SHAMELESS, lewis hamilton¹

42

Mirabella was in Singapore and was wearing the team merch again, and was standing back inside the motorhome with the rest of her team.

She wasn't fully back into racing just yet, but she felt ready to come back. So did her doctor. He even told her that if she wished to race again, then she seemed healthy enough to do so. She just had to put bandages around the burns to protect them, obviously.

She hadn't talked to Toto about it quite yet, but she was going to. She just hadn't had the perfect opportunity to do so yet. And that wasn't a joke or her holding it off. She genuinely hadn't found the right opportunity.

At the moment the team were all sat around the long table, the full team since she was back again. She was back in her old chair and desk, in front of her computer screen. Across from her teammate, who was also her boyfriend now.

She still found it so strange. Good strange though.

They had been together since Saturday, so three days. In one way nothing actually felt different. But at the same time, there was a significant difference. The label put a type of balance on everything. A type of stabiliser and reassurance, which put a damper on all of her doubts and stopped her insistent overthinking. She felt safe in a way.

She's felt safe with him for a while now, but the fact that they were officially in a relationship made her even more safe.

No one knew about it yet.

Well, she did tell Mick almost immediately, after a very long and sleepless night.

She and Lewis had talked about what they wanted to do, and they both agreed that they wouldn't exactly hide it, but they wouldn't tell anyone right away. Keeping silent about it until people either figured it out or they got enough and just told everyone, probably on Instagram or something just to make it simple and efficient.

She had to admit, it would be fun to see what was going to happen. All the theories fans would come up with to try to convince people that they were right.

They were already doing it, ever since before summer break. But it became more intense when a clip of them during the Dutch National Anthem before the race came out. She remembered when it happened, but she didn't think anyone would have noticed. The idea that no one would notice was actually just ridiculous. She should have known better than that.

Almost every interview Lewis had been in he was questioned about it, even if he told the first one to not do it because they weren't going to get anything from him, they still did it. He was either asked about whatever race he had been in or the two of them. Never failed.

At least they were actually together now. Before they weren't. Which also meant that now he actually had to lie about it when they asked. At least she didn't have to deal with that yet. Yet being the key word.

The meeting ended and Mirabella saw it as a perfect opportunity to talk to Toto about her maybe racing again this week. She didn't know how or if she was going to feel pain or discomfort at all whilst she was in the car.

When she and Lewis went karting last Friday it had been uncomfortable, but it was bearable. But an f1 car is different. A lot more powerful and technical. It wouldn't surprise her if it did. It made sense.

Mirabella didn't end up needing to go up to Toto, because he went up to her. "Can you come with me for a minute, Bella?"

She shot up from her chair and nodded, "Of course."

She followed him and they stood a little away from everyone else so their conversation could be somewhat private. "How are you feeling?" was the first thing he asked her.