"So why are the drivers friendships kept a secret?"
"Because its nice to have something we can keep to ourselves - away from the media."
Charles nods in understanding, humming in agreement with Emilia as she smiled down at him.
Straight after qualifying had ended, media had been done and the debriefs gone through. The drivers had headed back to the hotel, messaging on their secret group chat about another outing later that evening - but not too late of course.
They did have a race to drive in the next day.
Charles had left the paddock with Emilia, having sought her out after qualifying with a happy smile. So the two now sat on the mattress of Emilia's bed in her hotel room, the Brazilian leant back against the pillows and the headboard whilst Charles lay across the mattress, legs hanging off the edge of the bed and head resting in Emilia's lap.
Both of them tried to forget about how Jules used to sit next to Emilia with Charles' legs placed over his lap.
"So, not only are all the drivers really good friends. But you all spend loads of time together outside of race weekends, have a group chat, get drunk in clubs all the time and go on secret outings at night that your bosses don't know about?" He asks.
"To sum it all up , yeah." Emilia laughs.
"I did not expect that when I signed my contract."
"Not many people do, its always funny to see how people react to it."
"Oh, and I forgot to mention the communal motorhome and hidden areas of the paddock."
"Those too, yeah."
Charles laughs, looking up at the woman he saw as a sister as she brushed his hair back from his face. Emilia didn't care that he was turning 21 that year, to her, Charles would always be that hyperactive, extroverted 14 year old that she met back in 2012.
He would always be her little brother.
"You know, Jules told me a lot about the paddock."
"I know." Emilia's smiles softly. "He talked about you a lot."
"He did?" Charles asks, eyes lighting up.
"Mhm." Emilia hums. "Whenever he could."
"Do you miss him, Emmy?" Charles' voice became quiet as he asked the question.
Emilia let out a breath, leaning her head back against the headboard behind her as she felt Charles' gaze flicker onto her face. She ended up smiling and lifting her head again so that she was able to look down at him once more.
"Everyday."
"I think he would be proud of you."
"Really? Why?"
"Because your amazing." Charles says happily. "You defy every single odd that gets placed against you."
"Yeah?" Emilia asks, running her fingers through his hair again causing him to close his eyes.
"Yeah." Charles breathes out. "And you take care of me at the same time."
"Hey, someone has to keep you in check right?" She laughs.
"And I'm glad that its you." Charles opens his eyes.
Emilia tilts her head, smiling a warm smile down at the Sauber driver who smiled one back in return.
"Yeah well, I wouldn't want anyone else taking care of my little brother anyways."
Emilia wasn't one for sappy shit. All of that 'I love you to the moon and back' bullshit was unreal to her. Hearing people talk about destiny and fates colliding just seemed like a bunch of shit that Netflix would put into a tv show to get views off of, or lovesick teenage girls looking to do something with their life just because their crush didn't love them back.
Jules had always said that sappy shit to piss her off.
It had been one of the many reasons she'd loved him so much
So, whilst Emilia didn't believe in destiny and all that crap. She did believe in finding a second family.
Blood was thicker than water, but blood didn't mean everything.
And if she had to be sappy with Charles to let him know that she saw him as her little brother because he was like one of those lovesick teenage girls whose crush didn't love them back, then only on that one occasion would she do it.
Other than the time she was sappy with Jules - but that was a story for another day...
And after her comment about him being her little brother, seeing Charles smile the way he did. The way he jumped from his position to hug her instead, burying his head into the crook of her neck.
To Emilia, it was all worth it.
"So the gatherings in the secret areas of the paddock and the late night outings happen all the time?"
"Not all the time, only some of the time." Emilia responds as Charles lays back in his original position. "We have 'spots' at every circuit."
"Is it true that security found you all playing football on the track at 1 in the morning down at Paul Ricard?" Charles asks with a grin.
"Depends what year your asking about." Emilia says.
"2013, Jules told me about it."
"Yeah. That's true." Emilia replies.
"On a race day?"
"No, it was a Thursday actually. We didn't realise how long we'd been out there for."
Charles chuckles causing Emilia to laugh before she leant her head back against the headboard as a silence fell over them.
"Was it fun back then?" He asks softly.
"What? Outside of racing?" Charles nods his head. "It was so much fun."
"Why did it stop then? I remember when you used to come back to Monaco between races instead of staying like you used to do."
"Nico and Lewis couldn't be around each other so the grid became divided." Emilia sighs.
"Like Seb and Mark?" Charles asks.
"Seb and Mark was only ever a rivalry on track until 2014." Emilia mutters. "Even then, they could stand to be around each other in a big group of people. Lewis and Nico couldn't whatsoever."
Their little moment was interrupted by a knock at the door, Charles jumped up and opened it as Emilia climbed off of the bed and slipped her shoes on, laughing at the ecstaticness of Charles who was beckoning her to hurry up.
When she left the room, she was greeted with the smiling face of Daniel.
"Did you like my secret knock?" He asks.
"Takes me back to when we brought you to your first secret outing." She laughs.
"That was ages ago!" Dance gasps.
"Come on!" Charles whines, tugging Emilia's arm.
"Were coming!" She laughs. "Don't wake anyone!"
So Emilia fell into step with Charles who was pulling her down towards the hotel lobby whilst Daniel continued to knock on doors. This time, they were being joined by the other teams since they had not joined the time before.
How 20 F1 drivers were going to get out of the hotel quietly was a whole other story.
"Are we bringing back the secret knock?" Emilia grins, walking towards the gathering of drivers.
"Is it bring your little brother to work day?" Sebastian teases.
"Shut the fuck up Sebastian." Emilia sighs.
The German laughs as she approaches, leaving Charles to be hit by Pierre who rushed down calling out for his best friend only to be scolded by the other drivers because he would wake up the team principals if they weren't careful.
Fernando, Kimi, Lewis and Kevin were the last to show their faces with Daniel running behind them.
"Christian saw me!" The Aussie whisper-shouts.
"Of course he did." Emilia whisper-shouts back.
Daniel gave her a deadpan look before ushering her out of the lobby with his hands.
"Go! Go! Go!" Lewis says, gesturing for everyone to start running.
And run they did.
Daniel grabbed Emilia's hand and pulled her along with him to the front of the group. The two of them being the first to rush out of the back doors of the hotel with the rest behind them - Sebastian and Kimi making up the back of the group so that no stragglers were left behind.
Today was not going to be the day the team principals discovered the years of sneaking out every weekend that their drivers did.
They ran past the fence they had jumped over before and down the hill to the side of it. Laughter echoing through the air as they got far enough away from the hotel but still didn't stop running because they were all having to much fun.
Even Kimi was enjoying himself.
Coming to a stop at a wooden gate, Daniel climbed over first before giving Emilia a hand as she climbed over. Once she was down safely the other drivers followed, with the Brazilian and Australian helping them all over.
"Be careful!" Emilia says to Pierre.
"I'm always careful." The Frenchman grins.
"Yes but if you get injured I will not be the one explaining how and why you can't race tomorrow."
"Oh."
"Mhm."
Pierre jumped down and waited for Charles before Kimi and Sebastian climbed over. Making sure that no one was left on the other side of the gate, they continued on their journey, walking this time. Emilia was hand in hand with Daniel to the side of the pack, singing their linked arms up and down in between them.
Emilia smiled in contentment as they walked, looking around her at the people who had become her second family. Hearing all the languages being spoken and the accents that flew around filtered in between everyone's laughter.
Everything was perfect.
Everyone was happy.
Their were no rivalries dividing the group of friends.
Emilia was content.