[IC] Burning Rubber (Bee and kingkonrad)

[Bee]

The Japanese legend roared down as Kimberly floored it, pedal to the metal as she blew down the upcoming straight. Of course, she was neck and neck with Joanne's 911 - which wasn't surprising considering the firepower sitting in the boot of the glorified Volkswagen Beetle. Twin turbo flat-six. It was two more cylinders than Ross's boxer, combine that with two turbos and there was the beast that was keeping up with the very powerful Skyline. As the route further developed on her phone, she realized she was going to be travelling quite the interesting path throughout the city of London. For some reason, Kimberly always found herself in Britain for her racing endeavors. She ended her last giant endeavor in Scotland. Racing in the rain in her Impreza. It was rather lovely. She didn't know what any of these locations looked like, so that was a huuge disadvantage for the American girl. However at the same time, if it was anywhere in the States, Kimberly would have the upper hand with this crowd since she was the only American she knew of here. As she saw the next turn come up, she blipped the throttle, shifting down through the gears and then pulling out of the turn like a bat out of hell. This race was for real. It wasn't some chav's 206, it was the big boys. How she and Ross got here she didn't know, but she wanted to win.

The ground was rather damp, which posed a threat to the semi-slick tires that Kimberly had installed onto her car. It was for the sake of performance, and it was rather ill-advised considering that the ground definitely wasn't going to be nice to her car. She was going to lose traction at some points, but she couldn't afford to give anything less than 110%. These were opponents that were not going to be taken lightly. A spinout could cost her some valuable time, and then she'd have to pull a Brian O'Conner and find her own shortcuts to regain some time. It was not something she liked to do since that was cheating, but if it was necessary then it would be done. There were no rules in street racing technically. Kimberly gripped her steering wheel tightly with both hands, 3 and 9 as she approached the upcoming corner the GPS told her to take. It was a rather sharp turn, so Kimberly had to do a bit of trickery with her clutch and maneuver through the corner safely.

Before she knew it, she was coming up on an... airport?! She saw the unmistakable sight of the Cargo Entrance to an airport. Next thing she knew her car was hitting 180+ on the runways, surrounded by ten thousand plus horsepower easy. She had seen movies before, and knew that driving anywhere remotely close to an airplane was not the best of ideas. She followed suit with the rest of the crowd and drove where the airplanes would have a taxi instead of the actual blast. Before long, she could feel a slight rumble travel up her car, and that only meant one thing in Britain. Helicopters. The distant sound of the British rozzers helped solidify her hunch. Now they were in a proper race. If Kimberly and company were caught, there was only one possible outcome from this. Since Kimberly wasn't exactly a British citizen, she would be extradited and prosecuted back in the states. Probably have her assets seized and her license suspended. Everyone who was racing here today knew the risks, but their love for these racing machines overtook the fear of being caught. These people were all true petrolheads, letting their vehicles go to their true potentials.

As she burst from the airport, she was once again neck to neck with the Porsche. It was amazing how Joanne managed to hang with her Skyline like glue, but at some point she needed to shake her so that she could continue her climb up the position. She expected some extravagant supercar to be at the very front, and that was okay. Kimberly knew she had the firepower to deal with them, but getting up there was the problem. They probably had such a huge time advantage, corners had to be cut in order to shave some time off the difference between them. Her Skyline could accelerate at a blisteringly fast rate, but the top speed was puny compared to the hypercars. The 0-60 time of the Skyline was well into the supercar territory, but the question was how long it could sustain its top speed. The last time Kimberly tried it her car nearly blew its motor. No way did she want a repeat of that. The Skyline powered on through the course, handling the corners ahead of it as if it were its breakfast. Corners were in this car's DNA. She intended to take full advantage of it. Except, Kimberly had failed to consider that the ground was damp as she went for the overtake for the car in front of her.

The car in front of her was an Evo IX that clearly packed a large amount of firepower. However with this upcoming corner, Kimberly could definitely make a move and pass it with ease. No effort on her part besides moving the wheel. As they exited the taxiway, Kimberly knew that a corner was coming up which rendered the perfect time to overtake. She moved left, letting her car get in front a little bit. She intended to brake late, but the ground was damp. Everyone knew what happened on damp ground. Kimberly braked, anticipating the car to get slow enough so that she could clear the turn rather widely. But instead the car just kept sliding as it slowed down, and as she turned the car started sliding. Kimberly's heart sunk to her gut as the car exited the exit, the Skyline doing a full 180 as the motor cut off and stalled. All she could see illuminated by the headlights were the other cars passing. The crowd included Ross and Joanne, which frustrated Kimberly as she tried to start the car again and get back on track. This was a fatal mistake she definitely needed to use her tricks to catch up with. She would never be able to live down the embarrassment for the next two weeks from her husband. Oh joy.

[FourtyTwo]

Ross felt the car roar once more, as it lept into fourth, the deep throaty roar of the flat four and the huge turbo that had been attached, with the anti-lag making the rear occasionally sound like a rifle on full auto, this Subaru being a machine that felt more trackday than four wheel tarmac terrorist. That fact alone was enough to send a shiver through his spine, and it was that fear that made him keep going, just utterly in that moment. The roads curved a little, as Ross flew over a bump in the road, the classic rally traits of this car kicking in, as the ground felt hard, a little Carbon possibly knocked up or dented, as Ross felt the stiff car momentarily lose it's solid grip. Turning on a mini-roundabout, swerving past two slow moving cars, Ross was back on the throttle, before taking a left onto a dual carriageway headed towards Canary Wharf, the sight of three cars ahead a looming aspect. He couldn't even tell what had happened to Kimberly, he had literally no idea that she had spun out a minute ago, and that he hadn't even considered the prospect of her following now. None the less, he knew he had to keep going. She was fast enough to outrun the cops, and smart enough to not trash her car. Kimberly wasn't like that, surely? He couldn't think that. All he could do was focus on going 120mph on a road with a limit three times less.

The car whined, as the brakes felt red hot, the Evo IX ahead and clearly holding a steady line. Ross pursued the car, weaving between bollards and parked cars, another 90 degree turn putting him close, as the Evo suddenly overdid the turn, the driver clearly not used to four wheel drifting, or at least keeping a dead level car control running. The car suddenly shuddered, and went off the road, sideways, smashing into a brick wall and going at least 50m through a grassy knoll, Ross recoiling in that fact. He was too in the moment, too focused, his mind in a different place. He had to get down to it. He still had no idea in regards to Kimberly, and the cops were distant, something was ticking in his mind. Something was wrong. The race was not high stakes, but it felt like it had become so in an instant. Maybe he should go back for Kimberly. He couldn't. His mind perhaps slipped for a second too long, as he had to stamp on the brakes, barely clipping the kerb as he turned right, heading into Canada Square, or the area beneath Canary Wharf. The GPS was going this way, the route even more insane. Flooring it, Ross saw the sight of Joanne ahead, and knew that she would acknowledge him.

Turning by a set of trees on the concrete, Ross kept close, not even drifting, just threading the car precisely through the pedestrianized area, turning out back onto the road and back out towards the Docklands. This was insane, the cops had to be about somewhere...Ross just didn't know. The race felt like it had lost it's flavor, like something bad had happened. There didn't feel like this was the right thing to do. Ross still didn't see the Skyline in his mirror, but Joanne was close. They were going back to the warehouse, to that abandoned site, but yet Ross knew that all shit could raise if he made the wrong move. He was sick of it. Back on tarmac, he put his foot to the floor, and tailed Joanne, tapping the car phone at the same time, getting the voice recognition up.
"Call, Kimberly." He simply said, as his phone replied, Ross cursing, just hoping she would pick up. He couldn't even tell, as he skidded around a corner, the Subaru following the 911, Joanne clearly having the top speed but not the handling and acceleration with the rear-engined beast, impossible to drift without bricks in the front of the car to balance the weight distribution out. Well, at least the older ones were, and that was how Ross found he could at least point a single flaw in an otherwise great car. And in particular, the RWB-kitted 911 was no slouch, not in any way. The wet tarmac as they roared back towards Blackwall could only say it all, as Ross looked over at his phone, unsure if it had connected.
"Kimberly, get Joanne on the line...I've got a really bad feeling about this, if you're still there, just follow signs for the O2 Arena or the Blackwall Tunnel. Just trust me, forget whatever pay there is, there are cops massing everywhere." Ross simply added, as he saw a roadblock on the roundabout, handbrake hard on as he did a 180, flipping the car round, the Subaru spraying grit as the Scot was back on the throttle, not even knowing where Joanne was. She must have made it clear, because this blockade was new. Back on the gas, he headed on the wrong side of the road, slamming over a central reservation as he floored it towards the Blackwall Tunnel, heading towards the O2 Arena, or the Millenium Dome as it was previously known, on the other side of the Thames.
"I'm heading out, buggering towards the south."

[Bee]

Kimberly turned the key and tried her absolute best to start the car, hearing it crank but failing to roar to life. The female racer was growing more and more frustrated every time she tried to restart her car, but its revival being nowhere in sight. Did the Skyline really decide to fail her now? In the middle of a crucial race with cops all over? She stared ahead at the damp road illuminated by the cool blue light of her headlights. It was just her inside of this metal encasing, nothing else but the distant sound of helicopters and sirens mixed with a mechanical symphony. She took a deep breath before attempting to crank it over again - no avail. Her blue eyes quickly hid behind her eyelids as she squinted at the dashboard in front of her before she tried one last time. Kimberly had a no quit clause in her philosophy, but if the car didn't crank over this time then something must've fucked up in the car and couldn't continue in the race. She pressed the clutch in and turned the key, hearing it finally crank over and roar to life. Kimberly was borderline crying from happiness as she revved it twice to make sure that everything she was hearing and seeing was real. The tachometer's needle moved, hearing backfire from the exhaust as she hit a certain RPM range. She quickly launched it from wherever the car was parked, and headed down the correct (wrong) side of the road so she could catch up. The time she spent trying to get her car back to life was valuable time that was wasted doing absolutely fuck-all but cranking the car over. She could see the positions of other people, and the ones that were in front of her were ways ahead. She would have the time of her life trying to catch up. As the I6 roared down the street, she cursed to herself as she made such a fatal mistake. The twin turbos were working hard providing her the power she needed to make up time. Fuck the route they had at hand, she needed to make shortcuts to save some time.

The lack of any car other than her own on these streets were not a good sign. The GPS showed that she was getting closer to them but she couldn't hear or see anything. Either her senses were lying to her or the GPS was lying to her. She cut through an alley, the bumps rattling the Skyline's cabin as she erupted from it, counter steering big time as it slid. The Skyline went down a gear to send some more power to straighten it out, speeding down yet another British road. She was tapping on her gear lever, her face showing the coolness of an experienced racer but her fingers showing the anxiety an amateur would have. Usually Kimberly was calm and collected behind the wheel, but in this particular situation she was anxious to see when and how she would get back into contention. God knew where Ross and her new friend Joanne were at right now. The helicopter was still in the air, but didn't appear to notice her at all. Surprising how they missed the only Skyline in the city darting down the streets. The Skyline was belted around a corner as she yanked the e-brake, going to yet another side street as she got closer and closer to a couple of arrows on the GPS. It could've been anyone, she was sure hoping it was her husband and her friend. Unfortunately she couldn't see jack-shit as the side street lead to a bridge that went over the road the two arrows were on. The car caught some air as she passed the upper point of the jump, landing rather violently and sending some shock up Kimberly's spine. It affected her definitely but there was no time to whine about whatever she hurt. She had to get her ass back on track if she wanted to win this thing.

Kimberly was headed for the next highlight point on her map as she heard the ever-so-familiar 'Marimba' ringtone erupt from her golden iPhone 6 that was sitting next to her. She glanced over and saw a picture of her husband's face on it, picking it up and answering the call. "Ross? Where are you?!" She said frantically, putting the phone on speakerphone and dropping it in her cup holder so that she had both hands free. As Ross explained what was going on, she grimaced and glanced at the GPS. Shaking her head, she turned it off and looked around for said signs. "I'll see you there." Kimberly said, before holding down the home button to activate her trusty personal assistant, Siri. "Siri, call Joanne!" She shouted, before Siri responded with her acknowledgement. The Scottish girl in the Porsche picked up, where Kimberly told her to just get to O2 Arena and disregard the the race due to a bad feeling. As the conversation ended, Kimberly put herself towards O2 Arena, where she had an even worse feeling in her stomach. Her intuition was rarely wrong, but she was hoping that her intuition would be wrong this time. As she could see the massive arena come into sight, it was way too quiet for a venue this big. Something was hiding but she didn't know where.

The Skyline pulled onto the circle and drove around it slowly, Kimberly leaning over her steering wheel and looking closely to see if there was anyone there. Much to her dismay, someone was there and it was neither Ross or Joanne. A pair of lights flashed to Kimberly's right, where she then saw another pair of blue lights right in the middle of the headlights. Kimberly processed the situation at hand almost immediately. This was a trap. She shifted into reverse and floored it, seeing a black E60 M5 come out of nowhere and try to t-bone the Skyline but it was too late. More M5s came out of nowhere to intercept the Skyline. They were converging all over her but she managed to find a hole. Many flashes of lights, both headlights and light bars blinded her but she managed to find a hole that was big enough for her Skyline to go through. Who were these people in the M5? Police? Did the British police even have unmarked M5s? Kimberly sped down before slowing down and trying to turn left. Unfortunately an M5 was there trying to plug that hole, and was coming towards her fast. Kimberly shifted into reverse and floored it, going into the street across from it and backing up. When she had a space big enough, she whipped her car around, shifting it into first as she came towards the end of the alley and onto a road where she only had two options, left or right. Kimberly's first instinct would be to turn right as she saw headlights out of the corner of her eye to the left, but that was where cops were coming through as well with even bigger cars. She stood no chance against those and whipped it around, kicking up a cloud of smoke as she saw a pair of circular headlights. It was none other than Joanne's Porsche, and she had come all this way only to go back to where she came from because this was an ambush. Kimberly sped past Joanne's car quickly, knowing she would be following suit. If Joanne was here, then Ross was near.

[WORK IN PROGRESS]

[FourtyTwo]

Ross saw the M5s rush past, as he put his foot down harder, knowing this couldn't be good.
"Fuck, they got unmarked Interceptors on us, they're going to run our plates...Kimberly, you best head south, the Dome's going to be bad..." He said to himself, knowing he wasn't on the phone. He had to get back, as he called her up, praying he could get into it on a conference. The cops weren't good enough to track calls, that much Ross knew would be the case. But it would be enough to give them leverage, and they didn't want to get singled out.

Calling them again, he turned hard into a parking garage, losing the brunt of cops, as he drove up into it's depths, looking for exits and ways out before he stopped.
"Kimberly, it's fucked, there's cops crawling here! Okay, I'm going to text you a GPS co-ordinate, bear with me...if this works, just meet me there, I'll be waiting for you, we can't stay together or else they'll focus their resources. Just go for it, I'll be waiting." Ross added, simply as he got through, frantic before he looked around, the Impreza's soft burble the only thing he could guess was going to save him this time.

Flooring it through Grenwich, Ross was back on the road, the spray kicking up a little, as he drove up one way systems, up anything, just absolutely hard on the gas. The more corners he put up, the more the cops were confused, and left, right, left had worked well to lose them for the most part, as he headed out for the east, towards Kent. He could only pray that Kimberly had gotten the text, and could run from the cops.

---

Somewhere outside Gravesend

The cops were long gone, and the car pulled over, Ross already at work on changing the plates. He had already flicked them over, and could only guess that things had totally gone to shit- the cops wouldn't have gotten his ID, not with the scheme he was running with the plates on these cars. It wasn't a free ticket, it was a lot of money to make sure that the police never traced the real owner of the car, and it could at least make sure he looked like a joyrider. Perhaps that he was, but in a car that he did own, and build himself. It was complicated to explain at best, but Ross knew that he had to go back to legal plates, and any police patrols would find zero dirt on this Subaru in particular, any similarities difficult to explain for that reason. At least, he hoped.

The layby was small and in a woodland, and had been the place where Ross had wanted Kimberly and Joanne to meet him, being able to figure this out from a random search on his GPS. None the less, Gravesend was an old Kentish shipyard, and here, on a ring road around it, they were far enough from London. Screwing the last plate in, he went back around, just watching, waiting. He didn't want to call her- but could guess she was smart enough to make it here without attracting cops. Looking around, he looked over at the scratches and marks on his car, tutting a little.
"Fucker." He simply said, as he went back, grabbing his phone from the centre console, before stepping back out. There was someone he remembered, someone he could probably contact. He prayed he was in the area, last he had chatted to him, he was in the area.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end of the phone responded, Ross quickly identifying the racing driver of a friend he had. It was a story for another day, how him and Ryan were friends, one that seemed to not really flash through his head at the moment. But he knew that it was a good one, one that had worked out mutually for the both of them, both speak freaks and both at the helm of some serious machinery.
"Ryan, it's Ross- you said you were at Lydden Hill this weekend? The rallycross, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well...we're running from London, the racing scene's been cut up. We'll come to you, please say there's some Amateur stuff going on for Sunday."
"There is, actually. Vintage stuff, if you want in....we could probably cut you a couple of cars, if that's what you're asking."
"Well, call us a late entry."
"Classic Ross, you fucking owe me. I'll sort it. Anyway, you stay safe, don't get yourself arrested."
"Cheers pal, much appreciated. I'll see you there." Ross replied, his classic Scottish accent selling the rest, as he put the phone down. He was pleasantly pleased, as he moved back. He would tell Kimberly about this at some point, and had half an idea of doing this, but the fact that any chance of doing any street racing in London was now over, meant that this was the best alternative. He was always good at doing things on the fly, he thought to himself, as he continued to watch the road for two fast cars, preferably not followed by cops, from the woodland layby.

[Bee]

The I6 roared as it tore down the streets of London, the brunette driver in the car glancing at the rear view mirror every once in a while to see whether or not there was anyone behind her. All she could see were the circular lights of Joanne's Porsche, trailing behind her. In situations like these, Kimberly's senses went into autopilot at a higher level. Everything was focused on making sure she got away from the cops cleanly. It was essentially survival. She didn't even remember how she got to where she was in the first place. Everything was a blur, her senses and instinct taking over all processes in her brain as she dodged and weaved and slid into alleys, sideroads, and roads that would aid in her getaway. She wasn't even like this when she went racing. Even during racing she was fully aware, planning her every move in anticipation. It was like chess, but with cars. Every move was meant to set up the next move, that was the way Kimberly's style worked. Full aggression, pedal to the medal and never easing it. The Skyline had taken a lot of abuse, since Kimberly was whipping it left and right and driving at maximum pace. It was a car's worst nightmare, but Kimberly made it so that it was conditioned for this. It would be a while before it gave up and failed on Kimberly. Since the coast seemed to be clear, she pulled into a local parking lot. The R34 deserved a bit of rest and time to cool down before she made her way to wherever the hell Ross was. He knew this area way better than Kimberly - he could be anywhere right now. She parked her car and turned it off, allowing the turbo timer to operate before the car totally shut off. She grabbed her phone from her center console, taking a deep breath and removing her jacket because the recent getaway had taken a lot out of her. She needed to unwind a bit and get herself collected. It had been far too long since she had done this, not being used to the adrenaline it induced. She looked at her phone, checking it for any sign of Ross on her phone. Unfortunately there wasn't really any signal in this particular location of London, which was a bit odd but it happened. Luckily, Joanne's Porsche pulled in, parking itself right next to Kimberly's Skyline as the Scottish girl disembarked.

"Didn't take ya for such a good runner." Joanne chuckled, shutting the door behind her.

Kimberly squinted a little bit to make out where exactly Joanne was so she could know where she was talking at, "I've done this before." Kimberly replied, rubbing her tattooed arm.

"I could tell, I just followed your lead and you brought us in the clear. You looked like you knew where exactly you were going." Joanne got a little bit closer since Kimberly was having a hard time finding where Joanne was, "How exactly long have you been doing this?"

Kimberly shrugged, before winking and looking back at her Skyline. "Long enough to handle one of those." Kimberly was kicking at the ground before she got the tri-tone text sound on her phone. It was a text from her husband. Joanne was able to see the screen and Kimberly's lock screen, which was a family picture with her daughter at a beach of sorts. The text revealed the location of where exactly Ross was.

"Well looks like we gotta get packed up and on our way then. We just got ourselves a location."

---

Somewhere Outside Gravesend

The Skyline had proceeded to said location at a moderate pace. Now that Kimberly had no police to worry about, especially since she was out of their jurisdiction. The Skyline deserved a cooldown drive, driving about in third gear and at a low RPM. Kimberly wondered what exactly that husband of hers was up to. Most likely changing the plates on his car, since they had a pair of some fake plates on their cars right now. They possessed fake plates for just about anywhere, all fifty states of the United States included. It was something that would land Kimberly and Ross in prison, so thats why they kept it somewhere nobody would know. It was the perfect plan. Her facade might be a bit harder considering her car was a lot more recognizable.

With some time, Kimberly found herself in the layby Ross's Subaru was parked in - the headlights of her car lighting up the Subaru before she turned the car off again. Joanne's Porsche followed closely. As Kimberly exited her car, she had this odd feeling of deja vu. It was like she was in a place like this right after running from cops. It was uncanny. She found her husband and hugged him, wrapping him like a snake and planting a long kiss on his lips. She was smiling big time, happy to see her husband again. "I missed you so much, baby!" She said, embracing him. Joanne looked like she was going to be nauseous with the affection that Kimberly was showing to her husband, but a woman had needs she needed to fill. Kimberly looked up at Ross, smiling. "Hi."

"Those fucking cops. They honestly almost got m- I mean us. If I recognized it one second too late I would be sitting in a British jail right now. I'm so glad I'm here right now." Kimberly groaned, putting her face into Ross's chest, exhaling. "It's good to be back with you." She grinned, before unlatching from him. "Gotta get those plates off. Car's not even registered here anyway." Kimberly muttered, before opening the boot of her car and grabbing a screwdriver out of it. All she needed to do was remove the plates. It would look like she had just imported this car over and was awaiting registration in the UK. But now, it was good that Kimberly was safe and sound. She would live to race another day.

---

Somewhere in Lydden Hill

That morning, the alarm went off a bit early for Kimberly's tastes, resulting in her cracking an eye open and pressing the button on her phone to turn it off. It was a bit annoying how she had to wake up this early for a rallycross event. She groaned and got up, adjusting her shirt so that her breasts weren't in an awkward position. From there she got set up for the day, including taking a shower and getting freshened up - the process including her putting on her face and making sure she was ready to stun and look good for a day of racing.

Soon, the sound of a turbo four-banger filled the dirt course as a certain American woman took a joyride in it. She had a friend there who allowed her to drive this car around as long as she wanted, and by golly it was fun. Kimberly was dressed in full race attire, adidas suit, gloves, shoes, and a Sparco helmet! Her visor was flipped up so that she could see, but was handling the car like a dream. This was probably one of the greatest Toyotas ever made, it was so fun to whip around a dirt hairpin, drifting it as best as she could. At this point she had been whipping around in it for an hour or so, coming here extra early so that she could have the opportunity to drive a car like this. It was very well worth it.

Ross wasn't even here yet, Kimberly was the first one here. Not even Ryan or his little racing partner were present yet. It was just her, a few other participants, and her friend that allowed her to drive the car. But eventually, Kimberly had to pull into the paddock. That was to allow her friend to set it up for their class later today. It was a tight squeeze, but she got out of the car just fine, helmet and everything. She thanked her friend and wished them good luck, before walking back to the area meant for her squad. It had a tent set up with tools and everything - some people were there already discussing how they were going to set up the cars. Kimberly simply said hi before she went into the back, opening up her bag and pulling out her cell phone.

She had amassed a long list of missed calls from her older sister - who just happened to be taking care of her daughter while Kimberly was away. Since the call was only a few minutes ago she decided to call her sister back, hearing the little trill noise as it connected with her sister back in the states. It was pretty late back in the states, but if she knew her sister AND her daughter they were both still up. The call connected and it was showing a live feed of her older sister, Maria, smiling and waving. Kimberly and Maria looked very similar, with some minor differences in face shape. Kimberly's daughter, Mia, poked into the screen and glanced at it, before seeing it was her one and only mommy! Enthusiastically, Kimberly was met with a very lively greeting. Mia had her hair up in a bun. When most people took one look at the one and a half year old, she was a splitting image o Kimberly, just with hazel eyes and a little bit of her dad's features.

"Hi baby! How are you?" Kimberly smiled at the sight of her daughter on the phone.

Mia's happy response was a good enough reaction, she was giggling and lying into her aunt's belly, Maria gasping a little bit.

"How's the trip? The Skyline treating you well?" Maria said, holding Mia by the waist and bouncing her up and down on her leg. She was confused momentarily, but she turned around and figured out it was just Aunt Maria.

"Skyline's been alright. It did real well a few days ago. I'll tell you all about it when I get home. I'm at some cool rallycross event."

Maria nodded, she was about to say something but was interrupted by Mia starting to fuss. It was way past her bedtime and she was tired.

"I think someone's a little tired, isn't she?" Kimberly said, smiling down at her phone.

Maria looked at Mia, who was fussing a lot more now, "Yeah. I should put her to bed now. I'll see you later, sis."

Kimberly nodded, "Okay sis. Good night! Good night Mia, love you!" Kimberly said, smiling and waving goodbye. Mia only waved back, before the call disconnected. Kimberly then was returned to her lockscreen and looked out to the garage, waiting for everyone else to arrive so that she could get started with her day. But for the time being, she figured she would take a nap in her race suit. There was no reason as to why not anyway.

[FourtyTwo]

The Scot hugged Kimberly, the embrace strong as he could only feel good, happy to see her come back, without a whole host of cops or her in a prison.
"Thank fuck you came, Kimberly. Just stay safe...that was a step too far." He said, shaking his head, looking over at Joanne, giving a half-smile before turning back to Kimberly.
"We used to be able to do this, but we've got Mia to look after. We can't carry on, not when the heat is that strong. They're taking the piss now, we drove onto an active airport and people still bat eyelids. We're lucky not to be in prison for years for what we did, that was insane." Ross added, acutely aware that he was the one that enjoyed it the most, the law breaking, the rule bending, the speed. But something had hit him, like he had realized just how close it was, and how much he wanted to protect Kimberly. Once, he could do this, on his own, no risks. But now he had a baby to look after, and her mother would have gone to prison if she hadn't have been so good behind the wheel. He could take whatever risks he wanted, but he wanted Mia to have a father to look after her, even if he was a street racer, taking mad risks. This could only go on so long, he told himself, the adrenaline rush was great and the speed was unbeatable, but it was going to have to be cut out, or at least, done in some way that wasn't as risky as that. It wasn't a crew anymore, it was just lunacy.

Ross clambered back into the Impreza after the plates were changed, the classic beast rumbling as the Boxer came alive, Ross only happy that the two were back. Putting some Chilled Music on, he drove out of the layby slowly, following Kimberly and Joanne. The 911 roared, as they took it slower, heading on the Kentish A Roads, off the M2 and A2 towards Lydden Hill, on the other side of this long county. It was a long way, and the roads were virtually empty, no traffic at all, this being a nice, chilled out journey.

It took about an hour and a half, due to the slower route they took, going through villages and hooning it on single-laned roads, Xenon lights and the winding tracks giving all three a good run for their money, and it was a good run, after all the madness of London. It felt good to be away from it all, and Ross felt happy, at least, content that it wasn't going to be as dangerous as that again, not for a little while at least. He couldn't help but feel that despite the whole surge of the moment, there hadn't really been a point to the race. They'd done it for the hell of it, and it felt like there was nothing on the line for all the risk. Not like Dubai, where they made the delivery and made their money, it felt like it was simply jailbait, a free prison sentence for no point whatsoever. It wouldn't be fun to explain to his cellie he wasn't in on a beef that involved some sort of drugs or violence, but a souped up Impreza, that much he knew. And he knew Kimberly couldn't go to prison, no matter what, he would not let that happen. Maybe he was a flawed soul, but she couldn't follow him into the worst of what he did, Ross only thought to himself.

-----------

Part Five: Crossing Paths
Lydden Hill (Rallycross)

The Next Day
1pm

Waking up in the small caravan, Ross could hear the noise of engines, as he looked across at the clock. He'd stumbled in here the night before, Kimberly going some other way, and it had an effect on him- he had completely lost track of time, and slept in.
"Fuck." He only threw himself out of bed, and grabbed whatever clothes he could, going with a pair of thermals underneath a predominantly black Sparco racing suit, heading out. Kimberly had been thrown into a different tent, and he was quick to find her, looking in as he saw her just nod off. He hated himself when he did this, but he had to, one way or another.
"Kimberly...babe, sorry I missed you last night." He said, as he clambered down, crawling into the small tent, kissing her on the cheek, looking over at the phone.
"Chatted to Maria? Crap...I wanted to really see Mia too. Oh well, I'm sure she's busy with other things. You okay?" He asked, looking across, aware he'd made a bit of a goof. Still, he was sure she could forgive her, and he'd probably make it up to her at some point later in the day, that much he could say.
"We should probably go and meet Ryan in a moment."

----------

Ryan looked over the sight of the cars in the makeshift garage, under a large white tent, with a couple of mechanics working away on the two Ford Fiesta STs, both equipped with Olsbergs bodykits and up to FIA standards for Rallycross. They weren't in the Global RX or anything along those lines, but when it came to one-off events, this was an opportunity to make a little money, in a highly-setup event. They both had 550bhp, and barely weighed over a ton, with the 0-60 of these cars being simply insane. They were set with short gearboxes, and while they wouldn't fly over 130, there was no need, even at a fast RX circuit such as Lydden Hill- acceleration and instantaneous power were key, and with the anti-lag and turbochargers installed, they could provide that. It was shocking just how quick they were- and on dirt, it felt even more insane to experience. 0-60 in just over a couple of seconds, on gravel, was like being strapped to a rocketship. And he was a local boy, being from Canterbury- this was his local race circuit, even closer to Brands Hatch, so being able to go around in a rallycross-spec Ford felt incredible, even beating the nice amount of money that came from coming along to the Invitational. There were a lot of analysts here, most of these cars prepped in a manner for the 2016 season, and it generally felt like a good place to make a good racing weekend happen.

The cars were lined in a white and blue livery, sponsored by Sparco, the two both identical, apart from the window stickers in the rear quarter, of their respective surnames on each respective car. It didn't look too dissimilar from the M-Sport WRC livery, albeit with a greater focus on the blue, and the lack of Ford logos. A couple of engineers worked on the cars, currently sitting under Ryan's, taking a look at the suspension attached. He'd given it a go earlier, and while Ryan hadn't done anything to it, he felt the rear was a little too soft, just not sturdy enough to hold in the corners and keep stability. Ryan's Simpson race suit was a matching white and blue, his helmet sitting on the roof of his car, the Simpson X Bandit, the one that he always used in racing- hooked up with a Stillo radio system.

Ryan smirked, as he looked over at the two cars once more, peering over at the couple of stone-scratches that sat on the side panels of the bodywork, cutting a little into the paint, as he then stood up.
"These are fucking awesome. I'm tempted to go into RX full-time, they are mindblowingly fast." He said, as he looked around the garage, taking a seat on a plastic chair by the side of his Fiesta, grabbing a can of Monster and sipping it down, looking across to Regina.
"And hey, Ross and Kimberly should be here. Crazy guys, they were racing in London. Illegally. Should be good to see them again." Ryan added, as he slurped a bit more of the energy drink down, as he saw a distinct pair walk around the corner of the white vehicle tent.

Ross walked in, Kimberly by his side. Ryan turned to see the pair, both in their race suits, as he smirked at them both.
"Ah, speak of the devil. Good to see ya, Ross." Ryan added, walking over as he hugged the Scot, Ross chuckling a little, as he looked over.
"Likewise. Anyway, you said that there's racing to be had?" He asked the Southerner, as Ryan nodded, looking around.
"Indeed, we've got an Invitational Rallycross event. With me being the second placed FIA GT3 Europe driver and some experience of rallycross means they wanted us here. Plus I live down the road in Canterbury. Just a one-off, but a bit of cash to keep the job search going, you know." He added, as he looked outside, the clear sky and mid-day beating down.
"So, you want to see what you'll be driving? I'll leave it to you to fight over what you're going to have, but it's a really good selection." Ryan added, as he nodded to the two to follow behind, keeping an eye on Regina and seeing if she'd come along.
"Sure."

Walking a couple of tents down the paddock, the sight of the scale of this event was simply awesome to see. There was going to be a party, clearly- this part of the paddock was for all the vehicles, which were passing in and out occasionally by the barriers, but beyond this, there was a couple of festival tents set up, some with sponsors and some with music, fans crowding around to see some of the other warm-up events going on here.
"Anyway, here's the choice. Take your pick. Ford Escort Mk2, Fiat 131 Abarth, BMW E30 M3. Oh, and that Renault 5 Turbo, the driver said he can't come down this weekend so we have the keys for it. ALl with rollcage, all fairly similar in power to weight ratios, all up for the Classics Event that's on tonight at 5pm. We've got a Warm-Up heat going on ourselves at 6, your race is four laps, on the full circuit. Since a few people didn't show up, it's just one heat for you- our Final is tomorrow morning, and it's going to be...fucking mental." Ryan simply said, the small tent packed with various classic cars, from Opel Mantas to Metro 6R4s to even an old-school Ford Capri, kitted out for rally. The four looked mean, right at the end of the tent, and looked well maintained. They were fitted with off-road tyres, and apart from the safety modifications, were almost untouched, apart from the Ford which had clearly been refitted with a K-Series Rover engine, to deliver a higher redline, and had the bonnet open.
"As you can tell, you got really lucky. If I could, I'd be racing that Beemer, but we've got other racing to do. So, I'll leave you to it- just let Beatrice in the office know which one you'll go with, you're signed up but they don't know what car so let them know. They'll lend you the keys afterwards, and the car's yours for the day. There's a brief on at 3pm, just laying down the rules and all."
"And this is why I don't race for my living...I prefer a lack of rules, fastest built car and all. Aye, that's where it's at." Ross added, as Ryan chuckled.
"Maybe, but I prefer not getting arrested, you know?"
"True, I suppose you have that on your side." Ross digressed, as Ryan shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, whatever goes- but we party just as hard, so you aren't missing out by coming here. You probably saw it, but they've got the Ferris Wheel set up, fireworks too, massive fucking party. It's going to be sweet. I can't drink, but you can knock yourselves out after you're done." Ryan added, as Ross nodded, looking about the cars.

The Ford was colored blue, as was the BMW, the Fiat a bland yellow-orange, while the Renault was in a matt black, the pack of cars ranging from the mid 70s to the late 80s, but all classics in their own right. RWD, all delivering around 250 to 300bhp, though weight of course, made this all relative. They were closely contested, and Ross was finding it difficult to choose, as he looked around.
"That sounds mental, Ryan. These cars, they're all really good. Tell you what, I have an idea. Kimberly, how about you make the first choice? I might as well be the gentleman here." He said, hugging her, kissing her on the cheek as Ryan cringed a little inside, knowing that the two were so close, just reminding him in a funny way of how single he was right now. Him and Regina were good friends, but he had never even considered it- and didn't really want to, knowing it wouldn't ever work in a million years. But from his perspective, the Scottish lad that he knew since they first met, three years ago back at Knockhill at a racing meet, that he had gone from being just a street racer and someone who liked fast cars and working on them to a real four-wheel tarmac terrorist, being able to do some seriously fast things. It had been a good friendship, that much could be said, and after Ross had met Kimberly, Ryan could only tell that the two had good things ahead- even if it was a little weird to see them hug right here.

--------

Headcorn Aerodrome, Kent

The scene was abuzz, the sight of planes taking off and landing a thing to see, and the whole day had gone fairly quick. Various Cessnas, some with skydivers, some without. But here, a particular two were looking over, rather inconspicuously. Seb sat about, the black T-shirt he wore and shorts showing he was a little casual outside of his jumping gear, which seemed about right for a place like this. The vibe was busy, tandems going through, and other jumpers getting themselves set up, but it was clear, that the two fliers were here.

From within the packing hall, the sight of the couple of clouds in the sky that could be seen just out the door. Packing was a difficult thing to learn, but for Seb, it had become something of a naturality, automatic, as he finished up, pulling the closing loop through. Putting the white and red rig aside, he looked over to his female companion, his girlfriend and fellow jumper, sitting down as he watched her pack.
"This is gonna be good. Weather is still forecast to be excellent, we got one good jump in together at least. But this demo is going to be even better. Them flying us out, we go with smoke, straight into the party." Seb said, as he put his Oakleys back on, leaning back on the mat. Today, they'd already jumped once, but the demo at Lydden Hill felt even better, being an evening drop. A sunset lift, and they were going to wingsuit in before deploying, bring the spectacle to the party, something that meant the jump ticket was paid for as a result.
"Should we call up and tell them to have shots ready for us as soon as we land?" He added, chuckling as he pulled out his phone, swiping through YouTube, going onto their page.

"TheWingman" and more specifically, the video titled "Lyngen Alps SkiBASE- Close Call!" were what he was looking for. The Austrian was a little more serious with the titling than Ellie could be, but still though, their channel had gotten a serious hit in views from that video, plus Ellie's sub-channel bringing in a hell of a lot of views. Right now, it was pushing 50,000, and the comments ranged from "It looks like greenscreen!" to "I want to do this one day!". All exited and crazed comments, but to Seb, it was a good run and he liked to tease the internet with stuff like this. Living a life less ordinary, as he watched the edited footage, beginning from the top of the ski run. He could see the beginnings of the avalanche and the winding route, using Ellie's footage too, both of them in view as they headed down from the switches of cameras, before it came to the point that they ditched the skis and took flight, the view of the rushing snow hurtling over the cliff from Seb's helmet-mounted rear facing camera catching just how epic an escape it was. Flying down, he had everything to the beach, and per Ellie's request, made sure that nothing of their romp was in there. It didn't get old, and here at this DZ, they knew full well that these were the two that had pulled it off.
Seven Lions played throughout, and while it was no Sail, it just went well with the whole thing, Seb thought to himself. Flicking through, he turned to Ellie once again, just thinking back to it all.
"We're not YouTube celebrities yet, but we're racking up the views, right?"

[Bee]

As Kimberly heard her name being called by the familiar sound of her husband's voice, she took a deep breath and rubbed her eyes, before opening them and seeing the world once more. She probably barely got herself any sleep, but it was time to start her day again anyway. "Hi baby." She murmured, reciprocating the kiss to her husband as he commented on her short little FaceTime with her sister and Mia. "Yeah, sorry honey. Maria did send me a few videos of her - you should've got them by now actually." She rubbed her eye again, before unlocking her phone with the touch of her thumb. The phone did confirm that she did send three videos from her sister to Ross. They were all of their little daughter. The first one was of her playing with an orange ball, "throwing" it as hard as she could and going to pick it up with the most delighted look on her face. The second one was Mia trying to answer questions Maria was asking her, one in particular being who she missed right now, responding with a "daaaaa" and a "mama". The third one was just her getting really excited over her favorite food, which Kimberly told her exactly how to make with the exact ingredients and portions. Kimberly just thinking about her daughter made her a little homesick, but she got over it pretty quickly knowing that she would be back within a few days.

Kimberly got up slowly, taking a little bit to adjust her hair as it was rather unkempt. She stood up before Kimberly heard a mention of Ryan, before a light went off in her head and she made a connection. "Ohh... right! Ryaaaan." She totally forgot about him.

---

Regina crouched behind the front right wheel of her Ford Fiesta, making sure that it was as ready as it could be for the race later. This would be her first venture into rally racing into a long time, knowing full and well that she wasn't exactly the best at it. But then again, her driving skills improved massively since her last time, maybe this time she would be able to hold her own. The first practice run she made gave her a good feeling about her skills, knowing that she was actually way better than she had thought she would be. Which was good, but how good was the competition? Competition either made people look worse or made them actually way better. There was no gray area, you were either good or bad in those kinds of situations.

Before joining Ryan next to him, she saw a rather deep imprint a rock managed to make in the bodywork of the Fiesta. She dragged a gloved finger across it, even though it was nothing compared to the human touch, she could still feel it as if it were on her bare finger. She tutted slightly, before sighing and walking to wherever her teammate was. "They're fast alright, but RX for me is a little too... farfetched? Is that the right word? I don't know." Regina shrugged, grabbing another plastic chair and sitting down next to Ryan as she grabbed a NOS out of the cooler and took a good sized sip out of it. Monster always tasted gross to her, she was a much bigger proponent of NOS, appropriately named in the context Ryan and Regina were in.

"Ross and Kimberly? Ross is the Scottish dude... and Kimberly the girl with the guy?" Regina lost track of all these people Ryan knew, it was like every day he had a new friend from his past that he hadn't seen in forever. The Asian driver started to sip her drink once again, before hearing footsteps right outside where they were sitting. Were these the people Ryan geeking out about? When Regina's eyes finally regained focus, she saw the man and woman that were there that one day they raced at Yas Marina. It was definitely them. Yeah, definitely them. A tall brunette with the bluest eyes ever stepped in, and an even taller Scottish man stepped in as well - wait a minute, it was Ross! Ryan of course came up to greet him, and Regina waved to the both of them as she took a sip out of her drink.

Kimberly was next to hug the British racing driver, before he was allowed to elaborate on the race they have on hand. It was a run of the mill rally invitational, something straight out of DiRT. This was something Kimberly could easily manage to do, and with the competitiveness of racing with Ross, she was probably going to race like a bat straight out of hell. But there was a lot of talk between these two, and Kimberly was eager to find out what cars they were going to drive. Ever since last night, she was really wondering what kind of cars she would be able to get herself into. Fiestas like the ones she was standing next to? Group B cars? There were a lot of possibilities to wonder, and Kimberly was starting to get jittery. However, it was like a prayer was answered as Ryan finally got to the part where they were going to talk about what cars they were going to drive. As Kimberly received an invitation, she started following where Ryan and Ross went. Since Regina was left all by herself, she figured she would just follow them anyway.

As Kimberly walked down the paddock, she could see that this wasn't just some low-key event meant for the locals. This was something bigger with more things to do than just this. If she wanted to, she could dress up for tonight and really get something going tonight and have an absolute blast. As the Brunette stepped into the tent, she already saw which cars she would have her choice of using. This excited the geek in Kimberly, she already had a car in mind as Ryan listed off which cars she could use exactly. She wanted the Beemer, she wanted it bad. The Beemer was the only car she had actual experience driving in before. As the two lads bantered, Kimberly had a look of intense focus on her face as she calculated and weighed the pros and cons of each car. She made her ultimate final choice but kept it to herself. If Ross picked the choice she had then she had a good backup for that anyway. Either way she would be able to pick at least one car she would enjoy driving.

A big smile was immediately on Kimberly's face as Ross pulled her in for a hug and a kiss on the cheek, before she turned and kissed him on the lips. There was a smile on her face as she chuckled, snuggling up to her husband. "I think... I'll take the Beemer." Kimberly said, as she went over to the keyrack and pulled the keys to the BMW out. She walked over to it, before stopping and turning around. "Ah, I'm just kidding." Kimberly took the keys and chucked them to Ross, "I know how much you love your Beemers. I'll take the Fiat. Looks like a giant creamsicle." Kimberly commented, before pulling the keys off the keyrack once again and heading over to the car. The first thing she noticed when she opened the car was that there was a big paper ball in the seat. No idea why, but Kimberly just took it out, before shooting it into the trash can quite a distance away from the car. It landed perfectly into the can - that was Kimberly's basketball heritage in action.

---

Ellie sat on the bench, eyes on her Galaxy S6 as she went through her social media. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, everything. She had on a pair of light wash short shorts, an Adidas track jacket on as well as a pair of Nike Air Maxes as she waited for her turn. A pair of aviators were also covering her eyes because she knew she was going to be in the air today. Packing was almost done anyway, so she took a little break to figure out why exactly her phone was blowing up. It was the run of the mill Twitter messages, texts, emails, and whatnot. Running a channel like hers required a lot of business inquiries, and even on an event like this there was no slowing down. Eventually Ellie put her phone away and finished packing up, taking her gear and putting it into an area where she could have it be safe.

"I'd love some shots." Ellie said, as she readjusted her hair and pulled her phone back out. Now she was just texting friends and family, telling them about how she was in the area and how she should check out what was going on there. She also let them know about their stunt. As Seb made a comment about how they weren't YouTube celebrities just, Ellie begged to disagree. "Compared to PewDiePie? Yeah. But we're rising stars in our own category, love." Ellie said, before looking back down at her phone. "We're gaining a few hundred every day anyway. Maybe with this we'll definitely skyrocket." The Scot giggled at her own little pun, before going back to her email to see when exactly it was show time.

[FourtyTwo]

Ross chuckled, looking over at Kimberly, her charming nature never letting up today, it seemed.
"Creamsicle, you say. I'd still take it any day, that thing is serious vintage. Italian, but it's got rally cred." Ross added, looking over the cream coloured Fiat, with a couple of RSD decals slapped on, looking mean- the inside had been gutted, but it had been race-ified, as had all the rest of the cars. Looking across, and at the keys he held in his hand for the BMW, he wondered. It was a good looking car, the blue E30 looking seriously mean. Under the hood, maybe 280bhp, if not more. It was a special car, built not only to do rally, but for touring and general hoonage. Yet looking at the keys again, then back at the car, Ross had to only think to himself. It wouldn't be right. It was too good to be true, and somehow, he didn't like the idea of taking it. Maybe he was an idiot, because at that moment, he made his choice.
"Tell you what though. I don't want the Beemer. Shit, I can't believe I'm saying this. Thanks, but I think I'm going with that Escort." He added, as he threw the key back onto the table right next to the BMW, walking up to the Ford, the blue and black painted rally classic sitting there, perhaps something that had beyond caught the eye of Ross.
"I had a go in something not too different from this in Perthshire, it's revvy and it's not difficult to control on dirt, it's a joy. That BMW might be fast on tarmac, but it's a handful off it- and not in a fun way. Doesn't like sudden acceleration, it's too tail happy. I might be a BMW person, but this is too good to pass up." Ross added, as he looked under the bonnet of the Mk2 Escort, before making his way around to the front. Carbon-Fiber coated dash, most of it was also gutted and filled with a rollcage, and apart from the K-Series engine under the bonnet, the Rover engine being usually thrown into Mk2s like this to boost the power output, as well as offer a higher rev range. That, or a Millington engine usually went in- the modern equivalent able to roar to 11,000 comfortably, Ross remembering well that both this and the 131 Abarth both screamed well when they were at higher revs. Looking over for one last time, looking under and at the general rear of the car, he nodded, before looking back at Kimberly.
"Come on then, bae. Let's get ourselves signed up."

Looking around, he headed back to the office, just through on the other side, and saw the receptionist, Beatrice, waiting. She was maybe a 40-something, definitely a woman that seemed to be weathered to an atmosphere like this- a local of sorts.
"Hi, we're here for the Rallycross Classics?" Ross asked, as he looked over to Kimberly, then back at Beatrice, who gave a simple nod before she replied. Beatrice had a fairly neutral look, but the general glowing demenour of anyone having to work admin in a place like this.
"Hello...yep, Ross Hartley and Kimberly Hartley? Ryan mentioned you both, you're entered into that event." Ross looked over to Kimberly, before then back.
"It's Hartley-Rossi, but that's the one. We're taking the Escort and 131, if that's alright." He replied, a little awkward in the way he had to correct that, but he carried on, none the less.
"Okay...that should be fine. So, if I could have you sign this paperwork..."

----

Some paperwork later, and Ross, Kimberly, Regina and Ryan were all in the paddock by Regina and Ryan's Fiestas, the noise of other cars blaring outside, the warm summer day still taking a hold of this part of Kent, as Ryan sipped down a little more Monster, listening to Ross.
"So anyway, we get to this warehouse, like it's a fucking old-school 90s warehouse rave but with cars, everything from riced 106s to hypercars, you should have seen it. They then start running a race, plus there's this girl that was rolling in a RWB Porsche 911 that comes along, I shit you not. No idea how much she tuned that straight six but she was rolling with me and Kimberly all the way through this stuff, like I mentioned earlier."
"Seriously? RWB got a branch over here? I heard the work they did on 911s is insane, the panel work is so precise, it's crazy." Ryan replied, looking over
"Well, it's one of a kind work, I haven't seen anything like it on a 911. I like mine untouched, do it like Magnus Walker if you're going to make a 911 look cool." Ross added, as he took a can of Monster off the table, a little warmer as it wasn't straight from the fridge, but still worth a swig anyway.
"Damn, at this rate, you're going to be sponsored by Monster, you've got a cooler and everything." Ross laughed, as Ryan shrugged, looking at Regina.
"Well, she's not a fan, what can I say. Different crowd, but at least she doesn't drink Rockstar. That shit melts my mouth." Ryan gave a simple nod back, as he put his own can down, looking over at the car once again, then back to Ross and Kimberly.
"I can't believe nobody took that Renault, or that BMW for that matter."
"I don't do French cars, Ryan..."
"But it's a mid-engined 80s beast!"
"Still French. And anyway, I saw that Escort and couldn't take my eyes off it. Nothing like a fast Ford."
"You got me on that one, they are sweet as anything. They'll be faster off the line than your Scoobie, or Skyline for that matter, Kimberly. Top end isn't as good though." Ryan added, looking over as the two engineers headed off, doing some diagnostics on a couple of laptops on the other side of the makeshift tent garage, going over any last data sets before they got a practice run in.

-----

Seb looked over, pulling out a beanie from his trouser pocket, slinging the light blue beanie over his shaved head, before putting the phone down.
"I don't want to scream at a camera for a living, I like the wind to do that for me..." He added, chuckling, as he sat up again, shaking his head at her pun.
"Just don't, Ellie. It's so bad." He added, kissing her on the forehead as he clambered up, heading to the door, going to take a look at the scene outside. It was still glorious, and the weather didn't look like it was going to change any time soon. The sight of parachutes, or canopies above could be seen, a load that had been sent up it seemed. Walking onto a patch of grass, he sat down and looked up, taking a good long look, as he took a photo on his phone, before then looking over to Ellie. Sitting back up, he notioned for her to sit down by him, as he got the phone's camera up, flicking the view. He took a selfie of himself and Ellie, a distinct smirk on his face as he looked over.
"What? I thought we might as well." He added, kissing her on the cheek, smiling at her with a distinct beam.

[Bee]

The mention of the word "bae" prompted Kimberly to shoot Ross a rather confused look. Did her husband really just use that word? Looks like he was getting with the California culture that Kimberly was raised in. Still though, it was rather odd hearing his throaty Scottish self belt that word out. Kimberly only looked to the other side as she followed the bigger Scot to wherever he was going. They probably had to get their registration out of the way anyway. She would also be able to take a peek at the roster there anyway, or get a copy delivered to her sometime later in the paddock. It was really odd considering that just days ago they were on the run from police but now here they were in a sanctioned event driving some very nice rally classics around a track. Kimberly's life took many wild turns - but it was okay, she had grown pretty much used to it now. Hopefully tonight would entail some very interesting events, based on the trajectory Kimberly's life always seemed to have day-to-day. It was almost always expected that something outlandish would happen to her. She didn't know if she pissed off some voodoo dude or Ross just seemed to attract these sorts of things.

Kimberly only trailed Ross as he walked into an office/lobby of sorts. Kimberly walked into the makeshift tent, and there was a rather unenthusiastic looking woman sitting behind the counter with the grumpiest look on her face. Kimberly tried not to make eye contact with her as she looked outside and saw the other cars rolling around after whatever it was they did. Must've been boring sitting in here all day and watching god knows what was on the television in the seating area. Kimberly walked up closer to the counter as she heard her first name. The last name was wrong, she had it hyphenated as Rossi-Hartley mostly because she didn't feel ready to let go of the Rossi name she was so proud of having just yet. The name just sounded menacing in the world of automotive sports so she kept. With this though, it would be a lot harder for her to fill out papers mostly because it was a whopping 13 characters. Kimberly received her part of the paperwork and grabbed a pen with her left hand, shuffling over to the couch and plopping in her seat as she started to fill it out. "Name... birthday... blah blah blah..." She mumbled to herself, chewing on the top of the pen as a habit.

---

"Race starts soon, are you ready?"

The only thing that was visible was a man wearing a headset on top of a baseball hat as he caught the attention of his team's driver. She was yanked back into attention in her Mitsubishi Galant VR-4, decorated with purpose made rims and covered in her team's livery. The driver liked to call this particular rendition of the livery the "Candy Cane", as it was a big slanted green, red, and white stripe running from the rear doors all the way to the very ends of the roof. This wasn't the only car in the area either. There was a Ford Fiesta sitting next to it ready to go for the serious rallycross event. The Fiesta in question had a much more extravagant design on it, stemming from a big stripe down the middle of the car and extending to a tribal-esque design on the side littered with sponsors. Who was this driver and who was her mystery team? She was none other than Samantha Graham, widely acclaimed as the one of the very best, if not the best female driver of all time. Ever since her uprising in San Antonio, Texas, she signed with teams like Monster and whatnot before breaking off on her own and forming her own team, known as "Vortex". What was an American driver like herself doing in a place like this?

Samantha herself was thirty four years old, and she had plenty of championships, whether it'd be rally or rallycross and whatnot underneath her belt. She stood at a rather tall six feet and an inch or so, making herself incredibly tall for a woman. She had very deep green eyes, and wavy blonde hair that always seemed to be in a bun. She very rarely had it down, it distracted her from her racing and was very hard to keep maintained at this level. However she had to keep it looking on point as she had to be in all sorts of media events. She was an idol to aspiring drivers anywhere, overcoming adversity and winning things she wasn't expected to. She was in all sorts of magazines and whatnot, but what was she doing here? At a local rallycross event in England? Nobody even knew she was there. The cars were recognizable but people either passed it off as replicas or branches of Vortex.

"Yeah. Let's kick some ass, yeah?"

Samantha turned on her Mitsubishi and rolled out to the area where she could park her car and let it sit there since she didn't want to stay in the tent any longer, but didn't want to hit the track just yet. She was excited to see what competition she would be against today.

---

Kimberly was looking at a copy of the rosters for each divisions that were racing today. She had her glasses on and wrinkled her nose a bit as she read carefully. It was rather odd for a driver of Kimberly's caliber to be suffering from the setback of poor sight, but she had this condition where her vision degraded rather sharply in her teenage years. She could see short just fine, but any farther than a few feet in front of her and she couldn't see anything. As a matter of fact, her license dictates that she cannot drive without corrective lenses, but since she always had contacts in she would be fine. The roster was alphabetized with the cars everyone would be driving, she read slowly until she got to a name right above Ross's. It read: "Graham, Samantha | USA | Team Vortex #25 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 |" Kimberly's eyes widened as she realized who she was racing with. The person who pioneered automotive sports for women everywhere? The woman who made girls across the world realize that they could be a racing driver and be damn good at it? Kimberly was honestly star-struck at this point. The fact that she would be racing against her, and she was the only female on this entry list besides Samantha. She knew she was going to get some attention, especially in the "Giant Creamsicle".

She allowed Ross to finish whatever he was saying before she reached over with her arm and tapped him with the clipboard. "Ross, Ross, Ross!" she said, showing the clipboard to her, "Guess who's gonna be racing with us!" She pointed to Graham, before showing her face from behind the clipboard. "You know who that is right?" Kimberly smiled - it was rather hard to take her seriously with those big glasses of hers making her blue eyes look really big. Her eyes almost went puppy dog mode, which was a look Kimberly hated to use, but knew that it worked when she needed it to. "Samantha Graham, the greatest female driver ever, is in our presence!" Kimberly looked like she was about to burst with happiness. "You know how much she means to me?" Kimberly was hyperventilating and getting very red just thinking about her, very unlike her usual cool demeanor. "Oh my goooood. I hope she notices me! I better get something autographed. Oh, I can get my phone autographed by her! Yeah, that'd be sweet!" Kimberly went on a crazy tangent about how happy she was knowing that she would be able to meet one of her idols.

While Kimberly was giddy with happiness, Regina tapped Ross on the shoulder and leaned in. "Is she always like this?" Regina asked curiously, watching Kimberly's big, wide, flashy smile as she held the clipboard in her gloved hands. It was like she was a freshman in high school again, swooning over their school's heartthrob but there was only her, big glasses and braces and acne. Kimberly eventually settled down and clambered into her car, the hand she would be utilizing to shift very shaky. It wasn't clear if it was because Kimberly wasn't focused or if she was super nervous. "When can we go? I'm itching to race." Kimberly felt as if she had a sudden surge of energy cascade inside her. She was like a toddler who had just drank an entire can of soda.

---

Ellie wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention before she was met with Seb's presence. The connections were made in her mind rather quickly and she acted fast, smiling genuinely as she knew that this picture would end up on social media. Followed by thousands of likes and comments! Ellie loved that attention. She loved being in the spotlight of nothing but positive vibes. It was good for a person and their confidence. As Seb finished what he was doing, Ellie smirked and returned the kiss on his cheek. A thought then crossed her mind, something she needed to remember.

"Oh! We're invited to the VIP party tonight while the party outside goes on. While everyone listens to crazy EDM, we're inside with some of the biggest figures in action sports. I hear the winners of those rally races also get in." Ellie chuckled, "I hope they know that they're being looked at closely by scouts who are looking to sign someone. Part of the reason why that old lass Samantha is here. She told me she was doing some on-site scouting." Ellie commented, before trying to remember where she put her blue dress.

[FourtyTwo]

"Calm down, Kimberly. She hasn't met us yet. Ryan, you know how we roll." Ross added, chuckling as Ryan nodded, looking back at Regina.
"Not often, but it happens. It's what hype does to you. Like what the roar of a Boxer does to me. Except...well, she's more vocal about it. What's this racer like then?" The Scot added, looking over to Kimberly then back at Ryan, already inside her Abarth, chuckling.
"How you roll? You're motherfucking street racers, the terror of anything on four wheels....you'll be fine. She might be a success story, but I'd beat her, straight up. She's in the next race after, Heat 1, with us. She's scary when it comes to scraping with people, but too hot-headed. Rallycross might be about scrapes, but at the end of the day, you want your car with four wheels and most of it's pieces intact if you want to carry on racing." Ryan added, as he sipped a bit more of his drink down, Ross chuckling.

--

Some Hours Later

Stepping into the Ford, Ross took the Arai helmet off the passenger seat and slung it over his head, doing everything up as he then shut the door, key in. Hitting the ignition switch, the engine roared into life, the loud and high revving thrum of this beast reminding him what this thing did best. It was a 2.0, and while it wasn't a Cosworth, the K-Series, pinched from an old Rover, had a hell of a rev range, and a pretty remarkable power delivery. This thing threw out 250bhp, and it felt like a real rally machine, old school in the way it was. Shutting the door, Ross pulled out from the tent, driving slowly as he headed out of the general paddock area, through to the pit lane, slowly driving onto the track, to where the others were beginning to collect. It was five to 5, and this felt good. All words that needed to be said were said, Ryan and Regina were watching or getting ready, and now, Ross and Kimberly would be racing. He didn't know where she was, maybe behind, maybe in front, all he knew was, he didn't want to be late on grid.

Rally Escorts (this one being blue) had flared arches, a mean look, one that pitched itself as giving hell to whatever it was up against. That and the fact that this was so nicely controllable, it felt like dancing when this thing was going round lots of bends. Pulling up, Ross was alongside the other cars on the grid, Ross pulling up right by Samantha's side, giving a nice stare, before looking ahead. Putting the car into neutral, he leaned back, looking out on the track ahead. Tarmac, then it went to gravel, back to tarmac for a while before a short gravel section, past a difficult concrete section- the start/finish being past a chicane that would require balls to go flat with. It was five laps, six cars, one joker, one winner, no takebacks. Nothing was on the line here, not even money, this was a muck-around. Just the way Ross loved it. Sitting up in the Recaro seat a little, he watched the last few cars pull up, including Kimberly. He was on the furthest left, the perfect place to go for the Joker straight away. Putting the car into first, he kept the handbrake held and the clutch deep in, the whole car feeling mechanical. It wasn't like his Subaru, polished carbon and polished metal. This was rough, dirty, hardcore. It felt like he was moving levers, like it was a machine that Brunel would have designed. It was Industrial Revolution shit in here, and Ross couldn't say anything more about it. That he loved. No radios, nothing. Silence. This was going to be pure. Looking over, he gave a glance to where he could see Kimberly, three cars forward, three back, and everyone aware that this was going to be good. The sound of the 70s and 80s felt alive, all cars on the grid. They knew how it was going to go down. The red lights came on, as Ross gave the car some revs, as did everyone else.

--

The packing hall was getting less and less busy, people leaving after jumping throughout the day, the sun heading towards the west, slowly coming down, but not at sunset, not just yet. Yet inside the packing hall, Seb had woken up from a little sleep.

Clambering up, he walked over to where his parachute and wingsuit had been placed, up against a wall of sorts, and he began to start going through kit checks. Looking over the rig, and the wingsuit itself, smirking without half a doubt in his mind. He took the two black canisters, and inspected them over...smoke trails were always a show stopper, and he knew that Ellie had something similar. The manifest was coming up to 5:00pm, and in particular, their lift. One Cessna, a full lift of skydivers that would jump out over this dropzone, then the plane would fly to Lydden Hill. Then, the magic would happen. The Austrian had done this plenty of times, far, far too many times. But the rush never faded, not when it was the ability to say you were going to go and fucking fly.

Soundtrack

Seb took the rig up onto his shoulders, putting his feet in and strapping up. He had a red and white design on his parachute rig, similar to the colors of the Austrian flag, and had matched it with a canopy of the same color scheme, a GoPro logo also on it too. He took his wingsuit, the black and blue affair he normally rolled with, feet first, then the zipper. Extending his legs and arms out, he looked down, checking himself. He picked up his helmet, a black full face, with a GoPro mount attached to the top, looking over it. Fixing a GoPro Hero 4 to the top, he took another off the table, fixing it to his chest, and a third, for good measure, on his left wrist, near his altimeter. An audible one was inside his helmet, an a digital one always did fine for making sure he was altitude aware, something critical when you still weren't flying, but were rather gliding down to earth. It felt good to kit up, and for something like this, even better. Looking across to Ellie, and the various other skydivers, some in training, some doing some formations, and then them two. Full out lunacy, and making an entrance. Good times.
"Okay then...let's get a look." Seb took a look, watching Ellie kit up, knowing she would have checked him- they watched out for each other, and for a moment, thinking things over was worth while. After all, it didn't make sense to skimp this bit. This wasn't a stupid risk because they made sure that if anything that could go wrong didn't, going over what was going to happen. It wasn't needless, people Seb knew who had become cocky had gotten hurt when things went wrong. It was never equipment, it was always people. Almost always.

Looking over for one last time, he took his helmet to hand and headed out to the flight line after giving her a thumbs up, the sound of the plane rolling in, taxiing on the grass, was a sight for sore eyes. Flicking his earplugs in, he gave a thumbs up to Ellie, chuckling a little as he saw the manifest get ticked off, the fellow jumpers all aware of the two that were following them up. When you had more than a thousand jumps, and hundreds of BASE jumps, you were a figure to be known, but nobody was on their knees. Seb always loved that element. They were all jumpers, all going into the windy, cold void to have an ecstasy of living that nobody understood. And that mutual respect always kept his ego in check. He had more to learn, even him, with so many jumps behind him, and it felt good.

Seb led the way, clambering into the back of the Cessna and moving up to where the pilot was, sitting down by Ellie's side. The rest piled in, the cramped aircraft filled within the minute, and the side door shut, slid down. The plane taxied, along the bumpy grass runway, and came back around, turning. The hubub inside the aircraft was alive, chatting, talking, generally discussing what was going to happen. A few eyes came back to Ellie and Seb, but for the Austrian, he was in his own world. Putting his Oakleys in, he did the strap up, and then checked his helmet once again, putting it on his lap. Looking across to Ellie, he smirked, a trademark he almost had now, as he rose his voice over the noise of the loud aircraft engine.
"Don't be tempted to follow them out, we're in for a half an hour flight yet!" Seb said, patting her on the shoulder, kissing her, a little caught up in the moment, aware that he was being such a tease today. He literally could not help himself, and Seb knew it too well.

[Bee]

The giant Creamsicle rolled forward as Kimberly put it in its place. Her helmet wasn't exactly on yet, as they were just getting set in their positions. Truthfully, she was rather nervous considering one of her biggest idols were right there. Who wouldn't be, though? She wanted to set a good impression and hopefully get noticed. Once she was all set, Kimberly slung her Sparco carbon fiber helmet over her head, right over her luscious brown hair. The visor was left up so that all someone could see was her piercing blue eyes and her very faintly freckled nose. She blinked twice as she adjust to the sudden weight put on her head. Once her helmet was strapped in, it was all business. On the other hand, Samantha had gotten ready. She was right next to the blue Ford Escort. Unlike everyone else here, she wasn't really going to give it her all. Her all wouldn't be necessary to beat people here. Unless someone was actually good enough, then she would crank it up to 100% and really give it her all. It was going to be a blast - and hopefully Samantha would find someone that would a very good candidate for the big leagues. Eventually, Kimberly and Samantha joined in the cadence of four cylinder engines that were preparing to race. Kimberly sighed, letting herself get into the zone she tapped into whenever she participated in anything remotely competitive.

Just pressing the gas pedal gave Kimberly a good feel for the car. It was a purpose-made race car, and it was going to behave as such. It might've had only 250bhp, but it was going to be a challenge to keep steady under racing conditions. Kimberly was confident she could handle it though, it was just another car she could say she drove and won in. To win a race with Samantha Graham in the lineup was something that would make the Caucasian girl filled with nothing but joy. Not as much as having her daughter or the day she married her husband, but still very happy. She would be able to say she whooped Samantha Graham's ass in Rallycross. The lights were illuminated with red, signaling that it was just about go-time. She pressed in the throttle, banging it against the rev-limiter so that she would have the best start possible. As the lights turned green, Kimberly let go of the handbrake and shot forward. Her goal was to take the Joker as soon as possible. As everyone was shooting for the inside corner, Kimberly only went straight. She glanced in her rear view mirror, and Ross was expectedly following suit with the Joker plan. An even closer look would reveal that Samantha had the same line of thinking too. Kimberly smirked to herself as she belted the Fiat down the elongated section of the track. Getting rid of the mandatory longer lap so that she would be able to finish quicker.

---

It had been an eternity before Ellie and Seb were finally ready to drop into the party in a rather extravagant fashion. Ellie was very anxious to get this over with. She was finishing up preparations with her white and gold kit, her signature colors. Before Seb checked her, she would check Seb first. Making sure that everything was as good as it could get. Ellie was paranoid when it came to making sure things were okay. If one thing was even the slightest bit off, she would go bezerk and adjust it so it was as good as possible. Better safe than sorry, she thought. They knew that they were the last ones out, but hey, the temptation enticed her big time. Once she was done checking Seb and making sure every bell and whistle was intact and functioning properly, she let Seb check her. She knew there were other people here, so she couldn't be a flirt.

The plane was finally rolling by the time they were already suited up. This wouldn't be the last check Ellie underwent though, and it wouldn't be the last Seb underwent as well. And soon enough, they were in the air and approaching their drop-off point. Ellie double checked her helmet as well, a white helmet just like Seb's, with a GoPro HERO 4 affixed on top of it. Ellie chuckled and shook her head as Seb made a cheeky comment, "Oh Seb. You know I'll be tempted to." She smiled as she received a kiss from Seb, he had been very enticing today, and Ellie quite liked it actually.

[FourtyTwo]

Ross was on the gas, clutch dropped as the rear end sent dirt flying, the first straight filled with cars as Ross was on the tarmac of the Joker, the sight of Kimberly on his right in her 131 and Sam also following close behind, right on their backs. He wanted to hold this in, just keep it clean, keep it moving. The tarmac corner turned right as Ross stepped on the brake, the car locking up a little as he let go, forgetting just how vintage the brakes were as he then slid the car into a scandinavian flick, making contact with the dirt as he went through the chicane, right on Kimberly's heels, almost scraping her bumper a little as he felt an almighty crack in his right window.

It was a moment, but when he realized what had happened, it was clearer than day. The right window had been smashed, alongside part of the right side of the car. The fender had bent in, not against the wheel, and effectively saved the car's suspension and wheel, though the dent was signficiant. It was that bitch. Samantha. She was trailing ahead, and Ross could only respond one way. The dirt rise went back onto the main circuit, as he realized just where he was. Stone, dead, last.

Ross was back on the power, mud spraying from the rear as he looked ahead, Kimberly and Sam going hell for leather, passing a couple of cars as Ross was back on the tar too, headed for the Devil's Elbow. It was a decpitive corner, fully tarmac, with a weird camber that meant that you went in with a downhill approach and uphill slightly on the way out, requring a nice flick through it. Picking his line, the off-road tyres skidded through the corner, as he was back on the throttle, the engine going to 9,000 revs as he threw the stick shift into third, flooring it back on towards the North Bend, where the majority of the racers were. Now this would be interesitng, Ross thought to himself. Coming in, he took a wide line and was on the handbrake, absolutely flooring the engine as the rear end skidded, coming alongside an old Opel Manta on the bend, as he threw the gear back up into third once more, coming in towards the new off-road section before Paddock Bend. It was a serious right hander, going over concrete back onto dirt, up towards a flat-out left right chicane that went over the start finish, and required absolute nerve to nail.

Ross knew this was where he had to claim time back, as he was back on the pace, taking the car as he was in fourth, going through it. The car almost caught air over the apex, slamming the kerb hard as he heard the Ford's foreign engine roar, being pushed as hard as he knew he could. Inside, his heart thundered, his mind at work to keep on the pace of cars like these. In his Subaru, he was hot shit, but here, he knew exactly what had to be done. The others weren't pros, but he had to pull something off, one way or another. He was up from sixth to fifth, but he had five laps to get himself anywhere near the top, and try and push against the current race leaders, as he entered Lap 2.

-----

The altimeter on Seb's wrist began to climb, the digital display's numbers amping up to almost 10.5 on the display, or what was 10,500 feet. And they were still climbing. A couple of clouds below, though it seemed like there was a hole below, through the clouds where the grass runway of the dropzone could be seen, and Seb only could turn to in front.
"You guys don't know what you're missing out on here, I hope whatever you're going for is worth it!" One of the skydivers yelled, as Seb looked over, nodding.
"I hope it is, you know us well! Never a dull moment!" He yelled, as the other man yelled, Seb adjusting his helmet a little as the door was opened. It was the sound of wind and cold air, the void, the place that felt so familiar to Seb. It was his favorite place, because that was where the magic happened, where you jumped out of a perfectly good airplane with one hell of a smile on your face.
A four way team moved into the door, and with a simple nod from the pilot, were out of the side door, as Seb smirked.
"Off you go!" They didn't hear of course, but the four way team was out, as they moved forwards, the next set of jumpers following out, the plane draining of the lunatics that jumped out of planes, turning as it came around for another run. The next set got in the door, and with a loud noise, like the wind being interuppted rudely by the sound of people throwing themselves out, a mix of brightly colorued jumpsuits and friendly faces were gone, and after a little while, the busy, filled aircraft was now left with only three people on board. They stuck at altitude, as he looked at his altimeter again, looking across to the pilot as he moved towards the back with his helmet down, looking across to the pilot as he swung the roller door shut once again, careful to not expose himself to the wind as he put it all the way back down. It wasn't a good move to take, but had he have become exposed, he knew he would be gone- he would not compromise anyone if it meant that if he was going to fly out of this aircraft before they made it to the DZ- Seb knowing the full extent of danger that could be seen by simple mistakes. It was watching your actions, and never, ever being too cocky about it.

Moving towards the front again, he got onto the floor, taking a seat as he took his helmet back into his lap fr, looking out as he adjusted his sunglasses a little, looking over to Ellie.
"Nothing funny when we arrive there, we're going to be dropping right into the middle of all of it this time..." Seb said, looking out again, checking the rig on his back as the aircraft took a heading for the east, the clouds below and the greenery of the fields, alongside the setting sun making for an incredible scene.
"We've got twenty minutes, keep it in your head. Visualize what we're doing." Seb added, leaning against the inside of the cabin, looking over to the pilot, adjusting his sitting as he looked out. In his head, he could already feel the hype, a quiet one, a place that he could stow his mind. He was exited, sure, it was jumping out of a plane. But it was an excitement that seemed suppressed, Seb just putting himself in the zone.
"So, you want to be in the shot, or me?"

[Bee]

The gears in Kimberly's mind were busy at work as she diagnosed the corner ahead of her. It wasn't gravel like she expected, so she didn't get the liberties driving on dirt gave her. If it were dirt then she would've been able to breeze through it with a nice powerslide, something that Kimberly was no stranger to when it came to races. As she figured out the fastest way through the corner, she glanced in her rear-view mirror as the car slid a bit through the corner. As they exited she could hear the contact the Galant and the Escort made. Sam and Ross were in bit of a dogfight. But given the nature of the sport they were competing in right now, it was a given that these cars would be banged up.

As the Fiat remade contact with gravel she felt a slight jolt as the chassis and suspension readjusted. Kimberly went down a gear to put more power to the ground and give her a little more edge. She went wide before the Devil's Elbow, preparing her car to slide around the corner like a hot knife through butter. Samantha was gaining on her, and by Kimberly's estimate she was in third or fourth place. If her little engagement with Ross was any indicator, she wasn't going to get past Kimberly cleanly with the way Kimberly drove and defended passes. She slid through the Devil's Elbow, and now was a long, long straight that would set up a one-hundred and eighty degree turn back down around. As they barreled down the straight, Kimberly went wide and it seemed like Samantha would have the same idea. Kimberly whipped it around the corner and she saw that Samantha was closing in on her car, but a bit from making contact.

As the bend finished, Kimberly shifted down so that she could dart out and close out the bend, gaining some distance from Samantha and so that she wouldn't make contact. As the race progressed, Kimberly had made a mental note that it was imperative to maintain distance from Samantha while she was in the lead so she wouldn't enact her trademark method of passing.

---

Ellie sat at her seat, head back against the plane as she watched the other occupants of the plane depart and do some awesome shit in the air. While Seb was goofing about in the airplane, Ellie had closed her eyes and let the adrenaline take over her thoughts. Flying through the air and feeling like she was the queen of the world. It was nice to have a moment where things were calm, just her and her thoughts. She looked at Seb as he sat down, her eyes just looking over her boyfriend.

"That's what I was doing, honey." Ellie replied as she adjusted her helmet a little bit, looking outside at a part of England down below. "Whoever's in the shot is in the shot." Ellie shrugged and sighed, awaiting her arrival into the little rallycross event they had going on.

[FourtyTwo]

The second lap kicked in, as he came onto the gravel, spinning around the harpin as the front wheels gripped the tarmac cusp, . Taking the next car ahead, he pulled through on the North Bend, coming into contact a little as he scraped past, back on the straight, and now having to do a lot of catch up. The Mk2 roared, the engine revving hard at almost 9,000 before he threw the stick-shift into fourth, with an epic drift that was half concrete, half gravel, kicking up dirt across a poster as Ross exhaled. The car was moving fast, and with this engine, he knew he had to, bits of the right fender snapped off, the Mk2 a little damaged, to say the least, but still a warhorse that was raging.

The third lap, fourth lap came quick, Ross passing another car, coming back up to 3rd place in the space of the laps, using the tarmac sections to his advantage, finding he was on point in putting the Mk2 Escort around the bends, catching the speed and getting on pace, knowing full well he was now onto the joust that was between Kimberly and Samantha, the other cars still pacing against him, as the orange glow of the sunset began to come down. The weather was awesome, and the track was dry, definitely giving the best grip for rear wheel drive monsters such as these. Going through the start-straight chicane, he was back on the pace, and was right on the back of the two jousting cars, aware that this could all get sticky as they went into the last lap.

---------

Seb smiled back, as he exhaled, the air cold, the pressure decreased, his heart beating confidently, fluttering a little, the butterflies hovering in his stomach. It was a good feeling, as he looked over, looking to the pilot.
"Bossman, how much longer?" He asked, as he looked over at him,
"Five minutes to our run in!" The pilot replied, as Seb sat back down, moving back through the aircraft, looking out on the horizon, the English channel in view, even France on the very edge of his vision, 15,000 feet feeling more and more like a place that felt normal. He put himself into the zone, shutting his eyes, thinking. Visualizing. How it was going to happen. Green light. Door would open, Seb would move first, onto the camera step, legs and arms shut tight, the wind running hard, as he nodded to Ellie. She would move into her position, right on the door, and then, they would go on the nod. Smoke canisters running, they would set them of seconds before they left, and they would take flight, over the greenery. From 15,000 feet, it was about 3 minutes, 30 seconds of flight, and it was going to be a good one, he thought to himself. Then deployment would come, smoke running from his leg, as they parachuted into the Paddock, and they smirked like bastards. Opening his eyes again, he looked out to Ellie, giving a thumbs up, as he turned his full face to himself. Looking in the visor once more, at his reflection, of his shaven head and his stubble, he turned it back and placed the helmet on, before standing up.
"Two minutes!"

[Bee]

As the laps passed by, Kimberly had managed to climb her way into first place. The Fiat had done so much for her in this race and she was going to reward it for its effort by bringing it back home with a win. Competition was breeded into her. From birth she had been conditioned to be the very best in everything she ever did. It might not have sounded healthy to anyone else, but in the Rossi family, second place was unheard of. From her days as a walking toddler racing her older siblings around the house, her days as a high school athlete trying to get recruited, and now, a high-caliber driver racing among some of the best rallycross drivers that Britain had to offer. A few years ago Kimberly would've never thought she would even be anywhere close to here, but here she was.

Everything was a blur to the blue-eyed brunette, her legs working the living hell out of the pedals underneath her feet so that she had perfect balance at all times. Hitting that perfect, flawless heel-toe downshift was something only the top level drivers like Keiichi Tsuchiya, Ayrton Senna, and many others. Kimberly was pretty good at it, nowhere near Senna's level, but still good enough to maintain perfect harmony and balance on her car. She focused ahead as she descended into her final lap. She knew Ross was nearby, but just how close was he exactly? Her train of thought was interrupted as she suffered a serious slam from behind. It was Samantha turning her aggression up to 110%. The Galant was bumping the Fiat off the line they usually took. It was a smart strategy, and probably what Samantha was actually doing sitting back behind Kimberly's tail. She knew the lines Kimberly took now, so now Samantha knew exactly where to cut and pressure Kimberly. Kimberly realized this and made the mental adjustment to change all of her lines. She knew that she was doing something wrong in some aspect. But at the same time, Samantha revealed what she was doing too soon and as a result Kimberly was able to adjust accordingly.

Where Kimberly would usually slow down on the first corner Kimberly simply lifted and applied a touch of brakes as she carried herself through the turn, the Fiat feeling different underneath a different sort of situation. She could feel contact in her blind spot, but she powered out of the turn as soon as possible. It was deathly scary now that Samantha had devised a counter to her gameplan, but her experience as an athlete had taught her how to devise a counter counter-strategy. Changing up lines and timing were key to getting an edge on Samantha, and soon enough they were heading towards the very last corner. That was where the race would be decided.

---

As she heard the two minute warning ring through her ears, she rubbed her face and stood up, getting her legs and whatnot stretched out. The entrance they would be making was something that EVERYONE was going to be talking about. They were definitely going to be the center of attention for a while to come. It was okay, Ellie didn't mind being the center of attention for these sorts of things. After all, they were the guests of honor at tonight's party anyway. As the one minute warning passed by, she pulled her partner up and watched the door open up. The venue was closing in and soon enough they were going to finally be on solid land again. "After you, love." She beamed, poking her head to watch the land below.

[FourtyTwo]

The Escort's engine roared, brayed, barked at the response of the throttle that Ross gave it, the car sideways at Devil's Elbow, and bits of grit and dust sprayed from the rear wheels of the Mk2, the K Series engine heading to it's redline of 11,000 RPM, the engine alight in this very moment. He was closing on Samantha and Kimberly, and he knew he was coming closer and closer, the sight of the open hairpin that was the North Bend coming into view. With a tight bit of clutch kick, the car was sideways, the front wheels barely clipping the kerb, and the Escort skidding round neatly, Ross back on throttle as the car lurched back forward, and he found himself closing in.

The tight dirt/concrete section just before Paddock Bend happened, and Ross took an exceptionally tight line, not going as wide as the other two, skidding onto the dirt behind Samantha, and it was tight. She tried to block, as they headed for the last chicane, and in that moment, Ross made a terrible, terrible decision. It wasn't revenge, it was meant to be a nudge. It was meant to be...well, not this.

The final chicane went from a dirt surface back onto the race track, and it was exceptionally tight, with high kerbs making it a necessity to not fuck it up. In this instance, Ross's attempt to take Samantha on the outside had ended up coming tighter than expected, with Samantha not even giving an inch of room, and this resulting in both of the pair colliding. The kerb had only done the damage worse, and before Ross knew it, the car was rolling, over the finish line of all things. It was confusing, as the glass smashed, Ross holding his hands to his chest as he had been taught to do, the noise of skidding and smashed bodywork everywhere, as he heard the car finally roll onto it's roof. The noise of steam could be heard, from a broken radiator, and the engine cut out had stopped the engine roaring anymore, as Ross coughed. Well...this was what a racing accident looked like.

He heard the noise of swearing, as he looked out at Sam's car, 180 degrees from the finish line, and unlike his, not across. She'd span out, but her Galant was hit hard, not as bad as this Escort, however. Looking at the door, a couple of Safety Marshalls ran over, looking inside.
"Help?" Ross naively said, as they shook their heads, chuckling, though semi-serious at the same time when they opened the door, Ross undid his six point harness, and practically fell out of the seat onto the roof, now on the muddy floor, as he crawled out of the side window, kicking a little glass as he looked back. Oh...shit. It was not good at all. The car had been a little damaged prior, but the front end was heavily done in, and the wheels looked out of alignment, which could have meant a snapped axle, and likely to follow a set of broke suspension. Looking over, he could see Kimberly on her victory lap, and while it seemed that he had finished second, he could almost tell that Samantha was not going to be happy. It wasn't intentional it was just...an aggressive move that had almost worked, and technically, it had if he was across the line, skidding across the tar, and Sam wasn't...though she had finished fourth now, after the car had been fired up again. Ross slid his helmet off, wiping the dust off his racing suit, before looking back at the safety marshall.
"Are you alright?"
"I don't think I'm concussed, or hurt in any way...but I think if she comes over here, I might be. Shit, is there paperwork involved?" Ross asked, as the hat-wearing marshall shook his head.
"With things like this, yes, yes there are."

----

The feeling of knowing that they were coming in was a feeling that didn't entirely get old...even skydiving still had it's merits, especially for little intros like this. As Ellie opened up the door, Seb stood up once more, visor down, the cold wind braying and feeling like it took air from their lungs, as Seb moved in, looking out. Setting off his smoke canister on his leg, it barely trickled at first, the slow release designed not to dump it inside the aircraft, as he did it on Ellie's leg, quickly getting hers running, the orange smoke beginning to start pouring a litle. Moving up onto the rear step of the door, he saw Ellie come into the door, giving a "Go ahead" look..it was noisy, it was just pure awesome. The sunset was approaching on the horizon, and a slight mist below, through a tiny patch of high cloud, as Seb nodded back at Ellie. He wanted to keep her in focus, but she was right, he was going to go first, for that to happen. It barely took a moment for the two to leave, but when it happened, the feeling of catching air was an incredible one, the sight of it all just incredible.

Pushing off the outside step, he waited a second before opening his legs and arms up, watching Ellie follow straight out, Seb's head high and right up at her white and golden wingsuit, shining in the high altitude sky, his own black and blue a different colour, but still sticking out. It seemed just incredible, the gold smoke pouring against the darkening blue sky above, as they began to no longer fall, but catch the air, and take flight. Seb gave off a single whoop, as he followed on Ellie's route, having to hold his glide harder than she did, keeping her in the frame as he flew on her proximity, just out of the way of the burble of air her wingsuit was going to cause. Her blonde hair even poured from the back of her helmet, and the distinctive half Scots Cross and half Canadian Maple Leaf that sat on her legwing couldn't stop reminding himself, this was nobody but Elizabeth Dorian, flygirl extraordinare, and his GF. Oh, and he was following her through this, offset to her blazing gold smoke trail, the blackbird and dove in flight, as they began to stop dropping and their legs and arms, with the material between catching air.

It was moments like this after the shit that everyone went through, that kept Seb going, as he tightened up behind Ellie, a distinctive grin on his face as he dived down, knowing she was holding a fairly constant pattern, as he took an aggressive dive, pitching himself downward to pick up speed, but lose a little height, as he flipped onto his back, turning in the process as he slid underneath her for just a moment, flying at the same ratio that she was on his back, before flipping back over and flying over her right flank, like one massive barrel roll. The sight of the racetrack was still tiny, as Seb began to adjust his pattern, flying a little to the left, knowing that Ellie would soon come into shot, trying to keep as much lift as he could right now, rather than sinking too hard. With these wingsuits, it really was falling with style- it was a glide that could be sustained for an awful long time, and that in itself was what made the experience so special, it meant that jumps like these could last three minutes, not one...which was always a remarkable prospect. Holding on her back, once again outside the burble, he knew that whoever was on the ground would get this sight in a moment, and they would be the centre of attention.

[Bee]

Nothing but dirt in her rear view. Just the way Kimberly liked it as she powered out of the last corner. Now would be the final stretch before she would finally take gold. First place. She wasn't even aware of what was going on behind her. The battle between Ross and Sam for second place. It was more of an intense battle than she had thought, but Kimberly was too focused on herself to even realize that the two were literally bumping into each other. It was vehicular warfare back there and Kimberly didn't have even a piece of mind to care about that. Her senses were dialed into "win mode" and all she had on her mind right now was the notion of winning. Her competitive drive was firing on all cylinders. Everyone knew just how competitive Kimberly could get, especially her husband. And let it be known that whoever was on the opposite side of Kimberly would have the hardest time in the world to even remotely get an inch on Kimberly. She was crazy when she was trying to win, it was like the god of competition had taken her over and did all the things she did just for her.

And across the line. First place! Kimberly loved the feeling of knowing that she beat out so many other people, but most of all she beat a world class racing driver. That for sure would give her some SERIOUS bragging rights. She would go on her victory lap, not even realizing that Ross and Sam had gotten into a little scuffle. As the first place winner had taken her lap, Sam was very, very infuriated at what Ross had done with her car. The stupid little Escort driver had decided to play Samantha's game, which was not a smart decision on his part at all. Now, the both of them had wiped out. Basing on the way the Galant had moved (which it didn't) after the accident, some serious damage had been done to the drivetrain. This pissed off Sam. Why? Why did he even do that? Fucking dumbass didn't even know what he was doing here. He had no place on a track with a driver like Sam.

The safety marshall came by to check on Sam, but she only unbuckled her harness and stormed out of her car as she was infuriated that her car was a wreck. As the marshalls were tending to Ross, Sam stormed over to him. She had her fist clenched. This was only going to go one way and one way only. Kimberly was pulling up on the wreckage. Her eyes widened as she immediately stomped on her brakes. The car lurched to a stop as she unbuckled her six point harness. She chucked her helmet besides her car as she sprinted as fast as she could over to the wreckage. "Ross?!" Kimberly frantically cried out, she was honestly scared to god. She hoped he was okay. She was kicking herself mentally for neglecting that he had gotten into a crash earlier. But just as she was getting closer, she saw something that made her heart sink. A fist from Sam connected square on the button with Ross's jaw, knocking him out. Kimberly never thought she would see the day that Ross would get knocked out, by Samantha Graham out of all people.

"Hey!" She screamed out, as she was just about to tackle her. But instead Kimberly decided to make the smart choice by getting up in her face. She bumped into her by her chest. "What the fuck was that?!" Kimberly asked in a rather hostile tone. "This fucking dipshit wrecked my car!" Kimberly got even more furious, "Well that didn't fucking mean you had to wreck that fucking dipshit's face did it?" Kimberly got up in her face, "You better watch your back, Graham." She had no idea how she was doing this to one of her idols, but she knew if Ross was watching he'd be weirdly aroused. The marshals broke up the confrontation and Kimberly turned around to tend to Ross, while a marshal raised up a black flag in front of Samantha, disqualifying her from the race. Kimberly kneeled down and looked at the unconscious man. "Oh god... Ross... please be okay..." She looked at him rather worryingly. Being knocked out like that meant that he was going to have a concussion. It was like the tables had turned from when Kimberly was pregnant. Now she had to take care of a puking, dizzy man. Once Ross would be coming back to consciousness, Kimberly would be right there standing over him, worried as ever. The first thing he'd see once he came to would be Kimberly's blue eyes. "I got him, don't worry." Kimberly was registered with the organization that she was first-aid certified, so she was qualified to handle him. "Ross... honey." She was really worried now. As she looked up, she could see the distant trails of what appeared to be smoke in the sky.

---

As Seb gave the go-ahead signal, Ellie leaped out of the airplane. The feeling of falling down lingered across Ellie's body, but it didn't matter as that would fade away with the glory of being as free in the air as they were. Gold smoke was pouring from her legs as she got into the proper position. The air caught Ellie's wingsuit and slowed her down a bit, allowing her to be free just like a bird. It was hard to miss Ellie in the sky, her wingsuit was so distinct. Half Canadian, half Scottish. One for her nationality, one for her heritage. She knew that Seb was in her wake, which was flipping awesome. She loved this, she really did. She was thanking whoever introduced her to this big time, because without it she didn't know what she did beforehand.

As the race track came into view, Ellie adjusted her trajectory just a bit, she wanted to reduce the displacement between her and the landing point as much as possible. Looked like Seb was doing the same thing too, adjusting his trajectory too. In a few minutes time, all eyes would be on the two YouTubers and they would be attracting the attention of pretty much everyone on the race track. It was a great feeling, but at the same one that made Ellie's gut churn.

[FourtyTwo]

The marshall leading Ross over, he shook his head, watching over. Sam looked angry, and Ross did know full well he was going to deserve this. He could fight back, he could do something. He was a little dazed, and didn't fully take into account what the hell was going on. As Sam pushed past, she was running. Oh, fuck. In his mind, Ross kinda knew what was going to happen. I'm going to get knocked out for this. Sam's gloved fist was risen, and with his full face off, dirt and general post-crash mess over his race suit, Ross knew what was coming. He was a bit too bleary to bother responding. His preemption was correct.

It was right there, that Samantha knocked Ross the fuck out. The punch connected with his jaw, as he tried to push her away, marshalls grabbing her. As he fell to the floor, Ross kinda knew he deserved this...and it wasn't his usual self to respond, he wasn't angry enough, not tense enough to deal with it like he normally could, protecting Kimberly. Nope, this was his mistake. She was angry, he was holding back, she was disqualified at that very moment, and he felt his vision vanish, turn to a blur as he heard swearing from Kimberly, and his earshot go deaf.

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

The wind roared, and the feeling was one that was truly incredible, the distant orange glow of the sunlight on the horizon, the fact that he was tailing behind Ellie, her trail rushing from her foot, her white and golden wingsuit shining in the sun, her big Canadian-Scottish flag on her leg wing always a distinct feature that made Ellie Dorian who she was, Seb thought to herself. Did her butt look big in it? Well, with the huge volume of air rushing through her suit, yes, yes it did, Seb joked to himself, as he kept her in frame, Lydden Hill visible below her arms and legs, gliding like a flying squirrel, well and truly. They were sinking through the altitude, and their smoke could be seen through the sky....for at least two and a half minutes, they had plunged, and flown distinctively through the sky. 4,000 feet was approaching, and Seb knew that safely, this was the end of the run for them.

Splitting off, he headed towards Ellie's left, and with a distinct movement, separated himself off, knowing he was going to be out of her way. Closing his legs for a moment, he reached for his pilot chute, throwing it out from his rig, the pilot catching air and in itself, pulling the deployment bag out of the container, and with it, the canopy that put a brake on Seb's flight. From 150 to 0, in around five seconds. If the slider didn't exist to make it that slow, and the fact that Seb was experienced enough with this weren't there, this would be dangerous, no doubt.

The canopy roared open, Seb whooping only just a little, as he grabbed the toggles after checking it over, the red and white parachute above his head, with a GoPro logo splashed across it's surface, as he looked over towards Ellie, able to even see her go for her pilot chute, flying a little further along. Taking control, he waited until she was under canopy, smoke still billowing from his feet. Seb steered downwards, into a spiral, the canopy spinning and spinning round, picking up speed and dropping down, as he kept an eye open, knowing where they were aiming for.

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

Ross awoke under the First Aid tent, to the sight of Kimberly close by, as he smiled. The sight of parachutes could be seen in an opening in the tent's side, as he smirked, looking up.
"Kimberly..." He smiled, an ice pack on his chin, and a pretty sharp pain, as he began to recover consciousness. He had
"I love....." Ross was about to speak, before he turned to the grass to the side of the stretcher bed he was laying on, and was violently sick, chundering up, as he groaned a little in pain, looking up at Kimberly. It was a good thing that they were married, or this shit would be the best reason to dump, ever. A hurt Ross, with a bit of sick over his lip, looking like hell. It was poetic.
"God......I love you, Kimberly. Did I miss the show?" Ross said, looking on as he heard cheering outside. It was going on....well, he had finished second, and whilst it had been at a cost, no doubt the race marshals would want to see what happened. But the footage had been pretty incredible, matter of fact, it had been all caught on camera. And, him getting knocked the fuck out too, by some random audience member. Not that Ross knew that yet, or most of the people in the Paddock. And yet out there, Ross could vaguely know that things were picking up.
"I kinda feel alright....can you help me up? As far as I can tell....my head hurts like hell, but I want to see what's going on." Ross said to her, wiping his face a little, moving his back as he moaned a little in pain, sitting up, his head spinning just a little bit, as he felt bleary.

[Bee]

As the ground, with assistance from gravity, beckoned for the long awaited reunion between Ellie and it, she took a look at her watch which was counting about how far she was from the ground before she absolutely needed to deploy her parachute. With gigs like these the closer to the last second the better it was for the people watching down below. She was in the entertainment business and she had an audience she needed to satisfy. Down below, there was a crowd of people dancing about and loud electronic music playing. If one were to really focus it turned out to be The Mother We Share by CHVRCHES. That was played specifically to signal in the arrival of Ellie and Seb, and not a second too late it was. They were just about to touch down in the LZ. Their arrival, as it turned out, would signal the official start of the festival that accompanied all of the racing. Tons of loud EDM, festivities, and just good vibes all around. It was impossible for anyone to not have a good time here.

Ellie glanced at her watch once again and saw that it was time. It was time to deploy the parachute and slow her down. The festival depended on them to really kick things off, so Ellie felt that it was all up to her and Seb to give these people what they wanted. The LZ was very, very obvious. Right in front of the crowd and a bit away from the DJ, who was strategically placed there for a reason. Ellie reached for the cord and pulled on it, feeling a very violent force yank her back as there was now an opposite force slowing her down. Embracing the wonders of gravity and air resistance, her descent at terminal velocity was no more. The golden parachute was flapping away above Lydden Hill as she eyed the LZ. Spiraling closer and closer, Ellie's heart started to somehow pound harder and harder. Despite her being the owner of a very successful YouTube channel, something about a gig like this just drove Ellie's nerves to the wall. She was fine earlier, but now? In front of hundreds and hundreds of people? This was exciting in both the good way and bad way.

The LZ came closer and closer, and suddenly there was a thought that popped up in Ellie's mind. If they were to land facing the crowd there was a £500 bonus for doing so. If they didn't they didn't, that was fine considering the nature of skydiving, but landing just like that would be absolutely perfect for the event. Plus £500 could buy them tons of stuff at the bar later tonight. Circling and circling, Ellie was delaying contact with the ground until she was facing the crowd. Everyone was looking up at them as the pounding of the music got louder and louder. As soon as Ellie's trajectory changed so that she was heading towards the crowd, she adjusted herself so that she would land in the middle of the LZ. And so she did - the Scottish-Canadian girl making contact on the ground as she stepped forward a bit. The music was pounding, and as Ellie took off her helmet it was a rude awakening, but it didn't matter. Ellie unhooked her parachute and gear as she anticipated Seb to land shortly after her.

As the two settled down, the pyrotechnics went off and confetti flew into the air, colored smoke flying out behind them as the MC stepped out to the Landing Zone. "Ladies and gentlemen.... WELCOME TO THE FESTIVAL!!!" He yelled out as the music got louder, the energy of the crowd surging with it. "Ellie Dorian and Sebastian Rietsch, everyone!" He said, giving them away. Ellie waved before she gave the MC a handshake. The crowd was loud and lively as the music continued to pound away.

---

A few miles away, Kimberly was leaned on a bench watching trails of colored smoke in the sky descend towards the race track. She couldn't quite make out what colors they were but it was okay. The priority here was her currently unconscious husband who had to live with being knocked out by a girl. The same husband who ran a guy over in Japan, the same husband who got away from a massive pursuit from the LAPD hours after they met. Kimberly was somewhat worried about her husband, but knowing him he'd been through worse and had walked away like nothing had ever happened. She was on her phone like always, checking social media and seeing if anyone was up at this time. Back in the States it was night time so nobody was up. She sighed and held her phone in her hands as she watched her husband.

Luckily, he finally woke up and Kimberly gasped quietly as she saw his brown eyes flutter open. It seemed like it took forever, but at last he was conscious. Kimberly smiled softly as she heard her named uttered from him - up until the contents of his stomach decided they didn't like being inside Ross anymore. It wasn't a pleasant sight, but Ross had witnessed Kimberly and what happened whenever she felt nauseous, especially during her pregnancy. It was almost poetic, and if Kimberly wasn't disgusted she would be lying. But, since Ross had stuck through her despite all that, she at least would stick by him while he was going through an ailment. "Love you too, Ross." Kimberly replied, as she looked outside the tent. "Show? Not much happened after you were knocked out. Graham's pissed, but she's racing in the next heat anyway." Kimberly sighed, as she stood up and stretched her muscles.

Knowing how knockouts work, Ross was in no condition to be doing anything that involved a bit of focus. Being knocked out always constituted a knockout. "Alright baby." Kimberly said as she crouched down and slung him over her shoulders, "We need to get you back to the trailer. You're in no shape to do anything but rest right now. Hopefully in a few hours you'll start feeling better." Kimberly had all 200+ lbs of Ross on her as she slowly stepped towards their trailer nearby. She handled it like a champ, keeping good pace while keeping her husband comfortable. "You know you're not gonna live this down, right? Mia is one day gonna find out her tough ol' daddy got knocked out" Kimberly looked at him and and squinted, whispering, "by a giiiiirl. Well actually that's really good for Mia to find out..." Kimberly trailed on, before the two finally arrived at their trailer. Kimberly opened the door and helped her husband sit down inside as Kimberly sighed.

The time on the clock indicated that the festivities had begun in the festival, and Kimberly wanted to check it out, but she had a husband to tend to. "Listen, Ross, I'm going to take a shower. Take some time to lie down and recover. I'll check on you once I'm out of the shower." Kimberly said, knowing there wasn't much she could do right now besides be there for him while he rested. She might as well make good use of the time to get a shower in. She'd be leaving the bathroom door open so that if Ross needed something she would hear and stop whatever she was doing to tend to him. Her hearing had gotten considerably better since she had her daughter, so she'd be able to hear over the water. Kimberly planted a kiss on her husband's forehead before she got to the shower.

A few minutes later and Kimberly had finished up with her shower, cleaning herself for the time being. She knew she'd have to take another shower later for the formal festivities tonight, but that could wait. Right now she needed to tend to her husband. Kimberly was clad in a loose-fitting blue tank-top and a pair of dark gray short-shorts. "You feeling okay baby?" Kimberly asked curiously as she looked down on her concussed husband. "If you're feeling better maybe you'd want to come with me to check out the festival outside? We could stay away from the center so the music won't hurt your head if you're still feeling a bit dizzy." Kimberly asked, "But if you don't want to go that's okay. I'll stay here with you so I can keep my baby company." Kimberly smiled and kissed her husband on the cheek. The light outside illuminated Kimberly's bare, make-up free face. Her lightly freckled face looked down upon Ross as she awaited his decision.

[FourtyTwo]

Seb kept Ellie's golden 'chute in view with golden smoke pouring from her leg, watching her spiral as he did so himself, gauging the wind to put himself into position. The LZ may have been obvious, but it was a tight landing area, with little room for error. Holding behind her, he kept Ellie in view with her camera, before spiralling down after her, keeping a distance, watching his altimeter throughout. The music was pounding, and it looked absolutely insane, they were the highlight indeed, and on a sunset ride down, making their way to the party.

Watching Ellie land, Seb made his last turn, and within a dozen seconds, he was by her side, flaring in, running off the landing gently as he let his parachute sink to the ground, whooping as he put his full face's visor up, the pyrotechnics going off almost simultaniously as he ran in front of Ellie.
"Haha! Nice!" He whooped, the EDM kicking in, the party setting off, as he chuckled, grabbing his canopy and swinging it over his shoulder, a massive grin on his face. He shook hands with the MC, his Go Pro, still catching this, as he looked back at Ellie and winked. Heading out of the grassy landing area, he headed towards the corner of the gated landing area, and could see the cameras flashing, for the Facebook revellers, and for everyone else to see later. Moving past the gate, he took his helmet off, and looked back at his blonde girlfriend, the two of them knowing that they had arrived.
"So, what do you say we get this kit off and go have us some fun? Drinks are on me!" He said, chuckling again, as he pointed across to a set of trailers.
"We're over there, they said. We can pack our kit then go party!"

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

Ross moaned a little, sitting up as he looked at Kimberly, smiling.
"Thanks, babe." He said, as he moaned, sitting up, rubbing his head. It hurt, but he'd be alright, the coolpack had mainly dealt with the swelling, but a red mark still remained, and he was getting back to his senses.
"I'll come with you." He said, as he sat up further, looking at her bare face, knowing she still looked beautiful even without makeup, as he put some weight on his feet, sliding himself over, knowing he was back in the trailer now, not in the medical tent. The noise of music could be heard, as he heard the crowd erupt, smiling.
"It's those parachutists. Mad bastards." Ross chuckled, wiping his face as he stood up, stretching his neck and arms a little, a little confused but getting back to himself, as he kissed Kimberly back again on her cheek, walking to a sink and grabbing a cup of water before he headed back his pile of clothes. He threw off his shirt, and grabbed a black and grey shirt of some kind, something suitable for a party, before wiping his face properly, then headed to the door.
"Well then.....looks like we could go have some fun."

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

The heat ended, with Ryan across the line in 3rd, and Regina in 2nd, the two Fords lined up for the Final tomorrow morning, the race pretty much starting 10 minutes after the display by Seb and Ellie, the 550bhp beast that Ryan had under his right foot serving him well. Pulling into the pit lane, he turned slowly, and found his way back to the Paddock, fans cheering, but clearly wanting t. The sunset had fully taken over, and it was beginning to get dark, as he drove the car under the tent, taking his position, letting Regina take hers. Taking his helm off, then his six-point Harness and HANS device, he clambered out of the RX Fiesta, grinning, as the Crew Chief ran over.
"Nicely done, that places you both into the final tomorrow. Eight cars in total running on the grid, and we've got strong telemetry from your throttle and brake control. It's competitive, so if you push hard and go for maximum attack on the corners, you'll set good times."
"Sounds good." Ryan replied, looking over at the laptop that was on the desk, before back at the two muddy cars.

Looking to Regina, Ryan smiled, as he put his helmet down on the table, clambering out of his race suit, even wearing a T-shirt and jeans under. This heat hadn't been particularly competitive, it seemed, hence why he wasn't wearing a mountain of racing thermals for when the going would get hairy tomorrow. He took the rest of his kit off, as the pair of Engineers in their area got to work on the cars, hoses out first of all, before then cracking out spanners and other tools. They wanted to check things, tinker with things, and generally do engineer-y things. Ryan would get involved, but there was a reason he wanted to go to this party tonight. No alcohol, due to racing the next day, but it would be an awesome event to turn up to. But then his mind set on something else. He had seen Ross earlier, after he had been knocked out, but had rushed back to get set for the Heat, knowing that Regina was the same.
"Actually, want to go see Ross? Poor bastard, I'm amazed he didn't put up a fight. He's become a bloody gentleman ever since he got married." Ryan said to Regina, looking over at her, knowing that they ought to do it, before they carried on to go party.