This Ain't A Fairytale- Lando Norris

7. Back When I Was Living For The Hope Of It All

Up until Lando actually walked through their door in Monaco, Hannah hadn't actually been sure if she believed him that he was going to come home before he flew to Miami for the next race. 

He had promised her he would when she'd spoken to him on the phone earlier, but these days his promises about coming home didn't seem to mean an awful lot.

She'd been even less sure he was going to show up when the hours seemed to drag on after he'd told her he'd be home without any sign of him.

She hadn't told Isla he was due to come home, figuring if he did actually turn up it would be a welcome surprise in the morning, and if he didn't then her daughter would at least be spared the crushing disappointment of him letting them down again.

But he did show up, late and looking rather dishevelled, much to Hannah's surprise.

"You're still awake." Lando smiled, closing the front door behind himself softly as he wheeled his suitcase in. "It's late, I thought you'd be asleep."

He left his suitcase by the door, walking across the room and wrapping his arms around Hannah as she got to her feet. "Isla's asleep." She told him. "I didn't tell her you were coming back, I thought you could surprise her in the morning."

"I've missed you so much." Lando breathed, tightening his hold on his wife, breathing in the smell of her shampoo. "My flight got cancelled. I had to take two different ones and then ended up in Paris instead of Nice."

"I thought maybe you'd just decided not to come." She'd meant it as a joke, but her words made both of them cringe. It wouldn't be the first time he'd changed his plans and let them down at the last minute.

"It's been a really, really shitty weekend. I just wanted to get home and be with my girls as fast as possible." Lando sighed, his voice muffled against the top of Hannah's head. "I didn't want to wait until tomorrow for the direct flight."

"How are you feeling?" She asked him hesitantly. "I was worried about you."

"I'm fine." He brushed it off. "Ribs are a bit sore but it could've been a lot worse."

Someone had clipped the back of his car and sent him hurtling off into the barriers at an incredible speed. It had happened so quickly that Hannah hadn't even had time to cover Isla's eyes to shield her from seeing the mangled wreckage of her father's car on the tv.

"It was scary." Hannah said quietly, threading her fingers through his hair.

It had seemed to take an absolute age for him to answer the radio calls asking if he was okay, and even longer for the marshalls to reach him and help him as he climbed slowly and awkwardly out of the car.

Hannah had been halfway ready to book a flight to China, assuming the worst, but he'd called her from the medical centre and assured her he was fine and would be home as planned. Maybe even earlier now he didn't have to finish the race, he'd joked with her, but his tone was flat and she knew he was beating himself up.

The interviews afterwards had been painful for her to watch. He'd been so defeated and angry with himself, over something which hadn't even been his fault. All she wanted was to be there with him, to hold him and tell him it was going to be okay. But yet again, there was an ocean between them, and she'd had to settle for trying to quietly reassure him over the phone.

"I don't know what happened." He sighed. "I've watched it back from so many different angles, I left him so much space. He must've seen I was there?"

"I saw the replays." Hannah nodded. She'd had to wait until she'd got Isla into bed, not wanting her daughter to watch it over and over again, and it had been easier to watch in the knowledge that he was okay. But she hadn't been able to work out what had gone on either.