Everything Changed- Carlos Sainz

26. Wherever You Are

"Hey, Carlos." Georgie yawned, answering the FaceTime call from him.

"Sorry, did I wake you up? You look tired?" He asked, voice full of concern. "I can call you back another time. I didn't really realise what time it was there."

"No, it's fine." She quickly reassured him. "I've just come off night shifts and my body clock is a mess. I couldn't sleep anyway."

It wasn't quite the honest truth, but she knew he'd hang up on her if not. They kept missing each other, struggling to make the different time zones and both of their work commitments match up. Every time he'd called her she'd either been at work and unable to answer, or fast asleep after work.

"How's the job going? You must've been busy. You're a hard woman to get hold of these days." He asked.

"I'm sorry." She sighed. "I've been trying it's just been so hard and everything is so full on."

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that." He reassured her quickly. "You don't need to apologise, I'm just genuinely curious how the job is going."

"Yeah, it's been okay. Like I never even left really I suppose." She nodded, wondering if her voice sounded as unenthusiastic to his ears as it did to her own.

"What's wrong?" He asked, frowning at her face on the screen of his phone.

"Nothings wrong." She forced a smile. "How are things with you? How's China?"

"Georgie, you're a terrible liar." He sighed. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." She tried again. "I'm just really tired, the shifts are long and I really miss you."

He looked at her for a moment as if considering if he actually believed her or not. "You've got a few days off soon, right?" He was trying to remember what the copy of her rota that sent him looked like.

"Two more nights to go, then I have five whole days off to climb into my bed and not move." She agreed. "I can't wait."

"Speaking of beds... have you ordered any furniture yet?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

It was something she kept saying she was going to do, and never seemed to get round to. He knew the answer was no because he could very clearly see she was still lying on a mattress on the floor of her new bedroom.

"I'll go to ikea on my days off or something." She yawned. "I haven't had time and once I buy it I'm going to have to put it all together and I'm just way, way too tired for all that right now."

"Order some furniture, please." He begged. "Even if you order it online without even looking at it, I don't care. Just get something to make the place look a bit more like you actually live there."

He wasn't sure why, but the idea of her going home at the end of a long shift to an empty, cold flat without any furniture or a single picture on the wall really made him sad. When she'd given him a quick tour on FaceTime the week before, after a lot of persuading on his part, he'd quickly realised the place was absolutely bare. There were a couple of boxes of stuff she'd had sent down from Scotland that sat in the corner waiting to be unpacked and that was about it.

"I'll try." She yawned again.

"Have you at least been food shopping now?" He asked. "You need to eat."

"I've been eating in the hospital canteen." She shrugged. "I'm so tired Carlos, and I don't even have any kitchen equipment. How do you expect me to cook anything when I don't own a single pan?"

"If you don't sort it out by the end of this weekend I'm ordering stuff for you and you won't get any choice in what you get." He said firmly. He may not be there in person to drag her to the shops like he wanted to, but she couldn't stop him placing an online order and having it delivered.

"Don't you dare." She shook her head. "I'm an adult I'm quite capable of sorting myself out. I don't need you to order stuff for me."

"Then order it yourself and I won't have to." He proposed, causing her to roll her eyes at him again.

"How's China?" She asked again, trying to divert the subject away from her lack of furniture.

"Hot." He answered. "It's been alright actually. I'm playing golf with Dad and Lando tomorrow."

"Do you need some tips to help you play better?" She smirked. "Is that why you called?"

"I called because I miss you and I wanted to hear your voice." He sighed. "But if you can help me win somehow and let me recover my dignity from when you beat me then that would be great."

"I don't know if I have enough power to do that over the phone." She yawned again, unable to stifle it.

"Go to sleep, George." Carlos sighed, watching as she battled to keep her eyes open.

"I'm fine." She protested. "I've been waiting so long to talk to you, sleep can wait."

"I can call you back tomorrow, after golf?" He suggested. "You will have had the chance to get some sleep and I'll be able to tell you all about my incredible winning golf round."

"Getting cocky already I see." She laughed. "We'd better play another round when you get back so I can put you back in your place."

"You can take me to St Andrews and we can go and play?" He suggested. "Go and visit Angie and Blue?"

"That would be really nice actually." Georgie agreed. "Send me the dates when you're back and I'll see if I can maybe swap some shifts around and get some time off work so we can go."

"It's a date." Carlos smiled, visibly relaxing at the thought of actually making some proper plans for the two of them to spend some time together. "I can't wait to see you."

"I know, me neither." She agreed. "Not long now."

"I'm on the first flight back out of here." Carlos agreed, knowing he had quite literally booked the first flight he could find after the race finished.

"When do you get back?" She asked.

"Err about 9am Monday morning I think." He couldn't remember off the top of his head, he'd probably chosen to block it out after realising what a rubbish late flight it was going to be after an already exhausting weekend.

"Oh shit... I'm supposed to be at work." She groaned. "I got confused and thought you were getting in on the Tuesday."

"Relax, it's fine." He reassured her. "I'll come and pick up a key from you or something and get some sleep in that lovely comfy bed you will have bought by then while I wait for you."

"Is this all just some elaborate plan to force me to buy some furniture?" She laughed.

"It wasn't, but if it works that way then so be it." He smiled. "Now, will you please go and get some sleep? I love you, but you look absolutely exhausted, and I have nothing to tell you that can't wait until tomorrow."

"I'm fine." She protested again.

"Humour me." He suggested. "Get some sleep, you'll thank me for it later."

"I love you." She mumbled, eyes already half closed as her head sunk back into the pillows. "Good luck, with the golf. I'll be rooting for you. Don't let Lando win."

Carlos chuckled. "I'll do my best to beat him at golf and in the race. I promise. Get some rest, okay? I love you."