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51. Back on Track

The next morning, Olivia showed up to her therapy appointment, sat down on the beige couch, took a deep breath and said "Okay, I'm ready to talk about the attack". 

After last night's self revelation about how she blamed Max, she wanted to dissect everything. She knew it wasn't fair to blame him, he hadn't done anything wrong, he would never do anything to hurt her. She just couldn't help it. 

After two hours of talking in detail about her relationship with Max from the start, Ashley's blackmail, and the attack, she felt like she had a bit more perspective. However, one session wasn't enough. Upon Olivia's request, her therapist agreed to see her twice a week. She needed to be doing better once she was back to Formula 1. 

She spent most of the time in her apartment until one day Lewis was visiting her, a few days after she last saw Max. 

"So you just spend the entire day here by yourself?" asked Lewis.

Olivia shrugged "I go to therapy, so I go out I guess".

"That's not going out" he said shaking his head. 

"Well I don't really feel like going to places where people are gonna be filming or taking photos like I'm a zoo animal or something" she said making a face "specially if that means everybody is gonna know where I am. Not until they catch the guy". 

"Then come to my place" said Lewis like it was nothing. "I mean there's ton of security, nobody can go up to my floor without a key, there's a pool and basically everything you may need".

Liv looked at him and a genuine smile appeared on her face "Really?" she asked, it didn't seem like a bad idea at all. She would be going out just not out out. 

"Yeah, come whenever, we can go for a swim tomorrow" he smiled at her. 

The month passed by with Olivia facing her thoughts and fears twice a week. Her nightmares became more and more infrequent as time went by. Olivia spent a lot of time at Lewis' place. If Lewis was in town, then she was there. They would spend their time swimming, watching movies, Lewis even recorded a song and Olivia (who didn't sing at all) sang the chorus. With some serious editing and producing skills the song was actually pretty decent. Lewis showed her a couple of easy melodies to play on the piano, and even when Pato returned after almost 3 weeks he would also come to Lewis' place and they would all hang out together. 

Before she even realized it, it was the end of July, it was time to go back to real life, and between her time in therapy and the time she spent with Lewis and Pato, she finally felt like she was ready. 

Olivia was flying with Lewis to Budapest for the next Grand Prix, she was nervous but also excited to be back at a Formula 1 garage. Pato dropped her off at the airport, giving her a tight hug. "You've got this Liv, it's gonna be great!" he said holding her tight "Call me if you need anything, I go back home in a couple of days". 

"Thank you for being here Patito, seriously" she said from the bottom of her heart. 

"Always, Liv" he said sincerely. Once they let go of each other Pato gave her soft kiss on the cheek "Go" he said as he shook his head in the direction of the door. 

Olivia smiled at him, grabbed her things and walked away, she turned around when she heard him yell "And please have fun Liv!"

"I will!" she yelled back at him.

The flight to Budapest was a short 2 hour flight, Lewis and Olivia flew Wednesday morning and had breakfast on the plane while they talked. Lewis was a busy man, with all of these side projects, roles, and jobs. It was crazy. He kept working on his phone and laptop while maintaining a conversation with Olivia.