Fifth Light (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 16: Perfect Fit

She groaned, "No, Seb, it was completely insignificant."

"Evan didn't think so," he argued, his tone slightly sharper.

"Ugh fine. It was just a bunch of reporters. They were heckling me, trying to get a reaction. I let it get to me. It was stupid," she explained exasperatedly.

"Questions about me? Us?"

"Yeah..." she mumbled.

He nodded thoughtfully before a smile played across his lips, "Do you want to know something funny?

She turned back to look at him, "That depends but let's go with yes."

"Britta is very excited. She thinks all these rumours are a good thing," he laughed, shaking his head, "My popularity is the least of my concern but you can consider her a fan of yours."

Casey laughed nervously, "Oh? Well, you can tell her it's no problem."

They soon arrived at the track and she felt her nerves set on fire, "Are they going to photograph us as we drive in?" she asked him warily.

"The windows are too tinted and all the Infiniti cars driven by the managers are identical to mine," he reassured her, "I can drive right by. I mean, they look at the car like sharks circling prey but they can't know for sure so they don't really bother."

Casey still felt nervous as they drove through the grounds. There were fans all along the driveway, watching the cars come in. She could hear them speculating as they drove by.

"That could be Sebastian Vettel!"

"Really? I thought he drove a sports car."

"Oh yeah, probably."

Seb snickered as he turned to Casey and laughed, "Told ya."

Soon they got to a huge media pack and she visibly squirmed.

"It's okay, Case," he assured her gently, reaching over and taking her hand. He laced their fingers together and she squeezed in return, still peering out the window nervously. She breathed again only after they'd completely passed all the cameras.

He guided the car into the parking lot one-handed, comfortably pulling into a space. After turning off the ignition, he turned and looked at her, "Heart still beating, Schöne?"

She laughed and nodded, lifting his hand up to kiss the back of it, "Good luck today, don't put it in the wall."

He raised his brow and laughed, "Well give me a car today that can outpace a bicycle and we'll see what happens."

"We just like to give you an extra challenge sometimes, that's all," she teased, still gripping his hand tightly.

"Super," he chuckled darkly, "I never can have too many challenges."

He stared at their intertwined fingers for a moment before sighing lightly, "You want to walk in first?"

She nodded reluctantly, finally letting go of his hand.

"See you in a bit," she said, looking around warily before grabbing her backpack from the back seat and jumping out of the car.

He watched her walk away in the rear view mirror, once she'd disappeared from sight he got out of the car and walked in by himself.

---

Casey stood next to Brand, biting a fingernail idly as they waited for Q1 to begin. Brand was holding the fan for Seb as Rocky leaned in and had a quick last minute discussion with him. She checked her tire warmer was still in place for the hundredth time as Heikki joined the crowd around the cockpit and handed Seb his gloves.