Leclerc

P9

"Dad?"

Asked Adeline. She saw that familiar smile of his, and she started tearing up. There was no way.. She didn't hesitate anymore to hug him. It's been so long. So many years. She was finally able to hug him again. To tell him that she loves him and that she missed him.

Adeline felt his arms wrap round her body as he hugged her back and that was it for her. She started crying, sobbing even. She felt him rub her back in a comforting way and she cried even harder.

"Shh, it's okay. I'm here." He whispered, feeling her burying her face in his shoulder, her hug tightening slightly. "I miss you" She cried out.

"I know. I'm sorry." He whispered, stroking her back in a soothing manner. Jules pulled away from the hug slightly so they could look at each other before placing a gentle and loving kiss on her forehead.

It was all so familiar. She felt loved again. She felt truly happy. Those were tears of happiness. She had the person she loved the most back again. She didn't want him to leave again.

"I love you." She said between sobs. Jules looked at her with a soft expression, smiling lovingly at her. "I love you too." He whispered, hugging her again. "I've never left. I've always been there. I will never leave you alone." He told her.

"I'll always be there." He said again, placing a kiss on the top of her head. She felt so safe in his arms, she felt at peace again. As if nothing could hurt her.

"Please, don't leave again." She cried out. "I can't do this without you." The dead hugged her tightly, placing his head on top of hers. "You can. I'm so proud of you. You got this. I'll always be right by your side. I never left, not a single second."

Time seemed to go by so fast, but at the same time it felt as if it had stopped. They talked. They talked a lot. Jules told her everything. That he was always there. That he never left and that he never will. That he loves her, that he's proud of her.

He listened to what Adeline told him. He knew everything she said already, because he was there. But he listened carefully. To know her point of view of things.

"Adeline." He said. The girl looked him in the eyes, not saying anything. "I love you." He spoke softly. It was as if she had knew what he meant by that. She started tearing up again, her lip quivering. "Please, don't leave me." "I'm sorry."

Adeline stood up, as they were sitting across from each other on the floor. She walked over to him, hugging him one last time. As she hugged him, he gently pulled her down again, so she sat down on his lap as she hugged him. Her head was in his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his upper body as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"I'll be there with you. Always. Talk to me, and i'll listen." He whispered to her, placing a kiss on her temple. "I love you." He leaned his head against her shoulder.

"Adi?" She heard someone whisper as she got shaken awake. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked tiredly through her eyelashes. There kneeled Charles in front of her. She looked around the room. They were still in his drivers room.

"No, no.no..no...no...." She thought to herself as she started to recollect her dream. It didn't feel like a dream. It all felt so real.

That's because it wasn't a dream. It was her consciousness, talking to her father.

"Charles?" She asked in a hoarse voice. The Monegasque nodded and gave her a sympathetic look. "Are you tired?" Adeline shook her head. "It's fine now. How did practice go?" She sat up again, looking down at Charles, who still kneeled in front of her.

He smiled at her, watching her sit up. "It went fine. Did you sleep all the way through?" Adi nodded. "Sorry." "Don't worry." Charles stood up, placing a kiss on her forehead. "We'll be home in about an hour, okay? I still need to do some stuff. If you want, you can go and talk with Arthur or the others? Arthur will leave soon, so if you wanna go with him, i'll tell him to wait on you." She just shook her head.

"I'll go with you." She said, smiling at him. Charles smiled as well and stood up, holding his hand out for her. She took his hand and stood up, walking with him.

Charles lead her to the garage, where she instantly saw Carlos and many other people. There are a lot of people at Ferrari.. She waved at Carlos as they walked by, the Spaniard giving her a smile as hr watched them.

Once they were in Charles' part if the garage, he proudly stood next to his car, letting go of her hand. She raised an eyebrow as she looked at him and then at the car.

Charles happily explained everything to her, even if she didn't ask him to. He explained everything on the steering wheel, then about the tires as well as some other stuff about the car. Even if she knew some things already, she just listened to him like a good student listening to their teacher.

Carlos left Adeline in Charles' drivers room, closing the door behind him. What was she thinking about? He asked her like three times already if she wanted to stay there or not.

The Spaniard just shrugged and went to the garage. There, he saw Charles and instantly made his way over to him. He held his right hand to the side as he approached Charles, the Monegasque doing the same as he noticed the dark haired man. Their hands made a clapping sound as they gave each other a bro hug.
(Really struggled with that last sentence)

"What's up?" Asked Charles after they pulled away from the small hug. "Ah, don't worry. Adeline's in your driver room, she said to drive safe." Charles smiled and nodded. "Oh and by the way.."

"Is it normal for her to just randomly grab peoples hands? Like i was walking to the hospitality and she just grabbed my hand." Told Carlos. Charles frowned a little. "What did you do?" "Nothing! I let her hold my hand and just walked to your drivers room. Then when I asked if she wanted to talk with you for a second or stay there she didn't answer and looked pretty invested in her thoughts."

The taller brunette let out a sigh and looked at the brown eyed man. "Look, it's hard to explain.." "I'm all ears." Charles gave him a small glare before going back to trying to find the right english words.

"So she's not actually my sister.." "She's not?" "She's Jules daughter." Carlos let out a soft "ohh" sound and nodded slowly, not looking away from Charles. "Her mom couldn't care for her anymore after Jules died and well, she was just 5... My mom immediately took her in as we were all close anyway.. To get to the point, i know she's not doing fine. The littlest of things remind her of her dad and she sometimes unintentionally even calls me that."

Carlos listened carefully as Charles explained it quietly. "I guess she just unconsciously sees us like a father at times because she didn't have one growing up. Please, if she calls you dad or grabs your hand or something just don't tell her about it and don't shake her off." The dark haired man nodded, agreeing that he wouldn't. To be honest, he found it sweet that she grabbed his hand. He knew she wasn't a little kid anymore and was a 13 year old, but he still somewhat saw her as a 6 year old. Maybe he's just too old, who knows.

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