I love you, always | Charles Leclerc ✔

26

For the first in about ten years, Julie didn't go to the first Grand Prix of the season. She still had to recover and now had a newborn to take care of. Of course she didn't miss it completely and watched it on tv, with Esmée in her arms and softly cheered him on. Pascale and Arthur would come around often, to offer her help and make sure she was still getting rest.

The first race she could actually attend was Monaco as she didn't have to travel. Charles was so glade to see her again in the paddock, he had missed her so much and wasn't used to her not being there at all. He didn't let go of her at all, dragging her around to see their friends who were all thrilled to see her, asking how she was and about the baby. By the end of media day, all of their friends had been invited to their house.

The group consisting of Charles and Julie obviously, Carlos, Pierre, Lando, Alex, George, Max, Lewis and Daniel, along with their partner of course, which earned them a funny picture from the media. People on Twitter were speculating on what was going on as Julie's pregnancy had never been revealed. Charles and her didn't want to tell the world about Esmée right away, they wanted to keep the news to themselves and family so that's what they did. Plus, as Julie already was on a break from her social media, she just didn't go back until after giving birth, only posting a statement saying she was ready to be active once again.

Of course they weren't naive and knew that someday people would know about Esmée, but they wanted her to be a bit more older than only a few months to actually bring her to a race, maybe by the end of the year.

By the end of night, Esmée had everyone wrapped around her little finger, she had stolen everyone's heart.

When race day finally came, Pascale came to take care of Esmée so that Julie could go to the track and support Charles from the paddock. Fred welcomed her with a warm smile, giving her a headset so that she could listen to Charles, as was Arthur, after having wished Charles all the luck possible. During the race, she was gripping Arthur's hand so hard that he had almost permanently a grimace engraved on his face, which created a few funny clips for the cameras.

The infamous Monaco curse could be cured as Charles had got pole in qualifying the day before and Monaco was a very difficult track to overtake. Ferrari only needed to not mess their strategy up. And that's what happened. After 6 years of problems, be it from the car or the strategy, Charles had finally won his home race. Julie had actually started crying before the end, around 5 laps before. When he crossed the finish line, she hugged Arthur and sobbed on his chest while Arthur tried to contain his own tears.

Fred came to see them and ushered them to Parc Fermé. Julie basically ran until she saw the red sea before the barriers, fortunately, one of the mechanics recognized her and helped her get to the front. When Charles got out of the car and lifted his finger to point at the sky, her tears redoubled. When Charles saw her, he ran to take her in his arms, screaming that he had done it with a slightly shaking voice. After a few minutes, he let her go to be congratulated by his team and be led to the cooling room for the ceremony.

Standing there on the top step of the podium, he let lout a relieved sigh, feeling as if an enormous wight had been lifted off his shoulders. He looked at the sky and could only hope for his dad and Jules to be watching over him and be proud of him. When he looked back down, his eyes met Julie's right away. And that's when he knew, seeing her next to Arthur with his arm around her shoulder, he was going to ask her to marry him.

He was taken out of his thoughts by his teammate and Oscar spraying him with champagne, he returned the attack and when the ceremony ended, once the picture was taken, he basically ran out of the podium. Everyone looked at him, confused. Well everyone but Pierre, Charles hadn't said anything, but he knew his best friend too well not to know.

A flash of red could be seen as Charles ran to Ferrari's motorhome, up to his driver room, and then back to the paddock, searching for Julie. He saw her next to Arthur, slowly heading back to the garage, but when she saw him, she started running to him, jumping in his arms. She shouted in his ear congratulations and how proud she was of him, how proud they all were of him. Charles didn't kiss her which made Julie confused, she wanted her kiss, but he put her down before grabbing something in his pocket, the red velvet box that had been waiting for way too long.

He got on one knee, making Julie's hand fly to her mouth, her eyes going wide.

« Mon amour, je ne peux pas imaginer de meilleur moment pour te demander. Au début je voulais faire quelque chose de très simple et avec rien que nous deux, mais je n'en peux plus d'attendre. Je t'aime, je t'ai toujours aimé et je t'aimerai pour toujours. Mon amour pour toi grandi tous les jours et depuis que notre petit ange est arrivé, je suis comblé et je ne souhaite rien de plus au monde. Grâce à toi, je n'ai plus besoin de rien, tu as fait de moi l'homme le plus heureux de la planète et je veux faire de toi la femme la plus heureuse. Veux tu m'épouser ? »
"Mon amour, I can't imagine a better moment to ask you. At first, I wanted to do something really simple, with only the both of us, but I can't wait anymore. I love you, I've always loved you, and I'll love you forever. My love for you grows each day and since our little angle arrived, I'm fulfilled and I'm not wishing for anything more. Thanks to you, I don't need anything more, you've made me the happiest man on Earth and I want to make you the happiest woman. Will you marry me ?"

« Évidemment Charles ! Oui, oui, oui ! »
"Obviously Charles ! Yes, yes, yes !"

She threw herself at him and kissed him passionately, not caring about any of the cameras that were filming them. Charles put the ring on her finger and kissed her once again.

« Je t'aime mon amour, toujours. »
"I love you mon amour, always."