I turned in my sleep, subconsciously aware of the person taking up half of the bed space beside me.

Only, the other half of my bed was cold and empty.

My eyes flew open, snapping to the side. I sat up, throwing the covers off of me.

The room was silent. The rain had stopped long ago and the sun was just starting to rise.

It was around 6 in the morning and I could hear people in the hallways of the hotel getting ready for their day.

"Dakota?" I called hesitantly, my heart beat speeding up.

I had a sinking feeling she had left in the middle of the night. I swallowed thickly, tugging at the roots of my hair.

Relief washed over me when I spotted her phone resting beside mine on the table.

"Dakota?" I called, louder this time.

I made my way over to the bathroom, gently knocking on it.

There was no sound from the other side. I frowned, wondering what happened to her.

The door was unlocked so I pushed it open.

I froze, spotting Dakota sitting on the floor. Her head rested against the wall, her long hair hiding her face.

I kneeled beside her, gently pushing the hair out of her face. She was asleep, but her face was pale and her eyes were puffy.

She had been crying.

My mind was occupied with a million thoughts.

Something had happened to Dakota and she was doing her best to hide it.

"Dakota, come on wake up amore."

I shook her shoulders gently, but she didn't budge.

Her hands were cold so I gently picked her up and carried her out of the bathroom.

She shifted in my arms, her eyes fluttering open.

"Hey," I whispered, looking down at her. She blinked, trying to adjust to the light as she took in her surroundings.

"Hi," she replied, her voice coming out hoarse.

"Are you okay?" I asked, setting her down on my bed.

She nodded, running a hand down her face.

"What's going on?"

"It's nothing. I'm just... really tired.

"Bullshit."

Dakota sighed, falling back on the bed.

"My brother," she began, her voice sounding weak.

"He disappeared after the race in Sochi. He told my parents he was with me, but obviously he wasn't. I flew back to Hawai'i and I- I found him in my apartment and he was- fuck," she muttered, a tear escaping her eye.

I didn't know how to react. I had never seen Dakota in such an emotional state. She was always the calm and collected one who was comforting me before a race.

Instead, we had swapped places and now I was the one who was trying to comfort her.

I listened to her detailed explanation of what had happened over the past week. My hand rubbed her back as she rested her head on my shoulder. She fiddled with the sleep tracking ring on my left hand.

"And then on top of that I have to adjust to a new job and, yeah. I guess it was just too much at once," she finished.

"Is your brother okay now?"

"I honestly have no idea. I told my parents about it and they were obviously worried. But I also talked to a few of his friends and they said they'll look out for him. He's staying with his best friend for now, so I'm hoping that will help him."

"I'm glad you told me, Dakota. You shouldn't just keep all of your feelings bottled in like that. That's what you always tell me anyways."

"Maybe I should listen to my own advice, huh?" she smiled weakly, looking up at me.

I nodded my head, giving her a kiss on the corner of her lips. I smirked when her cheeks turned pink and she pushed me away gently.

"You're so annoying," she sighed.

"Oh really? Do I need to remind you of last night?" I asked, tickling her sides. She laughed loudly, grabbing my wrists in an attempt to stop me.

A smile tugged at my lips at the sound of her laugh. Dakota was so beautiful, both inside and out. And she had no fucking clue.

I remember the first time I saw her.

Her hair was the first thing that had caught my eye. It didn't seem like she had cut it since that night nearly 9 months ago. The long locks now tumbled past her waist, curling slightly at the ends.

Her eyes, they were sly and had that look- the "I know something you don't" look. I always felt like she could see right through me, which wasn't far off from the truth.

And her body, don't even get me started. At first I had been attracted to her solely because of her body. But now, that was a thought that rested in the back of my mind. To me, her personality mattered more. She could dress in one of those baggy suits that the marshals wore and still look just as hot. Seeing her last night had removed any need for imagination from my mind.

"What are you thinking about?" she smirked, snapping her fingers in front of my eyes.

"Sorry," I muttered, looking away. Heat creeped up my neck, knowing she had caught me staring.

"Just the next race" I muttered, removing my arm from around her shoulders.

"Already? Are you worried?" she asked, instantly switching into her engineer mode.

I laughed shaking my head.

"No, just want it to come faster so I can get back in the car. I need to redeem myself."

We sat in silence for a few moments before she spoke up again.

"What are we?"

My eyes connected with hers, a questioning look on her face.

"Whatever you want us to be," I replied, squeezing her hand.

She had a thoughtful look on her face and I could see the gears turning in her head.

Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door and I quickly walked over to open it.

Both of us had to be at the McLaren hospitality for a debrief before we could head home. There had been some massive complications with my car after the engine change. The swap was supposed to fix any issues in performance, but it seemed to have only made it worse.

"Mate is your phone dead or something?" Aaron asked, a frown on his face.

"No, why?"

"I've been calling you since 7:30. We had a debrief this morning, remember?"

"Yeah, it's at 9 right? We still have 30 minutes."

"No. Alessandro, we moved it to 8 yesterday, remember?"

No, I did not remember.

"Uh, no?"

"Jesus, mate. Hurry up and get dressed! And where's Dakota, she's late as well."

"Uh, yeah. I'll give her a call."

"No you get ready, what room is she in? I'll check."

"I don't remember," I shrugged, scratching my neck.

I didn't dare glance back into the hotel room, knowing Dakota was laying on the bed.

Aaron frowned, staring at my upper arm.

"What happened to your arm?" he asked, his brows furrowing.

"What?" I asked, confused. My eyes widened when I noticed the red scratches on my skin. "Oh, I got bit by a shit ton of bugs yesterday."

"Right, hurry! I'll try and find Kota's room," he said, shooing me back into my room.

I shut the door, letting out a sigh of relief.

Dakota snickered, making me glare at her.

"You might want to get your sexy ass out of my room and get dressed," I warned.

"Yes sir," she said, giving me a mock salute as she stood up.

I turned around, reaching for my toothbrush when I heard her gasp.

"What's wrong?"

She blinked, blushing furiously.

"Maybe you should keep a shirt on today," she muttered, gesturing to my back. I frowned, craning my neck to look in the mirror.

"Are you sure you weren't a cat in your past life?" I asked, turning around.

"Shut up, Moreno," she huffed walking to my door.

I smirked, picking up on a slight limp in her walk.

"Feeling a little sore?" I asked.

"Shut the fuck up!" she called over her shoulder, the door slamming shut.

----------------------------------------

"You look rough," was the first thing Lando said to Dakota when she walked into the briefing room.

"Thanks dude," she huffed, sitting down beside me.

I handed her a set of headphones and put on my own.

Time seemed to go at a snails pace as the engineers and strategists worked on Lando's portion of the debrief first.

Dakota sighed, her fingers fiddling with the pen in her hand.

Her leg bounced under the table, refusing to stay still even for a moment.

I could see her restlessness from the corner of his eye as I listened to Zak speak.

Dakota sighed again, catching my full attention.

I reached out and placed a hand on her leg to keep it still, my eyes never leaving the data displayed on screen.

She froze and then leaned back in her seat.

A few moments later, her leg started to bounce again. My hand tensed making her stop.

She huffed, grabbing my hand and placing it in her lap.

My eyes widened in surprise and my head snapped to look at her.

A tingly feeling spread across the back of my hand making me look down at her lap.

The ballpoint pen ran smoothly over my skin. I didn't say anything, retuning my focus to the debrief.

Dakota bit back a smile, glad I was letting her use me as a human canvas.

By the time the briefing was over, Dakota had drawn a full doodle on my hand.

"I'm going to get blood poisoning at this rate," I commented, watching her concentrate on the drawing.

"That's too bad," she muttered, her hair ticking my arm as she leaned over it.

"Let me see," I tugged at my hand making her glare.

"You fucked it up," she frowned as I pulled away.

"Not bad," I shrugged, trying to seem indifferent as he held back a smile.

"Thanks, I was bored out of my mind," she grinned, capping the pen.

A voice called her name from across the room making her groan.

"I have to get up," she grumbled, slumping further in her seat. I chuckled as she got up, trudging to the other side of the room.

I admired the drawing on the back of my hand for a moment. It was a compass and a clock split by a needle with an anchor coming down the center. I wondered for a moment what it meant and how Dakota had come up with the design as she absentmindedly doodled to calm her nerves.

A smile lingered on my lips as I quickly puled out his phone and snapped a picture.

This would come in use later.