Stay With Me- Lando Norris

21. You and I walk a fragile line

"Shhhh!" Came the hiss from Lando's mum as he clattered back through the front door of his apartment after a long day at the track.

He froze in his spot as she waved her hands gesturing towards the sofa, where he spotted Aimee tucked up under a blanket fast asleep. He quickly reached out, just managing to grab the front door before it slammed shut behind him.

"Sorry, I was going to text you and tell you to be quiet." His mum apologised in a hushed whisper as she approached him. "Well done today, I'm proud of you." She wrapped him in a hug.

"I have absolutely no idea how I did it." He confessed. He'd had to ask his engineer to repeat it twice when they'd told him he'd qualified on pole. His brain had been anywhere but in the car with him and it didn't seem possible he could've managed that. He thought he'd been lucky not to end up in the wall, never mind anything else.

"You did a great job, we watched it on tv. Aimee was cheering you on." His mum smiled. "What have you done with your dad?" She suddenly seemed to realise he'd come back alone.

"Oh he wanted to stop at the hotel and shower then he'll be here for dinner." Lando explained. "How's the day been?" His eyes wandered again to Aimee's sleeping form on the sofa.

"We watched the practice and qualifying sessions." She told him. "She's been pretty uncomfortable though, I think. She took some more painkillers an hour or so ago and fell asleep. She looks like she needs it."

"Yeah it wasn't a great night last night." Lando yawned, the exhaustion of suddenly hitting him.

"And how are you doing with all this?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "It's a lot to take in."

"I asked her friend Tracey from the team to stop by later. She doesn't want to talk to me about it so... I don't know, maybe it'll help. I don't know if I'm doing the right thing or not."

It had been weighing on his mind all day. He was so far out of his depth and he had no idea if he was helping or just making it worse. He couldn't get the nagging feeling out of his head that had he not got involved in the first place, even though she'd asked him not to, maybe she wouldn't be in this position at all.

But there was just something about her, he just couldn't leave it.

"Why don't you go and get a shower while I finish dinner?" His mum suggested. "Your dad will be back by then."

"Yeah, okay." Lando nodded, heading for the bathroom with one last lingering look at Aimee as he passed the sofa.

She looked so peaceful while she was asleep, and if it wasn't for the bruising that covered her face and neck still, he'd have been blissfully unaware that there was anything wrong from the outside.

The shower helped to clear his head a little, his dad still nowhere to be seen when he emerged. His mum was buzzing around the kitchen still getting dinner ready, so he wandered over to the sofa, sinking down beside Aimee.

She stirred slightly as he sat down, but didn't wake. He pulled his phone out and quickly shot off a text to Tracey to see if she could come by a bit later, after dinner to let Aimee sleep for a bit.

He'd zoned out, staring at the replay of qualifying on the tv, to the point he didn't even notice Aimee starting to wake up beside him.

"You're back." She smiled sleepily at him. "How was it? Pole position!" She reached out to jab him in the ribs playfully.

"I have absolutely no fucking idea how I did that. Had to ask Will to repeat himself twice when he told me." Lando laughed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I knew you could do it!" Aimee declared confidently. "And you're going to keep it tomorrow too."

"We'll see." Lando said, unwilling to say anything out loud. There were still so many things that could go wrong. "Oscar's right behind me, that'll help."

"You can do it." Aimee said firmly. "We all know you can."

"And how are you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. "Mum said you didn't look too comfortable?"

Aimee grimaced. "I didn't think she'd noticed." She'd spent the entire day trying to convince Cisca she was okay so the woman would sit down and watch her son drive on the tv coverage and stop fussing over her, with mixed success.

"She notices everything." Lando shook his head. "I got away with absolutely nothing as a child. Still can't get away with anything now."

Aimee laughed quietly. "I'll keep that in mind. I feel so bad that she's been stuck here with me all day though. She's come all this way to watch you! I'll be okay on my own tomorrow so she can go to the track, really."

Lando shook his head. "Not gonna happen."

"Please?" Aimee asked again.

"The only way she's not going to be here with you, is if you're at the track with her." Lando joked.

"Is that an option?" Aimee raised an eyebrow.

"Are you being serious?" He asked in disbelief.

Aimee struggled to haul herself up into a sitting position beside him, Lando eventually taking pity on her and using an arm under hers to drag her up the sofa so she was sitting to stop her struggling.

"I think I could do it." Aimee said confidently.

Lando rolled his eyes at her. "Yeah... I don't think so."

"I'm being serious."

"So am I!" He turned in his seat so he was facing her. "It's on the tv. You don't need to push yourself to go out there. You'll be able to see better from here anyway, and I'm pretty sure the doctor said you could come home as long as you were going to rest. I don't think that includes coming to the track to watch the race."

"But what the doctor doesn't know won't hurt him." Aimee countered.

Lando just shook his head. "Tracey's going to stop by later, by the way." He decided to change the subject in the hope she might just forget about her crazy plan.

"Oh?" Aimee looked surprised. "She's not coming to fire me is she?"

"She wanted to check you were okay." Lando told her. "And I thought it might be nice for you to have some company that's not me."

Aimee was quiet for a moment. "Do you know what they told everyone? About Tom disappearing and me not being there?" She asked, almost reluctant to hear the answer.

Lando shook his head. "I don't, but we can ask Tracey." He suggested. "I haven't heard anyone say a word about it in the garage. I don't think anyone's talking about it if that's what you're worried about." He reassured her.

"Thanks." She gave him a tight smile. He'd managed to read her mind and knew exactly what she'd been worried about. "It'll be nice to see Tracey."

"Fed up with my company already?" Lando joked. "I'm wounded!" He clutched at his chest dramatically.

"Oh stop it." Aimee laughed, grabbing his arm to pull it away from his chest and stop the dramatics. "Of course not, I love your company you know that. I just spend a lot of time with Tracey normally. I miss her!"

"I know, I'm joking." Lando laughed. "I'm not sure I'm going to be very good company tonight either. I'm exhausted." His head dropped to rest on her shoulder.

"Don't let him fall asleep, dinner will be ready in five!" Cisca shouted through from the kitchen.

"I'm not asleep I'm just resting my eyes." Lando mumbled, already half asleep.