This Ain't A Fairytale- Lando Norris

4. Camera Flashes, Welcome Bashes

As Lando sat in the meeting room in the McLaren building he found himself almost unable to contain his annoyance. He was failing to see how the conversation they were having now couldn't either have been an email, been discussed in the hours of meetings they'd had yesterday, or in fact why Zak had insisted on his attendance at all.

It certainly wasn't something that felt important enough that he should've had to abandon his wife and child, who he hadn't seen in weeks, to attend. All he'd been looking forward to since Hannah had agreed to come was having a few uninterrupted hours, just the three of them. He wasn't entirely sure he was actually going to get them if the way the weekend had started was anything to go by.

He pulled his phone out of his pocket again, ignoring the glare from Zak, and checked to see if there were any messages from Hannah. There was disappointment as he saw there wasn't, although logically he knew it was far too early for her to be arriving at the paddock yet.

It was asking a lot of her to be there at all, and it was something he was well aware of. All the travel and exciting destinations that he'd once loved now just seemed to continuously take him further and further away from his family, and drive more and more of a wedge between him and Hannah.

The problem was, with Formula One, there was no halfway house. He was either in or out. There was no magical solution that allowed for him to continue to race, but also be there for his family in the way he wanted to. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't even begin to find a happy medium.

Instead they were trapped in this never ending cycle of him pleading with Hannah to drop everything and fly halfway across the world to come and visit him, because that was the only way they ever got to spend any time together.

He knew it wasn't fair to keep asking her to do it, but try as he might, he couldn't find another solution to the problem. He just kept trying to convince himself it was temporary, they just needed to get to the European races then he'd be home more, and they'd have the summer break together.

It would be fine. They just needed to make it through a few more weeks.

But the reality was that once the European races and summer break were over, he'd be back to being half way across the world every couple of weeks.

He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice the meeting had finished until Charlotte turned to speak to him.

"Hannah and Isla joining us today?" She asked. "I feel like I haven't seen them in ages."

Lando nodded. "They flew in yesterday. They'll be here later I think, you know what the jet lags like."

"She's getting so grown up, isn't she?" Charlotte smiled. "Seems like only yesterday she was a tiny little baby and you were carrying her around MTC showing her the trophy cabinet."

"It does." Lando smiled weakly.

He didn't need the reminder that his daughter was growing up at an incredible speed and it felt like he was missing out on all of it. He was watching her grow up through photos and FaceTime calls instead of being there with his wife.

He felt like he'd blinked for a second and she'd gone from a tiny baby to a small person who was suddenly talking to him and running around the paddock every time she came to a race. The real kicker that been that she was old enough to know he wasn't there now. She was old enough to remember when he'd broken his promises about coming home during the week or taking her to the park.

He'd been left trying to make up for it with presents when he returned from a trip, or bribing her with chocolate pancakes like this morning.

But the thing was it might placate Isla for a bit, but it always just made him feel even more guilty.