Hello all!
Thank you so much for reading my book, I am glad people are still enjoying it and keeping up with it!
HB3112 x

'welcome to Mexico City, the temperature is around 20°C and the local time is 4.30 PM. If you've flown here for the GP make sure to support our local hero Checo. Enjoy your stay ' the captain spoke.

'Valeria, wake up.' Pietro told her, gently shaking her. 'we've landed'

Valeria stretched, she couldn't wait to get back in bed. She turned her phone on, letting it adapt to the roaming and walked out of the plane. She felt her phone buzz like crazy, she thought it could be the usual 'welcome to'messages she got every time they travelled around the world. She joined the queue at the border, distranctingly looking around at the other passengers.

Seb was on the same flight as her, but he flew first class so he had already been fast tracked through the controls. He had told her he could wait for her at the terminal, but she had suggested for him to go check-in so he could have some peace away from prying eyes.

'gracias' she smiled to the border agent, who was passing her her passport back.

She finally checked her phone. Mumsie: 3 new messages, 1 missed call.

'damn' she thought, pressing her name to call her straight away. Her mum never called her, unless in emergencies.

'mum, what's up? Is everything OK?' Valeria asked as soon as she picked up.

'baby, don't panic. But grandad is in hospital, I'm travelling to the UK early in the morning. He's had a heart attack, he's in the ICU at the moment. I know you're in Mexico, but you needed to know'

'What? Ill come with. I'll see if I can get a flight back straight away.'

'no, darling, stay there. You can come visit him after the GP.' Kate tried to reassure her.

'Mum, I don't want it to be like nonno. I want to be able to see him, if anything were to happen.'

'I'll say hi from you, he would understand. Just yesterday hw was telling me how proud he is of you.'

Valeria could already feel a tear, Pietro looked at her worried. 'ok, I'll come to the UK as soon as I can. Hug him from me and tell nana I love her' they hung up. 'My grandad had a heart attack' she explained to her friend. 'he's in intensive care'

'oh babe, it sucks. Here' he passed her some water.

'I don't want to not be able to say goodbye' she whispered, trying to contain her tears.

Valeria stayed silent, throughout the trip from the airport to the hotel. She had sent a couple of messages to relatives in the UK but she knew most of them would be either busy or in bed already.

She let Pietro help her take her stuff to her room. 'thanks, bud. I'm sorry I'm no good company'

'shut up. Call me if you need me, but get Seb to give you some cuddles' he replied, giving her a hug.

Valeria entered the room. Seb was already unpacking his stuff, neatly folding and hanging everything in the wardrobe.

'I know I've been saying it since Australia, but I swear you're the only person I know that unpacks their luggage at a hotel' Valeria joked. She was more keen on the open luggage working as a wardrobe kind of approach. She always left her luggage in a corner and used it to pick her outfits daily.

'Yeah, but that's why my shirts are always nice and straight and yours are crease-town' he turned around to her, smiling. 'Oh dear, what's up, Schatzi? Why do you look like you cried?'

'granddad is in hospital, mum just called me when I landed. She told me to stay here and fly out to the UK when the GP is done. I just want to be with them.' She felt tears coming again. Seb pulled her in for a hug, his right hand holding the back of her head as she sobbed on his shoulder.

'Here, let it out, love. I'll speak to Britta to get us to fly out to London straight from here.'

'Austin is next week, I can go by myself'

'Absolutely not, I'm coming with. There is literally nothing Ferrari can tell me that would make me change my mind. We'll fly straight on Sunday, Britta can help with logistics of flights and stuff.' Seb repeated. 'we are engaged. We deal with things together. I would want you there if it were my family'

'Thank you, Seb' she gave him a small smile, as he dried her tears with his thumb.

'I was going to ask you if you wanted to watch that Coco you talked to me about, but I guess today is the worst day?'

'No, it's fine. It's probably the best film I could watch today' she smiled.

'I'll get us some dinner in a moment and then we can just chill. Let me know if you need anything, my love' he told her. 'I'm just going to speak to Britta'

'thank you, Bärchen. I'm just going to take a shower to get the plane germs off.' She replied, trying to get herself back together.

Seb bent over to her lips once more, kissing her sweetly. He felt her push herself onto him, making the kiss deeper and more urgent. They separated, both slightly out of breath.

'I love you' she whispered, kissing his lips once more. 'you're my rock'

'and you are mine, my sweet. I'll be back soon.'

'ok, you were right, wrong film to watch' Valeria said, turning off the TV. She had spent the last 10 minutes of the film sobbing so much that Seb had pulled her in to embrace her to calm down.

'I feel like I could have spent so much more time with him, you know? Living so far from him always gave me the excuse to not try hard. I had my racing, my school, my friends.. London was far and foreign. I didn't have anyone there. I mean we did call a lot, he would tell me all about why Hakkinen was a better choice than Michael. He would try to move me over to the dark side, but I never agreed. I always had faith in the German guy in the red overalls. I still do' she added, watching him smile. 'my dad is the reason I got into motorsports, but my granddad is a close second.'

'I'm sure he's proud of you. And I'm sure you'll have a chance to go see him and tell him how much you love him.' Seb held her closer. They stayed like that for a while, in silence. Seb wrapped her up in a blanket, caressing her hair for a while, until the German realised his fiancée had finally fallen asleep. He gently lifted her and bought her to bed.

'Sleep tight, Kleine.' He whispered, kissing her forehead.

Race day

Ferrari had locked another front row, thanks to a penalty given to Max for speeding under yellow flag, yet somehow Mercedes strategists had knocked them down all over again with Hamilton claiming another win, Seb being in p2 and Bottas p3.

'So you're leaving straight after Seb's done with the interviews?' Pietro asked her. He had offered to take care of her work stuff and to make sure it got to Austin safely.

'yeah, literally just going over for a couple of days, I'll be back for Austin.' She told him, as they walked to the podium. 

Valeria chuckled at Seb pushing the weird mascot guy away from their podium picture. It was great to see him finally be more of himself, throwing smiles at the crowd and enjoying what he was extremely good at.

Slowly, the crowd of mechanics, team principals and fans slowly started to disperse, Valeria walked back to the garage and asked to borrow Seb's driver's room to get changed, reappearing not long after wearing a star wars tee and a pair of jeans.

She walked to the F1 hospitality area and sat at a table, trying to distract herself with a behind the scenes book about middle Earth she had bought at the airport just before they left Italy.

'excuse me?' a male voice made her look up. Valeria recognised Kym Illman, the Australian photographer. 'My name is Kym, I'm a photographer'

'I know, I follow you on Instagram' she smiled. 'your pictures are amazing'

'oh, thank you!' he said, looking surprised. 'I'm working on a new series of women in the paddock. You're Valeria Proietti, aren't you?'

'Yup, you're correct'

'Could I feature you?' he asked. 'You know, telling people what you do and that'

'absolutely! Usually people are more interested in who I'm doing, more than what I'm doing... oh Jesus, sorry!' she blushed.

'It's OK, i won't put that in'the man reassured her, even if he was laughing 'I took this picture earlier, do you mind me using it?' he asked her. It was her in her uniform with Lucy from F1, as they discussed a couple of PR interview slots that needed moving.

'no, it's fine, you got my good side... you can't see me much' she joked.

'I also just took this' he showed her another picture of her nose deep in her book.

'cute' she remarked.

'So tell me about you. I have heard and read things but... it's not the real stuff when it's all gossip, is it?' he gave her a warm smile.

 'Absolutely' she agreed 'I was born in Rome from and English mum and Italian dad. I used to kart, a lot. Dad wanted me to be in F1 one day, big Ferrari fan and all that. I was OK, I liked karting, it's fun to be in control of something for a change. I was Ok at it, but I realised how sponsors and politics were at the centre of it and I couldn't really keep up with it. I left karting and finished my studies, went to uni in London, did a couple of marketing and PR internships for big companies, mostly in London. Moved back to Rome a couple of years back and now I'm in Maranello.'

'And in the little spare time you have?'

'I played rugby at uni, so I watch a bit of that, I read, I play games. Classic stuff'

'favourite past driver?'

'Michael'

'well, thanks a lot! I have enough to write about. I'll tag you once it's ready' he said, shaking her hand and walking off.

Seb joined her not long after, he had changed in a pair of jean shorts and a burgundy hoodie. He had put his grey beanie on and was wearing sunglasses. 

'ready to go, my love?' Seb asked her

'As ready as I'll ever be'