Hello! OMG we finally had an announcement, I am so happy Seb is staying in F1!
This is quite a short chapter, but I think it gives a good change of pace after the rush of all the races.
Enjoy!

Life during winter break felt finally a lot slower. Seb and Valeria had time to go back to enjoying time together. Valeria still had to go into work from Monday to Friday, but Seb had taken it upon himself to keep them both busy at weekends. They went for walks, they visited museums they wanted to visit, they went for weekends away or just enjoyed each other's company by spending the whole day doing "nothing".

Valeria had just got home from work on a Friday and had found Seb in full housewife mode.

'I'm making us dinner' he stated, once Valeria walked in the house.

'This early? Why do you Northern Europeans eat at 6?' she moaned.

'Because we need to travel tonight, I'm taking you away this weekend.' He replied.

'you need to stop this! You're spending way too much money on me. I hate it' she told him.

'I'm not. And not to brag, but I have money. And I'm not spending it on much, so I'd like to spend it on you. Is that OK?' he asked, serious. Only Seb could ask her permission to spend his own money. 'one day, we'll have kids and I'll just spoil them, so you won't have to worry about me bringing you on holiday or buying you things that make me think of you' he joked.

'I know. I can't believe the stuff I complain about. First World problems, uh?' she went over to kiss him. 'I didn't mean to sound like a bitch' she apologised.

Seb gave her a smile, bending over to kiss her again 'I know, Schatzi. I have packed you stuff and the car is ready' he added. 'go take a shower and we'll have dinner'

'sir, yes, sir!' she saluted him, walking off to the bathroom. She found that Seb had already drawn her a bath, lit candles all around the bathroom and put her copy of the hobbit by the bath.

She felt him behind her giving her a kiss on the neck. 'we're not going anywhere, it sounded like you had a rough week at work so I thought you needed some "you" time. Dinner will be ready when you're done' he told her.

'oh my god, Seb. This is so sweet!' she hugged him. 'You're the best. How did you know?'

'I know' he joked. 'I just did. I'll see you when you're done, Schatzi' he kissed her softly and walked out.

It had been a long busy week at work and Valeria had a couple of meetings with a new colleague who hadn't really started on the right foot with her. He was going to take over her role once she moved over to Mattia's assisting team and he had already criticised everything she did. He saw the opportunity of working at Ferrari as an opportunity to be still, keep the team as it was, change absolutely nothing. Ferrari was, in his opinion, an institution above the passing of time. Pietro was going to have his job cut out for him...and Nico too.

She brushed off work from her head, immersing herself in Middle Earth again.

'Already he was a very different hobbit from the one that had run out without a pocket-handkerchief from Bag-End long ago. He had not had a pocket-handkerchief for ages.' She smiled as she read; the book always had a way to speak to her soul. She closed it, thinking about her past few months. Yes, Ferrari had eaten her soul away a little, with the politics, the treatment of Sebastian, the absence of a winning car only blamed on the drivers but they had also helped her come out of her shell, reconnect to her old self, reconnect to the Valeria Jules knew. She watched herself in the mirror, admiring the tattoo she had finally got on her shoulder, the one Dan helped her design, to represent her family: at the centre a blossoming rose, for her grandparents, who were all obsessed with the flower, the number 5, in Arabic, flowing from one of the petals for Sebastian and to the sides a poppy, her mum's favourite flower and a snowdrop, a flower that she and her sister used to pick in the mountains with their granddad. She threw a tank top  on a pair of shorts and followed the music coming from the kitchen.

' I've been reading books of old
The legends and the myths
Achilles and his gold
Hercules and his gifts
Spiderman's control
And Batman with his fists
And clearly I don't see myself upon that list'

Seb was singing along to his music, as he checked up on the food that was cooking.

'But she said, where'd you wanna go?
How much you wanna risk?
I'm not looking for somebody
With some superhuman gifts
Some superhero
Some fairytale bliss
Just something I can turn to
Somebody I can kiss. I want something just like this'

Valeria sang along with him, as she hug him from behind.

'Du bist mein Superheld' she whispered in his ear. 'I love you so much.' She continued in German. 'I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone.'

'Ich liebe dich auch' he kisses her sweetly 'aber deine Aussprache ist miserabel'

'well, whose fault is it that we only watch Italian or British TV?' she joked, switching back to English.

'yours?! I could live without TV' he joked.

'And how am I supposed to learn if you speak English to me all the time and I can't watch TV?' she moaned. 'I get it, I'll ask the nice Vettel. Fabian has been nothing but supportive of me' she told him.

'it's because he's hoping you have a cute cousin that can teach him Italian' Seb huffed.

'Yeah he mentioned that. You never know' she laughed. 'What are you making, chef Seb?'

'so... I know you miss Rome and you know I love pasta so I asked your sister for the recipe of what she made when we went to Rome last summer... and I'm trying to replicate it. She, kindly, translated it for me'

Valeria smiled, Seb seemed to read her so easily. She had never been in a relationship where she didn't have to explain herself at all. She sat at the kitchen island, watching him finish cooking as he sang along to Coldplay a bit more.

Once they had finished eating, the two sat on the sofa, music still playing in the background. Valeria stretched her legs on Seb's and smiled. 'thank you for being so perfect' she told him.