Valeria was sitting at her desk, her head completely wrapped into the schedule for the British GP. She replied to yet another email from F1 and Sky, looking up to the clock on the wall. It was 5 o'clock, meaning she could finally close her laptop and postpone her emails to the following day.

She walked out of her office, happy to be able to go home. It was Seb's birthday and she had organised a little surprise for him, but she needed to get home soon as she asked Britta to stall him for only an hour.

She jumped in her car and tried to get home as soon as possible, avoiding fines.and rush hour traffic. She grabbed the balloons and banners out of her car and started decorating the living room.

'Leaving work now, bella. Had an extra long meeting with Britta today. See you in a bit' he messaged her.

The doorbell rang. Valeria had ordered a cake to be delivered and the timing couldn't have been more perfect. She popped it in the fridge and waited around for him to be home.

She heard the keys in the door and jumped up.

'Schatzi, I'm home' he said.

'Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!' she told him, as soon as he walked into the living room. 'buon compleanno, old man!' she smiled.

'Thank you!' he told her, giving her a kiss. 'you didn't have to worry about it, it's just a birthday'

'Shut up. A birthday is a birthday. Here' she passed him a wrapped box and a card. Sebastian opened the card first.

'Seb, what can I say? Happy 32nd birthday. I hope this is the first of a long list of birthdays spent together. You have accepted me for who I am and have given me a reason to smile again. You are amazing and I love you. I suck with words, so please forgive me. Yours, forever, Val'

Seb smiled as he popped the card on the table. He opened his present to find a collection of Beatles vinyls.

'I noticed you were missing a few' she told him, as he excitedly looked at them.

'Thank you so much, Schatzi'

'also, we're making pizza tonight.' She told him. 'and then having a drink with your family'

'What? How?'

'the miracles of technology, Bärchen' she joked. 'now, put this on. I'm starving' she threw him an apron and walked to the kitchen. She had made the dough early in the morning and left it to rise. They decided to make each other a pizza, so Valeria had thrown some flour on the wooden board and had started shaping some dough.

'You look so Italian right now'

'Is this an insult?' she joked, throwing some flour at him.

'never.' He smiled, putting some flour on her nose. She lifted herself on her tiptoes and kissed him. 'I love you' he said.

'I think you're OK' she joked, watching him open his mouth in disbelief.

'come on, I am hungry' he said 'stop distracting me'

They both concentrated again on their pizzas.

'I think I'm done' Seb said, after a while. She turned around to see he had attempted to shape it like a heart and had put lots of olives on it. 'you love olives, don't you? You said it back in Barcelona'

'Jesus, how do you remember it?'

'I wasn't drunk that night' he laughed.

'Oh fuck. Yeah. God. The night I lost the little dignity I had left. How are you with me again?'

'I guess I fell in love before you lost your dignity and then I just didn't care' he told her, as she put the pizzas in the oven and poured a beer in the glass for him.

'Now, I know you don't usually drink but Fabian said this is your favourite beer? He sent it especially from Germany'

'How long have you been chatting to my brother?' he asked surprised.

'He followed me on Instagram after Australia. I guess you must have told him my name and he was curious? We organised this last month' she smiled. 'I haven't spoken to anyone else though, so I'm kinda shitting myself about meeting your parents and your sisters.'

'I guess we're even, I did chat to Noemi without you knowing.' Seb laughed.

'well, my olive pizza was great. How was yours?'she smiled.

'Acceptable, I guess. Dunno if it was worth all the extra training I'll have to put in tomorrow' he joked.

'Sucks to be you, mate' she joked, as she grabbed her laptop from her bag.

'Hey Fab, have you got everyone ready?' she messaged Seb's brother.

'yeah, everyone is on. Are you going to join now?'

'Yeah, I'll put Seb on and grab the cake whilst you guys catch up.'

She opened Skype and clicked on Fabian's name. 'You even have him on Skype. Where was I when all of this happened?'

'Mostly busy training' she laughed.

'hallo?' Valeria heard a couple of voices come out of the speakers. 'Seb!' everyone said. 'hello everyone, this is Valeria, my wonderful girlfriend. Fabian, apparently I don't have to introduce you' Seb said, watching his brother and Valeria both smile. 'mum, dad. Valeria. Valeria, Norbert and Heike. Melanie' he pointed at one of his sisters 'and Stefanie' they both gave her a wave, smiling.

'it's great to finally meet you, even if not in person' Stefanie told her.

'Likewise. We'll be in Germany soon, so we'll make sure to pay everyone a visit' she said. 'Now, please, don't feel like you all have to speak English for my sake.' She added. 'I'll be right back'

She walked into the kitchen and grabbed the cake, she lit the candles and sent Fabian another message to say she was ready. She slowly walked back into the living room as she heard Seb's family starting to sing happy birthday.

'Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Bärchen.' She smiled, as she put the cake in front of him. 'make a wish' he blew the candles, giving her a wide smile.

'grazie mille, amore. This is great' he told her, giving her a kiss.

Seb and Valeria spent a long time on the phone to his family who still decided to only speak English so she didn't feel excluded. By the end of the call, Valeria had got herself invited to meet them the weekend before the GP. Seb had decided to fly to Germany straight from the UK, so Valeria would have joined him there the following weekend.

Valeria closed her laptop and packed it away in her bag.

'thank you so much for tonight. I wasn't expecting anything, and this has been one of the best birthdays. I love you.' He kissed her. 'now, as I am a year wiser... can I give you a piece of advice?'

'Sure. Shoot. What is it?' she asked curious

'make peace with Charles.' He told her. 'I know. Don't say anything. I know he upset you, but he's a young kid who needs guidance still. Help him out, for the sake of your friendship and your well-being.'

'I hate wise Seb'

'no you don't.' He smiled as he pulled her in for a hug.

'Yeah, you're right again. I don't' she kissed him.

The following day Valeria walked into the Ferrari factory with purpose. She had a speech in her head, ready to speak to Charles. She messaged him to ask him where he was and went and found him in one of the meeting rooms. He looked distraught and like he hadn't slept much. Her big sister instinct kicked in and kicked out all the anger she had felt for the boy.

'Oh my god, Charlie, what's up?' she asked, sitting next to him as he looked down on the table. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder, as he quietly sobbed. It reminded her of young Charles running around and getting hurt and running to her to get a cuddle.

'we're done' he whispered 'Giada and I. All these years and the pressure has finally hit breaking point.'

'oh my god, I'm sorry. What happened?' she asked him. Valeria turned around to fill a cup from the water dispenser behind her. 'If you wanna talk about it' she added, giving him the cup.

'I told her I needed to concentrate on racing a lot more if I wanna have a chance at the championship. She didn't take it well, she called me selfish, big headed. She told me that if that was the case, I never loved her.'

'No offence, but it sounds like she wasn't ready to support you at this step of your career.' Valeria told him. 'maybe it's for the best'

'maybe. What would you do if Seb told you the same?'

'I'd say fair enough, it's your job. I'd try to make it work though, because I do love him. Do you love Giada or did you keep the relationship going because it was comforting and safe? That's what you need to ask yourself. With my ex.. he broke up with me after Jules passed. He couldn't take my mood swings, he couldn't deal with mental health and I just realised that it wasn't love. That I was with him because it was easy. And relationships shouldn't be like that. People should accept the whole of you. Your past and your present'she concluded.

'thanks Vale.' He gave her a small smile, as he drank some water out of the cup. 'I'm sorry I acted like a dick again. I don't know how I would be able to survive this year without you babysitting me.' He told her. 'I hope you can accept my apology'

'you need to thank the German. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for him' she said simply. 'I know you're quite proud, but you know I am too. Seb has a way to make me change my mind'

'I don't want to know how' Charles laughed.

'idiot' Valeria laughed too. 'Chin up, you'll find someone who loves you for you. And call me if you need anything' she told him.

'will do, thank you, Val'