TWELVE

"Josie, why don't you come and watch Valtteri and I race in my garage?"

Lewis Hamilton questioned gently, seeing the woman in front of him timid and shaking slightly. He knew that she was still struggling to be at a race track, and that it must have been overwhelming for her to have to deal with so many emotions at the same time, and he wanted to do his very best to comfort her and make her as comfortable as possible.

Josephine Rankin nodded her head up and down a couple of times in quick succession, hands violently shaking from nerves and the nauseous feeling that was becoming increasingly more prominent in her stomach.

Her feet stumbled in to the garage of the world Champion, her sneakers helping to keep her on her feet, making her feel grateful that she had not decided to wear one of the many pairs of high heeled shoes that she owned.

A gentle hand was placed on the middle of her back to keep her steady whilst also offering her comfort, making the brunette lift her head to meet the eyes of the Mercedes team principal, who gave her a reassuring smile, with the man helping her to safely get near the trailer of the Hamilton man.

Lewis gently took a hold of the woman's shaking hands, helping her up the steps that were outside of his trailer, helping her inside so that she could comfortably sit down.

As soon as she was seated, the Hamilton man moved to make her a nice and warm cup of coffee, adding in some milk, which was soya milk, and a little bit of sugar before handing it to her, the woman gratefully accepting it and taking a sip of the liquid.

He stood slightly away from her, as to make sure that he didn't spook her or make her uncomfortable, and watched as she held the mug of coffee close to her lips whilst also trying to take deep breaths of oxygen in to her lungs.

"Sorry I freaked out Lewis."

Josephine muttered quietly, the sound barely being heard by his ears, and it wouldn't have been heard if he hadn't been watching her closely and seen her lips move.

"Don't apologise, Josie. You've got nothing to apologise for." Lewis gave her a gentle smile, seeing her trying to return one though it didn't quite seem to be able to stay on her face for any more than a second.

"I heard somebody mention Marussia." The Rankin woman revealed, a pain in her chest forming as the name of his old team slipped off her tongue, making her squeeze her eyes shut for a short moment.

The eyes of the Hamilton man widened slightly as she spoke to him, explaining what had suddenly caused her to freak out whilst she had been in the paddock, talking with Valtteri, Toto, Angela and himself, which made him rush in front of her, crouching so that she could look him in the eye even if her head was lowered.

"Hey, it's okay. You don't have to explain it to me, you know. As long as I know that you're okay, that's all that matters." Lewis gave her a reassuring smile.

"Thank you, Lewis."

"Don't mention it, and hey, this way it means that now you kinda have to watch the race from my garage. Daniel can't steal you away." Lewis lightly nudged her arm with his, a slight teasing smile on his face which finally made a smile appear on her lips.

"There it is! There's the smile I was waiting for."

He giggled quietly as the woman released a small scoff, rolling the blue of her eyes at him as she pulled a sarcastic smile whilst raising one of her fingers to flip him off, making his giggles erupt in to loud laughter.

"You know, Josie. You are one of a kind."

"As are you, Mister Hamilton."

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"Josie, hey!"

Daniel Ricciardo shouted as he rushed towards her, seeing her slowly stepping in to his Renault garage after the race, presumably to congratulate him for placing fifth.

He noticed the redness that was evident around her eyes which made them look puffy and sore, signalling to him that the woman in front of him had been crying not so long ago, making him place the both of his hands on to her shoulders.

"What happened? Are you okay?"

He questioned with concern dripping from his tongue, his eyebrows furrowed together tightly as his eyes raked over her face and her figure to examine her, noticing a slight shake in her hands, causing him to take hold of them.

"A little boy came up to me whilst I was in the paddock and called me Mrs Bianchi..." Josephine whispered quietly, her voice failing her as the words left her plump lips.

The Ricciardo man immediately took the woman in to his arms, holding her against his chest tightly in an attempt to comfort the woman, hoping that hearing his heartbeat would help ground her and keep her calm.

The words caused tears of his own the form in his eyes, forcing him to shut them to avoid them from escaping since he knew that the woman in his arms needed him.

He owed it to Jules.

They stood there for more than five minutes in each others arms, small hiccups leaving the lips of the Rankin woman as she tried to calm herself down, before finally stepping away from his chest to stare up at him.

"Congratulations on fifth, Danny. You did great."

He smiled at her as he noticed the forced smile that she was giving him, obviously trying to make herself appear happier so that she could congratulate him, which made him shake his head from side to side, his curls which were covered in sweat moving too.

"Thanks Josie, but I don't care about a race result. I care about you." He gently brushed his hand over her cheek to wipe away a stray tear that had escaped her eyes, making the softest of smiles appear on her lips, though it was only for a moment before it vanished.

"And I care that you get to celebrate getting P5." Her voice became sterner as she cleared her throat, frantically wiping at her eyes to remove any of the built up tears.

"I'm not really feeling up to celebrating." Daniel casually shrugged his shoulders up and down, making the woman in front of him frown.

"I don't care. You are going to celebrate."

Daniel couldn't help the grin that immediately took hold of his face at the sight of the Rankin woman glaring at him whilst pointing her index finger at him in an attempt to seem intimidating, and chuckled lightly.

"What do you recommend that we do to celebrate, Miss Josephine?"

Daniel cackled as the Rankin woman lifted her hand to push him in his shoulder, making his body stumble back slightly, the blue of her eyes rolling immediately.

"How about we buy some wine and watch a movie?"

The Renault formula one driver hesitated for a moment before nodding his head up and down a couple of times, his signature smile stitched on to his lips and showing no signs of disappearing.

"I like the sound of that. Lead the way, m'lady."

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"Hey Aunt Josie."

Charles Leclerc greeted as he walked up to the Rankin woman with a small smile, wrapping his arms around her to give her a hug, with his younger brother Arthur doing the same.

"Hey Mon chou chou!"

Josephine found herself grinning at the two boys as they hugged her, wrapping her arms around their frames to hug them back. She noticed how once they had pulled away from the hug, that they were staring at somebody beside her in confusion.

Standing beside her, was a man over six feet tall with light brown hair, piercing blue eyes and a little bit of a beard. He was strong and muscly, as if he worked out every single day and he wore black cargo pants, with a khaki green t-shirt which seemed a little bit too tight for him.

"Who's uh, this?"

Arthur Leclerc spoke in confusion, a slight glare on his face as he wondered if the man in front of him was the replacement for his brother Jules, causing him to fold his arms in front of his chest.

"This is Blake." Josie introduced the man to the two young men, seeing with a small smile on her face that they were almost trying to size up to him in an attempt to seem intimidating.

"My brother."

The eyes of both the Leclerc boys eyes widened massively as their brain caught up to their ears, the pair of them realising that this was the famous brother of Josie that Jules had never been able to meet.

"Hi, my name is Charles." The elder of the two Leclerc's introduced politely, holding his hand out for the man to shake, of which he did happily.

"I'm Arthur." Arthur did the same, grimacing slightly from just how strong the man's grip was.

"Nice to finally meet you both, it's been a long time coming. I've heard so much about the both of you from my sister."

Blake Rankin smiled gleefully at the two Monégasque's, finding the pair of them adorable and funny but also very protective of his sister, which he was very pleased about.

The man knew about the Bianchi man who he never had the chance to meet, and whilst he regretted not being able to meet him, he knew that his job was more important.

As soon as his plane touched down on the runway, his sister was right there waiting for him to return from his deployment, a smile on her face that reminded him of his childhood and how the two of them who always have a signature smile which was reserved solely for one another.

"Has he met Daniel or Lewis yet?" Arthur questioned, seeing the man shake his head from side to side.

"Nope. I touched down two hours ago and haven't even seen my parents yet because she dragged me to see you guys." Blake chuckled, not noticing the slight grimace on the face of his sister at the mention of her parents.

Charles furrowed his eyebrows together as he had noticed the grimace, wondering what it was that he was missing. He knew that his auntie had never mentioned her parents to him, and that his Godfather had never met, but it confused him why she would react the way that she did.

Did she not like her parents?

"Do you need coffee?" Arthur asked him another question. "I can get you a coffee if you have jet lag."

"Nah I'm good kiddo, thank you though." Blake smiled at the boy, placing his large hand on to his shoulder to pat it lightly in appreciation.

Since the two Leclerc boys were staying in Perth with his sister for a few days, Blake figured that he would be able to see them and get to know them a little bit more, which he knew would be what his sister would want him to do, but as for Daniel and Lewis, he wasn't so sure if he wanted to meet them.

He wasn't so sure if he wanted to see his sister with a man who wasn't Jules. Because whilst he had never met him, Blake knew that he had been the perfect man for his little sister.

Without even meeting him, Jules had become a part of his family so for somebody else to potentially end up replacing him, it just didn't feel right.

When he was deployed, he would recieve birthday cards, Christmas cards, and cards of other special occasions from the pair of them. Josie might have sent them, but the handwriting on them was certainly not belonging to that of his sister.

The handwriting was belonging to Jules.

He was her soul mate.

And absolutely nothing could make Blake change his mind.

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A/N

2 updates in 2 days, and I may have another one coming as I'm very motivated right now

Also, Blake is here!! He's played by Jai Courtney and he won't be around all the time, but he will be like a guard dog. Her parents will also appear but not too much

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