Fifth Light (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 51: New Beginnings

Sebastian felt his blood boiling as he watched Heikki man-handling Casey, again.

Kimi raised an eyebrow at Seb as he noticed his friend bristle up and glare at the scene before them.

"Isn't that your PT?" he asked.

"Used to be." Seb responded.

Kimi looked back over as Heikki lifted Casey off the ground slightly and whispered something in her ear.

"He wouldn't happen to be part of the story of how she ended up in my garage, would he?" Kimi asked.

"He is... was... the main character." Seb muttered darkly.

---

Casey couldn't stop smiling, tasting happiness for the first time in 2 months. She was surrounded by most of her favourite people again, back in the pit-lane where she belonged. She couldn't have hoped for much more than that.

Heikki gently put her back down and she pulled away enough to look up at him. "Torro Rosso then?" she grinned.

"Yep, a uhh, vacancy came up." he chuckled.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Vergne's former PT, Antti, moved on to work with Seb. We basically swapped places." he shrugged.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, "That worked out for you alright then." Casey was surprised at how easy it felt to talk to Heikki. There were no awkward feelings like she may have anticipated. He genuinely just seemed happy to see her.

She turned back around to face the rest of the circle, though remained aware that Heikki still had one arm casually draped around her shoulders. The group chatted, taking a few minutes to catch up before Rocky was bellowing from the Red Bull garage to haul most of them back to work. Evan could no longer see Seb at the door. He must have gone back inside.

"Don't make me come down there!" Rocky's distant voice threatened.

Everyone split off, vowing to spend more time together on Sunday night after the race. Casey agreed to go with them so long as Ferrari didn't get a podium, which would require her to celebrate with her new team instead.

Casey and Heikki were the only two left as the Red Bull boys headed back to their garage. They began strolling slowly in the opposite direction down the pit-lane.

"So how are you?" Heikki smiled at her.

Casey sighed and laughed lightly, "Ah, I'm alright." She wasn't alright, but not being alright seemed like her new normal now.

"I really thought I'd never see you again, to be honest," he said, his voice quieter than before.

She shrugged, "I figured I had 10 other garages worth trying."

"So what happened in the end, with Seb?" he asked, using the arm over her shoulders to pull her tighter against his side comfortingly.

"He made it pretty clear he didn't want to see me again." she mumbled.

"Idiot." he replied under his breath, causing her to cringe.

"Don't call him that." she scolded quietly, looking down at her shoes.

"You can't waste your life on someone who is too stubborn to even hear you out." he replied with a touch of annoyance.

"Trust me, I'm not stuck on him for fun." she retorted tiredly. If there was a potion that let her never have to go through the torture of thinking about Seb ever again, she might actually consider taking it.