Burning Heart // CL16

Fifty Six

Charles POV

I was so relieved that we had talked. I was glad that Alessia had been the one to suggest it and she was right - doing it on her birthday meant that we were forced to stay calm, relying on both of us to put our affection for Ruby first before any grievances we still held for each other.

It took everything in me not to tackle her in a hug the entire time that she was talking. Part of it was relief and joy that she was actually talking to me and the other part was because I could hear in her voice how much pain she was in. There was a far off look in her eyes as she spoke about how bad it got in the past and suddenly I got it, it clicked into place and I understood a little better.

The media and social media question wasn't just for Ruby but for herself also. At the end of the day she was right to prioritise that over her or Ruby's attendance at a race, her health came before my happiness - that was obvious and now I knew that I was able to let go of the little resentment I had been holding over the last couple of days. Would I continue to hope that she might still try and push past it? Of course! I wanted her and Ruby there but I wasn't going to push her and I was more than happy to follow her lead on the social media front. If she didn't want Ruby out there to protect the pair of them from scrutiny then it was a small price to pay for her peace of mind, no matter how much I wanted to show them off.

"Mate! This is the best way to spend the last day off!" Lando exclaims as he jumps next to me, throwing an arm around my shoulders to my surprise. It was good though, it forced me to tear my eyes away from where I was staring at Alessia, Ruby on her hip, smiling and chatting with Carlos and Isa who are clearly trying to convince her of something.

"I thought you'd like it," I tell him smirking as I look around the room, the pile of presents in the corner of the room had tripled over the course of the afternoon and it was clear that Alessia and I hadn't quite clocked that other people were going to bring her presents. Further, half the grid was here, along with Arthur, Fred and a couple of my personal team from Ferrari, making this room particularly male heavy so I can understand why she's relaxing with the people she knows.

"But seriously - all the games! It's so much fun," he continues and I just shake my head as I look at him amused - well aware that he was the winner of pass the parcel from earlier. It was something he hadn't shut up about yet as he stood next to me with the paper crown, looking like a goof ball. "Take a photo of me with my crown!" He asks and I nod, making sure the get him to stand away from anything else that might show that this was a birthday party. "How's it going - she's so cute by the way!" He gushes as he clicks his phone shut and comes to stand next to me again, eyes following mine back to my-, I mean back to Alessia and Ruby.

"It's good, some days are hard but some days are just... I don't have the words? But I think maybe peace? I think we can figure it out though, which is more than I could say a few days ago," I confess, turning back around to check on Alessia who is now talking to Max and Pierre. I watch with a smile as she lets Pierre take Ruby, watching him melt as his eyes look across the room to his most recent girlfriend before back at Ruby who was pawing at his face while he laughed at something Alessia said to him.

"I think you will, is she coming to the race?" He asks and I shake my head.

"No... I actually don't know, she might go back home tomorrow," I say, the words that had been nagging in the back of my head, her plea to me a few days ago about wanting to go back to Edinburgh are sitting in the front of my mind despite the fact I wish they would disappear. Through every session in the car and in every team meeting, I couldn't help the fear that after today she might leave. I'd done all that I could at this point to get her to stay but despite everything that we had spoken about, she still hadn't confirmed if she was staying past Ruby's birthday. She also hadn't said where she was going if she did leave after this race. I was hoping after our better conversations the last couple of days that she might stay or if she did go back home, she would return to our flat in Monaco.