Redemption {Charles Leclerc}

34

Sophia's POV. 

It's Sunday afternoon, 3pm. 

The German Grand Prix is about to start and you're pretty nervous. You decided to go to the track today after Charles proposed his solutions to you. It made you feel confident enough to go and you decided that you need to start trusting him again. 

And Charles has definitely hold his promises. He has made sure you've been comfortable all day and he also stayed with you the whole time he was able to. Obviously the paparazzi took their normal pictures of you but you don't think they noticed anything was off. They might wonder why you were walking in the paddock with Charles but Seb was just a few meters behind you so it didn't seem that weird. It's not strange to have a chat with your brother's teammate. 

However, despite Charles' help, the Ferrari garage was still very busy and chaotic today as they had to fix everything on the cars. You've stayed there for a little while to talk with a few members of the team but after an hour you could tell that it was getting on your nerves and so you've hidden yourself in Charles' room since then. 

You had to watch Charles get a massage by Andrea - although you pretended to be on your phone - and you can't deny that it was really easy on the eyes. Charles has an amazing... posture. 

You were slightly worried that he wouldn't want to have you in his room as he needs to concentrate for the race but he told you three times that he really didn't mind it. He said he has learned to focus in hectic environments over the years so it doesn't bother him anymore when there's other people around. You still didn't try to talk to him though and you've just let him do his pre-race rituals without interrupting. 

When he had to leave to get ready, you gave him a small kiss and wished him good luck. You also told him to be safe and he rolled his eyes in exactly the same way as Seb always does. 

"Ofcourse I'm being safe... always,"  Charles told you. 

But you know for a fact that mindset changes the minute he drives off into the first corner. That's when the adrenaline rushes in and when safety suddenly seems to have taken a backseat behind competitiveness and the urge to be quick. You've lived long enough with a racing driver to know that. 

Luckily Formula One has become so much safer over the years. It makes you feel a little bit better at least. 

Anyways. Charles said you could stay in his room as long as you wanted to and he even asked if you wanted Andrea to stay with you. You told him you'd feel safe enough to be here by yourself as the door can be locked and nobody but Charles and Andrea can get in. 

So now the door is locked and you're sitting on Charles' couch in front of the tv. You cross your knees and kiss your necklace as a prayer for a safe race. 

Seb had the most terrible qualifying yesterday due to an issue with his car so he's starting last for today's race. It was very disappointing considering that this is his home Grand Prix and you know how much it means for him to do well here. He said he mostly just felt sorry for the German fans but you know him well enough to see that he was really frustrated with his performance - especially because Ferrari had the pace all weekend. 

And the pain didn't end there for the team. Although Charles made it to Q3 yesterday, he never had a chance of competing for pole position because his car broke down as well. He told you he was definitely upset with it but he also said that, looking at Seb, he felt like it could have been even worse. He just felt bad for the team. 

Unfortunately, the situation is how it is and you're sure both Seb and Charles will do everything they can to make up for yesterday. The team has worked extremely hard to fix the issues on the cars so you hope they've managed to do that. The chances for a podium might be slim but they're definitely not impossible.