

He was laughing as you swayed around, spinning in his arms and singing the lyrics as if you were performing them for him. He eventually gained the courage to take your hands and go back and forth a little. The few people occupying the bar watched and whistled, clearly not used to the display.

Taking you in his arms, Joe kissed you sweetly. Watching as you gallivanted him around a little, trying very hard to spin him yourself. Didn’t work very easily when your dance partner was 6’4.

“Oh Maggie I couldn’t have tried anymore! You led me away from home, ‘cause you didn’t want to be alone! You stole my heart, I couldn’t leave you if I tried,” you sang the 70s ballad at him with a large smile.

“You’re beautiful!” He told you over the music.

You both swayed for a moment or so, flustered and laughing at yourselves. Once the song ended, the three or four people watching chuckled with you. Talking about how they remembered when that song had come out.

When you returned to you seats at the bar, you both drank for awhile and made small talk about life. Joe brushed a piece of hair that had fallen in your face back, making you smile and lean in to press a chaste kiss on his lips.

“I like hanging out with you,” you confessed.

It felt like such a small statement, something a sixteen year old would utter to her crush. It was how you felt, though. Joe lit up some suppressed youth within you, he made you feel like a young girl just coming into herself. He was older than you, more mature, well established. It made you question what he saw in you in the first place.

“I like hanging out with you too,” he said in almost a whisper. “I’ll be right back, I’ve gotta use the bathroom.”

Nodding, he walked to the back of the bar. He left his phone face up. His wallpaper was a photo of him and Ja’Marr Chase at the Super Bowl last season. It was sweet, they seemed very close.

A minute or so passed and his phone went off with two texts, one after the other. It felt disrespectful to glance and read them, but anyone would’ve. He left his phone when he could’ve easily grabbed it.

Ava: Missing you.

Ava: Come over?

There was a sudden lurching in your stomach, like you were going to be sick or something. The feeling lasted for a few seconds, leaving you to pull out your own phone and open the Uber app.

“How much was the tab?” You asked the woman, handing her your card and signing all within the span of about a minute.

“You alright, honey?” She asked, watching you grab your clutch to leave.

No.

“Yes, I’m alright.”

Walking out the same way you came in was easy enough, the Uber would be a few minutes so you’d have to wait outside. You were angry, of course, but more so just hurt and upset over the fact that you thought he was actually interested in you.

This was your fault. Your own naive stupidity. This was a twenty five year old NFL quarterback, what the fuck would he want with you? Sex, clearly. That much was obvious. In the end, Joe wasn’t your boyfriend. Not at all, not even a little bit. He was some guy who you barely knew, some guy you’d maybe even misjudged a little bit.

Leaning against the brick of the building, you felt the tears begin to well up. How could you be so fucking stupid?

“Y/N?” Joe came up the steps. “What’s wrong? What’re you doing?”

“Fuck you, Joe,” you sighed into your hands. “I mean seriously, what the fuck do you get out of stringing me along while you’ve already clearly got a girlfriend or a fuck buddy at least!”

He looked confused, a line forming between his eyebrows when suddenly realization washed over him. He got sort of pale all of sudden, embarrassment flushing his face.

“Y/N, it’s not like that. I promise you, it’s not like that with her. There’s more to the situation—”

“Go to hell, Joe,” you sniffled. “Or better, go see Ava. She misses you.”

He stood there silent for a moment, unable to find the words to express how sorry he was for how he made you feel. He could see through the yellow hue of the streetlight that you were crying. His fingernails dug into the flesh of his palm, cursing himself for not bringing his phone into the bathroom.

“I’m sorry, Y/N.”

“No, you’re sorry I saw,” you spit back. “Get the fuck away from me, Joe. I’m taking an Uber home.”

“Let me drive you home, at least. If you never want to speak to me again after that, okay. Just let me take you home.”

When you said nothing, he knew that was it. He’d have to accept defeat there. Anything he said would make it worse, seeing as there really wasn’t a way to make the situation better. There was no excuse, no way to make you see his point of view.

The silence between you was hard and rigid, the only sound being the ambiance of the outside and your occasional sniffling. The worst part was that he’d led you to believe he liked you. That was why it hurt so badly.

The sleek black SUV pulled up and you pushed off the wall you’d been leaning against. Not being able to bear giving Joe a second glance, you went straight to opening the door and hopping inside.

Joe didn’t try and stop you. It wasn’t his place. He only stood there under the streetlight, watching the car drive off and eventually disappear. He felt horrible, running a hand through his hair and walking towards the brick you’d just leaned against. Pressing his forehead to the cold structure, he tried to bring himself to some conclusion.

“Fuck,” was all he muttered.

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✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

in which you are a satellite, that just can't help but be pulled right into the waynes' orbit. right to a certain jason todd.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

pairing: jason todd // reader

trope: enemies to lovers

add yourself to the taglist!

☆ chapter one

☆ chapter two

☆ chapter three coming soon

---

disapproval | mick schumacher

pairing: mick schumacher x leclerc!reader

request: "Mick Schumacher imagine where the reader is the youngest Leclerc. I live for overprotective brothers, so if you could include that. It doesn’t matter if it is a story or an Instagram au" word count: 2.6k warnings: none except kind of asshole brother charles so sry

You waited almost twenty minutes after the race started before sneaking out the back door of the Ferrari garage. Mick texted you saying ‘come by in 20’ but you figured 18 and a half minutes was close enough.

With all of the mechanics and pit crew focused on the race, you managed to make your way down to the Mercedes garage relatively unnoticed. You did receive a few questionable glances from the employees who did know you, but none of them said or did anything to stop you from opening up the door. Your VIP access pass was enough for you to do, for the most part, what you wanted

You shut the door quietly, not wanting to draw extra attention to yourself. You were a Leclerc in the Mercedes garage. Even if you knew next to nothing about the actual strategies or the game plan for the races, neither of the team principals would be too happy to see you in the competitions garage.

When you felt a hand on your waist, you jumped and gasped quietly, but when you heard Mick’s laugh you leaned into his touch.

“I said I’d meet you outside,” he whispered, pulling your back gently against his chest. Mick dropped his head and pressed a kiss to your cheek. 

“Yeah, but you’re not supposed to leave the garage,” you pointed out. A loud cheer of excitement came from the pit crew when George overtook the car ahead of him and you pushed Mick closer into the corner, wanting to be as far out of the public eye as possible. 

“You’re sweet,” Mick traced his fingers over your jaw and turned your head to face him, his bright blue sent fireworks exploding in the pit of your stomach. It had been eight months with this man and he still made it feel as though you two were the only people to ever exist whenever he looked at you. 

You had started dating towards the end of the last season. Spending the break together was ideal and romantic and you had never been happier. Obviously, you both would have loved it if he was still driving this season, but being Mercedes’ race driver ensured that he would still be there every weekend.

There was only one issue. 

Your older brothers were still very sceptical about your relationship. Charles, especially. He, sometimes, respected Mick as a driver and when they raced, they got along fine, but you were his younger sister, his only sister. To him, no one would ever be good enough for you. 

That didn’t stop you, though. Mick made you happier than you’d ever been. 

He wrapped his arms around your waist, chin resting on top of your head as the two of you watched the race play out in the garage. You could feel him wince whenever Lewis or George had a close encounter. And in return, he squeezed your sides gently when Charles had too much oversteer in the fifth corner and caused him to drop down a place. 

“I wish you were racing,” you whispered, raising your hand up to cup his cheek. Mick turned his head and kissed your palm. 

“No you don’t,” Mick chuckled. “Because then you’d have to choose between rooting for me or your brother.”

“Oh, definitely you,” the lack of hesitancy in your response made him laugh harder.

“Charles would never let you stand in his garage if you showed up in a shirt with my name on it.”

“Then I'd stand in your garage,” you shrugged your shoulders, your lips curled up into a sly smirk. 

“Sweetheart, I want him to like me. I don’t need him thinking of ways to send me to the grave every time I pass him in the paddock.”

“He does like you!” you retorted, but you could both hear the uncertainty in your tone. You could feel him sigh and you corrected yourself, “He likes you as a person, just not-”

“As your boyfriend.”

You turned around in his grasp, interlocking your fingers behind his neck. Mick’s soft smile had the ability to calm your nerves. It didn’t matter what your brothers thought about the two of you. As long as you had Mick, you were fine.

There was a screen right behind Mick’s head and your gaze darted it for a second, only to see that there were a handful of laps left. Charles had managed to get the lead back and unless there was a red flag in the next few minutes, there was a good chance he’d finish first. As his sister, you basically had to be there to celebrate. 

Mick could see what was going through your head and he raised his hand to your chin, gently pulling your attention back to him. 

“Call me later,” he told you. “We can get dinner.”

“If Charles wins, a bunch of drivers are going out. Arthur too and he’ll expect me to join them.” you said, remembering the plans that he and Carlos made earlier today. Honestly, they didn’t need an excuse to go clubbing, but if they had a reason to celebrate then all the better. “Please come.”

Mick didn’t like going out. You had figured that out pretty early on in your relationship. The club scene just wasn’t him. He’d so much rather stay in and order take out. His favorite nights were when the two of you would spend twenty minutes trying to figure out what movie to watch as the pizza got cold only to always settle on reruns of shows you’ve already seen.

But he loved you and saying no to you wasn’t something he could easily do. 

“Okay,” his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, but as long as you were by his side tonight, he couldn’t complain.

You stood on your toes to kiss him, tuning out the rest of the garage, hell- the whole world, as his lips met yours. His grip on your waist tightened and it took everything in you not to pull him to the nearest washroom so you could have a bit more privacy.

“I love you,” you whispered against his lips. He squeezed your side again and repeated the words back. As he lowered his arms, you pulled your phone out of your pocket, instantly ignoring the texts from Arthur wondering where you had gone all race. 

A simple instagram story post would answer his questions.

You’d just have to remember to post a congratulations picture for Charles on your feed later, otherwise he’d be bitter. He wouldn’t come out and say it, but you’d know.

“I’ll see you tonight,” you assured Mick and he was quick to give you one last peck on your cheek before you headed out the back of the Mercedes garage. 

You showed up at Ferrari just as the pit crew was running across the pit lane to climb onto the fences, ready to show their support for Charles who would cross the finish line any second now. No one seemed to notice your disappearance.

Until you locked eyes with Arthur.

With his arms crossed against his chest, he slowly made his way over to you, eyebrows raised as if he was waiting for an explanation. 

“What?” You asked, turning your focus to the screen.

“You were at Mercedes?”

“For a bit, yeah,” you shrugged, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. “I was with Mick, why does it matter? It’s not like I'm needed here anyway.” You gestured around the nearly empty garage and when you looked up at your brother, you could tell he was ready to scold you. “Look, today is about Charles. Can we just save the talking to for another day? The last thing I need is for either of us to be in a pissy mood before we go out.”

As luck would have it, Charles turned the last corner and was heading down the track at full speed. The crowd was going wild, cheering on the Monegasque driver. It was deafening and you knew that you wouldn’t get a chance to personally congratulate him until later. 

You waited until he went to parc fermé before grabbing your bag and heading for the back door of the garage. Arthur grabbed your arm before you could go anywhere. He had this look on his face, assuming that you were on your way to see Mick again. 

“I’m going back to the hotel,” you assured him, yanking your wrist from his grasp. “I’d rather not get lost in a sea of people today, Arthur. Come and knock on my door when you guys are planning on leaving.”

A flash of regret crossed his face, but it disappeared almost as quickly as it came. He didn’t approve of your relationship either, but he also knew how happy Mick made you. The only one who actually seemed to be on yours and Mick's side was Lorenzo, but he wasn’t there to back you up today.

“Oh and I invited Mick to come out with us,” you flashed Arthur a cheeky grin, but you were already way out of the garage before he could even think about arguing with you.

A few hours, five shots and a spilled drink or two later, you found yourself in the middle of a conversation with Lando and Oscar. The three of you were tucked away in the back corner of the VIP section, sitting on the purple velvet couches while the majority of the other drivers were either dancing or at the bar. 

You were doubled over laughing at something Lando had said and your stomach was starting to cramp from how much the two McLaren drivers were making you laugh. The three of you were all struggling to catch your breath when the driver of the day showed up, 

“What is so funny?” Charles asked, nodding his head to instruct you to move over so he could squeeze in between you and Lando. 

What was so funny? 

“Lando-” you pointed at the Brit, but for the life of you could not remember what the joke was that had you breathless. You eventually shrugged, “You just had to be here.”

You reached for your drink that was on the table in front of you as your eyes scanned the crowded club. At the same time, Charles was watching you and there was no way for him to ignore the way your features softened when you locked eyes with Mick who was standing off to the side chatting with Daniel.

He sent a wink in your direction and even in the dim lighting, anyone who simply glanced your way would be able to see your cheeks turn a light shade of red.

“What do you see in him?” 

You snapped your head towards your brother, not a fan of his harsh tone. “I see everything in him. He means the world to me, Charles.”

“You barely know him,” Charles rolled his eyes and beside him, Lando and Oscar slowly inched away from your conversation. They both knew tensions were high when it came to your relationship.

“No, you barely know him,” you retorted. “You see him as a reserve driver for Mercedes and nothing else.”

“That’s not true, I also see him as an ex driver for Haas,” Charles argued back, earning a stifle of laughter from Oscar. You shot both him and your brother a glare before you stood up from the couch. 

“Trouduc,” you spat. Asshole.

“Hey, Y/N, come on,” Charles chuckled, reaching for your wrist before you could storm off. “I just think you could do better than Mick, is all. You have a habit of falling too hard too fast and I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Thanks for your concern,” the sarcasm dripped from your words and you firmly ripped your arm from his hold. He let go of you at the same time and the momentum sent you stumbling backwards. 

You were half expecting to lose your balance and hit the ground, but instead a strong pair of arms wrapped around your waist before you could fall. You looked up to see Mick, eyeing you with concern. The second his line of sight darted towards Charles, it clicked in his head what had happened.

For months you tried desperately to get Charles to understand that you were happy and in love. You wanted your older brother to respect your relationship and actually support it, but it was starting to become draining. You were beginning to think he would just never approve.

“You alright?” Mick asked, and even though you nodded, he saw right through the act. He reached for your hand and squeezed it.

“Can we go?” You asked him, wondering why you didn’t take him up on his offer to just stay in tonight. 

Mick nodded and he started to pull you in the direction of the club doors. You only got a few feet away from the VIP section when he looked over his shoulder, presumably at where Charles was sitting.

“Mick,” you urged, tugging on his hand, “Let’s just go.” 

But he had stopped walking, “Give me one minute, okay?”

“No what are you-”

You couldn’t finish that question. Mick had already walked back towards the couch. You watched as Charles stood up when he approached, eyeing up the taller blonde. Mick had a few inches over Charles, but both of them were intimidating in stance. 

From where you stood, you couldn’t hear what you were saying, but you could see Mick’s muscle tense. You could make out the lines in Charles’ forehead. When Lando and Oscar stood up as well, you could tell they were getting ready to intervene if needed, but you couldn’t bring yourself to cross the floor and get involved. 

And then Charles stepped closer. There was only a few inches of space between the two of them now and you were praying that they both cared about their careers enough to not do anything stupid. The last thing you needed was for this to turn into an altercation and blow up on twitter.

Lando said something to both of them and Charles looked over at you. Whatever Lando said was all it took for Mick to back off and make his way back to you. He grabbed your hand, linking your fingers together. You hated the scowl on his face. Mick was never angry. 

“What did you say to him?” You asked when you stepped outside. Mick pulled out his phone to order an uber, ignoring your question. You poked a finger against his chest, “Micky, what did you say to Charles?”

Mick sighed, sliding his phone in his pocket, “I told him that he had to get over himself and accept the fact that you and I are together.”

You raised your eyebrows, waiting to hear Charles’ response.

Reluctantly, he told you. “He said that eventually you’ll smarten up. You’ll realise that you can do a lot better than me.”

Charles’ words had gotten to Mick. You wanted to scream at your brother for being so blatantly disrespectful. 

“Don’t listen to him,” you said quietly. “He’s taking the whole protective older brother thing to the next level and he’s just being an ass.”

“He’ll never approve of us together.”

“I don’t need his approval,” you assured Mick. But you were both thinking the same thing. You didn't need his approval, but you definitely wanted it. You hated that your relationship with Mick was putting such a strain on your relationship with your family.

The uber pulled up and Mick opened the door for you, letting you slide in first. 

You rested your head on his shoulder, letting the silence fill the car ride. You pulled your phone out of your pocket and opened up Instagram. Mick chuckled when he saw what you were posting and you felt him smile against your hair as he kissed the top of your head.

The rest of your night with Mick was wholesome. You curled up into the hotel room bed and you put on reruns of an old sitcom, both of you pushing the interaction with Charles far from your minds.

It wasn't until you woke up the next morning and saw the dozens of notifications. Missed calls, tweet and texts. All of them drawing attention to the comment on your post from last night.

Your heart sank when you opened up the app and saw what Charles had commented in the early hours in the morning, probably when he was just getting back from the club, and most definitely too drunk to be on his phone.

You could only assume that he had meant to send the photo to one of his friends, or even Arthur, but instead in his drunken state, the intended private message ended up being a very public comment.

yourusername

liked by mercedesamgfi, landonorris and 68,822 others

tagged: mickschumacher

yourusername mon chéri🖤

view all 2,678 comments

mickschumacher i don't speak french

yourusername use google translate dummy

paddockgf such cuties im obsessed🥹

sunshinelewis y/n leclerc is really out here living all of our dreams

charles_leclerc i reallt dont understand why they r together

yourbestfriend ... maybe because they're in love? try being supportive of your sister for a change landonorris too far charles, too far

You hurried to delete his comment, but at this point you knew half of the F1 media world had already seen it and the other half would hear about it before noon.

Your phone started to vibrate and you swallowed back a lump that had formed in your throat.

incoming call: charles

part 2 coming soon

requests are open

---

Shal - Charles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc x SingleMum!Reader

Words: 10.6k

Summary: You and your son Beni are a team but you had once lost everything, following that it wasn't easy to let someone close to you, let alone love you again.

Warnings: Dad!Charles, Friend!Pierre, Losing a loved one, Mental Struggles

Authors Note: If you don't love Charles with children I am judging you hard. haha. I am in love with the idea of dad!Charles so here you go. I am supposed to study but instead, I wrote this.

It's not edited and English isn't my first language so be nice, please :)

Enjoy! ♥

Masterlist

Life sometimes has its own ways. Over time, you learned not to have too much hope and not to take everything that happened to you too seriously. Sometimes it was also important to look at the positive side of a situation. But that was not always possible.

You sat petrified next to the bed. One hand was on your stomach and the other on his. You didn't even notice the constant beeping of the machines in the background.

Someone put a hand on your shoulder. You didn't have enough strength to turn around and see who it was. Your body felt like a stone. That's how you sat there in the chair. Petrified.

You could see people around you and hear them talking but your eyes were only fixed on him, fixed on your hands that were holding each other as if it was a matter of life and death. Silly of you to think like that, because that was exactly what this was all about.

He had left the house normally in the morning and you shortly after him to go to university. Before your first lecture had even started, your phone rang.

A call that no one ever wanted to receive. It sent shivers down your spine. Your friends had to help you not to lose your balance. How you made it to the hospital, you didn't really know yourself, but still you were sitting there.

"Y/N, sweetie, it's time." Your eyes moved from him to his mother who was standing next to you and took your hand that wasn’t holding him in hers. You couldn't get a word out, just looked at the doctor who was already waiting at the machines. When he saw your gaze, he began his procedure.

You did not know how much time had passed, nor could you read the clock hanging at the other end of the room, because your vision was blurred by the tears that had been running down your face continuously since that morning.

“Stupid, stupid cars.” That was somehow all that was playing over and over in your mind while time didn’t seem too pass but also passed by way to quickly at the same time.  

The doctor's voice that interrupted your silence after what felt like an eternity was like a whisper and a scream at the same time.

"Time of death 7:43 p.m." 

-✨✨

"Estie, you know I'm usually up for any nonsense but can we please see that we get through as quickly as possible today? We have to film the same videos with Pierre this afternoon, let alone the videos you are supposed to film together." Esteban looked at you with a grin on his face. He had worked with you long enough now to know when you were serious.

"Alright, where's the little one?" You shrugged.

"Got lured into the other office with sweets earlier. Honestly, I love him but it's good to be able to work in peace for once." Esteban nodded and then sat down in front of the camera.

"So here we go then. The first video-..."

"MUMMYYYYY!" Beni came running through the door and fell around your legs. He grinned at you from down there but then ran over to Esteban when he saw him sitting in front of the camera.

"Hi Estie." Esteban looked up at you but you had your hands in front of your face and were trying to keep calm.

"Hey kiddo." Esteban sat him on his lap. "We're filming a video now." Beni looked from Esteban to the other media people in the room and then to you.

"Sowwy Mummy." He waved to Esteban and then asked him to be lowered. Beni came towards you with small steps and a shy look.

"It's ok my darling. You are welcome to stay here but then you must sit very quietly here in my chair and listen." Beni nodded and stretched his arms upwards to be hoisted by you onto your chair, which was slightly behind you.

Esteban was true to his word. He did his best to get the videos done as smoothly and quickly as possible. Besides a video about the expectations for the new season, a couple of videos for sponsors were also on the schedule.

After less than two hours, however, they were actually through just as Laurent, CEO of Alpine, walked through the door.

"Perfect timing. Y/N Otmar and I would like to talk to you." You looked from Esteban to Beni, who by now had fallen asleep on the chair and was taking a little nap.

"Go. I'll look after him. Pierre isn't here yet anyway, so we can't go on then." Esteban stood next to the chair where your son was sleeping and gave his CEO a high five on the way there.

"Great, I'll take you with me then." On the way to the CEO's office, you thought about everything you had done in the last few months.  Maybe you had made a mistake. You had to admit that not only once had you been completely overtired at work after Beni had pulled you out of sleep again and again all night.

Laurent opened the door to his office where Otmar was already waiting. He hugged you briefly and then offered you a seat next to him.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Laurent sat down on his desk chair opposite you.

"Do I have to worry about my job? Please give me enough time if so. As a single mother, it's not easy to find a suitable job and moving isn't ideal when you're alone either and when I'm working on -" Otmar interrupted you and put a hand on your shoulder reassuringly.

"Take it easy Y/N. We're not going to give you notice today." Otmar's gaze was gentle and you could see that he understood why you had reacted the way you did. Laurent laughed out loud.

"We'd be pretty stupid to let our best employee on the communications team and her little sidekick go." He handed you a folder. It was plain. You couldn't see what was inside from the outside. Laurent nodded and asked you to open the folder.

In big black letters, "contract" was written on the first page. You looked up from the folder first to Laurent who gave Otmar the floor. You let your eyes wander to the team principal.

"There have been changes in our team of travelling staff. We have been able to fill most of the positions over the last few weeks, but there is still one vacancy. The position of Head of Communications and, as part of that, Communications Manager of our new driver Pierre Gasly." Otmar paused for a moment, trying to figure out what you were thinking or if you were going to turn the job down right away.

But you were too focused on the contract you were leafing through. Only when you noticed that it had become suspiciously quiet around you did you look up at the two again. Laurent continued.

"We feel that the position would be best filled by you. You know the team, you know the work, you have always worked in the background for the old head Juliette from home while she was away. That's why we want to offer you this job." Your gaze moved from Laurent to Otmar, who was sitting next to you, grinning.

"Wow. Um, I, well, that's quite nice and I'm glad you believe in me so much and trust me to do this but you seem to be forgetting the most important thing." Before you could continue Laurent interrupted you.

"No, I think we've thought of everything. If you read section 3 on page twelve of your contract, it will probably answer your objection." You let your fingers glide over the pages and opened the page Laurent had mentioned.

"Alpine and Alpine Formula 1 Team also note that for organisational reasons Mr Benjamin Y/L/N is also covered by the contract to a comprehensive extent. Benjamin will travel to the events with his mother unless otherwise possible. Travel to and from the events will be covered by the team. After consultation with the team's travel management, Benjamin and his mother will be accommodated in a hotel room. Due to the age, this is possible in most cases without additional costs for the child. In the exceptional cases that costs are incurred, the costs will be borne by Mrs. Y/N Y/L/N herself."

Tears had already formed in your eyes as you read the paragraph. When you looked up at Laurent again, you could no longer hold them back. One after another ran down your cheeks.

"A few of your colleagues told us that you would like to show Benjamin the world before he starts the serious part of his life and has to go to school. Of course there's still time before then, the little one is only three, but we thought the sooner you start the better." Laurent leaned forward a little in his chair and beamed at you.

"Exactly, and why shouldn't something that works here not work on the road?" said Otmar, "The team has come to know and love you and your little angel. The first few races we'll have to find a rhythm but we're sure we can do it together." You nodded cautiously and out of the corner of your eye you could see Otmar and Laurent sinking contentedly back into their chairs.

You would be lying if you said that travelling with the team had not been your dream. However, you had already finished with it after you had given birth to your son.

You were already infinitely grateful to Laurent and Otmar because they had made it possible for you to start with your child with them. And Otmar was right. Beni was always warmly welcomed, not only in your team, but also by the other colleagues. You had truly found a new family in Enstone.

-✨✨

The knock on the door jolted you out of your thoughts. Actually, you wanted to stay awake despite the jet lag, but it wouldn't work out that way. Pierre beamed at you from the other side of the door.

"Where do you get so much strength and motivation from?” Pierre tilted his head a little and seemed to think for a moment, but then just shrugged his shoulders and came into your room without being asked. When he saw Beni sleeping in his little bed provided by the hotel, his glow seemed to almost double.

He lifted the little one out of his cot and sat down on the sofa in your room. Then he put Beni on his chest and wrapped his arms around your son's sleeping body. He snuggled a little further into Pierre's chest and then slowly opened his eyes.

"I thought maybe we could take a little trip. Charles is already here, too, and had suggested that we could go karting together. I'm pretty sure Beni would have the time of his life." Your gaze wandered from Pierre and your son to your bed and back to them.

Beni had woken up in the meantime and continued to cuddle up to Pierre with sleepy eyes. Pierre first tousled the little one's hair and then gave him a kiss on the head.

"Oh, come on. If you sleep now you'll be up all night. And if your kid doesn't do something, he'll be up all night too, if he's been sleeping since we landed." Pierre looked at you with a know-it-all expression. And somewhere you knew he was right.

"All right, but why does it have to be karting? Don't you Formula 1 drivers ever get tired of it all?" Pierre shook his head vehemently. He seemed satisfied with your answer and then turned to Beni.

"Me, you, Mummy and Charles, we're going to have a great day." Beni’s mood instantly changed. He loved spending time with his Uncle Pierre. Even before they went to the first race Pierre had made sure Beni knew he was the cool uncle to ask when Mummy said no to something.

"Who Shal?" Beni looked over at you. Pierre looked to you as well, confused.

"You haven't met Charles at all?" You thought for a moment and then shook your head. Among the drivers who had been fighting for your son's attention in particular, the Monegasque hadn't been until then.

"I can't believe your mum has kept Charles from you until now. Charles is my best friend. He drives the Ferrari." Beni's gaze moved from Pierre to you again. He had tilted his head and seemed to be thinking. There was nothing sweeter than when his little brow furrowed and you could see quite clearly that he was really thinking about something.

"Wed car?" You nodded and had to grin.

"That's right my darling. Charles drives the red car. The team is called Ferrari." Beni bounced excitedly in Pierre's lap.

"Fewawi." With so much joy and enthusiasm, you could never have said no to your son.

The Monegasque was already waiting for you outside the entrance to the kart track. He stood in front of his Ferrari and only looked up when Beni enthusiastically tore himself away from you and ran across the car park towards Charles.

"Shal." He fell around the Monegasque's legs. Charles bent straight down to him and lifted him into his arms.

"Hello little one." Beni fell around the Ferrari driver's neck and hugged him even as you and Pierre stood in front of them.

"Funny, I never get such an enthusiastic greetings. Do you already have a favourite?" Pierre was right. Even though Beni was quite an outgoing child, he didn't normally lie in people's arms right after he met them the way he did with Charles.

Pierre wanted to take Beni from Charles, but he wouldn't let go of the Monegasque.

"It's okay. I can hold him." The three boys walked ahead into the hall of the kart track. Of course Charles and Pierre were known here. Together with the owner of the facility they explained to Beni a kart that had been standing there.

You stayed a little in the background and watched the three of them. It warmed your heart how Pierre and especially Charles, fully in their element, tried to explain the kart to Beni.

"We should have one here in his size." The owner went out of the room and came back a little later with three kits for the boys. Pierre and Charles got dressed first. Charles, who finished first, then helped Beni into his small suit and carefully pulled the helmet over his head.

Your heart beat a little faster as you watched the scene before you. Charles set Beni down on the floor beside him and your son reached straight back for the Monegasque's hand.

Outside, the owner brought three karts. Two big ones and one very small one. Now your heart began to beat faster for other reasons. Your son was only three years old. Surely you couldn't just put him in a kart.

"Um Pierre." Both Pierre and Charles immediately looked to you. Beni, meanwhile, jumped straight into one of the big karts under the owner's supervision, while Pierre and Charles both came over to you.

"What is it? Would you like to come and ride too? I'm sure it's no problem." You shook your head and then looked at your son. Through the helmet you could see the little eyes shining. But that didn't calm your pulse or your heartbeat.

"I don't think that's a good idea. He's far too small. What if he loses control, what if he gets scared, what if he crashes into something, you can't just put him in a kart and hope everything goes well." Before you could finish your sentence Charles had taken you in his arms without saying a word.

Pierre stood a little perplexed next to the two of you and didn't know exactly what to do. Only when Charles noticed that your breathing had calmed down a little did he let go of you and gave you a gentle smile.

Under different circumstances it would have taken your breath away but at the moment you had other things to worry about.

"Hey look at me." Charles' eyes were full of understanding and compassion. They radiated at the same time this calmness and an unbelievable self-confidence so that you couldn't help but adapt to him.

"If you'd prefer he can ride in one of ours for a few laps first to get a feel for it and if that's ok with him then we can slowly switch to his own kart. Would that be ok?" You looked again at your son who still had that incredible gleam and sparkle in his eyes. His attention was now on you and Charles. You nodded slightly and then looked back at Charles.

"Please be careful with him. He is my everything." Charles encircled you in his arms and hugged you to his chest.

"We know what we're doing, Y/N. Believe it or not but we do this professionally." Charles let go of you again and you couldn't help but let a small laugh escape your lips. "I like this smile on your face  a lot more than the worry." Charles stroked your cheek with his thumb.

"Okay, enough of this, whatever this is." Pierre looked at you with a puzzled look and then pulled Charles by his arm away from you back to Beni who was now again waiting with complete excitement until it finally started.

Surprisingly, it was quite easy to persuade him to ride with the boys first. For the first few laps the little one sat on Pierre's lap, tied with a rope, until he wanted to change and then continue riding with Charles.

But after a short while, the little one had enough of the two of them and finally wanted to drive himself. Of course your fear was unfounded. Everything went as it should. Charles and Pierre let Beni win and he had the time of his life.

-✨✨

The hotel was quiet. You had decided to put Beni to sleep and then do some more work in one of the lounges on your floor. The team in England was now in the middle of their working day.

You kept an eye on Beni via the baby monitor. He was sound asleep after all the fun with Pierre and Charles over the past few days.

Pierre had worked out a whole list of things you could do with Beni in Melbourne. Charles had joined you almost every day. After a week, the three of them had been karting at least four times, including that day.

It had been the first time you had let Beni go off on his own with the two of them and Charles' brothers Lorenzo and Arthur, who had landed in Australia the day before, because you couldn't for the life of you see your son throwing himself into the corners anymore. Every time you did, you had a little heart attack. So you asked Lorenzo to look after the little one, because he was the most trustworthy of the four.

"So, what have you been up to all day?" Charles came through the door and sat down next to you on the two-seater sofa, glancing at your screen.

"I was supposed to work but these four slobs I know took my son go karting and actually I thought if I didn't see it I wouldn't get scared but somehow my mind was still on the slobs and my son." Charles laughed and then nudged you on the shoulder. You looked over at him.

"Do I look untrustworthy to you?" You furrowed your eyebrows, grimaced, then shook your head.

"You and Pierre are the worst, if you want me to be honest. Of course I trust you but -" Somehow you couldn't get a clear thought out of your head and you also knew very well that there was no real reason, except one, why it was so hard for you to see Beni in such a vehicle.

Charles had noticed that your mind was suddenly somewhere else. He put an arm around your shoulders and then pulled you a little closer to him.

"I'm a good listener, you know." You looked into his eyes and at that moment you could have sworn there was something between the two of you. You couldn't really sort it out but that feeling made you suddenly open your soul to Charles.

"No one knows this story. I've honestly always been pretty good at hiding my feelings, well most of the time anyway. It's not just with Beni, but also when other people who mean a lot to me get in a car. Pierre, among others, every race weekend. I can't watch the races. I know Beni loves it but I always try to block it out and focus on something else." Charles looked at you slightly confused. Despite not knowing exactly what it was about, his features and eyes were so gentle and understanding.

Charles let go of you and you sat up a little straighter on the sofa. You let your head fall back to stop the tears that were already forming in your eyes.

Charles didn't push you. He just sat next to you without saying a word. But his presence alone made you feel safe and for some reason you knew you could trust him.

"Most people just always assume that I've broken up with Beni's father or that he just doesn't want anything to do with the child or whatever. And in most cases I just let people believe that too because it's easier for me. But -" You had to take a deep breath several times and in the end you still lost it against the tears that had formed and were now running down your cheeks.

You straightened up again and wiped the tears from your face with the jumper you were wearing.

"Beni's father didn't even know I was pregnant. We had met at university, both studying in Munich in Germany. He was already in his last semester and I was in my first when we first met. It took a while but after a few months we were inseparable. Shortly before my last semester, we decided to move in together. He had got a good job at BMW after graduating as a mechanical engineer and I had also worked there during my studies.

On a cold Thursday morning at the end of January, I just had fewer classes and lectures to attend, had already written and submitted my Bachelor's thesis, he set off for work and I set off for university. I still remember it like it was yesterday. The phone rang just as my professor entered the lecture hall. It was an unknown number and under normal circumstances I wouldn't pick it up but something told me I had to pick it up.

It was the police. My boyfriend, Beni's father, had taken a diversion on his way to work because the motorway was closed due to black ice."

You paused. You took a deep breath because it still hurt to talk about it. Just thinking about the phone call sent shivers down your spine and goose bumps all over your body.

You had never told anyone the whole story. Not in such detail. Not even with the therapist you had several appointments with after the accident and before Beni was born.

Charles hadn't said a word until then. He just sat there and had tears in his own eyes. But when your breathing became faster and faster and he noticed that you had started to tremble, he came a little closer to you and took you gently in his arms.

It took you a while before you could breathe normally again. Charles' heartbeat, which you felt as he held you against his chest, helped you to find a normal rhythm again.

"You don't have to go on." Charles let his arms that were wrapped around you loosen a little but you didn't move. For the first time you were talking about the most painful thing that had happened to you in your young life.

You didn't know exactly why now and why with Charles but you couldn't just stop now. All those emotions that you had kept bottled up for the past four years had to come out.

"He was driving along a country road that had very little traffic despite the closure and that was his undoing. In a bend, black ice formed from one moment to the next and he lost control of the vehicle. What's more, the idiot wasn't wearing his seatbelt and was thrown out of the car when the vehicle overturned several times down the embankment.

When I and his parents arrived at the hospital, the doctors tried to save something in surgery, but the initial situation was already so bad that there was nothing they could do. He was brain dead.

Only after several hours when his living will was handed over by the lawyer could his equipment be switched off."

It was the worst thing you ever had to experience. The moment when the last breath left the otherwise lifeless body was burnt into your subconscious.

Charles hugged you tighter again. But every now and then he wiped a tear from his own face. He couldn't help but think of his father. Although he knew he was going to die and his time had been foreseeable, which meant Charles could say goodbye, it didn't hurt much less.

He knew exactly how you felt. And yet he wanted nothing more than to take away your pain. At that moment he would have given anything to make it more bearable for you.

"I'm so incredibly sorry. And, I know that doesn't make it better, I know that doesn't take away the pain, but I want you to know that you can always come to me. I know what it feels like. That emptiness, that silence, that being alone and with you it's even harder because you have a child. An incredible boy, mind you, who will forever connect you to him." You let go of Charles for the first time and sat upright next to him again. You had to grin a little at the thought of Beni.

"Beni was born on the 16th of September. A little less than nine months after my boyfriend passed away. I had found out the night before he died, was going to surprise him with it after work the day of the accident." Your heart warmed at the thought of the moment you held your angel in your arms for the first time.

"Alpine gave me the chance despite the baby. Beni has grown up with a big family. At home in Enstone everyone loves him with all their heart and they are almost sad if he didn't come to work one day because his grandparents were visiting." Only now do you realise that you were still holding on to Charles Hoodie. You let go of it, but immediately afterwards you felt somehow empty and cold. Your gaze wandered longingly to Charles' hoodie, where you had been holding it. Charles must have noticed this, because he took your hand in his and put it back exactly where you had been holding him, so that you could reach for it again.

But instead you reached for Charles' hand. Your eyes moved from the touch between you to Charles' face and his eyes in which you could see nothing but empathy, love and admiration.

The warmth he radiated spread through your body in one fell swoop and you wanted nothing more than to wrap yourself in the warmth of his arms and care and never let go.

Charles also felt the warmth between you. Mindful of what you had just told him, he left most of the action to you. If he would have allowed himself to give in to his feelings, he would have simply kissed you head over heels at that moment. But he knew that would have been wrong.

So you sat for what felt like an eternity there in the lounge of the hotel, Beni on the baby monitor, work by now completely forgotten, your hand in Charles' hand and your eyes that dared not part.

"I need time Charles. I know you're feeling that right now too, otherwise you'd be pretty numb and I can't imagine that. But I haven't allowed myself to love, or even feel, after losing everything once already. Beni is my priority, my everything. I can't just let myself get caught up in this."

Contrary to your assumption, his hand didn't let you go but pulled you towards him once more. His arms wrapped around your body, making you feel safe again and even more that you couldn't describe.

"I can understand that. Take all the time you need. In the meantime, I will not only be able to sit still, I will show you that loving someone or showing feelings does not have to be directly connected with pain. Because yes, I once felt what you feel now and I know one can’t look past it so easily." Charles put a hand to your cheek and then gently stroked your cheek with his thumb.

"It's getting late, we should get to bed. The race weekend starts tomorrow."

-✨✨

"Flower and toy delivery." Pierre walked into your office and put the flowers and the bag with a toy, presumably he had already looked inside the bag because it was impossible to tell from the outside, on your desk.

Beni was sitting on the floor between his little toy cars and on a carpet on which a race track was drawn on. The carpet had been a present from Otmar for his third birthday.

"You've been getting flowers for the last few weeks and I've always wondered where all these came from so suddenly." He looked at the card stuck in the bouquet and pulled it out. "Until Charles asked me yesterday, after a bloody 7hr flight from the US back to Europe when we parted ways in London, to get you flowers before work today and give Beni this." He pointed to the bag. "Little Romeo even came up with a darn quote that he wanted me to put on the card."

With every word Pierre said, your smile grew bigger and wider until eventually it had become a grin.

You took the card from Pierre that had been in the beautiful bouquet of different red flowers, and read what was written on it.

"Everyone is a Ferrari fan. Even if they say they're not, they are Ferrari fans." - Sebastian Vettel

You knew Charles was probably getting at the fact that, even if you couldn't admit it to yourself yet, there was more between you. In the end, you were more than a "fan" of his, you were aware of that and every day more and more Charles made it clear that he meant what he had said in Australia.

----------✨✨ flashback ✨✨------------

Thinking back to Australia, during the whole race weekend Charles was always suddenly standing next to you, constantly engaged with Beni, and even picked you up from your room on Saturday morning to drive to the track together. In order not to make it too conspicuous, Pierre also had to ride with you a little earlier than he would have normally come to the track.

During the long break between Melbourne and Baku you got flowers sent to the office every few days and there was always something for Beni too. His toy car collection had expanded by a few cars since then, various Ferrari road cars to be exact.

The day before you left for Azerbaijan, Charles arrived at your doorstep in the afternoon, just as you had left the office. Beni was beside himself with excitement and while you packed your bags he played with Charles in his room into the evening.

When it was time for bed, you allowed Beni to watch one more episode of his favourite show, which lasted only ten minutes. Charles had joined you on the sofa and for the first time in a long time Beni snuggled up to someone else instead of you while watching his show.

At first you were a little sad that he preferred Charles but when you saw the little one snuggled against Charles' chest your heart leapt and you could have sworn that there was a tugging in your abdomen that you tried to ignore.

The episode was not even half over when Beni had already fallen asleep. His face buried in Charles' chest and with his little hands he clung to the Monegasque, afraid he wouldn't be there when he woke up.

Charles managed to put the little one to bed without him waking up. And you didn't know what had come over you when he came walking out of the room while you were still sitting on the sofa. But only a few seconds after Charles had sat down again, you had pulled him to you and suddenly your lips were on his for a few seconds.

Although it was only a fleeting kiss, your heart leapt for joy, your stomach buzzed with butterflies and your head was filled with fireworks.

From Baku onwards, Beni was seen more and more often alone with Charles. Especially in the mornings, he had picked up the little one every now and then to go to the track with him. Since you couldn't get around the social media of the teams for professional reasons, you kept seeing comments from fans who were making wild speculations. But you tried to suppress them.

Charles taking Beni with him before the first practice session in Baku and having him sit in his car was the most liked post across all the teams and across all race weekend. Beni’s eyes were glowing and you could see on the pictures the sheer joy he felt while sitting in the car and Charles explaining to him the steering wheel.

You were with Pierre at the time still caught up in an interview with a French TV Channel when the pictures got posted and someone from the team of the TV Channel showed you what Ferrari had captioned the post.

“Sowwy Alpine. We have stolen your driver for 2037 and we won’t give him back.”    

You couldn’t hold back a little laugh at the comment.

After the race that he won, Charles came up to you just as you were finishing in the media pen with Pierre, who again managed to drive an amazing race and put the Alpine on fourth.

“When are you and Beni leaving for Florida?” He had whispered into your ear which sent shivers down your body. While you should have focused on what Pierre was saying your mind drifted of to how close Charles was standing behind you. You turned around slightly to see the Monegasque standing behind you with a sly smile on his face.

“Congratulations, first of all.” He tried his best to wink at you but failed miserably which made you laugh and gained the attention from Pierre and a couple other media representatives in and around the pen.

“We are leaving later tonight. We’re going directly from here to the airport after we’re all done with the media and debrief.” Charles thought for a second then nodded.

“I think I must be on the same flight. It lands in Miami around 10 A.M. on Monday.” You nodded having looked at the details earlier on while the race was still on. It was a 20 hour journey from Baku to Miami with one stop somewhere along the way.

“Great. I have a surprise for you and Beni. Well, mostly for Beni I guess but I hope you’ll enjoy it as well. I hope you don’t have any plans until Wednesday.” Charles got nudged by his comms manager and had to leave before you could say anything.

All the way from Pierre finishing up his interviews to walking back to the motorhome and to gathering your things so that you could leave the Circuit at the right time you had to think about Charles’ words. What was his plan? Were you going to spend three days just with him.

The airport war not too crowded so the line to check your bags went quickly. At the desk the lady kindly asked for your passports then continued to check in your bags.

“Oh, you have pre checked-in but your seats must have changed. I’ll print you and your son your new tickets.” You looked at her confused. But she just happily continued her work and handed you two new tickets making the ones on your phone invalid.

“You have been upgraded for the whole journey to first class, madame. Your new seats are 3A and 3C. You may as well use the first class lounge which is after the security check in Terminal A. Enjoy your journey.” You couldn’t really believe what the lady had just told you.

You took Beni and walked towards the security check that was especially for first class customers. While waiting in line you looked at the tickets again. You send a picture to Pierre.

You: I think Alpine may have made a mistake. They put me and Beni in first class as well not just you two drivers.

Peach: That smooth Bastard

Peach: I can’t believe people are calling Carlos the smooth operator when that bastard is roaming the streets upgrading tickets without letting you know.

You: What are you talking about?

Peach: Come up to the lounge, we are waiting.

You had a suspicion on who had upgraded your tickets and as you walked into the lounge for the first time in your life together with you toddler you almost instantly spotted Pierre and right next to him Estie, Carlos, and the answer to all your questions, Charles.

Charles smiled at you and opened his arms for Beni who made himself comfortable in Charles’ lap right away.

“How in gods name were you able to find our booking and upgrade our tickets?” Charles switched his attention from Beni, who now cuddled up to the Monegasque, to you standing opposite him next to where Pierre was sitting.

“I didn’t really need anything besides your name and the confirmation that you were booked on the same flight as we were.” Charles pointed at the empty seat next to him on the one side and next to Carlos on the other side. You rolled your eyes and sat down patting your little boys head.

“Well, thank you. You did not have to do that but we really appreciate it.” Charles smiled at you and touched your hand for a moment but then seemed to realise that the other three drivers were watching and focused back on Beni who was really tired but knew that he was going to be on the plane soon where it would be much nicer to sleep so he stayed a wake chatting to Charles and his favourite uncle Pierre, while you got lost in a conversation with Carlos and Estie.

Boarding was pretty soon after and for the first time ever you did not have to walk through first and business to get to your seat. It was actually one of the first ones.

“So actually the plan was for you to have a little break and enjoy the flight.” You looked at Charles who put Beni in his seat next to the window. Your seat was not next to your son. It was Charles who was supposed to sit next to your little one.

“Are you sure, I mean it’s not easy with a toddler and we also have a stop, You’ll have to get him ready as well and pack his things and all.” Charles took a look at Beni who was looking out of the window then came across the walkway to your little cabin.

“If you miss him we can switch. But I think you deserve to for once not have to worry and just enjoy the flight. Everything is complementary so don’t hold back.” Charles looked around for a second then gave you a soft kiss on your cheek and walked back across the walkway.

You watched him chat to Beni while unpacking your flight essentials. The lovely stewardess got you a glass of bubbly while you made yourself comfortable and it didn’t take you long after the flight took off before you fell asleep and only woke up shortly before the landing for the stop over.

Miami was as expected pretty warm and humid already even though it was only spring. As both you, and Beni from what Charles had told you, had slept for a good chunk of both flights you were pretty energetic after you landed and moved into your room at the hotel.

It was just before noon when a knock at the door sounded through the hotel room. You got up from the floor, where you were playing with Beni and some of his cars that he had taken from England on the big trip to Baku and Miami.

“Are we ready for a little adventure.” Charles stood there in front of your door with a smile spreading from his left to his right ear. You almost thought Daniel Ricciardo had made a come back and was now standing in front of you.

After Charles instructing you on what to pack for the next couple of days and a little road trip up the coast you couldn’t believe your eyes as you rolled up to the gates of Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Charles had gone out of his way and booked you into a Suite at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

“You are crazy.” You said out loud what you were thinking. Charles stood behind you with Beni sitting on his shoulders.

“Shal, down.” Charles lifted him off his shoulders and put him on the floor. Beni almost instantly hopped onto the bed and started jumping on it.

“Do you like it?” Beni nodded his head frantically and jumped into Charles’ arms as he spread them out for the little one. Then he threw Beni back on the bed which made the little one laugh. You watched the two of them with heart eyes until Charles turned to you and put an arm around you.

“What about you? Do you like it?” You looked at your little man who was still glowing from all the excitement.

“I mean obviously I like it. This is awesome. Thank you, really. I don’t think I would have ever come up with the idea to go to Disney but this is so much Charles.” Charles didn’t let you talk any further. He shook his head and pulled you a little closer before wrapping his arms around your body and pulling you to his chest.

“No, this is perfect. This is what you deserve. I want you to just enjoy the next couple of days and not think about anything work related.”

And you did. All of that Tuesday was spend moving from roller coaster to roller coaster that Beni was allowed to ride. He was holding onto Charles’ hand so tight that at some point you thought his hand must have gone numb.

Obviously it wasn’t easy to stay undercover. Well actually Charles had failed to do so from about  10 minutes after you had entered the park. Some people had come up to him to ask for pictures which he happily took but then asked the fans to give him some privacy.

Every now and then as you walked through the park you could tell that people were taking pictures of the three of you. After a while you forgot about that though and just stopped worrying about all the pictures that would be found online later and enjoyed the time with Beni and Charles.

As you got back to the hotel after a full day at the happiest place on earth Beni had fallen asleep in Charles’ arm and was snuggled up against the Monegasque.

Charles wanted to put the little one down on the bed that he had shared with you the night before but Beni wouldn’t let go of Charles and as he forced his hands to let go of his shirt Beni woke up and started crying.

As you tried to calm your angle down after you had already gotten changed into your night gown, Charles got changed quickly before softly and quietly asking for your permission to join you and Beni in your bed. Only when you nodded did he pull the covers back and slid into the bed next to you.

“Hey, Beni.” The little one got quiet for a minute then turned around to see Charles laying in bed next to him.

"Shal, here." Beni reached out his hand which was gladly taken by Charles but against both of your beliefs Beni didn’t switch over to Charles.

No, Beni instead pulled Charles by his hand to come closer to him and where he was laying in your arms. Only when Beni’s back was against Charles’ chest did he calm down and after only a couple of minutes he had also fallen asleep.

As Charles was laying just centimetres away from you he reached out his arm and put it around the two of you.

Your eyes connected for a brief moment and you could have sworn that what you saw in Charles’ eyes was love. Not only for you but also for your son, the little family that you could be if only you allowed yourself to feel and fall in love again.

With your thoughts running wild and Charles’ hand resting on your back you fell asleep that night with a smile on your face.

After the pictures of the three of you at Disney had spread further speculations within not only the fans but also within the paddock itself at the Miami Grand Prix, the speculations didn't stop after not only Beni came to the track with Charles in the morning, but also you, and this time there was no sight of Pierre, because for once he was in the paddock before you.

----------✨✨ flashback over ✨✨------------

Pierre pulled you out of your thoughts as he continued talking.

"I don't know what, but something happened in Australia. I think if you asked Charles to let me pass at the start, he would do it. He'd do anything for you." Pierre reached for the bag with the toy for Beni and gave it to the little one, who had already been examining it from afar.

"Oh come on, you're just afraid you'll lose the position as favourite uncle." Pierre turned his head from Beni back to you and looked at you with raised eyebrows and a somewhat confused expression on his face.

"No, I'll be so bold and say that I don't have to worry about that position, more about the fact that my best friend actually already is a father, but he and the child's mother, who is my communication manager, somehow don't really see it yet."

Pierre's words made you think. Had you actually already let Charles get so close to you that from the outside it looked like he was Beni's father? Actually, you didn't think it was so obvious that there was something between you.

A small cry of joy from Beni snapped you right back out of your thoughts.

"Mummy, Shal car." Beni jumped towards you and showed you the Formula 1 car replica. It even had Charles' number on it. You got it out of the box for him, knowing Beni was about to play with it.

"Y/N." You looked up at Pierre who was still leaning against your desk watching you and Beni.

"I just think you have yet to admit to yourself that Charles is made for your little family. I don't know what's stopping you from admitting it but don't put him off forever. He'd probably wait forever and a day for you but he doesn't deserve that." You knew Pierre was right. But it sounded easier than it was.

-✨✨

The advantage of having a child was definitely that no one questioned when you said that the child was sick first and then you caught it. It broke your heart not to have been there in Imola or Monaco but you needed distance from the whole situation.

The more you thought about it, the more clearly you could see how you were actually just stalling Charles. And the more you thought about it, the more your heart broke. It wasn't your intention to stall Charles but you knew exactly why you couldn't let him get closer to you.

So while your colleagues from Imola made their way to Monaco, you travelled from London to Munich to visit Beni's grandparents, the parents of your late boyfriend.

While you were able to disguise the visit as a short holiday for the first few days, it was Marie, Beni's grandmother, who quickly realised that there was something else behind the visit.

Beni sat in front of the television with his grandpa Richard and watched the race. Whenever he saw one of the two red Ferraris, he clapped and shouted "Shal". Your heart leapt from joy every time.

"It's him." Your eyes wandered from Beni and the race to Marie, who was already preparing dinner next to you at the dining table.

"Excuse me?" Marie cleaned her hands and sat down next to you.

"I can see it in your eyes. I knew it from the moment you walked through the door. And as much as the little one gets excited every time a red car flashes through the frame, it can only have one origin." You couldn't look her in the eye, lowering your head so that you were looking at your fingers.

"Whether you know it yourself or not but you came here to get confirmation that it's okay to move on." You knew she was right. However, you hadn't expected to be so easy to see through. Well, part of it was Beni betraying you, but maybe it was a good thing.

"I-" you didn't know what to say. There were so many things you should and wanted to address but somehow nothing could cross your lips now.

"Y/N, look at me please." You took your eyes off your hands and looked at Marie. She smiled gently at you.

"As much as we both probably wish for a different reality but your son doesn't have a father. He's never had one. My son may have been the procreator but he passed away far too soon to have any attachment to the little one. That your heart is so attached to my son I think has a lot to do with the fact that you've managed to withdraw so much in the last few years that you've never been confronted with such feelings." She took your hands in hers and smiled cautiously.

"It's time to take a new path and do good for yourself, to listen to your heart. You owe it to Beni to have a male caregiver, possibly even a father, who loves him and would do anything for him."

It was difficult for you to process Marie's words at first. You needed to be alone, sort out your thoughts and be clear about what you wanted.

When the warm spring air hit your skin, it gave you goose bumps. Without thinking about where you were going, you followed your legs wherever they took you. Your path led you once across the city. Past so many places that had once meant so much to you.

The restaurant where you had been on your first date, the house of your first flat-sharing community where you had spent so much time together, his favourite restaurant, your favourite place in the park.

No matter where you went, all the places had one thing in common, they were really nice memories that came back to you, but without meaning to, your brain quickly drifted back to Charles and all the nice things he had done for you and especially for Beni.

On the bench in the park, you took your mobile phone out of your jacket pocket for the first time in days. There were countless messages from the team, from friends, but above all from Charles.

The last message that was sent and received that day though, probably shortly before the race started, was from Pierre.

Peach: I know you said you needed some space and I didn't tell anyone that you weren't sick but Charles is really worried.

Peach: You haven't answered any messages from him or anyone else since you flew to Germany.

Peach: I've only just been able to stall Charles, but the poor thing can't think of anything else. Please get in touch.

Peach: I hope you are both well ♥ We miss you!

Your fingers pressed down on the call button almost automatically and after barely a second Pierre had picked up.

"Y/N?" Pierre sounded quite concerned.

"Hey Peach, sorry for not getting back to you in so long." You could hear Pierre breathe a little easier on the other end of the line.

"I'm glad you're okay. You haven't answered anyone and Charles is already going crazy." It made your heart beat faster, as if on cue, to know that he was so worried about you. Not just Charles, but Pierre too. 

"I honestly didn't think it would be so noticeable if I didn't answer. Anyway, actually I just wanted to tell you that we're flying home tomorrow afternoon and then we'll be back for the next race."

"Well I'm glad to hear that, but believe me it's far too quiet here without you and you are very important to many here and it pains me to say it but especially to Charles you mean more than you'd maybe like to admit. I think he had one of his worst races in a long time today and then at home too." It broke your heart to hear that Charles was so upset that you hadn't answered him. But on the other hand, those days with Beni's grandparents gave you a lot of insight into what you wanted for yourself and Beni in the future.

"I know how much I mean to him, Peach. But most of all, I realised how much he means to me. But I had to come here to put my past behind me, so that I could look to the future, free of what once was." You could hear several voices in the background with Pierre.

"I'm really glad to hear that. I have to go now for the interviews. I'll see you tomorrow." You hadn't noticed what time it was. Only when Pierre hung up did you realise that he had probably just got out of the car when you called.

Seeing the result of the race in Monaco broke your heart a little bit.

Carlos Sainz

Max Verstappen

Oscar Piastri

Charles was only listed in eleventh place. He hadn’t even managed to get a point.

Your fingers slid across the screen and opened the chat with Charles. There were several messages he had sent you every day. You hadn't read any of them since Monday. The messages became more and more desperate until at one point he was really just begging you to finally answer him.

Your heart contracted at the thought that you had caused him so much pain, despair and grief over the last few days, just because you hadn't managed to get your life under control sooner.

Your finger pressed the call button next to Charles' name but after several rings no one picked up. Your heart continued to tighten in pain. What if he was angry with you, didn't want to have anything more to do with you because you had broken his heart?

Your fingers literally flew over the keyboard and formulated a message to Charles from the bottom of your heart without much influence from your brain:

'I am so infinitely sorry that you have been worrying so much these past few days and that I have simply ignored you and therefore ruined your home race today. But please let me explain.

Beni and I are fine. Neither of us was ill. I was the one who needed distance to come to terms with myself. That is why Beni and I are in Germany with Beni's grandparents.

Charles, I had to take this step to come to terms with the past and to learn what I wanted for myself and my son in the future. It took a while but I finally know and I hope it’s not too late.

I want Beni to have someone besides me by his side who loves him just as much as I do, a father figure, someone who will put him above everything and teach him things in the future that I, as a mum, just couldn't convey as authentically no matter how hard I tried. I want Beni to have a dad he can rely on and who not only cares for him, but also for me. Someone who loves me without asking questions and protects us both from everything bad.

But I would never have been able to learn all this if I hadn't come here. Because I have finally understood that I want you to be that person. I couldn't imagine anything more beautiful than having you by my side. And I'm pretty sure Beni would be beside himself with joy if he could see you more often than just during the race weekends or when traveling to our race destinations. Because he loves you ... at least as much as I love you.’ 

Hoping that Charles would answer by the time you got back to Beni and his grandparents, you put your phone back in your jacket pocket and slowly made your way back.

It was time to pack your bags again and book your flight home for the following, because if there was one thing you realised, it was that Munich was your past. And as much as you had loved the city, it was now nothing but the city where your child’s grandparents lived. It had not been your home for a long time.

The suitcases were packed and Beni was lying next to you in your bed, watching an episode of his favourite series on the iPad. You couldn't concentrate on it though. Charles had read your message more than three hours ago but there was no reply from the Monegasque.

You: Peach, I think I messed up. Charles didn't answer my call and now he has read my message more than three hours ago but hasn't replied.

Pierre's answer came without delay.

Peach: Take it easy. He had a shitty day today and you can imagine how everyone pounced on him after the race.

Peach: I'm sure it won't be long now.

You: Not long until what? Until he answers, until he blocks me completely?

Just as you sent the message, the doorbell echoed through the whole flat. Marie was still in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner. You offered to help but she didn't want your help, told you to look after your son and enjoy the last evening basically on holiday.

You could hear her soft footsteps approaching the door and then opening it.

After maybe two minutes the door closed again and her footsteps approached your bedroom door. You got ready to open the door, left Beni in bed and walked to the door. The knocking was stronger and more definite than normal but you opened the door straight away anyway.

Before you could realise that for some reason he was standing in front of you, his lips were on yours and Charles pulled you close. It took you a few seconds to realise what was happening. But when your head was up to date, you returned the kiss directly and put your hands on his neck.

"SHAL." Charles detached himself from you and after a quick look straight into your soul and a small smile on his lips, he turned to Beni who had put the iPad aside and was standing on the bed to give his Shal a hug.

Charles lifted the little one up and gave him a kiss on the forehead. Beni put his arms around his neck and pulled him close.

Without noticing it, tears began to run down your cheeks. This was what you wanted. Just the thought that Beni would hopefully call Charles Daddy one day made your heart beat faster.

You ventured a look from the room down the corridor where Marie and Richard were standing, both with huge grins on their faces. Marie threw you an air kiss and a wordless goodnight.

You closed the door behind you and walked to Charles and Beni who were both already comfortable in bed again. Beni was lying on Charles' chest and instead of finishing his favourite show he was talking to Charles about the race.

"Sowwy, today." Charles smoothed his mane and gave him another kiss on the temple.

"It's ok, little one. I'm happy now that I am with you and your Mummy." Beni put his arms around Charles' chest to hug him, but his arms just reached around the front. Charles head immediately turned towards you as he felt the bed move beside him.

You lay down with the two of them but you could already see Beni's eyes getting smaller and smaller. Charles put one arm around your back and pulled you to his side while he stroked Beni's back with the other. You also put your free hand on Beni's back and held Charles' hand there. 

Only when Beni's eyes had been closed for a while and his breathing had slowed down did you look up at Charles again. You could already feel his eyes on you and as you suspected, the Monegasque's blue-green eyes were once again staring straight into your soul.

"I would like nothing more than to have you and Beni by my side for the rest of my life and to protect you. I want us to be happy together, for you to move in with me and for us to be a family. My dream is that you take my name and we make at least three more siblings for Beni." Tears formed in your eyes, but for the first time in a very long time, they were tears of joy.

"I've grown to love you so much in such a short time, it's been pure hell being without you two for the last two weeks." Charles nudged your nose with his and kissed away the few tears that had managed to roll down your cheeks before deftly placing his lips on yours again.

The kiss was much softer than the one before but still felt so much deeper and more meaningful. Charles rested his forehead on yours and only dared to break the silence after a few seconds.

"I love you Y/N. You and Beni are my future too." 

-✨✨

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Taglist: @amsofftrack @ricsaigaslec  @hungryhungarian @enjoymyloves

---

Chapter Fifteen

“we have never heard the devil’s side of the story, seeing as god wrote the book”

pairing: daniel ricciardo x driver oc

word count: 14.3k

warnings: depictions of sexual harassment, explicit language, drinking, motorsport accidents, mentions of sex, mentions of death, mature themes

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“I cannot believe you talked me into this!” Her mom groaned, buckling her seat belt while Sam reached over to make sure her helmet was on tight and then double checking the seatbelts herself. 

“You’re gonna be fine mom. It’ll be fun,” she assured her excitedly, sitting back in her seat, doing up her own belts, and then starting the car. 

Sam began to do last moment checks on the car like adjusting her mirror and steering wheel height, and then with a wave out to the people watching from the pit lane, she slowly started to creep toward the starting line where she would wait for the green flag. 

“Is it too late to back out now?” Her mom mumbled. Sam laughed when she looked over at her mom, who was already bracing herself against the back of the seat with a tight grip on the handle of the door with her eyes squeezed shut. 

Sam fumbled with her words, trying to find a way to make sure she made it around the circuit with her mom, “Uh yep. Once that seatbelt locks, it doesn’t unlock until the car tracks it's completed at least one lap.”

The woman opened her eyes and gave Sam a hesitant look, as if her maternal instinct was telling her Sam was trying to pull one over on her. 

“New upgrade created specifically for cars used during hot laps. Technology is crazy,” Sam lied, trying to hold in her laughs at the state of her mom, before she turned to the camera in the car and offered it a look that told them she had no idea where she’d come up with that excuse, let alone how her mom had managed to believe it.

And just like that, the green flag was dropped and Sam’s foot pushed down onto the accelerator. She let out a chuckle as her mom screamed in terror. 

The woman screamed nearly the entire lap, only stopping to yell expletives at her daughter or berate her to slow down. Sam could barely breathe with how hard she was laughing; the irony of Eliza being terrified of fast cars, while her daughter drove them for a living. 

As they rounded the final corner and stopped back where they had started not long ago, Sam put the car in park and turned to look at her mom. “See, not so bad. And you’re still breathing. Who would've thought! It’s not like I do this for a living” She laughed with sarcasm. 

The woman turned and glared at her daughter, not fond of the joking being done at her expense. “Samantha Jordan Thompson, get me out of this car!” Her mom was tugging on the belts and trying to pull her helmet off in a frenzy. 

Rolling her eyes with a chuckle, Sam unbuckled her own belt and reached over to do her mother’s. The second she was free, the door flung open and Eliza was out of sight. 

When she made her way out of the car herself, Sam pulled her helmet off and shook out her hair. As always with hotlaps, Sam let the camera and host come over and talk to her, her personal videographer not far behind. 

“Your mom flew out of here! Hoping that wasn’t an indicator of how the lap went,” they laughed. 

“Well let’s just say my mom has a hatred for fast cars, so my full name was shouted into the ether quite a few times,” Sam joked. 

She was antsy to get a move on. Not because she was worried about her mom— Sam knew that she was off to the HAAS hospitality to be a grump until qualifying, she could handle herself. What she was worried about, was getting held up in interviews and fan interactions for so long that she missed Daniel’s show run in the Earnhardt car. It was bad enough she had yet to see him all day, but she’d kick herself if she missed what he had been looking forward to all week; she couldn’t wait to see the smile on his face afterwards. So once she finished a third interview, she checked her watch and without bothering to drop her helmet off, she sprinted across the paddock to where she knew her friends were waiting for her, with a perfect view of the track. 

Sam was dodging people left and right, waving back at people who waved as she passed. It made her feel like a shitty person, but she didn’t even stop for fans who were trying to wave her down for a photo or an autograph. But finally, she saw her friends standing next to the fence, and with a nod to the security outside the area, she made her way toward them.

“Did I miss it? Has he started the run?!” Sam shouted through heavy breathing as she approached the fence across from the pit lane. 

“No!” Molly shouted with glee. “But look who I found!”

From beside her best friend, Pato O’Ward appeared smiling. 

“Ahí está mi chicle!”

“Pato! Te he echado de menos!” I’ve missed you!

The two exchanged a brief hug and Sam pulled away with a smile. “I didn’t even think to put two and two together that you’d be here! Is it just you?” She craned her head to look behind him, and even turned to see if any more of her indycar friends had accompanied him. 

He laughed at her “Felix is back in the garage and I saw Josef earlier today, but that’s all I’m sure about.”

She let out a tiny squeal and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him back and forth. 

“I can’t believe you’re here! You remember Molly, but I’m not sure if she’s introduced you to Mick yet,” Sam said, turning toward her teammate. 

They shook hands with beaming smiles, and in the distance, the deep rumble of an engine roared. Sam momentarily disregarded her friends and hopped up on the fence where she could see Dale Earnhardt’s car and Daniel’s silhouette inside, and then she stuck her upper body out of the gap and waited for him to put the car into drive. 

Back on the ground, Mick and Pato exchanged a few words. 

“By the way, did you call Sam ‘gum’?”

Pato laughed. “You speak Spanish?” At Mick’s nod, he continued, “I did, yes. During her rookie year, Sam would get in trouble for chewing bubble gum during media all the time, but then one day she fell asleep in her hauler and got a big wad stuck in her hair. She nearly cried when Chilton said he was going to have to cut it to get it out. But then Danica just put some peanut butter on it and it was no big deal. After that she swore she’d never chew it again. We’d mess with her all the time after. Buying packs and packs of it to leave everywhere for her to find, buying wigs and filling them with gum—”

“Patricio, stop embarrassing me. Mick, don’t listen to him he's a dirty, rotten, no good liar. Now both of you get up here, he’s coming.” Sam didn’t even remove her upper body from past the gate to shout at her friends. 

And moments later, just like that, the blue and yellow car zipped by with a deep roar of its cheers erupted from all around the track. Almost as fast as the car came into view, a smile made its way onto Sam’s features. She could even begin to imagine what this meant to Daniel and how much fun he must have been having. His smile was so clear in her mind it’s as if he was standing right in front of her.

Once they watched the car pull back off the track, the remaining group of four made their way over to where the crowd of media and paddock pass-wielding onlookers were gathering. When Daniel stepped out of the car, cameras began to flash and the noise level increased tenfold. Sam could barely get a long look at him. But she knew she had been right; that smile was genuine, one of the only she’d seen on his face in the paddock this season. 

As Daniel was pulled every which way to talk to reporters, cameras, and fans, Sam and Pato began to catch up while they waited for him to walk by. They’d been close during her Incycar years, and had considered each other good friends. So talking to him felt like she was transported back to a stress-free, easy going, successful time in her life; an unexpected breath of fresh air. So she wore a genuine smile on her face as well. 

So as he made his way back to his garage, Daniel didn’t even think twice to stop and talk to Sam when he spotted her from the corner of his eye. The last thing he had expected was her to be able to watch his show run— she was booked and busy every free moment she had this weekend since it was her home race. 

But there she was, a smile on her face. 

And standing across from her was Pato. 

Daniel’s smile would have momentarily faltered when he saw the Indycar driver was the source of Sam’s smile if he hadn’t been riding the oxytocin high of his show run. So unbothered, he walked toward the group, and before he could announce his presence, Molly shrieked in excitement turning everyone’s heads. 

“Daniel! How are you still breathing after that!?”

“I don’t think I am to be fair,” he chuckled as he pretended to use his fingers to search for a pulse on his neck. 

“Was it everything you hoped and dreamed it would be?” Sam asked, her smile stretching ear to ear. 

“Absolutely. I still can’t believe it happened,” he smiled, lifting his helmet and tapping it against hers.

“Good to see you, man! I guess now that you’ve driven a Nascar, that officially makes you an American, no?” Pato said, chuckling and giving Daniel a brotherly smack to the arm.

Daniel chuckled but Sam rolled her eyes playfully. 

“Nope. I’m the only American driver on the grid. No exceptions,” she shook her head surely, pretending to pout as she crossed her arms over her chest, helmet clanking around as she did so. 

Pato laughed again, looking to his left at Sam and tilting his head toward her, “Vas a dejar que se salga con la suya tratando de robarte el protagonismo?” Are you going to let him get away with trying to steal your thunder?

She pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows, “No podría si lo intentara…” He couldn’t if he tried… 

As the two old friends spoke back and forth to one another in Spanish, Daniel couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy somewhere deep in his chest. He had no idea what they were saying, so all he could focus on was the inflections of their voices, and how he suddenly found Spanish to be an extremely romantic language. The way Pato was able to make her laugh so effortlessly— the same way it had taken Daniel months to finally unlock. 

His mind jumped back to their dinner in Portugal, before everything had taken a detour and gone to absolute shit. She was laughing like that night, right? And he’d only known her for a month or so— Wait, maybe she was just being nice? Maybe he’d been too much of an optimist and only saw what he wanted to see and she really thought that— But now. Their conversation in Colorado, and everything that’s transpired since then. That meant something. They were… whatever they were, now. Unless it—

Daniel had no idea where this outpouring of doubt was coming from. He could hear Sam in his mind telling him to take things slow, and these emotions meant he was doing just the opposite. The thousands of thoughts running through his head went silent at once when he looked up and saw the small group of friends staring at each other. 

“You alright, mate?” Pato asked in a concerned tone. 

“Yeah, head is still in the clouds I guess. Sorry,” he shook his head side to side and brushed it off. 

Sam chimed in, “I was just telling Pato about our plans tomorrow and asked if he wanted to tag along—“

Something inside Daniel twisted. “Yeah you should come. It’s gonna be great,” he said in his happiest tone, as believable as he could. He really liked the McLaren Indycar driver— before he assumed he had been flirting with Sam— and the last thing he wanted was to exclude anybody, let alone let his stupid jealousy lead anyone to become suspicious. 

“Ah I appreciate it, but I don't want to intrude.”

“Don’t be silly, you’re always welcome. It’ll be nice to spend some time together again,” Sam slapped his chest, not allowing him to think he was being a bother. 

It took him a second, but after both threatening looks from Sam and Molly, and supportive looks from Mick and Daniel, he finally agreed. “Alright, I'm in. I’ll go buy myself a cowboy get-up. Text me the details,” he said pointing to Sam. She nodded with a smile. He turned to Daniel and continued, “You headed back to the garage too?”

He nodded, “Yeah. Let’s do it.” Before Daniel left, he turned back toward Sam, Mick, and Molly. “I’ll see you guys later,” they smiled and gave him a wave, and then he turned to walk back to the McLaren garage to get ready for qualifying. 

Eighteen seconds of qualifying remain, and each of the ten drivers is out on track trying to set a time. Currently, Verstappen leads ahead of Bottas— who will take a grid penalty at the end of this— followed by Hamilton, Norris, Sainz, Ricciardo, Leclerc, Gasly, Thompson, and finally Tsunoda. 

Hamilton has found good time in the middle sector after loses significant time in the first. Thompson will cross the line staying in ninth. Bottas will be the last to cross the line before the end of the session, and stays third fastest. 

Here he goes, the clock is at zero and Hamilton is crossing the line, trying to get provisional pole back, and he does so by 0.006 of a second! The crowd is roaring as he takes the pole for the time being! But Verstappen has absolutely aced the first sector! This is not over yet!

Sainz crosses the line in fifth. Gasly stays down in eighth, Norris doesn’t improve from fourth. Verstappen is rounding turn 15, this is going to be so close! Leclerc jumps ahead of his teammate up into fifth! Ricciardo is up to sixth! And Tsunoda finishes tenth!

Now, Verstappen has seven poles in the last ten races, and he makes it eight as he takes back provisional pole from Hamilton here in Austin! Hamilton will start from the second spot tomorrow like he has—

But wait! I can’t believe what I’m seeing! 

Thomson’s name has split out two championship contenders as she propels herself into the second spot on the grid! Unbelievable! I don’t think anybody saw this coming! 

She must have pushed that car to the limit, because that is the best qualifying of her career! For the first time, Samantha Thompson will be starting an F1 race from the front row! The American driver is giving her home country something to stop and look at, that’s for sure! 

“Has anybody seen Sam?” Mick asked a group of drivers standing together. Kimi, Antonio, Valterri and Fernando all shook their heads no. He tried not to panic, but the closer they got to the walkouts, the more he was starting to worry about her absence. 

Mick hadn’t heard from her since they arrived to the paddock, so as he made his way across the room they were waiting in, he approached the person among them all he thought most likely would have seen her. 

“Daniel,” the Australian looked up from his phone at the mention of his name. Mick walked up to him and quietly asked, “Do you know where Sam is? I can’t find her anywhere and—”

But before he could finish his thought, a woman wearing a headset and carrying a clipboard shouted into the room. “One minute to walk out, drivers. Find your marks and wait for the countdown.”

Mick looked back to Daniel, hoping he had an answer, but he only shook his head. 

Now he was really starting to panic. As quickly as he could without looking crazy, he ran toward the woman and flagged her down. “Wait, wait! We can't start yet. My teammate isn’t here. HAAS F1. Samantha Thompson. We have to wait, its her home race.”

The woman took a moment and checked her clipboard. After scanning the first page, then the second, her eyes must have landed on whatever he was looking for, which sent a wave of relief through Mick. But her response quickly made that disappear, “Everything is under control. Find your mark and wait for your name to be announced.”

He tried his hardest not to roll his eyes, or get too upset at her cryptic answer. Defeatedly, he turned around and let out a breath of frustration, pulling out his phone to call her yet again. 

George walked up to him, concern also lingering in his eyes. “Did you find her?”

With a shake of his head and a gesture in the useless woman’s direction, Mick grumbled, “No, the coordinator just told me everything was under control. I'm hoping she miraculously shows up before we’re announced.”

“It’s a good thing you two are last in line then,” he said, hoping to give Mick a sliver of hope. With a pat on the shoulder George was off to stand in line next to his teammate, leaving Mick to stand unaccompanied at the back of the room. 

And then, the introductions started. Mick’s anxiety grew as each driver was announced, their names booming loud over the speakers followed by cheering fans, plumes of smoke, and the rustle of the Dallas Cowboy cheerleader’s pom poms.

Eventually, every other team had been announced, and Mick was the last driver remaining in the room; no Sam in sight. 

The waiting only made it worse. What if missing her intro was enough of an infringement for the FIA to give her another strike? What if the media teased her about it? Worst of all, what if she was hurt? What if she needed help?

“Are you sure we can’t wait just a little longer?” He turned to the same woman from earlier who was now standing by the door to make sure no driver missed their cue. She looked up at, her small smile felt to be mocking his fear. 

And then, his name was announced. He gave the woman a worried look but she only responded by speaking into her headset that he was on the move. With a deep breath that nearly deflated his resolve completely upon exhale, Mick put on a smile and walked out into the crowd. He waved, turning left and right while trying to ignore the itch of worry in the back of his mind about Sam. He made his way down the carpet, past the cheerleaders, in front of the cameras, his on the move interview spewed into the microphone, and finally onto the large flat-bed of the truck where all the other drivers were congregating. 

“Still not a sign of her?” George asked, taking a place next to him. 

Mick shook his head. He faced the carpet he had just walked down, leaning on the bar in front of him. All the worst case scenarios played out in his head as he imagined her name being called and her failing to show up. 

“And finally, our hometown hero, America’s sweetheart, two-time indycar champion, driving for HAAS F1 team, number sixty six,  the Hell Raiser, Sam Thompson!

The crowd erupted in cheers, the plumes of smoke propelled into the air, but Mick could only cringe at her lack of appearance. He couldn’t withhold the urge to drop his head into his hands, not in shame or disappointment, but in worry and fear. 

“Crikey,” George said out of the blue as the crowd got even louder. But there was no worry in his voice, only surprise, as if his breath had just been taken away. 

Mick lifted his head, all signs pointing to Sam’s arrival. He was surprised she had managed to make it on time, but that wasn’t why the crowd had roared or George had been shocked. No, it was because of yet another trick Sam had up her sleeve for this weekend.

Instead of emerging from the tunnel like every other driver, Sam stepped out of one of the many rows of cheerleaders lining the carpet. He wondered how he hadn’t noticed she was there, let alone any of the other drivers, but she had blended in perfectly. 

All the driver’s heads turned at the next level volume of the crowd. She looked incredible, there was absolutely no denying it. Her hair was curled and cascading down her shoulders, her makeup matched every other girl in line, the small, decorated uniform and white cowboy boots graced her frame while the silver and blue pom poms rattled in her hands as she waved to the crowd. 

“See, sounds like you had nothing to worry about” Daniel said as he squeezed past a few other drivers to get to Mick, his eyes not having graced the sight that was playing out before him. 

“Yeah,” the young German smiled, before leaning back so he could speak quietly, “seems like you’ve got some competition to worry about though.” He gestured to the screaming crowd and then pointed to the carpet where Sam was making her way down toward the interviewer. 

Daniel quirked an eyebrow before his eyes landed on Sam. Mick tried to stifle his laugh as he watched the Aussie’s curious look drop to one of pure, stunned, silence. 

Though his mouth was closed, Mick saw the slight drop in his lower jaw as his eyes widened. Daniel knew there were cameras, fans, and fellow drivers everywhere, so he did his best to tear his eyes from Sam. That same jealous tinge made its way from his fingertips to his toes. He pushed it away, but it persisted and told him to look at the other drivers. For some reason, he listened, and was met with everyone in the truck’s eyes on her.

Though it was obvious not everyone was staring at her the way he had been staring at her, he couldn’t help but wonder which of the many were. 

But with a tap on his shoulder and a turn of his head, all his doubts melted away. 

“Howdy there, cowboy,” Sam smiled up at him as the truck began to move. 

“This is—“ He looked her up and down respectfully, gesturing to her outfit. 

She interrupted, “Surprising? Incredible? Mind blowing?”

“Yeah, among other things,” he laughed, his grin stretching from ear to ear at just how much she was glowing. Not only just her outfit, but how genuinely happy she looked. He cleared his throat, deflecting back to jokes, “Where’d this idea come from, because I need to know where to send my thank you card.”

The two drivers turned to face the crowd, offering waved here and there, but still continued their conversation. 

“You,” she said with a smirk, and Daniel’s head turned to face her in confusion, “I came across an interview from a few years back where you joked about the cheerleaders being the best part of the weekend…”

He blushed in embarrassment. Sam tried to hide her laughter with a knowing look, and went on. 

“I just wanted to see if that still reigned true. Besides, I couldn’t let you out-do me during my home race weekend,” she shrugged, smirk still sitting on her lips. As Daniel’s smile grew bigger simply at the mere sight of her, she reached up and grabbed the cowboy hat off of his head, placing it on top of her own with a smirk. 

Daniel would’ve laughed, but he found something about what she’d just done, so overwhelmingly attractive, that he needed to direct his attention elsewhere to distract himself. Lucky for him, it didn’t take long for Carlos Sainz to wander in his direction. 

“Holding down the fort I see…” Carlos said indicatively, tipping his head in the direction Sam just walked off in. 

“What?” Daniel laughed out. 

“Sam. Your cowboy hat. You know,” Carlos wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, a smirk displayed on his large lips. 

Daniel quirky an eyebrow at him.“The cowboy hat rule?”

“The rule.” He said, as if Daniel should have known what he was talking about, or at least he was the one person on this truck that he’d expected to have known seeing his infatuation with Texas. 

Still, nothing from Daniel, so Carlos went on. His tone giving away the intention of the “rule”

“Wear the hat, ride the cowboy.”

Daniel felt his cheeks flush, so he shook his head to try and hide it, “That’s not a thing. She’s just messing with me.”

Carlos just laughed, and patted his back. “It definitely is a thing. She’s the one who told me about it on Thursday… I think someone’s got a crush on you, Ricciardo.”

Daniel laughed, not wanting to give away that he obviously knew she had more than a crush on him. He turned around to try and catch a look at her. She was in the middle of  conversation with Lance and George. But from the corner of her eye she could see him looking at her, so she looked back over at him, offered him a smile, and then tipped the hat toward him with a wink. 

A grin erupted on Daniel’s face and he looked away, back out towards the fans that were waving as they all drove by. 

“Nah, I don't see it” Daniel replied to Carlos, smirking to himself as he waved back to the fans. 

Sam stood alone in the middle of the track; the pitlane to her left, the grandstands to her right, camera crews in front of her, and the rest of the drivers behind her. 

Her race suit hung from her waist, sleeves blowing lightly in the wind, the disproportionate weight tethering her to where she planted her feet. Her long, dark braid rested on her right shoulder, stray hairs tickling her neck with the pestilent breeze. Her eyes stayed locked on her race boots as people all over took her places, and once the sound settled into silence and the national anthem began to play, she lifted her gaze up to the red, white and blue flag billowing above turn one. 

As the song of her country played, she let her mind begin to focus on the race ahead. Her eyes closed and she tightened her hands that were clasped together behind her back, as she let her head fall slightly back. 

And that was when she heard it. 

The booing. 

She squeezed her eyes shut just a little tighter, trying to drown out the few fans in a crowd of thousands. She would plug her ears, but she knew that was absolutely not an option given where she stood. But then, they started shouting targeted expletives. It began with critiques on her driving, then it shifted to her gender, then her appearance. She felt like a circus animal standing all alone up there; the perfect target on display for everyone to sink their teeth into. She felt alone. Despite how tight she shut her eyes, the insults didn’t stop. 

That was until they did. And then they were replaced with shouting commotion. 

The anthem continued, nearing its end, and Sam opened her eyes to see what was going on. She could see a group of people not too far away in the grandstands getting into a fight. With the lack of insults and the dialogue being shouted between the men, she assumed a few of those men throwing pushes and punches were the ones who had been booing her. 

Was this fight because of her? Did somebody try to stop them? To defend her? She didn’t technically do anything to instigate it except stand here and be a driver, but she felt guilty for some reason. This wasn’t what she had wanted, let alone expected, from her time in F1. Everyone already thought she created issues when it came to her career, she didn’t want them to be correct. 

She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the fight, and the people trying to break it up. But the singer belted the last word of the anthem, dragging it out and holding the finale as the crowd cheered. It was ironic really, that the word brave had been the one to be sung so loudly, with such grace and incredible execution. Because if this was in fact the land of the brave, maybe she wasn't a true American, for in that moment when the song ended and Sam practically ran to her car and away from the sight to her right, she considered herself to be anything but brave. 

Well, down on sixth street in Austin, it’s party time. And here at the track, six races to go, six points separating the championship leader and the man in second place, and we’re on the home straight. The party can wait, it’s the seventh inning stretch! The two-minute warning, the championship party on hold, and there is much to be done before the title is settled. 

And here’s the grid for the US Grand Prix; the 60th world champion Grand Prix to take place in the United States, and for the ninth time this season, it’s Max Verstappen on pole. And after an intense qualifying session yesterday, home driver Samantha Thompson gets the best start of her Formula 1 career as she lines up second on the grid. The second row contains our other championship contender and soon to be retiree Lewis Hamilton, only milliseconds behind the American driver. Lando Norris starts 4th. Followed by Charles Leclerc and making it into Q3 for his eighth consecutive Grand Prix, it’s Daniel Ricciardo finishing out the third row. Then we’ve got Carlos Sainz in 7th, Pierre Gasly starts eighth despite some late drama. Followed by Valterri Bottas with a five place engine penalty, that’s why he’s down in ninth, alongside Yuki Tsunoda for Alpha Tauri. Esteban Ocon for Alpine has Antonio Giovanazzi for company— Alpha Romeo’s best start in three races. He’s ahead of Lance Stroll for Aston Martin and Nicholas Latifi for Williams. Behind them, Kimi Raikkonen who also only has six races left in his Formula 1 career, alongside Mick Schumacher for HAAS. Behind Schumacher is his close friend Sebastian Vettel who has taken a full new power unit, and was relegated to the back of the grid, alongside Fernando Alonso, Sergio Perez, and then finally George Russell to finish us off. 

Everyone is ready.

Five lights are on. 

It’s lights out and away we go!

Thompson gets away well, and she’s gaining towards Max Verstappen who tries to cover her off and pushes her to the left hand side! Hamilton is in acres of space as Thompson on the inside gives Max Verstappen a push in return as he goes wide! Can Hamilton fight back— no he can’t! Thompson is just ahead of Verstappen, as Hamilton challenges his championship rival around turn two! 

In a turn of events, Thompson leads from Verstappen. Then comes Lewis Hamilton followed by the McLaren of Lando Norris!

Samantha Thompson got a dream start that she only could have wanted, meanwhile the championship contenders are battling not far behind her! Lewis Hamilton has won here three times from the second spot on the grid, so if Thompson can keep her pace and her car in one piece, she may have a decent chance at taking home her first win!

The McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo tangoes between the Ferraris, as he almost touches wheels with Charles Leclerc!

Leclerc is on the soft tires with a decent start, but the initial laugh— the reaction time— that goes to Hamilton who pulled away from the McLaren of Norris and the Ferrari with ease. 

Verstappen is gaining on Thompson who now leads the US Grand Prix, but all the defending he’s doing against Lewis is allowing the 0.8 second gap to be retained as she begins to pull away. Try as she might, Samantha Thompson’s car is no match for either RedBull or Mercedes; she’s got to capitalize on this battle behind her. 

Thompson in front, then Verstappen, and following close is Hamilton. Then comes Norris, followed by Leclerc who is under pressure from Ricciardo trying to get in the slipstream but— he’s touched the back of the Ferrari and had to drop back a bit! Now it’s Leclerc that is aiming for a slipstream around turn 8. And there goes Leclerc! 

But here comes Daniel Ricciardo down the inside of them both! 

It’s Ferrari and McLaren, what a battle! Ricciardo on the inside, thought he got the place but Leclerc is pushed wide and still somehow stays ahead of the Honey Badger! 

Lando Norris nips away at the inside of Daniel Ricciardo in hopes of getting that place back, and it’s all happening at lap one, here in Austin!

You’d think it’s the last lap of the Grand Prix the way drivers all along the track are going at it. But they do know that these are the easiest opportunities to make up places. 

And it’s a bitter battle between McLaren and Ferrari! Look at that! What a lovely overtake through 16, 17, and 18 from Daniel Ricciardo, who now finds himself in fourth position. Making places as well, Sebastian Vettel up to fifteenth, Fernando Alonso up to seventeenth. Lance Stroll has dropped down to nineteenth, Latifi is plum last as it stands. 

Out in front at the end of Lap 1, it’s Samantha Thompson, who has just led her very first Grand Prix laps. But who knows if she’ll add any more to her résumé because Lewis Hamilton has managed to pass Max Verstappen and is not far behind her. 

Following not far behind in fourth is Daniel Ricciardo, then Charles Leclerc, Norris, Sainz, and Tsunoda up to eighth. Bottas in ninth putting pressure on Yuki Tsunoda down the inside of turn 1. Can he get good traction and good exit as they tumble down the hill? No, he can’t, he can’t get past Tsunoda. That’s just more frustration for Bottas this weekend. 

***

“**** I’ve got damage. For sure front wing, but check for punctures”

Oh dear, it sounds like Sam Thompson is in a bit of trouble. 

I’m not even sure what happened, but let’s check the replay. 

Yeah, there it is. It seems like one big game of chicken gone wrong. Both drivers are well-known for their late braking, but this time neither wanted to be the first to yield. Daniel was trying to overtake her down the inside of turn 7, and his back right just gave her front wing a kiss. 

She’s right, from the looks of it, the front wing definitely needs replacing, but with how consistent she’s managed to keep her speed since then, I don’t think there’s a puncture.  

That will do it. On lap 6 of this race, long before the majority, Samantha Thompson is headed into the pits.

Esteban Ocon pitted two laps ago for damage as well— his front wing clipped by Yuki Tsunoda’s Alpha Tauri. The difference is, he came in at eleventh place and is heading back out in last, and Sam Thompson is coming in from third, and will be heading out somewhere around fourteenth or fifteenth. Not to mention she just came in off of softs and has opted to change for her final set of hard tires. There’s a slim chance they could make an undercut work if she is able to make up enough places, and we’ve got 50 laps left to find out. 

I could potentially see it, Crofty. She knows this course like the back of her hand, which has been made abundantly clear each session throughout the weekend. Take that and combine it with her incredible race craft, as well as her ruthless “act now, think later” attitude, Samantha Thompson is capable of turning this race back around for herself. 

What a shame. This weekend was looking great for the American driver and that contact with the McLaren may very well have cost her a podium. 

***

It’s lap 14 and race leader Lewis Hamilton is coming in to make his pitstop. We’re watching Max as the quick stop progresses, and he’s rounding turn nineteen. Beautiful stop from the Mercedes team, 2.8 seconds and Lewis is headed back out on his set of hard tires. RedBull attempted the undercut, now it’s time to see if they were successful. 

It’s going to be close, Verstappen is making his way along the pit lane and there he goes; past Hamilton and into the lead of this race. You can hear the cheers from the RedBull fans because that undercut has been triggered. 

Speaking of undercut, as the out window opened and more drivers began to roll in for their stops, Samantha Thompson has managed to make up four places to put herself back into the top ten. 

I told you Crofty, don’t count out the Hell Raiser. It’s not over until the checkered flag is waved. 

A quarter of the way through this race and Max Verstappen takes the lead, followed by Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris, Leclerc, and Bottas— who has also made an incredible comeback from the midfield and rounds out the top five. 

But what’s this? It sounds like Pierre Gasly is having trouble with his car. Let’s have a listen. 

“Problem. Problem. We have a problem with the back.”

“Okay. Is it the engine or the suspension? What is happening?”

“Feels like suspension.”

“We’re seeing loss of engine function.”

That can’t be good. 

And chaos is breaking free on this track today because Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso have just made contact after going wheel to wheel! Raikkonen was pushed wide at turn one, but they’re still moving forward as this race continues. Could Raikkonen potentially be penalized for gaining a position off track?

I don’t think so, because it was Fernando Alonso himself who put him there!

***

And Leclerc soars by Norris! Is the McLaren driver even awake behind the wheel? He just let him by! I hate to say it, but the overtake was nothing special; not a lick of defense! It is a possibility that Lando is struggling with his tires, but they aren’t even that old. If he keeps this pace up, he’ll be holding up his teammate who is not far behind. 

Look what we have here! A battle going on for 7th position between Bottas and Thompson, soon to be a former Mercedes driver, and soon to be new Mercedes driver. She’s just within DRS range, but he managed to hold her off. I’m not sure how long he can hold her behind him, because despite her struggles with nearly 20 lap old tires, we’ve seen before that she is incredible at managing this compound far past it’s shelf life. 

She’ll have to pit soon no doubt with the age of those tires, but it seems like she’s trying to get as far ahead as possible and get back in sync with everyone else’s pit windows before she heads into the pit lane for what could potentially be her last stop of the race. And she’s past Bottas! Her eyes are locked on Sainz who’s just below four seconds ahead of her, she’s keen on going for it. 

And wow! Great stuff from Sebastian Vettel as he finally gets past George Russell. The battle between these two was unrelenting for a few laps, but ultimately, the more veteran driver was able to pull ahead. George Russell will be looking at that and thinking “oh maybe next year I’ll have a bit of a car advantage once I go to Mercedes,” because his current ride is no match for the Aston Martin. 

By God, we cannot catch a break! A virtual safety car; this could make things interesting. How long are we going to have this for? The field is effectively neutralized now, as the drivers all drive to their set pace. They have to reduce their speed while a marshal comes on the track to pick up a piece of debris. 

Wow. It’s over just like that, and if there’s anybody besides Lewis Hamilton— who is running second— that VSC just benefitted, it’s Samantha Thompson. Because if she can keep that 1-second gap to Carlos Sainz in front of her from shrinking any further, she’ll manage DRS once it’s reinstated and put herself back into 6th place, and creep toward closing the 3.4-second gap to Ricciardo. 

David I have to say, I am a bit upset that didn’t last longer. If it had, especially since we’re past the halfway point of this race, I guarantee we would have seen some pit stops, which may have benefited Sam’s case even more. Those few seconds saved by pitting under a safety car can be the difference between points and no points, and even a podium. 

I’m not sure what everyone had for breakfast today, but they are on another level of chaos this afternoon. 29 laps into this race, and 27 left to go. And we’re back to racing as the drivers are given the green all clear. 

***

It’s lap 38 of 56 and Lewis Hamilton heads into the pits, as Sam Thompson heads out. I think her new nickname should be the Tire Wizard because she is incredible at tire management. It’s a hot day here in Austin and she made her only hard compound last 32 laps, while gaining good ground. 

She opted for the mediums with 18 laps to go. This has worked out incredibly in her favor seeing that multiple of the drivers she’ll come out behind, are about due for a pitstop. 

Max stopped on lap 29, and 8 laps later in comes Lewis. That means for the Mercedes, in terms of the gap between Verstappen and Hamilton, it’s what, target plus 8? Pit lane limiter is pressed, it’s 80 kilometers an hour, he’s on his marks, and on go another set of hard tires. 2.4 seconds which is 0.4 seconds quicker than Verstappen and RedBull, and when you need to overtake at the end of a race, that could be a decent advantage. 

Verstappen goes through turn one, in the lead now, as Hamilton comes out in second place. So the mead has changed hands once again. 

The gaps upfront are astronomically large. Hamilton has to make up 7.8 seconds. Leclerc has got 22.3 to catch Hamilton. Norris sits at 10.7 behind him, followed by Daniel Ricciardo closing a 4.3 second gap. 

But what’s this? Ricciardo goes into the pits! Sam Thompson gains another place, now only 9.5 seconds to Norris. 

This was a great move from McLaren for Ricciardo. Yes Thompson was only 3 seconds behind him, but she’s in fresh tires— he was bound to get passed. But Carlos Sainz was 18 seconds behind Sam, which means that Daniel is unlikely to lose any positions. 

Speaking of Thompson, she is closing that gap rapidly. Norris could potentially be struggling with his tires, but he stopped not long ago so I’m thinking Sam has just got a lead foot, a softer compound,  and a metaphorical fire lit under her. 

“Lando, Thompson is 2.7 behind and closing. Start pushing”

“Yeah, leave me to it.”

***

“Norris has just put in the fastest lap. You’re 2.1 behind. Just keep your head down, stay focused ”

“Got it”

You can hear just how cool, calm and collected she is. She wants this bad, and you can hear the determination, the focus, in her voice. 

The battle between Thomson and Norris rages on with 6 laps to go. The stakes only got higher when a poor pitstop knocked Charles Leclerc back from third, to fifth. 

That means for the last 5 laps, these two have been battling for a podium finish. We’ve seen battles between these two drivers before, and wow are they nail-biting. They’re both stand-out when it comes to race craft, but Thompson’s strong suit is offense, and Norris just barely reigns over her defensively, so it’s a great match up . The last time we saw them battle like this was Monaco, and Lando just barely came out on top. 

But don’t forget, Crofty. They made contact that race, Sam took damage from Lando’s McLaren and—

Oh trust me, I didn’t forget. How could I when the piece of carbon fiber that was pulled from her suspension during that incredible pitstop, sold for seventy eight thousand American dollars on Thursday night at the gala. I don’t think anybody is going to forget that iconic battle any time soon. 

Here she goes, Sam is lunging and making a move! They’re rounding turn 7! They’re wheel to wheel! Who is going to come out in front?

And it’s Thompson! 

But as you can see, they’re not separated by much, and Lando is not letting up. She needs to pull ahead or he’s going to have DRS enabled as soon as they pass this chicane. 

But she can’t and the McLaren is back in front around turn 11! Lando pulls into the lead as they head down the straight, but Sam is not giving up!

She needs to find some pace if she wants to get back into it with only five laps remaining. They’re approaching turn 12 and it looks like Sam—

Oh my god! Lando Norris just brake-checked Thompson! She barely managed to move out of the way in time, but in a turn of events, she managed to come out in front! 

“Is everything alright with the car, Lando?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine”

I’m not sure if something is wrong with his car that caused him to slow down so abruptly, but from the sound of it, everything was normal. Let’s listen in with Sam:

“What the actual **** was that! That’s so dangerous, especially around 12. What was he thinking!?”

She does not sound happy, David. And she’s right, that was incredibly dangerous at the entrance to the sharp left-hander. That could easily come under review in these last few laps. 

***

Two laps remaining in this race and we’ve got an incredible battle for first, but also for the final step on the podium. 

Lando Norris and Sam Thompson have been at each other's necks the last quarter of this race. 

The American driver has pulled out all the stops to keep her lead ahead of the McLaren these final laps, and there have definitely been some close calls. 

Lando has been following incredibly close, nearly overtaking her down the inside on a few occasions, but ultimately failing. 

I think I may have to revoke what I said earlier.

And what’s that?

From what I’m seeing right now, I think Sam Thomson has strong suits in both offense and defense; a clear advantage over Norris as we speak. 

That’s what I’ve been saying! Mercedes knew exactly what they were doing by signing her, and Guenther Steiner must be kicking himself for letting her go. 

We’re onto the final lap, and Lando Norris is getting desperate to try and overtake Samantha Thompson. They’re rounding turn 6, wheel to wheel! Who’s it going to be?!

It’s Thompson out on top, maintaining her lead! 

She’s got to be careful, in previous laps, DRS has caused her to struggle to keep Norris behind her and as they approach 10 to 11, as of now, the McLaren will have it enabled. 

Norris’s rear wing flap has been opened but Sam is defending like—

Oh no!

Norris is in the gravel!

It looks as though he got so desperate to overtake that he tried to go around the outside, but fell victim to the sausage kerb and effectively launched himself off the track! 

I’m just impressed he kept himself off the wall! To be honest, I’m not sure what his thought process was with that move. He went off track in attempts to overtake, and paid the price. He’s limping back onto the track, with half a lap left, in eight place. 

***

Mercedes gave Hamilton the charge. RedBull gambled, they went early on the pit stops and said ‘Max, you’re going to have to make this work.’ Mercedes allowed Lewis Hamilton to charge despite that,  it seems that RedBull are going to win out here. 

This has been an engrossing US Grand Prix, and it could have sung either Hamilton’s or Verstappen’s way in the championship battle. But as they now just have two more corners to negotiate, Max Verstappen is going to lead and double his advantage in the world championship. 

For the first time on US soil, Max Verstappen wins the US Grand Prix! Lewis Hamilton has to settle for second! The charge got close, but not quite close enough! 

And as the fireworks sound off, the crowd continues to go wild, because crossing the line in third is home driver Samantha Thomson, as she clinches the final podium spot!

Incredible! What a weekend for the American! She announced her move to Mercedes, she qualified the best of her career, and she takes a podium at home to make it the second of her career, all in her rookie year. 

Let’s listen to what she has to say:

“Is there something you want to tell me, Floyd?”

“Just one small thing. THAT’S A ******* PODIUM!”

“WHOOOO! Oh my god, we did it again! Holy ****!”

You can hear the joy in her shouts of elation and with good reason. What a Grand Prix that was!

And lastly, the number 66 car rolls into the parc ferme, and parks it right behind that big number three. I cannot imagine how incredible she must feel right now. A podium your rookie year is a big deal, and this is her second, not to mention in her home country, surrounded by people cheering her on. 

Her team on the sidelines is going crazy as she's stepping out of the car and onto her halo. There it goes, her fist is repeatedly thrust into the air in victory. There is no better feeling than standing on top of your car after a race so great that it lands you on the podium. 

Crofty, I can think of something. The feeling of being a Formula 1 race winner. We haven’t seen that from Sam yet, but with the season she’s had, and the team she’ll be with next season, I have no doubt that is going to change very soon. 

Look at that, her team is practically dragging her over the barriers, giving her helmet a good beating and practically bombarding her with hugs. The American team on the podium in America, what a great moment. 

Her helmet comes off, and there’s that smile we all know and love, Sam looks just about on top of the world. Lewis Hamilton is headed over to give her his own congrats. His smile is beaming for her, and an embrace from the soon to be former Mercedes driver, and the one who will take his place. 

It’s drives like today that must make Lewis and Toto sure of their decision to sign her for next season. She’s so well rounded and her skill is unmatched; it has been through nearly every series she’s driven in. 

A hand shake from Max Verstappen, and a hug from Daniel Ricciardo, who looks to be apologizing for the incident he caused between the two on track earlier. 

I’d feel bad if I were him too, David, he may have cost her the girl her first win!

Daniel looks like he feels that way, but I don't think she’s worried about that, the smile on her face says it all. 

Now where’s she off to? She’d gone up to Lando Norris and given him the good ‘ol pat on the shoulder. What great sportsmanship between the two drivers who had an intense race, nothing but wide smiles between them. 

Let’s head down to the action and hear what our top three finishers have to say. Hopefully Lauren can catch Sam before she trods off or gets swept away in hugs from everyone else!

Samantha, incredible drive out there. Congratulations. I mean, just listen to this crowd! They have big love for their hometown hero! A podium at your home race, talk me through how you’re feeling right now. 

“Wow, uhm, wow. It’s hard to find the words. We had a bit of a tough race initially, the contact with the McLaren early on really set us back, and made us shift our strategy wildly. And then later in the race, Norris and I had a pretty intense back and forth. So let’s just say orange definitely has dropped significantly lower on the list of my favorite colors after today. But the tam handled the incident really well, and helped us get where we are right now, there’s no doubt about it.”

Haha, I love it! Well again, congratulations, and we’ll see you up on that podium later. Looking forward to another curtsey worthy champagne shower!

“And that whale thing you did with the champagne on the podium after your iconic curtsey, was awesome! That should be your shoey!” The girl was enthusiastically recounting her reaction to Sam’s own podium to her after she had recognized her in the bathroom of the small bar.

Sam laughed, “Thank you. Can I wash my hands now?” She pointed to the sink the fan was standing in front of across from the stall inside the bathroom. 

“Right, sorry.” The girl moved to the side and let Sam wash her hands. “You look incredible by the way,” the girl said as she stood by while Sam lathered then rinsed her hands. 

“Thanks,” she smiled. Sam looked at her reflection in the mirror, her black cowboy hat resting on top of her curled hair. She looked a little worse for wear compared to the beginning of the night. They’d been to four bars already. Line danced, drank, displayed party tricks, took shots, enjoyed live music, and now they were at a popular dive bar which resembled an old saloon. 

“It was great to meet you, did you want a picture?” Sam asked as she grabbed a paper towel and dried her hands. Tossing her trash in the bin, she made her way toward the door where the girl was standing. 

“If it’s not too much trouble.”

“Of course not,” Sam brushed off the girl’s silly comment with a wave of her hand and leaned in next to her, hoping she didn’t look too drunk. To be fair, she hadn’t been drinking much at all tonight, at least in comparison to how much she usually would, especially since she’d managed to land on a podium. They were nearly half way through the night and she was only tipsy; she wanted to remember today and the night that followed, she’d been enjoying herself along with her friends far too much to potentially risk forgetting it. 

With a few clicks of a camera phone, the two women went their separate ways, off back to their friends. Maneuvering her way through the tightly packed bodies of the busy bar, her hand held her hat tightly to the top of her head as she muttered the occasional excusal or apology. Eventually, Sam made her way back to the large group of drivers and friends hanging out along the bar. 

“Took you long enough!” Molly laughed, her blue LED western outfit glowing in the dim light of the bar.  

“Sorry. Some fan pulled me aside in the bathroom and we had a little conversation. But I’m back, time for a drink!”

With that, Sam leaned forward on the bar and stuck out her hand to get the attention of the bartender, and in a matter of minutes, another round of drinks was placed in front of the trio. Taking another look at her two best friends, she couldn’t help but grin. Molly had convinced MIck to stray away from the traditional cowboy look and join her in her sparkly, light up, flashy outfit choice. He was standing beside her, arm wrapped around her and resting on the bar between her and Sam. The smile on his face was one of pure joy. Sam knew he would never be caught dead wearing that outfit and would have much preferred to go along with the likes of the group and their traditional western styles. But there was no evidence of that whatsoever; if Molly was happy, Mick was happy and it made Sam’s heart soar. All night she’d noticed the two of them stealing sweet glances at each other as if their relationship was the secret one. Sure they were private, but all of their friends and fellow drivers knew about the pair. 

“There she is, looking fine as ever! I thought I’d lost you!” Daniel’s voice shouted over the booming music and loud crowd. 

“Long time no see. What’s it been,” Sam lifted her bare wrist as if she were checking the time, “fifteen minutes since I’ve last seen you? How did you ever manage!” She gasped, pretending to be faint. 

“It was difficult, and I’ll most likely be sending you the bill for the therapy that I’ll be needing as a result,” Daniel joked, embracing Sam from behind resulting in an eruption of giggles from her. 

It wasn’t often that she’d seen Daniel drunk, but she’d quickly come to the conclusion that it only made her like him more. Since this was the first time they’d gone out together since becoming… whatever they were, Sam could definitely say he was a clingy, adoring drunk. Which she didn’t mind. Everyone did stupid stuff when they were drunk so if anybody potentially caught them being the slightest bit affectionate with each other tonight, they could play it off on the over-friendly effects of alcohol. In her mind, her personal reward for landing on a podium was allowing herself to indulge in a bit of Aussie flavored freedom. 

Daniel and Sam stayed interlocked in some way for the next hour. Whether it was Daniel’s arm around her shoulders, Sam’s arm around his waist, Sam holding onto Daniel’s arm, his arm around her waist with his thumb hooked around her belt, their legs resting on each other’s as they sat; literally any way they could be on one another while still staying the slightest bit cautious of going too far, they’d managed to do. 

After a while, Daniel, Sam, George, Michael, and Pato were all playing a game of quarters at a nearby table. Sam and Pato were dominating, seeing as they’d purposefully left out how good they’d gotten at the drinking game to pass time during her Indycar seasons. Eventually, they’d run out of drinks and Sam offered to go and grab them all another round, since a bartender in a crowded bar is far more likely to take a woman’s order over a man’s who has been waiting longer. 

Once she made her way up to the bar and past the two person deep wall of patrons, she did what she usually did, leaning slightly over the bar and making eye contact with the bartender. With the wave of her hand, he was beckoned over, and her tab was about thirty dollars more expensive than before. 

While she was waiting for their drinks to come out, Sam felt a hand come up and grab her ass through her skirt. It took her by surprise, thinking that Daniel must be getting drunker and more ballsy with how hands on they were being tonight. But when she turned around, nobody was behind her, and to make matters worse, she could see Daniel still sitting at the table across the room. 

Her heart dropped. 

She looked to her left, the side of her body which had been violated by a stranger, and she noticed a man who hadn’t been there moments before when she’d looked left and right trying to flag down a bartender. 

It had to be him. 

The fear in her gut shifted to anger at the pompous look on the man’s face. He couldn’t have been much older than her, late twenties, maybe early thirties. She didn’t want to straight up accuse him of assaulting her, that wouldn't be taken lightly if she was wrong. But all her second-thoughts disappeared when she watched him try to grope another girl, but fail when she absentmindedly turned to leave. 

The once flicker of rage turned into a roaring flame, and all her inhibitions flew out the window. 

Sam had closed the small gap between her and the man, and made her way up to the bar directly next to him, matching his posture by leaning her elbows on the counter. She hadn’t looked at him yet, only asked the question while staring off across the row of bottles to the other side of the large room, her drinks ordered long forgotten. 

“Grope a lot of girls in your free time?” 

“Excuse me?”

She finally turned to look at the man, “The unconsensual ass grabbing. Is that a hobby, or something you just recently picked up?”

“What are you insinuating,” the man drunkenly asked, standing up straighter. 

“Well you grabbed mine, and then I watched you try and do it again just mere moments ago. So I’m not insinuating anything. Simply making an observation and asking a question,” she shrugged, also standing upright to meet his eye level. 

His intimidating stare turned into one of taunt. “And what if I did? What are you going to do about it?”

Sam rolled her eyes, now stone-cold sober. Without a second thought, she reached over the bar and grabbed the soda gun. She pulled it enough where the tube it was connected to gave her enough slack to point it at the man beside her. And just like that, she soaked him in whatever liquid corresponded to the random button she pushed. 

There were gasps and shouts from surrounding bystanders, before Sam reached back over and put the device back where she’d taken it from. 

“You fucking bitch!” The man shouted and even more people turned in the direction of the commotion. 

“Don’t worry, I hear club soda dries faster than an assault charge,” Sam went to storm off, but the now enraged drunk man lunged forward and wrapped his hands around her neck. Thankfully, before he could squeeze too hard or do any damage, the man was ripped off of her. And once she’d caught her breath and stopped coughing, she saw it was Daniel who’d granted her freedom from the deranged man.  

And like pulling a loose thread, everything began to unravel in the blink of an eye. 

In an instant, the situation escalated as the man threw a punch, which Daniel evaded, only for the driver’s fist to make contact with the man’s face. The whole scene felt like it was moving in slow motion, and for a moment, Sam stood there unable to move, hands covering her mouth in shock after letting out an initial, raspy gasp. And once it sunk in that the drunk man and Daniel were getting into a full blown bar fight, with flying fists and thrown bodies, Sam sprung forward trying to pull Daniel off him. 

“Daniel,” she yelled over the shouting crowd now forming, trying to grab his elbows and stop him from throwing any more punches. 

“Daniel, stop!” At this point, she was pleading desperately. She had somehow managed to cause yet another fight to erupt in the past twelve hours, and her guilt was mixing with the fear she felt for Daniel as he fought the man. The sea of people forming around the brawling men was cause for concern, especially seeing how many of them were pulling their phones out to record the altercation. 

She took a step back, avoiding getting caught in the conflict herself, hoping they’d stop soon. But she was panicking now. Seconds felt like hours as she watched the man pin Daniel to the ground and land a punch, his name falling from her lips incoherently and continually. Sam could hardly watch. But within seconds, Daniel had unpinned himself, rolled the two, and trapped the man between the ground and his knees, landing a punch. She flinched as Daniel landed yet another punch after that, and as he swung his arm back to throw another, she intercepted his fist. 

He turned around from his position of kneeling over the man on the floor. The look of rage in his eyes softened seeing how terrified Sam looked. 

“Danny, please”

Daniel tore his gaze away from her and looked at his fist trapped in her hand, and then at the groaning man that he was holding to the ground. Looking back to Sam, he conceded to the begging in her features, realizing he would do anything to never see her look like this again, and stood up. 

Once Sam had dragged him a few steps away from the man who was now receiving help from bystanders, her hand came up to cup his jaw as she searched his face for injuries and then looked him in the eyes. They held a panic that rivaled that in her chest, despite him having been the one to have justed brawled with a stranger in a random Texas bar. 

She was trying to comfort Daniel and calm him down, but it proved difficult as the adrenaline from her fight or flight response was wearing off. Not to mention the crowd was still suffocating them, and the loud bar music was mixing in with the crowd's shouting. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m fine. Are you okay,” she reassured.

Sam took his hand into hers again and tried to put as much distance between them and the man still on the floor, still not getting very far. She gently tried examining Daniel’s knuckles but he could barely withhold a wince as she ran her thumb over the sensitive, swollen bones. 

Daniel was trying to get himself under control. His breathing was still erratic, and rage still flooded his system. The only thing stopping him from turning around and continuing to beat that creep to a pulp was standing right in front of him, anchoring him with her hand resting on his neck. 

At this point nearly all of the drivers and their friends in the group had been alerted of the incident, and they were trying to break through the crowd to get to their friends. Sam had just barely seen the frames of Mick, George and Alex appear in her peripherals before the familiar voice of the now bloodied man spoke up. 

“No piece of ass is worth this shit…” He mumbled, walking by Daniel and Sam to try and leave. They hadn’t even seen him get up off the floor, but for how hard he had been pummeled, he was brave for speaking up. 

“Fucking perv,” Sam blurted out to herself upon hearing what he had to say. She hadn’t thought she’d said it too loud, she was preoccupied dabbing the few cuts on Daniel’s face with a napkin she’d been handed, while the Aussie held his throbbing hand in a glass of ice water. 

But, the man stopped and turned back around. 

“You say something, bitch?”

Daniel tensed, removing his hand from the glass and trying to step forwards at the man, but he was stopped by Sam's hand on his chest. 

She turned to face the drunk man, hand still on Daniel who felt like he was putting all his weight on it trying to get by. 

“I didn’t say anything…” Sam played dumb. He didn’t know better and scoffed once she had turned back around. 

But then without turning to face him, or removing her attention from cleaning up Daniel’s face,  she spoke loudly, “Unless you're talking about where I said you’re an ass-grabbing pervert.”

A few people in the crowd offered commentary, hyping her up or shouting an oooh at her comeback. 

“I’m gonna fucking kill—” 

The man’s threat was cut short by Sam’s fist connecting with his face. She hadn’t seen him start at her, but seeing Daniel’s eyes darken and his sudden lurch into her hand holding him in place, gave her the inkling that the man was approaching. 

The crowd, phones still held high, reacted to the punch which gasps and even some laughs. The adrenaline wasn’t enough to mask the immediate stinging radiating through her fist, so once she landed the punch, she groaned and held it in agony. 

Yet that singular strike from her didn’t leave the man down for the count for long, not after the beating he’d gotten from Daniel. He got back his bearings and headed toward Sam, but this time George and Alex rushed to step in front of her and Daniel to hold the man back. All the while Mick, Esteban, and Micheal were trying to pull the two drivers away, trying to prevent them from doing anything they’d regret even more. Even random bystanders had jumped in to try and hold back the man from hurting Sam again. 

The commotion continued. And then, like a scene from a bad movie, red and blue lights flashed through the few windows of the bar, and a path within the crowd appeared, before none other than the bouncer made his way over to the group, followed by police officers. 

It only got worse. Of course it did. 

Because with the point of a finger, the creepy predator was put into handcuffs and led outside. 

But how is that the situation getting worse, you might ask? 

It’s not, necessarily. 

That was simply the predecessor to the worst; don’t jump the gun. 

The situation got worse when that same finger, suspended in air, accusatorily moved its way across the room and pointed directly at Sam. 

As the police officers separated her from the group of her friends, they were met with loud protests from each and every one of them, Sam included. 

As they led her outside in handcuffs and toward the police cruisers, a hoard of angry drivers and their friends, partners, coaches, and siblings followed closely behind, still trying to reason with the officers, telling them the situation. 

As the officer stopped to open the door to the backseat of his car, Sam could hear Daniel’s voice telling the officer he’s the one who should be in the back of the car, not her. She couldn’t bring herself to look back at any of her friends, despite their willingness to defend her and plead her case. She kept her eyes locked on the cement below her, the reflections of the blue and red light hypnotizing her as her mind drifted off to the implications this would have on her future. 

As he placed his hand on top of her head and forcefully ducked her into the vehicle, Sam realized there was nothing she could do at this point. No yelling, arguing, pleading or reasoning would be getting her out of this cop car. Her fate was sealed. 

As the door slammed shut, Sam decided to take a look out at everyone staring back at her. Her eyes fell to Molly first. The girl was in tears, fear evident on her features as she clung onto Mick for dear life. She eventually locked eyes with her, and the blonde mouthed reassurances that it would be okay. Sam tore her eyes from the girl out of sheer embarrassment and moved on to Mick, who had one hand wrapped around Molly while the other anxiously ran through his hair as he talked to Lance. She could tell the two boys were problem solving, and she didn’t notice until the boy looked down at his girlfriend, and gave her a comforting hug, that he was nearly on the verge of tears as well. 

Her eyes darted to Daniel, who was still talking with the police officer. From the looks of it, he’d tried to calm down, but attempting to go for a rational approach didn’t seem to work because he was still flailing his arms around animatedly as he argued. And then unintentionally, her gaze moved to George, who was standing over Daniel’s shoulder, doing his best to be a part of the conversation in the rational fashion Daniel lacked.

In an instant, George tried to step in front of Daniel and take over the conversation, which Daniel did not appreciate. And before she knew it, Sam was watching the two men get in an argument right before her eyes. They were so focused on whatever they were yelling at one another about, that the police officer simply walked away and got into his vehicle, and drove off, taking Sam with him. 

Hours had passed. 

She’d been moved from room to room, over and over again. First her mugshot, then a holding cell with two other women, then to a room with two chairs and a table for her statement to be taken, then back to the holding cell, off to another room to have her first round of questioning, and then back to the holding cell. 

And that was only before they’d decided to drop her charges, deciding that she was in fact a victim of sexual harassment and took part in self-defensive action. 

After that, they moved her to a few different rooms. One to help them build a case against the man, another to allow her to file a police report about the assault, and the other to get her a warm cup of coffee and a bag of ice to help ice her hand, before sending her back to the holding cell for the last time. 

Safe to say, Sam was exhausted. Her hand was throbbing, her feet ached and she could still feel phantom pain as if the man was still holding her by her throat. 

“Don’t I get a phone call or something?” She piped up from behind the bars of the holding cell. 

The cop rolled his eyes. “You’re not being charged with anything, so no, you don’t. It’ll only be a few more minutes while we process your paperwork and put your statement file into the case records. Your bail’s been paid, so after that you're free to go.”

“Can I at least call my sister so she knows when to pick me up?”

“Is your sister,” he held up a paper from his desk, “Molly Barnes?”

Sam nodded and the cop gave her a questioning look. 

“Different parents,” Sam cleared up, referring to his hesitancy at what she could only think was their obvious differences in looks.  

The officer nodded, despite the look on his face that told Sam he didn’t believe her. She would’ve been offended normally, but it was a lie, and she was the one in the holding cell while he was the one with the badge. 

“She came in and paid your bail in record time. Now her and a few of your friends have been sitting outside the station since we brought you in. There’s no need to call,” he walked over and unlocked the steel door and held it open for her. “You can just go ahead and go now, I’ll finish your paperwork after we’re done here.”

“Well since I’m not being charged and your office has already apologized profusely for the inconvenience, would you mind if I used the phone, just as a favor?”

He nodded, “dial 9 first.”

Molly’s phone rang and she gasped when a number with an Austin area code appeared. “It’s a Texas area code, this has to be her.”

George, Daniel and Mick all rushed over to stand by her as she answered the phone and put it on speaker. 

“This is a collect call from the Travis County Central Booking Office of the Travis County Jail. All calls are recorded. To accept the call and charges, please say accept call.”

“Accept call,” Molly said clearly, a hint of fear in her voice. 

A dial tone sounded, and then there was silence. A faint cracking noise was steadily playing in the background, but Molly didn’t wait. 

“Sam? Sam, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Moo.”

The group let out a collective sigh of relief, Molly nearly breaking down in tears she was so happy to hear her voice. 

“Thank God,” she exhaled. 

“They took my statement and after some back and forth arguments, they’re letting me go, I just need to grab my things and then I’ll be on my way. I’m not getting charged with anything because it was technically an act of self defense,” Sam said plainly.

“Damn straight it was,” Mick chimed in. 

“Molly,” Sam said calmly as she tried to interrupt her best friend that had begun shooting off a string of questions, worried and angry statements, and explicatives. But her best friend continued to ramble into the phone. 

“Molly,” she said louder, still just as suspiciously calm. 

Mick gave his girlfriend a quick whack to her upper arm, which caused her to stop talking. 

“Sorry, sorry. What?”

Everyone ever so slightly leaned closer to the phone to hear what Sam had to say. 

There was a moment of hesitation. 

“Can you take me off of speakerphone?”

Though it was technically a question, Sam phrased it more as a statement, bordering a demand. The girl looked at the drivers surrounding her, a worried but apologetic look in her eyes. They themselves were not able to hide the look of bewilderment on their faces. 

Mumbling a yeah, the girl pressed the corresponding button, held the phone to her ear, and walked a few feet away from the group. She peeked over her shoulder and saw all three of the men distraught. 

Mick was fidgeting with his fingers, slowly pivoting from foot to foot. 

George, still worried, looked the most relieved out of all of them, leaning against the wall of the station with his arms crossed impatiently.

Daniel found a seat on the curb near the road and was anxiously bouncing his foot and running his hands through his curls when he wasn’t resting his head on this knees. 

“Alright, go ahead.”

“You're alone?” Sam asked tentatively. 

“Yeah,” her best friend whispered her response. 

There was no response from Sam for at least a minute, and Molly quickly checked to make sure the call was still connected. 

The small stopwatch on the screen continued to count higher, despite the silence on the other end. 

“Sam?” Molly quietly asked. Another beat of silence passed before Sam responded:

“Can you send everyone else home?”

The question did more than take her by surprise. It picked her up, tossed her around, spun her in circles, chewed her up, and then spit her out. Molly looked back at the three men behind her, Daniel’s worried eyes eventually meeting her’s. She turned away, a small shred of guilt eating its way into her subconscious. In the past, she knew Sam’s thought process had been impulsive and irrational. But the suspiciously calm tone her voice held, made Molly think that there was a purpose to her request. 

And who was she to question something Sam had probably spent her near three hours in the holding cell thinking about? She knew Sam was struggling with what had happened tonight, and as her friend, that meant Molly had no place to deny her request. 

“Of course.”

And with a final, yet quiet expression of thanks, Sam hung up the phone.

Nearly an hour later, the sun was starting to rise far off in the horizon while the two girls sat in Molly’s car silently as she drove them back to their hotel. 

Sam hadn't uttered anything more than a thank you after her friend had bailed her out. Weak hugs were exchanged, the wire transfer was sent to pay back the price of bail, and personal items were collected from holdings. The implications of the night floated silently between them, both girls avoiding having the conversation that needed to be had. 

After another 10 minutes of silence, Sam finally spoke up in a hoarse, defeated tone. 

“How bad is it?”

Molly hesitated before answering, completely aware of where this conversation was headed and what this meant for her best friend. 

“Pictures and videos hit the main socials almost instantly. The punch itself and you in cuffs. They aren’t even publicizing the other half of the story, they’re just saying you got violent. Everyone on the team is trying to do damage control as we speak, but it started trending in a matter of minutes.”

Another minute or two of silence passed as Sam processed what she had missed while she was in the holding cell; all of it only solidified exactly what she has assumed was going to happen. 

“How long ago did they call you?”

Again, Molly hesitated to answer. Sam kept her eyes trained on the blurred lights of the passing city outside of her window, slouched back against the passenger seat with her cowboy hat sitting in her lap. But she didn’t need to look at her friend to see the look of pity on the girl’s face. 

“About two hours ago…”

Sam exhaled. 

Molly looked between her best friend and the road in front of her. 

“Sam they—“

“I figured.” 

One. 

She had one strike left. 

One more chance. 

And then she would be out. 

For good. 

Molly immediately tried to fill the silence by reassuring her best friend and hoping to turn the tone much more positive. “You’ll be fine. There are only six races left. Just keep your head down and focus on finishing the season, then you can start fresh next year.”

Sam nodded silently along to Molly’s naïveté to what this truly meant towards the situation, not having the strength to try and respond right now, especially because of the guilt she now felt about lying to her friends. 

Could she trust herself to behave? More so, could she trust the FIA to give her an unbiased,  fair chance at keeping her career now that it was down to the wire? 

No

She couldn’t do either. 

Things needed to change if she wanted to stay in Formula 1. And after such an incredible past few weeks, it crushed her to admit that. 

There was hope she could manage to accomplish both— keep out of trouble and still enjoy her life and what it had to offer. But if it came down to it, she’d do what she needed to do, no matter how much it hurt her or everyone around her. 

“Don’t go back to your hotel room,” Molly blurted out, breaking the silence and violently yanking Sam from her thoughts. 

“What?” 

Molly took her eyes of the road to look at her best friend, sympathy and worry meeting Sam the instant their eyes locked. 

“I don’t know why you wanted the guys to leave, I don’t know what’s going on in your head right now, and I don’t need you to feel like you have to tell me. I don’t want to pry if you don’t want to talk about it, but I need you to know that I’m always here to listen and help in any way that I can…” the girl sounded sure of herself. Any of her doubt and worry momentarily melted away so she could make sure Sam knew she meant every word. 

With a nod from Sam and another deep inhale, Molly continued. 

“That’s why I’m going to tell you that Daniel is waiting for you outside of your hotel room.”

Sam closed her eyes with a wince and her jaw clenched along with it. She didn’t respond, only pressing her lips together and letting her head fall back against the head rest. 

“You can’t tell the team, but I let my parents stay in my room across the hall so they could save some money since I decided to crash with Mick, and mom said she looked out the peephole and… there he was. Just sitting there. You’re welcome to crash on with us until he leaves.  I’ll even banish Mick to the couch. But from what you’ve told me, he isn’t one to just walk away. Especially not from you.”

All she could bring herself to do was barely nod. The events of the night, and the implications they dangled above her head, overwhelmed her thoughts. So to try and drown out the silent noise, she fixated her gaze back onto the blurred streaks of light of the city. But as they continued to get blurrier and blurrier, in an attempt to excuse what she was trying so hard to fight off, she kept insisting to herself it was because Molly was driving too fast— not the fault of the water beginning to well up in her eyes. 

note: HI SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG LOL its currently 3am

and sorry for the chapter contents hehe…

SHES GOT STRIKE NUMBER 2!!! Wonder how that’s gonna mess with her🤨🤨🤨

guess we gotta wait and see hehe

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invisible string - mason mount

pairing: reader x mason mount

summary: It’s been you and your daughter until life decides to prank you by putting her dad back into your life. The only problem is that he doesn’t know he’s her dad.

warnings: fluff, angst, swearing and you can expect smut on a few chapters.

author: I randomly had this idea on my way to work and thought it’d be nice to write. Happens a bit after the World Cup, but I’ve changed some stuff to fit the story. Remember, this is fiction.

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

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