Charles Leclerc's Daughter

Chapter 9

I sighed as I slipped my helmet on and climb into my car. There still hadn't been any news in faith and now I had to drive Monaco, my home track but it still felt so weird to be at a track without Faith.

The lights went out and the car jumped forward as I accelerated, I made up a few spots in the first corner. I had started 9th and was now up to 7th, we became more spread out by the end of the first lap. I focused on hitting my marks, I was faster than George who was in front of me, if I didn't make a mistake I could easily catch up and pass him for 6th. I felt myself relax and get into a rhythm, the gap closed between me and George and I pulled up behind him as we went into the tunnel, as we came out I pulled around him and got the inside line into the next corner. We were die by side through the next corners before I was able to clear him. He tried to cross over but I blocked it and was able to pull away.

As I pulled away and started to work on catching up to Lando and checo who were battling for 4th, I suddenly felt a vibration. I quickly reported it to the team but nothing seemed wrong and everything was running pretty smoothly. But the longer I raced the worse it got, I figured there must be something wrong with the two front wheels.

As I went into turn 3 I noticed the brakes felt a little weird, i frowned as I went through the next few corners. As I went through turn 6 the big hair pin, I felt the brakes start to go. I radio the team but they just tell me to make it back to the pits and not to lose time. So I slow a bit so that I make the corners with the slowly going brakes. I miss the chicane but I honestly don't care I'm just trying to make it back to the pits.

As I drove into turn 12 I heard a snap as something in the front of the car broke, one wheel went flat while the other came off and went under the car causing the car to be air born. my heart stopped, it was like it was in slow motion, the fence barrier came up and my car smashed into it, the air was knocked out of me as my car suddenly came to a stop. The car flipped a couple times on the ground before coming to a stop upside down, on the other side of the race track. Everything hurt, but before I had time to evaluate what was hurt I was smacked by another car who didn't have time to react. I felt myself starting to slip into darkness as my car was jarred around, as my vision started to go I saw flames around my car.

Carlos pov:

"Red flag, crash in turn 12." I heard over the radio, I pulled into the pits and parked. I climbed out and pulled my helmet off,
"Who crashed?" I asked my crew chief,
"Charles." He said, my heart sank. I walked over to a tv and watched the replay, something obviously broke on his car, I felt sick as watched him go air born. Then flip multiple times and then be T-boned, then his car caught on fire. Man Charles could not catch a break!

I watched anxiously as the safety teams started to get him out of the car, it was obvious he wasn't conscious. Lando came running up to me, I could see the tears in his eyes, I pulled him into a hug, we didn't say anything we just held each other.

"He's gonna be okay, he gotta be." I said, honestly I was trying to convince myself more then Lando.
"I don't know if I'm gonna be able to focus on racing." Lando admitted, I nodded, I was concerned over that too. The race wasn't over, he wasn't dead so there was no reason to not finish the race. Lando and I stood together as we watched them clean the track up and then call us back to our cars. I pulled my helmet on and got back in.

.

Max ended up winning the race, with Fernando and Checo in 2nd and 3rd, but no one celebrated. No champagne was opened, it was weirdly quiet as they handed the trophies out.

Lando, Pierre, max and I met up and drive to the hospital together. We walked in and were told he was in surgery, we sat down in the waiting room. Neither one of us talked, Pierre and max went on their phones, and Lando and I just sat there.

An hour later Charles family had joined us, doctor walked in, he came over to us and pulled up a chair. We all leaned forward in our chairs as we waited to hear what he had to say,
"He's alive, that's the most important part, however he has a severe concussion, broken arm, six broken ribs, a broken collar bone and a whole lot of bruises." The doctor explained, we all sat there not knowing what to say. The doctor cleared his throat before continuing on, "he will be out for the rest of the season probably, if he has a super fast recovery maybe he'll make the last race or two, maybe. He is currently still asleep, it could take a couple hours maybe less maybe more, before he wakes up. Feel free to visit it him." The doctor explained, he gave us the room number and then left.

We walked down the hallway and filed into Charles room, I almost collapsed when I saw him. He had a bunch of wires attached to him monitoring his heart and stuff, a machine beeped annoyingly in the background. He was pale, almost the colour of the hospital sheets, his already horrible state before the crash was made worse. He had dark circles around his eyes and bruises were forming all over his body. His arm was in a cast and then was in a sling.

We sat in chairs as we all watched him, Charles family sat next to him while the rest of us hung back a little.

Charles pov:

My body felt like it had been run over multiple times then thrown off a cliff, everything hurt. My head ached, my arm ached, my shoulder: collar bone ached, my ribs felt like they were on fire every time I breathed. My eye lids felt like they were made of cement, I couldn't for the life of me manage to open them. I could feel someone holding my hand, and soft, quiet voices talking.

I could make out my moms and my brothers voices, and somewhere farther away I thought I heard a all to familiar Dutch accent, along with a Spanish accent. It felt weird, I could hear them but I couldn't fully wake up and open my eyes. I wondered if I was in a coma, was this what it felt like? If for sure go mad if that was the case. Giving up on trying to open my eyes I instead listened to the conversation.

"I don't think he's gonna wake up soon, you guys should go get something to eat. You haven't eaten in a while." I heard my mom say,
"I could say the same thing to you." A French accent replied, so Pierre was here too.
"I didn't just drive a formula one race." Mom argued,
"Well you just watched your son almost die so I think we're pretty equal as far as that goes." A British accent said, Lando was also here apparently.

"Well how about mom, Arthur and I go get food now and then when we get back you guys can go so that if he does wake up there's someone here." Lorenzo suggested, there was some mutters of agreement before I felt the hand holding mine disappear and the room went silent.

"He looks oddly peaceful, more than he had in the last week or two." Lando commented, his voice grew louder as I assumed he came closer.
"Yeah, man he's gonna be mad." Max said his voice also closer. I felt my hand be picked up again, curiosity ran through me at who was holding my hand. I highly doubt it was Max probably Lando or Pierre.

I wanted so badly to be able to open my eyes, or go back to being asleep, one of the two. Either be away from the pain or be with people that can distract me. I tried again to open my eyes but it didn't work, I then tried to move my hand. A first nothing happened, but then I was able to give whoever was holding my hand a small squeeze.

"OH MY GOSH!!!! He just squeezed my hand!!!" Lando said excitedly, well that answered my question.
"No way! Really?" Pierre asked, my other hand was gently picked up and I squeezed it as well.
"Oh my goodness he is waking up!" Pierre exclaimed.
"Come on Charles open you eyes." Carlos coaxed softly. I tired again to open my eyes and to my great pleasure they actually started to open. It took a while for them to focus but I was slowly able to make out Carlos and Lando in the left side of the bed while Max and Pierre were on the right side.

"Hey." Pierre said, I blinked at him a few times before trying to offer him a smile but it was more of a grimace.
"You must be in a lot of pain." Max commented,
"Yeah, everything hurts." I said my voice hoarse.
"Well you got a broken arm, broken collar bone, six broken ribs and a concussion, so I'm not surprised." Carlos said, my heart sank a little, there goes my season.
"At least your alive." Lando said, by the look in his face and the other faces I could tell this was an important thing, it must have been a really bad wreck if they seemed so shaken.
"Do you remember it?" Max asked,
"Bits and pieces." I said.

They started talking about the rest of the race and filling me in on what happened. I listened but slowly started to drift off, Lando smiled warmly at me,
"You can go back to sleep." He said gently, I closed my eyes and drifted off into the blackness.

A/n:

A longer one today!