The season had ended, Lewis had finished the year with yet another victory and Charles with another podium. Seb had only got p5, thus finishing behind Charles in the drivers' standings. His morale hadn't been really high after the race, but Valeria has convinced him to change into a pair of jeans and a tee and to join her at the paddock with the other guys to celebrate the end of the year.

Formula1 had put up quite a celebration in the paddock, with the different motorhomes becoming the set for different activities such as karaoke, arcade and carnival games, a small football court and even a small paintball arena at the end of the paddock.

Valeria left Seb to catch up with Riccardo and some other people from Toro Rosso and she walked to Pietro, Giorgio and Domenico who were just bunched up by the entrance.

'Welcome to the last day of school' she said. 'I couldn't find water balloons so these will have to do. May the best department win' she told them, getting water pistols out of her bag. 'one full tank, who is driest wins'

'what the hell?' Giorgio laughed. 'this is great'

They filled their guns and they started running around the paddock, laughing loudly. All the other teams, and even their own, had all started cheering them on.

Seb was just catching up with Toto and telling him about Valeria when she ran past them, shouting something in Italian to Pietro who was on the opposite side of the paddock.

'yeah, that's her' he shrugged, watching her get drenched by the two mechanics.

'whatever floats your boat, mate' Toto laughed.

Valeria joined them not long after. She had managed to dry her clothes a bit by twisting them but was still drenched.

'you're gonna get a cold' Seb told her, passing her his jumper. 

'Sorry, mum' she joked, giving him a kiss. 'Mr Wolff, nice to meet you. I'm Valeria. Sorry, i am usually a lot dryer than this'

'nice to see you're enjoying yourself. You need it after this year'

'tell me about it' she replied.

After Toto had excused himself, Valeria had grabbed Seb's hand to join the rest of her group who had decided to delight everyone with their karaoke skills. They sat cheering along to their bad renditions of the most famous Italian songs.

'you can't even blame alcohol, they've had none' Valeria joked, making Seb chuckle. 'I know you're not in the mood for celebrating anything, but I hope you're feeling a bit better'

'I always do when you're around' he replied, smiling, holding her hand in his. Valeria couldn't help but smile more, as a couple of people from racing point and Williams had joined forces to sing '500 miles'.

'Romana, will you sing one song with me?' Domenico asked her, as some of the Ferrari team joined them where they were sitting.

'if I really have to.' She huffed, pretending to be annoyed.

'Unless your fiancée is jealous?' he teased her, nodding at them holding hands.

'Leave them be! They're still in the honeymoon phase. They'll get married and we'll see the change' Pietro joked. Seb gave them both a look, but said nothing. Valeria, on the other hand, just said 'fuck you both.' And gave them the finger.

'Come on, we're next' Domenico said, offering her his hand.

'what are we singing?' she asked.

'You'll like it, don't worry' he joked as the notes to one of Valeria's favourite songs started.

'I don't even need the lyrics for this. This is my homesick jam'

They sang along to Roma Capoccia, an homage to Valeria's home town and a song she sang and listened to a lot when she was feeling home sick.

'I'm glad you're staying next year, Romana' Domenico told her, wrapping his arm around her once they finished the song 'I wouldn't know who to annoy otherwise'

Valeria smiled, she had created such tight bonds with most of the crew she was happy she could stay with them a bit longer.

They went to grab a drink, chatting along about the winter break plans they all had.

'so, I've signed us up for paintball. Who's in?' Pietro asked.

'Shouldn't you have asked that before signing us up?' Valeria teased him. 'I'm game'

'have you shot guns before?'

'does my granddad's rifle count? I used to scare foxes away from his farm'

'Sure, let's pretend that's OK and not animal cruelty. Seb? Paintball?'

'sure, why not?' he shrugged. Pietro had managed to get quite a few people involved in the team, including Britta, Riccardo and a few more mechanics. Their team was going against a team of people from Williams, including George and their new driver Nicholas.

'How is it fair? They can all speak their secret language'George huffed, but he was laughing.

'secret? Italian's been around for centuries, mate. Not our fault your school system does not teach you anything more than English' Valeria teased him.

'unfair advantage' he continued. 'I demand assistance from any Italian speakers'

'typical British man.' She mocked him. 'come on, loose to a bunch of Europeans'

'You're so on, Proietti'

'bring it on, Russell' she bunched over with her team 'OK, now we have to win. For the motherland on 3. Seb, Britta, you've been adopted for today.'she pushed her hand in the centre.

The game was as chaotic as you could expect it to be when you give a gun to a bunch of people that had no idea what they were doing.

'cazzo, I'm out' Pietro shouted, raising his hand. One by one the teams had started losing players.

Valeria was still standing with Seb for company, he seemed to be enjoying himself way too much. She had heard him giggle out loud a couple of times.

On the other side, George and Nicholas still had the support of a couple of people from their teams.

Valeria moved around to where Seb was. 'do you know how many are left?'

'No, but I know you're looking quite hot in this scenario''

'concentrate, Vettel!' she was glad her mask could hide her blushing cheeks. 'let's eliminate the crew and keep the drivers for last, leave Russell to me' she whispered. She peeked around, catching movement in the corner of her eye. She shot a foot she could see poking out of a barrier.

'damn, I'm out' someone said.

'2 remaining for each team. You have 5 minutes left' one of the organisers said.

'You take Latifi, I'll hunt the Brit'

'what has George done to you?' Seb chuckled.

'He took the piss out of me in Brazil'

'How dare he' he said, pretending to be shocked.

'shut up before I shoot you' she huffed, moving along the barrier to see if she could spot the two Williams drivers.

'this feels WW2ish, doesn't it?' she joked, trying to get George or Nicholas to reply so she could pinpoint their voices. 'Italy and Germany vs England and Canada... how did it go? We shall fight them...'

'On the paintball fields? Don't you think it's time for you to switch sides, then?' George replied. Some people laughed. It was a silly game but Valeria was enjoying giving the rest of the crew a little show.

'oi! Keep it nice' someone with a strong Italian accent interjected.

She saw Nicholas moving along towards Seb. 'Vettel, zu deiner Rechten!' she shouted, he turned around to his right and shot Nick.

'Damn, I'm out. Sorry George'

'you see?' Valeria laughed. 'it's not just the one secret language' she signalled Seb to follow her as she walked along.

'I can take you both. I'm a lot younger and more athletic' George joked. He started moving from his position too, trying to catch a glimpse of the two.

'but you're missing the element of surprise' Valeria told him, as she approached him from behind. 'game over'

'Please don't shoot this close, it will hurt' he pleaded.

'Alright, let's go, kiddo' she offered him her hand. George didn't take it, instead he shot her right on the chest.

'Ouch, that was totally unexpected' she pretended to be shocked. 'Mr Vettel, if you please' she moved out of Seb's way as he shot George. 'You can never cheat against an Italian, mate. We will always be a few steps ahead' She offered him her hand again.

'Damn.' He laughed. 'sorry, I shot you in the chest'

'yeah you'll pay for that' she joked. 'what do we win , anyways?' she turned around, once she had taken her mask off.

'Eternal glory and the bragging opportunity' a man from f1 replied.

'all of this for nothing? Damn! I wasted some good jokes on this' she huffed, giving the man her mask and her gun.

Seb couldn't help but smile. Every day since the day he met her, Valeria had shown him how different she was from most people involved in the sport. She didn't care who she talked to, it could have been a CEO, a driver, a mechanic, a fan or a barista; she treated everyone the same way.

'What's up, Bärchen?' she asked, drinking from her bottle.

'nothing, nothing. I was lost in thoughts. Have I ever told you how much I love you?' he leaned over to kiss her. Her cheeks still reddened by the running around, her braids almost coming off , with strands of hair poking out; she looked ever cuter than normal.

'once or twice' she smiled. 'but you can always tell me another couple of times' 

Hello!
Naturally, I know that what I wrote in this chapter is really far from what happens in real life, at the end of the season, but I thought it would be a fun idea!

Thank you all for reading, voting and commenting! it means a lot!
HB3112