BEND THE RULES, 016. 

REAL LIFE

THE MONACO GRAND PRIX WAS just about to begin. diana was not as hopeful for this race, considering she ended qualifying in seventeenth and the chances of crazy overtaking her way to points (which was her usual race strategy) was slim to zero.

as the formation lap came to an end, diana took her starting position on the grid. she had nico starting in front of her and sergio perez directly beside her. sandwiched between two experienced formula one drivers on one of the toughest circuits on the calendar was not helping diana's uncalmable nerves at the moment.

diana took in a deep breath as she intently watched the lights countdown. getting her foot adjusted in the pedal, diana accelerated hard as soon as the lights went out. she cursed as sergio was quick to try and overtake her into the first turn.

since all the cars were slightly packed together at turn one, it was getting more and more difficult for diana to defend her position, but she was fighting as hard as she could. coming out of the turn, diana checked her mirrors only to see sergio approaching her rear on one side (closer to the barrier) and nico almost directly beside her on the other side.

diana had less than a second to think about what was coming: sergio was attempting to squeeze past her and the wall, but diana was unable to give him space due to nico being too close to her on the other side. before she knew it, sergio's rear made contact with the wall, sending him into diana's rear tire. the red bull took diana straight into the wall before spiraling into an unsuspecting nico hulkenberg.

diana was caught by surprise as her car crashed into the wall before hitting her teammate. the impact was so intense that diana instantly knew she was injured. when the cars finally came to a stop, diana noticed that her haas was severely damaged on all fronts. all of a sudden, she felt a sharp jab right below her chest. diana has had her fair share of fractured ribs in her years of karting, but none of those compared to the pain she felt at this moment.

"fuck." she winced as sergio and nico started to get themselves out of the car. her engineer theo's voice rang out on the radio.

"ana? that was a nasty accident. are you all alright?"

"no shit, it was a nasty accident." diana scoffed before grimacing again in pain. "ow..."

"are you okay?" theo asked, his voice suddenly becoming concerned.

"no." diana admitted, her voice laced with pain. "i think i broke a rib or something. god, it hurts so bad."

"can you get out of the car? marshalls are there and medics are on their way. do you think you can walk at all?"

"i can try." diana sighed. "but it hurts like a bitch."

"ana!" nico ran up to her. "are you hurt? what's wrong?"

"i might have broken something." diana told him. nico's eyes widened.

"oh, god. do you need help getting out? here..." he held the halo steady for diana to get out. diana hesitated a bit before lifting her arms and grabbing the halo. slowly and carefully, she hoisted herself up from the seat of the car. nico was right there to support her.

"oh my god..." diana groaned as she nearly fell over the side of the car. at this point, sergio was also running over.

"diana, i am so sorry." he gasped upon seeing the girl. almost immediately, he came forward to help nico get her out of the car. "i'm sorry."

"not your fault." diana nodded to him. "just...get me over to the side." she pointed over to the barrier she had just crashed into. nico and sergio carefully walked her over, setting her down on the top. diana clutched the area between her stomach and her chest in pain. "i definitely broke a rib."

"fuck." sergio cursed. "i'm so sorry, again."

"it's fine, checo." diana assured him. "it's all a part of racing. i'm not mad at you."

"you should be." nico glared at the mexican driver. "his reckless driving just broke your rib, or even ribs plural."

"reckless driving?' sergio scoffed. "i was simply racing! it was an accident."

"it was an accident." diana confirmed. "thank you, nico, but i really do not blame anyone at all. if anything, all three of us were at fault."

"you're way too nice, ana." sergio told her, placing a hand gently on her shoulder. "the medics should be here any second."

as if on cue, an ambulance came speeding down from the direction they had come from. nico and sergio, with help from paramedics and marshalls, got diana onto a stretcher and waited until the ambulance was out of sight before continuing with their respective duties. 

on the other side of the track, a red flag was called just as the top few drivers were making their way through the chicane.

"is everyone okay?" oscar asked over his radio. a couple second of silence prompted that something may have been wrong. "hello?"

"everyone got out of the cars," a response rang out a few seconds later. "but rosenthal is injured. they've taken her to the medical center now."

"what?" oscar began to worry. "is she okay? is she conscious?"

"yes, she's okay, oscar." his engineer told him. "she got out of the car with help from the other two involved. she is awake and conscious, but it seemed like she was having trouble walking on her own without any pain. like i said, they're going to get her checked out now."

"shit," oscar cursed. "i have to go check on her."

"just make your way back to the pits, oscar." he was told over the radio. "we will discuss this later. you also need to focus on the race restart once the red flag clears."

"if it was a bad accident, this red flag won't be over for a good thirty minutes." oscar scoffed. "that's enough time for me to check on her and still have time to discuss things in the garage. i'm going whether you all like it or not and whether i'm actually allowed to or not."

"fine." 

TWENTY MINUTES LATER

DIANA LAY ON THE BED IN the medical center, feeling incredibly weak. she was already in low spirits before the race, having qualified in the last five, but this seemed to have only furthered the sour mood. the doctors were just checking on her x-rays now. 

"everything okay?" a voice called from the door. diana sat up, wincing as she felt the sharp pain in her ribs. oscar's eyes widened when he saw her. "wow, you look like shit."

"thanks." diana deadpanned. "it's not like i was just in an accident or anything. might have broken a rib or two."

"just one." the doctor came back from the back room. "it appears you do have a rib fracture, diana. you're incredibly lucky that it hadn't fully snapped out of place. it's on a larger rib and the crack is a little bigger, which is why it hurts more than your average broken rib." he showed the x-ray. "how are you feeling?"

"like my ribs are broken." diana sighed. "this means i'm out for a while, doesn't it?"

"for at least two weeks, yes." the doctor nodded. "once the main part of the healing process is done, you will still feel pain for another couple of weeks, which is why it takes a full month to go completely back to normal. but if you're okay with a little pain, you can race again in two to three weeks."

"two weeks." oscar repeated. "so should she be alright for canada, then? that's two weeks from today."

"she'll be okay..." the doctor started, turning to diana, who had gone back to clutching the side of her abdomen. "at that point, the fracture should be healed, given you would have been icing it consistently and taking proper meds. however, it will still hurt a bit."

"right." diana tried not to sound too disappointed as she slowly stood up from the bed. it didn't hurt her as much to stand and walk than it did to just sit down. "let's hope i'm good by then. my friends are gonna be in canada."

"you'll be good." oscar told her. he checked the time on his watch. "the red flag's been out for about twenty minutes now. we should head back to the garages." he put one of diana's arms around his waist as he put an arm around her shoulder. "i'll walk you back."

"i'm perfectly capable of walking by myself." diana complained.

"it hurt you to even stand." oscar told her. "let me help you just this once and then later tonight, you can stay away from me all you want."

"whatever."

maha speaks :)

diana and oscar being broken rib twins