Something Gained

Chapter Seventy-One

AN: I know I don't make notes often as I just go with the flow but I really wanted to say thank you, another 2k reads in one day. Thank you all so much for the massive amount of love. Please remember to vote and comment, I see everything and it makes me so happy to see people enjoying this story! Much love❤️

I don't know how I did it, but I did. After lunch with the guys, I managed to get them shopping. To say they weren't happy was an understatement.
"I said I'll make your life hell" I said to Daniel as I handed him a bag of things I had just bought. Lando and Jon had gone off to another shop. Michael howled at Daniel who was now a pack mule for me
"Yes but come onnnn, we've been shopping for hourssss" he said whining
"Easy Ricciardo it's been an hour" I said. Luckily I'm done
"I refuse to shop with you in Monaco. Or Australia for that matter" he said
"Yeah yeah" I waved him off
"Sooo, Daniel said you're looking for a house in England?" Michael said, calming himself down. He found this hilarious
"Am indeed. It might take a while I'm a little fussy. It took me ages to find my place in LA" I said, suddenly missing being in America
"Oh brilliant" Daniel said sarcastically
"And you're making me sell it" I whined
"You're making her sell her house?" Michael asked
"She's moving in with me" Daniel said smiling
"What?!" Michael yelled, we were walking through the shopping centre and I nudged him as people were staring and so far we had been pretty discreet
"She's moving in with me, and so technically we are buying a house in England not just Alex" Daniel explained
"That's so lovely, I'm so happy for you both" Michael said putting his arm round my shoulders, "I've known Daniel long enough now, I hope he tells you how much he loves you" he mumbled
"I can hear you" Daniel said laughing
"He does tell me" I said smiling at Daniel who smiled back and took my hand in his
"Danny Ricc is growing up" Michael laughed
"I should hope so at 32" he said
"Old man" I joked. Daniel gasped and clutched at his chest making Michael and I laugh.

I woke up to my alarm the next day, realising I had fallen asleep with my laptop on my lap. I was looking at houses in bed, Daniel snoozing away next to me. So when I woke up my laptop went flying.
"Oh god!" I yelled which made Daniel sit up right. My laptop was on the floor and when I picked it up the screen was obliterated. "Oh no no no no" this was not good. This was my work laptop, and it had everything on it, all my work stuff.
"What happened?" Daniel mumbled rubbing his eyes
"I've just broken my laptop" I said. This was not good at all
"Broken? It's fine we can get you new one" Daniel said
"Daniel it has everything on it. Everything for work, all my schedules, meeting notes, rotas for the teams I look after, all of it"
"Just calm down, we can recover it surely. We'll speak to one of the IT guys?" He said as he rolled out of bed. I was panicking so bad. "Alex, honestly. Let's get ready to go to work, and we'll sort it when we get there" he had walked round to my side of the bed and rubbed my cheek. I nodded and threw off my duvet and got up. I got ready for work and sorted out all my things, putting my now broken laptop into my bag praying for a miracle.

Daniel

When we got to the MTC, Alex literally ran off leaving us behind, I shook my head laughing she was really panicking bless her.
"What's up with her?" Jon asked as we got out the car
"She's probably gone to see Josh, she broke her laptop this morning" I sighed
"Why he won't be able to fix it?" Lando said laughing
"No but it's got all her work stuff on it, so she's worried and needs it recovered" I said
"Oh crap" Lando said. I nodded and Michael, Jon, Lando and I walked into the building and grabbed coffee. We had a meeting straight away, we walked up to the meeting room upstairs, passing all of the McLaren cars in the lobby.
"How's house hunting?" Michael asked
"House hunting?" Lando asked
"Yeah, it's alright. She's fussy and hasn't seen anything she likes yet" I said to Michael, I then turned to Lando, "yeah Alex wants to buy a house in England for when we're back here and stuff, we're getting one together" I said smiling
"Ooooh Danny boy is settling down" Lando snickered
"Yeah, I guess I am" I said as I scratched the back of my head. I actually couldn't wait to live with her properly. Apart from racing, she was the most important thing to me. No scratch that, she was equally as important as racing. I never thought I, Daniel, would be 'settling down' with a girl. I loved it.

We walked into the meeting room and sat down in our seats, Zak was already here along with a few other guys. Alex walked in soon after with Hannah with a big smile on her face. She sat down across from us.
"You okay?" I asked, I handed her a coffee I had got for her, which she happily accepted
"Yep, Josh can get everything sorted and I just need a new laptop to transfer it to but I've got a temporary one to use for now" she said, I smiled at her and nodded sipping my coffee. She was wriggling around in her seat, I don't know what had her excited, she turned to Hannah and they were whispering and looking at Hannah's phone.

"Right everyone, let's begin. So next up on the calendar is Saudi Arabia, and then onto our final race Abu Dhabi. We've got a few things to go over and schedules to confirm but let's get these races done and enjoy every minute left of our 2021 season. So I'll leave it to the girls to go through everything we need to go through" Zak said as he handed over to Hannah and Alex. I was so extremely proud of her and everything she had achieved, she had grown so much and was so respected in this company, yes in work mode she kept me in my place but I liked that. She kept us all running, she looked after so many people I loved to see it. I was lost in my thoughts and got nudged by Michael. I blinked and realised I was staring at Alex who was looking at me.
"Sorry what did you say?" I said getting flustered
"Hannah was just explaining yours and Lando's commitments for the rest of the season. You've got new livery's for the cars being unveiled at the end of the week" Alex spoke. I nodded and paid more attention.
"Right, and then we've got Lucas and Ben working on some new content for the last couple of sessions" Hannah said. "So Alex will obviously catch up with you guys separately as she's going to confirm your schedules" she continued looking at us all around the table
"I'll meet with you all later" Alex said
"Then one final point before we end the meeting. I just wanted to say working with you all has been such an amazing experience and I love you all dearly, we're a family. But when the season ends I won't be attending races or working at the track, so Alex will be your boss completely so you go directly to her every week, we will sort out the details at a later date but I will miss you and I wish the team the very best. I will continue working but I will be based here at the office" Hannah said, Alex was wriggling around again. She would officially be the boss, I never saw this coming. As if I couldn't get any prouder of her. Lando, Jon, Michael and I were all beaming at Alex as she was looking towards us so smiley.
"Why won't you be attending races?" One of the guys asked
"Well, Liam and I are having a baby" Hannah spoke. Lando and I knew this already, but I didn't realise it would mean she wouldn't be coming on the road with us. The room burst into applause and congratulations around the table. Zak looked very happy. He quietened down everyone before speaking
"Congratulations Hannah, yes you will certainly be missed but you pass the baton to very capable hands so we look forward to seeing the further achievements of Alex. Congratulations to you as well Alex" we all cheered again for the both of them. Hannah and Alex were hugging each other, both celebrating achieving great things. All I thought about was one day that will be us, hopefully we will be celebrating a baby one day, I could imagine a better person to be the mother to my children than Alex. She was a headstrong, motivated generous and kind person. She would make a brilliant mother, a brilliant wife. When the time was right, I couldn't wait. I already had things planned for how I would be doing certain things. She was worth everything, my Alex.