SECOND CHANCE

SEVEN

Marc Márquez's POV

We did FP1 and FP2 yesterday, Gianni was first in both practices and I saw her chatting with Fabio Quartararo in the afternoon. It was nice to see her laughing again, even though the evening passed and there were tears again. In the morning I woke up with a hand on my stomach and looked next to me. Gianni was resting there peacefully, last night was a difficult night, Gianni woke up about 3 times because she had a nightmare, but we managed it all together and in the end I think she got some sleep. I honestly didn't because I was up almost all night to see if she was okay and to watch over her. Today we had FP3 and FP4 and in the afternoon after FP4 the qualifying for the starting grid for the second race of the 2023 season.

Gianni was still sleeping so I tried to get up slowly so as not to wake her up. I went to get dressed and when I was putting on my shirt I heard her voice behind me.

"Good morning" Gianni wiped her eyes from the tears from the night and then smiled at me, she tried to hide all the pain she's been experiencing for the last 3 days behind a smile but I didn't believe her in the least

"Good morning" I smiled at her but then continued

"Sweetie, you don't have to pretend in front of me, I know you well enough to know that you're not well and you can't hide it behind a smile" I sat opposite her on my little bed that I have in my motorhome and she sat down facing me

"I know, but smiling will be easier for me than explaining to everyone what's going on" she looked at me and there were tears in her eyes again

"Come to me" I held out my hands and she laid down in my arms

"I think I am losing my mind" she cried

"You don't lose your mind G, and you never have, I know it's hard for you right now, all the nightmares, reliving that moment, but you have to take it, you have to find strength in your pain and turn it into power. You're strong and you can handle this and I'll help you, I won't leave you alone, if it helps you can be here with me all weekend, don't be alone and have someone if anything happens" I kissed her hair

"Thank you Marcie, what would I do without you, but I don't want to bother you here, you need to sleep and I know you won't sleep with me" she pulled away and I wiped the tears from her cheeks with my thumb

"But G, you will never bother me and you think this is exactly what bothers me? Please I don't mind losing sleep as long as you feel safe and not alone" she grabbed my hands

"Thank you" I reached up and gave her a kiss on the forehead

"You're welcome" I smiled as she smiled at me

"I should go see Fabio" she got up from the bed and I got up with her

"Sure go, see you in the pits" Gianni nodded and put on her Ducati sweatshirt and walked away from me

When she left I devoted my time to preparing for everything in terms of training, I needed to set good times to be able to fight for pole position. That was my goal this weekend to be on the podium. When it was time to go to the pit and get on the motorbike, I came out of the motorhome already in my jumpsuit. I walked past the Gresini box and saw Gianni straightening his kneepads, looking up at Fabio and laughing. This was her real smile, so I knew that she would handle these trainings perfectly and not think about what happened last night.

I walked to my box where I sat next to my strategist in a chair.

"How did you sleep?" he asked me, today we were the first on the track, so our training was at 9am

"Good, how about you?" I asked politely back

"Me too" he smiled and I smiled at him

"What should I watch out for?" I started putting on my helmet