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Max squinted his eyes as he opened the door and was met with the bright light from the hallway, which seems to be even worse after walking through the paddock in the late evening hours. After a few seconds, his eyes have adjusted to the blinding light and he is once again thankful for the painkillers he received at the hospital, making the constant throbbing in his skull more bearable. He slowly makes his way towards the pack room, anxious that if he walks too fast he'll get another dizzy spell. Not speeding up is easier said than done though, as he craves nothing more than being surrounded by his pack and most importantly have his mate in his arms again. The crash scared him more than he'd like to admit and he can't think of a time when he needed the comfort more than he did right now. He was lucky not to be in the hospital all on his own over the last couple of hours, having his dad by his side definitely helped, but Jos also understood that his son needed comfort from his pack and not his father, which is why he dropped Max off at the paddock after he received a message from Daniel asking if he'd come to the pack room.
Exhaustion was making its way up his body as he got closer to his destination, but he still smelled all the various smells coming from the room, his fellow mates seemed worried, stressed, and just anxious for the most part, but he also caught some underlying scents of contentment making the otherwise gloomy atmosphere just bearable. Max carefully opened the door and the sight that greeted him made a small smile appear on his face. In the middle of the room were a few mattresses and he saw quite a few of his pack members cuddled together in a nest that looked a lot like Daniel made it. It didn't take long for Max's eyes to find his Omega lying cuddled in the middle of the pile and as soon as their eyes locked, Daniel broke into a tentative smile and jumped up immediately causing the others to let out sounds of disagreement until they caught sight of Max as well.
But the dutchman only had eyes for Daniel, who quickly made his way towards him with a slight whining sound, eager to have him in his arms again Max also took a few steps towards the Australian and took him in for a hug as soon as he was close enough, hiding his face in the omega's neck and scenting him eagerly. The McLaren driver returned the hug, albeit carefully and Max shuddered, feeling at home immediately. Daniels body radiated heat, which seeps into his body and makes Max relax even more, as he lifted one of his hands to run it through the Aussie's unruly hair, having longed for his mate ever since he climbed out of his wrecked car.
After a few moments, Daniel pulled away again and worriedly looked at him, caressing Max's face with his hand before stroking his cheeks with his thumbs tenderly and Max closed his eyes again for a second leaning into the touch.
"I was so scared," Daniels chocked voice made him open his eyes again and he gave his mate a sad smile, kissing his forehead and he answered: "I know," and after a few seconds he hesitantly added: "me too," before bringing him in for another hug, feeling the Omega tremble slightly, only letting him go once he heard a small whine coming from the room and it didn't take him long to figure out it was Lando, who made the concerned noise. That together with the overwhelming exhaustion and slight pain making its presence noticeable caused the dutchman to pull back again, nosing his mate and saying: "How 'bout we join the others, the nest looks really inviting right now." Worry flashed over Daniel's face once again and Max tried to ease it just the tiniest bit by nosing him before leaving another kiss on his nose. They slowly made their way to the middle of the nest and Max was glad to have Daniel at his side as dizziness started to set in again after being on his feet for too long. Sitting down not only made the dizziness even worse, it also sent a jolt of pain through his body and Max couldn't stop himself from letting a small moan escape his body. This however did not go unnoticed by his fellow drivers as their worry seemed to increase even more.
"Are you okay?" Daniel's worried voice made him look up as his mate was still standing and the alpha immediately cursed himself as his neck protested in the process, he let out a breath, to stop himself from moaning again and worrying his pack even more.
"Is there something we can do to help?" Lando's voice piped up from next to him and the dutchman sent him a small, but reassuring smile before answering: "No, I'm mostly just sore all over the place, but I'll live."
As Daniel settled down on Max's left side, Charles caught his attention, the Omega smelling at least as worried and fearful as Daniel and Max can't help himself, but feel sorry as his crash must've brought the worst of the Monegasque memories back to the surface. He was about to say something worrying to the Ferrari driver as he spoke up himself: "I heard your team radio. You just...it sounded so bad, I was sure that...that you were really hurt," the young Omega finished and shrunk back into Pierre's arms.
"It scared the shit out of all of us, Maxy. You have no idea..." Daniel added and Max saw tears gathering in his mate's eyes. He quickly brought him in for another hug, before looking around the room, and just now did he see how shaken everybody seemed.
"Don't tell me they broadcasted that..." he started, trying to sort his thoughts.
Luckily Lando shook his head: "No, but nobody would give us details and we were just so worried and I just searched the internet and it came up and...we just...Are you sure you're okay?"
Max had to think about that question for a second, hesitating from giving his normal answer of, 'yeah, I'm fine'. Everybody knew that he wasn't one to talk about his emotions very often, not even with his pack, those were mostly reserved for Daniel and Daniel only, but judging by the looks of his friends, he knew that this wouldn't cut it this time. The other drivers-his pack-his family were worried like hell and as much as it pained him to know that he was the reason for their sorrowful feelings was him, it also warmed him from the inside, knowing that these people would be there for him.
"I mean, at first I wasn't fine, obviously. I didn't black out or anything, but it was really hard to concentrate on anything for way longer than I'd like to admit and as you've heard it was really hard and painful to breath right after the accident. But it did get better with time and it got better pretty fast. By the time I was in medical it was really just a lot of dizziness and just pain, which I guess you can expect from an accident like that. But I'm okay now, I promise, as I said I'm just sore all over and the pain meds are starting to wear off and if I stand for too long, I get a bit dizzy, but the doctors said that this is to be expected and will fade in the next days, so you don't have to worry about me anymore, okay?"
He reached out to intertwine his fingers with Charles, waiting until the Omega gave him a small smile and squeezed his hand a little before relaxing back into Pierre's hug, the Frenchman also shooting Max a reassuring smile before scenting his mate and Max knew that they would be okay now. In fact, the smell of the whole room had become way more bearable as the dutchman had managed to ease everyone's worries. What went without saying though, was that they all needed their pack's comfort that night and the Red Bull driver decided to take the initiative: "I don't know about you guys, but I've had a shit day and really all I wanna do is sleep and I'm pretty sure you'll all agree with me on that one." He didn't have to say more as he heard a few affirmative sounds, but before anyone could really settle down the door suddenly sprung open again, revealing none other than Carlos, Sergio, and Lance all of them carrying even more blankets and pillows with them.
"Sorry for being late to the party, but Carlos said he knew the way, which he didn't and we got lost and we somehow picked up Lance in the process, but now we're here," Checo announced as he dropped his part of the blankets on the group laying on the mattresses before crouching down in front of Max.
"You okay mate?" he asked and Max smiled as he nodded, having grown quite fond of the Mexican, who sometimes acted like Max's older and overprotective brother, but the dutchman was not only happy to have him as a teammate, but also to have him here, the Beta's presence usually radiated calmness and made everyone feel even more at ease.
Lance crouched down next to the Beta and hesitantely said: "Hey, I'm glad you're okay and I hope you don't mind me coming as well, I just didn't want to be alone tonight."
"It's okay, don't worry, the more, the merrier, right?" he gave the Canadian a small smile and squeezed Checos shoulder, before the two found themselves a place in their messy cuddly pile. In the meantime, Carlos turned off the lights and snuggled down next to Lando. Looking around the room, Max felt contentment wash through his body. Pierre and Charles were already fast asleep, next to them lay Carlos with a half-asleep Lando cuddled up to him, but the young Brit made sure to have his foot on Max's calve as well, not wanting to break contact. On the dutch's other side, Daniel was settling down and next to him were Lance and Checo, who didn't seem to be too far off sleep either. Happy to have his pack around him, Max finally laid down as well, carefully resting his head on Daniels's shoulder and hooking one leg over the Aussies'.
"I didn't get to say this earlier, but I wanted to let you know that I'm really proud of the race you had. P5 and holding Carlos behind you for so long, I was cheering for you in the hospital, I hope you're proud with yourself as well." Max whispered, not wanting to disturb the sleep of those surrounding them. Daniel answered him with a big smile bfore saying: "I am, thank you very much. I wanna be on the podium with you again after all. But what really matters is that you walked away from that crash and that you are fine. Everything else is secondary!"
He leaned in to give his mate another kiss on his forehead, noticing how Max's eyes were fluttering close. And as sleep overcame the dutch's body, he could only agree mentally, he was alive, pretty much uninjured and surrounded by those he loved, there is no better feeling than that.