Fifth Light (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 24: Decision

Casey, Evan & Jacob walked into the garage together on Saturday. It was qualifying day, and the track was already buzzing with life. They got straight to work, Casey to her place on the left and Jacob & Evan together on the right. Everyone else slowly filtered into the garage too, getting to work eagerly for the big day ahead.

Casey hadn't seen Seb since Thursday at lunchtime in the driver room. He'd been booked up constantly ever since. She felt the hair on the back of her neck bristle as his voice filtered into the garage. She glanced over towards the sound to see Seb walk in with Heikki at his side. They both looked deep in thought. With a sigh, she looked back at the task at hand, winding the tiny bolt in her fingers to just the right tightness.

"Ah Casey, can I borrow you for a moment?"

Her lungs felt like they'd seized up and left the building as she looked up at Christian, who was hovering in front of her.

"Uh, sure," she mumbled, quickly putting her wrench down and wiping her hands crassly against her uniform. She stood up and walked around the car, silently following him out the back of the garage and towards his office.

Seb watched closely as she walked away and out of sight. She'd kept her eyes downcast the whole time and he could tell she was scared. He frowned to himself in annoyance that he couldn't help her in that moment. His eyes then landed on Evan and Jacob who were standing together, staring after their friend worriedly.

Casey's mind was frantic as she stepped into Christian's office and took a seat. She had no idea what was about to happen to her. It was entirely possible that she'd never step back inside the garage ever again.

"Casey." Christian said as he sat down at his desk.

She looked up to see him smiling. She was too nervous to return the gesture.

"I won't keep you long. As you will probably know, Sebastian has informed me of the relationship between the two of you."

Her internal voice stuttered at the word 'relationship'. Was she in a relationship?

She nodded quickly in response.

"Obviously, this is a highly unusual situation. I don't think I've heard of it ever happening before," he continued.

He seemed somewhat cheerful to Casey, though it was hard to tell completely.

"The board have discussed it and generally, the response was fairly positive."

"Really?" she asked, her voice sounding small compared to Christian's.

"Well, the PR head acted like Christmas had come early, actually."

She frowned, not following his meaning.

"Anyway, the decision was made to leave things as they are and see how it goes. So far, it seems there have been no negative side-effects, so to speak. Sebastian's performance does not seem to have been impacted, and your performance has been consistently exceptional, according to Rocky and Brand."

She smiled weakly, it didn't seem like she was going to be fired.

"We will need you to sign a couple of documents however. They are mostly standard HR procedure, though we did have an extra non-disclosure agreement written up specifically, which will apply on top of your existing contract."

She nodded slowly, trying to process everything.

"Casey, you can relax," he smiled, reaching forward and touching her hand lightly.

She didn't realise she had been holding her breath, "Sorry."

He laughed, sliding a stack of paperwork towards her.