A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE 🎄

"How are you feeling, Amelia?"

She didn't respond, she was staring at the blank wall again. Charles was here. He came.

But he also left again.

"Amelia?"

"Huh?" Amelia turned her attention back to Marinel.

Her psychologist smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh," she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know."

Why did he leave again?

"Why do you think you are here?"

"Because my friends are worried, they think I am an addict. And they thought I couldn't take care of myself."

Marinel tilted her head a bit. "Is that what you think?"

Amelia shrugged again. "I know I am not an addict. I just took the oxycodone because it made me stop thinking for a little while, and that was that."

Marinel raised an eyebrow. "And the boat?"

"Ah yeah, of course. That's how I ended up here. Screw the boat. I don't need oxycodone anyways."

Marinel took her notebook from her bag. "How did you even get the oxy?"

"My boyfriend gave it to me in Australia... ex-boyfriend. I don't know how he got it."

"And how did you manage to get it here?"

Amelia rolled her eyes, as if she really was going to snitch. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"I am serious, Amelia. Melany is your aunt. And she has the possibilities to write prescriptions. Did you get them from her?"

Amelia shrugged again, annoyed. And she looked away from Marinel. "Vorrei che Charles fosse qui." She whispered, almost inaudible.

"Sorry?"

"Nothing," Amelia stood up and walked to the other side of her room. "I would like to be alone now." She turned her back to the therapist and tried not to cry.

She waited with that until she heard the door open and closing again. Her breathing cracked, her shoulders began shaking and that's where Amelia wanted to give in to her tears when a voice broke the silence.

"Je suis désolée, mon chéri."

Amelia immediately turned around and jumped up.

"J'ai foiré."

"Ferme-la." Amelia buried her face into the crook of his neck, wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her body closer to his. "I want to go home."

A tear escaped the corner of her eye, and rolled down her cheek.

"Amelia, you know I can't do that." He had wrapped his arms around her as well.

"Please." Her voice cracked and Charles' heart broke.

"Amelia..."

Amelia looked up at Charles, her eyes were teary and she was fighting not to cry in front of him.

"You're allowed to cry, you know."

Amelia snorted, he had said that already. "I am too strong to let you see me cry, Leclerc."

"You don't have to be strong."

"Oh, fuck you." She said with a quiver in her voice before she pressed her face in Charles' chest and finally started to let go of her tears. Charles stroked through her hair and gently kissed the top of her head.

"It's all right, Amil. You're all right. You're safe and we love you either way."

She nodded, softly and still buried in Charles' chest.

"You don't have to tell us who gave you the drugs. But I know Melany gave them to you and she accused me of hurting you."

"What?" Amelia looked up to Charles, in her eyes was disbelief.

"Not with the exact words," he whispered. "But, she did think I was the one who created the bruisings in your neck. And I wouldn't be surprised if she thinks I am the one who got you on oxycodone."

Amelia sighed in annoyance. "Enough about the oxy. I was not addicted. I don't need it."

"Are you-"

"Yes!"

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"I'm fine, Charles," Amelia took a step back to look Charles properly in the eye. "Voglio tornare a casa."

"In Italia?"

Amelia shrugged. "I want to go to the grid, I think I would feel at home there."

"All right, sure," Charles nodded and gave Amelia a small smile. "I will take you, if you're allowed to go."

Amelia rolled her eyes. "I am here involuntarily, I will leave if I want to."

----------

"You've got to be shitting me." Amelia groaned when she saw the black Ferrari car.

"Ma cherie, what did you expect?" Charles giggled. "I am a Ferrari driver."

"And I thought the Mercedes was bad already. I really can not be seen in a Ferrari."

"Of course, you can," Charles stated easily and opened the door for her. "Come on, we don't have all day."

"Oh? Do you have plans already?"

"We've got plans, yes."

Amelia sighed and got in the car; it smelled like Charles inside, she immediately recognized the woody, amber fragrance and it brought her back the memories of their evening in her hometown and it made her smile.

"What are you thinking of?"

Charles' question snapped her back to reality, and she saw they were already up and moving.

"When you visited me in Italy."

Charles' couldn't help but smile along. "You still think about that?"

"It is my favorite memory of us."

"I almost kissed you that night."

"I wish you had." Amelia sighed inaudible.

"What was that?" Charles quickly looked at Amelia, before focusing back on the road, the streets of Monte Carlo are not one to look away from.

"Nothing," Amelia smiled. "Just that you didn't kiss me that night. You dropped me into the sea."

"Yeah," Charles laughed. "I am sorry about that. But I am not sorry about the fact you got to wear my jacket afterwards."

"I hated that."

"You loved it."

"It was a Ferrari jacket."

"And you looked damn good in it."

Amelia rolled her eyes, and Charles started to laugh, knowing he had something to tease her with.

"Where are we even going? Shouldn't we be at your place already?"

"We're not going there."

"Then where are we going?"

"Stop asking so many questions."

"I will ask a lot of questions, because last time I didn't ask, you ended up in a mental facility."

Charles snorted. "All right, you got me there. I want to take you to the beach."

Amelia laughed. "Wanna relive memories, Leclerc?"

"Wouldn't you like that, DeLuca?"

"You're not dropping me into the sea again."

"Are you going to wear my jacket?"

"Not if you brought your Ferrari one."

Charles parked the car, as they at the beach. "But if I brought another one, it wouldn't be reliving the memory."

Amelia got out of the car, shaking her head. "We can't relive the memory, if it happened in Italy."

"I don't think that's the part we wanna relive."

"Shut up."

Amelia and Charles made their way to the beach, and it was peacefully quiet. Charles saw Amelia glowing up from excitement. It looked good on her; her eyes lit up a bit, she smiled as her feet touched the sand and instead of walking, Amelia hopped across the beach. Charles knew he made a mistake with taking Amelia to the mental facility, he regretted it, a lot. But, he also knew he would be in trouble if Max and Kelly found out he took Amelia with him again. Although, seeing her be happy and seeing her genuine smile, made it worth it for him.

The two sat down in the sand, and Charles handed Amelia a bottle with water.

"Thank you." Amelia said, accepting the bottle.

"My pleasure," Charles responded. "I thought you would like something to drink, after seeing you spend all your energy."

Amelia smiled. "Aren't you happy that I am happy?"

"I am more than happy to see you like this."

"Are you gonna tell Max and Kelly?"

"I am afraid I have to."

"I am afraid they are going to send me back."

"You're old enough to make that decision on your own. I regret bringing you there and I am honestly sorry."

Amelia gave him a smile. "I know you are. And I think it is good you did bring me there. I don't know if I would have ever admitted how badly I felt."

Charles just nodded and a quiet peace settled down. Amelia felt herself getting tired and as the sun was slowly settling down, she rested her head on Charles' shoulder. Charles' heart skipped a beat, as he didn't expect Amelia to do this, and her face was suddenly very close to his. He looked down, and saw she had her eyes closed, and a small, barely noticeable smile on her lips. Her skin was glowing in the light of the settling sun. Charles already knew he was in trouble, he was from the moment Amelia tried to sleep with him last season, even more so when he traveled to Italy for her. But he was too late there, Josh had already captured her.

"Can I ask you a question?" He asked.

Amelia opened one eye. "Hm-hm."

"Why did you stay with him?"

"I love him... loved him."

"But he abused you."

"And he always apologized, and he went into therapy. And he brought me flowers and took me on romantic dates. He kissed me gently, and he held my hands in public."

"But he hit you."

"And nobody noticed," Amelia got irritated and sat up straight again. "Are you trying to imply something, Charles?"

"No! No, of course not... I am just trying to understand."

"I believed he would change. I believed he loved me enough to not hit me anymore," Amelia whispered. "Yes, he hit me... he abused me. And I was deadly afraid of him sometimes. I nearly gave up my dream for him, scopare, I drove into a wall for him! To protect his actions... Yet I still craved his touch, hitting me or being gentle with me didn't matter anymore."

Charles nodded softly, he tried his best to understand Amelia, to understand what she went through and why she stayed.

"The most pathetic thing is, I still love him," Amelia wiped away a tear in her eye. "I still love him and if you hadn't come to get me, I would still be with him."

"I am glad you called me, Amil." Charles whispered.

Amelia just gave him a smile, he saw the change in her eyes; they were sad and teary and the light he had seen when they arrived at the beach was gone. Charles carefully lifted his arm, wanting to wrap it around her body, but Amelia flinched when she noticed him raising his arm. Panic went through her body, even when Charles had already lowered his arm again.

"I'm so sorry." He said, realizing more and more how much damage Josh had done.

Amelia just nodded, carefully she dropped her head back onto Charles' shoulder and she slowly blew out her breath. "Please, hold me." She whispered.

And Charles carefully wrapped his arm around her.

A/N: I want to wish everyone a merry Christmas! Sorry, for the shorter chapter, but I really wanted to give y'all a Christmas present. I promise to make it up in the next chapter :)

Also, I have too many ideas and I am currently sort of busy with another book idea. Which is also a Charles Leclerc-fanfic, but also partial an Pierre Gasly-fanfic. But this book is not even close to being finished, so no worries! I have a lot planned for Amelia (and for Charles)!

I would also like to state that French is not my first language, so if you see mistakes, don't hesitate to let me know. Or, if you are fluent in French, to translate it for other readers :)