So. Chapter 50. To be honest, I never thought I would write even twenty but here we are. I hope you enjoy the story so far. Thanks for the great feedback and the lovely comments. They mean the world to me and always motivate me to write. I don't actually know where I wanted to go with this story as I started writing it, but I can tell you I'm nowhere near that any longer. I originally intended to end the story about fifteen chapters ago, but yeah. Didn't happen. I hope you will keep up with me for another 50 and until then enjoy this chapter.
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As a child promises are made easier. You promise your parents to be good, you promise your teacher to make an effort, you promise your sandbox friend to stay friends until the end of all days. These promises are easily made, we promise to love, to be loyal, to devote ourselves to something. We promise things, we swear, but we also lie and we betray. That is in our nature. People are fickle.
Sitting in his office in the FIA Headquarters Nico turned his gaze outside where the sun was slowly rising again. A new day. He couldn't be more resentful about it. One new day after the other until they all blurred together. Today, yesterday, tomorrow. Every day felt the same. Nico felt equally hopeless on each and every one of them.
He had won. Went and done it. Finally, he was one of them. He was the world champion. Nico Rosberg beat all the others, he made his father proud. The debt that a famous name like his brought with it was finally redeemed. For the first time in his life, he was free.
But his win was so bittersweet. No Sebastian, no Max, no Joanna, and no Lewis. In the end, nobody of the big ones was left to challenge him apart from Daniel, but the Aussie was in his own world. Not really present, but enough to secure a second-place for Red Bull.
His win was easy, maybe even undeserved, but Nico couldn't care less about what the media or the fans thought. He was finally free. No more pressure to beat the people he considered his friends. This chapter was now closed and a new life would start for him. From now on, he will never have to force himself into a car. He will be the one to watch them from afar.
But what does it mean to succeed when you realize in the end that it wasn't what you had thought it would be?
Fishing his phone from his pocket, Nico unlocked it before looking for the one contact he wanted to call every minute of the day but never did. Lewis. His name macked him every time he let his thumb hover of it a second too long without actually pressing down on the screen. His father's words came back to him.
When you don't know what to say why do you even call, boy?
Nico had heard that sentence so often in his life. Different versions but always the same meaning. At some point, he had learned to say what he needed to. Some learned the hard way, Nico was one of them. Always had been. So instead of finally call Lewis to see how he was doing, he called Joanna.
The Austrian had vanished after her brief visit in Paris to get the FIA council up and going. All she had told Nico was that she would go home to get back the man he loved and that the German should do the same thing but after their goodbye in Paris a few weeks ago there was radio silence. Joanna didn't call back, didn't react to his messages, and didn't acknowledge his tries to reach out to her, which was strange.
The Austrian was always ready to call him out on his bullshit and to be true Nico had expected a call from Joanna after the official statement about his retirement got released. But there was nothing. However, knowing Joanna, he wasn't worried yet.
The Austrian was a storm with skin. Untamable, wild, and savage. She needed her time on her own, to explore and be free. To let herself feel how the earth trembled beneath her bare feet and how the oceans seem to breathe in the salty air. Sooner or later Joanna would return, she always did. On her trips, which were mostly spectacular, she always came to the same conclusion. She loved that she was free and could just pack her things and leave, but sometimes freedom is not to leave but to stay.
Lowering the phone after he went to voicemail again, Nico didn't bother to leave a message at the tone, he knew Joanna wouldn't bother to listen to them. Staring down at his home screen, Nico smiled at his daughters looking back at him. The only thing in his life he ever managed to do right as it seemed.
Putting the phone away before letting his gaze wander over the prize which was standing on his office desk, he averted his gaze to look through the window, on the other side of the corridor was Joanna's office, but she wasn't there. Wouldn't be for some time.
Somehow he missed her. Nico was so used to hear Joanna tell him that he wasn't good enough for Lewis when he behaved like that, he missed it when he didn't hear it. Without the constant reminder, he became brave again, his heart dared to hope.
"It's just an empty cup," Nico remembered as Joanna told him that a few months ago, before asking him if that empty cup was worth losing the man he loved, back then he answered with a clear and honest, yes, but now he wasn't so sure about it any longer. It's just, he wanted it so badly. He wanted to show his father that he was more than just a boy, who did stupid things. He wanted his appreciation, but now that he had it, it felt rotten.
He put his money on the wrong card. Nico had gambled, miscalculated, and finally, he had lost. There was so much more at stake than he realized and now he had lost everything. He was the world champion, but what did such a title mean if it couldn't make him happy? When the person he most wanted to make proud of him didn't even acknowledge him anymore.
People say about them that they were too young. Young people fall in love with the wrong person sometimes. Mistakes get made. They think they're in love, while they're only just in pain, but the cruel truth was that Lewis and Nico were never too young. They knew what they had but they were stupid enough to risk it. It was greed that had broken their neck in the end. Nico knew that today.
There are some promises, you don't break. Out of respect, out of love, out of loyalty. But Nico had broken them all. He burned the bridges behind him and expected Lewis to follow him, nevertheless.
In another life, they would keep all their promises. It would be them against the world. Always and forever, but they lived in this world. A broken version of what could have possibly been. This world was littered with broken promises and betrayed people.
In the end, promises are just words, Nico had to learn that the hard way.
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Crutches. That was the improvement after three bloody weeks of therapy.
He was standing in the bathroom, checking his appearance in the mirror again before his performance coach would come over for a light workout and some physiotherapy as his phone started to ring. Getting ready in the morning without any disturbance was already hard enough. Leaving his crutches, where they leaned against the bathtub, Lewis was sure that he would manage a few steps without any help, but sadly he wasn't there yet.
Groaning loudly as he landed on the floor, Lewis rolled his eyes in annoyance while rubbing the side of his hip. Counting to ten so he wouldn't start to cry in anger and frustration, again, Lewis reached out to clutch at the corner of the mattress, using a lot more of his strength than he should need for such a task, pulling himself up.
Taking a deep breath, he tried his best to think positively. A few more weeks and he could get rid of the plaster and the bloody crutches.
Trying to not think about the fact that he was sweaty and disgusting because he simply tried to stand up from the floor, Lewis tried to focus on the fact that a week ago he would have had to wait for someone to find him or even worse, to call someone for help. Which was always a mild catastrophe.
Getting to his phone, at last, Lewis took a deep breath before he tried to figure out, who had called him. There was a long list of people, who he wouldn't call back at the moment, but Max Verstappen wasn't on that list. He was one of the few people he wouldn't leave waiting for a callback.
Firstly because he knew they were in a similar situation and secondly because he knew Max by now and knew that the Dutchman would never call him again unless Lewis called him back. Max was proud, although his ego was bruised at the moment, he would certainly take being ignored personally.
Normally Lewis wouldn't bend to someone else's will, but the Brit was painfully aware of the situation they were in at the moment. he had a broken leg, Seb was at home and could barely leave his bed, Daniel was about to lose it, Joanna was gone and Max, well the Dutchman seemed to take what had happened rather well, which worried Lewis.
He sat on the edge of his bed and thought about how to straighten it all out. Annoyed, he came to the realization that he had no idea how to fix this mess. Never before had Lewis had to set things as big as this right.
When things got out of hand, they called Joanna and she took care of it. When she couldn't manage alone, Sebastian helped her, but with the two of them out of the picture, he didn't know how to keep the rest together. He was just glad to have the summer break.
However, his thoughts were already on the next season. Without Joanna, with an ailing Sebastian, an injured Max, a mentally unstable Daniel, and without Nico. He didn't know how it would all work out when Joanna wasn't here to help him get them all unshattered through this mess.
When he looked down at his phone again, the screen had turned black again, which caused Lewis to huff, before he unlocked the thing and started to look for Max in his contacts. Putting the Dutchman on speaker, Lewis flopped down on the bed, looking at the ceiling and waiting. But already after the third ring, he could hear the raspy voice of the younger driver.
"We need to do something about Dan." Max was never a man of many words, which is why Lewis thought he and Joanna were such a fine match. She never managed to shut up. Something she had learned from Daniel. But a greeting wasn't too much to ask for right?
"Hey mate, how can I help you?" Lewis said a little bit pointy, guessing that Max would realize his mistake, but the Dutchman didn't.
"Haven't you listened to me? Dan's about to snap and I don't know what to do about it." Max's voice sounded stressed and totally off, which caused Lewis to sit up on his bed again and take his phone.
"Alright." He promised and hoped that would calm Max down at least a little bit. Keeping calm and helping Max through it was the best way to show him that he wasn't alone. It had always helped Lewis when he couldn't take the situation between him and Nico any longer. Joanna always managed to calm him down and make him see reason. How hard could that possibly be?
"Okay, here is what we're going to do." Lewis started to speak when the ringing of his doorbell pulled all his attention from Max. As far as Lewis knew, nobody was aware that he was in Monaco, so that was strange and he wanted to ignore the doorbell, but his father had raised him to be polite, so he couldn't not go and get the door.
"Max ... there is someone at my door. I will ... I need to get that. Keep an eye on Daniel until I can call you back." He ordered the Dutchman, who huffed in disbelieve, before he ended the call, causing Lewis to wince. He knew he needed to help Max, but one thing after the other. It's not like someone was about to die.
Throwing his phone back onto his bed, Lewis reached for the crutches before he made his way to his front door. It took him a while but the person on the other side of the corridor seemed to really need to talk to him, so as he finally reached the front door, he wasn't surprised to open the door to someone with an urgent expression on their face, but the person standing in the corridor was honestly one of the last one he would have ever expected to show up on his doorstep.
"Hey." He greeted surprised which caused Jenson to nod once, before punching past him and into the apartment. Glancing over his shoulder to make sure Lewis stood steadily on his own feet or rather crutches, he turned around again with a satisfied expression before leading the way into the living room. He only once took a wrong turn and ended up in one of Lewis's guest rooms but recovered fastly.
"Just wanted to see how you were doing," Jenson explained after closing the door which led to the guest room, a look over his shoulder told him that Lewis nodded in acknowledgment.
"As good as I can be, but it's alright. A little bit boring at most." The younger Brit replied as they entered his living room, before sitting down on his couch. Looking up at Jenson, the other Brit stood in the middle of the room, an unsure gaze in his eyes while he looked around.
"Glad to hear it," Jenson muttered, his hands joined behind his back, while he was slowly pacing up and down in Lewis's living room, causing the younger man, to gesture to the couch. Jenson looked at him before he nodded to himself and flopped down on the sofa with a huff. Such behavior was even for Jenson strange.
"So you're definitely okay, then?" Jenson asked again, which caused Lewis to nod again.
"Nothing which will stop me from kicking your ass next season again." The younger Brit joked, resulting in a tight smile from Jenson.
Normally he would tease him right back, say something which would sound offensive would someone other than Jenson say it, but nothing like that came back. Jenson was quiet. Only for a moment, but it freaked Lewis out a little bit. Jenson never shut up, not even while sleeping, a lot of drunk nights together taught Lewis that.
"Right." Jenson nodded slowly. "Good. That's good. I don't have to feel guilty, then." He explained a dangerous sparkle in his eyes. Causing Lewis to sit up a little bit straighter. Jenson was dangerous if he wanted to be just like Joanna and this surely wasn't a chaperoned visit.
"Guilty about what?" Lewis asked him carefully while watching Jenson's every move.
"About having a go at someone who's injured." Jenson admitted darkly. "I don't like kicking a guy when he's down, you know? It wouldn't be fair."
"I think you lost me there, man," Lewis admitted, while secretly cursing his broken leg. He was a bird without wings and Jenson was a hungry cat.
All of them had different skills and Jenson's most dangerous skill was reading people like open books. That's why Joanna always positioned herself next to him, so he couldn't read her body language without difficulties. Not even the Red Queen managed to be a closed book to him, so how should Lewis keep all these secrets when Jenson could openly read him without any distractions.
"Oh, I have just one question. What are you guys fucking playing at?" Jenson said while dropping his mask off a worried friend, who wanted o help. He would help, should they need him, that was one of Jenson's best features, but he would let them pay with endless sarcasm and he would only come to their aid after begging him. He needed his ego stroked.
"Don't give me that look, Lew," Jenson told him, a smile playing on his lips. And Lewis knew that Jenson already knew far more than he let on, but of course, he knew something. There was no way Daniel could have kept his mouth shut when he was in Abu Dhabi and Joanna's absence was enough to let Jenson smell the blood in the water. He only needed a victim, he would make tell him all, and sadly enough, that was Lewis.
"You know damn well what I mean," Jenson told Lewis dangerously low.
"I really don't Jenson. I swear!" The younger Brit defended himself or rather he defeated himself. His voice was far too high and it came out faster than Lewis had ever spoken before.
Leaning back against the couch with a satisfied expression, Jenson raised an eyebrow at Lewis, who started sweating under Jenson's stern gaze.
"Oh, so you don't know where Joanna is or when your loverboy and the rest of the bunch had time to take over the FIA. And why the fuck is Dan running around like a fucking zombie?" He questioned and for a moment, Lewis thought about lying, but he wasn't Nico or Daniel, he was a terrible liar, so he admitted to himself that he had been defeated.
"It's complicated." That was all Lewis muttered while starring down onto the floor, while he heard that Jenson leaned back into the sofa some more, causing him to look up at the order Brit, who had crossed his legs and smiled down at Lewis in satisfaction.
"Oh, I've time and you have a broken leg, you're going nowhere." The older Brit said, which caused Lewis to realize that he had places to be, other than Jenson.
"Actually, I need to go and see Max." He admitted which caused Jenson's expression to change. For satisfied to confused to hightly interested.
"Max, as in Max Verstappen?" He questioned, but there wasn't really a question. They both knew about which Max they spoke. Jenson only wanted Lewis to admit it. He wanted Lewis to say that there was something going on and that Jenson just had figured it all out, despite the fact that Lewis had simply told him.
"Yeah, can you drive me over?" Lewis asked, which again surprised Jenson for a moment until his gaze fell onto Lewis's broken leg.
"Are you for real?" He wanted Lewis to clarify, which caused The Brit to nod. There was no way he would call someone to get him if Jenson was already here and Jenson wanted so dearly to know what going on. Lewis would let him play inspector for a few minutes if that meant he would reach Max and Dan before something bad happened.
"We will tell you about everything when we're there, okay? But it has to wait, Daniel is our main priority right now." Lewis promised while he already got up from the couch to go and get his phone as fast as he possibly could. Jenson hot on his heels.
"Fine, where does Max live?" The older Brit asked annoyed which caused Lewis to stop in the corridor before looking over his shoulder at Jenson.
"Well, I don't know, but they're staying at Joanna's." He admitted as he tried to put on a hoodie, but he visibly struggled which caused Jenson to reach out and help him.
"But she isn't home?" Jenson wanted to know as Lewis faced him again after getting his head through the piece of clothing.
"Nah, but she and Max are a thing or where a thing, I'm not sure. The point is, we need to drive to Joanna's. We deal with Dan and then we have time for your questions, okay?"
"Well, the plot is thickening." Jenson allowed while Lewis led them towards the elevator after looking his home after the older Brit. Looking up at him, the younger one snorted.
"Please, don't ever say that again," Lewis muttered, but all Jenson did was smile brightly at him an excited look on his face as the elevator doors closed in front of them.
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About twenty minutes later a completely done looking Max Verstappen opened the door for Lewis, who smiled apologizing, and a Jenson, who just looked confused.
"If you're not here to murder Daniel, I have no use for you." The Dutchman muttered darkly, before walking back into the apartment, but at least the door was wide open for the two Brits to enter as well. Sharing a glance between the two of them, they knew they entered this battlefield at their own risk.
"Easy now. We will take care of it together now." Lewis tried to ensure Max, as they saw the Dutchman again. He was standing in the middle of the living room, looking towards the kitchen, which meant he didn't see the two Brits behind him.
"Shift change. Make sure he doesn't die, I'm going to bed. I can't do this anymore." Max muttered under his breath, before turning around on his heel, patting Lewis on his shoulder, and vanishing in the bedroom without another word and yet again Lewis and Jenson shared a look before they walked further into the living room where they had a perfect few to the kitchen.
In front of the freezer, Daniel lay on the floor, with his face in a molten ben and jerry's without a shirt and what looked like some weeds from a garden and a huge amount of dirt which seemed to be everywhere.
"Do you think he did this to himself?" Jenson questioned while leaning his head to the side, which caused Lewis to roll his eyes, before bending down next to Dan's head as good as he could, to shove his face away from the molten ice.
"I'm actually surprised that the unicore floaty is nowhere to be seen." Jenson joked as he kneeled down next to Daniel only to move him around so he was now resting on his back.
"Knowing Max, he might have stabbed it to death with a pair of scissors," Lewis replied, which caused Jenson to snort before he lifted Daniel into his arms and carried him to where he knew was the second bedroom on the ground floor with the attached bathroom.
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It felt like the longest day in his life. Watching Jenson as he tried his best to bathe a barely conscious Daniel was funny and sad at the same time, Cleaning the kitchen took ages, and as dinner time came around and Max still hadn't left the bedroom, Lewis decided to order some pizza for all of them.
The two Brits and the Aussie were almost finished with dinner as Max finally left the bedroom again. Lewis swore it was the smell of pizza and not the prospect of their company, but he understood. Watching Max eat quietly for a little bit Jenson shared a look with Lewis before he asked the question what he had come here for.
"Where is Joanna?" He wanted to know, which caused Max to answer him while still starring at his pizza.
"She's on in a better place. Where people take care of her." The Dutchman muttered which caused Jenson to give Lewis a freaked out look, but the Brit didn't seem fazed.
"Alright. I'm just asking this because I know you dipshits and there is no way I'm staying a moment longer should the answer to my question be yes." Jenson started to speak, which caused Lewis to frown, before telling him to just go on and ask.
"Have you killed Joanna? Is she dead?" He questioned.
"What? No!" Daniel spoke up, for the first time since they were here.
"She's in rehab ... her hip," Max remarked.
"Right," Jenson said with so much disbelieve in his voice, Max wanted to throw his slice of pizza at him.
"That's the truth," Lewis told Jenson this time.
"You might believe that so you can sleep at night, Lewis, but I'm not stupid. As if I believe a bunch of guys who most likely murdered a young woman only to live in her luxury apartment." While Max looked ready to murder Jenson, Daniel only shrugged.
"Well, he's not wrong. I would like to put my hands around her neck and just..." The Aussie said but was fastly stoped by the annoyed Dutchman.
"Dan, do you remember as I said that every emotion is allowed and that we will work on it and figure it out together?" He questioned which caused Daniel to nod.
"Forget that and shut the fuck up," Max added before he got up with his slice of pizza and vanished in the bedroom again. The door closed with a loud bang behind him, causing the remaining men to share worried looks.