"Emilia Louise, I want you out of bed now!" Aurelia shouted knocking on the door loudly. Her voice was slightly muffled by the thick door but her message was still clear. Emilia sat up rubbing her eyes and carefully moving Lando's arms from round her waist. He was still asleep even through Emilia's persistent alarm. Aurelia wasn't her favourite alarm. She preferred using her phone but she must have slept through it.
"Yeah okay I'm awake." Emilia opened her door letting her manager know she was up. The hallway was bright and made her squint. She was pretty sure she saw Toto walk past so he would have seen her like this; even with him being a nice boss, she didn't intend for him to see her having recently woken up.
"Breakfast in ten." Aurelia ordered and went off to sort out Emilia's day so she shut the door then returned to bed. Lando rolled over to face the Williams driver and slowly opened his eyes. Emilia had closed her eyes again ignoring Aurelia's wishes. Emilia wasn't able to get much sleep as Lando woke her up planting kisses all over her face. Her eyes fluttered open and she could just about make out Lando's face from the lack of light in the room.
"Morning love." Lando smiled. Emilia responded by cupping his face and giving him a long morning kiss. "You have an interesting alarm."
"Shit I need to get up." Emilia realised pulling the covers off her and standing up.
"No Emi, come back to bed." Lando complained still in bed.
"Do you want my alarm to go off again? She'll be a lot louder and angrier next time." Emilia questioned as she threw her pyjamas at Lando. It was dark enough for Emilia to get changed in the room where she threw her team wear on and her hair up in a ponytail.
"Fine." Lando huffed burying his face in her pillows. "It smells like you."
"Of course it does I've been sleeping there. I need to go so you can see yourself out. Remember to turn the lights off." Emilia rushed around the dark room trying to get everything ready. It would be a miracle if she didn't forget anything.
"Okay, I'll come find you before the race. I love you." Lando answered. Emilia dropped her bag and quickly walked over to the bed giving Lando a kiss.
"I love you too." Emilia ran her fingers through his hair. "I need to go, see you later." Emilia met Aurelia in the corridor who must have been heading to the driver's room as she wasn't at breakfast. "I'm coming."
"We're going to be late." Aurelia huffed.
"When are we not?" Emilia chuckled.
"It makes me look like I can't do my job." Aurelia responded giving Emilia a glare as they got into the lift.
"Well if you weren't here, I'd be extra late." Emilia shrugged.
"You're impossible." Aurelia answered.
"Impossible to beat, yeah I know." Emilia grinned as they exited the lift.
"Cough cough George." Aurelia fake coughed referring to being outqualified by her teammate.
"I thought I could actually beat him yesterday." Emilia sighed. "Oh well, there's next time and Grandad will be there to see it."
"What's up with the positivity today?" Aurelia asked impressed. "I am absolutely not complaining, it makes Christine's job a lot easier."
"I feel good about today. Plus my Grandad comes to the race after this one so there's a lot of reasons to be this positive today." Emilia replied as they sat down for breakfast. They ate their food then travelled to the track with Christine. "Morning." Emilia greeted Max from across the car park.
"What is up with her?" Christine queried Aurelia. Emilia scowled at the two of them.
"You are going to ruin this optimism for me but I just feel good today." Emilia answered joyfully.
"She definitely got laid." Aurelia whispered to Christine.
"I did not." Emilia shook her head.
"Sure sure." Christine winked.
"I didn't! We sat on a hill then we went to bed." Emilia explained. "Oh Lando's going to come find me pre-race."
"As long as he doesn't interfere with your warmup fine by me." Christine answered. Emilia sorted some stuff in the garage prior to the driver's parade. She was one of the first ones there waiting and so was Lewis.
"You alright?" Emilia asked as she approached the Mercedes driver.
"Yeah, you?" Lewis smiled.
"Yeah, ready for the race? You're starting from pole right?" Emilia questioned.
"I am, you're P7?" Lewis asked uncertainly.
"Yep. I'm feeling really good about today's race." Emilia grinned enthusiastically. She had no idea what had gotten into her but she wasn't going to complain.
"A podium?" Lewis laughed with Emilia's glee being contagious.
"I was hoping more for finishing the race in the points." Emilia answered.
"End your streak of crashes." Lewis pointed out. Emilia playfully hit him due to his response.
"I am not on a streak of crashes." Emilia sighed.
"I'm pretty sure you are. Baku, Canada, France." Lewis listed.
"Baku and France weren't your fault." George interrupted. He appeared behind his teammate who surprisingly hugged him. "Is she okay?" George questioned Lewis.
"Is she not normally like this?"
"I am standing right here." Emilia stressed not wanting to be talked about as if she wasn't there.
"You gave me a hug and you are not a huggy person, something is wrong." George stated. Emilia groaned.
"Nothing is wrong!" Emilia protested.
"I have been your teammate for four months and I have never seen you like this." George decided putting his hands on his hips.
"So what's Emilia been doing then?" Lewis quizzed grinning. "Or who's Emilia been doing?"
"I have not had sex." Emilia insisted.
"You've had sex?" Lando joined the conversation sounding worried.
"Lando did we have sex last night or this morning?" Emilia asked stressed.
"Um no." Lando awkwardly answered as he readjusted his hat. George grew a smirk on his face.
"You two are together?" Lewis questioned with his eyebrows raised. They both nodded. "You kept that quiet well."
"Why are we talking about this?" Lando queried.
"They think my extra happy mood is due to me getting laid. It's not but it is because of you." Emilia smiled at the McLaren driver.
"I think Valtteri wants me." Lewis announced and headed off not wanting to be third wheeling.
"Yeah I need to talk to Alex." George looked Emilia up and down giving her a smile before wandering off.
"We're popular." Lando smiled.
"What's their issue?" Emilia questioned gazing at Lando's eyes.
"Didn't want to third wheel I guess." Lando shrugged. "What are you staring at?"
"I want to kiss you." Emilia blurted. She covered her mouth quickly scared that people heard her.
"Emi, not here." Lando sighed. "Not in public, not yet."
"Fine." Emilia responded. They got called onto the bus where they drove around the circuit waving to the fans. Williams had a debrief before the race which Emilia was required to attend and did so with her sparkly attitude she'd expressed all morning.
"P5 is a bit further back than P1 isn't it?" Emilia joked as they headed to their driver rooms.
"I'll be P1 by the end of the first lap." George shrugged.
"That's like me getting on a podium." Emilia scoffed.
"Except I've been P1, twice, you haven't gotten on the podium." George pointed out.
"That is a low blow George Russell." Emilia shook her head laughing. She opened the door to her driver room and saw an orange clad driver lying on her massage table. "Hey!"
"Hey babe." Lando rolled over to face the door.
"Who are you talking to?" George popped his head in the door. "Is he spying?"
"No of course not." Emilia sat alongside Lando on the massage table. "Come sit." Emilia offered George to sit in the sofa across from them.
"It's fine. You two can have some couple time." George replied but bitterly. He left and went to his driver room next door.
"What's his issue?" Emilia huffed after George had gone.
"I don't know. He was fine with me when we had a boy's night out the other day." Lando answered.
"Maybe he's still upset about Carmen and can't see couples together. I'll talk to him." Emilia sighed. She didn't know what George's problem was. He wasn't too happy with them getting back together after what happened in Baku but he should be over that by now – Emilia was.
"How long have we got together?" Lando asked twirling a strand of Emilia's hair round his finger.
"Twenty minutes." Emilia answered having taken a glance at her watch. She probably should call her Grandad but she would call him following the race anyway so she could spend the time she had now with Lando. "Do you want to move to the sofa?" Lando nodded so they got up to the comfiest seating option. Lando wrapped his arms around Emilia who was lying on his chest.
"I've never done this before." Lando admitted. Emilia lifted her head to look at the McLaren driver.
"Done what?" Emilia softly questioned tracing the veins on his hands up his arm.
"Relationships." Lando answered embarrassed which Emilia picked up on.
"Lando you don't need to be embarrassed. It's okay to not have been in one before." Emilia tenderly caressed his cheek.
"I mean I've had like flings but nothing serious because I've never liked someone as much as I like you." Lando confessed. It made Emilia smile. "I love your smile. I want to see it on the podium today."
"I'm going to try but I don't think so." Emilia grinned.
"It took me an entire season to get one. Before that, I was just competing to get into the points. You are doing amazing to be competing for them and not cracking under the pressure. I am so lucky to call you mine." Lando kissed Emilia's forehead.
"I love you." Emilia responded turning around so she could kiss Lando properly. She was craving his touch, the feel of his lips on hers. Lando gripped her hips pressing her body against his. They were horizontal with Lando on Emilia. She reached for the hem of his shirt pulling it over his head and revealing his abs. Emilia's breath stopped at the sight of his abs even though she'd seen them previously. Lando effortlessly lifted Emilia up so he could take her top off and unclasp her bra.
"You are really beautiful." Lando said.
"Lock the door." Emilia grinned looking into Lando's eyes.
---
"Are you ready?" Christine questioned asked as they left to go to the garage. Emilia nodded slipping her headphones on her head. "Do you want to talk or focus?"
"We can talk." Emilia responded. She was in the zone so there wouldn't be much conversation anyway.
"What were you doing before I came into your room?" Christine asked unaware of what went on Emilia's room.
"Lando." Emilia quietly responded.
"You were doing Lando?" Christine stared at Emilia baffled. It suddenly clicked and Christine smacked her hand over his mouth. "Wait in your driver room?" Christine laughed.
"Yeah. On the sofa." Emilia admitted giggling. "I don't know how it happened."
"What do you mean you don't know how it happened? And oh no I sat on that sofa." Christine laughed.
"One minute we were sitting chatting and he kissed me one thing led to another and yeah." Emilia shrugged. She attempted to wipe the smile off her face but couldn't.
"Are there cameras in that room?" Christine queried. Emilia stopped because she didn't think of that.
"Oh my God." Emilia put her hand over her mouth.
"I'll ask Aurelia." Christine pulled out her phone and called Aurelia. "Hey, we may have an issue." Emilia couldn't hear the conversation but as Christine quietly explained what had happened, Emilia heard her shouting Spanish down the phone. Emilia had no idea what she was saying but it didn't sound good. Christine hung up the phone and Emilia was quickly on her for an answer.
"She doesn't think there are but she's going to check and find out." Christine replied. "Stay calm, she'll call us back in a minute." They got in the garage and Emilia tried absorbing data but couldn't until she knew the problem was solved. She was getting in the car as Aurelia approached her and covered her ear as she told her something but Emilia couldn't hear due to the roar of engines. Her manager came closer.
"I discreetly asked if they had cameras in the driver rooms and they don't so you're fine." Aurelia whispered. Emilia had no idea how Aurelia had discreetly done it but she was grateful she didn't have to worry.
"Thank you so much." Emilia fist bumped her manager as she wished her luck. She got into the car and drove out. Time flew by and Emilia was doing her formation lap.
"Is your seatbelt okay?" John asked.
"Yep." Emilia laughed. She pushed herself forward as she came down the start/finish straight to see if she could move which she couldn't. Her car also looked good and this was should be a promising race.
She did her traditional wiggle and found that her movement was very restrained. All the cars lined up on the grid so the lights turned on and off again and the race was underway.
Emilia intended to avoid a crash which she managed to do going into the first turn. She had lost one position due to an Alpine late on the breaks magically managing not to come into contact with the busy first corner. She was now equal with this Alpine as she got a better exit. A Ferrari was also challenging her so they were three wide into the third corner. Emilia was in the middle and took the racing line making the corner perfectly. The Ferrari had been slowed down by too much use of the kerb and the Alpine had gone wide so Emilia was safe in P7 for the moment.
With the Ferrari and the Alpine constantly fighting for eighth they lost time to Emilia who could put all her attention to the McLaren in front of her. She couldn't tell who it was but she told herself it couldn't matter. On lap seven, he went wide at turn one so Emilia capitalised on his mistake gaining DRS down the straight. She wasn't quite close enough to overtake him there so she stayed behind him but took George's preferred line to get out of the dirty air. It turned out to work as she was closer.
The DRS really helped as she was able to challenge him going into turn four. Emilia broke hard as the cars went side by side. The space closed and Emilia was being pushed onto the gravel. She used her common sense and saw that she wasn't going to get past him here so she pulled out of the move following the papaya car closely having the opportunity to overtake into the next corner. Emilia just didn't seem to brake compared to the driver next to her who she saw was Lando from his vibrant helmet as she went past him.
Emilia didn't have any other overtaking opportunities until she pitted and she managed to hold on for a while before having to do so. Her tyres were in alright condition so she hadn't felt the need to stop. Emilia had pitted when a crash occurred at turn three prompting the output of the safety car. It was unfortunate that she had pitted when she did and not held on for another lap. Most cars had pitted anyway and it was only a few that would gain an advantage from this. Lando was one of them.
"Safety car. You know what to do." John said. Emilia was familiar with the procedure for the safety car keeping the delta positive so her speed would be slow enough for her not to get penalised.
"Is everyone okay?"
"Both drivers are out the car." John informed. Emilia was relieved and could continue with her race not having to worry which she would whoever was in the car. The safety car went in after a few laps so they were able to race at high speeds again.
Emilia was immediately under pressure from her teammate who she'd come out in front of. He had pitted under the safety car but had an awfully drawn-out stop according to John and both of them had been told to be careful. Emilia successfully kept her teammate behind her for several laps but in doing so, the cars in front were getting away.
"Okay so team orders. George will go past you at turn three." John instructed. Emilia wasn't particularly happy with that but if the data said George was quicker then she had to let him past. She imagined that they didn't want a repeat of Canada either. George gave her a thank you as she passed him. He eventually sped off into the distance and Emilia was comfortable for a minute. Well, as comfortable as she could be in the middle of a Formula 1 race.
With the lack of pressure, Emilia was putting in fastest laps every few laps. The clean air and not yet having to lap cars mean she had a clean track. Her determination to get a good points finish was also knocking a tenth off each lap.
"DRS train of three cars ahead should catch in two laps." John updated. She beat John's prediction and caught them up in one and a half. "This is great stuff. Five laps to go let's get them."
In this pack of three cars there was Pierre, Checo and George at the front. Emilia followed them closely for another lap waiting for one of them to make a mistake but none of them did. She was lapping a few tenths faster as John had told her but that wasn't noticeable. So, Emilia had work harder to try and overtake them herself.
Pierre had a bad corner almost plunging a wheel into the gravel at turn six. Emilia was almost in his rear and was very careful not to brake late and go into the back of the Alpha Tauri. Emilia pulled out of the slipstream and with DRS she flew ahead on the main straight.
Unfortunately, Emilia did not keep seventh place as she drove into the run off after her tyre locked up. The Brit quickly recovered and was back chasing Pierre up the hill. Checo and George were battling ahead closing the group up. She spent the rest of the lap making up the time she had lost to Pierre and was able to challenge him on the last lap.
"Final lap, let's get this done." John encouraged. She needed silence to concentrate and John understood that so it was the only thing she said. Eighth was good; she would get four points out of it. But with fifth in her grasp, she wanted those eight points.
Emilia was alongside Pierre down the pit straight she had DRS to give her an extra twelve km/h so she edged in front. Her tyres were crying out for her not to brake late into the corner but she ignored them and did it anyway. She made it round the corner and ahead of Pierre. Checo was next as George had overtaken him.
With DRS and a slipstream combined Emilia caught up Checo challenging him into the third corner. She was on the inside and they switched round in the corner so Emilia came out the corner ahead and on the outside. With the DRS detection point before the corner, Emilia got DRS to attack George with. Checo had also had such a bad corner so Pierre was battling with him behind her.
Emilia had backed out of a move into turn four previously due to the fear of crashing as she almost certainly would have done with Lando but George had left enough space and there was no way Emilia would back out of this one. Emilia accelerated out of the corner way earlier than she should have but her car kept it together. She sped up and passed George. It was as if she'd pressed a boost button that had gotten her up to that speed. Of course, she hadn't. Emilia had her overtake button on though George probably did as well to defend Emilia's attack.
She finished her lap and crossed the line in fifth. Emilia took her foot off the throttle slightly taking a deep breath. She had done three overtakes in the space of one lap or rather four corners. For saying she'd been involved in three crashes in the last three races, she'd done amazing. It wasn't a podium but it was a very good result. George came alongside her and gave her a thumbs up which she returned.
"How about that John?" Emilia joyfully asked. She was grinning which obviously people couldn't see but she could feel it. Emilia was hoping that her Grandad had seen all of that.
"Great job Emilia but we need you to come back to the pits as fast as you can." John's tone was serious and Emilia's glee faded immediately.
"Is there something wrong?" Emilia queried speeding up. She had no idea what was going on. Maybe it was a problem with the car but that didn't explain why they want her to speed up.
"We just need you to hurry." John answered. That gave no information to a panicked Emilia. She overtook a lot of cars and ended being one of the first ones in parc fermé. Emilia was the first one out her car and getting weighed. She practically ran to the scales. Emilia frantically searched for Aurelia who appeared as she was allowed to get off the scales.
"What's happened?" Emilia questioned with all her racing gear still on. Aurelia spoke but with all the cars arriving she couldn't hear anything. Emilia's manager grabbed her arm pulling her inside.
"Your Grandad had a heart attack." Aurelia said.
"What?!" Emilia shouted fear evident in her eyes.
I know I'm horrible for leaving it on a cliff-hanger like this. I am also going on holiday so I won't be updating the story, I'll still reply to dms and comments though, meaning you're going to have to wait a bit longer for the next chapter. I honestly didn't intend to upload a chapter with a cliff-hanger the day before I go on holiday it just happened to be this chapter that was next in the plan.
I did also chicken out of writing smut just because what I wrote was so cringey so there was no way I was going to post it so apologies.
We hit 1k votes! That's so amazing I honestly never thought I would get this many thank you so much to you all <3