Pole position // Charles Leclerc

68

Lando's POV:
God was I fucking bored. It had only just turned 10pm, Mia had gone home, and the interviews had no sign of slowing down, neither did the amount of alcohol I was consuming.

My phone was on silent, but that didn't stop me from feeling it buzz against my leg repetitively. I pulled it out of my pocket and slammed it down on the table infront of me, frowning when I saw a missed call from an unknown number.

'Who's calling?' George asked, leaning forwards.

'Do you know an 04 number?' I asked, picking up my phone and typing it into google.

'State number normally.' He shrugged.

It was the hospital. The one just around the corner. I tried to conceal my shaking hands and change in attitude, looking around the room to see both Danny and Charles more than occupied.

I called the number back, holding it to my ear at the same time I had a large mouthful of my drink, not sure what I was about to find out but preparing for the worse regardless.

'No fucking answer.' I mumbled, getting agitated now, my eyes widening slightly at the sight of an automated message appearing at the top of my screen.

Mr Lando Norris, you have missed a call from Haarlem hospital regarding Miss Mia Ricciardo (patient no. 136) our lines are busy right now, so we may not be able to call you back. Our help service is open 24/7 via an online chat, and if you would like to come and visit Miss Mia Ricciardo, opening times are from 9-3. Sorry for the inconvenience.

'Mias been admitted to the hospital. Up. Now.' I panicked, forcing George out of his seat and flinging my suit jacket back over my shoulders.

'Shouldn't we get Daniel and Charles?' He asked, slowly doing the same as me.

'What do you think I'm fucking doing? I just don't want to freak them out when he's infront of a camera.' I said, trying to think of a way to get them both out of the eye of the press before telling them we needed to go to the hospital.

The fact I had no idea what has happened was eating me up inside, and I knew that would be her brothers first question. I kept trying the hospital line whilst I was waiting for Charles, but got sent to voicemail every single time.

'That's all, thank you, Charles.' His interviewer smiled, taking back the microphone.

I saw cameras turn towards him again and so I grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the front door. He only resisted slightly, I could see he was fed up of the talking.

'Are you drunk? What're you grabbing me for?' He snapped.

'Shut up, get in the car.' I responded, raising my eyebrows to tell him that everyone was watching.

He did so, his frown deepening when he saw Daniel get in the other side. I tapped the roof of the car twice to let our driver know to go, and began fiddling with my tie, zoning out as George began to explain the situation to the boys.

It didn't take any more than 2 seconds after the word hospital was mentioned for the entire car to go up in absolute panic. I'd been trying so hard not to freak out because I didn't want to stress anyone else out.

Daniel grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me, bringing me back to reality before asking what the hospital had told me.

'Nothing. I missed the call.' I mumbled.

'Great.' Charles snapped, rolling his eyes at me.

'Check both of your phones. The only reason Idve been contacted in the first place is if you two were busy.' I said, angry that the blame was now on me.

They both did, seeing they had multiple missed calls each.

'Fuck. How long do you think she's been there?' Danny asked.

'They'd have called again if it was bad right?' George added.

'And surely that means that she was awake, to give them all of your numbers.' He continued.

'Can you shut up, please?' Charles snapped sending a wave of quiet over the car as we pulled up to the front of the hospital.

I was very much feeling the alcohol now, and so tried to move as carefully as possible on the way out of the car to avoid tripping.

Charles had pulled off his tie and his blazer, leaving himself in his shirt. His sleeves were rolled up. Danny had done the same in panic, his tie still hanging on wonkily. We looked like we'd been out drinking all night. I wasn't sure if the hospital would even let us in.

Danny was first to the front desk, reading his sisters name and patient number off of my phone, tapping his hands impatiently as they looked for her file.

'Two people at a time. The rest of you can wait in here.' She said, pointing to the waiting room to her right.

'At least tell us what happened, I'm sorry I'm just, stressed, is she okay?' Daniel asked, apologising immediately after his short temper.

'From what witnesses and paramedics say, a car stopped suddenly infront of hers, leaving her driver to break heavily, and the lorry behind couldn't stop in time.' She explained softly.

'So what?' Charles snapped.

She took a deep breath, clearly holding her tongue, purely because she heard the distress in his voice.

'The car was momentarily on fire, but luckily she did not suffer any major burns. She has just come back from surgery on her arm, due to a bad fracture leaving the bone slightly protruding from the skin. They have also had to give her a few stitches just above her eyebrow, underneath her knee, and along her left foot.' She explained.

Every single injury that she noted was like a punch in the chest. I was waiting for the list to stop, but she kept going, noting every single bump and scratch she had suffered, thankfully, not being life threatening.

'Is she awake?' Danny asked, his hand shaking even more.

Charles was standing by the door, leaning on it slightly, looking down at the floor. I could tell he was doing so to avoid any tears, but his silence was unsettling. Apart from the small outburst in the car, and the one at the desk, he had been pretty much silent.

He saw me looking at him and offered me the tiniest smile, almost reading my mind.

'I thought I'd lost her.' He said, his voice cracking.

'I know.' I offered, squeezing his shoulder and making my way into the waiting room, George sitting down besides me.

'Is your driver okay?' I asked, feeling like I had an obligation to ask on him too.

'He's fine, just a mild concussion. The lorry stopped just behind the drivers seat. From what i heard it's a miracle that Mia's still alive.' He said, freezing when he realised what he'd just said.

'Change the subject.'

'I uh, no I'm sorry.' He panicked.

'How is she alive? I don't get it. She must've been crushed between the front of the lorry and the seat.' I mumbled.

'She was in the footwell.' He said calmly.

'That girl.' I said, sighing a heavy breath of relief at the prospect of her being perfectly okay.

I was worried about Charles though. He'd already threatened to quit multiple times just from the idea of seeing her hurt. And now she actually was, I wondered if this would be his last season driving.

Mia wouldn't let him. But he thought he'd lost her. He'd said that to me. He thought on the drive to the hospital she would be dead. Maybe that was enough to end someone's career on the spot. It definitely seemed it.

I need your help! As this story is almost as 70 chapters. This book will be ending soon ( no earlier than 100 but I want to be prepared) I don't want to lose readers or interest this late on in the book. So what tropes do you NOT WANT ? ( pregnancy, marriage, breakup etc.) let me know! Dms are open too x thanks for the love