𝚂𝙷𝙾𝙾𝚃 𝚃𝙾 𝚃𝙷𝚁𝙸𝙻𝙻 ,, formula 1: drive to survive

46

2020 Season

MONTE CARLO, MONACO

RACING HAS HALTED DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. DAKOTA MCMANUS HAS SINCE MOVED IN WITH ALPHATAURI DRIVER DANILL KVYAT AFTER PUBLIC HEALTH RESTRICTIONS PREVENT HER FROM FLYING HOME TO AUSTRALIA

WHEN DAKOTA KISSED DANY.

Dakota had taken up residence in Dany's apartment three months ago. Overnight, her thick mystery novels had appeared on coffee tables next to his Russian literature. Small bottles of bath and body works found their way into his shower. The guest bedroom looked lived in, Dakota's things strewn everywhere.

She sold her apartment in Faenza, nobody wanted to rent and Air BnB wouldn't get her anywhere due to the pandemic. Mac was scared of staying alone, but she didn;t want to intrude on Pierre and his girlfriend.

But everybody else was countries away. Monaco. Switzerland. Canada.

In the end, she had decided that the change of scenery would do her some good. After his relationship with Kelley Piquet fell apart, she knew that Daniil needed her. Actually, the two needed the same thing. 

Neither could bear to be alone.

More than once, the mental anguish had gotten to Dakota. The restrictions, the harsh reality, the never ending stream of bad news. The isolation. All of her family were back in Australia. When she had first abandoned Australia for Italy, she'd had her grandfather with her. But he went back to Queensland a year prior, when he first realized that there might be something wrong with his health.

He'd told Dakota to stay put, that she was needed at the Factory more than he was.

And more than once, when the intrusive thoughts crept in during the middle of the night, she found her way into Daniil's bed. Not to sleep with him, but to have the comfort of knowing she wasn't alone. The comfort of the Russian's arms around her frail frame to remind her that everything was going to be okay.

She was curled up on the guest bedroom bed, AirPods in and music playing softly, her head throbbing in the background as she flicked through pictures from home. Her and Daniel Ricciardo racing stock cars in the Outback. Surfing with her brother Jackson last time he was on shore leave. Her and Virginia at the Spice Girls concert in London. Virginia had flown out to the U.K just for that occasion.

She missed normal, missed the comfort of a routine, knowing that everything was going to be okay.

But it wasn't.

It felt like nothing was ever going to be okay again.

"Dakota?" Dany's voice was quiet as he called her name from the doorway. "Kota, are you alright?"

"No." She said, voice equally as soft as she felt the mattress dip next to her, indicating that the Russian had come to join her. "Homesick. And I can feel a migraine coming on."

Dakota sat up slowly, closing her eyes from the sudden vertigo. She wasn't taking care of herself properly, and she knew that. She was spending too much time indoors, and she was paler than ever. When she was living in Italy, lockdown measures were so strict that she couldn't even go outside and bike the path around her condo. Some days, she didn't even want to get out of bed. It was bordering on a hardcore depression when Pierre had stepped in and said she couldn't go on like that.

Three days later, she was calling Daniil and asking if he wouldn't mind if she moved in. 

"I should be home in the Outback, and granddad's karting track. Surfing before anybody shows up at the best local spots." Her knees were drawn into her chest, head resting on the Russian's shoulder.