Coffee Is My Surrogate Alpha

“Alina.”

There is no rage in the way he says her name, not even a question. They are past that, she supposes.

One who was too young, and one who lived too long; they were here now, nearly unchanged but for her white hair worn unbound. He did not expect her to come sooner, he knew time well enough. He might have thought he knew her as well.

She did not destroy the Fold.

Thought dead after the collapse of the Chapel, legend had it that her spirit guided skiffs as they made each journey. For not a soul has been lost to the Fold since.

That was how she knew that he wasn’t lost. And the knowledge, when she realized it, caused her that day to weep with joy.

The two of them lived because they could not let the other die; when his humanity was burning away, she held on blindly to what remained and he … she could not name what he did, but in the end she knew he had kept her from falling into darkness.

He had kept — some essence, some hope? Light either way.

And a resolve not to lose her to the void.

What was left of him that day was drawn to the Fold, the only place where he could still exist.

A shadow among shadows.

“You might have left me with a fresh set of clothes. An eternity disheveled is its own unique torture.”

She startles with laughter, the unexpected joy at the even more unexpected attempt at humor freeing the tension in her shoulders. She lets herself smile at him, and his smile is genuine as he smiles back.

“Are you angry?” she asks.

“What is anger for?” is his reply.

Flame sputtering to life in sunlight has more purpose.

A silence heavy as the weight of loss they now share settles between them.

“I could not bear it if you turned from me now.”

He spoke the truth. It was the same truth she would always understand, no matter the centuries left to them, no matter their choices that will always hang in the balance.

She reaches for him with a tendril of shadow.

He holds out his hand in welcome.

————-

As the blade you were pressing to his naked chest penetrated his skin, it felt like you were piercing your own heart. The pain was unbearable but you were not crying because of the physical pain, no. Your emotions, those that slowly left you over the past few months have returned with vengeance. Hurting him hurt you more than anything.

You didn't move, the tip of the blade was still held to him, aiming at his heart but it only scratched him so far. The tiniest drop of blood was the only evidence that you have tried and failed to do the unspeakable.

Tears cascaded down your cheeks as you emerged from the pit of darkness you have fallen into. You were so distracted by the storm of emotions that you didn't even notice Aleksander took your weapon and sat up until he was holding your face in his palms, thumbs brushing away the tears. He called your name, so gently like he was afraid you would break or disappear if he raised his voice.

"Milaya, tell me what you need!" he begs, though he knows you probably have no idea what's going on.

It takes a moment for you to understand what he's asking and another few minutes of broken sobs later you finally can focus on what you feel. The source of the pain is the very thing that stopped you from hurting him. Your heart.

What was once filled with love was replaced with emptiness and misery, like an open wound and the hurt from it spreads to your entire being now. Something was missing from there. Something you needed more than your next breath.

"Tell me what can I do?" Aleksander asks for the third time, his own tears making his vision blurry and his voice breaking up as he tries to stay strong for you.

"I need you." The sudden desire for him burning you from within until you couldn't hold back anymore and let it loose, tearing at his clothes and your own to get closer to him.

"Are you sure?" Your beloved villain asks between kisses as he rolls over you, looking down at you with a worried expression.

"Aleksander, please!"

He sushes your cries with gentle whispers of "I've got you, I've got you."

"Ah!" you cry out as he impales you on his length without preparation, just as you had been urging him. The pain of it helps you focus on something else.

He tries to wait but you whine and squirm under him, begging for him to move, to claim you again, to make you his once more. "Please!"

"I love you." He says apologetically before complying with your wishes.

"I love you." You answer without hesitation, relishing in the truth of it as the feeling slowly starts to burn in your heart again. "More than anything."

His pace is unforgiving, taking you in frantic snaps of his hips against yours, lips claiming your own as the pain becomes pleasure and your shadows turn into blinding rays of light, tangling into his shadows as you become one with your husband again. He clings to you as desperately you you do to him, your high approaching quickly and taking him down the edge with you.

Aleksander hovers over you, barely able to hold himself up as nuzzles into your neck, trying to catch his breath as you are caressing his back.

When he looks up you pull him into a long kiss like you are welcoming him after a long time spent apart. And in a way it's true.

Then you ask a dreaded question. "What did you do to me?"

"Something unforgivable." He turns away, laying on his back and avoiding your gaze as he answers but you move after him, tangling your legs with his as you rest your hand on the spot where his heart beats frantically.

"That's not for you to decide."

Your instant forgiveness makes your Darkling cry as he realises his mistake.

"You already knew everything."

"Yes." You answer shortly but your sad ghost of a smile says more than your words.

"How? Why didn't you tell me?" He's pressing on as he sits up against the headboard, pulling you along with him until you are straddling him.

"I was waiting for you to tell me."

"How did you find out?" He insisted.

"I already had my suspicions..." you say, pausing, afraid to reveal more of his mother's betrayal but seeing no way to hide the truth forever. "She wanted to scare me away from you."

The change was subtle in his expression but you felt his body go rigid with anger and his power trying to surge to the surface with the intense wave of emotion. So you did as you always had and swayed him with your words and affection.

Capturing his chin in your hand, you guide his gaze back to yours and whisper to him between soft kisses.

"It doesn't matter anymore."

"How can you say that?" His voice sounded broken from guilt, the anger quickly turning towards himself.

"I do not care about how we got here. I am yours as you are mine. Forever, if you wish."

Your king returns your genuine smile, pulling you close once again he prepares to make love to you again and again as he whispers his confession against your lips. "That's all I wish for."

You didn’t want to admit to her that you were broken, you knew you were but how could you tell her that? You imagined her running away anyway if she found out what you had done, the awful things you had done that she didn’t know about. Sometimes you could still see the blood on your hands from Afghanistan and Iraq, to the blood you shed on your own home soil…Arthur, or protection assignments gone awry. No matter how hard you tried, the blood wouldn’t wash off. You washed and scrubbed but your hands were never clean after that. It was all a reminder that you weren’t a good man. At least you didn’t think you were.

You had hoped she never had to see the blood.

There had been a date or two where you had noticed a small spot of blood on the cuff of your shirt while having dinner with her. Was it actually there or were you seeing things again? If the blood was there, did she see it too? Did it scare her? You didn’t know because you didn’t ask her. Why was it so difficult for you to just talk to her about it? You had just started to open up and share more about your past with her when she left, it was the very reason why you didn’t do relationships. If you didn’t form an attachment, if you never let them get close, then they never had a chance to walk away from you.

You were attached to her though, very attached. Maybe you thought if you didn’t verbalize it, your feelings for her would change or go away even though you didn’t want them to. And it wasn’t as if she didn’t know you were a combat veteran, a scout sniper, or that you had more than one form of PTSD between fighting overseas, being abandoned at a very young age and growing up in the Ray of Hope group home. You never gave her too many details though.

You never told her about the constant nightmares you suffered from, the nightmares that would wake you in the middle of the night while she was sleeping next to you. They triggered you to frantically leave the bedroom so she wouldn't see the sweat dripping down your temples, feel your heart beating rapidly against her body, or notice your trembling hands.

You didn’t want her to see how scared you were. You’re a marine, you’re not supposed to get scared, especially not in front of her. You were the strong one and couldn’t let her see you that vulnerable, that afraid. And afraid of what? There wasn’t anything there!

The sad thing was, you knew she would be there for you, be there to comfort you, talk you through the nightmares, and tell you it will be alright but you didn’t let her. “No attachments soldier, they’re a weakness!” Those words echoed in your head and had always stopped you from forming any meaningful relationships.

But what if you wanted a weakness? What if you wanted to finally be in love…with her.

She loved you, with her whole heart. You could feel it, she didn’t hide it even though she never said those three words. The only reason she didn’t say them was because you never did. She didn’t know how you felt about her so she kept it all inside, hoping one day you would tell her and she could finally say it back.

“I love you.”

You imagined her saying those words, hearing the tone of her voice as she did, but when she asked you how you felt about her, your whole body seized and you couldn’t do it. All you managed to say was “I wish I could love you, I know you’re good for me, but I can’t.”

And that’s when you lost her. That was when it all fell apart. She walked out of your apartment never turning back, no matter how much you willed her to come back or tried to force yourself to chase after her, you were frozen. The heart you spent so many years building an impenetrable shield around, was broken and she was the only one who could fix it.

After she left, you couldn’t look at anything in your apartment without thinking of her, picturing her beside you on the couch, seeing her beautiful smiling face in the kitchen making popcorn or getting a beer from the fridge. Her face was everywhere, even in your dreams. It was even difficult for you to just be at home without her there.

Your arm stretched over to the other side of the bed, it was empty but you remembered her being asleep next to you. You didn’t sleep very well, so watching her sleep was comforting, it put you at ease to watch her chest rise and fall gently with each inhale and exhale, moving a stray hair away from her face so you could see her better, while she lovingly whispered your name in her sleep…”Billy.” You missed the sound of her voice.

You missed…her. The dull ache in your chest was always there. Ever since she walked out, the pain had been there, it stayed with you like an invisible wound that wouldn’t heal. You, Billy Russo, were in love with her and that all came to a head one night while listening to one of her playlists.

With the steam from the shower enveloping you and the hot water forcefully hitting your skin, you glanced at the caddy attached to the wall. Inside, there was a bottle of vanilla lavender body wash she had left behind. Picking up the bottle, you popped the top open, placed it underneath your nose, closed your eyes and inhaled the scent.

A flood of memories came back, they invaded your mind like an army invading an enemy camp, and it had you in a stronghold with no hope of escaping. Suddenly she was right in front of you, her beautiful face smiling at you, and you could almost hear her infectious laugh. Not wanting the image of her to disappear, you kept your eyes closed while the song started to play.

She loved to listen to (and sing along to) music while taking a shower, maybe it would make you feel better listening to a song she loved. A slight smile tugged at the corners of your mouth, this was one of her favorites.

Slow dancing

On the boulevard

In the quiet moments

While the city's still dark

Sleepwalking through the summer rain

In the tired spaces

You could hear her name

Your chest began to ache again. The lyrics jabbed at you, each word cutting deeper than the one before. “You could hear her name”

And you said her name out loud for the first time in a while. “Y/n.”

A song has never affected you this way before, you knew it was one of her favorites but never really listened to the lyrics until now.

When she was warm and tender and you

Held her arms around you

There was nothing but her

Love and affection she was

Crazy for you now she's

Part of something that you lost

And for all you know

This could be

The difference between what you need

And what you want to be

The words slipped into your heart like a piece of broken glass, all she had wanted was for you to tell her she meant something to you, that she wasn’t just a piece of ass or another pretty face like the others had been.

“Do you care about me at all, Billy?” She had asked, her eyes welled up with tears.

All you had to do was say yes but you couldn’t do it.

With each lyric, the imaginary glass buried itself deeper and deeper into your heart.

Night swimming

In her diamond dress

Making small circles

Move across the surface

Stand watching

From the steady shore

Feeling wide open

And waiting for

Something warm and tender now she's

Moving further from you

There was nothing that could

Make it easy on you

Every step you take reminds you

That she's walking on

It felt like that glass was cutting your heart up into little ribbons and by the time it was done, there would be nothing left unless you stopped it, unless you went to her to tell her you how you feel about her.

You wanted to tell her you love the way she makes you laugh, that the little nose scrunch she does when she laughs is one of the cutest things you’ve ever seen, that you smile every time you get a text from her, and that from the first time you ever kissed her, it was a sensation that you’ve never experienced before, a feeling you’ve been avoiding for your entire life…love.

You…love her.

Every word you never said

Echoes down your empty hallway

Everything that was your world

Just came down

Those lyrics broke you, suddenly it was hard to breathe and you had to brace yourself against the shower wall. It felt like you had been kicked in the stomach and you were left gasping for air. She WAS your world, and even though you had only recently started opening up to her, it felt easy and safe.

And for all you know

This could be

The difference between what you need

And what you want to be

As the song finished, you came to the realization just how important she was to you, that you loved her and she needed to know it. Now you just had to figure out how to get her to listen to what you had to say.

**********

Frank had told you on more than one occasion since she left that you looked like shit. He wasn’t wrong but he also asked you what you wanted.

“You love her, yeah? Do you want her back because it seems like you do, Bill.”

The lyrics came flooding back from the previous night “The difference between what you need…And what you want to be.”

Of course he was right, you wanted her back. “I—I do love her, I’m just not sure she’ll take me back, Frankie.” You told him.

“How do you know that?” He had asked.

“I couldn’t tell her—She asked me and I couldn’t tell her how I feel about her.” You said.

Frank narrowed his eyes at you. “Listen Bill, this is something I’ve never seen before with you. You’re…happy and I like seein’ ya that way. So go home and think about how to tell her, yeah? Just figure it out, I’m tired of lookin’ at your sad, tired mug. Ya hear me?”

Maybe Frankie should write a book. Just Figure it Out -- A self-help book by Frank Castle. Comes with a free punch to the face if you deserve it and you definitely deserved one. He should have just said what he really wanted to say, “STOP BEING STUPID, BILL!” That was Frankie’s idea of a “pep talk.”

You heard him loud and clear but you still didn’t know how you were going to do it. It was incredibly difficult for you to jump without a safety net, to be susceptible to feelings you never allowed yourself to feel before but you had to figure something out, otherwise you would lose her…forever.

Your security team had been following her for about three weeks. It was just a way for you to keep an eye on her, to keep her safe and a small gesture to show that you care about what happens to her, she knew you never liked the idea of her walking alone. And she didn’t seem to mind, she never told them to leave.

Maybe some flowers would also help your cause.

Walking in the rain with a vase full of lilies in one hand and an umbrella in the other, you arrived at her building. The downstairs neighbor recognized you and let you in. You knew she would be home soon so you placed the flowers in front of her door and waited at the other end of the hallway, around the corner until she went inside. You were hoping she would at least bring them inside and not leave them to wilt in front of her door.

Hearing the “ding” from the elevator, the doors opened up and she stepped out looking just as beautiful as the last time you saw her, hair a little damp from the cool rain outside and she brushed the tiny droplets of water off of her jacket. She stopped briefly before reaching the door, the flowers caught her off guard a little before she picked them up and brought them inside.

Before making your way back down the hallway to her door, you tried calling her. You had borrowed Frankie’s phone in case she saw your number and didn’t want to pick up. It rang a couple of times and went to voice mail, you tried two more times with no success. The fourth time, she finally picked up.

“What?!!!” She yelled.

“Don’t hang up, sweet girl.” You said. “I borrowed Frankie’s phone.”

She had an angry snap to her voice. “Why are you calling me, Billy? I don’t wanna do this, ok?” She was so mad, she was practically shouting into the phone.

You pleaded with her. “I wanna talk to you, y/n.” You started to walk down the hallway and stopped in front of her door.

“Yeah well what the fuck do you wanna talk about?!” She snapped again.

There were so many things you wanted to tell her. Like you love the way she gently scrapes your scalp and messes with your hair when you’re watching tv, you miss the way she makes your t-shirts smell of vanilla and lavender after her shower. The way she looks at you when she asks you to read to her because she loves the sound of your voice so much, or the fact that she loved the little things you did for her like bringing her coffee in bed, soup when she didn’t feel well, or covering her with a blanket when she falls asleep on the couch.

She always asked how your day was and actually listened, never looking at her phone or the tv but really listened to you because she knew you loved your job, you loved creating something you believed in. Seeing you happy, made her happy.

You wanted to tell her about Afghanistan, Iraq, Arthur, the nightmares…all of it. She had even reassured you. “When you’re ready, Billy. I’ll never ever pressure you. You can trust me.” She told you with a warm smile and a kiss on the cheek. And she never did, she listened intently when you did actually want to talk and after you were finished, she’d always say the same thing “I’m so happy you told me.”

You could see it in her eyes that she meant it, she meant every word.

Closing your eyes, you inhaled sharply and let out a long exhale before knocking on her door, the phone still pressed to your ear.

She heard the knocks and said. “Ah shit! Someone’s at the door, hold on.”

The door flung open, the phone was still pressed to her ear also, and you could almost see her heart jump into her throat. She was very surprised to see you standing in front of her.

The words just seemed to fall out of your mouth. “I wanna talk about how much I love you.”

You dropped the phone to your side and waited in agony for her response. You almost expected her to push you out, slam the door in your face and tell you she never wants to see you again.

Instead, with tears in her eyes and a hitch in her voice, she said. “I’m listening.”

“Can I come in?” You asked, sheepishly.

She motioned for you to come in and closed the door behind you. Folding her arms across her chest and narrowing her eyes, she glared at you. The tears that sprang to her eyes when you told her you loved her mysteriously disappeared, now she was angry. And she had every right to be because you acted like an asshole with no consideration for her feelings at all.

Although, she did look adorable when she was mad, you tried to cut the tension by smiling at her. She didn’t smile back.

You’re going to have to do better than that, Russo. It was going to take more than a smile for her to take you back.

You inched closer to her, she didn’t move away but flinched a little when you reached for her hand so you shied back a little as you tried to vocalize everything you had been thinking about for the past month.

“I—I’ve really missed you, sweet girl.” You said. “And…I’m so sorry for everything.”

You could see her body tense up as she pressed her lips together and tried to look away from you because the tears had returned.

“Those words, what you said, crushed me, Billy.” She said. “You said you wanted to love me but you just couldn’t. I didn’t know words could hurt that badly until that moment, you couldn’t even look at me.”

A lone tear streaked down her cheek and hit the corner of her mouth. She looked beautiful even when she was crying.

Her words broke your heart, which you didn’t know was possible. The muted pain that had been in your chest since she left, convinced you that you actually had a heart and it was capable of caring for someone other than yourself. It just needed the right person to awaken it.

Then she asked a question you weren’t ready for.

“So what changed then?”

Your answer was surprising, even to you and through a half smile, you replied.

“Nothing’s changed, my love.”

Before she could get angry, you continued.

“Nothing’s changed because I’ve loved you since the first time I kissed you on that Ferris wheel. It was a strange and new feeling for me, thought maybe it would go away but the feeling just grew until I realized that it wasn’t going away and I couldn’t ignore it anymore.”

Suddenly, her shoulders relaxed and she let you take her hand while you slowly moved closer until you were sharing the same air.

You could tell she needed to hear more.

“It grew every time you made me laugh, every time you do that little nose scrunch when you laugh.” You brushed the tip of her nose with your finger and she did the nose scrunch as a reflex. “Every time you raked your fingers through my hair, or when you would make my t-shirts smell like your body wash after your shower, and every time you asked me to read to you. Our first kiss was just the beginning of my love for you.”

Your confession caused more tears to fall from her eyes, one of them landed on her hand and you brushed it away with your thumb.

Her eyes red with tears, she fell against your chest, her arms snaked around your back and she squeezed you tightly.

Through her gentle sobs, she finally said “I’m so happy you told me.”

“And I wanna tell you so much more. I—I love you, y/n.” You whispered against the top of her head.

“Whenever you’re ready, Billy. I’ll be here for you. And I love you too.” She whispered back against your chest.

Those words sounded just as beautiful as you imagined they would escaping her lips and she melted even further into you when she reciprocated the words back to you. She fit perfectly against your body, her spicy scented perfume conquered your sense of smell, and you brushed the back of her neck with your fingers, feeling the goosebumps dance across her skin as you held her in perfect silence. It had been such a long time since you had held her like this, too long.

Pulling away slightly, she wrapped her arms around your neck to draw your face closer to hers. She gently pressed her lips to yours, they were soft and warm just like you remembered. Her lips parted, silently giving you permission for your tongue to twist and knot with hers. She really was the sweetest thing you’ve ever tasted.

She offered you her forgiveness and you would do anything to make sure you’d never be without her again, you would try harder, make sure to tell her you love her, and try not to keep your feelings a secret all the time.

It would be difficult, you’d still make mistakes but you knew she would be there for you. Her love and patience were like a lighthouse in a bad storm, guiding you in the direction you needed to go and illuminating the path that leads you safely to shore.

She was worth it, she was the bright light in the dark empty abyss that you had been walking into throughout your entire life. In her eyes, you were a good man and her love for you was real and unmatched. She was the dream at the end of your nightmare.

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Hard cut to black which fades into a portrait shot of a Formula One journalist, his name fading in to his left. It reads: Andrei Morgan.

"Everyone knows Hammer has had an incredibly difficult season. When you consider that they have won two championships and one of the best, new and young talents in their car it is almost incredible how far they have fallen over the course of a single stop. Combine that with the fact that almost no one expected her to sign for another season with Hammer, given how critical she's been of them since the start of the season when she won her second world title."

Cut to the title card of the series which shows the pit stop of a blue and white car, recognised as one of the Stark drivers. The title of the series appears when the car drives away from the team.

From the title card it transitions into a post-race debrief.

"So Noa, you noticed nothing in your breaking prior to that turn?"

She shakes her head. "Nothing. And looking back, there are no other things I could attribute to the cause either."

"Okay. Elliot, you had a steering issue, any idea what could have caused it from your side of the wheel?"

Cut to the camera following Noa and Elliot from behind, outside the paddock as Elliot comments on the shitty weekend they've had while they make their way to the pop up office and the shot quick fades into a portrait shot of Andrei Morgan.

"It is no secret that, when Noa first signed with Hammer, Sergio Debiar fully intended on having her as a second driver. Which she did well. Unfortunatley for Debiar, Marcus Puckett signed with Nemostones for 2019 and Elliot Maker took his place. Debiar was fully intending on keeping the team dynamic as it was but suddenly there was this very clear shift as Noa started outperforming her teammate weekend after weekend and all but forcing Debiar to put her on the winning strategy.

In a sense things only got worse when she won her first world title because he got a team that worked like a miracle, but not in the way he wanted it and this was only amplified when she won her second world title the season after."

A black screen card appears with the title of the episode. It reads: The Last Straw. Cut to an overview shot of a city with white text overlaying the shot, defining it as Milan in Italy and immediately after cuts to a black screen card with white text reading: Friday, Training.

The view changes to an onboard camera in the car of Elliot Maker. He is performing relatively well for his abilty and the car he's been given and feeling out some of the things that changed about the car in comparison to last weekend.

"Car is performing well, understeer is a bit much though," Elliot's voice crackles over the microphone as he turns through a set of corners and chicanes.

"Understood."

The camera follows an overhead view of Noa's car, which is faster than that of her teammate, though she comments on the same issue with the understeer and a few others Elliot did not catch.

"Well done. You were fourth fastest on the track today. You did a great job."

"Thanks man."

A black screen card pops onto the screen. Saturday. Qualifying.

The camera cuts between different views of Noa's qualifying lap as the commentator remarks her times.

"And Barceló has a purple first sector! Getting off to a good start with the Hammer car this session, and she colors sector two purple as well. Can she beat the Stark of Sam Wilson? Green in sector three makes that a no, qualifying her to start on the second row tomorrow next to Peter Parker, who is coming in... fourth place! Meaning he will start on Barcelo's right. Tomorrow, here in Algarve"

Cut to a portrait shot of Andrei Morgan.

"After this season Noa Barceló will be out of a contract with Hammer. Everyone knows she is not going to stay and Sergio Debiar knows it as well. So why then, is he clinging to the hope that she will sign another contract with them?"

A hard cut to a portrait side view of Sergio Debiar as the interviewer asks him why he thinks Noa will sign on for another season or two with Hammer Racing.

"There is a strong correlation between Noa's success as a driver and Hammer's ability to produce a car that was capable of winning a world championship. Twice in a row even, so I don't see why she would leave when we have proven that we are capable of producing a car that is able to win races and most importantly, championships."

Cut back to Andrei Morgan. "Noa Barceló is an extremely accomplished driver, who not just holds titles in Formula One now, but also in Formula Three and Two. She holds a total of six titles across all three leagues, half of which she won as a rookie. Then there is the fact that when she raced for Roket Mercury Motorsports she lost both her father and godfather in the span of barely a week. Not even forty-eight hours later, she was in a race car and qualifying for the Monza Grand Prix and came dead last. On the day of the race she managed to claw her way through the grid and win the race. To lose two people so close to you and then to be able to get in a car and win a grand prix is...astounding far above a level I am able to put words to. If there is anyone who is mentally strong enough to be in Formula One, it is Noa Barceló.

Then again there is far more to racing than just having a fast car. Debiar knows this as team principal of Hammer, yet he seems to denounce it when it comes to Noa. She's driven four seasons for them so far. At some point you gotta recognise that the driver you wanted in the second position is better than you expected and let them play a fair game."

Cut to a post race interview with Noa Barceló, Zoya Nazyalensky, and Sam Wilson.

"Question for Noa. Now that you have gotten a podium again, how would you feel about signing for another season with Hammer?"

"Honestly? Everyone knows I am out of a contract after this year and I have to say, I kinda look forward to opening a new chapter in my life in terms of racing. Like, at some point or another you have to stop doing what is old and familiar and take the leap to do new things."

Cut to a back view of Noa and her best friend Alba Rivera in a car, discussing different opportunities with two teams in particular. Anvil Motorsports and Lucendi Volcra Racing. The two speak spanish among another.

"What do you think of the rookie?" Alba asks her, turning a corner in an unidentified city.

"Well... they're good. So that makes them dangerous."

"They're a rookie, what could there be for you to be afraid of them?"

Noa scoffs. "Did you really forget about Gostinni already? I thought you had a better memory than that."

"Ah. Yeah you scared me shitless when you two crashed each other in Baku."

"Precisely."

"What about the other one then? Anvil."

"I'd mostly like to know which of their drivers I would be replacing. Because, depending on that, I could end up as the second driver or not."

"Honestly, you replacing either of them would put you up for first driver immediately I think. Look, they're both good drivers in their own right, but even in a Hammer car you can overtake them on a good day."

"Provided I get close through the traffic. Heh."

Cut to Noa preparing to go scuba diving with her friend Alba. An english narration of Noa's voice plays over the footage.

"In a way... I think I have always known I would be done with Hammer sooner or later. When I signed for my second contract with them after my first world title, I already knew I would not want to renew it once 2020 would come around; and with the race results I've had thus far, it seems to have been a wise decision. I have to take a leap forward an thrust myself into the unknown," she says as the footage shows her jumping off a boat, into the water, "Staying with Hammer for this long... It has felt like I have been fighting with one arm tied behind my back. And no, I am not going to lie, I have done a more than excelent job at fighting for podiums and for the world title this year with the car I have been given, but I would also like to know what it is to fight with both my hands free.

I have the luxury of being able to choose between multiple teams, and in a way, that also makes it incredibly scary. Will I choose the right team? What if I make the wrong prediction about the team dynamic? They're all questions that are going through my head as I try to figure out what is best."

The shot shows Noa and Alba swimming back to the surface, but cuts to black before either of them can reach it. The black screen displays a small paragraph of text, reading: On the 7th of December, 2020, Noa Barceló announced to the rest of the world that she would not be renewing her contract with Hammer. The screen card fades into a studio interview with Noa in her Hammer attire as she smiles at the interviewer and it is the happiest we've seen her all season.

"Do I look at you or do I look at the camera," she says with a toothy smile as she takes a sip of water.

"At me," the voice of the interviewer sounds off screen.

"Okay."

"So please tell me your name, your profession and which team you will be joining next year."

"My name is Noa Barceló, I am a Formula One driver and I will be joining Anvil Motorsports for next season."

She smiles brightly when she finishes speaking and the screen cuts to the credits of the episode.