Picture Perfect | Daniel Ricciardo

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On Friday morning Dani stood alone watching how Daniel got ready to get in his Formula One car for free practice one. Daniel's parents had just landed and were at the hotel. They would join Dani in the garage for the second free practice. Dani didn't mind it. The team was very nice to her and she got to catch up with Sam once Daniel drove with some wheelspin out of the garage. Dani could be glad that she got given some headphones because the cars were very loud, louder than she first thought. Daniel had made sure to introduce her to almost anyone he came across in his garage. And it was very important to him to not leave the word 'girlfriend' behind. He also introduced her to his teammate Jean-Éric Vergne. But after he got called to start with his duties as a driver the rest of the time Dani stood next to Sam.
'How does it feel to see him in a race car again?' Sam asked Dani. Daniel had told him the whole story between him and Dani, so Sam thought she must feel a little overwhelmed with all of this. Formula One could be very overwhelming to anyone that visits it for the first time. But Sam guessed Dani had still the karting Daniel in her mind, and well... This was something completely different.
'Honestly,' Dani started and looked over to Sam. 'It brings so many memories up. He hasn't changed at all with being in his racing mode.' Sam nodded, although he had no idea. He looked over to her and smiled.
'Your smile is just as wide as Daniel's normally is.' Sam grinned, patting her shoulder. It only made Dani smile even wider if that even was possible. There was nothing that could take that smile off her face. She looked at the screen and waited until they finally showed Daniel. She knew that free practice wasn't very exciting, definitely not first practise, but to her it was. For the first time in a long time, she saw him sitting in a race car again. She kind of had avoided it watching him on television when he first got to Formula One. But this moment right now she didn't want to miss. After the first free practice was over and Daniel was clear of his duties he had the biggest grin on his face as he walked over to Dani. She puts her headphones off her head and Sam already wanted to take it from her.
'And? What did you think?' Daniel asked, excited to hear what she thought about it. She put her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Daniel put his arms around her and carried her off the ground for a second. He wanted everyone to know that Dani and he were together.
'You looked amazing out there.' she said, but then moved to his ear and started to whisper to him. 'Never decide to stop ever again, and especially not for me.'
She heard him laugh as he ended their hug by stepping just a little bit back to be able to watch her face. 'I won't. Because I know we'll be together as long as we live.'
'Shall we go for lunch?' Sam interrupted the couple as he had walked back to them, not really hearing their conversation. Maybe for the better. The couple nodded and walked out of the garage to the hospitality. Daniel had put his racing suit half down and tied it down against his waist. 

They had their lunch and halfway done Grace and Joe joined them. They had given their son a big hug, but they both gave Dani maybe even a bigger and longer hug. While Joe asked his son about free practice one, Grace put all her attention to Dani.
'How is school?' was the first thing Grace had asked. Dani shortly talked about her first few weeks of school and how busy she lately was until the conversation came to an end as Daniel was needed in the garage again and so the rest was coming with him. They watched practice two together and while they watched how Daniel was hard at work, Dani enjoyed the company of his trainer and his parents.
'I can see Daniel is very happy to have you here.' Grace smiled at the end of practice two. 'You might be his lucky star that will bring him some points.'
Dani couldn't help but blush by that comment. Surely that wasn't true, Dani thought by herself. Daniel would be driving amazingly all by his own talent.
'I'm sure he will drive amazingly Sunday with or without me here.' Dani told Grace with a friendly smile. Grace put an arm around her shoulder and hugged her tightly against her.
'He will. But his spirit is higher then it was last season. He looks like he can take on the world and I think we all know why that is.' It was at this point that Daniel got out of his car and the two women both had their eyes on him. He got his helmet off and his balaclava came off with it too. He looked over to his mother and his girlfriend. His serious glance slowly turned into the biggest smile while his head engineer walked over to him and his concentration was again to his job, but his smile didn't disappear.
'See?' Grace said again. It made Dani look back to her. Grace had maybe even a bigger smile on her face then her son had. 'He did smile last season, but it would've never turned as big as it is now.' Dani's eyes slid back to Daniel and as he was talking to his engineer she couldn't help but smile at him. She was so glad to see him in his natural habitat again. This was his future and she didn't mind being there right with him.

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A/N: And then we were left with only just one last chapter before the story ends.

BUT, if you want to keep reading a Daniel story, I just uploaded my new Daniel Ricciardo story, Team Babysitters, so I hope you'll enjoy that story too (If you decide to read it haha).