Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all the votes and the reads, they are all very much appreciated! x

'Good morning, handsome' Valeria said, walking into the bedroom with a tray. 'I made you breakfast'

'good morning, Schatzi' he smiled, pulling himself up. 'danke schön'

'You know you're even more handsome when you speak German?' she smirked.

'oh yeah?'

'yeah. Who would've thought? I mean you're pretty handsome generally. And not in the way you describe Lewis' she mocked him.

'shut up' he laughed, starting to drink his coffee. 'what are we doing today? It's the last day'

'I have seen this great hiking trail not too far from here. It gets you up to this pretty lake in the middle of the mountains'

'But you hate hiking!'

'and you love it. We can do something you like for once' she smiled. It was true, she never liked walking for the sake of it, but Seb being born and raised in Germany he had always loved being outdoors. 'and I'm hoping I get brownie points and extra cuddles for tonight' she added.

'you don't even have to work hard for that' Seb smiled, as he ate his breakfast.

'so where do we need to go?' Seb asked, as they got out of the cabin.

'just down here. Follow the river down for a few kilometres and then we should get to the lake'

'should? Should I bring a compass?' Seb joked.

'No, it's 2019. We can use our phones' she mocked him. 'Old man' she laughed.

'I don't like this tone, missy!' he told her, pretending to be stern. She smiled as they started walking down the trail. It was beautiful, surrounded by tall trees, no noise could be heard except birds chirping and animals running around, rustling around the bushes. A couple of hours later they arrived at the lake. The midday sun glistening on the top of the lake, the warmth of it reverberating off the ground.

Valeria leaned on one of the rails, taking in the beautiful scenery.

'this is beautiful, amore' Seb told her. He had just taken a picture of her, standing in the sun. Her dark skin looking even more golden in the light, her auburn hair up in a ponytail, shining. She was so beautiful.

'I'm glad you like it' she replied. Seb started walking around the lake, taking pictures. Valeria decised to snap a picture of him. He looked so at peace with himself, she was happy she had managed to make him feel a bit better, just before his birthday.

She walked over to him, as he was sitting on a cut down tree trunk, taking a few more pictures.

'do you mind if I post a picture?' she asked him

'as long as you tell everyone I'm amazing, sure' he joked. He didn't love social media, but he knew Valeria did use it a bit.

She smiled, as she wrote a caption for her picture. 'enjoying some hiking before hitting the road again. Who would have known the mountains could be as pretty as the seaside? I guess the company is alright too.'

She showed the caption to Seb making him smirk. 'Are you good to head back? I'm getting hungry now' she asked him.

'sure. Let's just take a picture together first.' He said, taking out his phone. Valeria smiled to the camera, as she rested her head on Seb's shoulder. It still felt surreal for her how much her life had changed since she joined the Maranello team. Seb offered her his hand to help her up and they started heading back home.

'vale?' Seb started, whilst she was setting up the table for lunch.

'yes, Seb?'

'I just wanted to thank you. My moods have been all over the place lately and I needed these few days to think about nothing. I needed to clear my head. You have been so amazing, even more so since Canada. And yeah, I just wanted to thank you.'

'there's no need to thank me. You've helped me out a lot too. I mean, I knew you were an amazing human before but you've done nothing but confirm this to me. For the first time in my life, I feel like I have balance. Like I've found what I was missing.' She walked towards him. 'Du bist mein Ein und Alles'

'Du bist die Liebe meines Lebens' he replied, giving her a kiss.

'I don't want to go back to the real world tomorrow' she sighed.

'for the first time in my career... me neither' Seb told her.

'shit, I broke Sebastian Vettel' Valeria joked.

'no, my love, you fixed me'

Saturday qualifying

Valeria and Pietro were walking down the paddock, in the early hours of Saturday.

'Sebastian has been doing great this week so far. Maybe you need to take him up in the mountains more often' Pietro joked.

'I don't have enough annual leave for that' she laughed. 'but yeah, I feel a lot better too. Also, you know what feels nice? Blocking people on socials. I have had so many comments saying how much he could do better, or just using my profile to get out hatred towards him I don't even give them a reply. Just block! Done.'

'to be honest, people still love you on the Ferrari profile. They say they look forward to you and Nico every race weekend.'

'It's cause I'm amazing' she joked, as they entered the garage, ready for FP3 and then quali.

'The car won't be ready for q3' Valeria heard Riccardo tell Seb. 'there's an issue we need to work on, it will probably be an all nighter for us.'

'Will it be OK for tomorrow?' Seb asked him.

'Yes, we will make sure of that' Riccardo replied, walking towards Valeria. 'there's a mechanical issue with Seb's car, so Rosberg is probably going to ask about that.' He proceeded telling her about the air pressure issue they had found, so she could prepare herself for the questions.

The garage had no choice but to put all their hopes into Charles, who snatched another pole by the end of Q3.

Valeria walked out of the garage, having spotted Nico's blonde hair approaching her.

'newbie'

'We're almost halfway through the season and I'm still newbie?' she asked.

'you won't be a newbie next season' he smiled. 'Live in 3...2..1... Martin, here with Valeria. What can you tell us about Sebastian's car? Is it terminal?'

'there's an issue with the air pressure into the engine, our great mechanics are going to work their magic and Lina will be back up and running tomorrow.' She smiled.

'And of course Charles is heading the pack tomorrow, can it be the right time for his first F1 win?'

'let's not jinx it, but we all know we would like that'

Sunday

'I have a present for you. Can I come find you in the garage?' Valeria messaged Dan, once she got to the paddock.

'You shouldn't have but I love a present... so thanks! I'm at the motorhome. Come in, I'll let people know you're allowed in' he replied.

Valeria followed the Yellow uniforms of Renault and found Daniel just outside. 'They said you couldn't come in' he said.

'must be that French-Italian dispute that has been going on for a while' she shrugged. 'even worse when you have a British accent' she added, making him laugh. 'I know I'm a bit early, but happy 30th, Dani' she passed him a parcel.

'Thank you, Taz. You really shouldn't have'

'but it's a big one! I'm expecting the same from you next year' she joked as he opened her card.

'Dani! Happy birthday! I am not good with words, but thank you. It took so long for me to even try and let Jules go and you've been my rock since Monaco. You are an honest and pure soul who deserves the world. And Jules agreed. So, from us, happy 30th! Thanks for being you (and not them... see what I did there?) . Love (but don't tell Seb), Taz.'

Daniel finished reading the card and gave her a bright smile, he opened the present, finding a little notebook Valeria had filled with copies of Jules' journal entries about his friendship with Dan and lots of pictures she had found from those times. She had also got him a pocket Italian dictionary, to help him with the translation.

'it's not much, but I think you needed to have copies of these. Jules loved you so much' she told him 'dunno why, to be fair' she joked, realising the f1 crew had found them and they were now live. Dan had started reading through the book. 'what's this word?'

'drunk'

'oh yeah' he laughed. 'I remember that. Mate, this must have taken you a while. Thank you, it's great' he hugged her. Valeria could see he had got a bit emotional, looking back at those memories.

'it's nothing fancy, but you guys can buy all the fancy stuff you want...' she told him.

'this is better than anything else' he loosened the hug. 'Thank you so much'

'Anytime. I mean, anytime it's a big one, I'll see you in another 10 years?'

'Nah, you'll see me next year for yours.' He smiled. 'ti voglio bene, Taz'

'anche io, Dani. Good luck today.' She gave him another hug and walked off, as he started to get interviewed by Rachel Brooks.

Valeria walked into the motorhome and sat next to Pietro, who was working on the social media for the day.

'you and Ricciardo are all over twitter again.'

'we would make a good couple, to be honest' she joked.

'ahem' Seb had just joined them with Britta.

'Oooops' she laughed, with Charles and Silvia sitting with them too. 'are we ready? We've got a couple of bits of media for both of you, sky will be around to do some work with Mattia as well, so be mindful of them. Then, just kick back, relax and give it everything. I'll see you both on the other side' she joked.

Valeria was watching the race intently, just a few laps left and Charles was again close to his first win in F1, but Max was just behind him. So much so, he managed to overtake him just before the end with a move that, to the Ferrari team, looked quite on the aggressive side.

Charles disappointment could be heard on the radio before and after the overtake with him asking his engineer to leave him alone. By the end of it, Charles had kept p2 and Seb had p4.

Valeria took a deep breath and walked to the podium, Charles' cap and water in her hands and Silvia by her side. She stopped next to his car where he was.

'Charlie' she tried. He gave her a killing look. 'here.' She could hear her voice coming out of the screens, she knew cameras would be on them again.

'Thanks' he said as he put his cap on 'I don't need to be babysat'

'I'm not here to babysit anyone' she whispered, trying to be away from the cameras as much as possible. 'I'm here to talk to them, and if you really can't understand I'm just doing my fuc... bloody job, you really don't know me.' She hissed, trying to maintain a smile.

'Go back to the garage, please.' He told her, sternly.

Valeria was speechless and just walked off, trying to maintain a smiley face for the cameras.

'Valeria come in' Mattia's voice came through the radio.

'go ahead'

'Can you take Nico after the podium? I know Charles is....'

'Not happy, yeah. I'll take it of course'

She stopped behind the red bull mechanics as Max started spraying them with champagne. She jumped back, to avoid being covered in it, even if, maybe, she needed a bit of alcohol to deal with Charles being angry.

'newbie, a word?' Nico asked.

'naturally' she told him.

'before we start... are you ok?' he looked at her.

'Yeah, sure, why?' she tried to smile.

'PR people always get the worst from everyone, I do feel sorry' he told her. Valeria knew exaxtly what he meant, he had caught a snippet of the conversation she had with Charles. 'Martin, hello. Isn't it our favourite time of the week?'

'Talk for yourself, Rosberg' she joked.

'So, another possible victory gone. This time not for mechanical issues.'

'Unfortunately. Sometimes that's just the way it is, but it's good to see us fighting up there so often.'

'Absolutely, thank you' he grabbed the microphone and made sure tje cameras were off. 'Kept it short, you can go'

'Danke schön, Nico' she told him, with a smile.

'Bitte, newbie'

Valeria quickly walked back to the motorhome, where she told Seb she would have waited for him.

She was immersed in her book when she spotted Seb and Britta walk in, behind them Charles and Silvia.

She grabbed her backpack and joined the two Germans who switched to English as soon as she was in their proximity

'you guys really don't have to worry about me.' She smiled. 'and I need to learn I guess. Seb I'll wait outside' she added 'Silvia, Mr. Leclerc. I'll see you back in Maranello. Have a good night' she started walking.

'Valeria, wait' Charles started.

'no, Charles. Not now, please.'

'I'm sorry.'

'you're not. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I'm just here to do my fucking job, Charles. I'm not here to babysit any of you. I'm not here to be anyone's emotional punching ball. I get paid to make sure both of you are safe from media attacks, but I won't be treated this way by anyone. I'm done. Please, find a better way and a better time to apologise because I'm not taking it today.' She exploded, feeling tears come to her eyes. 'I'm not Max, nor I am the reason your car fucked up in Bahrain, so don't use me to get your anger out, if not because I thought we were friends, but just for fucking respect. See you in Maranello' she walked out, shaking. She darted out of the paddock and lit a cigarette straight away.