Something Gained

Prologue

Life was good. I walked into the paddock for the millionth time of my career. I was in all black with the Mercedes symbol on my shirt and it still felt strange by comparison of the orange and black I had been used to, but I definitely liked this colour choice more.

I had spent more time in England with my new team, working closely with Toto, Lewis and George, to get to grips with the Mercedes life, it was my second year with them and everything went smoothly and enjoyed it so much for the first year. Daniel had taken a reserve role with Redbull, calling a break on his time as a full time F1 driver, leaving McLaren, so I would be on the road more than he would.

The opening weekend of the Jeddah Grand Prix was upon us, Daniel had been in Bahrain for pre season testing with Redbull and it was a bit funny to me that I had gone to Mercedes and he had now gone to Redbull but he wanted a breather and see what happened.

We had balanced our lives quite well, he had to be in England a lot with McLaren so there was distance, but where he had now moved to Redbull, he was closer to where I was which helped. We still made time and I was back and forth to Monaco and then Perth of course.

"Ahhhh there's my number one!" I heard behind me. I smiled hearing the familiar voice.

"Lands!" I smiled, jumping into a hug with him. I hadn't seen Lando through the pre season and so it was a nice surprise

"Mrs Ricciardo" he laughed, I rolled my eyes, looking down at the rings on my left hand. Over the summer of last year, after only a year a half of being engaged, Daniel and I had got married, and it was still weird to me. It was a beautiful time, Lando was there, as well as Carlos, some of my new Mercedes friends, Hannah and Liam and little Noah, making up my family. Daniel had his family of course, Scott, Michael, Blake and various others. Chloe and Hannah made up my bridesmaids so I stole Chloe to my side. But it was exactly how we wanted it to be, small and understated but the perfect celebration of us.

My life definitely resided in Australia where I could have it, I loved going home, being on the farm with Daniel, loving the outdoors life. Breaking out of my comfort zone and doing stupid stuff with him. We went on holidays and lived it up how we knew best. The separate teams, as much as we were both scared, had solidified our relationship even more than I thought possible. We made time for each other, and it worked beautifully, everything was just so happy, which is why we decided to get married over the summer, we knew it was all perfect and we wanted to celebrate that.

"It's so weird" I laughed

"It's still so weird to me, especially seeing you in that uniform" Lando laughed "is Daniel here this weekend?" He asked

"Nope, he's got stuff to do in England. He'll be around for Melbourne of course" I smiled. Lando and I walked down the paddock, and I smiled as the flash modern black and silver building came into sight, my home now.

"Well don't be a stranger" Lando said

"Never" I gave him another hug and we parted ways. I walked upstairs to the office I had, passing Lewis and George on my way and fist bumping them both.

On my desk sat some flowers in a vase and I smiled at them reading the note with them. Knowing exactly who they were from. He did the same last year and it was clearly becoming a thing.

"Little something for you on your first race weekend back. Be safe and look after our little bean. I'll see you soon. I love you Mrs Ricciardo"

I smiled, holding my still nearly flat stomach, resting my hand where I imagined the tiny little baby to be laying. That was another thing I didn't expect but I wasn't sad about, and neither was Daniel. I saw the way he was with Issac and Isabella, he loved being uncle Daniel. I couldn't wait to see him be a dad, it was beautiful. We decided to keep it quite hidden for as long as we could, and currently it was only him and I that knew, I only found out just after Christmas so it was very early and we wanted to be in our little bubble first.

Plus it meant a lot had to be decided on my future, and Daniel's as well. We didn't plan it, but it was a nice little surprise. For now, I was focusing on my job while I was here, balancing my life as I had been doing, and just counting my lucky stars at how perfect my life was as Mrs Ricciardo, cooking a mini Ricciardo. Everything I had envisioned as my life, having children and them growing up in Australia, that was all going to happen, and I couldn't wait for it.

I wandered down to the garage ahead of the first practise after I had sorted the commitments for this weekend and briefed the media teams, slotting in my seat at the big desk in the middle, Toto nearby, this is where I had set up camp and I loved it, I worked with Mercedes now, life was perfect. I was so incredibly in love with every aspect of my life and not a single thing could be better.

A little something extra for you all as a little into the future thing. Thank you thank you thank you a million times for all the reads and the love, it's been amazing and I hope you've enjoyed it!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve, hope you have a great Christmas, see you on the other side, lots of love❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️