Red Hot! (Sebastian Vettel)

34. Bad News

"He's sustained a compound fracture of his right ankle, plus a broken tibia. He's in surgery as we speak. It's safe to say that he won't be racing again this season." The team members gathered in the motorhome all gasped with shock. Mike smiled reassuringly. "The main thing is he's ok. He will recover, and he will be back."

Libby felt a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it. She turned around and looked up at Seb, tears spilling from her eyes.

"Hey, don't get upset. Lance is a tough cookie. He's a fighter."  Libby bit her bottom lip.   The truth was she wasn't crying because she was upset about Lance, although she did feel sympathy for him.  She was crying because she was so relieved that it wasn't Seb. 

For a whole minute she'd sat watching the television footage, worried sick that he was the one that was upside down, that it was his car in pieces.  It was only when she saw the number 5 car parked up in the pitlane that she'd relaxed.  Then she'd felt guilty for not thinking about Lance.  

Mike signalled to her that he needed her.  She stood up and followed him down the corridor to his office.  After the door had closed behind them he sat down behind his desk.  He gestured for Libby to take a seat. 

"We have a problem. Nico can fill in for Lance at Zandvoort and Monza, but he won't be available after that.  He's got a knee operation scheduled.  We need to find someone and quickly.  I have a list here.   The names are in order of preference, too one is our first choice. I need you to send an email to their representatives and ask them to call me."

"Yes of course.  Today?"

"Yes, I'm sorry you're working late.  I know it's your birthday."

"No worries, I wasn't doing anything anyway."   Mike pushed a piece of paper across the desk towards her.  She picked it up.  

"I will leave you to it.  I'm going to head back to the hospital to see how Lance is.  Hopefully he will be out of surgery soon."

"Send him my best wishes."

After Mike had gone Libby headed back to her own office.   She opened her laptop and logged into her work email account.  Looking at the piece of paper she felt her heart slip a beat as she saw the top name on the list.  Scott McDevitt. 

                       ***

Seb laid on his bed thinking about Libby.  His plans for this evening had been pushed to one side as she'd had to stay late at the track.   He knew he shouldn't be annoyed, Lance hadn't meant to crash and get injured.  He was just being selfish.  

Lance's accident had made him feel even worse now about what he had to tell Mike when they arrived in Zandvoort.  The team were already going through a lot with Lance, how would it go down when they found out that Seb was going to be leaving them?

He picked up his phone, he wanted to call Libby.  He could really do with hearing her voice right now.   He knew she was busy, he knew he shouldn't, but he couldn't resist the temptation.  He pressed dial. 

It rang several times before heading to voicemail. "Hi, this is Libby. I can't come to the phone right now. Or I don't want to. Please leave a message and I'll get back to you. Or will I? Seriously, I'll get back to you."

He hung up. He hated leaving voicemail.  He sighed.   Why did life have to be so complicated? Why hadn't he met Libby before he'd met Carmen? Before she'd met Brandon. Maybe they'd have been married now, with a family.  Instead they were both incapable of love. So why did he feel this need to be with her? To be holding her in his arms? He didn't know. 

He rolled onto his side and closed his eyes.  He wasn't going to sleep, he just needed to rest his eyes for a few minutes....

He was woken a couple of hours later by someone knocking on his door.   He jumped up.  "Ok, ok, I'm coming," he called out.