Connected (F1 Story)

Chapter Three: Sky High

"Morning," Daniel said surprisingly cheerily at half past four in the morning. Judging by the time, he'd already snoozed the alarm three times.

"Morning." I grumbled, rolling over to face the Australian. The bedside lamp he had turned on was so fucking bright. "I don't want to get up."

"Nope, neither," Dan agreed and handed me two cards. "I'll give you mine later, but they're from your parents and mine...happy birthday." And then he kissed my forehead, making me very alert. But still annoyed I had to get up. Why couldn't I just spend a day in bed with Daniel? Tomorrow, Saskia. Tomorrow.

"Thanks," I accepted them, suddenly found a surge of energy, and tore open the one with Grace's handwriting on first. Daniel had packed a card for me; I'd accidentally found it in his case.

I smiled at the card from Mr and Mrs Ricciardo and grinned even more at the photo attached from when we were last in Perth. Joe (Daniel's dad) had taken his first ever selfie with Grace (yup, you guessed it, Daniel's mum) but Daniel and I had politely (and maturely) decided to bomb it. Collectively we had the mean mental age of twelve.

"Oh Christ, she actually did send that!" Daniel laughed, clearly embarrassed. "I thought she was messing around..."

"Oh my god, your parents should not have!" I exclaimed, ignoring Daniel's protest and folded open a voucher.

"What?"

"Tickets to London Zoo!" Perhaps I was squealing a little too loudly considering how early it was. "Daniel! Animals!"

"Alright, alright." He biffed me off with a pillow and I may have accidentally been kneeling on his legs.

"You know how much I love monkeys..." I huffed, biting my lip. "And giraffes!"

"My legs hurt."

"Daniel! Giraffes!"

"We all know you love animals," Daniel winced, so I moved from sitting on his kneecaps. It was only fair.

"And we all know you left me by the kangaroo enclosure in Perth."

"You had sat there for over an hour!" Dan protested, lacing his fingers with mine. "I wanted to see the spiders and snakes."

"Typical man," I grinned and leant forward to kiss him. I envied how he could wake up and not have to do anything with his hair. I knew for a fact that my bun would have no longer be a bun...my hairband was on Ricciardo's pillow for starters.

"Are you going to open your parent's card?" Daniel asked quietly. He peered at his watch on the table and groaned.

"I'll do it in the car," I settled and pulled the duvet off Daniel who was still quite literally wrapped in it. He didn't do cover sharing...which was why I kept a blanket for myself at our apartment in Monaco.

"Actually, I'll give you a little something now." Dan felt inside the little drawer of the table and pulled out a leaflet. I did not like the mischievous grin he was wearing.

"Actual bastard!" I exclaimed standing up and trying not to choke from laughter. He had handed me a brochure for an old people's homes in Milton Keynes. He'd even gone to the effort of circling the exact room and what was included in the price.

"I got some looks," Daniel admitted quietly, too getting out of bed. "Seems a pretty good deal though."

"Oh just wait until you turn twenty-six!"

"What will I be getting, a Zimmer frame?"

"Don't go and ruin it," I warned, smiling, and once pulling on my jeans, started the desperate hunt for our passports.