Fifth Light (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 49: Change

Evan walked back out into the garage to a host of curious looks. At his side, Britta sighed warily and took his arm.

"Did she really fly out this morning?" She asked quietly.

Evan nodded, "Every word I just said was completely true."

Britta sighed thoughtfully, "How long until she's back? We're going to need her."

"I don't know." Evan said, shrugging casually, "I purposefully didn't ask her that question."

With that he sauntered away, back over to Jacob next to the car. The two of them exchanged a look before getting back to work.

Britta watched after him worriedly. This was going to be a bad weekend.

"I'm going to miss that damn girl." Brand growled, shaking his head, "What'd Seb do to her anyway?"

Evan shot a wry smile towards Brand for automatically taking Casey's side, "It's a long story."

Brand grunted in annoyance and turned back to his station.

---

Seb lay back on the small bed in the driver room and rubbed his face in his hands. His mind was going so fast that his thoughts were all turning into a blur. What had he done?

Even before considering everything Evan said, there was the simple fact that she was gone, resigned. Permanent damage had now been done and there was no way it could ever go back to normal. He would never see her crouching beside his front left again. That thought alone felt like it was ripping a hole right through his gut.

On the other hand, Heikki had been less of a threat than he'd thought. Although it made him want to punch something, preferably Heikki's face, when he thought about him trying to move in on Casey again just days after they'd fallen out.

He was so tired. It was exhausting to think about the series of mistakes that had lead up to this moment. None of it mattered anymore. Not even a little bit. He just wanted her back, that was all.

And now somehow he was supposed to get in the car and drive. He sighed, opening his eyes again and following the chain around his neck with his fingers until he found the coin at the bottom. Even at his angriest moment, he hadn't been able to bring himself to take it off.

He lifted it up to his lips and sighed defeatedly.

---

Casey sat on the sunny balcony of her aunt's city apartment in Melbourne, Australia. She felt more relaxed and peaceful than she had for weeks.

Today marked 2 weeks since she'd left England. During that time, she'd had absolutely no contact with her old life. While she missed it, horribly, it still felt liberating to be able to escape it for a little while and finally be in control of everything that was happening to her.

The Formula 1 mid-season break was currently in full swing, with one more week until the Belgian Grand Prix. All of the driver's would currently be holidaying and taking a much needed break, while their teams would be back at their factories working harder than ever to make improvements for the second half of the season.

Casey hadn't yet watched the footage from the British Grand Prix, though her curiosity was burning about what the results might have been. She had no phone, no email, nothing. Just the vibrant, beautiful city to explore each day and the easy company of her aunt Karen, and her aunt's boyfriend, Jim.

Both Karen and Jim worked day jobs in the city, leaving Casey with the apartment to herself during the daylight hours. Today, she'd finally taken Karen's laptop out on to the balcony swing with her and decided to watch the race.