FIFTEEN

"Aunt Josie!"

Charles Leclerc smiled as he noticed his favorite aunt walking out of her apartment, a large bag in her grasp which made the brunette boy raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Hey Charlie, are you okay?"

Josephine Rankin beamed as she spotted her nephew and godson, wrapping her arms tightly around his frame in a loving hug, her lips pressing softly against the top of his head.

Her brown hair was loose and hanging down her back, having decided to not tie it up even though there was quite a strong wind that meant that pieces of her hair were blowing in to her eyes and her mouth.

She had some white sneakers upon her feet instead of heels, giving her feet a much needed break from the strain of walking in them, and was dressed comfortably up in a pair of mom jeans and an off the shoulder top which was a shade of light blue, a leather jacket over her shoulders to finish the look off.

"I'm good, I just wanted to see if you would like you join some of us for dinner next week?" Charles asked, wanting to ask the question quickly since he could tell that his aunt was supposed to be somewhere.

That somewhere being at the house of Formula One driver, Daniel Ricciardo, since he had left his apartment to stand outside waiting for her, so he ended up being in clear view of the Monégasque.

"That sounds great, mon chou chou." Josephine smiled with one of the brightest smiles that he had ever seen upon her beautiful face, making him feel like his godfather would be proud of her for making such progress.

She nudged his cheek with her hand lightly, pressing a kiss to his temple which made the Leclerc boy wrap his arms around her once more before finally letting her go.

"I'll let you go and spend some time with Daniel, I can see that he's waiting patiently for you." Charles giggled, his eyebrows wiggling up and down as he noticed her turn around briefly to smile at the Australian.

It was no secret that she had been spending a lot of time now with Daniel, he had helped her heal a lot and accept that Jules was gone, working with her to find ways to move on and live her life the way that Jules would have wanted her to do.

It was difficult but she had Daniel to help her and she would be forever grateful for it and for him.

"If you even try to to tease me, young man, I will forever side with Arthur in your disagreements." The Rankin woman raised one of her eyebrows at the boy, seeing his grin light up his face.

"Okay okay, I'm sorry." Charles grinned, lightly kissing the both of her cheeks. "Go and have fun, I'll come by and visit you later to find out all about it."

Charles quickly ran away from his aunt, laughing as he heard her voice shout after him.

"Don't you dare go and gossip to Pierre or you're grounded!"

Daniel Ricciardo raised an eyebrow in amusement as his Josie walked towards him with a bag in her grasp that he immediately took a hold of, hearing her mutter something underneath her breath as he did so which made the man chuckle.

The pair walked in to his apartment together, laughing at how Charles had almost definitely gone to gossip with Pierre, but that was nothing new and was definitely a regular occurrence.

Her leather jacket was taken off her shoulders by the Ricciardo man as she removed her sneakers, the jacket being gently placed on the coat stand whereas her shoes were just kicked out of the way like they always were.

"Charles is a little shit."

Josephine smiled as she walked comfortably around the apartment of the Formula One driver, hearing Daniel laugh along with her, having obviously agreed with her words.

"I wonder where he gets it from."

Daniel Ricciardo shot her a wink which made her release a loud laugh, his smile growing as he heard the sound, finding it heaven to his ears.

"How about we blame somebody who isn't in this room?" Josephine countered, knowing exactly what he was implying.

"Blame Lewis?"

"Blame Lewis."

The two agreed amongst their laughter, heading to the kitchen with the large bag since it was full with a lot of different things that she had bought in order to spend the day with Danny. Alcohol was definitely involved, but she had also bought a bunch of things to bake with, since she had come up with the idea of trying to bake with each other.

It would probably go to shit, but at least they would've tried.

"How much tequila did you bring?" Daniel laughed hysterically as he pulled out five bottles of tequila, seeing how Josie was just shrugging her shoulders as if it didn't matter.

"I didn't know how drunk you wanted to get!" The Australian model raised her voice slightly as she smiled, having bought a lot of it since she knew that Daniel always did shots.

Too many shots, but he always did shots.

"And you expect me to drink all this and still make cupcakes?" The Renault driver laughed, placing his hand gently on her arm as he did so, seeing her scrunch her nose up as she seemed to be pondering on his question.

"I'll be drinking it too! You're not having it all!" Josephine released a dramatic gasp as she lunged for a bottle of tequila, narrowly missing as Daniel moved his body away, unintentionally trapping the Rankin woman in between the kitchen counter and his body.

He hadn't meant to of course, but as he found himself glancing down at the beautiful woman that was Josephine Belle Rankin, he felt his heart frantically trying to beat out of his chest as if it was trying to escape.

The two Australians smiled at one another as they stayed in their positions, Daniel rapidly gulping a few times since he seemed to be more aware of their position than she did, whereas Josephine seemed to be staring lost in to his eyes.

Without warning, Josie clutched her hand around a bottle of tequila and snatched it from him, opening the bottle in order to place it to her lips and drink from it, the taste not pleasant but welcome as she gulped a couple of times.

Daniel lightly shook his head as he smiled at her behavior, the lightest dusting of pink covering his cheeks as looked at her.

"Told you that I'm having some." Josie stuck her tongue out at the man playfully, watching as he pretended to be shot, his hand clutching at the area of his chest where his heart was.

"I will definitely not share the wine that I bought, then."

"Wait no! You didn't tell me that you had bought wine!"

____________________________________________________

Daniel Ricciardo was a very chaotic and fun drunk.

Josephine Rankin knew that as soon as she noticed him getting more and more energetic, his actions showing that his alcohol intake was responsible since he had ordered takeout and had thirty seven pizzas delivered to his apartment.

Josephine herself was drunk, she knew that.

Her balance was off completely so she opted to stay sat down since she knew that if she even tried to stand up that she would wobble and most likely fall over, her words were definitely slurred, and she laughed a lot more.

She also had a much more high pitched voice, with regular voice cracks that made her cringe at how bad they sounded.

It felt strange to her, to be completely and utterly drunk, since it allowed her be a lot more care free, and a lot of the feelings that she had held on to for years were pushed to the back of her mind with ease.

She didn't think much about the guilt of abandoning Charles and Arthur, and even though it sounded bad, she had held on to that feeling for so long and would never forgive herself for it, so for her to be barely thinking of it at all and allowing herself to have fun, it was strange.

Nice even.

She didn't think much about her anxiety of who would see her at her worst, not only because she was with Daniel, but also because the alcohol was hitting her brain to the point where she didn't feel the anxiety at all, it was numbing it.

Her hands weren't shaking, she wasn't chewing on her bottom lip, she wasn't ringing her hands together or being sick from her attacks or her memories.

She was laughing, smiling and joking, she was giggling and hiccuping as she was laughing, she was singing and dancing.

She was how she used to be.

And it was all because of Daniel.

Daniel.

The guy who had looked after her ever since they became reacquainted with one another, making her comfortable, keeping her safe, looking after her, being by her side, cradling her as she sobbed, sitting there as she spoke about her memories and her issues, listening to what she had to say, guiding her through her guilt and her grief and her loss and her trauma.

He had helped her through it all, and without him, she knew that she would be lost.

Daniel Ricciardo had saved her life.

She was eating regular and proper meals again, no skipping of meals like she had done in the past, she had a routine, she couldn't lock herself away because she either had Esteban coming to see her for exercise and their runs or Daniel just coming to sit with her and keep her company.

He would bring food with him so that they could eat together, to the point where she wouldn't even realise that he had done it so that he knew she had eaten.

If she fell asleep, he would either stay with her and let her sleep on his shoulder or he would carry her to her bedroom and tuck her in to her bed so that she would sleep.

He found ways to even help get rid of the nightmares, with some videos that helped her sleep through the night with nothing but peaceful thoughts and dreams.

Without him, she would've shut down and locked herself away like she had done for years, and would've continued doing until she died.

But with him, he had given her a whole new lease of life, one that she could use to live how Jules would've wanted her to, how their baby would've wanted her to.

She could actually admit that now, she had a future.

And it would not have been possible at all, without Daniel Ricciardo, and she loved him for it.

____________________________________________________

A/N

My baby is healing!!!

What do you think?

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and I'll see you all soon for the next one,

I'm so proud of all of you, my loves

Love you all,

-RUBY 🇵🇸🇨🇩