THIRTEEN

"Barcelona, baby! We're in Barcelona!"

Luiz Cohen beamed as his daughter sat on his shoulders as they made their way in to the paddock at the Barcelona circuit.

"It's Uncle Nando's home race, so you have to beat him and make him cry!" Larissa squealed, plaited pigtails bouncing as as her father walked.

"No, no, little one. I will make your father cry when I beat him." Fernando Alonso tugged gently on her braids as he teased the little girl. He sent his best friend a smirk, seeing the Brazilian man rolling his eyes. "Just saying, I love it when you cry, you look like your face is melting."

"Idiota."  Luiz coughed under his breath at the smaller man, pushing his shoulder and making him stumble. "You look like Webber when you cry."

Fernando gasped. "I do not!"

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Do too!" Both Cohen's teased the Spaniard together, glancing at each other with matching smirks as Fernando realised that he was never going to win when they were both ganging up on him.

"Papa is going to kick your butt at your home race! Like he does every single time!"

Fernando shook his head with a soft, loving smile. "We shall see, little one, we shall see."

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"Miss Cohen, how are you doing today?"

Larissa's dark brown eyes slowly lifted to see Christian Horner standing in front of her, whilst she was sitting in a café near her hotel.

"Good, you upset that I beat your team to a podium?" Christian noticed as she tilted her head to the side slightly, as if she was studying him.

"Not at all, I was very happy for you. May I?" He motioned towards the spare seat at the table she was at, which she was resting her legs on.

She removed her legs, nodding her head as she watched the team principal of Red Bull sit beside her, his hands interwined in front of him.

"I have a proposition for you, Miss Cohen."

Larissa rose a defined eyebrow at the man, leaning back in her seat as she examined his facial features. "Go on."

"We believe that one of our drivers may want to leave our team next season, and in case it is true, we need to start looking for a replacement for that seat. Which, is where you come in."

"Nope."

Christian furrowed his eyebrows together. "What?"

"If you're here, then you are already thinking about dropping a driver, even if they don't leave. So, the answer is no. I'll only consider it, if the driver goes by their own decision, not because you are forcing them out." Larissa folded her arms in front of her chest, seeing the Red Bull team principles chest deflate.

"Until I know that I am not forcing somebody out, I'll be staying at Toro Rosso." Larissa spoke in a stern voice as Christian nodded, standing to his feet.

"Your loss, Cohen."

"It won't be when I beat your Red Bull drivers."

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"So, what would you say, if I mentioned that I got approached for a Red Bull seat next season?"

Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikonnen rose their eyebrows at their niece as they relaxed on her yacht, taking in the Spanish sun. She was going to Red Bull?

"We would say, congratulations and that we can not wait to race against you properly." Sebastian smiled as he patted her head, as if she was a dog.

"I would say-" Kimi spoke up. "-that I'm leaving Ferrari after this season, so you could take my seat."

"And then I would say, absolutely not." Larissa shook her head intently, soaking up the sun to make her tanned skin even more tanned. "As much as I love the thought of you wanting me to take your seat, I'd rather spend five minutes talking to Sara than join Ferrari."

Kimi shrugged. "It was worth a try. I'm still leaving next season."

"Not until the three of us get a podium together, you're not." Larissa denied, as she lifted her drink to her lips and took a sip before placing it back down beside her.

"What about Nando?"

"In his Mclaren, he knows that he won't get anywhere near us, especially when he's in Barcelona. I call it the Cohen curse, even when he doesn't race against a Cohen, he still doesn't get anywhere near a podium." Larissa smirked, remembering how every time he had his home race, that he would lose out to her father, or his best friends.

"Maybe he will get a podium in Brazil." Kimi Raikonnen spoke, before he heard the laughs of his friend and team mate, and niece.

"Oh no, we are podium hunting in Brazil. If we can't get a podium, we take out Mercedes so our little munchkin here can get her first win." Sebastian squished her cheeks, laughing loudly as she tried to pull back from him, slapping his hands away.

"Keep squishing my face, and I'll make sure you don't come back from your stag-do." Larissa glared slightly at her uncle, trying to get away from him.

"Hanna will not take you on shopping trips if you do, I'm her favorite." Sebastian grinned.

"You should be, since you are due to marry her." Kimi shook his head at his team mates stupidity.

"Nah, she loves little old me more than her fiancé." Larissa teased.

"She wouldn't delay her wedding for you." The German could see the pain in her eyes as soon as he had mentioned it, but she tried to hide it with a smile that both men knew were fake.

"No, she would cancel it completely. All I would need to say, is that I don't want her to marry you, and she wouldn't." Sebastian laughed loudly, shaking his head in denial.

"Aren't you meant to be my best man, kid? To be fair, I'm meant to be paying for your best man dress." Sebastian and Larissa both heard a scoff leave the Finnish man's lips as he listened in on their conversation.

"Dress? She's got a suit for it. She was never going to wear a dress." Kimi blurted out as Larissa quickly hit his arm, her eyes wide.

"You were not supposed to tell him that!" She hissed, shaking her head as both men chuckled.

"You'll look great in a suit, or a dress. Whatever you choose." Sebastian brushed his hand over her cheek softly.

"Well, since somebody-" She turned to glare at the Finnish man, "-has ruined the surprise, I'm wearing a suit. I'm hoping that you'll like it."

"As long as you are my best man, kid, I don't care."

Larissa squealed as her uncle Seb pulled her into his lap to hug her. He pressed soft kisses to her cheeks and forehead, before pressing a final peck to the end of her nose before placing her back down.

Kimi ruffled her hair, lifting his arm so that she could sidle up to him. He rubbed circles on her back as she curled in to his side.

Even though Luiz was gone, he was still alive, in his daughter.

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"Turn! To the right! To the right! For god sake, turn!"

"I am turning!"

"You're turning to the left! You have to turn to the right!"

"Pierre, I swear if you don't shut up right now, I will slap you so hard that you'll see less than Stevie Wonder." Larissa glared as she was throwing popcorn at her team mate.

She was sitting in his hotel room, whilst he and his best friend, Charles Leclerc, were playing video games very very loudly.

"Ma princesse, tell him that I do not have to turn to the right." Charles spoke as he was driving in a game where he was following a map. Larissa's legs were over his lap, as she sat on the same sofa as the two arguing friends, laying across them.

"Mon Cherie, tell him that he has to turn to the right!" Pierre argued, once again being too loud and being hit by a piece of popcorn thrown by his team mate.

"Be like me and just crash in to the wall." Larissa spoke with her mouth full of popcorn, her words sounding muffled.

"He has to turn to the right!"

Larissa groaned loudly, rubbing at her temples. The constant headaches that she had been suffering since the crash in Shanghai had not gone away, so when someone, Pierre, raised their voice, it caused a throbbing and aching pain to emerge in her skull.

"Coração, ignore him, you do not need to turn to the right." Larissa laughed as her team mate stuck his tongue out at her, before she winced, pain shooting through her ribs.

Pierre didn't seem to notice, but the Monégasque did.

Charles frowned as he noticed her wince, her hand shooting to her ribs as she tried to take multiple deep breaths.

"Ma princesse, are you okay?" He whispered to her, seeing her wide, almost guilty looking eyes shoot up to look at him.

"Hmm." She nodded quickly. Too quickly, he thought. "Yep, fine."

"Is it your ribs?" The Leclerc man whispered so that her team mate didn't over hear. She nodded as she tried to shuffle herself around, to make the pain disappear.

"The crash?" Larissa nodded her head once more, seeing the man's face morph in to one of concern.

"I'll be fine in a few days, don't worry." The Brazilian whispered back, attempting to dismiss his worry.

"But I do worry, I care about you." Charles helped her to get comfortable, lifting her slightly so she was almost completely on his lap. He noticed how her grimace disappeared as she was able to breathe with out being in pain.

"I'm sitting on your lap, coração."

Charles' cheeks immediately flushed bright pink as he looked at her face, which was only inches away from his own as he smiled slightly. "I don't mind, are you able to breath now?"

Larissa looked in to his soft caring eyes and nodded her head, causing a small strand of her hair to fall out of place and in front of her eyes. Charles immediately brought his hand up to her face, brushing the stray piece of hair behind her ear, whilst staring at her soft features.

He glanced down at her plump lips, before returning his gaze back to her eyes, only for his brown eyes to fall once again to her lips. He felt himself move ever so slightly closer to her face, so close to pressing his lips to hers.

Until a thud sounded and stopped him in his tracks immediately.

"Merde!"

They pair turned to see Pierre looking sheepishly at the two of them, having paused the game as soon as he saw his team mate sitting on his best friends lap.

"Sorry, I dropped my phone." Pierre apologised quietly, picking his phone up from the ground and turning his body away do that he could not see them.

He still felt their gazes om him though, turning back to see the both of them with eyebrows raised. "I'm not here, carry on."

Charles looked back at the beautiful Brazilian sitting directly in front of him, and trailed his gaze back to her pink lips. He moved closer, ever so slightly, but was interrupted once more.

"Sorry, my bad. I'll put my phone on silent." Pierre admitted shyly, before waving them off. "Please, do continue."

Larissa cleared her throat, laughing slightly. She pushed herself off the Monégasque's lap and to her feet, much to his dismay and grabbed her phone from the coffee table in front of them.

"I should be getting back to my hotel, I promised Zahra a movie night." Larissa smiled at the both of them, walking behind the sofa to press a soft kiss to both of their cheeks before leaving her team mates hotel room, closing the door behind her.

Charles turned back to his best friend, glaring at him whilst he grabbed a pillow from the sofa, and threw it at the French man before he fell against the back of the sofa with a loud groan of annoyance.

"Merde!" He swore, rubbing his hands over his face.

"Sorry mate, I tried to stay quiet! I didn't mean to interrupt!" Pierre apologised profusely.

"It's okay, thanks mate." Charles reassured his best friend.

But it really wasn't okay, he had been so close to kissing her.

So close.

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