Petrichor ~ Lewis Hamilton

14

First of all, as always, thank you to each and every one of you who are reading the story. This is a long chapter so buckle up!

Tw: grieving

It is a chapter loaded with delicate emotions so I only ask you to be gentle with Ela and Lew :)

As always, I greatly appreciate every vote and comment you leave. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.💜
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April 18, 2021, Imola

Elaine's POV

Lewis crossed the finish line second behind Verstappen's Redbull but stealing the fastest lap at the last moment, maintaining leadership in the drivers' world championship.

The team celebrated in the garage, happy with the team's double podium, Bottas finishing behind Lewis, but somewhat tense due to the ease with which the Dutchman had won the race.

"Do you want to come to the podium celebration?" The blonde said leaving the headphones on the table.

"It's his time to shine" She shoke her head at me.

"He would want you there, just go, you don't even have to say anything to him if you don't want to be photographed talking, just...be there." I thought about it for a second until I finally nodded, making her smile.

I followed her through the paddock until we reached the sea of ​​Redbull and Mercedes mechanics waiting for the three fastest.

Just when we got to the front I saw Lewis getting out of the car, celebrating with his team, high-fiving and receiving a few pats on the back. It had been a really good result but not the best, he was being harsh on himself.

I had promised myself that I wasn't going to talk to him, that I wasn't going to draw attention to us, but when he looked at me I couldn't help it.

"Hey, you did great" My hand rested on his hand holding on to the barrier between us and I could see his eyes through the helmet visor, surprised to see me there. "Give me a good smile up there, I want to take good photos of you, okay?"

"I wanted you to see me win" He looked to his left, Max throwing himself at his team celebrating the victory.

"I know you did, next time it will be. Now go, they are looking for you, champion"

They took him to the podium ceremony and from there everything went very quickly. Podium, interviews, photos with the teams and in less than I expected we were back at the hotel, He taking a well-deserved shower while I took the opportunity to make sure everything was collected before starting the road trip.

"How far are we?" I asked him when we were loading his car. We are going to stay a couple of days in Genova so we had packed extra.

"Not much, it's like a three hour drive" He answered unfased.

"That's it, give me the keys Lewis"

"Ela it's not that far away, I will drive, don't worry" He opened the driver's door but still didn't get inside.

"No way, you just finished a race you must be exhausted, I will drive and you can take a nap" He thought about it, the fatigue must be getting to him after the adrenaline went down from the podium.

"You told me you were shit at driving" I rolled my eyes but he ended up handing me the keys.

"Well I might not be a profesional driver but I haven't had an accident yet" He was about to enter through the passenger door but turned to look at me alarmed.