Fifth Light (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 33: The Fight

Sebastian followed Casey into the garage and tried to hide his smirk as half the garage looked up to peer at them.

Of course, she'd already faced them all week and wasn't showing any sign of being too phased. He gave her hand one last squeeze before letting go and veering to the right as she continued towards the front of the garage.

He was quickly met by Heikki who passed him a sealed container full of fruit and a bottle of water. Britta soon found him too.

"How is she?" Britta asked quietly with a big smile across her face.

Seb shot her a coy smile, "A little uneasy earlier this morning but fine now I think."

"Ah, well I would be surprised if she hadn't been a little wary."

"I think signing autographs for the fans came as a bit of a shock."

"Well she's got a lot more of that ahead of her!" Britta laughed.

"Oh, by the way, her parents are coming to Germany." Seb said through a mouthful of banana.

"Oh! I'll book an extra set of passes." Britta replied, scribbling in her diary.

Seb watched her with mild interest as she wrote. She had been there for him for years, so efficient and protective that he often forgot to appreciate it.

"What do you want to do in Germany? Are you taking Casey to your family's home?"

Seb nodded thoughtfully, "Yes but not for the whole time. Can we leave those plans till later?"

"Sure. Let me know when you're ready and I'll arrange what you need." she smiled up at him, "You've got an hour until the track walk begins so you'd better finish your food quickly and get changed, Rocky will be waiting."

Seb nodded obediently, snapping into work mode.

"You're on the autograph stage at 11am, then we have a few interviews during the afternoon. I've kept your evening clear though." Britta said, reeling off his schedule for the day.

Seb grinned at the last part, "Thank you."

He looked thoughtful as he stabbed the last piece of fruit with his fork. "Are you being swamped with calls about her?" He asked, looking back up at Britta.

She raised her brow and exhaled, "You have no idea."

Seb snorted and looked back down at his now empty container, "Sorry about that."

---

The pace of the day began to pick up as Seb and Britta navigated the saturated Thursday schedule.

It was gruelling and exhausting, answering so many of the same questions and posing for hundreds of photos. The autograph stage always made his hand hurt by the end.

Sebastian finally found himself at his last interview for he day in a small, but very crowded room where he was made to sit alone at the front on a stool.

Britta stood off to the side, listening carefully and supervising the questioning.

The interviewer began with all of the usual questions about his performance issues this season and the problems the team were facing with the car.

"And if you don't mind can you confirm the news surrounding Red Bull Racing mechanic Casey Larsen?" the interviewer said quickly, breaking the terms of the interview. Britta had made it clear that personal life topics were out of bounds. Though some media personnel would still risk it if they felt it was worth the possible payoff of getting the answer. Seb heard Britta sigh loudly from the sidelines.