Valeria was lying down on the sofa, her head resting on Seb's lap. He had been quiet since they had got back, Valeria couldn't really fault him, he was angry. She received a notification from twitter, with part of her job being to keep an eye on Charles' socials as he still did them himself.
She read the tweet he just posted and sighed loudly. Charles had mentioned something about wishing the second car would be higher up and the fans were all chipping in. Some calling Seb old and done, some questioning Charles' choice of words, calling Seb the second car and some asking him why he didn't follow orders.
'for fucks sakes Charles' she exhaled. 'amore, I'll be right back.' She quickly kissed Seb, who was looking at her confused.
Valeria walked out of the room and knocked on Charles' door.
'vale?' he asked surprised. 'what's up?'
'You might wanna delete your last tweet, mate' she told him, getting in the room.
'Why?' his eyes widening.
'you can't call Sebastian the second car, people are going to jump at that shit. Also, not after the shambles of q3, people are trying to find a way to blame us for everyone not setting a lap time. Did you not hear Lewis?' she asked, gesticulating.
'are you sure you're not asking for a personal reason?' Charles blurted out.
'How fucking dare you? I have your interests in mind. You're young, these people are going to eat you alive'
'that ring says otherwise.'
'don't... you... i can't believe what I'm hearing. Mr . Leclerc, I know what people are calling you the predestinato and all of that. Don't let it get to your head. And don't fucking question my morals. I'm here to do a job. But you know what? Tweet whatever the fuck you want. I'll quit, so you don't have to be worried about my bias anymore.' She walked out of the room and just broke down in tears in the corridor. She had had enough.
'Kleine?' Seb's voice came from the end of the corridor. 'Valeria?' he was getting closer. 'Schatzi, what's up? Why are you crying?'
'I'm done. I'm utterly and absolutely done. I might as well pack my shit up and go back to Rome tomorrow. I'll find a job that's less awful to my mental health.'
'Don't be silly, come back to the room, let's talk.' Seb offered her his hand. She slowly got up, angrily wiping off her tears with her hand. 'oh not this as well' she huffed, as she spotted Nico Rosberg going back to his room.
'Newbie, are you ok?' he asked. He actually looked and sounded worried.
'yeah, yeah. I'm all good.' She tried to smile.
'You don't look it. Was ist los, Seb?'
'Ich weiß es nicht' Seb replied. 'What's going on, Schatzi?' he asked her again, his voice down to a whisper.
'Guys, come in the room. There's a few too many people that can see us in the corridor' he openwd the door and let them in.
'thanks, Nico' Seb told him. He made Valeria sit on a chair as Nico passed her a bottle of water.
Valeria had managed to compose herself again, sipping slowly from the bottle.
'this is gonna start some rumours' she finally said, trying to lighten up the mood.
'wanna tell me what happened? All I know you said Charles' name and then disappeared'
'was it the tweet?' Nico asked. 'he's deleted it now, but i have seen it.'
Valeria explained to the two men what had happened and what Charles had told her.
'he, of course, made the allegation that I was bringing forward personal issues more than team ones. When I said I was caring for his interests, he said that my ring says otherwise' she stopped. She realised Nico had no idea about the engagement. She could see his eyes lingering on her left hand for a moment, but he chose to say nothing. 'and you know what? I'm done. I'm tired of all the shit people say about Seb or even myself online, I'm tired of keeping a straight face when biased "journalists" ask me probing questions. I don't have enough fucks left to give, or maybe I just don't have the strength for it.' She concluded.
'Mind if I say something?' Nico asked Seb. He shook his head.
'Valeria, you are one of the most interesting people I have the pleasure to talk to every race weekend and you're a change from Ferrari's old people, the plain ones, the monotones. You understand people will always try and probe you. If it weren't Seb, you would have had the questions about Ricciardo, or even Charles himself. People like to create a story. But I get it, it's too much sometimes. Sleep on it, if you feel the same tomorrow, then you can take an informed decision.'
Valeria nodded. He was right. Hell, she never expected to have two World Champions sit with her crying giving her advice. 'Danke schön' she told him.
'anytime. And congratulations. You guys are a match made in heaven' he added, making them both smile. 'your secret is safe with me' he told them. The couple thanked him and walked out go the room.
They walked back to their room, Valeria quickly changed into her pyjamas and threw herself in the bed. Seb joined them not long after, he wrapped his body around her back and kissed her neck. 'you know that I love you, right?'
Valeria turned around to look at him. She smiled and nodded, getting lost in his eyes again. 'and you know you can talk to me all the time, about anything, right?' she nodded again.
'I'm sorry I exploded tonight, I've been trying to not bother you with stuff, you have more important things to think about'
'No, I don't. You're the most important thing' he corrected her, squeezing her tight. 'I love you'
'I love you too' she whispered into his chest.
Sunday
'you look like death' Simone greeted her, once Valeria met him and her parents in the paddock.
'Yeah, it's been a long night' she sighed.
'Eww! I don't need to know that!' her dad replied.
'no, dad, not that!' she managed to smile 'I had an issue with Charles, but it'll be fine. Work stuff, not too important. I'm grabbing a coffee and I need to go to some meetings, but I'll see you in the garage for lights out.' She kissed them on the cheek.
'Vale, wait' her mum said. 'are you sure you're OK, baby?' she asked her, putting a strand of her hair behind her ear like she had done so many times when she was a child.
'Yeah, mum, I'll be alright. I promise' she reassured her. 'thank you for worrying'
'I'll never stop worrying. Go now, I'll go find my Mclaren friends!' she joked.
Valeria walked off shaking her head. Her mum was different but in the best way possible.
'it's lights out and away we go' every person with a Ferrari shirt on was on edge. Everyone in the garage was a bunch of nerves,as they watched Charles leading the first few laps of the race with the Mercedes behind him.
At one point, the camera panned out to Seb's Ferrari in the gravel.
'No no no no' Valeria whispered, looking up. She watched as he re joined the circuit, hitting Stroll. 'oh, this is going to be a penalty' she told Pietro. 'damn it' she found her face in the screen and tried to go back to her poker face.
Seb was, indeed, awarded a 10 second penalty and ended up finishing the race in p16. Charles, however, had managed to grab his second win, even with a couple of warnings from race control for his defensive driving against Lewis.
Valeria walked to the podium with the rest of the team, even if she felt like she has nothing to celebrate. She hadn't spoken to Charles since the night before except for work related stuff.
'newbie, alright?' Nico asked her after the celebrations.
'how can I complain? Winning at home' she smiled.
'you know what I mean' he told her.
'You haven't got rid of me, yet, if that's what you want to hear'
'Good. Now, back to work! Live in 3... 2... Valeria, Ferrari must be in mixed feelings again'
'absolutely. Winning here is a such an emotional moment for all of us. I can't even begin to imagine what's going on in Charles' head at the moment, but hearing the crowd... goosebumps! Of course, we would have liked to see Sebastian up there too, but as he said he took himself out early on.'
'Thank you, enjoy the celebrations' he told her. Valeria spotted SkySport behind him so she stopped.
'Valeria, what a day, uh?' Federica asked her.
'absolutely. Absolutely deserved for Charles, it's been a long couple of weeks for someone as young as he is and he deserves to celebrate.'
'what about Sebastian? What is going on with him?'
'He made a mistake and took himself out for contention for a podium, I think nobody is as annoyed about it as he is'
'thank you'
Valeria walked back to the garage, as she had been told on the radio they were going to take a team picture before dismantling the garage. She put herself as far back as possible and smiled to the camera. She watched as Seb did what he needed to do and started walking away. You could see the disappointment in his eyes. Valeria was about to follow him when she felt a hand on her arm. She turned around to see Charles.
'congratulations, Mr. Leclerc.' She said. 'can I help you in any way? Any PR issues?'
'Vale, please. Can I talk to you?'
'Sure.' She followed him into his driver room.
'I'm sorry'he said, after a while. 'you are right. I have been a bit big headed lately and I needed someone to tell me loud and clear. Please, I know this is like.. the third time. But accept my apology. And please don't quit, I love having you around.'
'Charles, I was so close to quitting. I was almost ready to call Mattia there and then and tell him to find someone else to deal with it. And it's not just you, it's everyone else as well. But it hurts more coming from you. I've known you since you were three. I have dealt with bloodied knees, falls, karts, victories, losses... loss... and that's why it hurts more when you are the one saying certain things.'
'I'm really sorry. I promise I'll work on my attitude.'
'I accept your apology but let's make this the last one.'