You and Lando have known each other since your knees were constantly scraped. You sat next to each other in kindergarten, stole food from each other’s lunchboxes and swore you’d be best friends forever.

While other friendships came and went, you stayed. Through school changes, first heartbreaks, terrible haircut phases and those weird teenage years when no one really knew who they were. You always thought nothing could truly throw you off balance.

Until you got pregnant.

The moment you found out was quiet. And when you told the man who was supposed to stay, he looked at you like you’d handed him a burden instead of a life. He said he don't want this. No child. No responsibility. And then he left. Never reached out again. Made it very clear he don't want anything to do with the baby either.

The first person standing at your door after that was Lando. He didn’t say anything clever. He just held you and stayed. During your pregnancy, he was there as often as his schedule allowed.

And when he couldn’t come, he made sure someone checked on you. You complained about it, of course. Said you weren’t a project.

He came to doctor’s appointments, sat next to you in waiting rooms like this was the most normal thing in the world. And when the contractions started, he got to the hospital faster than some fathers do. Pacing nervously like his own heart depended on every one of your breaths.

And finally a small, healthy, beautiful baby girl was born.

Alaia.

From that moment on, everything changed. And at the same time, everything felt exactly right. Lando held her like she was made of glass. Looked at her like she had just rearranged his entire world and somehow, from then on, he was simply part of your everyday life.

He came straight to you after races. Made bottles in the middle of the night even when he was exhausted himself. Sent you to sleep when you could barely look straight anymore. You learned to be strong.

For Alaia. But you also grew tired. A deep, heavy tiredness that had nothing to do with sleep.

To earn enough money, you took long shifts. Especially now, during the Formula 1 break, when Lando is around more and practically forces you to accept help. And then there’s therapy. That weekly tearing open of old wounds in the hope they’ll finally heal properly one day.

Today is one of those days again.

You open the apartment door, let it fall shut quietly behind you, drop your bag with a sigh, and slip out of your shoes. For a moment, you just stand in the hallway and breathe. Then you walk into the kitchen. Lando is standing by the table, putting colored pencils back into a box.

“Hey…” You say softly, giving him a tired smile. He looks up immediately. “Hey. How was it?”

You take a short breath and sit down on a chair. “Like always…I dig around inside myself for an hour, come out and feel like I got beaten up.” He sets the pencils down. “That means something’s moving, right?"

You raise an eyebrow. “Aren’t you supposed to feel better at some point?”

“Unfortunately not an instant result.” He mutters. You glance around. “Where’s Alaia?”

“In her room playing. The afternoon was long, I thought she’d fall asleep while coloring. But now she’s wide awake again.” He grins. You smile. “She definitely spends too much time with you.”

He raises his hands. “Hey, don’t judge my babysitting methods.”

You laugh quietly, then notice the two drawings on the table. You pull them closer. One shows three stick figures, a house, flowers and a huge sun in the corner. The other..something that’s probably supposed to be a car.

“Are these from Alaia?” You ask, amused.

Lando scratches the back of his neck and sits down across from you. “The stick figures, yeah. The other one’s from me. The task was : ‘Draw what you love.’ It was meant to be a Formula 1 car..”

You laugh and set his drawing aside. Then you look back at the other one. "That's..the three of us." He says quietly. You lift your head. "The three of us?"

He nods, swallowing. "That's you, that's her..and that's me."