Shape of you (Daniel Ricciardo)

Not for sale

"We are going to try to get all of that. I already had a phone call from the teams lawyer about the videos Tiffany made. We believe that if we sue her for defamation she will have to hand over the original videos. That will probably be proof enough. Now for that case we will want to have some people taking the stand for you. We will need the judge to hear from people who know you, people in the team, family, friends, your nanny and Daniel as well. They will be asked questions about you, how you are and how you are as a mom. Mitch will have to take the stand as well as Tiffany. They will take an oath to tell the truth. And of course we will want you to take a stand and tell your side of the story."

Stevie nods, this all sounds like she should be able to win this. She knows all she has to do is ask and the entire team will step forward to come to court to speak in her favor and she knows they wouldn't have to lie. Seb and Melissa already offerend to testify for her, even Christian said he would. If they are not somewhere across the globe for a race that is. So hopefully they can plan it so they are all at home.

"I'll do whatever it takes, but they won't get their hands on my kids." Stevie states ready for battle.
"I doubt the judge would give them custody, but I can never be certain. It would be very unlikely though."

The next hours Stevie and Martin work on getting it all on paper. They draft a paper of claim that will be send to Tiffany and Mitch. They can then either accept the claim and set things straight or they can refuse and then Stevie and Martin will take them to court.

They know they have a good case, because Tiffany's video caused a lot of media to turn against Stevie, Martin also went through the comments and there were threats of people saying they would take the kids. So she received a lot of hate and emotional damage because of it.

Then Martin asks her about her relationship with Mitch. What type of father he was and is. How involved he is in the lives of Cole and Zara and how he financially supported his family.
She has to go into every single small detail she can think of because everything can be important.

Hours later they are finally done and Martin sends everything out to be assessed.
Both Stevie and Martin feel positive that they will win both cases and that Mitch will be removed as a legal parent. That would also mean Daniel can adopt the kids and it will all be perfect, just like they wanted.

When she drives home she struggles to keep her eyes open, but at least the immense fear has subsided. Of course there's always the worry in the back of her mind but Martin has been able to take away most of the fear.

Tina is waiting for her in the house, she already had dinner with the kids, but she has a plate ready for Stevie to warm up in the oven.
"Thanks Tina, but I'm not really hungry."
"You didn't eat on the flight home either. Did you have something while you were with Martin?" Tina wants to know, getting worried about her friends lack of appetite.

Of course she gets it, Stevie is under a lot of stress, but not eating will only make her sick and she needs all the energy she can get now.

"No, but it's fine. I'll eat something tomorrow. What time is it in Bahrein now?" She checks the clock and realizes she missed both free practice sessions. She has no idea how Daniel did and if he is ok.
She does know she misses him tremendously. It's like half her heart was left behind in Bahrein with him.

They barely spend any time apart. At least not since they started sharing hotel rooms. And now she will have to sleep alone, without his strong arms wrapped around her. She won't feel his body pressed against her back and she won't be able to rest her head on his chest, listing to his heartbeat as she falls asleep.

"Daniel did good today, he was P2 in practice one and P1 in the second practice session. They were way faster than anybody else. So either the rest is sandbagging or Adrian invented a rocket ship race car." Tina lets her know.
"I'm glad to hear that. I'll just take the kids to bed and then call him. I really need to hear his voice."