Lifeline (Daniel Ricciardo)

Chapter 4: Bitter Sweet

Writer's note: Daniel is back...just in case you had wondered where he was three chapters in...

Thank you for all of your votes so far, please press that little star button, and make sure you have done on the previous chapters too- it would really help me out.

As always, this is a collaboration story and I definitely suggest you go and read lacellak 's part, I mean I wouldn't want to give anything away but...anyway, back to my French!

The rest of testing in Bahrain really wasn't worth mentioning, it was frustrating and in Melbourne we would be venturing into the unknown. I was sure that this would all be discussed at the Factory meeting later in the day.

Milton Keynes couldn't have contrasted more from the heat of the desert, just about everything in the UK was the opposite- including my head, which was now swimming with thoughts and feelings.

I felt so uncomfortable, here, now, in my own house.

"Oh come on, Will, you know that I am right." I repeated softly. Last night we'd had the conversation, for him it still hadn't sunk in and I felt awful.

Usually when people have a breakup, specifically my female friends, they spend the next few weeks sitting on the sofa, in a duvet cocoon; no makeup, no outside contact, watching daytime TV. We are talking Jeremy Kyle and Desperate Housewives to be precise. This is all then polished off by a huge bar of Galaxy and several tubs of Ben and Jerry's.

I was an exception to this, and instead of spending a week inside consoling myself with Ben and Jerry's finest, I had a meeting with Simon and Sam... and Daniel...that morning.

"I just don't get it, Karin, we're doing fine." he replied, his voice all monotone. He was wearing a hard expression on his face, one that I was extremely weary of.

"No, we aren't and you know it, you've hardly noticed me since before Christmas and I'm sick and tired of doing everything after I have been working for thirteen hours." I admitted, finally taking a deep breath as I finished my sentence. I was beginning to tremble.

William didn't say anything as I gently explained once more. I hadn't raised my voice yet at all. More surprisingly, he hadn't either.

"There's someone else, isn't there..." He leant forward and glared at me, it was intense and all too powerful.

"There's not."

"Karin, look at me for fuck's sake." Now his tone had changed completely, it put me on edge even more.

And so I did, mustering the strength to look up at him. As quickly as possible I made eye contact with him, missing courage as I did so. My heart was thudding in my chest.

"You fucking idiot." he laughed; it wasn't a nice laugh though. I was feeling sicker by the second.

"What?" I tried, smiling weakly.

"I'm not fucking stupid; your face says it all."

"I don't know what you're on about."

"Oh yes you do, this is what it's all about." he spat. It definitely wasn't all about that, however he was doing a good job convincing me that it was. I hadn't been cheating; mentally in my mind William and I were not together.

"No, William, this is about me deciding what I want for once, I can't go on like this. You've changed so much and I should have said something sooner. I can't deal with lazy people normally..." My voice was dipping in and out as it trailed off for the latter part of my sentence.