Connected (F1 Story)

Chapter Forty: GO

Daniel and I were having next to no luck at even anticipating sleep. Despite being on the go all day, we had copious amounts of energy and Daniel could not sit still for more than thirty seconds. His leg would be CONSTANTLY jiggling. Yes, it did get slightly annoying when he had been doing it for the best part of three hours.

We had gone through the photos taken that day on the smart television in our room and we had even turned the light out in the hope of making us tired. But it was no use; we were both wide awake.

By this time it was after midnight and the hotel was for the best part silent. We couldn't hear any noise surrounding our room, only the sound of the wind from outside.

"How about we go for a walk on the beach?" Daniel suggested, switching the TV off and slipping his phone into his pocket. One of the many pockets he had thanks to all the clothes that were wearing Daniel. I mean, Daniel was wearing.

"What, now?" I grinned, regretting that hold chocolate I'd had earlier. Guaranteed that was the reason why we were unable to get any shut-eye at all.

"What's stopping us?" he asked, a schoolboy smirk on his adorable face. "Yolo."

"Dan, we have talked about using that expression..."

"Just get ya walking boots on your tiny feet otherwise I shall be saying it lots more!" Daniel winked at me and grabbed his gloves and hat from the mountain of cold weather gear on the side."Will there be polar bears?"

---

We walked along the beach breathing in the freezing night air. Snow danced through the sky as it descended from the clouds before settling on the black volcanic snow, or our clothing.

Wrapped up in all of his thermals and some of my thermals, Daniel chose a suitable place for us to sit. It was pitch black in the dead of night.

If it wasn't for the torch on Daniel's phone then we would have been submerged into complete darkness. There wasn't even stars because of the weather.

"Shit, I'm falling in love with this place almost as quickly as what I fell in love with you," Daniel said once we had sat down on the sand. I was wearing so many layers that thankfully I couldn't feel how cold it was on my bottom. I was beyond grateful. Grateful for a vast number of things. Daniel and the fabric on my backside were just a couple of them. Two of the most important, but still.

I snorted before nearly choking as my eyes filled with water.

"I'm serious," he continued, "although falling in love with you took me the shortest time ever."

"Was it me dropping cucumber down my top that got your attention?" I replied, wiping eyes and hoping that he wouldn't notice.

"Try your infectious smile!"

"Hold up; my smile is infectious?!" Ironic - had he looked in the mirror and seen his grin recently? Or, you know, ever.

"Yeah!" Dan laughed, leaning back to get a good look at me. "Yes it is."

Now I felt self-conscious, which was odd considering the amount of times he'd seen me naked/throwing up/walked in on me whilst I was going for a number two.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"This past month has been a bit rocky...in fact the whole year has been a roller coaster...what with Jules...yeah losing Jules. It hurts, so much. But this place just puts you in a great mood. Especially when I get to share it with you, Saskia."

I was going to ask why he was being so philosophical but then I noticed his eyes were glazed over.

He clocked that I had noticed and briefly shied away, shielding his face from me momentarily.

"Are you sure you're alright?" I whispered, taking his gloved hand between my gloved hands.

"I'm looking forward to this last race and then to go back to Australia with you. It's been a long time coming."

"I know, Daniel," I replied. "But once the Perth festival is out of the way, we have a whole month out there to relax...and then a whole month back in Monaco!"

"I wanna spend that time planning our wedding; I want to set a date." Daniel wiped his eyes and gave me a reassuring grin. "Y'know, look forward to planning our future together."

"What, right here and now?" I was slightly taken back - so much so I missed the last part of his sentence.

"It's not as if I'm asking that we make a kid."

"Ew who said I want to have a kid with you?" I said in mock disgust. "Besides, I don't even know how you go about making babies..."

Daniel muttered a distinctive 'fuck off you do' under his breath followed by a 'we've had more than enough practice.'

I have him a glare. Unfortunately, some snowflakes landed on his face and my glare turned into a grin.

"Anyway, it's okay, I don't want kids for a few years." One half of me felt relieved at what he was saying but the other half of me was reminded that my period was over a week late.

"Well that might be more of a reality if-" I began to say but was cut off.

"Don't mess me about!" He laughed so hard until he coughed. I'm glad he thought I was joking. "Anyway, about this wedding date?"

"18th December," I blurted before I had even had a chance to think about it. "Maybe, just maybe we could see some white powder too."

"Saskia, I'm not having drugs at our wedding! That is too far."

It was my turn to laugh, "I meant snow but whatever."

---

When I woke up, the room was absolutely freezing. I tried to sit up and see why but I was physically strained by the duvet. I was right up against Daniel and he had somehow wrapped us both up tight in it. It was now impossible to move.

As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I realised that the window in the room was wide open. Snow had made it into the room and was forming a nice little puddle of water near the desk. Luckily enough, the desk was empty.

Puzzled by what had woken me, I snuggled back into my human water bottle - AKA Daniel Ricciardo - and closed my eyes.

Then my bloody phone rang and it all made horrible perfect sense.

My first thought was that something had happened to Lizzie or perhaps Paul, but then I remembered that thier room was only a couple of doors down. If they were in trouble, they would have just knocked on our door. I think.

I reached for my phone on the bedside table but knocked my travel guide off the table in the process, causing a large crash. That thing was heavy.

Before I could move further, Daniel tried to get out of bed but just ended pulling me and him onto the floor. There was another crash as we landed.

"STAY THERE SASKIA, I'M GONNA FIGHT THE C***S THAT ARE ROBBING US!" Daniel shouted, feeling his way through the darkness. He was stark naked, which was fairly amusing.

"Daniel, it's my phone!" I shouted back, still on the floor and a bit bewildered. This had gone weird quite quickly. Then again, that was nothing new.

"Shit, I'm so sorry!" Daniel switched the light on and put the toilet brush down. It wasn't a very effective weapon anyway. "Here," he said and held out his hand to help me up.

Still my phone was ringing.

"I guess I had better get that," I sighed, tried not to let my eyes drift below Daniel's shoulder line, and reclaimed my phone the bedside table as Daniel remade the bed.

It was the office in Milton Keynes calling. Kill me now.

FYI, my last statement is not to be taken literally. Just a figure of speech.

"Saskia," Bridget's voice shook at the other end of the phone. "We need to talk. I've fucked up."

"I'm sure you haven't, Bridget," I began, but I could tell in her voice that she was scared.

"Infiniti are pulling out the partnership with immediate effect. I need you in the office as soon as...journalists have their hands on the emails." Bridget sobbed and my blood ran cold. "It's a real sodding mess. Red Bull Racing's rep is about to be ruined."

I tried to digest the information but struggled. "I'm in Iceland.."

"I know and I wouldn't have called you unless you were the only person who could stand a chance at salvaging the situation. I need you on the first flight back to London. I'll book you on that flight now...one leaves from Reykjavik in five hours...if you don't get on it then you can say goodbye to your job. We all can wave goodbye to our careers."

And then Bridget hung up and that was when I burst into tears.

Daniel appeared from the bathroom, still naked, and came over to where I was sitting on the edge of the bed. He tried to put his arm around me but I shrugged him off, beginning to throw my clothes into my suitcase.

The Australian let me do what I was doing for a couple of moments before he grew worried and agitated.

"SASKIA! What's going on?" he demanded finally.

"Infiniti have pulled out. I've got to go back to Milton Keynes otherwise Bridget is sacking me."

"She can't do that! You're on holiday!"

"That doesn't fucking matter!" I cried. "I have to go back and I'm leaving now...I just have to somehow get to the airport."

"This is ridiculous...I'm not taking you." Daniel said, angry.

"I don't expect you to," I seethed and continued throwing things into my case.

"We have been looking forward to this for months. I thought we could continue talking about the wedding in the morning? What about Paul and Lizzie?"

"You can stay here with them, or you can come with me!" I said, locating my passport which was in the safe. "Lizzie will understand, as will Paul. I'm not leaving because I want to, I'm leaving because I have to."

"Let's think this through, sensibly. There's not just you in the comms department. What about Gemma or Emma or Josh? They can make a start and you can join them in a few day's time when we all fly back."

"My job doesn't work like that, Daniel. If I don't go back, then I may never work in Formula 1 again. This concerns a lot of people, even you and your seat for next year."

"You're making a big deal out of it," he explained. "You know, up until now I understood and tried to understand your work. But now I'm struggling."

That was a punch to the gut. A real hard blow.

"I am going to ask Paul to take me back, seeing as he is employed directly by Red Bull too. He will understand how important this is...I'm sure he won't just be thinking of himself." I gathered the rest of my belongings together and decided that Daniel could bring back anything I had left behind. "I guess I will see you at my flat in a few days, then."

He nodded and looked thoroughly pissed off. "See ya," he said and kissed me on my mouth hard. He knew it was a last ditch attempt to stop me from going.

"I have to do this for us and the other thousand plus people that earn a wage through the team. Look at the bigger picture." And with that, and a heavy heart, I went to find Paul.

---

Daniel stood frozen as I let the hotel door swing shut behind me. I hated what I was doing, but I had to put my colleagues and the company first this time. It was for the better; or at least I truly believed that.

After waking Paul up, he quickly jumped into action and grabbed the keys for the rented 4x4. He carried my luggage to the vehicle and was full of empathy and concern.

I had to ask Paul to pull over as he took me to the airport. I was sick on a pile of snow, which was a first for me.

The stress, the worry and the unknown were all building up. And I had just vomited, which was almost a sure confirmation of part of my worries. 

HEY I AM BACK!!!!!