I can do it with a broken heart (Lando Norris)

27. Who's Afraid Of Little Old Me?

I was tame I was gentle 'til the circus life made me mean
Don't you worry folks we took out all her teeth
Who's afraid of little old me?
Well you should be
'Cause you lured me
And you hurt me
And you taught me

"Are you feeling a bit better about it all now?" Lando asked. The two of them had walked back to their room after saying goodbye to Charlotte. She'd taken his hand but not gripping onto it like it was a lifeline as she had on the way there.

"Yeah uh... I think so." She mumbled, curling into his side as she climbed into bed beside him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her against his chest. "Thank you, for being here. If you hadn't made me get on the plane and come here...I don't know what I would've done."

"I'm really glad you're here. We'll get through this." He said softly, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head. "I love you, Hannah, I meant it when I said I'll always be here."

It probably wasn't the right time to be saying this, but he wasn't sure if there was ever going to be a right time for the two of them.

"I know." She smiled, turning to look at him. She reached a hand up, running through his curls before pulling his lips down to meet hers. "I love you too, and I want to be with you if you can put up with the fact that I am an absolute mess and I can't promise it's going to get any better any time soon."

She could feel him smiling against her lips as he kissed her back. "You do realise I was just going to follow you on the tour once the season ends whether you invited me or not." He laughed.

"You're invited. I promise." She smiled. It was a flood of relief to know that she'd at least have him by her side for support.

She couldn't imagine doing it without him.

****

"You sure you want to do this?" He asked again the next morning, watching as she dashed around the room getting ready.

"Charlotte said not to hide, right?" She reminded him. "And I want to be able to come and cheer you on for the race. Think of this as my practice run."

She was not sure at all, but she was trying to convince herself she wasn't freaking out about going out in public. Seeing Lando so jittery about it wasn't helping her attempt to stay calm.

"Okay." He agreed. He wanted her there, he just didn't want her to feel she had to do it for him. "Lily is here with Oscar, I'm sure she'll keep you company while we do the boring bit."

"She's the blonde one, right? Australian?" Hannah asked, rearranging her hair in the mirror, she could vaguely remember meeting her at the premiere.

She still looked rough, she'd slept for a couple of hours the night before. It was a vast improvement but the dark circles around her eyes that no amount of makeup could correct still gave her away.

"That's her." Lando nodded. "She's nice." He was praying she wouldn't object because he didn't think he could concentrate if he had to leave her in the paddock alone.

"Sounds good." Hannah nodded, putting on her shoes. "Let's go."

****

The two of them had walked to the garage hand in hand, Lando unable to keep the smile off his face at having her back by his side. Hannah had been a bit more cautious. Hat and sunglasses firmly in place to cover her face and she'd dropped his hand and disappeared out of shot as the McLaren cameras had turned to him, only returning when they were finished filming.