Fifth Light (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 53: Letting Go

The weirdest part about qualifying that day, for Casey at least, was learning to cheer for Ferrari.

She was still completely in the habit of looking for the two Bulls and hoping they were out in front, one more-so than the other. Now, she had to keep reminding herself that it no longer mattered to her where either of them were.

Kimi ended up qualifying in P7, right behind Alonso in P6. It was an 'about right' result for where the team were at that moment in time.

Minttu was sitting quietly in the back of the garage for most of the day, now starting to show her baby bump. Casey couldn't help but smile knowing there was a little baby Kimi growing inside. It was just too cute.

Sometimes Minttu and Casey would catch each other's eyes and smile, both happy to have another woman in the garage.

After the qualifying session was over and the car was returned to the garage, everyone seemed very much in need of some quality rest.

"You look a little tired."

Casey chuckled and looked up as Minttu propped herself against the bench Casey stood in front of.

"That's the polite way of saying it, huh?" she replied, knowing she must look terrible by now.

"How have you been?" Minttu asked, giving her a knowing look.

She shrugged, "Can't complain too much to be standing in the Ferrari garage."

Minttu smiled gently, "You know what I mean."

She sighed quietly, "I'm okay, getting there."

Minttu gave her a sympathetic look and nodded, "I hope you guys can work it out, you're meant for each other."

Casey suddenly wished she could disappear, she didn't want to be thinking about this topic at all, not while she was already physically drained.

"I think that ship has sailed." she replied, smiling sombrely back at Minttu, hoping she looked brave.

---

It wasn't until Casey got home that evening, had showered (finally!) and eaten a takeaway dinner that she realised she'd left her phone on the bench at work.

She found it slightly bemusing how quickly she'd gotten used to not having one at all anymore while she was back in Australia, and now seemed to have a blatant disregard for her new work-issued one too. Hopefully Evan wasn't trying to get hold of her that evening or there'd only be about a thousand abusive text messages queued up for delivery when she eventually charged it.

She quickly went to sleep after dinner, badly in need of it after the last 48 hours. That, and the fact that tomorrow was race day, where she'd be performing her first ever live pit stops for Kimi. She needed to prove she was fit for her new role.

---

Casey yawned as she lagged behind her teammates on the way into the pit-lane building the next morning. She'd slept like a rock all night but it still hadn't seemed as much as she'd have liked.

"Why the hell aren't you answering your phone?"

Casey stumbled sideways in shock, bracing herself against the wall as Evan appeared in front of her with his arms folded across his chest. If anything, she at least felt more awake now.

"Jesus, Evan... I forgot it here last night, it's been dead for ages anyway." she explained, waving it off.

"Could you be less incompetent, please?" Evan barked.

"Shhhh." she responded, placing a finger against his lips, "Oh god, that's so much better." she continued, closing her eyes.

Evan slapped her hand away, "If you'd answer my calls, you'd be aware that someone brute-forced his way into obtaining your number and could be trying to contact you. I wanted to give you a heads up."