love at first sight?

happiness

*Charles*

I wake up from a sound next to me. When I open my eyes I see Ivy moving next to me. She looks scared but her eyes are still closed. There's sweat on her forehead. "No..Stop it. Please", she screams. She has a nightmare. I guess I know what it's about and my heart shatters again at the thought of her going through the fight with Adrian again. "Ivy, wake up", I gently shake her so that she wakes up. She tenses up at my touch. "Ivy, it's me", I say a little louder. Her eyes open and she sits up straight a scared look on her face. Tears are in her eyes. She holds her knees with her arms close to her body. Her eyes meet mine.  "Ivy, it was just a nightmare. He's not here. You're safe", I cup her chin in my hands and wipe away the tears. She nods heavily trying to convince herself. I wrap my arms around her and pull her into a hug. "I'm here, Ivy. It's okay", I mutter into her hair. She starts to calm a little. "I saw him, Charles. He stood there. He hit me. I couldn't do anything against him", she sobs and starts shaking again. I have a hard time trying to calm her. She won't stop crying and shaking. I pull the blanket over us in case she's cold. "Don't leave me", she quietly says. A part in my heart warms up but the other one shatters because I know I fucked up before. I just hope I can make it up to her. "I won't leave you, Ivy. I promise", I say and kiss her temple while stroking her hair. It's the only thing that seems to calm her a little. "Don't let go of me", she mutters before the tiredness takes over her and she finally falls asleep again. "I won't", I chuckle. I feel her sleeping in my arms but I can't shut my eyes. There are so many thoughts running through my head. I take out my phone and look at the time. 3:11am. I decide to quickly text Pierre and let him know what happened and ask him to pick us up tomorrow. I don't have my car here because we walked here but I'm sure Ivy still needs to rest. She can stay at my apartment. Wait. What am I thinking. She probably doesn't want that, right? Or does she?

Charles
Just wanted to let you know that I'm at the hospital right now, nothing about me
Ivy came to my apartment when I was with Catherine, she was very badly injured to I took her here
I'll tell you everything later, can you maybe pick us up here? We walked here so I don't have my car

He didn't answer of course, it's the middle of the night. I then quickly checked all my socials but there was nothing special. Some photos of me and Catherine hanging out though. They assumed we are dating. I just laughed about it and locked my phone again. If they knew the girl
sleeping text to me isn't Catherine but Ivy, they would freak out. I just couldn't help it and had to take a photo of Ivy sleeping. She looks so adorable.

*Ivy*

I get woken up by a nurse placing breakfast on the little table next to my bed. "Oh, excuse me. I didn't want to wake you up, dear. I just needed to check on your vitals and got your breakfast", she apologises in a sweet voice. "Don't worry, it's okay. Are my vitals good?", I ask in the same sweet voice. "Yes, they are very good. You can be discharged today. Your boyfriend should look after you though", she says and looks at Charles who is still peacefully sleeping next to me. I smile because we're not together really. "Thank you", I smile at her before she leaves the room. Afterwards I try to get up without waking up
Charles. To my surprise I manage it and tiptoe to the bathroom. I almost leave out a shocked scream when I see myself in the mirror. I look horrible. There are scratches over my face but that's not the worst. The wound on my left temple will definitely become a scar in the future. An ugly one that will always remind me of that night. Out of reflex I touch my head where the wound had to be sewed. It hurts still but it will surely become a scar too. Great. I'll become an ugly scar monster.

"Hey, you okay?", Charles voice almost scares me because I didn't hear him coming. He's leaning at the door frame with a concerned look on his face. Another time I would think it's hot how he leans there but right now I just feel so terrible. However, I don't want to admit all my fears to him. I'm scared I trust him too much and get hurt again even though I know what happened is my fault too. "Yeah, I'm okay", I say and try that it sounds honest. He furrows his brow. Shit. He sees through me. Directly into my soul. He steps a little closer to me. "Ivy, please be honest with me. I won't leave you", he says softly. He always knows how to calm me down. "Don't say that, Charles. You can't promise that. There's so much going on in your life. I don't know if I'm ready for all the hate I'll get or being alone when you're travelling or worrying about you when you get into your car or-", I get interrupted by Charles who presses his lips onto mine. It relaxes me a bit to be honest. "Ivy, stop thinking so much. I won't leave you, I'll always be by your side" "But what if you travel Charles, I have work too", I argue and make it sound more offensive than I wants it to. "I know, Ivy. But you can travel to every race with me and when I'm gone to Maranello we can facetime every day. You could..I mean", he stops at the end. "I can what?", I ask curious. "If you want to and if you feel comfortable with it you could move in with me", ha says shyly obviously being scared of getting rejected. It takes me by surprise though. We've talked about that when we were at another point. Then I wasn't ready for it but now? Am I ready? "You don't have to, I don't want to push you or anything..I just thought-", now I'm the one who interrupts him. "I would love to move in with you, Charles", I say and see sparkles in his eyes. I'm not sure if it's the right thing but I don't want to go back into my apartment. There are too many bad memories there. "But are you sure? It's a big step, Charles", I pull away from him a little. "I know, Ivy. But when you were gone I realised that I only want you. I can't live without you and I know it sounds weird because we've known each other for four months now and in three of them we didn't even speak but I know I only want you", he says and I have to chuckle at the speaking and knowing part. "As long as you don't ask me to marry you tomorrow I'll be fine", I chuckle and get closer to him again. I press a quick kiss on his lips. A grin appears on his face. "But look at me Charles, I look so ugly. There are so many scratches and I'll have two new scars", I say looking at myself in the mirror again. He takes my chin so that I look at him. "I don't care, Ivy. You still look beautiful. I love you, with every scar on your body". I smile. A bright smile. Oh how I love this guy. "I love you too", I say and he pulls me into a tight hug. "Wanna get home then?", he whispers. I nod. "But I need my stuff", I mean and think about the possibility to run into Adrian. "We can get it later, alright?" "Yeah, that's fine by me", I sigh because I'm afraid of going back.