This Ain't A Fairytale- Lando Norris

37. That's the way I loved you

"For gods sake will you please just sit down. Or even better come back to bed." Lando sighed wearily. "What are you even doing?"

"Cleaning." Hannah shrugged, making no attempt to climb down from where she was stood on a stool, cleaning the glass on the doors that looked out into their garden.

"We have a cleaner who comes especially to do that, to stop you doing things like this. The window isn't even dirty." Lando sighed, walking across the room from where he'd been standing in the doorway. "Get down, come on." He put his hands on her hips, gently guiding her down off the step.

She reluctantly gave in, getting down and placing the cloth she'd been using to clean on the counter beside her. She turned to face Lando, his hands still keeping a light grip on her hips as if to stop her going anywhere.

"What are you even doing? It's so late." He frowned.

The two of them had gone to bed hours ago, not that long after he'd finally persuaded Isla to go to bed and read her what felt like every book on the bookshelf in an attempt to get her to sleep. By the time he'd come back down stairs Hannah was yawning and struggling to keep her eyes open, so the two of them had gone to bed.

But he'd woken a little after midnight to find the bed beside him cold and empty, because apparently she'd decided she needed to clean the windows.

"I can't sleep." She sighed. "I'm so uncomfortable." Her hand grazed over her now prominent bump.

Lando's expression softened immediately, becoming one of concern. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothings wrong, it's just uncomfortable. There's a small person sitting on my bladder and jabbing me in the ribs on an almost constant basis. You should try it, it's not a recipe for a great nights sleep."

"You're sure nothings wrong?" He asked.

"I'm sure." She nodded. "It was like this with Isla, you were just away so much you never realised I was up half the night. How did you never notice I was calling you in what would've been the middle of the night in Monaco when you were away? It was because I couldn't sleep."

His face fell at her words and she was kicking herself for saying it like that. She was just so goddamn tired she'd apparently lost the ability to think before she spoke.

"I'm here this time." He said quietly. "What can I do?"

"It's fine, really." She lifted her hand to run it through his hair, the curls a mess where he'd been fast asleep a few moments ago. "I'm just tired. I've been running around trying to entertain Isla all day, I don't think I've slept properly for a week. I'm just tired."

"I'll call Zak in the morning and tell him I'm not going in to MTC for the team event tomorrow. I'll stay here and keep Isla entertained for the day and you can get some rest."

"Don't be ridiculous." She sighed. "I'm fine. You should be there to celebrate with the team. You won the championship. How are they supposed to celebrate that without you?"

"Don't know, don't care." He shrugged. "It's their problem not mine."

"Lando." She scolded. "You're being utterly ridiculous."

"I don't care." He repeated. "You need to get some rest. Especially with your show next weekend."

Hannah suppressed a groan at the thought of the show Alice had booked for her what felt like a lifetime ago. She was excited to perform, couldn't wait to get back on stage, but her body didn't seem to want to do it quite as much as her mind did.

"I'll be fine." She sighed. "Go and have your moment with the team. I can sleep when you get back."

"You're going to sleep now, come on. Let's go back to bed." He took her by the hand and gently led her towards the stairs.