United States – Los Angeles – Monday – 09:34
The sound of her phone ringing jolted Joyce Summers from sleep early Monday morning. It took her a few seconds to come back to herself, to understand why it was she was lying on an uncomfortable bed in an unappealing hotel room. Then she remembered, Buffy, Dawn, the massive mistake that yesterday had been. She couldn't quite believe what she had said to Dawn, exploiting insecurities she knew her daughter carried. Joyce wasn't sure she could ever apologise enough, but she would have to try. Lost in a brief panic, it took her a second to remember the ringing that had woken her up. Grabbing the phone, she answered with a slightly gravelly 'hello.' Clearing her throat, she tried again.
"Hello?"
"Mom?"
"Buffy!"
Joyce couldn't believe that she'd forgotten that Buffy would be phoning her, she always did the morning after she raced.
"Hey mom. Sorry, did I wake you up?"
"No, no of course not. I was just waiting for you to call. How are you honey?"
"I'm fine mom. It's been a bit hectic here, trying to sort things out, getting ready for Brazil. We've got a flight out to catch, and there's the connection to Sao Paulo as well and I just need to get everything ready, you know?"
"Of course honey, I'm sure that it must be a very busy time for you right now, with the next race to get ready for. I remember when you started racing, and I had to chaperone you. It seems like such a long time ago now."
"I bet you're glad those days are over"
Buffy still sounded a little off, tired maybe. Joyce wondered what her daughter wasn't telling her.
"You looked sad yesterday"
Joyce wasn't really sure what prompted her to say it, but she was so concerned about Buffy that she just had to say something. Apparently, that was the right thing for her to do.
"Maybe I am. I just feel like there is nothing I can do. There's problem after problem and they keep expecting me to just deal with it. Ford isn't doing as well as he should be, and he won't tell me what's wrong. He keeps saying that he had mechanical problems, but the engineers have told me that there's nothing wrong with the car. The team is relying on me to salvage something from this season and there's nothing I can do! And Merrick doesn't trust me anymore, we can't be in the same room now without arguing. I don't know what I'm supposed to do mom."
Joyce frowned. The team manager Jamie Merrick had never been Joyce's favourite person, he tried too often to keep things from her, to draw Buffy away from her family. Joyce had never quite been comfortable with him after that.
"I wish I could fix it for you, make everything better. Do you have to be a part of the last race?"
"Of course I do mom, it's a part of my contract. But even if it wasn't, I wouldn't give up the opportunity to be a part of it. I've been working towards this for a long time now mom, and I'm so excited to be racing in the Grand Prix. Maybe it's not what I wanted from this season, but it's not something that I'm every going to give up."
"You mean that?"
"Mom what aren't you telling me?"
That was all it took for the story of last night's conversation with Dawn to come spilling out. Joyce was feeling guilty, and she was grateful that Buffy listened silently while she explained. When she had finished detailing what had happened, she waited nervously to hear what Buffy had to say. While her daughter could sometimes be a little overenthusiastic, and seemed to suffer from a complete lack of common sense she had grown up a lot in recent years. Joyce trusted her eldest's advice.
"Mom, I've already talked to Dawn. I phoned her earlier. She's hurt, and she doesn't really understand why you reacted the way that you did. You need to talk to her, explain what you were thinking. And you need to apologise, and tell her you didn't mean what you said. You didn't really mean it, did you?"
"No, of course not. There's a part of me that thinks that Dawn needs to go to college, but I understand what a big opportunity this is for her, and if she wants to take it I support her. I really do. But it was a shock and I was scared about her getting hurt and…"
"Mom, it's alright. But no matter what happens, Dawn wouldn't give up racing, you need to let her know that you support her."
"When did you get so smart?"
Joyce couldn't help smiling, having Buffy give her advice was an unusual occurrence to say the least.
"Call it a case of temporary wisdom. I'm sure I'll get over it soon enough. I'm sorry mom, I'm going to have to go, Merrick wants to get on the move."
"Okay, you call me as soon as you can, alright?" she paused and then said "I'm proud of you Buffy"
In a small hotel room in Suzuka City, Buffy smiled. Maybe the end of this season wouldn't be so bad after all.