Loud and Clear (F1 x CL16)

26. Convergence

It was next week, which meant raceweekend. It was Friday, and we had just arrived at the track when I saw Max walking. "Max!" I yelled his name over the for now quiet paddock. His head snapped towards my direction and I waved at him. He rubbed the back of his neck and walked towards me and Charles. "Hey." I greeted him.
"Hey, Brigitte." He greeted me back, clearly not comfortable as he stands stiff in front of us. "I want to say sorry about Austria... it should've been me in that hospital, not you." He confessed.
"Max..." I sighed before continuing. "It's not your fault. It was just a racing incident. It's the risk of being a racing driver, right?" I gave my crutches to Charles, who held them while I hopped over to Max. "Are we alright?" I asked as I held my arms open, inviting him for a hug.
He smiled. "Of course we are." He said as he took me in a hug, which was quite tight, which made my ribs ache a little, but it was almost fully healed so it was alright. "I need to go, have a meeting. I'll see you two later!" And he walked off.
Charles came to stand beside me and gave me my crutches back.
"Thank you." I said with a smile.
"I'm glad you two finally talked. It looks like you're a lot less tense already." He placed his hand on my lower back and walked steadily with me towards Ferrari.
"It did take some pressure of my shoulders, but..." I didn't want to talk about my problems with him. It feels weird talking to him about my lack of lust or the feeling of not being whole anymore. It felt like I would only burden him with it.
"But what?" Charles asked confused, probably wondering why I trailed off.
"Nothing. It did help." I just smiled and kept going. I didn't want him to suspect something.

"Hey Carlos." I greeted him as I walked up to the car. "Ready for practice?" I asked.
"Yeah. I hope the car feels as great as the last two races." This was his third race now. And I was starting to get accustomed with him being the new driver now.
"I hope so too." I said with a smile.
"Is your recovery going alright?" Carlos asked.
"Yeah it is. Ribs are almost done, only my leg has two weeks left before that cast can come off." I was starting to get sick of that cast. It was always in the way.
"I'll be counting the days with you." He said while crossing his fingers. "Oh, hey Mia." Carlos greeted my racing engineer and best friend.
"Hey guys!" She waved as she reached us. "How are you?" She asked towards me.
"Two more weeks and then the worst will be over." I said with a tired smile. "How is it going with you? You two a good team yet?"
"Yeah it's going great." Carlos said. "You got a good racing engineer, Brie." He winked. "I gotta go, see you two later." And he walked off.
I turned back to Mia. "Missing me?" I asked jokingly.
"So much." She sighed dramatically and we both had to laugh.
"I'm gonna go find Pierre before practice starts. See you later?" I asked
"Yeah sure." She answered and she walked off into the pit lane.

The paddock was incredibly busy, which was new for Silverstone. Normally the paddock at this track was quite doable, but right now it was a big struggle to get past everyone here.
I was about to curse about these stupid crutches when someone bumped into me. I lost my balance and one crutch fell to the ground from the impact. "Watch where you're going!" A voice called from beside me, but it was not meant for me but for the asshole that walked into me. It was a woman, a bit older than me, but not that much. She looked beautiful. "Are you alright?" She asked with a British accent.
"Yes. Thank you." I said and a man in black suit grabbed my crutch and gave it to me. "Thank you." I nodded to the man.
"How did that happen?" The lady pointed at my leg.
"I had a crash. Didn't you see?" I asked confused.
"I don't watch Formula One." The lady said and my jaw dropped.
"Then why the hell are you here?" I asked, quite rude to talk this way to a stranger, but after today everything was alright.
"I'm here for a royal visit. I'm princess Jude." She extended her hand for me to shake.
I took it and shook it. "I'm Brigitte LaRue, former Ferrari driver. With what team are you this weekend?"
"Mercedes. Hamilton invited me." A blush covered her cheeks as she calls out Lewis. There must be something going on between them.
"Ah alright. And your brother must be with Ferrari? I thought I saw him in the agenda." I asked Jude.
"Yeah he's a real fan of the sport. It was nice to meet you, Brigitte. I hope I'll see you around sometime." Jude said before turning around and leaving with what must be her bodyguard then.
I was all alone again and I reassumed my walk to RedBull, where Pierre was waiting for me hopefully.
"I'm starting to assume that you're stalking me." A voice sounded behind me as I walked into the RedBull motorhome.
I turned around and looked up to see Max in front of me. "Hey, no I'm here for Pierre." I gave him a smile and continued my way towards Pierre's room.
"Bummer." Max said with a frown. "Have fun."
I gave him one last smile before walking towards Pierre's room, which wasn't too far luckily.
I knocked on the door and waited for a reply. The door opened and a smiling Pierre came in to view.
"Hey, Brie." Pierre said with a grin. "Come in." He opened the door and stepped aside so that I could walk in.
"Do you have time?" I asked as I sat down on the couch and dropped my crutches at the floor.
"All the time you need." He said as he sat down beside me.
I came here for a reason. Pierre was the only one I could talk to without feeling insecure. He was my best friend and my brother. "I've been feeling empty." I started. "And I stopped eating well." My gaze dropped to the floor. It was so hard to be open about this thing I've been feeling. "It's draining me, Pierre."
He placed his hand under my chin and gently lifted my face to level our gazes. "You're a strong, and very stubborn, woman, Brie. And telling me this must be so hard..." he sighed. "I can't understand how hard this must be, but I can understand if you need help, even if it's from me." He said with a grin.
I chuckled. "Thank you, P." I took his hand into mine. "This is why I came to you."
"I don't think that was your best idea. But I'm happy you came to me." He squeezed my hand and gave me a soft smile. "How did Charles handle this news?" He asked me.
I froze. He only asked me this because he knew I didn't say this to anyone yet. "He doesn't know."
Pierre's hand squeezed mine again. "You need to tell him, Brie."
I nodded and blinked a few times to keep the tears from falling. "I know." A sigh escaped my mouth. "But what is he thinks I need more time to recover? Or—"
"He won't." He interrupted. "He's the most caring person I've ever met. So please, just talk to him. He deserves to know."
I nodded again and a single tear escaped. "I don't know what to do, P..."
He took me into an hug. "You have around three weeks left. Just go to that doctors appointment and I'm sure you'll get the news that you'll be alright and ready to revalidate yourself." His hands moved up and down over my back, making a soothing movement. "Next season will be better."
And I hoped he was right with every bit of hope that I had left.