Grief • Lando Norris ✔️

after

All I could feel was proudness as I watched Jack cross the line first in his Mercedes, and thus securing the title of world champion. The silver arrows had been quick to snatch him to join Esteban Ocon in the team after Lewis Hamilton's long awaited retirement at the end of the last season. Since then, he has continued to prove his abilities as a formula one driver. All his efforts have certainly paid off now that he can safely say that he is a champion. I saw first hand how hard that man worked to get from being a Renault reserve driver to scoring seventeen consecutive podiums this season (would've been the lot if he hadn't been taken out by his teammate... twice). His main motivation? The late Lando Norris.

Tears were streaming down my face. Whilst balancing my three and a half year old daughter on my hip, I clapped my hands together as loud as I could. Bianca Jae was as keen a racer as her father had been and only took her eyes away from the screens to watch the cars speed by. Her twin brother, Alec Lando, on the other hand, wasn't overly impressed that his favourite uncle (Carlos Sainz) had to retire early on in the race in Abu Dhabi due to some contact with one of the rookies. A huge smile was on his face as he stood by my leg which was mirrored by his sister.

There was a small tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Toto Wolff, who was holding out a pair of headphones with a mic attached for me to take. He was kind enough to give a pair to Alec, however they didn't have a mic. I pulled the set over my head, turning one of the ears so that Bianca could listen in, too. All I needed was a thumbs up from the team boss to know that I could start speaking and Jack would hear me.

"I'm so proud of you!" I managed to cheer out through my ecstatic cries.

"Aria?" I could tell that he had been crying, too.

I chuckled and sniffled. "Yeah, its me. I just wanted to say that you deserve this so much after everything you've had to overcome. I know that Lando is cheering you on right now and he would be so happy with all you've achieved, and everything you will achieve. You're my champion!"

"This is for you, Aria, and for Lando." At his words, I felt myself welling up even more. "Are Alec and Bee with you?"

I nodded my head even though he couldn't see me. Bianca took it upon herself to lean over to the mic and yell, "I love you!"

"Aw, I love all of the Norris gang," he replied, trying to conceal a sniffle beforehand with a cough. "This is going to be you guys one day, doing what your dad didn't get a chance to. You guys have been such a huge part of my journey and words cannot do justice as to how much I love you guys. I also love your mummy very much and I'm glad that your nana is here to babysit so we can celebrate privately." My cheeks flushed with heat at his words and I noticed Toto give me a cheeky smile.

"There's a big bottle of champagne waiting for you here, Mr World Champion," I said. "Celebrate - you've earned it."

I didn't think the smile would ever leave my face. I haven't felt like this in a long time, and it's certainly taken a lot for us to get to this point. Jack had stayed by my side through everything and I stuck by his. Through all of the pregnancy and finding out that I was carrying twins (it runs on my side of the family), through all of the healing that I had to do to 'get over' Lando, through every high and low since - we had each other. Alec and Bianca are the best things to ever happen to me and I wished that they had been able to spend any amount of time with Lando. Alec was the spitting image of his father from the messy brown hair that never seemed to tidy, to the cheeky grin whenever he was trying to hide something from me. Bianca was more like me, however had her dad's warm eyes and more of his personality. Luckily, Jack helped raise them so they've had a pretty good influence. He loved them as if they were his own and slowly, but surely, I fell in love with him. At first, there were all of these conflicting emotions that concerned Lando, which is probably why it took so long for us to officially come together.