𝐃𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐄, lando norris

08 ; I'll get the car

The pain hit me suddenly and completely unexpectedly, but I tried not to make a sound, instead trying to cling to Lando's shirt.

My leg was trembling, I was unconsciously tensing it so much. I held my breath, trying to banish the images from my mind that kept me awake at night.

"You're doing so well," the Brit whispered in my ear as he continued to hold me protectively in his arms.

I could feel the doctor working his way from my groin to my thigh and did everything in my power not to pull my leg away.

I was overcome by a gaping nausea that seized me so suddenly that the doctor almost didn't have time to hand me a bucket.

Lando held the bucket, keeping a straight face as he stroked my back reassuringly, still shielding my vision with his body.

"It's your body's normal behavior," the doctor explained to the Brit as he continued to pull the stitches out of my flesh. It felt absolutely unreal and yet the pain was so present that I felt like I was going to throw up again.

I cried into Lando's shirt, clawing at his torso but he said nothing, letting it wash over him as he held the bucket I had vomited into moments ago.

Lando gently stroked my forehead as I leaned in and looked at him, absolutely exhausted.

I was sure I wouldn't be able to keep it up for much longer, that I wouldn't be able to bear the weight on my shoulders for much longer.

But I knew that Lando felt the same and I hugged him a little tighter —

Not because the pain was getting worse, but because Lando needed it.

"Done." As if the doctor had burned himself, he threw the scalpel on the table behind him and removed his hands from my body.

Glancing down at my thigh, the Brit still didn't give me a clear field of vision, probably fearing I was losing my mind and that's how I felt.

"I'll bandage the wound and then I'll write you a prescription for healing," my doctor explained to us before turning his gaze to me.

"I appeal to your sense and trust that you will have the wound cleaned by someone else." The older man looked seriously at the younger one before taking out the compresses and bandages.

The wound burned as he dropped the compresses onto the open wound and I hissed, looking Lando in the eyes he had fixed so firmly on me that you'd think he didn't want to miss anything.

The doctor bandaged the wound as much as he could, then wrote me the prescription while Lando helped me put the splint on my hip and ankle.

It served the damaged muscle, supporting my weight through a complicated system.

The pressure of the brace was unfamiliar and uncomfortable at first, but as I shifted my weight onto the leg I was glad I had it.

Lando supported me, even though I didn't need any help.

"Have a nice day, both of you," smiled the doctor as he said goodbye to us. We ran to reception to pick up the prescription and Lando helped me out of the huge building.

"Wait here," he said as the McLaren driver pushed me onto the stairs behind me. "I'll get the car. Then we'll get your medication."

I nodded weakly, because I didn't really have a choice. Running was hardly an option, and neither was running away.

Lando ran to his overpriced car so fast that I was briefly afraid he was going to be hit by a car.

But nothing happened and I was able to exhale.

He drove his car towards me at such a fast pace that I was sure he would have been in trouble if anyone had noticed.

The door opened by itself, but Lando got out anyway and helped me get up from the steps and into the low car. He even closed the door as soon as I had dropped onto the seat.

It was strange sitting in such an expensive car because the doors opened upwards and not to the sides. It looked so much more luxurious than in a conventional car.

I was sure the black McLaren had been customized for him.

"Why are you doing all this?" My voice was so much more broken than it was meant to be, but it was all so exhausting for me and I had no strength left.

The Brit sighed.

"Because I would want someone to do it for me." Somehow the sentence was so much more present than the doctor's words and I wondered what it was.

"How did you know I would be here today?" The McLaren driver's eyebrows went up briefly, as if he was weighing up whether he should tell me the truth or not.

"Your aunt told me."

"Of course..."

The landscapes passed us by and it was completely silent for a short while.

"Why did you pay for my operation? You didn't know me." The question came across much snappier than I intended and I immediately paused in my movement. I didn't want to come across as ungrateful but the question had lodged itself in the back of my mind after the doctor had told me that Lando had paid for the operation.

"My aunt was devastated when she found out what had happened. She asked me to do everything I could to make sure you made it," Lando explained, tapping nervously on the steering wheel. "I didn't care how expensive it was going to be, but seeing my aunt like that broke my heart. From that moment on, I knew you had to be something special."

I felt very warm and a small smile crept onto my lips.

"She didn't want to lose you under any circumstances, Noa." The fact that he used my parents' nickname made me lose my composure so much that I was absolutely speechless for a few minutes.

"Thank you," I croaked, exhausted. "For everything."