Broken Soul ☆ Daniel Ricciardo

15 | What you deserve

♪
Dylan Brady - Fallin':
'You'd do it for me. Sometimes you don't even know, you knock me off my feet and I can't make my heart beat slower. I'd make you believe, I wanna make you see, you'd do it for me, so let me do it for you'

Being with Daniel this weekend, seeing him do what he loves most, was Emilia's new favourite thing. She didn't really like Formula 1 when she first met him, but seeing all the effort the teams and drivers go through and the talent that is needed to make and drive these cars, was really inspiring. Yesterday's qualifying went well for Daniel, he finished in 5th position which was really good since it was one of his best qualifying results of the season. They were currently sat in his driver room, Daniel was preparing for the race to start in about an hour. He was doing some last-minute push-ups, neck strength training and reflex tests. Emilia was so excited to watch her first live race, she would be heading up to the hospitality to watch it with the girls since the garage would be too busy. "Okay, all done. I'm heading to the garage now. See you after the race, Emilia!" Michael said before he left the room, leaving Daniel to say goodbye to her in private.

"What's wrong baby?" Emilia's face had dropped, the second she heard he was leaving. She had been nervous all morning and there had been a lump in her throat for a few hours now. "I just want you to be safe.." She softly said and Daniel lifted her face to look her in the eyes. "I will be careful Mil, I promise". Emilia looked at his loving brown eyes and smiled. She leaned forward to press her lips against his and while she parted from him, he whispered: "I love you.." Emilia pulled back, a smile forming on her lips before she kissed him again. She made sure to look him in the eyes one more time, so he knew she meant it and said: "I love you too, Daniel". Hearing someone other than her friends tell her this, was so special. No one she liked had ever said this to her before and the fact that he said it first, while she was struggling to keep it in herself, meant he truly felt that way. "I'll see you soon okay?" Emilia gave Daniel one last hug before he walked out of his driver room and she headed up to the hospitality to watch the pre-show and the race with the girls. 'He loves me..'

The start was hectic, there was a big crash but luckily it was at the back of the grid and everybody got out of the car okay. Daniel was in P4 after Sergio Perez suffered a puncture from driving over some debris. The rest of the race was fairly steady, pitstops went well and Daniel had a good pace. On the second to last lap, Verstappen and Bottas came together, leaving Bottas with front wing damage, which meant he had to box for a new nose. Daniel was only 15 seconds behind him and when he started his final lap, his race engineer told him he was currently in third position. This was it, he needed to hold this position for one more lap and then he would be on his first podium of the season and the first one with McLaren. Emilia was biting her nails off in the hospitality, Gia had a pillow in front of her face because she didn't dare to look and Isabel was pacing around the room. Finally, Daniel crossed the finish line and he was still third, meaning he had achieved his podium!

The girls jumped through the room, not caring if anybody looked at them weird, Daniel did it! "Come on, we need to get to the podium!" Isabel said and they hurried back to the garage where all the mechanics were fist-bumping each other. Gia jumped in Michael's arms before he walked over to Emilia to give her a hug. "Come with me, he would want to see you there!" He said and he pulled the girls towards parc fermé. Daniel parked the car behind the number 3 sign and held his head in his hands for a while before he got out of the car. He jumped into his team's arms and Emilia could see his beaming smile through his helmet. When he spotted her, he didn't hesitate for a second, he pulled her into his arms and she could feel his heart beating through his overalls. "I'm so freaking proud of you baby!" Emilia said and Daniel wished he could kiss her right now.

He went inside to get upstairs to the podium and Emilia could finally see his glowing face when he walked out with the biggest smile she had ever seen on him. She couldn't believe the amount of pride she felt at the moment and he didn't even win yet! Daniel received his trophy and pointed at his team and Emilia when he held it up in the air. Emilia made a heart with her hands when they locked eyes and Daniel winked. The spraying of the champagne was hilarious and of course, Daniel had to do his trademarked shoey. Verstappen joined him while Hamilton just looked at them with disgust but he still found it entertaining. Emilia went back to the garage to wait for him and when all the mechanics started cheering, she knew he had entered the room. Daniel fist-bumped his teammates before he walked over to her. "I know I said it before, but I'm so proud of you". She said before she kissed him firmly.