Emilia's world stopped.
She couldn't breathe and leaned against the wall next to her for support. Her Grandad meant everything to her. Aurelia was talking to her and there was cheering in the background for the winner but it was all muted for Emilia. She could hear nothing but her heart. Her heart was fine, Fred's wasn't. She needed to get back to him.
"Emilia, pay attention." Aurelia gently requested. She understood that Emilia needed a moment but she also needed to get back to him as soon as possible.
"Why didn't they tell me during the race?" Emilia questioned. She couldn't cry, she was too shocked to.
"They wouldn't let me. You got the call from the hospital around lap ten and Jost wouldn't let John tell you because it would affect your performance. However, he organised a plane that is taking off as soon as you get to the airport." Aurelia pulled her driver up and dragged her out of the building. Emilia was still coming to terms with the news and needed someone to help her get to the airport. "Christine is waiting outside. I will pack up all your stuff and I'll tell Lando and George, they will be with you as soon as they can."
Aurelia was saying words but it was not registering in Emilia's head. They found Christine and Emilia ran through the paddock with her having only her phone in her hand and still wearing her driving suit. Her helmet and neck support had been given to Aurelia who would take it back to the garage.
Christine drove literally at the speed limit not braking unless she really had to and pulling off some overtakes that belonged on an F1 track. They arrived at the airport and quickly got through all of the security. It was a private jet they boarded and normally Emilia would have been pretty excited to get on as she rarely flew on them because it was expensive. It made flying a bit better for her. This time, Emilia was not enjoying boarding the smaller plane. Before take-off, she unzipped her racing suit and tied the arms round her waist.
Unsurprisingly, Emilia freaked out during take-off to the point that she had to hold Christine's hand. Her trainer smoothed her hair that was still a mess after taking off her helmet. They were leaning on each other, Emilia more than Christine, as the sound of the plane filled the silence.
What sucked even more was that Emilia had had a good race. She needed solid points to make up for the last few races, which she got. Emilia had finished P5, ahead of George and made some impressive overtakes. She couldn't want much more from that race. Obviously, a podium would have been nice but unless it was a crazy race, that was never going to happen. Emilia didn't have the pace to get a trophy in Austria and that was okay, she performed her best and came out with a brilliant result. Although, the fact that she had to jump on a plane back to the UK discarded her race result.
"Do you want me to talk to you?" Christine asked and Emilia blankly nodded. She couldn't feel anything but fear. She was praying he was alive. Her nail varnish was chipped from where she was biting her nails. By the time they would get back to London, it would all be gone. "Do you want to talk about the race?"
"Yeah." Emilia hoarsely answered. Christine's words were taking a moment to register. It was like her brain had almost shut down. Maybe from shock, it did. Christine was talking about the race telling her about all the overtakes and battles that Emilia didn't see or know about. The driver tried to focus on what Christine was saying so she was distracted but it didn't work very well. All she could think about was her Grandad alone. "I can't lose him." Emilia said finally beginning to cry. Christine had finished talking so Emilia wasn't interrupting anything other than the roar of the engine.
"Oh Em." Christine pulled her in tight for a hug rubbing her back. "I honestly have no idea what to say other than at least you didn't have to do media duties after the race." Emilia let out a small chuckle smiling as she wiped her tears with the sleeve of her race suit.
"I want Lando." Emilia sighed leaning her head back on the sofa. She debated on grabbing her phone to text him but realised she was on a plane. Her phone was on airplane mode and there was no Wi-Fi on the plane so she couldn't contact him.
"He's coming. Aurelia said she would tell him and George so they'll be with you soon." Christine assured. Emilia had had quite a few trainers but she didn't have a bond with them like this. Christine was going above and beyond for Emilia which she recognised and appreciated.
"You need a pay rise." Emilia laughed brushing more tears away. She didn't want to cry. Emilia would be at the hospital soon and she wanted to be strong for her Grandad.
"No I don't. This is what friends are for." Christine replied as she rubbed Emilia's arm.
"Can you talk to me more please? About anything." Emilia requested.
"Yeah of course. Do you want me to talk about me?" Christine asked and Emilia nodded in response. "When I was younger, the area I grew up in wasn't the nicest but, I did appreciate having a roof over my head and food on my plate even if it wasn't the fanciest. That meant the school wasn't the best either.. We had sports day which was the highlight of the year for the kids in my area because it was the only event that ever happened that was good. There was no funding for anything else. It was on a small field that you couldn't fit an 100m race on. At this time, I hadn't come out as transgender yet so I was racing with other boys. There were two laps of the length of the field with teachers at the other end making sure you crossed the line before you ran back. I was eleven so in my last year of primary school and I decided to enter the race. My Dad convinced me to participate in the trials because there wasn't enough for everyone to race at one time so you had heats into the finals. I was really nervous because I wasn't known as a sporty kid like the rest of them were. I was the quiet kid who sat at the back of the classroom and got on with their work. I knew I was quick but never did I think I could win the race. I did win the race by quite a bit and shocked everyone including myself. After that race, I decided I wanted to become a runner you know as an unrealistic dream that everyone has a child. I settled for becoming a trainer instead and I get to work in the best industry with the best people. I'm happy where I am and that is my favourite memory as a child, even if I was unhappy in my body."
"Thank you for sharing that with me Chris." Emilia smiled. She was touched that her trainer had opened to her revealing her favourite memory as a child to her.
"No problem Em." Christine replied with a smile. She was unsure when she first employed her as her trainer whether they would get on and they certainly did. They sat in silence for the rest of the plane journey. Landing was bumpy and Emilia freaked out and was off the plane as soon as possible into a rainy England. They ran through security and got in the car. Christine phoned the hospital for an update and they replied with that he was out of surgery. Emilia checked her phone and saw a flood of messages from Lando and a handful of missed calls as well.
Lando💞💖
Aurelia told me what happened
i am so sorry
i have to deal with the stuff at the track but i will be there asap
i love you
im just leaving the track
im on a plane with George
will be there asap
on a positive note, you drove amazing today
ive just landed i love you xxx
Emilia didn't have much else to say so she didn't put much. She focused on making it not look like she had been crying. Emilia wanted to be strong for her Grandad as he was the one who had suffered the heart attack.
Christine was concentrating on driving in the rain which was pouring down heavily making visibility poor. Emilia's trainer was speeding down the motorway faster than she should have been. The speed made it even harder to see but Christine kept on going. Emilia was watching the rain fall outside checking the sat nav every few minutes wishing the destination arrival time would come. Eventually it did.
Emilia opened the door as soon as Christine had parked. Their feet splashed through puddles soaking their lower legs and her feet. Usually, there would be nothing worse than wet feet but this time, there was. She knew the hospital well because it was the same place her Grandma had died so she knew where the wards were and which entrance to enter. They arrived at the desk soaking wet and out of breath but it was a long sprint from the car park to the desk even for two fit people.
"I'm here to see Fred Miller. I'm his granddaughter." Emilia quickly said. The lady at the desk was calm and composed which frustrated her. "Can you just tell me where his room is please?" Emilia raised her voice which was unlike her but this was an abnormal situation she was going to act irrationally.
"He's on Ward A the first room on the left. Room 1." The lady informed. She opened her mouth to give her directions but she didn't need them.
"Yeah I know where it is, thanks." Emilia and Christine dashed off. Christine followed Emilia as she didn't know where she was going. They came to a stop outside a room. Emilia paused not opening the door yet.
"Are you good?" Christine asked putting a hand on Emilia's shoulder supportively.
"Yeah I just want to be ready to see him like that." Emilia swallowed and went in the room. It was exactly how she remembered it. She glanced to the bed where her Grandad lay and he didn't look like himself. That was not how she left him before she took off to France. She partly expected her parents to be here despite the arguments but remembered she was Fred's emergency contact. Emilia and Christine took a seat on one side of the bed; Emilia reached for her Grandfather's hand and put it in hers.
"He's alive." Christine said. "I know it's hard to look at the positives but at least he's still breathing." Emilia nodded and smiled through tears. She didn't want her Grandad to see her crying but he was either sleeping or coming round from anaesthetic. A doctor came in and Emilia frantically wiped her tears from her face.
"Hi I'm Dr Everard I am taking care of you Grandad here. He had a heart attack and we removed the clot causing it but we would like to monitor him for a few more days." Dr Everard informed. Emilia nodded slowly taking in the information.
"Sorry this is a lot to take in." Emilia responded.
"We understand that and we will update you on as much as we can." The doctor smiled and left afterwards.
"I was in the car four hours ago thinking everything is fine. How have I ended up here?" Emilia questioned.
"The world is crazy." Christine answered. She got a ping on her phone which she checked. "Aurelia has a flight late this evening. George and Lando have landed."
"I should probably phone my parents." Emilia sighed rubbing her forehead. She swiped her phone open and pressed the call button to the home phone. Her Mum picked up within a few rings.
"Hello, it's Jackie Miller who's speaking?"
"Mum it's me." Emilia replied.
"Oh Emilia aren't you supposed to be working or did you lose your job?" Jackie answered in a sour tone. She didn't even want to use the word racing.
"Yeah I finished and had to fly home from Austria because Grandad had a heart attack." Emilia explained.
"Oh no, is he okay?" Jackie sounded worried which was a relief to Emilia. She was afraid that her parents wouldn't care which would only break her more.
"He's asleep but alive." Emilia confirmed.
"Okay, we will be at the hospital as soon as we can." Jackie responded then hung up. Christine was looking at her wanting to know what happened.
"They're coming as soon as they can. Maybe they'll all make up and we can go back to being a happy family." Emilia told wishing for a happy ending and she clung onto this hope because it was the only thing keeping her somewhat together at this point. She felt movement in the hand that she was holding and immediately glanced to her Grandad. He coughed and opened his eyes. Fred adjusted to the bright light in the room before turning to his right where he saw his granddaughter. He opened his arms up and she carefully jumped into his bed and sobbed into his shoulder.
"I'm okay sweetheart." Fred whispered as he rubbed her back.
"You scared the shit out of me. Please never do that again." Emilia cried. She eventually returned to the chair next to the bed.
"I'm going to go wait for George and Lando at reception." Christine quietly announced and left the two Millers to have some time together.
"Did I interrupt your race?" Fred queried. He'd almost died and the first thing he did was ask about her race.
"No, I didn't get told until afterwards. Did I- did I cause the heart attack?" Emilia asked. She was worried that Fred watching her in the race caused the heart attack.
"It was before the race. It had nothing to do with you. I was out shopping when it happened luckily, I wasn't at home alone because no one would have found me." Emilia shuddered at the thought but was relieved it didn't occur during the race.
"This room." Emilia started and her Grandad knew exactly what she was thinking.
"It is. What a coincidence" Fred smiled sadly. "I can almost feel her in this room, can't you?"
"Yeah I can feel Grandma." Emilia sighed looking around. "How many years ago was it?"
"Eleven years, two months and eighteen days." Fred replied gazing wistfully out the window. Emilia raised her eyebrows at the fact her Grandad knew the exact date that his wife passed away but Emilia shouldn't have been surprised. She knew the date but couldn't do the maths fast enough whereas Fred had been counting.
"And the doctor?" Emilia questioned.
"Complete coincidence." Fred responded. The doctor's surname was Everard which was Emilia's Grandma's maiden name. She seemed to be everywhere in this hospital but not actually here.
"Do you think she's watching us?" Emilia questioned gazing outside the window and up to the sky.
"All the time." Fred replied. The door opened and Lando and George walked in. Emilia got up and immediately buried herself in Lando's arms. She inhaled his scent and felt a wave of relief rush over her.
"Are you okay?" Lando whispered into her ear.
"Not really." Emilia replied quiet enough so that no one else heard. She finished hugging him then gave her teammate a shorter hug to acknowledge his presence. George started having a conversation with Fred while Lando awkwardly stood there. Emilia nudged him to introduce himself as he had never had a face to face discussion with him.
"Hi, I'm Lando Norris." Lando announced and shook Fred's hand. Emilia was pleasantly surprised by his gentleman behaviour. "Babe there's some clothes in the bag, do you want to go and get changed? I can keep your Grandad company for a bit." Lando smiled. Emilia mouthed I love you and he did back as she left the room with George and Christine. They found the toilets which she got changed in while Christine and George went to get food from the café.
Emilia got a coffee because she wasn't hungry but barely drank her drink. She hadn't eaten since lunchtime, before the race, which was hours ago. It was now past dinner time with visiting hours closing soon so she would have to leave. There was no conversation from the four of them at the table. Emilia was still unable to comprehend today's events and was sitting there trying to do so. Lando joined them as Emilia's parents and brother had arrived; she didn't fancy seeing them today so she stayed at the table and would wait until they left.
"That was a great overtake from you today Em." George praised trying to start a conversation. Emilia was still staring intensely at her cup of coffee as if it was going to perform a magic trick. "Em?"
"Sorry, yeah thank you." Emilia forced a smile. "Sorry, I'm not really coping with it all very well but I'm so lucky to have you all, Aurelia as well, to come home with me and have everything sorted out so I could leave quickly and get to my Grandad. I am so grateful to have you all."
"You'd do the same for us." Christine responded. They finished their food and Emilia gave up on her drink. The four of them returned to Fred and Christine left shortly after because she had a long journey home. Lando offered to take Emilia home or stay at his for the night. Him and George filled everyone in on what had happened in the race that Fred didn't see and Emilia only saw what she could with her eyes. They had a few laughs and Fred seemed really happy. Eventually a nurse came in and informed that visiting hours were over but they asked for an extra ten minutes which they got. The four of them enjoyed watching the nurse's face who slowly realised who they were.
"I really do appreciate you boys being there for Em." Fred grinned.
"We love her just as much as you do." George replied grinning. Emilia was hearing the conversation with a smile plastered on her face in an attempt to pretend she was okay. The nurse came around and politely said that they really needed to leave but Emilia really didn't want to.
"We'll wait for you outside the room." Lando kissed Emilia on the cheek and picked up his bag before going out of the room with George.
"I'm so sorry to put you through all of this today." Fred apologised with a grim face.
"No Grandad, it's not your fault. You can't help it." Emilia touched his arm. "I missed media duties today." Emilia was trying, really trying to focus on the positives here and it was hard but she was attempting it.
"Well that's a good thing then." Fred chuckled. His laugh was followed by a coughing fit that didn't seem healthy at all.
"Did you have a good chat with Mum and Dad?" Emilia questioned hoping for a positive response.
"Yeah, if I knew I had to do that to get them to talk to me I would have had a heart attack ages ago." Fred laughed.
"Not funny but I'm glad there's progress." Emilia exhaled a sigh she didn't know she'd been holding in.
"They did ask me to convince you to stop racing." Fred revealed and Emilia rolled her eyes.
"If you really wanted me to, I would." Emilia answered.
"Of course I don't. Getting you racing was the best thing I ever did. Plus, I'm coming to watch your next race with a VIP Paddock Pass, I'm not going to miss that." Fred grinned excited for Emilia's home Grand Prix.
"I'm looking forward to having someone in my garage." Emilia grinned. She had belief that her Grandad would recover in time to come to watch her race. Belief and hope were dangerous things but when life got tough, belief and hope were the things you clung onto.
"I can pay the nurses to let me stay through the night if you want." Emilia offered. She hated using her wealth and status for things but this could be an exception.
"No sweetheart, go home. You've had a long day go home and sleep. I'll see you in the morning." Fred replied with a grin.
"Are you sure?" Emilia asked as she got up.
"Yes of course. Sleep well, I love you." Fred beamed. He was putting a smile on like Emilia was but she didn't realise.
"I will be here tomorrow as soon as I can. I love you." Emilia smiled and shut the door behind her. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah, do you want to stay at mine tonight?" Lando questioned. Emilia shook her head as they walked down the corridor.
"No thanks. I'll just go home. I want to be alone." Emilia clarified. As much as cuddles with Lando sounded amazing, she needed some time to herself.
"Are you sure?" Lando asked. Emilia nodded.
"My car's this way guys. Give me a hug Em." George requested and Emilia gave him a hug standing on her tip toes making the height difference smaller. It seemed that Lando and George had gotten on the same plane over here but driven different cars to the hospital.
"Thank you for coming back." Emilia expressed her gratitude to her teammate.
"No problem, I'll drop by tomorrow." George assured. He went off in one direction and the couple went off in another. It was still raining outside but it was a miserable drizzle rather than a lashing downpour. Lando went to open the car door for Emilia when they arrived at his McLaren. He saw that she was still unhappy and wrapped his arms around her. Emilia had bigger problems to be concerned with Lando giving her a hug in public. Plus, the paparazzi were persistent but would never go as far as to be present in this situation.
"It's shit for you. Really shit. You are handling it amazingly though." Lando said. He pressed a kiss on the top of Emilia's head which was soaked from the rain. Emilia was unable to express her feelings into the words the way she wanted to and Lando understood that. "Let's get you home."
The car journey was silent from Emilia's side. Lando was talking about the things he had to do at MTC to prepare for Silverstone to fill the silence. Emilia was trying to form words and sentences to voice her thoughts but it wasn't going very well.
"He's alive. I love you." Emilia croaked. That was not what she was trying to say in her head but that's what it came out as. Though, that did get the point across she was trying not to be so blunt in saying it.
"I love you too. And your Grandad is good. He's going to recover in time for the Grand Prix and then you can have him in your garage. My parents also want to meet you then as well. Oh shit sorry I should have waited to say that." Lando apologised. He knew Emilia was going through enough and it accidentally slipped out of his mouth. He'd told them about her countless times and he postponed their meeting because he didn't want them to be too intense for her or anything even though they were lovely.
"I'm so lucky to have you." Emilia smiled at him and it was one Lando knew was genuine. He'd watched her enough times in interviews forcing a smile and in the hospital today but this one was real.
"We're here, are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Lando asked again because he didn't like the thought of leaving Emilia alone when she was upset like this. Not that she would do anything irrational but he wanted to try and make things better, if that was possible.
"No, I'm fine. I'll see you tomorrow." Emilia gave him a quick kiss.
"I have to be at MTC tomorrow so I can't drive you in the morning but I will be around in the afternoon so I'll meet you at the hospital." Lando decided and Emilia nodded her head acknowledging the information.
Her house was silent when she entered it. She hadn't been there since before the French GP so there was a lack of fresh food in the cupboards but Emilia wasn't hungry anyway. Being the intelligent human being she was, she opened social media. Williams had posted on their story explaining that she had to run off.
Emilia has had to rush home due to personal matters so there will be no media duties for her after the race.
She had an amazing race and we wish her and her family all the best💙💙
Emilia imagined Aurelia had a part in doing that. The Spaniard would prioritise Emilia but put Emilia's reputation a close second. The driver knew she should probably post something on her Instagram but decided to do it in the morning as she would have a more level head.
Her phone needed charging so she plugged it in the socket on the counter in her kitchen. Emilia had a shower and climbed into bed. She didn't plan on falling asleep but her long day had worn her out emotionally and physically so she drifted off into a blissful, unproblematic sleep.
You all thought I was going to kill Fred. Well you were wrong, I'm not mean enough to do that. I'm mean but not that mean.
This chapter is very fast paced but that's how it's meant to be though I was a little sloppy on the editing so please excuse any mistakes because I wanted to get the chapter published.
You had to wait over a week for this and I hope it was worth it, love you all <3