Crash

Barcelona

By the time Penelope's plane touched down in Barcelona on Thursday morning, she was so exhausted that she could barely keep her eyes open. Over the course of the week, she'd been plagued by the same dream every time she closed her eyes. If she ever did sleep, she'd awake an hour later, screaming until her lungs ached, crying and gasping for air until she could calm herself down. Jane had stayed with her all week, but she wasn't hard to fool. She had no idea that Penelope was up all night, avoiding sleep by any means necessary.

Fortunately, the promise of being reunited with Charles was enough to wake her up. "Hola!" she called as she opened the door to their hotel suite, shoving her suitcase inside. Charles looked up as she walked in, a broad smile on his face as he stood from the table to greet her.

"I missed you," he told her as they hugged, kissing her lightly. "Flight was okay?"

"Si, si, it was fine. I missed you too. Are you happy to be in Spain?"

Charles grinned as he kissed her again, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Si. Especially now that you're here."

"A little Spanish, too? You impress me everyday, Leclerc."

"I try. I was thinking, once you've gotten some sleep, you could come with me to the track and then when I'm done with meetings we could go into the city?"

Penelope kissed the tip of his nose, full of excitement. "Sounds amazing. Give me fifteen minutes to change and then-"

"Penelope," Charles chided, his eyes stern. "You've been travelling all day. Sleep, come on. You have time."

She shook her head, trying to be convincing. "I slept on the plane. I'm good, honestly. Think about it, we can do track walk, you can go to your meeting, we can film that video that Mattia has been begging me to do for the past month. Then, we can go for dinner in the city, I'll teach you a little Spanish..."

"But-"

"Nope! Listen, I'm going either way, so either you join me or I guess I'll go on my own."

Charles breathed a frustrated sigh, but he nodded. Penelope kissed him before scurrying off to get ready (which, to no one's surprise, took an hour rather than fifteen minutes). Finally, wearing red cargos and a white mesh top, she dragged Charles out of the door and off to the racetrack. 

Despite only being Thursday, it was already insanely busy. There were Ferrari fans and flags everywhere, out in force to support the team for Carlos's home race. When she and Charles climbed out of his Ferrari, they were immediately met with a wave of cheering as people clambered for autographs and pictures. Charles simply took Penelope's hand and started making his way through, signing the occasional hat and smiling for pictures as they went. The entire way, there wasn't one moment where he let go of her hand. It was like he was proud to be showing her off, like he wanted the world to see that they were together. Every so often, he'd just turn and smile at her, like there was no where else he'd rather be. 

By the time they made it to the paddock, they found Carlos and one of Charles's driver friends Lando chatting outside. Already, Penelope could tell that Charles's teammate was buzzing with excitement. Home races were important to the drivers, but they were also fun. There was a general buzz of anticipation in the air that she hadn't felt at a race before - almost like an expectation of greatness. If there was anywhere you wanted to succeed, it was your home race, surrounded by your friends and family in a place that you love. 

"Hello mate," Carlos said, his voice spritely as he clapped Charles on the shoulder. "Hello Penelope! Good to see you."

Penelope gave him a fist bump, Charles's arm resting loosely around her shoulders. "Hola Carlos. ¿Estás emocionado de estar compitiendo en casa?"