FOURTEEN

"Little one, your Cohen curse will not affect me this time."

Fernando Alonso ruffled his niece's hair as they arrived in to the paddock at the Barcelona circuit together, side by side. It was his home race, and for the first time in eleven years, he was going to be racing alongside a Cohen.

This time, it was just a different generation.

"But it will, because you won't get a podium." Larissa rose an eyebrow teasingly at her uncle as they walked, walking past reporters and photographers who seemed to love taking pictures of the pair.

Fernando pulled the girl in to his side as he heard reporters asking questions to his niece, whether it was about her father, her crash, her relationships with other drivers, her Brazilian heritage or the fact that she was a woman.

It annoyed him that people in the world thought that racing was only for men, and that women had no place in the sport. He always stood by the motto, of what a man can do, a woman can do quicker, since he knew with the women in his life that they did tasks a lot quicker than he did.

"Miss Cohen, what makes you think that you have what it takes to compete with the men?" A reporter was heard to ask.

The Spanish driver had tried to pull her away so that she would not need to answer it, she turned to the reporter and camera with an incredibly fake smile.

"I believe that most people can race, not matter what their gender is, so why is formula one different?" Larissa stared down the camera with her fake smile not leaving her face. "Now, whilst you are escorted out of here for being sexist, I shall be doing what I do best."

Larissa took a step back, winking down the camera. "Proving that women can do what the men can do, and that we can do it better."

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"Kid, you know what to do?" Franz Tost patted his driver on her shoulder as she started getting ready to get in the car ready for qualifying.

"Get a quick lap to get a good position and to ensure that both Pierre and I get points." Larissa spoke almost robotically, as she stared down at the ground.

"Good girl." The man placed his hand on her back as her strategist informed her of what she was doing during qualifying.

She had definitely not forgotten about Franz mentioning that because she was a woman that he needed to make sure that she was completely healed before letting her back in to the car, but since she was potentially sticking with Toro Rosso for a while, she didn't want to get on his bad side, so she had temporarily let it slide.

"Is it my turn now?" Larissa asked as she spotted her team mate exiting the car and heading in to the garage.

"Go on, kid."

Both of the Toro Rosso's were not knocked out in Q2, with Pierre in 11th and Larissa in 12th as Esteban came 13th and Charles 14th.

Much to Larissa's annoyance, her uncle Nando qualified in 8th, having made it in to Q3.

In his home race. The audacity.

It was a good thing that both Pierre and Larissa had a good start though, with the French man getting one place behind the Spanish man.

It didn't last long however as the team mate of the Brazilian crashed out as he was clipped by Esteban and ended up taking Nico Hulkenburg out at the same time.

"Gasly, Ocon and Hulkenburg are out, safety car deployed, it's all on you."

Her radio engineer spoke to her as she swore under breath. Pierre did just not have enough luck lately, he had been close to points multiple times until it was pulled from his grasp.

The safety car was around for an annoyingly long time, so as soon as it disappeared, everybody began frantically trying to overtake each other.

Larissa had managed to work her way up to fifth, just behind her uncle Kimi, as they battled once more, with Kimi refusing to give up the place.

He had always wanted her to get points, podiums and wins, ever since she was born and he still wanted that, but he knew her driving style too, and how she would never let him live it down if he deliberately gave her the place.

She was side by side with her uncle, even as they rounded turns, with neither of them going off the track.

That was until a loud clunking sound was heard in her car before she lost control of her steering and veered in to the side of her Uncle's car, sending them both spinning in to the wall before they came to a halt, thankfully just out of the direct path of the other cars.

So much for beating uncle Nando, she thought to herself.

Marshals helped both Kimi and herself from their cars before both drivers took in the damage of their cars.

Kimi looked mad. Really, really mad.

Larissa took a step backwards as he surged towards her, not ready to face the wrath of 'the Iceman' who had a very bad temper.

Kimi's visor was up and he stormed towards his niece, adrenaline rushing through him.

He raised his hand as he neared her, bringing down just a little too quickly, and was absolutely horrified to see that his niece, his goddaughter... flinched.

She thought that he was going to hit her.

"Kimi, I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened I ju-" Larissa tried to apologise but found herself unable to when she was pulled forwards.

The Raikonnen man hugged his niece as tightly as he possibly could, not hearing her wince of pain as she felt pressure pushing on her broken ribs.

The pair were soon escorted safely back to their garages, and as soon as she arrived back in the Toro Rosso garage, she was barrelled in to, by a French speaking man.

"Mon Cherie, are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened? Did he crash in to you? Do you need some water?" Pierre frantically spoke, his words coming out rushed and slightly slurred as his wide green eyes stared at her filled with worry.

"Docinho, I'm okay, I'm not hurt, I don't know what happened, I crashed in to him, and yes I think I do need some water." Larissa sighed deeply as her team mate nodded his head.

Pierre rushed off to get her some water, but not before he pressed a soft and caring kiss to her cheek.

"Lar, are you okay? What happened?" Esteban frowned as he noticed her shoulders sink in defeat.

"I don't know, I heard a clunking sound and then I lost control of my steering. I couldn't even try and stop myself from crashing in to him. He's gonna hate me." Larissa began biting at the inside of her cheek, as she kept ringing her hands together nervously.

"Lar, your uncle Kimi isn't mad that you crashed in to him." Esteban pulled her in to his chest, his fingers running through her hair.

"But he looked so mad at me." Her voice became timid and scared and it made a frown form on Esteban's face.

"I walked past him as he was yelling at Maurizio. It wasn't about you, apparently he wanted to come here and punch Franz because whatever went wrong with your car, could have killed you." Esteban explained, seeing his best friends eyes shoot up to his face to look for any sense of lying, and she found none.

"I bring water for you, mon cherie." Pierre returned to his team mate, wrapping his arms around her tense shoulders as soon as he gave her the water bottle and watched her gulp it down.

"You think that I can avoid Franz for a while?" Larissa closed her eyes, rubbing at her temples as another headache began to form in her skull. "I don't exactly want to deal with the disappointment and anger of messing up, right now."

"Kid, come with me." Kimi interrupted as he stood at the entrance of the Toro Rosso garage. "Zahra is waiting for you, she's not allowed here because she keeps making very violent threats to your team principal because something was wrong with your car."

Larissa nodded, kissing the cheeks of both French drivers as she followed after her uncle, stopping dead in her tracks as she approached her idea of hell.

"No." Larissa stood still. "No way, am I going in there."

Red filled her vision as she stood in front of the Ferrari garage, seeing Zahra sat down inside the garage waving at her to join her.

"Just for a minute, kid. It won't be long, I promise." Kimi tried gently, trying to reach for her hand to reassure her but found her pulling out of his reach.

"No, you should know by now, that I'm never going in Ferrari." The Brazilian shook her head frantically.

It was not happening. Ferrari was the cause of her constant nightmares, the reasons why she woke up in the middle of the night in hot sweats with her body feeling as though she was back at the track at Monza, seeing and feeling her father burn alive.

Ferrari was the reason that she was forced to grow up without her beloved father by her side.

Ferrari was the reason why she was always the odd one out during her karting days. Every other driver, had both their parents cheering them on, and if they did well, they would run to their parents to celebrate.

Larissa didn't have any of that.

She would win a race and search for her mother in the crowd, and just see the empty seat that had been abandoned by the woman. She would watch the other drivers with their fathers and her heart would ache to the point of nearly breaking as she would never get to celebrate her win with her own father.

She had her uncles at the occasional races that they could make, but for 95% of her races, she was left alone, having nobody to celebrate with.

All she could do was drown her sorrows with the champagne from her wins and sit alone and watch every body play happily families.

Ferrari had caused all of that pain and hurt.

So there was no way in hell that she was even stepping foot in that garage. Even if her best friend was sat in there whilst trying to reassure her.

"I can't be anywhere near here." Larissa scrambled away from her uncle and best friend as her throat became dry as if it was closing up on her.

Both Kimi and Zahra watched as she ran away from them, with sad looks stitched on to their faces. They could only imagine what was going through her mind, but it was worth a try.

Right?

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"I bring the goods."

Larissa smiled sadly as she curled in to her sofa in her hotel room, a blanket covering her whole body as her friend arrived since they had agreed to have a movie marathon night together.

Yuki Tsunoda had recieved a call from his friend not long after the Spanish Grand Prix had concluded, and since the F4 driver had finished his races, he took off in his car to his friends hotel room to cheer her up after her misfortune.

"And?"

"Okay, I also bring the your favorites." Yuki rolled his eyes as his friend grinned as soon as the words had left his mouth. He lifted up the shopping bag that was in his hand, since he had stopped off at a convience store before he arrived, and began to unpack the contents of the bag on to the table in front of her.

"Black Sambuca, Pepsi max, mint chocolate chip ice cream, cookie dough ice cream, chocolate brownies, cheesy garlic bread, bbq pizza, ranch style pizza, chicken wings and kinder buenos." Yuki named each item as he unloaded them all on to the table, hearing his friend gasp dramatically before making grabby hands.

"Mine." Larissa grinned, her mood dramatically lifting.

"I also brought a banquet of Asian food that I made for my races that I haven't eaten." Yuki smiled, laughing as she threw the kinder buenos to the ground before grabbing his backpack which contained the food.

"Mine, mine." Larissa squealed in excitement as she peeled open the first container of Asian food, inhaling the scent.

She loved it when Yuki cooked. She always thought that he should open his own restaurant.

Yuki had always been a fan of Larissa since she was higher up in the different leagues, and he had always cheered her on when he could.

He had nearly died of a heart attack when she had spoken to him since he had been the only person that she could hear, cheering for her at a race in France.

When he wasn't racing in formula 4, he had tried to support her, even if he couldn't make it, he would send her a message of support so that she would know that he was thinking about her.

They didn't speak every day, it was more like a message here and there every week or so, but he was always there if she wanted a distraction, or to cry on his shoulder and it was the same, the other way around.

"Scary movie time?" Larissa pouted at her friend, as he rapidly shook his head, since he hated scary movies and would always hide behind either a pillow or a friend.

"No way, I hate them. Let's watch a romantic comedy!" Yuki argued as he wrestled for the remote control for the smart TV in the hotel room.

"Okay." Larissa shrugged her shoulders nonchantly. "We can watch a romantic comedy, where a guy is misunderstood because he's an outcast and just wants friends and to be able to settle down in a small town."

Yuki looked at her in surprise. "Oh, what movie is that?"

The Brazilian smirked, clicking on to the movie as Yuki's eyes widened in horror and fear.

"IT."

"No, no, no, no, no!"

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