Lifeline (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 27: Dubai

Author's note: This part runs alongside @__highflyings's Lifeline chapter 5.

On the second to last day of Bahrain testing, Heikki's contract with Seb finally expired and subsequently, Tully's commenced. The three of them plus Britta had gone out for dinner to celebrate and give Heikki a final farewell. The next day, he flew back to his new home in England.

On their final evening in Bahrain, Tully, Seb and Britta planned to have dinner together in Seb's room to go over schedules and bookings for the 11 days between the end of Bahrain testing and the start of the Melbourne Grand Prix.

So far, Seb and Tully had kept things between them hidden from everyone, aside from Britta. Neither felt like they needed the scrutiny of the team or the media just yet. They'd been kept busy with testing anyway, working from dawn until late into the night on most days. The only time they really spent alone was when they were asleep. Suffice to say Tully hadn't spent a single night in her own bed for the entire duration of Bahrain.

"Right so..." Britta began, shuffling papers across the counter as Seb sat beside her and waited patiently.

"I fly home tomorrow at 6:30am." she continued, identifying her flight booking amongst the paperwork and putting it to the side.

Seb smiled happily as a pair of arms suddenly slipped down around his neck and Tully rested her chin on his shoulder, having just returned from the bathroom.

"Hey." he murmured, tilting his head towards her and feeling his heart beat quicken as she hugged him and nipped at the skin on his neck.

"Focus." Britta said, snapping her fingers in front of Seb's face before continuing.

Seb looked back down at Britta's flurry of boarding passes and transfer tickets and smirked as he felt Tully silently trail heated kisses up his neck, purposefully making it as difficult as possible for him to listen.

"Tully! I can tell what you're doing! Stop that!" Britta scolded. She had looked over at Seb after he'd failed to answer her, only to find his eyes glazed over and his fists clenched.

The Finn giggled and held her hands up innocently before taking a seat on Seb's other side.

"So I'll be flying into Melbourne on the tenth." Britta began, re-attempting to explain the plan, "You two arrive the day after on the eleventh."

"Okay." Seb nodded, sighing contentedly as Tully took his hand in hers and began massaging the knuckles on his fingers.

"So as I said, at least four times now, I fly out tomorrow at 6:30am. You two fly out at 9am."

"Why aren't we flying together?" Tully asked with a yawn. She was very ready to go back home and enjoy a few days off after a busy week and a half of Bahrain testing.

Britta looked across at Seb expectantly.

He nodded and cleared his throat, "Um, because we're not going back in the same direction."

"Where are we going?" Tully asked in confusion.

"You're coming with me to Dubai for a few nights." he answered sheepishly, avoiding her gaze.

"What?" Tully asked in surprise.

"For a break... just you and me." he shrugged.

Tully glanced at Britta whose eyes were twinkling as she smiled back at her.

"Really?"

"If you want to go, yes." Seb nodded.

Britta suddenly handed Tully a booking slip for 3 nights in a 'Panoramic One Bedroom Suite' at the Burj Al Arab hotel. Tully swore as she looked at the pictures at the top before reading the details further down the page.