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Something Mick Schumacher never expected to see was the girl he was so head over heels for asleep in his arms, but somehow he was lucky enough to have experienced it on multiple occasions. This morning was no different, he woke up with the Switzerland sunshine peering through the curtains of his room with the girl of his dreams sleeping peacefully in his warmth.
For the last month or so being around her felt like a dream come true, every second of the day she was smiling and if she wasn't she was either asleep or pouting at him. They spent time in Monaco, watching football and eating only the best pastries from the best bakery in town, walks by the beach and shopping till they dropped.
After a few weeks, Chanel suggested going to Switzerland, thus leading to her reuniting with Gina and finally being able to thank Michael for the helmet for her birthday. She cuddled Angie like it was her last day on earth, drank Michael into the mud, rode horses with Gina and cooked some traditional German meals with Corinna.
Mick had fallen in love with her all over again, and he quite literally exploded when one day she came home from shopping with his dad holding a small puppy in her arms. Gina, Corinna and Mick were all quick with their questions, so quick it sent Chanel's head spinning and Michael into a fumbled mess.
"Alright alright, calm yourselves." Michael laughs.
"Where did you get her?" Gina asks, stroking the small puppy's fuzzy head.
"Oh Gina, I was walking back to the car when I saw this box hidden under a tree so I put my stuff in the boot and went over to it. This little girl was in there with no food or water or a blanket, she was freezing." Chanel tears up at the thought, cradling the newfound puppy as if her life depended on it.
"We came back to drop off the groceries so we can take him to the vets." Michael informs his family, looking at Mick as if to say 'you take over'.
"I'll go with you, saves time." Mick beams softly, grabbing his coat from the hook as well as his car keys. Chanel followed him back outside and got into his car with a frown on his face, the little puppy opening its eyes and looking at the Monegasque with the sweetest eyes possible.
"Who dares abandon a puppy when it's freezing outside?" Chanel huffs as she wraps the puppy up in a blanket, wanting to keep her warm. Mick looked over at her and for the first time in weeks a frown was on her face and she looked as though she could cry; her heart was pure and sweet like it was made for a candy shop.
"Hey hey, don't cry. At least you're doing something about it." Mick takes hold of her hand and presses a soft kiss to it, moving his thumb back and forth on the back of it to comfort her.
The rest of the car ride was silent aside for the puppy yapping every now and then to get Chanel's attention, which was only being taken away from the animal when Mick would kiss her hand or say something sweet to her.
Thankfully the Vet told Chanel the puppy would be fine just so long as she bottle-fed her milk for a couple of weeks and made sure to keep her warm and active. All of a sudden she'd become the parent to a puppy and had absolutely no idea what to even name her.
She spent the entire car ride home going through a list of names and listening to Mick say either 'yes' or 'no', most of the names being a big no from the German boy. The Bernese Mountain Dog had warmed up significantly by the time they got to the store, with Chanel sending Mick inside to get her a baby bottle and milk for the small puppy.
"You look like a Calliope, so that's what your name is gonna be little one." Chanel smiles as she holds the dog up to her face, nearly bursting into tears when it licks her cheek.
Mick offered to feed her whilst Chanel answered a phone call she was getting, leaving him alone in the car for around 10 minutes before she got back in. She watched him with Calliope for a few moments and felt her heart explode at the sight, the blue-eyed boy looking up at her and smiling cutely.
It had been a few weeks since Chanel found Calliope and the Monegasque was absolutely in love with the little puppy. She'd grown a lot since that day and was now eating puppy food rather than drinking milk, and the little Bernese was best friends with Angie.
It was coming to the end of their break from racing and in two weeks they'd be in Abu Dhabi, one of them clinching the championship whilst the other was left to suffice in P2. It was a shame that they were so close on points, Mick wanted nothing more than to see Chanel succeed but there was always a little part of him telling him that he should win it instead.
Both Mick and Chanel had been rather secretive in the last few days, hiding text messages from each other and leaving the room to answer phone calls, yet somehow they failed to realise they were talking to the same person.
Guenther Steiner.
After a fireball crash for Romain Grosjean and poor performance from Kevin Magnussen, the HAAS F1 Team were taking in two rookies for the 2021 F1 season. Chanel had been in talks with Guenther a lot longer than Mick had, and was absolutely certain her seat was secure within the team.
November 15th changed their lives.
Chanel was sitting on the sofa beside Mick and had Calliope sleeping in her lap, the rest of the Schumacher family dotted around the large room watching the race in Brazil. Chanel was already annoyed when she saw that Charles had to retire his car, so when the HAAS announcement had finally been made, it set her anger alight.
'Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin join HAAS F1 Team for the 2021 Formula One season'
Chanel read the title over and over and over again as she tried to process what was going on, not joining in with Mick's family when they stood up to congratulate them. She was livid, Guenther Steiner had told her countless times that she was going to be in that garage next season alongside Mick who was pretty clueless about it up until 2 weeks ago.
Michael looked down at Chanel for a brief second and saw the furrowed eyebrows and confused frown on her face, about to ask her if she was okay until she got up and walked out of the room with tears in her eyes. Mick looked at his dad with confusion and watched Calliope sit at the door waiting for her to come back, but after 20 minutes, she just didn't show up.
"Chanel?" Mick calls softly, wondering where she'd gone. He heard her sniffle from the kitchen, walking into the same room as her with both their dogs following him as if they were going to miss out on something. Gina, Michael and Corinna stayed in the hallway to eavesdrop, wanting to know just why Chanel was so upset.
"I was supposed to get the other seat." Chanel sobs, covering her eyes with her hoodie-clad hands. Mick swallowed the guilt in his throat and felt his heart drop in his stomach at her confession, biting his lip as he wondered whether or not he should tell her what he'd done.
"Guenther said it was mine, and then he goes an announces it and decided 'oh we'll take a Schumacher and that Russian kid who's tried to kill everyone on grid at least once'." She continues, pulling her hands away from her face as she wipes her eyes.
"I think they just needed the money." Mick speaks quietly, looking her dead in the eye as she starts to connect their dots.
Mick had no idea that Chanel was supposed to be his teammate next season, he didn't have a clue who it was and wasn't going to find out until today. He just assumed Chanel had a deal with Alfa Romeo already, so to him he felt as though the Haas seat was off-limits for her.
Therefore, Mick had been slowly convincing Guenther to make Gene Haas take on the URALKALI sponsor to give the team some cash. Taking on the sponsor meant they'd have to take on Nikita, given his father owned the company, meaning the F2 driver gained an unfair advantage in the sport.
"You convinced them to take the sponsor?" Chanel looks at him with a straight face and anger fueling her thoughts.
"Chanel I- I didn't know you were going to be my teammate, I just told them it was a small sacrifice for them to make to get them some extra cash you know?" Mick lies, trying to reason with her, feeling sick to the stomach.
"Oh my god."
Mick felt his heart shatter at the way she just burst into tears, and this time it was because of something he did. Michael was on the verge of walking into the kitchen to give his son a piece of his mind, but unfortunately, Corinna stopped him before he could get in there.
"Chanel I swear I didn't know that you were going to be my teammate, I wouldn't ever dream of doing that to you." Mick attempts to justify himself by lying again, hoping she didn't hate him.
"Taking me out of this for a second, did you not just let them give an unfair advantage to a driver in F2 who does nothing but argue and spin on track?! I lost my seat because of money, Mick, that's disgusting, and the fact you encouraged it is truly awful." She shouts back at him, not afraid to let her emotions get to her.
"I have done nothing but lose out on seats or opportunities to pay drivers and stupid boys my whole life, my last name did absolutely nothing for me until Charles became a Ferrari driver last year. You've been handed everything on a silver plate your entire life because your last name is possibly the most famous in the history of the sport." Chanel cries, pushing her hair out of her face as it was starting to frustrate her.
"Alright fine! I did tell him to get the money over you, but in my defence, I thought you would be happy not being in a 'shit' team like Haas anyway." Mick finally owns up to his mistake, frustrated and angry at her and himself.
"You're selfish."
His heart dropped again as he looked into her eyes, the soft look of love that was once there now replaced with pure hatred and rage. A look he was so dangerously scared of it actually made him feel sick to finally see it on her face.
"I let you win in Spa, I defend you to every single reporter who talks bad about you, I do nothing but praise you wherever I go and this is the thanks I get? I get my F1 seat taken from me because all you're thinking about is yourself and how the money would benefit you next year, huh?"
"I get that motorsport is a very very selfish sport, but never in my twenty years of life did I think that Mick Schumacher was capable of being that way. Your parents raised you better than that, Mick, and quite frankly, your apologies mean nothing to me right now."
"I let you into my home, I let you see the real me, I let you into my heart like a stupid idiot and I know damn well I should've listened to Charles back in Spa. I'm done with whatever this is, I'm no longer going to jeopardise my career for you when you've already screwed half of it up." Chanel scoffs, shaking her head at her stupidity.
"I'll see you in Abu Dhabi, and don't think I'm gonna go easy on you. You got the seat, I'm getting the championship. Whatever it takes."
And with that, Chanel left the kitchen with her dog perched on her chest, holding her with one hand whilst she phoned Charles on the other. She threw all of her stuff into her suitcase and listened to Michael shout at his son downstairs with no emotion whatsoever, talking to her brother in her mother's tongue.
She didn't know how she got to the airport, she remembered Gina dragging her out of the house but her mind was too numb to process anything. Thankfully her flight was only an hour-long, arriving back in her home country felt nothing like it did when Mick was here.
Arthur was waiting for her in the airport with Charles waiting outside in the car, her twin brother watching the way she walked over and immediately burst into tears the second he wrapped his arms around her. It was moments like these that Arthur missed, when she would need him for comfort, but that didn't matter right now, right now he was dealing with his heartbroken sister.
"I have a right to call him and give him a piece of my mind." Charles huffs.
"At least I have Calliope." Chanel hums as she introduced the hyperactive puppy to her brothers, both of them cooing over the little one. Enzo soon joined them in the living room with Pascale and smiled at their new furry friend, Chanel's phone ringing over and over and over until she eventually got sick of it and turned it off.
Arthur shuffled to her side and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pressing a kiss to the side of her head in hopes he was comforting her. His thoughts were confirmed when she lay down on the floor and rested her head in his lap, shutting her eyes to ignore the world for a while.
"Don't give up Coco, there's still a few teams looking for a rookie, and I'm sure Alfa Romeo would love another Leclerc on their hands." Charles taps her leg, only getting a nod in response.
Arthur had occupied his time playing with the ends of her hair whilst everyone else had a conversation about Calliope and how adorable she was. Chanel was practically asleep the second she shut her eyes, so Charles carried her to bed and tucked her up so she was warm.
"Bonne nuit, mon petit."
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