A/N: Another chapter and it's RAWE CEEK!!! That has had me cackling for the last few days on the internet.
Any good predictions? Who do we think was sandbagging? Who is over confident? Will Charles be betrayed by his own team again this year? Will Max win 8 championships back to back and then drive off into the sunset when his contract is up in 2028? Is the 210 points rumor true?
I don't know, but I am sad that Daniel is not there for the comfy couch press conferences. :(
Thank you for reading and let me know what you think with a comment or vote! Cheers!
🖤🖤🖤
Maeve
Max's homecoming made me cry to say the least. They took it as a good sign and released the three of us to take the day off before the team party and the weekend in the sim. Max went to his flat to get some shut eye and alone time, but Daniel came back to mine. He tried to cook dinner for us, but I was thankfully out of food given the fact that I hadn't been in my own home for a few months for a substantial amount of time.
After giving up on his attempt to filter through the crackers and half empty protein powder jars I had, he ordered Chinese take out. To repay our last visit to his flat in London, I pulled out all of my blankets and bundled us both up in a makeshift bed on the floor of my living room. We watched some TV before going to bed to be ready for the next day.
Since my flat is much closer than his to the factory, we were able to go into the office for some sim time before splitting up to be ready for dinner tonight. He had to run back to his flat before dinner to get his outfit for the night. Imagine my surprise when there was a dress bag hanging off the door frame of my coat closet next to my front door when I made it home after leaving. It had a simple note attached.
It would look beautiful with your docs.... and on the floor later. ;)
That meant it was from Daniel and I couldn't help but smile. I was quick to bring the bag into my room and pull it out of the bag. The dress was beige and came down to my upper thighs, with full sleeves and a turtle neck with a cut out in the chest area. It probably wasn't the most appropriate for a team dinner, but I didn't really care. Daniel was right that it would look good with my docs, but I went farther to pair it with black tights. It was cute and staring at myself in the mirror I felt like it was perfect. To counteract the less fancy nature of the dress, I took out all of my piercings and did my makeup with a very light smokey eye and a light pink lip to match the dress.
The team sent a car to pick me up and for once, it was for me alone. The short drive gave me a few minutes to think alone for the first time in a while. I realized that I needed to give Steven some information and get the ball rolling on next year. The very idea that I could be in the top team next year and driving on my own brought tears to my eyes. One I quickly dabbed away at risk of ruining my makeup. I didn't know what was wrong with me that driving suddenly became so important that I was crying tears of joy over the idea of being able to continue doing it.
I took it as a sign that I was doing the right thing. That made me even happier as I sent off a text to Steven letting him know that he could contact Toto and Mercedes on my behalf to begin working on contract negotiations for next year. Steven seemed surprised, given that we had just signed him on full time and I'm sure he had already started working with Christian on my contract for next year. I assured him that while that would be the easier decision, this would be the best for me. In return, as I was pulling up to the factory, he asked what I wanted from the contract. It was an easy list, good pay, my two years with an option, and anything he thinks I should have.
Done.
That was all he sent back, making me smile as the car door opened for me. I stepped out and was greeted by a member of the staff that walked me into our factory where people were milling about before we were to be escorted outside. The weather was actually nice for once, making it easy for the team to host a dinner outside for the first time since I had been here. For now, I was left to my own devices and that meant a glass of champagne as I waited for my boyfriend and his trainer to arrive.
"Evening, Madam. Taking it easy on the poor champagne I hope." I chuckled as Max walked up next to me alone.
"I was hoping not to given the decisions I'm making behind the scenes," I referenced my current predicament," I could only hope they'd just give me the whole bottle." He shook his head before sipping at his own wine glass.
"Oh no, we reserve that luxury for podiums. You should know that by now seeing as you've had so many of them to enjoy..." I gave him a smile as I wrapped my arm around his waist.
"You're not wrong. Hoping for more top steps by the end of the year of course." He nodded.
"We all are," His eyes swept the room of our peers who were also engaged in small conversations like ours. All dressed to the nines given the elegance of the evening," Until I kick your ass next year." That made me laugh loudly.
"Not a chance Max." It was then that a hand found my shoulder.
"Propositioning your teammate? Seems a bit weird...." Daniel's thick accent cut through the air, making us all laugh as he stepped next to me with Michael stepping up on my other side.
"You'd be one to know." Max mumbled as he sipped his champagne, making Daniel chuckle and Michael sigh.
"Oh boy, now that he knows I get to hear more sly comments about your sex life." Michael whispered amongst us.
"No sly comments, I'd surely hope that Daniel brags about how good I am." I followed up cheerily, making Daniel choke on his champagne and Michael shake his head.
"First the pole dancing and now this? Can you guys at least wait until the alcohol kicks in before talking about this stuff?" Max groaned, but now Michael looked at the recovering Daniel and I.
"Pole dancing? Did I miss something?" I shrugged, sipping from my glass again as I looked away from him.
"Nope, I sure did though. Not for long..." I smacked Daniel's shoulder, making him laugh.
"You are insufferable sometimes. Let's talk about something other than my sex life please." I sipped my champagne.
"Quite the conversation to step in on," Christian appeared next to Michael, making my choke on my drink," Hope I wasn't interrupting." The boys all awkwardly stared at me as I tried to clear my airway. Daniel was nice enough to pat my back and try to help.
"Just Maeve putting her foot in her mouth," Max finally continued for me," It's nice that we'll be able to enjoy dinner outside. Was that the original plan?" Christian chortled.
"No, but when the weather looked good we figured why not. We are very happy to have you back Max. Michael, please make sure these three don't break anything. It's hard enough to have them in the same room without having to play clean up." He tipped his glass at the older physio.
"I can't be held responsible for their actions. Remember, you're the one that hired all three of them together." Michael fired back, making us all laugh.
"Well. I suppose you're right." Christian shook his head before turning his attention fully back to me.
"Maeve, Did I hear that you hired a full time manager?" I cleared my throat.
"Yes, Steven. I believe he's reached out already?" Christian nodded.
"Yes, I'm very pleased that he has. We would love to have you if you'd like to stay." He didn't even look at Daniel as he spoke, but made sure to look at Max. Michael had purposefully retreated as he spoke, knowing what was coming. It infuriated me. The man in front of me had given me my start in this industry, but I didn't even recognize him anymore with the way he was treating his driver.
"I do have some offers on the table, but I can assure you that Steven is diligently filtering through all of the options in front of us to find the one best suited for me." A sickly sweet smile came to my face, one he either chose not to react to or wanted to ignore I'm not sure. He just smiled and nodded.
"I look forward to discussions. Let's enjoy tonight and get back to work in the morning." With that he left and Max was the one that reached out and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
"Take it easy on him. Daniel leaving us was a big surprise." I rolled my eyes and threw the glass back, finishing the golden liquid within.
"No it wasn't. I know he told you and Christian doesn't treat him right. He should know better than to buddy up with me of all people. Especially with my best friend that he's treating that way standing right next to me..." Daniel placed a hand on my arm.
"Remember that we're still at work and work here until the end of the season." He said it through barely moving lips, knowing that anyone could be listening around us.
"Wait, you're really leaving too? Renault as well?" Max knew that I was leaving. That fact had come out during our little fight. I had forgotten to tell him in the middle of his issues with Daniel and I who I was going to be racing with though.
Looking at Daniel for assistance, He just sighed. He gave me a look that I read well and I know that I had to discuss this with Max.
"Let's take a walk outside real quick." I turned to Max. Daniel patted my shoulder before going off, most likely to find Michael.
Max didn't say anything, walking next to me as we walked out of the side door where the smoking section was despite neither of us partaking.
"You're actually leaving? They don't even have a driver opening. I thought you didn't want to go back to engineering?" I shook my head, looking around at the few people that were outside. None of them were close enough to the far corner we buried ourselves in to hear us, but I didn't recognize them. That means that any of them could tattle if we weren't careful.
"Well, I wasn't at first. Max, he doesn't treat us the same way he treats you. You have to see that?" It sounded like a question despite it meaning to be a statement. He seemed to understand, sighing as he looked out at the area where dinner would be served shortly.
"I'm aware, but I didn't think it was bad enough for you to leave. What team would you even go to? You're punishing yourself if you leave. There aren't any other vacant spots at the top teams." I bit my lip.
"Bottas is retiring at the end of the season..." He didn't react at first. Instead he looked around before stepping slightly closer to me.
"Mercedes? Are you fucking kidding Maeve?" he whispered, making me step back from the pure disbelief in his voice.
"It's not for sure yet," I clasped my hands together, desperately wishing that there was a drink held in them for me at the moment," Toto came to me personally though. He assured me things that I wasn't guaranteed here. If I'm driving, I'm driving. I'm not pulling double duty anymore or going out of my way to cover for other people. Isn't that what you'd want for you too?" He sighed.
"Yeah, but promise me this isn't you and Daniel leaving me forever? I'm sad enough that I missed out on all this time with my friends and now they're both leaving me? Can you blame me for being upset? It's like I'll never see you two again." I frowned as I stared at him.
"We'll still be around Max, if anything it means we can be together more because we won't all be so busy. Daniel is going to have a lot more free time next year and I don't even know where I'll be yet. Maybe I'll just enjoy being a WAG for a little bit." He laughed loudly.
"You a WAG? You'd die of boredom before you finished a press day." I shrugged.
"Well, I'm in this for life or something like that. I may not have a choice soon." He rolled his eyes.
"Get over yourself. No one is going to let that happen. Daniel sure as hell won't." He sipped his champagne again and I noticed he had some dust on his shoulder.
"Daniel knows better than to interfere," I said as I wiped down his shoulder," We agreed that the decision is mine and mine alone." I told him as I left my hands on his shoulders.
"How adult of him." I raised an eyebrow.
"Says the child of the friend group..." His mouth opened to say something, but I just smirked.
"Don't try it. You're more of a hothead than both of us and you're literally the youngest one. Can't argue with straight facts." I shoved off his shoulders and he stumbled back a bit.
"Yeah yeah, you're worse than my actual sister sometimes." That made me laugh as he nodded back inside.
"I try, Daniel can be blamed for about 70% of it though." Max laughed as we walked back through the doors.
"Oh of course. I'd argue for closer to 90%, but he likes you more than me." We laughed together as we walked back to where we had been only to see everyone heading outside.
Max and I followed the crowd out to our table. Seating had been assigned ahead of time. Unfortunately, that left Daniel, Michael, Max, Pyrita, GP, Simon, and me at a table with Geri and Christian. It meant that we would have to keep quiet about what we had been discussing all night. It was easy to do when Simon and GP only wanted to talk the car with me since I hadn't been in the garage much due to my agreement with Christian. They were filling me in on the upgrades progress and a few things that would be coming for next year. Max was fully engrossed in a conversation with Geri and Christian about his recovery process and when he is anticipated to be in a car again.
I did my best to bring Daniel into the conversation that I was having with the two engineers. He was providing valuable data to us about the car from his side of the garage that had been ignored the last few weeks. Hearing him talk about the car made me happy. It was clear that he had more and wanted to offer more to the team even if he was leaving. Daniel always wanted to see the best in people, but this team didn't care about him right now. They didn't deserve his input, but he was still happy to give it to give them a chance.
In a small gesture to tell him that I knew what he was doing, I placed my hand on his thigh under the table and gave it a brief squeeze. His hand was over mine without even skipping a beat or cutting off his sentence as he spoke to Simon about an issue in slow speed corners. He gave my hand a squeeze and then left it over mine as he spoke. We stayed like that until the host for the evening walked up to the small stage and invited Christian up. For fear of someone seeing, I pulled my hand away and Daniel instead leaned back in his chair, placing his arms across the back of my chair and Michael's.
"Brazen of you to touch me like that in public," He leaned over to say as the host was listing off the accomplishments for the team so far this year," Max would've thought we were doing something inappropriate." I glared at him, knowing anyone could hear.
"Maeve?" I looked up at the stage surprised as christian said my name.
"Would you mind coming up here? Max as well." I looked at Max and then Daniel before Max and I stood to walk up on the stage as we were asked to.
"Max went to hell and back this year and as a team we are behind him and his recovery and are happy to have him here with us tonight and for the remainder of the season until he's able to step back in the car again." Christian Stopped as the mass of tables clapped as Max walked on stage ahead of me. He waved happily to everyone in our team as he settled next to Christian.
"Part of Max's time away required someone to step into his shoes and seat. Maeve, our engineer extraordinaire was happy to do so and preserve our legacy as a top team as we have been since our entrance to the sport. She has produced One win and 6 total podiums in her time as a driver this year, forever cementing her in the history and record books. We have been honored to have her here as part of the team for the last few years." The team clapped happily as I blushed and waved to them.
"For those that don't know, Maeve's birthday is next week while we are in Singapore," My head whipped around to look at Christian and a now smirking Max," We know that she has many friends both in the factory and trackside. So we wanted to celebrate her birthday today." Max nodded and crossed his arms, still smirking at me.
"Oh really, we don't have to." I told Christian and he shook his head.
"No we really should. Max approached me about going in on a gift for you a month ago and once he told me what he wanted to do I wasn't sure I was up for it. Daniel gave us the best idea though." I looked over at Daniel, who looked completely clueless.
"It's not team sanctioned, but it is from your family." Christian looked at Max who nodded and pulled a small box out of his pocket while taking the microphone from Christian.
"You're not allowed to not accept it because it took me too long to hunt down." The crowd laughed at Max's words.
"Some back story. Maeve is a terrible movie watcher," There were a few chuckles at that," Her favorite movies growing up were "Driven" and all the "Fast and The Furious" movies." I scoffed and grabbed the microphone out of his hands.
"Just the first three. Don't put me on the same level as the rest of that Hollywood crap." I handed him back the microphone as he laughed.
"Yes, just the first three. However, she loves her cars and I made fun of her for how she drove when I first met her. Now I make fun of her for being the only driver on the grid without a car period," He smiled at me and handed the box to me," There isn't time to car shop when you're handling my job for me. So I went shopping for you."
I held my hand out for the box, but could only stare at it as the crowd whispered for what it could possibly be. Max said something else that I didn't really hear as I stared at the small black box. A car? He bought me a car? Was he insane? He can't just buy me a car. When would I even drive it? Where would I put it? I don't have parking assigned in my complex right now and I won't even be here for much longer with the way things are looking.
"Maeve, you can open the box. It won't bite." He joked, making me look at him again before I gulped.
"Sorry, this is just... This is too much..." He shook his head.
"It's a drop in the bucket compared to what you've done this year. Open it." Christian coaxed me from behind Max.
I looked between the two before going back to the box in my hands again. My hands shook as I did my best to remove the top from the box. The box lid gave way to a set of keys that I recognized immediately, my eyes going wide before I looked up at Max.
"This is too much!" I yelled at him and Christian, who only smiled back.
"No, it's not. But, it's got something real special about it." I looked back at the key. The Nissan logo prominently displayed, trying to figure out what was so special about this car in particular other than it being the car I wanted even as a kid before I knew what supercars and race cars were.
"That is a key to the screen used R35 Nissan GTR from the fast and furious movies, previously owned by Paul Walker." Christian said matter-of-factly. My jaw dropped and my head whipped around trying to see where it was.
"Come on," Max handed the microphone back to Christian before pointing off the stage," I'll show you." Christian spoke to the team behind Max as I was navigating off the stage. I couldn't hear what he was saying as Max walked me back inside the building and out the front door.
The car had been sitting right at the entrance to the factory the whole time. Gleaming in silver, it looked fresh off the assembly line with a brand new set of racing tires. It brought back memories of my first days working as a mechanic at a high end shop. Someone had brought in a brand new GTR from the same time as this one for a full fluid change and check over. My boss saw me staring at it in awe and changed me to the mechanic for it. I struck up a conversation with the owner after I handed it over to him only to find out he was selling it. I asked out of curiosity what he wanted for it. My heart plummeted into my stomach when he dropped the hundred thousand dollar price tag on me. I knew I'd never actually own one then. As I grew older, I didn't really have the need for a car for various reasons. Now it was because I was driven everywhere off of a racetrack. Looking at the car now though, I wanted to cry even more than I already had today.
"Max... this is... where did you even find this?" I walked up to the car, my hand hovering over it, scared to touch it.
"Well I brought up the idea of getting you a proper car for your birthday to Christian and he agreed so you'd stop randomly asking for a loaner." Max followed behind me as I looked over every inch of the car," He asked what we should get you and I told him to ask Daniel. Daniel said either an R34 or a McLaren 675LT. We can't have you in a McLaren of course." I turned to look at him.
"But how did you find this car? I didn't even know it went up for sale..." He chuckled.
"Christian and Geri found it through a friend of hers. I guess Paul sold it to the guy that supplied all of the cars for the movie right before he passed. Geri reached out through her friend and he was happy to sell it for the right price." I held the key to my chest as I stared at Max.
"This must've cost a fortune...Thank you..." He held his arms open and let me step into them for a hug.
"You're doing so well. I want to say it's unbelievable how much you've accomplished in your first season, but it's not. It's the reward you'd never give yourself." He squeezed me one more time before letting me go.
"Now let's get back inside and eat and then you can drive this home tonight.