Stay With Me- Lando Norris

33. You've got no reason to be afraid

"Are you okay?" Lando asked quietly, looking over at Aimee.

"Yep." She answered quietly, not looking up from where she was picking at a loose thread on her jeans.

"Aimee." He captured her hands in his. "Breathe."

"It's fine, like riding a bike... right?" She asked, willing herself to believe her own words.

She'd been getting nervous at the idea of coming to the race all week, but she hadn't envisaged quite how sick it was going to make her feel until they'd actually arrived.

She still didn't look up at him, determined to avoid the eye contact that would allow him to see right through her.  She should've said no and just stayed in Monaco like she had the other races. Although then he would've dragged his poor mum over to babysit her again and she couldn't do that to poor Cisca again.

"Do you want me to take you back to the hotel?" He asked, squeezing her hand.

He was starting to wonder if he had perhaps pushed her a bit too far with this. When he'd spoken to Tracey and they'd come up with this plan it seemed like such a great idea. They'd both just assumed that once she got back in that environment she'd slot back in with the team like she'd never been away.

Perhaps they'd both been wrong because it seemed to be having the opposite effect.

"No." Aimee shook her head. "You're going to be late, come on."

"I don't care about being late." He reassured her. "If you want me to take you back then I will."

Aimee sucked in a breath that caught in her throat. Her heart was pounding as she looked up at the crowd of fans waiting by the paddock entrance for the chance to meet Lando.

Lando looked away, following her line of sight to the crowd that had formed.

"Do you want me to go in first and you can catch me up?" He asked.

"I..." she stopped. She didn't know what she wanted. She was torn between wanting Lando to hold her hand and tell her it was all going to be okay and not wanting to face the hoard of fans who'd all be speculating about the two of them if they did that. "I don't know." She admitted.

Even the idea of walking in hand in hand... how many times had her and Tom arrived at the track like that?

Her stomach rolled again and she was beyond thankful she hadn't eaten any breakfast. The only thing that could possibly make this any worse was throwing up in the footwell of the very expensive McLaren he was driving this weekend.

The rumbling engine of another McLaren pulling in beside them momentarily drowned out the noise of the excited crowd outside who were probably beginning to wonder what on earth was taking him so long.

Lando breathed a sigh of relief. "I have an idea. Wait here."

He hopped out of the car, waving briefly to the fans, dashing round to the door of the other car to greet Oscar.

"You alright mate?" Oscar looked at him quizzically. "You missed me or something?"

"Hey, Lando." Lily smiled, climbing out of the passenger side.

"I need you two to do me a favour, please." Lando shot them both pleasing looks.

Oscar was about to crack a joke but following Lando's line of sight to Aimee still sat in the front seat of his car he decided perhaps it wasn't the time. "What's up?"

Lando ran a hand through his hair. "I uh... brought Aimee with me trying to persuade her she didn't want to leave but she's freaking out about all the people and..."

"What do you need us to do?" Lily asked, cutting off his nervous ramble.

"Can you walk in with her and take her to the hospitality?" Lando asked. "I think if me and Osc go over there hopefully no one will pay much attention to you two?"

"Of course." Lily agreed.

"Do you want me to trip you up and create a distraction just incase?" Oscar joked. "I'd be happy to oblige."

"Cheers mate." Lando rolled his eyes. "One minute."

He jogged back around to the passenger side of his own car with another quick wave at the fans. Aimee flinched as he opened the door, lost on her own world.

"I'm gonna go ahead with Oscar and Lily will walk in with you. I'll catch you up, okay?" He said, squatting down so he was on her level. It had the added perk of dropping him out of sight of any prying eyes.

"Thank you." Aimee whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry." He squeezed her leg gently, fishing her paddock pass out of his pocket. "I know it's a lot, I should've thought about it. Lily's lovely though, and I'll catch you up as soon as I can."

He leaned in, hooking her paddock pass over her neck and kissing her cheek, before he stood up to find Oscar waiting for him.

"Hey Aimee." Oscar greeted her. "Glad to have you back with us, someone needs to keep him in check."

"Hi." Aimee mumbled quietly, climbing out of the car slowly. She was still a bit tentative and not entirely trusting of her injured leg. "Good to see you."

"We'll see you guys in a bit." Lando said, heading in the direction of the crowds at the entrance. The volume of the crowd increased dramatically at the sight of the two McLaren drivers headed towards them.

"We'll give them a second to distract everyone." Lily smiled at Aimee kindly. "No one will be looking at us with those two over there."

"It feels so weird to be back." Aimee admitted. "I thought maybe once I got here it would feel like it used to but..."

"Let's get to the hospitality and get a coffee." Lily proposed, linking arms with Aimee and starting to walk towards the entrance. "If you're still not feeling it then we can steal one of the cars and go back to the hotel. We aren't going to miss much today."

"Thank you." Aimee blinked back a couple of tears that threatened to escape her as Lily very quickly guided her past the crowd. Lando shot them a discreet thumbs up behind his back before he continued taking photos with fans.

"There we go, the hardest part is done." Lily announced as they made their way through the turnstiles. She quickly linked her arm with Aimee's again and Aimee had never been so thankful to have someone holding her up. "Now, coffee and breakfast!"